2016, First Post

Happy New Year! If you're feeling happy that is. I guess you can say that I am. Although as I get older, I find that I like firecrackers less and less. I used to be so gung ho for New Year's Eve when I was a kid. I loved firecrackers. I prepared my own for hours just so I can blow them up with glee come 12 midnight. I looked forward to New Year's Eve much more than I did Christmas because it was so much fun.

The fun started to go when people started making stronger and far more dangerous firecrackers. It seems that with each year they really pushed the limit. The firecrackers became so strong that they were practically mini dynamites. Fun for them, maybe, but not for me. Fun for crazy people. I'm an artist. I can't afford to lose limbs over this so I've stopped playing with them. I have already stopped many years go.

So many people, specially kids get maimed, hands and fingers blown off every single year. People die from stray bullets. Houses burn down. People just don't learn. That pretty much took the fun out of what should be a very happy, very celebratory time of the year.

I've also become much more sensitive to what dogs go through. I don't know. I guess it's Bugel. The damned dog is probably the most loving, most affectionate, most intelligent dog we've ever had. I started to think of dogs differently when I got to know Bugel. And to see her so tormented by the sound of firecrackers is heartbreaking. It's like she loses all sense and just goes ape. It's painful to see and experience. We try to comfort her as much as we can, but we can only do so much. It's a torment that we can't save her completely from.

Would I welcome a quiet New Year? Yeah, for once I guess I would.