Here’s a chance to catch up on some of the oddest news of 2006.  But more importantly, it is your opportunity to feel good about yourself, and who doesn’t need that sometimes? 

You should feel superior if you didn’t leave your fingertip behind in an attempted burglary, or commit a crime while flashing a fake ID bearing Brad Pitt’s photo, or fail to pay for plastic surgery, only to see your surgeon send out photos of your enlarged breasts in the form of a “wanted” poster to help police track you down.

Pat yourself on the back if you’re not a doctor who agreed to amputate limbs for beggars to make them more sympathetic, or a pilot who got locked out of the cockpit after going to the washroom.

And, take a bow if you didn’t get caught driving your dead mother across country to save on mortuary transportation costs, or pull a gun on your son’s football coach to demand more playing time. You may be a little more normal than the folks who did those things.

Congratulations, and let’s all meet back at this blog for an even odder year coming up. Meanwhile, here is Erik Kirschbaum’s look back at a very strange year:

Jan Vinzenz Krause of the Institute for Condom Consultancy poses with a prototype of a spray-on condom, in Singen December 5, 2006. REUTERS/Miro Kuzmanovic