What a relief!

I think I've probably left it too long now to update about the hen weekend. Suffice to say it was a very hard experience, made worse by a very offensive woman. I don't think I made the best impression on the hen's family and friends, in fact I know I didn't, but it was always going to be hard for me to turn this experience into a positive. I'm just glad it's over and I'm kind of attempting to redeem myself by putting a website together for the bride and groom. It's meant contacting some of the hen's friends to try and get pictures from the hen weekend so I'm hoping I can show them via email that I'm not some weirdo and that I at least do nice things for people.

I also have a huge weight lifted off my shoulders this week, though not necessarily in the way I wanted, I still a big ol'fatty. But I have finished the poem! WOOOHOOOOOO!!!!! It's not really a poem anymore, more like a little speech with a poem at the end, I just couldn't do it any other way. Now all I have to do is practice saying it out loud, a lot, because I mumble at the best of times. As if it's not already hard enough being a brummie trying to make a bunch of Geordie's understand what I'm saying. Maybe if I had 'ya know' or 'like' to the end of every sentence it might help :)))) (only kidding!)

So at least that is good news for once. I'm also going to see Nine Inch Nails this weekend, OMG HOW EXCITED AM I! Seriously, I thought I would never get to see them live, they are one of the big bands I have on my list to see in my lifetime and I can't actually believe it's going to happen *dances round room*. We also booked tickets to go and see WWE when it comes over in October. I know, I know, what kind of saddo am I that I like wrestling, blah blah blah. But honestly it's just like watching Eastenders with a lot more fighting involved. I know it takes a great deal of skill to pull off most of the moves and they are incredible at what they do. I also know that the punches/kicking isn't completely real and that's part of the soap opera that makes up the other half of wrestling entertainment. I like the fact that they overact to sell the moves, it's all part of the script. Anyway my boyf treated me to see the television taping of WWE Raw (the tv tapings are much better than one of the normal shows as they have to make the same effort as they do when they do it in America) and that was brilliant already but then I treated my boyf to tickets to see WWE Smackdown the next night for his birthday. Two nights in a row! I don't think I can take seeing that many good looking blokes with very little clothes on, hee hee!! I will definately be taking my camera!

Badonkadonk
xxx

Countdown To The Wedding (Part 2)

Problem Number 3

As my brother and his girlfriend live near Durham and we live closer to Birmingham we haven't had a lot of opportunities to meet a lot of her family. So there is going to be an awful lot of new people at the wedding, people who I've never met before, people who I don't who they are, what their names are and they won't know me either. As if it wasn't bad enough that I'm horrendous at meeting new people, 99% of them probably won't know that I'm Aspergers. It's something that my parents/brother and girlfriend must find hard to explain or bring up in conversation I guess (or so my Mum says) but I don't know why they just can't mention it to people and warn them in advance not to be offended if I don't reply or make conversation/eye contact. It's not a lot to ask and it would make my day go 1000 times smoother but apparently it is too much effort and discomfort for themselves to do this for me. Speeches and fat problems aside, I think this problem will be the biggest challenge I have to face for the day. The speech is still nowhere to be found but it's not worrying me as much as having to stand up in front of complete strangers and say anything at all.

Problem Number 4

This is the smallest problem but the one that can have the biggest impact on how I cope with the day of the wedding. It's called Adjusting To New Environments. The wedding ceremony is taking place in a church not too far away from where the reception is being held. It's at Lumley Castle in Durham and fortunately my parents have stumped up the cash for us all to stay there on the Friday and Saturday night. This is good as I don't have to worry about travelling to the reception and back but bad because I'll be sleeping in a castle and very, very scared! I love and hate staying in hotel rooms, as detailed earlier in my blog. I like the clean tidy rooms, an en-suite bathroom for me only and being able to shut the door and truly get away from everything and everyone for a few hours. But it's also being locked in a new room with a new bed, new furnishings, new bathroom, new smells and sights and sounds to get used to. I mean as long as the room is clean and the bathroom is ok I'm usually good to go as far as the room is concerned. I prefer to have a fan in the room and like it when they provide a selection of channels and not just terrestrial channels (I'm a Sky+ junkie at home and get withdrawals if I don't have 700 channels to choose from lol) and I usually have an allergic reaction to whatever detergent they use on the sheets but I can combat all this stuff. I can ask for a fan or open the window or turn the A/C on if I'm lucky enough to get it and I make sure I stock up on magazines and Piriteze before I go so there is no problems there. But there are always outside factors with hotel rooms. How noisy is it at night? How noisy are the guests to either side and above or below? Is there any weird banging or repetitive noises that could bother me? I hate nothing more in the world than the noise of someone stomping around above me, I hate thudding noises. (The kids in the street constantly boot a football back and forth everyday between 3.30pm and 6.00pm and it drives me nuts. I wouldn't care if it was a soft football but it's a leather football and it really thumps when they kick it and they're doing it around all the cars in the street! I'm not a kid-hater really, I'm a noise hater and I would never tell them to stop kicking the ball, but it does wind me up all the time.) So it's very touch and go for the first night in a hotel room as to how much sleep I actually get. But getting used to the Church and the wedding reception rooms is going to be tricky as I've never actually been to the castle. I might see if I can go up to theirs one of the days in the run up to the wedding and actually go and look around the castle but they are very busy (both teach P.E. and my brother coaches Rugby outside of school as well) and it's only a few weeks to the wedding now so they are going to be super stressed and I don't want to encroach on their time. Plus the drive is four hours both ways, I don't know how they do it all the time I really don't, it drives me mad. Who knows, I'll see what happens in the coming weeks.

So I think that's all the problems covered, any other typical Aspie related problems that I've missed feel free to assume that I'm going to have to deal with that too! I know it must seem like I'm a right moaning myrtle but these things can really get in the way of being able to enjoy one of the rarest days in my life, watching my brother get married. Overall these problems will never outweigh how ace it is going to be seeing him and his girlfriend tie the knot and I'm going to be trying my hardest not to let things get to me and spoil the day, fingers crossed!

As it's now Monday and I got back from the Hen weekend yesterday I should really be updating on that as well now but I'm a bit behind and might just tackle that one tomorrow. I've had stinking horrible flu to deal with this weekend as well as lots of newness, strangers and murder mysteries!! More on that tomorrow....

Badonkadonk
xxx

Countdown to The Wedding (Part 1)

Two good things have happened in the past two days. I got my shoes for the wedding and I got a handbag that matches. It doesn't sound like a lot but it's really hard to find shoes as I'm 5'9 and my boyf is just over 6'0. Big heels are in fashion but an absolute no-no for me because I couldn't stand to be taller than Bob. Plus, I hate people looking at me anyway and have always been self conscious about my height so big heels are just a no go area. Then you have to take into account my weight and half the shoes that are small heels I can't wedge my feet into. *sigh* But I managed to find a pair, now all I have to do is figure out how to walk in them in the next couple of weeks. They have kitten heels so the heel is slightly more forward than usual and being such a small sized heel (not just in terms of height) I'm having trouble getting the laws of gravity to accept the fact that these little blocks of wood do indeed have to somehow support my weight. Anyway, I found a bag to match so I'm happy, now all is left is to figure out what's going on my head and find some jewellery to finish the whole thing off. (Oh and find some kind of shapewear stuff that magics fat away for a few hours without making you pass out due to lack of oxygen.)

Which leads me onto problem number 2

Because I didn't want to be a Bridesmaid my brother and his girlfriend still wanted to include me in the wedding somehow. I'm more than happy just blending into the background but I understand why they wanted to make sure I had a part to play. They asked me to write a poem about love to read out as part of the service. Not at the reception dinner or anything like that, oh no, as part of the service! Oh yeah, great, no problems whatsover, I'm only competing with the BIBLE! *Tears another lump out of hair* I've been writing this poem since they got engaged nearly 18 months ago and all I have now is a kind of speech about love and nothing like a poem. I'm so lost, I don't know what to write and I feel quite a huge amount of pressure because it's my bro's wedding and they're expecting something good, something that will lighten the tone a little in the church and bring the feel-good factor about why they're getting married in the first place. I've tried 1000 times to write this poem but all I get is 'love is.....' and it just sounds so cheap and nasty that I'm embarrased to continue. I don't know what I'm going to do, to be honest I've been concentrating so hard on getting an outfit sorted out and getting depressed about my weight that I've been burying my head when it comes to the poem. I don't have to read the poem out myself but it will be hard to entrust the job to anyone else, to read it just right how it sounds in my head, if I'm still writing the thing the night before the wedding.

Just the thought of reading aloud in front of people is enough to kickstart the worrying about problem number 3....

Badonkadonk
xxx

The Pioneers

At the time of writing I'm in the middle of watching the BAFTA awards. Why oh why did Stephen Fry step down as host?! From watching the programme he made earlier in the year about his life with Bi-Polar I can totally understand his decision to not host anymore but I really wish he would reconsider. I love Johnathon Ross, most of the time he's hilarious and Friday Night with Johnathon Ross is aces. But right now he is falling flat on his arse with his attempts at humour and it's just so uncomfortable to watch! On the plus side Jake Gyllenhaal is in attendance and the camera keeps cutting to him so all is good! (By the by, I'm still hoping that Little Miss Sunshine wins every other award left even though it's not possible to do so and I'm still recovering after seeing Eva Green pick up her Rising Star award. A) What on earth was she wearing and B) God forbid the flunkies who forgot to tell her a bird had nested in her hair on the way to the awards ceremony. Blimey what a strange hair do!)

Anyway I can talk, as if I'll ever be a rising star! I didn't get a job interview for my dream job, I didn't even get a letter saying "sorry, you're just too crap." Gutted can not even begin to describe how I've been feeling the past few weeks. I just don't understand why I didn't get a look in I mean it was to work with teenagers who are Autistic Spectrum Disorder for goodness sake. I'm Aspergers myself, I want to work with children who are ASD, I have experience of teaching and supporting students (though granted not a great deal) and I wanted it so badly that I would have done any training, any running around and any amount of driving for half the wage if they had wanted me to. But I fear that it was my disclosure about Aspergers and my honesty in being open about why I haven't worked for the past year (legitimate medical condition which I'm now getting under control) didn't exactly go in my favour. Apparently even people who work with kids who are ASD think that you can't possibly do the job as well if you are ASD yourself when I 100% believe it's the opposite. I know, more than most Neurotypical people, just how that child is thinking and feeling and I have a wealth of personal experience in coping mechanisms and in learning and adapting to new routines and all kinds of change. It just plain sucks when I want to help so badly.

But it's not all doom and gloom. Mostly it is, but sometimes life is beautiful for just an hour or so. And so it was last night when me and my boyf went to see Bloc Party play the Academy in Birmingham. Oooo they were good, they were aces, they were flipping amazing! The night nearly got ruined as we turned up after reserving two disabled seats well in advance to find the very small disabled section fit to burst and seemingly nowhere for us to sit. They managed to find another chair for Bob and we got squashed in the end of the row but I couldn't see the stage. After the support act finished the lights came on briefly and we could see that at the enclosed end of the disabled section there was a spare seat. Bob asked the security guy if we could nab it and he was, to his credit, fine about it. Bob sat on the chair and I sat inbetween his legs on the floor. The disabled section at the Academy is actually on the balcony so I could still see the stage through the bars and I felt 100% better sitting in front of Bob because I had no strangers behind me or to the side of me. I had some pretty strange looks but I'm used to it now, it really doesn't matter as long as me and Bob enjoy ourselves, they can stare all they want.

Anyway now I'm entering 'Countdown To The Wedding' and I couldn't be more petrified about the whole deal. It's not like I'm getting married or anything, my brother is and I'm not even being made to be a Bridesmaid. So what's my problem?

There are a few to be honest and I can't get it all out tonight, I ramble on far too much so I'm going to update this week on the problems I face. Plus this coming Friday-Sunday is the Hen Weekend (yippee!) so I'm sure some Aspie-related trouble is brewing for me. But for now here's problems number....

1. I'm a big fatty bum bum. It's true, I'm not even one of these people who says they are fat when really they're a size 14 or something. Most shops don't cater for me and the ones that do only cater to fat people who want to be the latest fashion victim or dress like a granny. Don't get me wrong, I like fashion despite my size and I'm addicted to Style.com to see the latest Runway shows. But by the time the fashion is filtered into trends and that trend is overboiled and done to death in shops you can end up buying all the trends, wearing them all at once and looking like an absolute wally. I mean take Evans for example, hell on earth to me because it's one of the only shops I can go to for clothes. Now a couple of the more mainstream trends over Christmas were Dogtooth, Mustard and jumper dresses. So what did Evans do, oh I dunno, how about make most of its collection Dogtooth and Mustard. And if it wasn't Mustard it was Red or oversized jumper dresses that they make out of that lovely clingy lyrca material. Well done you! Instead of making clothes out of decent material that could attempt to flatter our 'curves' and do us justice, every single item in that bloody shop is made out of stretchy fabric that just highlights the fact that your stomach is the size of a small African country. Dress that in a Mustard jumper dress with a Dogtooth swing coat and, oh god, LEGGINGS with some cute sparkly pumps and you might as well sprout comedy enhanced lips and a loud bellowing voice into the mix and start calling everyone Honey because a cartoon character is the only thing you resemble!!! Anyway, I'm fat and I have to find a wedding outfit. Joy of joy. I have one, it's even a dress but right now it's a bit on the tight side. I'm working on it slowly, but I've got a nasty medical condition that's determined to work against me. Combined with doctors who keep prescribing me medication and then forgetting to tell me that they 'may cause weight gain'. I've been flogging myself silly over Christmas and the past month trying not to eat at all and working out at the gym only to find out that I'm ony maintaining my weight thanks to the stupid tablets that I'm on. Brilliant. But now doctor number 150 has prescribed me fancy new medication and is even going to try me on some weight loss drug in two weeks time to see if we can't kick start my metabolism again because it appears I need some help. I've had to prove to them that I'm really not eating 5 mars bars a day and 6 main meals with 300 tonnes of coke and that I am going to the gym but I understand how they can be sceptical. I am fat, most people are fat because they eat too much. I'm not one of those people (unfortunately, it would be one hundred times easier to lose weight if I was) so I'm constantly fighting for people to understand how I can eat so little and weigh so much. Anyway fingers crossed it works and I can shift the extra couple of pounds I need to in time for March 31st.

Not Aspie-related I know, but the weight and the fact that I can't fit into my dress only makes me want to hide from people even more. As if us Aspies don't have enough low esteem issues without being the fattest person at the wedding and the one in the shittest outfit. Plus it's not even like I CAN hide at this wedding, not the for actual ceremony anyway, but I'll tell you all about that in my next post...

Badonkadonk

Inaction

Just a quick note to say sorry, if anyone actually reads this thing, for the lack of posts just recently.

Things should pick up soon though, I have a hen party to get through, a wedding, a couple more concerts and I'm currently going through the process of applying for, what could be, my dream job.

I'm sure out of all that lot there should be something worth writing about shortly!

Badonkadonk

Bliss

So I went to see Muse play last night.

WOW!

I was totally blown away. I've seen them play live on the television before but I've never made it to one of their concerts. The atmosphere was incredible and it was just non-stop, full on for nearly 2 hours. If you think about some other bands who play for that long but have a little break after each song or fill time by talking to the crowd, whereas Muse spoke to the crowd, very briefly, 3 times I think. Sometimes not talking to a crowd can hurt a performance. I remember going to see Kings of Leon last year, it was awful because they just steamrolled through their album and barely acknowledged the crowd while just standing there playing as if they couldn't wait to get off stage. Muse not talking didn't hurt the performance because the performance speaks for itself, if you get what I mean. They had fantastic lights and Matt was leaping around the stage and throwing shapes whilst somehow playing guitar and singing!! The guy is a genius. But they all are really, how 3 people (4 with the keyboard player who's not part of the band) can produce a sound so large and all encompassing, dramatic and powerful blows my mind.

The staff at Birmingham NEC were brilliant as well as there was absolutely no hassle getting to the disabled section and they were fine about me using the disabled toilets because of all the people standing around the normal ladies toilets. This reduces my stress levels massively as I don't like using public toilets enough as it is because of the whole hygiene thing and the fact that it's a strange quite claustraphobic environment with people jostling to get in and out of stalls and wash their hands and battle their way back through the inevitable queue snaking through the door so you have to squeeze your way out of the toilets and eventually pop out as if something just spat you out. But for some reason at concerts the level of cleanliness of the toilets nosedives dramatically. I think it's just the sheer number of people using the toilets in one night but it's horrendous as there is usually toilet paper all over the seats and then the toilets get blocked so you can't flush, then the sinks get blocked because people leave tissue in them and so on and so forth. For any neurotypical person I can imagine it is not the nicest of environments, but for an Aspie, it practically pushes me to my limits.

But like I said, the staff were ace, Muse were outrageously brilliant and my mum was also able to have a great time and dance away because I was quite happy and un-stressed for once! :) We not only lucked out getting disabled tickets before they sold out but also we were at the far end of the row so on my left was a wall and on the right my mum. There was no one behind us because there was also a wall there so it was brilliant for me because I didn't have to sit next to any strangers. I know NT people would find it difficult to understand the difference this has on how I'm feeling, but it is huge!

I'm off to see Tool next Friday in Manchester. Last time I went to the MEN was just over a month ago to see McFly lol! You can't get much different I suppose and yet I'm a fan of both bands, a legitimate fan as well not just pretending to know a couple of songs. Again I know other people might find it hard to understand but I think it's because I'm an Aspie again. I don't understand all the rules and regulations that come with liking a certain kind of music or belonging to a certain social group which is goverened by which music you listen too. I don't feel compelled to dress like a heavy rock fan or an EMO (whatever the hell one is) or a pop fan. I don't wear baggy jeans and have lots of "bling" draping from my neck just because I'm a fan of hip hop and rap also. I appreciate good music (McFly are actually good if you get past the teeny bopper singles they release. They play their instruments, write their songs and perform them live almost better than they sound on record. There is no trickery involved and they are not like your average pop band. Give them a few years for them to get into their twenties and I reckon if they manage to stick with it they should be a force to be reckoned with) no matter what type of music it happens to be. The music on my ipod is quite diverse with things ranging from Tool to McFly, Mos Def to Tenacious D, Justin Timberlake to Chemical Brothers, Curtis Mayfield to Bad Company and even, a bit of Doris Day lol!

Anyway I'm super excited about Tool and hope that I'm going to be ok with the seats because I didn't get disabled tickets again. I got an end seat though and I'm quite near the exit so I should be ok. It differs by venue really how well I cope. The NEC is a nightmare because the space around the seating, where you go to get drinks or mill about before the show is tiny and you've got an awful lot of people crammed into these spaces. At the MEN the width of the area for getting drinks and going to the toilet etc is almost double in size so it's a million times easier to navigate your way around. It also differs by type of music/crowd. The thing that forces me to have to go into the disabled area is not only being around strangers but the noise of the crowd. At McFly I pretty much gave up straight away and got my mum to go and see if there were disabled seats left because the screaming was a nightmare. Fortunately at rock concerts it's different because people don't scream so much as cheer and clap. However, again depending on the band, the level of whistling can vary massively and this tends to take the place of screaming at rock concerts. But I'm hoping there won't be too much of that at Tool because we've got quite good seats near the front with a good view. I like to see the band if I can so I try my hardest to tolerate it at the MEN because the disabled section is right at the back of the arena and while you get a head on view of the stage, the bands can look tiny because you're quite far away. But I'll probably end up having to go into the disabled section as usual, I just like to give myself the option if I can because if I have a really good day I can make it through a concert, sitting in the normal sections, without freaking out.

After that in December it's Tenacious D!!! Oh my god I'm soooooooooo excited. It's back at Birmingham in the disabled section again so I know everything will be cool!

Badonkadonk
xxx

By the way, just as an added thought, I'm a Celeb Get Me Out of Here started again on Monday and far from being repulsed/scared/thoroughly annoyed by David Gest. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually think he's quite funny!!! The way the media portray him you get this image in your head of someone who probably talks funny and is actually insane but, while he doesn't seem 100% attached to reality, he's not as weird as I thought he would be at all. Scott Henshall on the other hand is an absolute idiot who deserves to be inflicted with something that would make him gain 20 stone. He thinks everyone should be a size zero. Yep. As if teenagers today don't have enough body issues as it is there is this idiot waltzing around on television saying this rubbish! GGGRRRRRRR!

Now I'm the king of the jungle...

So I think I've finally recovered from 2 weeks ago. I haven't updated sooner because, frankly, last week was a bit of a blur for me mentally. I pretty much just vegged out all week long and tried desperately to sleep but alas it still eludes me. (Throughout this post I'm going to include some photos that I took yesterday. I haven't enhanced the pictures using my computer as I'm thinking about entering them into the monthly photoraphy competition that Chester Zoo runs and one of the rules is that you can't alter the photos. Everyone took pictures yesterday, my Mom took some beautiful photos of the Giraffes but I don't want to steal her pictures and put them on here so here are the pictures I took of the Giraffes, red berries on a plant, the cutest Salamander fish I've ever seen and my favourite animals, the Orang-utans)

I managed to go to Chester Zoo yesterday though with my boyfriend Bob, my Mom and my sister Steph. Steph's 50th Birthday present to my Mom back in April was to adopt the Giraffes at Chester Zoo. You don't literally get to go and pick them up and bring them home (I don't think even Madonna could pull that one off!) but you do get a nice folder of information, updates on your animals, complimentary tickets to the zoo and an invitation to the adoptee days at the zoo. On this day you can talk to the keepers and find out more about your selected animal. This was the first adoptee day my Mom had free so off we went... Well, we got about five minutes up the road before I had a total meltdown because there was vile bird poo all over the passenger window and right in front of the passenger seat on the windscreen. I found it difficult to speak up about it because it is another trivial thing to most people and it takes me a while to get it out sometimes what is upsetting me. Anyway my Mom was trying to do the right thing for everyone by finding out if I still wanted to go to the zoo and what the matter was with me. (I hadn't managed to get out the bit about the bird poo yet, I was just saying I didn't want to go) But by trying to do the right thing my Mom was asking me lots of questions and my brain just felt like it was going to explode so I was snapping at her and telling her to shut up and take me home. When I got home I ran upstairs and burst out crying and in the middle of sobs I was able to tell Bob what was wrong and what was making it worse. I felt like such a pleb but he assured me it was ok and that they were cleaning the windows so we could go to the zoo. After a quick stop at the shop to get my sugar levels up (the tablets that I'm on are making me feel rather funny and I'm getting shaky quite a lot and something with sugar in it seems to stop the shaking/light headedness) we were off to the zoo and the situation had been resolved! Now that I have my diagnosis of AS this is occurring much more frequently, and while it might not seem like an ok experience to most people, the fact that I was able to verbalise what I was feeling and that my family understood enough to rectify the problem AND not treat me like a bad person is brilliant because before my diagnosis I would have just said I wanted to go home, they would have took me home and would have gone without me probably thinking "stupid cow" as they went. And me or Bob wouldn't have gone to the zoo because I know he wouldn't have gone without me.

I really enjoyed going to the zoo, apart from the animals me and Bob saw when we went on holiday to Florida last year, I can't actually remember the last time I went to a zoo. Bob absolutely loves Monkeys so seeing his face when he saw all the Chimps was brilliant. Plus there were lots of baby Chimps for me to coo at! I did get bothered though most of the time by other people there, it was mostly screaming kids or idiotic adults. If I had to listen to one more person knowingly say to their group how this animal was "sad" or this one was "just going for a stroll" I might have punched someone. I hate that, how can they possibly know what on earth that animal is doing or thinking? I mean sometimes we did it to make a joke because then it's funny. Looking at animals and pretending to say what we think they might be thinking now IS funny, but walking around stating what the animal is doing or feeling as if they can understand the animal is just sad!

I wish zoos and other public places would have an adult only day or an over 12s day or something. I don't know what age kids stop screaming at so whatever age that is lol. It's not even the kids' faults half the time, it's the chavtastic parents who have zero idea of what being a parent means. Then there are idiot adults like the ones who come out with such gems as "Oooo I like the Orang-utan Monkeys" and (upon walking into the Jaguar house which has a big Jaguar on the front in the same image of the Jaguar car brand because it was funded by the company so almost ANYONE could see that it was a Jaguar) exclaims to their inbred companion "What's this next one? I think it could be a Leopard". YOU'RE IN THE JAGUAR HOUSE! GET A BRAIN!

And breathe.

So anyway the zoo was good, the people in it were bad. Plus the food sucked and all the places to eat closed too early. AND my eyes were disturbed by the sight of two Camels getting it on. But I think the male got stage fright because he kind of attempted a mount but then seemed to fall off. Imagine that, you're a virgin Camel and your first time is in front of 200 people going "oh my god, they aren't going to do what I think they are, are they???" Plus this time none of the Orang-utans ate their own poo which was a positive because I'm still scarred from a school visit to a zoo when a massive Orang-utan did just that. We were encouraged by the teacher and my Mom who was acting as a TA while she was training to teach to go outside and smell the roses in the little garden outside because we were all turning green watching this Orang-utan munch on his lunch....again.

And on that rather disturbing note I will end. Hope you enjoyed the piccies!

Badonkadonk xxx