Mer

Bloody thing has expired, and guess what...I can't afford to renew it :)In a couple of weeks time I will be better off for money, it's just at the moment while my only income is 4 hours a week at work. Grr indeed!

Train fares are actually taking the P now. £25 for a peak return just to Denmark Hill on Monday morning! I know peak fares are expensive but really?! Bloody rip off! Inact, I physically won't have that money on the day and neither will my mum or brother to even lend to me. Good job I can pass as a child, otherwise I'd be having to miss an extremely important appointment!Grrrrr!

Well said Sheepie I remember being told that at my Chessie assessment/interview day

Jord I am getting the same so it isn't just you :(It's very annoying grr!

Why not? The git responsible for killing their loved ones is now dead, JUSTICE!Why would it kick up a fuss?

Wahoooooo!!! *Gets party poppers and party blowers and party hats*The people who lost others in the 9/11 attacks must be so relieved! As David Caneron pointed out, it doesn't bring them back (obviously!) but the people will be soooo reassured :rolleyes:So us Brits had a Royal Wedding, and now the US have this What a brilliant Bank Holiday weekend!!!

While I appreciate what Nicky and Ian are saying, I am personally well aware of how much harder uni is seeing as my brother went and I have friends there now. It might be hurtful to some people though to read that...although yes, it is the truth. This kind of goes back to my previous post about how some people are naturally good in education and some of us really struggle. I feel so inferior and stupid that twice I haven't been able to cope with college. Ha, and to think at the start of my current college course I was considering going on to be a vet or vet nurse. Fat chance of that happening!And yes, college has/does make me miss school and GCSEs! I've said it before to people starting college and they're like "Oh don't be so negative!" I do enjoy learning stuff but at my own free will. I'll have moments where I become engrossed in reading about something and learning from it. But to stay in education and do all that work, spend most of my time dedicated to it...that just isn't me. I LOVE working though, I know I keep saying it but my job is so perfect And it's not a doss, playing around with cats, it's cleaning, to a high standard but at a good speed, especially when we're busy/full! And some jobs are very tiring physically, like when I have to do a "major clean". That's where the empty chalet is fully cleaned, have to lug a full, heavy bucket of water to it, then scrub all the walls/wiring both inside and out, depending on the chalet size it can take from 20-30 minutes! I had one on Monday, last thing after cleaning pretty much all the occupied chalets, three on Tuesday and four yesterday (Wednesday)! Its all I did that day xD The next day after doing one my shoulders/collar bone area hurt. When I get home I sometimes feel pretty worn out and can end up alseep for an hour. But nearly a year after starting there, all the hectic days in the summer last year, I still enjoy it and have never lost enthusiasm.Yet with college, it only took just over 3 months to lose enthusiasm. I don't want to use the word hate because that is too strong a word. The course is great and I have learnt sooo much from it. But the dedication that has to go into it to do well, and the time it takes up on my life, I just can't metally cope with it. I guess what I'm saying is both work and college are demanding, one physically and the other mentally. And my strength is clearly in working and being active, being hands on and doing things. Also I don't mind doing things for living I.e shopping and laundry etc. I may hate some jobs like washing up, and struggle to keep my room tidy, but on the whole I much prefer doing those things to sitting at home, doing research and assignments endlessly. I will feel so awful if I leave because every teacher is lovely and I will actually miss them all! And my friends I made too :PBut me and education just don't mix, I have strengths in other areas and am confident that I am not "Messing up my future!"Ridiculously long post over!

Agree about the school/college thing. I went to college at 16 and left in my second year as I was so unhappy and wasn't enjoying the subjects, plus my grades were pretty crap. I went back to college in September as most of you know, doing what seemed the perfect course for me. I have since January completely lost the enthusiasm, which I put down to depression but I feel better than ever now but still don't want to carry on with college. I have never been naturally good at education, unlike my dad and brother who love learning and find it so easy, they hardly need to revise, they absorb it all and don't forget it. I am the complete opposite, meaning far more effort and motivation is required, which is enough strain on anyone, but add my "mental conditions" and it becomes near impossible. I'm not letting them get ne down or using them as an excuse. The only thing I can stick to is working. I would love to go full time at work, the feeling I get from it is great, it's rewarding. The rewards (feeling accomplished, like I'm doing good deeds and getting paid) are instant. A 2 year stressful loads of assignments college course takes 2 years until you get a grade. The things learnt along the way are just not enough to keep me going. I have trouble with thinking about the future, it's like a near-sightedness to the future. I can only mentally consider the present (this way of thinking is actually a problem many with ADHD etc have), it's like my brain etc doesn't have the capacity to think that far ahead and act upon it. Hence why us ADHDers are often misjudging time and almost always late. I'm still in bed and have 20 minutes til I leave for my bus to work. Exactly.

What people need to realise is that just because two people have the same disorder or whatever, doesn't mean they will both act and behave the same. So pretty pointless making comparisons between you and their friend!And it's great you're making the effort Will This is another issue I have; being told I make no effort to help myself. People like us often put ten times more the effort of others without such difficulties but it can be hard to notice, especially to those ignorant or undereducated on the conditions. To them, they expect us to be on the same "level" as they are. But it's not always possible, we don't think the same way so how could we possibly be the same, and to their standards?There's this ADHD article I downloaded, 40 pages long from a world wide leading expert on it. He made a good point of saying that people with ADHD have a 30-40% maturity lag, so this has to be taken into account, when people are expecting them to do the same as others their age, or when they say "You're so many years old, you should be doing this and that!" And he also says that people with ADHD do get their in the end, but will always be behind cos of this lag. He explained it by comparing it to 2 cars racing each other, one slower than the other. The slower one will reach the finishing line but will always be catching up. It may seem like the chores I do at home are minimal, but for me personally/mentally it's an achievement. And it seems to come in bursts. For a while I seemed to stop but then over the past year I've started doing so much more. This time last year I would not be found doing my own washing, changing bedding etc. And this is what my mum and brother don't get. They need to stop telling me what I should be doing/having a negative attitude, and focus more on what I can do and have positive thoughts and feelings about it. Aannnnd breathe...!

I'm fed up with my brother being such a bossy, moody, nasty c**t. Oh yes, Ryan isn't as nice as you think he is. And he's certainly not hot when he's shouting and grumpy :)He constantly talks down to me and mum and bosses us around, and has these moments where he flips out at me over sod all. A kind reminder just now to turn the Sky box off resulted in him storming in, shouting, "Why don't you f***ing do it, you do f**k all, I'm f***ing sick of you!" He claims he doesn't know why he is in such a foul mood but he better sort it out soon, I dunno how much more I can take. And my mum sides with him, I hate to say it but she must be so thick, when she cannot see how and when he's in the wrong! I left Thorpe cos of the favouritism but it appears to be happening in my own home now! It doesn't matter how mean he is or how much he swears, I get moaned at. Just because my voice is loud and annoying. Yeah that's how odd and annoying my mum can be. They also seem to becoming more and more ignorant to my Aspergers and ADHD. Awkward to talk about on here but I'm so p'd off I don't care right now! I don't give a toss that my Aspergers is only mild, I still have difficulties socially and sometimes I struggle to understand what I have done or said being wrong or inappropriate. So I say something apparently wrong, Ryan goes ape over it, I shout back cos I honestly don't know what I've done wrong and guess who gets the blame, me! A simple explanation would suffice rather than a "Yeah right, don't think you can use your condition as an excuse all the time!" Cheers for that. Y'know, cos I love having mental/behavioural/maturity difficulties SO much that I just pretend they affect me when I want to. Of course, there are times where I do know what not to say but cos I'm angry or whatever it gets said, which obviously everyone does. That's not my issue. My issue is my family being ignorant about when it truely does affect me, and the fact that my nasty brother gets away with treating me like crap. He has depression. Right, well mum has bipolar, I have depression, ADHD and Aspergers but you don't see us acting like that!I have been so so so happy recently and more confident, as noticed by many on here, so I'm really sorry to put you through this awkward rant This is why I love you all so much, you're normal happy people who make me feel on top of the world, my difficulties seem to just disappear (well obvs they actually don't but y'know what I'm saying). Or maybe I really am a selfish bitch who doesn't care about her family (yep that's what I get told pretty much everyday).Ugh I hate these rants and I'm so sorry for putting you through my crappy life stories...but I had to let it all out somewhere.

Agreed Holly. And it's always the same people. Sighs...

Wait so loads of people on here have their own PCs/Macs? Jeez what's wrong with just one family computer and having your own laptop? I feel so underprivilaged! I shall upload a photo of my room when it is tidy, it is horrendous at the moment! Or shall I just take a photo anyway and upload it for the lolz? The mountain of clothes on my chair is wild!

My town has a St George's Day festival every year, last years was really good :)Unfortunately it wasn't as good this year. Not as much entertainment going on, and a lot of corny singing, plus not as busy as last year (I guess as it's Easter weekend), all these factors leading to not much of an atmosphere. :(Was very disappointed, I'd been looking forward to it for weeks and managed to get a half day at work so we could go during the "peak", with all the main/best parts happening. I guess that's the trouble when something once is so good, you anticipate it to be that way the next time and when it's not, you end up pretty disappointed.

I'm ranting cos loads of people are online but not in TPM chat!I wanna speak to all you sexy people :PGET IN THE CHAT ROOM NOW!!!Rer! You fish!EDIT: Also, I know this a rant topic but let's stay calm about Lady Gaga! Not saying anyone is doing anything wrong but just a heads up kinda thing.

Lol I've seen that outtake! That's a LOT of sick!

Oh hai, I'm Mer9!

May as well show off my Vampire bear too! :PI just got the Vampire Bear, not the XXI one, but I did get the XXI pin and Vampire Bear is wearing it Loving the Chessie merchandise

Agree with Mark, was a brilliant day!Trip report for Alton Towers Tuesday 19th AprilSo, had a lovely 4am start, although I didn't actually get out of bed until Mark called me saying he and Ian were on their way to pick me up! Had a lot of food and sweets and energy drinks for the journey, fun times! We picked Tommy up from Watford and the journey up to Alton was fine, got there nice and early for the early rides.The monorail was quite amusing, we had the "Celebration train" with random bubble noises playing!First we headed to X Sector for Oblivion, which was walk on. Great first ride, very refreshing and a good wake-up! Sausage surprise on the drop too!Then we headed over to RITA (to get it out the way lol), the trick is to keep your head forward to avoid the pain of that first, silly corner! Next was Nemesis, still my favourite ride at Towers and probably my favourite ride overall. We got the back row which gave a pretty intense ride! No matter how many times I go on it (and regardless of where I sit), the intensity of it always gets me, especially the first corkscrew and that corner, the photo section...aaah!Then we headed to Duel, which I was quite excited about, not sure why, I just was! Was a fantastic ride, definitely better than Tomb due to the faster pace, although it does make it more challenging and for people like me who don't have much experience on these rides, it's not always a good thing! Although I did get a better score than I did on Tomb at the Chessie meet. Also the effects were brilliant, I jumped so much! I probably jumped more in there than all the times I've been in all the Thorpe mazes put together! Absolutely love it!Next up was Runaway Mine Train, great, fun ride, great interacting staff.The others were starting to get hungry but I wasn't, so we decided to do the Flume, as we thought the long ride time may give me more time to become hungry =P Not much to say, a good laugh but it's so bumpy!Then I was feeling hungry! Success! So we headed to the Coutyard and all ended up having Lattice Fries, om nom nom.Headed towards the Dark Forest and did Hex. We were in a good group of people, most of them interesting in the storyline which was good, and they loved the ride! Then we did Th13teen which was about a 30 minute queue. This was my second time ever on it, and we sat at the front, which obviously gives better views but makes the first drop pretty dull (the last time I went on was near the back and my stomach did go over a bit at the bottom of the drop!). The drop in the tunnel didn't get me as much either. The best bit is clearly the launch into the station ;)Headed back to Forbidden Valley for more Nemesis action, but riding Blade beforehand. Bumpy, wobbly Blade. Lol.This time we rode Nemesis at the front, which was a fab view and in some ways felt more intense than the back row. After the first corkscrew, up unti after the photo, I was greying out pretty badly! And my legs...aah! So crazy. Aaaah love love love it! :DRode Duel again, this time I sat on the left which didn't seem as jumpy as the right hand side, and the trigger on my blaster was really stiff so I got a naff score, grr! And very painful fingers/wrist.It was warming up, the sun was shining, so obviously it was time for Congo River Rapids! The queue looked long but was very fast moving and pleasant in the sunshine. The ride was brilliant! We were sat with a mum and her son and daughter, which was nice, and the ride was such a laugh. Lots of big waves, which mainly got Ian, though I had a lot down my back! Then an enormous wave hit the mum, which we could all see coming, it was like it was in slow motion! But she and her children were laughing and really enjoying it, we all couldn't stop laughing...brilliant!Then we did RMT again, bit of a bigger queue but again, not too bad, can't remember exactly but definitely no more than 30 mins. Had a great ride, random poking going on, random photo, higih fiving staff as we went through the station, and the interaction between Congo in the tunnel, everyone waving and cheering at each other! We then headed over to Mutiny Bay for Marauders Mayhem, which Ian sat out. The spin on this ride is far superior to Thorpe's Storm In A Teacup. We had such a laugh on this ride, I could hardly breathe!Met up with Ian at the Courtyard and the Golden Parrot pirate show was just finishing. What we saw looked good for its target audience, and had some good fire and water effects. I think it's great that Alton does these shows, the small bit I saw I found enjoyable, because I know the children and families will enjoy it, and I love how the park puts the effort in :DUnfortunately this good mood soon dissolved, when we queued for Th13teen. The pre-recorded breakdown announcement played in the queueline, and we were expecting the operator to make one, as it was barely audible and as others said, is ambiguous. But no, we didn't hear anything, just more pre-recorded announcements. No staff communication whatsoever. Grr! Eventually the ride started again, and we eventually got on. No batching in the station, lol. And as Mark said, his lapbar was for some odd reason, not checked, but the attendant went to check it. Strange indeed. We all tried to look moody on the photo but none of really looked it, I know I was trying not to laugh!So we headed over to Sonic Spinball and saw the ridiculously big queue, which prompted us to go to Guest Services and have a good old moan! Well, we mentioned the abysmal staff at Th13teen and added at the end that we really wanted to ride Sonic but due to Th13teen (if we'd had announcements from the op we would have left the queue), we wouldn't have time...so got ourselves a priority pass. I hate saying it like that, but why should I feel bad? Staff failed to do their job, which made us unhappy and caused us to waste time, so it's only fair we get compensated tbh.Luckily our ride on Spinball was good! We got to the top of the lift hill when Ian said "I hope this spins" (and there's me going "Sausage Surprise!")...and the moment we drop, wow, we DID spin! Woop! Still, Fury is better.Jumped on the Monorail, this time in a Splash Landings themed train. I was in fits of laughter at the Caribbean guy who talks! We went to the Splash Landings bar for a drink and a well-earned chill, it was a shame we couldn't stay over. I love that hotel, the Caribbean atmosphere, the music, the view of Cariba Creek...eee! Definitely my best ever Alton Towers trip! Lots of laughs and wasn't actually that busy, our second ride on Nemesis was a 20 minute queue!Then, sadly, it was time to leave. Stopped off for McDonalds, which was pretty busy, probably Alton guests! Journey back was fine, just all very tired. Once again, thank you to Mark for picking me up and driving to and from Towers, and to Ian for dropping me off home =)Infact, thank you to all three of you for such an awesome, brilliant, fantastic, fun, hilarious time! I have been feeling so happy recently, it may just be the anti-depressants, but seeing you TPM peeps cheers me up so much, and I hate leaving you all! Hopefully will see people again soon!

I'm gonna say yes, mainly cos my brother said he'll be voting yes and he's a sensible guy. Also he knows a lot about politics and explained it to me, and going by his explanation, I say yes. I can't remember word for word what he said, and do bear on mind I've been awake 20 hours, just got back from Alton So rather tired! But he was basically saying with the system at the moment, the party with the most votes wins regardless of whether they got 50% or more of the vote. With AV they would have to have at least 50% of the votes to win. Like, this year the Tories had the most seats but didn't get 50% or more of the vote. Exactly :angry2:As I said, don't hold me to that 100% but it was something along those lines. If I'm wrong, please don't get all "Grr" cos I'm far too tired and dehydrated

I think we need to arrange another meet

Same...Chilling on the sofa with the cat snuggled up next to me ad a big bar of Cadburys Caramel

Oh yeah and a huuuge thank you to Sheepie and Ian for making the meetup possible

Aaah how I miss the old Vampire :(I only went to Chessie 3 times as a kid, my family weren't really theme park people unfortunately. Not that my mum went - first time I went was with dad, brother and dad's mates and their kids, second time was dad, brother, next door neighbour and her son, third time was with my friend from school for his birthday. My dad and brother enjoyed it (although not as much as me!) but yeah, apart from trips down to Brighton and going on the pier, not much childhood theme park-age. Having said that, we did have a lot of nice holidays, quite a few in the Caribbean, which is not cheap!So yeah, basically I wish I paid more attention/appreciated the theming etc more at the time...I remember the old trains (epic!) and I kinda remember the station, but I never really appreciated it...but then again, would a 9/10 year old pay attention to that kinda stuff?Now here comes the shocking question...why did they change it? Fangirl doesn't known fan info! OMG! Well I remember being told why, but I forget now Something about maintenance/money?Yes, Mer is having nostalgic times...

Aww that video Sad times.