10 Things I'll Talk About Should I Attend The Drop In At Kilmallies Community Centre

10.Starbucks

When I went there with my support worker, I had a hot chocolate and a brownie. At the time, I saw a creepy advert there with someone pouring milk into a Starbucks coffee, which I found very weird. Lesson of the day, kids: never look at an advert in a Starbucks which features live action footage!

9.Smyths - Winnie The Pooh

Who doesn't love an addition of Winnie The Pooh in your life? When my support worker went into Smyths, she browsed around looking at every toy, being her guilty pleasure, looking at Paddington Bear and Sonic The Hedgehog as always, until she found everyone's favourite bear of very little brain, complete with bee noises and a lovely little rum-te-tum-te tune. Oh bother!

8.Domino's Pizza

I'll never forget that Pizza Day when my support worker took me to Domino's. This time, we had a pizza and a bottle of Coke. It was glad I had my straws with me, or else I would've deliberately disobeyed the dentist. The pizza was so delicious I forgot to do up my seatbelt at first, until I realised and buckled in so I don't experience any unfortunate accidents.

7.50 Greatest Cartoons Of All Time

For a place like Kilmallies, I believe this is an important time to tell you guys about the Cartoon Network event 50 Greatest Cartoons Of All Time. What it's best known for is including the weirdest cartoons no man has dared to produce, including Quasi At The Quackadero, Gertie The Dinosaur, The Big Snit and Bambi Meets Godzilla. Things like Kipper, Teletubbies Everywhere, The Dingles and Percy The Park Keeper might be good substitutes for these creepy cartoons.

6.A Picnic!

Oh what fun I had with my support worker yesterday! Immediately I tucked into a feast of sausage rolls, Babybel, a Kitkat and water while at the dog park in the car. All the while the cartoon short from WWII - Chicken Little - was playing in my head: you know, the ending bit, where Foxy Loxy, the main villain of the short, eats up all the characters and begins sinisterly playing with Chicken Little's cherished yo yo as he insults the narrator. What a bad fox! Call the farmer to shoot him!

5.My support worker's house

Also yesterday I visited my support worker and her mum at her house. On the way inside I saw a beautiful husky that looked like a Wolfie From Canada, and an orange dog. This was also the home of Ginny, a new dog, who was currently out for a walk at the time. My support worker and her mum helped me write Mum's birthday card and wrap up Mum's birthday present. It's a shame her sweet drawer isn't there anymore, but when I come back, I promise...I'm gonna do some baking.

4.Ice Cream!

No exciting support worker trip would be complete without an unexpected trip out for ice cream. As always, my support worker ordered my favourite: vanilla ice cream in a tub with chocolate sauce and a Flake! Yum! It may have ice in it left behind by Jack Frost, but I comfortably enjoyed my ice cream as we made our way home. Yes, they even serve ice cream during Winter.

3.Us & Baby Marvin

One of the stories in 'Disney 365 Bedtime Stories' that I really love is a story about Mickey Mouse, named 'An Uncle Mickey Day', where Mickey takes his nephews to the fair and the baseball game, and has a barbecue. Everything's fun with Uncle Mickey around. This story uses this Mickey Mouse adventure for inspiration, and sees Furaha and Orko go on an exciting day out with Baby Marvin, to the fair, to the baby spa and to a barbecue at Scooby Doo's house. If you've seen Baby Looney Tunes, then you're in for a treat!

2.Get Comfy With Furaha, Orko & Optimus

I know Comfy Day is days away, but this story was meant to celebrate that day, with Furaha, Orko and Optimus getting comfy in places around their house, both in bed and on the sofa. This cuddly story fits such a cuddly day perfectly, and I know Comfy Day is sure to be my favourite day of the year beside Make A Friend Day.

1.Me, You, And...Reverting Back To Its Beach Setting.

Yes, that's right, I've reverted Me, You, And...back to the beach where my characters truly belonged. After a whole night of doubt, finally it occurred to me: I'll bring Furaha and all her family and friends back to the beach where they belonged. Welcome home, Me, You, And...!

Somewhere On Our Island...

Somewhere in the middle of the Hawaiian islands, there is a grand place of tropical greenery and pure clean water. An island, I may put it. On this island, there is enough food to go around - even dessert! And on this very special island, which we can’t forget for the rest of our lives - even the people of Hawaii - there live five very special friends. They, in order of their appearance, are:

Furaha (Pa’ani) - a frisky, playful little soul, always running along the island looking for somewhere to play in. She is allowed complete freedom of the island, even going deep into the jungle, where she finds peace and harmony with all her fine friends. Then there’s Orko (Kilokilo). His magic works perfectly on this island in this story, and he seems a goofy little wizard who always thinks of Furaha as his sister. Being brother and sister, they go everywhere and do everything together. They swing on jungle vines. They swim in the jungle pools. They relax on the warm sand. Whatever happens, these two are never alone together.

This is Optimus Prime (Lopako). He’s like a guardian of this island, and he’s the one who gave our friends the permission to roam the island freely and explore all its tropical surroundings. Gentle and kind, he’s an Autobot of a fatherly nature, always giving our friends advice when they need it - and a hug of course. And last but not least, here are Timon (Uha) and Pumbaa (Momona). These two friends are comical little rascals, a meerkat and warthog who love the island as much as the place they adopted Simba in once upon a time. With a firm appetite for grubs, the two never fail to make the rest of our friends laugh.

As our story continues, let’s take a look at how our friends spend time on this island. Furaha and her friends like to call each other by their Hawaiian names, and they’re going to do exactly that throughout our story and this story only. Without further ado, let’s begin right away…

It was another sunny, peaceful day on the island. Seagulls screeched in the wind, and dolphins were swimming freely in the ocean far out. In the jungle, there was a waterfall leading down to a large lake big enough for everyone on this island. The waterfall is big enough for everyone too, and here are Timon and Pumbaa making their way to the waterfall for a nice long dive into the lake. True to their Hakuna Matata lifestyle, Timon is wearing his yellow swim trunks, which have orange psychedelic flower patterns from the ‘60s on them. “Okay, Momona,” says Timon, jogging on the spot and jumping the sleep out of his legs, “You ready for the big slide?” “You bet I am, Uha, it’s gonna be great!” says Pumbaa. “Last one in’s a rotten grub!” calls Timon, but just as he is about to dive in, Pumbaa grabs him by the tail. “No, I think I’ll dive in first.” he says. The two take a long time to debate over who should dive in first. Before it could turn into an argument…

“WHEEEEEEEE!!” Here come Furaha and her friends Orko and Optimus, diving into the waterfall and sliding down. “Why didn’t you say so?!” laughs Timon loudly, and he whips off his swimming trunks and dives into the waterfall. “Wait for me, Uha!” shouts Pumbaa, and he dives in too. The waterfall was very fast indeed, our friends floated downstream as fast as a water jet, and as they did, Timon clung on tightly to Pumbaa for dear life. By the time they leapt over the waterfall, they had landed altogether with a mighty SPLASH into the water!

When they emerged, they were laughing so loud, and Timon had water up his nose, causing him to choke and splutter. He had to go to a rock and recover for a few minutes while everyone else had fun. They were laughing and splashing each other, some of them were even relaxing. Furaha ducked deep under the water and saw a hippo swimming gently past, in between Optimus’ legs. Furaha thought it was very funny, and went back up to the top to laugh. Optimus was very gentle to animals, and he thought the leathery skin of the hippo tickled him. Orko was lying on top of the water, relaxing, and he didn’t care about what happened to him according to a certain programme about He Man viewers used to watch - he just relaxed and thought about the peaceful parts of the world, where there was no war, violence or suffering.

Bonded By Body & Soul

Optimus Prime was sitting inside his cosy house big enough to fit an Autobot and his furniture. He was sitting in his enormous rocking chair and staring into the fire, when suddenly, he heard someone banging on the door. His attention quickly turned to the someone who needed shelter.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming,” he said as he put the guard round the fire and went to see who answered at his enormous front door. To his surprise, he saw a Trollan wizard named Orko, carrying in his arms a wailing baby lioness cub. “Oh dear, you poor things. Who might you be?” “I’m Orko, and this is my baby sister Furaha.” introduced the young wizard, “We’ve been kicked out of the house because of our drunk father. We’ve tried everywhere but they wouldn’t let us in, so we thought we’d try your house.” Your house? thought the baby lioness cub inside her tiny developing head. When she looked at Optimus, she gave him the first smile she had since her drunk father kicked her and her brother out of their house. Optimus took the two friends gently and cradled them in his arms. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered softly, “Come on, let’s get you inside. For some reason I have some milk in my fridge. It’s a wonder it isn’t spiked with Energon.” “You’ve been saving food and drink for visitors?” asked Orko. “Yes. I’ve saved all of this just for you.”

While Orko tucked into a piece of freshly cooked turkey, Optimus fed Furaha a nice bottle of fresh milk which he held in his gentle hands. The two friends knew Optimus was going to adopt them, and he didn’t even have adoption papers to fill in, because Autobots don’t use adoption papers themselves. Instead, they just take them in to become their housemates. And that’s exactly what happened to our friends.

Years later, in 2002…

In 2002, Furaha had grown up into a healthy and active young lioness cub with a nose for adventure and fun. Beside her were Optimus and Orko. Orko seemed more like a protector than a brother these days, and Optimus was still there to protect the both of them. The three friends spent their days playing and sharing in all of Earth’s gentle wonders together, sometimes going outside and playing together when it’s nice and warm. They were like family to one another, always there during tough times.

This observant story takes place during Autumn and Winter 2002 and 2003, when a certain string of events happened that proved even those who were Transformers and Masters Of The Universe - except for He Man and his friends, because they don’t deserve to star in this story - can live a simple, gentle life.

November 4th

Our story begins one rainy, dark day in November. The rain was tapping wildly like a thousand feet on a city pavement on the large window as Orko and Furaha were snuggled beside Optimus in his big, soft bed, dreaming the most pleasant dreams they could imagine. Optimus was wondering something inside his Cybertronian brain. “I wonder if rain really does sound like human footsteps? I wonder if human feet make the same noise as rain and thunder?” Inside Orko’s head, a different thought was rising inside him. “I’m so happy to be a part of this family. Who knew an Autobot would raise me? Someday, I bet I can find my magic useful to him as it would be to the whole world. Hmmmm…maybe I could be a world famous children’s entertainer when I grow up! Maybe my shadowed face would be too spooky for the kids. Furaha doesn’t mind, though. She loves a person with a shadowed face.” Furaha’s thoughts were of soft things like rabbits and marshmallows and warmly washed blankets.

Optimus pulled the duvet over him and his two friends and wished with certainty that the rain would fill a fish pond somewhere in town so the fish would survive. Orko was wondering if fish ponds run dry during droughts, and what the fish would need to survive, and why people need their fish to live in water. Furaha’s head was still filled with all the good things in life, and she stroked Orko’s cloak like it was a velveteen bunny rabbit.

Furaha also reached out to make sure her robotic guardian was there. To her relief, he was.

[There'll be more of Bonded By Body & Soul soon! Stay tuned...)

50 Greatest Cartoons Of All Time

Before Teen Titans Go clogged Cartoon Network's schedule drain, in 1998 the network hosted the most obscure event ever - a countdown of 50 greatest classic cartoons of all time! However, as well as familiar favourites like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Tom & Jerry, there are also some really weird cartoons no man has ever produced, or dared to produce before. Those include:

Quasi At The Quackadero

Peace On Earth

Gertie The Dinosaur

The Big Snit

The Cat Came Back

Bambi Meets Godzilla

Bob's Birthday

Well, before you click the link below here are some recommendations on what to watch instead of those weird acid trip inducing cartoons:

Kipper In 'The Fair' (instead of Quasi At The Quackadero)

The Snowman (instead of Peace On Earth)

Teletubbies Everywhere (instead of Gertie The Dinosaur)

The Dingles (instead of The Big Snit)

Ludovic and The Sand Castle (instead of The Cat Came Back)

Percy The Park Keeper specials (instead of Bambi Meets Godzilla)

The Little Matchgirl (instead of Bob's Birthday)

And just a word of note: all the Mickey Mouse cartoons included in the original book didn't make it due to Disney's dreaded copyright issues. Find out more about this brain-scratching event here!

50 Greatest Cartoons Of All Time