I Only Ask You To

Today was an interesting day.

This one is a bit of a hard one to get out, so it might be a bit disjointed. I've had the blogger create post up for a while, but I've been killing time. I'm also reasonably hungry, but I'll do this then I'll eat.

So today I was beaten up by a kid. It was his first day at the centre, and he's fucking nuts. Well, that might be a slight exaggeration, but there were times when I thought that he might have been possessed. Seriously. Some of the shit was straight out of The Excorcist. It was mental. The kid didn't want to speak, so he grunted. When he did speak it was things like, "I could bite you," or, "I could stab this into your face." Weird shit. And he just refused to co-operate on any level. That was just the morning.

Then something happened and he was okay for an hour or so. Playing some games, doing activities. Then it was lunch time, and he flipped out and reverted to his former self. He had some two minute noodles for lunch, but instead of using a spoon or fork, he decided to try and eat them with just his face. Then he decided that he didn't want to sit at the table, but preferred two metres away from it. And it was all an act. He was just putting it all on. There was nothing stopping this kid from joining in with everybody else. He just chose not to. Or didn't know how he should behave in a different environment. It's not like he hasn't been in care before, but there's something going on. He was one very angry individual.

I was restraining him for a while. It was very strange. I have never had to do that with anyone like that before. It was a matter of holding him down, holding his arms and legs so that he wasn't able to kick or punch. Weird. He would struggle and try and get away, but I held onto him. The reason that I had to hold him was that whenever he was let go he'd run off into the toilets, or into the store room or try and escape the centre. Just mental.

The plus side of it was that some of that rooms more "interesting" children took a step back and were pretty horrified, meaning that they were happy to join in with the group. It was full on though, and I don't know if this makes any sense, but that's the way it was. We ended up calling his mum who came and picked him up. She found him hiding underneath the director's desk pulling faces and generally being a rat bag.

We rang his mum in the afternoon and asked how he was doing, as he was very upset and very frustrated when he was at the centre. His mum said that he was fine. Maybe he's just misunderstood? Maybe she's in denial? Who knows?

So yeah, that was my day today. It was a bit strange. He's back on Wednesday, so we'll see how we go.

Yesterday the party was a hit I guess. I was driving and was a bit pissed off at the end that it was me who was cleaning up. Kind of annoying, but I don't think that many other people were in much of a state to help. But a shout out to Will Turnbull and Michael Reiken for helping out.

The costumes were pretty sweet, and it was great to see so many people making an effort. I wasn't sure about Pete's Steve Irwin costume (a wetsuit with a hole above his heart), as that may have been a bit too soon. But I guess different people have different ways of dealing with loss.

I don't know what I'm having for dinner. I do know what I'm having for dessert though.