Donut Plains

I'd like to say that it took so long to complete donut plains because I was away for the weekend indulging in such concerts as Britney Spears and Marilyn Manson, however it's no excuse. Minus the weekend, it still took 4 evenings and an entire day I acquired due to Bronchitis and a sinus infection to actually get through this second world. I should have had an idea I would have trouble with this though starting with the first level, as I had the most epic battle known to man with the dude who throws baseballs. Why is he there? In a world where there are flying turtles and other scary looking monsters who'd have thought that a dude throwing baseballs would be the biggest pain in the ass? 5 times I battled him, just to lose in the following sequence:
grab mushroom, grow big.
hit baseball, shrink.
grab new mushroom, grow big!
hit baseball, shrink.
try and escape, hit another baseball, die.
5 times, and this isn't even that far into the level. but I toughed it out, only to have to conquer what I will forever refer to as donut hell, donut plains 2.
First of all any level that scrolls will automatically force my to my death at least 10 times. So as if that's not bad enough, they threw in these stupid green parrots that are the bane of my existence. Why are there tropical parrots in a cave, anyway? At one point after dying for the umpteenth time I screamed, "These parrots are from HELL!", only to have Joe respond, "would you say they are HELLrots?"
after that level though, things seemed to go a little bit smoother. Still it took an incredibly embarrassing amount of time to complete, but the second castle was also beat in only 2 deaths! I also got that not so secret top secret area that gives me Yoshi and lives at my beck and call. Even with that available, I am feeling like this could be a painful experience that I am going to be excited when finished. And considering the last thing Joe said last night before bed was "watching you play Mario is like being water boarded", I think he'll be glad to move on too.
Next up is Vanilla Dome, and god help me if it takes longer then a week.