Issac Blackman

Kudos to Issac Blackman for "To the Ceiling." We were grooving to this at holiday parties this year. I really like this song and Nan has it on her page as well. I like the soulfulness in his voice=0)Enjoy!

ONLY TRINIS- - A funny=0)

I got this one in a forward and thought of a fwennie who might enjoy this;)

ONLY TRINI'S

Gabriel came to the Lord and said, "Ah have to talk to you, yes.
It have some Trinis up here in Heaven who causing real problems.
Dey swinging on the Pearly Gates, my horn missing, BBQ sauce and curry all over dey robe; cow-heel , chicken foot and pigtail bone all over the streets of Gold. Some ah dem walkin around with one wing saying is ah style, dey late taking turn keeping de stairway to Heaven clean, it have ah setta watermelon seed all over the clouds and dem, dey only playing ah setta soca an dub, some ah dem protesting saying dat they entitled to public holidays and carnival, an some ah dem ent wearing dey halos, saying it doh fit with dey hairstyles."
The Lord said, " I made them special, as I did you, my angel.
Heaven is home to all my children. If you really want to know about problems,
let's call up the Devil". The devil answered the phone,
"Hello? Yes,Lord .wha de...... hole on a minute." The devil returned to the phone and said, " Yeah Lord, wha yuh want?" The Lord replied, "Tell me what kinds of problems you are having down there...‚ The devil said, …"Ooohh... hole orn... hole orn" and put the Lord on hold. After 5 minutes he returned to the phone, and said "Eh heh... what it is yuh ask meh jus now?" The Lord said, "What kinds of problems are you having down there?" The devil said, "Buh eh eh....look, hole orn...." This time the devil was gone for 15 minutes. The devil returned
and said, "Look I sorry eh, but I cyah talk to yuh right now nah. Dem Trinis and dem put out de fire again, and now dey installing air conditioning in meh place".

Christmas 2006

Merry Christmas fellow bloggers! To all my friends, fwennies, and poigi, a special Christmas wish goes out to you! I guess I did not feel that it was Christmas until I arrived at my puwa's (dad's sis) house last night. Her husband turned 50 yesterday, Christmas Eve, and he was so happy that he was out on the street dancing to Carnival music. He grew up in St. James, Trinidad. Enough said! All the St. James people have a little bit of St. Anns in them;) For my non-Trini friends, St. Anns is a psychiatric hospital, commonly called "the Mad house." No really, he is the livliest uncle I have. He will get up and dance as long as there is music playing. The funniest thing is that my little cousin, Shivy was walking around and dancing as well just like his father does. He got moves!
I thought at first that it would have been boring but there is something about being with family that makes the holidays more pronounced. When we were leaving, my eldest cousin busted out a wine dey eh! Lawd Fadda!
We came home and opened presents at midnight. I would have posted the pictures if my dad was wearing a shirt but unfortunately, he kinda forgets. Typical Trini! This morning, he was counting the number of shirts he got and putting them away. Everyone loved their presents. Vin got me perfume, and nan got me a really hot-up red dress for me to wear for holiday parties. Actually, she wanted me to wear it to Ami's sister's Christmas dinner but it was a little bit big for me. Hopefully, she will adjust it for me.
I was so sleepy that I didn't wake up until it was after midday and my mom was almost done with her cooking. She outdid herself and while I was eating, she announced to me that we were having guests over. I found out that she had called up my dad's two sisters and invited them over to dinner and they readily agreed to come. That's the best thing about our relatives, they will show up on little or no notice whatsoever. In fact, we made it a rule that when we are over at family's house, we can walk in the house and go straight to the fridge as if it's the most normal thing ever. My mom explained it best today, "At least we comfortable wit dem."
At Ami's sister's house, she had an elaborate meal planned. Actually, we opened presents first. Ami and I exchanged presents outside though. I told Ami that I didn't have time to go shopping for him. Actually, I got him a custom-made name bracelet and he was not supposed to know about it. He didn't. I gave it to him in a shirt box and he loved it. He got me a really pretty watch. I'm not one for name brands but Ami got me a Bulova watch. His sister bought me a Coach handbag. It's something I would use but would never buy for myself. Really, it was too much. I'm not complaining though=0) I got two trendy tops from Ami's younger sister and brother. We had a fun time with the presents and the food was really good as well.
Of all the presents I opened, there was one very very useful present I received. It was from my mom. After walking through the whole mall and finding presents for everyone, my mom did not know what to buy for me. She ended up telling me that she would give me the money and let me go out and buy something for myself and show her what I bought so that she knew I got a present. However, when she gave me the money, she put it in between a six pack of socks. It was the most needed present this Christmas. I loved it! Just seeing the present made me realize how much thought she had placed in buying those set of socks. For me, I can never find my socks when I am looking for them so they are always a welcomed present. I am supposed to buy myself a present and show my mom what I bought because it will make her happy that I spent the money on something tangible. She told me to buy a nice little dress. Actually, I know which one I will buy already.
At my job, I was given a Christmas bonus for all the days I made my goal in the store. Nan also had the same option and we chose to buy little hoop earrings for all our younger girl cousins. I think they will love them. This year, Christmas was beautiful. I liked it a lot. There was a certain sadness in the air because it was on Christmas day last year that my mamoo (mom's brother) died but we tried not to mention it to my mom. She didn't take it too well. However, everyone said a little prayer at sometime during the day for his soul. I know that much. When I came home, my cousins were over at our house. They left shortly after I came in and it was just my family and Ami. We decided to do karoke and Ami played the keyboard. Nan was hilarious. I guess i will post pictures later. when I have some more time. Merry Christmas!

Bush Medicine Continued

A few posts ago, I blogged on "bush medicine" and it's ability to cure the common cold. Well it turns out that my dad's formula worked. I drank two cups of it and by the next morning, I was better. In addition, I slept through the entire night. I've heard of people having to go to the doctor and get antibiotics for this same cold. The guy who sells in the store next to ours was telling me that he had to go and get a prescription for his cold and I was telling him that I haven't been to a doctor's office since I was 15 and that was to get a tetanus and MMR vaccine (knock on wood, oui!). For the most part, when we get sick, we boil lemon grass, orange peels, lots of ginger and some whole black peppercorns in a half teapot of water and sweeten it with honey. No milk.
The peppercorns and ginger are from Indian remedies. Once I was sick at work and my boss, the Indian one, went to the grocery store and came back with a pound of ginger. He added so much ginger to his brew that after one minute in the microwave, it became a syrup. I couldn't escape this one because he stood and watched me to make sure I drank all of it. He even drank a cup of it just so that I would not be the only one having something to drink. I guess that is an Indian tradition because i've noticed it with both bosses, my family and I know that I do not like eating alone or even drinking something alone. Food tastes better when it is shared. But really, I would have passed on this one. My boss's remedy worked perfectly but drinking that syrup was almost excruciating. Since then, if I am sick and at work, I try to act as if nothing is wrong in case if I end up getting something worse than the syrup to drink. My boss has a habit of bringing wierd stuff for me to try and I cannot lie and say it's good because once I did that and the next day, he brought twice as much. When he does stuff like that, I usually tell him that Furgie might like it better. The only thing I have to deal with is Furgie telling me about the yucky stuff she had to eat or drink=0)

Christmas Shopping and J's letter to Santa

Before I start blogging about the season, I must say I hope my Fwennie is okay in Colorado. There's a big snow storm there. Up to 20 inches of snow i heard. Hopefully, he'll be indoors.
Since my holiday job started, I've only had two day offs in three works. From a 22 hour work week, I jumped to 65 hours and I have been so busy that I cannot say I adjusted to it. On Tuesday night, I felt it the most though. I was working the closing shift and I got off a whole hour later than what I was scheduled to work. I work at the mall and I haven't been Christmas shopping yet.
Hopefully tomorrow I will get off early enough to go shopping. I am one of those procrastinators. The good thing is I really enjoy shopping when it's very close to Christmas. I like the crowds.
Earlier this week, I read what I thought was the most adorable thing I've heard/read for the entire year. J- is a little boy who Ami's mom helped take care of since he was a few months old. He is 6 now and sooooo cute! His letter reflects his personality so well! I memorized it and here's J-'s letter to Santa as he wrote it.......


In addition to this letter to Santa, J- also wrote a letter to his mom and dad, put it in an envelope and placed it in Ami's mailbox for the postal worker to pick up. However, he wrote the address on the letter inself and there was no stamp. Ami's dad found the letter and he gave it to J-'s parents.

At the Happiest Celebration on Earth

This morning, I set off on a road trip to what was supposed to be St. Augustine but it turned out that Ami had different plans. He had two park hopper tickets for Disney and he wanted to take me to the two parks I had never been to before. We went to MGM and Epcot. I loved it there. I was told before that Epcot is not all that fun and there isn't much to do there but for people like Ami and I who like seeing new places, we enjoyed the displays of the countries. Actually, Ami and I went from country to country tasting the food until Ami found his Chinese food. I found out that the big ball at Epcot was really a space ride and even though it was slow, it is one of my favorites.

Recreation of Michaelangelo


Scene from the Roman Empire

At MGM, I had to ride in the Tower of Terror by myself because Ami absolutely refused to get on the ride. He insisted that I should get on the ride but I would have to go alone. He said that even if he kept his eyes closed (i suggested this to him) he would still not be able to stand it so he walked me up to the furthest point in the ride and said he will wait for me at the exit. After a while I stopped trying to persuade him. He had dug his heels in on this one and I really wanted to be on the ride. It was exhilarating to the point that I started to laugh during the drop. We watched the "Indiana Jones" live show. Ami liked this one.

Although he had been there before, anyone would have sworn it was his first time there. He likes tv. Disney has this way of giving you your money's worth of attractions. The Hollywood ride was pretty cool too. There were scenes from the classic movies. I loved the one from the ending of "Casablanca."

The whole concept of the place fascinates me and I really do think that there is something for everyone at Disney regardless of age. A little while ago, I watched the making of Disney on the History Channel and it was absolutely amazing to think about a guy like Walt Disney having the foresight to buy all this land in a place where no one had ever heard of in Florida and making it become what it is today.
We were at MGM when Ami proposed to me. I hadn't realized that he was walking around with his hand in his pocket all the while in the park until he put the ring on. Actually, he put it on first and both of us looked at it for some time before he asked,
"So, will you?" I nodded my head. He said, "I can't hear you mamita!" Then I said yes. We sat there like two kids for a while grinning and looking at my hand every few minutes. The picture was one that Ami took just after he had given me the ring.

While we were eating, Ami said, "It looks better on you than in the box!" It took me a while to realize that it was all for real. I called my mom and Furgie, Ami's mom and then Vin. Then Ami called his family.

When I came home, my family had bought me flowers and a card congratulating us. Disney has a reputation for being the happiest celebration on earth. Ami had a choice between St. Augustine and Disney but he told me that even though I said I wanted to go to St. Augustine, he wanted me to be very happy at "the happiest celebration on
earth."

Florida Weather and Bush Medicine

Since I arrived at the store this morning, it's been raining. Whatever happened to the "Sunshine State?" I would have preferred being home and asleep in weather like this but the store isn't half bad either. Well, at least it's good for the grass and the roses will be happy. This is usually the dry season in Florida and there are so many restrictions on the water usage. Hopefully, we will not have a problem this year. The weather forecast says that there will be rain for the whole day.
This morning I got wet in the rain while trying to get in the car. I think I am starting to feel a little sick.

It's now 1:13am on Friday. I definitely have the cold now. My sinuses are in turmoil and I am still fighting it. In an effort to not become overdosed on Dayquil, I've resorted to "bush" medicine. I started off civilized enough but then I figured that in order for this cold to go away in one day, I needed drastic measures. From green tea and honey, I chewed on black peppercorns and believe it or not, they actually helped me. In ayurvedic medicine, black pepper is like a panacea. Not too long ago, my papi (my dad), got up from sleep and he boiled a concoction of almost a whole rhizome of ginger, a half a teapot of water, some orange peels and of course black pepper corns. I hate the taste of ginger in anything but when I'm not too well, I'll drink the nasty stuff to feel better. The cup is sitting next to me and I am estimating how many big gulps it will take to drink the whole thing. I have spicy tea!

If anyone can offer a more palatable suggestion for curing the cold (non-drug), I will be very thankful. Feel free to leave comments.

Energy Juice

This evening while I was working, I was speaking with one of my regular customers. For the past few weeks now, he has been very energetic and less in a bad mood. He attributes this to a kind of juice he has been drinking twice daily. Last week, he brought a pamphlet for me to read about the wonders of this miracle juice. I read it. The potion contains: blueberries, apple juice, grapes, pomegranates, orange juice, a host of different fruit juices and an exotic berry that can only be found in the Brazilian rainforests.
This guy was telling me that the drink contains antioxidants and it detoxifies cells. I was telling him that fruits in their natural form contain the antioxidants as well....even my cup of Lipton has antioxidants. Then I tried to explain that water is very good at detoxifying. In his counter argument, he said that there were vitamins in the beverage. I understood that. See, this guy gets sick every week pretty much and for a while, he hasn't been sick. When we were little and we got sick, my mom would give us oranges and every different kind of fruit she could find and in addition, she would change our diet for a little until we recovered. For the time we were sick, we did not eat much starch or have any milk products. That's detox for you!
Then we discussed the price. I did a double take. I guess he saw the look on my face when he said $45 because he when on to explain that this was the best thing that ever happened to him and I should try his miracle product. Really, for me to pay $45 for a bottle of fruit juice, that will have to open itself and pour itself into the glass before I drank it. Now see, what got me thinking was how these producers would go into the rainforest, find a plant with medicinal value and take all the rights to the plant while the people of the rainforest will never see any profit from it. In fact, according to him, the people from Brazil could not access this berry anymore because there was some kind of agreement between the US and Brazil formed for the very purpose of marketing the berry. These marketers claim that they would give back to the rainforests but how often does that happen? They profit at the ecosystem's expense and they only give back a measly fraction of what they make. Yeah, throw the dog a bone! So for $45, I would rather buy fruits that can last me for three months and a few cases of water and have all the energy I need.

Incognito and Reflecting

Today I went to the store with the same clothes that I worked in at the mall. I have never worn anything but jeans and t-shirts at the bookstore and today, I went in professional looking clothes and I was wearing my hair down but I wanted this wavy, gelled look today. This is one of the rare times that I actually used gel. I was also wearing full makeup. A guy, one of my regular customers, came in the store and he asked me if I was the same girl who is always there. At first, I thought he was joking but I saw that he really did not recognize me. He said that the girl who works in the store "usually has her hair tied up in a ponytail and she wears jeans all the time." I said it was me and he asked if i was sure. Finally, I held my hair up in the ponytail and he saw that it was me.
The book season is starting again. I am getting ready to work the long hours from dawn until dusk and a little more. Hopefully, it will not be as hard as it was earlier this year. Furgie is here now so it should not be that demanding.
For a few days now, I have been missing my friend Laila. She moved back to Venezuela earlier this year and she got a really good job. Whoo hoo! We don't get to speak too often because by the time I get home on evenings, she is usually asleep. I was putting up Christmas decorations in the store this year and I thought of last year when she helped me and I broke the mirror that was supposed to be a collectable item. I was singing on the top of my lungs (no, that didn't break the mirror) and stapling tinsel to the wall (that broke it!) when I hit the stapler too hard and the mirror went crashing to the floor. We aren't superstitious but our only concern was that the boss would say something. Turns out that he didn't care too much for it because he laughed when I told him how it broke.
I've seen one difference with my jobs. In the "professional" one, I see cat-fights waiting to happen. A bunch of girls are together in one place and they secretly hate each other or they find faults with each other. I cannot understand why they cannot get along. After all, everyone has faults! For me, it's just a job that I will do for one month of my life and get out of it. I am trying to keep out of the drama. In the "not-so-professional" job, I work with three men and furgie and I have no stress whatsoever. I go in there, late, early (mostly late), I do whatever I want to do...in my time. Sometimes, they will call me to watch TV with them or I will turn on the TV and start watching and they never say anything to me. I guess it's very informal, my work but at the same time, I realized somewhere along the line, I got the experience and the people skills I needed to survive in the job world.

Wierdness!

Yesterday, while working at the store, I had an Argentinian customer. He comes everyday to see if we have his item and my boss has never ordered it. That kind of gets me annoyed. Anyway, obviously the guy had some time on his hands so he stayed and started talking.
Guy: "hey, you know, the strangest thing happened to me yesterday." he is speaking about Friday.
Me: "yeah, what happened?"
Guy: "I was sitting out in my backyard reading the newspaper when a rat crawled up on the chair and on my head and was looking down at me into my eyes."
Me: "Are you for real?"
Guy: "yes, i'm dead serious!"
me: "really! i would have died right there for sure! what did you do?"
Guy: "well i didn't want to move because I thought that it would bite me or something so I just shifted a little and it jumped down and climb up on the fence and was looking at me." I was really laughing now.
Guy: "see, you think it's funny, but i dreamt that freaking rat all night long."
Me: "I'm sorry but this is hilarious!" Now the guy starts laughing. "It must have been a mouse right? Or maybe a little rat..."
Guy: "No, this thing was huge." He showed a size that was almost a foot long with his hands. I knew he was exaggerating but at the same time, I knew that rats can grow to a very large size.
Me: "Goodness gracious! You know in the lab, the rats we experimented on got so fat that we had to put them on the treadmill?"
Guy: "Yeah?"
me: "Yeah, all they did was eat and sleep all day long. so your rat, he was probably hungry or something or it smelled food on you."
Guy: "you think that's what it is? I probably smelled like food."
Me: "Was it dark?"
Guy: "yeah, it was getting dark."
Me: "but rats usually don't climb up on people though.....maybe he was curious!"
Guy (very serious now): " You know what, I think that rat wanted to tell me something. I know it's a she. Must be one of my ex girlfriends....."
Me: "Oooookay!" I was in tears!
He started telling me stories about rats and his life in Argentina. He used to keep chickens and there was a rat that would eat the chickens. One day, he brought a cat thinking that the cat would chase away the rats. The next morning, the cat was dead. The rat ate the cat! That was even more ridiculous and his accent made it even more so. After the rat, he told me about a girl he was dating once. She worked in an exotic pet store. One day he goes there to take her out to lunch and he sees a humongous tarantula walking around the store. He is freaking out and then he sees the girl pick up the "thing" and lets it walk all over her shoulder. He told her that he had to leave and he cancelled the date. According to him, that was the last time he ever saw her.
It seems as if this guy is a magnet for wierd occurences. He was back to his rat story again and he told me of another time when an opossum ("manicou" in trini) walked up to him and right over his feet! I was thinking at the same time that in Trinidad, if a manicou came that close to a person, that manicou would see its last minute right there. They cook them and eat them in Trinidad. According to some, it's a delicacy!

"Truthiness" in the dictionary

I was just reading AOL news and I saw that Colbert's word, "truthiness" has made it in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. For fans of the show, this is spectacular! I knew it from the first day that he said that word that he would become famous for it. It is defined as "truth that comes from the gut." Really, it was Colbert's attempt to make fun of G.W and his methods of judging people, places, things, etc. It was when he wanted to appoint Harriet Myers as a Supreme Court judge back in 2005. That was about when his show started as well and GW made his famous comment about "feeling in his gut" that she was the right person for the job although she was in no way qualified. I am loving this!

Partying

Today, I had my first day off since the week started. I took advantage of it too! We were supposed to attend a graduation party for a temple member's daughter. I thought at first that I was not going to go because I did not really know the girl but then I remembered that her mom was always there for us so I got up, bought her a present, and decided to go. I found a dress in my closet that I had only worn once before and actually forgotten that I had it. Actually, Nan bought it for me as a graduation present. It is one of those sixties style, totally black dresses that wears off the shoulder, has a little polka-dot ribbon that ties at the waist, and the skirt flares out. The only thing is that I was worried that the dress would not fit because I know for a fact that I gained some weight. It turned out that the dress fit the same way it did a year ago!
The party was done with mostly Trinidadian soca music and some reggae, chutney-soca, and the good ole parang music. Oh, and my boy, Elvis Crespo with "Tu Sonrisa" (your smile). When the music started, no one wanted to get up and dance. For me, it was almost unbearable. Music wastin' and everybody sittin' down! Finally, I got up and started to dance by myself. Everyone else jumped in after. Two hours passed as if they were only a half hour! We left after midnight but it didn't seem to matter as much. There is a big difference when you are on the dance floor as opposed to sitting and watching those on the dance floor. Time.
Last week, we attended a party that my brother's boss was hosting. They are Indians and when they told me party, I got dressed up in a little sleeveless top with a very low neck cut and a skirt that reached to my knees. We arrived there and the people were dressed in saris, shalwar/khameez, etc.! The strangest thing happened there. When we first walked in, we only knew the boss guy, one lady and Vin introduced us to a Rabbi that comes in where he works all the time. At the time, I did not know he was a Rabbi but when I put out my hand to shake his, he held my head in his hands and gave me a blessing and a kiss on my forehead. I thought it was a very sweet gesture for a first meeting. Whatever he said in his blessing, I could tell that he was sincere because I got an instantly happy feeling.
Now back to the party. For the while we sat at our tables, there was an indian woman dressed in a sari and all her finest jewelry just staring at us. I smiled at her several times and even nodded hello but her face seemed so frozen! the lady just kept staring. I felt as if my family had become specimens for this lady!
After a while, I figured that there was nothing to do, after all, it was a party and I was wearing what I thought were party clothes. Furgie was dressed in pretty much the same kind of clothes and when the music started, she was up on the dance floor. A little while later, Vin even started to boogey down! When Vin is dancing, his head, his shoulders and his waist all move at the same time. It is something you gotta see to believe. Then I figured that it was time for me to have some fun. I was moving in four inch heels! Nan had kicked hers off a long time before. While up there, an older guy came up to me saying that he wanted to dance with me. I danced for a little then moved back to Furgie. She was looking at him as if he was a wierdo. He probably noticed. In this party, all the music was Indian and everyone else there understood the lyrics but I realized something. Music has a power greater than words. It crosses languages and cultures. I cannot dance to Indian music as well as I can move to Soca but I learnt one good thing from Furgie, dance and forget about how you are looking out there and what other people will think about you. Just enjoy yourself. It works!

I've been tagged

I was tagged by a fellow blogger and I guess I will carry this on in my little blogosphere. For those of you who know Furgie, we think alike (great minds:p) so some of our answers may be similar.


Seven : About Me

I. Seven things I want to do before I die:

1. Travel the world
2. Go rock climbing with furgie
3. Feed the hungry
4. Adopt a kid
5. Go water skiing
6. Bungee jump
7. Become completely fluent in another language


II. Seven things I can do:

1. Express myself through writing
2. Annoy the life out of Furgie (I've almost mastered this)
3. Make people happy
4. Smile for absolutely no reason
5. Find joy in little things
6. Make Furgie laugh until she cries
7. Teach a subject to someone

III. Seven things I say the most:

1. konichiwa
2. Porgi, me wuv u!
3. Il li sont!
4. you so damn cute!
5. oh jeezum crow!
6. well, lookey lookey here......
7. do you gusta me?


IV. Seven things I cannot do:

1. cook a full course meal ( right now, i can care less)
2. bake a cake (i havent gotten this down)
3. understand pessimism
4. control the things i say when i do get angry
5. suck up to people
6. live without porgi, my channa
7. follow orders


V. Seven things that attract me to the opposite sex:

1. physically: Nice hands and well kept nails, smile and eyes...and height.
****looks.....not drop dead handsome but at same time, easy on eyes.
2. some level of intelligence
3. ability to maintain a conversation and express feelings..
4. compassion
5. willingness to accept faults and fortes
6. ability to laugh at oneself
7. respect


VI. Seven Celebrity crushes (or celebrities whom you like): Basically these are the male stars who i will watch in movies.....not necessarily that i have a crush on them.

1. Brad Pitt (he fine!)
2. Matt Damon (he can act)
3. Antonio Banderas...there's something about Zorro....
4. Daniel Craig (he had some killer muscles in Bond!)
5. Adam Sandler (I will watch his movies)
6. Morgan Freeman (he is hollywood's best)
7. Leonardo Di Caprio (he can act, although he kinda wash up now)


VII. Seven people I want to tag:
people on my list of "blogs i read"

Hitting the mark

Today, when I went to work, I had a customer number and everything. My new job requires me to dress professionally. It's a far cry from the bookstore where basically, anything goes. When I got there this morning, my manager told me that I had a goal to meet for the five hours that I was there. At first when I saw the number, I thought, "How the heck!" A few minutes later, I had my first customer and then another and by the end of the day, I hit the mark and I was over. I was so happy!
Today, I learnt the hard way that when you just got a piercing, you leave the piercing earring in for the time that it is supposed to be there. Last week, Nan wanted to pierce her ears a third time. The store was running a special and she convinced me that I should get a second piercing. I figured that one other piercing wouldn't be bad so I agreed. It felt like a bee sting on my ear and for the whole day it was like that but just when the discomfort was starting to wear off, I decided to take the earring off my right ear. So the earring comes off and the hole starts bleeding then closes up in the underside. I decide to stick the earring back in but now, the thing doesn't want to go through completely. Let me tell you, if you ever get a piercing, leave the earring in for the full time! I had to go back and use the earring to bore a new hole in my ear and pour a capful of rubbing alcohol on it to prevent an infection. Conversation:
My mom: you know what allyuh could do, take the morning dew water from the paan leaves and put it on yuh ear so that it don't get ah infection.
Nan: Maa, daz why de people gi we the solution to clean it.
My mom: Well when allyuh was small and allyuh ears de now bore, daz what i de use and allyuh didn't get no infection. you think they used to give solution back then? I now know that unnecessary pain like this could be avoided if I used to only follow instructions.........

Vin's birthday

Earlier today, Vin celebrated his 26th birthday. Boy even get up and bust ah dance for he birthday! Well needless to say, music start and Nan was already hittin dem on the dance floor. I got him a shirt that he was asking me for since he realized that his birthday was coming up. It's a recent brand, I guess, but the shirts are so cool looking that at first, I bought one for my dad and he liked it so much that I got him three more of the same brand. Then Vin noticed and he also liked them. The good thing about it is that the company makes the shirts in such a way that older people and younger people can wear them. Cubavera, that's the name.
My mom cooked up a storm again. FP&L (Florida Power and Light) had to come over in the night to fix a power surge problem that we were having that caused the PC to shut down. We ended up spending the first half of the night without music and lights while they fixed the poles outside and after, we compensated for the time wasted and the music that went unheard. It's a family thing we do. Anyone's birthday, we must dance....all of us. I was able to record some of the dancing on my digicam but I decided that I would not aire the content. It is too funny and embarrassing to show to anyone. We were inventing moves as we went along...hence the funny and embarrassing part.
Otherwise, today I started a new job. It's only for this month but I welcomed the little change of surroundings. I still work over at the bookstore but I don't work many hours anymore. Figured a few extra hours will cover Christmas presents. I went for the interview today and I started right away. See, the job is involved with sales and while the interview was going on, I did my first sale. I suppose that's a good thing!

Zaboca and bread

Instant recipe: guaranteed to eat good!
Slice up a zaboca (avocado) and put it in between two slices of bread. Sprinkle salt, black pepper and a little pepper sauce and you good to go! Food of champions=0)

A look at Irony

A few days ago, I reached over and picked up one of those celebrity gossip magazines. They were covering the TomKat wedding. What caught my attention was not Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes but the guests for the wedding. David Beckham was one of them and I like looking at him. Well I didn't get far into the magazine because on the table of contents page, there was a picture of a Brazilian model for some really big name in fashion (I really cannot remember now) and they were saying that she died from kidney failure. She was anorexic and at the time of her death, she was 88lbs at 5'7". I think the height may be an inch or two off but whatever it was, it was definitely out of proportion with her 88lbs.
This girl had starved herself to a point where it had become a psychological disorder that ultimately cost her her life. All in the name of fashion and a few dollars more. Beauty comes at a high price! Or society's warped picture of what is beautiful. Society will always be society. American society is very image-conscious. So image conscious that millions of young women have some form of eating disorder....and now males are joining those numbers too! Speaking from a Trini point of view, I really cannot understand why people will do this to themselves. You have food in front of you, you are hungry and you refuse to eat. I cannot say I am totally sorry for her and now I will say why.
Last night, I did a google image search on darfur. I found a picture of a starving girl. I spent a long time staring at this picture. Partly because at first I didn't even know if it was really a girl or boy. That is sad. The picture genuinely scared me. It is one thing to be hungry for one day but this child has obviously gone hungry for days on end. Type in DARFUR on any search engine and click on images. These people wish they had food! Hundreds are dying daily for the lack of food and here, in a society where we have the food, we refuse to eat because we need to keep up appearances. This is indeed ironic! It explains why I am not sympathetic with the model's plight. Any job that requires you to starve yourself to achieve a level of "beauty" is not worth keeping. And for the women out there, most of the standards of beauty were set by men. Fat men with money. It's up to you if you will follow your own instincts or if you will listen to the chatter of society. Back to Sudan now!
The estimated number of people killed is anywhere between 200,000 to 600,000. This can stop! There are many things we can do including writing to our local government representatives and persuading them to lobby for help in congress. If we are able to donate, please do so. Anything helps!

Christmas Songs

What's your favorite Holiday song?

mi burrito sabanero -
This song really puts me in a happy mood. It's my favorite. You can sing along too! Trust me, it's fun!

Burrito sabanero

(Coro)
Con mi burrito sabanero
voy camino de Belén
Con mi burrito sabanero
voy camino de Belén
si me ven si me ven
voy camino de Belén
si me ven si me ven
voy camino de Belén

El lucerito mañanero
ilumina mi sendero
El lucerito mañanero
ilumina mi sendero
si me ven si me ven
voy camino de Belén
si me ven si me ven
voy camino de Belén

Con mi cuatrico voy cantando
mi burrito va trotando
con mi cuatrico voy cantando
mi burrito va trotando
si me ven si me ven
voy camino de Belén
si me ven si me ven
voy camino de Belén

Tuqui Tuqui Tuquituqui
Tuquituqui Tu qui Tu
Apúrate mi burrito
que ya vamos a llegar
Tuqui Tuqui Tuquituqui
Tuquituqui Tu qui Tu
apúrate mi burrito
vamos a ver a Jesús

(coro)

Translation:

With my burrito sabanero I go on the road to Bethlehem.
If they see me, if they see I go on the road to Bethlehem
If they see me if they see I go on the road to Bethlehem

The little morning light illuminates my path
if they see me if they see me
I go on the road of Bethlehem
if they see me if they see me
I go on the road of Bethlehem

With my little cuatro I go singing
my burrito goes trotting
with my cuatrico I go singing
my burrito goes jogging
if they see me if they see me
I am going on the road to Bethlehem

Tuqui tuqui tuqui tuqui....
hurry up little donkey, we have to go
tuqui tuqui tuqui ......
hurry little donkey, we are going to see Jesus!

Papa Bear and his News....

There's an issue in the news about a groom-to-be who was gunned down on saturday morning while leaving his bachelor party. He was to be married later on that day. His best man was also shot and this is what I don't get. Fifty shots were fired! Fifty. On top of that, through the entire ordeal, not one shot was fired from the groom to be's side. Today, Papa Bear (that's what my boy Colbert calls him), Papa Bear says that these shots can be fired so quickly that he is sure that it isn't race related. He backs it up with a reenactment of a previous shoot off to show how quickly shots can be fired. This doesn't bring back the two guys though. Of course it is race related! One of the officers had to stop and reload his gun in the process. Wouldn't that give him enough time to realize that there was no responding gunfire? Kudos to Sharpton for arriving on the scene. The entire Civil Rights movement in the US is more powerful than Bill O' Reily and his biased "O' Reily Factor." I have never watched the O' Reily Factor willingly. Even today, I am listening because my boss turned up the tv set and he is enjoying looking at the nonsense even though he doesn't like O' Reily. Why would you waste your time?
Finally, Papa Bear thinks he is "All American" and he is in some position to make changes. So Papa Bear is questioning Snoop Dogg's former attorney about why Snoop Dogg has been arrested three times in one month and he has not spent any time in jail. The lawyer tells O' Reily that "Snoop is just a guy who likes to smoke marijuana." O' Reily is asking the lady why Snoop isn't in jail and the lady says that the prisons are overcrowded and they are really kept for the real threats. In the end, O' Reily receives a little speech off from the lawyer about how "he has obviously never met Snoop Dogg in person." She adds that Snoop actually is a humble guy and he helps kids in his community and he may have made mistakes but he is not selling cocaine anymore and he is trying. O' Reily says that Snoop obviously cannot stay out of trouble. What I would like to know is who gave O' Reily the authority to be this judgemental. Snoop carries a firearm and so do millions of Americans. So lock everyone up in O' Reily's house. That might be worse than prison! In short, O' Reily looked stupid on his show and that was worth the listen (remember, i don't watch his show!).

A true story

In The Zahir, Coelho spoke of telling one's history in order to basically let go and allow for growth. There are many things from our past that keep us tied in one spot and prevent us from ever getting to where we really should be and for a while now, even before I started reading The Zahir, I was thinking of a particular time in history that does not bring back happy memories and I was weighing the idea of to blog or not to blog but finally I said, "What the heck, here goes!"

Primary School days: Standard Five. April 1993-March 1994.
We are preparing for the Common Entrance Exams in this last year in primary school. The school was built by the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS). My teacher has taught the Std. 5 class for almost five years and his results are getting worse as each consecutive year passes. When Vin passed his exams, there was a total just shy of 40 students out of the 100 odd students that wrote the exam. Furgie writes her exam the year after and the results are worse. Thirty-four students out of about 100 pass the exam. I will say the number for the year I wrote Common Entrance a little further down in this blog. Now, there is a saying that when something goes wrong the first time, maybe it wasn't your fault. When it happens again, you start paying attention but it still may not be your fault, but when the same thing goes wrong for more than five consecutive years, you are definitely the problem.
There was a very common mentality in these schools amongst the teachers that the students were always to blame. And if that was not enough, the parents even blamed their kids for not doing well at school. This is not the same like in priveliged schools where some kids do not know the value of an education. No no no, in the primary school I went to, most of the students were poor and lived on the hills of the Northern Range and in the valley. An education was the only way for them to transcend their current state. Today I will call names.
My school was Five Rivers Hindu and it was later renamed, Pundit Teluckdharry Memorial Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha Five Rivers Hindu Primary School. I laughed the first time I saw all that. To start with, I always disliked the character that was/is Sat Maharaj. He does not represent Hinduism, in my opinion, neither does he represent Hindus in Trinidad. He is racist, arrogant and a chauvinist. Attending a Maha Sabha school made me aware of the criteria to become a teacher in a primary school.
See, if you had Brahmin name, or if you could give a donation to the Maha Sabha, you could be a teacher in one of the schools. That was it. You did not need a degree, not even an Associates degree in welding or something. Nothing! All you needed was to attend High School and have the right last name. In my primary school, everyone who taught there, with the exception of one teacher, had a Brahmin last name. That's because she was a Presbytarian.
In Hinduism, a Brahmin is someone who has become one with the Absolute and has attained a higher state of consciousness. OR a Brahmin is one defined by the caste system that really has no place in society and is one of the most discriminatory social structures in modern days. I say modern because at one point in time, in the BC era, it would have been useful in keeping order within society. All ancient cultures had a caste system. However, we have come far from those times and I guess people like to think they are more special than others. Therefore, in order to create an elite, people were made to feel inferior to those on the top. So back to the Maha Sabha. I am guessing my language will deteriorate from here but oh well. As always, I get angry when I think of Standard five, the Maha Sabha, and their structures.
I saw what amounted to near torture in those schools. I believe that the teachers should be put on trial and jailed for their methods and I think that they psychologically affected a lot of students and diminished whatever self-esteem they had. Oh, by the way, the biggest crook of all of them was first and foremost, Rogers. The principal. Followed closely by Mathura, the standard five teacher, who was a little piece of incompetent and possibly impotent sexist pig who really made his students suffer. Everyone who passed through his class knew of the whip he used. In Vin's day, it was "Ole King Cole." In Furgie's days it was "tickler." When I was in his class, it was "anita." The blasted A**HOLE! Vin told us of when he would come in class after the lunch break and say, "Ahh, I just eat some rice, dhal and bhaji and I feeling strong enough to beat some ah allyuh!" Then he will pick up his whip and walk up to a random student and bark out, "two twos." He was testing multiplication. Of course, when barked at, one who is scared sh*tless will first freeze. Even if the student knew, he/she would be so afraid to answer that the three seconds will pass and Mathura (the old dog) will start singing, "Ole King Cole was a merry ole soul and ah merry ole soul was he......" Whap whap! Lix like fire!
Rogers was almost reported to the police for torture once. He had a habit of locking kids in a dark room and leaving them there for hours on end. If you're a kid, this would be terrifying. One day, he made the mistake of locking Vin in the room. And on top of that, he forgot him in there so Vin stayed in there for almost the whole day. My mom was in school the next day and I not sure how things went but I am pretty sure Rogers was yey close to being on the receiving end of a sweet sweet cut*ss!
Okay, back to Mathura. He made a compass. Out of some very durable wood and it was a big compass. Thick too. He would beat the boys with this wood. In front of the whole class. If it wasn't humiliating enough to be hit with a compass and in front of all your friends, the boys were beaten on their butts. I saw a boy beaten one day to such an extent that the wood snapped and splintered. That didn't stop Mathura though. He got a new compass and was back to his old routine. One day, Mathura had a line of boys that he was beating. They were jumping around the classroom. That's how hard he was hitting them. When he reached one boy, the boy started to cry, he went down on his knees and started to beg, "please please, sir, don't beat meh!" Mathura was laughing and every other student was in shock. This was a ten year old boy. Eleven would be pushing it. If you are wondering why parents never confronted Mathura, well that's easy, they never knew.....You see, students couldn't go home and say that the teacher beat the life out of them because the parents would say that the teacher was right and maybe their kid didn't know the work being taught.
There was a girl. She was so skinny but for some reason, because everyone in the village knew her grandmother and used to make fun of her, Mathura saw it fit to hit her extremely hard. I used to sit in front of her in class and one day, Mathura was beating the whole class. There was a pundit's (or so-called pundit) daughter in the front desk that was favored and she was exempt from all the lix. The rich students were too. For the rest of us, it was lix like peas! Now anyway, I thought that I was hit hard because I could see the red imprint of the wood across the palm of my hand but then I looked back and I saw how Mathura was beating the girl behind me. I felt so sorry for her. After about the third crack of the whip on her left hand (many of us used to put out our left hands so that we could still write with our right hands), she put out her right hand and Mathura continued hitting her. Her entire palms were criss-crossed with the marks from "anita" and she didn't shed one tear. When the impotent bastard went past her, she just sat down, smiled at me, and kept holding her hands on her lap.
Now, psychologically speaking, that girl failed the exam. When you are beaten that much, you only learn one thing: Fear. You begin to think that all men are like that and there is nothing more to expect. I recently learnt from my oldest friend (who had also passed all these days with me in Five Rivers) that this girl was married and she had children. When I heard that, all I told her that I only hoped that the girl was happy and that her husband was a good guy.
So on that same day, there was another guy whose sister had failed the exam when she wrote in 1992 and she rewrote the exam in 1993 and passed for a 3 year school. A Junior Secondary school. She went to school with her younger brother who was in my class. Keep them in mind. I will come back to them shortly.
Mathura wasted so much time that he was unable to finish the syllabus. In order to remedy this, he decided that he would give an hour extra lessons for three days but he would charge every student $10/week. When I was in Standard five, the brother was in my class. He used to bring tomatoes from his grandfather's garden to pay for the lessons. No one knew of this until one day, while beating the boy mercilessly, Mathura saw it fit to tell the whole class. I really have a problem with people who laugh at other people's poverty.
Now the cream on the cake. When we registered for Common Entrance, we had to fill out a slip in block writing and send it to the Ministry of Education and they would in turn, send us our official Common Entrance slip with our name and exam number. Okay, so the official slips come back. Keep in mind the very very efficient ministry of education we have in Trinidad. They manage to misspell one of the girl's name. It's her last name and Mathura is at his table insisting that we need to have our names spelled properly. The girl shows me her paper and it is definitely misspelt and she doesn't know what to do. I tell her that maybe she should tell Mathura. I regret it. She goes up to him and she tells him that the Ministry spelled her name wrong. Mathura looks at the paper and slaps the girl......right across her face..... and I am dumbfounded. She walks back to the seat and she does not cry either. This girl is the youngest of four siblings. Her father was dead and her mother was old and without a job. Without stating the obvious, she fails the exam.
When I wrote Common Entrance, 31 people passed out of 92 students who wrote the exam. It was the most disappointing results in the school's history and the teachers were quick to blame the students. I passed for a seven year school and I cannot credit any of it with Mathura. Neither can Furgie or Vin, who also passed for decent schools. Maybe it was because Mathura knew that he needed to "bat in his crease" with us after the incident with Rogers and Vin. The only thing joyous in passing common entrance was know that I would be out of Mathura's class and as Furgie said, "I would not need to endure another year of torture at his hands."
About two or three years after we left the school, the Standard Four teacher was appointed to teach the Standard five class and the passes began to increase. If primary school were to be compared to the wheels on a car, i would say that we were running on three completely flat tires and one donut!
We were told to respect our teachers but in order to be respected as a teacher, one needs to do the duty of a teacher. Therefore, when I think of all the teachers in Five Rivers Hindu, I can only think of four teachers in that whole school who were fit to be called teachers. They have my respect. As for Mathura and Rogers, time is a just punisher and no one escapes it. You do good, it comes back to you, when you are supposed to be a teacher and you fall into the categories of Mathura and Rogers, as we say in Trinidad, "crapaud smoke yuh pipe!"

Thanksgiving dinner and the Christmas rush

We went over to my aunt's house around 6:30pm and left at 8:30. I really could not eat a bite more but my mom said it would not be very nice and my aunt was not giving us very friendly looks when we told her that we had already eaten. We ended up making tea and eating her home-made bread with cheese. It wasn't bad. I found some home-made pepper sauce and salad that she prepared and I ate it all in my bread and cheese sandwich. My dad had a fun time picking out all the little tangerine pegs in her salad, which she later filled in ziploc bags and gave us to take home. In fact, as revenge, she emptied all the veggie dishes she had prepared and sent them with my mom along with a loaf of her home-made bread. I guess, I will be eating thanksgiving food until sometime next week! And I am not enthusiastic. It is not that her food is not good, it actually is quite delicious, but a lot of what people eat at Thanksgiving is loaded with starch. Anyway, I got home in time to see the ending of my new favorite TV show, "Ugly Betty." I'm waiting for it to come up on abc.com so i can watch it from the beginning though...

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24th.

It's Friday and I went to sleep at 2am and was awakened at 6am because my mom wanted to join the madness of the sales. She even managed to rally my dad in this one. We got to the store at almost 6:45 and I felt like if I was the shopper in those shows where the person wins a shopping spree and they have to run around the store in X amount of time and pick up Y amount of items. The thing is we did not have a cart and it was becoming increasingly difficult to pick up large items and look for others as well. Finally, my dad finds a huge box. I throw all the stuff in the box and I am now pulling a box around the store. Then we see a cart and my dad is able to put the rest of things in the cart. We were at a linen store and my mom had seen a sale on blankets, sheet sets, comforters. I do not know why many Trini women see the need to always have extras of these and matching everything! I forgot for a little that my mom isn't Trini but it doesn't change things. My dad's sisters are the same way. And she even had the great idea in the store that she wanted pillows. I was beginning to wonder why we were getting everything in the same color when I saw her picking out the comforter sets.
Me: "Ma, how come yuh only takin that one color?"
My mom: "Come quick na, help me take that one down from up there." She was pointing at a place on the shelf that she could not reach.
Me: "Okay, but how come we can't get different colors? Like for my room?"
My mom: "Dey not for the room an them." So now me and my dad are wondering what we are buying all of these things for if they aren't for the beds or for covering with when it gets cold.
Me: "No, how come?"
Mom: "Dey for when we have prayers so we can spread on the floor with the sponge to put people to sit down." My mom is the only person I know in the US who will put a whole living room aside as a prayer room. So now my dad is asking,
Lail: "So P----, how come we can't spread dem ting on de bed?"
Mom: "Nah Lail, dey is for prayers. de ones we have starting to get hole in dem."
Me: "Lail, I think the pillow and them is for when guest come too! If I did know it was one hole you was worried about, I woulda spread de ting on de other side!" Really, shopping is something I have to be in the mood to do and I was definitely not in the mood this morning. It was far too early and a bit too cold to be out.
We are done with the shopping now and standing in a very long line, waiting to check out. My dad does not want to wait in such a long line and neither do I. We start walking and we find a line that is now forming and I stand in it and tell him to bring over the stuff. There were "limits per customer" so my mom worked it to her advantage by bringing us along. I saw a lot of Trini, Jamaican and Guyanese people there as well. They did the same thing we did. They showed up in their numbers to make sure they had squeezed the deal dry! Heh heh heh, my island people really know how to shop!
We come home. I go back in my room and a few minutes later my mom comes and says that she is going to the mall. Jeezum Crow! I stay on the bed for another fifteen minutes giving myself a pep talk on the good things about going to the mall. I can only come up with the food court. We get to the mall and everywhere in JC Penney, there is a line but they had they best sale. I helped my mom pick out a nice outfit for the holiday. I was trying to stay away from red and shiny but in the end, she went back for a red top minus the shiny stuff. After all, we don't want to be in competition with the christmas tree! Mind you, I buy one blouse for myself, that was on sale, and a jacket. I was in the mall for almost three hours and I insisted that we leave because I was starving and I was hearing a Latino guy telling his wife and kids, "tengo mucho hambre," "que hambre!" and i was already past the "hambre" part. I was at "'necesito algo que comer ahora' before I fall asleep in here!" Finally we left. I guess I left in a better mood than I was when I went to the mall. See, it's not that I absolutely despise shopping but around the holiday time, my ex usually pops up and I try to avoid him. However, I was happy for my mom. She never shops for herself and even today, while shopping for herself, she managed to pick up something for my brother, my dad, Furgie, and she saw that I chose something for myself.

Thanksgiving 2006

Today, we celebrate Thanksgiving in the US. If we really thought about it, there will be lots to be thankful for. I told a guy yesterday that everyday is like thanksgiving for me. I was taught since I was little that you give thanks the minute you open your eyes in the morning.
I am at work today. No, I did not get the day off but it's so slow here and everyone is in such a good mood that I like being here. I must admit that I could not wake up this morning though. The house was too cold and the bed was too comfortable. In the end, my dad came and asked me if I didn't need to work. It was only then that I figured that I should get up. Waking up was something to be thankful for. Really, I was sitting on the bed wondering how cold the floor would be when I do my Surya Namaskars. Turns out, it was icy cold but I completed four pairs. If I wasn't so paranoid about carpet mites, I would have suggested that we carpet the rooms but I will rather take my chances with the cold.
My boss wanted me to come to work at 6am. Six was when I got off the bed! I got to work a few minutes shy of seven. Not that I did it on purpose but I knew that no one would be there at 6am except for a really haunted person. A conversation in the car.....
Lail (that's what i call my dad): "What time yuh have to work for today?" He's asking because he knows that I am too late for it to be six and too early for seven.
Me: "Six...he he he he he" I laugh.
Lail: "hmmm. Who go be dey at six on ah holiday?"
Me: "dat's what i say. J- and S- done know dat i wasnt coming dey anytime before seven! J- have to be half-way crazy if he really think i was goin dey for 6." My dad is humored.
My aunt invited us over to her house tonight. It's my dad's sister but my mom is the one who's insisting that we should go. She tells us that we have to go because we have always been going since we came to the US and it will "look bad" since they come to everything we have at our house. In addition, my aunt and her husband haven't been enjoying the best of health so my mom thinks we must, absolutely have to go. Mind you, that doesn't stop my mom from cooking a full course meal at our house. It doesn't bother me though. Anything my mom cooks tastes well. So I am thankful for that too.... My mom and her cooking.

Today, for those of us who celebrate it, it is Sathya Sai Baba's birthday. We celebrate his birthday. He is one of the great souls. In Trinidad, we grew up attending his Satsanghs but I realized, to my dismay, that the organization was filled with hypocrites and people claiming to propagate Baba's message when they themselves did not follow his teachings. After some time, we withdrew from the organization. I wrestled with the whole idea for a while and then came upon the conclusion that Baba could not be blamed for the people who led the organizations. His message is a very good one and it holds respect for every other religion. I celebrate his life today as well.
I just told a customer that we were having soy chicken today and he said, "you gotta be kiddin me!" It's actually really good. He had a good laugh. I did too. I guess it's funny when you think about it but it's food anyway and I'm giving thanks for that too! Happy Thanksgiving!

Reinstating the draft?

Okay, once again, I must congratulate G.W. He really did it this time! Boy are we in a mess!
Before I go any further, there is a congressman, Rangel is his name, and he is calling for the draft to be reinstated. According to my source, AOL News, the congressman is calling for the draft so that politicians will shy away from waging wars. Am I the only one wondering here? Now, with our current President, he may very well welcome the suggestion since he obviously needs more people in the armed forces. Maybe Rangel's idea can backfire. I really think, Rangel has not examined the possibilities as yet and even though the minorities and the economically challenged are the ones who join the forces, maybe he can ask for more money to be invested in education and for scholarships rather than calling for drastic measures to teach politicians about declaring war. After all, a person's life is not something that you juggle with...regardless of how poor, life is still a precious thing. You can't just come out and propose a draft because you want to send a message to politicians who want to wage wars. What the hell kind of thinking is that? What if the bill passes and it becomes a law? What if the President decides that he will take advantage of the draft? Now what do you do? You sit down and start thinking, "maybe my plan was not such a good idea?" You start hoping that you don't have a kid that is between 18 and 26?
No, the draft was never a good idea. I really do believe that a person should be able to choose whether he/she wants to be enlisted or not. This is not sounding very good to me, no matter where I look at it from. The last time there was a draft, I wasn't around but I am pretty sure, judging from all the Vietnam veterans I spoke with, the involvement in Vietnam cost the US, bigtime! I think it was 23000 and more lives and many of them were just out of high school. That was while Bobby Kennedy was running for President. That is sad. Right now, I am remembering John Lennon's "Imagine."
By the way, my source also states that 7 ouf of ten Americans are opposed to reinstating the draft. I wonder if our congresspeople consider us sometimes?

Tutoring Chapter 4

It seems as if I have been waking for way too long today. I like when I mix things up a little. Earlier this year, I refused to work on Saturdays and now, I traded Friday for Saturday. I like the new trade. I means fewer hours and likewise, less pay but I like the quiet of Saturdays. I get to be by myself.
Yesterday, being Friday, and my new day for sleeping in, I was awakened by the phone ringing and it wasn't Ami. I answered anyway. So this guy is on the other line. This is the conversation:
Me: "Um...hello." Sounding as if I was not at all anxious to answer the phone.
Guy: "Hi, is this V------?" I think he added an extra syllable in my name but that happens.
Me: "yeah, it's me."
Guy: "My name is R......., I am looking for a tutor in college algebra. Can you do it?"
Me: "Oh, okay. yeah."
Guy: "I mean, can you teach College Algebra?"
Me: "Yeah, I can. When do i need to meet you?"
Guy: "This is kind of an emergency and I have homework due on Monday so I have to meet this weekend, Saturday and Sunday."
Me: "Alright." we decide where we will meet and the time. Finally, I ask him, "What are you studying in class right now?"
Guy: "Chapter 4."
I guess sometimes, when you ask a stupid question, you get an equally stupid answer. The phone cuts off shortly after and when he calls back, i take his name and store his number on my phone. I didn't ask again what Chapter 4 was about.
I know his algebra book is different from mine but I've worked long enough with college books to know that for most of them, the chapter topics are usually the same in several different books. I opened the college algebra text Ami had used and saw that Chapter 4 dealt with Inverse functions, especially logs and exponents. When I called him to verify, he said that it was indeed Functions, exponents and logarithms.
Today I met my student. Actually, he came up to me. He thought that I was a kid at first. We were able to get through most of what he needed to do and he understood every problem that he did after I explained what to do. That was all i cared about. It was a major accomplishment and a break for me from tutoring in high school algebra. College Algebra is one of the most fun subjects to tutor and today, i definitely, had fun with it. My student is definitely not stupid, i must say. When I was leaving, he said, "the guy you go out with has to be really sure of himself (pause)....you're a smart young lady." I smiled. Somewhere in the tutoring, I went from "kid" to "young lady."

"Borat:" My take

Last night, a week after "Borat" opened, the cinema was still packed with people wanting to see what was so funny about this man from Kazakhstan. Ami and I found seats in the absolute back of the theater which, come to think of it, sure did beat sitting in the pit and having to see Borat, with his very hairy self, naked.
First of all, this movie was just one hour and a half long. I have to say, I laughed a lot not because I thought it was brilliant, but for the sheer stupidity that Borat represented in the movie. It's not usually the humor that I like but like everyone else, I saw the preview and I wanted to watch it. By the way, on YAHOO!, the critics gave this movie an A-. Then I remembered, critics are subject to their own likes and dislikes and I realize that mine and theirs are obviously not the same.
However, one day after watching the movie, I will not really recommend it to anyone. It's a movie you watch but you will not call it your favorite funny movie. It was crude and at times, a little overboard. Nothing in the movie represented any value of any country....be it the US or Borat's so-called nation. There is a part of the movie where Borat, in his cross-country trip, meets a group of college frats and they are drunk and talking. They are speaking of the women in the former USSR countries and how they are basically nothing more than whores. Really, the average college guy is not like that. I have met young American guys and even though they like having fun, they are for the most part, very respectable guys. Most of them will not use profanity in front of a lady.
In the movie, Borat's sister is a prostitute..."number 4 prostitute in Kazakhstan," he boasts. Borat has "sexy time" with his mother-in-law and women's brains are no bigger than a squirrel's brain. No, this is not intelligent at all. Not by a long shot. I know it is meant to really show that women are not really given much thought in those countries and that they are made to feel inferior, but when issues are serious like these, the audience must be chosen carefully.
Okay, on the way back, Ami and I discussed the movie. I guess Nan would have walked out on this movie. She has a low tolerance for bullsh*tting. But Ami, being a political scientist, was going on about the Middle East and US relations and the implications of such a movie on the middle east. I guess there will be more flag burning. Wait 'til everyone finds out that Borat is really a Jew!
At this time, the US is not really the Middle East's favorite country. If we are ever trying to establish peaceful relations, we must first give respect. We are a country that is economically privileged when compared to the rest of the world and we should know better. I remember once when Colbert, in his satirical show, was told of a country and he asked something to the effect of, "what part of america is that?"
I just thought that "Borat," although funny, was not really all that funny when you thought too long about it. There is no way Sasha Cohen (that's borat's name) can be put on the level of Bill Cosby and legendary comedians. I have a friend who dished it out to me after watching Jack Black in "Nacho Libre." For the fun of it, I will mention to him that I saw "Borat." His response will definitely humor me. I know it already. As for "Borat," if you haven't seen it and you would like to see it, wait for it to come out on DVD. If not, I hope you have a movie rewards card so you get something "free" for watching this movie....like the free bag of popcorn I got for patronizing the movie theater so much!

BTW...the popcorn was good!

Dems win the House and Senate (keep fingers crossed)

I am still recovering from staying up for the most of last night and early this morning watching the Midterm Elections results. I went to sleep only after I convinced myself that even a recount will not put the Republicans back in the senate. I guess people got tired. The races were close but it was interesting. It did not stop me from watching the combined "Daily Show/Colbert Report." That was hilarious by itself. However, I was switching to CNN to get the updated numbers.
CNN was a little biased. Well more than a little. They favored the Democrats and for most of the announcers, they couldn't keep the happiness off their faces. I was loving it. For the first time in so long, I felt that the Democratic process was going as it should, without any glitches. There is one guy that made a lot of sense though. I gotta give it to him. Senator John McCain of Arizona. He's Republican but I felt that he spoke the truth last night. In an interview, he said that the election results was a wake up call to the Republicans and they needed to meet with the President to discuss what their new strategies would be. He accepted that there was something wrong with the way his party was ruling the country.
This was after McCain saw that the Republicans had lost the House and the Senate was at stake. I turned off the tv at 3am. It was after I had convinced myself that the Dems was indeed going to be in the Senate. Hopefully, there will not be a Florida 2000 happening again. This is where we are now. Montana is called for the Democrats, Virginia is going to be recounted but the Dems lead and Missouri went to McCaskill but they may want a recount. And Nancy Pelosi made history. I like her. She's the first lady speaker of the house. Oi oi!
Today Rumsfeld resigned. I was waiting for this for a long time. I am hoping that the new guy knows a little more than Rumsfeld. Like how to really be the Secretary of Defense for a start.
Now we sit and wait to see if there will be any change. Hopefully, hopefully, there will be. It's about time.

On Monday night, I worked for three hours. to make a long story short, i had to have the cops come in and get a tresspassing order out on a customer. He was getting unruly and violent in the store and I told them that I wanted a tresspassing order. They took him outside and took his picture and told him that the next time he showed up at the store, he will be arrested. I was a little more than pissed off at him but I was not going to let him get away with his unruly behavior. What can i say, life got exciting!

Finding Sex Offenders

Many people think that the US is an unsafe and really culturally devoid place to bring up their children. I have heard people complain about how they are afraid that their children will not have the same values that they grew up with and really, coming from a culture that adjusted to a new land, I can say it's not all that bad. As Hindus, we kept Hinduism alive in Trinidad and the rest of the world and my parents taught me what they knew. I've come to think that the US is a very safe place to be because of one very crucial factor.
There is a website, the National Registry and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and it gives you a list of all the registered sex offenders in the area you live. Nan and I were looking online and we found it. The site not only gives the names, pictures, address and the age of the offender but it also tells you how far the offender lives from your house. At first, when we entered our address and zip-code, a list of well over a fifty names came up. I was a little worried but then when i thought about it, i realized that it was empowering to know. See, whenever a person commits a sex crime, the person is required to register his/her information with the state officials as well as the feds.
I just found Marvin's picture online. Marvin for those of you who don't remember is the guy who NBC featured on Dateline. Trini guy going by the name crazytrini85. he was chatting with a 14 year old "decoy" and he arranged to meet her at this house where he was supposed to witness her do some kind of lewd sex act with a kitten. So they arrange to meet, and Marvin shows up there and gets naked only to find out a few seconds later that he is on camera. My friend was telling me that he was sitting with his friend and watching Dateline when Marvin's picture came up. he was telling me how he tried hard to change the channel so his friend would not notice that Marvin was trini as well. We joked a lot about him. My cousin posted the article under the title, "here kitty kitty kitty." It was shameful but funny at the same time.
Back to the topic though, there is a trade-off somewhere. You can work a little harder at preserving the culture in a foreign land but you can live knowing that you have access to all this information and the law is actually enforced. I was telling this to a guy in the store and the guy didn't seem to care. He was joking about it actually. While he was there, a lady was behind him in the line and she overheard. She thanked me for the information and she even asked for the website. She was going home to check right away. I guess people hear all the time that you can go online and find out but they don't really know what to search for or they are just waiting for that extra push to find out for themselves. I told my mom about the house very close to ours where the offender lives. I doubt she will ever let me go walking to the park alone anymore so for now, the treadmill will do....or maybe I can get her to walk with me to the park....or maybe Vin...he's tough enough to take down anyone!

Golden Grove takes over Trinidad's Justice System

When I first read the Trinidad Express about Permanand's murder, I called Ami up on his lunch hour and I told him the details of it. Ami told me, "doh worry, they go fix he up in jail." It bothered me a lot, even up until yesterday about what a person could be thinking to go to such an extent. I wondered after what point did this kid die. Was it when he was being soddomized, when his throat was slit, when his spine was broken, when his limbs were being sawed off...when? Did the moron realize that the kid was dead and therefore, could not feel anymore? Did it occur to him that he did not need to bash the kids face in? Did Permanand know that he was going to be killed when he was taking the box of food over to the moron's place?
As a Hindu, it is easy to be passive but we also live on this planet. We should at least strive to see it better off than to sit and watch it going from bad to worse. I can easily say that Permanand was "burning out" his karma. But no, not this time. He did not deserve this and no one deserves this. This is not karma, this is atrocious! This is the result of a sick and twisted mind. No human being can do this. It mocks the very thing that makes one human.
Yesterday, the murderer's mom was featured in the Express. She was begging for her son's protection while he stayed in prison. See, what happened was that as soon as the guy gets to Golden Grove Prison, while he is being escorted to his cell, a couple of prisoners jump him and stab him a few times with "makeshift" weapons. On top of all that, a prisoner calls from a cell phone!!!!!! while outside in the yard and gives an account to the Express. I found that incredible. According to the article Ronald Bisnath (the murderer) loses so much blood that he has to be taken to Mt. Hope to be treated. Now Ronald Bisnath's mother is pleading for her son. She is blind due to advanced diabetes and she is saying that her son is a good boy and he would never kill anyone. She says that the villagers are telling her that her family is murderers and she should leave the village. Now, i have already stated what I think of the villagers and the village mentality. The mom did not do anything wrong. She should be left alone. However, I do not think that her son should be pitied.
With Trinidad's failing justice system, I will side with the prisoners. They have low tolerance for crimes against children. It is an understood fact that when a person is arrested for crimes like the one against Permanand, the criminal will suffer in jail for it. I thought about it. I thought of whether we should let the law dictate but then, I thought of how much this innocent little boy had to suffer before he died. No amount of time in jail will compensate for this. Nothing will remove the pain from the mother and people are frustrated with Trinidad's government and justice system.
Now, Golden Grove Prison is where they send all the seasoned criminals. That is what one will call a jail in every sense of the word. It looks filthy, inside out! The look of it should just make people want to stay out of it. It is in Arouca, Trinidad and if you take the Old Golden Grove Road on the way to or from the airport, you will pass it on the way to the Eastern Main Road. When I was little, I lived in the street behind the prison. In the morning, on the way to kindergarten(I was three) with my mom, I would see the prisoners cutting the lawn in the prison's back yard with their brushing cutlasses. Sometimes, they would come up to the fence and whistle at my mom. There were times, the neighborhood kids and I would run over to the fence and throw stones at the prisoners. I always remember the faces they used to make at us when they were throwing the stones back at us. It was one of the safest places to live though. I don't think that I was ever scared of the prison or the prisoners. Maybe it was childhood. Now that i think of it, I had a pretty exciting childhood!
Since the weekend until now, there were more murders and suicides. A young mother of three was stabbed to death on her way home from work by an ex-boyfriend. For a small country, Trinidad has a collosal crime rate. I pray for TnT. It is such a beautiful country!

Soaring crime rates....

Today I read a really disappointing and horrific report on a fellow Trini's blog. I credit her for posting the blog first. The news depressed me and tears came to my eyes when I read the article. I have posted the link to the Trinidad Express where the article was published (click on the title). This is horrendous! The article was published in yesterday's newspapers about a thirteen year old boy who was tortured, beaten, soddomized and mutilated in such a way that not even his own parents could recognize his body. It broke my heart and in today's newspapers, like typical Trinis, the villagers were blaming the parents. These fu*king people should at least sympathize with the parents and thank their lucky stars that it was not their kid. No, it is not the parents fault that they wanted to see a better life for their kid. Maybe it's a failing government and a cabinet filled with jacka**es who are incompetent and incapable of doing their jobs. What the fu*k is wrong with these people?
Okay so now to put the cream on the cake......a clueless son of a gun in parliament, Social Development minister, Anthony Roberts, comes out and says that the government is going to fix child protection laws while he "expresses his distress and horror" about the murder of the boy. Am I the only one seeing something wrong with this statement? Is this the first such incident? Surely the newspapers were reporting or the murder/kidnapping,etc. all along. Which makes me wonder to myself, "where the fu*k was this a**hole all along?" He now realizes that he has to fix the laws! Maybe he took a trip in Wonderland and he just came back!
Where else in the world will a government release a known terrorist and allow such high class sh*t to happen right under their noses? Do these people have any access to televisions and newspapers? Are they clueless? Anyone who has ever sat in on a parlimentary debate or watched it on the television will know what I am speaking about. Trinidad's government and the opposition is made up of a bunch of bullshitters! With the amount of shit that is spoken in the Red House, i am suprised that they just didn't change the name to the Out House. It would suit them just fine!
Trinidad's problem starts at the highest level. There is no strict enforcement of the law, no accountability and every fu*king thing has to do with a bribe and who you know and how much fu*king money you have! There is no punishment for crimes like these and I have already stated my position on these fu*king no good bastards. All child molestors/predators/assaulters should be thrown in prison and be prosecuted to the highest extent of the law. But wait, what the fu*k kind of law is there anyway to enforce?
Now, yesterday was not the first time news like this was reported. Trinis like us who live abroad miss Trinidad so much because when we lived there, these atrocities were unheard of! I know of times when we were little when we left our doors open at night and we would stay out late at night "limin'" with friends. What is the government waiting for? Maybe their children are protected and hence they do not have to frigging worry about them being kidnapped and raped or soddomized! Trinidad is such a small country with such a big crime rate that it is just shameful. I feel ashamed to say that this is what such a beautiful country has been reduced to. The country is beautiful, the minds that are in power are destroying it.....let me not get started on their smelters......(fumin')
And about Permanand Persad, I hope his soul escapes the bounds of Earth for good....I pray for his family so that they will find some way to cope.

Chocolate lovers

Today I decided that I had waited too long for Nan to bake me my cake. I went to WalMart during the week, bought the cake mix and the chocolate chips and left it in a rather conspicuous place in the kitchen, hoping that Nan would see it but she never baked it. I guess she went on strike with me and my demands for chocolate anything. She always tells me about how I must be really stupid to read the instructions on the box and still not do it right. Well, my problem is that the instructions on the box do not follow with our recipe and after a brownie accident, i gave up baking for a while. Well 7 years actually. That's how long i havent baked a cake.
Tonight, nan told me that i needed to put a little more flour in the mix to substitute for the eggs and just add the oil and water to the mix. I did that and I also added my chocolate chips. It's dark chocolate chips and a dark chocolate cake...Does that make it healthy? More importantly, do i care when it comes to chocolate? Well yes, but for the taste. It's about the only thing i really like to have a good taste. Dark chocolate tastes like real chocolate. I like the cocoa flavor. The milk ones are too sweet and completely lacking in the cocoa flavor. So according to Nan, the first taster of my cake, "it taste arite." That means it was really good. While it was baking, Nan came, looked at it and said, "Lawd, look at dat ting!" I didn't smooth over the top fully and it was a little bumpy but otherwise, it smelled really delicious. And for some reason, after it was done, i didn't want any of it. It's part of the reason i refuse to cook--It takes the fun out of eating.
I also baked a store bought pizza and put my own pineapples on it. It was really good but i missed the mustard. We ran out of mustard. yes, i am one of those freaks who put mustard on their pizza (I would have put ketchup and pepper sauce too if i liked ketchup as much as i like mustard and if the pepper wasnt so hot). Nan told me a long time ago that mustard helps to digest cheese better. For an almost lactose intolerant person, it's a great thing to know.
Okay, for the brownie story now. I was in high school and i had to make a molecular model so i decided to make a brownie and draw on it. At the time, I used to eat eggs but that day we had none because we were fasting. So I decided that i would make the brownie without any eggs. Well when it was done, i put it in the freezer to cool so i could ice it quickly and i went over to my cousin's (she lived next door). An hour later, i came back and the brownie was hard like a rock! I had to thaw it out. While it was thawing out, Vin went in the kitchen and saw the brownie. Now Vin can eat chocolate! He cannot resist seeing anything chocolatey. So he decided to have a piece of the brownie. Vin takes a knife and he attempts to cut the brownie but it wouldn't cut. He gets desperate now and he gets a bright idea to take the rolling pin and start chiseling at the brownie. The knife breaks and sails across the living room onto the couch. We searched and searched and couldnt find the blade of the knife and no one wanted to sit on the couch. Finally, after a few hours, we find the complete blade sticking out of the couch and life goes back to normal.
There were two good things about this brownie. It was hard like a rock but it was chocolate and therefore it could not waste. I was prepared to dip it in my tea! It turned out to taste very very good, actually and the second thing, I got the full marks for the project.