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!