Merry Christmas and All That Stuff

Hey On An All,
It's Christmas Eve and I am exhausted! Spent most of yesterday and today doing owrk around the yard and dodging the attack od some pissed off birds. Thankfully, the chores were completed and the birds left me alone todat....thanks to the placement of a little trap. Will most likely spend the rest of the evening reading or relaxing. Will do my gift wrapping sometime tomorrow before the family comes up.

So to all my readers, "Merry Christmas and all the best for 2006"

What Type Of Kisser Are You?

You're an Expert Kisser

You're a kissing pro, but it's all about quality and not quantityYou've perfected your kissing technique and can knock anyone's socks offAnd you're adaptable, giving each partner what they craveWhen it comes down to it, your kisses are truly unforgettable

What Kind of Kisser Are You?

How To Tell If You're A Trini

How To Tell If You’re A Trini

You hate to throw empty containers away for they might come in handy for pepper sauce and seasoning.
You would choose a “FETE” (part) over anything relative or of utmost importance, even if it leads to unemployment.
You say “boy” at the beginning of a sentence and “man” at the end of it.
You hang a rosary on your car’s rear view mirror…..even though you’re not Catholic.
You put ketchup and pepper sauce on your pizza.
You think steak is a waste of good meat…..so you cut it up and stew it with some potatoes instead.
Your recipe for lime juice is plenty sugar, plenty ice, 2 limes and a pack of kool aid “to stretch it.”
You put ice in your beer and wine, and chew the ice when you’re done.
You know what “Workin Ah 10 Days” is and know darn well its going to take way longer than 10 days.
You refer to an avocado as a “zaboca.”
You call hanging out “liming”.
You call all hot drinks “tea”.
You refer to pop and soda as “sweet drinks”.
You start gearing down for the weekend by lunchtime on Friday.

Song Of 2005

Your 2005 Song Is

Beverly'>http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=CkIfgYlVpZA&offerid=99176.467947979&type=10&subid=">Beverly Hills by Weezer "My automobile is a piece of crapMy fashion sense is a little whackAnd my friends are just as screwy as me" You breezed through 2005 in your own funky style!

What Hit Song of 2005 Are You?

Girlfriend

"I Want To love Somebody
I Hear You Need Somebody To Love
I Want To Love Somebody
I Hear Your Looking For Someone To Love

Cause You Need To Be Back
In The Arms Of A Good Friend
And I Need To Be Back In The Arms Of A Girlfriend

I Didn’t Know Nobody
And Then I Saw You Coming My Way
I Didn’t Know Nobody
Then I Saw You Coming My Way

Don’t You Need To Be Back
In The Arms Of A Good Friend
Oh Cause Honey Believe Me
I’d Sure Love To Call You My Girlfriend

Don’t You Need To Be Back
In The Arms Of A Good Friend
Oh Cause Honey Believe Me
I’d Sure Love To Call You My Girlfriend
Cause You
Got A Good Thing Going Baby
You Only Need Somebody To Love
You Got A Good Thing Going
You’re Only Looking
For Someone To Love
Cause You Need To Be Back
In The Arms Of A Good Friend

And I’m Never Gonna Set You Free
No I’m Never Gonna Set You Free"

Matthew Sweet

A friend from College made reference to this song in a recent posting on her on-line blogg. I went through my cassette collection to look for that particular album. It was one of three cassettes that I purchased one Saturday evening at a Record Store not too far from campus. The same friend that made the reference on her blogg was present there when I made the purchase, actually she recommended “Girlfriend” (name of the album) by Matthew Sweet when I was trying to decide between it and another one. It was a worthy purchase, I related to a lot of the songs on the album; and even today I can still be heard humming/singing “Divine Intervention”, “I’ve Been Waiting”, “Girlfriend”, “Looking At The Sun”, “Evangeline” and “Holy War”. The above-mentioned song and “I’ve Been Waiting” stands out because of their videos; for them they used scenes from a popular anime video that was a favorite of Matthew Sweet.

What more can I say, great song, great album, great performer. The perfect album for the Average Joe contending against the jocks for the few good women that there are in this world. Hopefully I should be able to find a copy of the CD here in T&T, as my cassette player is on the blink; in addition the cassette was played so very often that it is probably worn out by now.

Late Post Weekend In Review

FRIDAY 2nd DECEMBER: Started off as another typical Friday, glad that it was the end of the workweek and that I had two days off from work. Seemed as though it was going to be another regular Friday at work. That was until my courier service arrived with a delivery, at first I thought it was the video game that my brother’s ex-girlfriend had ordered from amazon.com the package was from amazon.com, but it was not for her; it was for me. This me more confused and wondering, “Did I order stuff from them?” I paid for the package and hurried back upstairs to check out what items were contained inside. The invoice sheet listed whom it was sent to and whom it came from; looking at it I saw a name that I recognized. My friend from College JLK or Girly Girl as she is known on her blogg sent me three novels as a Christmas present. This was totally unexpected, really it was. So far I’ve started to read two of them, “Grantville Gazette” and “Snow Crash”. The other book I already own, but I’m still appreciative of the gesture nonetheless. Last month I had sent her the paperback copy of “Weapons Of Choice” by John Birmingham. Last I heard she had received it and was checking it out. Guess she must have checked my wish list at amazon.com and got an idea what to send me. I’ve already picked up her Christmas present, I’m just waiting to see if my any relatives will be coming to T&T for the holidays so that they can mail it for me when they get back. If not, then I’ll try to send it around the 19th December or right after Christmas. I know that it will take a while before she gets it, but nevertheless it will still be on the way. JLK is one of the few people from College that I hear from on a regular basis, even more than my roommate. She is indeed rare and a one of a kind friend. So JLK, if you happen to read this, “Thank You!!!!” and “If you and I are both still single when you turn 30, we’re getting married! The fact that we have known each other for about nine years now should cut out on the whole lengthily dating bit. Things could change and we might wind up with someone else, but should being single still meet us at the same status when you reach 30, well, all you have to say is when and where.”

SATURDAY 3rd DECEMBER 2005: Comic Convention at Queens Royal College. Got up relatively early seeing as I was meeting my brother at City Gate for 9am. Even the slight delay when my grandmother made me walk down to the shop to buy bread and bring it back up before I could head to town, did not upset my schedule as I made good time going down the PBR. That was until Morvant Junction where there was a long wait as a Fire Service Tender had collided with a Maxi-Taxi. After twenty-minutes of waiting we were allowed to proceed, surprisingly there was not much of a line of Maxi-Taxis waiting to offload at the main platform. My brother showed up a few minutes later and was soon at QRC for the convention. We were the first and only patrons of the convention during our entire time there. As for comics, I picked up a few issues of the new Avengers series, the entire “Darkminds” first series (Manga), Warmachine graphic novel, and an issue of Heavy Metal Magazine. Considering the limited amount of funds in my possession (my pay Cheque still had not been processed as yet) I came out of it with a decent haul in comics. If there had been more funds available I definitely would have purchased more, then again, I did have two new novels to read at home. As for the Army vs Navy football game, Navy won their 4th straight and I think they now lead the series. At least Army did not loose by too wide a margin like they have in past games. There is always next year, and it should be an Army win as the four year streak ends this year.

SUNDAY 4th DECEMBER: Rained for most of the day, had to throw on my jacket and carry my umbrella when I went to get the Sunday papers. Did a lot of reading, had to lay off the comics for a while as I started to feel the onset of a headache. I think the wild artwork in “Darkminds” had something to do with it; I put them down to read at a later day. Read several pages of the “Grantville Gazette” and “Snow Crash.” So far so good, JLK has excellent tastes in books.

School Closes Tomorrow...Thank God!!!!

I may no longer be in school, but I still look forward to school vacations. Tomorrow (Friday 8th December 2005), the majority of schools in T&T will close for the christmas holidays. It's three weeks, but it will be three weeks of not having to contend with those brats on public transport. I honestly do not think that they know how to behave when out in public. Yesterday these two girls....I estimate their ages to be in the 13-15 category were sitting in front of me in the Maxi and were haveing a candid discussion about oral sex. They talked about how often they had done it, had it done to them, what they liked, what they did not like, if they swallowed....you get the picture.

I don't mean to sound like an old foggie, but back in my day, we saved that sort of talk for someplace else. On public transport was not one of those places.

Anyhow, stay tuned for the weekend review posting. I was supposed to have posted it, but I wrote it in word and it is saved on the computer upstairs. Hopefully I should have enough time to post it before the others get in and the phone starts ringing off the hook.

December is here, which means 24 shopping days until Christmas. To be quite honest, I'm just not feeling all "YAY IT'S CHRISTMAS" at the moment. I am neither here nore there on the approaching holidays. There are a few things that I'm looking forward to though:

1. School will be closing soon. Thank God! Three weeks free of having to compete with school kids for space on public transport and having to hear them talk about the most stupid things.

2. Army vs Navy this weekend. Army seems to have improved some this season, having beaten Air Force earlier and having a record of 4 wins for the season. Better than the 1 win from last season. Hopefully, they will upset Navy and end their three year losing streak to the Midshippmen. "GO ARMY! BEAT NAVY!!"

3. Comic Book Convention this Saturday. Alright! Something to do on Saturday morning, and some additional reading material to purchase. I just got paid, so I should come out of it with a decent haul. I think local artist Chris Riley is supposed to have the latest issue of "Curse Of The Midnight Robber" available for sale, and one of the vendors is holding some issues of Dark Minds and a War Machine graphic novel for me. A whole of stuff to look forward to.

4. New Premier on Anime unleashed on G4 TechTV.

5. Taking the laptop in for an upgrade, hopefully this should improve its speed and allow me to add some more programs. On the downside, I'll have to search for a CD to replace power point, front page, and access, which will be lost when they do the upgrade.

6. New Novels coming out from Amazon.

As for things I'm not looking forward to:

1. New Years Eve. From all appearances it looks as though I will be doing the same thing that I've done for the past two years, stay home and watch all the festivities on the telly. Oh Joy!

2. Valentine's Day. What more can I say, when you're single like yours truly, lovesick couples just make you want to run them over with a car or beat them with a blunt object. Maybe the new books from Amazon will dull the feelings of rage that I will feel come February 14th.

3. Another year of singledom. Need I say more

Germany Here We Come contd.

In my last posting I mentioned the 1-0 win of the T&T Warriors over Bahrain. The celebrations that followed was for want of a better word, electric. Students were dismissed early from school to join in the celebrations, in some schools they set up a television in their main hall for the students to watch the game. Many left work half-day to go to their favorite hangouts, watering holes, bar and grill type places to watch the game. As was reported in the local papers, places such as these did excellent business and some cases sold out all their beer and drinks. Later that evening the Prime minister declared November 17th as a National Holiday, wish I had known that ahead of time; I could have gone out and joined in the festivities.

While we were celebrating here in T&T, in Manama Bahrain, the locals were ripping apart their national stadium. After the first and only goal was scored, the fans of the local tema began to throw water bottles, ice, and a wide assortement of bebris onto the field at the T&T Footballers and at their supporters. On the field the Bahrani players turned it into a demolition derby and were down to ten players after one of their guys got sent off. One Bahrani player had stripped the ball from the hands of our goalkeeper and kicked it intot he back of the net. Luckily, it was an illegal move and the goal was disallowed. This ticked them off even more , they had one last shot on goal but it was deflected by the keeper, and a few seconds later it was all over. The local police had to hurry onto the field to escort our players and supporters out of there before the crowd did any worse.

Back in 1989 when T&T lost to the U.S.A. the crowd in attendance applauded their win and world cup qualification. Across the Score Board scrolled the words, "Congratulations U.S.A. Good Luck In Italy!" Nothignwas thrown at them, not even a piece of paper was thrown onto the ground. American Supporters and journalists in attendance were overhwlemed by the good by the good sportsmanship displayed by our players and supporters. Fans in the national colors of red, white and black patted American journalists on their backs, congratulating them, even though they did not set foot on the field or made any plays. Paul Caligiuri, the soccer player who scored the winning goal for the U.S.A. remembers the day not just for the goal he scored, but for how he and his fellow team mates were treated after the game.
"We arrived in two little vans and walked through the crowd." After the 1-0 victory, the U.S. team had to leave in the same small vans. "I've played in Latin America and the Caribbean, where they throw rocks at you, the military police have to stop them from rocking your bus." Caligiuri continued, "Never ever did you hear people congratulate you the way people did in Trinidad. The guys started giving them paraphenalia- our shin guards, our headbands, anything. We appreciated it so much. Normally, you'd be ducking down in your seat."

Today Caligiuri is the coach of both the men and women's teams at Cal Poly Pomona. "I am rooting for them," he said the other day. In addition, he also said "I just want them to win so I can get off parole."

Well Paul, consider yourself a free man. Which just goes to show that Trinbagonians as a result of their good nature, friendliness and good sportmanship are respected by many far and wide. Also, it apprears that T&T will have additional supporters in Germany in the form of non-nationals. Colin Williamson from Scotland mentioned that considerable interest has been generated in the Warriors from Scotland. As many team members play there, many of their fans are planning to make the trip to Germany to back Trinidad andTobago in the games. How about that?

"Deutschland hier kommen wir"

Back in 1989 I was sixteen and about to witness history in the making, as the Trinidad and Tobago National Team "The Strike Squad" was one point away from qualifying for World Cup 1990 in Italy. All that needed to be done was to draw with against our next opponent in the final qualification match and T&T would be on its way to Italy. The team that we had to play on the afternoon of November 19th 1989 was the United States Soccer team, who need a win to qualify. In the end, it only took one goal near the end of the first half and the U.S.A. booked their spot to Italia 1990, while T&T would have to wait for the next one to try again to do better.

Fast forward to 2005, our soccer team's qualification for Germany 2006 got off to a bumpy start with a loss to the U.S.A. in Port of Spain by 2-1, there were many chances to equalize but they just went everywhere but into the goal. In the following game against Guatemala in Guatemala they lost 4-1, but in the 3rd game they drew 0-0 with Costa Rica here in T&T. The Coach at the time Burthill St. Clair was replaced by Leo Benhakker, a Dutchman who had taken the Dutch and the Saudi Arabian national teams to previous world cup appearances. He made some drastic changes as new players were added to the mix as Trinidad and Tobago prepared to face Panama. At the end of that game Trinidad and Tobago earned their first win 2-0 over Panama here in Port of Spain, and it actually looked as though we had a chance. In the following game against Mexico the team went down 2-0 to the Mexicans in an away game. As the second round kicked off, T&T again lost to the U.S.A. by 1-0 but there was still the hope that we could qualify for the World Cup. Next was Guatemala and it was a home game. They scored early in the 1st half to lead by 1-0, but in the closing minutes of the half T&T equalized to go into halftime 1-1. As the second half kicked off Guatemala went up 2-1, some anxious minutes later T&T equalized 2-2. but it did not end there, in less than a minute T&T went ahead 3-2, and that was where the game ended. Next was Costa Rica and another loss 2-0. But there was still Panama and Mexico left to play. In Panama T&T won by 1-0 and geared up for the final game against Mexico. In a really hard fought game, T&T came from behind to win 2-0 and clench the 4th place finish in the Concercaf Zone. While the top three teams qualified, T&T still had a chance to qualify as they had to play a home and away game against the 4th place team from Asia, Bahrain.

On Saturday 12th November, in front of a sold out crowd of die hard supporters, it was expected that T&T would win handsomely and head off to Bahrain with some sort of cushion. Well, T&T had to come from a goal down to scrape out a 1-1 draw against Bahrain. For some the mood was that it was all over, no way the team was going to win in Bahrain. Others still kept the faith and believed that in the away game T&T would manage to get the win. Wednesday 16th November, 12:00 noon. All eyes were glued to television sets and all ears were glued to radios as all of T&T tuned in for the game. After a goal less first half the second got off with a bang as T&T scored from a corner kick. While they held the lead, there were still a lot of time left in the game. For the remainder of the match I was upstairs doing the 2Ps, pacing and Praying for victory and for the game to end. What I remember the most about the end of the game, was that my mother and sister had just stopped by to drop off lunch. My bother had just finished his when I heard shouts of joy from downstairs, that was the signal! The game was over, Trinidad & Tobago had beaten Bahrain 1-0 to book the first ever appearance in World Cup.

All over Trinidad and Tobago people were celebrating more than I had ever seen them do before. It turnded into a Carnival type atmosphere, minus the costumes. Horns were honking, people were cheering and flags were waving; the entire nation was happy!!. I'll write more about the celebrations a bit later on, stay tuned.

I'm Back And Still Alive

Well, I'm back again! After fourteen laid back, stress free days of vacation I returned to the world of work. It's been four days since I've been back, and a huge portion of that time has been spent walking back and forth to the bank, sitting in the bank waiting to get a cheque certified, or walking to other parts of Port of Spain to deliver or pick up stuff. Monday saw me almost oversleeping and breaking the record for getting ready for work and getting to the store early. I'm still amazed that I was able to get out of bed (more like run out of bed) at 5:03am, do all the necessary hygene processes, hop out of the shower, get dressed, throw some snack stuff into my bag, leave the house at 5:30am, make it to the Bus Route at 5:38am and get to the store at 6:04am. That's all from me for now, will be back with more later or when I feal like writing.

Weekend was rather crummy. It was one of those days that I should have just started my vacation early, stayed in bed, with breaks for the bathroom, food, drink and alcohol. Instead I got out of bed, had a really cold bath as there was no water in the pipes and I had to resort to the emergency buckets of water that I keep. Made the commute from Five Rivers to POS alive and in one piece, also the driver had the radio on a decent station.

Things started to get crappy when I went to the bank and was forced to have to listen to some stupid idiot talk utter bull**** for ten minutes straight. Why are stupid people allowed out of their cages? Their keepers need to get a good cutass for being so blinking careless. On my way home, I got the stunt driver from the Mad Max movies. I lost count of how many times he had to get back into the correct lane while overtaking to avoid a head-on collision with oncoming Buses and Maxis.

The reminder that I was missing a college friend’s wedding and the gathering of friends that I have not seen in years had me down in the dumps. If there was anytime I need to get good sloshed was Friday; as if on cue a former co-worker from my time at the Sporting Complex called me to invite me along on a bar hopping tour through St. James. It sounded like a good idea, but then I got this nagging feeling that maybe I should stay home and watch Threshold. Just before the end of the 7pm News they got word of an explosion somewhere in St. James. Gradually it was confirmed that an explosive device was set off in the vicinity of a popular hangout. Somewhere between 5 to 10 people were injured in the blast. It was said that a parked car right in front of the blast area, prevented a further additional injuries, damage to property and loss of life. This makes it four bombing incidents within the Port of Spain area. The last one being at the KFC on Independence Square, luckily the timely removal of the garbage from the main eating area to a dumpster in the rear of the building prevented excess damage, injury of loss of life. The worse by far was the first one back in July.

In my opinion, once they find the person(s) involved, forget a trial in a court of law. What they did is an act of terrorism and treason against the government and people of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. There for said person(s) should be executed in a slow and painful manner (disemboweling, drawn and quartered, hung from the neck until dead). A message needs to be sent to all current criminals and aspiring criminals, that their days are numbered and this is the fate that awaits them should they choose a less than honest and legal path in life.

With St. James cornered off, my trip out was thus cancelled and I wound up watching Threshold, until it was time to attempt a load of laundry. The water pressure had been extremely low for the past few days, and my grandparents had been using the storage pump to provide water. I had to wait until they went to bed and turned it off before I could attempt to get my colors done. There was water in the pipes, but as expected, it was low. Still I threw in the colors and went back to my bedroom to await the start of Adult Swim. Unfortunately, I slept through the whole thing, but woke up in time to put my clothes on the line at around 3am, followed by a load of whites. Managed to catch Mission Hill, Family Guy and Futurerama on TBS.




Saturday and Sunday passed in a blur. Whatever books I planned to read during those two days went unread. I did finish reading Bernard Cornwall’s “Sharpe’s Waterloo”. I still have four other books from the Sharpe’s series to finish reading. Seeing as I will be going on vacation soon, I should be able to finish them during my time off.

Speaking of time off, on the upside my vacation begins tomorrow. For the next fourteen days I get to sleep in late, avoid rush hour transportation, do the mall tour for new books, visit my dad over in Tobago for a few days; borrow a few movies from the DVD/Video Club down the street and catch up on some movie viewing. Seeing as school is in session I will be able to visit nearby Trincity Mall and catch a movie or two at Cinema8, and grab some BK to take home for dinner. Only a few more hours until I get to leave and begin my time off, will have to make a stop at the grocery for Cran-Cherry Juice, Pretzels and Chocolate Ripple Ice-cream.

Also, my copy of “Designated Targets” is due to arrive sometime near the end of October. It should not be all that difficult to come down to the store to collect it and the other books that I’m expecting from Amazon.

Hooking up with/trying to hook up with a friend is not always such a good idea, especially when alcohol is involved and all inhabitions are for the most part removed. My friend Girly Girl has been single for six months following the end of a relationship with her boyfriend of nine years. She transferred in SJFC at the start of the Spring Semester of 1996, the boyfriend that she had the really long relationship with lived on my floor and was a friend of mine. I can't recall when we first started talking, her earliest memory of me was from one of the Friday/Saturday night get togethers that were hosted in the room that I shared with my friend and roommate, I was doing my part to cleanup after everyone so that there would not be too much of a mess at the end of the party.

From what I'm getting from some of her blog entries, guys who she has been friends with for a number of years have declared open season on her and have been coming onto her like she was the last woman on Earth. It's almost as though they received a signal saying "He's out of the picture and out of the country, move in, move in, GO, GO, GO!!!!" If they were real freinds they would not be acting this way. As a male I too have several female friends that I have been attracted to back when I first met them, however, I eventually came to realize that is was better to have them as friends than as nothing at all. I've the experience of being the one pursued by someone who wanted more than what I was willing to give.

During my three quarters at the Business School in New Jersey, I made the acquaintance of a just out of high school female, who was abit of a loaner within the residence hall. She used to hang out with another female friend of mine, and we had a Computer Information Systems Class together. When the second quarter rolled around, our common friend had already decided not to return, and she kinda latched onto me. I found it weird at first, but being the good natured, kind hearted person that I am, I did my part ot be civil and friendly to her when others were being downright cruel. We had two classes together, which was not too bad at first. Until she switched seats to be closer to where I was sitting. I found it weird, but choose not to take it on too much. Then came the invites to dinner at her house, to go to some movie that I was not interested in seeing, sending me instant messages while I'm chatting with someone else, standing around while I was talking to someone else about something that did not concern her.I even got an invite to spend my one week off from school at her summer house on the shore; even after I told her that I was going to my relatives in Long Island, more like I wanted to go to my relatives. She still kept on pestering me about it.

Third quarter was where things got a whole lot more uncomfortable, as she was in every single class that I was enrolled in, there was no break from her except when I went to my room, or when I went to my roommate's house for dinner and stuff. On one occasion I was goofing around with a girl from Macroeconomics class, when she came up and said," If you're trying to make me jealous I suggest you not do that!" That was where the red alert in my brain went off. For the remainder of the quarter I did my best to limit my contact with her outside of class. Once class was over I would head to my room, or hide out in someone else's room to get away from her. She wanted more than just friendship from me, and that was all I was willing to give. Her overbearing presence scared away a few potentials (this I did not find out about until after I left the school). When it became obvious to her that I was not interested in her, she started to get pissed off at me for no reason. On one occasion, I warned her that she was driving to fast and a bit reckless and she darn near cussed me out over it. Thankfully, she was moving off of campus and was heading home later that day. After helping her move out her stuff I said "Goodbye" and quickly walked away.
Goodfriendships are way too valuable to waste/mess up by getting involved. If it does not work out, it will make returning to friends really difficult. So, if you value your friends that are of a different gender; keep it friendly. If you two are meant to be more than friends, it will happen but not before its time. So don't rush it.

Stubbed Toe & Trinbago Victory

Last night the T&T football (soccer team) faced off against Concercaf powerhouse Mexico in a do or die situation in their quest to qualify for the World Cup in Germany. Having won 1 - 0 over Panama T&T Soca Warriors were on 10 points heading into the game and in fourth place ahead of Guatemala who were on 8 points. Both teams were playing for the 4th place playoff spot, as who ever wound up in 4th would have to undertake a home and away game against Bahrain to qualify for World Cup 2006. Needless to say, most of the country was at the National Stadium last night for the game. Your's truely was at home, running between my bedroom and the living room.

I was wathcing E-Ring, Lost and Invasion; then during the commericlas I would run into the living room to check on the game. During my early dashes Mecixo had taken the lead 1-0, and for a moment I considered turning off the televison and focuising on the other shows. But, somehting told me to leave it on and continue the back and forth dash. During the commercial breaks for Lost I ran back in just as the equalizer was scored. That got my spirits up, as I ran back to check on Lost. Sometime during Invasion the second goal was scored, just as I ran into the living room. On my final run back into the lving room I got there was the final whistle was blown and T&T had won the game and clinched the 4th place for the playoff against Bahrain. Although Gutameal defeated Costa Rica 3-1, the wound up with 11points, while T&T wound up with 13. As for the stubbed toe, that came as a result of my impromptu victory dance. Not looking where I wa going I wound up kicking the drink trolley. The good news is I did not get a cut and the drink trolley is okay.

After all that running back and forth it was no surprise to me that I managed to pass out really quickly. Except that I left the television in my room on, and only woke up at around 2:30 am to turn it off.

My friend Girly Girl had this posted on her blog, a few questions about simple stuff that only folks who know each other rather well would know.

1. I'll respond with something random about you.
2. I'll tell you what song/movie reminds me of you.
3. I'll pick a flavor of jello to wrestle with you in.
4. I'll say something that only makes sense to you and me.
5. I'll tell you my first/clearest memory of you.
6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I'll ask you something that I've always wondered about you.
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on your journal

She posted her answers on me and they are as follows:

Volley:
1. You're much cleaner than Skinner
2. Sombody's watching me - Rockwell
3. Strawberry?
4. Strawberry ripple
5. cleaning up behind everyone during a party in your's & Mike's room
6. collie
7. Why/how did you not run immediately upon seeing Carmel?
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on your journal

As she requested, I am more than happy to oblige:
Girly Girl
1. If they gave out honors for how cool you are (both now and back in College) you would be Magna Cum Laude (4.0 all the way)
2. Roni by Bobby Brown
3.Does it have to be jello? How about pudding? Awww Yeah! Wrestleing in the chocolate pudding!
4. There are three actually: (1). Makeing GD jealous at the Toga party.
(2). Late night trips to Perkins and Walmart.
(3). Interesting drawings/artwork on my door (Free Coloring Books anyone?)
5.Dr.B's WW1 Class Spring Semester 1996. My thought was, "Hey really cute new girl is in this class."
6. Pegasus (Unique, Rare, One of a kind)
7. Was it me, or was having to contened with A*** during Hitler and Hollywood the only downer to a mostly interesting and easy class (still think its funny that he did not get an A in that class).

Why are morons allowed to live and produce offspring? Are there not enough of these people to frustrate our daily lives? It’s getting to the point that I feel as though my small twin island republic is slowly being over-run by these idiot stupid people. Just judging by the stupid things that I witness being perpetrated on a near daily basis. At the zebra crossing in front of the main transport hub for POS, I’ve seen people continue trying to cross even after the crossing guard has asked them to wait and traffic is speeding by. At the Bank that I go to on a near daily basis customers/patrons are directed to join the specific queue (Foreign Exchange one line, regular transactions the other). Before they get to the top of the line there is a sign that informs them upon hearing the signal to head for the teller indicated by the number and the arrow. Simple enough. Yet, these idiot people still mess it up by either going the wrong way or to the wrong teller. Worse are the loudmouth customers that have to make comments on everything; when it comes their turn to go to their respective teller, they do the same as the above.

Then there are the impatient ones who seem to have an allergy of some sort to waiting their turn; and who instead of doing like the rational minded people who are waiting patiently and quietly to be attended to, have to broadcast their displeasure with waiting. Honestly, I know that I really do not need nor care to hear that you have been waiting for a long time or that you are running late. How about next time, you leave home earlier j*****s! I wonder if these same people will act the same way while waiting in line at the U.S. Embassy when applying for their visa? Or will they act that way while waiting in the never-ending line that is U.S. immigration? Of course not why would they, and miss their chance at being in the U.S.?

What really drew me to write this entry today has to do with the 10 items or less lane at the grocery store. Correct me if I’m wrong, but 10 items or less means once you have more than one item and no more than ten items, you can go into that line and get out of the grocery faster. Okay? Good! Yesterday afternoon I went to the grocery, after all I was in need of juice, shampoo, laundry detergent and insect repellent. At first I had to search high and low for one of the hand baskets, there were none by the entrance so I went to the checkout lines where I managed to find one that was in relatively good condition. The items in my basket came up to eight in total, which meant I could use the express lane to get through faster.

Not exactly, you see there were three people ahead of me, two of them were within the required number for the 10 items or less lane. As for the other guy, he had over twenty items and was still being cashed out. IDIOT MAN!!! 10 Items or less means 10 items, not items arranged in groups that come up to 10. Needless to say, I was forced to endure an added on wait as this gentleman was allowed to proceed with his more than 20 items. As for the cashier, she did not seem to really care at all; yet she had the nerve to look at me weird for having two bottles of Cranberry Juice.
Week after next I will be going on vacation; and during my time off I will be doing my best to avoid the general public, especially the idiots. I will only come into contact with them if and when I choose to do so and it won’t be for too long. At least I will be away from the idiot people for some time. THANK GOD!!!!

GALLERIA CONVENTION

Saturday 1st October was the first ever GALLERIA Convention, which was aimed at fans of anime, Manga, video games, Cosplay and comics. I attended with my brother and his cousin; lately the conventions dedicated to comics and animation that I’ve attended have been rather excellent as compared to this other convention that I used to attend.

Okay here is how it is; back in August of 2003 I attended one of the Anime City events. It was an all day film fest of well known and lesser known anime movies, decent free giveaways at the door, and a mini-mall that was selling a lot of comics, graphic novels, movies (VHS & DVD), posters, wall scrolls etc. My first anime experience was all right. Granted I had to wake up around 4am to get to the venue to get a jump on the crowds (good thing to, by the time they opened the doors the lines was out the gate and into the road), but I came out of it seeing some interesting movies and with a decent haul in graphic novels. Following that one I attended two more with my brother and his friends, and needless to say they did not measure up to the first one that I attended.

Even although we got there really, really early there were people already there and the line had extended a great distance. To get in did not take all that long; to get into the anime city mall took forever. There was a lot of pushing and shoving to get to the entrance and they would not let anyone in until a few people had come out. Also, members of the organization that was hosting the anime event were yelling at people like they were animals; granted there were some major jerks in the crowd there was still no need to talk to people like they were lower than scum. By the time I got in, most of the really good books were already taken and I had to settle for a few interesting leftovers. Trying to browse for books was difficult in the sense that everyone was crowding around the one table that it was difficult to move. After my third anime city experience, I along with the others in my small group vowed to never attend any more anime city conventions.

Good thing to, at one of the following conventions some guys that were there to participate in the Yu-Gi Oh contest ran around the school pulling the fire alarms, pretty much running the whole event for many others. As a result the G****** Foundation was banned from ever using the venue and now had to rely on some place that is a whole lot smaller and not as air-conditioned.

Since then, I’ve attended three/four other conventions where I have been able to comfortably browse for books and make some excellent finds. There were several tables and booths occupied by a diverse group of vendors which made searching for much sought after books a whole lot easier. Some of the vendors gave out calling cards for their organizations and even invited me to contact me if there was any particular book that I was looking for. At GALLERIA one of the vendors held some book for me that I had inquired about, now how cool is that. Apart from comics, there were others vendors that were selling anime movies, video games and anime music videos. For a first time outing, I found that it was alright in that:
1. There was a diverse group of vendors.
2. It was held in a central location that was quite spacious.
3. The event staff was not yelling at people like they were animals.
4. It was a jerk free event.
5. Came out of it with a decent haul in books (four trade paperbacks of which I got decent discounts on, and about ten comics…of that 10 I got one of them for free)
6. A decent amount of Cosplayers.
7. The DJ was playing some rockin tunes.

However for next time they could:
1. Choose a location that has air-conditioning for the entire facility.
2. Advertise way in advance of the event to generate a larger turnout.
3. If providing refreshments, let patrons/attendees know where they are located.
4. Decide in advance what movies will be shown.
5. Provide a play list of movies and their times.
6. Start on time.
7. Provide souvenirs for those that purchase tickets in advance of the event (i.e. lanyards, key chains, pins/badges)

If interested, then I advise that you check out the following site:
http://zymorph1.tripod.com/

There are many things that I like about the end of the month, along with a few things that I dislike. For starters the whole having a paycheck to apply to my account is a definite good, and seeing as my account is with the same bank that I go to on a daily basis it is possible to get part of my check cashed while depositing the rest. Whatever I cash gets used right away, mostly on utility bills like electricity, phone, cable and internet. You can’t imagine the relief of paying your bills before the due date and avoiding the late fees that the companies are eager to apply to the next bill. The majority of my recent deposit is applied to other little areas like groceries and maybe something trivial like ordering a large pizza from Pizza Hut or the Mega Meal from KFC (both of these can last me well into the middle of the following week).

The following weekend I may step out to look for new books and stuff, seeing as I have a few coming from amazon.com sometime next week (used purchases) and near the end of the month (new purchases but will be delivered late because one of the books will not be available until the 25th October) I will not be patronizing R.I.K. or Nigel R. Khan’s anytime soon. This time I’m really going to try and save, actually I’m considering starting another bank account with another local bank. There is one right next to the bank that I go to nearly every day; and they have the deposit system where you do not have to stand in line, instead you can fill out a deposit slip and place it and the cash/check into a self-sealing envelope, and deposit it into one of their secure deposit bins/boxes.
As for the downside of the end of the month……..crowds at the bank. This morning I left the store around 8am on the dot, by the time I got to the bank there was already a line halfway down the que. Actually this was not so bad, there have been times when the line has reached up to the door. But this morning was not too bad, there were more tellers in the booths so the line was moving along quickly and smoothly. That was until this mad ass walked into the bank yelling some gibberish and stiking up the place. Dude’s B.O. and Bad Breath had the effect of a CBW (Chemical and Biological Weapon). On top of that, this goodly gentleman had the nerve to ask me some non-sencial question, I ignored him, and thankfully was called to one of the tellers. By the time I left the bank, he was still wandering around talking like some nut job. I was actually wishing that the security guards would get trigger happy and put one between his eyes. No such luck.

Once again I was gald to get out of the bank with cash in hand and the rest in my account. Payed off my cable and phone bill and have some left for tomorrows events. Will write more about that at a later time.

Interesting Sayings

I came across the following list last Sunday in the supplement of one of my local papers. I find them quite interesting and funny at the same time, I hope you enjoy them.

1. Birds of a feather flock together, and crap on your car!
2. There's always a lot to be thankful for if you take time to look. For instance..wrinkles aren't painful.
3. When I'm feeling down, I whistle. It makes the neighbour's dog run to the end of his chain and choke himself.
4. If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
5. Don't assume malice for what stupidity can explain.
6. A penny saved is a government oversight.
7. The real art of conversation is not ony to say the right thing in the right place, but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
8. The older you get, the tougher it is to loose weight, because by then your body and your fat are really good friends.
9. The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.
10. He who hesitates is probably right.
11. If you think there is some good in everyone, you haven't met everyone.
12. If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.
13. The sole purpose of a child's middle name is so he/she can tell when he's/she's really in trouble.
14. Living on Earth is expensive, but it does include a free trip around the sun.
15. The mind is like a parachute...works better when its open.
16. The difference between a rut and a grave is the depth and length.

Secret Fear 2

By the way I forgot to mention in yesterday's posting. I did have girlfriends, the first I met when I was 13 and we became a couple when I was 15 and in 4th form. We were together for one year and four months. However, in that entire time we hardly saw much of each other; her mom was really strict and was often grounding her for some of really small things.In the entire time that we were involved we went on two occasions (Air Show and her School bazar) and had to meet secretly after school on two occasions. Her moving overseas was what put an end to our relationship. I met my second girlfriend when I was sixteen (on the rebound from 1st gf) and was a junior counselor at a vacation camp. I had seen her around at the mall and stuff; and found that she was gorgeous. She had the same affect that most attractive women had on me, hart would race at a mile a minute, my stomach would twist in knots, my hands would shake and I would have no idea what to say. Whenever she looked my way I would either duck down, hide behind one of my friends, or if I was out by myself high tail it to another part of the mall. I got an introduction through a friend of mine, or more like she made him introduce us. We were together for three moths before she dumped me for some dude that worked as a conductor on a maxi taxi (24/12 seater bus). My single streak was last into my Senior Year of college. In both cases, they were the ones that made the first move and initiated contact which to involvement.

Anyhow, after completing exams and escaping with only a few injuries from angry hot gorgeous Chinese girl. I opted to take some time off from school, and choose to start my application process to Colleges in the US. Unlike most of my friends who were either in school or working, I was at home doing nothing much. Which of course was no way to draw the attentions of the ladies, no way any of them would have given me the time of day. Sure I was applying to schools overseas, but that did not mean much to them. So from September of 1991 to July of 1992 I became something of a hermit. When I did venture out and came across attractive females in the immediate vicinity, I would head for somewhere else or wait until the left the store that I was waiting to go into.

My acceptance to a four year liberal arts College in the catholic tradition was a boost to my self-esteem. I ran into angry hot Chinese girl's younger sister and mentioned it to her; which I eventually regretted and had nightmares that she wound up at the same college and made my life a living hell. Thankfully she never showed up. Apart from being anxious about heading off to a school in a part of NY that I had never been to much less heard of, how I was going to do academically, and if I would fit in with the other freshmen. I was also nervous about the women that I would be encountering at the school. During my time there by some mysterious grace of the supreme being I developed friendships with several females, some of whom I still hear from today. Granted at first I found it difficult to walk up to them an introduce myself, but from either having classes together, being involved in the same clubs, living in the same residence hall etc made it easy to meet and get to know them better. Somehow at ****** it was not that difficult to speak to women, granted there were the snobs and the *******, but all in all it was not all that bad. I still had the occasional panic attack around the attractive ones that I admired from a distance whenever they were nearby. I actually wound up dating one of them for a few months, unfortunately being a senior and getting involved with a freshman girl (now that I've had time to look back at it) was not such a good idea. Ending it with her allowed me to partyup a storm my last semester with my friends, and I even took a really special ******** college sophomore to my senior ball.

When I returned home I found that:
1. Women here claimed that they were looking for a really nice guy, but were running down the a******s, jerks, moronic and the brain dead.
2. Being in possession of a Bachelor of Arts in History and English from St.**** ****** College, having intelligence, manners, common sense, common courtesy and a degree of modesty is not enough to impress these women.
3. The jerks and a******s get everything handed to them, while the rest of us have to work hard.
4. When the jerks and a******s mess up, women here will lump all men in the same category...AS DOGS...

Since then, I've given up on the dating game and withdrawn/taken myself off the playing field and placed myself on the bench. I've made a few attempts, but have been shot down everytime for a jerk with money, a car and bling. Whenever I come across a squad of attractive women out and about, I walk by rather quickly before the can catch a glimpse of me. On my way to and from work my face is hidden behind a book. Not because I'm really into the story (actually most of the time yes), mainly because I'm doing my best to avoid contact with the attractive women sitting next to me. Even if I were to try to initiate a conversation with her, what would I say? Even at the bank on the odd chance that I have to go to one of the really cute tellers, all that I can do is to hand over the deposits and look down at the counter until she hands the deposit book back to me and quickly hurry out of the bank.

As friends and classmates from elementary, high school and college are getting married and starting families of their own. I look at my life and wonder if this is how its going to be for the rest of my life. Go to work Monday to Friday, come home, watch TV, read, go to sleep, get up and do the same thing all over again. As for weekends, two days of reading and watching television, wanting to go places but having no one to go with. Guess the fear of women that I had back when I was younger has returned, maybe it will end and the slump in my social/dating life will pick up. If so when? And how much longer will I have to wait and endure? Thank God for good novels and television shows.

Secret Fear

The other day I saw something that reminded me of particular moments in may past. Picture this if you will, three attractive youngwomen from one of the leading all female high schools walking along a relatively narrow pavement and not too far behind them was a youngman from one of the all male schools. Estimated age of them all, somewhere between 15 to 17. The three youngwomen were taking their own sweet time walking, judging by their slow pace and the fact that they seemed to be engaged in an interesting and riveting conversation. The youngman looked as though he was in a hurry to get to his after school lessons class, unfortunately his attempts to get by the three school girls were being thwarted with every attempt. If he went to the left, they would drift to the left; if he went to the right they would drift to the right.

And so it went until finally out of frustration he had to walk into the traffic congested street to walk around them. However, the girls who had been aware of his attempts to get by them noticed his triumph in passing which was short lived. As one of them said something out loud which caused the guy to hand his head really low and hurry away even faster on his way; wile the three girls laughed uncontrollably at him. It's incidents like this that sometimes lead scar guys psychologically, that they eventually develop a fear of women. It may sound weird, odd or even strange; but past experiences with females can often lead to a fear of the opposite gender among guys. It could be a simple thing like walking by a bunch of girls and accidentally tripping and falling right in front of them, while they may get a kick out of it, the dude is damn near traumatized and will probably avoid that particular spot for a long time. Or it could be from asking a girl to dance at a party and being humiliated in front of his and her friends when she says"NO!".

I just turned 32 about a week and some days ago, and even now I still feel the occasional stabs of panic and fear around attractive women. I guess it started around age twelve when I transferred from an all male high school to a co-ed school. Prior to that the only co-ed school I had ever attended was a small private school. At the time though I was waaaaaayyyyyy too young to know that someday I would be attracted to those silly girls. For the moment, they were the people in my school that I would sit in class with, eat lunch with, chase around the playground etc.

My first day at BHS was nerve racking, but what shot my anxiety level up further was when my dad pointed out the girls that were students at my school. It ook a while, but in a matter of weeks I was acclimatized to the whole co-ed thing. The fear thing would occur whenever any of the really cute, hot, gorgeous girls at the school would be somewhere within my vicinity or if I had to walk by them. One particular occasion that stands out from that time occurred when I was twelve. I was on my way back to school after going home for lunch and this really cute Sixth former and her friend were walking towards me on their way to the shop. At the time I was in between entrances to the school, and turning around to get to the one by the tennis court would have seemed to obvious. In panic, I crossed over to the other side of the road, the entire time I was looking down at my much in need of cleaning sneakers. Which was not what I should have been doing because I failed to notice said female crossing the road and planting herself right in front of me. Apart from being cute and older than me (by about six years) she was also shorter than me, so when I noticed her feet and started to look up my view feel upon a pair of brown eyes above a cute nose and a smile. She did not seem to be mad or as though she was going to humiliate me in any way shape or form, but in my awkwardness I mumbled a quick excuse me and quickly dashed off to my class. The last time I saw her was during Christmas break of my junior year, she reminded me of that incident and asked why I was so afraid of her? I told her that I did not know why, summoned it up to being intimidated by beautiful women or something like that.

A few years on and I was seventeen and attending a private school to re-take some subjects for exams. My school was not too far from an all girl convent school, on mornings I would pass by the occasional student on my way up the hill to school. On afternoons we were dismissed a good forty minutes before them, by the time they got out and started to make their way down the hill I was halfway to POS and on my way to lessons. On this one particular occasion I had the misfortune of being kept back in school, and by the time I started to make my way down the hill it was carpeted by squads of convent girls. Getting by them was like running an obstacle in the military while trying not to be seen or noticed. Unfortunately there was this trio that I had overtaken who somehow noticed me and said the following:
girl1: Which one of those guys in front you think is cute?
Girl2: I'm not too sure
Girl3: To be quite honest I like the two on the ends
Their laughter tipped me off that they were talking about me, and as I was the only guy walking in front of them, it meant that none of them found me cute. Right away I hit full warp speed and speed walked down that hill to put some distance between myself and them. For the remainder of my time at that school, I made damn sure that I never wound up getting kept after school, and I also perfected the art of speed walking down the hill to get me away from the area before the convent girls got out of school. I've told friends about it and even they found it hilarious.

During that same time I was in an aftershock lessons class for Math, Principles of Business and Geography. There was this one hot Chinese girl in the class who for some unknown reason choose me as her personal venting object. She would lash out at me without any provocation whatsoever, I'm talking stuff that would make a Marine blush. I used to dread the Math only days (Monday & Wednesday) because that meant seeing her and incurring her rath. I used to do my best to either blend in with the surroundings and somehow become invisible. No go! Thanks to my teacher who would often call on me, she would always notice me and bombard me with insults. Her reign of terror did not end there, somehow she wound up in my nightmares. Some say that she only did it because she liked me, yeah right! No way that could have been a form of attraction. Fatal attraction maybe! I have not seen her in years, if I were to see her tomorrow I would ask her:
(1). What did I do to make you hate me so much?
(2). How have you been and what have you been up to?
(3). What did I do to make you hate me so much?

Stay tuned for tomorrow's entry when I'll cover pre-college, college and the post college years.

Catch you then!

ANYWAY

People are unreasonable, illogical and self centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do god anyway.

If you are successful. You win false freidns and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you've got
ANYWAY.

Who Am I???

You must be wondering how I am? Well, I'm a citizen of the twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago. I graduated with a Bachelor of arts in History and English from a college in upstate NY. To be more specific the school is on the outskirts of Rochester NY, and the first time I ever saw the place was the day that I moved onto campus. I currently work within a business that was created by my mother and step-father, but am looking to branch out into my own in an area that I'm most interested in.

In case you are wondering that area happens to be Novels, Comics, Magazines, Board Games, Video Games, DVDs etc. There are a handful of people here that do specialize in the business field that I want to go into, but they are either hard to find or they do not necessarily have a physical structure for their business. I intend to have a physical strcutre located in an area that is easy to find and get to. I am still in the process of searching for suppliers, funding and a location for the business. Stay tuned for updates on how the search is proceeding.

Till next time!
Volleyd32

HI

Hi out there! Just making the first input in my venture into the world of blogging. Stay tuned for more .