Make Room

It's all about the Liks cause we're heavy on the kicks
But we're easy on the treble (adjust my mic level)
So fools can hear me mic checkin all the way in China
The skills you can't front on, Tha Alkaholik rhymer
Could always rip a show up so I always flex my talents
but my words don't be slurrin, I never lose my balance
But that's cause I'm slick tossin bottles like a discus
The Liks could rock a party from Halloween to Christmas
That's why I'm screamin on MC's like I'm Onyx
I'm hooked on gin and tonics like your momma's Hooked on Phonics

Make Room - The Alkaholiks

Its the liks baby its the liks! Ha! Today I found a way to link my post to the song title I used. See the song (for you non-hip hop heads) is by a west coast group who started off called the Alkaholiks and are now called tha Liks. The extended crew the Likwid crew contained producer extraordinaire Madlib and also Xzibit (Mr X to da Z, the dude from Pimp my ride). Anyway liks or for you non-bajans lashes are specifically what I want to talk to you about today.

Yesterday I was looking at this bamboo plant that I have growing in the house and that seems to be not doing too well. Think it has got some sort of disease or something because it just started to go yellow even though I've been changing the water every two weeks and it seemed to be growing. Might have to get some tips from Sunshine on plant care.

Anyway bamboo got me thinking about the liks I got as a child at school because in most cases in primary school that was what the teacher gave us lashes with. I know some of you young ones might be saying teachers were allowed to beat children? How third world! How barbaric! But I know that any of you who grew up in the Caribbean around or before my time accustomed to the concept of getting liks at school. Some might have more familiarity than others. lol.

Now let me explain it to you all in case you don't know. Our teachers in Barbados and I assume the rest of the Caribbean too were allowed to give you lashes at school back in the day (cant speak about now) and some were by no means shy in this use of corporal punishment as a deterrent to bad behavior and as a means of encouraging you to learn. Spare the rod and spoil the child was taken literally.

How did it work? Well now that I'm analyzing it I think there were a few variables involved; severity of crime, type of implement used to torture the child, application of said implement and mental state of the teacher.

First let me start with the implement of torture. It all depended on the teachers preference. When you were in infants and class one and two ( 7 years old or younger) usually the teachers would use rulers as the implement. As you moved up some fellows liked leather straps, and some liked bamboos. Now I don't have a lot of experience with either but they both stung. I mean the few times I got liks I remember feeling the lashes days later. To me bamboos were the scariest. I remember the fear that seeing this big long piece of dry stick inflicted on me. And the teachers would sometimes be walking around warming up the bamboo; stretching and bending it, imparting it with kinetic energy to be transferred to you. I think fear of the liks was a psychological torture in itself. Where are those Amnesty International fellas when you really need them nuh?

Boy, I remember one time a fella in my class was facing some liks after lunch so brave fella he was, he snuck into the classroom at lunch and broke the teacher's bamboo thinking he would get off. Wouldn't you know it, the woman went down the hallway and into some secret cupboard for the backup bamboo and since she had an idea it was him who had broken the previous bamboo the boy get he tail cut.

Now as to the method of implementation of the punishment it also depended on the teacher and the tool of torture. Rulers were for lashes in the palm of the hand anything else was for your buttocks. And some teachers made you lower your pants part way so that they could be sure that you weren't hiding any extra padding such as exercise books or piece of cardboard to absorb the blows. Yep folk often went to extreme lengths to avoid the full impact of lashes on their butts. Liks were no joke! I remember once I got some lashes with a bamboo and I had some big welts on my behind for days. Yes me skin sensitive leave me 'lone.

Now severity of the crime and teacher's mental state went together because sometimes if the teacher was having a bad day and you did the slightest thing it was liks in ya behind. Some teachers would beat you at the drop of a dime! You get liks for talking in class, not paying attention, deportment. Some would beat you for failing or getting questions wrong in class. Every wrong answer was worth one lash. I guess the thought was that this promoted the correct answers but in some cases it just promoted cowardice as we were afraid of the consequences of speaking up and being incorrect. Of course all teachers beat you for anything beyond talking in class that they deemed bad behavior. Hence you would never talk back to a teacher, in fact you wouldn't even dream of talking back to a teacher or being disrespectful in my days.

The worst thing that could happen to you though was if the teacher decided your crime was bad enough to go to the headmaster. Wuhloss! At the words 'Go to the headmaster' or 'come lemme tek you to the headmaster' children would start getting cold sweats, crying like someone said their mother died, heart palpitations and on occasion uncontrollable bowel movements. Being sent to the headmaster was literally like being told that you had been sentenced to the gallows or to the electric chair cause it was certain that you were going to get some sort serious lashes. Not only that but if your parents ever find out you were sent to the headmaster you knew that the lashes wouldn't stop at the headmaster's office because you would go home and be beaten by both your parents. When you heard 'Go to the headmaster' dreams of running away and hiding in a gully would enter your thoughts but although your mind contained the thoughts the words "GO to the headmaster" would have taken any flight out of your legs and you were having a hard time just trying to stop them from buckling on the way to the headmaster.

Man I've seen many a 'badjohn' lose all his courage at those words, seen the fear fill his eyes as he just went silent.

Now, the headmaster was usually this big, cruel, muguffy (I don't know how to interpret this word for you non-bajans but I think its like scary, imposing bad man) who was ready to mete out punishment at the drop of a dime. I remember one time a teacher sent me to the headmaster not for liks but to pick up something or the other to use in the class. As soon as I knock on the headmaster's door by pure reflex the man was reaching for the bamboo and asking me what I do. I had to stutter out quickly that miss so an so send me to pick up whatever it was I came for because any hesitation on my part and I would have been another victim, just another statistic.

Oh and somehow or the other the headmaster's office was usually real scary too because he usually had an assortment of torture implements on display. Either he had two or three leather straps or he had like a glass case full of bamboos or just bamboos lined up against some random wall. He would have one that he would automatically reach for out of habit and which saw the most use but if he found that the crime was worse than average he would go into the case and start testing out the other bamboos. So you're standing there trying not to wet your pants, watching and getting more and more afraid as the time passes by while he tests out which bamboo stick to hit you with. Lawd ave mercy!

The one story about liks at school that sticks out in my mind is actually a day I didn't get liks. The teacher asked a question, someone answered it wrong and got liks and we were all afraid to answer it wrong so she started out on a beating frenzy. I ended up deciding I was going to get liks at some point or another if this went on and since I hated the waiting I decided I'd guess since I had nothing to lose. Well I put up my hand as she got near, guessed an answer and I got it right. Whew! Man that made me really popular with the half of the class that didn't get liks. They all thought I was so smart but little did they know that I pulled that answer from thin air. Boy sometimes its better to be lucky than good. Oh what cant I tell a story where I'm the hero for once? :-)

Now although I would say I didn't get that many liks at school I still got a few more stories about liks but this blog is getting long so maybe another time. Let me hear about your stories about getting liks at school.

The What?

Snowed last night. I'm becoming intimately aware of my driveway on a regular basis and I don't particularly like it.

Anyway I shoveled already and it wasn't that bad except it was really really cold. Was listening to Biggie's Ready to die as I shoveled so hence the title of the post. Now I'm listening to Rough House Survivors. Hands up anyone who remembers them.

Now one thing about winter that I dislike is there is no relief at all. How I mean? For instance when its dark and gloomy you miss the sunshine so it depresses you. Of course then you get a day like today where its a bright shining day but that usually means its about another 5-10 degrees colder than the gloomy days so you get sun but at the tradeoff of it being cold cold.

Yes there are scientific reasons for it. Something to do with no cloud cover hence more sunshine but then the warmth doesn't get trapped so we still cold. Some one more science minded can feel free to give a proper discourse on this.

My take on it though is its such a, what word am I looking for here, maybe annoyance to someone from the Caribbean. Why? Well we are accustomed to looking outside seeing a nice bright day and getting warmth, it just sort of defies logic the first time you go out in winter here and its freezing your personals. Oh well, it comes with the territory so I'm not really complaining.

Anyway hope everyone has a good weekend, I'm tired so its relaxation and sleep today.

Now much to say today. Its been a long week. Enjoy your weekend.

Oh wait? Before I forget. Remember my post two days ago on dialects. Well I saw another article on Bajan dialect in the Barbados Advocate yesterday which is kind of entertaining yet brings up a few nice points still. Actually I like this guy's writing and I've got this blog that I haven't posted yet that's based on this letter I once sent to him a few years back when he did an article on well I wont say what yet cause I aint sure I want to post it yet. Its rather funny but I've been warned by some friends and family not to post it cause it may upset the gal dem. :-)

Of course since I have now mentioned it I now have to post it next week. Oh well maybe Monday.

Le Fleur Le Flah Eskoska

Really not a lot to say today and the title has nothing to do with anything but I'll just hit a few news items.

NBA trade deadline came and went yesterday with a flurry of trades. Chris Webber went to Philli, Dallas was dumb enough to trade for Van Horn, the Knicks shuffled around some players but still remain a crappy team and the Raptors did nothing because they are being cheap.

Saw this report in the Barbados Nation

A primary school teacher is undergoing counseling following allegations that he fondled an eight-year-old girl last month.

Chief Education Officer Wendy Griffith-Watson confirmed that the Ministry of Education was aware of the incident which allegedly occurred at a rural school on January 20. However, she said the parents refused to report it to the police even though they were advised by the school to do so.

“As far as I know, the teacher is receiving counseling. However,the parents said they did not want the case to go forward,” Griffith-Watson stated.

Both the teacher and the child are still at the same school.

Meanwhile, WEEKEND NATION investigations showed that this was not the first time the “mature” teacher had been accused of troubling a little girl.

Ten years ago another child made a similar complaint against this teacher while he was at another school in the parish.

I say stone him.

Then I saw this report in the Toronto Star

HAMILTON - An HIV-positive Hamilton man is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of two women who had been his sexual partners.

Johnson Aziga, 48, is believed to be the first person in Canada to face that charge in an HIV-infection case.

He had originally been charged with endangering the lives of 12 women who had been his partners.

Both of the women Aziga is accused of killing were from Toronto. One died Dec. 7, 2003, and the other died May 19 of last year.

Their deaths have been classified as first-degree murders because they are alleged to have resulted from sexual assaults, which automatically elevates the offences to first-degree murders.

All the women in the case are considered to be victims of aggravated sexual assaults because they are said not to have known they were having unprotected sex with an HIV-positive person. Previous cases have established that one partner cannot give true consent if the other fails to disclose an HIV infection.

Seven of the 13 women in the case, including the two who have died, contracted HIV.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Punks jump up to get beat down

My name is John Doe and I'm wanted for murder
I didn't mean to do it but my temperatures blew it
Remember it well, seems like the other day
Now I gotta stay away from around the way
...............
Diamond D - Outta Here

I always hear the old folks say that 'Trouble don't set up like rain' and I'm a firm believer in the maxim that ish just happens but I had an interesting encounter yesterday which could have turned out rather differently if I had lost my cool.

Now yesterday was probably the slowest day of the year for me. Work just seemed to drag on and on and on. I got stuck in the afternoon looking at some stuff that just wasn't working and for what seemed like hours at a time I was just staring at the computer screen hoping for divine intervention. Damn HTML code, when will these people realize I'm not a programmer. Anyway by the time 5 o'clock decided to roll around I was well tired but I had to hang around downtown to play squash at 7.

So I did some more work, and set up some stuff for today all of which took me to around 5:45 after which I left and walked over to the gym. Its only like a 5 minute walk so I had time to kill. I dropped off my gym stuff and decided I'd grab my discman and go for a bit of a walk and relax and clear my head. My mind was spinning the entire day with both work and non-work related issues and I think I was in sort of a strange mood even by my standards so I thought it was best to just sort of unwind even before I played squash.

Did my usual thing, checked out this cd place looking at the new releases, yea they know me up in there but I'm too broke to buy anything these days, if there was anything decent to buy, but somehow I was still strangely comforted by rows and rows of cds. lol.

Then after walking a bit more it was about 6:35 so it was time to head back to the gym. As I was walking my discman cut out, no more biggie and lloyd banks freestyles for you, batteries drained I guess so I was thinking ok wonderful that will make for an exciting trip on the subway tonight.

Anyway I have an uneventful trip on my way back until I come to the corner opposite the gym. I'm standing waiting for the lights to change still in my own little world, a bit pensive, a bit thinking that I should have gotten back sooner to get a proper warm up cause I haven't played in over a week and I didn't want to start off and pull anything.

This guy about 5'7", 165lbs, black hoodie, black track pants, a bit of stubble on face (just making sure I remember in case I see him again or have to fill out any police reports) is running across the street trying to beat the light (coming from the other corner not the gym) while shadowboxing doing his best Rocky impression. I just see him out the corner of my eyes, not really paying him any attention. He's running and punching, running and punching and I'm rather ambivalent to it. But then as he passes me, his fist comes to what appears to me to be extraordinarily close to my face, maybe about 6 inches away. I didn't flinch but whoa!! Back up! What the?

So in my mind still not fully awake I'm thinking what an idiot, suppose he had hit me. Oh whatever he didn't hit me, its too cold and I'm not looking for beef.

I said nothing, did nothing, still waiting for the lights to change, I'm thinking man some people are real asses but he didn't hit me, don't dwell on it. Anyway he had sprinted a few meters past me and it looked like he was continuing down the street so that was that. No need to shout at him or anything like that just let it slide. He's a few meters from me and I just turn my head to see what he's doing when suddenly dude just stops and turns back, bobbing and weaving and gives me this look that to me said I'm looking for trouble. He approached me with his shadowboxing making punches in my direction and getting closer and closer to me. Well looka this ignorance. chupse! So I'm guessing he's waiting for me to say something or do something so he can start some crap.

He's coming closer to me still boxing but he's not in my personal space. I feel a bit threatened but I can see his hands so its not enough for me to make any defensive moves or to issue an orange or red alert since he hasn't touched me yet so I'm still cool. I haven't changed my demeanor but I'm thinking clearly this could escalate if I say anything or make the wrong move (thank God for those conflict resolution courses).

Myriad thoughts are running through my mind at this moment; Did he mistake me for someone he knows, damn Brand Nubian was right punks do jump up to get beat down, is he just that stupid that he is looking for trouble with me, I'll try to avoid any confrontation but if he really pushes it I shouldn't be blamed for what happens to him, cypress hill: "Here is something you cant understand how I could just kill a man", why a brother cant walk the streets in peace, why lord do you send idiots to aggravate me, is this guy high, is he Klingon because he must believe its a good day to die, lawd don't let this guy hit me because that's going to escalate this and its on! I don't want to go too jail too many brothers there already, why does trouble appear out of the blue?

Anyway the lights changed, he kept on coming. I simply walked away. Seemed like the best option at the time. I would probably have behaved differently if he was threatening any of my family members but it was just me and I can let that go. Wasn't worth the aggravation or the possible ramifications to deal with him then. If he really wanted to continue this crap he would follow me anyways so lets see how stupid he actually is.

He didn't follow.

Still it just shows something I've always believed in. You never know what type of crap will happen to you when you're on the road. ish does happen! A so life go. You never know what's going to happen when you leave home so you should always be thankful to God that you make it back home at the end of the day. Still it probably would have felt good to kick that guy's ass. Sorry but it would. Blasted idiot!

Evabody cud understand muh?

Libya is originally from Barbados but four decades have done little to soften her Bajan accent, a patois so dense that at times it is all but indecipherable, at least for some of us.
Review of the play Cast Iron in Today's Toronto Star

Wasnt going to blog today but this item caught my eye in Todays newspaper. Boy I hope them fellas at the Star never have to review my blog. lol

Anyway, I guess I can see both sides of the story here in a sense. The average North American is hard pressed to understand caribbean accents. Wha I doan unerstan wha suh hard bout dat doah. :-) Anyway its a catch 22 here I guess. To preserve the autenticity of the play, the author did it in bajan but some of those watching wont understand it. I guess they were hoping for an accent but no patois. dem cud car dem tails den! Hmmm maybe she will have to put out a dvd with subtitles.

Seriously though the accent with proper english works at times but at other times it naa mek it. some things just have to be said in the dialect to get the full meaning. I lie?

So I guess I'm wondering do you guys understand my bajan in this blog? Not dat I gine change fa nun a wunnah ya kno! Let muh tell all wunnah from now den, wunnah wud got ta learn or put up wunnah hands an ask questions if wunnah doan unerstan. eitha dat or wunnah cud sit down an nod wunnah heads like wunnah kno wha i talkin bout. wunnah think i mekkin mock sport? chupse! :-)

an if wunnah aint figure out wha wunnah mean by now then I cann help nun a wunnah :-)

Ha ha ha, have a good day folks.

quick hi

Ok on the run today. Got another class to go to. What joy!

Havent even had the chance to respond to the comments on the last two posts. Anyway we got tonnes of snow last night it seems. Looks like I'll have to get the shovel out sometime today.

Watched the NBA all star game last night. Kelly Clarkson sang something or the other. Since when has she become rock n roll-ish? Thought she was going for the pop sensation thing. Did she realise that she might actually have a longer career with rock?

Also Destiny's Child. First off whoa did not know that Michelle was so skinny. When they were singing happy birthday to Charles Barkley that girl frighten me. Then when they performed onstage how come Beyonce hair always blowing around like it in a tornado? I swear the woman got personal mini fans on her shoulders or something so. And last I forget my girl Kelly. Man when they first start out I used to like Kelly real real bad. Then she make one stupid song with Nelly and she drop hard in my books. Now I look at her and the woman just look real skankish. I aint sure what happen but she went from nice girl to not so nice girl. Oh well!

Anyway got to run. Hope everyone has a great day.

Oh check kami's post today on Pirates of the Caribbean and their upcoming false depiction of caribs.

Busy week

Well guys, this past week was one of my busier weeks in a while. I started this blog last night then fell asleep in front of the TV.

Been on the run since Wednesday so hopefully today will be a day of rest because I really need it. Wednesday night went to a book launch. It was alright, a bit too bougie for me though and I'm one of those folks who doesn't mix and mingle that well so I bounced out of there as soon as I could. I guess I could have hung around a bit more but I'm not one for all the self important folks. Still, I kind of like to see authors especially West Indian folk do there thing, it warms my heart. Who knows one of these days you may hear about Jdid doing his book launch and then of course ya know all you guys would have to reach and say I remember when he used to chat nuff foolishness online back in the day. lol

Thursday I went out with some of my blogging fans, (actually some old friends from university who read this blog occasionally) for a lime. Bwoy me neva hear West Indian man get bash so yet in all my life! Fellas I try to defend us but I was outnumbered and a bit afraid for me life too lol. Naa it wasn't that bad (or more accurately I cant say it was that bad for fear that they will come beat me up) but there were some interesting issues regarding the West Indian male that came up which may be dealt with in a later blog.

Anyway the lime went long and I got home near midnight Thursday so Friday I was really tired but I had promised the boys that I would come out to this domino challenge that some club issued to us. Now despite being tired I'm glad I didn't bail out on this. Talk about jokes.

First off the other club come through strong. Most of them were older guys who been playing since Adam was a lad. You ever play or see fellas play dominos where they pose then you play your first card and they know all the rest of your cards just from that one play? Well there were some guys on that team like that. I swore we were going to take a serious beating but oh well it was all for fun.

So challenge starts. Me and partner run up on these two old guys that just beat the stuffing out of us. I mean literally ran us off the board. By the time we switched tables we were down 10-1. I was almost ready to retire. Switched to another table and we shook off the previous showing to win 15 games to the opponents 5 so we were coming back. Still overall our club was down 17 games by the end of the first half.

Now we have some interesting individuals in our group and in our tournaments but this club we were playing had some guys who were just laffing at us and showing off all night. One guy was just continually getting up in the middle of games beating his chest talking bout 'ya see dat star? wha me a say, me a tell unnah me a de greatest. yow, come check de score, come check de score!'. Apparently him and his partner were just running wild on the board against the team they met in the first half. It was hilarious.

Second half starts we meet up against one of the guys who we beat in the first round but this time he brought in an older experience partner because he said his previous partner kept giving me the 4 to win every game which was true cause I won off 4 in about 5 games straight lol. Anyway his partner was this guy who looked like he was playing dominos from the time he was in diapers. The two a dem start off and run up three quick games on my partner and me and we wee like oh oh not again. Then we came back. Enough of this foolishness. Before you know it we were leading 10-4 , then 14-4 at which time his partner declared he tired and he done with dominos for the night. So he bring on another partner and we run off another quick three games and his partner quit as well so at the end of the night despite one really bad set we had beaten two teams 12-5 and 17-5 lol.

The rest of our club scored a remarkable comeback in the second half. The guy who was boasting about his greatest in the first half was silenced by another one of our teams. He would jump up every now and again when he won a game but our guys kept him in check and won by about 10 games. After all was said and done we won the challenge by 32 games so in the second half we beat them by 49 games. What a comeback!

Biggest joke of the night though was the older dude who we played in the second half. This guy could barely see the cards sometimes but still he is chatting up young gal. This girl who plays for our crew was there and the man dropping lyrics on her all night.

My favorite was 'gal in all my days me neva see a beauty like you, me wud jump off the Empire State Building fa you!' I think I may have to use that line someday. lol.

Anyway Saturday was hectic too seeing as I got home from dominoes at the ungodly hour of 3 in the morning and then had to be back at pan practice for midday Saturday. Somewhere around 3 I zoned out, made it back home around 6, wrote most of this blog around 6:30 and then tried to watch TV with an abysmal failure and fell asleep around 8:30. Missed all of the NBA skills stuff (but thankful or hopefully taped it). Today is going to just be a rest and relaxation day. Body well tired.

Oh and its beastly cold in this place somebody send me a plane ticket to go Barbados quick. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

One.

What type of slave would you have been?

Appetite to write like Fredrick Douglass with his Slave Hand

Wycleff Jean - How many Mics


Ok I'm really tired. Been a long and trying week. Was going to post this yesterday and then blogger wouldn't allow me

I watched part of the second part of the slavery show on PBS on Wednesday night before falling asleep in the part I really was interested in. The segment about the civil war. (Kind of a wanna be civil war buff so I find that stuff rather interesting). Oh well good thing I taped it all. Anyway show aside I've got a few things on slavery to talk about motivated by the show but not necessarily motivated by the show if you follow me. First off there is this question I've pondered at various points over the years and that I've asked a bunch of folk years ago. Camp and Burke might remember that.

What kind of slave would you have been? Now come on, put some thought into it now I want some honesty because as much as we respect the rebellion leaders all y'all know you wouldn't have been no Nat Turner or Bussa or Sam Sharpe or Toussainte L'Overture. So take into consideration your personalities and then give me an answer. Tough question isn't it? Would you have been the really obedient one, or the rebellious one, the one who smiles in massa's face but spits in his food, the one in the plantation house secretly hearing all the plans and telling your family in the fields what was going on? Remember your overwhelming motivation is probably survival so you are doing everything you can in order to not make things worse for yourself. Its a difficult question to answer though.

Maybe I'll give my answer at the end of this. Got to think on it a bit.

Two other slavery related points to talk about.

One. Whenever you see any shows on slavery you usually see some story showing that those white male Plantation owners and overseers were real sexual predators preying on many of their black slave women and girls. They were really dangerous to any black woman in their possession over a certain age. Ok so this is fact and many of us bear the marks of those conquests but now answer this question. Why or How is it that now society has flipped it so that its now black males who are seen as the sexual predators and the danger to women, white women in particular? As Kayne would say "what's the basis?"

Two. I got mad love for Malcolm X. His autobiography was one of the first books I read when I came to North America and I got some interesting thoughts on his philosophy which I may or may not share at some point. One thing about Malcolm that I sort of disagree with though is that speech attributed to him in which he disses the "House Negro".

"There was two kinds of slaves. There was the house Negro and the field Negro. The house Negroes - they lived in the house with master, they dressed pretty good, they ate good 'cause they ate his food -- what he left. They lived in the attic or the basement, but still they lived near the master; and they loved their master more than the master loved himself. ........ The house Negro, if the master said, 'We got a good house here,' the house Negro would say, 'Yeah, we got a good house here.' ...................... He identified himself with his master more than his master identified with himself. And if you came to the house Negro and said, 'Let's run away, let's escape, let's separate,' the house Negro would look at you and say, 'Man, you crazy. What you mean, separate? Where is there a better house than this? Where can I wear better clothes than this? Where can I eat better food than this?' That was that house Negro. In those days he was called a 'house nigger.' And that's what we call him today, because we've still got some house niggers running around here." - Malcolm X

Now don't get me wrong, I understand the purpose of these words. Its basically saying every black person didn't think the same and some of them were working with the oppressors, some of them were "sellouts" so to speak. As Chuck D said "Every brother aint a brother cause of color." However using the house negros as the symbol of these traitors I think was a mistake on Malcolm's part.

From where I'm standing the house negroes may not have been in the sun picking cotton , sugar, tobacco and rice but they probably worked as hard as the other slaves. Plus they were in a position where the women in the plantation house were being attacked on the daily by massa so that was another stress as it stands. Plus it was those house negroes who were the eyes and ears of the other slaves in the field cause they were basically spies for the cause. They were up there in the Plantation house trying to find out what was going on, where the master kept his guns, what the abolitionists were saying, who the massa was going to take to auction, when was the massa and them having a big party and going to be drunk so Betsy and Jim could make a run for it, trying to sneak a little piece of pork skin out the backdoor to season the stew, trying to learn to read so they could pass it on to the others, in general trying to get the knowledge needed to help the others. You guys with me?

Aside: imagine black people wanting to read hmm things dun change aint it. If those slave owners were smart and wanted to keep slavery going they should of invented an Xbox or started a pro sport league, all like now our asses would still be picking cotton. There is a Dave Chappell skit in there somewhere. Dave holla at ya boy! I got ideas son. I want to be rich too dammit.

So from that perspective I think the use of the word house negro, or house nigga is a misappropriation. We've been hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, run amuk. I understand the sentiment and the way that the term has now come to be interpreted but I think a whole segment of the slave population has been unfairly cast as sellouts. Just some thoughts. Give me some feedback.

Anyway I'm not going to say what type of slave I would have been for now, let me hear from you guys first if you feel like it. No pressure.

Wednesday

Ok quick post with some odds and ends. Realized not many folk checked yesterday's blog. I blaming Melody for leaving nuff fellows with blurry eyes. I hear Dr D, Bull and Dog saying if I squint at a certain angle I think I can see the picture clearly. lol

Oh found a nice website last night. http://www.muzikmedia.com/. Lots of Caribbean music videos mainly dancehall but recent dancehall so I'm loving it. Had two of my favorite new songs I-Wayne's Cant satisfy her and Richie Spice earth a run red. Check it out.

No more reality tv, I've made a 180 degree switch to documentaries so if you have the time check out America and the making of Slavery on PBS tonight. Part one was excellent. I learnt quite a bit. Check Dekkah's blog for this appeal by David Walker (no known relation to Jimmy). Ever get the thought that Black speakers back in the day were infinitely more eloquent than us today?

Anyway on another hand watching those shows about how black folk were treated back in the day gets me mad heated sometimes. Brutha Code was talking about that a few days ago actually but I remember stuff like how I felt after watching the movie Rosewood. Man I was down to catch a body after that one. If a white person had butt up on me after I left the Uptown Theatre sorry or no sorry liks wud have to share. It would have been like (brax!) ya tek de man, (whack!) and hang he up from (boom!) a tree (biff!) and he aint do wunnah nuttin atall atall (capoowee! whax!) an den wunnah shoot the grandmudda cuhdear (body slam!) an she neva do (brek bottle!) nuttin (wupax) ta wunnah (body slama again!) atall whax (! biff! capax!) poor innocent old lady( whax!) Oh that was my weak attempt at adding sound to my blog lol like thy did in the old Batman show with Adam West.

I can imagine if I was to be watching tonight an order a pizza and the fella come in the middle of the show.
Oh so you think ya can bribe me with you pepperoni and three cheeses now huh?
Umm? ahh!
My people worked hard for your people dammit and look how you trying to play me
Ummm, I'm not trying to play you sir, that will be 19.95
Oh and you want me to pay , after 400 years of subjugation and interrogation and radiation and hateration. Alright, wait dey I coming back

And if he was a bajan he would know that last phrase means that you should automatically run like the 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse chasing you. lol

Anyway I didnt really mean to make light of a serious situation. Thing is though although stuff changed we still got a ways to go. Who knows maybe 100 years from now some brother will see a movie about our times and get heated like I do watching those old movies.

Rest in Peace Big L!

The chile wun talk

Now I just felt like writing something random with no point at all today so here goes a little story. Gather round now I going to do this old time West Indian story teller style.

Crick crack break mi back. (According to the Trini folk that means is story time I starting. Bajans aint so fancy we would just say something like looka sit down I tryin ta tell wunna sumting.)

Now when I was in my program at University I met all types of people but one particular fellow stands out in my mind. His name was John (name changed to protect the innocent). John was this little mousy guy who looked like a 14 year old even though he was in third year of university. The proverbial 90lb weakling that got sand kicked in his face like in those Charles Atlas ads which along with ads for sea monkeys and cracker jacks were prevalent in the back of 1970s comics books.

I really didn't know much about John, just noticed him sitting quietly in class. He was sort of a friend of a friend but I never hung out in the cafeteria with the folks in my program (a bit too rowdy for me) so we never really spoke outside of class. All I knew was that John was rather strange looking and many of the bigger guys in our class picked on him because of his size, looks and his inability to defend himself which I thought was a bit unfair.

In speaking to my friends they all said "that fella John sort of weird" and they made fun of him. When I pressed for details no one could or would tell me anything really out of the ordinary that accounted for his weird status and since weird was all subjective in my program I was a bit skeptical. I mean hey I'll be the first to admit I'm missing a few screws so who was I to judge. That is until that one fateful day I had a conversation with John.

Somehow that day I ended up partnered with John in tutorial. I remember this annoying guy Sam (another name change) who I wasn't particularly fond of, sat in front of us and kept turning around to tease John about some incident from the previous summer when both of them had been part of the second half of our class who had gone on a field trip. We were all in a tutorial room sitting on stools in front of oversized drawing tables, with a bit of time to kill as the T.A went through stuff with individual groups. Eventually Sam tired of his teasing and John and I struck up a conversation. It started out normal enough. We were talking about our class and our marks and just stuff related to school in general. My initial thoughts were well now I see why its good to actually find out about persons for yourself and not listen to other folks belief. This guy John is an alright dude.

Suddenly the innocent conversation took a turn for the worse. John started talking about his childhood.

John: " When I was a kid my parents thought that I had learning problems"
Me: "Oh really? You mean like they thought you were developmentally challenged, like you were slow or something?"
John: "Yep."
Me: "Why was that, were you slow at school or something?"
John: "Oh no, no. But I didn't speak for about 4 years and they thought something was wrong with me."
Me: " Well ummm four is kind of late to start talking but I know some children who didn't speak till there were 3 , three and a half years old and it is a bit worrying to parents. I can understand how...."
John: " No, no. I didn't speak between the ages of 7 and 11"
Me: "What?"
John:" This was right after I saw the aliens in my backyard."

Hol up! Wait a minute. I know he didn't just say something about aliens?
What da??

Me; " Aliens? Oh you mean like illegal aliens, people who aren't here in Canada legal?
John: "No I mean aliens from outer space dressed in white. Actually they were glowing as well."
Me: " Ummm, ya sure dem wasn't like some spiritual baptist/tie head people dress up in all white coming from a baptism or something so?"
John: "Ummm no."
Me: "Ok then" I said as I nervously inched my way off the stool looking for the nearest exit "ummm if you say so"

John then proceeded to give me a detailed description of these glowing beings he saw in his backyard when he was 7 years old while I nervously looked around trying to figure out how to respond besides nodding my head and the occasional 'ok'.

It was one of the most disturbing yet laugh out loud funniest conversations I have ever had. I'm trying my best to keep a serious face while John goes on about his close encounters of the third kind. In my head I'm thinking "great work jdid, the guys said he was weird but no you had ta go and talk ta de poppit fa yaself. chupse! You couldn't take their word for it. Ok I can walk out of this one alive. Just whatever you do don't laugh. Whatever you do look serious and pay attention."

So I'm sitting there the model of concentration hanging on every word John speaks as he continues on telling me about how the shock of seeing the aliens left him speechless for 7 years. He also told me about how he started speaking again too but I forgot that part or I was so much in shock at the first part that I probably just never really really heard it.

After the class I asked one of the guys who knew John better than myself if he had heard the alien story. Apparently he had not. For some reason John had opened up to me alone. Disturbing!

Anyway John seemed to like me for some strange reason and so after that we became friends. I was still a bit weirded out and sometimes I couldn't help but crack a smile when I saw him but he was a good guy nevertheless and the important thing was that the alien story never ever came up again.

Jack Mandora mi nuh choose nun. (They tell me dat is how real story suppose to end so I dun)

Valentines Day

I personally don't celebrate the day but I will say Happy valentines to those of you who do. However I hope none of you folks are the type who wait until this one day to show your love and appreciation for those close to you.

On another note, and to avoid going into a tirade against valentines day and its corporate implications, February 14th marks 6 months since the one they call Jdid joined the blogging community. yea yeah! It all started with this one well actually this one but the other one was the reason I actually started. 6 months of Jdid, now that's something worth celebrating lol.

Oh Oh, I feel a grammy acceptance speech coming on.

I'd like to thank my blogging crew for holding me down, I aint calling no names in case I forget anyone but nuff respect to all Caribbean massive worldwide, also my t dot crew but I think all y'all got Caribbean connections, London represent! My Chicago peoples, my Montreal peoples, my Atlanta peoples, my chi-town peoples, my Michigan people and everyone anywhere at anytime who has every commented on my blog. Without you there would be no blog. Big chupse! yea you tell yourself that! :-) I'm just playing. Thank you all for coming back even though I duz write so much stupidness not worth reading. LOL. It has been a great and humbling experience being affiliated with all of you talented folk.

Also want to thank all those who visit but don't comment. Hope you find this stuff enjoyable and keep coming back but show a brother some love and drop a line every now and then.

Oh and a big shout out to my fam for supporting me, even though them duz find a reason to harass me everytime I sit down at de computer to blog. Still without them I wouldn't be here (exactly where here is I aint sure but still), I wouldn't be insane and I wouldn't have anyone to embarrass online besides myself.

And to all those who came ahead of me in the blogging game, nuff respect. It was due to some of your influence that I actually started this thing. To all those who came after me, I hope you guys make it to six months and beyond.

And last but by no means least thanks to the father up above for allowing me to wake up every day and for helping me to blog.

Now I know some of my fellow bloggers been having some issues about why we blog, what to blog, does blogging matter and whether to continue. Well I have those issues continuously so who knows if I'll last another six months but I'll try. I do hope all of you continue to blog though. I think your words spark dialogues and discussion and get us to think and to laugh and it just adds something to enrich our lives. You don't have to speak on anything that you don't feel comfortable sharing or that you think may come back to haunt you, just remember that.

Anyway one love to everyone. We're having a big bashment for the afterparty. Calypso, dancehall and hip hop cann dun! Dress to sweat.

Hey, where's my award? Don't make me act all Kayne West up in here. Oh wait I already went Kayne West up in here by switching up valentines day to make it all about me. My bad. :-)

One Love.

Dominoes again

I got close to winning the tournament again last night. Close but no cigar. Remember I told you I made the finals in the November tournament? Well in December I skipped the tournament for my Nas concert and then last month I was sick the weekend of the tournament. With a turnout of around our average 15-16 teams we made it all the way to the semis before losing 10-6.

So let me give you my highlights. Nuff big name teams and alot of previous champs showed up for this one. Every set was serious business. In the prelims we lost our first round 6-2 then won our second one 6-3. Prelims don't really mean much though just jockeying for position in the playoffs and sometimes alot of the top teams get bounced in the first round of the playoffs after running though the prelims.

Lots of superconfident domino players in the lot. You can feel the testosterone soaring. And of course I decided cant be timid must go in there and be supremely confident and think I can win so was staying positive all night.

The tournament organizer was unwell but his team was one of the top teams entering the playoffs. Remember how Jordan used to play when he was sick or how Gordon Greenidge would score a century almost everytime you see him limping well I think that was what the tournament organizer was doing because I think he dropping some serious beatings in the prelims. lol.

The King was also there. If you don't know about the King, I mention him last time. The Jamaican fellow that I cant understand two words when he speaks. Seriously ya know like how they put subtitles in Shottas well I wish they had subtitles for this yout. I just cant understand the man when he talks but he duz talk nuff. He came out with a fella going by the name of the Prince so it was like the royal family playing dominoes...till they get dethroned. LOL.

Anyway back to my tournament. First round of playoffs me and my partner were quick out the blocks and rush out to a 9-2 lead. Would you believe we barely won the set 10-7. It could have been closer too but my partner made a nice switch with the fours and I had the double and the last two fours and won. Whew! Partner must be tired from carrying me all last night.

Next round, I guess quarter finals, we were playing one of the superstar teams. The battle was a "epic struggle for domination". No team could pull away. It went from 6-3 to them to 6-6 to 7-6 to us to 7-7 to 9-8 to us to 9-9. Crunch time. Win or Go home time. I love these games. I may not win them all the time but its a good test of how focused one can stay when something is on the line.

didn't have the best hand and to tell you the truth not sure how I stayed in the game, must be my partners skill because my hand had holes in it and when I Say holes I mean big gaping chasms the size of the grand canyon. I was running the whole game. Anyway came down to my last four cards; double six, double three, four deuce and five four. Not exactly the cards inspire confidence in winning. I was really worried about the doubles and I think my partner had passed so I saw the game slipping away plus the guys were hunting the double 6 so it was a tight squeeze.

Anyway there was a 4 on one end and a 5 on the other. The only other 4 out there was 4 six and I assumed it was in the hand of the guy just ahead of me. Usually this doesn't work but I played the 5-4 to switch it 4s , he came off his end, giving me the double 6. Breathe! It went around again and damn no three so I'm forced off my hard end and I've got a double three in my hand and my opponent still has one card and is ahead of me. Well somehow we were able to finagle our way out of it and I won the game with double three. Don't try that at home folks. Wow, man that was some serious tension.

So we made it to the semis. The semis were another kettle of fish. Of the first 8 games played 5 were blocked and we only won one of the blocks so we were down 6-2. We rallyed back to make it 8-6 then they won to make it 9-6 and then our opponents had the most phenomenal game of the tournament. One man draw 7 pieces of 3. That's all the threes in the pack! What are the odds of that? Still cant believe that. I've drawn 5 or maybe a rare 6 pieces of a card but all 7. No way we could get around that sort of luck so we lost 10-6. Oh well!

As for the King, we didn't play the royal family this month but they got knocked out in the quarter finals by the other eventual finalists in a boisterous event which finished 10-9. A so it a go! Next month I'm looking to go all the way. Maybe I should actually play between tournaments, lol.

I am not dangerous

Ok been consciously avoiding the serious issues for a few but its black history month and I just watched the slavery special plus my mom gave me some not so subtle advice the other day on some ish so I'm saying got to do what I got to do. Anyway I got a few topics (not necessarily fully blown thoughts yet) related to black folk so let me freestyle this one here.

Its about the fear of a black man as predator.

Now I've experienced this phenomena every since I reached North America and found it annoys me and also affects me in ways which I cant describe. Let me give you an example. I think it was my first or second year of university. It's nighttime around 9 o'clock, I'm walking back to residence from the supermarket with two bags of groceries in hand, trudging over pavements covered in dirty snow, wrapped up in as much clothing as I can find when I walk past this off-campus apartment building. This young lady strolls casually out of the building but as she reaches the sidewalk she looks in my direction, her eyes suddenly widen and she takes off like Flo Jo or Marion Jones. What the? I look back because I'm thinking Ted Bundy, Paul Bernardo and a bunch of ninja assassins must be behind me and I'm ready to drop my bags and go special ed on fools:'Flip back got into a fighting position'.

Oh wait a minute! What gives? No one is on the street behind me. Could it be she's running from me. Naa! Couldn't be right? Naaa. She ran off like Kunte Kinte running from a name change. I'm not that scary am I?

Then it dawned on me wait a minute she was actually running from me. Me? Why? I mean what logic dictates that you run away from a dude with two bags of groceries in his hand. Was she fearful I'd run up on her and force feed her a sandwich with too much hot sauce. Was there a fear that I would put the bags in her hand and force her to cook for me?

No she was just frightened because here she saw a black man on a semi deserted street at night. DAMN!

Alrighty then!sigh!

Had a couple more instances like that happen to me on campus at nights on my way from the library too. Yes there was always this fear of the brother with a big book bag on his back. Whoa he's dangerous a dangerous negro. He's packing some of that crazy algebra and calculus ish, ya naa want test him.

I also remember walking with one of my boys and our girlfriends at the time and passing some white girls who instinctively clutched their purses tighter as they passed us. Hmmm interesting. Yes that's what we black folk do on dates. I could take you to dinner for valentines girl but I got a better idea lets just go out and jack some white folk for their cheddar, ya feel me?

Oh and don't get me started on the elevator scene. I'm just going to avoid mentioning that all together. Forget I said anything.

Seriously though its a bit disturbing and I know I'm conscious of it and it has affected my behavior. I mean everyone knows I'm messed up already I really don't need other issues to deal with.

Anyway I cope. I tend to make sure at night when walking close to other (read non-black) folk I make as much noise as possible so that they are aware of my presence, not trying to sneak up on anyone. Or I slow down or speed up to pass them so that they don't think I'm following them. Why's it got to be this way.

Ok, this annoys me but I've grown accustomed to it. The only reason I'm probably blogging about it now is that I was talking about it with my wife a few days ago since it tends to happen to me alot lately because I don't get home till after 6 and its usually dark here by then.

So everytime I get off the bus and some person in my general neighborhood gets off ahead of me I always see the furtive glances in my direction and sense there is this fear. I sometimes feel like screaming out "ya blasted jackass why you gotta be worried when you see me. ya think I gine rob ya? ya doan think I cud live roun here too? chupse". Mind you I'm usually carrying my work bag so I guess they are worried I'm going to memo them to death or something.

It reminds me of this t shirt that there was an ad for in the Source magazine way back in the day. It said 'NO white lady I don't want your purse.' Think it was Bonz Malone modeling it. LOL, I wonder if they make them anymore cause I may need one.

Anyway I usually just slow down or speed up to pass them. Yea I could stalk them and make them more fearful but that would just be stupid and dangerous on my part plus it would actual cater to their ignorant beliefs. Oh well such is life in North America.

Alicia won

Well after my disappointment yesterday that Freddie and kkkKendra won the Amazing race on Tuesday I was positively shocked that Alicia beat out Shannon on the SI swimsuit show. For my previous blogs about this show go here and here and oh cant forget this one.

Last night was basically a recap and some background leading up to the actual announcement of the winner. We got to see how each girl had grown over the course of the show and we got to see their difference lifestyles. I guess it was a study in contrasts; Shannon on the golf course in Texas with her fiance who is in med school, Alicia going back to the bad neighborhood in Vegas she grew up in. Shannon at a big family dinner in a nice home, Alicia going to the trailer park to visit her step dad and sister, Shannon at a nice gym working out with machines, Alicia on the floor at home with one of those cheap ab machines you see on the infomercials. I guess this was all done just in case we hadn't figured out that the girls were from different backgrounds.

Actually the big joke for me was watching Shannon at the gym talking about how she works out six times a week and does 600 sit ups a day. First off I think she's overtraining and secondly from the form she showed in the gym she needs to get a personal trainer because she really wasn't doing alot of stuff right. Rushing through reps using the wrong form doesn't really help much and can just injure you. And I don't know what 600 sit ups a day she does cause her stomach doesn't look that buff.

Best of all last night was that although Alicia gave a bit of a sob story about her upbringing she didn't focus on it as much as last week.

Oh and Shannon made some comment about she wants to win this contest so she can be a role model for abstinence. Role model fa wha? You know somewhere there were a group of guys out there saying 'Abstinence! chupse. Boy if she had say so last week ya kno she din getting my vote at all, at all'.

Anyway both girls seemed a bit nervous about the decision and flew from home over to LA to do a photo shoot before the announcement. When they got to LA, Shannon had real attitude. She was all on some America will chose me because I'm more the girl next door and I'm wholesome and I've got bigger boobs and I'm from Texas rah rah rah. Big chupse! Then at the photo shoot she was totally exuding this I'm better than Alicia attitude because the photogs said she looked better in a certain suit because her breasts bigger. Now far be it for me to criticize breasts but to me it looked like maybe Shannon was a bit too big for the outfit. When ya modeling in certain instances I don't think that all ya breasts supposed to be popping out from the bottom of the bikini top. Nevertheless she did seem confident and did extremely well on the shoot.

The photo people seemed to have a pre-conceived judgment that Shannon was the one for them though until Alicia did her photo shoot. Alicia's shoot wasn't that bad but I still think Shannon was better on that day. I can give her props now because I know she lost lol.

So now the moment of truth had arrived. In front of a studio audience the announcement was to be made. Both finalists bought their respective families and friends; Shannon was like 30 people deep just in case there was an outlaw on the loose and the sheriff needed volunteers for a posse to go after him. Yee hay! Alicia wasn't much better bringing in 20 of her family and friends.

The other ten contestants were also there. After a bit more of the this is your life type presentation and some questions to the judges the other contestants were asked who they wanted to see win. 7 of the 10 said Shannon. I'm guessing Alicia's diva attitude and her aloofness seemed to rub them the wrong way. My girl Betti with her hair still all over the place and looking like she searching for a proper hairdresser said she would have liked to see herself win and only two girls voted for Alicia. Of these two one was the contestant kicked off last week who had been screwed over by Shannon two weeks ago in the surf contest and realized just how evil he was (oh pardon me was I supposed to be impartial).

So now they made the announcement. Alicia got the most votes and won!. Man am I in shock! America actually voted like I would have. Wow! But wait? Cuhdear , Alicia breaking down on stage. Tears flowing as I said last week like at a black funeral. Seriously, anyone out there who needs a hired mourner I think Alicia is the girl for the job. If this modeling thing don't work out she got a fallback career right there. Her knees buckling, she crying, she face in shock, she breathing heavy, one of the judges fanning her, she fainting, they sending for water, the girl ketching heart palpitations. I thought the wuman was gine dead den. Wuhloss!

Anyway she survived after all that drama, did a little speech about how much this means to her so she can help her family and the show ended. Now what am I going to blog about on Thursdays?

Sometimes the bad guys win

Watched the finale of Amazing race last night. I blogged about the last series finale here and about some stuff that annoyed me last series as well here.

Freddie and kkkKendra won this one. Damn! It was a bit disappointing as I've rooted against kkkKendra since her first 'this place is wretched and all they keep doing is breeding and breeding' comment when they were in Africa. Oh did that ever get me upset.

Oh well! Sometimes the bad guys do win. This series was funny though. Lots of disfunctional families involved. I actually like this show though even though I'm not a big fan of the reality genre and the reason why I like it is mainly watching them travel to all these great exotic locales. Its always interesting to see how an American like kkkKendra will react when taken out of the U.S. Like whenever they go to Asia folks get mad because the taxi drivers don't speak English. Well you are in China or South Korea or wherever, it is their country, they are not required to speak your language. Duhh! When they come to your country do you speak their language? No? Alright then just shut up and deal with it.

This season I didn't like the fact that they tried to make it more 'sexy' (almost every woman was wearing low cut shirts all season long) and somehow the show seemed to favor the "prettier contestants". Then they had a one or two Fear Factor type moments making contestants eat pure nastiness that I thought was silly.

Of course the funny part of the finale for me was watching eliminated couple Hayden and Erin as Hayden proposed to her after they got eliminated. Dude was all on some she's perfect rah rah rah ish and I don't mind losing the race I still have you crap. Please! I'm no mind reader but I know if I was him I would be thinking 'chupse, looka how we get so close to the end an dis igrant, stupid woman gone an throw way de race when we did close ta de million dollars'.

Anyway as he said his little speech on his knees I was thinking hey Hayden did we just watch completely different shows. Did you not have like the most frustrating day of your life and alot of it have to do with this woman freaking out at every interval in the race. Were you watching how high strung she is? She panics at the slightest sign of trouble. Are you sure that's who you ant to be with for the rest of your life. I mean do you really think if the crap hits the fan she's going to have your back Bonnie and Clyde style? You do realize you're now saying you want to put up with her for the rest of your life? Ok suit yourself. But hey who am I to judge I married someone who's actively trying to bump me off.

Anyways I think I'm watching too much tv these days. sigh!

Oh for those interested PBS is putting on part one of its slavery documentary tonight. Should be pretty interesting even if they do water it down. Not sure what time its on but hopefully it doesn't affect my watching the SI swimsuit finale so I can report back to you on whether Alicia or Shannon (found out her name the other day) won.

I tek Mad Bull advice

Well I mention a few weeks back that I was playing squash with this older lady who works near my workplace. Anyway I said we were just knocking around the ball and she mekkin me run all around the place and she seems to think that she's a better player than me.

Well yesterday she decide now she feeling confident and ready to move up to playing real games. I aint ask to play no games ya know. I satisfied getting a good work out knocking around the ball, working on my technique and seeing how quick I can get back to the ball and that sort of thing but noooo she want to play games. Well who tell she start that? Well The Mad Bull tell me I need to have her show me the proper respect. Well bredren I dust her out today in the games; 9-3,9-3,9-2,9-1,9-0. I din mekkin no sport, well actually I was cause I still aint play full speed but I think she get the point now, ha ha ha.

Cuhdear I feel sorta bad though, and I know I gine get flack from certain foks like "cuhdear how ya beat up pun the wuman so, you aint got nuttin betta ta do doah? you real evil fa true, you is a real bully". Well maybe I should have tried to not beat her so bad but naaa a brothers gotta do what a brothers gotta do. Is a new year and I have to be leaner and meaner. :-) Supose now I did playing fancy and want to make the games closer and the woman beat me? Then alllya would still laugh at me.

Anyway. Anyone watch the superbowl? Very disappointed with the outcome as I was backing Philli. What get me though is the pre game and halftime performances. (Did Black Eyed Peas suck?) First off is it just me or has anyone wondered where they keep the fans who surround the stage on the field during the halftime show. I mean the stands are still full so do they keep these guys in the tunnels and do they get a little scotch in the laps of the fans in the seats so they can actually see the game live? Or is it like ok go stand outside the stadium, here's a little transistor radio for all of you to listen to the game and we'll come back for you at halftime?

I also always wonder where do they get those persons from? They are always like the hypest people in the world. They play country n western music, they getting on bad, they play rap they getting on bad, they bring out Paul Mccartney they still getting on bad. I guess they are paid to be hype but still considering that some of them looked like they could be under 14 you have to wonder if they've had ever heard a Paul McCartney song before.

Oh and is it just me or does anyone else hear Hey Jude and immediately think of BDP's Criminal Minded?

We'll take a sad song and make it better,
remember to let us into your skin
cause then we'll begin to master rhyming, rhyming rhyming rhyming
criminal minded you've been blinded
looking for a style like mine you cant find it...........

I still cant believe that song is from 1987. wow.

Good laugh

Not really in the mood to blog, plus I'm really busy; big longwinded meeting coming up this week that I have to prepare for. Y'all might not see anything from me till Thursday or Friday, but then again if the spirit hit before that I may blog.

Anyway I found this story on another blog a few days ago and thought I'd pass along this link so you guys get a good laugh. Trust me, check the link aint nothing x-rated or anything so and you will at least smile if not outright bawl down the house.

Have a good week everyone.

Get yourself a gun

I got mine, I hope you (got yo'self a gun)
You from the hood I hope you (got yo'self a gun)
You want beef? I hope ya (got yo'self a gun)
And when I see you I'ma take what I want
So, you tried to front, hope ya (got yo'self a gun)
You ain't real, hope ya (got yo'self a gun)

Nas - Got yo'self a gun

wasn't planning on blogging today. Woke up late and got lots to do but I just had to share this story from my homeland. Even the teachers getting dread these days. Anyway everyone have a great day.

Gun shock - Saturday 05, February-2005
by Julia Rawlins

A teacher at Combermere School, who allegedly pulled a gun on over 20 third form students on Thursday, has been suspended.

Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education, Wendy Griffith-Watson, said yesterday that investigations were being carried out.

A student from the class told the SATURDAY SUN the weapon was a cap gun, but angry parents said it had not been confirmed if the gun was real.

The student said while the teacher was writing on the board the class was being noisy.

“He turned and said: ‘You know, a teacher could really come in here and shoot all a wunnah,’” the student said.

It was then, he continued, that the teacher bent down and removed what appeared to be a cap gun from his sock and pointed it at the class.

The student said the teacher put the weapon back in the sock, and threatened that one day they would make him angry enough to “bring the real thing”.

“Then he walked about looking at the students’ work, and when he get to certain people he said: ‘I gine shoot you,’ but to others, he said: ‘I will not shoot you, you are nice,’” the student said.

An angry mother told the SATURDAY SUN yesterday: “My son is traumatized.”

Parents of students in the class have written a letter of complaint to principal Vere Parris and copied it to the Ministry of Education, the Barbados Union of Teachers and the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union.

In that letter, parents also complained that the teacher cursed the children.

“During that ill-fated class he referred to them as ‘a.....’, purporting that people were filling their minds with ‘s...’, making them believe that when they reached Combermere that was ‘it’,” the letter stated.

The teacher was summoned to a meeting at the Waterford, St Michael school with the principal, deputy principal, year head, senior teacher, and parents.

“He said he was sorry a million times. He apologised and said he was out of line, and it was an isolated case, but that he was not usually like that,” one parent said.

Another meeting is expected to take place on Monday involving students.

Griffith-Watson said the teacher was seeking medical attention and would not be conducting classes until investigations were completed. Efforts to reach the school’s principal yesterday were unsuccessful.

Police are also investigating.

The boy juck out he own eye

Someone emailed me yesterday telling me that the singer Houston (no not Whitney or as my friend calls her Crackney Houston) gouged out his own eye. Ouch, just thinking about that makes me squirm.

Now I'm sure most of you are not familiar with this guy. Hell, I really cant name one of his songs and I could walk past him on the street and not have a clue who he was although the bodyguards and entourage might clue me in. All I know is he was one of those teen or just out of teen idol dudes who shows up on 106 and Park to makes silly young girls scream (I'm just hating cause aint no blog groupies). He also had a big song out with Chingy, which of course doesn't really lend itself to me really wanting to jump up and buy his cd. Infact it may make me unfairly put him in the Nelly, Chingy, Ashanti, and Lloyd category of no talent having persons who irritate the hell out of me.

Anyway that aside, clearly something is wrong when you resort to self-mutilation. Homeboy has mental issues or like my mother assumes for any deviant behavior "it was de drugs. nowadays all dem young people duz be pun drugs".

Now reading his story its a bit disturbing. Let me quote:
"Houston is going through spiritual warfare right now," Houston's bodyguard Marco Powell said. "It's like good versus evil. He grew up in a Christian family, and since he's signed his record deal he's been subjected to, in his own words, 'sins and devils in the business' like drugs, alcohol and all this stuff that he's not used to. He didn't want to be around that. He just wasn't happy with management — he just wasn't happy. He didn't know which way to turn."

Ok why are they trying to make it seem like homeboy is clothed in his right mind. I'll try (hard) not to make light of this situation, because in a strange way this is so messed up that I could just go off on it, but if the average guy has problems with management he's not gouging out his eye unless he was raised by wolves or something like that. Self Mutilation is just not an acceptable negotiating tactic.

And its a battle of good vs evil? So which side is which? Is his hand which jucked out his eye good and the eye evil. Sure sign of mental problems is when you are fighting battles and different parts of your body are on opposite sides.

More quotes:
"He showed no pain and he had no remorse," Powell added. "He said he had to do it. He said that that had freed him from everything. He was happy after that. He said he was changed and was ready to go. That symbolic statement basically freed him from all the pain he was in. He feels like he is closer to God now."

Symbolic statement? Dude he jucked out his own eye!

Ok some persons may say yea but the bible says if your hand offends you chop it off so you can reach heaven and the story does appear to paint a spiritual picture of this guy but seriously don't you think this guy has issues?

I mean from one standpoint its actually nice to see that he's a god fearing young man who isn't into all the rowdy showbiz drugs, alcohol, and nuff gal business but on the other hand young man unless you were auditioning for "America's Next top terrorist" or something like that jucking out your own eye not the way to go.

And his family is in denial too as this quote from his sister shows.

"We haven't mentioned anything to Houston, but we're going to talk to him about what exactly happened," Summers said. "Houston would never inflict any harm on himself. He was under a lot of spiritual stress, and a lot of that pressure, I believe, came from the music industry.

If its an accident why all this talk about spiritual stress? You're just making it seem that the incident was stress related meaning he was driven by stress to do it meaning that homeboy went off the deep edge anyway you slice it.

Anyways I'm still trying to get over the thoughts of a young man jucking out his own eye. This is a sad story. This young man needs help, spiritual and mental in my opinion.

Si Swimsuit

Cant focus my mind today and not sure I want to so here goes. Raptors beat Indiana last night after Jalen Rose got fouled in the last 1.9secs of the game. How often does an NBA team get a call like that on the road?

I think last night was the last episode of SI's swimsuit model search. The show was funny. I don't know the model's names. (good gosh they have names?) I was checking the 'scenery'. Anyway they were down to three finalists and they went to Bora Bora for the actual shoot. The blonde won the challenge and decided she'd do the day three shoot thinking it gave her an advantage. The brunette who's always going on about her Christian values went first and didn't seem too pleased with the topless (covered in a garland) shoot but still did pretty well. She's all focused on the competition and was trying to psyche out the other girls too.

Then Alicia the Hispanic looking girl went second. She's the one they said had a saggy ass but she's worked out and they love her body now. Oh she's been going for the pity vote for the last few weeks since her little diva act. Every week she's going on about how she was raised in foster homes or group homes and what a hard life she's had. Pops be on crack, mom's in jail, brother shot more times than 50 cents and how winning would really help her blah blah blah. Ok I embellish but that's my interpretation when she cues the violins. Like Jay Z said its a hardknock life but stop trying to get the pity vote. Win on what you look like not because you think you can guilt people into voting for you.

Anyway she did a pretty nice shoot. Seemed really at home with the camera and to be honest she's my favorite because she's got 'a bit of edge'. Hey one of the judges said that too. Not sure what it means actually but my interpretation is "you straight ghetto girl! No doubt!". Remember what Beenie say. lol

Then the blonde girl went last. Talk bout stiff. Some like Camp, Wigit and Burke will remember Square One had a tune called Mannequin (dey want me dance like a mannequin) a few years back. Well this girl was stiffer than a mannequin. She's not bad looking but she definitely froze up for the cameras.

Anyway that out of the way they had an elimination. They now had 5 judges; adding the photographer and the current editor of SI's swimsuit edition. One of the judges said something to the effect that they were pleased with Alicia's grace given her background. What da?? Let me interpret what they meant. "Girl you got it going on. I din know you could do dat. Straight representing up in here. I mean you hella ghetto fa shezzy and word is bon sometimes when you be acting a fool I be like uh uh no she didn't. But you did ya thing girlfriend. yo pass that shiltz malt liquor and when we finished can ya go by the weed spot an hook a sister up wid a lil sumting sumting."

Anyway Alicia buss out a big tear bout how hard her life is and how winning would help her. chupse! This led to a symphony of tears. All the contestants crying. I see more tears than at a black funeral.

The brunette girl wised up and finally realized that Alicia was playing for the 'America owes me dammit' sympathy vote so she started going for the all American, home of the brave and free vote. She started saying that her life hasn't been hard but her family supports her I everything and blah blah blah. Queue the star spangled banner theme song. What she really meant was "I know y'all ant thinking of giving my spot to this Hispanic girl. Oh helll naw! I'm a red blood true American from Texas, I own guns and ammunition, I deserve to win this. Y'all owe me for the Alamo. My pop wears a cowboy hat, my mom bakes apple pie on the regular. We got a flag hanging outside our house. Did I mention my brother lost two fingernails in Iraq?'

Anyway I cant stand her. She's always pushing this whole I'm Christian thing but yet she's the cattiest chick on the show go figure.

Blonde girl got in on the all-American act too. Oh during her mannequin shoot, she realized that she didn't want to do the topless posing cause she's Christian as well and her dad may see the pictures. Again I say what the?? Did you not know what you were signing up for? I mean its not Playboy, they ant going to have you with your stuff hanging out, staring at the camera but there will be times when you will be covered by less than you would ideally want. Plus this is a modeling contest, the winner gets a contact to go model. Have you ever seen some of those girls on the runway? Ya neva see Fashion TV? Well let me tell you that some of them girls are barely covered in material and it does not leave much to the imagination. If you want to be a model you've definitely got to be comfortable with your body.

Anyway I'm not too keen on her and her smile issue.

Anyway the blonde mannequin's photo shoot got her booted and its down to the final two and America gets the final vote. I say the All American Texas girl wins in a blowout.

Guyana

Somehow with the tsunami disaster that has struck South East Asia this disaster a bit closer to home, in the Caribbean, has slipped under the radar.

Over the past five weeks the coastal areas of Guyana, a Caricom country on the South American mainland , has been inundated with rains leaving flooding which has affected over 300 thousand persons (numbers rising) or 39% of the country's population. The country has received over 40 inches of rain in January, five times the average amount.

Severe flooding has affected some of the most populous areas of the country such as the regions of West Demerara/Essequibo Islands, Demerara/Mahaica, Mahaica/West Berbice, and the capital city of Georgetown. If there is no further rainfall, the flood waters will take between 30 and 39 days to dissipate. However further rainfall is predicted.

Although many lives have not been lost, millions of dollars have been lost in crops and livestock and millions of dollars worth of damage has been done to homes and personal belongings. Many have been displaced from their homes and as with such disasters there is a threat of the outbreak of Dengue and other diseases due to the breeding of mosquitoes in stagnant pools of water.

International relief has been extremely poor and slow to this cause, including the response by other Caribbean nations. Granted the Caribbean isn't the richest region in the world and is still recovering from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Ivan last summer but still considering our connections to Guyana, the response so far can be termed poor.

I have no clue at the moment what's being done to raise funds to help these folk but if anyone knows of any relief agencies who are collecting on their behalf feel free to give in order to help out our Guyanese bredren.

To Blog or not to Blog

That be the question. Sorry folks , although I had/have alot to blog on, no writers block, the minds been a bit foggy/groggy the past few days hence no posts.

Today I really don't want to blog but I need to sort of. You know like its a good thing for me to jump back in but at the same time my mind's resistant to doing anything but moping. Got to blog though cause I don't want the wife to think I'm too depressed to or she might start diagnosing me again an send fa the padded van. ;-)

Anyway just some odds and ends. Temperature got better this week and its amazing how much warmer -6 feels from -30 something. Positively balmy. Boy I almost start walking 'bout in shorts! NOT!!

Actually Campfyah did a post last week about how the Latin men don't wear shorts. I'm not Latin but I man don't wear shorts at all.

People say but you come from a tropical country why you don't wear shorts? Well various reasons; (1) I don't like shorts (2) when I was growing up in Barbados the mosquitoes used to have a field day with my skin. Boy I musse real sweet nuh, lol. So I just have become accustomed to not wearing shorts regardless of what country I'm in. Was in Dubai with the 44C weather and didn't wear shorts, Barbados with the 30C weather no shorts and since it barely gets past 25 anytime in the summer here no way ya gine ketch me I shorts. At home I don't wear shorts, at the gym I don't wear shorts unless I forget a track pants home. Only place you can reliably say I going see Jdid legs is the beach. Boy if I was famous ya wud see paparazii playing spider man by my windows trying to ketch a glimpse of my legs. lol.

Only thing I wear less than shorts is sandals. lol. And come to think of it my dad wears both regularly. Go figure!
Anyway going to keep it short today. Hope everyone has a great day out there in blogland.