Summer of the Gun part deux

Knew I'd have posted about Toronto's crazy gun violence a few years ago. Just found it here.

Well 7 years later it appears that we are experiencing another summer of the gun. Last Monday, 19 or more people got shot here in Scarborough at a blocko on Danzig street including a 2 year old kid. A 14 year old girl and 23 year old man were both killed. Both innocent bystanders it appears.


Of course as is typical somehow the Mayor and the Conservative government found a way to blame it on immigrants and started this whole silly discourse on exiling or deporting gangsters when mind you no one has actually claimed or been able to prove that the shooters were immigrants.

But this seems to be the typical play worldwide so why be surprised. Seems like no one is willing to step up and deal with the facts to be honest. All we get is a lot of rhetoric on how safe the city is which may be somewhat true but in light of events like this one and the shooting at the Eaton Centre about two months ago and the execution style murder on College street last month one really has to take into consideration how safe the actual denizens of this city feel.Which at this moment is not so much.

Its funny though some of the same things I said 7 years ago still apply today. I just feel like we've really done nothing in the interim to deal with gun crimes and the gangstas are getting more brazen and prolific in their shootings and a lot less accurate at hitting their real targets. Its enough to make one want to stay home or buy a bullet proof vest.

Fruity

I probably shouldn't be listening in to people's conversations but sometimes they are so funny.

Like yesterday while browsing in a store, I heard this customer and one of the staff chatting about their dislike of fruit. Apparently both of them have a hard time adding fruit to their diet. Which fruit? Any fruit apparently.

They both preferred fruit juice to fruit.
So instead of extolling the benefits of fruit they were just going on about apples and mangoes like they were some sort of unnatural alien concoctions.   Or like medicine that they had to force themselves to ingest at some point during the day cause I got the impression that on some level they still knew that fruit were good for you.

The conversation which I was listening to while trying not to turn around laughing was pretty funny What got me though was when one made the comment: "Yea I just cant get into fruit. Something about the juiciness just weirds me out." 

Help

So a brother takes a little hiatus from Blogger and comes back to find they throw out baby with bath water and he cant find his way around the new updated Blogger console which from my first glimpse looks dreadfully spartan and uninviting.

Help!

Hmm maybe I should take this time to transfer over to WordPress instead of having to deal with maco google asking me for phone number and connecting my blog to google etc etc. When did everything get to be so intrusive? Cant a brother just have a little privacy on his public blog? (catch the irony there did we?)

GroundHog day

I absolutely love the movie Groundhog day but ya know I never understand this foolishness about the groundhog seeing his shadow or not and that determining whether winter lasting long or short.

Firss ting, so lemma get this straight if he see he shadow that mean is more winter in we tail but if he doan see he shadow then we good for early spring? Wha dat doan mek nuh sorta sense to me! Who decide on that order a tings and not the odda way around cause I wudda figure if I see my shadow um overcast so chance a rain so rain mean spring so spring coming but dey have it de odda way.

Skin sweet

Mosquitoes love me!

I mean mosquitoes love me more than everybody else in my household which can be literally a real pain when you're in Barbados being eaten alive by dem tings.

I remember growing up I stopped wearing any sort of short pants at home at some stage of life because of the threat of being eaten alive. It got to the point that unless you see me at the beach you would never see my legs at all. People start say I have skinny legs and that's why I don't show them or that I have robot legs. They dont understand how if I even show pieca ankle the mosquitoes duz mek mi miserable.

And now everytime I go back home for a visit as soon as I hit the door the mosquitoes does greet me with bites galore. It don't even matter how much flitting or spraying we do they duz come back looking for me. My mudda say is cause my skin sweet. I ain't know if that true but I do know the mosquitoes like to pick pun me bad bad bad.

And now they don't let no long pants stop them ya know, they move onto my arms, my neck, my ears man one even bite me on mi head top. Lawd you know what mosquito bite feel like on ya scalp? Is not easy ya know. 
Boy, it get so bad I considering putting on a burka and hijab to deal with these things.

Anyway I let them get they little couple of weeks of biting cause the more I protest it just seem like the more they annoy me.

CBC Barbados

“Wha kinda Chinee foolishness this is CBC showing tonight? Ya cann even undastan wha duh saying. Chupse!”

This has been bugging me for a while.

Having been away from living in Barbados for so long, for me it’s always difficult to judge various bajan institutions without the added bias of my years living abroad somehow working its way into my analysis.

I can sometimes find myself criticizing stuff because its not like what I have grown accustomed to, living in a so-called first world country, which really isn’t fair to Barbados. So given that I know that I have a bias I usually keep most of my thoughts to myself and grit and bear it through terrible customer service or try not to comment on some of the convoluted bureaucratic situations I have found myself in in Barbados and just chalk it up to well this is how it is in Barbados.

However coming home at least once or so every year or two over the past 20 years (and recently I think I’ve made about 7 trips in 3 ½ years now) and watching a certain institution deteriorate I believe in all honesty and without bias I can say that the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) TV 8 station is absolutely terrible.

Money

Well this will probably be my last random post of 2011 which as you guys can tell wasn't really a prolific writing year. But all the best to you all for the new year and thanks for sticking around and reading this blog for another year.


So anyway, (this one going be short) I've been noticing on the web some/alot of photos with randomly ghetto looking people posing off with money. (this pose along with the self portraits with one holding a camera phone in the bathroom seen to be perennial favorites.) This led me to ponder whats the deal with posing with money? Is this an attempt to make you look rich or richer than you are, to let people know you get/stay paid as the vernacular goes? Whats the point?

I also pondered well if I had money would I take pictures with it? And is it safe to take photos with yourself showing off lots and lots of money. Like isn't it a tad bit stupid.

I mean you don't see Warren Buffet or Donald Trump posing in a room full of cash and those dudes are loaded so why do poorer folks do that type of stuff?

For my one part I'm thinking if I had money like that and assuming I hadn't gotten to the bank to deposit it, I'd be tucking it into mi underwear and running down the street like I on fire trying to find a bank to deposit it in. But I guess there are certain businesses and careers where it pays to show off some but still random photos of you spreading out wads of cash in your hand just seem so pathetic and begging for attention.

Anyways I dun. Happy new year to all

Roy Ayers

Just had to share.

I met Roy Ayers last night!!! No kidding y'all. Apparently he's in town for a show tonight.

I hope allya or at least some a ya know who Roy Ayers is cause it dont seem none of my friends do except for Single Serving Diva. So see me after meeting the man and texting and emailing all my people and they responding is who is dis Roy Ayers fella? chupse! way to bring me down folks, way to bring me down.

positive never negative

Just a quick one I wanted to get out there.

I dont know if its a Toronto thing or just new age styles but I've noticed that kids are no longer allowed to be criticized. I kind of knew this before but its was reinforced when I got my son's report card yesterday. I mean I'm not saying he's a little devil or anything even close but reading the gobblydegook on his report page it would appear he had nothing to improve on and was if not perfect probably mere percentage points off.....which lemma tell ya he is so not!

Even last year in the parent teachers meetings I got the impression that the teachers werent allowed to say anything about your kid that was negative. Believe me I aint going to get upset with you if you tell me the chile duz talk tummuch in class or playing the tail every once in a while.

Complete opposite to where and when I grew up. If ya was behaving bad, they let you know and you got punished. We used negative reinforcement. Dont do that crap again or liks in ya tail or no tv or write lines and of course mothers were famous for the ever useful "dont let me got to tell your father" line which was the ultimate defense and almost sure to get even the most hardears child to rethink what he was doing.

But back to the teachers and the daycares and the like in Toronto. It would be nice if you clued us in on where our kids were failing so we could know (although most of us do have at least an inkling bout some of it) rather than the new age speak that just makes our kids sound like perfect angels.

Rush rush

Wow, its been over a month since I posted. My apologies, been crazy busy its like work never stops. Miss you guys.

Anyway, I've been working at a new location for the last few months, one that's closer to the downtown core which means a longer commute for me. I'm now almost in the heart of the business district in Toronto and the one thing I notice about that area is how rushed everyone is. Its like that old adage time is money has been giving physical life by the denizens of this area.

Streetcar Strangers

Streetcars come in bunches.

No matter how hard they try to space out the scheduling, short turning cars here and there, or giving them their own right of way so that they don't have to combat the intense downtown traffic, there just seems to be something about streetcars more so than buses that leans itself to bunching. I think there is a scientific queuing theory on this but I forget now.

TIFF

I wukkin down near de heart of TIFF these days. By TIFF I mean de Toronto International Film Festival and by the Heart of TIFF I mean downtown near King St W and de Bell lightbox where alot of the TIFF activities duz happen.

9/11

Not to be overly dramatic but the world changed on September 11th 2001.

As per usual I'm not sure if we really grasped the significance of the occasion as it occurred but by the time the smoke cleared (weeks later) we sort of had an inkling that things would never be the same again.

Food studies

Let me start off first by just saying that of all the major fast food chains I pass through in Toronto Popeyes is by far the worse in terms of service. Is not that I duz eat alot of fast food these days like when I was in school but on the occasion that I do eat it yes Popeyes is a cut below the rest in terms of service. Wendy's McDonalds, KFC, Burger King all dem odda fast food bwoy ya duz get a certain quality a professional service cause dem a keep dem staff in check. Not Popeyes. Surley service by dontcarish staff who look untidy untidy and long long waits for simple items on the menu. They wont evn say amm that not available yet, dem duz tek ya order an den say no ya have to wait 5 minutes for this which is fast food terminology for a 15 minute wait but ya money dun pay so ya cant walk out an say faget it.

And not to diss my people but ya would almost think is West Indian people running dem Popeye resturant ..........but it aint we. Today one a de girls that was serving me had she hands fling off all behind the people counter like she drying she nails or frighten she going break one or she scornful for the food and the people. I couldnt understand what was happeing at all. And doan talk bout all dem untidy looking uniform. lawd! And mi not talking bout at one location cause of the several Popeyes I've been to something has always been lacking in service. Mi tink I might have to permanently done wid dem,

Anyways that rant out the way let me share this one wid ya.

Aliens

So I started watching this show on the history channel called one Ancient Aliens. All about why we had visitors to earth from the stars way back in the dinosaur days and how such and such a finding supports that theory. Its a bit out there.

Now I ain't saying I believe in aliens and like with everything, I watch this show with a discerning eye but I do find it interesting some of their theories and hypotheses and how they try to tie things together.

What I find even more fascinating than the theories are the very real places on earth that they use to illustrate their alien claims. For instance I didn't know about the underground "man made" or as they would theorize alien made caverns in the Cappadoca region. Caverns that are well ventilated and that could hold about 20,000 people and are surmised to be 100s if not 1000 of years old.

Anyway what I wanted to say is I find that these expert fellas duz try and stretch everything to fit their theory though. Like if they find a big head statue they duz say boy that is a statue of an alien wid bugly eyes and abig head. Or see how the ancient people draw dat stick figure wid three fingers well that was a three fingered alien that they encounter. Or boy we find a coin wid a dog head on it an it proves that back in the day this particular civilization was ruled by a race of big breed dogs.

And they always find these ancient sites and say well no way the ancient man could have built that by himself so clearly it was alien tractor beams and space ships and ion beams that build this pyramid or underground castle or whatever.

Anyway I rambling and just wanted to say this to them fellas. First allya aint know what dem ancient fellas was like, Suppose dem did know more dan we, who tell you we so damn intelligent compared to them or that they needed extra-terrestrial help to build what they build.

Secondly allya never hear about abstract art? Just cause wunnah find a painting wid a man wid a elephant head doan mean dat it is wha somebody really see. Are you saying that the ancient people aint had no imagination? Dat an ancient artist couldn't have said let me do a lil abstract thing or draw a cow head on a cockroach body.

If a fella millions of years from now discover one of we abstract art pieces I hope he aint suh foolish to conclude some a de tings dese fellas duz conclude.

Huh?

I had to read it twice cause um din mek nuh sorta sense to muh



Last night I was filling out some standard insurance type medical forms. Big setta yes and no intrusive questions to answer: do you have hypertension, diabetes, aids, cancer, a nail juk, ya back brek, ya toe chop off, fingernails brek, teeth falling out, one foot longer dan de next, ya duz drink, anybody ever refer to ya in passing as a crack baby, every snort coke, ya on medication, ya on alternative medication, ya walk pass a pharmacy last week, been bitten by a vampire, believe in Obeah, see a steel donkey pun ya roof, been kidnapped by aliens.

And basically if ya ever answer yes to any one a dem questions lawd help ya cause is a whole heap a extra info and 20 other forms ya have to fill out after that.

So anyways what got me was that huddled in the midst of the yes or no questions was one that said have you  visited a physician in the past 5 years.

But wait?? Wha kinda yes or no question that is? Wha most people including muhself will have to truthfully answer yes to that which then necessitates filling out a braiffle a extra forms all because I went to a doctor in the last five years. Wha dat aint mek nuh sorta sense at all.

To be honest dem shud be glad I gine an get myself chek up. Now if I go an answer I aint been to no doctor in the last five years now there I think I would be a problem possibly a liability cause I aint gine got nuh clue whether I got the hypertension, diabetes, aids, cancer, back brek, toe chop off, one foot longer dan de next, been bitten by a vampire or kidnapped by aliens. Well I guess I would know if I get kidnap by aliens but still

So poor me now gotta answer another 20 pages a forms all cause I went to a doctor in the last 5 years. Wha kinda madness is that. 

Still striving

Wow! It just occurred to me that today is August 14th and its my blogversary!! 7 years! (cue confetti, fireworks and bring out cake).

Not a lot to say though, been a year of few posts so hopefully the next year if I get that far will have more although who knows maybe I should just quit and go peacefully into the night. Oh well!

Anyway as always thanks to all my fans and readers new and old and to my fellow bloggers big up and nuff respect.

What a Kadooment!

Well the finale of Barbados' crop over festival occurred this past Monday with the big annual Kadooment day parade. This year Bajan singer Rihanna took part in the parade and since she is an international superstar of course the international press followed her every move on Kadooment day.


Foreign press is what wrong wid wunnah doah? Chupse!

Judging from the general ignorance I have read on some of the international news sites (mind you most of them arent exactly paragons of excellence) it is clear to me that they either (1) just want to pick on Rihanna or (2) just do not understand a caribbean carnival celebration. I think it may actually be a bit of both.

All about me

Neighborhoods are now hoods cause nobody's neighbors
Just animals surviving with that animal behavior
Stakes is High - De la Soul

We had a little discussion on the bus this morning, mi a a bredren. Reflecting on how in this society patience is a bad word and every lil thing people duz be ready to fly up in somebody face like how fowl cock duz puff up dem neck feathers when dey ready to fight. A society on edge.

"Is a all about me society we live in" he say. An me was agreeing cause it seem like everybody these days vex or ready to be vex at the drop of a hat. Maybe is the advances in technology we got that get we so an got we so own way and me me me first. Ya think is coincidence that summuch a we best selling technology name i this an i dat: I-pod and i-pad and i-touch and I everything or ya did thought Steve Jobs was a rasta? I-man say no dread.

Everything on hand now quick quick quick so we patience is a very thin layer that worn thin wid de slightest touch. You bump, I cuss, I scrape, you cuss. Forgiveness non-existent.

And is only gettin worse-er. As each generation gets possibly more tolerant of differences and about old biases towards others they somehow become more intolerant more me-centered in their interactions with others.

Murdoch

Allya see the hearings today in London about the News of the world scandal and the phone hacking? Boy that is some serious serious ting that going down dey wid de media and the police and all sorta everybody involve nuh.

Well I only see lil bit this morning before work. De people did like inquisition in their questioning so I say this thing like it real real serious fi truth. But I aint had nuh time to watch too much.  Anyways the big story was the stupid man that decide he gine throw shaving cream at Rupert Murdoch. Ah doan know why he do it or if dere was a point but he get in there good and close and near lash the man wid de shaving cream pie.

But how a man duz get in a busy session like that wid all dem cameras around an be able to build a shaving cream pie or sneak one in and then run up pun a man on the stand so and try to hit he like that. Wha kinda security dem fellas running, is very lax an ting ya.

But allya see Murdoch young wife reaction? De woman near jump ova anudda woman back to cuff the pie thrower in he face.

I had to say well well who say recession not hitting dem big multi-millionaire/billionaire fellas an dem aint tightening dem belt like de small man? Who say dat lie man, dem lie! Even a media mogul, rich rich fella like Murdoch cut back and now he wife doubling as bodyguard. See that is how the rich duz stay rich, 'im have the woman multitasking.

But serious though ya know the wife see the man coming at she hubby and thought oh gosh boy doan let he interfere wid mi meal ticket, must protect at all costs.