Trini Gazette

Is Pace!!

2007-02-13T05:57:00.000-08:00

Well people I am here and have been here since last Monday but today is the first time that I have even looked at my blog or that of the rest of all my great blogging counterparts! Needless to say...I have alot of catching up to do!!

But I just wanted to wish all of you out there a great but safe Carnival!!! See alluh on de road!!

The Big Question

2007-01-08T05:02:00.000-08:00

So yes I know that it is countdown to carnival but I found this article so important that it was worth mentioning.

The article appearing on www.msn.com and couple of days ago and now ah trying to go back there but can't find it for nothing. Essentially though, it is about finding out what it is we are meant to do in this life career wise. To me that is so very important. I think one of the most important lessons that I have learnt while living, working and going to school up here is that at the end of the day it doesn't matter how many degrees you have handing on your wall, what your title is or how many people make more money than you (cause not that money is not important, but there will always be someone with more money than you). It is if you are happy doing what you are doing.

I could go on forever about this topic but the article asked one main question though, "What would you do with the rest of your life if you won the lottery tomorrow?"

So I think the answer to this depends on a lot of factors. Age is a big one. If you are retired like my father after having given 40 years of service to BWEE you will most probably say something like build the beach house in Toco that he say he going to build for years and spend his days relaxing on his porch and reading papers like he studying for an exam.

For my husband, he said that he would just coach football for the rest of his life. He has been coaching up here for the last 4 years or so and I knew that that was what his answer was going to be. Me on the other hand, I know that I would work in something service oriented. Start up a non-profit that helps people in some way to better their lives or make their lives just a little bit easier. There are so many people out there who could use a helping hand with things that we take for granted everyday.

So, what would you do if you won the lotto tomorrow?

De Dance on Fire!!

2007-01-04T13:27:00.000-08:00

SO! It is almost here people and everyday there is more and more soca to listen to!

So far I have so many favorites it is ridiculous! These are my current favs though:

Be Mine Tonight - Blazer

Caribbean Girl - Nadia Baston

Higher Than High - Machel

Carnival Stort - KMC

We Are D'Boss - KMC

One More Time - Machel

Open D'Gate - Shurwayne

No Chorus - KMC and Fireball

And soooooo many more. Lemme know what I miss!

What a Way to End 2006

2007-01-01T16:56:00.000-08:00

Vacation Day!! Thank the lord it was a good one. But settling down to do some writing I started thinking about the next few weeks and the preparation to be made before coming back to that place that I oh so miss.

I have about 6 weeks before I am back home and a lot of stuff to do before then. Getting in to an accident last week (I know...great way to end off the year same thing my mother said) did not help cause now I have alot of things to do concerning that too.

Yes I know....didn't mention that me and the husband was in ah lil collision but we are o.k. We were hit by...get this...A 93 YEAR OLD MAN IN A TRUCK. We had to swerve to avoid him and he still ended up hitting the back of our car and we hit the front wheel against the curb. So of course...he was at fault...I was like okay....his insurance will give us a lil something at least to make sure that the car could drive...something where!!?? These bastards...and that was not the original word that I used...called back my husband to tell him that cause the cost to fix our car is more than the car is worth...they can only offer to give us what the car is worth and they will take our car! WHAT!!?? What de hell sense that make!!?? So after several inquiries I heard that that is the custom and our only choice was to take whatever they give us and allow them to take the car as I do not think that our car in its current state will last three months until my husband has to come home at the end of March.

When ah tell yuh...that old man and his insurance company well put de nail in de coffin for me last week eh! I only now kind of cool down about it so I can tell alluh de story now but I was livid to say the least! Now we have to either rent a car for the next three months or I can oblige my co-worker who has so graciously offered me one of the cars that she and her husband have. Not sure what will happen but that was how my 2006 ended.

Now I am only trying to look forward...saying thank lord that the accident was not worse and hoping that everything moves smoothly and without incident until I land at Piarco on February 5th and the husband arrives in March. I have faith...yuh cah end the year and start it off bad right??

For all those Resolution Makers and Breakers

2006-12-27T06:07:00.000-08:00

Well it is about that time of year when some of you begin to think about your resolutions for the new year.

I can say for myself that I have been a habitual resolution maker. Sometimes, I have been able to keep to my resolutions, but more often I do not. I think many of us try to make resolutions for ourselves that are unrealistic, that we do not really want to make or are not that serious about.

So next year, I have one main one that I am going to try to work on and that is just to be happier with myself and who I am and where I am in my life.

So, with the big '08 approaching...what may be some of the resolutions for the new year that you are considering?

Happy New Year Everyone!! See you all in the '07

Tis the Season to be BUSY!

2006-12-12T07:24:00.000-08:00

So from the slow blogging of my other blog partners as well as myself, I knew that we are really into the Xmas/Carnival Season. People busy yes, myself included! No rest till Ash Wednesday!

Who costume ain't book praying that by some miracle they find somebody who selling a costume in their dream section their same size. Flight not book...well yuh looking at spending a good chunk of change on that one! If yuh anywhere close to Atlanta yuh might want to check out Delta though. After work yuh rushing to get a good space in that 6.30pm Tae Bo class at the gym all the while jamming out yuh soca on yuh car radio or Ipod trying to get motivated to sweat up a storm.

In de midst of all this frantic excitement about the upcoming Carnival though, there is still the Xmas tree that yuh ain't put up yet. Not a light is strung up in my poor apartment. Gifts are very few this season as people need to remember that you have a 400US costume to pay for. Then there is all the fruit cake, pastelles, sorrel that you will either be missing or have yet to make. Pressure!

I know I am not the only one. But have no fear, before we all know it, it will be Ash Wednesday and yuh will be wishing that you could do it all over again!

Transition Time!!

2006-11-29T05:31:00.000-08:00

So this weekend I actually started some preliminary cleaning and throwing away to get some idea of how much stuff I will actually need to ship back home when we move back next year. It is amazing how much stuff you accumulate when you have your own place boy and this is in spite of the fact that my mother calls me the throw away queen! If yuh lie down too long in my house I will throw you away! I just don't like clutter and I think it came from having to move so many times since I have been up here, I just like to have as few things to move as possible.

All the cleaning and sorting led to a discussion between me and the husband about what we thought would be the hardest thing about moving back. I could really only come up with one thing.....my cell phone. I am so accustomed to just calling and spending how much ever time on my phone that I want and not worrying about minutes or anything like that. Not sure how easily it will be for me to adjust to a pre-paid or post paid phone.

From my peoples at home and even my people who live abroad...what other big adjustments should I consider?

Best Road March Ever!

2006-11-23T08:33:00.000-08:00

So, my little sister (who by the way is also going home for carnival and was the main tick in my %$$ for the last couple months about going home for carnival) got into it last night about the best Trinidad Carnival Road March.

Now, I am a Big Truck chile. It was one of the best carnivals for me and if it is any indication of my age, the first time that I played 'big' mas. I believe my friends and I were in Form 5 at the time.

So, what is your favorite road march? And if it is one before Big Truck doh study it cause I know that there have been great road marches both before and after Big Truck!

p.s. By the way, hope everyone has a great hoilday today if you are in the US. It is one of the very few long weekends that we have so enjoy it, doh enjoy it too much though!

The New Bond

2006-11-22T11:37:00.000-08:00

Well, since me and de husband doh have no fete or anything to go to we normally go to the movies on Friday night. So last Friday we went to see the new James Bond. We totally forgot that it was opening night and we don't ever go to movies on opening night, but ah well we were already there.

Now, I am a Bond fan. Have seen them all from cool Roger Moore to sexy Sean Connery to irresistible Pierce Brosnan. I have seen Bond girls like Grace Jones (who was more of a bond villain), Jane Seymour, Michelle Yeoh and my ultimate Halle Berry. So I was skeptical of this new Bond especially as the critics were touting it as the best Bond ever! What! Better than Pierce and Halle in Die Another day!?? Better than Sean Connery in Dr. No?!

So we got to the movies and got our normal favorite seats (middle of the back row where you are dead center and have extra leg room) and sat through the movie that people were claiming to be the best bond ever.

Needless to say...no it was not. First of all, after the first scene which was very well done, full of excitement and primed you up for a good movie to come, I was falling asleep during the middle of the movie. The scene changes during the movie weren't good and I was just happy enough to stay awake to see the end of the movie which was also well done.

There were some parts in the middle worth mentioning. I mean, he is a good looking man this new bond and there are several shots of him in swimwear! And there is an especially interesting part when we is not at all clothed and being tortured severely sitting in a chair...now...depending on how you look at it...if you forget the fact that he is being tortured...it is actually quite sexy!

All in all great beginning, so-so middle, good end!

Intellectual property theft a crime killing our culture

2006-11-20T11:11:00.000-08:00

It’s easy to remember the theatrics surrounding theft of intellectual property, the crime we refer to as piracy.

Calypsonians Shadow and David Rudder withdrew their music from the 2005 Carnival season because they were so certain that their efforts would only line the pockets of thieves. Ella Andall got up close and personal with the music pirates in the street, confronting them about their crime.

Earlier this month, Cott president Lutalo Masimba took to a heavyweight pulpit to bring the message home to pirates, steering a steamroller over piles of illegal CDs and the equipment used to copy them, then dumping the remains in an incinerator.

At the Cott awards for local music composers, Masimba lamented that “When we talk about crime in this country, we don’t talk about stealing people’s music. Decent people who talk about crime are the ones going out to buy the pirated copies of music.”

In some ways, Cott’s emphasis on policing the rights of local performers does a disservice to the wide-ranging discussion on intellectual property, because local

piracy is sophisticated, widespread and increasingly difficult to stamp out.

And it isn’t just music that’s being stolen.

The new James Bond film Casino Royale opened in T&T before it was released in New York City for only one reason; the perception that the potential for pirated product reaching a potential consumer is higher here than it is in the cultural capital of the US.

In every local community, there are small stores selling DVDs of popular films for just a little more than it once cost to rent them on VHS tapes. On these discs, you’ll often find films that were taped directly off the screen, with patrons shouting at their favourite movie moments and walking in front of the surreptitiously hidden cameras that are used to “rip” these films directly off the screen.

The sound is bad and the video is poor in many of these films; some are even taken boldly from DVD screeners, which flicker briefly to black and white and tickertape a contact number to report theft.

None of this has proved to be a deterrent.

Nor will Mr Masimba’s joyride over the pirated music produced by Indar’s Music World, a repeat offender in piracy crimes, cause any music pirate or the many vendors selling his wares on street corners to give pause to their operations.

Thousands of CDs have been reported destroyed, vendors’ carts taken away, equipment seized and the very next day, it’s back to business.

Attempts to match the pirate offerings with “official” compilation CDs burned to order failed.

Efforts to work with pirates in legitimising their business model have come to nought and the war on piracy is starting to look a lot like the war on drugs, the wrong fight on the wrong turf.

What we’re left with is righteous posturing by Cott, suffering artistes who cannot realise the value of their creations and an unlawful trade that simply won’t go away.

Perhaps it’s time to change the business model we’re fighting so hard to preserve.

Aggression has gained us little in the fight on piracy. Cott has done some work on awareness, with commercials featuring artistes outlining the problem.

Now it’s time to step up to association, giving pirate vendors a choice of selling legitimate product or facing prosecution; and advantage, ensuring that consumers get more for their money buying legitimate product and that vendors share profitably in sales returns.

Some creators have taken a different approach. Machel Montano’s Xtatik Ltd first went after pirates and then decided to reward their consumers with personal appearances and promotions associated with the official release of their music.

For the Montano clan, the response to anti-piracy is consumer focus, because without customers for their wares, the business of intellectual property theft is no business at all.

©2005-2006 Trinidad Publishing Company Limited

This is out of a great respect for members of the calypso fraternity at home who have been campaigning for years to stop the pirating of our nation's music.

Cold Weather, the Best Kill-Motive

2006-11-19T08:12:00.000-08:00

Boy, ah trying, but this cold weather is make yuh not want to leave yuh house at all!!! But I have to cause the carnival body has to be on point!!

I have been trying to keep to my diet, which I have been good at cause it is not really a strict starve yuhself diet, so that has been good. But we all know that diet is not the only thing.

So I go to the gym 5 times a week and most weeks I keep up with that. But if you have ever been to a gym in Trinidad and then come to one in the states (NOT in New York, Miami, or other area with a heavy caribbean/international presence) the gyms are much different. And not in a good way! But say what!

Anyway, I aint book meh flight yet eh alluh...but ah working on it!

Gimme de bass, gimme de Iron!

2006-11-17T05:54:00.000-08:00

Yes, yuh girl has been busy this week but it was all worth it. I will be coming home for Carnival 2007 and for good!!! YEAH!!

Booked costumes this week for me and my peoples, almost ready to book meh flight. I already tell mehself that I going to one party and one party alone and that is only cause I get in free. Ah not tryin to cheat people out of dey money eh! It is a party that I normally kind of work at so I will work and party!

Monday wear...no idea about that yet....shoes...neither....all I know is that I coming! LOL

Stay tuned for updates!

Piss me off!

2006-11-08T05:19:00.000-08:00

So, with yesterday as election day in the US, this chick comes into my office asking or rather encouraging people to go out and vote and making sure that people were registered to vote. So she comes to me and I look at her cause I know she coming with some s%$#! I tell her that no I cannot vote. This fool, for lack of a better word...will laugh and say, "Oh, is it because you are an illegal alien!...hahaha" and then before she could see my expression of hate and de cuss that she was about to get on she walks out of my office.

Now, yeah, she may have been joking and in her ignorance she knows no better, but I have a low tolerance for ignorance....very low!

For those like me and many others that I know who have gone through the pains and struggles to follow the rules and abide by all the many immigration laws and restrictions that come with being up here, the whole immigration debate that was in the news is a sore topic. So for anyone reading this...watch what you say...some people may not find it as funny as you do!

Lest They Forget

2006-11-06T05:27:00.000-08:00

Par for the course with Nel Giuseppi
Courtesy of the Trinidad Guardian
Wednesday 1st November, 2006

The year 2006 is rapidly coming to an end. As a sporting year, it has been quite an interesting one in several disciplines. In cricket, the West Indies team continued to provide up-and-down performances. They convincingly defeated India in the one-day series in the Caribbean and then, in the Test matches, they returned to the type of lack-lustre play to which we have grown accustomed in the last few years.

They then headed for Malaysia where they trounced Australia in a preliminary match before falling like ten-pins in the Final to the same Australians.

Off they travelled to the Champions Trophy in India to maul Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in the qualifying round and then collapse for 80 runs in the last match to Sri Lanka. In the actual competition, there were two stunning performances against India and Australia and, at the time of writing, the fingers of all West Indians remain crossed as our team is into the semi-finals trying to retain the Trophy they won so stunningly on the last occasion the tournament was played.

In football, the Soca Warriors made a nation proud by the fighting spirit they displayed at the World Cup Finals in Germany.

In my lifetime, I have only seen the nation as united on two previous occasions. The first was in 1987 when the National Alliance for Reconstruction (N.A.R.) organised a National Clean-up campaign that had all the peoples of Trinidad and Tobago, regardless of race, colour, creed or religious persuasion, coming together for the good of the nation.

The other occasion, of course, was the World Cup Qualifier of November 19th, 1989.

There were also many memorable moments, too numerous to mention individually, in several other sporting disciplines.

Golf also had its great moments. Early in the year, 15-year-old Ben Martin became the youngest player ever to win the Trinidad and Tobago Open Golf Championships while our juniors defeated the Canadians in the 2nd edition of the Stephen Ames Cup.

But the greatest sporting achievement of the year, in my opinion, was Stephen Ames’ victory in the Players Championship when he defeated the strongest field ever assembled in golf with Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickleson, Ernie Els and all but one of the top 50-ranked players in the world being involved.

Ames’ final round performance has been described by the leading golf commentators in the world as one of the greatest 18 holes played in the history of the sport.

I have taken the decision to return to Stephen’s performance at the Players Championship because I know that those who determine the Sportsman of the Year will soon be gathering to make their decision for 2006 and I know how easy (or convenient) it will be for them to forget this outstanding achievement especially in light of the fact that Ames has suffered from injury in the latter part of the year and has somewhat dropped off the radar screen.

And so, lest they forget, let me bring it once more to their attention.

I know I will be accused of being prejudiced in favour of Ames so, to eliminate that possibility, let me reproduce excerpts from the official story on the tournament taken from the P.G.A. Tour’s website.

"T&T’s Stephen Ames delivered a major performance Sunday on the treacherous TPC Sawgrass, blowing away the strongest field in golf with a

5-under 67 to win THE PLAYERS Championship by six shots.

Ames made only one mistake, a double bogey on the 10th hole when he took two shots to get out of the bunker, and it looked as if he would have to battle his nerves along the scary back nine of the Stadium Course. Instead, he poured it on with impeccable shots that stretched his lead so much that the tiny island of a 17th green was only another hole on his way to a dominant victory.

Ames finished at 14-under 274, six shots clear of two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, who closed with a 69. The scoring average was 75.378, the second-toughest Sunday in Sawgrass history.

Despite playing in the final group, Ames was eight better and had the best score of the day. He earned $1.44 million for his second PGA TOUR victory, and also got a three-year exemption to the Masters. His victory on a sun-baked afternoon was reminiscent of some of Tiger Woods' dominant victories in the majors -- build a lead early, and let everyone else collapse trying to chase him. Vijay Singh, Sergio Garcia and Mike Weir stumbled early. Ernie Els collapsed late. Goosen got within two shots of him at one point on the back nine, but that didn't last long.

Coming off his double bogey at No. 10, Ames blistered his tee shot and hit a flawless approach into the par-5 11th for a two-putt birdie from 15 feet. On the par-3 13th, his tee shot caught the ridge and rolled to 2 feet for another easy birdie, and he knew THE PLAYERS Championship belonged to him with a 15-foot par save on the 14th. Instead of playing it safe, Ames played without fear. He made a 10-foot birdie putt on the 15th, where the hole was tucked on the left side. From the first cut of rough on the par-5 16th, he went after the flag and narrowly cleared a bunker by the lake, making the 25-foot eagle. The only conservative play came on the 17th, the notorious island green. Ames went for the middle of the green, found land, and two-putted for par. And with a six-shot lead playing the final hole, Ames lived up to his name. He took dead aim.

Tiger Woods was never part of the equation. He twice made double bogey from the middle of the fairway, on Nos. 10 and 14, and closed with a 75."It was pretty close at one stage, but he played awesome," Goosen said. "He ran away with it at the end."

And these are not my words. So please, let us not forget.

Now let’s head for the 19th Hole.

With all the bad news that comes out of Trinidad these days, there is still the good.

One More Weekend Down

2006-11-06T05:07:00.000-08:00

So...Another weekend has passed and it draws me closer to being at home.....My real home. What I don't get sometimes, is the looks from people here when I tell them I am going back home. It is the kind of look of disbelief and pity for me. Yes pity!

I have concluded that it comes from the fact that many still believe that the life that we live in 3rd world countries is so much more different to theirs in developed countries. They think that I am returning to this life of struggle and poverty which I was fleeing when I first came up to the US to go to school. How wrong could they be. In fact, little do they know that the only time that I have ever really struggled in life was when I was in the US!

A couple of my closest friends up here came home this year for my wedding and their shock when they first landed was amazing. And these are people who for the most part have never left the United States, one of them never even left their state!!

So when they look at me now, they understand. They realize now how crazy it is sometimes to be so far from home, so far from the people that have known you for all your life. They realize because they know that they would never even think about moving more than an hour away from their families. They realize now because they see what I have been missing all these years.

2006-11-02T09:01:00.000-08:00

U.S. sweep nets nearly 11,000 fugitives
Roundup in 24 states was over one week in October

WASHINGTON - Nearly 11,000 fugitives, including sex offenders, gang members and others wanted on a variety of charges from kidnapping to weapons offenses, were swept up last week in a 24-state operation, the Justice Department was to announce Thursday.

Among the fugitives caught were 1,659 sex offenders — including 971 who failed to register with authorities as required by law — in what the government called the largest number ever captured in a single law enforcement effort.

With the spate of criminal activity especially that geared at children, this article was very relevant to me. Trinbagonians need to realize that we cannot just stand back and wait for our political leaders and government offices to put in place measures like those stated above in this article to protect ourselves and those in our communities.

Until the powers that be decide to seriously address and put in place strategies to combat the effects that crime in general and especially crimes against minors is having on the society, then the action has to come from the grassroots level.

Mourning Continues

2006-11-02T06:44:00.000-08:00

To all those who trying to get over it and cover it up, but can't hide that deep burning feeling in yuh stomach which reminds you that yuh not playing mas next year and yuh don't have a costume or flight home. The agony of it all!

The First

2006-11-02T05:23:00.000-08:00

So today I awoke with the sense of urgency to create my own blog. Why not, everyone else in the world as something to say, why not me? I have always been a fan of literature and this for me is the perfect outlet and medium to express oneself with that degree of anonymity that many of us prefer. So today, I start with this; words which hit home for one away from their true home.

Winter's Roads
by Ron Carnell

I cannot speak for all who stem
'Long roads less traveled as their way,
Nor question choices made by them
In days long past or nights long dim
by words they spoke and did not say.

Each road is long, though short it seems,
And credence gives each road a name
Of fantasies sun-drenched in beams
Or choices turned to darkened dreams,
To where each road wends just the same.

From North to South, then back again,
I followed birds like all the rest
Escaping nature's snowy den
On roads I've seen and places been,
Forsaking roads that traveled West.

This journey grows now to its end,
As road reflections lined in chrome
Give way to roads with greater bend
And empty signs that still pretend
They point the way to home sweet home.

But all roads lead to where we go
And where we go is where we've been,
So home is just a word we know,
That space in time most apropos
For where we want to be again.

For even home, it seems to me,
Is still a choice we all must face
From day to day and endlessly,
To choose if home is going to be
Another road - or just a place.