Through ironically colourful colourblind eyes....

Gas Tips part deux

2007-11-09T10:43:00.000-05:00

In light of recent events, just want to remind everyone, as well as post some new tips:

1. Fill up your car or truck in the morning when the temperature is
still cool. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks
buried below ground; and the colder the ground, the denser the gasoline.
When it gets warmer gasoline expands, so if you're filling up in the
afternoon or in the evening, what should be
a
gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the
specific gravity and temperature of the fuel (gasoline, diesel, jet
fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products) are significant. Every
truckload that we load is temperature-compensated so that the indicated
gallonage is actually the amount pumped. A one-degree rise in
temperature is a big deal for businesses, but service stations don't
have temperature compensation at their pumps.

2. If a tanker truck is filling the station's tank at the time you want
to buy gas, do not fill up; most likely dirt and sludge in the tank is
being stirred up when gas is being delivered, and you might be
transferring that dirt from the bottom of their tank into your car's
tank.

3. Fill up when your gas tank is half-full (or half-empty), because the
more gas you have in your tank the less air
there is and gasoline
evaporates rapidly, especially when it's warm. (Gasoline storage tanks
have an internal floating 'roof' membrane to act as a barrier between
the gas and the atmosphere, thereby minimizing evaporation.)

4. If you look at the trigger you'll see that it has three delivery
settings: slow, medium and high. When you're filling up do not squeeze
the trigger of the nozzle to the high setting. You should be pumping at
the slow setting, thereby minimizing vapors created while you are
pumping. Hoses at the pump are corrugated; the corrugations act as a
return path for vapor recovery
from gas that already has been metered. If you are pumping at the
high setting, the agitated gasoline contains more vapor, which is being
sucked back into the underground tank, so you're getting less gas for
your money. Hope this will help ease your 'pain
at the pump'

JOE

2007-07-03T15:54:00.000-05:00

Have to big up a fellow schoolmate that directed this

Hilarious stuff!!

My Quotes to live by

2007-06-22T10:20:00.001-05:00

I been collecting quotes for a while now. Usually when Im going through a rough period in my life these qoutes somehow find their way to me. Ive been collecting them as I go along so as not to forget. Here I share them with you.

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions"

"Perception matters more than reality"

"The difference between fiction and reality is that fiction has to make sense"

"It is interesting that people who are supersensitive about what others do to them are often totally insensitive to what they do to others" - Joyce Meyer, Managing your Emotion

"In life, its not the destination that matters, its the journey"

"If youre not prepared to look stupid, nothing great is ever going to happen"

"Our imperfections add to our own beauty, wisdom and ability to birth the greatness of our true purpose"

“Change your thoughts and you change your world."
-- Norman Vincent Peale

"It is what we think we know already that often prevents us from learning."
-- Claude Bernard

"It's amazing how crippling the power of fear can be...for in hiding yourself you hide not only your weaknesses but your strentgths...talents and those things unique to you which have been placed in you to give to those in need. It should never be underestimated what the presence of "you" may have on the lives of those around you." - some random person on hi5

"Man cannot conquer new oceans until he has the courage to lose sight of the shore" - unknown

"No one falls in love by choice, it is by CHANCE.
No one stays in love by chance, it is by WORK.
And no one falls out of love by chance, it is by CHOICE"
- author unknown

"If someone wants to walk out of your life, LET THEM GO"
- T.D. Jakes

"Everything eventually falls into place. Until then laugh at the confusion, live for the moment and remember that everything happens for a reason."
- Author unknown

"Take the most difficult challenge you are facing now and turn it into the greatest opportunity to grow simply by changing how you see it.. DEAD ENDS THEN BECOME TURNING POINTS"
- Author unknown

Do the math

2007-06-18T10:06:00.000-05:00

8 hour work day

+

directing 3 hour pan practice

X

4 days a week

+

directing Wednesday section practice

+

directing Saturday section practice

+

Sunday quartet practice

+

tentative Sunday section practice

+

ad hoc missing weak sections

+

little to no notice

+

first concert

+

little experience

+

personal insecurities

+

no chance for a break, not even one night

+

continuously changing practice plans

+

month and a half

+

on call work

+

overtime work

+

stupid credit card expenses

+

automobile expenses

+

cant properly clean car (no time)

+

cant service car (limited time and funds)

+

accidentally leaving on the heater for the entire day

+

almost broke (or broker than usual)

+

time for family

+

time for SO

+

bad memory

+

no exercise (no time)

+

career future?

+

educational future?

=

almost total loss of personal freedom

+

extremely short temper

+

consistent bad moods

+

non-communicative

+

self imposed isolation

+

headaches

+

misunderstandings

+

constant fatigue

+

mental exhaustion

+

short with coworkers pan members family

+

inability to perform optimally in both jobs

+

no time to think about Unix Certification exams...when to study?

+

no time to properly think about future financial investments

+

no time to think about career future properly...if I lose my job today where would I be?

+

bruk pocket...high light bills!!

+

bruk pocket....from unserviced vehicle!!

+

not too happy SO

+

miscommunication episodes with family

+

barely any time and energy to link friend whom I havent seen since prep school

+

almost no time for me

A few life quotes I need to remember:

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions"

“Change your thoughts and you change your world."
-- Norman Vincent Peale

"It is what we think we know already that often prevents us from learning."
-- Claude Bernard

"Everything eventually falls into place. Until then laugh at the confusion, live for the moment and remember that everything happens for a reason."
- Author unknown

Talk more. Smile more. Even when you dont have the will or energy to. It helps.

Need to learn to pull a good mood out of thin air. Need to work hard to make tasks seem less like work :)

They say the Lord never gives you more than you can bear....holding on for dear life to this theory

Small victory from CWC?

2007-05-24T16:57:00.000-05:00

After the first round the WI crashed and burned, we did not make as much money from the tournament as we hoped, the stands at most of the matches werent exactly full to the capacity, a high profile murder took place on our home soil and the capabilities of the local police force is being questioned by the international community.

However...

For the past two Saturday afternoons on my way to the UWI Student's Union, ive seen kids practicing Cricket. This is the first time seeing that, having passed that exact spot numerous times for the past 9 years.

Ive been living at my apt for almost 4 years now, and yesterday was the first time I saw kids set up stumps and playing cricket with a tennis ball.

....A small victory?

Sad state of affairs?

2007-05-14T09:51:00.000-05:00

For the first in a long time, im actually enjoying my job. And I strongly suspect it is primarily because it takes my mind off my other job.

You know when you jus BAD MIND??!!!!!!!!

2007-05-04T15:54:00.000-05:00

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/suing-the-pants-off-dry-cleaner/2007/05/03/1177788309831.html
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/210362

Excerpts from the above articles:

" A customer got so steamed when a dry cleaner lost his trousers that he sued for $65 million (U.S.). Two years later, he is still pressing his suit."

"According to court documents, the problem began in May 2005 when Pearson became a judge and brought several suits for alterations to Custom Cleaners in Washington. A pair of pants from one suit was missing when he requested it two days later.

Pearson asked the cleaners for the full price of the suit: more than $1,000.

But a week later, the owners said the pants had been found and refused to pay. Pearson said those were not his pants and decided to sue.

Manning said the cleaners have made three settlement offers to Pearson: $3,000, then $4,600, then $12,000.

But Pearson was not satisfied and expanded his calculations beyond one pair of pants."

"He reached the figure of $US67,292,000, citing Washington's consumer protection law, which provides for damages of $1500 per violation per day. Judge Pearson started multiplying: 12 violations over 1200 days, times three defendants (the Chungs and their son), as well as other claims.

These include $US15,000 to rent a car every weekend for 10 years to drive to a cleaner in another area because he no longer wanted to use his local dry cleaner. He also seeks $US500,000 in emotional damages and $US542,000 in legal fees, although he is representing himself."

Things like this make you go WTF???

Emotional damages for losing a pair of pants?? Legal fees even though he's representing himself, is that even allowed??? And all this isnt even for a large corporation, is jus 2 chiney ppl a do a likkle ting.

Bwoy when u jus bad mind....

Frustrated

2007-04-08T02:11:00.000-05:00

I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.

- Bill Cosby

An old man, a boy & a donkey were going to town. The boy rode on the donkey & the old man walked. As they went along they passed some people who remarked it was a shame the old man was walking & the boy was riding. The man & boy thought maybe the critics were right, so they changed positions.Later, they passed some people that remarked, "What a shame, he makes that little boy walk." They then decided they both would walk! Soon they passed some more people who thought they were stupid to walk when they had a decent donkey to ride. So, they both rode the donkey. Now they passed some people that shamed them by saying how awful to put such a load on a poor donkey. The boy & man said they were probably right, so they decided to carry the donkey. As they crossed the bridge, they lost their grip on the animal & he fell into the river and drowned. The moral of the story? If you try to please everyone, you might as well... Kiss your a$$ good-bye.

...

2007-04-08T01:19:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I hate my job. No, the other one.

Everyone has a need to be understood and appreciated.

Why the hell does anyone really want to be at the top. It lonely, unforgiving, unrewarding for the most part and everyone makes demands without regard.

A real leader is in actuality a servant. It begs the question, are you on top or at the bottom. And who the hell really wants to be at the bottom.

When employees are unhappy they turn to their boss. When the boss is unhappy who do they turn to.

So when does my training begin? It might make the job a little bit easier. Just a little bit. Maybe. Just a thought. Qualifications help. Amazing, I know, but it does. Its a hell of a lot easier than the self taught road. But until the formal training comes, understanding goes a LONG way.

It helps if people listen to what you have to say. Not just hear, but actually listen.

How can you truly appreciate where you are now if you cannot remember, reflect and appreciate the road you took to get there.

Everyone has a need to be understood and appreciated.

Sometimes I hate my job. No, the other one.

Live On Stage

2006-11-27T11:22:00.000-05:00

This past weekend saw some of this Island's biggest simmering talents showcasing their skills at Live On Stage, a concert put on by MG. I say simmering because even though none have yet achieved the fame of an Alaine or a TOISIS this does not mean that they cannot hold their own, or even outclass, said known Jamaican artists. The show featured Natalie Spence who does background vocals for the likes of Cezar, Ellan Edwards, an up and coming vocalist who has her roots in the University Singers and brings a unique performing style to the stage, MG himself, live bands Rocky V and Airplai, the Choir Boyz, and special guest artists Camar and Benjy Myaz. Dont let the "background vocals" title fool you as Natalie can more than hold her own up front and center, though I think we audience members were a bit cheated Sunday evening as her mic seemed to have been a bit low. Both Steve Madden and the star himself MG sing backup for Rocky V, however MG took to the stage solo rocking the audience with a mix of reggae and soul, starting his set with an original piece. Steve Madden surprised the audience with a big voice doing a rendition of "Bring it all home to me", and once he gets more experience on the stage will definitely be a force to reckon with. Rocky V, a fast rising band that has graced the small stage at Air J Jazz and Blues, and Airplai, one of the best bands around, showed with their performances that the live band scene in Jamaica is a thriving one. Closing the show and bringing the house down along with them were the Choir Boyz, from which this all started. All the group members had their roots in Campion College Choir, and as a past member of the choir myself, have watched them develop musically over the years. The biggest inspirations to me are Chris and MG, Chris gone full time as a musician and MG heading there. Truly amazing to see where they are now.

Ive been going to a number of live shows for the past few weeks now, from the regular live performances at Village Cafe and Xcape to Tessane Chin and Robert Dubwise. It is not a common thing nowadays to go to a live show and you get more than your money's worth, and that is exactly what happened this weekend. Apart from a few visible hitches the quality of the musicians themselves were top notch. And the only motivation for these individuals to keep growing and to keep reaching higher and higher for excellence, is a genuine love for their craft.

This show for me was further proof that Jamaica is rife with talent.

P.S mi VEX sey Airplai never perform on Sunday..VEX!! I been hearing so much about this band and somehow keep missing their shows :(

Training a farign

2006-10-10T14:48:00.000-05:00

The last two weeks saw Digicel sending me and 2 of my coworkers to Wakefield Massachusetts for training. Mind you, the platform we're getting the training on has been in operation since February, but we receive the training late in true Digicel fashion. We were to join 5 others from across the Caribbean (St Lucia, Barbados, Trinidad, Aruba and Curacao).

We arrived on the Sunday, training for the following weekdays from 9 am - 4:30 pm. Of course, once you are abroad shopping is a must, esp for those who dont travel regular. The hotel shuttle service was nice enough to take us to a mall and pick us up after for the first 3 evenings after training (the lone female in the group nice up the driver), but shuttle cant do it all the time. Taxi hella expensive, at least $20 to go anywhere. It worked out cheaper if we rented cars, so by Friday we got two cars for the 8 of us. Thats where the interesting times began.

Of all in the group there were only 3 of us that could drive in the US (myself included), however only two were in any way familiar with the roads. The main navigator that got us anywhere we went didnt have his licence but has been in Boston before. Trust me, google map was our bestest friend on this trip. But even then we still managed to get lost almost every single time we went on the road. Including the day we were leaving...

7 am flight. The car rental place doesnt open until 5:15 am. They will shuttle you to the airport after checking the car. Ok, so the plan is to go to the airport, check in, then leave to return the car, and get shuttled back to the airport and fly out on our merry way. We got directions to the airport. simple enough. Leave out 4:30. Get to Boston by about 4:50. Found the way to the airport. Whats this...3 or 4 different places to park..none fitting the description of what we want to do...uhh..err..ok turn there...terminal? which terminal are we? 5 am..no this is the wrong place, turn here...5:15, getting a bit late but no worries...ok lets try get back to where we started...but how do we do that..damn took a wrong turn...ok lets go to the car rental place as we saw a rigth turn that wouldve taken us to where a bunch of different car rental companies were bunched together...only our company isnt one of them. Great. 5:30..times a ticking..back to the airport, try find an information booth...too early none not open...found 2 security guards and asked for directions...back to car, follow directions, realize security guards dont know nuttin...end up back at the same place with all the car rental places...5:45..we drive into one of the car rental places and catch the driver of a shuttle about to leave for directions...dude's english is poor, ha it keeps getting better...but eventaully he leads us on the right track...car rental place is waaaay far from airport and other rental places..got to car rental at bout 6:05, got to airport at 6:15, eventually got to the gate at 6:50 for a 7 am flight.

Talk about cutting it close.

But we made it home ok. And after getting partially used to the cold up there home now feels hotter than it was in the summer. Who knew 2 weeks could make such a difference.

All in all a good trip.

For those who missed her...

2006-09-27T13:18:00.000-05:00

Clare's Back

Let them GO

2006-08-30T09:28:00.000-05:00

My thought for the day. Thought I would share with you all.

"Let Them Go"

By T. D. Jakes

There are people who can walk away from you.

And hear me when I tell you this! When people can walk away from you, let them walk.
I don't want you to try to talk another person into staying with you, loving you, calling you, caring about you,
coming to see you, staying attached to you. I mean, hang up the phone.

When people can walk away from you, let them walk. Your destiny is never tied to anybody who left.

The Bible said that they came out from us that it might be made manifest that they were not for
us. For had they been of us, no doubt they would have continued with us. [1 John 2:19]

People leave you because they are not joined to you.
And if they are not joined to you, you can't make them stay.

Let them go.

It doesn't mean that they are a bad person; it just means that their part in the story is over.
And you've got to know when peoples' part in your story is over
so that you don't keep trying to raise the dead. You've got to know when it's dead.

You've got to know when it's over. Let me tell you something. I've got the gift of good-bye. It's the tenth spiritual gift. I believe in good-bye. It's not that I'm hateful, it's that I'm faithful, and I know whatever God means for me to have He'll give it to me. And if it takes too much sweat I don't need it.
Stop begging people to stay.

Let them go!

Psycho-analysis of Sesame Street

2006-08-16T08:46:00.000-05:00

You think you know, but you have no idea....

Taken from http://www.psychology.sbc.edu/bellan.htm

The children’s television program Sesame Street has been a staple of households worldwide for nearly thirty years. It was originally conceived as a way to bring educational programming to disadvantaged households, by making it apart of regular public broadcast television. The creators made a lovable cast of muppet characters they believed children would relate to, and learn from. Over time these characters have evolved to better fit these goals, but also have characteristics that are often overlooked. When examined from a psychological perspective, the characters of Sesame Street have many disturbing and serious disorders.

Big Bird

Big Bird is known as "The Friendliest Fowl on Sesame Street," and is described by the creators of the show as a very curious six-year old creature, who makes friends easily, and shares his nest with Radar, his teddy bear (The Children’s Television Network Interactive Site). Big Bird sees his world through rose colored glasses and likes to be a part of everything and everyone’s lives.

Big Bird has the most serious and, as leader of Sesame Street, the disorder that has actually come to be a part of the rest of the cast, crew and guests. Schizophrenia, of the undifferentiated type, is a disturbance that lasts for at least six months and includes at least one month of active-phase symptoms (DSM-IV, 273). In the case of Big Bird, his delusions and hallucinations have lasted for twenty-nine television seasons.

The essential features of Schizophrenia are a mixture of characteristic signs and symptoms (both positive and negative). A diagnosis must include two or more of the following:

1. Delusions (A large part of Big Bird’s affliction)
2. Hallucinations (The other manifestation for Big Bird)
3. Disorganized speech
4. Grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior
5. Negative symptoms

These signs, or symptoms, are associated with marked social or occupational dysfunction. For Big Bird the disruption in his social behavior has decreased over time with the gradual acceptance of his main hallucination by the populace of Sesame Street. The disturbance is not accounted for by other disorders, and it is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance or a general medical condition (DSM-IV, 274-285). (It is assumed by this researcher that Big Bird and the rest of the Sesame Street cast have not been partaking in illicit and hallucinatory drug use for the last twenty-nine years).

As defined in the DSM-IV, delusions are erroneous beliefs that usually involve a misinterpretation of perceptions or experiences (DSM-IV, 275). The original delusions of Big Bird centered on the idea that he/she (the gender issue will be discussed later; Big Bird will subsequently be referred to as he) thought he was being ridiculed by others for speaking to his hallucination. Hallucinations may occur in any of the five senses, but auditory hallucinations are the most common form for schizophrenia (DSM-IV, 276). For Big Bird, the hallucination has taken on characteristics of all five senses. Snuffaluphagus, thought by some to be the less dangerous imaginary friend type, is actually a schizophrenic hallucination. He did not exist outside of Big Bird’s brain for the majority of his time on Sesame Street.

Schizophrenia involves dysfunction in one or more major areas of functioning such as inter-personal relationships. Big Bird responded in this dysfunctional way when his hallucination became his best friend, and also when he could not relate to others because they insisted that they could not see Snuffaluphagus. Development may also be impaired through schizophrenia, which may explain why Big Bird has never progressed beyond his six-year-old mentality.

Perhaps the most disturbing part of Big Bird’s power over Sesame Street is that he has made Snuffaluphagus real to others. Shared Psychotic Disorder (Folie a Deux) involves the transference of a delusion (in this case a large brown creature) from one, who already has a psychotic disorder (the primary case), to others who are involved in a close relationship with the delusional person (DSM-IV, 305). Usually the primary case in Shared Psychotic Disorder is dominant in the relationship and gradually imposes the delusional system on the more passive and initially healthy second person(s). Big Bird is the undisputed ringleader of the "Street", and thus, has convinced the rest of the cast that Snuffaluphagus does indeed exist. They can now see, hear, and interact with this character that was originally only a part of Big Bird’s imagination (The Children’s Television Network Interactive Site).

Big Bird, as alluded to earlier, also has gender issues and possibly Gender Identity Disorder. There are two components that must be meet in order for a diagnosis of gender identity disorder to be made. First, there must be "evidence of a strong and persistent cross-gender identification, which is the desire to be, or the insistence that one is, of the other sex." Secondly, there must be evidence of "persistent discomfort about one’s assigned sex role or a sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex" (DSM-IV, 532-533). The main problem in diagnosing Big Bird with gender identity disorder is that his/her original gender is undetermined. The Children’s Television Workshop has begun referring to Big Bird as a he for simplicity, but the original conception of the character was not gendered. Big Bird performs many acts stereotypical of both genders, which makes a reliable diagnosis impossible. If he is indeed a he, he performs female behaviors such as sitting on a nest. The conclusion here that Big Bird has some gender issues, mostly that he/she does not clearly identify with either gender, and therefore may be better described as "nonconformity to stereotypical sex role behavior" (DSM-IV, 536). The DSM-IV also points out that in schizophrenia there may be delusions of belonging to the opposite sex (DSM-IV, 537). Big Bird’s gender issues possibly stem from the schizophrenia that is controlling and altering his life.

Overall, Big Bird has the most serious and dangerous disorders of the Sesame Street characters largely because his disorders have come to effect so many others around him.

Snuffaluphagus

Beyond being a shared hallucination, Big Bird’s imaginary friend "Snuffy" has problems of his own. This figment of Big Bird’s creation is at first glance, severely depressed, but through careful examination, Snuffy’s diagnosis is more accurately Dysthymic Disorder. He is often quoted saying "Oh, dear" in a very slow and deliberate way, and his greatest dislike is listed as: "When nobody believes I exist" (The Children’s Television Network Interactive Site).

The essential feature of Dysthymic Disorder is a chronically depressed mood that occurs for most of the day, more days than not, for at least two years. During the period of depression, at least two of the following criteria must be present:

1. Poor appetite or overeating (look at the size of Snuffy!)
2. Insomnia or hypersomnia (In the beginning Snuffy had a form of narcolepsy and would fall asleep as soon as someone other than Big Bird would appear)
3. Low energy or fatigue (Snuffy is a slow mover and often complains about being tired)
4. Low self-esteem (Her self esteem has improved over the years, but still becomes concerned when others claim that she is not real)
5. Poor concentration or trouble making decisions (Not a characteristic for Snuffy)
6. Feelings of hopelessness (This was a past characteristic, but has been phased out over the years, could be considered a recovery or remission)

(DSM-IV, 349)

The associated feature of dysthymic disorder are similar to those of a major depressive episode, but those with dysthymic disorder can still carry on their everyday activities, and their symptoms are often thought of as "the way I have always been" or just "part of their personality." In Snuffy’s case, Big Bird seems to be at blame for Snuffy’s problems, since he created him.

Over the years, Snuffaluphagus has exhibited narcoleptic behavior as a manifestation of being Big Bird’s hallucinations. Originally, whenever another cast member would approach Big Bird and Snuffaluphagus, he would simply fall asleep. This conveniently explained his absence to others, but frustrated Big Bird. If another cast member claimed that they could not see Big Bird’s enormous friend, he would ask Snuffaluphagus to say something. Unfortunately, he would be so asleep that Big Bird could never get him to wake up and prove that he was real. As Snuffaluphagus slowly became apart of the other character’s belief system, his narcolepsy receded, and he no longer falls suddenly asleep in public.

Oscar the Grouch

Oscar is known for being disagreeable, and for loving rainy days and arguing. He dislikes everything, and lives by the philosophy "Leave me alone, and I'll leave you alone" (The Children’s Television Network Interactive Site).

The DSM-IV defines the essential feature of Oppositional Defiant Disorder as " a recurrent pattern of negativistic, defiant, disobedient, and hostile behavior toward authority figures that persists for at least six months" (DSM-IV, 91). Oscar the Grouch displays this sort of behavior toward authority figures, the experts and guest stars of Sesame Street, and his fellow cast-mates. Over the show’s twenty-nine years, his anger and outbursts have been tempered considerably, but The Grouch is still a grouch. The DSM-IV also outlines further characteristics of Oppositional Defiant Disorder as having at least four of the following behaviors with regular and frequent occurrence:

(1) Losing temper (the essence of Oscar),

(2) Arguing with adults (he argues with everyone),

(3) Actively defying or refusing to comply with the requests or rules of adults (Oscar generally complies with request, but only after receiving what he considers a "good reason"),

(4) Deliberately doing things that will annoy other people (The original Oscar pulled many practical jokes and still likes to push the other characters’ buttons),

(5) Blaming others for his or her own mistakes or misbehaviors (This criteria is not typical of Oscar, who is usually very willing to take credit for his misdeeds),

(6) Being touchy or easily annoyed by others (Again, an Oscar-esque description)

(7) Being angry or resentful,

Or (8) being spiteful or resentful (Like criteria 3 and 5, this is not typical of Oscar the Grouch)

(DSM-IV, 91-94 & The Children’s Television Network Interactive Site)

Further, these behaviors must occur more frequently than is typical for others of comparable age and developmental level, and must lead to significant impairment in social (Oscar’s downfall), academic, or occupational function.

A diagnosis of Operational Defiant Disorder is not made if these behaviors occur exclusively during the course of a Psychotic or Mood Disorder, or if the individual meets the criteria for Conduct Disorder or Antisocial Personality Disorder (DSM-IV 91). Fortunately Oscar does not meet the criteria for any of these disorders. Although the layman use of the term "Antisocial" has been used to describe Oscar, he does not meet correct use of the diagnostic.

Oppositional Defiant Disorder is associated with low self-esteem, mood liability, low frustration tolerance, swearing, and the precocious use of alcohol, tobacco, or illicit drugs. ADHD, Learning Disorders, and Communication Disorders also tend to be associated co-morbidities. In a significant proportion of cases, the disorder is a precursor to the more severe Conduct Disorder (DSM-IV, 92).

In conjunction with operational defiant disorder, schizoid personality disorder involves a pervasive pattern of detachment in social relationships and a restricted range of emotions in interpersonal settings (DSM-IV, 638). For Oscar, he exhibits one emotion, that of grouchiness, the majority of the time.

Individuals with schizoid personality disorder do not seem to desire intimacy, are indifferent to most social situations, have few if any close relationships, and do not appear to find satisfaction from family or social groups. Most people (or Muppets) with this disorder, like Oscar, are socially isolated, may be termed "loners," and almost always choose to live in isolation (hence the can: DSM-IV, 638 & The Sesame Street Interactive Network).

Those with schizoid personality disorder often seem indifferent to the approval or criticism of others, and do not appear to be bothered by what others think of them. This may result from the fact that they are oblivious to such criticism, and they often have trouble reading cues from others (DSM-IV, 639). Oscar somewhat differs from the classic definition of schizoid personality disorder, in that those with the disorder are often described as having particular difficulty expressing anger. Oscar's grouchiness is a form of anger, but is not, per say, pure anger.

Oscar also has a rather severe case of Agoraphobia, and has not left his house (can) for an extended period of time in 29 years. He has at times, attempted to deal with this phobia, by taking short excursions, but it is clear that he is more comfortable and prefers to be in the can at all times. Additionally Oscar has some of the characteristics of social phobia, most specifically hypersensitivity to criticism, negative evaluation, irritableness, and lack of a social support network (DSM-IV, 413).

Individuals with these disorders are more likely to develop major depressive disorder, which often co-occurs with schizotypal, paranoid, and avoidant personality disorders (DSM-IV, 639). Oscar the Grouch meets some, but not enough, of the criteria for each of these disorders. It seems unlikely that after twenty-nine years of stability within his disorders that he would now begin to develop new ones. It is probable that Oscar will keep his current "issues," continue to express them, but not develop any new ones.

The Count

The Count manifests the most obvious affliction of all the Sesame Street characters. This caped creature will count anything at any time, which sometimes tries the patients of others. He dislikes calculators and the concept of zeros, and according to his creators, "tries to maintain the perfect balance between obsession and sanity" (The Children’s Television Network Interactive Cite).

The essential feature of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (not to be confused with Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder) are recurrent obsessions or compulsions that are severe enough to be time consuming, cause marked distress or significant impairment. At some point, the person has recognized that the obsessions or compulsions are excessive (DSM-IV, 417). The Count seems to realize this each time he begins counting, his maniacal laugher is an admission, but also a dismissal of these feelings.

Obsessions are "persistent ideas, thoughts, impulses, or images that are experienced as intrusive and inappropriate and that cause marked anxiety or distress" (DSM-IV, 418). The Count’s specific obsession has not been revealed. We do not know if he counts to rid things of contamination (a common obsession), or that he doubts his own ability and therefore must continue to count everything, or if there is some other self-created reason. An individual attempts to ignore or suppress these obsessions with some sort of compulsory ritual; for The Count it is by counting everything he encounters.

Compulsions are "repetitive behaviors or mental act (counting is considered a mental act), the goal of which is to prevent or reduce anxiety or distress (DSM-IV, 419). The obsession or compulsions must be time consuming, or interfere with the individual’s normal routine. Because the counting behavior has come do define his routine, it is hard to determine if it actually interferes, or if the behavior is The Count’s routine. One deviation from the classic definition of obsessive compulsive disorder that The Count has is that he seems to get true pleasure out of the activity.

Bert

Bert, more famously of the duo Bert and Ernie, is very serious when it comes to some things, especially keeping control and order in his life. He dislikes being asked what he considers to be silly questions, and hates being bugged or having practical jokes played on him (The Children’s Television Network Interactive Site).

Bert displays the essential features of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. This disorder is marked by a preoccupation with orderliness, perfection, mental and interpersonal control, and neatness, at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency (DSM-IV, 669). Bert is a compulsive cleaner and organizer, is dominant in his relationship with Ernie, and has very set patterns of behavior. He becomes agitated when his (and Ernie's) bedroom or bathroom's usual order is disturbed, and often becomes upset until Ernie cleans it up (The Sesame Street Interactive Network).

Individuals with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder attempt to maintain a sense of control through painstaking attention to rules, trivial details, procedures, lists, schedules, or form to the extent that the major point of the activity is lost (DSM-IV, 669). In Bert's case it is usually the fun that is lost, at least according to Ernie. He is oblivious to the fact that other people tend to become annoyed at the delays and inconveniences that result from this behavior.

Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder individuals may also be excessively conscientious, scrupulous, and inflexible about matters of morality, ethics, or values. They may force themselves and others (possibly Ernie) to follow rigid moral principles defined by the society, and to meet very strict standards of performance (DSM-IV, 670). This criterion, if met by Bert, would bring about Ego-like tendencies in the Freudian sense, and could also discount the much-repeated theory about an intimate relationship between Bert and Ernie.

Cookie

Cookie Monster quite obviously has an appetite for everything in sight. He prefers to be eating at all times, and his creators list his hobbies/obsession as "eating lunch, eating dinner, eating snacks, eating telephones, eating Ws, eating umbrellas, and of course, eating cookies (The Sesame Street Interactive Network).

The essential features of binge eating are recurrent episodes associated with subjective and behavioral indicators of impaired control over, and significant distress about, the binge eating and the absence of the regular use of inappropriate compensatory behaviors (such as self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives and other medications, fasting, and excessive exercising) that are characteristic of Bulimia Nervosa (DSM-IV, 729). Indicators include impaired control include eating very rapidly, eating until feeling uncomfortable full, and eating large amounts of food while not hungry. It is quite clear that Cookie is not eating for the purpose of nutrition. His habits, including eating foods and non-foods with no nutritional value (Telephones, umbrella, etc.), demonstrate his inability to control the binge impulses.

The diagnosis of binge eating is contingent on whether further evidence about Cookie’s disorder is learned. Thus far there is not evidence of purging or methods to remove the food from his system after he binges. However, no Sesame Street character has ever been shown using or even mentioning a bathroom, so this lack of evidence may not be telling the entire story.

These beloved characters of Sesame Street are not the fun loving teaching aids that the public is lead to believe they are. These Muppets obviously have some severe and far-reaching disorders that have changed the chemistry of the show and its cast. This trend suggests that other characters will also be found to have disorders, based on the seriousness of the disorders explored. The influence these main characters of an educational children’s program may be having on children must also be examined in future research. Sesame Street and its characters are a staple of households worldwide, but its influence may be greater than previously thought. The proper diagnosis of the characters is essential to further understanding of the phenomenon, and will lend itself to the examination of other children’s programming.

World Cup moments

2006-07-14T09:52:00.000-05:00

How Brazil lost to France

Zidane's head buck:

Conspiracy Theory?

2006-07-04T15:36:00.000-05:00

World Cup final history:

1958 - Brazil(win) vs. Sweden - South American team wins
1962 - Brazil(win) vs. Czech - South American team wins
1966 - England(wins) vs. Germany - European team wins
1970 - Brazil(wins) vs. Italy - South American team wins
1974 - Germany(wins) vs. Netherlands - European team wins
1978 - Argentina(wins) vs. Netherlands - South American team wins
1982 - Italy(wins) vs. Germany - European team wins
1986 - Argentina(wins) vs. Germany - South American team wins
1990 - Germany(wins) vs. Argentina - European team wins
1994 - Brazil(wins) vs. Italy - South American team wins
1998 - France(wins) vs. Brazil - European team wins
2002 - Brazil(wins) vs. Germany - South American team wins
2006 - Germany/Italy vs. France/Portugal - European team wins

Things that make you go hmmmm.....

Relay For Life

2006-06-16T18:57:00.000-05:00

Last week Sat the Jamaica Cancer Society put on their annual event, "Relay For Life". To know what this event is about go here, here and here. I wont bother to repeat, I will just relate my experience.

Most of my fellow band members/bloggers enjoyed the all night lyming the most. Now dont get me wrong, the lyming was great. There were several tents from several participating groups around the field, and something different was going on in almost every tent. So there was lots of energy in the place, it was hard to not be in a lively mood. Good people, good food, good exercise, good cause, good vibes = great lyme. For me, the part I enjoyed the most was the live music. They had different live bands on stage for most of the night. There is just something about live music that gets to me, I dont know what...maybe its the high I get from the electric guitars and horns/orchestra hit pumping powerfully through the speakers, so much so til I feel the vibrations through me...I dunno, but get to me it did, and distracted me from doing laps and lyming and anything else. I love watching live bands on stage, doing their thing, listening to their versions of current songs (since most dont do much original music when performing). The only band whose name I caught was Pace, they were the band that performed after us I think. The lead singer needed some voice training I think, but man could she work the stage. Very attractive with lots of sex appeal, and she knew it and used it. There were one or two jazz bands, they were pretty good for the most part, but there was this one elderly white guy who played some cool jazz on keyboard that made me want to find a lonely spot on the grass, sit down and just listen. Idleness mixed with good vibes and a bit of inspiration led me to attempt to arrange a tune on spot, but dammit kept getting distracted by the live music. Kept trying to play along with any familiar song I knew instead of focusing on arranging. Bwoy ADD I tell you. Couldnt help myself. At some point there was some drumming going on by the JPS camp, but was torn between that and listening to live jazz on stage. I didnt know what to do! Tessanne Chin, Tami Chin's sister, had my hopes way up that she would do a set. I spotted her in the crowd watching a band perform on stage. She only did one song. To a track at that, no live music. I did vex! But the girl can sing, she got better vocals than her sis.

All in all I had fun. Great time. Next time I want live music all throughout the night!

Sleep – a concept?

2006-05-28T23:43:00.000-05:00

This has been one of those weekends for work….went out Fri night, came in after 3, woke up around 9. Went out Sat night, came in something to 5 am. Realized there was a problem, started working on the problem at around 5. Didn’t stop until after noon. I mustve gotten something like an hour and a half of sleep. Tried to sleep at 2, phone woke me up after 20 minutes. Couldn’t go back to sleep. Have another hour or so of work at midnight tonight.

2 weeks ago at the Mobay band lyme, worked the Fri morning from 12 am to about 6 am, was up by around 10. Didn’t go to sleep til the Sat morning, after the sun rise, even then it mustve been 45 or so minutes. The next night I got my required 6 hours.

Doctors recommend 8 hours of sleep. I don’t need so much, I need around 6 most of the time. Yet I know ppl who go off 3 – 4 hours of sleep every night, others that regularly bleach and have very little side effects. And I know others for whom 10 hours of sleep isn’t enough.

My sleep habits are a little weird. Ive been told I have insomnia but not the typical type. I don’t have problems going to sleep, I have problems staying asleep. No matter how tired I may be, the later I go to sleep, the earlier I will wake up. And more times than not I will not be able to go back to sleep.

Ive had some serious all-work-no-sleep episodes. 11 pm – 8 am doing upgrades. 2:30 am – 1 pm working on some problem. While sick I might add. 9 pm – 7 am, again problem related, to wake up by 10 to go in to work. And in all these cases I get home dog tired and still sleep less than my required 6 hours.

I listen to some of my friends who talk about unable to party two nights in a row, cause they ‘mash up’ afterwards. I guess this is where the ‘Digicel experience’ has somewhat trained me for this sort of thing. The thing is, even though I don’t suffer physically from extended periods without sleep, there’s psychological after-effects. I become antisocial (more than normal anyway), short tempered, kind of grumpy, and lazy to think about anything too tough.

Right now id love nothing more than to go to bed and get some sleep. Im tired. And the earlier I get to sleep, the longer I’ll sleep. But work is at 12…I hope it doesn’t go on too long tonight, as the later I go to sleep, the earlier I’ll wake up.

Subaru Legacy GT

2006-05-28T19:18:00.000-05:00

I have to admit, of late they have been catching my eye.

Im now becoming tired of fixing something on my car every other month. It gets real old after a while.

So im shopping around for a new car. But im picky. Id like a car I intend to keep for a while. That means its got to be a newer car, not much older than say 5 years. Id prefer a 4 door, tired of the 2 door thing now. Id really like a stick shift. Not as likely to be stolen (most tief tend not to go for stick shift cars), and more fun to drive. Also more control over how much gas you use. Must be quick, cannot deal with a car that doesnt respond as i press the gas.

Dont want a honda, dont particular like driving them, and too much of a target for thieves. Expensive too. I love Toyota, cause that was the car I drove most often soon after I got my licence. But kinda limited in terms of the attributes im looking for. The only Toyota I found that I like is the Carina GT.

But the more I see the Legacy on the road the more I like it. Hmm...

Ppl ask "why not go for Impreza?" Maintenance cost. More than Id like to shell out.

4 door sedan, turbocharged 2.5L engine, stick shift, not a common car so not attractive to thieves. Now the only part is can I afford it??

Matrix Beginnings

2006-05-15T08:32:00.000-05:00

Interesting article about the truth behind the creation of the Terminator and Matrix movies.

http://www.manhunt.com/news/stories/1106092472.html

No number 'second' roun 'ere

2006-05-05T16:39:00.000-05:00

We administrators of the blog circle (as shown by the links on the right) have had numerous discussions on this "Number dos" syndrome. Why does no one say this number? Why do Jamaican men take offence to being labelled as number what-comes-after-1, regardless of the context? Whats the difference between the numeral 1+1 and any other number?

One day in 1994 Terror Fabulous released a song, the first few lines of which went like so:

"Some man a play number 2
nuff man a oil and vaseline up fi tru
but i and i nuh inna none a dat , it wont do
cause anytime mi si di likkle bad pinky loo,mi haffi sing seh"

So there you have it. According to the song, playing number 3-1 means doing some activity that homosexual males do. Hence the reaction from our males in society. Mystery solved!

Matisyahu

2006-04-13T07:36:00.000-05:00

As much as I hate it when an outsider takes something traditionally Jamaican and does it better than us, I have to give props to this Jewish artist for his reggae tune "King Without A Crown". In my opinion, musical-wise this song is a work of art. He has managed to take traditional reggae, throw in some dancehall AND some rock (rock guitar solo) and mix it all together into one easy-listening, head-bopping tune. Granted, you cant understand a word he says due to his heavy jewish accent, but still a nice song to listen to.

I cant talk about Matisyahu in this manner without mentioning another reggae artist, German-born Tilmann Otto a.k.a Gentleman. He has even managed to learn and include our Jamaican patois competently. His song "Intoxication" is probably my favourite of the many on the drop leaf.

Our local artists better watch themselves, we've got int'l competition for our local product.

Random quote

2006-04-12T10:13:00.000-05:00

While doing some random idle browsing through hi5, I happened upon this is written in someone's journal. It appealed to me so much I borrowed it and am sharing it with you all:

"It's amazing how crippling the power of fear can be...for in hiding yourself you hide not only your weaknesses but your strentgths...talents and those things unique to you which have been placed in you to give to those in need. It should never be underestimated what the presence of "you" may have on the lives of those around you."

Blogs

2006-04-06T15:48:00.000-05:00

Blogging has really come a long way. So long, in fact, that ordinary people are now being recognized for their blogs. Baghdad Burning is a blog from an Iraqi citizen that was started round about the time of the war, and gives an account of Iraqi life from an ordinary citizen's point of view. Her blog has been nominated for the Samuel Johnson prize - a prestigious British award for non-fiction. Imagine that, youre going about your normal day, blogging as you normally would for no other reason than for the sake of blogging, and youre up for an award. Jamaica's own Jamaica Girl's and Mad Bull's blogs both got favourable reviews as well in SkyWriting, Air Jamaica's inflight magazine.

Its a good thing to see people out there being recognized for their writings, and who write not for money, nor for fame, but for simply keeping it real.

Oh My God! They killed Kenny!

2006-04-02T02:15:00.000-05:00

Who knew that South Park could be one of the most educational tv shows out there? Yeah, thats right, I said it! I put South Park and educational together in one sentence. And what??

On the real though, even though South Park is crass and crosses the line many times, the show does tend to focus on current issues and will, for 1 minute or 2, get serious and explain some particular issue happening in the real world. For example, an episode I saw recently explained stem cell research and the whole controversy around it. Previous to that I hadnt nary a clue as to what stem cell research was about. Its an interesting concept though. All cells in our body, before they become heart cells, liver cells, etc., are just simply cells, what we call stem cells. These stem cells, if positioned around any damaged organ, can become cells for that organ and hence that organ will have 'new growth'. The problem is the source of these stem cells....from aborted fetuses. You see the moral dilemma now.

Yeah, so who needs BBC or CNN? South Park!!

Winter...

2006-04-02T02:10:00.000-05:00

"Busy schedules, work demands, and survival instincts distract men from inner needs. But eventually, his motions slow to a pace where his emotional, personal and relational needs surface." - TD Jakes, He-Motions.

How true it is.

The last 2 1/2 years have been one long busy stressful ride. It started right around the time where I was put on call at work in May 2003 I think it was. Panoridim was just starting concert preparations around that time as well. After concert in August I started an MBA in October, but after some mix up had to stop in mid-November and pick it back up January 2004. So school and full time work went until mid-April 2005. The following month saw starting preparations for Panoridim concert, which was another stressful time all over again. Mid-August saw the concert performance, and mid-September saw the resumption of school, which ended for me February 2006.

Whew!

All that activity with no time to breathe. Though I have accomplished much and learned many lessons during this period, there is much that I have missed. I am a person where anything I do that is important to me, I try to focus all my mental energies to the task at hand. Slight OCD if you want to call it that. Work is important, school is important, pan is important, and anybody special I may have had in my life during that period was important. This resulted in what psychologists term "emotional burnout". At the same time other aspects in my life did not get the deserved attention. I dont multitask well. Now that school is done and I have free time to think and reflect, to 'go back to normal',b 2 1/2 years of experiences have been catching up with me. And how! Missed opportunities, mis-construed situations, lessons unrealized...basically it feels like I have been living in a thick fog, and that fog has just lifted, leaving me seeing my surroundings with a clarity like never before. Unfortunately, most of these realizations leave me with feelings of regret and remorse. Doors that were once open to me are now shut, due to mistakes on my part that I didnt realize until now. Right now im wondering how many of those doors might be re-opened, but im not getting my hopes up...

Anyway, right now my life is just slavery - I mean work, and pan. I intend to keep it that way for a while, and try not to let either take over my life significantly. Wishful thinking, I know, but Im still going to try. Cause jah know, I need the break.

Its winter...time to rest, relax, refresh.

Native Wisdom

2006-02-21T22:43:00.000-05:00

A Grandfather from the Cherokee Nation was talking with his grandson.

"A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.

"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves."

"One wolf is evil and ugly: He is anger, envy, war, greed, self-pity, sorrow, regret, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, selfishness and arrogance."

"The other wolf is beautiful and good: He is friendly, joyful, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, justice, fairness, empathy, generosity, true, compassion, gratitude, and deep VISION."

"This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other human as well."

The grandson paused in deep reflection because of what his grandfather had just said. Then he finally cried out; "Oyee! Grandfather, which wolf will win?"

The elder Cherokee replied, "The wolf that you feed."

Wishlist

2006-01-16T12:41:00.000-05:00

Ive never been much of a fussy person, very rarely I really want many things.

But boy, this year is an exception:

Digital SLR (Canon Rebel XT)
Printer that prints Digital photos & printer paper (obviously)
New car
New computer (long overdue)
A pan (either tenor or seconds)

All very costly!!!

Love: want or need?

2006-01-16T12:37:00.000-05:00

Is love a "want" or a "need" of something/someone? Should you love someone because you "need" them or because you "want" them? There is a difference.

If you "need" someone then there is something they bring to your life that is important to your well being, so you will always want them around. Ok, nothing wrong with that. But isnt it possible that that scenario can lead to one becoming somewhat dependent on the other? Or one person becoming 'needy'? Needy is never a good thing. So, in essence, you love them because you have to, not necessarily because you want to.

Ok, so lets say love should be a "want". You love someone because you choose to, not because you have to. Great, sounds ideal right? Just one snag that bothers me...

The love between us and God. Do we love God because we want to love him? Or because we need him? If we didnt "need" God in our lives, for strength, for peace of mind, for whatever it is you turn to God for....would you still love God and want him in your life as much as you do now? And if thats the case, shouldnt we be modelling our love for people from our love of God?

And another thing...if you dont "need" someone in your life, but "want" them in your life, does that then follow that you would not fight as hard to make the relationship work? Cause after all relationships take work, and in the end you can do without them since you dont necessarily "need" them....

Questions questions........but as im writing, some answers are coming...

*Bear with me, im writing as the thoughts are coming*

Say you had nothing. You include God in your life because you need the support, you remained faithful and steadfast in your faith...in time you achieve everything you ever wanted. You are totally comfortable, no longer in as great a need as before. Chances are God will still be in your life, but not necessarily because you "need", but because you "want".

How about the love between a child and a mother? In the beginning a child "needs" its mother, but as the child gets older and gains independence the child wont "need" the mother in their life as much anymore, but it will be more of a "want".

So could that be it then? It starts as one and ends with another? Or is it a delicate balance of the two? A mixture of "need" and "want"?

Personality 'disorders'

2006-01-05T12:11:00.000-05:00

Two definitions I found that I like:

Personality disorders form a class of mental disorders that are characterized by long-lasting rigid patterns of thought and behaviour. Because of the inflexibility and pervasiveness of these patterns, they can cause serious problems and impairment of functioning for the persons who are afflicted with these disorders.

A deeply ingrained, non-psychotic, inflexible, maladaptive pattern of relating, perceiving and behaving, serious enough to cause distress or impaired functioning.

Depression. Bi-polar. ADD/ADHD. Autism. OCD. The list goes on. Personality 'disorders' have had my interest for a while now. Why? The doctors say, according to the definitions posted above, that people with personality 'disorders' have something 'wrong' with them, and they need medication to make them more 'normal'. I know a few people with so-called disorders..I know one who's bi-polar, with ADHD and a depressive. And these are probably the most interesting people I know. Many times I forget that they have something 'wrong' with them.

In a nutshell, an individual with bi-polar disorder alternates from manic states to depressive states at the drop of a hat. In the manic state they are seemingly perfect at everything they do, always happy, lots of drive and motivation, great memory. In the depressive state they simply do not care about anything or anyone, and have zero energy levels. They can go from one state to the next at literally the drop of a hat. My bi-polar friend, as far as im concerned, is some kind of genius. She cruised through school without even trying, is a graphics artist, computer techie, writer/poet, and musician (writing and playing), very unique outlook on life and has the kind of personality where people are naturally drawn to her. Im convinced she wouldnt be like this if it wasnt for the 'disorder' she struggles with every day. My depressive friend is similar. Very creative person, bubbling personality, brilliant as hell. They both have very intense personalities, which means they have much more focus on whatever they do than 'normal' people. This is probably why they are so good at whatever it is they do. Their medication makes them more 'normal', yes, but in addition every aspect of their personality is turned down...theyre not as creative, they learn stuff at a slight slower pace, etc etc.

ADHD people cannot focus on one thing for long. They usually do poorly in school because they find it so difficult to focus on whats being taught. On the flip side, however, dump an excessive amount of activities/responsibilities on them and they tend to handle the excessive workload better than most 'normal' people.

OCD people are just weird. Dont think I need to explain this one, just watch the TV show 'Monk'. But their abnormal tendency to focus on small details make them great investigators, lawyers and even managers.

Autistics do very poorly socially, but tend to be very creative individuals in terms of the arts. They swing between ADD and OCD tendencies. Those on the high end of the spectrum tend to be very very good at math, they can be considered human calculators.

Codependency is a condition where people make themselves a necessity for another person in need of help to survive i.e. they are the ones that take care of drug addicts, alcoholics etc. They willingly extend an helping hand when no one else wants to, because they judge their self worth on how much they are needed by other needy individuals. As great as this sounds, it usually gets out of hand when they make sure their 'patients' stay sick, so they are always needed. Just the same, you can see why such a 'disorder' can actually be a good thing.

Honestly, I dont think there are anything 'wrong' with these people, they are simply different. Unfortunately, society does not provide a place for 'different'. They are taught in schools the same way as 'normal' people, which technically doesnt make sense as their thought patterns are different, which means they would need to be taught differently. We just need to appreciate them for who they are, and find ways for them to make contructive use of the 'talents' that come with the 'disorder'. Thankfully these 'disorders' are being given more attention through movies like 'Rain Man' and 'Cube' and TV shows like 'Monk'.

I also think we all have a bit of these 'personality disorder' traits, albeit in smaller doses. Im pretty sure I have a touch of ADD...I basically taught myself Com Sci in UWI, I learnt maybe 5% of what I know in class. Could never pay attention for more than 5 minutes. I also know I dont always learn things the same way everyone else does. There's more, maybe i'll tell you another time.

Do you have any 'personality disorder' traits?

Christmas

2005-12-24T14:44:00.000-05:00

What I like about Christmas:

Christmas Music (10 different versions of the same song:)
Gift giving/receiving
Remembering the birth of Christ
Christmas playout
Christmas Lyme
Sorrel

What I hate about Christmas:

The bl@#dcl%@t traffic
Actual shopping for gifts
Politically correct religious celebrations (thank GOD thats not going on here in Ja)
Being on call during the holidays

No political correctness roun ere, so, having said that...

Merry CHRISTMAS to all and a Happy New Year when it comes!!

To Kill or not to Kill....

2005-12-18T01:37:00.000-05:00

The death penalty. Forever a contriversial topic. For it or against it? There have been some recent posts on this topic on two blogs, and its got me thinking. I never really had a stance before. Join me in my following train of thoughts to figure out my stance.

So someone is convicted of a heinous crime and is sentenced to death. What does this solve?

From a practical sense, removal from society so the rest of us can live in peace. Ok, that works. But...is this the only way to remove someone from society? Im pretty sure more creative ways could be thought up. Life sentence, shipped to somewhere, away from the general populous made solely for convicts of heinous crimes (eg Alcatraz) dropped in the middle of the South American jungle or the Sahara desert and left to fend for themselves, etc etc. If strictly for removal from society, then I dont believe killing them is absolutely necessary.

From an emotional sense, for those who are relatives/close friends with the victim, one could totally understand the death penalty if only to ease their pain, to give a sense of closure. For them, merely removing them from society by any of the aforementioned methods may not be good enough. Its normal to wish death on the person that has taken someone near and dear away from you. So, in this sense, it would actually be the family/close friends that wish the death of the perpetrator, so technically a judge should not be the one to determine whether or not the criminal should die, it should be the family/close friends, since they were the ones affected, right? The jury finds him guilty, the judge on his/her discretion decides whether or not the crime qualifies as a possible death sentence, and asks the family/close friends if they wish it. Ok, I guess I can see with that.

From a moral/religious point of view....who has the right to take a life? Who decides whether or not any one individual has the authority to legally take the life of another individual? I dont know the bible that well, but the only times I see that one is allowed to take a life is in self defense, or if the Lord himself commands it. So fine, no one has the right to declare death on any individual. However one could argue that there are some people on this earth that do not deserve to live. Child molesters, serial killers, etc...people that contribute nothing good to society, people who seem to be born without a conscience, people who are beyond any help currently available...do these people deserve to live? If they cause nothing but pain and trouble then why are they alive?? Ok, so since theyre a nuisance kill them, get rid of them, even if we don’t understand why they exist in the first place. But aren’t there 100 million things we don’t understand about the world around us? We always say “the Lord works in mysterious ways”, how are we so sure the mere existence of these individuals is not another one of His mysterious ways? We don’t understand them so we kill them? Hmm….. But you’d think the Lord would’ve provided us with ways to deal with such people. Sticky. Assuming we don’t have the right to take anyone’s life, we waste resources on these people in whatever way we punish them. Im not talking about putting them in fully carpeted air conditioned buildings with gym etc. and calling it prison. That’s utter rubbish.

So whats my stance? It’s a difficult call, I wont lie. I would agree with a death sentence only on the grounds of the emotional sense, where the family/close friends were PROFOUNDLY affected by the sudden death of the victim, and THEY decide whether the criminal deserves to die, not an impartial judge and jury.

Or I would go the Moroccan route. You steal, they cut off your hand. You rape, they castrate you. Punishment seems fitting enough to me.

Jamaica, a place of extremes

2005-11-28T18:17:00.000-05:00

Bwoy sometimes I have to wonder about our little Island. We are a really extreme people. Having hearning the latest news over the last week, and the conversation I had with fellow coworkers at lunch while on a training course has got me thinking.

We're a small Island out in the Caribbean, yet we're able to produce world class athletes. And we're also able to produce world class criminal stats. Throw in the fact that we have the most churches per square mile in the region. Oh, and being small and insignificant didnt stop the CIA from being interested in us in the 70s. We have Jamaican rhodes scholars and we have grown men who cant read. To tourists we are know as some of the friendliest people around. Ive heard the same from many expatriates we work with that have been all over the world. Yet, even so police can beat a fellow officer at the drop of a hat. Ok fine, the details of the actual incident are sketchy, but the fact remains the corporal was attacked for doing something trivial. And trust me, for a small place we can CHAT. If the rumours are true sooner or later we'll all get cancer from all the mobile phone usage.

One of my major problems with our society is that we dont do enough to big up ourselves. If its not track and field or football or something widely accepted like that, you dont hear about it. And thats sad. The trainer is from Toronto, he's telling us that there is a 70+ year old Jamaican man there that sells Jerk chicken. Now get this. His restaurant is in one of the most high priced, posh areas. He sells his dishes at $20+ and $30+ dollars. How does he prepare his chicken? He has a cut out drum and uses an open coal flame. In other words, he prepares his chicken EXACTLY the same way any pan chicken man does it. And he's making a killing. Why? Cause ppl there love the chicken and are willing to pay those high prices for it. But do you hear anything like that? Nooo.

I also found out that Ting has been the 1st place winner of some International Soft Drink competition. More than once, Ting has claimed the title of the best soft drink in the world. I was like "WHAT? How come I dont know that? Why isnt that general knowledge??" Apparently a comment about it is there on the label of the glass bottle Ting, not the plastic bottle. Next time I buy a bottle of Ting im going to make sure look.

Ey, you know how much visitors to our Island dont know what a patty is? You know how much of them LOVE it? Why arent we using this to our advantage? Why some man cyaa go open a likkle patty shop in Cuba or something like that? Ok, granted, I heard Island Grill opened a store in Florida, but it didnt do well because they used chicken not from Jamaica, hence things tasted different. I wonder if they tried opening stores in the Caribbean though...

The "Riddim Girls" (or is it "Sunshine Girls?"), the women's netball team, have apparently been a force to be reckoned with for a good while now, placing high in world championships if not winning. But it has only been in maybe the last 2 or so years notice has been taken of this. I guess netball isnt as big a sport as say football or cricket, so its not worthy of mention.

And even us, Panoridim. Third place in an International SteelBand competition. Isnt that an achievement worth knowing about??

Granted, the achievement of a Veronica Campbell or an 'Afasa' Powell is something that we Jamaicans can look on and feel proud. But I feel the great achievements of those in 'not-so-prestigious' ways should still be noticed and 'bigged-up' just the same. I suppose to some of us less fortunate, a Veronica Campbell is someone that has achieved a status they cant relate to because it looks too dreamlike for them to imagine that they could ever be that successful, but a Jodi-Ann Maxwell, or that pan chicken man in Canada I mentioned earlier, seeing someone as 'normal' as they can certainly give some of those same 'less fortunate' Jamaicans some hope, that the way of the gun is not the only way to be a successful 'big man' in this country.

Jamaica, a place of extremes....so hopeful, yet so hopeless....

The power of blogs

2005-11-15T09:23:00.000-05:00

Check out this blog about life in Iraq from an Iraqi. I havent been through the entire thing but I suggest you go into the archives and browse posts from as far back as 2003. Just goes to go you cant always depend on what you see in the news.

A Reason, A Season or a Lifetime

2005-11-14T23:21:00.000-05:00

"A Reason, A Season or a Lifetime"

People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.
When you figure out which it is, you know exactly what to do.
When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed outwardly or inwardly.
They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally, or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend, and they are.
They are there for the reason, you need them to be.
Then, without any wrong doing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.
Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up or out and force you to take a stand.
What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled;
their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has been answered and it is now time to move on.

When people come into your life for a SEASON,
it is because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn.
They may bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons;
those things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson,
love the person/people (any way);
and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships
and areas of your life.
It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

Author Unknown

Seems so logical, doesnt it? To put something as abstract and difficult to define/understand as love in such a logical way is...well...hmm...

They say the Lord works in mysterious ways. Ways that we dont always understand. There's a lot about life I dont understand. God gave us Love so we could feel for someone, for better or for worse. He gave us different kinds of love; family love, friendly love, brotherly love, religious love, significant other love, the list goes on. Yet in a lot of those instances, in our youth when we understand love the least, most of these loves arent meant to last.

He created love for us to want to hold on, yet in the end we have no choice but to let go. At least to some degree. Your parents will eventually die. As you grow older you change, your friends change, your relationship may change. This pertains to friends, as well as wives/husbands. If your partner changes over the years, whether for better or for worse, so much that they are different from the person you married, then on some level you have to let go. The same goes for the scenarios previously mentioned.

What happens if you meet someone who is there for a reason, only you dont yet realize it? When you do eventually realize it (usually when its too late), the lesson seems to be "ok, dont get too attached until youre sure"....but how do you know whether or not youre sure if youve never been there before? What if right after the "reason" person you met the "lifetime" person but stay detached and risk throwing away what could have potentially been a great thing? Ok, fine, then love and live life passionately. But Love tends to make one want to hold on and never let go, which is great for the "lifetime" person but bad for the "reason" person.

He must really be having fun up there.

Illusions

2005-11-10T12:53:00.000-05:00

There is no spoon...

Illusions

To protect and serve...........their own egos??

2005-11-01T07:26:00.000-05:00

With all that is going on in our society, what with teenagers getting raped and shot, with Spanish Town being taken over by gunmen, with innocent Catholic priests being senselessly killed, it was indeed a sight to see the police out in their full numbers, in at least 5 spots on my way to work this morning..........issuing traffic tickets.

Gas tips (jah know we need them)

2005-10-06T17:21:00.000-05:00

Do not stay in high gear if the engine labours

Be mindful that short journeys use more fuel

Make sure the engine, gearbox and rear axle oil levels are correct for your vehicle

Schedule routes to ensure minimum mileage

Avoid High Speeds: As your speed increases, your aerodynamic drag increases drastically. Driving 55 mph (88 km/h) vs. 69 mph (110 km/h) on a Highway will reduce fuel consumption by up to 20%.

Automatic Transmissions should be allowed to cool down when your car is idling at standstill for example at Traffic Lights. By putting the gear into neutral position, this reduces transmission strain and allows the transmission to cool.

Do not accelerate or brake hard. By anticipating the traffic and applying slow steady acceleration and braking, fuel economy may increase by as much as 20%.

Keep tyres properly inflated: Keep tyre air pressure at the level recommended by your vehicle manufacturer. A single tyre under inflated by 2 PSI, increases fuel consumption by 1%.

Use A/C Sparingly: When the air conditioner is on it puts extra load on the engine forcing more fuel to be used (by about 20%). The defrost position on most vehicles also uses the air conditioner

Do not keep windows all the way down: Open windows, especially at highway speeds, increase drag and result in increased fuel usage

Service Vehicle Regularly: Proper maintenance prevents poor fuel economy related to dirty air filters, old spark plugs or low fluid levels.

Use Cruise Control: Maintaining a constant speed over long distances often saves gas.

Avoid Heavy Loads: Remove the unnecessary load from your vehicle and pack lightly for long trips.

Avoid Long Idles: If you anticipate being stopped for more than 1 minute, shut off the car. Restarting the car uses less fuel than letting it idle for this time.

Purchase a Fuel Efficient Vehicle: When buying a new vehicle examine the vehicle's rated fuel efficiency. Usually choosing a small vehicle with a manual transmission will provide you with great fuel economy. Also diesel vehicles tend to be more fuel-efficient. Recent technological improvements behind the manufacture of diesel engines, have yielded a more efficient and environmentally friendly fuel. Improvements have also been made to the processing of diesel for more efficient combustion.

Avoid filling gas tank to top. Overfilling results in sloshing over and out of tank. Never fill gas past the first "click" nozzle, if nozzle is automatic.

Buy Gasolene during the coolest time of day: early morning or late evening is best. During this time, gasoline is densest. Gas pumps measure volumes of gasoline, not densities of fuel concentration and you are charged by the "volume of measurement".

Park your car so that you can later begin to travel in forward gear; avoid reverse gear manoeuvres to save gas.

Think ahead when approaching hills. If you accelerate, do it before you reach the hill, not while you are on it.

Use the correct grade of Fuel: You can improve your gas mileage by 1-2 percent by using the manufacturer's recommended grade of motor oil. For example, using 10W-30 motor oil in an engine designed to use 5W-30 can lower your gas mileage by 1-2 percent. Also, look for motor oil that says "Energy Conserving" on the API performance symbol to be sure it contains friction-reducing additives.

Jamaica Gas Prices

Idleness

2005-09-23T14:15:00.000-05:00

Your Brain's Pattern

Your mind is a creative hotbed of artistic talent.

You're always making pictures in your mind, especially when you're bored.

You are easily inspired to think colorful, interesting thoughts.

And although it may be hard to express these thoughts, it won't always be.

What Pattern Is Your Brain?

Your Personality Is

Rational (NT)

You are both logical and creative. You are full of ideas.

You are so rational that you analyze everything. This drives people a little crazy!

Intelligence is important to you. You always like to be around smart people.

In fact, you're often a little short with people who don't impress you mentally.

You seem distant to some - but it's usually because you're deep in thought.

Those who understand you best are fellow Rationals.

In love, you tend to approach things with logic. You seek a compatible mate - who is also very intelligent.

At work, you tend to gravitate toward idea building careers - like programming, medicine, or academia.

With others, you are very honest and direct. People often can't take your criticism well.

As far as your looks go, you're coasting on what you were born with. You think fashion is silly.

On weekends, you spend most of your time thinking, experimenting with new ideas, or learning new things.

The Three Question Personality Test

Taking things for granted

2005-09-09T01:30:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine, who I used to work with at LOJ, has confided in me about her marital problems. In a nutshell, she and her husband have a 7 year old son, and due to the problems they are having they are drifting apart, and it is affecting their son. They are still living together but contemplating whether to continue like that, the father claims to want to spend time with his family but due to difficult circumstances is unable to do so. So basically the son hears his father say he wants to be around more, but not seeing him do it. This was explained to me in an email. Now, although it was quite a lengthy email, she said something that really struck a chord with me: "...as I dont want my son growing up taking relationships for granted."

hmm...."taking relationships for granted". Out of everything in that email, this line hit me. I had never thought about it before, but now I realize this is exactly what I have been doing, for basically all my life. As I thought about the why, another line from a past conversation came to mind. In a post breakup conversation, my ex and I were discussing our communication problems (this seems to follow me everywhere I go, the rest of this post will explain why thats not at all surprising) and she made an observation that I never before thought about: "...but I cant really blame you too much because your parents dont talk".

hmm..."your parents dont talk". Thats right, they dont talk. But so what? I never thought about how significant that was until the moment she said it. Of course parents should talk, talk about the day at the office, politics, and whatever else. But my parents didnt talk. At all. About anything. The only time was to say "Good morning" or "good evening", or when one needs something from the other, or when they were having an argument. No discussions, no jokes, no nothing. And up until the point where my ex said that, I had never thought this as strange. As far as I was concerned this was the norm. This was what I grew up seeing. Hence, this was what I did for most of my life.

I was a quiet kid in high school. Very quiet. I never saw the importance in saying anything unless it was something meaningful. "Idle chatter" was a foreign notion to me, and a waste of time. I "compartmentalized" my relationships. My teacher was strictly my teacher, and we corresponded only in a manner a teacher and student should. The fact that my teacher knew me and my parents since I was 2, that myself and their children grew up together, really doesnt matter anymore as that was the past. Right now, in this moment, you are the teacher, I am the student, and we communicate as such. Why do we need to talk about anything outside of this sphere? Talking isnt important. When I get a summer job I am only there for the summer. Once the summer is over, the job is over. Hence there's no other reason to continue "talking" with anyone that worked there. Talking is an integral part in forming and maintaining relationships. If talking isnt important, then forming/maintaining relationships isnt important.

And this was how I saw the world for a long time. This kind of thinking has led me to "take relationships for granted". Relationships with friends, coworkers, fellow students, band members, choir members, prep/high/uwi teachers, potential/actual/ex girlfriends, even family. And of course my introvert nature and love for solitude with my own company didnt help matters much. Eventually there came a time where I wanted to establish and maintain relationships. But for one who for a long time didnt see the point in learning to talk to people it was not easy. I didnt know how to effectively put my thoughts to words, I didnt know what to say in certain situations, it was a difficult time. One must wonder how it is I have relationships any at all.

And yet I do.

I have crossed paths with many individuals that have helped to reshape my thinking on why and how to interact with other people. Some of these people are still in my life, some arent. My friends stuck with me because I guess they could see past the quiet exterior and see other qualities they were drawn to (thanks guys:)). Girlfriends now, for someone who wasnt exactly a "smooth talking brother" who rarely knew the right thing to say at what time and "took relationships for granted" how in the world did I have any? Good thing I cute, thats all I can say. But that can only go so far, which would also explain why none of them lasted very long. Nevertheless, each was a valuabe learning experience and helped me to "learn how to talk to people" and how to open up, amongst other things.

I learnt a lot today. So much of my life in terms of relationships were better explained with that one profound statement.."taking relationships for granted." I am still learning though, and still have a ways to go. My friends still reach out to me in various ways, even though I dont always do it back right away it doesnt mean I dont care. Just because I dont initiate a conversation doesnt mean I dont want to talk to you, i'll talk back to almost anyone, youd have to do me or a friend of mine something really bad for me not to want to talk to you. Its just that initiating and maintaing a convo is a skill im still learning. To all those who I have taken for granted our relationship, Im sorry, I know the law says ignorance is no excuse but Im hoping you'll be lenient with me :) To all my friends who continue to be there for me throughout, I am grateful for you all.

Managers

2005-09-07T16:44:00.000-05:00

Theyre idiots.

Will expound on this later.

I wonder...

2005-09-07T06:40:00.000-05:00

I wonder why it is you still haunt me so
After all this time
A simple, seemingly insignificant act, or lack thereof
Has certain memories rushing back
And I wonder why

Why is it you feature in my dreams
When I rarely ever dream
I wonder
Why are you still at the forefront of my thoughts
When I have pushed you to the back
I wonder

I wonder why we were, and never were
I wonder what we could have been
I wonder why I still wonder
I wonder if you sometimes wonder
What I wonder

I wonder about friendship
And relationship
I wonder why this ship sticks out
Among the others
I thought that ship had sailed

I wonder why that ship didnt survive
The fierce winds and strong seas
I wonder why, from time to time
The ship seems to return from the bottom of the sea

I wonder if its occasional sighting
Is an omen
A reminder
That I still dont know mistakes made
In building that ship
And is doomed to repeat said mistakes

I wonder if that ship didnt actually sink
But was just lost at sea
And, with enough effort, can be found again
Hmm
I wonder...

Could history repeat itself??

2005-09-06T17:04:00.000-05:00

In the 1970s
Michael Manley of the PNP was intent on a "social experiment" with communism
Was involved in many talks with Fidel Castro
Conspiracy theorists suggest
The United States did not take a liking to this interaction
And played a significant role in the well known violence that occured
Leading up to the 1980 elections

Fast forward 30+ years
PJ Patterson of the PNP
Agrees to do oil business with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
A well known communist leader
Also involved in these talks
Is Fidel Castro
A close friend of Chavez

Is anyone else just a tad bit nervous??

Reality Shows

2005-08-28T19:37:00.000-05:00

I just saw a commercial on cable tv. Stating that everyone thinks they should have a reality show. I said "yup". Then the commercial said most of them shouldnt. I said "couldnt agree more". Then the commercial said help us find the true reality show.

A reality show about finding a true reality show. Just when you thought it couldnt get any worse...

headaches

2005-08-28T19:35:00.000-05:00

There's no pan...so why are the headaches still there?

Music Is.....over

2005-08-27T22:07:00.000-05:00

Ahh, its finally over:) Weeks and weeks of long hours of practice, finally culminating in four great shows over 3 days. We got good reviews in 3 different publications, each being better than any review of previous concerts. Well, that Ive seen anyway. Seems the long hours was worth it after all. Some say this was the best show we have put on yet. I am inclined to agree, though I feel its not solely due to the music. The theme of the concert, 'Music Is..', as well as our host, Rosemarie Murray, brought the audience as little closer to the panoridim, and what music was to us.

For me the road was nowhere near easy, however. After my last MBA class before summer break (leading up to that was hell, or close to it) I came back to a section where I hoped to take more of back seat in terms of playing than I had done in previous years. Alas, this was not to be. The lead tenor player found her calling and followed her heart all the way to Trinidad for the summer (kudos to you B ,I hope I will soon be as lucky :-). The other major tenor players would be in and out of the panyard at different times for the next couple weeks, the only consistent tenor would be moi. All would not be in the panyard at the same time until July. Incidentally, this is the time that all teaching was scheduled to stop. 9 songs for yours truly to learn and teach to different individuals with different schedules in approximately 8 weeks. You can imagine the dilemma. However, long practice hours, 6 day pan weeks (before the full band was doing it), simultaneously teaching 2 and learning one song, couple splitting headaches, 3 1/2 months and two completely worn out tenor stick rubbers later, Richie declared that the tenors were second only to the bubbling double seconds. Quite an achievement for a section that had the least amount of band practice time :-D We managed to pull together and get the job done. GO TENORS!!! I feel i should give myself a small pat on the back as well, being section leader to a section where almost all the players are better more experienced players than yourself. But the job still got done!

The concert came, and went, with great reviews. We worked hard, we played harder, we had fun during it all. Now its time for a breather, to play to the tune of something other than a pan for a while. I suspect the next couple months will see some changes in the band, familiar and maybe some unfamiliar. Whatever comes our way, if we managed to pull off this concert, we can handle anything.

Panoridim big ups!!!

2005-08-23T14:57:00.000-05:00

We Large!!!

Jamaica Gleaner write up

Jamaica Star write up

Jamaica Observer write up

Dieting craze

2005-08-05T15:26:00.000-05:00

Its no secret the US is obsessed with dieting. There seems to be a large number of overweight citizens in the US. One just has to catch one of the talk shows on cable (Maury, Springer, Montel, etc) and you are bound to catch a show about some 300 lb person who claim they are a victim of cheeseburgers and hot dogs, havent seen anything below their waist in years and get out of breath just trying to stand up. Thus the US, true to their business-like nature, capitalize on this and has produced numerous diets throughout the years, not all of which necessarily work mind you. But theyre there just the same. The most recent famous diet was the Atkins diet. The theory, basically, is to cut down/out your intake of carbs and increase protein. So, Americans were gorging guiltlessly on steaks and low carb versions of cheeseburgers. Oh yeah, thats healthy. Rooiiiight.

The Atkins diet fad is fading rapidly. The company behind the diet is now filing for bankruptcy protection. It started to fizzle when health "experts" raised concerns over coronary heart disease (it took "experts" that long to figure that out). It fizzled more when Robert Atkins had an accidental death, and a leaked post mortem report showed a history of heart disease and obesity. Personally I dont watch that supposed post mortem report too much as it is heresay, but it did its damage and led to the diet's decreasing popularity.

Bill "I-did-not-have-sexual-relations-with-that-woman" Clinton claims after having quadruple bypass heart surgery he wished he had forgone the atkins diet. Come on Billy boy you disappoint me, I thought you were smarter than that to believe in this rubbish diet.

Taken from http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1717246,00.html
Last year a dieter filed a law suit claiming that the diet had caused blocked arteries in his heart. He said that his cholesterol soared after he began eating “mayonnaise with everything” in line with the diet’s rules.

Big surprise there.

After undergoing angioplasty to reopen his arteries, he started eating mostly fruits, vegetables, grains and lean meats. His cholesterol fell to a healthy level in two months, he claimed.

AMAZING! Who wouldve guessed that? Hey America, here's an idea for the next fad diet...fruits and vegetables! Hey it sounds crazy but it just might work!!

But no, a fad diet of fruits and vegetables will not be next, as apparently the next upcoming diet might be to lose weight by lying to yourself. Yep, you read right. The theory is to implant memories in your brain in such a way that you are reminded of fake bad memories whenever you look at cheesecake or fries. The result, you push the unhealthy fatty food away.

What will they think of next...

Email joke

2005-07-25T16:42:00.000-05:00

Well since I cant think of anything to blog about, might as well share one of the funniest email forwards ive received.

> Here's what you do. You put 5 gorillas in a cage, and put a
> staircase in that goes nowhere, but has a banana at the top.
>
> Sooner or later, one of the gorillas starts going up the
> stairs after the banana. When that happens, you spray everyone
> with a firehose.
>
> After a while, if anyone starts going up the stairs, the
> other gorillas gang up on him and beat him up until he stops.
> At that point, you can stop spraying, because they've become
> a self-policing society.
>
> Now remove one of the gorillas, and put in someone new. Sooner
> or later, they try to go up the stairs. All the other monkees
> will bang away.
>
> You can even take away the banana. They're going to gang up on
> anyone who tries to go up the stairs.
>
> Take out another old one, and put in a new one. They try to
> go up the stairs, and everyone gangs up on him -- including the
> previously new gorilla, who has now learned the ropes.
>
> Keep doing it, until no more old gorillas remain. You now have
> a society of gorillas that have never once experienced the
> fire hose, who will all police themselves to make sure that no
> one tries to go up the stairs.
>
> Thats the way its done, because that's the way
> it's always been done.

And thats how you get corporate policy...

blogger's block

2005-07-25T16:28:00.000-05:00

sigh.....what to write about....

Movie remakes

2005-07-03T22:17:00.000-05:00

I saw War of the Worlds today. Wasnt bad. But they really shouldve called it something else. The original is centered around aliens taking over the world, exterminating the human race. This remake is centered around a man and his relationship with his children, and an alien invasion just happens to be going on at the same time. Changes the story a bit, know what I mean? Kinda like a movie about some homeless kid who had a crush on some rich uptown girl, and they just happened to be on the largest ship ever built whose sinking went down in history, but the historic sinking was just "by the way".

Anyway, original/remake comaprisons aside, the movie is watchable. Lots of fancy special effects, sound effects are great I think. Tom pulls it off, but in my opinion the actress who played his daughter stole the show. Aliens were, well, aliens. Their ships, the "tripods", were more strange than menacing. Dont know why they kept farting though.

solo

2005-07-01T08:01:00.000-05:00

Know whats worse that being lonely? Being in a room full of people and still being lonely, thats what.

Imagine...

2005-06-30T00:10:00.000-05:00

It seems I goat mouth myself when I made that post about my car experiences. Car lef me a road last night lol. Ahh bwoy. Anyway, while the mechanic was looking at I was thinking to myself how well I was taking it. I was surprisingly pretty calm. In the past, I wouldve been pissed, fretting about how much money i would have to spend, how many days I would be without a car, etc. But when it happened, I was just a little annoyed, thats all. I was saying "hey, its good that this incident didnt get me all worked up."

...or is it?

We usually turn to God to help out when we are in situations that result in negative emotions. We ask for strength to cope with these emotions, to not be overcome by them. Try and imagine a world where such prayers are answered right away, all the time. Imagine a world where we easily and effortlessly cast our troubles on the Lord, and refuse to let these troubles get us down. Hence, what you would have is a world where there is no despair, no hopelessness, no anger. No annoyance, no fear.

Sounds wonderful, doesnt it?

Let us peer at this world again, this time through colourfully colourblind eyes...

Imagine a world where there is no despair, no despair to drive one to search for the solution, and learning, experiencing, growing, maturing, along the way. And inspiring others around you when you do find the solution. A world where there is no hopelessness, no hopelessness for you to experience joy, relief, and a drive to learn the life lesson when you finally see that ray of light, and in understanding the hopelessness to possibly be someone else's ray of light. A world where there is no anger, no anger to fuel passion to sing about scratching nails down someone elses back or about how poor people fed up. A world where there is no fear, no fear to be overcome so we can feel good about ourselves, be proud of ourselves, congratulate ourselves, and inspire others ("if they can do it, why cant I?").

If you dont know despair, how will you know relief?
If you dont know hopelessness, how will you know hope?
If you dont know anger, how will you know peace?
If you dont know fear, how will you know courage?

If you dont know hate, how will you know love?

If you dont know love, how will you know God?

Maybe we should not be so quick to "cast our troubles on the lord". Maybe we need the despair, the hopelessness, the anger, the fear. Maybe we are wrong to "pray these feelings away". Instead, maybe we need to pray for a way to channel these feelings, whether it be an activity to replace depressing thoughts, or vigorous exercise to release anger, or annoying people to piss us off so we can appreciate our true friends more. Maybe we should be thankful for the troubles, and instead pray that we will not be blind to the lessons taught on our journey. When raising a child, if you as a parent are constantly there, to protect, to fix their problems for them, so they never worry, are never in need, always have what they need, we all know you're going to have a lazy, co-dependent, spoilt, whiny, immature adult with low self confidence. There are times when you as a parent will need to step back and let them solve their problems on their own, only stepping in if the situation gets too big for them. Maybe our relationship with God should be something similar to this.

Blog templates

2005-06-27T07:50:00.000-05:00

Is it me or do the standard blog templates suck? Of all the templates offered by blogspot there are only one or two I really like. One night while working late (work at 3 am is still considered working late right? Or is that working early?) I spent some time on google looking for alternative templates. I found a couple that I didnt like straight off the bat, but with some customization they could work. Eventually I settled on this template, ubt to tell the truth im still not satisfied. For some reason this template makes everything on the page look cluttered. I tried removing a couple of the links at the side, in an effort to make it look less cluttered, and only left up links to blogs I visit most often. But it still looks cluttered, to me anyway. Think im gonna try removing all the links altogether.

What I need to do is write my own template. Then I can come up with a way to have as many links as I want, and have all the recent posts up, without making the whole page look so messy.

Til then gonna try this new one. It looks cleaner, gonna have to change that girly looking picture at the top though....

This is for you.....

2005-06-26T14:46:00.000-05:00

This is for all the nice girls out there

This is for all the nice guys out there

Ever wonder??

2005-06-26T10:58:00.000-05:00

If I steal money to pay my taxes, does that make me a bad person?

If god fearing people scream out "Oh God" during sex, what do aethists scream out?

If I pay money to an insurance company in case something happens to my car, and nothing happens to my car, why dont I get my money back?

Auto ups and downs

2005-06-24T13:12:00.000-05:00

I love driving. I didnt know I would like it so much until I got my licence. And I didnt really get into the whole suped up car thing until I got my current ride, a Suzuki Swift GTi. Special cars, in my opinion. Any 1300cc engine that can keep up/outrun popular 1500/1600cc sport cars is special. Worse when theyre boosted. If you ever hear a story about a white turbo cultus hanging on to the end of an Evolution, its not a folk tale. Throughout my 9 year automotive life Ive driven a number of cars. Here I highlight a couple of my experiences.

Daihatsu Cuore:The car with which I learned to drive. Very small car. My driving instructor was classic. He would play the radio loud and chat about all sorts of crap while we were on the road. His theory was I will be doing that when I get the plastic, so might as well get used to it from the get go. The very first time I was on the road, a man had stopped at an inappropriate place. As I pulled around him, my instructor told me to stop alongside the car, leaned out the window and yelled "Yo pu**yhole how you fi stop ya so, yu can drive yu eediat?!!", after which he quickly turned to me and said "drive drive, DRIVE!!". So now you know why I drive the way I drive. Its not my fault i'm a victim, i've been psychologically scarred. Another time he told me to pull over at a bus stop while he "chatted up" a young lady. After we drove off he turned to me and said "that, is how you look woman". He doesnt teach driving anymore, I think he runs taxi now.

Toyota Paseo: My mother's car, the car I drove regularly after I got my licence. I loved this car, my favourite for sentimental reasons. Two door, very small, not much room for any, ahem, "activities". But we made do none the less. This is the car in which I started by unofficial business of 'running taxi', a business which continues to this day. As one of the few among my friends that drove to school I was always picking up or dropping home somebody. This is also the car with which I seemingly made a reputation for myself for my 'efficient driving' as I'd like to call it. Again I say, its not my fault i drive the way I do, I am a victim. Sadly, this car is no more. The engine blew sometime ago, and one day I came home and it was gone, sold. I didnt even get to say goodbye.

Honda Accord: My father's car I alternated driving with the Paseo. This car had issues. Regularly leaked oil so was always topping up, had transmission problems so had to drive it like a manual, even though it was an automatic. I was coming home one night at about 1 am, stopped at a traffic light near Grants Pen. In this not-so-safe neighbourhood is where the car decided to stall. Upon finally getting it started the car was barely moving. Transmission was gone. Luckily though, once the car made it over a little uphill slope it moved a little faster. I was relieved to get home without incident. This car was not maintained well, and eventually the engine fell out the bottom of the car.

Suzuki Samurai: My father had this jeep the same time as the Honda. I barely drove it because I didnt like it. No power steering, and very uncomfortable to drive. I could feel every single bump in the road. I later learned this was due to over-inflated tyres. My girlfriend at the time drove in it once, and never again. The vibrations made her boobs hurt. This was sold not too long ago.

Toyota Corolla: Apart from it having an automatic transmission, this was a pretty decent car. Fairly new at the time we got it, peppy for a 1300cc, had some decent tyres and rims. The inside was still a bit cramped, but definitely roomier than the Paseo. I had the most eventful road trip to date in this car. 7 of us in two cars were going down to Negril Independence weekend, for three days of nonstop partying. I was one of the drivers. Before we left town the other driver Rudi realized I had a blown tail light. Minor issue, easily replaced. But now looking back I see that was an ominous precursor of things to come.

Going up a gentle hill in Mandeville I see some dark coloured splashes of water appear on my windscreen. The place was dry, had no idea where it came from, but continued going. Soon after I glance down and see my temp gauge all the way up to H. Pull over, fly the bonnet. Radiator burst. Apprently I had pushed the car a bit too hard coming up the hill. After getting some directions from the local we took our time driving in to town, with the radiator cap off, looking for a radiator repair shop. 3 hours, 3 1/2 bottles of coolant and couple thousand dollars later, a new radiator was in the car. Only problem was the part that connects to the engine via a hose was too small. The guy wrapped it with electrical tapeso the hose would fit over it. Stupid move. Couple minutes after we were back on the road I was overheating again. The tape had melted (obviously), hose came off. For the next 3 or 4 stops we were trying all sorts of things to try keep the hose on. Eventually a friend used a wire hanger and did some tying thing with it to hold the hose in place. 9 hours, many bottles of coolant and a much lighter wallet later, we arrived in Negril. A trip that shouldve taken 4 hours. Incidentally, a couple months later my then girlfriend told me her parents had a similar thing happen to them, only they used Crazy Glue to patch up the crack in the radiator. Now why didnt I think of that. Right now that car is being used as taxi.

Honda Integra: Both my parents owned one. Didnt drive my father's own much, so no incidents there. However, in my mother's own I got into my first accident soon after she got it. Two cars were overtaking, and the second car didnt have enough room to pull back over to their side in time, so they scraped the entire length of the driver's side. Other than that, the only other incident I can remember was coming into Kingston from a trip to Ochi and a couple was making use of the spacious back seat before I ever had a chance to. If there was ever a time I felt a little bit like what you might call a 'suck out bag juice', that was it. This car is no longer around, it was stolen about a year ago.

Suzuki Swift GTi: The car I now drive, the first Ive ever owned. Cheap to buy, expensive to maintain. Light, small, quick. Great stopping power. The interior is neither impessive nor spacious, but as mentioned before cramped interiors have never stopped me before. Definitely a fun car to drive, no doubt. This car made me interested in the inner workings of the engine. For a while I was addicted to wheelsjamaica.com, reading, learning. I havent had any major incidents like I did with previous cars, but just the same Ive spent some major cash on lots of little and not-so-little things. For the rest of the year I plan to get as much fun out of it as I can, and change to something else next year. Rudi just got a Golf GTi the other day. Im REALLY looking forward to future country trips :D

Come next year what kind of car will I get? Your guess is as good as mine.

Art imitating life???

2005-06-17T17:33:00.000-05:00

I just read this in the Gleaner, had to put it here!!

Four killed in robbery attempt - Three Super Plus employees injured - Police vehicle shot up published: Friday | June 17, 2005

Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

WAVING THEIR guns as they stormed a Super Plus wholesale store in Whitehouse, Westmoreland, four gunmen set the stage for a wild, brazen attempted robbery and when it ended, leaves the four would-be robbers dead, three Super Plus employees wounded, and a police car riddled with bullets.

The attempted robbery started about 11:00 a.m.(11 am to rahtid, thats when they robbing the store, in the middle of the day!!), but what followed next was a wild cops-and-robbers shoot-out that involved a short stand-off, attempted subterfuge by the robbers, and a mob killing by angry residents wielding machetes.

Eyewitnesses to the drama told The Gleaner that shortly after the four robbers entered the store and held up the workers at gunpoint, a police vehicle arrived on the scene. The robbers immediately peppered the police vehicle with bullets, shattering the windshield and forcing the three policemen inside the vehicle to take evasive action.

"De policemen jumped outta de vehicle and started firing back shot while calling for back-up on dem cell phone," said a man(cellphone, not police radio but CELLPHONE!!), who had a blood-stained machete in his hand.(something very wrong with this picture)

As the gunbattle raged, workers ducked for cover inside the building, while residents of the community, drawn to the scene by the prolonged gunfire, gathered outside.(but of course. If you're hearing prolonged gunfire why on earth would you run AWAY from said gunshots??) Two of the gunmen attempted to escape using a paltry attempt at misdirection, but residents quickly spotted the deception.

"We see two a de boys dem coming outta the store wearing red SuperPlus t-shirts. We realise right away dat it was a trick dem trying so we just rush dem and chop out dem daylight,"(breddrin practically admits to murder on tv. Bet nuttin nuh happen to him) one man explained, his voice almost purple with anger as he flashed his machete in the air.

BRUTALLY DISPATCHED

After seeing how their colleagues were brutally dispatched, the remaining robbers opted for the relative safety of the store and attempted to hold the cops off for as long as possible. (But of course, I mean in the movies they NEVER run out of bullets, right?!) They took pot shots at the lawmen at regular intervals but the lawmen, hoping to flush them out, responded by lobbing teargas canisters into the building through a glass door which had been shattered by bullets.

"When the teargas start tek de bwoy dem we just see dem start running outta de building and firing shots like dem mad," said an elderly female, who described the incident as a first in Whitehouse. "The policeman just run down pon dem and give it to dem. De residents then join in and finish dem up with some good (machete) licks." (Residents helping police play judge jury and executioner. Something very very wrong with this picture)

FIREARMS SEIZED

Four illegal firearms were seized by the cops. The SuperPlus workers -- two men and one woman -- are now at the Black River Hospital.

"One of the men was shot in the abdomen, and any gunshot would to the abdomen is considered serious," Acting Divisional Detective Inspector Paul Simms, said.

On the way to the scene of the shoot-out, The Gleaner news team encountered a speeding three-vehicle police convoy with blaring sirens heading in the opposite direction. Two of the vehicles had what appeared to be lifeless legs hanging out of the trunks of the vehicles, while an ambulance with its roofrack of flashing red lights and siren travelled a short distance behind.

"These men (the dead gunmen) are not from these parts because nobody here knows then," said Inspector Cyril Brissette, of the Westmoreland Police.

EARTHQUAKE!!!!!!!!!!

2005-06-15T08:39:00.000-05:00

Earthquake in Jamaica on Sunday

Earthquake in Chile on Monday

Earthquake in California on Tuesday

All of a sudden, those crazy dishevelled bums you see on tv walking around with a sign that says "Repent now, the end of the world is coming!!" dont look so crazy anymore....

From the age of 1....when I jus begun....

2005-06-07T02:03:00.000-05:00

Stage 1: Out the womb, never caused no pain. Shhhh, I wont make a sound, I promise. Not even when im hungry. I dont ever get angry.

Stage 2: HAYAAAA!!! Flying fist of Judah-ing around the house. "Diallo why you have to be so loud??" "Diallo cant you sit still for 2 minutes??" "Diallo be quiet!!!" Of course I had to knock out him teeth, him call mi modda ugly...

Stage 3: School. High school. Shhhh, I dont want to make a sound. Run away from the spotlight, run run run. Diana King's shy guy. Quiet. Unassuming. Quick terrible temper, tantrum thrower. Watch out!!! Patience? What dat?

Stage 4: Introspective. Dark mood. Self absorbed. Shhhh. Confidence on shaky foundations, looking for stronger raw materials.

Stage 5: The choir. Piano. Music. Me.

Stage 6: Plastic! VROOOOOM!!!!! Speed. Flight. Free. Instant confidence!! Here, patience is a concept. ERRKS...VROOOOO......

Stage 7: University. Change. New environment. Next major life step. Pan. I'll talk a little louder this time. Still looking for stronger materials.

Stage 8: Patience. Tolerance. Passive. "What pisses you off?" hmm..... Lighter moods. Idler. 'Lets close the door on self and see whats there to do outside...well look at that, here are some stronger materials...' I say to myself out loud.

Stage 9: Im almost at the end, what do I do now? Well, at least foundations are strengthening.

Stage 10: Speak up speak up!! Slipped. Fell. Fell hard. First it felt good, then it didnt. Got back up. Fell again, didnt feel good from the get go, was already bruised. Speak!!! Took a while to get up, still wearing bandages. Spoke too much to the wrong audience.

Stage 11: Fly the coop. With my own wings. On my own. But im used to that. Foundations fortified. I think...

Stage 12: Somewhat introspective. Somewhat self absorbed. Sometimes dark, sometimes not. Somewhat passive. Somewhat patient. Somewhat shy (aw hell who am I fooling). vroom vrooom.... Speak up! But selectively...

Stage 13: School. School of Business. Social life hereby suspended.

Stage 14: School. School of life. Am I prepared for the next exam?

I hate thieves

2005-06-06T21:09:00.000-05:00

Oh how I hate the lot of them. They piss me off so. I'm leaving my office to go get something to eat. As I approach my car from the front I notice something is different...when I get to the car I realize my foglamps are missing. I have been robbed yet again. To rass I dont even know exactly when it happened, i've just noticed it tonight. I just kneel and stare at the empty slots.

I am tired of thieves, I really am. I am tired of being a victim. My first encounter with them was when I was about 12 years old. I was walking home from computer class. As I open the door I notice the place looks slightly different. A couple of items in the living room were out of place. At first I thought my father had been looking for something and didnt bother to fix things back. Then I went to my parents' bedroom and found the place ransacked, and the windows pried(sp?) open. Thats when I realized what had happened. Then I wondered what if I had come home a couple minutes earlier, seeing as how I arrived home alone. They took my radio, VCR, jewellery, money and get this, my nintendo but left the controllers and the adapter. Go figure.

The next encounters I remember because they happened fairly recently. Theyve broken into my car 3 times: once 2 weeks after I got it, then again when I got a radio and speakers as gifts, and a third time when I was going home from a session. Funnily enough, my car and the two cars my mother have owned have gotten broken into, but none of the 4 cars my father has owned have ever been broken into. Curious. Anyway, then they tried to break into my house, didnt get in but broke my bedroom window and took stuff. That was what led me to move out, that was enough for me.

And now, robbed again. One would think I would have been used to it by now but it doesnt get any easier. It still pisses me off as much as it did the very first time. I dont even use the fog lamps more than so, but the idea of having something taken away from me pisses me off to no end.

2005-06-06T15:32:00.000-05:00

Today I realized something I've suspected for a long time..........I have a problem with authority.

Mind you, its not a big problem. Either that or I havent been put in a situation where it would become a big problem. I guess being in the field I am in (IT) it allows you a certain amount of freedom, where you get to solve a problem however you want to, your lunch times arent within strict times, and the times you arrive/leave the office are more flexible than most other positions. You have breathing room. So there havent really been many instances where I am constantly being told what to do.

However, for each job position i've held i've had a boss, a supervisor, that I had to answer to. Hence there are always times when I am instructed to do something. Now, so far I have been fortunate, my superiors (present and former) were very cool people and I had no problems with them personally. However, whenever I hear the words "Ok, you need to..." "This is what you need to do.." "I want you to...", the words tug at something within me. Even though the request is usually not an unreasonable one, is part of my job description, and is totally justified, yet still I do not like to hear aforementioned words. Especially if I cant immediately see the reasoning behind the request. And honestly, I dont know why.

Im pretty autonomous, I can work on my own. Most times I dont have to wait to be instructed to do something to get it done. Yet still a higher authority giving me instructions can irk me. It makes me wonder if I was never in IT how would I ever survive a scenario with someone constantly giving orders and looking over my shoulder.

20 Ways To Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity.

2005-06-06T15:05:00.000-05:00

I got this in an email today, I thought some of the ideas were hilarious.

20 Ways To Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity.

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point Hair
Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with That.

4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It "In."

5. Put Decaf In The Coffe! e Maker For 3 Weeks. Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.

6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write "For Smuggling Diamonds"

7. Finish All Your sentences with "In Accordance With The Prophecy."

8. Don't use any punctuation

9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.

10. Order a diet water whenever you go out to eat with a serious face.

11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go."

12. Sing Along At The Opera.

13. Go To A Poetry Recital And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme

14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And Play tropical Sounds All Day.

15. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You're Not In The Mood.

16. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Bottom.

17. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream "I Won!, I Won!"!

18. When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking lot, Yelling "Run For Your Lives, They're Loose!!"

19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner. "Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go"

20. And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity.......Send This To Someone To Make Them Smile.......its called Therapy.

Shaniel Escoffery

Star Wars

2005-05-30T11:03:00.000-05:00

Until recently I was not a big star wars fan. I never saw the old movies at the time they came out, and only saw bits and pieces of them when TBS had those Star Wars marathons. And even then it did not garner enough interest for me to sit down and watch them from start finish. The Litesabres were cool. Very cool. But that was about it. I saw Episode I and II. They were bleh. I dont remember a thing from Episode I, that alone should tell you what I thought of it. And the only thing I remember from Episode II was Yoda fighting. The litesabres were cool too. But since there was soooo much hype surrounding Episode III, enough to garner a worldwide release, I decided I was going to sit down and really watch Episode II again, and watch it much more carefully, not for the Litesabres, not for Yoda fighting, not for all the various space creatures, but for the story line. After watching Episode II again I understood more of the story, and was now curious about Episode III. So I went to see it last night.

I am now a DIE HARD Star Wars fan. The story is fascinating. The whole concept of the Force, the philosophies of using the Force, and the Dark side...on one hand I kind of agree with the Chancellor Palpatine's reasoning of using both sides of the Force, but on the other hand I can understand the dangers of partaking such a venture. I still dont know if Anakin Skywalker is Evil or is just a misguided individual. And oh yeah, Litesabres are cool. Very cool. Right about now I am ITCHING to see Episodes 4, 5 and 6 in their entirety. Anyone have that DVD collection in their possession by any chance??

Strike while the iron is hot

2005-05-21T01:33:00.000-05:00

Make use of time; Let not advantage slip;Beauty within itself should not be wasted.Fair flowers that are not gathered in their prime,Rot and consume themselves in little time.
- Shakespeare (sonnet) Venus and Adonis

Movie listing

2005-05-17T00:10:00.000-05:00

So my friend Hayden is copying my tactic to take over the blogging world, by starting a topic on his blog and hoping other people will start the same topic on theirs. While I do not consider him a threat to my master plans, I will however help him out a little bit and start the topic he hopes we all will start. Hey, im feeling charitable. So, here is my list of top picks.

Note: my memory is horrible, all the films will not come to me at one time, so I will update the list as I remember them. I should also warn you that im kinda weird in my picking of movies, I will see things in them most people would not see, and hence love them for reasons most other people probably wouldn’t understand. Anyway, here we go, in no certain order:

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
LOTR (all 3)
Matrix (first one)
Fight Club
Snatch
Finding Nemo
The Incredibles
Poetic Justice
Rocky 1, 2 & 4
Face Off
Equilibrium
Spiderman I
Kill Bill
Pulp Fiction
Ace Ventura, Pet Detective
John Q
Bad Boys
The Rock
Romeo and Juliet (The new one)
The Day the Earth stood still
War of the Worlds
It’s a wonderful life
The Abyss
Collateral
Oscar
Hero

There are also a couple movies I have seen that while wouldnt qualify as a favourite are worth mentioning

Honourable mentions:

Saw
The Returnerer
Naked Weapon
Bound
Ray
21 grams
28 days later
No Good Deed
Natural Born Killers
The Butterfly Effect
High Fidelity
A bronx Tale

Fear

2005-05-16T10:38:00.000-05:00

It was never meant to be conquered, but embraced.

Stuff

2005-05-13T12:05:00.000-05:00

Good Stuff--------being told by a straight girl that youre cute

Great Stuff-------being told by a lesbian that youre cute

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2005-05-09T10:10:00.000-05:00

If you somehow had the ability to see into the future, to be able to see the results of the decisions you make on a day-to-day basis, would you still make those decisions even if you didnt know how it was going to turn out in the long run?

That is essentially what this movie, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is about. I caught the last 45 min - 1 hour of the movie some time ago, wanted to watch the entire movie before I made a blog about it but I havent been able to catch it. Basically the lead character (played by Jim Carrey) learns that his ex-girlfriend went through a procedure to erase memories of him and their relationship. So he decides to do the same. Basically throughout most of the movie we are seeing whats going on in Jim's mind. The procedure erases the memories from the most recent backward. So we are seeing the memories of his relationship when things were bad, how low he was feeling, etc etc. Then we begin to see memories of good times, happy times. He tries to hold on to one particularly happy memory, not wanting that one to go, but inevitably it gets erased. This trend continues with more good memories he finds. Realizing he does not in fact want to forget his ex-girlfriend, we see him "running away" with her from the disappearing memories, trying to hide her, so she doesnt get erased. But inevitably, it happens.

Another character, a college student, tries to start an affair with a married college professor (who developed the technology), only to realize she already started the affair, and went throught the procedure to forget it ever happened. She then breaks into the Professor's office, and takes the interviews of all his clients that did the procedure and delivers them to all the clients. These interviews are done before the procedure, basically the clients outline why they want the procedure done.

Back to Jim Carrey's character...somehow, after the procedure he and his ex girlfriend start dating again. They then encounter the tapes of their interview….they hear their reasons for doing the procedure, they hear all the bad things that were going on in their previous relationship, how they were both better people before they met each other, how they hated who they were in the latter part of the relationship, how its doomed to fail……and they decide to continue anyway.

Basically what I got from this movie is that “its not the destination, it’s the journey”. Its like life…someday we all gonna die, no matter who we are the destination is the same…the only thing that separates us is the journey. Sometimes we put too much emphasis on where we are going to end up and not enough emphasis on the actual journey, not realizing that the lessons learnt on the journey is more than likely more valuable than the destination itself. We all have painful memories, events that we would love to forget ever happened because its so painful, but like the college student who had the affair with the professor, if you don’t know your past mistakes you are doomed to repeat them.

Lesson: never forget your past. Learn from past mistakes, but at the same time never forget the reasons you were embarking on the journey in the first place. When looking back at the journey, you can choose to remember the good times, or you can choose to remember the bad times. But choose you must, forgetting altogether is not advisable.

Choose wisely.

Have a good trip.

Ironic...

2005-05-09T01:39:00.000-05:00

Easy to fall asleep.......hard to stay asleep

Work at a phone company........yet barely use the phone

Lover of music.......yet hard of hearing (irregularly shaped ear canal)

Born with blue eyes, changed to hazel-green.......yet colourblind

Like colour photography..........yet colourblind

Like working alone.....yet hate being alone

Hate talking about myself......yet have a strong narcissistic streak

Have trouble feeling emotions......yet I feel the music when arranging, feel the photo when shooting

Love the sweet, moving sounds of the classical piano.......and the most violent hardcore dancehall/gangsta rap

Dream when im awake..........yet never when im asleep

The Nice Guy Syndrome

2005-05-01T02:47:00.000-05:00

Disclaimer: the views expressed here are of my own opinion and based on personal experiences and those of other individuals I have observed. If i have offended anyone...tough. Grow a skin you too sensitive.

Im sure most of you have heard of the 'Nice Guy' syndrome. This is a social disease that affects relations between the male and female species of the human population.
Symptoms are as follows:
1) You are a gentleman
2) You do not see all women as sex objects
3) You treat all women with the utmost respect all the time
4) You assume women mean exactly what they say all the time
5) You tend to play the role of 'knight in shining armor' when there is a damsel seemingly in distress
6) You are 'understanding' all the time
7) You only have eyes for her
8) You think all if not most men are dogs and are lucky to have a relationship with a good woman
9) You think most if not all women are angels and can do no wrong
10) You shower your girlfriend with attention all the time
11) For advice on women you go to other women
12) Your female friends refer to you as 'such a good friend' or 'you are like a brother', even the ones you have shown romantic interest. This is a surefire symptom of the Nice Guy syndrome and is the beginning of the end.
13) You are more in touch with your feminine side than with your masculine side
14) You cater to her needs and ignore your own
If you have half or more of the symptoms listed above, you may be suffering from the Nice Guy Syndrome. Sticky pon you.

Causes:

Many factors make you more likely to contract this deadly social disease:
- You have more female friends than male friends, or hang around with females more. Hence you are constantly around to hear discussions belitting the male species and may start to believe some of it. You hear the laments about what they want and dont want in a good man and assume that that is what they really want. Hence you begin to alter your personality in a way
that fits such criteria as outlined by said females.
- Lack of a strong father presence in the home. While single mothers have done a fantastic job raising children on their own, some tend to raise their male children in a fashion that they think men should be, instilling certain values. For a listing of these values please refer to symptoms 1 through 7 as outlined above.
- The media (television, film, music, novels) tells us every day that men should give everything of themselves for the woman they love, that you as the man should bring the sun the moon and the stars and place it at her feet. And hope that she likes it and gives you the time of day. Or, that husbands who are overweight, bumbling, idiotic and clumsy, and wives who are young, attractive, and smart, is a normal stereotypical matrimonial home. Examples of this can be seen every day on cable television with programmes such as Home Improvement, Everybody loves Raymond, King of Hearts, and even animated programmes such as The Simpsons.
- When your female friends say things like "Oh youre so sweet" "that was so nice of you" in response to certain actions, and you keep doing said actions, even if it is to your detriment.

Treatment:

Stage 1 - The 'Fuck off' stage
Every man has certain desires. However any man with the Nice Guy Syndrome has a little voice in their head that tells them to ignore those desires and be a 'nice guy'. Whenever a female with a low cut top bends down in front of you to pick up something that little voice says "Be respectful, look away". Whenever a girl is chatting away the little voice says "she's expressing her feelings about something, pay attention and listen" even though youd rather be watching your favourite tv show. Whenever there is a shortage of chairs and there are women around the little voice says "give up your seat, you stand". That little voice that says "pick up the tab", "give her flowers, candy, presents, even though she never does and probably will never return such gestures", "do not ogle at women, even if they are scantily clad and have perfect bodies and are
practically begging for attention" etc etc. You know the drill. Whenever you find yourself in a situation with another female, and you hear that voice telling you to do something contrary to what your instincts tell you--------tell that voice to 'Fuck off'. Until this stage has been completed, future stages will be unsuccessful.

Stage 2 - Realization stage
Realize that women are no more deserving of special treatment than men are. Realize that women are just as bad as men, theyre just better at hiding it and hence give the illusion that they are angels.

Stage 3 - Get in touch with your masculine side
Men do not want a woman who is 6 feet tall, with a muscular build, deep voice, aggressive etc etc. Similarly women do not want a man who is soft, sensitive, expresses his feelings, loves pink, has little hearts drawn all over his notebooks etc etc. Be a man, dammit. Scratch, sometimes. Drink beer and watch sports with the guys, sometimes. Ogle and make comments, sometimes. If you never look at other women, your current woman will think you will never look at her that way. And do you think God gave women breasts and hips and curves that cause them to be shopping around frustrating themselves cause they cant find that pair of jeans that fit them 'just right' or cant wear that gorgeous top cause it dont fit them just right, for you NOT to look at them?? Be aggressive, sometimes. Women like to know that you can get buck wild and handle you business when some fassy comes along trying to get all up in y'all's bizness. Women will never know if youre capable of such if youre constantly holding their hand and giving them flowers and presents and calling them cute little names like "honeybun" and
"munchkin".

Stage 4 - Player mentality
Players always have women because they are confident in themselves and their abilities and are not afraid of being rejected by a woman. They tend to cater to their own needs and not the woman's needs. They tend to have big egos. This combination tends to be attractive to most women (I dont know why, thats how it is apparently). Observe players, how they move, their
tactics, then adopt some of them and adjust as to your own personality. Note: do not become a player. Simply emulate some of their tactics.

I dont know if there are any other stages, right now im somewhere between stage 3 and 4. If there are anymore i'll let you
know.

Earlier I had listed some symptoms of Nice Guy Syndrome as values that single mothers may instill in their sons. This does not mean that a man not suffering from the disease must not have said values, however the values should be as follows:
1) You are a gentleman...only to women who have EARNED and as such are deserving of such treatment. Family members have automatically earned such treatment, the eldery (not just eldery women) automatically deserve such treatment. Every other female in the world has to earn it.
2)You do not see all women as sex objects.....all the time. As mentioned before, on occasions your woman will want you to 'ogle' at her, but she wont think you do that if you dont do it with other women some of the time. And no female is stupid enough to think that you would find her and only her attractive.
3) You treat all women with the utmost respect all the time.......see #1
4) You assume women mean exactly what they say all the time....women have a known history of saying one thing and doing another. Realize this. Accept this. Remember women are ruled by their emotions, men by logics. There are occasions when certain emotions in certain situations are illogical.
5) You tend to play the role of 'knight in shining armor' when there is a damsel seemingly in distress...this has to do with placing women on a pedestal as outined by the media that men should. Once you have gone thru Stage 2 you will realize that some woman deserve what dem get and dont deserve a knight.
6) You are 'understanding' all the time....your needs are just as important. Sometimes she is the one that needs to be understanding
7) You only have eyes for her......see #2

If you think that after doing all this you will be seen by some females as arrogant, pompous, egotisical, etc....dont worry too much. Nobody's perfect, and you being an ass will make women feel better about expressing their bitchy side. Yes, I said it. All women are bitches, sometimes. And if you deny them that right by being a nice guy all the time, therefore making them feel guilty whenever theyre bitchy to you (cause hey, if youre a nice guy you didnt do anything to deserve being bitched, right?) they wont like being around you too much after a while.

I really should have some closing arguments after this long thing I jus write but me tired so cant bother, im going to bed.

Looking forward to the comments....

Fired up

2005-04-22T23:07:00.000-05:00

Something happened tonight that has spurred me to action. I will admit, sometimes I get lazy about life. Sometimes I need soemthing to sort of 'jumpstart'me to be an active participant as opposed to a spectator. Well, just a couple minutes I was 'jumpstarted' once again. I wont go into what did it, thats for my private blog. I will, however, go into what effect it has had on me.At first it pissed me off no end. After I had let off some steam I really began to think about the things that are either missing in my life, or things that are left to be fully explored. I began to think about things I had made plans to do, to learn, to better myself as a person. And I started thinking what the hell is stopping me from getting started on these things. School is now done (for the time being). I have absolutely no reason for not getting started. I have just been a lazy ass, thats all. But now I feel fired up. Lets hope the fire lasts....

The road ahead...

2005-04-21T08:29:00.000-05:00

...is shrouded in mist, a heavy fog all around. I cant see but a few months ahead at any one time. I am now at the ripe young age age of 25 (I say young because well I am, but I say ripe cause I figure its around this time one's life is supposed to start, the time you make decisions that will shape how the rest of your life should look) and still I have not a clue as to what I want to do with my life. The only reason I did Computer Science at UWI was because at the time it was 'the future', and a sure fire guarantee. I didnt actually start liking it until in my final year. Ive been in the industry for what, 3 years now? And its ok, not great but its ok. I dont hate my job, but I dont love it either. Its not my passion if you know what I mean.
I am very close towards the end of my Executive MBA degree in Business. Why did I decide to do it? Because 2 years ago I was feeling this exact way and wanted to do something with my life, something that showed some sort of progression. I had no knowledge whatsoever of the Business world (the extent of my knowledge was CXC Accounts), and by this time the Computer Industry was pretty much saturated as far as I was concerned. If people are able to learn everything needed to know about Networking, Programming etc. from downloading a few tutorials from the net, and can get jobs in consulting in hardware maintenace, networking, etc. all without so much of a diploma, whats the point in going further to do Masters? None. My best option was to go for a different field. Mi nah lie, the MBA did rough, cause is a Executive Masters they dont start from scratch, they assume you have some knowledge of certain things from before. I can now say I know a whole lot more about the Business world...but again, nothing I am particularly passionate about. And I hate the idea of managing people, the only time I would consider being a manager of anything is if its my own company. Anyhow it wasnt a waste, any knowledge is good knowledge.
So what do I like to do then? Well, I love music. Funnily enough, I never started listening to music til the early 90s when I got cable. So nuff 80s tunes I dont know. Around the same time my father got me this very small keyboard, and a friend taught me the song "right there waiting for you". Easy enough to learn, nothing that got me addicted. Then in 4th form at high school I decided to join the choir cause I needed some extracurricular activity on my report. The rest is history. By the time I left high school 4 years later I was capable of playing grade 3 and grade 4 pieces. There was one particular difficult piece I could play just about as well as the choir's pianist...maybe even a little better. Because I couldnt read notes to save my life but I loved playing I would sit at the piano for hours making up stuff, and ppl would ask me to teach them. In that time I also took up guitar, and a friend taking guitar lessons at Edna Manley was asking ME to show HIM some stuff.
So where am I with music now? Nowhere. After I left high school the passion faded. Well, the passion for playing that is. I still like to compose stuff, but I havent done it in so long I wonder if I still can....
I also have a growing love for photography. I havent explored it fully yet tho. That will be my plan for the next year or so....
How can I use these talents to make money? I dunno, I dont even know my place in either of them. Like I said, the road ahead is covered in a heavy fog. I wonder how long this fog will take to lift.....

Rantings

2005-04-20T18:01:00.000-05:00

Ah boy.....day started out ok, went downhill in the afternoon. I cant even straighen out the thoughts going through my head right about now. Hell, I dont even know if I want to talk, or even think about it.
I know I know, not a very good start right? Dont worry it will get better, I promise.

Ok here it is

2005-04-20T09:43:00.000-05:00

Ive come to realize how popular this blogging thing has become, seems like every other person I know has got a blog. I actually started one in January, that one has lots of ranting on it though, and personal stuff that reveals all insecurities, problems and flaws in my psyche that most people probably dont know about....and I'd like to keep it that way :-) So that one I wont share the URL (sorry) its not password protected tho so you might just happen onto it by accident. If you think you found it jus whisper it to me :D

Anyway, this will be the public one, with more public thoughts/rantings/ideas/etc/etc...you get the idea.