Back to the 1st pageExcerpts from my Diary Cont'd
Thursday, 4th December, 2003 5:34 pm.
I just saw In Love and War with Sandra Bullock and Chris O'Donnell. Chris O'Donnell is so cute! But that movie is so sad ... I don't think I'll ever watch it back again. I hate sad movies ... especially sad romantic movies. Oh well, today is rainy .. and it is chilly too ... everyone says we're gonna have flood. Yesterday, Ritch, Ansar, Tariq and Yasir decided to prepare for flood ... so they made ... what they are calling their filtration system for downstairs front door (basically weatherproofing plastic that is dock taped to the door, passes under the door, and is blocked by two rows of brick blocks with sand between it). According to Ritch if the water does come in downstairs ... at least it would have been filtered. Well, they also put up stuff on blocks - all the beds, the dryer and washing machine, even the table tennis board!! And we (yeah even I helped with that!) loaded up everything on the ground on top of the beds and tennis board. Well, we (Ritch and the guys, plus me and Amalia) took a ride around by Piarco and Caroni to check and see how high the river is - it is pretty high but not as high as expected. There has been a lot of work in drainage and irrigation, and it seems as if they diverted the Caroni river into a sort of catchment area (I finally know what they've been doing at the airport!). So, we were certain we weren't getting flood last night - since nowhere had flood - but everyone is like high tide is 1:20 am in the morning - so we might get up with water surrounding us. Things seem to be safe this morning, but it has been raining alot since after noon... the skies are very grey, and the whole places feels damp and dark. I hope we don't have any flood like Marseilles ... oh, that is flood is terrible ... but I haven't been able to catch my BBC news, they seem more caught up with Bush removing the tariffs on the steel ... or was that CNN? Oh well, he says he wants to improve free trade ... but I was watching news on CCTV (some China news station) in which the present Bush administration wants to place tariffs (??) or some kind of tax on the Chinese textile industry so it will protect the US textile market ... the Chinese are sending a contingent to the US to discuss that soon (could be all now - for all I know). So, there seems to be some kind of duplicity. Well, the attacks on US soldiers in Iraq have declined ... it could be because of the major combat operations they had in Tikrit (??) or it could be because the month of Ramadan has finished ... after all November was their bloodiest month - the month of Ramadan. Oh! Finally got those inline frames to act as subforms on a data access page!!! So proud of myself, and the pop-up window forms are working as well. Needless to say I did get the code from MSDN website, but something had seem to be going wrong previously ... but now I have worked it out. It seems however, the subform, will only act as a subform when viewed in IE but not in MS Access page viewer itself ... and I think that might have been the problem - so many things I changed, I really can't say which was the variable! Anyway, Ritch is suppose to be bringing me home KFC this evening ... Oh! I exercised today ... yup finally after I don't know how many months ... but I am back to doing my crunches ... and it was so hard to just to do 20 ... I can't believe I use to do 50 of those one point in my life. Then I did some jogging .... not in one spot though, because that seem to hurt my ankles ... so I ran from one end of the house ... I don't know how many laps - but I did it for about 15 mins. I tried to simulate the time as when I used to run the twice around the block (I mean the big block from home to the castle to around the palace) in Guyana . Anyway, got to go hit the showers now ... yup I didn't bathe since I did those exercise ... just got stuck watching tv instead! Oh well,, this Anesa Hosein signing off once more from her diary ... at age 24 ... oh time does fly!!! Ooh one more thing ... I wrote to some guy called P. from Hyderabad today, sounds really cool ... and he replied me ... waiting to see if he will be a cool online chat person. Yeah so I am done now. ***, North Trinidad
Friday, 5th December, 2003, 9:39 am
Hey again ... I do so love that I've got back into my writing groove. Its been so long since I have written anything, I even stopped writing my stories, but now everything seems to be coming in truckloads - you know ideas etc. I had started getting my inklings of my writing bug about a week ago, it sort of culminated on Sunday, when we had service at home (both south and north church were having evening services for 1st advent Sunday) - and I wrote our weekly diary. And then yesterday when I visited P.'s website I remembered my joy of writing, and just knew I had to start back. So, here I am back in action ... and just taking a few baby steps by restarting my diary. Actually, when I was in Guyana I was trying to find my black notebook diary, mum although she said she saw it somewhere we couldn't find it. Well, that actually just have mostly entries on Stupid ... I think that book is only filled with entries on Stupid. He used to look really good in Wrangler jeans, didn't he? Oh well, that is pass ... and moving onto new! Oh you won't believe what I did, I actually wrote D. from Guyana about 6 months ago, I got a rather bland reply, I must say ... but I am keeping in contact with holiday ecards (use www.care2.com for a free ecard site that supports the environment) . I also found one of his speeding records on the net ... I am such an internet stalker! Should I be saying that here considering I am going to be putting this on the net. Anyway, who's going to read this anyhow, according to Amalia she just find my diaries way too boring, she actually sat down one day and read my Stupid diary (that's what I am going to call the black notebook from now), and she said she couldn't read beyond a couple of entries ... and she had no gall in telling me, never mind that she broke my trust in actually reading the diary. However, I sort of expect them (my family) to read it ... they have no self control ... I think mum and Ritch even read it ... I know Pa won't. Oh! Guess what? D. from PA, is getting married ... I think it is an arranged marriage ... took me by surprise must say ... but I really shouldn't be surprised no more, I just have to go the GHS reunion site, and see how many people my age is getting married, and here I am stuck in the singles pit. That's what Sushma and I call it ... being single that is ... and we have to claw and hoist each other out of the singles pit ... but it looks like she may not be in the singles pit soon though ... so, I am pretty much there gonna hang out alone. Oh that is getting depressing ... well not really, I sort of liked being single ... no hassle whatsoever .... or probably that is what single people tell themselves... hmm. Oh this morning, one US soldier got killed in Iraq ... not sure if violence is returning ... I doubt it though, the Iraqi people (I hate to say they are guerrillas, they are just different types of Iraqi people) have been targeting a lot of soft targets of late. Oh, (ain't I using that word alot??), well, we had to scan our passports this morning and send it to Pa, so we can renew our residency in Guyana. It looks like mum and pa might return from Guyana or at least move out of our present house ... the landowners want to sell it ... and I do feel so sad about that, because I do love that place and house. I know it is termite ridden and the roof leaks and it really needs a paint job, but I've lived there for 7 years full-time, and those were wonderful years, and I love when we had a garden and water the vegetables, and Pa and I think up new things to do with the trees. I even liked trimming the cherry tree, and removing bird vines from it and the mango tree, and threatening the avocado tree with death if it didn't bear. It still hasn't bore any fruits though - I guess our threats didn't work ... maybe we should be more forceful! When I went back to Guyana, Pa and I cleaned out the lime tree a bit, it was really overtaken with bird vine and some other vine and we cleaned that up - so it might be breathing in a breath of fresh air from some of its branches. There are some fig trees or was it plantain trees?? still surviving in the back, I didn't go and take a closer look, I had a fear that I might come upon a snake or something. But for all the years we lived there, I think I've only seen a snake twice there, once in the kitchen and once on the cherry tree. The kitchen one was scary though. Well, no where can beat snake seeing if it is not south, although I haven't seen a snake there lately, I mean it used to be like every two weeks and you would see one, but I think since the yard has been concretized and the fence is concrete instead of chain link, so that may be acting as a deterrent. Oh guess who just messaged me, P. Anyway, gonna end here and upload this page now. *** (24), North Trinidad. 10:14 am
Friday, 5th December, 2003 3:30 pm
Just felt like writing, so here I am again. Haven't had much of a productive day ... rather I should say I haven't done any work today, thus far. I watched Top Gear this morning on BBC, I must say that is an interesting car show, today they featured Lamborghinis ... a truly ugly car. I don't even know why someone will buy that. If it is for the speed I don't see why, only if you're race car driver you might like it. You could never fully utilized all of its speed without breaking the speed limits - so what is the sense! It is low - all you can do is stay on paved roads that are fairly flat, and its cramped! A good SUV with 4WD ... now that is a bargain ... space, a decent speed and can go most anyway. Now that is the kind of vehicle one should get ... Toyota Landcruiser Wagon ... preferably the VX (or was the better model the GX?), is the one people should be craving to buy. You may want a decent sedan for an evening out, something that reeks of luxury and says hey watch me ... that might be needed ... the only vehicles that actually have the "watch me" quality is really a Mercedes Benz, all the others pale in comparison, unfortunately the "watch me" quality comes with a rather high price tag. An Audi and a BMW can raise some eyebrows but lacks the impact of a "watch me" quality. I think one can get a decent sedan that can sneak in between the "watch me's" and don't look too conspicuous ... like possibly a Toyota Crown or Hyundai Gold ... the VW has a decent sedan ... but can't remember its name. Well, when I do start to rake in my millions in the next 20 to 30 years ... I'm definitely getting me one of those. Oh saw a rather sad report on AIDS on the BBC this morning in Africa, about how AIDS is leaving so many children orphans in Africa. I know these stories are only being covered because World Aids Day was so closed by, but I think these should be covered more regularly. It sort of reminded me of that Australian movie Rabbit Proof Fence. Just children growing up without any parents is sad enough, but a whole nation never knowing the meaning of a parent, now that is sad. I wish there was something I can do ... unfortunately the kind of volunteers they want for those situations, have to be the kind that are medically related ... this is the only time I have regretted not going into a medical field ... but I do not like that area. It is so unfortunate that people who are actually in that field don't even care for the sick and making this world a better place but just for making the quick buck ... another reason I hate the medical field. Actually, I don't think I hate the medical field, but I really hate the people in the medical field. Ok, I had another time when I regretted not being the medical field ... I wanted to be in the medical field to study Alzheimer's, because of mama's condition ... also because it sounds like fun ... unravelling the mysteries of the brain. Anyway, I am not certain how well I am conditioned with working with AIDS patients anyhow ... I am still rather scared of the disease ... I have read so much literature on it and I know the ways it is transferred and how it affects people, but just the idea of being so close to death ... death is just one blood corpuscle away, it is just underneath the breaking of the skin ... that can scare anyone. I am not certain I can handle death .. I have lived pretty much in a box where death is concerned ... death doesn't happen to my family unless they're old ... so seeing young people dying ... I am not certain if I can handle that. I think AIDS and Hanson's disease (to learn more about Hanson's disease, click here for a short summary, or go to the WHO site for more in depth information) must be my two most feared disease, but the former more than the latter, since Hanson's disease can be cured ... at least I think so. Did you know Hanson's disease is still pretty much rampant in India (click here to see India's action on leprosy at www.lepraindia.org). I saw a recent documentary about that (well the documentary could have been 2 years ago, but recent in my mind). Actually, that movie with Patrick Swayze and Om Puri sort of brought back small pockets of information from the documentary (I saw the movie again recently). I can't seem to remember the name of the movie, gonna look it up ... give me a sec. Ah yes ... City of Joy, that was the name of the movie ... I get confused with that name and the City of Angels, so I start thinking the movie title had something to do with God. Oh well, I guess if I really wanted to help, I could always send money, but it is so difficult to part with money, when you really don't have much ... or just too selfish .. sometimes I think I am really selfish ... and it is a good thing I didn't become a volunteer ... because I would have made a terrible one. Anyway, K. is messaging me, she followed my advice yesterday ... and said good morning to R. ... so, off I go to get the juicy details. *** (24), North Trinidad. 4:20 pm
Friday, 5th December, 2003 10:02 pm
Amalia and I went out this afternoon to Price Plaza to get dinner (KFC - I know again!!!). We met Ravesh and some friend of his while in the KFC line, and if you give me a minute I might remember his name, it sounds like Mithin ... something like that. Anyway, the worst part of this is that Amalia locked her keys in the car and she left the car lights on!! Now, I usually have my copy of the keys, but tonight I left my home (when is it whenever you need something - that is the time you choose to leave it behind). Well, we had to call Ritchie (he was by Ann), to tell him go home and pick up the keys and meet us. By the time he met us, the car battery was dead and we had to jump start. Now, Ritch saw Amalia talking to Ravesh (Ritch doesn't know Ravesh) - so he thought we came to lime with guys, so he got really mad ... and started quarelling because he thought we lied to him ... and I had to explain to him. Good thing about me, is that I have a reputation for telling the truth, so whatever I say is usually taken without question. Oh well, after that he left us his car, and he went back by Ann with Amalia's car ... and he still managed to reach home before us. Oh well, while liming there, there was some guy with raising money for building a underprivileged children home near the airport (in the road by the airplane gas station). We contributed about $20, but we had a nice time chatting with him, he turns to be a police office. A rather intelligent police office, if I do say so myself. Well, the home is actually aligned to some church, but the best part is that the home is part of a bigger complex, that will have parts that will support battered women, children with AIDS (echoes just what I was thinking this afternoon), and senior citizens home. The home will actually trained the children in skills ... which although seems a bit myopic ... (since I don't think they expect them to go onto university etc).... but still good. So, I think I'll be watching that project. Oh there is a rare December tropical storm in the Caribbean - actually I think it is the only tropical storm in December in the Caribbean... ever (well, ever recorded). It is named Odette, I haven't seen any view of how the storm is travelling, but I heard it will hit Haiti and then DR, if that is the case, it sounds like a reverse tropical storm ... it must have formed in the gulf of Mexico, and moved in a north-easterly direction ... I am not sure about those facts let me check it back. Yup my facts were correct. All afternoon - since I was eating my KFC - I've been trying to remember what the name of the kidney tablets used in the House for Mr. Biswas ... and I am still drawing a blank ... it is getting me irritated .. it was something like Dr. Dobbs Kidney pills ... and it makes you urinate purple! But I don't think is it Dobbs - it doesn't sound right ... I think I am drawing the name Dobbs, because I'm thinking of Dobby from Harry Potter. If I had my copy of that book here - I would have checked it up already ... let me go check on the net ... and rest my mind. Oh found it, it was Dr. Dodd's kidney pills! Well, wasn't too far off ... but then again a miss is as good as a mile. Oh well, time for me to get some sleep. I've been writing so much today ... I wonder if I can continue to do this (writing that is) ... I'm always so ambitious when I start something. *** (24), North Trinidad. 10:24 pm
Saturday, 6th December, 2003 11:59 am
I watched the Miss World pageant this morning ... Miss Ireland won ... I thought Miss Canada would have won actually, she actually spoke better between the two. Anyway, Miss Trinidad and Tobago, at least made it into the semi-finals! Anyway, got to get ready to into UWI, to help B. from church with programming Newton Raphson method into C++. I remember doing that same thing in Pascal ... I am not too good with C++ if it was VB, I think I would have fared better (click here for a good site to understand the Newton Raphson method). Oh well, got to go before Amalia gets mad with me. *** (24), North Trinidad 12:02 pm.
Saturday, 6th December, 2003 6:48 pm
Back from UWI finally. B. got me irritated a bit, didn't look like he prepared any sort of work on the Newton Raphson method ... so, we had to start from scratch, neither did he know much about C++ - so we were pretty much swimming in the deep sea. Guess what? When we were going to UWI, there was an iguana in the middle of the UWI traffic light intersection. I don't even know how it get there ... the poor thing - it look so scared and I think it maybe even got hurt. I should have gone and tried to get it back on the side of the road ... but then again it was on an intersection ... people were slowing down and letting it pass. I hope it reached safely to the other side. Well, Amalia and I bought KFC for Ritch for dinner, we had chinese instead. I think for the last three days - I think I've recorded that we bought KFC. Oh well, just mean KFC is getting good sales from us. But recently they raised their prices ... so I might for a little while boycott them in a show of protest ... and probably have the added benefit of reducing my calories intake. Anyway, got to end here, need to change my clothes, relax a bit and start back on my DSS. ***(24), North Trinidad, 6:57 pm
Saturday, 11th December, 2003 10:55 am
Today is Amalia's birthday. She wants to go Gulf, so I am going with her. Yesterday, I went with her to buy her present at Trincity but she just won't leave me alone, but we ended up going to cinema instead to watch Love actually. I so wanted to watch that movie ever since Pat Sajak kept saying it was such a good movie, so when I saw it showing in Trincity, I had to see it (for those who are looking the website for Caribbean Cinemas 8 is at http://www.caribbeancinemas.com/trincity/). The movie was great ... it was so funny ... from beginning to the end. I think I like Hugh Grant love story the most ...although, I like Colin Firth more than Hugh Grant ...his love story although quite good, was not as good as a PM falling in love ... plus Hugh Grant made a speech against US politics ... so that awarded him some more points. Oh and the rock star story was nice too and the guy who is going to the US. They made US morals sound really bad! Anyway, got to go get ready now. *** (24), North Trinidad, 10:59 am.
Wednesday, 17th December, 2003 8:28 pm
Wow, so much things have happened in the past week ... well not to me, but in the world in general! Let me give the highlights, on Sunday Lara made his 1st test century against South Africa (yaahhhh!), also broke a world record ... got the most runs in an over ... 28 in a total, the over went like this 4,6,6,4,4,4. It was a great over to watch, it was the second to last over in the third day of the 1st test series against SA, and we watched it down South, so it gave grandpa a bit of excitement too. Also, that day, Sadaam was captured ... somehow or the other that put a damper on my day. I opposed the Iraq and US war ... I know Sadaam was not exactly a human rights activist, but the idea that the US captured him, really got my goatee. He was representative of a people who opposed the US openly with no fear of recrimination (although I guess the war was the recrimination). I do have double standards ... I know ... I just hate war ... especially this Iraq US war. The worst part is I don't understand why capturing Sadaam is such a feather in their cap ... they went in for WMDs not to charge a man with war crimes. If it was for war crimes, they could have charged him without entering into war - I am sure there is a better way, but the US is just too arrogant - rather I should say the Bush administration. Nevertheless, the US public itself seems rather ignorant unlike the British public, the British public does seem to be more educated. I had immense pleasure when the Bush effigy was pushed down in London (was it on Trafalgar?). They have decided to equate Iraq with September 11, which is quite ridiculous ... it seems it is like blame it on any muslim we don't like! So, in went Osama ... which seems most likely that he did - I have never heard a confession that he actually did it as yet ... so will go with the word seems. I actually heard one stupid US soldier, says he is glad for fighting the war in Iraq because he is being able to fight the people who cause Sept. 11!!! Anyway, I hate war and I hate soldiers ... they are just like the bee and ant communities, they just run around doing the commands of the people above them and have absolutely no brain power. I know that wars are sometimes won by strategy and some brain power if by chance they are lucky to get a brain operating the mission, but otherwise the operation is just to bully a nation. Only the ignorant and arrogant fight - because if they were actually smart they would have found a diplomatic solution. The people who fight does it to puff out their chest and strut to just say "look at me - I am strong". No brains! Only people with a false sense of pride, would decide to take that challenge ... a strong person would walk away from that. Oh well, nevertheless, I've been having that argument since I was in high school, about war ... so moving on. Well, just I feel for Sadaam, he looks like such a broken and now old man ... and I do have a soft spot for old people ... so why don't they just put him in a comfortable jail and leave him there. Bush is now talking about execution ... typical .. kill people left right and centre ...absolutely no respect for human life! Well, if he did he would never have gone to war now, would he? What is very irritating is that the media reports the death of the US soldiers, but fail in most parts to accurately report the deaths of the Iraqis ... because in their way of thinking the Iraqis are dispensable, but the US soldier life is precious ... Oh, this topic can get me mad. Anyway, let's see what else happened in my week, on Monday, Lara made a double century (202 runs), but we still well over a hundred runs deficit by the time WI out down! Well, the SA went into bat, put up some two hundred and something runs, and put us in to bat at the last 10 overs of the day after they declared - they had six wickets down at the time. Unfortunately, we lost 3 wickets that afternoon, and things did not improve the next day, we went down, look a domino reaction, although our lower order held up pretty good in comparison to our batters. I think when Hinds had out on the 4th day, instead of sending in Drakes as the nightwatchman, they should have send in Chanderpaul, I think they needed a stabilising force at that time, and Chanderpaul, can stay rather long at a crease. I think we should forget about using a nightwatchman, and just put the next cricketer in, like what Waugh does. Because, early next morning, the watchman is obviously gonna get out early, and it becomes one wicket against the team, and I think there is gonna be a negative psychological effect seeing one more wicket out ... so put in a cricketer who would last at the crease. I was in UWI on Monday so to keep abreast with the game I made sure and have the live score cards from www.cricmania.com, and the ball by ball commentary from www.cricket.org. The ball by ball commentary is quite good, it is just like hearing it on radio, except you read it. I find the live scorecards at cricmania are better designed that the ones at cricket.org, so had too have those two windows open. Well, Monday, we carried Ritch to see "Love Actually", he didn't find it as funny as us ... I think the main reason is because we spoilt it for him, we told him all the jokes beforehand, and I think the comedy of "Love Actually" works on the element of surprise ... not for the story, but on what the actors might say in a situation. Well, today, I got a letter for an extension of my scholarship till April - it is actually a UWI postgrad scholarship. I actually got the letter yesterday, Amalia collected it for me from Dr. Pun, but she had left it in UWI. Tonight, Mum and Pa are coming in - so we are all spending Christmas here ... I think however, I would have preferred a Christmas in Guyana, so much quieter ... plus Vish. is gonna be there ... and he is begging for us to come ... but looks like we ain't gonna be meeting him this year. Too bad ... it would have, he promised we would have gone dancing like we use to! I am kind of happy too, since I gained about 8 pounds ... yes 8 pounds since I left Guyana!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, I am feeling fat ... gotta lose this weight, and Christmas is not gonna help. The problem is that all these holidays with fatty foods have suddenly descended on me, first there was Divali, then Eid and now Christmas. If I was living in Guyana I would never have this problem, we don't know anybody, so nobody would be invited us and plying us with food! Oh well gonna sign off now, and load this thing up. Actually, saw that I got my first visitor to this site today, they were looking for Newton Raphson method in VB, so decided to add a little note on where people could find info on Newton Raphson method if they wanted to. Anyway, gone now. *** (24). 9:13 pm.
Thursday, December 18, 2003. 6:59
pm.
Well, I was browsing through some profiles at
www.care2.com, well, and found this one guy whose website is
www.dankeller.org, who had this link
called Hot or Not, it is actually a website where you post your picture in
www.hotornot.com, and people rate how hot
you are. Well, obviously I had to put up my picture, but I wouldn't get approval
until tomorrow maybe, so got to wait until then to see my score. But the site is
so cool!!! I put up one of those pics, that Amalia and I took with the old Sony
DG Camera, the ones in which I don't look like me, to see what I will rate. So,
keeping my fingers cross to see what happens. Well, actually I am at care2 a lot
these days, I am trying to rebuild my interest in the environment and human
rights promoter again. There is a petition on their petition site,
www.petitionsite.com, that I am
watching closely, it is on demanding justice for missing and murdered women in
Chihuahua, Mexico. When I first signed, there were 18,143 signatures and there
was a need for 25,000 by the end of December, so I forwarded it to people in my
address book, as far as I know only Raymond signed, because he replied me (I
told people who wanted to sign but didn't want the hassle to just reply my email
blank, and I will sign for them). Well, anyways, I think they will make their
deadline, since there is 20,812 signatures now, and I only signed yesterday. I
think all the adverts that care2 issued helped. Oh and there is now a new click
to save the children, at
http://children.care2.com, so I'll make sure and do that everyday now, I use
to do it for the cancer awareness one, but when I reached the highest level of
clicking I sort of teetered off. Well, mum and pa came last night, they had an
argument in the airport too, since mum brought a number of suitcases (she is
slowly emptying Guyana's house), and they had to go into red line, so that got
pa mad! Anyway, Pa went to a meeting this morning, and he is not here as yet -
think he went drinking. Amalia and Ritch are in UWI and should be coming home
now. Mum is finding new things to clean at the moment .... the most irritating
thing about Christmas - the amount of cleaning that has to be done. ***(24).
7:12 pm
Friday, December 26, 2003. 10:33 pm
Well, it has been one week since I last wrote here! So, as expected lots of things must have happened - best of all was Christmas! I actually had to send out all my Christmas ecards yesterday ... yes I was late in sending them out ... I said I would have done it a week ago, but got lazy. On Christmas eve, we went shopping in Port of Spain- Mum, Pa, Amalia and I. First time I ever shopped for Christmas in POS - I have to do that more often, it is so much nicer, but the malls like Trincity are pretty good! Oh! I bought the gramophone for Pa at Indian Fashions although the rest of the family didn't quite agree with my purchase since it was so much. He always said he liked that, he seemed to like it. It came with one record that has two songs from the movie Ratan. Did you know that those records only have one song on each side!!!!! Whadya know! It is a 78 record - don't have a clue what that means - probably 78 mm. I will have to measure it. The record brand is his Master's voice - which seems to be well known amongst the older generation as a record for providing music records. Pa said when he used to own a gramophone previously he use to have a hundred records .... wow! Thank God for CDs now, that holds MP3s! Now, that is what a record should be like. We brought up grandma and grandpa for Christmas, they spent the night. Tantie, Diane, Roseann, Ryan, Rock, Hamida and Farwaz also stopped by yesterday. We played pictionary yesterday with Diane and Ryan - do so love that game (Diane agrees that is a nice game)- I made Pa play it the night before the eve of Christmas eve - that will be the 22nd, but then Denny came and interrupted our game, and I got mad at him (Denny that is) ... well, Pa made up for it the next night ... and I told Ritch to tell Ann not to call and disturb him during the game ... or I will get mad at her. So, we had a nice uninterrupted game of Pictionary. Uncle Shah and Auntie Mona also passed in yesterday on their way to the airport, they were going to see Sheena and Sheldon in NY. On the eve of Christmas Eve, we went around by all the family, dropping gifts. Today, we went by Uncle Ramballie for lunch, actually we were going to Cedros, but Pa got sidetracked (in other ways began to drink with Uncle Ramballie), so we squashed that idea ... Ritch and Amalia had gone to drop Mama and Grandpa home, and we were suppose to meet them there, but instead they had to come back up and meet us. Pa is thinking of going El Tuche tomorrow morning. On Christmas morning when we were going to church south (service was 5:30 am!!!) - there was some pundit guy on Shakti radio who said he was going El Tuche tomorrow, and to meet him opposite Mt. Hope at 6:30 am ... Pa says he is going ... we'll have to see tomorrow. Anyway, either we go El Tuche or Cedros or probably stay home - who knows. Let's see did anything else interesting happen ... can't remember anything ... except the gifts I got ... Pa got me perfume (no surprise there - he gets me that every year), Ritch bought me the game Sorry (which I thought was rather dumb, since Sorry is almost like Ludo - but just costs a lot more), mum bought me an ornament and some silver earrings (I'm allergic to gold - or probably the copper in gold - not quite sure - but either way - it makes it much cheaper for them to buy me jewellery) and Amalia bought me a charm bracelet, a top and a skirt. So, pretty good gifts. I gave mum this little glass ornament, with an etching on it saying it was from me and a wind chime thing made out of shells which when I think of it - that is not very environmentally friendly unless the shells were found discarded on the sea etc., I got Amalia a wallet (hers is just bursting on the seams) and a plant stand. Ritch got two books from me - Lord of the Rings - the fellowship of the ring .... and the two towers. I am planning to buy him the return of the king for his birthday. I also got him the Gillette Mach 3 turbo. Unfortunately, Ansar and them got him a Mach 3 (which he already has!), but ... today was Nigel's birthday that is one of the reason why we went by Uncle Ramballie, and since we didn't have a gift for him, we gave him the Mach 3 turbo. I hope he never reads this! Oh, also when we coming from church yesterday (we went down with both cars by the way), we found out that Uncle Bannet was missing since Christmas eve, and they didn't know what happened to him. Later on Christmas day, they said they found his car in the Chaguanas police station, which he apparently pushed himself in there and made a report that his wallet was stolen. It was strange that he was in Chaguanas, since he was suppose to go only to Penal/Siparia and return home. Anyway, later that day - Christmas, Auntie Sheila and Nigel found him in a dumpster sleeping in Chaguanas, apparently he got forgetful, and he still think it is Christmas eve sort of ... because he said he needed to buy apples and grapes. His wallet was in his car. He is diabetic, and his sugar was quite high when they tested him. They not certain what's wrong with him ... could be some kind of black out ... and is exhibited some sort of dementia ... but until a medical report comes in, we really don't know why that happened ... probably could be just be amnesia. Oh ... Ritch and Pa went to the doctor to check out why Pa's eye was running water on the eve of Christmas eve (while we went Gulf City), and they found out it was just a fungus spores allergy! Pa was miffed with Ritch, since he told him all the time it was that ... but Ritch won't believe and insisted they went to a doctor (I didn't see a reason for going to a doctor, I prefer make my own diagnose using search facilities on the internet, and test my own remedies - to me doctors are just in the dark - they use symptoms to determine the problem also - and then confirm with a doctor if it is severe) - and so it cost them money for the doctor to tell what the problem was, when he already knew the problem! I think doctors are only necessary for giving out a prescription - because we can't get them over the counter - and doing surgery. Since most of the prescription drugs are antibiotics however, it doesn't affect me - since I have never taken antibiotics, don't see the need unless I have a really terrible need - but I think my body can fight most bacteria given time, good food and exercise. When I had my flu in August, mum wanted me to go on antibiotics, but I didn't want no part on that - and I fought it off ... and I am well, my body is stronger for it, since antibiotics does weaken the body from fighting off future attacks - at least I think so - because the bacteria becomes a more virulent strain. Anyway, going to sleep now ... just played Sorry and Game of Life with Ritch and Amalia. *** (24). 11:13 pm.
Monday, 5th January, 2004. 9:58 pm
Wow ... it is the new year already .... and I have so much work lined for myself ... I get frustrated when I think about the amount of work I have to do and I have not even started it properly as yet. My DSS is driving me mad ... I think if I spent more time on it, I probably could work out the kinks ... but I am not entirely sure. I think those two weeks when family was over just spoilt any work I had to do. Oh yeah from the 30th to the 1st January, Uncle Bob and family with Mama Cedros were over ... and on new years grandma and grandpa came up, and went home the next day. Diane, Ryan and Roseann drove them up. We were having a barbecue for the grandparents in the evening so we invited them over (they were painting at Rock's house) ... so they came along also on the evening along with Hamida and Farwaz. We played Pictionay and Game of Life. Anyway, that is besides the point ... I think today is the first day I actually have had a rest from family ... and I sort of didn't do anything with it ... which I should have ... so now I feel guilty and depressed about that. I have a paper to finish reviewing ... which I can't make head or tail off ... and a quarterly report! Things just ain't getting better for me ... but it is all my fault I should have done them earlier. I must really stop this procrastinating habit I have ... I never use to have it when I was younger ... I don't know when it crept up on me ... and now it is getting out of control ... and getting me frustrated in the process. Oh well, Mum and Pa went back home to Guyana this morning on the 4:00 am flight (!!!) ... I had to get up 2:30 am to get ready. To make things worse ... cricket ain't going so well ... it looks like WI might get a whitewash by SA again as in 1999 ... oh I hope not ... I cringe when I think about 1999 ... nevertheless, in the test match currently playing, Gayle and Lara both made test hundreds. Lara also made his 9000 test runs ... the fastest player to get to that mark too .... even after all that we made 427 runs falling short of SA first innings score by about 106 runs! I think Smith (SA's Captain) will play for a draw if he is smart ... because if the match is draw ... they will win the series. Some of the commentators however said Smith has a competing spirit and may likely want to see an outcome of the game ... if he does indeed have a competing spirit well it may be likely that we still have a chance to win this match. Well, if we don't win this one ... we still have the last match to save the whitewash... boy do I wish this is not a whitewash! Oh yeah, TSTT decided to disconnect our phone for a bill we paid already!!!! We paid the bill through TTPOST ... and although we have the receipt and everything, TSTT says they don't know where the money gone and to come back tomorrow to deal with it ... so, we don't have internet at the moment and I will have to upload this tomorrow. I am angry with TSTT ... since they did the same thing to us a month ago, about the same bill, we made a complaint and they reconnected us back but it seems they never rectified the problem!! I seriously don't think it is our problem ... they hired TTPOST to take care of their bill payments, they should take up the matter with TTPOST not with us ... we have shown them proof that the transaction for payment to them were done through TTPOST ... it was up to TTPOST to deliver the money to them, and since TTPOST is their contractee, that is an internal business matter. Anyway, I am going to catch some sleep ... if I can in this stressed out state I am in ... because of my work. I think I should work and chip away some work before I go to sleep, but I hate to work when I am stressed (or probably that is jus the excuse I am using so I don't have to work) ... I prefer work early in the morning, when my mind is fresh and my brain seems to come up with the answer easiness. So, I'll set my alarm ... and hopefully I will get up and do some work! I wish I could run ... I really do feel like a run .... but with the spate of crime in Trinidad especially the kidnappings and the mad driving on the roads and not to mention the unleashed dogs, and no pavements, I really don't know where to get up and go running ... it was so much easier to go running around the block in Guyana ... I really do feel like a run - my muscles feel as if they stretching ... the only place that I could go running that is safe is probably UWI but that is such a hassle ... because I like to run on the mornings ... I love the chilly air whipping against your face ... but can't do that in UWI (it is like 20 mins away!) - that is more than the time my run usually takes ... and then there is the problem of showering ... I hate showering in public bathrooms, and then changing in the confines of a bathroom ... everything just seems to be wet and not comfortable anymore. Oh well ... I've been quite grumpy this evening ... just seething with negative thoughts. Well, I am thinking of reading back the bible ... I think I am going to start tonight. Last time it took me over two years to finish it by reading a chapter every night, so going to do the same thing again. So, in 2006 I would finish! Oh, and I also promise to say one thing I was grateful for today ... hmmm let me see ... I am grateful that Ritch thought of me and brought me home KFC for lunch because otherwise I would have to scrape something together to eat. Ok, I am done now. *** (24). 10:26 pm
Wednesday, 7th January, 2004. 7:51 am
Hmm... I was speaking to Pradyot this morning. Actually spoke to him the morning pa and mum left too at 2:30 in the morning. He has some girl he likes and I am trying to get some juicy gossip out of him ... but as it turns it out ... he seems to be staid as me when it comes to conversation with the opposite sex! Anyway, I didn't write yesterday what I was grateful for ... so I'll say that I am grateful because Ritchie cooked dinner ... corned beef and bread! Do you realise all I have to be grateful for turns out to be food so far!! Anyway, I think today what I am grateful is that I have both my parents and can talk to them when ever I could ... like right now, I am talking to them via MSN messenger! Isn't internet grand ...probably I should be thankful for that too! Oh I took a physical attraction test yesterday from www.match.com, the address for the test is http://attraction.match.com, as it turns out according to the results, I have an attraction for guys between 30 to 40 - but 35 seems to be my upper limit! Who knew that! Probably is why I like guys who are my age that look older. I am extremely picky ... now people use to tell me I was picky ... and I believed it to some extent ... but here they are telling me I am extremely picky ... and that I know what I want ... see I always knew what I wanted! No wonder I can discard guys so easily ... knowing what I want or not. Only 1 % of the female population are as picky as me though. On the downside (or is that already the downside?) ... I like to choose the handsome of the handsomest .... and according to them .. I have a great eye for good looking guys (well I knew that!) ... and might make a good casting agent ... I go for movie star good looks. Oh ... and I seem to like two types of guys ... the guy next door types and the pretty boys. Now I never thought of myself as liking the pretty boy guys ... because they seem as metrosexuals ... and metrosexuals ... are just a little too gay in behaviour to really seriously take them on as real heterosexual men! I mean I want a man's man (that sounds kind of gay too - doesn't it?). Oh and I tend to like guys with ecto-mesomorph shaped faces ... which are really diamond shaped ... as most women do to it seems (78 %). I think they said I have real competition on my hand and to settle for some guy who is not my idea of a hunk! Or .... I might end up an old maid (well they didn't say that ... but it can be inferred). Oh well ... I am going to end here and go make myself a cup of Milo ... we finished all the bread last night so I can't think of making toast ... I have to go seen what I can rummage in the fridge. Mum told me there was a black cake in the fridge that Auntie Sharmoon had given to us ... so will go eat that maybe ... but that seems rather too rummy and sweet for the morning. Oh we have this whole bottle of olives ... and I have been eating them like crazy ... and I am wondering exactly how martinis are made, just to see if the olive in it, can actually make alcohol taste better! But I think martinis are made with gin ... not sure ... and I don't think we have gin home ... actually we never buy gin ... just scotch whisky and rum ... vodka, wine and sherry. So, so much for the martini thought! Anyway, gone now. *** (24). 8:11 am.
Wednesday, 7th January, 2004. 4:55 pm
Wow ... I've made so many spelling errors in this documents ... or rather typos ... just had to go correct them. So, that someone visited my site because they were looking up Hanson's disease, so decided to add a link to some Hanson's disease sites while I am at it. Oh I have something else to be grateful for today ... and it does have to do with food! I am grateful for Ritch making me a lamb steak today! Oh one another thing, I was trying to cut out sweets and I sort of lost control today ... I went and drank a whole bottle coke ... all 16 oz .... and a couple of fruit centred biscuits ... which Amalia likes ... and I don't really don't like ... but I wanted the sweet ... I think that's what you call a binge. So much for my self control ... I had so much better self control when I was younger ... especially when I was trying to ensure I never became a casualty of peer pressure! I think I should try and see if I can regain that self control by not being a casualty of not doing things that I obviously shouldn't do ... like eating snacks and sweets continuously, procrastinating and thinking bad things of people. But I feel the pitchfork guy is in sort of control of me at the moment ... so got to get the halo guy back on the top ... no matter how much the pitchfork guy says who cares ... nobody will know except you. So, the halo guy ... you got to win ... so I am doing this for you and not trying to be pressured by the pitchfork guy. I like a sense of competition ... it drives me better ... anyway gone now. ***(24). 5:03 pm. Oh wait I signed off ... but I remembered something I wanted to add .... the match WI vs SA we drew it ... so, SA won the series ... but we were in a position where we could have played for an outcome ... but instead they decided to play for a draw ... which I thought was dumb and smart at the same time. They were take the sure road by ensuring not a whitewash so that was sort of smart... but dumb because we probably could have won ... and ensure the series were not drawn. Oh and Dwaye (or was it Duane) Smith scored a century and he was a debutant ... so that is promising for the WI team. Oh yeah we (Amalia, Ritch, Ann and I) went to see Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King on the 2nd Jan. We went for the 12:15 show but as it turned out ... that was sold out ... so we bought the 4:25 show instead. We went to see Cheaper by the Dozen with Steve Martin in the meantime (this was at Trincity) ... which was pretty ok ... funny and nice story ... but I won't call it a must see ... but you can see it if you want a nice, family movie that is relaxing and enjoyable to watch. So, by the time Cheaper by the Dozen finished (it was the 2:25 show), we had to rush to go the Lord of the Rings, Ritch went ahead of us to secure seats ... Amalia and I wanted to watch the credits rolled up since there was some scenes there ... well, we were only able to get a seat about 4 rows away from the screen ... after much looking. Now that is a terrible position ... your eyes cannot do focusing of the whole screen from that position ... I am so accustomed to seeing movies from the balcony ... so this was different ... this was direct pit! But the movie was gripping nevertheless ... but you had to look up to the screen ... and tilt your head as far back as possible so your eyes could accommodate to the whole screen. Well ... Amalia says she would go back to see it when the crowd dies down ... I am not sure if I want to as yet ... it is 3 1/2 hrs or somewhere around that figure ... so instead of spending my $15 on that same show again ... I might go see an Indian movie for that exact time and just await for it to come out on Starz ... which shouldn't be so long .... just about a year! Starz seems to love showing Lord of the Rings ... yesterday they were alternating it with the Mask. Anyway, I am definitely going now. ***(24). 5:16 pm.
Tuesday, 20th January, 2004. 4:12 pm
Came back from Guyana last night. Went last Thursday. That was fun ... wish I had more time to spend there ... I do like home in Guyana better than here. I like going out in the yard and seeing the trees and talking to them. And running around the block without thinking that I will get kidnapped or knock down! Things I just can't do here. Anyway, wanted to write here because I just flipped the ESPN channel and saw a cute guy, Mark Philippoussi, playing in the Australian opens ... he is Australian, just want to record that, so, in case in future if he gets popular (and guys whom I notice - usually do) - I will remember when I first saw him ... he only has like 19 pages on google right now with his name ... so, I'll see how that will progress as time goes by. He is not really so cute but he got a sort of presence ... and presence counts for lot more ... he has dark hair ... and looks like he has Greek heritage ... and broad shoulders ... he is going places I know ... just got to wait! Anyway, Amalia wants me to help her with a paper on white agriculture ... which God alone knows what that is! *** (24). 4:20 pm
Tuesday, 20th January, 2004. 9:44 pm
Oh great ... it seems that google doesn't want to crawl through this page again ... although it did have it on record like two weeks ago, oh well... so much for my ideas in updating stuff and adding links! Hey, the guy Mark Philippoussi won the tennis game he is playing and he is going into the second rounds (or whatever they do in lawn tennis tournaments). So, his name is definitely gonna be making more hits tomorrow - or maybe even tonight. I knew I had a great eye for guys ... and there is so much more guys I have been eying. Oh tonight is the state of union address by Bush ... I wanted to see it ... but got caught up watching reruns of Friends ... oh well could always catch it tomorrow on Jon Stewart ... with some useful insight! Oh yeah Jon Stewart was one of the guys I had also seen and knew he was going somewhere, well only when he took over the Daily Show, ... that was when ... somewhere back in 2000 I think ... and so to Matt Lauer ... knew he had something special ... even when he was reading news back when Bryant Gumbel was hosting the Today show, I use to wait for his news! Oh you know another person I wait for news for is Shihab Rattansi on CNN World ... must admit that CNN has cuter reporters than BBC ... but do like BBC reporting better. Oh was watching BBC reporters look at the wall that is building in Israel at the moment ... the wall is pretty high ... and it sure is working to isolate Jerusalem from Palestine ... although both claim it as their capital! Oh the craziest thing I saw today is that Evo Morales the opposition leader in Bolivia wants to ensure that farmers can grow the coca plant (ie from which cocaine comes from), since it provides 90 % of their income! Wow ... not to mention Evo Morales himself is a coca farmer. That is way interesting. And to some extent I could understand the argument ... it is a crop like any other ... you can choose to do with it whatever you want when the leaves are sold ... there is a market ... and market forces should prevail. These people do chew coca leaves on a regular basis ... I wonder if there is any effects. Oh do you want to hear something else crazy ... Guyana ... yes Guyana ... has signed an agreement not to persecute US citizens at the International Criminal Court (ICC) ... could you believe it!!! Along with Antigua and Barbuda!!!! How stupid can they be ... but I know why they had to do it ... because the US threaten (like a bully as usual if they don't get their own way) to not provide military aid to them. I would have said keep there stupid military aid (since I am a pacifist anyhow) and meet you in court! These US citizens always feel they are above the law ... and we stupid Caribbean people also believe it ... when they are not! Oh well, I can vent here all night ... but I want to go get some sleep. Oh got some good news though, Brazil has decided to give tit for tat! Because the US has placed them as a security risk, requiring their citizens to be fingerprinted and photo taken, the Brazilians require that US citizens do the same, and an American Airline pilot got really mad at that, and showed the finger at the camera when his picture was taken so he was detained ... unfortunately, there is no such high tech equipment for finger printing in Brazil ... so it is good old ink stain. The mayor of Rio de Janeiro is not so certain about these particular tactics since Carnival is approaching and is afraid that the US citizens (the majority of the tourists) may feel disinclined to visit for Carnival this year. I don't see it being a huge problem since Carnival is a large draw to the crowd than finger printing ... and if that does happen, the Caribbean could always absorb the tourists who didn't visit Rio. People coming in didn't make too much of a fuss ... considering that there were half naked women dancing around them ... I really don't think they would really want to complain! Anyway, signing off now. *** (24). 10:06 pm
Wednesday, 21st January, 2004. 3:48 pm
Right now there is a match going on between Mark Philippoussis and Santoro on ESPN .... I am only watching it because of Mark. It looks as if I am wrong though, there are more websites on him than I originally thought ... it seems that google may have been down yesterday ... because today I did a search and there are 45,200 hits. Granted however lots of them were posted yesterday ... but found some pages on his bio etc. Oh wait I know why I got such less hits, I left out a "s" in his name. Oh well, lets see what I found in his bio, he was born in Melbourne, Australia on Nov 7, 1976. Same year as Amalia. Anyway, let's see if he will win. This sort of reminds me of FIFA world cup in 2002, when I watching and supporting the German football team because of Michael Ballack ... although the Italian and Spanish teams had some cute guys too! Oh well, going back to the game now. *** (24). 3:55 pm. Oh geez... the match that I am watching ... looks as if it was played earlier ... so got the results already. Mark won! Yeah!! *** (24). 4:00 pm