Peace & Harmony

Now that music is finally going somewhere in our church... there is one particular goal that I have at the front of my mind.

Singing in harmony. All the 4 parts: Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass

I mean.... we  are a Mennonite church after all (look it up kids) and no matter how modern we may become, there are still a few fundamental ideas in worship that we should hold on to: And harmonising is one of them.

How many years  have gone by with me sitting and painfully enduring the crappy choice of key by the leaders with no music to follow. Or the twisting and breaking of a deep-voiced male trying to sing the melody, and when the note was too high.... eh.... we could sing one a few notes lower... nobody will know the difference right? WRONG!

Now some of them may say that worship is not about how the music sounds but about how you feel and the connection with God.
But when a church is filled with crummy singing like that.... how can you even enjoy it enough to feel anything with God. Personally I usually recite the first 50 numbers in pi over and over to maintain my sanity.

Next is the famous excuse: I just can't sing.... or.... I just don't have an ear for music. What utter RUBBISH. The human brain is a musical machine. It enjoys interpreting the patterns and anticipating the oncoming combinations. So if all music you listen to sounds simply like random noise.... then I may accept the ear for music excuse... And on singing.... then just sing another part... or simply sing quietly then. If you know you can't sing well, why does everyone else in the church have to know it too -.-

So I leave you with that... in the hopes that next time I post about singing it will be about how beautiful we sound in church. We currently are working on the harmonies but we haven't sung them yet in church....

Eventually we may sound like this.... preferably not looking like this though :P

I know what's wrong

Ok guys.... here's the real reason I've not been writing much these days.... it's because I haven't been reading! I figured it out recently. This blog began in the midst of a reading spree and the best posts were products of that spree... I think even the novelty of the idea kept me going for a bit after I stopped, but now that I've been doing this for almost a year :o (wow), I realise that good inspiration for writing, a lot of the time comes from reading (for me at least). So in order to break this little dry spell, I fully intend to start reading again. It is summer after all... sooo don;t give up on me just yet LOL. I'll be back... I hope

Thanks, Merci, Gracias, Grazie

Graduation!!

And I'm back again, with another lame apology that you guys don't want to hear... And I'd love to blame my absence on those dreaded CSEC exams that I've been complaining about since God knows when, but let's face it.... those were over a long time ago... I've just been lazy.... and for that I sincerely apologise. But you don't have to accept it, just read. ;) 

       Now on to the good stuff. I've GRADUATED from my school... officially. And although I'm reapplying to spend another two years there, preparing for yet another set of hugely important exams (yes, prepare for the ranting), there's still a sense of freedom as I spend 3 entire months not being an official student of the school. 

       Now the Graduation Ceremony was great! Surprisingly... You see we (we being the students) all expected it to be some drab formal dinner sitting for hours at tables listening to speech after speech about how vibrant and full of life this year's graduates were... as they bored us to death...

       It turned out to be quite the opposite though... There were only a few speeches and they'd been quite well done... i.e. short and sweet... and the rest of the ceremony was filled with us collecting some tokens (Dog tags with the school emblem printed on it) and then the dancing/hanging out part of the night. 

       Okay... before I move on... I don't know how many of you know me that well... but if you did, you'd know that I'm pretty much the quiet, self-conscious, awkward type of teenaged boy. I know it and I don't care frankly. So in other words, I am not exactly the kind of person you expect to actually DANCE... so it was a surprise, even to myself, when I found myself on the dance floor, without having so much as a care, and dancing... wait for it.... with a girl. You see the big thing about that was... I didn't take a date to Grad... and I'd never met this girl before in my life till that night... 

My friends' reactions were hilarious! First of all, one of them was kinda into the girl I was dancing with, but he was to chicken to dance... and she even asked him first. And secondly, while I was dancing I turned around and saw one of my friends behind me just standing there. Over the music he shouted to me that he'd searched the hall a couple times looking for me but it never occurred for him to check the dance floor... It was ME after all. The whole thing was just one huge laugh. 

But anyway... it was a wonderful night and everyone had loads of fun... I'd put some pictures up but I don't know if my friends would be open to having their faces open to the whole world :P

So 'till then just imagine a gorgeous guy getting down on the dance floor and you've got the picture ;)

-Levi Jeans 

Change...

Again... I apologise for my EXTREMELY long hiatus from blogging.... I've just been super busy. Really this time. Those pesky CSEC exams that I've been going on about for the past.... two years... have finally come around and boy is it an anticlimax... but anyways...

This post is mainly a congratulations to the new Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad Bissessar. After a grueling campaign battling the former governing party, the PNM, the People's Partnership prevailed with Mrs. Bissessar at its head.
The loss truly came as a shock to the PNM and its leader, Patrick Manning, who had honestly believed that they had this election in the bag. I mean he had to have believed that, having called snap elections in the middle of his term as Prime Minister.
But the people have voted for change. Change from the poverty, crime and corruption of the PNM's governance.
Anyways I have to go :P but again congratulations to the first female Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago and I wish her the best of luck in all endeavours... we all have full confidence that she will bring about the necessary change in our nation!!

Hair

Why does it seem like my family is always harassing me to get a haircut.... I HATE haircuts... 

Nevertheless I finally obliged on Thursday after weeks of my mothers nagging. But this time we weren't going to Dwight's, we went to Jean Paul instead... (Don't those names sound fancy?)

Now this is my first time getting my hair cut by Jean Paul, so I had no idea what to expect. Even when you tell a hair dresser what you want done, it's always different. I thought, like Dwight, Jean Paul would just do the regular scale down cut of my afro-ette. Boy was I wrong! 

This guy managed to make my curls go straight and he gave me an almost emo hairstyle. I was shocked for sure, but still rocked the look to lessons. Well who told me to do that! One of my friends began stuttering as I approached the gate,"L-l-levi? W-What did you d-do to your hair??!!" I'll admit it was too much of a shock for some people but others were lovin' it :) 

I'll post a pic but by the time I took it in the night, my hair had begun to lose it's silky softness and get that thick coarse feel again so it's not a perfect representation of what everyone saw.

Yesterday I tried redoing my hair in that style but to no avail. So what do I do instead? I pump some super hold serum into my hands and slick my hair up into a faux hawk... well, at least the closest thing to one that I could with my hair. Again at lessons, some were all love and others were just shocked. It was really funny actually. 

Today though I just left it alone on my head :D in no particular style. But I'll continue to mess around with it while its short until I get my fro-ette back.

Some pics?  :

BEFORE

AFTER

-LS

When Harry Potter Went to Church...

Sorry for my long absence from the blogosphere! I've been pretty busy with exams approaching. In fact, I have French Orals this week! But still, it's no excuse for treating you all this way...

So recently I've found myself again debating with other Christians who seem to have found some interpretation of the Bible that tells them exactly what's what in todays world. I really want this Bible because apparently it says: "Harry Potter is 'demon ting' " and "Rock music is evil".

WOW!

People of Christian faith, I am telling you now, as I have said before and will always say.... there is absolutely nothing wrong with Harry Potter! No one can imagine how furious I was when there was that period with all the burnings of the books and marches etc. If there are two things every man should live by they are:

1. Don't ever burn a book! EVER. 

2. Don't make your faith look stupid and ignorant.

I have made these points in my own church when I was much younger. When I was reading the HP Series, I would purposely take it to church and hold it together with my Bible. It was an invitation for debate and did I love it! To put it nicely... I definitely shut them up. I still don't think they agree with me but they can't really argue against me since I've already disproved most of their theories about the books. 

Put simply, HP is a great book and movie series. It's amazing young adult literature full of original ideas and a well developed plot line and can do nothing but benefit young hungry minds. 

Next up.... 

Rock music. Where did this argument that you cannot praise God with Rock music come from? Music is a medium through which anything can be expressed. A guy in my school was under the impression that you cannot praise God with rock because you cannot play rock with a pure heart. Apparently we must look at the roots of rock and because it originated with social rebellion and 'impure hearts' we cannot play it. Another is that 'Lucifer was the angel of music so he controls music and rock is Lucifer's music'.

Why? Because some fools make back masked tracks? Some heavy metal rock bands are satanists? All of that means NOTHING. 

I guess the real reason I'm so upset is that these 'true Christians' who shun rock and HP Books, like to pretend like they have been blessed with this knowledge. As my message to them and partly as my own acceptance of the fact... Nobody KNOWS. I do not KNOW. They cannot KNOW. So stop acting like you KNOW. 

How To Train Your Dragon

How To Train Your Dragon must be my new most favourite animated film.

A hapless young viking, Hiccup, aspires to kill dragons and to become accepted into the society. But after finding the Night Fury he brought down and releasing him, he learns that there are much more to these creatures than they once thought.

The storyline itself is really good but I guess it's hard to go wrong when you're following a book right? The whole message was very Avatar-like in a good way. What separated this movie from other animated films for me was just the quality of the animation itself. Each person moved the way he was supposed to and reacted in the right way. It was just really well thought out. Toothless' almost feline appearance really separated him from the rest of the dragons with his sleekness and strength. It was amazing how his whole appearance changed depending on whether his pupils were slits or dilated. 

Although not as cute or cuddly as the creatures in other animated films, these dragons managed to become as, if not more, loveable. 

Jay Baruchel did an amazing job with Hiccups voice as did Gerard Butler with Stoick's. 

I definitely recommend this movie to anyone. It's not only a kids movie and I've seen it 2ce, neither time in 3-D, so if you do get that opportunity, it'll probably be even better!

God Is Watching You

Due to the insufferable heat we've been experiencing recently, we decided to go to the beach with our grandparents and uncle. Now I was looking forward to the drive because my uncle is one of those fun ones who constantly asks me,"But does she look good or not?" :P
Well the drive started alright. But Granddad needed to fill up the tank so we stopped off at the gas station. As we looked out of the windows, we spot this bumper sticker up on a slightly open door saying,"God Is Watching You." It's only when we look at what's behind the door and spot the toilette that we burst out laughing. Now my uncle pulls out his camera but can't get a good shot at the door and the toilette together. And did I mention he has multiple sclerosis which affects his legs? So he asks me to hop out and try to get the picture and I gladly oblige. Note that all this is while Granddad is filling gas.

Well I go fairly close to the slightly open door and snap once or twice. That's when the petrochemical distributor  (you know... the pump lady?) calls across to me from on of the gas pumps.
"Yuh seein' sometin' in dere awa?!"
The expression on her face was scary as hell! It then occurred to me that a teenaged boy walking up to an ajar bathroom door and taking pictures doesn't really give a very innocent impression. And kids in this country can be total perverts! I flushed the brightest red I could with my brown complexion and explained.
"N-no it's just the... uh...the sign!"
"Aw-haw... the sign... okay." - And with that she turned away, probably reasoning that a boy with such a handsome, innocent face could never be up to no good... :D
Nevertheless it was still fairly embarrassing and facing the laughter of my sister and uncle in the jeep wasn't exactly the highlight of the day.
Just thought I'd share the experience with you guys because I must admit it was pretty funny...
I'll try to get the real photo and put it up for you guys.

Picky Eaters...Well kids...

With the three days off between exams, I find myself slumping down in front of the television and giving my mind almost no stimulation as I stare at the mindlessness on American cable TV. One of the components of this mindlessness is Wifeswap - a show on Lifetime about women who trade places for 2 weeks and try to bring something to the other family.  They usually pick wives of 2 extremes. A Christian and a Pagan or a playful, easy-going parent with a strict one... 

One thing that seriously annoys me though is the lack of discipline in some of these houses... especially when it comes to eating. I mean, do people just like proving the American stereotype that the rest of the world has? (And it's not a good one for any of you under that misconception.) 

I was fuming with rage when I heard a little boy say,"I hate mashed potatoes," or watched a mother say that she has to go to 3 different take out places each night to get what each child wants. What is wrong with these people? You're not allowed to say that you don't eat this or you don't eat that until you leave your parents' house! 'Till then whatever they give you you eat! A kid under ten years old can't give a justified reason for not liking mashed potatoes. Potatoes are a staple - there are loads of different varieties and almost everyone in the world eats them. Don't tell me you don't like mashed potatoes.

But parents are to blamed for spoiling their kids. Catering to their every whim can do nothing but harm. And when they're older and people have to worry about their spoilt, picky behaviour... all they become are nuisances.

And the major excuse for these parents not wanting to discipline their children is always,"Well I don't want my kids to hate me!" Are they idiots! I'd do a better job raising kids than these nut-jobs. My parents make me eat whatever they cook whether I want to or not and I've received my fair share or lashes and slaps (in public too but we don't call social services for trivialities like that here) and you know what? I love my parents with all my heart because I know that everything they do is to make me a better person. And as far as I can see, it works a lot better than what I see on Wifeswap :P 

Trini Vagrants

Now Trini Vagrant aren't the kinds you feel sorry for because they have no home. No. They're the kind you laugh at 'cuz they look funny and are usually lunatics! Wanna see?






I love our vagrants... may they never find homes and keep entertaining the general public and tourists!
Okay that might be a bit mean :P

Fw:

I'm back from my little hiatus from blogging. It wasn't my fault, honestly. My Grandfather needed to borrow our modem again and it's taking a little longer than expected to get it back. So sowy!!

Forwards... Now it's true that some forwards are  interesting or funny. But those are the minority. Sometimes I wonder if people forget where the delete button is and accidentally hit forward anytime they think something is boring. 
And the naivety of people can be so annoying!
First of all, for all of you who haven't figured this out yet...


MSN IS NOT RUNNING OUT OF USERNAMES or CLOSING DOWN!!!! It just doesn't work that way. And even if it were true... you'd think that MSN would just place a notice in your inbox like they did when you signed up or when they changed to Windows Live. They won't send around a forward message!!


And I am in that 93% of people who won't pass on that prayer, or that psalm, or that picture of Jesus and I'd really appreciate if you people wouldn't flood my inbox with that stuff. Yes I'm a Christian, but...
-If that email doesn't make my day like it says it will, I'm not forwarding it to people because it probably wont make theirs either.  
-I think you're being rather demanding and annoying by trying to guilt me into sending an email.
So yeah... I treat those emails like spam, 'cus that's basically all they are.


I also don't like emails that:
1. Warn me about a virus - I have a Mac remember!!
2. Make me think of that special person's name so they will be mine (under the condition that you send to 20 people within the next 2 days :P)
3. Are sent by people who are dumb enough to think that pressing F6 after will reveal the answer.


I'm not sorry for offending anyone because at least I'm saving a lot of people like myself some annoyance if you stop sending forwards. 

The Jotter

The time has come for me to join the ranks of those who own refillable pens! For my birthday last week my sister gave me a black Parker Jotter pen, a classy looking little instrument. And what might seem like a simple gift really means a lot to me. I've always admired the way some people just have one pen that they rely on, the metallic glint in a man's shirt pocket or the casual, 'It's okay, I've got one' of a woman fishing through her purse. Up until now, to me, pens were just things that fall apart and get lost. But now that I have my own little refillable(and one as classic and sturdy as the Parker Jotter), I have a newfound respect for these little pieces of metal and plastic. The ability to write will always be cherished by some, no matter how far into the age of technology we go, and to those, a good writing tool is priceless. So thanks sis!

I Am Yours Final - Trinidad!!

Two days later and I'm now writing about the concert... Remember that big rant post about tickets being sold out last year... turns out that was for VVIP (Very Very Ignorant People) tickets. So on Thursday, my birthday by the way, we got three general admission tickets to see the final concert of Beyonce's I Am Yours Tour right here in the Queen's Park Savannah!! This was actually my first concert ever. 

Beyonce was amazing of course... she really knows how to put on a show.

At least that's what I could tell from the screen I was looking at. You see there were a few issues with this concert:

1. Ticket Prices - for around $80 USD, you'd expect more, even for general admission. And if you wanted to see her properly then get ready to pay around $170 USD for VIP or $270 for VVIP. Now tell me guys... where else in the world is there such a thing as VIP or VVIP tickets for a concert?...those IDIOTS

2. Viewing - Do you know how I saw Beyonce? On a screen... Why? Because we were too far away to see anything... and there was a barrier preventing us from getting any closer. Not only was that an issue but the two micro screens with which we were provided to view the concert remained on the ground for half of the show, despite the unanimous protests from the patrons shouting, "Raise d' screen!!!" Also, the general admissions area was lower than those in front of us so we could see little more than the elevated drum kits. And the massive scaffolding structure setup for the spotlights in the middle of the VIP section before us didn't really help much either.

3. Service - This doesn't really apply to us folk who were in general admissions because apparently $80US means nothing these days. But even the people who were in VIP and VVIP were complaining (serves them right for paying that much). All that extra money was for food and comfort. Apparently  food and comfort means corn soup, doubles, beef sandwiches and gyros all of which finished before everyone had eaten and standing up in heels on uneven dusty ground.

I think the only thing preventing patrons for demanding a refund was Beyonce's great performance. Well into the concert, people forgot the obvious problems and contented themselves with listening and dancing.

Oh and Beyonce did the palance and sang Check On It to a soca beat!!



That's one of the screens!!

Carnival

It's Carnival season! You know what that means! Wild parties, lots of drinking, half naked women (or the occasional half naked man :P) dancing through the streets and sex.

Fun huh?

Carnival's not really my thing... at all. It's a bit too crazy and it's nothing like it originally was (before my time). Apparently there used to be this funny little thing involved in Carnival, a long time ago. It's called...hmm... ah yes... CULTURE. Buy hey, who am I to complain right? I mean Carnival it what puts Trinidad and Tobago n the map! Plane-loads of insane foreigners eager for the wildness. What happens in Trinidad, stays in Trinidad after all.

Components of Carnival:

- Parade costumes (no not the fun cute marching band parades) - As prices go up materials go down, to the point where you're paying thousands of dollars to dance in the streets wearing nothing but a sparkly version of a bra and panties or a pair of shorts for the guys. These are usually picked up by the vagrants around the capital who seem to have their own parade  going on after Carnival. Don't ask me how those get on the streets - you'd think with that little clothing you'd at least try to keep it on :P

-Music - The traditional Calypso music has in recent times ben replaced by the fast paced, jumbled nonsense called Soca. I mean why would you listen to social commentary in the form of song when you can listen to the nonsensical ramblings of 'singers' who seem to have nothing in their vocabulary except - bumper, whine, flag, wave, jump and 'hand in de' air!'
But we can't forget the Chutney Music. Don't ask me what the  indian community was thinking when they invented this - probably about rum, seeing as it's the main focus of most of the songs. And there is almost always a subtextual meaning to the songs. Here is one that is not about rum but definitely has a subtextual meaning.

So my plan for this Carnival is to hide away in Freeport with some relatives. We'll just hang out and tell jokes etc. We always have a good time...

AS Maths

Okay guys so I've been wondering... how many kids learn Advanced Subsidiary Maths at 14? In Trinidad a lot of us do it as an Add Maths course - actually no... most of the people starting it are 15. But a few of us skipped... and landed in mathematic hell.
Okay so it's not that bad but ask a 14 year old from somewhere else to find the area under a curve and then the volume when rotated 360 degrees or to find the stationary points of a curve using differentiation. And we haven't even done Iteration or ln yet, but we've done logs... I don't know, but it doesn't seem to me that this is the normal sort of work a 14 year old is subjected to.
Take a look at this paper if you want to see (and this one is pretty easy)... GCE Core Mathematics C2 AS
Maybe it's just because I was at AS Maths lessons today but the thought just crossed my mind.
So tell me can most people my age do this??

The Best Live Voice

Now it's okay if you don't like her style of music, but you must respect Beyonce and that amazing powerhouse of a voice. No one can deny that she is a brilliant singer with stunning vocal skills and best of all... it's not only when she's in the studio.

She is also one of the few artists who I've heard perform almost perfectly each time on stage. I'm not saying her concerts are the best as a lot more makes a concert than the singing itself (these days at least) but who needs all the frills when you can reproduce each note flawlessly. Note also that she does this all while on her knees, swinging her head around dirty dancing on the floor. A lot of live performances where a lot of dancing was involved, I notice that the singing is never that great. But I've seen Beyonce drag herself all over the stage and then still manage to impress with vocals. 

It' true that she can be a bit scream-ish sometimes but still... her voice is made up of pure awesomeness!!  

Tell me I'm lying...

URL Change?? Need Your Help

If there are any real frequent visitors to this blog (I hope there are a few at least :P) I'd like your opinion again. By again, I'm referring to the time I consulted you guys about the change in template.

This time I'm contemplating changing the URL of my blog. I'd given it it's current URL when I'd been new to the whole blogging thing and had no idea what I was going to do with this blog. I guess I'm still in that spot :P as you've probably noticed by the lack of a consistent theme to any of my posts. But I at least now have a name that I think I'm keeping and the URL might be more appropriate as www.cafe-denim.blogspot.com or maybe without the hyphen... I don't know. Just give me some feedback. Tell me which of these you like...

www.cafedenimblogspot.com

www.cafe-denim.blogspot.com

or it could be something with my name (LeVi - for those of you who don't know) or jeans (lol) as it's always brought up about my name.

I'm just a bit concerned about changing it and I like having a Trinidadian reference in the URL.

Lemme' Know!!

You Don't Need Another 6 Inches

So Mom's been saying this for eons but of course I hadn't listened until Dad backed her up. But now I know - that I don't need a Foot-Long Sub at Subway!! For maybe 2 years now I've been eating foot-longs at Subway. The bigger you get the more you need to eat right? (And I'm tall for a 14 year old.) Wrong!

Dad went into the whole explanation and comparing the way Americans serve food and the way that the French do. Honestly guys, look at a serving size at Burger King or Wendy's and then go to a French Cafe and order a meal. You'd probably think you're being cheated for your money but trust me, the seemingly tiny amount of food that you get is quite enough and they're doing you a favour.

I've heard a story from some relative's who were in the US for a while. They said that they saw some girls (from Europe I believe or somewhere in Eurasia) who were taking a picture with a large coke. They'd never seen any drink that big! And I've seen some of you guys down one of those by yourselves. Here, our family of four will buy a large drink, share about half of it and throw the rest away.

So Dad encouraged me to try a 6" Sub and see how I felt and honestly, I was content after that. I din't miss the other 6" of bread and meat and everything else that's going to be stored as fat anyway...

So to everyone out there... have a regular sized meal, no you won't "like fries with that" and just have a bottle of water and forget the large or even medium Pepsi!

My Kids :P

Okay I'm officially going to need 6 kids... or maybe just 3 and then each of them can learn two...
Two whats? Instruments of course!!
Kid 1: Cello and Violin
Kid 2: Piano and Guitar (Classically trained but able to play contemporarily as well)
Kid 3: Bass Giutar and Drums (the ultimate contemporary child!!)

But if that's not possible they at least have to learn the cello and violin. Those two are just the most amazing sounding things on earth. Especially when paired to play something like Handel-Halvorsen Passacaglia!!!

I'm stuck with piano really and a bit of drums... I've always wanted to learn the violin though but now I think I'd chose the cello over that. It just has that haunting,mysterious, Victorian sound about it that makes you melt...
Anyways here's a little video showcasing the awesomeness of the two instruments.

Does God Hate Haiti?

Recently in school my friend joked,"Why does God hate Haiti?" A fairly good question though, given the circumstances. Honestly, I was looking at the Hope For Haiti concert last night on TV (was quite good actually, made me feel all that world unity stuff) and one Reverend of some church in the US called and was speaking to Steven Spielberg. She said that it was an uneasy time in church and it was difficult to explain to the kids, why God would cause such a disaster. I wondered how exactly they explained that one...

But previously, after my friend had asked the question, I'd gone to Dad, as I usually do with any religious question. Note that we are Christians but have a very open view of who God is.
Dad's theory (and I quite like it) is that God created the earth... and earthquakes happen on earth... He basically said that the view that God is some guy sitting in the sky wondering,"What should I do tomorrow?" is quite the misconception of his nature. Sure, the earthquake happened, but that doesn't mean that God made it happen. I sorta got the gist of what he was trying to say and that's my interpretation.
But I can't deny that the atheists are gonna have a feast with this one :P
(No offence to any of my readers if they're atheists... but cummon' guys, it's a stupid decision - I'm not saying to be a Christian - but just find a religion people!)

Forbidden Fruit

After listening to my grandfather and parents speak a few minutes ago, I began to wonder why all the 'best' fruits seem to disappear. They were talking about how long it's been since they've seen this type of fig (not the sweet, seed filled type but something resembling a purple banana) and granddad said that it is supposed to be one of the most delicious types of fig and is found virtually nowhere anymore... Now why the hell is that?! How does it make any sense that the best fruits are always the rarest. And this isn't the first time I've heard it - there's hog-plums and special cherries and weird named fruits with soft, hairy exocarps. 

If a fruit is delicious, wouldn't you try to plant it  everywhere or keep a tree in you yard or something? 

That's when I began thinking... what if these fruits only became known as the best after they'd become rare, if everything was purely psychological. After not tasting them for tens of years, the brain, in memory, seems to just pick out the good qualities of said fruits and it exaggerates them. It's the concept of the forbidden fruit, literally. 

This was all just something I was thinking about. I don't know what its like in other places but here in T&T people seem to always want what they can't have, even if it's not a good as they think...

Mr. Mahraj

Imagine the man above without the turban, revealing a shiny bald head. And there is the picture of Mr. Mahraj. Who is he?

A friend of my father. He claims to be 90 years old (Dad is completely convinced, but Mom has her doubts) but who can tell without a birth certificate, right? The reason we're a bit dubious is because this man moves about like he's 45... and sometimes younger. The man goes trekking through the forest all the time (I've been with him) and we've seen him sprint up stairs that even my mother would take her time on. It's really quite a sight.
Now that's quite alright with me. But Dad calls this man his 'guru' and it's supposed to be a joke but sometimes we're not all that sure. Mr. Mahraj is always going on about meditation and the subconscious mind and the kind of suff you'd know about if you've seen The Secret, except it's more like The Secret Extreme.

But Dad's inviting Mr. Mahraj to teach us Hindi. Now don't get me wrong, it's good to learn about your heritage and all that but honestly, I couldn't care less about learning Hindi at this point in my life. It's a useful language in the business community, which I don't intend to become part of, and as a Trinidadian/ Citizen of The UK I don't see how Hindi becomes useful to me in the near future.

Another peeve of mine with this whole thing is that Dad seems so intrigued by Mr. Mahraj's youthfulness (obviously not from his looks as shown above but you know...) and it's a bit annoying, frankly, when Dad goes on about these different ways to stay fit and healthy. My point is, when you get old, you get old. Simple as that. Do enough in your young life so that you feel content when you're older. Of course that doesn't mean you have to completely neglect yourself but I'd rather get old than do extreme yoga and nasal drinking (yes... I said nasal drinking) every morning and kneeling down after meals because it's 'the right way to digest food'.

I guess that the whole point of this post was to say - "Get over it Dad!!"
;)

Je Te Louerai

"Hakuna wakaita sa Jesu!"... World Fellowship Sunday is approaching in the Mennonite church, to which I belong. Now let's get one thing straight, we are not Old Order Mennonites. We are not unusually conservative or technophobic. We're basically another bunch of protestants :)
Anyways we're having a joint service on that Sunday. That's when all the Mennonite congregations in Trinidad and Tobago (which are only a few) gather at one of the churches and this year it's at our Diego Martin church, the first one to be built here actually. Guess who's on the worship team for that service!
You see, the whole World Fellowship Sunday is all about mixing all the cultures in the Mennonite Church around the world so we try to sing different songs from all over the place! This year we've got 'Hakuna Wakaita' and 'Je Louerai l'Eternel' (though we'll sing that one in English... boring...) and Dad even found us a Hindi Christian song! So that one's in there. I'll most probably be playing the piano, keyboard, drums or singing, despite my pathetic lack of vocal skills - but hey... I can carry a melody so I guess that's good enough.  I'm looking forward to that. It's the first time the Trinidadian church has participated in this event so hopefully we'll do it justice.

In the search for 'Je Louerai l'Eternel' on Youtube I came across this other great French Christian song and I really like it. Just thought I'd share it with you guys!

Yours Aren't This Bad... Trust Me

Hey guys. I'm fuming right now. Raging really. Why?
My sister.

Honestly, I think ours is the worst kind of sibling rivalry. It's just her obstinate, dominant nature and her unwillingness to listen to me. The situation tonight -

I'm in the living room trying to use the internet on my laptop because Granddad had to borrow our modem from upstairs. She's playing guitar because the living room doubles as a music room. Simple facts -
1. She can take the guitar from the room
2. I can't take the laptop from the internet
So if the guitar was bothering me, do you think that it's wrong of me to point out those differences and ask her to leave? And don't even suggest for a second that it was way I asked her because I consciously kept my tone casual in the futile attempt to avoid an argument. Of course she mutters some bloody reply about me "not having some work to do?" or something of the sort. I tripped off. I happen to be doing a lot of that lately. So it soon turned into a full blown argument and Mom was no help in the resolution as for some reason she lacks the ability to punish - Is it that hard to take away half of her allowance or guitar or something? Anyway, Mom does her usual part of rebuking her harshly and when my sister refuses to come upstairs as asked, Mom gives up.

Things cleared up afterward too many details really but I'm still pretty pissed.
She's always doing things like that:
Putting down a piece of garbage and running away so that I [with my spotless conscience ;) ] am forced to pick it up.
Purposely doing something to annoy me even when it requires some serious effort on her part.
She won't even give me a hug on special occasions or a kiss on the cheek no matter how much I try to be the sweet older brother.

I don't know what to do anymore, really...

Why'd They Give Her Bieber?

Thursday was my sister's birthday so we had a bunch of her friends over yesterday just to hang out and whatever. I've got to say though, my sis has got a great bunch of friends and you know what? Good for her!
I mean, on Thursday, one of her friends took a cake that their mom had made for her and the class threw a little surprise party for her. And two girls whose birthdays were both on Wednesday, had no such luck... though they still got some cake from my sisters 'party'. When I met them here on Saturday, they seemed pretty cool, for 12-13 year old's, that is. So I guess I'm glad that she's got a solid group of friends and apparently she's sorta' popular... in the funny, cool girl way. The only problem I have with her friends is....
that one of them gave her the Justin Bieber CD.

Okay, I don't like him but I'm not a hater, I just think that a 15 year old guy shouldn't have a recording contract at that age. I mean, his voice is not gonna' stay that way forever and you can't guarantee that it'll change for the better... Look at Britney Spears. Plus, he's only popular because there are a bunch of shallow girls out there who think he's  "sooo cute!". His music really isn't that great.

This was just a quick double post :)

School Again...

Time once again, to return to that dreadful place of knowledge and learning, where only the company of other suffering souls can subdue the pain.
Nah... I'm just kidding :D
School's not that bad I guess. There are friends and the few odd fun teachers to look forward to having and the end of work-fasting can be nice at times... Okay only something that I would say. I know...
As usual we're probably not going to get our report books back until next week or the week after, but a few teachers gave us our grades anyway...

- Physics - 81% - Top in the form!!(According to Mr. Castillo - I hope he's not going to make me look like an idiot when someone tells me that they got 82% or something.) And yes I'm boasting okay... I think I deserve it. Plus I'm way to reserved in school to make a fuss there so here's the place to do it!!
- Biology - 86% - (I think. My memory's not so good... :P) Top in the class
- French - 79% - Top in the class too :)
- English Lit. - 86% - Top in the class :D
Don't know the rest yet...

Okay, this is not a self-centered type of post... Well it is really but aren't they all? Plus I'm sure I'm not making anyone feel bad - you guys don't even go to my school... for all you know its a low standard run down piece of rubbish. But it's not... so now you know better.
This is just to let you guys know that this blog is not written by a complete idiot who spends his nights wasting time writing on a blog. I get my work done :)

I'm probably going to look  back later and realise what a horrible, pompous jerk I seem like and I'll wish I'd never posted this. But I'm sort of floating from those marks right now so I'll wait until I come down before feeling the shame...

Yay! Beyonc... Huh?!

Beyonce's performing on my B'day (hehe - who got that joke?) in February and I am was so excited!!!

Why is that 'am' scratched out? Well on the first day of sales, all the bloody tickets were sold out! I know... What the HELL??!!

Another thing that's been bugging me is that with all this talk of the times being hard and cutting back, people still have no problem spending $1600 TTD (about $260 USD) on a 'VVIP' ticket... Now who's ever heard of VVIP?? It's not even a backstage pass, just some piece of paper that says I'm more important that you and you get to be separated from the rest of the crowd, who are dancing and mixing, because you're a freaking snob. A**holes... - pardon my French, even if it is censored.

I can wrap my mind around the $450 TTD (about $75 USD... I should let you guys do the math - I hope you can divide by 6) general admission tickets being sold out, but are people such squanderers that they're willing to pay $1600 to feel more special than everybody else? And trust me when I say that no one in Trinidad and Tobago is a Very Very Important Person... there aren't even any Very Important Persons!!

I don't know. Maybe I'm just upset because I didn't get a ticket. But I have a right to be don't I? It's my birthday... :(

Granddad! Journal?

My Grandfather is snoozing away in my sisters room.
Today, he arrived from England and as usual, my sister gladly gave up her room for him. Granddad is always coming down to little old T&T. It's all these places he's got rented out with uncooperative tenants and such things which fail to capture my interest. But it is nice having him around the house. His presence is just comforting when Mom's out or Dad's working late, even when he's tucked away in my sister's tiny four-walled thing that we allow to be called a bedroom.
With Granddad come gifts from Grandma of course. A bottle of La Nuit De L'Homme by Yves Saint Laurent (smells good!) and this awesome little journal with which I have taken a photo. (Webcams  make blogging so much easier :D)

Thanks Grandma!! (And I apologize for my goofy smile and curly hair which might completely freak her out because curliness was generally nonexistent the last time she saw me)
I love the Journal (yes... I will refer to it capitalized) and its awesome Black Moroccan design. I can't wait to start writing in it but I'm refraining because this one will be different to all the others that have come before.... All the others... were ruined on the first page :(.  Usually it was because I didn't like how my handwriting had looked or the pen or what I'd written. And this one is the most beautiful one I've had yet. So yes, this one will be The One.
But first I must learn how to journal. Because really, I've not the slightest clue! Maybe I'll write in it like a diary or maybe write poems and stories. Maybe I'll do both. Who knows!? This could be the beginning of a book your kid's will read someday... okay maybe a little over the top there...
Anyways, I'd really like to thank Grandma for being such a door opener for me, just with this simple gift.
Awww... isn't that sweet... :D

Okay Guys I Need Your Help

This is just a quickie post guys and I need your help! Tell me if you think this new template is better or the old one (you know...the dice floating around in greenness?) - also is there a follow button anymore? Comment!!

New Year Resolutions?

Let's see... what do I resolve to do differently in the new year? Absolutely Nothing!!
I don't know why people seem to think that they have to set goals for the new year?? Does a arbitrary concept of measuring time really mean that much to us? I'll just decide to things on my own time...
But still I may as well list some things that I've resolved to do before and aren't quite completed yet:
1. Read a lot more. But that's on its way. These days I can't seem to put down the books and I have a pile on my desk that I need to work through - mainly form Christmas. I just have to work on maintaining that pile. If for one second, the pile ceases to exist, then I will probably have a relapse of my lazy, non-reading ways.
2. Learn mouth to mouth resuscitation. I need to learn this for my practical CSEC PE examination in swimming. Scary huh? I think so...
3. Dramatically improve my piano playing.
4. Learn to play the guitar.

Erm.... that's all for now folks... what about you guys?

The Host

The Host is finished, at 2 o'clock on New Years morning. I loved it. For once finishing a book wasn't that bad because I know that Stephanie Meyer intends to release two sequels to The Host, although the wait may kill me.

For those who think Stephanie Meyer books like the Twilight Saga are for girls (and I have no idea where that rubbish originated from) I'll have you know that it was a group of guys that first attacked me with them, insisting that I read them. Besides, can any well written, best-selling book be truly classified for one sex? That's just ridiculous.
So The Host did have a bit of a mushy love story involved though it didn't overwhelm the book the way it did in Twilight. It tells the story of a soul, a wormlike alien parasite whose race has taken over the world, who finds herself in a resistant adult host. The host's name is Melanie Stryder and she will not be erased. Melanie fills Wanderer's head with images of her love Jared and little brother Jamie (Wanderer is the soul by the way). Due to her human emotions, Wanderer falls in love with Jared and Jamie from these memories. She sets out to find them in the desert where supposedly there is a human resistance in hiding and Melanie and Wanderer befriend each other. On the brink of death, thirsty and starving, they are found by the humans and taken to their underground fortress in a cave system. At first they are kept as prisoners but soon they are integrated into the society and make a few close friends. The story is centered around Wanda's experiences living in the human society and her 'betrayal' of the souls' way of life as well as colonization mission.
It was amazing - Read It!! Can't wait for the other two.
So I'm starting The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman today. And to add to the previous list of books that I have to read, my Dad's friend gave me Blink by Malcom Gladwell. I've read Gladwell's Outliers and was intrigued by the ideas there so I'm excited to read this one.