Tower Of Babel

Well, being a rather wet and rainy Sunday afternoon here in Jamdown, I don’t have much to report. I guess I could mention that last night I took a friend of mine from Mo Bay to dinner at the Thai restaurant. She enjoyed the food as much as I did but they managed to piss me off as they forgot to place the order for the appetizers that I had made. So, I was quite taken aback when the waitress arrived with the main course which was Sweet and Sour Fish, Chicken with Green Curry and a vegetable fried rice. I got over the lack of the appetizers eventually. Maybe it was the gods trying to tell me that I nyam (eat) too much. Anyway, that is really not why I’m here doing an entry today.

I read an article in today’s Gleaner which says that our Minister of Health has said no to the development of a Red light district here in Jamaica. Now in recent times, there have been calls from health care and social workers for some sort of system to be put into place to oversee the running of such establishments.

Presently, prostitution is illegal in Jamaica (so is the use of ganja, which is available just about everywhere.) Despite brothels being illegal, there are a number of nightclubs in Kingston (go go clubs) that men frequent for topless and nude dancing, massage parlours have proliferated in the last five years and if you wish it is possible to solicit sexual favours at some of these establishments for a price. So the world’s oldest profession is very much in our midst here.

Up comes the issue of STDs. Now, there is no point in ignoring that these Commercial Sex Workers (CSWs) exist. In fact, they come to our attention in medicine seeking treatment. It is our duty to educate them about practising safe sex and the use of condoms. The fact of the matter is that they are doing this, so pretending that they don’t exist because some view it as immoral is really not helping to solve ths issue. They will continue.

There is the argument that the designation of a Red Light District could possibly lead to an increase in STDs, and would conflict with the laws of the country. It does not spell sense to be allowing a Red Light district if commercial sex is illegal, does it?

Personally, I think I sit on the fence at the moment regarding my views about this, but feel that if coerced just a little I would if I was asked to, vote in favour of it. You may think that I don’t have any morals. Not true, I am just trying to be practical here.

Strangely enough, I stumbled across this article about a change of attitude amongst the Dutch in Amsterdam who are famous for being liberal where commercial sex and ganja use are concerned.

What are your opinions on this? I would like to hear your views as I am sure this could spark off quite a lot of healthy discussion. Should we give a green light to the red light district? I will check back for replies later, though I know this is a holiday weekend in the US, and hits may well be lower than usual. Try not to Labour too much on Labour Day tomorrow friends. Later.

ALLISON’S response to Mr. Man’s blog of Aug 29 has inspired my offering today. ALLISON said that the trend in the US is to treat dogs (in particular) as children. This is also done here in the GREAT FAR NORTH - Canada.

As I mentioned before, I work in a doctor’s office. Yesterday a patient came in to pick up something and brought along his Golden Retriever. The dog was beautiful but rather large. One of the doctors did not appreciate the dog in the office and told the patient that it was not allowed as there may be patients with allergies to pets in the office. The patient was okay with it and took his dog out to the car.
Read more »

Well, as costly as it is to live in this little country of ours, it is still quite easy to enjoy yourself after a hard week at work. The recipe…. bredrens, a little of your favourite liquor (and you all know what mine is if you have been reading here for a while now), and a few jokes. Last night, I decided to give Mad Bull a check down by the pen. Pretty casual affair, but let’s say as bredrens we both were in a mood to ‘frig round’ with each other. So, in other words, the teasing that took place was witty and good fun. There was much name calling. Usual crap that men carry on with when in the company of bredrens.

Eventually, Mad Bull served the first round of VX and Pepsi. It was pretty damn large and tasted irie. He is getting better at bartending….in the event that IT no longer needs him, he has a sideline that he can fall back on immediately!

Anyway, he was typing away at the keyboard for a while, and as he was trying to concentrate, the joking around between us slowed down and I decided on checking out some standup comedians on Comedy Central to pass the time. This black dude came on (don’t ask me to recall his name, blame the VX for that!) He said that when he became a teen, his Father told him the following about women…..

“Son, no matter what they tell you, when you take a woman out on a date, they all have a list in their heads as to where they are willing to go with you sexually. On the first date, they will do one thing….and maybe another….if they really like you. These things are checked off like supermarket lists in their heads. Six months down the road, they will do two or three things with you, and maybe something else. When you’ve been dating for a year, they will do five or six things in bed with you, but definitely not these other two! When you get married now, the whole situation changes because the attitude is, I ‘aint doing any of that shit that we used to do before when we were dating!

So son, the moral of the story is, if you want to get good sex, stay single!

Now you all know why I’m still a bachelor. Not really true still, but I got a good laugh out of that one combined with the VX.

P.S. This was by no means meant to attack women or marriage, just some humour that I thought I’d share, as a little laughter helps to keep us young.

I’ve come to realize that I am a country girl at heart. Having grown up in Kingston, Jamaica I had always believed that I was more of a city person.
Now however, I live in a tiny town - more of a village really - an hour north of Toronto.

In our little town life is fairly simplistitic. Three cars in a row constitutes a traffic jam. Heaven forbid there are more than six cars. Then, us Small Towners can get truly annoyed, and curse at the prevading winds of progress!!!

In our little town, you can have a 20 minute conversation, while double parked on the main street and no one will blow the horn. There will be no shouts about the parts of one’s “Mumma!” either. Drivers wanting to pass merely drive around, and if it’s some one you know, you may triple park for a moment to rib them about double parking on the main street. Our town consists of:
Read more »

Well, TGIF again. And, one of the ways that many people (myself included) like to wind down after a week at the grind is by sharing some of their favourite liquid poison with a bredren or two. I found another little article to link to. Read it. The first thing that came to mind was that the soldier has been hangin’ out with Mike Tyson too much!

Have a good weekend, and if you have a few tonight, don’t bite any ears off! Seen? Cheers!

I saw somewhere that cats are the most popular pet in America! Can you believe it? I can’t. Dogs are so freakin’ great! I bet that the major reason behind that statistic is that people have less space to work with and are choosing pets based on their size now…

Anyway, if you’re like me and consider the dog to be a far superior animal than the cat, check this link out. It’ll leave you with warm, fuzzy feelings and a desire to bring home a puppy!

At least, thats what it did to me… I think this guy can write very well… For more of the same kind of doggy thing, go here. (Link via Da Goddess)

Well, the Oddly Enough section of Yahoo has provided me with a little post again. In reading I saw this story about doctors amputating a Texas man’s penis as part of his surgical treatment for a malignancy of his bladder. If the facts are true as presented in the story, I believe he may have grounds to win the case.

Now, there are certain operations where a surgeon may not be able to tell a patient definitively before surgery that he/she may need to remove one organ/tissue or another. In the case of surgery for cancer this applies. It is sometimes not possible to visualise all the areas that a tumour may have spread to until the body is opened up on the table. In order to try for adeqaute surgical clearance of a cancer, it may be necessary to remove a larger amount of tissue than initially envisaged.

What I think ought to have happened here (if it did not) is that the man should have been advised by the surgical team that a penectomy might have been necessary as part of the operation. This should have been specifically included in writing on the consent form for the operation, and indicated to the patient that he is giving permission for his penis to be removed if it is deemed necessary. If he chooses not to give consent, then that is a different affair. If this was indeed done, then I doubt he will have much legal recourse. From the story this does not appear to be the case.

I wonder if Texas T Bone has heard of this case of cutting off a man’s meat?? A rather errr…..’short’ and unfortunate case I may add.

Well, it seems as if this five question interview is spreading all over the blogosphere like a wild fire. In all honesty though, the answers that I have read at most sites are good and actually make you learn something about the site authors themselves. However, I can envision this losing its initial momentum after a while. But, while the going is still good, Jamie a Texas blogger, asked me five questions and I in turn will create five for her.

Here are my responses. I am not bothering to post rules again, I think y’all should know them by now.

1. What action can a woman do that would captivate your attention?

For starters…make eye contact. The eyes and human face can convey a lot of information. I would also add, dressing provocatively. I like a woman who can put herself together well. Likes…high heeled shoes, a nice manicure, nails don’t have to be polished….just clean (no false talons please!) Get me involved in good conversation.

If you really want to get forward…rest your hand on my thigh or dare I say groin! I am sure that would get my ‘attention’ in more ways than one.

2. If you were in Toby’s place as you requested, where would you allow it to go?

In order to answer this question, I have to educate those of you who may not read Jamie’s blog. There is a singer in the US called Toby Keith. Prior to reading Jamie’s blog, I had never heard of him. Well, let’s say she is crazy about him, and, from what I have seen her write about him, if I were married to Jamie, I’m not sure that I would want her to go to his concerts or get near to him. (Just a joke). Now, she recently made a post describing what he (Toby) does for her emotionally after having seen him live in concert. Essentially she has the hots for him. In my comment to that post, I jokingly said that I wished that I was Toby Keith. (Yes, we do a lot of playing around on her site. It is all harmless really.)

Now Jamie, to be quite honest with you, if I got to share your company in the sort of atmosphere to which I aluded, it would not get out of hand. I respect the fact that you are a happily married woman. I would perhaps invite you out to dinner at a nice restaurant and (were I Toby Keith) I would serenade you. Perhaps give you a rose or orchid and a peck on the cheek. There would be no sexual overtones (and I am in no way impling that you would wish it so either). After that, I guess the night would end after dinner and a few drinks with me dropping you home to your beloved hubby. Sounds boring?

3. If you could have any position of power, eg: President or CEO of a company etc, which position would that be and why?

I have never thought of myself as a power hungry person. I am a pretty laid back individiual who is quite happy to know that what I do is well done. I don’t particularly like positions of authority as they often necessitate evaluating others, getting people to do their work properly and within deadlines. I don’t like that sort of thing, perhaps because I am the type of individual who does not need to be told to do my work. I’m self motivated and one who tries to live up to the expectations that my family, friends and co workers have of me. So, essentially, I’m not a lover of power, but that does not mean that I would shun an offer of a position in an organization where I was top dog if the pay packet was attractive.

As for politics….not me…I don’t think I have the personality and I would like to think I have too much integrity. For the most part, many of our politicians have little in that department.

4. If you had to move from Jamaica where would you want to live and why?

Quite a reasonable question, one that I’m sure has crossed the mind of many Jamaicans.

First off, I’d say I have visited a number of other Caribbean islands, and though they may seem like nice places to chill out, I can’t say that I would be willing to drop Jamaica to go and live in any of them. Otherwise, I have been to the US many times and lived in the UK for a year. I hate cold weather and am not fond of the Brits I’m sorry to say. That makes England low on the list of options. I have never been to Canada, and it’s damn cold. Many of my family now lives in the United States, and I have many friends there also. Because of its climate and proximity to home, as much as I do not find the flat landscape of Florida exciting, I might well end up there on account of the family ties, friends and nearness to Jamaica. My main problem about migrating to the US is the fact that I do not have US medical qualifications and am not embracing having to practically requalify myself at this stage of my life. So, in truth, the option of doing something other than medicine to make a living is something that I may well consider.

5. What do you consider a romantic evening?

Let’s say the evening starts from earlier in the day when I call her or send her an e-mail to say something like, “I’m having a hard time concentrating on my work just thinking about you and later this evening. I can’t wait!”

I pick her up say at eight, and we head out to a nice restaurant where we have good food and wine. We get one dessert and share it, feeding each other and perhaps play ‘footsie’ under the table. We leave the restaurant and go out to a nice nightclub for some dancing and drinks. Eventually we leave from there and go to my place or hers….what happens after that depends on the both of us really and I guess you can well use your imagination!

I will e-mail yours soon.

Not that I’m big on astrology or anything, but I am a Scorpio and I’m told that my sign is governed by Mars (whatever the hell that means) and maybe that’s why I’m so disappointed tonight.

According to the hype that’s been going around, the ‘red planet’ was expected to pass closer to earth than it has in 60,000 years. It was reported in several articles I’ve read recently that tonight, August 27th, 2003; Mars would appear in the southern skies and would rival the moon in brilliance. This would have been emphasized by the fact that no moon will be visible in the southern skies tonight. Now call me idle, but I actually was looking forward to this phenomenon. So armed with a bottle of Off (mosquito’s still kill cows in Cayman), a bottle of VX and a fat Monte Cristo No. 5, I was off to the races.

Seems mother nature has a sense of humour after all! Not only were the mosquito’s unbearable because of recent rains, the cloud cover was the worst I’ve seen in a while. I couldn’t even see a ‘peenie wallie’ (firefly) in the sky tonight. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to come back in 60,000 years and catch the rerun.

I have been informed by a member of www.ackee.com that DOUDOU
is a word used by Trinidadians - mostly Indians and that it is used as a term of endearment.

I still say NUH BADDA CALL ME NUH DOU DOU NAR NUH DOO DOO EIDAH!!!!