« July 2003 | Main | September 2003 »

August 31, 2003

She is a Hot Shot!

I saw in today's Gleaner that Nadine Willis is now numbered among the top fifty models in the world, according to Models.com! According to that article, it is almost unprecedented for someone to recieve that kind of rating so quickly, as she just exploded on the modeling scene last year! Big up, Nadine!

UPDATED 06/09/2003 :
Quite a few people have been hitting my site searching for info on Nadine, so let me publicly thank her here... Thank you, baby! (* smooch *). I did a search on her myself, and came across an interesting article in the UK Guardian newspaper on Nadine. Check it out here...

Posted by Mad Bull at 05:33 PM | Comments (5)

The Pageant

The Miss Jamaica World Pageant was quite enjoyable. It has been years that I have not attended any of the shows, but judging from what I watched last night, I may start attending again. It was a great show!

I tuned in late, and so missed seeing all twenty contestants in their swimsuits, but they have a decent format for the show this year, so all was not lost. When the top ten contestants were chosen, they had them parade in swimwear again!

What else can I tell you about the show? If you had attended you would be surrounded by beauty, as many many beautiful women were in the audience. I have long felt that many a time, there are more beautiful women watching the show along with me than there are on the stage, and last night, I may well have gotten that feeling again. As the camera flitted here and there, I noticed many, many hotties.

There were at least TWO Miss Worlds there, our very own Lisa Hanna and the reigning Miss World, Azra Akin from Turkey. There were numerous past winners of the competition aside from Lisa Hanna as well, like Allison Barnett, Desiree DePass, Christine Straw, and Sandra Cunningham. Click here to see pictures of these women. The place was awash in beautiful women, I'm telling you, and those are just the ones I saw on TV. There was even an international fashion model in the house, Nadine Willis. Guess who was a TVJ presenter for the show? Rik Rok, who sang the song "It Wasn't Me" with Shaggy! And then guess who they had to sing for us and to serenade the girls? To-Isis, Iyah, you done know how I feel about them, right?

MORE...

Posted by Mad Bull at 12:47 AM | Comments (6)

August 30, 2003

She Can't Sleep A Night...

Kingston is a fairly happening city, IMHO. There is always some party, dance or night club to go to. Young Jamaicans love to party, like most young people everywhere, and people make a lot of money from the business of keeping them entertained. This is a good thing as I firmly believe that people ought to be able to attend dances, parties and night clubs and to unleash their spirits (like the lady pictured above, 'giving them a run'.
At the same time, it can be a bad thing... I also feel that the needs of party goers should not take precedence over those of people who just want to sleep!

MORE...

Posted by Mad Bull at 09:54 PM | Comments (4)

August 29, 2003

Jamie's Turn

Even laziness can give rise to humour! This evening, I was a bit tired, what with returning to the real world of menial, back breaking labour, and so when Dr. D dropped by for a drink, I got out one of those big plastic cups and mixed each of us a "serve-me-long".

When I handed it to him, he raised his eyebrows, immediately rested it on a table nearby and reached into his pocket for a $20 coin. I said "Whats that for?", and he replied "Isn't it $20 more when you supersize it?".

I had asked Jamie to give me the "Five question" routine, and she shot me five humdingers. I attempt to do justice to her questions below.

1. If you won the lottery, how would you handle the winnings and what would be the first thing you'd do with the money?

Well, that really depends on how much I win. If I were to win a decent amount, (say US$2,000,000 or so) I'd purchase a house for Natty and I in an upscale neighbourhood. I'd also purchase a house for Natty's Mom and Dad, and a house for my Mom. Next, I'd set up some kind of business for myself, and I'd invest the money in a fairly conservative portfolio of stocks... The aim here would be to maintain the money I have rather than to take on MUCHO risk in a bid to get all-out, stinking rich... yeah, I'm somewhat risk-averse when it comes to money!

2. If you were elected into office in your country, what would be the first issue you'd address to change and why?

Wow! I gave this issue a lot of thought! This question is probably the reason why I took so long to get around to answering your questions, Jamie, no, I wasn't sitting around jerking off like you thought...
This question is a humdinger! Anyway, after much consideration, I must say that I have STILL not come to a conclusion on this! No money nuh deh deh! (There is NO money!) How would I tackle anything?

Health is a mess! Manufacturing is almost non-existent! Education is in the doldrums! That battyhole (asshole) bin Laden and his cronies have almost put paid to tourism and to the Airlines. Everything is fucked!

Hear what, I think I'm going to leave this question alone! I will leave it to some braver, more intelligent men than I! I DO reserve the right to heckle and cuss their RASSES for any mistakes they make though. Hell, thats the Jamaican way! Check out Mutty! Thats how we roll, baby!

3. Where is the craziest place you've "done it"?

Bwoy, Jamie, let me say that Natty doesn't like it when I field questionss like this. I can hear her now! "What you telling everybody your business for?!
As a result, I won't get too deep into this one. When I was in my teens, the Gov't. of the day was constructing a fire station near to the Stony Hill Square. For whatever reason, work on the building stalled for a number of years, and the lot of land became a bit overgrown, and the building stood uncompleted. It had no doors and the windows were simply gaping holes opening unto the bushy lot, and to the neighbour's houses. Into this building did the Mad Bull take a girl and there they did the nasty! Lets move on...

4. Do you have a recurring fantasy? Describe the fantasy?

This one is also hard, because I have a number of fantasies, and many of them are recurring. I guess the one that recurrs the most involves making it with two women, but then they say that every man dreams of that.

5. How has fatherhood changed you?

Well, I have diverted some of my focus away from things of an I/T nature and toward MBJr. and not ONE FUCK ELSE! ( the last 5 words were Natty's )

Now I'm supposed to say that whoever wants me to ask them five questions can leave me a comment saying so, but shit, everybody has been doing this, its getting old! As a consequence, I will not be taking any requests for questions! And if you have drawn the conclusion that the "serve-me-long" has bowled my wicket, FUCK YOU! (you'd be right No wonder that dude Damien called me crass!)

Posted by Mad Bull at 09:32 PM | Comments (4)

August 28, 2003

How Did He Know?

Sometime ago, I asked whether people believed in the afterlife, and other things supernatural, and I went on to tell a little story that sounded puzzling. Its that time again. Let me ask you this. Do you believe in people who can see things. For instance, they can see the future, or they can see what happened to someone who has gone missing? Or do you view this gift of clairvoyance as being just so much shit?

Yesterday I took MBJr. to visit a cousin of his. I sat for a while with my aunt who was telling me some stories of family members who have long since died.

She was telling me about her mom's brother, who went away to sea serving on a ship. He was not heard from for quite a number of years. A number of years passed, and one day she was talking with her husband about how he had disappeared. She asked him what steps could be taken to find out where he was or what might have happened to him. Her husband told her that he thought it pointless to try to find out because so much time had passed, and no one had heard anything from him, and they didn't even know where he had gone. "Its pointless." he said. "He must have died, or else he would have contacted us by now!".

Still Granma never gave up hope. Eventually, World War II started, and one day, a clairvoyant passed through the town and put on a show, not unlike some of those we view on cable nowadays. During this show, Granma apparently passed a note down to the stage asking the clairvoyant if he could tell her the whereabouts of her brother. He read the note without knowing who it came from, then he announced that the person who had written it should contact a man living in Los Angeles by the name of Abe Brandt for information pertaining to the writer's brother.

Granma went home and told her husband what the clairvoyant had said, but he pooh-poohed the idea, and so no action was taken.

Soon after, a lawyer from Los Angeles named Abe Brandt contacted the Records Office in Jamaica, seeking to find out if her brother was indeed a Jamaican citizen. Apparently her brother had been living in Tahiti, and when hostilities (WWII, remember) broke out, he had been arrested and held as an illegal alien who might have been on the side of the enemy.

He had given his name and nationality, and they were investigating the veracity of his statements. Unfortunately his birth certificate merely stated that a male child had been born to our great-grandparents. The Jamaican Records office therefore contacted Granma for her to verify that she had indeed had a brother with the same name this man said he was, and she also had to get depositions from people who had been neighbours of their family who could attest to the fact that the un-named male infant of the birth certificate had indeed been named Alvin, which was her brother's name. As a result, Granma was able to free her brother from jail.

So, what do you think about the whole clairvoyance thing now, huh? How could the clairvoyant have known about this lawyer, Abe Brandt. He didn't even know who gave him the note... What do you think?

BTW, I am verrryyy happy with the activity over at the Tower of Babel. Y'all should check it out.

Posted by Mad Bull at 05:59 PM | Comments (5)

Remember This...

Here is a little story thats been used in business school to pass on an important principle. If as great a person as Jesus chose to tell us important things using parables, there must be a good reason, and so I guess the lecturers felt they would be stupid if they didn't use the same technique. Whatever the reason why they came up with it, I found it interesting. Here is the story of the hunter and the Bengal tiger...

A great hunter in India came across a beautiful Bengal tiger. Since the animal was just a few steps away, the hunter fired a quick shot… and missed. Luckily for him, the tiger also missed when it jumped at him to attack.

The hunter returned to his camp and began practicing firing shots from a short distance. He was determined not to be caught off guard by another similar situation. The following day, when he went into the jungle, the first thing he saw was the same Bengal tiger… practicing short jumps!

This happens to us with our long-term goals. They ARE important, but we reach them only if we first achieve our short-term objectives. Yes, keep your main goal in mind… but don’t forget to practice short jumps, you simi?

You have a great day now, ok...

Posted by Mad Bull at 09:41 AM | Comments (3)

August 27, 2003

Times Are Tough.

Bwoy, some big rain a drop a yard, you see... (Boy, we are getting a lot rain in Jamaica right now...) Yesterday they had a most awesome thunderstorm too! Thunder and lightning firing all over the place, and with an astonishing regularity too... No more than a minute and a half max between salvos, trust me! It must've been the most wicked one for the year. The only time I've ever seen one like that was when I went to Florida to visit Natty when she was in school there. That one was wicked too. I guess even the heavens had to mourn the passing of my vacation leave, huh?

I returned to work today and found out that the employees of a company nearby where I work are quite restive! They have been bargaining with the management for pay increases for over a year now, and now, when they have basically capitulated to the demands of management, that company's managers have sought to tie the agreement on salaries with an accompanying signature on a document which seeks to put into effect a new policy governing terms of employment. In the eyes of these employees, the document will lead to a reduction in all the rights they have bargained for over long, long years...

I saw a bredrin who works for that company. His name is Wally, and he is one of those employees who is deeply involved in the bargaining process between the employees and the Company. I could well imagine how shitty he felt after having given so much of his own time and working so hard, and then in the end, being faced with even more onerous demands from the Company. I greeted him, saying "Wait, Wally, what a gwaan?". Wally said "Bwoy, times well hard! Rain a fall but the dutty still tough!". (Boy, the times are awfully hard. Even though its raining, the ground is still tough!) And I thought to myself "I don't think I could have described all the crap that has happened in this bargaining process any better than Wally did in those few words, not even if I had a month of Sundays to do it in...".

Posted by Mad Bull at 05:45 PM | Comments (2)

August 26, 2003

Chain Questionaire: Play Along

First, the rules:

1. Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2. I'll follow up with five questions.
3. You'll post your five answers to my questions on your blog.
4. Your post will include these five simple rules.
5. You'll then ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed, etc.

Here are my questions from Ryan of the Caribbean Cricket Blog :

1. You get a chance to spend a day relaxing and sharing a beer with *anyone* in history, living or dead. Who would it be and why?
2. J-Lo or Beyonce? Why?
3. Trinidad is the cultural capital of the Caribbean. True or false? How come?
4. The one thing my wife would be surprised to learn about me is __________.
5. The doctor has given you one day to live. How do you spend that day?

Click the link below to read my answers, 'k?

MORE...

Posted by Mad Bull at 09:44 PM | Comments (9)

Shaggy and Sean-Paul

I was watching the "Live with Regis" show this morning and noticed that they were having a competition. Some singers had been nominated as candidates in their "Favorite Music Guest" Competition, and they came on the show and performed. They didn't pick the winners this morning, I think the final selection will be sometime in September, but guess what? Two of the nominees were from Yard! *
Yessir, Shaggy and Sean Paul were among the five nominees! Big up to them both...

I also noticed that Sean Paul's video "Get Busy" is up for two of MTV's Video Music Awards, in the categories "Best Dance Video" and "Best New Artist in a Video". Apparently he'll be performing in a pre-show segment sometime near 6:30 ET on Thursday. The Video Music Awards follow... Nuff Jamaican men will be jealous of Sean Paul as well, because he just did a video with Beyonce, who is very much "appreciated" by a lot of Jamaican males. The video is for Beyonce's song, "Baby Boy", and its been described as "steamy!".

Dutty, Yeah!

Updated @ 2:28PM : Speaking of Sean Paul and Beyonce, I was cruising through Whaddat.com and noticed that they have put up their review of Reggae Sumfest. Remember I was telling you all the other day how I would have loved to have gone to the show? Check it out if you want to see pictures of the entertainers onstage or if you want to know how the show went. They got some pics of Destiny's Child onstage too. Go check out the Sumfest Review.

Posted by Mad Bull at 10:37 AM | Comments (13)

August 25, 2003

Hmmm...

Well, its almost seven o'clock, and I have no idea what I'm going to post about, on this, my second blogiversary .
Writer's block, at a time like this, can you imagine? And I have to go to a bredrin's home to play some Kalooki too... Tell you what. In case I don't come up with anything, have a look at my very first blog post, done all of two years ago. Its the last entry on the webpage accessed by this link. I did it all manually in those days... Have fun, and check back later to see what I come up with, 'k?

Posted by Mad Bull at 08:27 PM | Comments (7)

Lend Me Your Ears

Friends, all readers of my blog, countrymen, lend me your ears... go and vote for Jade Fulford to win the Miss Jamaica World competition. See the voting info here! She is "The One!".

Posted by Mad Bull at 10:41 AM | Comments (3)

August 24, 2003

You Live and You Learn.

As you might have already surmised by a certain picture that displays quite frequently up in the top left hand corner of my blogpage, I am a fan of butts! This impression would be even further cemented if you go through the pictures I've linked to in the "Natural Beauty" section in the right hand column of my page.

Now I've always considered myself a connoisseur when it comes to butt shots, but then I read a post over by Yvonne's that instructs you on how to take a good butt shot and quite frankly, I am amazed! I guess I have been settling for a lot of crap before this!

I guess its a little bit like wine, huh? Some people will tell you that they like wine, and they will drink it quite often, and they will think they know all there is to know about wine, but then you'll come across a professional wine taster, who'll tell you which areas of the tongue you roll the wine across to test for pungency, body, etc., and you'll realise that there is a hell of a lot more to this wine thing than you had previously thought! Hell, those professionals don't even drink the wine, they spit it out after tasting it!

Yvonne seems to be a professional "Butt Shot" photographer or something... I now realise that there is a whole lot more to this "Butt Shot" thing than I had thought before!

Go and check Yvonne's pointers out! You done know that it behooves us all to strive for perfection, especially as it relates to Butt Shots. We all stand to benefit, you simi?

Posted by Mad Bull at 11:06 AM | Comments (7)

August 23, 2003

Singing the same old Toon!

The other day, I wrote a post about "Stripperella", a new show on TNN, and it sparked a lot of hits. It also sparked a discussion on my blog and over by the blog of my friend -=e=-.

-=e=- linked to my post, and then admitted that he had always lusted after Toons. I agree with him, Toons are hot. He felt that the hottest Toon babe of all time was Jessica Rabbit from the film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?". At the time, I had to reserve judgement, because I hadn't seen the movie. It was just shown on cable, however, and I must tell you, Jessica was not a bad looking babe at all, but for my money, the Toon chick in the movie "Cool World" (who was inspired by Kim Basinger) was hotter! MUCH HOTTER!!! Probably you won't agree with me, -=e=- and Duppy, but face it, I'm right.

While we are on the subject of Toons, I must tell you that I snagged yet another ultra sexy Toon from Skits site. Something tells me that Skits is also a big fan of these cute Toons. Anyway, the Toon that I snagged is the beautiful babe over to the left, but I'm sure you already guessed that, am I right? She looks like she'd be able to handle herself too... actually, I'd like for her to be my bodyguard, wouldn't you?

Yesterday I gave you a little story about an old gyallist, which is a Jamaican term for a "playa". This morning, I received a joke from Sai Fyah. It was pretty funny, and so I'll leave you to contemplate the True Playa. Enjoy...

One evening Mike went over his friend Terry's house to play cards with some friends. Mike sat directly across from Terry's wife. Mike dropped a card on the floor and bent down to pick it up. When he looked across the table he saw that Terry's wife had her legs open and no panties on. He sat up and was flushed. He went into the kitchen to get a drink of water. To his surprise Terry's wife had followed him into the kitchen and said, "Did you like what you saw?". Mike said yes I did. She said, "Well you can get more than that but it will cost you $500." So Mike thought about his financial situation and said o.k.

She said "Meet me here tomorrow at 2:30 because Terry will be at work then.". Mike said, "I'll see you then.".

The next day, Mike came over, they had sex, he paid her, then he left.

Later, Terry came home and asked, "Has Mike been over here
today?" She said, thinking she had been caught, "As a matter of fact, yes.". Terry asked, "Did he leave $500?" She said as a matter of fact, he did. Terry said, "Good, because that fool came by my job this morning and asked to borrow $500 till this evening, and he said he would leave it with you.".

NOW THAT'S A TRUE PLAYA!!!!

Posted by Mad Bull at 05:36 PM | Comments (2)

August 22, 2003

Ole Gyallist!

TGIF! Here is a nice l'il story to kick off your Friday morning, mah peeps!

Harry and Sam were buddies. They always used to meet at the Sou-Sou Bar for a drink, at least they used to, but Harry had recently gotten married to his sweetheart of three years and had been spending time with his wife instead. This was the first time that they had gotten together for a drink since Harry got married.

Prior to meeting his wife Carla, Harry had always been a "Casanova". He had been the sort who thought nothing of having three and more girlfriends at the same time, and he was well known around town for this kind of behavior, but once he met Carla, it was as though he had met his soul mate. He settled down and started a committed, stable relationship with her.

Harry said to Sam "So did I tell you what had happened to me with Rita?"
Sam replied "No." Rita was Carla's sister.

Harry said "Remember how you told me that Rita was always making eyes at me? Hey, about two weekends before Carla and I were to get married, Rita called me and asked me to come over to her house to pick up something, you know. When I got there, she answered the door in lingeree, a wicked, lacy black teddy with a black lacy G-String and some dangerous fish-net stockings!
She invited me in, and when I got into the living room, she told me that she had always been attracted to me!".
Sam replied "You see it! I've been telling you that she had the hots for you, haven't I?".

Harry continued "She said that it was her dream to make love with me, and as Carla and I were getting married, she felt that it would have been the last time for her to try to make that dream come true! She told me that she realised that I really loved Carla and that she knew that she wouldn't be able to take me away from her, but that she didn't want to do that anyway. She said she just wanted to make love with me once, and then the two of us would go our own ways, never to say anything about what had happened."

MORE...

Posted by Mad Bull at 08:15 AM | Comments (7)

Whats Your Viewpoint

I was having a drink with a bredrin earlier and he told me of a situation he had gone through earlier in the day. He works at this company and there is a married couple who also work there, who are his good friends. The wife is about three months pregnant. He said he was passing through the lunch room and he saw the couple in there. He noticed that the husband was smoking and he was quite surprised. He said he was walking toward them to suggest to the husband that he shouldn't really be smoking around the wife now that she is pregnant, when he saw the wife lift up her hand, slot a cigarette between her lips and take a deep drag from it. He was horrified!

After all, there has been SO much talk on TV and in the press about the negative effects of cigarette smoking and secondhand smoke on the unborn foetus that he just couldn't fathom how come the wife was still smoking while she was pregnant. To be truthful, I must admit that I can't think of any woman I know who didn't stop smoking when they got pregnant in the last ten-fifteen years, so I can understand why he felt this way.

He said that he took them to task over it. Not only that, he called it to the attention of a few other people in the office and had them talk to the couple about it too.

"Mad, I don't understand how they could be doing such a thing! I had to say something, because I feel that they need to be counselled on this matter." he said. "They could be doing irreparable harm to the child! Maybe they might get angry over the fact that I spoke to them like that and also that I had Tony and Desiree speak to them about it too, but if thats how it turns out, then I'll just have to accept it! Maybe my talking to them might make the difference, you know what I mean?". I replied "My yout', you don't have anything to worry about. They are going to have the most normal of children, and some couple who have been dying to have children, a couple which has taken every precaution known to man will end up having a child who has some problem, like being sickly, or having some kind of disease or learning disability. Life's rough like that...".

The guy I was drinking with really stands up for what he believes in though, doesn't he? I don't know that I would have said anything to the couple about it, though I have heard many a time of the dangers of cigarette smoking to the unborn child. What do y'all think of the matter? How would you have handled it if it were you?

Posted by Mad Bull at 12:40 AM | Comments (3)

August 21, 2003

A Great Game...

I dropped by Skits and came across a delightful little game called "Marry, Fuck, Kill!". Y'all should try it too, cuz its great! Heres how you play... I'm going to name three men, and three women. If you like women, tell me which of the three women named you'd marry, which you'd fuck and which you'd kill. Of course, you have to explain more If you like men, do the same with the men offered. If you like them both, pick three from both groups.

I got this link from Skits. She offered Halle Berry, Drew Barrymore, and Rachel Deahl as her women participants. Go and read what I wrote in her comments if you want to see how I answered.

Now its my turn to offer the contestants... The women: J-Lo, Toni Braxton, and Madonna. The men: Justin Timberlake, 50-Cent, and Sean Paul. Thats it, go and knock yourselves out.

Posted by Mad Bull at 01:00 AM | Comments (4)

August 20, 2003

Its That Time Again

Well, its Miss Jamaica World time again, and there is my selection for the winner - Jade Fulford!

That is, based on the pictures I've seen and hoping that she doesn't put her foot in her mouth during the Coronation show. Other girls I like the look of are Chantelle Fisher and... well, Chantelle Fisher! Go and have a look at all the contestants here and tell me who you like.

Having said that, let me point out that I think that the girls in the competition are quite nice, but for the most part, beauties they are not! See a true beauty here:

Sanya Hughs
Miss Jamaica Universe 2002

See more beauties here. Women like Christine Straw, Lisa Hannah, Sandra Foster, Erica Aquart, Allison Barnett, Cindy Breakspeare... There are others too, but I can't bother to name them all.

I wish that there were a couple more like that in this competition. The Miss Jamaica Universe seems to be consistently doing better (in terms of attracting the KRISSAS) than the Miss Jamaica World, IMHO. The organisers of the competition need to do more to attract the really KRISS girls to enter. What do you think?

Posted by Mad Bull at 11:26 PM | Comments (6)

August 19, 2003

Some New Action

I have been getting some new action on the "Tower of Babel" blogsite, and of course, I am thrilled! Getting this group blog to take off has been difficult. I guess one could liken it to a caveman trying to make fire... first, he has to find two fire stones (flint), then dry kindling, then he has to work like a sumbitch getting that mutha to catch!

I really hope dssdoc can keep it up. Sandra says she thinks he will, and she should know, ok? (pun intended )

The dssdoc even inspired Ciya to give us a l'il sup'm-sup'm... y'all should check out the Tower, peeps.

By the way, I thought I'd give you all a little tip... I know that there are people around who write absolutely wonderful stuff! They write, and people just sit around waiting for them to finish to snap up the latest fruit of their labours for themselves to read. See J. K. Rowling, for example. Unfortunately, most bloggers are not as good as these legendary writers, at least, not immediately. And yet, many bloggers crave an audience. They find that they lose interest in blogging unless they get regular feedback from their readers.

If you are a new blogger, you probably might benefit from knowing this! Pay attention! A high percentage of the people who are blogging now are not as gifted as these bestselling authors I just mentioned. The people who are reading your site are mostly going to be other bloggers, and they too would like people to read their own works. Even if you're good, they will usually stop reading your work (at least, in the beginning) if they're not feeling the love. Show some reciprocity, dude! The surest way to build a good, reliable set of readers is to visit their own sites and comment on them, too. Oonoo 'member dat!

Awoah!

Once you get them to come to your site, you can try to keep them coming back. Thats when you can work on dazzling them with your performance, yuh simi?

Posted by Mad Bull at 11:45 PM | Comments (1)

Back Pon Di Rock!

People, I am back on the Rock! * It brings to mind that Tony Rebel song, "Sweet Jamdown" :-

Oh what a nice place it is,
Sweet Jamdown,
The only problem is,
Dollars nah run!

Much thanks to Michael and Sandra for your warm hospitality. We really enjoyed staying with you all and hope that we weren't too much trouble. We know we aren't really welcome after kicking your butts (on average) at Kalooki, but... a so it go, I guess!

See you soon again, maybe even for Pirates Week, God willing!

Posted by Mad Bull at 11:17 PM | Comments (1)

August 17, 2003

An Update

I spent the day today lazing around. I really haven't done much of anything so far, except go on the road in search of a Sunday Gleaner, (which we still haven't found! Apparently it arrives here pretty late, and so I was advised to pick it up tomorrow morning) and again for lunch. We took Natty's aunt to lunch at the Canton Restaurant in the Strand, down by West Bay Road. The food was fabulous, by the way.

Yesterday was pretty cool too. Sandra took us to the beach. She drove us up through Bodden Town and along the coast. We turned left, going to the North Side instead of East End. We went to Rum Point in the North Side. Rum Point is a resort, comprising a set of condominiums, right on the beach. Tourists (and locals) rent these and stay there. Its pretty nice, with a fine beach! Criss! They have a restaurant and bar by the beach, so we lunched then went for a swim. (If you're not from the Caribbean, try the Mahi Mahi sandwich. If you are from the Caribbean, avoid that sucker. Apparently they cook it to suit the tourists, because it seems the fish had not had a speck of seasoning before it was cooked. Bland, bland, bland! )

They had a nice little band playing songs of the Caribbean too, like Yellow Bird, and some Bob Marley and some of this year's soca music. It was pretty cool. Then unfortunately, it set up to rain, and lightening started to flash and thunder started to rumble, so we decided to roll...

On the way back, we went through East End. Since I've been here, I had the opportunity to see my grandfather's birth certificate. I think I have already mentioned that he was from Cayman. Well, based on the birth certificate, he was born in the little town of East End in 1888 to James Whlin "Bull" and his wife, Eva, so as we drove through that little town, I imagined what it must have been like back then. I thought of the joy of his parents when he was born, and the way his parents must have felt when they watched him eating or sleeping, just a beautiful little infant...

He didn't grow up there though. At some point, my great grand parents decided to move to Cayman Brac, and that is where he was raised.

Sandra stopped by one of the resorts on the East End side of the island and she said that much of the Brac looked like it was at that resort, and so I imagined how Grampa must have spent his time on beautiful beaches like that one, fishing, swimming and generally having a whale of a time, before he left Cayman for Jamaica, probably in search of work. It was good, dreaming of Grampa like that. Grampa's niece and nephew still live on Cayman Brac, and I intend to visit them next time I come to Cayman. I'd have gone this time, but we've had too much to do and too little time to do it in... I did get to speak to them by phone though, and will give them a call again, before I go back home Tuesday.

I am glad that Sandra took us through the East End, although I hadn't asked her to... I kinda felt like I was tracing my roots, like Alex Haley did... Thanks, Sandra.

Then we went home and we ended the day playing Kalooki. Sandra had promised me that she was going to whup my butt, and that she was going to make me bust the 2000 mark in terms of my score, but she couldn't do it, poor woman! I didn't win, but I held second place in the two games we played. It was a damned fine day, I really enjoyed it.

Tonight, I plan to play up some Kalooki and sip some Appleton again...

So, what y'all been up to? (By the way, Michael, a.k.a. dssdoc, has written his second post over there on the Tower of Babel Blogsite. Check it out nuh?)

Posted by Mad Bull at 08:34 PM | Comments (2)

August 16, 2003

Just So Much Chit Chat

Yesterday I went to happy hour. It was pretty cool. We went to a popular local hangout, which was a pool hall, so you play pool, drink Appleton, Hennessy, or whatever poison floats your boat and survey the other people in the place shooting pool. I just happened to notice a couple of things while I was there.

The first is that women playing pool often get themselves into some pretty irie poses, if you're a butt lover like me! Yeh mon, they're always bending over in some ass-emphasising positions to make those difficult shots. I am now thinking that I should suggest pool halls as a wonderful location for a bikini/thong party! I think its a great party idea, and I'd like to suggest it to some of those bigshot party promoters back in Jamaica. Dudes, I'd go! Think it over, men, you should put on a party like that! It'd be a real money spinner!

The second thing I learned is that Michael is somewhat better than me at pool, difficult as that is to believe! No, I am not just being nice because he has opened up his house to the Mad Bull family, the man is good. (note to self... do not gamble with Michael at pool, at least, not until you get a lot of practice at Peppers! *)

I have decided that these Caymanians cannot drive! Why do I say that? Because they have these silly speed limits of 40 mph in some areas, 30 mph and 25 mph in others (which serve to piss me of a bit... 25 mph?! ), and yet I've seen a number of fender benders since I've been here. How does one crash at those speeds? I guess maybe they nod off from boredom!

I know that we more than likely have a much higher number of accidents and a higher road fatality count than they do in the Caymans, but its with good reason! We don't adhere to speed limits back home at all! Here, (at least in the daytime) everyone drives at or very close to the limits.

I said the same thing to Michael, and he concurred, but he made the point that what I saw in the daytime was nothing compared to the craziness that occurred in the night from time to time. He went on to tell me about some near misses he had been through, often with what appeared to him to be low flying missiles!
He pointed out the scene of a recent accident "where a young man decided to give up his life" according to Michael. He described all the things that the driver of the car had managed to hit and challenged me to tell him how it was possible for him to have done so. "He was kinda talented." Michael said. It seems to have been fairly recent too, as the blood stains were still on the road.

BTW, I was checking out my rating (by readers) at The Weblog Review. I am horrified! It now stands at a low of 2.6 out of 4! Y'all need to go there and vote for my site as a 5. Or if you don't think its worthy of a five, give me a 4.5! Look, I'll even accept 4's, but if you plan to go lower, don't put yourself out on my account.

Anyway, while I was being mortified over the lowered reader rating at the Weblog Review, I came across Urban Scrawl. The website looks pretty fresh, the writing is pretty decent, and it contains pretty liberal sprinklings of humour. Do go see...

Posted by Mad Bull at 08:24 AM | Comments (5)

August 15, 2003

Ganja Breed

Psss-ssst! Wanna see Sean Paul totally red out? Well, click here. I am telling you, "is jus' him Rizzla, him weed and him fire him need!". (Remember, Confusius say man who hover mouse over links will be blessed with message! ) The picture was found on Whaddat.com, and the lady in the picture with him is Mic Chick, previously mentioned on this blog.

People, if you know anything about Jamaica, you know that long weekends are party time there, you simi? This year, the hypest sessions were all in Negril, and Whaddat.com was there. They have immortalised the Negril sessions in film for your visual enjoyment, and they are now available at Whaddat. Oonoo go deh go watch oonoo self! TTYL.

Posted by Mad Bull at 09:25 PM | Comments (0)

Scientific Research

Bloggers can be scientists too, ya know. Check out Yvonne, for instance... she is doing some research in the area of human sexual relations. She will be doing research into the desirability of "minty blowjobs"! Check her out over the next couple of days for the results of her experiment, 'k?

Posted by Mad Bull at 11:07 AM | Comments (5)

Salam Pax

Salam Pax (who is a blogger from Iraq, for those of you who've never heard of him) is still giving us info on happenings in Iraq from an Iraqi's point of view. He seems to have taken a step up though, as he is now a columnist for the Guardian! Big up, my yout'!

Read what he has to say. From what I read before, Salam Pax was not for Sadam, but it is apparent that he is also not for the American overlords. They seem to be getting up to all manner of fuckry down there, and incensing the Iraqis. Isn't it time for you to pack up and flash, Georgie Porgie? Think about it nuh? (Link via Ryan)

Posted by Mad Bull at 08:50 AM | Comments (0)

August 14, 2003

Busy, Busy Busy!

Yeah, I have been keeping myself pretty busy, so much so that I haven't even been able to hit the Seven Mile Beach yet. Today, I was about to drop in at the beach for a little R&R before picking up Mike and Sandra from work when big rain started to fall. Now that wouldn't have been a problem, except that we had MBJr. with us and Natty didn't want to let him go to the beach in the rain!?

Hopefully, tomorrow will be much less busy, and we will make that date at the beach! I have been to the beach already, though not in the water, and it looks lovely, so I am dying to go... I will let you know how it goes.

Posted by Mad Bull at 11:23 PM | Comments (2)

August 13, 2003

Soft Stuff

I don't know if you've ever noticed it, but normally, when you wash your face, you cup your hand under the water, catching some in your hand. You then lift this water and rub it on your face, in the process removing the soap and dirt from your face. Normally back home, that may take say 20-25 repetitions before my whole face is washed. Here (in the Caymans, although I have experienced this elsewhere as well), it seems to take so much more reps!

I've always heard of that experience being explained away as being a result of the water being "softer" in the place where it takes more reps for you to wash off the water, but I am not really sure what that means... What would make the water softer, I wonder? I never did chemistry in high school, but I assume that it has something to do with the chemicals in the water. I know water is H₂O, but they often have more chemicals than just that in the mix, I believe...

I wonder if "softer" water is better for you than "harder" water. Maybe those extra chemicals might be killing us, who knows?

Any bright sparks among my readers who want to educate the rest of us?

Posted by Mad Bull at 08:13 AM | Comments (3)

August 12, 2003

A Likkle Update

We arrived safely in Grand Cayman today. MBJr. loved the flying, bwoy! When the plane was accelerating for take off he was exclaiming over how fast it was going, and eventually he screamed out "Blast off!!!". When we landed in Montego Bay, before the final leg of the flight, he was shouting out with joy "Its like a rocket!". He had fun! We really had a great flight, and we have been pretty busy all day, but it was fun.

It is different than I thought it would be. It reminds me more of certain parts of Florida rather than Jamaica... Interesting. The houses look the same as the ones in Florida, and so do the roads, somewhat.

We are staying with a buddy of mine from STGC days, Michael and his wife Sandra. They have a lovely house. Michael is a bit of a technology nut, and so you done know (can be sure) that he has an internet connection (ADSL, of course), and so I am able to post tonight. Thanks, Michael and Sandra, for welcoming us into your home, and also, for affording me the ability to blog while we are here.

Anyway, tomorrow may be busy, and this morning, we got up at 4:00 AM, so hear what? Me gone to bed, you simi?

TTYS (Talk to you soon).

Posted by Mad Bull at 10:08 PM | Comments (5)

August 11, 2003

It Did Hot Nuh Ra$$

This has been a very enjoyable vacation so far. When I was writing it up, one of the things I worried about was being at home without the luxury of the airconditioning, as we only use that at home in the night (though it is always on at work). It was especially worrying as the leave was in the summer, the hottest part of the year! I found, though, that I have been able to bear it pretty well, except for today. Migosh! Today must have been the hottest day of the year! Rass! You could feel the moisture being sucked from your pores even as you sat and relaxed!

Anyway, I survived. Tomorrow we are off to a Caribbean destination. I'll tell you more on that issue in a few days... I hope I'll be able to post while I am there, though...

Posted by Mad Bull at 11:45 PM | Comments (3)

Connect 4

While we were vacationing at the "Rock Hill" villa in Silver Sands, I discovered the game "Connect 4". All of these villas have board games and cards and things like that for the people staying there to amuse themselves, but the owners of Rock Hill did a good job with that game. It is great, a nice little mind teaser of a game. I'd recommend it to anyone! Above is a picture of Meter (my bro-in-law) and I, as I got my butt kicked playing Connect 4.

I decided that I liked the game so much, I would look it up online, and I came across this nifty l'il site that allows you to play it online. Now once you've loaded this page, another page will autoload asking you to register... Just kill the registration page and you're "Good to Go!" as Elephant Man always says... The aim of the game is to get four of your pieces is a row, vertically, horizontally or diagonally, ok? Go, play the game, and let me know what you think of it, 'k?

See you...

Posted by Mad Bull at 10:49 AM | Comments (4)

August 10, 2003

Provoking A Firestorm

This whole "Anglican Gay Bishop" thing is arguably the most interesting thing happening in the church today... Its exciting stuff, man!

Personally, I don't think that the Episcopalian church should have voted the Robinson fellow in for the Bishop position, because their church has certain doctrines and it goes expressly against them.

At the very least, it will call upon the Episcoplian church to rework all their doctrines, at least the doctrines put forward in this article, namely :

- The Bible being held up as the ultimate standard of Faith

- The Apostles and Nicene Creeds as Statements of Faith

- The Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper as the principal channels of grace

- The Episcopalian system of rule for the defence of the Faith and Order

To those four may be added willingness to be guided in controversial polity by the voting on issues at the Lambeth Conference, held every ten years.

Apparently, at the London Lambeth Conference of 1998, the firm decision was made that the Anglican Church "rejects homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture". I wonder how all these Anglicans will work it out...

Speaking for myself, I really don't care, maybe because I'm not Anglican, but I find it interesting.

All of that stimulated a bit of chat on AOL with the Doc. earlier, who pointed me to a post written earlier by Ryan of the Caribbean Cricket Blog, on the topic of proposed anti-discriminatory legislation in Guyana.

Personally, I don't think I should be described as discriminating against gays, but, as I have said earlier in the comments to the same post mentioned above, I wouldn't really want my child to be gay either. The Doc. agreed with me on that point.

Anyway, I am finding this whole bust up in the church very interesting...

Posted by Mad Bull at 01:58 PM | Comments (6)

August 09, 2003

More on the Statues

The statues continue to be quite the hot topic of discussion!

In yesterdays' and todays Gleaner, there were quite a number of letters on the Statues topic. I went to Emancipation Park to walk/run yesterday. I ran six laps (3K) and walked six, so you know I was there for awhile!

The whole time I was there, there was a crowd gathered around the statues. People would come, look for a few minutes, then become embroiled in discussion with others viewing the statue. Then they would leave and others would come to replace them. Las May, the cartoonist for the Gleaner has summarised the situation well...

In other news, the Gov't. seems to be getting a similar diversion out of Miss Lou...

Miss Lou was involved in Drama and the literery arts, and she is a cultural icon, and I am not knocking her one bit. The Government should give her a "Big Up", and they are doing so. It is a happy circumstance for them that it is also serving to divert the public's eye from the problems which abound.

Posted by Mad Bull at 09:53 AM | Comments (4)

We Miss Out Pon Cropover!

Bwoy, I was just over to Kadooment.com, and it looks like they have a whale of a good time over there in Barbados at Crop Over time, based on the pictures I saw at their site. I think Natty and I will have to work this event into our schedule, as well Trini Carnival next year! Maybe y'all should do the same too...

Posted by Mad Bull at 01:09 AM | Comments (1)

August 08, 2003

Death to Affleck and J-Lo?

I thought most guys loved J-Lo, and most women loved Ben Affleck! I thought that most people would like them as a couple. Maybe I should think again.

The two major celebs acted together in the movie Gigli, which was released recently. Apparently the movie was put to a focus group to get an idea of what people would think of it. The focus group had 3,000 participants, chosen from many different places across the U.S. Out of the 3,000 focus group participants, 2,965 "strongly agreed" that the ending should be changed to include a graphic scene in which its main characters die!

This looks mighty strange at first glance, but it might not be as strange as it looks though. Maybe the focus group participants just felt that the characters should die to preserve the authenticity of the film, to make it seem more realistic, as it were... Maybe they just didn't like the show, and wanted to ensure that there was no sequel.

What really makes this look strange is that many people seem to have been so explicit as to how the two characters should be killed. "Shot in the head from the right side at point blank range." is just one simple example. Check this link out to see just how graphic some of the participants got... oh, and be sure to click the "more" link below to see what must be THE most explicit suggestion(s) of how the two should be killed! I think its pretty strange... What do you think?

It is probably not going to be released out here for a couple of weeks yet... I hope some blogger that I read goes to it and reviews it so that I can see if I should go... I am intrigued to know what could drive this randomly chosen group to such a universal suggestion. (Link via Mikey of electricbugaloo.com)

MORE...

Posted by Mad Bull at 07:26 PM | Comments (6)

Party Party!

Sounds like there is a distinct possibility of a wine tasting session at Anna's Sidewalk Cafe on Saturday! Sweeeettttt!

I'll let you know whats going on...

Posted by Mad Bull at 01:36 AM | Comments (1)

August 07, 2003

The Statues

I've read the Gleaner and been listening to Mutty Perkins. (Mutty Perkins runs what is arguably the most popular talkshow radio programme in Jamaica). There is a big hullabaloo going on about the statues in Emancipation Park! That and the issue with the Episcopalians voting for a gay priest to be made a bishop.

I won't talk too much about the gay bishop topic, but with regard to that I can understand the problems that many Anglicans are having with it. It would seem to be going against much of the churches' doctrine for this to be allowed, so...
but anyway, I won't really get into this here.

With regard to the statues, let me give you a bit of background.

MORE...

Posted by Mad Bull at 07:12 PM | Comments (3)

I'm Back!

Hey all, I'm back! Actually, Natty and I returned home yesterday evening. I went up to my neighbours' apartment and got embroiled in a hot, hot Kalooki game, which I am sure they planned to celebrate our return from the country! I just know that they were all missing us badly!

Unfortunately, they didn't seem to be missing me badly enough to just let me win the blasted game, but its ok.... I'll kick their butts next time!

At least I was able to get in some Kalooki! I haven't had an opportunity to play much of that for awhile. You know what? I think we should set a rule that we have to play Kalooki in the complex at least once a week...
I wonder if I could make that fly? hmmmm...

Anyway, we deh yah!

Posted by Mad Bull at 04:08 PM | Comments (6)

August 06, 2003

Whats Your Take On It?

I was passing by Macy's room this morning and heard her complaining... The TV was on and they were showing some kind of cultural programming which she said was put on by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission or some other public body. They seemed to be showing a series of skits being performed, and one was something about prostitutes and pimps. In the part that I saw, the skit showed women dressed somewhat like prostitutes dress, and men were asking them things like "Show me some skin, nuh?" and "You a sell?", and they were slapping them on their buttocks.

Macy said to me "I think its a disgrace. Here it is, we are in the middle of the holiday period and they are supposed to be showing some cultural programming and this is what they bring on!? What, is this our culture now?".
I replied "Well, this kind of thing is going on more and more, all over the country, so I guess it is becoming a part of our culture...". Of course, I didn't really watch it, maybe there wasmore to it than that, know what I mean?

Seen on a T-Shirt: I am on a thirty day diet. So far, I've lost 15 days...

Posted by Mad Bull at 10:14 PM | Comments (1)

Just Saying Good Night...

Bwoy, I was watching a football match on the TV just now, AC Milan versus Barcelona... Some Champions' Cup thing or other, put on by the Americans, no doubt, since the matches are being played State-side. They are lucky that the Dept. of Homeland Security let these guys in, the way they are carrying on over security!

Anyway, Barcelona have a really star-studded side, you know. I thought it was mainly Real Madrid that had all the foreign stars, but Barcelona must be right behind them, bwoy! Barcelona have Milan down two-nil and its a great game, but after being in the water all day, I just can't hold up... I am going to go to bed!

BTW, over the Emancipation/Independence holiday period, it is customary for there to be street dances, where someone hires a big sound system and they sell drinks and people just party in the street. In recent years, they have started to put on concerts for free too, with many of our local singers and DJs performing.

Natty just saw in todays' Observer that the Montego Bay Street Jam which had been planned for Sunday night was postponed after Danny English "nasty up" the New Kingston Street Jam in Kingston on Saturday night! Our DJ's need to stop this damned cursing and foul language during stage shows. If they know that they'll get fined or cause some problem, they should just can it! Saw too that Sean Paul was slapped with a charge for cursing up a blue streak onstage during Sumfest... I think its a bunch of crap, and they need to pull their damned socks up, man! I bet they're too high to know what they're doing!

Anyway, me gone to bed. Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite...

Posted by Mad Bull at 12:44 AM | Comments (1)

August 05, 2003

Check da View!

Here is a look at the view as seen from the balcony/verandah of our villa... In the foreground is the kiddie pool, and right beside it you see the regular pool. When you lift your eyes, you see the sea, which is a short, 5 minute walk away.

Of course, you don't have to walk to the beach.... The villa comes with two golf carts which you can use to drive yourselv es down to the beach at any time. These golf carts add to the fun, in fact, as we've been using them to race each other to and from the beach and round and about the Silver Sands grounds.

If you click the picture above, you'll get a bigger version to look at...

Posted by Mad Bull at 01:26 PM | Comments (2)

August 04, 2003

Wednesday Night!

Its been really cool so far, down here at Silver Sands... There has been very little booze, though. You all know that I am on holiday, right? Well, crazy as it sounds, I think I have had only about three drinks of rum since last Wednesday night! Of course, there is a reason for that.

On Tuesday night last week, Natty and I enjoyed ourselves immensely at a little lime in our complex. The next morning, Natty suggested that we should do it all over again that night, and since Diego and Candy were in the island, we could invite them over. I agreed, and we called Stephan, Anna, Andrea, and Dr. D., all fellow members of the liming crew. They all agreed that it was a good idea, and so another lime was born, er, planned.

That same morning, Natty, her mom, Macy and I went on the road. I had to pass through work in the morning to sign a couple of documents and then I had to go to the bank. Unfortunately, the stuff I had to do took quite a while, and so at about 1:00PM when I was done what I had to do, Natty, Macy and I went to the China Express restaurant in Marketplace. Although they call the restaurant "China Express", it is not a fast food chinese restaurant! They serve awfully good food! Big up, China Express! Anyway, we had a pretty big lunch there, and so resolved to have only a light dinner.

Natty and I got involved in all kind of things that afternoon, and as it turned out, we did not get to eat any dinner at all, and at about seven that night we went up to Anna's Sidewalk Cafe, and the great lime began!

The only things there were to eat during this lime was Doritos and a mess of other chips with a most delicious dip, (thanks Andrea, it tasted fabulous!) but chips and dip do not a supper make, you simi?

As a result, you probably have a good idea what happened! Natty had no problem, as she had a couple of drinks and eventually, she left to put MBJr. to bed. I however was one of those who locked up the place after the lime had come to an end, and let me tell you, a lot of liquor was hurt in the staging of that lime at Anna's Sidewalk Cafe! I didn't get fall-down drunk or anything, but I did get decidedly "nice" (tipsy). I even became the life of the party, giving a lot of jokes and "chatting lots of crap!", (in Dr. D's opinion... )

Now normally, "nice" is what you aim for when you're drinking, am I right? The only problem is that one should eat before drinking more than normal amounts (some might even say "lots") of liquor.

I went to bed, but at some point during the night, I awoke. I opened my eyes, realised a crisis was at hand and broke into an immediate sprint for the john! Thanks to my athletic ability, I made it in good time. I hurled! Bwoy, did I hurl... several times, even. Of course Natty woke up too. Anyway, I stumbled back to bed, only to get up shortly after and fly back into the bathroom to barf once more. I got pretty intimate with the toilet bowl that night, I'll tell you!

Anyway, due to Natty's loving ministrations ( She admonished me for drinking too much, then she made me a broth as well as some toast with jam, then in the morning she left me to sleep and took MBJr. to her sisters house and she went out with her Mom) and lots of sleep, and also thanks to my incredibly strong constitution, I was able to throw off the blues somewhat by midday, and totally by about 3:00PM.

Still, I am sure I am not the only one who dodges the liquor for awhile after its made me sick. They say that when a horse throws you, you should get right back on and go for a ride again, and I know a few people who take the same approach with liquor. They get sick, but they are drinking again by the next morning. They believe that the bestr cure for a hangover is to start drinking the same stuff again as quickly as possible. Still, the people I know who have this belief probably have more alcohol flowing through their veins than blood, so I am sure there are others out there who get a bit turned off and hold off on "buying out de bar" for awhile after this kind of incident. Anyway, that in a few coconut shells is why I haven't had much hair of the dog while I've been here in the country...

Still, I've more than made up for it in terms of food, fun and frolic! This place is wonderful. As my brother-in-law, Metre said to me today, "Bwoy, if you had enough money that you didn't have to work and you came down here to live, it would be easy to turn worthless, to rass!". And you know what? He is right!

Hey Stephan, you thought I wouldn't write about this, didn't you?

Posted by Mad Bull at 07:14 PM | Comments (3)

August 03, 2003

Of Water Lockoffs

The Arawaks/Taino Indians who discovered Jamaica long before Columbus did had a name for Jamaica, I am told. They called it "Xaymaca", which we are told meant "Land of Wood and Water". Little did they know that the coming of the Europeans heralded a change in the world as they knew it! Almost nothing is as it then was!

Today, there are no Arawak/Taino Indians here. In their place, you find descendants of African people who were ripped from the bosom of their families, transported against their will across the Middle Passage and forced into slavery here. It is probable that this is perhaps the most dramatic change you would encounter, but as there are no longer any Arawak/Taino around to complain about it, and as the blacks no longer have to endure slavery, I won't dwell on this.

There were many other changes as well, economically, socially, and technologically. One such change which current day Jamaicans find most evident and annoying has to do with the lack of water. Sharon Leach wrote in the Sunday Observer of the agonies of having to do without water, and she knows whereof she speaks. She wrote well on the topic, and you should read what she has to say, if you have the Observer, or if you're luckier than I was at finding it online. She writes eloquently of suffering from water lockoffs. She takes us back to the time of the Hurricane Gilbert, when lockoffs were universal, then she brings you back to the present, where lockoffs are less universal, but they are still with us. I feel her pain, but in my case, its not just that her words were so evocative that I could imagine her plight. You see, I too suffer from water lockoffs. She seems to be fortunate, in that she says she has water all day for 350 days of the year! (Surely the printer's devil got to her here! As much as 350!)
I should be so lucky!

Lets do the math. Where I live, they lock off the water almost every night. It stays locked off from about 8:00PM until about 5:00AM. Thats nine hours every day! 9 hours multiplied by 365 days gives 3,285 hours for the year. If we divide 3,285 hours by 24 hours we see that we are forced to endure water lockoffs for 136 days in the year!

IMHO, that is a disgrace!

I agree with Sharon Leach! Since the Government is paying so much to consultants, and the Government seem to lack what it takes to remedy this situation, let them pay some of these consultants to turn their minds to the problem of water. 2003 is NOT too soon for Jamaica's citizens to enjoy water flowing from their taps, on time, all the time!

By the way, I say Arawak/Taino Indians because I was brought up reading history books which called the native indians Arawaks. In more recent times, historians seem to have decided that these were not Arawak Indianns, but Taino. They may be right, they may be crazy, I know not which, but the habit of saying Arawaks has been ingrained in me, and it refuses to die...

Blessed Love.

Posted by Mad Bull at 11:39 AM | Comments (3)

August 02, 2003

Its Fugly, Iyah!

We drove into Montego Bay (Mobay) today to pick up Natty's Dad who just flew in from Florida. It was a nice forty five minute drive through the countryside, passing places with quaint names such as "Gold Teeth's Jerk Centre". You know what was the worst part of the whole trip? Looking up at the hills near to Sangster's Int'l Airport in Mobay!

Those hills have been overrun with squatter's settlements... they look terrible! They've felled all the trees and they've put up these buildings made from concrete blocks, and they all seem to be unpainted and so all you see is the stark rock of the hill and these squat, ugly concrete houses... its pretty ugly! I wonder if thats where they call Flankers?

When I see them, they bring to mind one word. It was a favourite word of the late, great Morris Cargill (a Gleaner columnist with a great skill with the written word). The word is ramshackle. For a city which is supposed to be the tourist mecca of the island, it really isn't fitting that the first thing the tourists see is the ramshackle of the squatter settlements. Something ought to be done about it. They don't have to bulldoze the squatters and their houses into the sea or anything, but they could go on some kind of a beautification drive. Donate some paint to them to paint the houses. Plant trees, and gardens. Make it look better. Cho, man.

Posted by Mad Bull at 06:19 PM | Comments (1)

August 01, 2003

Irie Ites... Irie Feeling.

13:45 : Well, we made it down safely. The house is lovely! Pictures to follow...

We have been in the pool, where MBJr., through the powers of youthful imagination, transfigured himself into the most awe-inspiring, fearsome pool monster (as opposed to sea monster) and he went around attacking his cousins in the pool. Then we lunched, following which, we kicked back for a short while and relaxed. Now we are about to descend upon the beach, where we will sink our flag into the sand and claim the whole bloody beach for Mad Bull!

20:10 : Yessir, the beach was quite nice. Its a bit rough for the smaller kids, but its nice for body surfing! I hear its more calm in the morning, so maybe thats the time to take the little ones to the beach, then its the pool for them.

Hear me nuh! The helper in this villa can cook, you know! My Word! I've just had the best roasted chicken I've had in years... I'm contemplating kidnapping her and taking her back with us to Kingston. Right now, we just be chillin'... I'm going to go back and hang out with the others.

I leave you with this bit of wisdom...

Why is my homepage set to Yahoo?
Because leaving it on my favourite porn site might embarass people who use my PC...

Peace.

Posted by Mad Bull at 09:28 PM | Comments (7)

Inna Di Top Ten?

You know, I've been thinking that the entry "More Fire!" deserves a spot in the Top Ten, but I need to figure out which one it should replace...

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to read "More Fire!" and to read the entries in the top ten and vote whether "More Fire!" should indeed become a part of the top ten and if so which one currently in the top ten should be displaced... tell me your opinion in the comments, ok?

Posted by Mad Bull at 01:33 AM | Comments (1)