School Is Out! Its Vacation Time in the Sun!

Maracas Here I Come!!!! (see pic)

My Fall semester is finally over and you will not believe how relieved I am right now...or maybe you do. This has been one heck of a day and even though I was prepared (at least pretty much) my nerves ran ragged during the course of the day.

But that is all behind me now so lets talk about the future! Tomorrow morning, Wednesday, at 6 am, I will be flying home to Trinidad and Tobago for my first Christmas in four years there so I am excited but pretty tired too so not much energy for excitement.

I am glad I will be getting home during the day so I can sit and chat with everyone there and catch up which means...for the next month I will be posting from Trinidad.

Time to go now and enjoy the evening having dinner and packing so I promise to be back real soon.

Canada II: Snow, Snow and more Snow!!!

One of the highlights of the trip was seeing the most snow in my life. I first saw snow in London and then in Northern Ireland where I there was enough to build a snowman but this was real snow. It was on the trees, on the pathway and on the cars and best of all, it was not melting.

Pam and her husband Francois and his daughter Gabriela, together with Jon and me went to Gantineau Park and spend one afternoon and boy, did I have the time of my life. No more looking at movies or cards with snow in them...I was in the snow and as cold as it was, it was exhilarating as well.

Needless to say the time passed quickly and we had to head home but no before there were snow fights all around, some serious tobogganing and lots of skidding. I could have spent the entire day there just walking and playing in the snow. I have to do this again! Speacial thanks to the Seignorets' for their hospitality!

Canada Here I Come! I

Considering the fact that my sister is living in Canada for the better part of twenty years, one would think that's where I would go when I do visit Canada but that was not the case. With her blessing (which she forgot she gave) I visited my friend (of 17 years) an her husband in Ottawa.

Since I came to the US to study I always expected to visit the second largest country in the world but Ottawa was the furthest place from my mind by with some planning from my rommie and my friend I found myself at the Canadian High Commission in NY. After a series of questions, and the office being satisfied that I had no plans to get married and settle in Canada (me, settle anywhere...God forbid!) he was nice enough to grant me a visa to visit his lovely country.

The overnight trip was just that...overnight...and we had a snow white Canada awaiting us in addition to an excited best friend. You would think it was Santa arriving but arrive we did and it was a blast. We had what was supposed to be breakfast at 1pm and did not move from the table till after 5pm when the man of the house came in.

The weekend was a blast and here are some photos to it prove . Checkout Jon, Pamela and me in from of the house to begin with.

Paintballing In Pennsylvania!

If you did not know it before now you know!

Being a member (and President) of the Out In Two Scholarship definitely has its benefits and one such benefit was a trip to the forests of Pennsylvania for a day of paint balling, which incidentally, was the day after my birthday night so naturally I considered it an extension of my celebrations.

On the field we divided into two teams. What was a group of seventeen all out for a day of fun turned into two distinct groups out for "blood". It was open war and we had the "guns" to show how serious we were and no was was going to escape unscathed.
The first hit I took produced a yell only the great ape Godzilla could match! I was stunned that this could hurt so much so I vowed I would get my revenge at the next round. So said so done! I was relentless to the point where I could not differentiate comrades from enemies until the session was over and my team won.
For the rest of the day I took my fair share of hits and most of the other guys were relentless as well and for the last session which turned out to be a free for all with every man for himself my gun jammed and after taking numerous hits to the body, I stuck my gun in the air and call "out".
Needless to say, I have one bruise that seems to want to stay with me for a long time but what the heck...we all had a blast...literally.

Will I do it again? You bet I would!

Birthday Way..The Grand Finale

This is the end of what was a fun night...can you tell? Someone observer my shirt matched my new face cream!

Birthday Way...Act III Friends at Home

This is the first time having friends over for anything at the new apartment and small as it is, everyone had a good time socializing and of course, eating all the delicious food the "birthday boy" provided.

It was a good opportunity to see some friends whom you never see and meet new ones like our neighbour and her daughter. I did miss the house in Greenland Quays, London where I celebrated in 2005 as well as my farewell from London, and I did miss all my London friends at this celebration.

The funniest part was the cake. I had an ice cream cake in the freezer and did not remember it till after everyone had left. By this time there was the three room mates and my niece so we took it out, lit one candle and then had a feast. A cake that was made for 20 persons was now being devoured at 1am by four people.

After the cake came the opening of presents which is always the best part even though I had to wait a two days after my actual birthday but to make up, I had opened an amazing gift two weeks early that my sister Molly had given to me...that is, a laptop which I am using right now.

There ended my three day celebration of my birthday. The question is: what shall I do for an encore? We will just have to wait and see what 2008 brings our way.

Birthday Way...Act II "Tiffin Wallah"

As if one round of food and cake was not enough, I headed to an Indian veg restaurant that we had been to and I really liked with a different group of friends. We had been to Tiffin Wallah before and it had an authentic Indian feel to it, that is , based on some aspects of India that I experienced when I visited in the Summer of 2007.

I liked the fact that it was a pure veg restaurant and the food was so good, I did not miss having meat.

For this round of the celebration, we had Nathan and Leslie and they brought a friend, Elizabeth, Veronica (a trini classmate) and her husband Garvin, and of course the room mates, David, Jon and Me. (We missed Will and Christian who would have certainly been there except they had just moved back to Texas to have their baby).

The food was good and the company was even better and I had a free dinner because it was my birthday. Thank you guys for making my birthday very special.

Birthday Way...Act I "Out In Two Club"

For those of you who know me, you will know that my birthday is always a big deal for me. The only other time I like to fuss about is Christmas but birthdays are always better since its always about me. Even as the number increases the fun gets better and my circle of friends increase.My b-day began at about 11:45pm on the night of 11/13 because I get to decide when to start my official celebration. I open one present at that time and then went to bed.The morning was like any other morning and I had my Biology and English classes and then the fun began.

Being the President of the Out In Two Scholarship Club has its privileges and one of them is getting a chance to celebrate with all the Scholars. Our club advisor ordered a big cake and lots of food (we always have food at our club meetings)and it was one big celebration. One of the scholars, Brian, also had his b-day on the same day as mine so we had two cakes. Brian is in the red shirt in the pictures with me. Thanks Lesley and thanks Out In Two for a wonderful start to my b-day in 2007.

GRANDMA IN COURT

I just had to post this...its too funny to pass up...and yes Pam, I promise to do my post on Canada soooooooooon.

Lawyers should never ask a Louisiana grandma a question if they aren't prepared for the answer. In a trial, a Southern small-town prosecuting attorney called his first witness, a grandmotherly, elderly woman to the stand.

He approached her and asked, 'Mrs. Jones, do you know me?'

She responded, 'Why, yes, I do know you, Mr. Williams. I've known you since you were a young boy, and frankly, you've been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, and you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you're a big shot when you haven't the brains to realize you never will amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you.'

The lawyer was stunned! Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, 'Mrs. Jones, do you know the defense attorney?'

She again replied, 'Why, yes, I do. I've known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster, too. He's lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. He can't build a normal relationship with anyone and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. One of them was your wife. Yes, I know him.'

The defense attorney almost died.

The judge asked both counselors to approach the bench and, in a very quiet voice, said, 'If either of you idiots asks her if she knows me, I'll send you to the electric chair.'

Indian Concerts In New York:

Thanks to our new room mate David, I had the opportunity to see some amazing performances by Indian artists in the last few months.
The first is a band called Indian Ocean and there music is a fusion of Indian and other styles of music. They are well know for taking Indian folk sings, rearranging them, adding a fusion of music and recording it. It becomes a completely new song with an amazing sound that is distinct to band. Their sound was like nothing you have ever heard.
When you see the members they look like any other Indian but they are talented way beyond the normal scope.

The Two Masters:

When someone speaks of a performer as a master in their field many names can come to mind.
The other concert I attended with David featured two masters: Zakir Hussain on the Tabla and Rahul Sharma on the Santur. We almost did not get in but managed to get the last two tickets available. How cool is that!

Zakir Hussain is a true master or an Ustad as he is know to Indians. He made it seem so effortless playing the set of drums and could change the rhythm and flow with such ease it made you drift into a place of quiet contentment. Rahul Sharma, a master on the Santur was as eloquent as they come. He exuded queit confidence and a oneness with the music as he joined forces with Hussain to shower the audience with a touch of Indian classical heaven.
I had never see a Santur before but I always knew what a tabla was and sitting in the NYU auditorium and listening to these two men play these instruments with such precision was a truly amazing experience. There were no vocals but listening to the music was like a great escape. Time seemed insignificant as the music floated across the hall and seemingly into your soul.
If you are an open minded person and enjoy unique experiences, and if you ever have an opportunity to see either of these men perform, don't miss it. You will not regret. For me it was one of the best musical experiences I have ever had.