Perfect Temperatures

I made it to Hong Kong safe and sound and I'm loving the temperatures! It's about 18 degrees Celsius around so it's like the environment's just air conditioned. =] A shirt and sweater is all I need really. It's just the right amount of cold =D

So, as a quick update:

• I got my new phone! The Nokia N97 mini. Lovely piece of machinery. Getting used to the technology it holds.
• NY is super cold! My flight from Barbados got delayed due to weather conditions...it was snowing! After a 2 hour delay, we got going and arrived to a wonderfully white winter.
• Had my first experiences with snow! It's so pretty and white........until it starts melting away and looks all wet and grey, then it's not so pretty anymore.
• Travelled to Hong Kong in Business First Class on Continental Airlines. Loved it. Made the 15 hour flight seem much shorter. With full, hot, fresh meals served on plates with real cutlery, a chair that lengthens out about 170 degrees to almost give you a flat bed, over 300 movie choices, over 50 tv show choices, over 80 games, and over 100 albums of music, what more could one ask for?

The trip has only just begun! I'm sure there will be lots to happen and such. And my phone, my camera and myself will all be there to capture the memories =D

Christmas is almost here. And I'm finally in a Christmas mood! =P

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Where's my vacation?

All I see everywhere is books...books...and more books. I'm tired of all this studying! I keep wondering if it'll all be for naught or if something may actually come of it...it's hard to tell with the course co-ordinator for my last two final exams.

So far my med exams have turned out to be better than I could possibly have expected, so I'm happy for that. I just hope my grades reflect the wonderfully positive feeling I have tumbling around inside. Despite that, I still have this negativity tumbling around with it.

The prospect for any exam that comes from the course co-ordinator that I feel...extreme dislike for is usually never good. Looking at the incourse grades is almost depressing...the majority of the class did extremely bad...barely passing...or just failing. And so...I dread the next, and final, two exams left: The Digestive System and The Endocrine System & Skin. They could be interesting...I believed them to be so but it never helps when you have bad lecturers that literally teach you nothing useful for your medical career.

As such, I've been having sleeping problems for the past few days. It's probably from underlying stress. I say underlying because I honestly don't feel stressed out and I only really know when I'm stressed when I get some physical manifestations of it. Different things happen depending on the situation. Sometimes I get back pains, a stiff neck, break out or, a new one, I have trouble falling asleep. I've had to try numerous things to get myself to sleep at night and eventually one of them works and I manage to fall asleep and whenever I wake up, I feel extremely wide awake.

Now, once my sleeping pattern is disrupted then it's quite the indicator that I'm overly stressed and worried (though I don't really feel that way). I'm the kind of person who can normally get to sleep easily whenever, however and wherever. I've never had a problem with it. Until now.

This week just needs to end.

Harsh times ahead

Burning the midnight oil

It's that time of the academic year. The semester is just at its close and classes are over. And now, examinations have begun.

My exams started yesterday with Caribbean Civilisation, an exam in which I was to write 2 essays in a period of 2 hours. I managed to successfully complete such a task. I studied 3 topics and, with the worst luck imaginable, only 1 of the 3 topics I studied got a question on the exam.

An exam consisting of 8 questions, 2 of which were to be answered. Well, I managed to get the slightest bit of luck back on my side when I saw a question on Creole language, a topic I covered in English during summer school. Not to mention it was a question that I could easily make up stuff for and still get a decent grade for...hopefully. Well, all I require is a "Pass" from the course anyway. Grades won't matter. I'll be getting my 3 credits.

Medical exams begin on the 10th. Four exams to sit in this semester. Three major systems and...another course - medically related, of course.

• The Cardiovascular System
• The Digestive System
• The Endocrine System & Skin
• Health & The Environment

To everyone in the midst of their final examinations: I wish you the best of luck! Study hard...but not too hard...and be sure to take care of yourselves!

Parang! Parang!

Parang: derived from the Spanish word "parranda" (meaning "spree"), it is folk music originating from Trinidad & Tobago. With influences from the Caribbean and Latin America, parang is played mainly around the Christmas season.

Parang bands consist of a number of singers accompanied by a number of instruments including: violin, guitar, tambourine, maracas (chac chac), claves (toc-toc), box bass and mandolin.

Having lived my childhood in Trinidad, I'm rather attached to many things Trinidadian. One of them being parang. It's lively and the fun of the music is absolutely contagious. My Trinidadian family is really big on parang...in fact they've formed a band and they go around playing at little venues around Trinidad: the Homer Parranderos. I only met them a few years ago but they're quite a lively bunch of folks. The band's made up of a single family unit, a rather large family unit: parents and their many children of varying ages.

I found Sharlene Flores' parang CD! Haha. I'm so glad we still have it =]

I was at the Drive In last Saturday to watch New Moon, and I heard parang on the Drive In's radio station and it made me reminiscent. It's pretty old parang music but I loved it anyway..after all, what's better than the traditional folk music? It was so much fun to hear! And it was only when I heard parang that I felt Christmas coming.

After all, parang is played mainly around Christmas in Trinidad. It's fun and festive and Christmasy. =]

Now that Independence has passed and December is here, I woke up to some Christmas tunes coming over the air waves.

Hello December!