A Child Unleashed

Mickey's Magic Show was here in Barbados for a few days and, like the children my Mum and I are, we got tickets to go! Watched the 1:30 show today and it was so much fun! Second row, aisle seats were awesome. Mickey's Magic Show was also in Trinidad during my last week there!

The second half of the show was the most entertaining for me...the first part more for the little kiddies with a few of the Disney princesses like Belle, Cinderella and Snow White. The levitation acts were the most enthralling and I really liked the more active of the two magician guys =D

VIP seats!

It's always nice when we get these little international acts coming to this small rock in the sea. My Mum and I were talking about that on our way back home. We were talking about how not-so-expensive tickets were to go see them. VIP tickets were only $75 BDS (about $37.50 US). I don't think it would cost that amount for those kinds of seats on larger continents.

We'd been to a Cirque du Soleil show when we went to New York a year or two ago and it was awesome! But it also certainly cost over $100 (or 200?) US for a ticket! Ah well. It was totally worth it. My Mum was saying she expected VIP tickets to have been at least $100 BDS. The fact that not very many acts come down here is fairly obvious to the average Barbadian.

Our little discussion came to the conclusion that they don't make much of a profit from coming to our island since they would be expected to have lower prices than they would normally charge. I really don't think the typical Barbadian would want to pay $200-400 for tickets. It seems insane but that's what prices are like elsewhere, or at least in our experience it's been that way. So I can't really blame international people for not wanting to put up shows here much. It takes a lot of time and labour and people need to be paid for that, it's understandable. =]

Guess that's another reason, I'd like to move away someday. The lack of entertainment around. Local acts are nice, e.g. bands, but we don't have everything.

Students Galore

Oh boy was today sweltering hot! Honestly. The heat was insane. On my way home my car gave me a temperature reading of 36 degrees Celsius. Mad hot.

I went to the new students' orientation this morning! I was out the house running some errands and so I decided to drop by U.W.I. to get my student ID renewed. I had a friend who's amongst the first years so I figured I'd stick around and keep her and her friends company ^_^ In doing so, I ran into a bunch of old acquaintances and an old friend who I don't get to see often. I'm so glad he'll be at U.W.I. with the rest of the us now! Not that it would matter much, since I rarely see my friends around campus.

Ended up learning a thing or two about some stuff on campus that are new. They've set up drink machines around more places on campus so that'll make some people happy. They're apparently building a pharmacy and bus shelters (they've got students waiting on the U.W.I. bus in the sun. Poor souls). I got to take a look at the Medical Sciences building (still under construction, of cou

rse) and it's come along pretty far. I'm impressed. They've started painting/putting on trowel plastic (I'm not sure which since I couldn't get closer but most likely the latter since it's cheaper and looks better).

Of course, I don't walk around with my digital camera and my cellphone camera no longer works so my friend took a picture with hers =] At this rate, we'll finally be able to move in to our own faculty building by second semester instead of use random classrooms around campus for whatever need we have. Yay!

There are so many first years. I wonder how many are in my faculty. I can't wait to meet them!

Trust, Change & Friendship

Life is an ocean tide

Love is the sweetest honey

Friendship is a double-edged sword

And betrayal runs as deep as the scarlet flowing within us.

By: Me

I've been thinking about a lot of things recently. For some reason, a trip to Trinidad always gives me some sort of revelation of what's happening in my life. I guess that's another reason why I look forward to my trips back there almost every year.

Friendships are precious things, aren't they? But not many of them stay with you for as long as you'd like. People change. There will always be people around to help out and many acquaintances to be made, but how many are true friends? People grow apart as they grow in life. Our experiences make us who we are. Sometimes people grow closer with change. We are who we are. We can't always flow smoothly along the river just because we want to. There are things that we have no control over. So when it's time to let go, then we must learn to do so.

Letting go can be painful. But if there's a person bringing down your good moods and is just being a constant drag on your spirit, then it's necessary. Such a person can only be holding you back being the best you can be and holding you back from spreading your wings, whether they're aware of it or not. Nobody deserves to be unhappy. Chaos and confusion - no thanks. A simple talk can lead to an argument and I much prefer to avoid confrontations such as those. I like it when everyone can get along without one person trying to take charge. Of course, reality is what it is and humans are unpredictable beings.

Change is a part of life. We all need to learn to accept it and move on. It doesn't help to live in the past.

The Time Traveler's Wife

I went to watch The Time Traveler's Wife with a my Mum and a friend tonight and I really enjoyed it. I must say though, that the trailer gives away quite a bit so there were things that I knew would happen despite what was going on in the movie. How it happened was the only mystery. The mystery of watching the movie the first time around is always what's most enjoyable!

On a side note, I must say that I always have to make a very conscious effort not to type 2 L's every time I spell out Traveler. I'm just so accustomed to using two L's not one. It's just like how I'm used to using "re" in words like centre and "ou" in words like neighbour.

Back on topic, I quite enjoyed the movie. Nearly shed a few tears over it but managed to hold them back. Crying in public: not happening. lol. I'm curious to read the book. Hopefully I can get around to that before the new semester starts.

Escape No More...

So today is my final day in Trinidad. The end of my two-week getaway...my great escape. It truly was an escape and I've enjoyed every minute of it. As was the usual, I enjoyed my last week here more than the first. I always wonder why that is...could it be because the pressure of the end of my trip is nearing? Nevertheless, I still enjoy myself.

I do wish that I could stick around a little longer. I normally always want to stick around just another week longer but I haven't wanted to stay this much in quite a few years. I can't believe that it's been a decade since I moved away from the island. It only hit me just recently. A decade.

Trinidad is a pretty neat place to be able to keep yourself busy, I think. It helps to have friends. Ah...good friendships...old friendships. I love that I still get along well with old friends...friends that I've known for as far back as I can possibly remember.

In more than one way, this trip has been an incredibly special one for me. A decade.

Let The Floodgates Open!

Monday afternoon was a pretty heavy afternoon in terms of rain, thunder and lightning! The weather in Trinidad is pretty wacky on it's own: super hot and sunny with a sudden change in weather - rain and thunder for a couple of hours - then the return of the sun till it sets. Well, just when I thought it was another one of the wacky days of Trinidadian weather, it was about 3 times heavier than usual.

Electricity went out in some areas. At home it was for about 10 minutes. At work it was a good few hours. The flooding was way worse at the office than at home but either way no one could get anywhere easily.

After a few hours, we looked outside and it was just totally flooded out!

Apparently, there was a tornado somewhere in central Trinidad too!

Both pictures taken outside my Dad's office

It all dried up after a couple of hours, of course. Didn't take incredibly long. At least the heat is good for something. =P

Cube

I've been seeing the little Nissan Cube everywhere around Trinidad. They're so...square (duh).

Never saw any of these in Barbados though so it was just about the first time I saw one (apart from those colourful tv ads).

They're apparently 7-seaters and quite spacious inside but I don't really like them though, in terms of appearance. Apart from knowing where the front and the back of the vehicle end, without much of a doubt, a vehicle that looks like that is the last thing I'd want to be driving around. But that's just my opinion. =].

For those who asked.

Here's a very brief, non-detailed description of the first week here. ^_^

Monday

Got coconut water from a roadside stall in St. Augustine. Ate the coconut jelly. Delicious. Ran some errands. Went to Trincity. Ran more errands. Went to Digicel. Got an inexpensive prepaid cellphone. Now I walk around like most other Trinidadians: with two cellphones.

Tuesday

Met a friend of my Dad's. Called up some friends. Sorted out some movie plans.

Wednesday

Rediscovered Pokemon on Cartoon Network. Spent some time at my Dad's office while he worked during the afternoon.

Thursday

Took a drive into Port-of-Spain to run some errands. Was cool. Sat in with my Dad's evening appointments. Was quite interesting. Learnt one very important thing: must review first year work.

Friday

Went to the radio station with my Dad to do a radio show (him, not me). Met up with Danny. Went to Movietowne. Watched Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince after we browsed Movietowne. It didn’t feel as long as it really was, which is good I think. Didn’t feel like there was much going on in the movie…which is probably why it felt like a normal length movie as opposed to 2 ½ hours.

It's been a pretty quiet trip so far...more or less.

Escape to TnT

Arrived safe and sound to blue skies and bright sun! It's currently overcast with the occasional showers now though! It's actually quite hot here as well, of course. I think it's typically 1 or 2 degrees hotter than Barbados but it feels about the same I guess. As I said in my previous post, I'm staying with my Dad this time around. He's got a pretty nice house, it's neat and comfy. I'm not entirely sure of what I'll be doing over the next two weeks but I'll do what I can to enjoy things here =]

I brought along my camera and the battery charger but I completely forgot to bring the camera cable! So I won't be able to put up any pics on my computer and blog! Boooooo! Ah well. Such is life. Something was bound to be forgotten. I'll try not to make that mistake again next time. =]

A Two-week Getaway

Tomorrow starts my two-week getaway from the island of Barbados to the neighbouring island of Trinidad. Much larger and many more things to do and places to go than Barbados, I'm just about dying to get out of here!

It's nothing particularly special though. Just my usual 2 week summer trip to Trinidad. I usually try to go every year for 2 weeks ever since I moved from there when I was 9. I haven't kept in touch with many of my friends, unfortunately, but somehow I've always kept in touch with one of them. I always wonder how long it would last...it's been 10 years since I moved and we still get along well despite how we've both changed over the years. I normally stay over at her house as well, but this year I'll be staying with my Dad so it should be an interesting enough trip, I think. =] Plus, he's got internet (my friend doesn't) so I won't get totally bored if I get such a chance.

I'm quite happy to be going away. After awhile, I always get really bored here in Barbados. I'm not very big on the beach scene and I absolutely despise Bridgetown, our biggest mall is so small that one can take your time walking around it and walk every inch of the place in 15 minutes tops. Of course, I'm not really big on nightlife either. Which leaves very few options for fun: lime at a friend's house (or have a lime at mine), go to the drive in for a movie or two, go to the theatre or go mini golfing, among others. I don't know...just gets so boring here. =[. Barbados is an amazing vacation spot or even a good place to retire but it's not somewhere that I would want to spend my life in. While the slow-pace and peacefulness is nice, it's also quite frustrating.

I must say though, I have no intentions of staying and working in Barbados for the rest of my life. Whenever I think about the future, it's not in Barbados. I'm not sure where I'll find myself but here doesn't feel like the place I really want to be. I love my friends though! They keep me happy and satisfied enough here =D

Well, I'll be returning home in Barbados on August 16th! The new year begins on August 31st so I'll have another two weeks to get myself sorted out and back on track for classes again.