September - Month of Financial Woes!

Of late I have noticed that September is the most financially crippling month of the year for me. I have two major financial crisis in one month. A massive and ever increasing school fee and the death blow, my motor vehicle insurance and don't forget the other monthly expenses: rent, credit card bill, utilities, food, etc... Sometimes I wonder how my sanity survives each year, things like these will drive people crazy!

So I have started to tackle the mountain of expenses one at a time. I definitely cannot afford school fee out of my pocket, so I have decided to sell myself...NO! Stop right there! No whoring! Unnuh mind to smutty! As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, I have decided to sell myself to the credit union once again by acquiring a loan. So I dropped by early last week and requested an appointment to see a loan officer probably later down in the week, or this week, oh no I couldn't get an appointment till next week Monday! They don't understand the urgency of this! When I found out that my package was ready and went to collect it registration was in progress! "Suh any chance yuh can squeeze mi in, plleeaaassseee?", I pleaded. "No, I'm sorry sir the only time free is Monday" the customer rep replied. (%&*$!#!) So I will have to wait until Monday morning before I can go through the paper work and then another two to three days before I can get the cheque! I'm just hoping that teifing university don't charge me late registration fee.

Ok, since I can't do much more about that, it's time for the other headache, the motor vehicle insurance. My current policy expires tomorrow so I decided it's time to renew my policy, because I can't afford a ticket right about now, much more having my car towed away. So off to the insurance broker I went and what a shock I got! My premium is forty eight thousand and mash! What the &%#*$^$! Wah happen to mi no claim bonus? "That is included", the agent replied. Wah! What the hell, this is robbery! I can't afford to pay this much money for insurance and I haven't made a claim! Fortunately the nice lady found an alternative, she suggested I switch insurer and that's exactly what I did. Why? Well she found one that charged me some fifteen thousand dollars less! And you know paying less is always the best! So I saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to... no, not Geico smarty pants... another insurer. Thanks insurance broker lady... wherever you are.

Well my vacation is coming to an end and it's back to work...and school next week. But I have planned to have a lass hoorah. I shall be off to the north coast for the weekend to enjoy myself and soak up the last of my vacation. Enjoy your weekend! I plan to enjoy mine! I know the male bloggers will appreciate this likkle weekend present more than the females. Got this in my email and I just had to share it. (Drooling)

Sorry, ladies but I shall not be posting any half naked men on my blog!....unless it's a pick of myself!.....and the answer is NO!

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Shotta Donkey

"Only in Jamaica!" That's what I had to say when I saw this "Shotta Donkey" the last time when I was at Dunn's River falls in Ocho Rios. I just had to take a picture of this donkey all dressed up in his shades and adorned with beads around his neck and flowers on his back. There was an old mad who was sitting beside the donkey and was offering to have persons sit on the back of the donkey for a small contribution. How much? "...just leff a ting wid mi man...any ting yuh can spare..." So we gave him a donation and my little cousin sat on his back and took some pics. So whenever you are at Dunn's River you can keep an eye out for the Shotta Donkey.

Well, it seems once again Jamaica has been spared from the onslaught of tropical storm Ernesto and at one time hurricane Ernesto. Got a few showers today, in Kingston, but nothing to get worked up about. Well, hopefully the sun will be out tomorrow and all of next weekend when I will be off to enjoy the last few days of my vacation. Hopefully I'll see some more interesting things to take pictures of and HOPEFULLY MI GET A CAMERA FI BORROW.! My new camera will be arriving hopefully by early next week thanks to my big sis. Ratid I am a very hopeful person eeh!

My weekend was quiet, another couple of days of just chillaxing (chilling and relaxing...as if they don't mean basically the same thing), lazing around, watching TV, browsing the internet, running one ore two errands, sleeping late...wait isn't that what I have been doing since my vacation started? Usually I would be bored crazy by now, but for some reason I am not...maybe I'm getting old...hmmm. Let's move on to something ore interesting, how was your weekend?

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TS, Watch Out!

Once again Jamaica is on a Tropical Storm watch. The first one for the 2006 Atlantic Hurricane season. Thank God it has been quiet so far, but now we need to pray that things don't start to deteriorate...or deteriorate too much! Tropical Storm Ernesto in on a projected path that is directly in line with Jamaica. It was upgraded from a tropical depression to a tropical storm earlier today with his eyes set on the rock. Hopefully it does not gain any more strength and become a dreaded hurricane. The picture above is taken from weatherchannel.com so it will be updated automatically, so you can check back here to keep posted. I'll replace it with a static picture after the storm passes.

While we have been celebrating a calm season so far, I bet the supermarkets and the hardware stores have been weeping when the reflect on the killing they made in the last two hurricane seasons when we had a hurricane watch almost every three weeks and two brushes with powerful hurricanes. Well it seems their rain dance has paid off and they might be beefing up their supplies and making their plans for an increase in sales on hurricane items.

On the vacation scenes, I haven't been doing much so far. I have been home just relaxing, not even blogging much. I decided to just take the week and rest, chillout and just unwind and shed the stress. I plan to do things next week, so I am even more concerned about the tropical storm becoming a hurricane. Can't afford to have my vacation ruined by a hurricane and I can't afford a hurricane to come and I don't have a camera! Also, the pre and post costs of a hurricane or even a strong tropical storm would put a serious damper on my vacation money, as well as the destinations!

Enjoy your weekend and be safe.

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Grounded!

Yes that's exactly what has happened to me. The plan to go to New York has fallen through, so I will be staying in Jamaica for my vacation. I have spent countless hours on the internet scouring and on the phone negotiating with booking agents for various airlines, for low...or should I say reasonable fares to New York, but to no avail. All the cheap seats have been booked solid, so I have been grounded for this vacation. The cheapest tickets are still almost US$600! That would seriously cut into my shopping money with the new camera costing over US$250. So it's "sweet sweet Jamaica, nah leff yah" for me.

What's the plan then? No worries, since I'll be home for the vacation, I'll spend the time on various little projects and then I plan to do some traveling across the island next week. Why next week? Well hopefully I will be getting my new camera by then, my loving sis has agreed to buy it and send it down with one of her friends...don't rejoice yet, I'll have to pay her back! Nevertheless, thanks to my sis I should be getting the camera soon. If that doesn't workout, then I guess I will just have to borrow one, cause yuh done know mi cyaan travel without a camera!

Until such time I will be here blogging away, and I will keep you up to the time with all my excursions as try to find ways to keep myself entertained on a extremely low budget. Hmm...I wonder if that's possible?

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Vacation Around the Corner and the Dell Scare!

Yes, that time of the year is once again just around the corner, the time I get to rest, to go places, to get a well deserved break from work, vacation! I am not certain what I will be doing for my vacation yet, I want to take a trip to New York and look for my family, but the money weak right now. I have so many expenses to think about: school fee, which has hiked up so much since the last two years, insurance which has also taken a hike and has nullified the effect of my no claim bonus, and the normal overwhelming expenses of the month. On the other hand I don't really want to stay here and do nothing, and I don't feel like exploring Jamaica without my, (sigh) camera. So you can understand my predicament. But by next week Monday I will know what the plan is.

Dell Scare!
As I told you before, I bought myself a Dell notebook, after the untimely passing of my late PC. Well I was about to check my mail on Yahoo when I saw a headline saying that Dell was recalling the batteries for several of their notebooks! Of course this interested me as the article continued to say that several of the faulty batteries have overheated and caught fire! You can imagine my shock, and horror! Could my beloved notebook, be hiding an explosive secret! So off to dell.com I went to find out if my notebook was fitted with any of the faulty batteries. As I read through the site I noticed that they said the fault affects notebooks that were made in April...oh shit! My notebook was manufactured in April! I better read on, the faulty batteries were made in Japan or China...now I'm thinking I'm doomed because almost everything electronic is made in Japan, right! Anyway I preceded to check for the codes that are listed for the faulty batteries and popped out my battery to check it my notebook was a silent killer. Fortunately mine wasn't affected, the first good news was seeing Made in Korea on the battery and then my battery code was not listed in the faulty battery list. If you have Dell notebook that was manufactured in April you need to visit Dell and check out your battery.

Well, it's a weekend once again, so as usual enjoy your weekend!

P.S. I posted a new post on my fitness blog N'Shape, so you can check it out.

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Terror-flying Restrictions!

The US is at it again! Acting on intelligence that revealed a plot by some crazy Islamic extremist to blow up several flights with liquid explosives, the US and Britain has enforced yet more travel restrictions.
In the response to the terror plot the TSA (Transport Security Administration) rapidly implemented new restrictions on us, the poor passengers. Now we are not allowed to travel with liquids, gels, aerosols nor lotions in our hand luggage! Yes, sorry for you if you have dry skin, I guess you will be white and scaly in that airport AC. They have reportedly "tweeked" these restrictions to allow you a small amount of medication with you. Passengers have now been subjected to the extra hassle ( ...and maybe embarrassment for those whose shoes nuh smell right) of taking off our shoes and to be exposed to more radiation as we now have to be X-rayed at the checkpoints.[read story] That's not all, the searching of your luggage has even increased, so be careful where you put that dirty undie!

What is next, as it seems everything can be used as a weapon of terror? Will more restrictions be implemented? I can just imagine in a couple of years we will not be able to carry any luggage at all as it will be checked and and double checked and shipped to our destination in a couple of days after our arrival; we will all have to fly in the nude or some special outfit similar to the ones patients wear while in a hospital...for which the airline will charge a rental fee of course!

We now have to be careful of how many items we buy in the stores if we are of a certain ethnic descent as we may be charged for "collecting or providing materials for terrorist acts" and be careful of the pictures we take of certain landmarks like bridges and buildings or we could be charged for "surveillance of a vulnerable target for terrorist purposes". I was watching CNN on the TV last night and saw this report where three young Palestinian-American men were arrested and charged with the two above charges because they purchased about 80 cell phones and one of them had a picture of a bridge on their cell phone. According to the men they were buying the cell phones at a cheap bulk rate to re-sell them for a profit, but according to the American officials, "profits from that kind of activity can be suspicious." and the cell phones could be "used as detonators". [read full story]

Well, that hussling just mash up! So remember whenever you are shopping, you are restricted to only purchasing a few items or else... I can just see a couple of Jamaican Higglers (informal importers and/or vendors) being hauled off to jail for buying several cheap flip-flop slippers or blouses, as the "profits from that kind of activity can be suspicious."

At this moment, I feel like just staying in my country. All this hassle has taken all the fun out of traveling. Maybe the terrorists are accomplishing their mission, of making the countries go bankrupt trying to implement anti-terror measures, to keep us terrified of doing the things that make us happy and from making a living, who knows...only the crazy terrorists. I have enough restrictions on my purchasing and traveling here in Jamaica...no money! All these additional restrictions are just more burdens on poor likkle me.

But I must admit, life has changed drastically since the increased wave of terrorist activity, and the effects are not just limited to the countries that are being attacked! I can't blame these countries for trying to keep innocent citizens safe, even if the methods seem crazy. What can we do but to just work wid it and try to live our lives as normally as is possible... whatever normal is!

What do you think of the new travel restrictions? Are they necessary? Are all these anti-terror measures necessary? And do you think they are working?

Hopefully mi nuh get in trouble for using the "restricted words" in this post! But just in case I have published a disclaimer below.

Disclaimer for those who are tracking blogs that have the words terror and terrorist in their posts: Stunner's Afflictions and it's Author does not support terrorist activities or terrorist groups in any way and are totally against such deviant activities and those who carry out such activities.

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Caught In The Act On Camera!!!

Perfect example of someone caught on camera while getting on bad! Took this one from restrictionentertainment.com, taken at the recently held Absolute Stages party, one of the parties of the Absolute ATI weekend. You can click on the pic to view a larger one to get the full impact. I just had to share this one! Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

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Dr. Dave

Doctor Dave had slept with one of his patients and felt guilty all day long. No matter how much he tried to forget about it, he couldn't. The guilt and sense of betrayal were overwhelming.

But every once in a while he'd hear an internal, reassuring voice in his head that said:

"Dave, don't cry about it. You aren't the first medical practitioner to sleep with a patient, and you won't be the last."

"And you're single. Just let it go. "

But invariably another voice in his head would bring him back to reality, whispering .

Dave.............

Dave............

Dave.............

................you're a veterinarian."

Neva had anything to blog about really, and I saw this joke in my mailbox and decided to share it. Hope you enjoyed it!

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"What I Hate About Clock Alarms" and Yesterday

"Knock, knock." There she was basking in her radiant beauty; a body to die for, curves in the right places and booty for days. We both knew why she was here, not to reflect on the good times, to make some good times. Hot, steamy, un-chaineded, passion engulfed the room as our bodies became one..."Beep-beep, beep-beep!" Damn you alarm clock!

I finally got around to trying my skills at the 60 word stories. It's not as good as some of the ones I have read on the blogs I went through, but a try is a try nuh.


Yesterday

I went to Yesterday this weekend. It was held on Saturday night at the Mass Camp on Oxford Road. Being a typical Jamaican party person, I didn't arrive until about 2:00 am. By the time I got there the 90s party was is full swing, jam packed to the maximum. The selectors kept slapping the crown with dangerous mixes of dancehall, reggae and hip-hop music from the early to the late 90s. This was much to the delight of the crowd who kept rocking, whining an gyrating to the beats of their favorite songs of yesteryear. I was actually surprised to see sucoverwhelminglyingly huge crown considering that this weekend was host to two major events, Appleton Treasure Isle and the return of Sunsplash! I enjoyed the night as I rocked, whined, bussed shot (verbal imitation of gunfire coupled with raising ones hand in the air with the fingers positioned to form a gun) to the selections and sipped on some rum and coke under the clear night sky until 4:30 am. It was a good party, didn't regret spending the Ja$800 for the ticket. How was your weekend?

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$@@&#%!& Blogger!!!

Yes I said it! !%#@&#! Blogger! I don't know what the hell happened. Yesterday I went on my blog to visit the blogs on my blog roll only to find a !%!$#&! blue screen! no words, no pictures, no posts, not even the ^@&!^@& title of my blog! I don't know what the rass is wrong with Blogger sometimes.

Don't be surprised at the new look. Being the resourceful person I am, I decided to pick another template. And whalla all the posts and words are back! So bear with me as I will have to spend the weekend customizing my blog. It shouldn't be too hard, as I have saved the code for the previous template. I hope you all like the new look!

Have a great weekend!

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Happy One Year!!!

Happy one year Stunner's Afflictions!!!! One year, 133 posts and still going. Exactly one year ago I made my first post on Stunner's Afflictions and embarked on my journey in the blogsphere. At first I viewed the blog as a medium for me to voice my opinions on issues that affect me and on things that I find interesting. But now I find my blogging to be more than just commenting on issues or lashing out on things that annoy me. To me blogging is much more than just that, blogs are a medium for me to share a part of my life, my interests, my personality with those who dear to take a read. It also offers me the opportunity to peer into a part of other bloggers life and see things from a different point of view.

Blogging has also allowed me to meet a wide cross section of people via the various blogs that I read, but it didn't just stop there. I have also had the privilege of meeting quiet a few of the persons behind the blogs on two occasions at the Bloggers Linkups.

Thank you all for supporting my blog so far!!!

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