What A Weekend!

I had a fun-filled weekend this past weekend, from New Kingston to Ochie and back to New Kingston, partying photos and fashion all crammed into one weekend. Let me Recap.

Photo: watever.com (May Daze week 2)

On Friday night after working the evening shift, I dash out of the office at a few minutes fast twelve, revved the engine and made my way up to Akbar, which was the venue for May Daze. This was the final of the series that runs throughout the month of May. Considering that i have never been to May Daze before, the great reviews i heard and that this was the last of the series, I made sure I found myself there. After driving around the block twice in search of parking... I hate when I go to venues that don't have proper parking... I finally decided to go to the payed parking which I ignored each time I passed. The parking was $200, but after some serious negotiations I managed to get it for $150. But the park for searching wasn't the only delay, as I had to join a never ending line which seemed as if it had no intentions of moving. I'm sure I stood there in the line for about twenty minutes and was quite upset to find out at the top of the line that I had to be competing with others who were not in the line! Good sense finally prevailed when the security, if I could call him that, restored a bit of order. I went in the party, met up with my friends, and after getting a drink from the bar I quickly forgot about the earlier delays and enjoyed the music mix and the vibes. May Daze was a decent party, I enjoyed myself and didn't regret the $600 entry fee I payed.

Spanish Town Iron Bridge

After spending the greater part of the day on Saturday to recover and working another evening shift it was time for the Flickr North Coast group trip! I woke up early on Sunday morning to ensure I was read to catch the bus which was scheduled to depart Kingston at 7:30 am destined to the White River Valley in St. Mary. Needless to say, the bus didn't depart until 8:00 am was still on time, Jamaican time that is, lol! The trip to White River Valley was not a none stop trip, as it comprised of several photo stops at various places of interest along the way. These "five minute" stops, which turned out to be half hour at least, allowed to to snap photos at the Spanish Town Iron Bridge, the Flat Bridge, Bog Walk damn and the White River bridge. But that can be expected as once you start taking photos, one looses track of time as you get immersed into your passion. Our group of photographers also stopped traffic in Spanish Town as people started to gather in curiosity when we were down by the bridge shooting. We stopped at a place in Walkers Wood, called Liming for lunch, somewhere I always drove past on my way to the north coast and never stopped. The trip was great, I got to meet a lot of people from the Flickr group, visited places I have never been, got some good photos and just enjoyed the company of my fellow photo enthusiasts. I will be posting some of the photos on my photoblog and on my Flickr account.

Fashion Block 2009

Still tired from my North Coast trip, I was still in the mood to do something I have never done before, and this time it was Fashion Block, a part of Style Week 2009. Fashion Block is a runway show held right in the middle of Knutsford Boulevard in New Kingston and featured the fashion of may designers locally and abroad. This fashion show is the production of the Saint International Model Agency and as such the designs were presented to the huge crown by the Saint International models. I didn't manage to get any good shots, as I still haven't received my zoom lens and the external flash I recently purchased. I however got to enjoy some guess performances from a few of our new local Dancehall artistes. Despite the obvious disappointment of not getting some good shots, it was a good experience as I have never been to one of these shows before.

That was my weekend in a nutshell, how was your weekend?

Read More

X-Men Origins Review

One down, three to go! Yes I have watched the first on a list of what I think are theater worthy movies so far. I went to watch X-Men Origins Wolverine, on Tuesday night. It was great break from the small screen bootlegs... well that is if I watched bootlegs... Shh! Nuh seh nuttin!

The movie started off a little slow, but I guess that what happens when you are building a story and setting the stage for the rest of the movie. The movie picked up a little after the first quarter and the action kicked in. It had a few decent action scenes, and I guess having the movie focused on mostly one character made the movie easier to follow. This made the movie a little better than the previous X-Men sequel which was mostly a mix of different characters on exhibition with their special powers all squeezing in to a ninety minutes slot.

As usual Hugh Jackman, played the part of Wolverine well and did his job to motivate me to head back to the gym and work at achieving that ripped dream body I want. Thank you Hugh, for setting me back a few thousand dollars, that I don't have, for gym fee! The supporting actors did their part two including Wolverine's archenemy Victor Creed aka Sabretooth, played by Liev Schreiber. I was expecting a little more from the movie, but overall it was a decent move and was worth the trip and money to watch it at the theater. I didn't feel as if i wasted my money, even though I expected more, so i give it an average Stunner rating of 3 stars out of 5.

As I said before, I still have three more theater movies to watch. Next is Star Trek which is now in the theaters and the upcoming movies Terminator Salvation and Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. The trailers look great and the review for Star Trek has been good so far, so I am hoping to at least get a satisfied feeling forking out my theater money. It has been a long time since I have seen so many theater worthy movies running in such close succession. See you at the movies!

Read More

Thief! Thief! - The Account of an Attempted Robbery

It was a rainy Sunday morning, May 17 to be exact. It was the kind of rain that makes you sleep deep and comfy, the type of rain that makes you just want to cuddle and sleep in the warmth and comfort of your bed. But for me, that peace was shattered in the wee hours of Sunday Morning at about 3:30. I was fast asleep, deep sleep as I was extremely tired when a loud thud shocked me out of my slumber. What could this be, where did it come from?

Still dazed by the frightening sound I stumbled out of bed to investigate the source of this sound. I checked the front, but all seemed OK, so I headed to the kitchen to ensure that my door was locked properly. I listened, but there was no sound. The only other option was to head into the bathroom to look out at the back porch through the bathroom window. I slowly, steadily and stealthily climbed up on the edge of the tub to look out. As I peered into the dimly lighted back porch a figure manifested itself just before my eyes! He was right in front of me, the only thing separating us was the wall and the blades of the window. It was a thief! A thief had broken into my porch and was about to make his next move to gain entry to my place. At this point I was unarmed, I don't have a gun, and weary from my sleep I hadn't stopped to take up my machete, so all I could do was to shout thief as loudly as I could! I shouted several times, trying to overpower the deafening sound of the night rain, as I dash back to the kitchen, flicked on the light switch for the porch and drew my cutlass and grabbed my phones!

By this time the thief had made a hasty retreat as he knew he was spotted. I desperately tried to get the police, but this was to no avail. I dialed 119, I dialed the number for the constant spring police station but no one answered, the phone rang and rang antagonizing and hopelessly. I called up my neighbours to alert them of what happened, all this time the phone was still ringing of the deaf ears of the police. After about what seemed to be a half hour, someone finally answered 119 and took the report. The police didn't arrive till about another 20 minutes later and just merely asked a few questions went to look at the breached area, and agreed with some of the neighbours who said I should have waited until he was coming in then chop him, then left after a few minutes. Some police, no wonder why the crime rate in Jamaica is so high. When you call them you can't get an answer and when they do finally arrive much later, they are basically of no use.

This ordeal has shaken me up somewhat. Being robbed or experiencing almost being robbed on the street, at a venue or on the road is a rough experience, but when it happens at your home, your safety nest, it takes on a whole new dimension. Things could have been worse, so I am thankful that they weren't. I thought about what some of my neighbours said, that I should have waited and then chopped him, yes that would have been good, because thief fi dead! On the other hand, I only saw one, there could have been more, I didn't know if he too had a machete or worse a gun, so things could have escalated to my detriment. Furthermore, they weren't in the situation, so they can say anything, so even though I wished I had ensured he didn't get the opportunity to thief or attempt to thief again, I'm still grateful to be unharmed and have my belonging intact.

Point of entry

I assume the thief gained entry cutting and/or prying and then hitting out a few bars in the grill. I surmise he thought no one was there, as I had just not long before come home from work a little after midnight and went to bed just after. I told my landlady, who promptly agreed to fix the grill and I finally sourced someone to fix the grill by the Sunday afternoon. The grill people did a shabby work for which they overcharged, but desperate times needed desperate action. One thing though, they knew that they will not get any business from me or my landlady ever again. The repair is a temporary fix though, as the landlady will be reinstalling a new grill as the current one was poorly constructed and will be placing additional ones at the kitchen door and the bathroom window. She carried her grill man to measure the place and from my latest conversation with her, she has paid down the money and the material is to be sourced. Even though the complex is gated, the wall to the back of the complex, which also runs just behind my apartment, is extremely low and has no protective barb wires to deter even the simplest of criminals. Some of the strata committee members have vowed to at least put up some razor wires along the wall, but that is yet to be seen.

I still feel uneasy, especially when I'm about to go to sleep. I am eager for the landlady to finish what she has committed to do so I can feel a bit safer while I sleep. I'm not the first to experience this at the complex from what I know, and I certainly won't be the last. With this in mind I am even thinking of looking for a new place to live, as I work shifts and the complex does not have a security personnel and I have no idea of how soon I will see those razor wires going up... if they will. In the mean time, I give God thanks, pray for protection, will be more vigilant and wary as I come in and keep my machete a little closer to me.

Read More

Quick Update with an Eye-Candy for Dessert

Wait! Don't call the police and file any missing person report! I am still around, very busy, but still hanging in there. I have a series of meetings since last week, combining that with gym, I basically only have a few hours to eat and sleep for the entire week. Today is the last day, thank God, as I am tired of fighting the sleep for hours during these all day meetings. On the plus side the finger food was good. as well as the ample supply of juices, fruits and the much needed coffee.

On a different note, my car is looking like new again. The damaged area that was repaired and sprayed was finally buffed today. But that wasn't all, I decided to get the entire care buffed so it would have an even shiny new look. And it did look brand new this evening when I went to pick it up. The entire car was buffed and polished and looks shiny like a car in one of those magazines. Yay!

I haven't posed one of these in a while, so I think I'm going to drop an eye-candy for my fellow male bloggers for the weekend. Don't worry ladies, I'm still working on yours for the summer [wink, wink]. This eye-candy has appeared in Flavor of Love and is the reason why I actually wasted time watching I Love Money 2. Presenting the ever sexy Myammee!

Have a great weekend!!!

Read More

Anything for You... Pull it Up!

I haven't posted a Pull it Up video in a long time. While dancing to the mixes at Mello Vibes I heard this song and I said to myself that I just had to post it! This was one of my favorite songs from era when Dancehall music was real music. Hey crowd a people unnuh remember this one?



On another note, I have received the money from the man who reversed into my car and I plan to drop off the car on Friday to have some work done on it. Hopefully my baby will be looking like new again! Have a great weekend my peeps!

Read More

#@%$&^! Di Man Hit Mi Car!

^!$!&@^%@$!%&$*!

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, at about 2:45, I was on the phone talk to the GF, when I heard a loud sound... that awful sound you hear when someone hits a car, and then almost simultaneously my car alarm went off! What the hell! Did someone just break into my car right in front of my apartment?

I told my GF to hold on and quickly abandoned the phone to investigate what it was. I killed the lights and quickly peered through the side of the curtain to to see if I would catch the assailant in the act. And so I did! But it wasn't a lurking thief doing his wrongs in the cover of dark, no, it was my neighbour! I was just in time to see his Tacoma moving forward from what seemed to be the right hand side of the front to my car. What the ra.., how this man lick mi car?

I immediately grabbed my keys and head outside to take a closer investigation as the alarm continued to pierce through the once silent still of the night. With my face cracking from the hardness of the anger and bewilderment that overcame me I proceeded towards the assailant, who by now was out of his vehicle walking around surveying.

"How yuh manage hit mi car boss?", I enquired with a tone of anger and frustration.

"Mi neva see it..." He replied, with what sounded like a mixture of remorse and confusion in his voice.

What the ra..! How him nuh fi si mi car! It's a damn 2004 Honda Civic, it is not that small! The worse thing is that on the side he hit there was nothing else parked in the entire 4 vehicle parking that was to the right of my car! Yes it is black, but the entire parking lot is lit and his reverse light was working. This guy circumvented all that free space to come and hit my car? What also didn't make sense is that this guy was driving a left hand vehicle, and reversed into the right hand side of my car! How the hell him miss that! By this time my other neighbour who came in just after the assailant, was just as bewildered as to how he didn't see my car.

I closely examined the car and realised that the right front fender was dented as well as the right hand side of the front bumper. Also on closer examination of the driver I notice to that he was a little dented mentally, yes that bastard was under the influence. Not totally drunk, but nice enough for you to notice and would certainly explain why he ended up hitting my car.

He has agreed to fix back my car without going to the insurance, as that would be futile since the damages would be below the excess and they would have dismissed his claim. I reported the incident to the police, as required by law and for my personal assurance, and got an estimate done for the repairs. This will set him back almost JM$30,000, yep nuff money that for the repairs. But I feel no compassion, I'm sure he has heard it many times,"if you drink, don't drive". Also whenever you are backing up you should take extra care.

I'm glad I caught him in the act as his vehicle showed no evidence of a collision. Now I am anxiously awaiting the completion of the repair work and dread the inconvenience while it is being done. But still mi vex star. It would have been better if it had never happened.

Cho ^!$!&@^%@$!%&$*!

Read More