2010 in revue

I saw a few blogs do this and thought what the hey, why don't I do it. So what do I have to say about 2010 for me? Honestly speaking, for the most part it's a blur. I know I wanted to make it the best year ever as it was the year I turned 30.

One of the major things I wanted to do was take care of a scar I have along my spine from when I had surgery to straighten my spine from scoliosis. There is a plastic surgeon who comes down from Canada every month and I set up an appointment to see him. I explained my situation and showed him the scar. In the end he explained that it was not advisable because it's difficult for scars to heal vertically and with the muscles pulling and other reasons. Basically, he said if I were his wife he would advise against it. So I've decided to accept it and now I think about now that I've accepted it, I've forgotten about it.

Another major thing I had planned to do is go skydiving. It was something I knew I wanted to do and when the plan was hatched I was full speed ahead. From this experience I've learned that it's better not to let people know until after all the plans are made and there is no going back. I loved it and it was worth it.

Also this year I started illustrating. It all started when a guy who works near where I work saw me doing some quick sketches and wanted a full sketch. I did it and he graded it. As I wasn't happy with the grade, I kept illustrating until he gave me grades I was happy with, like A+ to the third power. After seeing my work on this blog, fellow blogger, Lion-ess, suggested I create a DeviantART Profile. To be honest, I didn't think I was worthy, but after putting up my work, I've gotten a lot of positive feedback. I'm taking a little break though as I haven't been happy with the last couple illustrations.

I got to meet fellow blogger, Lion-ess, who is a really nice person. She and her boyfriend came down to attend a friends wedding and on their last day on island I got to show them around the island I call home. The experience just shows the benefits of blogging, it's a great way of connecting to people you would never have met.

My grandfather on my father's side died. It was a sad moment for different reason. If anything it makes me see that I want my memorial service to be a festive event, something to celebrate my life. I say memorial ceremony because I've chosen to be cremated, I have a very real fear of worms, even in death. See something new you've learned about me.

Other random stuff

• I had started to make clothes for the Independence Fashion Show. it was a collection called Holier Than Thou inspired by Jesus, The Virgin Mary and The Pope as well as holes. I never continued because my mom was having a minor surgery, my grandfather was dying and the theme of this year's Fashion Show was "Pappy Show". Pappy Show, according to WiWords, means to make a fool of oneself. I was not going to be blasphemous, even if I'm not a full Christian.
• I took part in a fitness challenge, where I didn't really lose weight but my stamina grew and I felt better. It was also a good thing that I had something that kept me active. It was only 10 weeks, but it has pushed me to take my fitness into my own hands.
• I created my bucket list. I'm trying to shift my life to something that I truly want it to be and it helps to have something to aim for. Plus the noggin sitting on my shoulders seems to operate better that way. A lot of the answers to my questions are already in me, I just have to ask the right questions.
• I've written my first book of poetry, but I just have to go about publishing it. More of that in the future.
• I've paid a deposit on a piece of land. It's pretty nice. I was going to get a loan to purchase it, but the evaluator for the bank valued it $15K lower than what the seller is selling it for. I then decided I would pay in installments to the seller, but it didn't pan out so I've already paid the difference and I'm pulling together the monies to pay the bank fees, transfer fees and fees fees. It's a good thing I can be stubborn, because if it was anything else I would have called it quits.

I'm sure there is more, but I'm drawing a blank. This has been a hard year as the global recession has really hit our small island. I've seen stores that have been around since I was small close their doors, I've seen this island morph. There is this concept I've always had in the back of my head, the future is not going to be a completely new world, it's going to have bits and pieces of the past entrenched in it. Some of the good stuff and some of the bad. I now think I can apply it to people, to myself even. Even though I don't think I achieve a lot this year, the boring stuff will wither away from my memory and the things that matter will remain.

It was nice, well not really, to be honest I think it's time to say goodbye to 2010.

Work Spaces and Interiors

seesaw.

2010

 

 We don't know anything

Ted Thursday #19

About The Clip

Kiran Bir Sethi shows how her groundbreaking Riverside School in India teaches kids life's most valuable lesson: "I can." Watch her students take local issues into their own hands, lead other young people, even educate their parents.

The Clip

Christmas 2010

Even though we got home late, I still woke up at a decent hour. This Christmas, we were cooking, usually we would go by a friend of the family but this year, my sis and I decided to cook. The idea grew and we invited some friends of the family. When everyone was up, I made breakfast of Ackee and Saltfish (unfortunately the Ackees broke up and turn to mush).

As mom put down the law of no television, no internet and no computer use, we had to entertain ourselves. While we waited to open the gifts, I cracked my siblings up with a kooky version of The Three Little Pigs. We then opened the gifts. They were some great gifts, it helps to ask what people wanted, at least you raise the chances of getting what you want. Also found a great reason to keep blogging.

After opening the gifts we went straight to cooking. Honestly speaking it was a lot of fun. I washed a lot of dishes.

Dad was packing his birthday gift from me. As it was huge, I wrapped up an old iron I had and put it under the tree. When he first opened it, you could tell everyone's confusion. Then I got the tool box from his car and presented it. My brother kept repeating that I was wrong for pulling that. It was fun though and a twist to the whole opening of gifts.

This goat got loose in the neighbourhood and he's all the way from Miami. He would go back and forth between ours and the neighbour's yard. The funny thing was there was a guy running after him all morning.

I made egg nog for the first time. The sad thing was the mixer was not working so with a trusty whisk I beat the egg whites until they were stiff. A year ago I would have given up but I told myself that this egg nog was going to be made. It was on the strong side but it was good.

Here's our spread - from left to right, cheese and sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, rice and red beans, macaroni and cheese pie, macaroni salad, salad, cajun vegetable, turkey and ham. Also our guest brought stew pork.

Here we all are enjoying the food and company.

So did we have a good time, a good Christmas? Well, for a Christmas where I just didn't feel the Christmas feeling, I had a great time. Can you imagine if we had the Christmas feeling? I guess my Christmas wish is that this recession starts to turn for the better so that it won't be a dark cloud over everything.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and the New Year brings you everything you want from it.

I'm Loving These Nails

The cherry blossom girl

Roy And My Meandering Thoughts

As per usual, I was floating around the blogoshphere and came across someone of interest. This particular person is Roy who is a the craftsman behind Roy Jeans. I say craftsman because he has honed his skill in making denim jeans. To find out more about him, click here.

So why am I interested? Well simply put, after watching the following videos I realised where home for me is. It always amazes me how at peace I am when I'm sitting behind a sewing machine, when I see and feel a garment coming into reality in my hands. So where did I go wrong? I went to a Fashion College. You're probably wondering "Well, isn't that what you are suppose to do if you want to be a Fashion Designer?" In theory, yes, but in reality, I would say be an apprentice. I know an ancient term, but at least you would have been immersed completely in what you want to do in life. You don't have to go running to your art history class or your Philosophy class on what are some terminology you will never use (*snore*, literally, I had to imbibe caffeine to stay awake), instead of sitting in front of a machine and becoming so acquainted with it you master it. Can you imagine not waiting for less enthusiastic peers to finish with a machine so you can get to it. And don't get me started on fellow classmates who you know could really care less about the correct construction of a dolman sleeve. Am I ranting? Maybe a little.

I came across a young lady right here in little Wadadli who is applying to my Fashion alma mater, and she is such a dear. Anyway, she was telling me about the what they are demanding from applicants in terms of their portfolios and I am so grateful I'm not applying because you almost have to be a fashion designer already to get in. But you know who I blame? Project Runway! Don't get me wrong, I like the show but once again television has produced a fake image of what the fashion world is all about. Majority of fashion school graduates will end up being swallowed up by mass market firms where the extent of their working in fabric is at a fitting and it's the sample maker who will be touching the fabric. Do I sound bitter? Maybe a little.

I'm so happy that I came across Roy, because I want to be him. No, I don't want to be a white guy, but I would like to have a studio and be working on garments that I know will be sitting in a store to be found by it's owner. Maybe wishful thinking but it's that type of thinking that built ships and conquered the world.

Anyway, here are some videos about Roy

Roy's Jeans - Video by Self Edge from Self Edge on Vimeo.

Christmas Eve 2010

Christmas Eve for my family is different from Christmas Eve for other families. Because my mom owns a store, you would find us there on Christmas Eve until early Christmas day. In Antigua, people come into town to walk about and hang with friends on Christmas Eve. Usually, we would be stuck in the store dealing with irritating customers who wait for the last minute to buy gifts. As I was seeing my sister was irritated, I took up the road to walk about. On the way, we saw a friend of ours and he joined us on our walk about.

The rastaman was selling drinks from a fridge that he rolled though the street.

This was the first time I've seen a hookah in Antigua, I just had to take the pic.

Me and my sis

As you can see people like to dress up for Christmas Eve.

My brother and sister.

I'm wrapping a gift for a customer.

Mom and Dad

Instead of going home very late, we left about 12am Christmas Day. To be honest, I was not feeling the season this year. It was more of a meh.

Truth

AI. FREE BITCH.

Life in thee Dopeness.

What I FFFFound

ffffound.com

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

weheart.com

I'm wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, I'll wish you Happy New Years when it comes. I know it's on the arrogant side to big up the festival I'm affilliated with, but it's the season I truly love and enjoy and if you strip yourself of the things you love to please others, you end up being miserable. Who would want to be miserable? Not me!

Anyway, to show I am not completely politically incorrect, Happy Kwanza and Happy Hannakuh (sorry if I spelt them wrong).

So what am I doing for the season? Well to start I was at my mom's store where we will be selling to the people who want to dress up for the Christmas Eve lime in town. We would leave at impossible hour like 2am Christmas day. We would get home even later and wake up about 9am or 10am (damn internal clock!). This year my sister and I will be cooking, my mom will be helping out. To be honest, I don't think she would be able to stay out the kitchen anyway. It will be kind of funny because my sister doesn't like when people are around when she's cooking, Hee hee.

We will be having some family friends over and my brother came down from St. Thomas. On the menu is

Ham

Turkey

Green Bean Casserole

Vegetarian Cheese Macaroni Pie

Sweet Potato & Cheese Casserole

Macaroni Salad

Green Salad

Cajun Vegetables

Fruit Punch

Egg Nog

Fruit Cake

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Although you may see posts right after Christmas, I had scheduled them and in reality I may be lying around digesting all the food I've eaten.

So, from the little island of Antigua, once called Wadadli by the first inhabitors, Merry Christmas!!

(Just letting you know this is a scheduled post, as Mom won't let us watch TV, go online or use our computers.)

Jordan

On my bucket list is trekking through a desert or something like that, all I know there is a desert involved. Anyway, my original plan was to find a tour in the Sahara Desert then I found out about Jordan.

I'm subscribed to a YouTuber whose channel is called Community Channel and she is doing a thing with Lonely Planet where she travels and blogs about the locations she's been to. The last one I saw was her week in Jordan and I must say I'm impressed. I liked the sites and guess what? there's a desert! And an added bonus is the Dead Sea, so even if I hadn't planned to learn how to swim I would have been able to float there.

Below are some pics I stole from the Lonely Planet website.

Random Cuss

Okay, people I had a beer around the time I should have had dinner, ipso facto, I'm a little tipsy. I think this is a great frame of mind because this is when one is at their most honest. We are taught to be polite and care about everything and everyone's feelings, but sometimes it steals from us the ability to be honest and forthright.

I feel everyone is an onion with many layers, and truly in the core of our being is the real person. society and families and everyone and their mother has created a layer. Now and then, I have to ask "Who am I?" and honestly speaking, I don't know. What is scarier is other perceptions of who you are. God!! They are putting you in a box based on their perception. Mind you I'm tipsy.

Anyway, I would like to take the route of men, keep it simple, say what you mean and mean what you say.

Smooches.

Ted Thursday #18

About The Clip

In a world of too many options and too little time, our obvious choice is to just ignore the ordinary stuff. Marketing guru Seth Godin spells out why, when it comes to getting our attention, bad or bizarre ideas are more successful than boring ones.

The Clip

Interior Inspirations

I love how sunny this room is and the colours are pretty nice as well. This is definitely a contender for how I want my dining room. The chairs are not stuffy and over the top, but they look comfy. I can imagine having friends over for dinner or playing board games. I like the purple storage unit as it's perfect for dishes and you can display the fancier ones in the glass front section.



I've got this hear simply for the breakfast table. I love the idea of having breakfast tables.

I am a loft lover.

I would never thought that I would be drawn so stongly to this, but I am. Of course instead of the picture, there would be a mirror. Maybe a series of three pictures over the mirror or to one side of the mirror. The drawer in the middle would be for makeup and the other drawers would be for books, writing pads and medication for when I get sick.

All the pics are from desire to inspire