Synergy Supermodel

Yes it’s over, but for a while I was one of those people who would tune in every Wednesday (or whenever the re-runs were shown) to see our version of “America’s Next Top Model”.
A better name for the show actually, might have been “Trinidad’s Next Top Model” rather than Synergy Supermodel, as by definition, a supermodel is :

a highly-paid top fashion model who is known world-wide for consistent and
concurrent modeling work in haute couture and commercial modeling, usually for
top fashion designers and labels, such as Chanel, Prada, and Gucci. The term is
customarily applied to female models by the media, but in the 1990s the term
began to be applied to some male models. Supermodels may be referred to as sex
symbols and are able to parlay their celebrity into product endorsement deals
and acting careers at times.

From the preliminary selection (where clearly they told the potential model to wear white and some just choose to ignore that. I woulda penalize them on dat alone…”can’t follow simple instructions – NEXT!”…But anyhoo, I digress.) to the picking of the first batch, to the voting off of those eh couldn’t cut it to the final show at Zen (no I didn’t go the actual show at Zen) and everything in between…I watched it all. (well most anyways).

It was amusing to see us try and copy the ‘drama’ and umm…‘excitement’?...of those foreign reality tv shows. I think a real Trini show could have enough drama without trying to copy what’s out there already…But that’s another post entirely.

After following the show and the models from Tobago to…well Tobago, I kinda became attached/accustomed to some of the guys and the ladies and my favorites were:
Russel (I liked his smile and his sense of humour) and (oh my god I can’t believe I don’t remember her name…wait…) Danielle. While I had a little problem with Danielle’s makeup at first, I totally dug the fro. (yes yesI’m biased I know, but Sassy had a fro and I wasn't feeling her.)

And yes Kai was a tall glass of mauby on a hot day, but he was just a little too cock sure for me, similarly to the dude with the ras, Samuel I think it is.
And the girl who won (whose name I really don’t remember and couldn’t really be bothered to find out) is just, to me, another pretty face in Trinidad. Nothing special or outstanding about her and her voice is like chalk on a blackboard.

I'll upload the pics of my two favorites (and some random others) later. Cause right now blogger giving trouble.

I Don’t See With My Left Eye...

When I tell people this they often watch me in a combination of disbelief and amazement.
Cause the people who know me, know that I can spot the smallest thing for far away (I prefer no to say maco) and my eye for detail is so keen it upsets even me.

But I guess that’s not completely true… I can see colour and shadows with my left eye.
But I can’t see it if I look straight ahead. When I close my right eye and ‘use’ the left I have to turn my head slightly to the left for me to see anything directly in front of me/the eye.

The earliest I can remember not seeing ‘normally’ is when I was about 6 (not too sure about that) and I remember asking mummy and daddy why did they make binoculars with two sides if you only use one. That kinda opened the flood gate and opened their eyes (haha!) to the fact that maybe their cute little baby girl (what?! I was!!) may have had a problem.

At the age of about 8 I think it was, I was diagnosed with optic atrophy:

Optic atrophy is the loss of some or most of the fibers of the optic
nerve [1].
In medicine, "atrophy" usually means "shrunken but capable of regrowth", so some
argue that "optic atrophy" as a pathological term is somewhat misleading and use
"optic neuropathy" instead. The optic nerve is part of the brain and has no capability for
regeneration. Hence, there can be no recovery from optic atrophy and the term
may refer to serious or mild, but always irreversible visual loss due to damage
to the optic nerve. www.wikipedia.com

Test after test later, from blood test (dat big eye nurse in POSGH dred!) to this test where they put my head in a chamber thingy with flashing lights to test your range of vision (it was later determined that the right eye has NO blind spot) to everything in between. I did it all.

Surgery could be done (we were told this a little later when I was in Secondary School and becoming increasingly self-conscious) but it would just be cosmetic.
i.e. they could realign/straighten the eye, but I still would not have vision in the eye and the surgery was 50/50. It may or may not stay straight.
OH! And because it's considered cosmetic surgery it couldn't be claimed on any medical plan.


SO…20 or so odd years later, I am thinking (seriously this time) of getting some advice and get the surgery done…possibly abroad (by Uncle Fidel or Uncle Hugo...I hear they're good and affordable).
I would like to get the laser eye surgery to fix the can’t-remember-which-sightedness in my right eye, as well as looking into fixing the atrophy and/or straightening the eye for ‘cosmetic’ purposes.

And yes…I am still extremely self conscious about it.
And yes...it still bothers me 20 years later.

Stuff That Amuses, Irritates or Otherwise Irks Me

People who buy stuff at Jebelle and other ‘high end’ (or rather high priced) stores at the Faulls (and other such establishments) and keep the bag they got their stuff in until the bag looks as tired as the item they purchased probably does.
Throw away the bag already! We get it…you shop at Jebelle.
But yuh know what? Nobody gives a shit.

People who play Carnival. You don’t play Carnival idiot…you play mas.

This damn Chinese food that apparently they lace with cocaine/heroin/marijuana/ecstacy/whatever to get you addicted because since I discovered them about two months ago, I have to have it at least once a week.
Does Chinese food make you fat? Yuh doh really see much fat Chinese people yuh know...

B-mobile blocking my Digicel calls.
Don't deny it you damn PR Coverup people...you know it's true!

Falling asleep on a Law & Order/CSI/Any Show That I'm Watching episode just before they come to the good part. Damn you sleepiness! Damn you to heck!

That's it for now...I think...

The Big Chop 2006

Well I finally did it.
Last Thursday I went and just got it over with.

I cut my hair.
Not trimmed. Not snip. Not even cut so much…I just chopped it all off.

After I left my hair my hair was off I felt so free, no more hair to comb out every morning, no more headaches, no more hair! YAYY!

Then later on in the night as I watched my now itsy bitsy teeny weeny fro, I started missing my hugerific afro and all the fabulous way we used to look together. *sniff*

I missed the mess that was my weekend hair.
I missed the all fro’ed out afro just flopping all over.
I missed pushing my hair back with a band and patting it down to go to work in the morning.
I miss putting it in one.
I even missed the turned heads and the stupid stares!
We never even got to do the Mohawk hairstyle, never got to do the funky side canerow and now it’s all gone and I’m starting over from scratch.
*sigh*

Needless to say though, my short hair looks FAB! But that’s understood. LOL.
It takes me less time to get ready on a morning…to get ready period.
I don’t even have to comb it if I don’t want to. (Haven’t combed it since I cut it last Thursday).

And of course, as expected, everyone has a view on my new hair.
So far everyone wants to know why I cut it and it was growing so full and nice.
They love the new do, but miss the old…as do I.
Even my baby nephew looks at me perplexed because he loved to play in the wooliness of my hair.

No worries though, I know by the end of the year I’ll have graduated from itsby bitsy teeny weeny fro to teeny weeny fro. :D

And for those who keep asking me what next? Your guess is a good as mine.

My hair in the spotlight

1. Where are you from and how is the natural scene there?
The beautiful twin island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
Hmm…the natural ‘scene’ hair (ha!) is made up mainly of women who wear their hair in locks I guess. The fro wearers are few. Many women will rock canerow and braids along with their natural hair.

2. How long did you transition and how long have you been natural?
I transitioned for about (reaches into the vault that is my bad memory) four months.
Made the big chop in 2003. I’ve chopped once since then in late 2003.
And getting ready to chop again.

3. When did you decide to go natural and why?
I decided to go natural sometime late 2002 because I actually wanted to put in the Afro Kinky braid and my relaxed hair was too long for that style. LOL. My hairdresser had in the braid at the time and it looked FAB!
So I decided to grow out my hair, cut it off so I could put in the braid. (Crazy I know).
Oh yeah, my relaxed hair had been breaking up really badly for a while and my hairline was getting invisible and my hair was coming out in graps.

4. How was your transition?
On a scale of 1 to 10, (1 being absolutely horrible and 10 being fantastic!) it was about 4.5.
Trying to maintain the relaxed hair and new growth sucked monkey balls. And because of where I work, it made it harder, because it kinda demands neatness. I did it with no wigs, no braids, just new growth and relaxed ends.

5. How much support did you receive when you decided to go natural?
Support? What’s that? LOL.
Umm…I got support from my mom I guess because she had gone natural about 6 months before me. And there are probably other people too that I can't remember now.

6. How did you feel about your natural hair in the beginning?
I loved my natural hair! It was low, easy to maintain and had a FAB colour.
I didn’t like people’s reactions and comments on my hair though and it gave rise to mixed feelings on my part.
Then I basically said, “Fuck it, it’s my hair, not yours.” (well not to their face, but that was my general attitude).

7. Has there been any difference in your life from going natural?
It’s even easier to get ready in the mornings than it was before. LOL.
People watch, no...correction, they STARE you down when your hair is natural. Especially when it’s as long as mine is and combed out in all its glory.

8. What has been the best thing about being natural?
No more chemicals and making appointments to go to the hairdresser and spending all day there.


9. What is your favorite hairstyle and why?
My fave hairstyle is what I call my weekend hair.
Because I often have to be a bit more conservative during the week at work and keep my hair in a neat fro, from Friday to Sunday evening, my hair is just left to be itself. I wet it during my shower, put in some hair grease and hair polisher nad let it fall where it may.

10. How do you take care of and maintain your hair?
Daily: I wet it every morning (that’s the only way for me to comb it without getting a headache, and even then), use a detangler by Vidal Sassoon, apply Eternal hair conditioner throughout.
If I’m leaving it open I’ll use Twisted Sista Curl Activator and I always finish up with Eternal Hair Polisher.
Weekly: I wash it once a week with Pantene ProV shampoo and conditioner.
Other: I colour it every 4 – 6 weeks or so using Clairol Textures and Tones Flaming Desire and Cherrywood.

11. If you were stranded on a deserted island and had to choose 3 things for your hair, what are three things you would have to have for your hair?
Eternal hair conditioner
Eternal hair polisher
Twisted Sista Curl Activator Spray

12. What advice would you give someone who was thinking of going natural?
Just do it. And once you’re there, don’t study what other people are saying.

13. Any final thoughts?
Go fro!

Questions courtesy www.motowngirl.com

To cut or not to cut…THAT is the question.

For those of you who followed the storiesabout my hair (all 6 of you): hair’s a little update.

I’ve been thinking about cutting off my hair again.
Yes I know...WHY?
Cause it’s reached another point of frustration das why!

Right now my hair is long enough that it can go into a ponytail during the week and be left out in it’s usual mad weekend state. If I pull my hair onto my face it touches the tip of my nose.

But what I can’t take right now is de combing of the hair.
I am only able to comb my hair when it’s wet (as in totally saturated) and after it’s been sprayed with detangler…and it still hurts like heck even after all dat.

This morning I gave myself a headache combing out my hair. (And if yuh know my head size…das a big ass headache).

So I’m thinking of going low like how it was when I first cut it. I used to love the feel of water running through my scalp on a morning.

So that’s where I am with my hair right now.

To cut or not to cut…

The Job Hunt

Sometime late last year I decided that it was time for me to change my job. So I made a broad statement to the world (and the people in the office)...something to the effect of, “By end of first quarter 2006, I will not be working here anymore!!! FIRE BUN!!!"

Unfortunately, I just said that off the top of my head thinking that I was so fantastic that I wouldn't need to do anything much except say that I was leaving my job for it to happen. Well real life doesn't work quite like that in real life.

So January came and I found myself having to do my first real interview in close to 10 years. This was as a direct result of some mass mailing I did to ad agencies in and around POS (as most of them are). Had a hit and miss with one (they hit, I missed out), had a response from only one other.

The interview was at an ad agency (totally different to what I do now mind you) and I was extremely nervous. Took a day off and all! Take meh time to dress and ting buy a borse navy suit with a borse-er orange shirt. I eh go lie...ah look real good...but ah was nervous.

Went to the interview…got through the interview…felt pretty good after the interview and then nothing.
No phone call saying “well dog cyat horse yuh eh get de job thanks for applying but we really wasn’t feeling yuh anyways.”
Needless to say I felt shitty for not getting the job and then angry at the fact that they couldn’t even bother to acknowledge the fact that I dollsed up for them and came in for an interview. STEUPS.

Well after that first interview I was Queen Interviewee eh.

I coulda answer anything yuh throw at meh.

Interviews after that were with:
a recruiting agency (the guy was cute. Young, but cute)

Movietowne (Never called me back but I woulda real like mehself in dat one)

a communication firm (through the recruitment agency, but this interview was cancelled at the last minute)

interview with the parent company of my present company (they had me waiting too long to do the interview and pus I wasn’t getting a good vibe from de place, so I told them I couldn’t stay and I left)

another communications firm (they were nice enough to call me and tell me I was over qualified, which is just a way of them telling you that they can’t afford to pay you)

and most recently with Ferreira Optical (this was through the recruitment agency and I made it as far as the second interview and got a secondary job offer during the interview in case I didn’t get through with the job I was interviewing for).

Strange enough though I’ve applied for 9 jobs since June of this year, and of the interviews I’ve been on only 2 of those were through the jobs that I actually applied for.
And of those 9 applications, only 3 acknowledge the fact that I even exisited.

So I’m still here working hardly. *sigh*

But I have a plan now that I’m slowly but surely executing.