Wuzdescene?

This new blog on the block belongs to a friend of mine who I frequently get emails from, like this one about the blimp.

She has always been sending her thoughts and observation to her friends via email along with her pics.

Ever since she found out my blog, I've been encouraging her to start her own and she finally has.

wuzdescene.com is her take on life in T and T.

Welcome to the blogging world..now is just to get you on Facebook!

Exam Results...

I FINALLY got my exam results in the mail yesterday evening.

I passed Marketing and Public Relations with a Credit...YAY!!! but just completely failed Advertising as I expected I would.

The next step is to find someone to teach me Advertising so I can do it over in April.

Renovations Update: DUST IN DE PLACE!!

*cough cough*

The renovations continued this week with the securing of the hurricane straps to the roof and removal of the old rafters etc. So the roof is now more or less completed.

Bright and early Saturday morning the cupboards man paid me a visit to take some measurements for some new kitchen cupboards. I'm supposed to get that estimate this weekend.

This weekend also saw me on a tile outing, looking for some nice, affordable tiles and some other household stuff.

This trip took me to Ceramic Trinidad where I saw some gorgeous glass tiles that would look great in my kitchen. Sunday I also made a trip to Classic Tiles in Chaguanas and I think I will probably be buying my bathroom tiles as well as my toilet and bath set.

Glass tiles at Ceramic Trinidad

Also this weekend, the first of many walls "to buss" as we say was umm...'busted'. One of the windows to the front of the house was removed to make way for my FAB! new front door.

Door in place

My son hard at work laying bricks

My dining table covered in dust

My front yard

Work continues this week with more walls to be knocked down and more dust and rubble to be added to my house.

Exam results...

So I did my last exam on 20th November 2007.

Now with all the Christmas decorating and boots desinging the last thing on my mind was exam results.

It was only last week while I was putting away some stuff to save it from all the dust of the renovations, when I came across my Marketing/PR/Advertising text, that I remembered about exams and results.

I made a call to one of my classmates and they too were wondering what was going on with the results.

To date I have not received the dreaded results and am wondering what are the next steps toward finding out the results.

I think I'll make a call to my school and find out.

The House Renovations Begin...

Remember sometime in November I did a post on getting FINALLY getting my house? Well this week marked the start of renovations on my humble abode.

The work to be done on the 60-year old house includes changing the roof, rewiring the entire house and re-doing all the plumbing.

Materials 'on site' (i.e. in the garage)

With work scheduled to start on the house from Monday, this weekend I found myself doing some hardware ‘browsing’. I was on the hunt for doors and tiles in particular, and my search started in Chaguanas and ended up in El Socorro.

These are some of the items that I really liked and was able to sneak a couple pics of.

$4000 sinks at CW Interiors

Doors at Roopnarine Home Centre

Vanities at Roopnarine Home Centre

As I said before work on the house was scheduled to begin on Monday and it did. Having heard many horror stories about contractors, I am determined to stay my usual positive self during this project and hope and pray and cuss that everything goes okay and stays on track.

The guys said they were coming at 8:30am bright and early Monday.
And in true contractor style they arrived just after 1 o'clock.

Work began in earnest on the roof, and they finshed that just after 11 o'clock on Monday night.

What I met when I got home

My contractor "Rope" on the roof

Halfway there

Yesterday (Tuesday), they promised to come earlier, and they did, getting there at 11:00am and working well into the night and early morning, leaving this morning at 2:00am!!

So at this point of the renovations, my roof is 99% complete and I am happy with how things are progressing.

Casualties from the renovations:
1. My beauty sleep. It hard to get any rest when all in your dreams yuh hearing hammers and electric saws.
2. The dry cough that I've been nursing since Carnival, is now full blown with all the dust in the air.
3. Relations with my neighbours, who must be cussing with all the hammering that going on into the late hours of the night and early morning.

Can somebody say SPELLCHECK?!?!?

I was browsing through a Carnival magazine (Sun, Sand and Sea) that I found yesterday evening. Having just played mas I was excited to see if I or anyone I knew was in the magazine and eagerly opened it up.

Now never mind that some of the pics incorrectly labelled (IP as TRIBE and a pretty Indian mas as Trevor Wallace), I guess all bikini mas is the same...right???.

Never mind that my (and by my, I mean the band I played with) band only get 13 photos and NONE of them is my FAB! section. Hello??

Never mind that based on the magazine you would think that Genesis was a big band and the majority of the pics is of their Snow Witch section. Doh even get me started.

Never mind that some of the pics is the SAME woman in different shots. STEUPS.

Doh study none of that.

Study how the spell check feature on the umm..."editor" pc wasn't working. (see pic below)

Click on pics to make larger.

As a matter of fact, study how the magazine doh even have an editor listed at the front of the magazine!

Now doh think I just wasting down people thing because I figure this is my blog and I could say what I want, even though that is true.

But study how these Carnival magazines that are produced are most times purchased by tourists and they take them away to their country to relive their Carnival joy, only to see these silly faux pas that could be avoided.

I figure is best they just print the pictures and let people guess who is who and what is what.

Btw, in case you're interested, the cost of the magazine is $45.00 and I did happen to see a few people I knew in it.

Best and worst of Carnival 2008...

Last year I did a post on the Best and Worst of Carnival 2007.
This year I didn't go to as many fetes, so I tailored my list accordingly.

Best All Inclusive
For the second year running…Trinity College fete– Soca in Moka

Best Non-Inclusive
I would have to say 3Canal’s show SHINE in Queen’s Hall.
With the exception of the audience who was moving real stoosh like they fraid to move in they seats.

Best CD
I eh buy none yet.
On a related note though, I hear Machel Montano’s Flame On giving trouble…Track 10.

Best Gape
St. Mary’s College All Inclusive. Take win.

Special Mention
This goes to the BELEX All Inclusive which, while not packed to capacity was still a great fete.

SPECIAL AWARDS

The Trying Too Hard Award
Blaxx.
Stop begging/asking people if this is Road March/Soca Monarch.
What will be will be…Just let it come naturally.

The Favorite Performing Band Award
Kes the Band featuring Nadia “throat for days” Batson.
The only down side to their performance this year was the distration of Kees taking of he blasted shirt for every performance.

The Keeping It Consistent Award
Destra Garcia.
Last year Destra copped the honorable mention of Worst Dressed Female Frontline Singer.
This year, I didn’t see her ‘live’ for the season other than in the newspaper, but it looks like she wanted to hang on to that award this year…Who say Hat Trick in 2010?!?

Ronnie and Caro - The Aftermath...

So sometime between costume collection on Carnival Friday and going for additional boy shorts on Carnival Saturday night, I decided to upgrade my costume from backline to frontline.

It cost was some extra dollars, but I decided to treat myself after working so hard on designing and decorating carnival footwear for people.

Collected my BEAUTIFUL backpack on Carnival Sunday night/early Monday morning around 12:30ish a.m. no problem at all.

We had to meet the band on Alexandra Street on Monday for 11:00am. They had a late start and only started moving just after 12 and I was surprised to see the number of people in the band. I was expecting the band to be small but they had a great turnout.

The only problem I had on the road on Monday was that we got stuck behind PCS Starlift which was HUGE and this kept us back all day.

My peeps and I left the band on Park Street and walked up to the Savannah to wait. But when we saw the number of bands in front of us, we decided to go home and save our energy for Tuesday. Good thing too, because when we got home just after 7:00 pm, we saw the band NOW crossing the Savannah stage!

A big meggie for the announcers whose names I did not catch, but kept referring to the presentation as "Ronnie and Caro - The Mas Band". I guess they didn't see the huge ass "De Gulf" written on the banner.

My boots on Monday started off FAB! and ended up drab, with the left side looking as if it had mange or something, and I was actually seeing the colour of one of the prototypes I had done before. (Note to self: Don't rush and use primer spray paint next time).

TUESDAY

Tuesday morning had me up at about 3:30am. We had to meet the band for 7:00am behind Sacred Heart.

Staying at Carnival Central in St. James has its benefits, we do have the drawback of only one bathroom for the many masqueraders who stay there. Plus I also had my makeup 'appointment' at 4:00am with my aunt.

While waiting for said appointment, I took the time to fix my headpiece (which was too tight for my big head), as well as finishing up my Tuesday boots by adding some braid and mucho rhinestones. (I had no time to decorate my own boots with all the work I had to do).

Got my makeup done and everyone was out of the house and on the bus by 7:00 or thereabouts.

The bus dropped us off and went on to drop the parents, who were playing in ImageNation, downtown.

PROMPTLY at 7:05am while munching on breakfast, Ronnie told his staff we were moving out and whoever was not there would find us. We headed to our first judging point which was downtown where we had to wait behind Legacy. While waiting I made a small detour to Frederick Street to purchase some socks (I left mine home in my haste) to wear with my boots as the toes on my right foot were sore form the day before.

I probably poked enough people with my backpack heading to the stage downtown. For all those who may have been injured while basking in my frontline glory...hard luck. If yuh see a woman decked out looking FAB! with she backpack, MOVE OUT OF THE WAY! Doh tell meh "Miss yuh poke meh in meh eye/nose/ears/face" cause meen business.

I was surprised by how small our section was though, I thought it was actually one of the nicer sections in the band. There were only 3 frontline ladies and the section was the smallest in the band.

The flow was much better on Tuesday, we even went Piccadilly, which did slow us down a bit I think but then we moved swiftly up to the Savannah, where I got the opportunity to see TRIBE's costumes as they were right behind us.

I spent most of my time looking at people's feet to see if I saw any of my creations on the road and actually did end up seeing a couple of them! I saw the Saucy one looking FAB! of course and took a picture of the two of us.

Once we crossed the Savannah stage we headed to our rest stop which was opposite QRC and it was there that things went bleh for me.

The rest stop that was supposed to only be 45 minutes ended up being an hour and a half, as we had to wait for TRIBE and their million and one trucks to pass us. (Not blaming TRIBE here eh. so doh bring no hate).

Instead of moving off one time, the trucks took a while to move off and then headed up to Wildflower Park and then down Alexandra Street. This long wait made us pick up stragglers and lose masqueraders, because by the time the band came to 'order' there were definitely fewer masqueraders. Also missing after the lunch break was the band's security.

One thing that pisses me off as a masquerader is when a band realises they lagging or they trying to gain ground and will have the trucks speed up and have us, the masqueraders jogging behind the blasted truck like is a damn 5K. Meen pay fuh dat!

And truck horn only blowing yuh out of the way so they could accelerate. I doh think any truck should be going faster than 5km per hour on the road Carnival Monday and Tuesday, both for safety purposes and just general winery. ANYHOO...rant over.

All that said, overall I had a GREAT time on the road with Ronnie and Caro, from the vodka soaked salt prunes...to the lollies...to the FAB! backpack (hadda big up meh girl Arlene here who make backpack for me last minute!) and I would most definitely play with them again in 2009.

And we came FIRST in medium bands!!! Congrats to Ronnie and Caro and the crew! We have a celebratory lime tonight.

I must add here that after playing frontline, I would be hard pressed to ever play backline again.

Benefits of playing frontline:

You get to go on the stage before your section and play yuhself.

The band/section designers who fix your backpack for you so it fits comfortably on your back.

The entourage who holds everything for you including your camera and you can just instruct them to take pics! LOL. (Much thanks to the hubby MUAH!)

The paparazzi who take lots and lots and lots of pics! So make sure yuh looking tops!

Carnival 2008 - The Aftermath...

On the road with Ronnie and Caro on Carnival Monday.

On the road with Ronnie and Caro on Carnival Tuesday.

Allyuh REAL maccoing boy....

Just about 4 months after reaching the 5,000 mark this blog has now had 10,000+ views!

No speech this time though...

But thank you and continue macco...err...reading!

De Mang - Costume Collection...

So this afternoon an almost very tired Afro Chic made her way to De Mang's mas camp/distribution centre to collect her costume :)

Costume collection was a breeze.

It was just a tad bit slower than last year, but I still had my balance to pay this time, whereas last year I had paid in full. Also this was a guest section with the band.

No lines. No stress.

My costume (From far left to right)
Blue top and straw hat for Monday
Various accessories for arms and legs
Bikini Top
Necklace and earrings
Costume belt
Thong
Boy shorts (not pictured)

My headpiece (that I'll be fixing)

My goody bag
Blue tote bag
Kotex pads
Carefree pantyshields
Sports Balm rub
Painol tablets
Two condoms (red and yellow, not sure if they flavoured)
Foot massager
KFC bandana (tres ugly)
2008 calendar
Drink cup
Makeup (blush/bronzer something)
Coupons for Carnival Essentials:
$2 off Purell
$3 off Listerine Whitening or Pocket Mist
$2 off Carefree 100s
$3 off Tylenol Rapid Release or Multi-Symptom
$5 off Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Sunblock or Fresh Colling Sunblock

I am very happy with my costume. It is what was advertised.
I have some minor adjustments that I knew I would have to make cause I want to customise my costume.
So look for me on the road!!!

Kes the Band On the Plaza - The Aftermath in Pics...

My girl...Nadia Batson.

Nadie...we hadda talk bout that dress code eh...

Kes brought this chick from Japan up on stage who has been to ALL the fetes to umm..."show us what she's learnt".

And it seems she learnt to Dutty Wine.

Just as I saying to my coworker "Buh aye aye, how come Kes eh take off he shirt yet?"

*sigh*

One ofthe Central Bank towers...

WAYYY...LOOK AT PEOPLE!!!
Allyuh doh have work to do?

Nadia and Kes

De Mang Frontline...

I have no idea why this first pic is loading sideways.

This is the backpack for the frontline that I LOVE.

But at $3400+ it was definitely out of my budget.