I was born and raised on New Providence, and the only grass hut I’ve ever seen at home in my 28.5 years were on display as part of an Arawak Indian set.  In fact, I’m pretty damned sure no one has lived in huts in the Bahamas since  Columbus spread European diseases and obliterated indigenous Bahamians circa 1492 through to the early 1500′s.

This lady even claimed that only upper middle and upper class families live in multi-room concrete houses.  And according to her, this middle,upper middle and upper class is a very, very small part of the population. But the last time I flew over Nassau, Grand Bahama and Eluethra, the majority of the houses from the sheer size had to be multi-room concrete houses. I wonder why this is Miss Day? It’s called construction regulations. We do have building codes yanno.  I know we may seem like ass-backwards members of the Commonwealth, but we do have building codes which are adhered to for safety. Wonder why that is? Maybe because we live in a hurricane zone?

But Miss Day, you know this cause you mentioned the hurricanes, which according to you, blow all our thatch and hut houses away. So why are there never high death tolls?

 The last Hurricane to hit an impoverished area with substandard housing occured in 2004, when Hurricane Jeanne slammed into Haiti killing thousands. This is most tragic Miss Day. And we take this very seriously.

But, if our homes were substandard, I would expect the same death toll- especially since the frequency of hurricanes and tropical storms in the Bahamas and Gulf of Mexico are actually much higher than the central Caribbean, don’t believe me check Wikipedia which has more accurate information on class dividision and building construction in the Bahamas than you do. Fatality rates due to hurricanes in the Bahamas usually result in a maximum of 5 deaths. FIVE!!!!

And Miss Day, I am not upset because you have somehow “insulted” Bahamians, because we aren’t shallow or turn our noses down at anyone who has to endure living in such conditions. No, I am upset because you said that most Bahamians make a living by farming or selling goods in the straw market, when according to Forbes.com, the Wallstreet Journal and the New Yorker, most Bahamians are employed through tourism and finance.  Which translates to hotels and banks. Everyone knows that. One of our problems is that we do not have an efficient agro-economy.

I guess what I am really upset about, Miss Day, is the bad name you give to free lance journalists around the globe, some of whom risk their lives to share the TRUTH with the world. Instead, you stumbled onto the set of 1492 and went apeshit with your recorder. So much for responsible journalism.

Have a nice DAY!

P.S. The name of the Travels.com article should have been “Shit ignorant people say about shit they know nothing about”.

It’s the end of the world as we know it … again.

I don’t know if any of you noticed that it is 2012 and the conspiracy theorists are yet again going crazy.   What doesn’t help this situation is the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, which has been ongoing for-like-what- EVER?

Or, the drama of the upcoming elections or the impending Solar Storms.  This is more than enough material for the paranoid and weak of mind, I mean heart, to go bananas over.  So in light of this being 2012, and December 21st possibly being the end of our existence according to the Mayans who didn’t start a new calendar because – maybe disease happened (I don’t know, totally making this up as I go), I’ve decided to take a vote.

In your opinion, what’s the best failed End Times prediction? I’ve got a little description of each to guide you. Happy Pickins’ friends!

And despite the heat, I decided that in order to avoid the drama of suddenly becoming overwhelmed with the amount of reading, writing and pretending like I understand everything I have to do, I would have something soothing with dinner.

So instead of breakin’ out da Häagen-Dazs, yes I support the Dazs cause dey support de bees! Don’t believe me? Check it out!

Ok, so I digressed yet again. As I was saying…

Instead of breakin’ out da Häagen-Dazs, I broke out the cheap knock off to Swiss Miss instant hot chocolate.

Not only did I have the audacity to dis the Dazs, but I decided to drink something hot. Like Seventy sum and sum outside in the evening isn’t hot enough.

And the worst thing about this hot chocolate is that it had no marshmallows to cloak the watery taste.  I mean, it tasted like hot water with one packet of Splenda mixed in, if that helps at all.

Better yet, imagine eating your Cocoa Puffs with water instead of milk. Yeah? Sounds crappy doesn’t it? That’s how this crap tastes. NEVER AGAIN!

But let me tell you that you have no idea how much Bailey, my Yorkie -Schnauzer mix, reminds me of a spoiled two-year-old.

Last night, he sat in front of his food bowl and cried and moaned for about an hour till I got up to see what the hell was going on.

I checked the bowl, it wasn’t empty. So I went back to reading humic acid sorption to biochar.  This is the third time I’m reading this paper btw. It’s got me baffled. In other words, I’m lost.

But I digress.

Bailey starts moaning again. Of course I ignore him because he’s got food.

Mr. Bailey doesn’t stand for being ignored.  So he did what any spoiled brat would. He tips his bowl of food over.

I was peeved at that point and losing my patience. So I swept up the debris and refilled his bowl and what do you know? No more moaning from Bailey.

After observing him eat for a bit, I discovered the reason for his placation.  He’d only eaten certain bits of the food. 

Sound familiar? 

Should if you’ve ever babysat kids.  They pick out what they like and feed the rest to the dog… 

And now, life suddenly makes sense.

… and then the power went out.

Science stopped, science is still stopped. Power going out, machines powering down too fast because generators aren’t cutting in are bad. Bad for science.

For a moment, I thought, HOLY S&^#$!  I broke something!  Imagine my compounded relief and sadness when I went outside and discovered that half of the city was out too.  So if I didn’t break it, who the hell did?

Apparently there was a fire at a substation near campus and about 8,000 people were without power.  This included students who lived in the dorms and near campus.

What was so extraordinary about this massive F-up?

Watching the mass exodus of Boilermakers and Boilermaker fans from their homes  to the nearest bars with power so that they could watch Purdue face off against Kansas.

While the spectacle was nothing like the black out in New York City back in 2003, it was still awesome to see.

In the end, now that I think about it, maybe the power going out had a purpose – to spare Purdue fans the agony of defeat, and such a close game too.  Sigh… there’s always next year Boilermakers, we got this.

BTW: I didn’t even watch the game…

Just this morning, a young chap entered the gallery on some strange contraption.  It looked to be a slab of wood on very, very small carriage wheels.  Strangely, it was not propelled by a horse, but by using one’s foot as if it were an oar moving through water. This sparked my curiosity and so I asked Turner, the “security guard” – a sentry who stands guard apparently, to describe to me its use. He said it was a ”skateboard”. Naturally, I asked where the ice was kept. But Turner just resumed his duties, chuckling down the hallway, leaving me to ponder about the strange thing. When I am released from the Gypsy’s curse, I shall emerge from this canvas and acquire one of these “skateboards” that do not require ice to glide.

- He who is confined to Canvas by wicked Gypsy’s curse.

At first, I was quite disturbed by the over-abundance of entertainment news and as a result overwhelmed by stories of a possible Chris Brown/Rihanna reconcilliation, Baby Blue Ivy’s first day out,  J-Lo’s alleged wardrobe malfunction and the indescretions of Republican presidential canidates.

Imagine my luck and relief when I found out, on the same news page, that someone caught a 27lb, 140 year old lobster!

27-pound lobster caught off Maine  – New York Daily News.

Now that is what I call news…

Apparently… NO FACEBOOK for hours maybe.  I know this disturbs many people – because what would they do in their spare time???

For those of thus who have the slightest clue of what’s going on, we’ll be outside enjoying the extension of both the northern and southern lights.  Thank you Auroras!

And to my mother, I love you more than words can possibly express. For every time you didn’t say “I told you so”, I thank you for your unyielding patience.

                untied                                                                                                         

 my shoelaces…

caked with mud-

sweat and blood.

my cry for help

no one can hear-

burden I bear.

my stubbornness

against mother’s advice

my will despite.

my only regret

no hand to squeeze

left alone with a seed.

my labored heart

he is coming

death for life – sacrifice gone running.

my shoelaces

like my life

untied…

-Copyright 2012 C. Dominique Gibson