A survey/questionaire

1. Your Full name: Geoffrey Stuart Marshall
2. Do you feel like your name fits you?I do actually, can't imagine myself being called anything else.
3. Do you have an alter ego? Once in a while, a really wild, exhuberant outgoing guy pops out. It usually happens during Camp Verley socials, but I haven't seen him outside of there for a bit.
4. Where were you born? Kingston, Jamaica mon!
5. Where do you live? Spanish Town, Jamaica
6. Do you like to travel? Does a rasta smoke ganja?
7. What is your birthday? Aug 2, 1979
8. Do you have siblings? One brotha, one sista, a musician-ah, and a docta...
9. Do you have pets? No i don't, unless you count those dogs that treat our garbage as their buffet…
10. Which was the happiest year of your life? Hmmm. Off the top of my head, i'd have to choose between my first year of sixth form in 1995-1996, and most of 2001 up until September 11. That was when i was studying abroad in Australia...
11. How old do you wish you were? Younger than I am now :p
12. A movie is being made about your life. Who would you cast to play yourself? Denzel Washington. Morris Chestnut, if Denzel can't make it. I look better than Taye Diggs anyways, so I won't cast him :p
13. Who would you cast to play your significant other? (if you have no significant other, cast someone anyway)only one? hmmm, Halle Berry would have been on top the list, but now i'd have to say Eva Mendez. Or that other latina chick from Desparate Housewives, Eva Longoria.
14. How would this movie end? You tell me.
15. Is it better to be famous or infamous? Better not to care whether you're either
16. Youre going to die a natural death. What is the cause? Old age
17. Youre going to die a sudden, tragic death. What is the cause? Drowning in a sea of sorrel drink
18. How long do you plan on living? For eternity
19. What was the last song you got stuck in your head? When The World Ends-Dave Mathews band, the remix from "Matrix Reloaded". Really cool mix, it is...
20. Sing any commercial jingle...This isn't singing, but I have never been able to forget it. "Are you planning to travel? See Allied Travel, located at 1 Harbor Street, corner of Temple lane. Telephone 922-8450." Every Freakin Sunday, they would play this ad on the now defunct JBC, and to this day I cannot get it out of my head. Another bad one that sticks in my head is the ad for Mitchell's Auto Parts that they play on RJR. You Jamaicans remember that?? "Whoi, mi car!" "What happen to you man?" etc...
21. What is your favourite element on the periodic table? ... I'm not THAT much of a nerd. Silicon, if you must have an answer.
22. Sunrise or sunset? Sunset, in the desert or at the beach. It's more relaxing, refreshing, beautiful, and you don't have to get up at ungodly hours to see it.
23. Introvert or extrovert? introvert, trying to be a bit more open though.
24. Creation or evolution? Creation all the way. Both are articles of faith and should be equally respected at least.
25.Action or reaction? Re-Action
26. Unity or individuality? Individuality but unite towards a common goal.
27. Hugs or drugs? Hugs, no drugs. Embrace Alice, not the chalice. Inhale her perfume, not her smoke.
28. Animal, vegetable, or mineral? mineral. What can I say, i'm a geology major.
29. Popsicle, creamcicle, or fudgecicle? Whichever's cheapest.
30. Fight or flight? I make love, not war :) at the same time, don't piss me off.
31. Who is your favourite historical figure? Winston Churchill. The USA may have been the factor that kept the world from speaking German, but his vision and inspiration was what kept the Allies going in the worst of the time.
32. Which historical figure could we have done without? I think the world would be rather appreciative if Hitler had stuck to making crappy paintings. (Geoff can't take cred for this statement, but he agrees with it 100%).
33. What happened in the last dream you remember? Something to do with people at church, and I saw people that I knew were not at church anymore…the weird thing is that I knew I was dreaming, and for some reason I was trying to wake myself up. However, I didn’t, and then I forgot that I was dreaming…until I woke up. Now I’m peeved, I should have tried to do a Superman impression when I realized I was dreaming :D
34. Do nice guys really finish last? From ages 20-29 they mostly do. Then the bad guys become fat old drunks, and the girls find out that smarter girls snapped up the good guys already…still, the nice guys have gotta learn confidence.
35. What are your favourite boy names? Geoffrey (surprisingly enough), Ian, Andrew, Sean, Michael, Brian, Zachary.
36. What are your favourite girl names? Shannon, Rhiannon, Nicole, Natasha...Sioban, Denise, Myrtle (gotcha!)
37. Open or closed? Open over time, but don't be too open too soon. Check out whoever it is you're opening up to. You can't stay cloistered up forever, but be sure that the person is both deserving of your opening up and wants you to open up.
38. White bread or wheat bread? Wheat bread, with PB and any kind of jam.
39. Is it better to burn out than to fade away? Who says you have to do either? Balance yourself, darn it.
40. You put a quarter into a toy machine. What comes out? A super bouncy ball
41.What do you want to be when you grow up? Kinda late to be asking that, don't you think?
42. What were your favourite childhood toys? GI Joe, and video games...oh, you said childhood, right?
43. What was your first pet? Two dogs called Rascal and Timmy, but i think they were my uncle's dogs and not ours...
44. What annoys you? People who whine, and are needy to the point that they can't function for and by themselves. People who are full of themselves.
45. What is your favourite action caption from the old batman tv show? (example. "pow" or "blam") patoong? Holy unnecessary question Batman!
46. How many licks does it take to get to the centre of a tootsie pop? Quite a few.
47. The glass... half empty or half full? Depends on what's in the glass

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON:
48. Tightie whities. Sooooo grade school. Boxer briefs all the way!
49. Mc Donalds happy meals. Never had one, never plan to. DO I LOOK LIKE A HAPPY MEAL PERSON??
50. Reality shows. The worst genre of TV ever invented. The only good one is The Amazing Race, and Survivor gets a pass as the original concept, but pretty much everything else is just dumb.
51. Gummi bears or gummi worms? I don't like candy that much, but i'd choose the worms.
52.Would you rather sky dive or deep sea dive? Sky dive, without a doubt. I don't mess with the ocean at all at all. I would take a submarine ride, but there is NO WAY in AICH-AYE-EL-EL that you'll see me outside of a boat in dark blue waters. I'll watch the Discovery channel for stuff like that.
53. Paper or plastic? Paper, more environmentally friendly after it's served it's use.
54. What position do you sleep in? On my back and my side.
55. Do you sleep on the left, right, or the middle of the bed? My current bed is too small to have a left, right or middle :-D I barely fit on it lengthwise as it is.
56. Sweet or sour? depends on what it is
57. What was your favourite after school special? eh?
58.What is your favourite word? At the moment? 'Payday'.
59. Beach or mountains? oooh, this is a tough one...I can't choose. I want 'em both, that's why I love Jamaican and that's why I loved Hawaii.
60. Mounds or almond joy? AJ
61. Do YOU feel like a nut? After what I’ve been through the past few months, i wonder about it sometimes.
62. To give or to recieve? To give, once people appreciate the gift
63. Chocolate or caramel? Chocolate
64. Do you have any nicknames? Geoff, and some other classified names from my high school and working days :)
65. What does your name mean? Geoffrey = gift of God (now ladies, you KNOW that's a sign right there :-p)
66. Have you ever fainted? A couple of times.
67.Have you ever had a crush on a school teacher? Nope nope nope. Though I did think that Ms. Cox at the W&L chemistry department was kinda cute, but that was an observation, not a crush.
68.What was the last thing you ate? Curry chicken from the cafeteria here at work.
69.Do you have any bad habits? Who doesn’t?

WORD ASSOCIATION what is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear...
70. Grey... poupon
71. Human... beings
72. Fruit loop... Cereal
73. Glove... Gary Payton
74. Plum... Pudding
75. Structure... building
76. Race...Amazing race
77. Heart... What About Love
78. Parasite...tapeworm
79. What was your first happy memory? I don't know.
80. What was your first unhappy memory? I dunno.
81. If you could visit any time period, what would it be? The future
82.What would jesus do? The Right Thing
83. Make up a word and define it. Polyprophylactication: the art of making multiple condoms.
84.Favourite kool aid flavour? If it's red, I dig it :-D
85. Favourite pick up line? I don't use those things.
86. Who was the third gunman on the grassy knoll? I don't do conspiracy
87. What did you like to make believe as a child? That i could fly
88. Did you have an imaginary friend? Nah not really. I had a vivid imagination though ...
89. Would you like to live in a castle or a mansion? Mansion. Castles are so 11th Century.
90. Re-arrange some of the letters in your first, middle, and last name to form a description of yourself. I don't have THAT much time on my hands dude.
91. Do it fast or do it right? Do it right.
92.What was the last book you read? My Utmost for His Highest, a daily devotional that has been a very strong blessing to me.
93. Have you ever had surgery? Well, i had a mole on my leg that itched. That ain't cool, so I had it cut out at the infirmary and biopsied. It came back ok...
94. Random fact about you...... My taste in music runs from Andre Crouch to Creed to Bela Fleck to Bill Munroe to Johnny Cash to Joe Satriani to Rush to Eminem to Phillip Aaberg to Richard Smallwood and continuing. I have given up Kenny G, so don't fret too much about me :-D.
95. What is the first thing you wash in the shower? My face
96. What is your favourite cereal? Post Honey Bunches (all types) and Kellog Smart Start. Cheerios are good too, but I don't know why parents would buy all that other junk.
97. If you could learn any foreign language, what would it be? I wish I were better at Spanish...I'd say Mandarin and Cantonese.
98. If you had the choice to live forever, would you? Yes I would, knowing what I know about the future.
99. If you had the choice to be the opposite sex for a day, would you? Yeah, so I could figure out once and for all what women want.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN
100. Fate? Not in so many words. Things happen because of choices one makes, but often you can't control many things either...
101. Ghosts? No, but I believe that evil spirits exist.
102. God? Yep.
103. Big foot? No, but I can be convinced.
104. Soul mates? hmmm...you can be more compatible with some people than with others, but whoever the person is, you both have to make it work. You don't just fall in love and live happily ever after, but it can be easier to make it work with a certain person than with another person. I don't believe there is only ONE person out there for you. You just choose the one that you meet that completes you and that God tells you is for you. If you keep trading up saying "I can find someone better" you deserve to be alone.
105.Aliens? Yes, but I don't think that they have visited (or would want to visit) us here.
106.Angels? Yep.
107. Loch ness monster? See bigfoot.
108. Heaven and hell? Yeah, but neither is in operation right now. Well, Hell isn't, anyway, and only God and his crew and a few people like Elijah and Moses are in Heaven right now...but that's for a bible study,
109. The Zodiac? Puh-leaze.
110. Love at first sight? Call me a cynic, but no. Strong attraction at first site, yeah. Love? Nope
111. Karma? not in the hindu sense, but what goes around DOES come around.112.
Vampires? No. Blade kicks ass though
113. If you had any super power, what would it be? To have x-ray vision...nah :D i'd want to be like superman, all the powers he has. Wait, ,he has x-ray vision too...oh well.
114. Would you use your power for good or evil? I'll take the 5th amendment on that. I'd probably end up being like the Punisher.
115. Name something nostalgic. Mento music
116. What are your turn ons in the opposite sex? A good conversationalist, attractiveness, equal interests in listening to me and talking to me, intelligence and spirituality.
117. What are your turn offs in the opposite sex? Selfishness, apathy, and an"i'm all that" attitude.
118. What was the best compliment ever given to you? You have been a blessing to me.
119. Which character from Scooby Doo do you most relate to? none of 'em...well, Vera was the nerd in glasses, but she was ready to break out with the right makeover. Methinks i can relate to that.
120. What is the worst trend of the present time? Reality TV and an obsession with pop-culture and being "in".
121. Beer or wine? Neither
123. You cant sleep. What do you do? Surf the web.
124. Do you wear jewelry? A watch, which is currently busted. I have to mail it to Seiko to get fixed whenever I can find the time and money…
125. What is your favourite smell? Hmm... the sweet scent of perfume on a beautiful woman. Hey, it's either that or something to do with food, so cut me some slack, ok?
126. What was the best decade of the past century? The 70's. The continuation of civil rights, the maturation of what is now reggae, classic rock and soul/funk...it didn't have as much strife as the 60's and wasn't as corny as the 80's.
127. Which is your favourite month of the year? June. It's getting warm, but not muggy hot like the summer, and it's the beginning of summer.
128. Do you smoke? No
129. Do you drink? No
130. What was your favourite subject in school? Geography
131. What was your worst subject in school? French. Had a mutually bad experience with my high school teacher, which impacts my impression of the language to this very day. It was so bad that when my mom forced me to sign up for the class the following year, the teacher said she wasn't teaching me anything and told me to get out of her class. I was more than happy to oblige...anyways, i've moved on.
132. If you had to give up one of your senses, what would it be? I don't even want to think of it.
133. Do you follow your head, your heart, or your crotch? Usually my head.
134. Do you truely know who you are? I'm not 100%, but i'm getting a very good idea.
135. Are you superstitious? Not much.
136. Are you sentimental? A little bit, but I don't dwell on it.
137. How many times a day do you eat? 2 times at least.
138. Are you more of a main idea or detail type of person? Main idea ... details are important but I never get bogged down.
139. What is your favourite pie? Balfours line of products from South Australia. I'd do almost anything to get some of their goodies right now, it's so sad. Heck, I'd fly over there JUST to pig out on their items.
140. Have you ever been close to death? Once or twice. I'm sure it's happened without my knowledge as well.
141. Do you like roller coasters? ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh yeah! STEEL FORCE Coaster at that place in Allentown, PA BABY! That was the last rollercoaster i've been on, back in 2003.
142. Apples or oranges? Oranges
143. Are you hyperactive? are you kidding? I'm more Mello than Mello box juice.
144. Do you talk in your sleep? I've been known to do it, but most complaints in recent times have been about snoring...
145. What is your favourite holiday? Christmas and Thanksgiving...for Jamaican holidays, i'd say Christmas and Independence day.
146. Do you go to church? yep
147. At what age do you think you will be married? Can't really predict. I'd hope to be in a position of at least talking about it by the time i'm 30.
148. If you could open up your own business, what would it be? ... I'm not much of a businessperson...however I 'd probably try to open a restaurant in Hawaii.
149. Have you ever seen a live music show and what was it? Quite a few. I saw Tracey Chapman in Albuquerque in October.2004…the last one I saw was an African Drumming concert at the University of Maryland in December 2005.
150. What is your weakness? I tend to emotionally distance myself from people.
151. What was the last movie you saw that made you cry? Schindler’s List
152. If love were a flavour, which flavour would it be? Strawberry
153. If hate were a flavour, which flavour would it be? REAAAAALLY sour lemon
154. Have you ever been prescribed any drugs? an anti-seizure drug that gave me a really bad reaction. They prescribed another anti-seizure drug for me, and I told them that unless the tests I took came back showing something wrong somewhere, I wasn’t taking it.
155. Is lying sometimes necessary? Only if you're hiding Jews from Nazis or similar situations. Or if your wife/girlfriend asks "Does this make me look fat?" Or if she asks some similar question where you're screwed whichever way you answer.
156. Bubbleyum or bubblicious? I don't do chewing gum
157. What is your favourite curse word? tick me off, you'll find out
158. Do you have any birthmarks? yep
159. If you could visit anywhere in the US, where would it be? well, i've been to Hawaii and Alaska, California and the Grand Canyon…Seattle, here I come!
160. If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would it be? Europe and Asia and the eastern Caribbean...
162. Do you feel like your physical self matches your personality? Kinda.
163. What was the name of your kindergarten teacher? Ms. Thorpe.
164. Do you wear glasses or contacts? Contacts. I'll probably look into Lasik when I have some disposable income
165. How tall are you? six feet one inch, or about 181 cm.
166. How tall would you like to be? I like my height. It's taller than average, but not giant/b-ball huge.
167. Your current mood: pondering about this report I have to write up.
168. Do you dress up for halloween? heck no.
169. Have you ever been in a car accident? Once, this old lady in virginia had her right indicator on for about 10 seconds (driving on the right in the USA), so I decided to overtake her. As I overtake, she turns left into the side of the rental car i'm driving. Good thing the truck-driver behind me saw the whole thing and gave me his contact info, i told the rental company what happened and I don't think I was faulted for anything.
170. What is your favourite lucky charm? Don't have one.
171. What colour of underwear are you wearing? Since this is being blogged, I won’t answer :D
173. What is your favourite kids movie? hmm...Aladdin, and pretty much every Pixar movie.
174. Have you ever hallucinated? Naw, I see green two-headed aliens everyday.
175. How did you find out that there was no santa claus? PUH-LEAZE.
176. Pancakes or waffles? pancakes if i'm at home, waffles if there's an iron around.
177. Are you on a diet? heh heh heh heh heh. Me, on a diet? Whooooo hoo hoo hoo hoo!
178. Why is the grass always greener on the other side? Because your neighbour has better manure than you do.
179. Do you always want what you cant have? Not always, but it seems to be that way when it comes to ladies...
180. Do you act stupid around someone you have a crush on? er, ahem, i'll take the 5th on that too.
181. Have you ever been arrested? Well...........no.
182. Can you cook? Yes I can.
192. Do you think its wrong/weird if a girl asks a guy out? No, but I think it’s better if she gives him clear signs that she won’t say “no” if he asks her out. Fear of rejection runs hard both ways.
193. Do you have any allergies? Something here in Jamaica gives me a reaction, but now that I think about it, it hasn’t happened for a good while now…
194. Ketchup or catsup? Ketchup
195. Do you believe there is a meaning to life? Yep.
196. What do you think about before you fall asleep? It varies, from "what do I have to do tommorrow" to "mmmm, she’s a nice girl" to "crap! I forgot to log off that computer" to "when do I get paid again?", etc.
197.What are your thoughts on the nature of good and evil? Humans are born with the inclination to do wrong. You don't have to teach a child to lie, but you do have to teach them to tell the truth. You don't have to teach them to steal, be mean and rude, or be bad, but you do have to teach them to do what's right. That clearly shows what is, and what should be, are two different things in this world.
198. Step into your cave. There you will find your power animal. What kind of animal is it? A Bear.
199.What does your power animal say to you? Take it easy, i'm sleeping.
200. End this survey with a quote:Don't be too early or too late, you never know if you're going to be the bird or the worm.

one more Jamaican with a Digicel...

I’m mobile again…phone wise, that is. Cost a bit, but the phone seems pretty good and robust. It’s going to be a pain to build up my contact list again, so if you’re reading this blog and you know me, email me your number again please!

I’ll write more when my brain is not as addled as it is now…

Routine

The routine begins to kick in, and I get home dead tired…but at least I don’t dread getting up and going to work like I did when I was temping in Maryland. The people I worked with in Maryland were cool for the most part…well, the middle management people weren’t all that, (and I think that seems to be a general trend in the USA) but my fellow colleagues and floor supervisors for the most part were really good people. What sucked was the work in general, and it is not nice to wake up in the mornings and say “man, I wish I didn’t have to go into work today”.

Sight to see

Where else in the world can you see a mongoose scuttle past your office window as you check your email in the morning?

Good news about leaving comments

Good news…

Now you can comment on whatever I’ve posted without your having to register! What fun, what joy…

Letter posted!

Hmmmm….

A letter that I wrote to the Jamaica Observer was published in the paper today! I feel pretty good, I don’t know if any good will come of it but at least I was able to air my thoughts in a public forum ( It was a direct reply to a letter that Omar Davies (minister of Finance) wrote to a lady who spoke of taxes as a “tool of silencing and persecution” as practiced by this government. He challenged her to prove her case, and I responded by giving my personal testimony, where…well, if you want to know, I'll post it later on. The letter HAD been posted online, but for some reason it was taken off the website :S I don't know why...It WAS in the print edition, and I read it myself that morning. Censorship? Could be, but I’ll still write more…I wonder sometimes what it would be like if I were to write a column. But what would I write it on? I’m still too young and have no idea of what goes on behind the scenes, á la Mark Wignall. Still, all I can do is send my opinion whenever I feel it needs to be sent.

Also, it’s good to be upfront with people. You take your medicine, and move on with no hard feelings; I hate the games that people play in relationships sometimes, and it’s refreshing to talk to someone who is direct and honest yet pleasant. It’s true you have to be careful yeah, but there comes a time to stand up and put yourself out there…and I think I’m getting the hang of it. Respect abides where openness and tact are welcome. That’s an original quote right there, so be sure to give cred where it’s due ;) hehehehe.

Cell phones and Jamaica (and the USA)

I can’t imagine how Jamaica would have been right now, if it were not for the cell phone. According to some survey I read somewhere, there are more than 2.1 million cell phones in Jamaica. When you consider that the Jamaican population is somewhere between 2.6 and 2.7 million, you can see that this is a very high ratio, eh? I guess sometime within the next 10 years, you’ll see babies coming out of the womb with cell phones in their hands :-D Someone without a cell phone is the oddity; everyone in every strata of society has a cellie.

It’s actually been beneficial for Jamaica, I think. Looong time ago, there was a monopoly on the phone industry held by Cable & Wireless, and they acted like a monopoly. Bad service? High fees? Suck it up fools, we OWN you, hahahah!! Then along came Digicel, and the view changed rapidly. While C&W still pretty much owns the land line business, Digicel made mobile phone service affordable for the masses. Competition is good for the masses and today we reap the benefits of two companies desperately fighting for our money (…

For my part, having foolishly lost the most excellent phone I carried down from the USA, I am now faced with choosing between these two services. I had signed up with MiPhone service on my lost phone but that was just because it was a CDMA phone (Digicel and C&W are GSM). Since I have to start from scratch again, I’ll have to play with the big dogs…I’m leaning towards C&W, but I’ll have to do a more intensive recon when I have some time. Most people use Digicel, but C&W has a deal where it costs the same to call any cellular customer no matter their service. Of course, it means that those who use Digicel won’t want to call me…but on the other hand, most of them never have any credits ANYWAY and wouldn’t call me ANYWAY. I’ll see what the reconnaissance has to say after I do it…

And upon further reflection, I realize that the cell phone industry in the USA totally sucks and is solely out to prey on the consumer. I should have seen it a long time ago though…I mean, why should I have to pay out of my minutes if someone calls me? That doesn’t happen here in Jamaica; you only pay if you call someone, and if they call you, you don’t pay for the call. Furthermore, I find it suspicious that the USA’s prepaid service does not even begin to compare to the prepaid service down here. In the USA, the vast majority of plans are of the flat rate/set minutes per month and you pay extra per minute if you go over. Some companies have the rollover or anytime minutes, but it still charges if you go over. I tried to get a Verizon prepaid account for my mom, but for some reason they charged $1 a day or something like that, regardless if you made calls or not. I don’t know about you, but a ‘jack is a ‘jack no matter where you are. On the other hand, the vast majority of phones in Jamaica are pre-paid minutes, where you just buy a card and add the credit to your account as needed. They don’t expire until you use ‘em, so if you buy a big chunk of credit, you can just let it sit there and call until it goes out again, and then buy another big chunk. Too many people down here just buy credit piece-piece and thus run out of it when they need it the most, but that’s not the way to go in my opinion. I don’t need a steady flat rate plan, I’ll buy the credit I need to call when I need and when it’s over, I’ll buy some more. That’s the sensible way to go. Cell users of the USA, unite! Tell your bloated corporations you want honest billing!

What Geoff learned today

What did I learn today?

I learned that man shall not attempt to go on field trips from 8 am to 3:30 pm just eating a bun and cheese sandwich, a really sour orange, and a really delicious grapefruit. The resulting pangs of hunger will distract even the most dedicated scientist. I also learned that it’s wise to determine why an orange tree laden with fruit is still laden with fruit before just picking and partaking.

I learned that ticks suck, literally and figuratively.

I learned that Mile Gully is a pretty nice part of Jamaica, even though the sun was hot, there was not much discomfort due to heat. Granted, we were in the cool hills of Manchester, but it was still a nice day weather-wise.

I learned that geoprobes are an interesting and useful way to get remotely sensed data for the earth’s subsurface, but it sucks to have to take a 20-lb sledge hammer and whack a cast-iron sledge 5 times per probe for 24 probes. At least, I assume it sucks; I wasn’t the one who had to do the whacking, thank God!

I learned that the Juci-Beef chain of restaurants is actually quite good. Their patties are definitely on par with Tastee patties (the gold standard in Jamaica) and while I won’t accuse them of industrial espionage, I will probably one day try a blind taste test to determine the difference between their fried & BBQ chicken and KFC’s chicken. They taste too similar to be just a coincidence. It was all good though; I would go back to Juci-Beef for a fast food fix.

I learned that people are just nosey, wherever you go.

I learned that the Rio Minho, contrary to what I thought based on observations, is NOT running dry. It becomes sub-surface flow at some point before reaching May Pen, and re-emerges outside of Lionel Town. Thus, if you dig in the riverbed outside of May Pen, you’ll eventually encounter said flow. 

Salsa Picture #2

No, I don't have a sequence or strategy for how I put these pics up.

This pic was taken on that same salsa dance mentioned earlier in this blog; I have a pic up of myself and Suzanne. The four of us went and had a really good time, here is Remke (the Netherlands), Suzanne (USA), me (Jamaica)and Jhon (Columbia, and I didn't spell his name wrong). 

The Trench Town SDA Church

This is a small snapshot of my original home church one Sabbath. 

Colgate ad

Honestly, I can't remember what was so amusing. :) 

Marshall clan 2

This one is a bit late in coming; I took it the first Sabbath that I came back home in Feb 2006. Yeah, I should have taken off the shades, but me eyes are sensitive! Anyhows, it's me, Dad, Sarah and Andrew. 

random thoughts

Fieldwork tomorrow, quiet stuff today, still getting into the swing of it…

Cute girls here, others there, another I wish to hear from, another who wants to hear from me…

What to get involved in at church, what to leave alone, ideas to push, ideas to drop…

And to top it off, a funeral for a criminal in Spanish Town ends up shutting down half the city for fear of criminal elements going all crazy. The police were out in full force and there was no trouble when I was coming back home, but something has to be done about the crime here. Thing is, everyone says that, but no one has a freakin’ CLUE about what that something is. Including me. Sometimes I wish I could be like Frank Castle, a.k.a. the Punisher, just go vigilante, undercover, and terminate all criminal elements with extreme prejudice. Still, vengeance is God’s, not mine.

Lost is in repeats tonight, and there isn’t really anything else I’d watch until South Park and Drawn Together, so I’ll probably end up playing FIFA Soccer 2002 until 10 pm…see if I can take the Jamaican side to win the World Cup. Yeah!

“Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord shall be praised.”

One more thing

One more thing,
I just wanted to express my utter bitterness and disgust at the Jamaica Public Service for letting the power go out last night just as I was getting ready to watch the first part of Battlestar Galactica’s Season Finale. It’s better to miss the first part than the second part, tis true, but mi nuh waa miss nun a dem. Cho!

First Day Report, and Transport issues

Yesterday was my first day at work, and it was a good day. Everyone seemed really happy to see me back, and I feel quite at home. I’ve just started to get into the swing of things, Angella gave me some reports to read about the island’s current water status and we had a team meeting where I began to get a feel of what projects and assignments we’re working on. There was a presentation later on in the day from Ms. Kimberly John about biodiversity and threats to the Jamaican ecosystem, which was also pretty interesting.

I’m in the office early this morning, and I probably will be most mornings. The traffic here is pretty bad, I have to leave home by 5:50 am to catch the executive bus that runs from my neighborhood to Half-Way Tree, and then I have to transfer from that bus to one that runs up to Papine. This routine is actually better than the one I used to do back in the day, where I’d have to catch a taxi from home to Spanish Town, catch another taxi/bus from Spanish Town to Half-Way-Tree and then catch yet ANOTHER taxi to Papine. Doing it that way, I spend at least $170 and would be in a very uncomfortable ride. Taking the executive bus means I’m sitting down in A/C comfort, reading whatever and listening to my own music if I want, or catching a nap, and then I only have to make one transfer. Time is the main thing though; as I said, I left home at 5:50 and I got to the office at about 7:30, and work starts at 8:30. Normally it shouldn’t take more than an hour to drive from my home to work, it’s comparable to driving from Baltimore to Washington DC. If I left home at 7 am though, I probably wouldn’t even be halfway to Kingston by now.

Oh well, at least I can use this hour to chill, get ready for the day, etc. etc. (

A jamaican minibus

This picture was taken today, I was in the back of a coaster bus running from Half Way Tree to Spanish Town. Rush hour Metro ain't got nothin' on this...

and for Wilma and company, you see that it is reality that that joke was referring to, eh? :p 

Mandeville, viewed from NCU cafeteria

these are the cool cool hills of Manchester. Great place to retire to...pretty boring otherwise, hehehe. 

Ocean view

A lil' view of the coastline. 

The Thinker...

...ponders and considers... 

I did not say that word!

This is a very heated game of Taboo here, being contested between various youth members of the Trench Town SDA church, who were also on this beach trip.