Lily’s Blog, Dragon Absconded!
Baking Until I Drop

I don’t know.

Voting for Ramesh?? Heeralal? Not Anand? Shame!

Is Winston losing? Noooooo.

They need to at least win a seat.

Chennette says if we’re lucky PNM won’t get a special majority. Well, I can hope for that … or even LARGE miracles.

But then what? It’s not as if UNC does anything in opposition aside from being annoying Panday zombies.

*sigh*

Election Fever has hit Trinidad and Tobago.

We’re due at the polls on November 5th.

Now comes the election dilemma…of course most people don’t suffer from these problems. They just vote party…or race…or don’t vote!

I really do wish electing our Prime Minister was separate from electing our constituent. So say I preferred the UNCA candidate to run my constituency (haha!) then I could vote for him but if I wanted a different Prime Minister say the PN…okay! I can’t say that. Oh no! But you get it?

Anywayz, mom made reference to my problem in a previous post of mine.

What do you do when you’re supporting one party and you believe you need to do everything in your power to get them to win (i.e. vote for the candidate for your constituency come election day)…yet…yet…you don’t like the candidate.

Actually, I don’t know if we like the candidate.
It’s been said that he’s made anti-muslim comments…he’s arrogant…he’s a bad apple in the party (by others…I don’t know if the party says this).

There was a cottage meeting and my dad asked the candidate about the statements. He said nooo he never said that. Those were part of the allegations against him etc etc. His wife is muslim. Hmmm. Of course one of my mom’s friends said she heard it on the radio (other party, other party radio station).

What to do!
Voting is the only way to make a difference.
Well prayer too.
We don’t seem to have any other way for the voice of the people to be heard. Once our representatives are elected they do not listen to us and we can’t seem to do any vote of no confidence or make them do what we the people want.

*sigh*

On that note, I leave you with a picture of take out food. How is it relevant? Well there was some ‘Id-ul-Fitr luncheon that somebody was invited to which was a forum for one party to speak (no! i wasn’t invited). But somebody gave us take-away boxes…mom and I had been shopping that morning and out all day…we were so hungry…it tasted great :-)

People say that Kamla is enacting the battered wife to a tee. She has been sidelined for leading the UNC Alliance into the next election (and thus being Prime Minister if they win) and yet still proclaims her love for the man Basdeo Panday and proclaims her undying loyalty.

My dad says that someone so bright should be ashamed. They should take back all her degrees for that.

Well, my mom heard the reason Kamla was sidelined was to keep the muslim vote. What I mean to say is that the muslims would not vote for UNC-A because they would be voting for a female Prime Minister and they can’t have that. And this is the reason she accepted the decision…for the good of the party…etc etc.

Hmm…I don’t know if it’s true but I would have been more likely to vote for UNC-A (ha!) with Kamla leading than Basdeo (and Jack) leading. Actually, in putting aside Kamla they didn’t have to put Panday as a co-leader. They could have used somebody else. I don’t think I could ever vote for a party with Basdeo Panday as a leader.

Also, COP and Winston Dookeran might have been more willing to entertain unity talks with UNC-A or at least accommodation talks with Kamla as the leader. And then…well who would lead if they won would still be up in the air.

I’m not a knife-and-fork Indian.
But that’s because…I’m not Indian :-)
(And I tend to not use a knife…).

But what’s wrong with someone who eats with a knife-and-fork?

How can you preach unity for Trinidad & Tobago while calling some Indians traitors to their race for running in any party they choose (now, I might consider some people traitors to their country for supporting a dictatorship…but that’s different). That’s not unity. That’s preaching race politics. Yes, we know everybody pushes race but at least don’t be so obvious.

How can you call for unity at the same time as you are insulting the people you want to woo? Serious case of right hand not knowing what the left hand doing (or the right brain cell not knowing what the left brain cell doing…yes! you only have TWO brain cells).

Back to the knife-and-fork…if you are preaching unity, doesn’t it seem contradictory to separate based on how you eat? Why can’t the people who eat with hands and the people who eat with a knife-and-fork unite to save the country. Are only the people who eat with hands deserving of being saved?

On a side note, don’t expect me to eat with my hands if you don’t provide decent facilities to wash my hands before and after I eat. But then, you probably don’t wash the dishes too well so I’m doomed anywayz…(doomed to die of starvation).

(Okay, I owe you an ‘Id post…I did take more pictures than just dates).

But, every now and again there are a few trini websites I can’t access. It’s very sad. More than sad, it’s FRUSTRATING!

They are
trinigourmet.com
themanicoureport.com
ttblogs.com/patrickmanning

I think they are all hosted by GoDaddy. That’s the only common factor I can find. Now my domain names are hosted by GoDaddy but not my websites…

Yesterday for a couple hours or so I was able to get them. I was happy.

Now, I don’t know.
Is Greendot (my ISP) blocking them? Are my dns servers not working properly? What’s up? What should I do? Complain to Greendot? ARGH

Also it is raining and I think my roof is leaking because there are water droplets on my screen.

that I can’t even recognize when I have a cold/virus/flu.

*sigh*

Thankfully SuperMom is always around to prescribe panadol multisymptom and tell me that I have a cold or something.
How would we manage without SuperMom?
I would think my sleepless nights and tossing and turning on the bed and 20 hours a day of lying down on the bed (not necessarily sleeping) is me just withering away … Alhamdulillah for SuperMom!

But today I managed to make myself stay awake for….6 hours so far? And I talked to people (brother, SuperMom, daddy) a lot…so much that my simple sore throat (only sign of a virus I could see) is thinking of escalating into my losing my voice! I could barely talk to sister and niece on the phone!!!

Yes, I am no longer in Guyana. I’ve been home for about two weeks now but I haven’t had the energy to post, comment, send much email…actually do much. I had to shut down the computer a couple days ago and I haven’t even logged back into IRC. I feel so lost. But I can’t even sleep in my bed so what’s the point since the computer isn’t where I’m sleeping.

I’m so sick.

I’m fed up of being sick.

And people think I should reconsider my job.
Hmph.

I just had a weird conversation with a Guyanese child and I better put it down before I forget it all, especially as some of it will be strongly paraphrased since I don’t totally understand the Guyanese phrases.

So, I’m spending the night by Chennette‘s and somehow got conned into hanging out her last load of laundry on the line outside (never mind she delivered my dirty clothes back to Big Sis’ house). There’s a guard (more like watch lady) on the compound at night and it seems her granddaughter (according to Sister, the Elder) is sleeping on a table on the back, right outside Chennette’s back door.

I went outside, careful not to disturb her but she greeted me after I hung the second piece of clothes. Please note that this conversation is occurring as I walk in and out of the apartment with clothes to hang and she takes a bathroom break at some point.

Girl: You wear pants and skirts?
Me: Yeah! (I did think about this because I rarely wear skirts)
Girl: Oh, but I never see you wearing pants!
Me: (Realization dawns. Remember I am sleepy and this just happened 15minutes ago so it’s LATE! She’s looking at the laundry and thinking I’m Chennette!) Oh, you mean my sister. I’m not her. But yes she does wear pants and skirts, just skirts more often.
Girl: Can I get something to eat?
Me: (Thankfully we have something to eat. With Chennette’s travels this is not always a certainty but Chennette made me some cheese biscuits because I was starving as usual so I put three on a napkin and gave it to her).
Girl: Can I get some drink?
Me: Is water okay?
Girl: Drink?
Me: (*click* Drink in Guyana usually refers to soft drink or soda or pop or sweet drink…) Is water okay? We don’t have drink?
Girl: ok!
Me: (I fill her a glass of cold water and give it to her).
Girl: The biscuits come from a chicken place?
Me: What? Why?
Girl: They smell like they come from a chicken place.
Me: No, she just made them for me. They’re a bit salty.
Girl: She made them? oh!
Me: (Up to here I’m thinking I’m having a regular normal conversation with a little girl…not too strange).
Girl: Why you so big? Why you don’t drop some size?
Me: (I was a bit lost at first because I couldn’t understand what she was actually asking. Was she saying I was too big or I needed to be bigger) Well, if it was that easy to drop weight, I would have already.
Girl: You won’t be able to find anywhere to sit!
Me: (I must admit I wasn’t sure if she was saying I’d be too big to sit anywhere, or too big to find someone to hook up with so I told her I don’t understand. I am really trying to paraphrase what she was saying and on discussion with Chennette we decided it was I’d be too big for seats. So far I comfortably fit into airline chairs and other tight fits. In fact, I lost THREE whole pounds in the 6 weeks since I’d seen one doctor). I don’t understand.
Girl: You don’t speak/understand English?
Me: Yes! It’s Guyanese I don’t understand. (It’s true! Sometimes I don’t understand Big Sis’ niece and nephew and the phrases are different. Well I did get a look for that!)
Girl: You could buy me a phone?
Me: No…
Girl: You don’t have a phone?
Me: No…(okay I was stunned and Chennette says I should’ve asked her why I should buy her a phone).
Girl: Why you doing your washing so late?
Me: Because that’s when she has time to do it. Our mother bring us up so.
Girl: Why you bringing one piece of clothes? Why you don’t bring it all in a basket?
Me: Because I don’t know where the basket is and I don’t want to disturb her.
…
Girl: Oh, you have a washing machine.
Me: Yes.
Girl: When I grow up I want to work like you.
Me: What you mean?
Girl: I want to do what you do.
Me: What do I do?
Girl: You deal with papers.
Me: Um, that’s my sister. I’m a teacher.
Girl: Where do you teach?
Me: Trinidad.
Girl: English, Spanish…?
Me: Maths
Girl: No, you teach in English?
Me: Yes. Trinidad speaks English.
Girl: My mother says (only?) America does/doesn’t speak English. (I was confused!!)
Me: No, Guyana speaks English. Trinidad speaks English.
Girl: Is it America?
Me: It’s the Caribbean.
Girl: (a look)
Girl: I want to go to Trinidad. Will you take me to Trinidad?
Me: No.
Girl: I want to go Trinidad.
Me: Why?
Girl: To study.
Me: Well you can go Trinidad when you grow up.
Girl: No. My mommy says only children can go Trinidad.
Me: That’s not true. Adults can go Trinidad. (Hmmm considering she hasn’t heard of Trinidad and now she wants to go? Does somebody want Chennette to “adopt” her??).
Girl: *disbelief*
Me: (Anywayz, now I’m a bit *worried* to say the least. Can’t wait to finish hang out the clothes…success!) Well I’m done. Good night! Just leave the glass and we’ll pick it up in the morning.

There may have been more conversation but it must be blanked from my mind. I relayed most of it to Chennette so she might remember if there is anymore.

But…yikes!

I’m not sure what to say.

Chennette says I didn’t respond to her questions properly but I’ve not been properly prepared for this. I haven’t heard “stories”!