A Garinagu Parade

I just came in from watching the Garifuna Settlement Day parade here in Orange Walk. It was short but sweet and just what you’d expect from a parade on the 19^th of November in Belize: colors, drums, and Garinagu people. Happy Garifuna Settlement Day everyone!

Dropping OS, hurray?

I've thought it over thoroughly and in about 6 hours I'll be walking over to the registrar's office to withdraw from Operating Systems. With seven assignments pending, a final exam to study for, and only 4 weeks on the calendar, I've decided it's not worth the effort, after all, it's too much work and too little time. But here's the catch. You see, at Sacred Heart College Junior College one needs to have completed and passed the Operating Systems class in order to graduate with an associates degree in Network Administration + Computer Technician. Therefore, I'll only be able to graduate from SHCJC with a Technician degree, which isn't much really. And so I'm thinking of not even applying for graduation now that I've realized the worth of a diploma (from an associates degree) and the Belizean perception of it. According to two influential superiors, whose identities must be kept undisclosed, a diploma for an associates degree is in fact dispensable unless one plans to pursue their career immediately after 6th form. For some extraneous reasons, Belizeans tend to give it a status beyond what it's actually worth, that there piece of paper. Now, I know better than to listen to only one side of the tale, but it does make sense to some degree (It's all about degrees today). It's actually very easy to transfer to any university to further my education once the proof is presented in the form of grades and other attributes. All they want to see is how far you are in your field, and how good the grades on your transcript are. Some people see it as just the first two years of getting a bachelors, much like how it's perceived at in the U.S. So now you know that you can get into UB with or without that single document, no strings attached. Just a refresh, if it wasn't obvious the first time around, I'm dropping OS because I don't want it to affect my GPA, in which case may result in diminished chances of me getting a scholarship or financial aid, yada,yada... I could go on with this forever, I got the graphs, I got the equations. The point is, no diploma, no problem (not that I'm not getting one). I've got much at stake with nothing to gain, and if you love me enough and prefer to see me live every moment of life like it was the last, then you wouldn't want to see me get drained out these last few weeks and you'd see no controversy behind what I'll be doing today. Contrary to what Caleb says, I believe it's the best choice I can make. Now to shed the light to my peeps. I know my mom is going to give that look again, but then she'll forget about it just like the time when I didn't take any CXCs.

4 Weeks of Classes Left

Waiting until the last minute to submit an assignment just isn't fun anymore, especially with this guy. I've taken a drag this past week and thanks to Mr. Johnstone, my Operating Systems lecturer, my last few weeks at Heart will be nothing less than a shadow of what I've already endured. Most people, like me, often find themselves developing strange tendencies to procrastinate. Others exhibit signs of discipline that are reflected throughout their personalities and daily lives. Needless to say, I fall far from that tree and don't seem to be getting any closer. Straying away from the bigger picture is what I do best and this is a perfect example: I'm blogging and 'babbling' (in Johnstone's own words) at 12:56 AM in the morning instead of working on one of seven pending assignments for OS class. It's what I've been doing this entire semester and I suppose my mid-term results echo it. Shh, don't tell mom and dad or else I won't be getting any presents this Christmas. Any good suggestions on how to overcome this bad habit?

The Tragedies of Leo: The Flu, the Room, &Tony

Good morning everyone! It’s been more than a month and I’ve got a lot to share. So, grab a cup of your favorite coffee or chocolate milk and get ready, this is gonna be a fun ride with a dramatic ending.

While the title of this entry could be interpreted far differently, it’s just another way of saying: “I was sick, and in effect, I couldn’t clean my room, and I missed the Tony Rath photo shoot.” Let’s start things off with the flu.

The Flu

Some two weeks ago, the flu started to circulate around the San Ignacio area. It wasn’t the first time I had seen it since my arrival at San Ignacio, but I never saw it coming this big. Just imagine two of every five people you meet walking around with handkerchiefs and runny noses. It stroke me so much, I even came up with a definition for the flue. Here, take a look:

The Flu: A highly explosive device, which for some undisclosed reason, was designed by the spirits of the indigenous Maya, and was left back for the sole purpose of destroying a minimum period of five precious life units (days) of a specific group of related individuals, any of whom live adjacent to each other and don’t take their vitamins nor say their prayers or have done some bad thing in the past and haven’t paid for it.

Eventually, we the inhabitants, of 2^nd Street, San Ignacio Town, surrendered. One by one we fell starting with Romeo, the landlord, way up to Murphy, my next door neighbor. I’m not sure how I got it, but I did, and it was anything but pretty.

At school I underperformed, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t shower, I couldn’t clean my room (not that I do anyway); I basically couldn’t do any vital action of betterment other than taking Contact – the magic pill!

Thanks to the magic pill, my illness lasted for only 4 days and on the 5^th, I was off to the NTEC (National Tertiary Education Conference) in Belize City, mingling with doctors and highly reputed individuals in tertiary educational. P.M. was there, and boy did he look shaky.

I never really recovered until the sixth day but it could have been worse. It's just a reminder of how we all get sick at some point in time.

...I guess that’s it for the flu so fire up the flashlights and put on your reading glasses, next stop…my room!

The Room

Recall my previous post Room, well guess what, it’s even worst than that this time. While I was sick, I was unable to do many things, one of them being able to clean my room.

Take a moment to stare. (I’m sipping on some chocolate milk right now.) Yes, I know, this one’s worth more than a thousand words that’s why I have it as my desktop background at the moment. I still can’t believe it, it’s simply outrageous. I’ll give a snicker bar to the first one to spot my keys in this rumble and two if you can tell what time I took this picture. Click here for a larger view of ‘My Sick Room’. For even larger views, please make a request – they’re going like hot cakes!

I’ll give a pack of watermelon bubblicious to the first one to spot a pair of dotted underwear in this one. ‘Smarties’ for the one that finds my laundry detergent. Click here for a larger view of this one; I think you’ll need it to find the golden nuggets. As always, photographs of my room speak for themselves.

Fact: Believe it or not, when I was sick, I found myself waking up on the floor next to the heap of clothes beside my bed.

Tony

If there was one thing that pissed me off most about the flu, it was the fact that I was forced to miss a once in a life time opportunity – a photo shoot with Tony Rath! The plan was set months in advance, and we had been anticipating it like sharks on the hunt. The photographer and good friend of mine, John Banman, had made arrangements for only 3: Tony, himself, and me. This is the email I received prior to the trip:

Hi Leo Tony says he will sleep in San Ign and will be at our house 5:30 Friday morning. Would you like to camp in our studio for the night, or what did you have in mind? For us it would be OK if you stay here. Get the batteries charged and cards formatted!~! It looks like there might also be some aerial shooting involved, but the plane can only hold the pilot plus 3. John.

Here's an exerpt of my response:

It was in my mind the entire week. Even in my dreams. Unfortunately, I don't recover too quickly from illnesses (flu). I apologize for not informing you on this earlier. I could imagine how much i missed out, i hope you guys go at it again and hopefully, by that time, I'm 100% fit. Thanks for the opportunity.

Sincerely, Leo

For anyone that doesn’t know who Tony Rath is, he’s like a Belizean celebrity. He’s Belize’s foremost wildlife photographer and founder of NPL. I’m going start crying again if I continue talking about this topic. Who wants the rest of this chocolate milk? Oh crap, I think I just triggered the flu again. That’ll do for today. Tune in next time.

Update: All prizes have been won. Beat Roy. He got most of them right. Wish I had more to give away.

Kids, Don't Try This at Home

You know how I don't trust my barber? Well, today I decided to get a hair cut, only this time with someone I could trust. So I took my dad's grooming kit and marched over to my cousin's house less than a block away. There I met my cousin 'Daddy Yankee' a.k.a. 'Grinch' whom by the way had no trimming experience prior this one. But I trust him, so.... Me: "I want it low and level, no fade."

Inexperienced barber : "Lee man, you sure you no want a fade."

By this time I was looking up and staring at the inexperienced barber in amazment.

This guy must be kidding.

Me :"Sure mein, no fade."

Right there and then, in his dining room, he flicked the switch on the machine and started with the bottom.

At first, the blades were cold and they gave me 'tickilish'. Then, as the machine warmed up, the blades began to sting and scorch my skin every instance they made contact.

I got used to it and it began tickling again. Then I heard my cousin say:

Inexperiened Barber: "Mohawk!"

Me:"What the heck, might as well have some fun while you're at it."

The 'Grinch' in his finest hour.

About twenty minutes later, the deed was done. And let me tell you, barbers do crazy things. Pretty cool huh?!. Wish it was.

You know how sometimes you just wish you could turn back time? Well, I went to my real barber to see what he could make of it. And...

He calls it, the 'reverse mohawk'.

Lesson learnt: Do not trust any barber, nor grinches, especially if they don a "Try It, You'll Like It" t-shirt.

From fun and games to reverse mohawk, I've had a tiresome day. It's 1a.m. and i got to pack my stuff; I'm leaving for Cayo at 4 a.m. Wonder what the guys there might say? I'll tell 'em it's my post-World Cup hairdo. For those of you that already know, please don't ask if you happen to see me around.

Reading, writing, learning

I had a cheese sandwich today. It was pretty good.

Welcome to my humble abode

For those of you that don't know, i'm boarding on my own now and yes, I was in 'hibernation mode' a.k.a. no progress mode. Most of you know it as exam week. Today i'll take you on a tour of my new place. Along the way, we'll meet a friend of mine, and of course, i'll be sharing with you my thoughts and experiences so far at my home away from home. The location is a five minute walk from campus. The area is calm and quiet, perhaps the most remote area in this part of San Ignacio. When I first got here, I made friends with everyone (well, except for Mr. Romeo's wife. I don't know why; she seems okay from here though). Mr. Romeo, the land lord, is quite a guy! He's straight up, calls every body 'mi brotha' or 'primo', and can really make one feel at home. The first few days went by so well. I managed to recruit Danny and Partick a.k.a Murphy Murphy into 'Unreal' territories, that is, I convinced them to become soldiers in 'Unreal Tournament' --- a game known to any true gamer. We played this every night until Patrick left us to go hang out with his mother for the first time in 12 years. (way to go Murphy) Danny sticked around which was how I managed to know more about him. There isn't much to say about Danny except that he's short and crazy as hell.

See what I mean?! This is Danny doing what he calls 'water-picking'. You can read more about 'water-picking' and why we do it at Danny's blog. I must say that since I got here things have changed a bit in terms of cleanliness. For the first time ever, i've actually kept my room clean....psyke!!! I need not say more... these pictures are worth more than a thousand words....The End.

How Hard Do You Work?

How often do you work? And if any at all, how hard do you work? Like many a teenager, I hardly do anything (what a shame). I go home on weekends to play video games and visit my family nothing more nothing less. I can't remember the last time I did anything that would make me sweat. And that's exactly what has been bugging me since last weekend. What happened to the good old days when one would come home from school to find himself/herself a bunch of chores waiting to be done? What happened to the good old weekends when guys would go out and mow the lawn and chicks would....uh, do gooey chick stuff? It seems as if those days have come to past and next generation adolescents are getting lazier and lazier! The work our peeps used to do 20-30 years ago was nothing compared to the so-called 'work' we do these days. So, in tribute to the peeps and their years of hard work and for the sake of contemporary adulthood, this weekend we decided to do something for the folks they would least expect. In case you're wondering who that guy in the picture above is, it's my little brother. His job was to 'chop' the yard and I was 'supposed' to take down the Christmas tree. Ya, that's no typo, we still have our tree up! And thanks to my procrastination, I whimped out on my part (for no valid reason) and we STILL have a Christmas tree in our living room. This weekend I shall not fail; that tree WILL COME DOWN!(damn it!) And why will I do this again? Because my parents have spoilt me! What have you done to us mom and dad? Or better yet, with more thought, what have we done to ourselves?! All I can say is, we're gonna have a hell of a time when we step out into the real world if we don't wake up and start being more responsible.

BelizeGifts.com

Finally, the site i've been working on for weeks is finally up (well, sort of). BelizeGifts is a developing enterprise. It emerged from what is currently 'Ceasar's Place', Belize's largest gift shop. If you're ever coming down the Western Highway, be sure to drop by. It's on the outskirts of San Ignacio, about a mile after Unitedville. You can't miss it. There's a big blue sign that says 'Caesar's Place', 'Art and Crafts', and some other thing, maybe 'internet' or so. There is still some work to be done. So, don't hesitate to give your 'constructive critiques' on the site; your input can make a difference.

Excuse My Grammar

Those of you that have been reading my posts since day one should have noticed by now that my grammar sucks. Not that I'm bad at English or anything, but blogging just calls for mistakes. Ok, you got me. Maybe I'm trying to cover up here. I'll admit it: I think I've been a bit too careless with my grammar these days. And unfortunately, my negligence must have been very distracting -- right? (I hope that hasn't scared some people away. My apologies o scared ones. ) Obviously, I've just been wasting 14 years of education and discipline --- typical me. So, for the benefit of everyone, I'll try to produce more attractive, less distractive work! And yes, I'm hoping you do your part as well.

Group Work and Presentations

Today I missed two classes. Why? A presentation for Technical Writing had me working all day long. Well, not quite, I got to San Ignacio around 4pm and I worked until 6pm. Anyhoo, I am definately a bad procrastinator. Or, 'just maybe' Technical Writing demands too much. Not! My group members really let me down today or so I thought. One handed up his part of the presentation five minutes before the class, another typed up his' during class, and the other, well, for some strange reason, she ditched us minutes before our presentation! So we never got a taste of what she had to hand up. Mind you that all of their work should have had been submitted from last week! This just goes to show that: 1 - People are really busy 2 - Some people find nothing wrong in ditching their group members at 'last minute' (not pointing any fingers here) 3 - Some people have no problem with taking a bullet for the team Luckily, to remedy the situation of having a man down, we had Javier Romero in our group, the bad bitch of speech delivery; we sometimes refer to him as 'the voice of the west'. He and Elmer backed us up tonight, thanks fellas. It was funny. While we were waiting on the 'ditcher' to 'hopefully' return, the ingenious Javier entertained the class with a recap of what we had presented. When he had no more to say (or so we thought), there was a slight pause as if to say that the 'ditcher' was about to re-enter the room, but she didn't and just as we thougth he had no more to say, Javier began again, this time talking about a few things we had missed out and what was the 'ditcher' would have presented. This continued for a while until we realized that we were truly ditched so we just closed off without her. Overall, I believe our group made the best of a bunch of sucky presentations. I must admit working with group members is no easy task. One thing I regret not doing was getting their phone numbers; by doing so, we could have delivered a solid presentation. Tonight I endured what was another crazy but priviliged experience as a student at Sacred Heart College. SHC rocks!