happiest b'day

it's not really her birthday (far as i know) but it's a beginning, of sorts, for chrissy today, and she'll wake up more herself than she's been able to be. i just wanted to send good vibes for her across the ocean and out into the universe, and remind the rest of us how lucky we are every moment that we feel we can be our true selves.
walk good. and rock those burgundy heels, girl.

meanwhile, back in trinidad, the adventure never stops...

been meaning since i settled, to post about "the state of things" back here in sweet trini but that seems to not be how i operate- the more i want to post about something, the less it happens. plus, "the state of things" not really my style, anyway.
but i at least wanted to say out loud that i (still) happy to be home. so many people wondered why i made this move, expressed doubts at my continued desire to be here, as though i didn't come home while i was away and see for myself, as though i didn't pay attention to the state of things while i was gone, as though i didn't have the determination to do the things i always (repeat, always) said i intended to do, as though i never said i never wanted to leave in the 1st place, as though where i was wasn't worse politically and otherwise, as though is enough to say "it have nuttin for we here" without making the effort to stick around and create something for we here- like they doh know me at all.
talk all you want about the crime+traffic + traffic+crime- i spent 10years in washington d.c., sometime murder-capital-usa, 5 of them in the trinidad neighbourhood(d.c.); trinidad w.i. have nothing on traffic+crime i ent see already, from the bullet that buss through our window casing, cutting its less-than-parabolic trajectory through our bedroom and lodging itself in our guestroom closet within the 1st 9months of owning (or rather, owing the bank for) our d.c. house, to war crimes committed by a gov't that trusts it can make anything true by saying it often enough because it wukkin for them thus far. kidnapping may be (currently) bigger in sweet trini than trinidad d.c. but we lived in crime central, sharing our neighbourhood with the biggest dealer with the best stash in the city, bullet-studded turf wars, and swat teams, where police capture criminals (the few occasions they do) using their cars to bounce them down in the road. we learned the difference between firecrackers and gunfire by listening to it zinging by our doors+windows while ducking in the living room, knowing fully that bullets do sometimes strike the same place twice while luck might not. we even had the prerequisite pipers doing shit like breaking into a car to steal a box of dead on our street.
so i not saying everything sweet in trini but it still worth my time+effort to help make something more of this island with such potential, and if i fighting up somewhere, better fight up here where i still actually have hope for people, love for this place, plus navel string drawing tighter, pulling me to work to improve our lot instead of running to deceptively greener pastures that only offer more of the same, and worse, without our best weather and food and beach and music and mas and the sweetness that still here under the shit to soften the blows.
we sold our trinidad d.c. house in april and came home; a friend still living blocks from our (s)old place wrote me in mid-july that while: "...coming down mt. olivet [ave] one night last week from home depot...one of those rarer occasions when the traffic turning right onto west virginia [ave] was longer and backed-up so i took the left lane across west virginia to turn onto montello [our old street] and came across 2cop cars, at least 4officers. there was a car ahead of me, they were getting carded. officer asked me to see my id...i showed it to him and he said i didn't live in the neighborhood and should go around. i said, what's the problem? he said, with so many deaths in the area they were carding everyone going into the neighborhood and suggested i went around. i told him i know the neighborhood very well and would take my chances and he permitted me through. there were more cops sitting on penn [ave] who didn't stop me and another cop @ the other end of montello near florida [ave]. it was the clearest i've ever seen montello of people. quiet and clear, and creepy. that park (the community center) down montello from 1425 [was our house] has a tree on the corner with all kinda memorial stuff from where one person was murdered. that was the only night i had to deal with the roadblocks, but saw the cop lights from down 12th [street] at least 1other night. otherwise i live just far away enough that the roadblocks didn't affect me. so many killings (8 or 9) in the trinidad neighborhood in the last few weeks that the city set up a roadblock to monitor the neighborhood for 6days..."
and this was before the supreme court reversed the d.c. gun ban...he blogged about his experience, including heavy police prescence circling his non-trinidad block, and a washington post article explaining the police justification and justifiably angry civilian response; less than 24hours later a shooter opened fire in our old neighbourhood, wounding 7 and killing 1 (visiting minor), delivering an excuse to maintain the unconstitutional roadblocks in trinidad, d.c.
i feel baddish for the couple that bought our house, but they can fight their fight on behalf of their people; i'll be here fightin' up with mine in sweet trini.
walk good.

lies, half-truths and innuendos

big-up keif, for pointing out liecount: "a bipartisan look at the major lies coming out of both camps this election cycle" (american, that is)...
walk good.

cannibalism

recently started seeing this ad for m+m's premiums triple chocolate. am i the only one who thinks it's weird for commercials to show the product eating the product? i love chocolate, but cannibalist chocolate puts my otherwise goat-like stomach off...
walk good.

facetweet

via gwenergy, thought-provoking article that made me somewhat reconsider facebook, twitter and all that other shit i don't get into...
walk good.

in good company

in my itunes, there's a very small group of albums that when uploaded, are genre-categorised "unclassifiable": nico's super hero to many small insects, ataklan's atamorphosis, andre tanker's bim(+beyond), machel montano+xtatik's charge!!
all trini artistes, among my all-time favourites...
i'm trying not to cry for 12's album not yet in my hands+ears, knowing it's worth the wait, believing that it will also prove "unclassifiable"- live or recorded, this select company is where 12 belongs...
walk good.

doctor's orders

i don't know about you, but poor grims is miserably sick and i could use a laugh today.
disclaimer: i don't know about the authenticity of the courtroom stuff below, but true or not, it amused me enough that i giving you as i get it.
but 1st, from my mother, once again:
when i got home last night, my wife demanded that i take her someplace expensive. so, i took her to a gas station...and then the fight started...
after retiring, i went to the social security office to apply for social security. the woman behind the counter asked me for my driver's license to verify my age. i looked in my pockets and realized i had left my wallet at home. i told the woman that i was very sorry, but i would have to go home and come back later. the woman said, "unbutton your shirt". so i opened my shirt revealing my curly silver hair. she said, "that silver hair on your chest is proof enough for me," and she processed my social security application. when i got home, i excitedly told my wife about my experience at the social security office. she said, "you should have dropped your pants. you might have gotten disability, too." and then the fight started...
my wife and i were sitting at a table at my high school reunion, and i kept staring at a drunken lady swigging her drink as she sat alone at a nearby table. my wife asked, "do you know her?". "yes," i sighed, "she's my old girlfriend. i understand she took to drinking right after we split up those many years ago, and i hear she hasn't been sober since". "my god!" says my wife, "who would think a person could go on celebrating that long?" and then the fight started...
i rear-ended a car this morning. so, there we were alongside the road and slowly the other driver got out of his car. you know how sometimes you just get sooo stressed and little things just seem funny? yeah, well, i couldn't believe it...he was a dwarf!!! he stormed over to my car, looked up at me, and shouted, "I AM NOT HAPPY!!!" so, i looked down at him and said, "well, then which one are you?" and then the fight started...

these are from a book called disorder in the american courts, and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters who had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place. (edit: see disclaimer)
ATTORNEY: are you sexually active?
WITNESS: no, i just lie there.

ATTORNEY: what gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: gucci sweats and reeboks.

ATTORNEY: this myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: yes.
ATTORNEY: and in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: i forget.
ATTORNEY: you forget? can you give us an example of something you forgot?

ATTORNEY: what was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
WITNESS: he said, "where am i, cathy?"
ATTORNEY: and why did that upset you?
WITNESS: my name is susan!

ATTORNEY: do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in voodoo?
WITNESS: we both do.
ATTORNEY: voodoo?
WITNESS: we do.
ATTORNEY: you do?
WITNESS: yes, voodoo.

ATTORNEY: now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: did you actually pass the bar exam?

ATTORNEY: the youngest son, the twenty-one-year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: uh, he's twenty-one.

ATTORNEY: were you present when your picture was taken?
WITNESS: are you shittin' me?

ATTORNEY: so the date of conception (of the baby) was august 8th?
WITNESS: yes.
ATTORNEY: and what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: uh...i was gettin' laid!

ATTORNEY: she had three children, right?
WITNESS: yes.
ATTORNEY: how many were boys?
WITNESS: none.
ATTORNEY: were there any girls?
WITNESS: are you kidding? your honor, i think i need a different attorney. can i get a new attorney?

ATTORNEY: how was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: by death.
ATTORNEY: and by whose death was it terminated?
WITNESS: now, whose death do you suppose terminated it?

ATTORNEY: can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: he was about medium height and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: was this a male or a female?
WITNESS: guess.

ATTORNEY: is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which i sent to your attorney?
WITNESS: no, this is how i dress when i go to work.

ATTORNEY: doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?WITNESS: all my autopsies are performed on dead people. would you like to rephrase that?

ATTORNEY: all your responses MUST be oral, ok? what school did you go to?
WITNESS: oral.

ATTORNEY: do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: the autopsy started around 8:30pm.
ATTORNEY: and mr. denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: no, he was sitting on the table, wondering why i was doing an autopsy on him!

ATTORNEY: are you qualified to give a urine sample?
WITNESS: huh...are you qualified to ask that question?

ATTORNEY: doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?WITNESS: no.
ATTORNEY: did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: no.
ATTORNEY: did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: no.
ATTORNEY: so, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?WITNESS: no.
ATTORNEY: how can you be so sure, doctor?
WITNESS: because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: i see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practising law...

walk good.