The Annoyances

My luggage has yet to arrive. I call every morning, afternoon, and evening, and no one knows a thing. I bought two pairs of shorts and a t-shirt that the airline will reimburse me for, but even so, I want my stuff. I'm going to ask Kitty and Jeff if they'll drive me up to the airport today so I can talk to someone in person.

What makes me most upset is the fact that mom put that present in my bag to be opened on Xmas morning. Without my bag, December 25th will be a very homesick day for me.

Other than my luggage M.I.A., the trip has been fine. Not great, just fine. Loretta has taken to whining about every goddamn thing, but she seems to be realizing that she can do things on her own, so that's a relief. John has, however, manager to be the most annoying person on this trip by far and quite possibly the most annoying person I have ever met. He seems to always be around, wearing the most hideous clothing and looking rather icky hygienically, making horrific comments, pushing his family to the edge so that one day they will all snap simultaneously and throw him off of a skyscraper. I can only dream.

Poker has become the game of choice on this trip. Every night, us five youngins gather 'round and play us some Texas Hold 'Em. I'm getting better, but I'm still very bad. I don't understand how people play that all-year round. It's so... stressful! All that bluffing and better and losing.. good gravy.

Kitty and I seem to be bonding. Yesterday when the other four kiddlies went to the mall, Jeff, her, and I sat around and had a quite and most delightful dinner. She's very aware of everything around her and seems like a great centre to a family. I'm actually "bonding" with most of the people through a common view. Cam, the cousin from the non-Bajan side, and I have the "we're not in this family" thing in common. Brian and I have the "John is annoying and that's it" in common. It's always good to come together over something negative; it allows for great conversation lol.

There is a bug in my room that is using me as a buffet. Even though I already have a very itchy heat rash, this mosquito bites me everywhere. He can actually wake me up if he flies by my ear. He is definitely the most well-fed bug in Barbados, and one with a severe death wish.

Today I believe we are going to a wildlife reserve, so maybe I'll finally be able to see a monkey! The only wildlife I've seen here are little geckos, crazy-ass looking birds, an icky crab, and the bug in my room. I wonder.. if I buy a safari hat, will the airline reimburse me?

--Jam

The First Morning

The sun is finally peering into my window in a blue distant glow through the roll-up blinds and the brich-shaped bars. I've been awake for hours because I slept off my jet lag yesterday. I worry constantly about my luggage and about the fact that if I don't get it soon, I'll have to find some clothes to buy with the little money I've saved up.

Mom's gift rests in my lost suitcase and it makes me sad that I may not get to open it on Xmas day. I actually miss home and being around family and friends, rather than Loretta's family, who don't seem to be warming up to me at all. Who would have thought that I would miss the snow, the usual, and Brantford while in a tropical Barbados? A god with a sick sense of humour, that's who.

I'm starving, but they're going slow and steady when it comes to buying groceries. I had a roti (weird wrap thing) and a flying fish sandwich yesterday and both were amazing. Although food is expensive here, is really makes a lot of Canadian foods seem like vomit in a dish. But not only is the food expensive here. Since everything is imported, everything is overpriced. Batteries, for example, are said to be thirty dollars. Loretta said that the locals must ask "well, do I eat today or buy batteries?" As ridiculous as it sounds, it's very true.

The sounds of this morning are entertaining and relatively soothing. People have been walking past my bedroom, en-route to the bathroom and kitchen, for hours, yet I hear no talking. Since everyone went to bed by 6:30pm besides me and Loretta (who stayed up to an exhausting 9:30pm), I'd imagine the fam has been bored all morning like me. The birds have been chirping for hours. The must have heard me get up at 3am and decided to give me some back-up music. A group of dogs fall into a frenzy of barks and yelps every hour-or-so, assumedly at a falling leaf or moving cloud (dogs=stupid). Loretta's fan provides a soothing white noise to which reading becomes a relaxing morning allowance.

I finally hear voices (briefly) so I'm going to deoderize, brush my teeth, and read in the living room to wait for my first non-jetlagged day to begin.

--Jam

The First Impression

Barbados is not what I expected. Architecture to allow the breeze to constantly caress one's weary travel-worn body is refreshing, but also allows for critters to co-exist in one's house; a concept most foreign to me. The roads are tiny and the direction of the traffic is reversed, leaving me in a state of readiness at all times. The locals are both nice and rude at the same time, and to be honest, I can't understand most of what they say.

When I saw the immense poverty gap, however, I realized it shocked me most of all. Shanty houses are integrated with stone mansions, and the white population here clearly dominates over the black. I suppose in Canada I'm used to a general equality that cannot be present everywhere.

The flight ended with a wonderful pressure-attack, brought to you by BWIA airlines and their crazy altitude drop. My left ear is still slightly clogged, but maybe I'll just use it to my advantage; maybe half of the time I can pretend I didn't hear what anyone said. "Talk into my good ear, sonny!" Good times.

My luggage was lost, somehow, on the way here. I have been in the same clothes for about 36 hours and frankly, I'm ready to change. The airport is searching high and low for my lost items, but somehow I think they are slacking. It seems as though this happens all the time and therefore that pastey white tourist *me* doesn't need his luggage to have fun. Wrong, pallyboy. So very wrong. I need my clothes and cleaning products or I will go mental. Going mental in a foreign country is probably a bad thing, but I digress. I guess I'm sort of getting the Survivor experience I so desire(d).

Today some of the stunning Gill clan came down for a visit. In my fatigue-ridden morning, I have noted a few things about the family:

First of all, the women, for the most part, are extremely affectionate. Even I received hugs on arrival at the airport, and I am not one of those mushy-gushy, touchy-feely people, but it was still cute. Kay, an aunt from Australia, is the kindest person I've probably ever met. She seems so interested in us and Canadal it's very refreshing. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Diane, a woman who at first seemed very nice and may actually be nice, was acting absolutely disgusting this afternoon. She judged everyone around her as if they were completely wrong and acted as though her age gave her some sort of significant power. Sorry hun, it doesn't.

--Jam

The Plane

The dimmed lights are not that dim. I tried to sleep, but whoever keeps farting near me is keeping me awake via olfactory goodness.

The plane is much smaller than I had imagined. Three seats on either side of a tiny aisle makes for one squishy ride. John, the oldest brother of the Canadian Gill clan, says the model is a 737, but I really don't care.

The wait for the boarding to begin seemed endless. After a tortorous one hour wait for the air link in Brantford, we waited several times more and finally boarded many hours later at 11:15pm. Seven hours of waiting to be exact. Loretta mentioned that we spend half of our lives waiting; waiting at stop signs, waiting in line, waiting to wait. Right now, I am waiting to land, waiting to reach the next page of my journal, waiting for Loretta to wake up, and waiting to wait for my job to start in three weeks, but let's try not to think about that.

Once I look past all the stress of the continuous wait, I realize I'm on a flight going to Barbados, so I concentrate on that. The tropicale locale is somehting I've done anything but experience, so it (the moment I step off the plane and see said locale) will be one I will surely treasure.

The kind black-haired man in the seat in front of me kindly moved his seat back further so I have about seven square inches of room to live and breathe for the next three hours. So very kind. However, I still do believe that a "ride" in an airplane is extremely exciting, which shows how very boring I may be. The little travel rum, the overly-multicultural stewartesses, the *bing* of some finicky person wanting another blanket for their upper-left thigh (as opposed to their lower-left thigh lol), the tiny, awkwardly placed windows that show me nothing but the wing, the captain (whose name eludes me.. lousy captain) who has the hottest caribbean accent I could have ever stormed up, the very bright light that beckons the people below to behold the chariot to the heavens that I may soar alongside; it all excites me.

The majority of the plane is fast asleep. I enjoy these moments where all others depend on me and the dream-sober incase anything should occur. "Listen, everyone! While you were all asleep, we, the strong and very helpful, learned how to save our lives. Too groggy to understand? Never fear! We shall assist you and be true international heroes!" It'll happen someday.

Loretta keeps twitching. She sits, draped under John's jacket, between him and I. Jeff, the father and only actual Bajan in our stunning brood, stares towards the front of the plane and yawns slightly and eventually rolls over in his seat and shuts his eyes to ignore the fact that he is terrified of his current position above Earth (35,000 feet above the Caribbean).

As I close my first entry, I realize I forgot my charity bracelets that I always wear to clubs. I also am reminded that I hate the smell of feet. Kitty, mom of the trip, smiles at me from the other side of the plane as the adorable flight attendant, that I am appropriately naming Frizz, asks me and every other person in the exact same phrasing, "Would you like a glass of water?"

Why yes. I would.

--Jam

Vay Kay Shone

So it's finally that time. The time when I abandon all you suckers and soar off to a tiny island to enjoy cheap booze, warm sun, and hot shirtless men on the beach.

Somehow, I don't think I'll miss the blizzards and the bitchy family that much. I think this is the best decision I ever made, and I may have to look into sunny vacations every hollyday!

So bon voyage to those of you who are joining me in leaving for Christmas, and make sure that you bring me back something perrrrty!

My last post of the year! *tear*

--Jam in the sun

The Progress

Things that are progressing, kinda:

1. Ralphie's coming along. He's starting to become a little less shy which is definitely a plus. We saw King Kong tonight (which will fit into #2) and had a cute little evening. Nothing really groundbreaking on this front.

2. My Best and Worst Films 2005 is coming along nicely. I still want to see Brokeback Mountain and Memoires of a Geisha, so once I see those when I get back, the week-long extravaganza begins again this year! If you want a recap of last year's winners and losers, click Top Films 2004 in the sidebar. King Kong definitely fits into my Worst pile this year, but where, you will have to stay tuned to this bat channel!

3. The blog is done except for one minor technical flaw. It's unnoticable, but if someone can find it, comment and I'll mention you as my hero in my next post (oh the glamour!). Like the title and the info thingies? I think they look great; couldn't be happier! I like just staring at my blog lol. I feel such a sense of pride and I'm glad everyone seems to like it too! I had another idea, so I think every six months or so I'll revamp it. Yay HTML!

4. My school application is almost complete! I'm sending it this Friday, so yay for that! I can't wait to go back, omigosh. O. MI. GOSH! lol

I guess that's it. Barbados VERY soon! I need it BAD! BAAAAAAAA(sheep)D!

Oh my. I need sleep.

Bat channel!

--Jam

Tag

Hi hi! Two hi's are better than one, ya know.

So I received my first two Christmas cards today! I mean, I got a couple at my family dinner the other night, but they're only official if you get them in the mail. One was from the lovely Comeau family, and the other was from my aunt and uncle that I never talk to. I sent both couples a card over a week ago, so it was very kind of them to return the gesture.

The holidays make me all warm in the belly! Well, it's that or the tequila. Mm.

I filled out an email survey quiz thingy today, and one of the questions, as always, was "what is your favourite colour" and it had a list of options. Why do people need a favourite colour? I know a lot of people can't pick a favourite movie or song or artist, so why should colour be any different? I really like all colours, as long as they're fierce. The impact the colour has on me is solely dependent on how intense the colour is, and that's it. I actually find it very strange that people can choose a favourite colour lol but that's because I'm bizarre I suppose.

My cat just went in the litterbox that happens to be close to my computer desk and oh boy, I do not know what they're feeding Mr. Kitty, but he needs to be put on a strict mint and water diet, because my nose fell off. I sprayed about a litre of Tag into the air (the Axe knock off that I don't use but have) so now my room smells like hot man and poo. Mmmm, hot man poo?

Had a job interview today at Scotiabank that went extremely well. I don't doubt that when I get back from Barbados I'll have a job waiting for me, but let's not jinx it. Bought a book called "The Time Traveller's Wife" today for the trip. I decided to search the book store for however long it took me to find a book that interested me, and it won. Wicked was close, but that's going to be like The Da Vinci Code soon: overdone and annoying.

Was looking at old posts of mine and laughing at this weird dream I had when I first started up Jam's Blog and it's SO funny! I was such a goofbrain, unlike now... lol. Linked to another blog from a post and saw that an old friend of mine has a new job in Toronto, so good for him. Nice view, too.

I can't get rid of those little white lines above "Jam's Blog" and "Info". ARGH! I think it's part of the graphic itself, but I can't fix it. I tried. You'll all have to live with it, or put a little sticky note over that part of your computer. You could draw a little man on it that says "Remember what's behind here. You don't wanna look.." and then you won't be able to remember and you'll go INSANE and you'll die with curiousity and you'll rip it off in a big, dramatic, exhausting outburst and then you'll see the lines and go "Daaaamn you Jaaaam! Daaaamn yoooou!"

--Jam

Facelift

Welcome to the new and improved Jam's Blog!

I designed everything myself and even though there are still a couple things to fix up, the new design is finally complete! I worked on it all freaking day, but I'm very happy with the outcome. Now Liz and I have different looking blogs! *hurrah!*

If anyone has any suggestions or comments, be sure to voice them so I can make this the best blog for one and all!

Yaaaaaaay!

On a completely unrelated topic, I filled out my Survivor application! I'm gonna apply even though it says only Americans can. Screwwwwww thaaaaat! lol I picked Natalie for my friend or family member because I think she'd be the most up for it, and she'd be a great boost of positivity and energy for the challenges and stuff. Hollllaaaa!

Well, I'm hungry. Bye!

--The New Look of Jam

The 2:46 Religion Building

Evenin! er... mornin? I dunno. Nightin.

So I couldn't sleep, so here I be. I haven't been posting as much recently basically because I don't do.. anything. I mean, today I went to Thorold, picked up my mail *all junk*, picked up my passport, and got an Xmas book from Athena on how to get a life lol and how appropriate it is! But yeah, that's a busy day.

It's one week until I leave for Barbados and I'm becoming less excited (yeah, weird). I mean I'm so excited to go somewhere I've never been and experience the tropics and all that jazz, but at the same time, money's tight, and I know I'll have to bust my butt to find a job as soon as I get back. Also, I have to get in a bunch of paperwork so that I can send away my school application before I leave. One of my references is taking her sweet time, so I got her back on track today. I enjoy being a leader-type sometimes, but sometimes the others need more that one nudge. Not so fun.

The other thing is the person I'm going to Barbados with has become severly less fun since I signed on to this trip in the Spring. It's just going to be.. odd. Yeah.

I go to my father's wife's family's house tomorrow, and boy oh boy, I think I'd rather jump in hot acid. Hmmm *ponders*. Unfortunately, I'm short on huge vats of hot acid, so I must go. As mostly everyone knows, hanging out with a bunch of square middle-aged bible thumpers is not my idea of a good time, but I can deal with it for one day every three or four months I suppose. I think I might bring my PS2 and my DDR mat and introduce all the kids to the game. Good idea? Bad idea? I think it'll be great. I can avoid the adults who will ridicule me for being agnostic and a flunkie, and I can tire out the wee ones with music that I enjoy, all the while I can still drink wine, because a day with the fam without wine would be suicide. Oops, wrong word. Homicide.

Any ideas what I should get Loretta for a gift? We're exchanging gifts in Barbados so that we have something to open, so we're just getting each other something small (>$20).

Li'l update on me and Ralphie (cutest name ever.. it's actually Raul, which to me sounds very sexy, but Ralphie is cute, so I'm torn lol). He's so incredibly shy, so once I break him open, I think I'll ask him out if I like what I see. (Is that what you call it? "Ask him out"? I mean, we've already went out.. I mean go steady, but that sounds like I should get a malt from the diner after the soc hop.) I think I'm going out with him and his friends before I leave, so I should get to see what he's really like. Oh, and if you want any references on how hot he is, I'll ask Leanne to comment to this post on the fact that although he has an adorable face, his body is anything but adorable, unless broad shoulders are now adorable lol. *ahem* Anywhooo lol.

Well, I'm off to bed. I need at least some sleep if I'm going to survive tomorrow with any ounce of sanity. Oh wait, I got rid of that stuff when I called Lisa "pasta flakes" last night lol. Yeah, I dunno either.

--Nighttime Jam

PS: The heading is because I'm listening to "Comfort Eagle" by Cake, which is definitely going to make my Top 150. Great, great song.

PPS: Where are my big fans that used to comment all the time? *looks in Heather and Nat's direction*

Heatin' Up

Howdy padnas!

So things are really starting to look up. Let's find out why, shall we? (We shall.)

1.
Had a super-awesome date with this guy from Hamilton. We'd been talking online for a long time and we finally met and went to the mall and saw a movie, and it was just so nice to meet a guy who's attractive and interesting, but still has personality and isn't annoying lol. We're getting together sometime later in the week, so I'll keep ya'll posted!

2.
Barbados is VERY soon, and I simply can't wait! I'm so looking forward to forgetting about all my stresses and plans and all the rest and just relaxing on the beach. Booze, heat, and shells.. the three great things needed for a good time lol.

3.
There was a third thing. ... ... damnit! lol OH! I'm playing a new game called Ryzom and it's so crazy fun! Very original and super duper.

Lastly, it's been exactly one year since I created my first rant. Read my forefront against anti-anti-smoking here.

--Jam

Coming soon:
-Top 100 150 Songs of All Time
-Top TV Shows of All Time

Listen to: Devil's Eyes by Buck 65.. but don't listen to anything else by them. Everything else kind of sucks lol.

The Cold

Evening, you blogaholics, you.

So a few things today. First of all, I watched The Apprentice tonight as I always do, and for the first time, I'm completely outraged at Trump's decision. I know that I'm sure I've disagreed with them before, but this time, it was insane.

Alla, the strongest and by far best competitor on the show, was fired for being "too hard to manage" or some crap. Basically, the project manager was too weak and confusing, so Alla tried to help, and in the end, both were fired. She made 3rd place, which is very good mind you, but it's still not what she deserved: first. He also said she was "too mean". F*ck that! lol Too mean in business shouldn't exist unless you're slitting people's throats or screaming at other people. Sure she was harsh, but you need to be to succeed in business. ARGH!

Anywho, she already has a multi-million dollar company in the spa and beauty product market, so she'll be fine and all that, but I just don't like to see the deserving not get what they deserve.

Secondly, I am ready to leave now. Like, right now. I love living with Leanne and Lisa, and I like Hamilton, but I'm ready for the change now. My employer is being very rude towards me, and I'm done there in a week, I go to Barbados in sixteen days, and other than that, not much is going on. I'm learning that people are really not who I thought they were, which is just as bothersome as it sounds. I feel like starting completely new; new environment, new goals, new ideas, and new people, with a few exceptions. I'm going to surround people like myself, who know who they are and what they can accomplish, rather than those who are the opposite of that, because I can't be around that anymore.

Lastly, a bunch of little things:

K2XLgames.com has disappeared, along with Psychopath, a game that took up a lot of my time. Not just by playing it, but designing levels as well. Hopefully it comes back online soon.

Craig hasn't contacted me in the longest time. His other friends from the area are starting to message me with their concern, as I was the one closest to him, but I haven't heard from him in months. I'm kind of worried, but at the same time, it's his choice to not be in touch with me, so in time I'm sure he'll come around. *shrug*

Finished my Xmas cards today. 48 in total! My numbers go up every year!

Bought a jazz Xmas music CD yesterday and it's so freaking amazing! If anyone wants it, I'll send it to them. Just lemme know on MSN!

I need to go on a date. Not much else to say about that, but I need a new guy.. from.. somewhere lol. Aaaand, appear!

Hrm.

--Jam