Saturday, March 23, 2002
Hmmm... Now why am I not surprised that there are differences in the testimony from different officers of the Crime Management Unit in relation to the Braeton 7 Inquiry? But you know what? All of them are going to get off. You mark my words...
posted by
Mad Bull at
11:26 PM - [Link me]
What do you think of the concept of fatalism? Are our lives predetermined? Is there some master script that we're all acting out? Or do we have it in our own power to determine what will happen to us. Do we truly have the power of choice. Religion has been called the "opiate of the masses", in that a lot of the writings in religious tomes tend to suggest that you should accept your lot. You are born into a particular station in life and you should just accept that, trying to be the best at whatever you were born to... Remember the Beatitudes? Do you think that what they're really saying is "Don't worry honey, you'll get your reward in the afterlife... Just be cool here and you'll be set".
The lyrics to this song sum up how I feel about it.
Some people think, Great God will come from the sky, Take away everything, make everybody feel high But if you knew what Life was worth, you would look for yours here on Earth, And now you see the light Stand up for your rights Yeah, get up, stand up, stand up for your rights - The Honorable Robert Nesta Marley
Now, I am not knocking religion, but something such as this you've just got to question! Is everything pre-ordained, or do we have the power to decide how our lives will work out? Or is the truth somewhere in between both extremes... What do you think?
posted by
Mad Bull at
8:12 AM - [Link me]
Friday, March 22, 2002
Its evening... about 5:20PM or so... I'm cooling out on my doorstep. Just sitting around looking out and listening to Natty chortling in the background as she chats with a bredrin (friend) using MS NetMeeting. She's never used it before, and she seems to like being able to see the person she's chatting to. I guess I'll have to get a little camera. Lucky I don't have one now, as she is sitting in front of the computer wearing only a very sheer tee-shirt and panty. Maybe she'd have fogged up the guy's glasses...
I had a nice day. I took off a day from work to attend MB. Jr.'s first sportsday. My impressions: Lotsa kids, lotsa noise, and LAWD'A'MASSY, IT DID HOT!!! I'm usually in the cool cool A/C at work at that time, and boy, was the sun sucking moisture out of my every pore!
MB. Jr. cried for a bit when he was made to leave us and sit with his classmates, and he only got a ribbon for participation for his first race, as he never really got started at all. He seemed to be overawed by the large crowd of adult spectators.
He settled in nicely as the day wore on though, and he placed a decent second in his next race. He might actually have won it if he had started to run with the rest of them, but he needed a bit of urging to get started. Once he got going, he went like a bat out of hell, however the little boy who won was long gone by then. C'est la vie...
He didn't race anymore, as he then attached himself to our sides in a manner not unlike that of a limpet mine... The only other highlight of the day for him was patting this goat they had there. He was playing with the goat for a while, and when we decided to leave, he bathed us in a deluge of tears. "Let us pat the goat, nuh? No! We not goin' home! We not!"
I didn't notice before today how many of the other parents are people I know. Even the friend who got into that awful quarrel with me, remember? His son goes there too. It really is a small world after all... By the way, there were at least three really cute moms there (one of which was Natty...). Anyway, later...
posted by
Mad Bull at
6:00 PM - [Link me]
So Louis Farrakhan is in Jamaica for a visit. He says he is not here for either political party, but to spread a message of some sort. I say the man is here trying to make megabucks... I hear that its $5000 per person to go see him. What a laugh... If everyone was like me, the man would be a pauper. As an interesting aside, did you know that before he became... well Farrakhan, he was a Trinidadian Calypso Singer... What a change, man.
posted by
Mad Bull at
7:41 AM - [Link me]
Thursday, March 21, 2002
I went to the Cable & Wireless Socarobics thingie last night. I say thingie because its not really a party. They set up a sound system playing the latest Soca music and people who want to get fit for the Carnival Road March go there and do aerobics. They are led by real aerobics instructors and by an M.C. (Last night it was Tricia Spence from Fame FM) who led them in the latest dance movements, as well as in aerobics. They give away prizes and surprises and it was a lot of fun. I saw a buddy from work there, he was standing at the back of the crowd of exercising people, just as I was. He came over and said to me "How come you aren't exercising?". I told him that I didn't like jumping up and down in such a large crowd. He said "Its alright, I know, you're exercising your eyes, right? Thats what I'm doing too, and my eyes are getting damned tired. You see how I'm sweating ?" And I know what he meant. You see, by and large, the places was jam packed with women! Women dressed in some teeny, tiny tops and some tight, short shorts, or in full gym regalia. There were quite a few "strong women" as we say in Jamaica.
And what exactly is a "strong" woman? A good example of one would be Beyonce Knowles from Destiny's Child. It basically refers to a woman who is voluptuous, as against being rail thin; a voluptuous woman who is toned and tight... not much flab in evidence, if you know what I mean? Yup, there were quite a few of these honeys there. Eye candy, for your visual pleasure. Yes, I could well understand why my friend's eyes were tired. Anyway, it was a cool lime. I saw this new dance that they were doing: the "Cha Cha Glide"... Interesting. You've got to practice that one, boy. You can't just step off and do it right. I also heard quite a few of the new songs for 2002 like "Too Much Biting Insects"... hmmm, I wonder, should that be "Biting In Sex" or "Biting Insects". Anyway, twas a nice break from the regular work week.
Ohhh and you know what else I heard? I heard my theme song... the song I took my name from, "Come Join the Mad Bull Fever" by Machel Montano and the Xstatik Band! I just love that song! You know how it is? Sometimes you want an email address to use which nobody will link to you... maybe you want to tell your boss about his RASS (Jamaican badword), or maybe you have a friend who has really bad body odor, and you know he needs to be told about it, but you don't want him to know who is telling him. Maybe you just want to write a love letter to someone via email, but you don't want your name on the email (maybe you're in another relationship). Whatever the reason, sometimes we all want an anonymous email address, right. At the time, Machel's song was tearing up the place, and so thats the name I used for my email address.
When I was putting up this blog, Natty told me she would be uncomfortable with me posting up her name and information about her on the web, so once again, anonymity was desirable. They say the new broom sweeps clean, but the old broom knows all the corners, so rather than come up with a new anonymous name, I drew for my old email address name... I know y'all wondered how I came up with the name... There you have it. (sotto voche : You know, I was just looking through the Machel Montano site and maybe the name of the song was "Charge" rather than "Come Join the Mad Bull Fever")
posted by
Mad Bull at
11:04 AM - [Link me]
Wednesday, March 20, 2002
I have a pretty nice camera, but I have not mastered it yet. I spend some time fooling around with it from time to time. The picture to the right is a shot of Kingston, the city where I live. It was taken one Sunday morning. Natty was trying to sleep and MB. Jr. was kicking up a ruckus, so I took him for a little spin, you know, the kind where you just follow your nose and see where you end up.
We ended up at the top of Cherry Hill in Cherry Gardens. I had never been there before, and was surprised by the view. I thought it was really nice and so I took a few shots to show y'all... If you click on the picture, you will be able to download a bigger version of it, which you may consider suitable for a background in Windows, but be aware, you download it at your own risk. If you don't like it, don't curse me for wasting your time or your hard drive space. That said, I'm using it as my background currently. As I said, I am not any great photographer, and if you think that it looks crappy, the fault is all mine, not the camera's... If you do like it, well, hoist a coupla cold ones in my honour and we'll call it quits, ok? Talk to you later...
posted by
Mad Bull at
3:09 PM - [Link me]
Yow... So I was sitting here, sipping on a Smirnoff Ice, trying to get into Blogger to post a li'l sup'm sup'm about the Catholic Church and the crap its been going on with. I couldn't get in so I decided to take a look at some of my favorite sites...
Hmmm, see I got cussed out by Felicia over at Robyn's blog. All I would say to Felicia is you're too close to it now to see what I'm saying, honey. Give it a year, then come back and read it again. You'll see that what I'm saying is (1) probably right, and (2) not trying to trivialize what occurred on 9/11 in the least. People will make fun of all kinds of bad crap, and a lot of the time, its just a way for them to get past it, and get on with their lives. As wKen said, think of the phrase "going postal". Many, many people have used it, it is a way to describe a type of anger one experiences because of work stress. Its a way of getting an idea across, of communicating. It really isn't people making fun of the people killed by the postal worker. Anyway, like I said, check back in a year.
So while I am waiting on Blogger, they put on Pink's video for the song "Hazard to Myself". I love it. I do. Its great. "Big up, Pink!"
So, what do you think of the stuff going on in the news re the Catholic Church and the paedophiles. I am disgusted. Their modus operandi has been "protect the Church at all costs" but me nuh join dat! (I think thats a piece of crap!) People have been found out and transferred to another area to begin their misdeeds all over again. And imagine, a nun was the one who blew the whistle on a known paedophile, because the Bishop she spoke with wanted to cover it up. The nuns seem to have more balls than the priests, thats all I can say. Why hasn't the pope spoken out about it. That in itself is a disgrace. Imagine the church having to settle one billion dollars worth of cases against it because of the abusive behavior of some of the church's officers. Can you believe it? I can't.
posted by
Mad Bull at
12:49 AM - [Link me]
Tuesday, March 19, 2002
I promised in an earlier post to say a bit more about the Tarot reading. One thing I noticed was the similarity between the reading last night and the reading I had some time ago... Both times the cards suggested that I had decisions to make, but that I wasn't making the decision. So there was a level of consistency there. I believe that the reading was spot on in this regard. I tend to avoid making unpleasant decisions. Making a decision is so final. Once you choose one path from the set of available paths, you are committed to it, and you may not be able to regain the path you should have chosen. I guess I find that a little bit frightening. I guess if you really analyse this, not making the decision can be viewed as the cowards way out. And when you start to think of it in that light, its just disturbing...
Anyway, work is ended, I will now "go in peace" to run two laps at the Dam... Hey, that sounds vaguely familiar... Oh, I know, the thing the priests say when mass is over. Any catholics in the house?
posted by
Mad Bull at
4:53 PM - [Link me]
Hey... This is just a heads up. I am soon going to get my own domain. Yessir, I'll be flying free, without the restrictions I've been enduring at Tripod. Don't get me wrong, Tripod is great, for a free host. I just need more, so I've decided to pay (a nominal sum) for my own domain. I'm so excited. I'm going to have three times the space I have here, plus I'll have access to normal, standard CGI functionality, PHP4, and MySQL databases. The sky is the limit. You know what I want to try? I want to set up a skinnable site, like Robyn and Christine have done. I love the way they allow you to customise the viewing experience. Yeah Baby! Anyway, I'll keep you posted on the progress of (introduce appropriate music score here) "Mad Bull's Domain"!
posted by
Mad Bull at
11:35 AM - [Link me]
Well, I've had a busy day! I got to work (almost) early. I had to. The project team has started to do some training. They are training eighty people at four different locations around the island. I and my team are responsible to support the people in the training sessions, as well as the database and the server. They must be up and available 100% of the time! We didn't do too badly for the first day. Lessons learned: If you're using an Oracle Database under UNIX, the MAXDSIZE and the SEMMNS tunable kernel parameters are your friends. Maximise them. SEMMNS should be twice the number of processes you expect. Nuff said. More than that and I'll have to apply an hourly rate to all y'all...
Went running this evening Saw a friend who exhorted me to do two laps. (ohh, my acheing legs.) Twas fun though. Really! The Sigma Bank/Investment Company staged a fund raising run ( a 5K) on St. Patrick's Day. I didn't go and I heard I really missed something. A lot of the other runners at the Dam went and participated. I didn't plan to go, but if I'm in the right shape next time, I'll be there. I heard they made about two million dollars for charity... Way to go, Sigma!
Sheggy was depressed today, so Natty went to cheer her up. Turns out that all it took to do so was to get ROYALLY bent by her in Kalooki. She destroyed Natty and her (Sheggy's) brother, and immediately, her mood took a turn for the better. Natty told me that she (Natty) got a Tarot reading while she was there. Yes my friends, Ms. Cleo turned out to be a fraud, but we know an original Jamaican who practises this art. Granted, he learned how to do it in the U.S., but he definitely was born here in Jamaica.
Since Natty got a reading, I'decided to do the same. Sheggy's brother read me too. The central points of my reading were that there are several new beginnings in the offing for me. I have decisions to make re casting aside the old and embracing the new, but I have been avoiding making them. It was implied that it would be better for me to make these decisions, definitely financially, and maybe also in other ways. I'm just now getting home, sorry I'm late. I've got to go to work tomorrow too, so I'll give you more info. tomorrow. Ciao, baby!
posted by
Mad Bull at
12:59 AM - [Link me]
Sunday, March 17, 2002
Received via email from Natty:
Special announcement by the Peoples National Party. The Party announced today that it is changing the national emblem to a condom because it more clearly reflects the Party's stance. A condom stands up to inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks, and gives you a sense of security while it's actually screwing you.
Hmmmm. How appropriate!
posted by
Mad Bull at
8:53 AM - [Link me]
...
. C'est la vie...
You know what I want to try? I want to set up a skinnable site, like 
