Thoughts of a minibus traveller

Gabriel García Márquez (Gabo) has worked magic again with his prose. This book tells of different kinds of love, the main one being a love being held for 51 years, 9 months and 4 days. Gabo in an interview apparently suggested that 'readers' should beware of his trap. The man tells his story with fantastic ideas and descriptions, talking about serious love while introducing absurd situations which just make you wonder if the author is serious about his characters. The book has some memorable quotes - it is one of those books that I should have read with a pen and exercise book, but that was difficult because I was reading in bed a lot. My favourite " The most important thing in a good marriage is not happiness, but stability" These are not young healthy happy people experiencing love, all sorts of people including a woman who spent her last days in an asylum "reciting senile verses of such outrageous obscenity that they were forced to isolate her so that sh...

The last few weeks have been low, battling the despair and the feeling of not wanting to move and thinking I could die now and it would not be a problem for me. I also fought the feelings, struggled to get up , do the things I should be doing, while feeling worse that I cannot get things done. The fighting was tiring, and at times I wish that I did not have to fight anymore. One day I gave into it, cancelled a meeting and went and bought ice cream, which I ate with honey roasted peanuts and pineapple jam. There were times I felt I should talk to my friends, but I did not bother.. I think Fate intervened in one instant so as to avoid codependency. I do not know if wanting to die is the same as wanting to kill myself. I do not think I could kill myself at the moment, it seems difficult to me and I wonder if it were easier , like turning off a switch, if I would do it.  Another friend told me the same thing, she has recovered from a period of depression. We laughed about this. I...

Christmas 2013 with mango from the tree The craving for sweet continued. I had a block of cream cheese to make tiramisu, but that was too complicated, so I found this recipe for no bake cheesecake. Ingredients For base  1 packet Digestive or , oat crunch, or chocolate chip, biscuits (7oz or so?) 2 oz butter for 4oz biscuits (1oz sugar optional) For filling  1 tin condensed milk 1 8oz pack cream cheese (and a little extra if you have ) 1/3 cup lemon juice 1tablespoon grated lemon rind 1. Make the base. Crumb the bistcuits. Melt the butter and mix with the crumbs (and sugar and even put some oats if you want to feel healthy). Press the mixture onto the bottom of 6inch bowl or container. Make more mixture if you want some for the sides. 2. Make the filling. Beat the cream cheese, and slowly beat in the condensed milk. Add the lemon juice and rind and beat until the mixture is smooth. Careful how you put your fingers to scoop out the remainder of the condense...

I want to show off and name drop the books I have been reading. The book club has been one of the greatest things for me, though as a woman reminded me, she expects me to have more insights into the books and another woman wrote an essay for us to consider in terms of how we review books.. and applying literary theories.. Deep stuff but I am not doing English B all over again, but still.. The other thing is that Facebook cannot hold the full list and I have this hoarding thing, to impress myself that oh hell, have i read all of that? So this is the list .. I wrote about the books I read In 2009 The previous listing is here.. this is related to the books I read for the book club. In 2008 Naguib Richmond : The first crossing khalid hosseini : thousand splendid suns Michael Ondaatje : Anil's Ghost Jacobs : year of living  biblically chinua achebe : Things fall apart do good lives have to cost the earth Frederick Forsyth : The Afghan Zadie Smith : White Teeth in 2...

Stéphane is a colleague and we talk about ICT4D Stéphane sent an email while preserving his battery. He had to find and then had to bury his sister-in-law Johanne and is looking for medical help for his 5 year old nephew Sam. He has other relatives bodies to find One of thousands of stories from Haiti this week. Stéphane is one of the first persons I met from Haiti and from whom I heard a different kind of story of the place. This week, I was privileged to read Edwidge Danticat's After the Dance.. a walk through carnival in Jacmel, hait i - writing about her experience of facing Carnival and writing beautifully about Haitian culture. There are many reviews which would be better than any I wo uld write. Edwidge Danticat walks through a cemetery and I look at St James the Less and the Bourda Cemetery and wonder if I should do the same.  I wonder if any Guyanese could write about Guyana like that. When the earthquake struck, I kept hoping that Jacmel was saved. The news is abo...

The minibus was full.  The man say his baby mother say she feeling the pain, but he cyan't help it because he have nuff woman and that she got to win' in different styles. I say let me keep an open mind, after all, this is the music of the masses. This was Regent Street and Vlissengen Road corner. I at the back of the minibus, last seat near the corner, my ears press against the glass. The speaker is there, just by me. So I can hear word for word, the song.. my head kind of move on to other things, but I know I hear the man instructing he woman how to win'. I dont even know if is a song really. All kind of people in the bus We turning into Barr street and I get fed up, because all I hear is the stupid man saying win' up and win' down or something like that. So from my corner at the back of the bus, I say 'Conductor' my waist cyant tek dis win'in no moh, put on lil gospel now nuh? The conductor look at me and laugh and two ladies in front kind of glan...

Hindu philosophy advises that concepts of time are illusions, and that creation and destruction are part of a never ending cycle. New Years Day could be a day for resolutions, for making changes, or continuing the same old things. The moonrise was beautiful on the seawall tonight. The heavy tides earlier in the day calmed down. As I ran this evening, I tried to empty my head of the things bothering me . The head swirled though, some of the things have been in my head for ever.. and no New  Year can make me rid of them. Today I watched the two satire shows 'This is we' and 'Stretched Out Magazine'. I was shocked when I saw how much fun was being made of the allegations of child abuse against Mr McKoy , or rather fun being poked at 'kwame'.  Is this how Guyana will be dealing with these allegations? There will be no investigation or resolution? Will the Rights of the Child Commission always be tainted by this? Does the Minister of Human Services not intend to ...