I just read that Trinbagonian sprinters Richard Thompson(double silver medalist in Beijing '08) and Monique Cabral were involved in a New Year's morning car accident in Trinidad. According to the Guardian report, both sprinters are in stable condition with minor injuries and not in critical condition as earlier reported by the Trinidad and Tobago media(I have no trust in Trinidad and Tobago's news media-blog on this coming soon).
This is like deja vu and not in a good way. This same scenario took place after Ato Boldon represented Trinidad and Tobago in Sydney. And, if I recall correctly, he never clocked under the 10 second mark in the 100m race after his accident. Aren't these guys under some sort of contract barring them from driving or doing any other dangerous activity that could hinder or end their careers on the track? I'm happy that they weren't seriously injured and this wouldn't hinder their careers on the track and I hope this will also send a wake up call to the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago about how deadly the roads have become. They certainly aren't obligated to, but I'm looking forward to these 2 sprinters doing a P.S.A. about safe driving in the near future.
Bonus Info
Another piece of information I want to slip into this blog is the stabbing of Trinidad and Tobago's national football team goalkeeper, Marvin Phillips over the holiday season. He wasn't the primary target of the attackers but he was injured while trying to protect his friend from being murdered. His injuries are also not career threatening. I mention him in this blog because I believe these guys need to start taking extra precautions to protect themselves. At the moment, they are more than just athletes from Trinidad and Tobago; they are ambassadors to the country in a time when the country really needs some positive light shone upon it. This is just my opinion though. It's their lives and who am I to tell them how to live it?
Update: The jewellery stolen belonged to a member of Queen Latifah's entourage and not The Queen as Newsday so sloppily reported. Next blog I'll discuss Trinidad and Tobago's shoddy journalism.
This is just another story adding to the embarrassment I feel for a little country in the Caribbean called, Trinidad and Tobago.
According to Newsday, a Trinidad and Tobago newspaper, Dana Elaine Owens a.k.a. Queen Latifah, the rapper turned actress turned jazz singer has been robbed while vacationing with a "lady friend" on the island of Tobago. According to the article, "The Queen" and her "lady friend" spent Christmas together(I hope this quells the lesbian rumours for good) on the island.
She checked into the resort under the alias, Cynthia Hadden(I guess she thought Tobagonians don't see her on TV and in magazines). On Sunday, a barbecue brunch was organised for the Grammy award winning singer by the resort she was vacationing in. Upon returning to her room at noon, she realised that her US$10,000 bracelet, two gold rings, a gold chain and a silver ring were missing from her luxury villa. She immediately alerted the manager of the resort who summoned 3 security guards(worthless rent-a-cops) to help search for the missing jewellery. The search turned up nothing, so the local police(the local court jesters) were called in. The normal procedure followed. A report was taken from "The Queen", and our lame police force now has her autograph on official documents.
Newsday also said that "The Queen" contacted her friend in Trinidad and told them she was disappointed and was not thrilled by the manner in which the local law enforcement was handling the case.
My Theory On The Heist
I want to pedal back for a few lines. Let's analyse this heist. The Queen has a BBQ brunch thrown for her because she is "The Queen". No other reason at all. The resort just has a soft spot for The Queen. Coincidentally while she was celebrating the surprise brunch thrown in her honour, $10,000+ in jewellery goes missing from her villa. Three security guards who were told to be on heightened alert because The Queen was staying at their resort couldn't locate the missing jewellery. My conclusion to these observations is, a *La Diablesse was walking through the villas and saw some sparkly objects and thought it would look good with her cow hoof so she took it.
Message to The Queen
Queenie(is it okay for me to call you that?), there have been 549 murders in that little country in 2008 alone. Guess how many of them have been solved? About 10, and I'm being generous here. It's probably really 0. If you ever get your jewellery back, which you said is of sentimental value to you, you would be a very lucky woman. If I may speak plainly amongst friends, shit never gets solved in that cesspool. A Swedish couple was slaughtered like Thanksgiving turkeys about a month ago on that very island you are on right now. There have been no arrests and absolutely no clues. It saddens me to know that I was born amongst these animals. I'm in the process of returning my citizenship at the moment. I swear.
Now onto this "The Queen is a lesbian" rumour. Could you just come out and say it already? Busting out of the closet is the thing to be doing at the moment. 2008 was a good year to be gay. Proposition 8 kind of messed it up at the end there but don't let the Mormons rain on your parade(no pun intended). I suggest you jump on the bandwagon now. You don't want to be the last one out of the closet. It would make you look like just another lesbian, when we know you're "The Queen". We already have proof of you spending Christmas on secluded islands with "lady friends". What more do we need? By the way, if Cynthia Hadden is your "lady friend", you certainly shouldn't be keeping her in any closet.
Ladies and especially gentlemen, I give you Cynthia Hadden.
Definitions: ‘La Diablesse’, the devil woman of Trinidad and Tobago folklore, is sometimes personified as an old crone, who steps forth with her cloven hoof from behind a tree on a lonely road, the sound of chains mingling with the rustle of her petticoat.
Okay, so I was at work last week and I saw 2 things that blew my mind(this happens a lot so get used to it).
Smokers
The first one struck me when I saw my co-worker smoking a cigarette while he was driving. Why aren't there any laws against this in New York? I fail to understand why you can't talk on a cell phone while driving, but you can hold a cigarette in one hand and steer a vehicle with the other, without fear of the police pulling you over. That's not my current grievance with smokers though. What bothered me was when I saw him throw away cigarettes that were extinguished by the wind, instead of just relighting them(Not that I was complaining though; I already had my pack of death sticks for the day via his second hand smoke).
At the moment I'm trying to figure out who came up with the theory that states "smoking new cigarettes instead of half-smoked cigarettes is better for your health". Ever since I was younger, I've realised that many smokers that I've been exposed to, tend to throw out cigarettes that have been smoked halfway and immediately start puffing on a new one. These people ranged from the poor to the middle class, yet when asked why they do this, they all had the same answer, "it's not good for your health". Further questioning into that answer gave me long blank stares and some mentions of cancer. I could have even investigated further and question the "cancer" answer a little further but I thought it was fairly obvious by now that these people lived in LaLa Land and they would say anything to protect their beloved cancer sticks.
Well, since it was useless to even ask these nicotine addicts about the dangers of smoking a relit cigarette, I took it upon myself to do some research. Here is what I found out.
There is actually another reason why smokers don't smoke relit cigarettes! According to SmokeFresh.com, which sells "a smoke reduction tool", nicotine addicts want to "...relight a cigarette and still enjoy the same freshness of a new cigarette because relit cigarettes tasted stale..." So there is fresh smoke and then there is stale smoke. Take note kids!
There are also scientific studies which claim that relit cigarettes may cause severe bronchitis. I wonder how much worse it is from regular bronchitis. And which one is it, that gives you 2 or more weeks of coughing that could eventually cause you to pass out?
How To Not Get Drunk?(Alcoholics Edition)
Now onto alcoholics, my favourite people. Not only are these folks dumb, but they are also funnier than their smoking brethren when heavily liquored up(in other words, always).
This portion of the blog also originated from a practice I saw my co-workers partaking in. I know what you're thinking, "TheDreamReborn works with degenerates and he is an angel". You are correct. A lunch break at my job mostly involves the consumption of liquor. I'm usually the only outcast actually chewing during the lunch break. Everybody else "knocks back" a few beers.
Last week, while I was cleaning up my work area, I realised that there were beer bottles hidden between the tables with small amounts of beer in each so I assumed that they were forgotten in their hiding spots because the boss passed by while they were being consumed. The next day though, I saw one of my co-workers emptying the remaining 1/8 of his beer into the sink, before disposing of the bottle, so I asked him what was the reason for such wasteful behaviour. In what I took as an obvious attempt to blow my mind he said, "that's the part of the beer that gets you drunk". I gave his response a few seconds to sink in and before I could ask if he was joking or not, he was already guzzling down his second beer which he also disposed the last 1/8 of.
I tried to find some information online regarding this new theory but it seems that this one is an isolated case. I've seen everything from wine tasting to "pouring out a little liquor for the homies", but this was the first time that I've ever witnessed this method of wastefully disposing of an alcoholic beverage.
If you have any more health tips revered by smokers and alcoholics, please feel free to share them in the comments section below.
Disclosure: I'm not a smoker nor an alcoholic. I once attempted to smoke something that Trinis call "hemp"(don't think that's the right name but whatever it is, it's legal), and that solidified my stance on remaining smoke free. Having my family history checkered with death caused by cancer also was a strong deterrence. I'm just under 21 so legally speaking, I don't have a drinking history.
