Dinner with long time friends

so being in new york i have the opportunity see friends of mine that i haven't seen in ages. it has been such a great time. the first such dinner was with Omar, his girlfriend Marcia, Maryun and her hubby Leo. Omar has known me since i was a baby, i used to live next door to his cousins and our yaads were like one. there was a break in the fence that no one ever bothered to fix and so if either parents couldn't find one of us, they knew we were over the others house. we were so close that when neil, his cousin started school, i thought i should start school too, he was older than me. so i figured i knew where his school was and i was going to school too, so i went through the fence opened his gate and went toddling down the road. in the middle of the street. my helper looked out the window and saw me and got such i fright....lol.... i think i got a beating for doing that....lol... i was only probably around 3 years old.. ahhh ... so that was what the night was all about reminiscing about old times. Maryun and Mari (Omar) went to school together too, so there was a lot to talk about. we went to this sports bar place in Brooklyn and the food was pretty good, but sadly the choice was very limited for Leo who is vegan and Maryun who supports him in that, even though she, like me, loves her meat. they did have a veggie burger on the menu, so he was ok and able to find something that he could eat and he was a brilliant part of the conversation. i love that dude man, he knows so-friggin-much. neways it was good times, good times...........


Another group of friends i went out with are the Poor Richards, at least some of them. it was soooooo good to see my family from F&M. the folks i spent a large majority of my time with in college. the stories we could seriously tell about each other are ridiculous, but many of those stories will go with me to my grave ......... (insert tombstone right here, with eerie music) so for this outing we went to happy hour Karaoke, and then to dinner and just chillin after. the folks who were able to make it were Abbey, Ed, Alexandra, her sis Caroline, Keturah, Maggie, Matt, Rob and of course myself. Karaoke was sensational. so much fun, after all we are all singers so it wasn't like some really bad karaoke. we were good, so good i think that u could have recorded us right there and got a platinum selling record ..... lolololololol ... ok, ok, i kid, but of course we did sound amazing. then we went to dinner at the metro cafe, and the food there was excellent. i had penne pasta with a tomato sauce, basil and fresh mozzarella that was soooo good, and tortilla chips with a black bean cake, guacamole and sour cream, that too was very good. i must say some of the best times were just sitting and chatting, catching up with everyone. talking about all sorts of random stuff. we ate so much that when it came time for desert, Rob and i decided to share a slice of chocolate cake. i was so full however that i could barely have 3 bites. and we all sat there letting the food settle and chatting. Rob was finally able to finish it off...lol... then we left there and went to this other club like place, that i didn't get the name of. it was cool. it had multiple levels where people could sit and chat, drink at the bars, play pool or ping pong, etc. so we hung there for a bit. i showed pics of home on my ipod (what a brilliant invention that is) and made everyone want to come to Jamaica now. not that they didn't want to go before but i think now they want to go even more. yea, thats right.... Ruth-Ann the tourist ambassador for Jamaica......lolol. neways. it was a great night and they are all doing amazingly well. i'm glad for that. in the pics we see from left to right, Matt's head, Maggie, myself, Keturah and Alexandra. the next one is of Abbey and me, Matt and Abbey, Ed and Maggie and then us all at dinner, but switch Matt for Rob (sitting beside me)....:)

Alma Mater ........Franklin and Marshall

so on this trip back to Lancaster, PA, i had to visit my alma mater. on the train i was immediately taken back to my days of taking the train to and from either Philadelphia or New York back to college during the holidays. the college town feel was still there though when i went it was a sunday so no one was around, which was typical. the campus has changed with lots of construction happening and new buildings going up, including the new theatre and residences. the new science building has started and so if i go back in another couple of years i won't recognise anything....lol... the building shown here is Old Main, at one point it was the highest point in Lancaster. they used to have hangings there. it is a beautiful old church with great bells and organs. now it is home to the office of the President of the college and some of the Dean's offices, as well as the chapel up stairs. many concerts, SFS (student for student) events and lots of Chamber singer concerts were held there before the Barshinger Center for the Performing arts was built. And yes i was involved in lots of things in college, chamber singers (sang classical music, they helped me to read music better), F&M players (we did broadway plays and concerts of songs from various Broadway musicals), the Poor Richards (the best acappella group. they were like my family at college, which is why im still in contact with them now), Students for students (an improv group that helped college students deal with the issues or rape, alcohol, violence and any other topic the audience, which were college students, wanted us to deal with. that was amazingly challenging and fun. that group of people i loved too and were also like family). i was also involved in the dance company and drama. its crazy looking back on it now, i did heaps in college. and that is not to mention the Black student union or the international club and more......

So i went back to just get a feel of the college again....while taking pictures of old main and the statue of Ben Franklin, Matt was taking pics of me. it was hilarious and fun as he played the part of the paparazzi from his Red van.

so here is the deal with the statue........the statue is something that should never be touched. when i was a freshman they told us why, and it was true for all the days that i went to school there. this was the place that when the boys and some girls were on their way back from the frat parties, they would use it as a restroom and pee all over it. this happened numerous times. i have been witness to it. then we would see people coming to tour the campus and hugging the statue to take pictures with it......lol....we would always be like, u don't know what you are touching. the next pic is of the black student union and the financial aid office, both of which were great helps to me. i left with a minimal loan compared to some students and the BSU was just a refuge sometimes. the final pic is of me infront of Barshinger. this was where a lot of concerts or events are now held. amazing acoustics in there and its such a joy to sing in. it was cool that it was finished by my senior year, so that i could perform in the opening and in other concerts there. the great thing about it is that any club could book it to be used for their concerts or such as long as it wasn't booked out by the faculty already. its pretty cool that it really was and is for the use of the whole campus.

Neways... enough reminiscing..... college days were great days, though at the time i just wanted them to be over. i did enjoy them to the fullest and experienced them the best i knew how at the time. i can still look back and say that i wish i did more of this or i wish i had known about this or that sooner in college, i would have done more of this or that... but thats a waste of time. thats over. i can't complain, i think i did pretty well and i think i experienced a wide range of things. i know i didn't limit myself. but sometimes i do miss it....lol.

MMMMMM.....Pennsylvania

well this weekend i went to Penn to visit with friends of mine from my time at school. this could be a long one so i'll split it up into sections, possibly different posts. in this post i'll talk about Opal, Matt and their new son Wes. i also went and saw my friend Althea, her husband Dan and their new son, Sammy. it was just simply an awesome time, with the two boys stealing my heart. they are so cute and funny as babies tend to be. the pics will simply show how cute they are, and i am in love. man i want a kid, but guess what... i'm waiting on 1. the right man, 2. the right marriage, 3. the right time. cause u know once they come, it changes everything. but i can't wait. to feel a life growing in you and then to bring it forth and to have all the joy, pain, worry that comes with them. the sleepless nights, the painful breasts and nipples, the diaper changes, the smiles and giggles, the soft skin and the knowledge that they are mine...


well this is me and Wes taking a nap. the following pics are of him with dad (Matt), with mom (Opal), of Althea and her beautiful boy Sammy and of me feeding Sammy. i had such a good time playing and chilling with them it was a great weekend. we then went to church on the sunday and i got to see and catch up with pastor and friends like Teresa. i saw all the kids that when i was there were babies and now they are big. like Teresa's son, Malachai, he is now 8 yrs old. man i remember when i used to hold him as a baby. he was born a year after i was there......
Neways so situation at church..... pastor spotted me from the stage and of course put me on the spot and asked me to sing.....lol. up until the point when i held the mic i had no idea what i would sing. but God dropped something in my spirit, but could i remember the first word. the rest of the song yes but not how to start it....lololol.... so i was there silent for a while with my eyes closed, thinking oh lord, i need to start this soon. silence is good but not for this long... so then i kind of hummed through the first line, picked up the second line and off i was. the musicians eventually found my key and it was sooooo good after that. i haven't stood up and sang a solo in a very long time. i had forgotten what that was like and i had forgotten that i could do it. so that was cool and im glad i wasn't one of those fake modest people who are like....'naw, naw, i didn't really want to do it, i mean i haven't done this in so long, how could pastor do this to me?' when all the while u know they really wanted to do it. for me i had forgotten that pastor always does that, so i wasn't prepared, but i am glad that i did it. its always good to bless people and God has given me something that does that. so i'll be used by him any time.

Neways enough of my ranting, there is more to come in the other posts on my Penn trip.

Yun's House

This past weekend i went over to one of my best friend's house. she and her hubby lives on staten island. now its a pity i doa have a pic of her, since she was the one taking all the pics, but i'll get one for yall. i went on the ferry and man that was a cold trip but sooooo cool as you will see in the pics. i saw the statue and the warfs.

then at her house we just chilled, their friend Rebecca came over and leo cooked us food. he is a great cook, even though he is vegan....lol..... i still love him though. so for that weekend i was vegan Cami, u would have been proud of me.

they have 2 cats Nieko Chan and Mauricio. now mauricio is a very fat and lazy cat, he spends the majority of the time sleeping on the radio, but Nieko is just fun. so i had a good time with Nieko. so here are pics of Mr. M sleeping on the radio and yawning, and Nieko enjoying Leo's lap. oh here he is also giving Mr. M a hand with having a bath.


i was so tired when i went over there that, i fell asleep on them, and my.... did yun capture some pics, neways here is a picture look at my weekend..... it was great to just simply relax....... later

Im here.... NYC BABY!!!!!

OK people, i have arrived. actually i have been here for 2 weeks and i know, i know i have been slack in writing. so sorry...... ok, so new york.... it was wonderful seeing my aunts and cousins. they are hilarious and i love them so much. right now we are going through some sort of crisis with my aunt, but she is doing very well, so thats good. but it means that since she is in LA by herself, the family has been playing tag team, so there is always one family member there with her since before she had her surgery. isn't that amazing, i mean, i knew of the love and caring in my fam, but its great ti see it out worked some more..... neways so that is fam.

my elective is also very cool. the room i'm in is right around the corner from the hospital and on the 15th floor. i also don't mean a jamaican around the corner, which could mean miles down the road, but i mean 2 min away. the first couple of days i was walking back and forth from the hospital to my room every chance i had, and i had so many things to organize that there was lots of walking around. when i woke up on my first morning of work, guess what i saw when i looked out my window.... SNOW..... i was like wow. i hadn't seen snow in a bit, so it was cool. that happened this morning too. snow, snow, snow... it reminded me of college in pennsylvania. neways so all of that is cool, its cold, but that's what i expected. i have my winter stuff here so no prob.

in terms of actual work,its been good, i'm mainly based in the clinic but do ward rounds in the morning. this week i'm stationed at the chealsea clinic which is the lower west side on 24th street. the hospital is on the upper east side, so i have to grab the subway cross town in the mornings. thats cool, im enjoying living in manhatten... here is an excerpt from an email i sent about my time here... this was a week ago....

in terms of the things i have seen, it is simply amazing and heart rending and just too much to even fully express in an email. gosh some of these people are simply amazing i don't know how they deal with everything that they have to go through. for many of them, HIV is the least of their problems. if i allow it to it could get to me and break my heart every 2 seconds. and some of the stories of people sabotaging themselves and their health...... frustrating.... i'll tell you more when i get back. we'll sit and have a loooooong chat. so its fascinating and HIV is one of the most interesting, frustrating and 'intelligent' viruses, it uses the most positive things about our immune system against us. that is why it is incurable (apart from of course the miraculous, as we know God can do amazing things). the treatment is really a testament to God enabling us through science, seriously in the last 20-25 years there have been 25 newly FDA approved drugs for the treatment of HIV. that is one drug per year... that is just remarkable. if u look at something like TB, Hep C or herpes, there are only either one up to 5 drugs to treat any one of them and they are really old drugs....... just amazing.... neways, i'm learning heaps

So.....the clinic is absolutely amazing. and it amazes me what can be done with resources....here is what the clinic is like... the doctors offices are equiped with lots of equipment and the beds are state of the art, then in the clinic you have a truly multidisciplinary team, like lots of social workers, 3 or more psychiatrists.......around 6-8 doctors, infectious disease and internists, 5 nurses, a OB/GYN, lab techs and phlebotomists, and other staff and each patient is assigned to a team that involves doc, social worker, psych if needed, nurses. the lab results come back many times the next day. i sat in with the OB/GYN and it was interesting what could be done in the examination room. u can diagnose STI's right in the room...no syndromic treatement. they make the slides there and then walk across the room and look at them under the microscope and then turns around and says to the patient, so you have a bit of trich..blah blah blah... or its just some BV.... for GC and chlamydia they send out for cultures and wait for the results, then treat. all the speculums are disposable, i just had to look on and just laugh. it was truely an eye opener. now this is not to say that this is how it is everywhere. this particular clinic gets a lot of funding so they are very lucky, but the contrast between what i was seeing at home and what i am seeing here is glaringly obvious. it makes me want that for home.

neways i have yacked on for quite a bit... next week i start public health and learning about the american health system. THAT should be interesting...... i'll write more about fun stuff in the next installment.....

One more JA sexual health story and more....

OK, so i did say that i would share one more sexual health clinic story. so here goes.... when i got back to Kingston, after i had done my week in Gordon town, which was my final week rural, i had 2 days at the sexual health clinic. so on the monday i arrived, early as usual, since both my parents were off the island, my brother was doing the rounds or dropping everyone off. in order for us to beat the morning traffic we leave our house at 6 am, so i was getting to the clinic at around 7 am. there was a crowd outside waiting to get in so that they could get good numbers. well the time was going and the guards weren't letting anyone in. the reason for this was that in order for them to open the gates, a police officer has to be on the premises. this has been the case for the past 2 years since someone was murdered, in the clinic. someone had just walked into the clinic and shot the man in his head. so since then the police have had to be on the premises. well this morning, the police decided they weren't gonna come because, a gang in the area had gone and shot up their station in retaliation for some perceived injustice in a police shooting on the previous thursday where 3 men died.

the guards eventually let me (after i told them i was working there) and the rest of the people in, but it was still unclear if the clinic would be open. ( the guards have no power, they ar pretty useless if you ask me, no guns or anything, though that may be a very good thing if you saw some of them) when i went inside, Dr. Kong, wanted things to still run as usual because there are patients that need their meds etc. but the other workers did not feel safe and so they were like we are leaving. when we went down to the clinic all the nurses and other workers had gathered and said that if there is not police coming then they are not working as well. and so clinic was closed that day. just a difficult situation all around. safety and patients wellbeing, just don't always go together. so that day i ended up spending the day at Sal's office doing some work, or helping him do work. i can't remember which it was.....lol. personally i could have used a day off so i was grateful for it. the next day i went all was well and i saw lots of cases. saw an amazing case of anaphylaxis to nevirapine (one of the HIV meds). it was a great experience. its just a pity that because of the foolishness and evil doings of a few so many are often affected, often innocent.

so that's my story. not funny, im sorry, just a different side to it all. highlights the dangers that health workers sometimes face at home.

so here is my tribute to my time in the country. I had a wonderful time with Temi and Sheree. amazing people and so smart. it was simply a great time. so thanks Temi for the fluffy rice and your deadpan humour and thanks sheree for driving us everywhere. our afternoons of movies, the boondocks, playing music, sharing resources such as pdf text books and studying are memories that i will definitely cherish. not to mention our negril flexes. great stuff.

tribute must also be made to Dougie and Sal. i just want to say thanks heaps, for the friends that you are. Dougie, i enjoyed chilling with you and the fashion show was awesome (even when i fell asleep on your shoulder). if i just needed something to do, we could always do nothing together and that was great. thanks for driving me and keva around and for bringing anika and ice cream all the way over to my house when we were just bored...lol... man there is no where like JA. those things just don't happen everywhere. i love our friendship and i really appreciate you.....





Sal, man what can i say.... your office and car were a haven. i loved every minute of chilling and doing work with you. it was like i worked at 4eg. i started to think of all the jobs and accounts as our jobs. i loved being your assistant on photo shoots, it was wicked. our projects look amazing. thanks for helping me with that thing for my dad and my mom. not to mention thanks for my own gifts. i really appreciate everything you have done and the friendship we have. the link can never be broken...lol... scary and comforting thought.... OH and thanks soooooooo much for making my rural time such fun......ROAD TRIP !!!!


well i have lots more pics and friends to thank but i have to do them in installments..... but yall gonna have to catch those other pics when you see me. heaps of love....