30th Birthday. (warning: long post...)

It's my birthday today... and Google knows: 

That's just a little bit of awesome right there. 

Did not have to reschedule plans due to rain last night. Yay? Yay! Was taken out by the Cupcake Wench to try a new experience (is always good to have friends who can bake/cook...too bad this experience wasn't about baking/cooking). It was... interesting. Fun... but also traumatising. That's all I can say about it publicly. Yay to new experiences though - am making it a policy to at least try stuff before deciding whether I like it or not. Went out to dinner with Cupcake Wench, her hubby, Carib Boy (who makes awesome mosaic stuff) and the cute guy. Managed to reach home before midnight - I have this issue where I want to be at home when it becomes birthday. 

Cute guy was here to wish me Happy Birthday... he is awesome.

I sent him home because I wanted to go to bed so that I'd get up early and perhaps make it to Guru Gita at the Ashram. For years I'd been going with my mom for my birthday... but then last year, I'm not sure how, both of us overslept. This year... I realise that it's not easy getting up to leave home at 5 a.m. if I go to bed after midnight. Is part of getting older? Need more rest? Woke up at 4 a.m., thought about it... convinced self that I could stay in bed a bit longer... it started to rain. I don't know who can leave their bed at that hour when it's raining. If you can do that - you are awesome. I decided to give thanks for Livestream - put it on to look at... and fell asleep. Ah well. 

I dreamt my mom. I wish I could tell you what I dreamt exactly but the times that I can do that are few and far between. I've mentioned before that I hardly ever remember dreams. I woke up happy though - light-hearted... determined that it would be a good day. 

The Cat was clingy and wanted to sleep on me. I had to get up though... my dad and brother were talking about breakfast. Buffet breakfast discussions ended up with us going to Woodford Café... where my brother and I ate a lot and my dad took photos of us eating a lot. 

The cute guy took me out for dim sum. It's a bit tough being a vegetarian - there are usually only so many options available wherever one goes to dine. We'd been talking about dim sum for some time but... it's usually very meaty - which is fine for the cute guy, not so fine for me. Luckily, I saw this post by TriniChow. Delightful dim sum at Tiki Village? Yes, please... and yes, it was. The Tiki Village people gave me a slice of chocolate cake because it's my birthday... I like that restaurants give free desserts if there's a birthday. 

We went to the Trinidad and Tobago Garden Club's Flower Festival. I have photos... will try to post them some time. I'd been anxious about how the rainy weather might affect the festival but it went on as planned. Apart from being fond of flowers, it was a bit of remembrance - if my mom were here she'd have gone with me. We've been to flower shows by the Orchid Society and the Horticultural Society. We've been to gardens in New Jersey and Massachusetts. We've bonded over pretty flowers... and the knowledge that plants are safer in other people's hands than our own. I am... extraordinarily pleased... that the cute guy carried me and showed interest and took photos with me. 

I had a really good day. Perhaps some may not have found it interesting but, I had fun, spent time with people that I love and did stuff that I love. What more could one ask for in a birthday?

I've a lot of birthday messages to respond to - will get to them in time.

Thanks to all for the love, the positive vibes, the birthday wishes. 

Love,

Ren

Happy Earth Day 2013!

Earth Day today... take a moment to breathe and give thanks for our air, earth and water. 

I've blogged about Earth Day before, in 2010, 2011 and 2012. I think of it as a fairly important day. The earth supports us, we should do what we can to support it. 

There's lots of information online about Earth Day, about what's happening with the earth and about things we can do to help out. I thought I'd share just a little bit of that with you.

1. The history of Earth Day. Did you know it first started in 1970? I didn't... or maybe I did and forgot. 

2. TED-Ed's Lesson worth sharing:  Phenology and nature's shifting rhythms by Regina Brinker... discussing how the natural cycles of plants and animals are affected by rising global temperatures. Note: humans are animals...  

3. Earth Day every day... Omega's teachers on how we can make small changes in our lives that would make a difference for us all: 

4. Today's Google Doodle... for a bit of fun and just because it's really well done.

peace,

Ren

5 Minutes - stream of consciousness

"It’s exhilarating to be alive in a time of awakening consciousness; it can also be confusing, disorienting, and painful." ~Adrienne Rich

There's a song in my head that I heard on the radio today - every so often (few years or so) I hear it and I love it and I sing along to it and today I thought I'd find it and put it up here but... I'm not finding it. Granted I don't know the name of the song... but I'm not finding it even though I know the lyrics... Google... why aren't you helping me today? It's a song about love and peace and how happy we'd be if we see tomorrow through the eyes of a child... Ah well. 

It's the day after Valentine's Day... girls make much more of a fuss about it than guys do. At least the girls I know in real life and online. I'm not that fussed by it... I guess it would be nice to get a gift/surprise... but it also would be nice to get something on a random day as well... show me love - anyplace, anytime. Am I bummed that I don't have a special someone? Maybe? I'm not sure? Hmm. I am blessed with much love but there are things that one can only really share with a partner and I guess that's what I'm missing. 

My girl ppl want to go to a fete for Carnival... I've been successful in avoiding any and all thus far. Mwahaha ... and also... Ergh. Was told that Machel Monday was 'awesome' and that I should have been there. Crowds aren't my thing... I'd like to go dancing sometime with the girl ppl but a fete? Meh. 

Sometimes I feel much older than I really am. It's an old soul I have is what some would say. I'm not sure what others would say. 

I really would like to find that song. 

night all... peace,

Ren

Full moon lunar eclipse...

"Astrology is a science in itself and contains an illuminating body of knowledge. It taught me many things, and I am greatly indebted to it. Geophysical evidence reveals the power of the stars and the planets in relation to the terrestrial. In turn, astrology reinforces this power to some extent. This is why astrology is like a life-giving elixir to mankind." ~Albert Einstein

There's a full moon in Sagittarius tonight but that's not all... there's going to be a lunar eclipse as well, one which will be the longest and deepest total eclipse in a decade. Fabulousness...

Google, who has my deep love because of their doodles, has done a total lunar eclipse doodle on their page to allow persons that can't view it to keep track of it. Google's Youtube channel also had a live feed of the eclipse which as I type this I realise may have already passed. Meep. Am not quite sure what to do with this blog post now as my intent was to tell you, dear reader, to keep your eyes on the skies... ah well... it's still a great day and will be a great night for moon-watching.

peace,

Ren

Edited to add (4.10 pm):
It's still going on! Mid-way through... hopefully I'll see it... :)

Edited again (8.02 pm):

So apparently we're not in the zone to view the eclipse... *grump* and even if we were in the zone - it's been raining all day... cloud coverage to the extreme... ah well.. there's supposed to be one viewable by us in 2018... Yay?

Lunch Room Conversation...

"Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop." ~Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

This quote makes me wonder whether Lewis Carroll had any Trini blood in him. It sorta sounds just like the directions that a Trini would give... :)

So we're sitting in the lunch room today (some of us having lunch... some of us avoiding going back to work) and talk comes up about the wonder that is Google Maps... You can find Trinidad and Tobago on Google Maps... You can find lots of stuff on Google Maps... including my house. I have a friend who spends time on Google Maps correcting the labels they have for roads and spaces and I know of persons who've started taking photos to map to places in T&T...

View Larger Map

And while all of that is exciting and maybe you're now thinking you can go label some places on Google Maps... that's not my story. Today's post is on our lunchtime conversation and just how confusing it can be for persons to find places in Trinidad and Tobago. Apart from our vague (yet strangely accurate) direction-providing skills, today's lunchtime convos emphasised that our road names can be a bit.. confusing.

Take, for example, the old Southern Main road which runs from north to south Trinidad. This road was used before the main highways and is still used today as it links all the villages and towns together. This road turns into Main Roads when it passes through towns... What do I mean? If you're travelling south along the Southern Main road from Chaguanas to Point Lisas you drive down the Southern Main road until Isaac Junction where you turn right... then... although you're still continuing on the same road - it's called the Couva Main Road... then after you pass through Couva you turn left and - the road name changes back to the Southern Main road.

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This is one of many places in which it does this. Talk in the lunchroom is that the road we all know as the North Coast road (Maracas anyone?) becomes the Paria Main Road after Maracas Beach till Las Cuevas where it is again called the North Coast road for a little while before turning back into the Paria Main Road to get to Blanchisseuse... lol

When you consider the naming issue and the fact that we tend to have place names repeated... e.g. Palmiste in Central... Palmiste in South... it's pretty amazing that people don't get lost. As one of my workmates say though... "is ah good ting T&T small cuz if yuh get loss yuh just hadda make 2 turns before yuh find yuh way..."

Lol... I ♥ T&T...

peace,

Rtr