S7: 24 HC 4 AM to 8 AM

Oops.
I may have forgotten that posts were due for this.

Due to the fact that the end of the season was so damned disappointing, here's a general head count with no real re-cap of dullness.

HC: 3; 1; 5; 10

That may be wrong but ask me if I care at this point. I might be off on one but I don't really remember.

The only three things I can really remember: the poor, cliched acting and lines given. Who wrote those last two episodes? Did I? When I was 7?

I did enjoy that Jack made peace with his life with the help of a Muslim holy man. It reminded me that the Fox Network are assholes and that this must have hurt them to air. Idiots.

Tony A. ... you were totally justified. When did you become Jack Bauer and when did Jack Bauer become a pansy?

I guess biolological weaponary running through your blood will do that to you.

And Three Hours Later

I'm finally ready to hook up the Ipod, let it run overnight and hope that all is well in the morning.

All this for some Lotus Juice.

As I was telling Bughie J., the words "my favourite Japanese rapper" should never leave my mouth but it's too late now.

Currently listening to: "Step Up" by Taku Iwasaki featuring Lotus Juice, from the Soul Eater 2 Original Soundtrack.

Rabble, Rabble

And so I begin the process of uploading 7910 songs and 100 plus videos into Itunes and then on the Ipod.

Yeah, I'm rabbling!

Bastardino, Jr.

That Bastardino, Jr., Beetchie...

Yeah, that's right, Beetchie! I called you Bastardino, Jr.!

It's rare Beetchie and I walk out of Toy Tokyo empty-handed and Saturday was no different.

We saw some Tokidoki Cactus Pups (Gen Frien', I'll get one for you!) and she wanted the sleepy one, which I pegged her to get and I wanted anything but the pink.

She wanted me to get Bastardino, Jr. but due to some protesting, I decided I didn't want that little bastard. I wanted the black one that was really mean looking.

Being the lucky one, Beetchie first grabbed her pick of the random boxes and then picked mine for me because she didn't want me to pull one from the back.

And you can only guess what happened next.

She was so adamant that I get the frickin' Bastardino, Jr. that I got the frickin' Bastardino, Jr. even at the expense of not concentrating to get the one she wanted for herself.

It serves her right that she got the dirty one!

He's pretty cute though and I can't really complain but it was hilarious for us both.

Ah, she hates me sometimes.



Quit showing me your ass, Bastardino Jr.!



I also hate myself sometimes. I do love Rukia and I do love the most beautiful white zanpaktou in all of Seireitei but I didn't get my Ulqui on the random pick.

::sniff::

She still is the best though. Eff you, Orihimeass.









So hopefully Beetchie can do me a kindness and get it for me if she goes to Chinatown.

Finally, here's my new Auron that I am not happy that I own.





Quiet, Setz!

Who Loves Me?

Who wants to buy me the Ultimate Sephiroth pyo?

Or at least put in half, making my total $75 and you, whoever you may be, your total $75?

Or something? (Making my total $0 and you, whoever you may be, your total $150?)

If I get this, I will never buy/coerce or consider getting another Sephiroth figure again!

Really though, you guys should pity me... I never had a good one but I will never knock my very first FF toy which was my Sephy keychain which I'm still very much proud of and love most of all my figures.

But let us take a moment to gaze upon this new one and his beauty, together...







::tear::

A Day Out with My Imaginary Friend

For a long time, we all thought that CLee had an Imaginary Friend named Fred. Fred was his Snuffy for years. There was always talk of this "Fred" but no one had ever met him, until one day we discovered that he really existed.

As I was talking to X yesterday, it hit me.

I, too, have a Snuffy!

I, too, have an Imaginary Friend named Fred, although for even more secrecy, I call him Setzer (not so secret anymore though...oops).

Well, my friend, who really isn't imaginary, Setzer made a trip to NYC this weekend with some of his friends.

I saw him on Saturday and we went to Chinatown to where the cool kids hang out.

For some reason I forgot that he likes L, perhaps even more than I do (he's damned near obsessed but then again...I guess I teared when L died a horrible dishonourable anime death, ::insert my EFF YOU LIGHT!!! comment:: which makes me no different) and was very excited to get a cheapy black plastic ring with "L" all over it, which I found very cute of him especially since he's going to count how many days it takes for the "L" to wipe off; super excited to see an "L" baseball cap for $3.00, which I found very umm...suspect of him but was relieved when he didn't buy it; and I completely forgot (conveniently!) that he is Squall/loves Squall, which I found very lame and walked off like I didn't know him but not before judging him hardcore.

Heh.

I also did not get him that stupid Squall figure he wanted (conveniently?) but instead randomly picked something for myself in the form of Auron, which he quickly gave back to me.

Why is it that if I try to buy something for myself it always turns out something I don't care for but if I buy for someone else, I get what I want?

It's not right and I'm sorry, Setz but yeah, if I ever get a Setzer, he's all yours.

Also, the buying of lychee ice-cream does not make up for the fact that I did not get you anything from Japan nor do I feel better about myself, so you may lord that over me if you must.

Sadly, I couldn't make it to hang out with him yesterday but at least I directed him to Kenka and without my hand to force strangeness upon him, he had a meal that he loved.

Next time though, I'll be sure not to lapse.

One last note because it deserved a little blurb, I took this picture in Chinatown of something most disturbing.

You know those street artists that will spell your name out in some fancy manner on a piece of board to hang in your room?

I know I should not be surprised to find this in Chinatown but just another example of supporting shade and conducting shady buisness on behalf of the Chinese:

Jasmart's Often Hilarious, But Was Super More So This Time Around: Adventures of the St. Mark's Kind, Part II

The Japanese are always rather funny. They're so animated, it's fun.

It's a thing Beetchie and I do - we always have to try something new at the JasMart (Japanese Supermarket), whether that be a drink or a snack.

Well, we were rather full so we didn't get anything but an iced tea which turned out to be an iced coffee (I was ppiiiisssseed).

The other thing we got was some good laughs.

For instance,



Sephiroth hair! I always wanted Sephiroth hair of my own or some sort of boy with white/silver anime hair...and I've found him! Modelling hair products...for Gatsby...of Japan? Hm. At least now I know I can always find someone and get the silver from this place. Or alternately, wait for Sephiroth to materialize.

There's this thing that cracked Beetchie up, in two varieties!





The stick cut Baumkuchen and round style. We still have no idea what it is and were too full to find out. Perhaps next time.

I found something for H1...look, H1! Your favourite!



Um, I'm continued to be plagued by hip parades and shiny asses courtesy of the Japanese:



And H1, Beetchie says this is you:



Deal with her.

Redeeming Our Good Name at Kenka: Adventures of the St. Marks Kind, Part I

Last Saturday was a good day.

Last August, around the 13th was not.

It was fun times seeing Beetchie (Yay! Summer break!) and she successfully completed her 2nd full year at Vet School.

In fact, Beetchie and I had a pretty great meal and an afternoon/evening full of...no misadventures.

It sounds very suspect and we're just hoping that no build of negative energy is trying to happen again like that day in June back in 2006 when the bakery in Brooklyn exploded.

We went to Barnes and Noble, Pet Co., Kenka, Toy Tokyo and got cream puffs from Beard Papa.

It's all the great things we usually do when we hang out at Union Square and St. Marks.

Of course, Kenka was involved and I am pleased to report that a repeat of the Taro and Raw Squid Incident did not occur.

Thank goodness for that.

We started out with the Angler Liver.



For me, it was a little bit too strong on the fishy-ness but add some garlic and even the not-so-scallion-tasting scallion and it was amazing. It was very smooth.
Beetchie rather enjoyed it on first bite and even more so when she later discovered that we did the Angler an unkindness by eating it. We were unaware that it is on a Watch List...trying to be protected from the Japanese. Of course, the Japanese. And us.

Next we had Neck of Yellowtail which was quite good. Beetchie had fun with the fatty bits on the bone.



Grilled beef intestines are always yummy times and this set was extra so because it was quite laden with the seasoning that just stuck to it.



The Kimchee Udon was a little bit of a disappointment but not like the disappointment to come but still, I like udon so I was okay with it and then Beetchie gave me like the only bit of fatty pork in there because she hearts me:



We sat around hungry and ordered more.

Knowing fully well that this is always a bad idea, we sat around and became less hungry.

When those two dishes came, well it was over for us.

It also was not cool that Kenka put cheese spring rolls on the menu and when they came out, they were tiny bits of fried spring roll skin wrapped around as Beetchie called it, string cheese:



And then! How could one go wrong with fried pork on a stick, right? Somehow, that managed to be bad. I was already full but sticking very-much-tasting-like-a-killer-onion onion in between the tonkatsu...HIDDEN, in the tonkatsu will do me in. And it did:



So, we may have gotten a little over confident by our successes and then got effed over but we still had a pretty good meal and it was not near a total loss.

Beetchie and I even got new T-shirts! The staff (all changed...wha'?) were wearing new company shirts that were so cool that we had to get some too.

Luckily for us, they do in fact sell their shirts and also, our little Japanese guy assured us that it did not say "I am an asshole" on it.

We'll see if that's the truth if we wear it in Tokyo sometime and we get whispered and "oho ho ho ho'd" about.

Oh yeah, and it's becoming a regular thing but my cotton candy was bigger than Beetchie's again.

Memorable Quote of the Evening:

While eating my cotton candy, man on street says to me: It's still not better than Coney Island.

Well, really I don't know what he was talking about because a. it was grape flavoured and b. there is no more Coney Island. Bwahahahaha.

Update: Scrap the talk of no misadventure! Apparently, Union Square was full of bees! You know what means, they followed us... let us not speak of this to anyone.

From 1010wins.com:

May 24, 10:47 AM EDT

Buzz off! Bee swarm traps workers in NY game store

NEW YORK (AP) -- Thousands of bees swarmed outside a New York City game store, trapping employees inside for hours.

Worried employees looked out the window of the Manhattan store while talking on the phone as the bees clustered Saturday afternoon. A sign in the window warned: "Look! ... closed due to bee infestation."

Most passers-by avoided the GameStop store near Union Square, one of the city's busiest shopping areas. But Edward Albers tried to help. Dressed in regular clothes, he lured many bees into a box without getting stung.

Eventually, police bee specialist Tony Planakis arrived in protective gear and used the scent of a queen bee to collect the rest of them.

The store has reopened. The bees are being taken to hives upstate.

Downtown Friday

We began the week with a Monday Midtown Mini Adventure and ended the week with a Friday Downtown Excursion.

Along with Alex, we journeyed to Chinatown, which was not as crazed as I predicted and actually quite the nice evening for walking about.

An emergency call to Beetchie to inquire as to where good dumplings could be had, led us not really finding good dumplings but it also led us to not eating bad ones either.

Note to remember from B.: The dumplings at the Excellent Dumpling House are not that Excellent.

After many years of knowing Beetchie, I never truly ventured to her family's Malaysian Restaurant "Saya". That's probably the fault of the Marco Polo Noodle House that's right next door that H1 and I used to frequent, only to discover that that place is now gone. We cried a little when we found out.

So yes, we were starving and even though we had dinner plans at 9 PM, we went and had first dinner.

First dinner was greatness.

The curry puffs are fantastic and just about everything else was too - the satay (beef and chicken...yum!), the nasi lemak..mmmm. It was all goo'd times. Perhaps, too many goo'd times because H1 and I managed to over-eat a tad. Heh Heh.

Well who knew that a 6 PM meal would full us up so much by the time the 10 PM meal came around?!

After finding all manners of sparklies and danglies for X, a super Japanese bath towel for her,

Oh, the Japanese and their sekshi:





and walking forever to get to Thompson St., we parted ways with Alex and met up with X and Mk at Kittichai for X's Birthday celebration.

From Malaysian curry to Thai curry, H1 and I had even more good times at second dinner.

I did not have as many goo'd times as I should have because I was still sadly full from first dinner, but did love myself some tempura sea bass appetizers.

I didn't care much for the chocolate baby back ribs which really didn't taste anything like chocolate and only served to mess up my chopsticks royally (which annoyed me to no end - filthy chopsticks are one of the most horrid things ever. And this was coming off the fact that my server took my chopsticks away and then didn't want to give me a plate. Ass!).

My meal (what I could eat of it) was good save the fact they managed to burn the meat on top but meh, I still enjoyed my pineapple braised short ribs in green curry.

H1 had some sort of steak which she really liked and then we had to go after a champagne toast to X.

Talk about a mess trying to get a train that ran and getting home. It took an hour for us to get to Grand Central and we just barely made the 12:20 train and goodness knows that we did not want to be in Grand Central until 1:50 AM.

Poor transportation left us a bit cranky but at least we weren't cranky because we lacked food.

Midtown Monday: Part II

Two Mondays late, we are.

After our awesome Taiwanese Fried Chicken meal (which we had again last Monday, by the way and it tasted even more awesome), and after work, H1 and I went to Grand Central Terminal to hit up the Grand Central Market.

Murray's Cheese Place has Trois Petite Cochons pate that calls to us once in a while. Why wouldn't it? And why would we not answer?

And when the chocolate mousse with ganache calls us, why would we not answer?



Sometimes though, when Pumpkin Cheesecake calls, we shouldn't answer.



After we bought our goodies, H1 and I had time to spare so we wandered into the Main Hall to watch people and take incriminating photos... of their feet.

I also took some touristy shots in the Main Hall and I have to say, Grand Central never looked so bad as through my camera phone lens.







Most importantly, at the end of the night we did not forgot our bags, or our baguette.

Memorable Quote of the evening:

While we were taking pictures, a guy walked by and said: Cheeeeese.

Wow.

How cool would this be...





A Frickin' Nerv cell phone!!!!!!!

Stop hating on us, you Japanese bastards with your Japanese Only Limited Edition Bullshart!

H1, I maintain that I am not an Otaku but who would deny the awesomeness of this?!

Did We Miss May 19th?

Did we miss wishing Happy Birthday to the frenemies on the blog?

I guess so.

So, even though belated, Happy Birthday to Luuuuuiiiisssss and X.

We hope you liked your sparklie, danklie earrings, X.

And we all liked your Diamond Supreme cake, Luuuuuiiiissss.

1994, I Remember You

That was a good year for music for the HOchieS.  I associate all my favourite albums and bands from that year as being the last of the good years for Alternative and Rock.  Even though many of my fond memories and albums may have been from the period 1991-1994, I often associate it all with 1994 because it was the end of greatness in my mind.

Thanks to MC, I'll be missing my last chance to see NIN, for which I have been cursing him out lots.  NIN used to be one of my ultimate favourite bands and I will not deny that everything pre and including "The Fragile" was just brilliance on T. Reznor's part, but the sad thing is that I have never seen them in concert.

It's not just NIN I've never seen.  I've never seen Stone Temple Pilots either.

It too boggles my mind.

By the way MC, I'm blaming you for not being able to go to see TV on the Radio as well.

Green Day used to be on that list of bands I never saw but must.

And if all goes well on July 28th, I can finally scratch them off.

After another Ticketmaster Debacle of not getting tickets for the MSG July 27th show (in part by my refusing to pay floor ticket prices in section 205 and in part for the entire concert selling out in 12 minutes), Green Day did me a kindness and added another show, not even 2 minutes after my defeat.

So Beetchie, don't forget - July 28th is a Tuesday and we have plans.

It makes me really sad that H1 won't be going.

But maybe she'll be the winner if the Green Day album turns out to sound like rubbish.  I've yet to listen but please don't let it be another disgrace of the year much like U2's "No Line on the Horizon".

Midtown Monday: Part I

"A Case of the Mondays"? Hardly.

It may come as a surprise to most but I'm actually a fan of Mondays.

Due to the fact that my brain is still in weekend mode, I don't really process that I'm at work until Tuesday.

My brain's some the times amazing.

So, already having an okay Monday is always made better by a shady pale yellow truck, shady (no need to insert yellow - or golden as Beetchie would say) Asians, and Taiwanese fried chicken with SPECIAL SECRET pork sauce over rice with Chinese mustard greens.

Yeah, you read right.

A new street eats truck called NYC Cravings has been making its way around the city, delivering two things: dumplings of the pork or veggie variety, and the above mentioned yummy fried chicken goodness.

Always eager to try new truck food and have a potential misadventure (you never know until you try!), H1, Alex and I trekked over to 46th & 6th when we were alerted via the midtownlunch blog, to guinea pig some fried chicken.



Unfortunately, you can't really make out the pale yellow from this picture thanks to my camera phone but it's an unmarked van that looks irregular. You can figure out which truck it is.



Oh Lork! I ate from a guy whose hand was THAT close to his nose?! Ahahaha, oh it's only a jest. It was clean. Today is Thursday and I was no where near ill and that scratching of the face was the shyness of a cutie Asian who didn't really want me to take his picture.



See? There's the cutie Asian! The girl who was helping him did not want to be in the picture and ran away but she was a cutie too.

They were anything but shady to tell you the truth (I mean special, secret pork sauce is kind of shady in itself but damned tasty) and were in fact, quite the friendly, sweetie types. It's always refreshing to meet nice Asians. Goodness knows I don't know any of those...Right, Beetchie? Ha.

Their unshady status could all change if we find out for sure if our fears are true - and that is that they may be Bingies. For now, we're going to pretend we didn't stumble upon that potentially true information.

Next Monday we're going back and bringing friends for more good times of crispy chicken, hopefully we'll be able to sample the pork dumplings this time since they only had effin' veggie dumplings, and a little chocolate fortune cookie that did not insult me.

The picture's not going to do it any justice to the meal but I'll post it anyway.



All of this just reminds us that Momma HO used to make the most awesome of Chinese style fried chicken times that we've not eaten in years.

We're working on trying to convince her that she should do that for us soon and so far it isn't working.

Curse you, Momma HO!

NKOTB09

Assaulted for a week by ugly, and for what (for the second time by the same offenders)?



This girl honestly thought we were asking to take pictures of her because we were impressed by her jacket.

If not for her being so damned smug, I would have felt slightly sorry for taking a picture only to make fun, but since she was a biatch then I just feel slightly sorry...for myself, my camera eye and H1.

Also, you can't see the entire sign (click the picture to see it clearly) but it said "California Girls Got The Right Stuff".



This girl - Californian or not, she clearly believes that she's got the right stuff.

Currently: Waiting for my meat pie to finish baking.

Keeping the Town Hippy Free

Oh my Lork.

I saw a hippy today in Manhattan.

A REAL hippy!

A 1960s hippy, hippy!

With a VW mustard yellow van complete with curtains!

Clearly a hippy left the 1960s via a worm hole and ended up in 2009, Manhattan.

Clearly that hippy was lost because Woodstock is waaaay off from Manhattan.

Talk about shock.

You'd be shocked too if you saw this mustard monstrosity driving along admist of black town cars and cabs.

Ugh.

I need to get back to work on the whole eliminate the hippies thing.

S7: 24 HC - 3 AM to 4 AM

This episode was meh. Aims is not convinced that Tony A. is all bad. I might be of that camp as well but wow, did he just take out that dude with the shower lining and then took a shower with the body in there.

That was hardcore.

The President's daugther a murderer? Nice. I hate that biatch.

Also, I would just like to say that the screaming of President Palmer's name by Jack Bauer made me really confused at first, then not so much. That was some awesome acting by Keifer Jack Bauer Sutherland, but I wish he would stop toying with our emotions. It took us years to get over Palmer and we don't need your ass bringing it up again! ::sniff::

And Chloe? Is still hella great. Screw you, MC.

Head Count: 4. That bad acting 'attorney' was confirmed.

Support Your People

Beetchie and CLee, do your people a kindness and support them.

From a New York Times article:


By DAVID BARBOZA
Published: April 27, 2009

SHENZHEN, China — The phone’s sleek lines and touch-screen keyboard are unmistakably familiar. So is the logo on the back. But a sales clerk at a sprawling electronic goods market in this Chinese coastal city admits what is clear upon closer inspection: this is not the Apple iPhone; this is the Hi-Phone.

“But it’s just as good,” the clerk says.

Nearby, dozens of other vendors are selling counterfeit Nokia, Motorola and Samsung phones — as well as cheap look-alikes that make no bones about being knockoffs.

“Five years ago, there were no counterfeit phones,” says Xiong Ting, a sales manager at Triquint Semiconductor, a maker of mobile phone parts, while visiting Shenzhen. “You needed a design house. You needed software guys. You needed hardware design. But now, a company with five guys can do it. Within 100 miles of here, you can find all your suppliers.”

Technological advances have allowed hundreds of small Chinese companies, some with as few as 10 employees, to churn out what are known here as shanzhai, or black market, cellphones, often for as little as $20 apiece...

...Nokia, the world’s biggest cellphone maker, says it is working with Beijing to fight counterfeiting. Motorola says much the same. Apple Inc. declined to comment...

...“I saw iPhone pictures on the Web; it’s so cool. But it costs over $500 — too expensive,” says Yang Guibin, 30, an office worker from Chongqing. “So I decided to buy a shanzhai iPhone. I bought it in a digital market here; it looked exactly like the iPhone.”

Some experts say they believe the shanzhai phenomena is about being creative, Chinese style.

“Chinese grass-roots companies are actually very innovative,” says Yu Zhou, a professor at Vassar College. “It’s not so much technology as how they form supply chains and how rapidly they react to new trends.”

While the phones may look like famous brands, companies actually add special features like bigger screens, dual-mode SIM cards (which allow two phone numbers) and even a telescopic lens attachment for the phone’s camera.

Since it is the SIM card that makes a phone run in China, as in most places other than the United States, all you have to do is insert a valid SIM card into a shanzhai phone and it works.

All this innovation comes from an industry that only took off in 2005, after Mediatek, a semiconductor design company from Taiwan, helped significantly reduce the cost and complexity of producing a mobile phone.

Using what experts call a turnkey solution, Mediatek developed a circuit board that could inexpensively integrate the functions of multiple chips, offering start-ups a platform to produce a low-cost mobile phone.

The industry got another boost in 2007, when regulators said companies no longer needed a license to manufacture a cellphone.

That set off a scramble by entrepreneurs in this electronics manufacturing center. Counterfeiting and off-brand knockoffs flourished. Tiny companies would buy a Mediatek chip loaded with software, source other components and ask a factory to assemble them.

Marketing strategies were simple: steal. Designs and brand names were copied identically or simply mimicked. (Sumsung for Samsung or Nckia for Nokia.)

Tapping into the supply chains of big brands is easy, producers say. “It’s really common for factories to do a night shift for other companies,” says Zhang Haizhen, who recently ran a shanzhai company here. “No one will refuse an order if it is over 5,000 mobile phones.”

The people who make fake iPhones admit it’s a shady business.

“We are a kind of illegal producer,” says Zhang Feiyang, whose company, Yuanyang, makes an iPhone clone. “In Shenzhen there are many small mills, hidden. Basically, we can make any type of cellphone.”

The competition is already forcing global brands to lower prices, analysts say. And new Chinese brands are emerging, like Meizu, a would-be Apple that has opened stylish stores here.

“Our phone is even better than the iPhone,” says Liu Zeyu, a Meizu salesman in Shenzhen. “Our goal is to create a phone that makes Chinese proud.”

Chen Yang contributed research.




Buy a Hiphone.



They need the money more.

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit. Hare, Hare, Hare.

Another month, another shot at pleading for a good one for all.

Observations of the Week: 4/18 - 4/25

We will not eat breakfast if it consist of Banana Nut Cheerios.

H1 and I had that this week for the first time and the worst thing about it is that when the milk soaks up the cheerios, which happens quite quickly, and the cereal gets soggy - it tastes just like mushed bananas.

Gross.

Clean Zombies

A Conversation in Badly Drawn Comic Form (and poorly scanned). Click to enlarge:



Editor's Note: No clean zombies were actually found in Resident Evil 5.

Speaking of Pirates

It's a myth that pirates walk around on a peg legs, have only one eye with the other glass eye covered up by an eye patch, and hang out with parrots.

Introducing my First Mate - Mr. Pirate King Potato Head.

Here he is sporting top of the line pirate boots, four eyes and a frog.



And here he is displaying his booty.

Avast, Ye Scurvy Dawgs!

What's with the talk of pirates lately?

Who knew pirates of the High Seas existed?

This just goes to show that certain parts of the world are still cutlassin' over some gold (and suga'cane?) and it is scary.

Don't they know pirating's only reserved for the Internet now? And that stealing from the rich to give to the rich is called "CAPITALISM"?

Serious business these pirates, but it turns out I've been doing a bit of pirating myself these days.

While not on the High Seas, I have taken to stealing from my dawgs to give to myself and H1.

That's right, I declare my Frenemies' Mario Coins in the Name of the HOchieS!

Thus far, I've collected booty from Bughie J. and Aims.

It might be that they'll benefit from my piracy in the long run but that is only due to the fact that I am not a very good pirate.

In fact, I believe the great Pirate Bughie J. somehow managed to trick me into giving him my Club Nintendo login information without my realising my folly!

And that is why he managed to plunder Trinidad in the not so distant past.