Once again, I feel as if I'm at a very precarious, unsure place in my life. No full-time occupation to speak of, a part-time foray into a new opportunity that I need to build momentum with and experiencing a slow crawl in terms of some personal projects. Oh, and I apparently owe the IRS; wonderful. In times like this I am usually both plagued by a bit of self-doubt as well as a prevailing sense of optimism and confidence that things will work out. It is an unusual dichotomy but that's how it is with me. Its been a while since I blogged and I suppose this sentiment was the notion that was 'off the top of my head.' However, a lot of fun stuff happenned as well. I've had the fortune of travelling to a place I've never been and partying in a way I doubt that I ever have. I speak about Trinidad Carnival 2008, touted as the 'best show on earth', and I'm thinking maybe deservedly so.

Now, anyone who knows me well enough, knows that I like to dance, specifically wine with women. As far back as when I first started going out, at age 13/14, and my first awkward acquaintaince with attaching my pelvis to the locomotion that was a girl's gyrating backside, I have loved to wine. I can't really explain it; maybe its just a primal need that has to be satisfied by humankind, maybe its a pretense of temporary intimacy with someone your not intimate with, but I love it. Having said that, imagine the remarks of my closest friends when they realized that I was going to Trinidad for carnival, a virtual wining heaven. Comments like, "di man a go get wey down deh", "ah like heaven fi da man ya", always punctuated by knowing laughter. But they were right.

From the moment I touched down in Trinidad, January 29th, I was first impressed with how much it reminded me of home in Jamaica but also with the subtle differences that made it new and novel for me. The airport is pretty cool too, reminds me of a mix between Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay and Dulles international in Virginia, in terms of the shaping of some of the buildings. The novelty aside though, one could readily tell what the business of the day, nay the next several days, was; Carnival. I honestly believe that everyone on the plane, to begin with, was there for Carnival. I picked up enough from the light chatter at the airport in Miami as well as on the plane. This was underscored by the signs and activity in the airport; I even received a little gift bag of handy items like a key-chain, most likely for securinig the mug that was in the bag, clearly added for drinking purposes, and some other miscellaneous items. Soon after I was picked up by my patron for my stay in 'sweet sweet T an T', my sistren whom I shall refer to as 'O', and begin traversing the landscape, a stranger in a strange land. After a few stops, to pick up her b/f and to grab some food, we headed to her family home and I spent the evening acquainting myself with the abode as well as its occupants. That night though, the party began.

We had gone out to our first fete (a fete, now that I've experienced them, in my opinion, is the merger of a session -which is usually just a party with music by a DJ -and a stageshow - an event featuring live performances by artistes). The fete was called 'Eyes Wide Shut' and was held at part of the grounds of a Cricket oval (basically a stadium or grounds where the sport Cricket is played). All together, it was myself, O and three of her friends/acquaintances in attendance. The only guy, I felt pretty good about the wining odds. However, I am a bit picky when it comes to who I'll wine, my criteria is that I must find the person attractive on some level. This criteria usually flies out the window if someone chooses to wine on me, who, though they may not be a fit for my tastes, I'll give a courtesy wine to anyway. I'm an equal opportunity wine-recipient. But yeh, being selective, I chose to only wine with O and her equally attractive brownin friend J, at least in terms of the crew I went with. However, I am somewhat of a 'roamer'; my usual M.O. is deciding with my crew on a designated spot where we will hold as our own for the duration of the event and then wandering off in the crowd in search of adventure and opportunity. I did just that and after a few stolen wines with sexy strangers, I made my way near to the front of the stage and settled on a girl that had a controlled sense of wildness about her. Now, just to point something out, as a winist, in order to qualify and quantify your wining opportunities, you have to be pretty adept at reading body language and watching the traffic flow around your intended target. For instance, if she's with a girlfriend(s) and they seem to be hyping and dancing mostly together in their own little world, there may not be much profit in attempting to intercede. Similarly, if you have noticed a few guys getting rejected in a perfunctory manner, it may not be worth the risk of rejection. On the other hand, sometimes you have to take the risk that you're the guy for the job if the girl is that attractive. Me, I'm a risktaker. Oh, one last thing, if you intend for just a quick opportunistic wine, then its all about the music; when certain songs play, most girls would wine on a mule because of the sheer feel-good vibe of the tune. Generally speaking, that is one of the things I like about Soca music, and about Carnival in general; every man has a chance of living out his inner hero when it comes to conquering ladies for dances. Soca just makes girls more uninhibited than most other forms of music. Now, after summing up my prey, I decided that I had a reasonable chance of success, due in no small part to me being an experienced and wisened winist. After I initiated contact, it was on. She seemed to dig my vibe and we ensued in a passionate affair of 'waistline thunder' for most of the night. She was my 'one-burner', heh. Another great thing about the night was that it rained, like serious rain, not drizzling. Yet, most of us partied, the music and vibes eroding our concerns about gettig soaked. The last time I had partied in the rain was lot of fun too, way back in 2002 in Miami for Spring Break at an all-inclusive party. This was better. At this point, I needn't say more about the night, or early morning as it were with most good parties; we eventually went home (walking distance - great!) and I changed out of the wet clothes and rehabilitated my phone with the help of O and her hairdryer (the phone had apparently not been prepared to get that wet and was malfunctioning).

The next day, Wednesday, saw the arrival of more of the multitude of houseguests that were apart of the O household for the duration of Carnival. It was getting even more exciting and enjoyable. I saw familiar faces and became enamoured with some new ones as well, I even got a room-mate, O's cousin, S. S is pretty cool and we got along great. After general socializing during the afternoon and evening, it was time to go back on the streets in the dark. Tonight was 'Bacchanal Wednesday' and for that we headed out of walking distance and drove by car (2 cars as the group had gotten bigger) to another venue. I forget the name, but it had a good set-up in terms of the stage and other decorative apparatus. With now more people in my crew to wine on, the wining had multiplied since the night before. Yes, 'the wining does never stop.' I even found my little starlet from the night before and repeated our joint-pelvic pulsations. However, I also found something, plural actually, right by the front of the stage, right by the fence. There were two girls. One with that wavy hair that I love, pretty face, dark caramel complexion and nice derriere. Her name was Sky. The other was more of an Olive-skinned, long straight brunette hair with an even over-all shape - not too little, not too much T and A ;), pleasant face; I later found out that she was venezuelian. Dancing with each was great, at times I was backed up against the fence, sometimes sandwiched between two hot women, I had no complaints. However the highlight had to be one of the times I was dancing with the Venezuelian; I hadn't gotten or name, nor would I until the next day. Anyway, we were wining at a good clip and there were more than a few suggestive glances and smiles thrown my way, as we flitted between traditional wining and a little front-to-front action. Suddenly, when her back was nestled against my chest during traditional wineage, she leaned her head back on my shoulder and whispered something I thought I must have dreamt up; I was in mild shock. She said, "If I give you my number, will you fuck me?"

Wow. I mean, wow!! I had to ask her, "What did you just say?" It couldn't have been that easy, but I wasn't about to waste the opportunity. I think she only laughed. I decided to take the initiative and I took out my Blackberry Pearl and handed it to her to insert her contacts. She complied with the number, but didn't type in a name. I may have asked her but then we got swept up into the euphoria of a particularly wicked song and it didn't seem important anymore. I resolved that I would just call her later on in the morning and start off with, "I'm looking for a girl who I danced with at Bacchanal Wednesday last night, she gave me this number but I don't have a name," describe her and hope that it was enough. After we had disengaged for a bit, I decided to try for a 2-fer with Sky and with the event approaching closure, I got her name (it was then that I got it) and asked for her number. Unfortunately, she stated that she coudn't give me her number, she had a boyfriend. In a last-ditch attempt I asked, "Is he here?" but to no avail. The sky was not the limit with Sky.