Master Cleansing

Beyonce did the Master cleanse and lost 14 pounds!!! well fuck her. Yesterday I started the famed master cleanse and I must say I feel ok.

For those who don't know the Master cleanse/ Lemonade diet is a detox diet desgined by the Dr. Stanley Burroughs as a way to rid the bod of toxins and heal the digestie system.

The diet is composed of a lemonade mixture which is the pretty much teh only thing you consume (excepting min tea, a lazative tea and a salt water flush) for ten days.

This is my second time doing the cleanse and I hope to make it a yearly thing. I'm keeping a daily journal which I will publish on my blog at the end of the cleanse.


I'm honestly not doing it for rapid weight loss or even really to detox my body. The real reason is that I need to teach my body who is boss. I have the most unhealthy eating habits. I eat late, don't stop when I'm full and indulge the worst cravings. So I want to teach my body that food is indeed nothing more than fuel. I want to break free of emotional eating and take control of my health. I feel that after the cleanse I would almost be like a clean slate that I can use to teach myself good eating habits and can subsist on a healthy diet.

Anyways wish me luck! More to come
Gordon

The Modern Jamaican Family

I was just thinking how in my family how separated things have become. My parents don't speak. I actually haven't spoken to my father in close to a year. No one talks to Aunty Joan but everyone blames her for that. My grandfather goes through spates of random passive agressive malice. My cousin has the biggest love-hate relationship with her father. My brother and I keep up with each other but have very little patience for each other. My Aunty is beginning to get more vocal about how she really doesn't like Aunt Gloria. Everyone loves grandma but easily gets annoyed by how overbearing she can be. It seems that for us, family has evolved into a way that we are irrevocably attached to people who we can't stop fighting with.

Funnily enough, The only person bold enough to be over all of the petty squabbles is my 99 year old great grandmother. Who at 99 is smarter, funnier, spunkier and more in tune with the importance of things than anyone else I know.

I want to follow in her foot steps. Maybe thats why she's one of the few that get to celebrate a 99th birthday.

I must say that I had an amazing summer vacation and it was great to see all the smiling faces I haven't seen in a while. Some years. Humans are social beings. We don't live alone.

I actually read somewhere that when we evolved eyes on the front of our heads, rather than the sides. We gained greater depth perception but then lost the ability to percieve things that aren't directly in front of us. Many animals can see in an almost 360 degree radius but we couldn't. So to protect ourselves from predators we began to live together in groups so that rather than one eye we'd have many.

So I just wanted my many eyes to know I actually love and appreciated seeing you guys.

My soul mate aka we're two cuckoo bird. nicoel and I at the now infamous engagement party. Let me explain. We were both craving birthday cake so we went to pricesmart and bought one. So most places who sell cakes will write on them for free. So I suggested they write on it Happy engagement. Jokes are jokes guys, we@re not crazy. Actually yeah we are.

Gabrielle my soon to be lawyer and the interminable voice of reason in every situation.

Denise and Michelle, form back in the party mobile days. And when I say party mobile I mean the camry with teh windows that would start and stop working at will. But it sure took us everywhere we needed to go.

The Beaver Electric- nuff said.

My esteemed hosts in Gotham City, (note the juicebox sake and japanese train porn.)

My bffny Tim and I comforted each other when we lived in teh city of high rents and exploitative employers. The funny thing is I feel like we both want to move back real bad. So we can complain about our high rents, late subway trains and exploiative employers.

Darcy and I are gonna get married someday. I'm convinced.

All I have to say is <3

And to those who always bring the party.

Tiny dancer I will never be able to get enough you.

The dirty and damaged amongst us

And of course everyone's favorite Ethiopian. My honorary brother from another family, city, country. Big H.

Independence Day

So 38 hours later and $2,700 of flying and I"m back in Jamaica till next Thursday. Yesterday, was Independence Day which has become sort of a non-event for many Jamaicans but after a call from my Uncle Norman we decided to go visit my great grandmother at her house in Bensonton St. Ann. Which is deep deep country. Way up in the hills of St. Ann near actually where Bob Marley was born and raised. Here are some pics from on the way:

The Rio Cobre Gorge:

An Independence Celebration in Charlemont. Traffic was stopped due to the JCF (Police) Band playing in the street. They were genius good. I sometimes forget how bad ass their uniforms are.



Also look at these girls in traditional folk costumes


and:



There was also what looked like a Festival Queen or an Independence Queen


Its little things like this that makes me wonder exactly how much of quaint Jamaican culture am I"v missed out on iving in Uptown Kingston. We might say its pop-down or its too country but its all ours. Jamaica is honestly a beautiful country with a beautiful history. It took us a long time to gain our independence I mean we're just an over 40 year old nation. We"re proud of ourselves and we're proud of our country. So why do we sometimes seem to ignore independence day. It just seems like its a day off for the older generations and a chance to party ( Negril and Portland weekends) for the younger. We need to take a look at countries that have far less to be proud (aka the US) see how big their independence celebrations where people prepare for weeks and put on parades and fireworks. Ok we have the latter. I just get the overwhelming feeling that in Jamaica it still doesn"t matter. For a country that is so proud of itself to the point where jamaicans can sometimes come off as arrogant. Why is Independence day so unimportant to us?