Obsessed Wit' This

palancin when we in NY

2010-02-24T22:38:00.005-05:00

so yeah, for more reasons than one this year "the greatest show on earth" didn't see me. i got mixed reviews from my friends who did go..mostly complaints about thier band or lackluster fetes; but still some good feedback as well (about other particular fetes that were actually worth the time/money, or different bands). what i gather overall is that at the end of the day a good time was had, (no surprise there), but also, i didn't miss TOO much (maybe I'll just keep telling myself that, lol). but being as they can tell it better than i can this time around, i'll do just that - let them tell it.

Here's one perspective of TNT Carnival 2010 (the Spice edition)..very Spicy indeed, haha:
http://carnivalmanlaws.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/spice-was-not-nice/

miami heat 09

2009-10-13T23:34:00.015-04:00

i'm not gonna give this post as much attention as my posts on trini. no particular reason really, besides laziness. all i will say is i had a grand time for miami carnival this year. another "first experience" thing for me and it was sweet. hot as all fuckin hell, but sweet still. umm, i can't speak too much on "carnival" itself simply cuz i didn't partake in it this year. maybe next time. so i'm basing this solely on limes/parties/overall atmosphere in miami. parties/clubs were real nice. no stush people and great dj's/music (at least at the clubs i went to). speaking of which, "Wicked Jab" by Tallpree destroyed EVERY single party/fete i attended. big tune.

lol. that's all for now.

drunk in port of spain (carnival 2k9)

2009-03-04T22:16:00.024-05:00

PULSE 8:

playing mas almost didn't happen for me. it was carnival sunday and the plan was to go straight from Diamond Vale breakfast party to the mas camp and do some last minute bargaining to get my costume. to make a long story short, and to save a certain someone some face (lmao), we ended up going to the hospital after diamond vale and didn't get to the camp until about 5 or 6 p.m. it's carnival sunday so all mas camps will still be open and busy with last minuite wanna-be masqueraders...so we got there in good time right? WRONG! the mas camp was closed and there were about 5 or 6 other groups of people waiting outside to get some sort of assistance. luckily, one person with connections was around and with one call someone from the pulse 8 staff was on their way. well not really, we had to wait outside for about an hour and a half. but in that time we met/chatted with some cool people who we ended up hanging out with for the rest of carnival monday/tuesday.

finally, someone from the pulse 8 staff reaches and for some strange reason she didn't have a clue why we were standing outside waiting. my friend calmy explained the situation and without giving us any trouble at all, she opened up shop and let us inside so we could resolve the issue. we get inside and luckily for me they still have my costume waiting for me from the day before...in fact i was the only one who hadn't picked up my costume yet and they had actually been looking for me all day. so although it took some hassle and some waiting around, i was officially in there like swimwear. according to my friend, i couldn't come all the way to trinidad (especially for my first time) and not play mas. so that was the end of a successful and fairly long day/night.

fast forward thru a couple hours of sleep and jouvert, it is now carnival monday. we didn't meet up with our band until about 3-4ish...which is normally fairly late but we were actually right on time for our band. maybe not RIGHT on time, but it didn't look like we missed much at all. immediately, i head to the drinks truck for either a stag or johnny walker. either way it was only the first of many that day. i must say the bar staff were very friendly/nice...never had a problem getting what i wanted when i wanted it...kudos to them. that day was hot as fu(k and i completely resent not walking with some sort of rag or something, but i'll know better next time. at some point, my cell kept ringing off the hook which led me to believe it was an important call. everyone i know and talk to knew it was carnival monday and it wouldnt be easy getting in contact with me. so, like a genius, i ditched the band and turned off into what i think was some sort of apartment complex. without knowing it, one of my friends was right on my tail. when he caught up to me he asked me if i wanted to get raped or if i had a death wish. no, he didn't want to rape or kill me...apparently we were in one of the most dangerous areas to be and i had just voluntarily walked right into the middle of it...by myself at that! good news is i remained safe and got to talk to the person that was calling. :) back to the band...alot of that day was somewhat of a blur due to intoxication; all i know is i had the time of my life crossing the stage; especially to "meet super blue"...fun...madness...more madness...and more fun! best part of the day if you ask me. when it was all over, we found a bar to just hang out in front of. we chilled, listened to music, and watched a few characters walk pass. in a nutshell, i had a great time on carnival monday. in fact, i might've had just a tad bit more fun than i did on tuesday.

before i knew it, carnival tuesday had arrived and i was about to play mas for the first time in my life. i have to admit, after walking through almost all of port of spain the day before, i wasn't really up to repeating the same feat all over again so soon. that feeling quickly went out the window as soon as we met up with the band and made our way down (insert name of street we made our way down). almost forgot to mention what seemed like a million pictures ppl from the pulse 8 staff (and others) took of us. i actually would like to see some of those. anywho, we finally start to move and vibes was just right from jump. before we even made it a good 10 feet away i had to ask for a towel or bandana. heat was killing me. no luck with that though so for a while i had to rely on the abundance of rain that came in what seems like the nick of time. by the time we reached woodbrook, my friend and i decided to get lazy and take a breather on the shuttle bus. low and behold, not even 5 minutes later we pulled up next to a park and it was time for lunch. i had bbq, mac. pie, salad, and water. tried the lentil and didnt like it, so i gave it to my friend. stopping for lunch gave us all an opportunity to not only eat but rest for about half an hour. when it was time to go we used the standing pipe to wash our hands/faces and i think i took the last couple of bandanas they provided to carry with me back on the road. so with a full stomach and rested legs i had a whole lot more energy than i started out with and was ready to go. once again music was pumpin and me and my friends headed to the drinks truck. while they ordered coconut water, i politely asked for more johnny on ice...i had enough water for lunch dammit. so now, not only was my belly full and my legs rested, but my head was nice as ever. this made the second half of the day even more nice/better than the first half. as it got darker and carnival tuesday came closer and closer to an end, the vibes were still going strong/nice. lost one of my friends in the midst of it all for a short while but we all met up in the end.

to make a long story short, i can honestly say playing mas w/ pulse 8 was worth the money i spent for it. good customer service, good music (which isn't something some other masqueraders could say about their band...smh), good security and of course plenty drinks made my first time playing mas worthwhile.

ah wanna go...jouvert jouvert...

2009-03-04T21:44:00.011-05:00

COLOUR ME ORANGE:

after an incredibly long day/night, somehow i still managed to get a few hours sleep in before hitting town and meeting our band for jouvert. in all honesty, however, the adrenaline rush that carnival brings just somehow makes not getting any sleep fairly easy to do. which in this case is a good thing. so it's about 1 or 2 a.m. and me and the girls quickly get ready/dressed to head out. didn't take long for our ride to come pick us up and within no time we were on our way. the good thing about Colour Me Orange was that the band didn't take an unsafe route. it wasn't going to pass any part of st james or independence square, which according to my friend were very dangerous areas during that time. can't say i was upset about that. but that didn't stop us from making a quick stop in st james anyways. we didn't have to meet the band until 3 so we had some time to spare. we passed st james on the way and vibes looked nice so we joined in for about half an hour.

after leaving st james, we made our way to the meeting point for the band. we probably drove around in circles for about 15 minutes before realizing we were in the right place. not a soul was in sight...not even the band. for a minute i thought we were in the wrong place but i wasn't about to argue with locals about directions i had absolutely no knowledge of. so we just waited it out...everyone in the car fell asleep while i was wide awake patiently waiting. little by little more and more people started to show up. after about an hour, i still wasn't convinced until i finally saw the truck and it was officially go-time. from beginning to end the dj's played good music, people were moving and having a good time, and i got a good-enough buzz before the drinks truck bussed. while there was security, that didn't stop stormers one bit. but it was a cool scene...no fights or any problems as far as i know so eff-it...the more the merrier! lol.

overall...i had a REAL NICE time. jouvert w/ Colour Me Orange 2k9 was boss and i would definitely consider playing with them again next year.

dance must have plenty...

2009-02-28T20:12:00.066-05:00

performers other than machel montano hd. words can't express how fed up i was of watching him perform night after night after night. i saw him perform at least 4 times out of all the events i attended...NOT cool. especially when his whole set this year was a complete bore. by the time AC7 was over i had had enough of his raving ants. with that said, no one could pay me to go and see him perform again this year. and if so, i'd at least pop some E pills beforehand and be better prepared.

ALTERNATIVE CONCEPT 7:

first fete of the carnival season (and first fete in trinidad, period) for me, so to say i was excited was an understatement. plane landed safely (and yes that was a big deal for me and still is, lol), weather was a positive change for what i've been used to for the past few months, and i was just feeling real good overall. i've never experienced this particular fete so i don't have anything to compare it to, but from the looks of things on the outside, it seemed as if HD had some potential. nice size crowd of people and even a small riddim section by the entrance (see video below). on the inside, however, was somewhat of a different story. it didn't even look like there were half as many people inside as there was outside. i narrowed it down to the fact that we were there kind of early...wasn't even 1:00 yet so i gave it time. but whatever, i had a drink in my hand and i was on and unnatural high regardless. i can't remember who was on stage when we first arrived but somehow i know that i enjoyed their performance more than montano's. ha...so finally, mr. hd comes on stage and i kid you not, from the very beginning i wasn't the least bit interested. i, unlike a lot of other people, actually don't have a problem with him bringing on other, non-soca acts on stage. i enjoy seeing different artists perform, especially if i've never got the chance to before, but other than that hd's "concert" did absolutely nothing for me besides put me to sleep. i'm actually serious about that; i distinctly remember dozing off a few times in the middle of his set. the highlight of my night was hearing my friend mention something about going to get the car and meeting her outside so we can leave. i couldn't wait to get the hell out of there so those words were like music to my ears.

like most nights after a fete, i had an excellent nap in the car-ride on the way back to grande. this particular night it was much needed considering we had to be up in about 2 hours to head back towards chagaramas for a boatride.

overall...AC7 2K9 = 2 thumbs down. but anyways, here's that video clip of the riddim section i was talking about earlier:

DJ WASSY'S BOATRIDE:

ahhh boy. remember that thing i mentioned about pace in the 2nd post of this blog? well this is a perfect example of that. how bout driving from town to grande after AC7, squeezing in 2 hours sleep tops, then having to drive even further to chagaramas/pier 1. ok fine...i'll just catch up on some sort of sleep on the way there in the car. SIKE. not when you try to fit 7 or 8 people into a small hooptie. LMAO. i had the "pleasure" of sharing the passenger seat with someone else; and the way i was positioned made it difficult for me to not keep accidentally switching the gear to the car. so i had to position myself even more uncomfortably than i already was. GREAT. after driving like that for about an hour and a half, we met up with a friend of one of my friends who was willing to take 3 of us the rest of the way. i was incredibly grateful for that...matter fact i think we all were. so there's about another 45 minutes to go before we reach pier 1. finally get there and some security guard tells us that it's actually pier 2 that we have to be. ok, cool...pier 2 can't be that far right? wrong again! not only did we drive for about another half an hour without even reaching pier 2, but we get a phone call from another friend telling us to turn back around. turns out the genius security guard was wrong and we were right all along...pier 1 was where we had to be. SMFH.

long story short, we finally made it to pier 1. it wasn't the best day out weather-wise but regardless...i grabbed my free doubles (lol) and boarded the boat. there was a decent-sized crowd. but of course, with a DJ from NY hosting the event, there were nothing but a bunch of other New Yorkers like myself. funny thing is, the vibes couldn't have been any better. i saw one guy hang from the second level banister and wine on some woman mid-air...LOL. basically, no one was standing still and EVERYONE on the boat seemed to be having a time. so much so that even when it was time to get off some ppl didn't want to leave. don't believe me? check this:

lol

overall, the foreigner-filled boatride was actually on-point. 2 thumbs up.

PNM:

hmmm, not much to say about this fete actually. i heard from quite a few people that it's usually not the safest fete to be during carnival season; fortunately though there were no fights/scuffles to my knowledge. i did, however, see a couple of guys get man-handled by the police; for what reason i don't know or care. can't say i didn't feel safe.

as far as performances go...everyone did a good job in my opinion. there was iwer, asylum, blaxx (who i think performed best at this particular fete)...and maybe some other folks that aren't coming to mind right now. all i know is i have no complaints about any of them or anything about the fete in general. PNM 2k9 was overall a nice fete with good performances and nice vibes. 2 thumbs up.

EYES WIDE SHUT:

first of 2 fetes attended at the oval was this one, eyes wide shut. as usual, none of us had tickets so we had to rely on scalpers. luckily, my friend had connections with one of them so we were safe. after standing outside for what seemed like an eternity waiting for someone that never even showed up, we finally went inside. for a large venue the place was PACKED. i tried scanning around for familiar faces but it wasn't happening. so with that, we headed to the best spot in every fete...BY THE BAR. while the vibes was nice in that area (had a lot of fun with some peeps i met up with), i wanted to see what the vibes were like front row/center stage. my friends preferred to stay put so like the brave soul i am, i went up there by my damn self. (sidebar: i made sure to wait until AFTER machel got off stage to make my move. like i said before, by this time i had had enough of him).

so boom, i get up front and vibes were on point! i almost didn't want to go back but i did...only to try and convince my crew to join me. no such luck. but you know me, i went back up there anyways and fun all by my lonesome. and unlike most parties/fetes here in NY, there was still a good amount of space even though there were a heap of people. so maneuvering around wasn't even a pain in the ass. as for the performances, although i didn't pay much attention, just basing it on the reaction of the people i'd say they were pretty damn good. so once again, another 2-thumbs-up worthy fete in the bag. GOOD TIMES.

EEN D' MAS:

2nd fete at the oval, and compared to the first (EWS) my first impression of it wasn't all that great. for starters there weren't as many people. empty party + me already being sleepy = more sleepiness. so from jump i just wasn't feeling it. i didn't think anyone could tell, but i was totally wrong. 2 of my friends asked me why i looked so tired. simple...I WAS! but that didn't stop me from ordering a drink. (alcohol = quick waker-upper) (sidebar: for the most part, all i drank for the entire time while in trinidad was either stag, johnny walker, or black and white. benjai sang about having different liquor in your system, but not me and that...i wanted to get nice...not pissy drunk. so i kept my alcohol options very limited. just a small FYI) anyways, as i predicted, my drink gave me some energy/vibes and i was able to get in the swing of things. a few more people had started making their way inside, but still not as much as the previous night. but whatever, i met up with a friend of mine and once again made my way to the front (this time with company). we made it just in time for the best act of the night...the asylum band. (well i'm not sure if they were the best...when we first came we had just missed destra/denise/alison. we caught the very end of their performance and they seemed to be doing their thing so who knows how the rest of the performance was). still, bunji and friends definitely held it down. if it wasn't for their performance i don't think i would've had half as much fun as i did that night. 2kwhine was definitely their year and this was a prime example of why.

before we left, we got chits from some guy who didn't want his for some reason. and that, my friends, was the icing on the cake. it was just enough for us to get 7 or 8 different drinks (beers). me being the nice person i am shared some out to some of my peeps. and with about 2 caribs in one hand and 3 stags in the other (well 1 between my arm and side) i made my way out of the oval and back to the bush (by this time we were staying in arima).

overall, EEN D' MAS wasn't what it was hyped up to be but if i said i didnt have a good time i'd be lying. because of lack of a bigger crowd and stale performances (other than asylum of course) i'd give it 1 thumb up instead of 2. good times were definitely still had so i'm not complaining.

small clip of benjai and the rest of asylum from EDM:
"we get maaad maaad maaad...we head baaad baaad baaad..."
ANTHEEEEMMM!!!...

UWI SPLASH:

the very last person i wanted to see when i touched down in chagaramas for UWI Splash was machel montano. can u believe that mad man was the very FIRST person to hit the stage when I arrived. smfhhhhh. like I did at every other fete where he performed I took in some drinks and drowned him out as much as possible. the alcohol started kicking in and that’s when the rain came. good thing there was a tent over the bar (right by where we stood) and that definitely got taken advantage of. it had to be at least 100 ppl standing under that one tent. after 15 minutes of the rain not slowing down, what’s left to do but order some drinks. it was tight as hell under the tent but somehow we managed to pass the JW, cups, and ice around. after getting my buzz, it was still raining and i kinda had a mind to go to the front and actually take in all of the madness going on, even though hd was still on stage. however, i wasn’t dressed for the occasion (i had on sandals…had it been sneakers i might’ve took a chance). so i waited for the rain to die down and when it did i and another friend of mine made our way closer to the stage. we had a good enough time up there but after about 30 minutes it got boring so we headed back towards the rest of the crew.

not too long afterwards, 1 member of the crew dropped out and decided she wanted to go home. it just so happened she was the driver and i was feeling sick anyways (i might've had 1 too many stags earlier that day when we were liming in wallerfield, lol) so i didn’t really mind leaving. only thing i had an issue with was that as soon as we left, that’s when destra came on stage. It seemed like everywhere she performed i just missed her, and i actually wanted to see her entire performance in full. but oh well, maybe next time.

overall, UWI was okay. i had a decent time but unless they have a different line-up next year i might have to think twice about re-attending. other than that, it was another 1 thumb-up-instead-of-two fete.

FANTASTIC FRIDAY:

it's finally carnival friday, and now the countdown for monday and tuesday is really starting to settle in. on top of that, whatever other foreigners hadn't arrived yet, were definitely making their way into the country by this time. therefore, town was packed. with no driver we had to wait around for a taxi to take us from independence square to crobar in st james. it took us at least 45 minutes to finally get one and when we did the driver wasn't even going all the way to st james...so he dropped us off about 15 minutes away from our destination. *sigh* we finally caught another taxi to take us the rest of the way, and crobar is how we spent most of the rest of our evening. it was definitely a cool scene; linked up with a few peeps we knew...bumped into some other peeps i didnt even know were gonna be there, and after 2 or 3 hours we left. overall, crobar = niceness. definitely plan on going there again.

upon returning to grande, we had a few options to choose from. there was girl power, soca monarch (which no one, including me, had any real interest in attending), or some local spot in grande. 2 members or the crew decided on the local spot and the rest of us losers chose to call it a night. well, not exactly...we watched soca monarch live and i didn't end up going asleep until maybe 4 or 5 that morning. either way, i don't regret staying in. after all, we had a lot still ahead of us that weekend so it wasn't really a problem.

and that was how i spent my last night in sangre grande. the following day we planned to get up early and head to cocorite where we would spend the rest of the carnival season by a friend (making traveling less of a hassle for us all). overall, i loved the time i spent in grande and if i could do it all over again i would, in a heartbeat.

DIAMOND VALE:

3 main reasons why this was a special fete for me :) 1. only all-inclusive i went to... 2. only breakfast party i went to... and 3. when it came to carnival 2k9 fetes, this was the last lap. one huge downside however was the fact that finding tickets was like pulling teeth. i've never had that hard of a time trying to get tickets for any fete/party. i mean, even when scalpers are the last option, it still usually isn't difficult to find them. we ended up waiting around for a long while, and still ended up getting the tickets in portions (2 from one guy...and the other 2 from 2 different other people). (sidebar: i'll take this as a lesson learned...next time around i'll do like most other people and try to get tickets to these events beforehand). but no matter, we were in there and it was on. there isn't much else to say about this fete though. it was an all-inclusive which of course means free food and drinks. add good music, good people, and good vibes and i don't even think it's possible for it to go wrong. even the scenery/location of it was nicer than any other venue ive been to. it was just all-around fun and i'm glad i decided to go (even if it was last minute).

i've been hearing about another all-inclusive breakfast party that usual takes place around the same time, and while i like to try new things, i don't have a problem at all with going back to diamond vale again next year. as long as they don't keep raising the ticket price. damn yeast...;)

my favorite color

2009-02-28T18:42:00.012-05:00

meet super BLUE. when faye-ann said "dis year ah tougher dan eva" she wasn't lying one bit. she was always my favorite female soca artist and that performance just moved her up a few hundred notches. if anyone paid attention to the crowd during most of the other performances, you would notice how DEAD the place looked. i mean, it literally looked like people were falling asleep. i dont know if it was the Black & White or if it was genuinely some funny ish, but the sight of these performers giving their all on stage and the people in the crowd standing still was absolutely HILARIOUS. but that wasn't so when faye-ann hit the stage. not only did she move the soca monarch crowd, she had me and everyone else i was with cheering her on and pretty much going mad as we watched on TV. GREAT job faye...

as far as roadmarch, some people may disagree that she deserved the title. i will say this, destra's "bacchannal" did give her some competition, in my book at least. it's funny cuz listening to the two songs now, it would seem as if there's no competition at all. but actually being on the road for carnival there's a whole different feel to it and i must give destra props for yet another great tune (great lyrics, wicked beat, and a sweet melody). yet and still, if it was up to me, the results would've remained the same, making "meet super blue" the number one roadmarch contender. and for those who i bet against saying that blaxx would win (before i got my head on straight) not only do i owe you but i feel ashamed too, lol. poor guy can't seem to stand a chance running up against mrs. lyons. last year "breathless" had everybody with the delusional idea that he would surpass faye-ann's "get on"...LMFAO. 2 words...womp womp. and this year not only did he lose to her again but he only came 4th place. smh. nothing against blaxx though...i think everyone can agree that he does have some good tunes. but i'm beginning to wonder if he'll ever stop taking a backseat to this chick...

soca mafia strikes again

2009-02-28T16:18:00.015-05:00

it's a fact that no other soca artist had more success than faye ann this year. a fact that i'm not even mad at; her songs this year were nothing short of great. so big-ups to her. however, in my PERSONAL B.O.B.T. (Book Of Big Tunes) no one surpasses the big man of 09 himself - Benjai. just when i thought it didn't get any better than "tanty say" i heard "drunk again" and knew i had found another anthem for the 2kwhine season. whether in a fete, on the road for jouvert/carnival monday/carnival tuesday, or even just sitting in the house doing nothing, no other song did what these 2 songs did for me. talk about huge comeback...benjai definitely took that title after somewhat slacking off. what's crazy though is that while i think those were the 2 best songs this year, they weren't the only really worthy songs. this year was an EXCELLENT year for soca, IMHO. that isn't something to be taken lightly considering we've had our fair share of flop seasons when dealing with soca music. but thankfully, when putting all the following songs together, 2kwhine didn't flop...far from flopping if i should say so myself...

speaking of excellent music...sorry machel groupies, he doesn't fit into that category this time around. i'll give him credit for "won't stop"...that is head bad/get on music with a pretty good beat/lyrics. in fact, if he pushed that for roadmarch he might've stood a chance, lmao. unfortunately for him, not only did he push the shittiest song but he was up against Faye-Ann, and well...we all know the rest. so machel could keep his ants and ravers to himself. like i told a friend, i'd have to be high off of E or something of that substance to fully get into his whole rave thing. with that said, anyone care to tell me why he nicknamed himself 'Jesus' now? LMFAO! right...

soca vagabonds

2009-02-28T00:17:00.012-05:00

arima, chagaramas, cocorite, couva, gasparillo, la horquetta, marabella, port of spain, san fernando, sangre grande, st. james, wallerfield.......for my first time in a foreign country, i was all over the friggin place. some good friends of mine warned me that i should stay in town close to where all the action is, or at least somewhere else nearby, but i really didn't have a choice. in the end, i don't regret it. for one, i wouldn't have all these cool pics:

COCORITE:

DIEGO MARTIN:

ST. JAMES

TOWN:

WALLERFIELD:

SANGRE GRANDE:

MARABELLA:

SAN FERNANDO (I THINK, LOL):

GASPARILLO:

ARIMA:

CHAGARAMAS/PIER 1:

TRINIDAD:

first day spent in arima was probably one of the best out of the entire 2 weeks. we drove from grande, so that gave me my first taste of sight-seeing. when we finally got to our destination, which took about 45 minutes, i had to run a few errands. went to the bank, which wasn't fun at all. took me about an hour to get what i had to get done. good thing that was the only downside of that day. afterwards, we headed to The Dial; nearby was a bar: "Dennis Corner", where we spent the majority of the rest of the day/night. had my first Stag and was addicted ever since, lmao. also met the infamous "Saucy Wow" or "Saucy Pow"...whatever the hell his name is. for a raging fag he sure had a lot of jokes (he kept saying something about me and my friend, asking if me and him were a couple and some other crap i can't remember right now). everyone seemed more or less accepting of him and knew who he was, so there weren't any problems. after having one too many Stags and shots of rum, the rest of the night was somewhat of a blur. i do remember going back "home" to grande and just chilling out with the homies. and that, my friends, was the last night for the rest of the week that we "just chilled". every day/night thereafter was all about pace and parties. pace because most nights required driving long distances to and from grande or arima to town and back...getting 4 or 5 hours of sleep and then doing the same thing all over again. parties because there were ALOT of those to be attended. but at the end of the day, it was all in fun...drunk fun and lots of it!

intro

2009-02-27T20:35:00.006-05:00

this blog was first created to give insight on a first-time-Trinidad-carnival-goer's experience. did i say that right? whatever...basically, i'm no longer a Carnival-virgin and i'm gonna tell u all about my first time (and every other time after that, god-willing). :)