A "Red Dead Redemption" ending.

For those who don't know, Red Dead Redemption is a game for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 which follows the story of John Marston. Marston was an outlaw who changed his life after his old gang left him for dead. He now lives on a farm with his wife and son...well would be anyway except that government agents kidnapped his family and are using their safety as leverage to get Marston to kill some of his old outlaw buddies.

The game play is pretty much the same formula as the Grand Theft Auto series except set in the old west. So instead of cars, there are horses, caravans and trains. All in all the game is a fantastically written open-world experience. The adventure plays out somewhat typically as we progress through the story until, of course, Marston kills Dutch. Now with that being the main plot point of this whole game you expect that once this is done, the ride home to meet your now released family will mark the end of this adventure. Well, this game has more in store.

After reuniting with your wife and son it soon becomes clear that more missions are available. These missions are all rather tame and unexciting compared to the recently executed and exciting missions that were offered prior to the family reunion. Honestly, I got bored and stopped playing. I imagined that the end must be near but I couldn't deal with these mundane tasks so soon after taking down Dutch and his gang.

So almost two months later I picked up the game again to tackle the single player aspect (I played on-line multiplayer a bit in that time however). I guess having been away for a while I didn't mind the missions so much now. That is until the penultimate mission which suddenly had the army coming after Marston. It was a fantastic mission that had Marston fighting valiantly against scores of trained soldiers to protect his family. In the end, his family escaped on horseback and Marston remained behind to hold back the army while they made their break. What happened next surprised me.

Marston, held up in a barn with twenty or more soldiers waiting for him outside the door, pushes open the large barn door and(in dead eye mode) attempts to take down all of the soldiers. I thought: "Wow, what balls!" But then, having only taken out a few soldiers Marston is shot and killed in a very cinematic fashion. At this point I am thinking I am gonna have to try this again but then the game saves and doesn't offer an option to retry. At this point my heart deflates a bit. I think: "Did I do something wrong?" "Was I supposed to kill them all?" "This can't be how it ends."

I soon realise that this is the path the story takes and soon we see John's wife and son return to the barn to bury him. Then as the focus remains on the grave we see it age and then next to it appears Abigail's grave. And who is standing by the grave but his son Jack, all grown up and the splitting image of his father. One last mission remains and in this mission you play as Jack as he goes after the man that orchestrated the death of his father so many years before; Edgar Ross.

At first the ending took me for a loop. But I thoroughly enjoyed it. Those boring missions gave me an opportunity to get to know Abigail and Jack and feel for them and their loss even more. It also gave me a chance to see how hard John and Abigail were trying to keep Jack away from the life they led, the contrasting mundane farm life being a much better and safer option. After these missions, John's death really hurt me. I felt like I had failed when he was shot down. And I felt good taking the life of Edgar Ross and yet saddened by the fact that despite their best efforts, Jack seemed to have followed the same path as his father. All in all I say well played Rockstar, well played.

“May the dreams of your past be the reality of your future”

What will life be like in the future? No one can know. But I have a fun exercise in mind. Visit this site I just stumbled upon http://www.futureme.org/index.php From here you can write an email to your future self. An abstract / intellectual time capsule of sorts. Just put in the email address, prepare your message (include your dreams and visions for the future)and send. You can set the date in the future that you want your message delivered. I set mine for the year 2020, exactly 10 years from today. I wonder how will react to the things I wrote. Only time will tell.

Five Lessons About How To Treat People -- Author Unknown

I found this online the other day. It was posted in another Blog and the operator claimed to not know the author. I thought it was beautiful though. I do not own the rights to this, nor do I know who does..That being said, here it is:






1. First Important Lesson - "Know The Cleaning Lady"

During my second month of college, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until I read the last one: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?"

Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade.

"Absolutely," said the professor. "In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say "hello."

I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.


2. Second Important Lesson - "Pickup In The Rain"

One night, at 11:30 p.m., an older African American woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway trying to endure a lashing rainstorm. Her car had broken down and she desperately needed a ride. Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car.

A young white man stopped to help her, generally unheard of in those conflict-filled 1960s. The man took her to safety, helped her get assistance and put her into a taxicab.

She seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrote down his address and thanked him. Seven days went by and a knock came on the man's door. To his surprise, a giant console color TV was delivered to his home.

A special note was attached. It read: "Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes, but also my spirits. Then you came along. Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying husband's bedside just before he passed away. God bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others."

Sincerely, Mrs. Nat King Cole.


3. Third Important Lesson - "Remember Those Who Serve"

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10 year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him. "How much is an ice cream sundae?" he asked. "50¢," replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied the coins in it.

"Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?" he inquired. By now more people were waiting for a table and the waitress was growing impatient. "35¢!" she brusquely replied.

The little boy again counted his coins. "I'll have the plain ice cream," he said. The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and left.

When the waitress came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the table. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were two nickels and five pennies. You see, he couldn't have the sundae, because he had to have enough left to leave her a tip.


4. Fourth Important Lesson - "The Obstacles In Our Path"

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the King for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the stone out of the way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. After the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the King indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many of us never understand - "Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition."


5. Fifth Important Lesson - "Giving When It Counts"

Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who was suffering from a rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her 5-year-old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness. The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked the little boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, "Yes, I'll do it if it will save her."

As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did, seeing the color returning to her cheeks. Then his face grew pale and his smile faded. He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, "Will I start to die right away?".

Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his sister all of his blood in order to save her.

“A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.”

So I did Jung's personality test (you can find it here along with several other tests: http://similarminds.com/personality_tests.html) and tied between these two personality types INTP ["Architect". Greatest precision in thought and language. Can readily discern contradictions and inconsistencies. The world exists primarily to be understood. 3.3% of total population.] and ENTP ["Inventor". Enthusiastic interest in everything and always sensitive to possibilities. Non-conformist and innovative. 3.2% of the total population.]

I scored: (Extroverted (E) 50% Introverted (I) 50%) / (Intuitive (N) 58.33% Sensing (S) 41.67%) / (Thinking (T) 58.33% Feeling (F) 41.67%) / (Perceiving (P) 75% Judging (J) 25%). For the most part I believe the results are accurate. Always loved these tests though. Never fails to educate me on myself. The trick is to be as brutally honest as possible so your results are accurate.

I was also curious about the result I would get from the Career Inventory Test Results, so I went ahead and did it. I got the following results:

Extroversion ||||||||||||||| 50%
Emotional Stability ||||||||||||||||||||| 70%
Orderliness ||||||||| 23%
Altruism |||||||||||||||||| 53%
Inquisitiveness ||||||||||||||||||||| 66%

You are an Architect, possible professions include - strategic planning, writer, staff development, lawyer, architect, software designer, financial analyst, college professor, photographer, logician, artist, systems analyst, neurologist, physicist, psychologist, research/development specialist, computer programmer, data base manager, chemist, biologist, investigator.

I also took the Advanced Global Personality Test and my results are:

Extraversion |||||||||||| 43%
Stability |||||||||||||||| 70%
Orderliness |||| 16%
Accommodation |||||||||||| 50%
Intellectual |||||||||||||| 60%
Interdependence |||||||||||||||| 70%
Mystical |||||||||||| 50%
Materialism |||||||||||||| 60%
Narcissism |||||||||| 40%
Adventurousness |||||||||||||| 60%
Work ethic |||||||||||||| 60%
Conflict seeking|||||| 30%
Need to dominate|||||||||| 40%
Romantic |||||||||| 40%
Avoidant |||||| 30%
Anti-authority |||||||||||||||||||| 90%

Wealth |||||||||||| 50%
Dependency |||||||||| 40%
Change averse |||||||||||| 50%
Cautiousness |||||||||||| 50%
Individuality |||||||||||||||| 70%
Sexuality |||||||||||||||||||| 90%
Peter pan complex |||||||||||||||| 70%
Histrionic |||||| 30%
Vanity |||||||||||||| 60%
Artistic |||||||||||||| 60%
Hedonism || 10%
Physical fitness |||||| 30%
Religious || 10%
Paranoia |||||||||||| 50%
Hypersensitivity |||||||||||||||| 70%
Indie |||||||||||| 50%

Stability results were high which suggests you are very relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic..

Orderliness results were very low which suggests you are overly flexible, improvised, and fun seeking at the expense too often of reliability, work ethic, and long term accomplishment.

Extroversion results were moderately low which suggests you are reclusive, quiet, unassertive, and secretive.

trait snapshot:
messy, tough, disorganized, fearless, not rule conscious, likes the unknown, rarely worries, rash, attracted to the counter culture, rarely irritated, positive, resilient, abstract, not a perfectionist, risk taker, strange, weird, self reliant, leisurely, dangerous, anti-authority, trusting, optimistic, positive, thrill seeker, likes bizarre things, sarcastic


I'll be honest, I posted these results here more as a diary for myself but I figured might be nice to share and get opinions from people who know me (or think they know me) That's two for Architect, and I am well pleased to see psychologist in that list. I really think that is my calling. I would love to know what you scored. So take a test and leave a comment.

“Politics ain't worrying this country one-tenth as much as where to find a parking space” Will Rogers

There are two designated parking spots for my office. One for the Director and one for the Driver/Messenger. As far as I am concerned, we have no driver (or office vehicle for that matter) and the director is in an extended vacation. So that means I have two parking spots in central Castries designated just for me. That is of course if the rest of St Lucia would respect the "Reserved SAACS" painted onto the spots.

I had to beg the traffic department to send someone around to ticket them. To no avail I might add. Finally I got a hook up directly to a Traffic Cop who came by to help me out. This of course follows weeks after trying to access help through the proper channels. Unfortunately whilst I was waiting on the cop one of the drivers came to move from the spot. I approached the lady very calmly, pointed out that she had probably not seen that the spot was reserved and informed her that I would appreciate if she refrained from parking there in the future. I was met with cut-eyes and a haughty shrug as a response. So much for being calm and polite. As she drove off I cursed her luck, she was just minutes from getting a fine she so rightly deserved.

Vehicle number two did get a ticket though. Although the cop did mention that he recognized the vehicle and recalls ticketing it several times before. It seems this driver was notorious for illegally parking and completely disregarding the tickets received. Such was my luck huh.

Well at least one of my spots is available now. the problem is I had to park on the other side of town this morning and I am far too lazy to go get my vehicle now. So I will wait and see if anyone decides to make use of my spot in the meantime.





“When I get real bored, I like to drive downtown and get a great parking spot, then sit in my car and count how many people ask me if I'm leaving.”

Stephen Wright

"Aloysius, the road to hell paved with poom-poom."

Have you ever seen the Jamaican movie "The Lunatic"? (see synopsis below)I stumbled upon it on torrents recently. It's still downloading now, about 86%. Last time I saw this movie I was probably still in High School and I remember enjoying it immensely. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone. In fact, there are a lot of Jamaican movies i would recommend, top of the list would probably be "Dancehall Queen". (see synopsis below)

The region itself has produced numerous entertaining pieces of work, from Guyana all the way to Jamaica. I cannot claim to know them all but I am sure interested in learning of them. So please visit the links below to find torrents for the two movies I have mentioned and point me in the direction of those you would recommend. Hollywood isn't the only place good movies are made.


The Lunatic (1991)

Filmed in Jamaica, "The Lunatic" is the story of a village madman, Aloysious, who has the amazing ability to talk to anything, including trees, cows and cricket balls. Portrayed from a Jamaican prospective with an acute eye for the authentic dialect of the land. Aloysious meets Inga, a German nymphomaniac, who uses her 'pum pum power' to capture his heart.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104777/
Torrent: http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4950288


Dancehall Queen (1997)

A single street vendor disguises herself for a dance contest, and pits her enemies against each other.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0127497/
Torrent: http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5317995

"Although your customers won’t love you if you give bad service, your competitors will." Kate Zabriskie

So this is my idea; The St Lucian economy relies on tourism. Tourism is a service oriented industry, yet customer service is terrible in St Lucia. Well, the tourists do tend to get preferential treatment at hotels, bars and restaurants but locals tend to get terrible service.

I appreciate the point of view that the tourist dollar is important but I should not be treated like a 2nd class citizen in my own home. If I go to a bar I expect the same quality of service that tourist get. The tourist are only here for 1 - 2 weeks. I live here, in the long run I am your most valuable customer if you just take the time to treat me like you want my business.

I called St. Lucia Distillers recently on behalf of a friend to get prices on some drinks. The lady who answered told me that she has customers in front of her and she is too busy to deal with me, then she hung up. I certainly hope you all can see the issue here. I am a customer (potentially) yet you are clearly stating that I am of less importance than the persons in front of you. That is terrible service. My friend did actually buy the drinks from Distillers, so her terrible service did not in the end cost the company but I wish it had. I wish that business owners would feel the effects of poor customer service directly as loss in revenue, because once money was being lost they would surely care.

This is far from the only example I have of poor service in my own home and I am sure many of you have tales to share as well. That being said I offer this simple piece of advice, don't accept this kind of treatment. If you do not like the service you receive speak to the manager or supervisor on duty. Write a letter of complaint, take a stance. Do not allow this sort of thing to continue.

One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory.

...wait, didn't I do this already?

One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory.

I live with a memory problem. It isn't a diagnosed problem, just something that tends to piss off the people I interact with regularly. That being said it doesn't bother me. Don't get me wrong, I often feel the negative effects of it. In fact i am sure there a large number of persons out there who think I am snobbish or indifferent because I often pass persons I met recently, or knew very well in the not to distant past without even acknowledging them. Persons often stop to say hi and tell such lovely tales of times we spent together and I look at them with a blank expression, completely clueless. I feel bad at those times, when clearly my bad memory has cost me a friendship.

Often I make grand gestures to say hi or hello to persons on the street because they may have simply glance my way and I fear that it may be one of those persons who I have forgotten. So to all the strangers I have surprised, I am sorry. To all the old friends I have forgotten I am also sorry.

A bad memory on the other hand does lead to happiness. I have no enemies, because I never remember transgressions made against me. Luckily for me, the only memories that seem to stick are happy ones. What more can I ask for. So for those who have to repeat things a million times for my benefit, I am sorry. For those who have to remind me who that person is for the twentieth time, I am sorry. To the person who brings up old stories of our adventures together and I greet with a blank stare, I am sorry. But I am happy.

They call it PMS because Mad Cow Disease was already taken. ~Author Unknown

Understanding women. Greater men have tried and failed, so I shall not even attempt it. I have learned tricks to dealing with them however, I will not reveal them here though (don't want to give away my secrets especially since I know my GirlFriend reads this blog). There is one piece of advice I can offer to men however; shut up!

It is said that women get the last word in every argument. Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument. This is very true, so the golden rule for a man is even if you are right, accept that you will be proven wrong, shut up and accept that you have lost the argument.

I digress though, this blog was supposed to be in response to the concerns of a friend of mine. A male friend to clarify. He indicated that is class was filled with women who seemed to react to each other with such negativity and slyness that it confused him. He posed this question: why can't women get along with other women? I had no response but it did seem to me that guys had it easier in making guy friends than women did making female friends. I have theories obviously, but like I stated I have a girlfriend and other female friends who read this blog and I prefer to live to see tomorrow so i shall not state them here. Feel free to use the "Anonymous Comment" feature to post your ideas, believe me I am interested in hearing them.

The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad.

Since I discovered fishing as a form of relaxation years ago, I must have amassed a total of 4 caught fishes with an aggregated weight of 15 lbs. Many question my desire to continue such a fruitless endeavor (mostly my girlfriend)but they fail to comprehend the pleasure it entails. The calm waters, cool breezes, relaxing ambiance and that tiny suggestion or hope that today may be the day I catch the big one.

After its all said and done fishing remains my favorite pastime. Unlike my other joys; tennis, golf and basketball, there is no competition. Sure I have essentially laid out a challenge to the fishes but quite frankly I don't care whether or not they take the bait. All that matters is when I return home from fishing half my worries have flown away. Wouldn't you agree that this makes it worthwhile?

So this weekend, while the whole island of St. Lucia will be thronging the streets enjoying the carnival celebrations I will be on a quiet beach somewhere feeding the fish...I mean fishing. And who knows, I may just catch that big one after all!

The bill collectors must love poor people…they make so many of them

So even though I knew my car insurance was this month it still got to me when I got the call saying it's time to renew. And despite my efforts to save, life's tendency to throw surprises at you completely dissolved what little I could muster. So alas, where am I to find the necessary funds?

 

It's times like these I wish I had studied medicine or law. My heart wouldn't have been in it but sure as hell my pockets would be thanking me now. Instead here I sit with a psychology degree on governments' salary. Sigh.

 

My optimism will prevail however. Something will work out.

I just ran over a baby ghost...or it could have been a handkercheif.

They say idle hands are the devils playground. I am not sure I agree with that statement (well aside the obvious reasoning that as an atheist I don't subscribe to the notion of a devil) but given the underlying message I still disagree.

Case in point, it is lunch time, I am in my office with nothing to do (cough, cough), well plenty to do actually but it is lunch time after all and I am simply in no mood to do any of it. That being said, my idleness has yet to drive me to any evil deeds. In fact I have been contemplating the possibility of spending the upcoming carnival weekend on a hidden beach somewhere fishing. In theory the majority of Lucians will be flocking the streets looking to catch a glimpse of the bands or actually jumping in the bands. That leaves the beaches empty for me, what more can I ask for?

I have heard it said "It is easier to get older than it is to get wiser", well I hope that I am managing to do both (though at different rates...wiser faster, older slower)My interest in activities like carnival has severely waned over the years, though I still yearn to be a part of carnival in Brazil and New Orleans. My ideal pastimes of late seem to center around time alone to meditate and relax or time with a small group of close friends to enjoy their company. I guess that confirms that old age is setting in.

I also really want to get away from this society for a while. Just to experience something new. The Caribbean has become way too americanized. I need to spend a year or two in Japan or Korea or India or Dubai or even Australia. I need stories to tell my grand children.I need to feel like I have lived and experienced something. I have traveled quite a bit in my lifetime. I have been to America and just about every island in the Caribbean from Jamaica to Guyana. That being said, aside from changes in scenery (which depending on the island is almost negligible) they are all the same. All full of fast food restaurants, all concerned with big screen TV's and cars and sitcoms. I grow tired of it.

Sigh, anyway, I guess since it is lunchtime I should go get something to eat. No point in my idle hands typing out a rather nonsensical blog, they may as well focus on shoveling food into my mouth. So with that being said I will go forth into the wild and hunt down some sustenance lest I perish.

Au revoir.

Golf lesson number 2

So I just came from my 2nd ever golf lesson. I thought lesson one went pretty well. In fact in half an hour I was already consistently hitting about 150 yards with a 7 iron.

Today I played with an 8 iron and the coach decided since I already had a feel for the ball this would be a good opportunity to break down the stroke and get it perfect. This is always the step in any lesson that will break you. Where I thought I was doing a fantastic job the week earlier (maybe feeling a lil cocky too) I now cam to learn that my backswing was wrong, my follow through needs work, my stance could be stronger and my grip slightly off. At this point I am thinking 'what the hell was I doing last week then?'
After quite a few mishits (more than I care to mention) I finally started to get it and boy did it feel good to hit the ball cleanly and see it sail off past the 100 yard marker and tease with the idea of going to the 200 yard marker. Don't get me wrong, I am still far from being consistent but I am getting there. But I had to quit early though. My back started to hurt, not being used to the correct position my body was protesting. Pity. I am looking forward to next week however, especially as a friend on twitter has challenged me, I can't back down from that.

Revival

Once upon a time I blogged. I wouldn't describe my work as fantastic but it suited my purpose. More or less just an outlet for me to say the things that I feel. Well let's consider this round two.

Don't expect too many well constructed paragraphs, articles or stories. More often than not my blogs will centre around random thoughts, scenarios or ideas that cross my mind at any given time. That being said don't expect consistency either, I will write when the mood hits me which could mean four blogs a day or one blog in two months. You just never know.

I am excited to be online again however, and I hope to find and meet a few people who can appreciate my thoughts and who can provide insight into things I may not have considered.

So welcome and please enjoy the read.