Finals and Such...

I again slept on the balcony and woke up to water dripping from the air conditioner above us on my arm. It wasn’t that uncomfortable. I mean it wasn’t a bed but it was way better than the floor. After breakfast I went back to bed for a while until we had to start getting ready. They had told us the maxi was leaving at 11 so I was going to take a shower but I let all the other guys go first, being the kind gentleman I am. This was at around 945ish. Little did I know that people would take 20 minute showers! Ahh. So I was walking around getting my uniform ready and I ran into Lemon. He offered to let me use is shower. Awesome! So I ran down stairs and back upstairs took a 2 minute shower and went back and got ready to leave (with time to spare) I found out my uniform sleeves were literally about 6 inches too long so one of the band moms cut and sowed them. I was down waiting for the maxi. 2 hours later the maxi came. NOT kidding. 2 hours. In the mean time I was able to go up stairs and hang in the room until it did come. Then it took a long while to get to the savannah. Crazy traffic, that’s why the Maxi was late too. Anyway so we started practicing and things were feeling ok. I wasn’t playing my best at first because I still hadn’t gotten used to the pans but by the last 2 run-through I was there. Before I knew it, it was time to change in to our uniform and start pushing the pans. I had found a huge rock to chock my wheel this time because in the Semis I was all over the place. I actually tied my rack to the neighboring racks with rope and my leather belt. Worked like a charm. The performance was a blast! I don’t think the energy was as high over all with whole band compared to semis but it was still a great rush and I felt like we played well. I did notice a camera on me a lot during the middle of the song but I heard that the live feed was down. I want sincerely thank all those who attempted to watch or listen. It is indescribable how good it feels to have all this support from home. Thank you.
So, after we perform we pushed our pans straight back to the school where the trucks were. On my way out I actually so a friend Jennifer Butler who played in NIU Steel before me and she had come down for Carnival. She had found me on Facebook and we have been talking for the last few weeks. We literally only said “Hi!” and I had to go push pans. So we pushed pans back and loaded them on the trucks while eating a bit. Then my and the Vincent boys went back to the Savannah to hear some bands. We were there for a while and saw a lot of good bands. I saw Desperados, Silver Stars, Skiffle Bunch and Phase II. I actually introduced myself to Robert Greenidge as he was walking along the track. I didn’t say much because they were on their way to the stage. I didn’t want to get in the way haha. I the last two bands I saw were Phase II and Silverstars and they Silverstars won last year. Both of there arrangements were really good. I also really like The Despers music as well. Silverstars and Phase II are a lot more flashy and Despers are more about the music I feel. All good in my book.

Anyway, I had been exhausted since we got off the stage and I never knew my feet could hurt this bad. My and Big P hung around until after the results so Seion could give us a ride back to the hotel. We actually missed the reading of the results but we came in 6th place. A really bummer. I really don’t think that it reflects what happened well but that’s the nature of the competition. Its what the judges like. Two Tobagonian bands were higher than us but we had beaten them with different judges 4 days earlier in Tobago. Eh Oh well. The good news is while we were waiting, I had Bake and Shark for the first time. It is pretty much the best thing I have every eaten. Its fried shark in bake which is a great bread, with lettuce, ketchup garlic sauce and hot pepper sauce. So we went back to the hotel and I made my bed on the balcony again and passed out at about 430. The rest of the band was leaving at about 6 so I woke up and took the extra bed after they left and said goodbye. The St Vincent boys are going back home on Wednesday and I am going back to Tobago, on Thursday. We all slept until Seion called my phone at 11. He said he was going to be there in a few minutes so the three of us pack our stuff as fast as we could and then relaxed. He actually didn’t come for another hour and half so we had passed out again haha. It was kind of funny because we didn’t hear him calling our phones again so he had to come up to the room and knock. Still exhausted, we got into Seions van (which is what they call pick-up trucks apparently). He was dropping me off at where I am staying. Apparently Cliff has set me up with these people. Its right in the middle of town. An older couple Jerome and Marilyn. They are friends of Cliff and Jerome said he used to teach Cliff pan back in the day. It’s a very nice place and I have my own room and private bathroom! Yes I know its amazing. And I believe its only going to cost 60 US dollars a night. Definitely very nice. I got in and took a shower. It was the best shower I have taken in 5 weeks. Amazing. Then I got dressed and went down the street to get some food. Because it was around 130. I went to a restaurant named Mangos on the Avenue and had some fish and potatoes. Very tasty, a bit expensive but worth it. I actually met a US American couple from San Deigo and where probably in their 50s or 60s. We talked a while about their travels and where they have lived in the US. It wasn’t their first time in Trinidad for Carnival so they talked about that as well. Then we went our separate ways and I headed back to the place to relax and blog. more later. Feel free to ask questions. I probably left somethings out. haha

The pictures below are of the room I am staying in. and just for a size reference the bed is right next to the closet.