It's time again for my world famous weekly thought. The place where I tell you everything that is going on in my head and stuff thats happening with me.

Caribana Weekend Begins
Friday arrives and I'm chilling at my with my friend, Sondra as she's making burgers for me. I helped her walk her two little dogs and then came back to her house to watch the second season of the Sopranos on DVD. I get a phone call from n8 telling me that him, Selena and Samir are going to meet me at Yonge/Dundas Square where they are having a free Caribana party. So I arrange to meet them outside of Broadview station. Once they pick me up, we go for a drive up Yonge Street where the place is filled with out of state plates and people just coming to mingle with out of towners. We then drove to 360 Adelaide where the Sound Emporium nightclub is. After, having a little MACH 7 in the parking lot, we journey into the club. I apparently wasn't financially prepared that night to go clubbing, and Samir told me that n8 would buy my ticket for me. So as we were there in the ticket lineup, this really nice guy standing behind of us asks,"Do you guys need a ticket?" He apparently had an extra and gave it to us. He didn't even ask us to buy it from him. So I get in for FREE! I didn't see him again in the club that night, but I am very grateful, whoever you are.

That night was a DR.JAY and Flow 93.5FM live broadcast. The music in the downstairs (in the KLINIK) where we went was all calypso and soca. Lots of people were there and jumping around and waving their towels to the beat. N8 and I were there dancing around while some cute ladies danced beside us. I even handed my camera to some girls and asked them to take our pics a few times. As the night progressed, we journeyed upstairs (the PENTHOUSE) where they played calypso and a mix of music too. The air was better there and it was much more spacious. The VIP bar area is where Selena and Samir lounged and had the best bartender (according to n8). It was a lot of dancing and grooving to old reggae songs they played as well. I great time and my kick off to the Caribana Weekend.

Caribana Day
Its the biggest cultural parade in North America. It has also generates the most beer and alcohol sales in one day than any other event in North America. Approximately 1.5 million people come to take part or spectate the parade. This year:

IT RAINED!

It wasn't like I never went to a Caribana that rained before. I have been to those, but this year, the day started out gloomy. Usually, the day will be bright and sunny... and by the time you get there and have been in the parade for a little, then the rain starts coming down. You can't avoid it, your clothes are already wet from spraying water on yourself to cool down from the heat. On this particular Saturday, n8 and I felt a little lazy. Maybe it was the partying from the previous night at Sound Emporium. Maybe we just didn't feel like going this year. Are we getting OLD now where we think the parade is just for the younger generation? Nah, I wouldn't say that. We just didn't go because we felt lazy. That's about that. We did plan however to go out in the evening to the CNE Grounds where there was a Beenie Man concert. By the time us lazy fools got ready and arrived to the venue, it was 12:45am, and the party closed at 1am. We just drove back home and made sure we got sleep for the Flow Caribana Boat Cruise the next day.

FLOW Boat - On the Northern Spirit I

FLOW-ting On the Wa-Tah
Caribana Sunday, the day of the anticipated FLOW 93.5 Caribana Boat Cruise. Many friends of ours told us that we missed the good Caribana Boat Cruises, and that this one that we were going on would be a waste. Well, there was no turning back on the $45 ticket I spent. I never did a Caribana boat cruise before, and nothing was stopping me this time. Even n8 and I arrived there quite early to make sure we didn't "miss the boat". As we waited in line, we noticed that the crowd got bigger and bigger. There was so much people who were dressed up. This was a change for me. Everyone in the crowd appeared to be in their late 20's to early 30's. No tasteless clothing, just nice and clasy attire. I previously never saw all those words in the same sentence as Caribana. But, oh well. We get on the boat. Upon entering we receive 2 free cans of Lipton BRISK Iced Tea (the sponser for the Boat Cruise) and a ticket that allows us one buffet dinner. As we walk further into the boat, we see on our left side a table with two girls giving out free little cups of Guinness Stout and making people fill out ballots for a free trip to the Source Awards in Miami. (I know I don't want to go there after what happened the last time, but I would like the chance to win anyways) On the ballot card itself, was a scratch and win game where we could instantly win a prize. I scratched mine and it said: PLEASE TRY AGAIN. Then n8 scratched his and it said: WINNER! We couldn't believe it! So he goes and tells the girl at the Guinness Table and they give him a Guinness CD Case. N8 actually needed one. So already 10 minutes onto the boat cruise, and we have scored FREE Lipton Brisk, FREE Guinness Stout, a FREE CD Case and the boat hasn't even left the port yet! What else could transpire for the night?

The boat eventually set out on its voyage. N8 and I were out on the open deck getting some breeze. We met this guy from Montreal who bought a bottle of champagne and was quite an attraction with some of the ladies on the boat. He took my business card and told me that anytime I'm in Montreal, he'll show me and n8 a great time, even though he didn't give us his contact information. Later on the buffet was ready, so I was a little hungry and hoped the food would be good. We went down to the lower level where the food was. There was a long line up, but it was moving at a good pace. Salad with 3 a few choices of dressings, dinner rolls, rice and peas followed by baked chicken. We took our food to the top open deck since all the tables and seats were already occupied on the lower deck. As we ate our dinner, the cool ocean breeze kept us cool on the hot summer night. After eating the food, (which was good) n8 went to the lower deck to the bar to get some beers. While I leaned on the railing overlooking the beautiful Toronto skyline, this girl came beside me to take in the same view. I started a conversation with her and found out that she was visiting from Chicago. Her name was Jeniffer, a beautiful girl with long black hair, dark chocolatey skin and a sweet smile. N8 returned with the beers and we started interviewing her with our digital video camera. She was fun to bother, but for some odd reason still felt bored on this boat.

It was the complete opposite for n8 and I. We were having a blast. After bugging Jeniffer with the camera, we captured the group of girls beside us. They seemed like they were just wild and really high on alcohol. A definite must tape for my camera. We later interviewed them too and discovered they came from all assorted locations. The main two girls that talked to us was this girl from Oakville named, Lynda and her very scandelous friend, Aandrea. Lynda was this cute girl who appeared to be the innocent type, but later claimed that Aandrea was her *special* friend. Aandrea first introduced herself to our camera by giving us a demonstration of her "vibrating tongue". (wow) Then followed that up by dancing up a storm, attracting a bigger crowd and giving us more stuff to talk about when viewing the tape. There was a moment where Aandrea and her friends made a circle and put me in the middle chanting, "GO KELVIN! GO KELVIN!!" as I danced away. The boat pulled back into the port around 11:30pm. N8 and I had a blast, it was my first Caribana boat cruise and already the best one. I will no longer complain about the $45 ticket price, I actually think its worth it.

Olympic Island - Toronto Caribana

Caribana at the Toronto Islands
Caribana Monday, also is the national holiday of Lord Simcoe Day. A tradition of n8 and mine is to head down to the Toronto Centre Islands where the last finale jams on Olympic Island take place. We had to leave the house early so we didn't miss out like we did on Caribana Saturday. So we left the PHATCAVE just after 1pm and made it downtown just after 2pm. We were meeting up with our friends, Dru and James. Last year, n8 and I were at the islands partying with Dru and our friend Christina (aka SOCALOCO). But this year, Christina was away in Europe teaching dance lessons. So we had to party without her. N8 and I toasted the day with a bottle of HPNOTIQ that I brought up from New York. As we were drinking, Dru and James found us in the parking lot where we were. We then journeyed to the Islands from that point. We got in line for the ferry to the islands. Previous years, you have to wait really long before you even get on the ferry. This time we walked up and the line was moving very well. Definitely a very big difference compared to before. I had to pass through a police search for any weapons or alcohol. After getting through, we lined up to board the next ferry. As I am videotaping nonsense with my camera, I feel a little tap on my shoulder. Hoping it wasn't n8 setting me up for a "stone cold stunner" I turned around to see my longtime friend, Warren! I haven't seen him since I moved away to the US. He was with his girl, Jeniffer. We all got on the ferry together and took lots of pics. When we got off of the boat, we walked around Centre Island a little and took in the nice scenery. We even walked through the mini-amusement park, Centreville just for kicks. We took some photos by a big fountain and then headed to the Caribana festivities. Warren and Jeniffer departed from us at that time and we paid $20 and got into the big party.

So we get in the island party. It wasn't as crowded as previous times we've been there, but there was a big crowd nonetheless. We walked right into the crowd as JMC Treveni was on stage performing. After they finished their set, n8 and I walked over to the beer garden where he went to get special "Caribana Brew" as it was labelled. But he told me it tastes just like Miller Genuine Draft. I met up with my cousin, Jazmine and my other cousins from Florida. They were all having a good time. N8, Dru and James were at the picnic tables having some jerk chicken and rice. I went over to them and chilled a little. As I was rolling my camera, I caught n8 talking to this gentleman about the history of Caribana. He was bringing knowledge to the younger generation as he put it. Another one of his partners came by and was inviting us all to get a beer with him. We were just about to take that offer when all of a sudden, the music on the stage began to pick up and it was making us jump right there. We quickly exchanged business cards and our group dashed to the stage area.

N8, Dru, James and I danced up a storm. We were waving our flags/rags/hands in the hair under the dusky red skies as the night was drawing near. It was so much fun. The music was great, the weather was perfect, and the people around us were minding my crazy dancing! Apparently as our wild group was all jumping around together, it began to draw a crowd of spectators. Including this one girl who looked like a tourist. She was totally into watching n8 and I jump around and make fools of ourselves, but it seemed kinda fun for her. N8 pulled her in to dance with us and she started slowly going to the music. I noticed she had trouble moving her hips to the music so I personally took it upon myself to help her. I showed her how it was done and before we all knew it, she was right in the flow of it!! She was virtually a natural! We all danced as other people brought their video cameras and videotaped our little group. All the way up until 8pm when the show closed. We then had the decision to either go to the other island party which was $10 with all DJs or journey back to the mainland and go to the Bambu to see Roy Cape. We decided to head for the mainland. As we were in line for the ferry, I talked more to the girl that joined our group. Her name was Helen and she was a tourist visiting Toronto from Moscow. She had a great time and would definitely come back. On the ferry boat, she was teaching me some Russian words, I can't remember what she taught me now.. I wish I wrote them down. After we got back on shore, she had to meet some other friends for dinner and departed from us. This year's island experience was one of the best ones yet!

The Bambu

After the Olympic Islands at the Bambu
The time was approaching 9pm, n8 and I were thinking about going home and changing before going to the Bambu. But, we wanted to make sure that it was going to be actually a happening place tonight. So we walked over to where the place was on Queens Quay and went in the front. As we looked in, the place looked empty. I asked the hostess at the front if there was anything going on tonight. She told me that later tonight, around 10pm it will Roy Cape and the Kaiso All Stars performing following that will be a Flow 93.5 FM live to air broadcast. She told us that we should go though the rear patio entrance. So I figured that I could go over to the back and work my charm on the bouncers at the door into letting n8 and I in for a very reduced price. (They were charging $20 a person) Well, as I was there sweet talking the bouncers, I noticed that in the actual patio of the Bambu were my friends, Selena and Samir! I told the bouncer I was with them. The bouncers let me and n8 in. We go in and sit down with the group of friends. Shortly later, Roy Cape comes out on stage to perform. We relocated to the upper level where we had more room to dance and lounge. I was armed with my whistle and rag, just waving it in the air, jumping around to the vibrant calypso the band was playing. The people on the dancefloor seemed to reserved and I think the band took notice. N8 and I were having way too much fun up on the top level. There was a point where the band noticed us and pointed up to us, invited us to come down to the dance floor and spice up the crowd. We hesitated. I was comfortable up where I was. Until..... they started playing "Til-lil-lay". I just went nuts. I ran down to the dancefloor and really let loose. The band was in the flow...and actually STOPPED the music just to let the rest of the crowd know they weren't dancing right and should follow me!!! Anyways, the night progressed and we just had a lot of fun dancing. The crowd was good and the music fitted everyone.

Touring Last Days In Toronto
My last few days in Toronto were spent catching up with my old friend, Vijai who I haven't seen in like 5 years. We went to the Pickle Barrell at Yonge/Eglinton and tried to catch up on what we've been doing the past few years. Its so funny how much changes, and how much stays the same. Vijai still has the same smile and same cute personality... I really missed that. We didn't really eat or drink much there, we spent most of the time just talking. That was good.

The last day was all a whirlwind. I had a job interview at Yonge/Hwy 7 that went well. Upon leaving that job, I took a GO Transit bus into Toronto and met up with n8 at the Manulife Centre. We were both really hungry, and wanted to drink at an open patio. So we walked down Yonge Street and headed to Queen Street ...then King Street. N8 was getting tired walking, so we stopped at the Peel Pub. The World Famous Peel Pub.... this was my first time coming in here and seeing the legend itself. I was there during the early daytime, so I wouldn't see it in its busiest form. That's okay, I was just there to drink and eat. They had 25 cent wings so we ordered 30 of them. We also wanted some beer on tap, but they said they weren't working. WHAT?!?!? So we ordered two bottles of Moosehead Beer. When I ordered my food to eat, I asked for the Filet Mignon Brochette, or something like that. I specifically asked for a baked potato rather than rice. When I got my food, (which was fast) they gave me rice. I could send it back, but that leaves me to that "sour customer" area and the chef could give me a new potato but then do something else to my food. I don't even want to risk that. So, after eating the meal (and not the rice) I tell the manager the problem. We came in here for beer on tap, and couldn't get that. I ordered a potato and I got rice, they should at least help us out on the bill. He apparently didn't think it wasn't that big of a deal. Well, if its my first time here, they probably don't mind loosing a customer.

After leaving the Peel Pub, we walk down King Street and see the Indian Motorcycle Cafe / Lounge. This is one of the snazziest places in Toronto to be seen. I just went in there to look at some new clothes, since I like their Indian Motorcycle wear. After trying on different shirts and purchasing a nice black longsleeved one, we were exiting when we saw an entrance to the restaurant/bar section. So I thought I'd treat n8 to another drink. We went up there and entered the dimly lit bar area. Surrounded by plush leather couches and pristine hardwood floors, this was more of a lounge than a bar. I ordered a pint of Guinness while n8 got a round of Killkenny's. I have never had that before, but tried it on my second round. Kilkenny's is not available in the United States, so I never had the priviledge of trying it. Well, after tasting it for the first time, I really enjoyed it. It was great, and unfortunately available only in Canada.

We left the Indian Motorcycle Cafe and walked up towards Richmond Street. We went into the Famous Players Paramount and teased at the idea of seeing a movie. We just ended up chilling at VIVID Bar that is located within the theatre. I think I ordered another pint of Guinness there too. We met some cool people and used my video camera to interview the bartenders about crazy things. The atmosphere was very chill, but not really a busy night. N8 and I were supposed to meet up with Dru and Natalia at a club called "Easy On The Fifth". They were dancers there that night. So we left the VIVID Bar and headed for that club a block over. When we got there, we met up with Dru and Natalia right at the door. The bouncers saw that we were with them, but still refused us entry because we were not "properly" dressed. I understand dresscodes and such, but even I wasn't dressed tastelessly. So n8 and I scrapped that idea of going into there. It was a Thursday night... where else is there to go on a Thursday night? Well we realized that we were right in the middle of the club district. We walked down Richmond Street where we were given two free VIP passes to the Joker Nightclub. So we figured we'd check that out. The passes entitled us to free line bypass, so it was right, we definitely did get ahead of the line and allowed in. We get in and follow downstairs to the bar on the bottom level. N8 generously buys Smirnoff Triple Black Ice for the both of us. I notice this girl just sitting at the bar by herself. So I decide to move on over to her. I find out that her name is Kristine and she is checking out the bartender. I wanted to learn a little more about her before I headed upstairs to the dance floor. Kristine is a freelance photographer for a graphic design firm. As cute as she was, I couldn't resist to not pass her one of my business cards. She actually made me dance with her to "show her what I got". That was easy, I got moves, we all know that!!!

N8 and I go to the upper level. Again, we just happen to make it to ANOTHER Flow 93.5FM live-to-air broadcast! Let me just sum it up how many times we've bumped into this station:

Friday Night - Sound Emporium - Dr. Jay and Flow 93.5 FM Live-to-Air
Saturday Night - didn't go anywhere
Sunday - Flow 93.5 FM BOAT CRUISE
Monday Night - Bambu - Roy Cape and the Kaiso All Stars followed by Flow 93.5 FM Live-to-Air
Thursday Night - Joker - Flow 93.5FM Live-to-Air

What are the odds!?!??!
Well, that's okay, they were all good jams regardless. So we maybe stuck around there for about an hour and then bounced. We had enough fun in there and just left. We journeyed up John St. to Queen St. We decided to go onto Speakers Corner. I put in my loonie (dollar coin) and started talking about how great this years Caribana was, the Rolling Stones Concert and how amazing Toronto is in general. N8 contributed his poses in the background and some comments. After we were finished and coming right out, there was a group of 5 girls and one guy who where outside watching me and n8 speak. They told me that one of them was gonna flash the camera and the another was going to moon it. I pulled out my video camera and told them that unlike CITY TV, I won't censor them regardless of they do. For some reason that made them go even more crazy! They started hugging and kissing eachother right in front of me. These girls were too much! Below is one of the pictures I took of them:

cK's Biggest Fans: Sarah, Chanelle, Kaleigh, Jenn and Tiffany

After getting thier names and talking to them more, they constantly encouraged me to move back to Toronto. They said that when they get their airtime on Speakers Corner, they were going to speak about how they met this "really cool guy from New York" and how he should come out partying with them. Indeed girls, indeed. Thanks for making my last day soooo much fun!

Well, that's basically the trip. I had a blast and yes, had many thoughts about moving back. Would I? Could I? Only the future will see. I will only go where is best for me. If spending a year in New York has only brought me more debt, then I don't have to think too hard for my decision.

I'd like to thank all those who made my trip so memorable. Definitely n8, for he accomodated me and made me feel at home. Also the Budhu family who make the best bhaigan choka. All of the cool friends I've met along the way and the old ones who I have reconnected with. Thanks for everything.

Thanks to FLOW 93.5FM for their amazing boat cruise and being at all the great clubs I was at putting on great sets of music. The same goes to LIPTON BRISK Iced Tea for giving me and n8 so much for free! It was definitely our official drink for this year's Caribana!

My dearest apologies to those friends I didn't get to see this time around. I can't see everyone in the time that I get. If I had my car up here, it would be more easier. Especially when I'm staying all the way in York Region! I'm transiting everywhere on my own. I'll see you all next time. Thanks again!

Special Announcements:
A very special congradulations to my dear friends Veda and Kenny in Mississauga, Ontario who just welcomed their new born son, Kamran into their family! I wish your son all the blessings in the world, and that he may grow up to be a positive influence on others.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at: crazykelvin@hotmail.com