Somehow, sometimes time seems to fly extra faster than normal when I make a trip back to di rock. Both happened this past week. I breezed into the yard last Monday and the first thing I caught was an engaging radio discussion. The panelists were talking about privacy, morality and technology in the context of the much-discussed and widely circulated video clips showing scenes of local celebrities doing stuff that wasn't meant for public viewing.

That issue is a 'nine-day-wonder' that seems to be taking ninety days to go away. Interestingly, (and not surprisingly) the men involved in those clips seem to be weathering the storms of controversy very nicely. They may even be benefiting from increased popularity and heightened status thanks to the 'accidental' exposure. The women on the other hand, appear to be still getting flak and feeling shame. Life funny eeh? The video star man dem getting big ups, every girl now asking for Bad Boy Trevor's number and Johnny get more front page coverage and plenty comedy material. Of course the other male performer doesn't seem to have the 'solidity' to step up and even make a public statement.

Another thing every other person's talking about is the plans to translate the Bible into Patois. Some commentators think it's a very problematic undertaking to try and translate the book into a language that still has no established and accepted standardised written form, and for a people who really aren't very big on reading anyway. I even heard one lady suggest that it would be 'sacrilegious to translate God's holy words into our vulgar language'. I had fun mentally listing some appropriately vulgar and irreverent responses to her diatribe. But I kept them to myself.

After a whirlwind week of activities, Monday night gone I was making the trek from Kingston to the United States of Greater Portmore having a nice long talk with one of my two best friends. I had dropped my other best friend off at the airport earlier in the evening. We stayed up all night talking together the night before. Yeah, we have a lot of long talks when we're together, the three of us; because my two best friends are also my brothers and my business partners.

It was nearly midnight, but we suddenly remembered that a birthday party was being held at Green Gables for Deon Silvera. I had to catch a flight at 7 a.m. the next day -which means being up from 4 to get to the airport for a 5 a.m. check in, and I had not even started packing yet. In fact I had just collected the mangoes and pickled peppers that my wife's friend was sending for her, and I had to make space for couple bottles of rum. Nuff things! But when Deon Silvera has a birthday party you just have to go. Deon is unquestionably one of the most beloved Jamaican theatre personalities. She has a warm heart, a genuinely generous spirit and her laughter is like an elixir of joy. No matter how busy she is, Deon makes time and space to share her energy with, and spread cheers to every person she meets. So yeah, it was a Monday night but it felt like TGIF (not 'thank God it's Friday' but 'thank God it's food, and thank God it's free') as people from 'ROOTS' theatre and folks from 'up-town' theatre jammed together for Deon. Only Deon could do that!

Yeah man, time seems to fly faster than normal when I make a trip back home. So much excitement to absorb and all these happenings to catch up on, and as ah quint mi eye three times, braps; is departure time. A barely made it to the airport in time!

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