Up an dong.

No me eh alludin tuh nuttin havin tuh do wid no video, seen or unseen, involvin de actions ah de esteemed minister ah sport, Darryl Smith.

Nope, not at all cause I more wonderin about what does get put in de public domain an de answer tuh how far is too far in dis social-media driven world where apparently de mere fact dat someting in de social media domain does make it news regardless ah all de rules about what is fair game dat gettin broken at de same time de event gettin contorted into ah news item.

More later eef ah have time an ah far enough away from mih word limit.

Up an dong is de phrase ah pardnah from college use orn he Facebook page tuh describe 2017.

Dat is ah fairly safe albeit reasonably fair description orn ah personal level. However, people who lorse family members in de year probably see de year as way more dong dan up.

I wonder doh about orn ah national level. Who want could argue dat de national level is de sum total ah all de personal level all dey want, dat argument eh gettin no traction wid me.

Ah cyar tell eef it does still happen buh de Trini papers use tuh have ah year-end drawin wid de same theme each time. It would be dis beaten up ole man wearin ah tattered sash wid de current year as he name. He would look like he cyar wait tuh turn over all de trial an tribulations tuh dis lil chile who appear ready tuh change de world wid he spankin new sash identifyin he as de incomin year.

So, while “up an dong”, is ah safe assessment, ah wonder eef fuh Triniland 2017 wasn’t more dong dan up wid more dong in 2018.

Who willin tuh take orn de challenge an call deyself 2018?

Eef nuttin else, 2017 was chock-full ah events an hope fuh ah better T&T. At least dat is de impression I get from de January 1^st 2017 Guardian headline. Economic recovery fuh 2017 was apparently a top agenda item fuh some govahment retreat. Based strictly orn economics, 2017 was ah dong year fuh T&T an tings pointin dong even fuddah.

Ah see de poleece feel dey had ah good year. While ah notice de uptick in arrests fuh murder, ah have tuh wait before ah feel any clappin justified. Dat could take years doh. Ah say dat cause recent murder cases now reachin de magistrates eh seem tuh be able tuh get parse de prosecution layin out it side. Dat is when “it” does hit de fan, as de expression goes, an ah next murder accused does walk free.

Dat raises ah interestin comparison albeit as useful as tits orn ah bull at dis stage ah de game. Who knows, maybe de bull does self identify as ah cow.

I just relocate tuh ah tong dat, as of 2016, had 860,000 people compared tuh Triniland’s 1.36 million — roughly 37% less people eef mih maths good.

De amount ah angst, hand wringin an figure pointin dat been goin orn since I reach here eh. I just didn’t know it was goin orn in de months before I reach.

De reason fuh all de emotion? De all-time murder total was in jeopardy of gettin parsed. All de city had tuh do was have more dan 139 killings, ah figure set back in 1991 ah tink ah read someplace. It make dat ahready but de new record eh go be known until tomorrow, Sunday, before dat chile wid de 2018 sash, bounce in all sure ah heself.

In all de angst not once I hear anybody make de dotish claim dat one murder is too many. Not once I hear any high rankin poleece officer say dey changin tactics an goin wid zero tolerance dis time. However, I have no doubt 2018 go see fewer murders. Fuh de local poleece where I is, 2017 was/is whatever, ah dong year.

CAL cyar be rejoicin. Buh den again people does find seams in de strangest ah places an rejoice like is nobody business. Tuh me, eef 2017 end an de air arm ah de bridge between Trinidad an Tobago in ah sling, is ah dong year. Just like de sea bridge part. It always one canceled sailin away from gettin smashed orn de rocks, fuss it dong.

Bad behavior an ah continued refusal tuh put tings in dey right priority among politicians hardly worth mentionin any more fuss dey commonplace. So, I eh bodderin.

More could be said buh I eh want tuh continue being disingenuous. I know mih pardnah was torkin about how 2017 was orn ah personal level. At least ah hope he was because eef he wasn’t, I apologizin fuh no good reason.

Regardless, when ah look at 2017 from my personal level ah cyar give it ah up or dong grade. It more like incomplete.

Fuh long stretches it was dong, dong an more dong. Like it was ah test mih stamina an will power was gettin like I ask fuh dem tuh be tested. Steups.

Buh den tings look like dey was about tuh go rong ah corner an up ah new road. Dat road gorn an wash way like eef it get hit by ah Trini tropical storm. So here I be, in ah different place from before. Tings look promisin doh. Ah even like de place.

I like how it different. Ah even like how ah could give ah call out tuh all men who over fifty (or is it fifty-five, check wid yuh doctor), an eh had dey first colonoscopy.

Where dat subject come from tuh join dis discussion, ah hearin somebody wonder.

Simple.

I had mih second colonoscopy dis week.

Okay, let mih rephrase dat.

I had one dis week. Is de second one ah ever had.

De hardest part is de crap yuh does have tuh drink. Tink ah Senna an what it does do. De sixty-four ounces ah liquid, wid de powder mixed in, yuh does have tuh drink in like ten minutes does do de same ting. Tuh put it delicately; yuh does end up being able tuh pee from two orifice. De actual procedure is duck soup in comparison tuh reachin dat stage. Besides, dey does knock yuh out tuh do de exam.

So eef yuh is over fifty, go get yuh blasted prostate checked by havin ah damn colonoscopy. Doh have no dotish West Indian man excuse as tuh why you not in dat. As yuh get older get wiser an listen tuh what yuh body does be tryin tuh tell yuh an doh let memories ah you, when yuh was younger, bambozzle yuh.

So tuh wrap up dis segue in ah nice bow, havin mih colonoscopy make 2017 ah up year. When de incomplete grade geh changed ah go know fuh sure eef dat judgment applies in general.

However, eef ah get jam an have tuh give ah verdict now fuh how dis year was, ah goin wid mih pardnah from college. Twenty seventeen was ah up an dong year.

What about yours, up an dong too?