Dr. Love is the
island's and possibly the world's greatest authority on just about everything.
The Doctor answers questions on almost anything except religion and politics.
Persons needing additional assistance or counseling should contact the Family
Services Division at
227-7451.
You may write to the Doctor at P.O. Box 35, San Pedro
Town, Belize, e-mail at [email protected] or fax 226-2905. Dear Doctor Love, Every time I sit down to watch my
novela at night my husband switches the TV channel. I have to go over and watch
it at my sister's house if I want to see it because he says that he is not
having that kind of stuff in his house. He thinks I should not be watching the
novelas because he says it puts all kind of ideas in my head. I watch them just
for fun and because it is good to see that other people have problems, too. I
don't see anything wrong with it. He says it is a waste of time. Even when I
leave he does not watch the TV. He turns it off and it is just sitting there. I
think this is very unfair. I think football is a waste of time to watch on TV
but I do not try to make him turn it off. How can I convince him that novelas
are not bad, just fun to watch? /s/ Novela Watcher Dear Watcher, Your best bet is to try to
get another TV from somewhere. In the Doctor's house, the rules are: no football
on the Doctor's TV. That is why there are two televisions. Dear Doctor Love, I cannot find a bathing suit in
my size anywhere in this country. All of the bikinis in the boutiques here are
made for women who must have legs like sticks. Just because I am bigger than
some women does not mean that I should not be allowed to wear a bikini. There
are a lot of men who think big women are sexy. I just
want to go on record and say to the shop owners that they should start stocking
things for large women like me. /s/ Large and Sexy Dear Large, Are you sure you checked all of the
shops? The Doctor has seen some good-sized bikinis in some of those boutiques.
Maybe its a cultural thing. Shops are stocked mostly for tourists and tourist
women seem to run in smaller sizes than locals. Dear
Doctor Love, The road to my house in San Juan has huge
holes. They can break a golf cart spring very easy. I know because I had to have
mine fixed. Why does the town council spend all of that time and money scraping
only the main streets? We pay taxes on everything that we buy. Some of that
money should go to fixing our streets, too. Just because we live in San Juan
area does not mean that we should be last to get our street fixed. /s/
Unsigned Dear Unsigned, Don't
worry. It is almost election time. All the roads will be scraped
soon. Dear Doctor Love, It is
Sunday evening and the cable television stations have been off for nearly two
hours. We are used to having the television go off when there is a power outage
but someone usually resets it as soon as the power comes back on, except on
Sundays. One Sunday I was watching a football game
that I had been waiting all week to see. Of course, I missed it. Missing a game
is only an inconvenience. The last time this happened on a Sunday afternoon
though, it was at the tail end of the hurricane season. A hurricane was moving
in the Caribbean and our television was off from early Sunday afternoon until
Monday morning. We had no way of knowing whether the hurricane was coming our
way or not. I feel that the cable operators fall into the
same category as other public utilities. They have a responsibility to the
people that they are charging for twenty-four hour service. If we pay them money
they owe us the service. It is as simple as that. When there is a problem that
affects the people who put money in their pockets the company owes their
customers the courtesy of trying to fix the problem. If the electricity goes
out, BEL has people on the job immediately trying to fix the problem. The cable
company will not respond on Sunday. My guess
is that they have no one to answer to except themselves. As a monopoly they do
not feel like they have to do anything they do not want to do. BTL made the same
mistake in treating their customers like so much garbage. Now, they have
competition on the mainland. I know that on the mainland some towns have managed
to get their cable operators changed because of poor
service. In the U.S., satellite television has proven
itself as a successful alternative to cable. We need someone in this country to
sell us satellite dishes at a reasonable price. I would buy one
tomorrow. My guess is that the cable station operators are
out partying on Sundays and could care less whether the 10,000 people on this
island have television to watch. Do you think I am correct in assuming
this? /s/ Seriously Pissed Dear
Serious, Whoa! Hold on. Take a deep breath and relax. This
must have been a really important football game that you missed. After all, as
you said, it was just an inconvenience. It wasn't a life threatening
experience. In spite of your complaints, you must admit
that overall, we enjoy excellent service from our cable company. We get a lot of
premium channels but most important of all, it keeps the population down. If we
didn't have cable TV to keep people occupied at night, this island would be over
run with pickneys. Dear Doctor
Love, I would like to find out what my husband is up to
when he says he is out with the guys for a drink. Sometimes he doesn't come home
until late, late and he smells more like cheap perfume than alcohol. He says it
is because the waitress in the place where he goes with his friends is always
teasing him and hugging him as a joke. I went to a card
reader in Chetumal and she was no help. She thought I had problems trying to
choose between two men. My problem is to be able to find the one I have and find
out what he is doing. Do you think it would help to see a
psychic? I need to find out whether this man is cheating on me. It would also do
me some good in the boledo if I knew what numbers to pick. But that makes me
wonder about psychics. If a psychic is really good wouldn't she win the boledo
every week? /s/ Unsigned Dear
Unsigned, If your man comes home late, smelling like cheap
perfume, you do not need a psychic to know what he is up to. Save your money or
play it on the boledo. Your chances are a lot better. Now
a real psychic could help you with the boledo. The Doctor believes
wholeheartedly in psychics but only if they are chosen correctly. The only way
to choose a psychic is to tell no one that you are looking for one. If a psychic
is really good they will know you have a problem and find you.
Dear Doctor, If I graduate this year from San
Pedro High I will be the first person from my family to graduate from high
school. My family has not tried to hold me back but they have not been very
helpful either. It is because I am a girl. They seem to think that it is nice
that I graduate but I do not really need it because I will probably just get
married and have a family. I have no intention of getting married until I am
ready and I do not feel like I will be ready until I have been educated as much
as I can. My mother understands this but my dad and my sister say it is just
because I have not met the right man yet. Well, I think I have probably met the
right man about three or four times already. At least, they seem to think so. I
like guys but I do not feel like I am ready to be tied to a husband. When you
have a husband he always wants a family. I would like to
go to college but I don't think I will be able to support it. My dad is already
talking about when I get out of school it will be time to start paying rent like
my sister and her husband do. My brother and his family live with us and they
pay rent, too. I think that if I start college I am going to get nothing
but trouble from all of them but my mother. If my brother had graduated from
high school and wanted to go on to college they would have supported him, but he
already had a girl pregnant and he dropped out to go to work. I don't think any of this is fair but I am looking for
a way to continue going to school. The way it is today you have to be a high
school graduate just to work in a boutique. I want something more than
this. Please help me with some ideas. /s/ I'm Just A
Girl Dear Girl, The first and most
obvious way is to search for a scholarship of some kind. There are scholarship
programs available in Belize. Start researching them now so you can be prepared
to apply for them when the time comes. Another possibility
that should never be counted out is plain old work. If you must, get a job at
night to support yourself and go to college in the day. This is the
old-fashioned way but it still works. It just takes a tremendous amount of
self-discipline. Another option is to serve in the armed
forces of the United States. Many successful Belizeans have chosen this route.
You can attend classes while you are serving and learn a useful skill. When you
get out they will provide money for your education. Dear
Doctor Love, When I was a little girl my mother would not
let us go out on October 31 st
because that was supposed to be the night that the spirits walk. All of our
windows and doors were closed at dark and we were not even allowed to look
outside. In the last few years we have gotten away from this tradition even
though the old people knew that this was a time of year for bad luck. Now I see
all of the bad luck we have had on this island this year at this time and it
makes me wonder if the old people weren't right. I don't think we had things
like this happening to us back then. Maybe we should just think of October as a
bad time and all stay home./s/ Unsigned Dear
Unsigned, Don't be ridiculous. You are talking of nothing
but superstition and everyone knows it is bad luck to be
superstitious.
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