Tech Help

I have a problem. I'd joined KBW some time back and have noticed that we're no longer doing the ring surf thing anymore and there are these cool-ish badges that one's meant to put on their site. Question is, how is this done?

I've been to the www.kenyaunlimited.com site countless times but just can't seem to get it to work. I've tried copy-pasting the link as instructed but am clearly technologicaly challenged. Any help from the more techie savvy out there?

Cheers!

Of Dreams Best Not Caught

You know they say that your dreams are a form of window into your psyche that can really help you figure out what's going on in your life. Like if you dream of shoes that's a dream world metaphor for your love life, so if your dream shoes are stuck in mud, that's where your subconscious feels your love life stands. (See example here on interpretations)

I beg to differ. I have always had the strangest of dreams. Today I'm Rambo/Jack Bauer fighting off terrorists and bad guys and tomorrow my boss is giving me advice on a matter that has never come up. I mean, the other day I wasn't even in my dream. I was watching it in much the way you'd watch a movie. It was about vampires and I even had to snooze my alarm to find out what happens next. It would have been good material for a book though. If dreams are really meant to tell you stuff about yourself then I'm in trouble!

What are your dreams like?

Smurfs!!

Na si this has taken me way back!!!

Party for Books

I attended the above function yesterday and although I must say it wasn't what I initially had in mind (coz the dark bar with nyamchom servings was a far cry from the cozy pink poster), I think the idea is exceptional. I recently commented on a blog about the importance of cultivating a reading culture in children from an early age. Well truth be told, there are many who would like to but just don't have access to books. The books collected at the above drive were just the odd story books people had lying around their homes. Not text books or inspirational books but just stories to capture the young onnes imaginations.

I think it was a great idea and wish the young lady behind it all, great success in the campaign. You have my support 110%!!

Sluggish

I've already been through my quarter-life crises (emerging successfully at the other end) and I'm too young to be going through my mid-life crises so I will settle for a denominator of 3. I'm going through my third life crises. Food isn't as tasty, the colours aren't so bright and things just generally seem dull. I go to work everyday with reducing passion and even the thought of going to my local is tiring. There are a few flashes of excitement here and there and every once in a while somthing has me in stitches but it's not the usual me. If I were brighter then (oh the blissful ignorance of youth!) I would have kept a log of what I did to surmount the feeling of lethargy that comes with these crisi (? either that or crises'). As I am too lazy, I will not now manage the energy to keep a log for when the mid one hits.

Yeah well!

In a totally unrelated matter, here's an article I stumbled across online. Strange. Question is, how do you ensure your husband gets the choice parts?

Bon apetit

Leo I went for lunch at some dingy nyama joint in Kangemi. You know the sort: small, smoky, uses makaa/firewood to cook, 95.89% of the clientelle are jamaas (those places have the best meat in the world). The writing on the wall (which is not meant as a figure of speech had such choice snippets as
"Dan the hotel chef is a champion cook and also the coach of Chelsea";
"Wawesh wa stima is also brother to Fabrigas, Ruto, Uhuru, etc";
"There are those who eat very little but make the most noise like ... (followed by a litany of names)";
"For Customa Care call 07..."

Have an entertaining and well fed weekend.

Kenya -vs- Uganda

The Uganda Cranes & Harambee Stars met this weekend in what all expected to be a memorable clash. The Ugandans showed their solidarity for their team and travelled in huge numbers by all means possible including those great red Kampala Coaches. I was excited. My previous plans of going out of town were cancelled by The Hangover I had so I decided to at least settle down and watch the game, cheering from a distance as I was sure 3/4 of Kenya would (the other 1/4 being at the stadium). Promptly at 4pm I was seated at a bar in Westi ready to watch the unfolding action. What? Sorry? I mustn't have heard you right, are you saying it's not being televised on DSTV? That DSTV are showing some random Tanzanian game?(no offence (picked that from a Heartstrings Play I watched on Sunday)) These South Africans are terrible ... well OK, let's just watch it on Citizen or NTV. Now you must be joking. We're sure our athletes will do great but right now we want to watch the match! KBC? No? But wait ... stop ... read right there .. it says at the bottom that we can catch the match live on KBC Idhaa ya Taifa. WHAT?! That's KBC Radio?! (Choice expletives censored due to age range of audience)

How is it that I cannot watch my country play against a neighbouring country while the match unfolds in my own back yard!? Even those who bought VIP tickets like my pal were locked out! Shame shame. There was even a Ugandan guy on news who said that he'd bought VIP tickets and travelled for 2 days to watch the match only to be locked out. Shame shame!

I went back home and came to know of the score from TV when the daft radio presenter (not KBC but some other station) kept repeating "Kenya haijashinda" (refer to choice expletives above!)

Of Articles on Single Women

Of late, reading magazines has got me wondering. I am single and of marriageable age and I find that absolutely every column I pick up is talking about what I should be doing to bag myself a man, or what I’m doing wrong. For crying out loud, even the fitness sections seem to emphasize that getting in shape is the best way to Meet Mr. Right! I think I’m starting to take offence.

The worst thing that could have happened to women of my ilk seems to be the visit of a Pastor Chris O-something from Nigeria. Now the columnists are assured that they are on to something and they have fodder for X to power n number of articles on single women and their apparently interminable quest for husbands. They no longer need to go out of their way to spin out an article of social interest.

Is it so unimaginable that there may be other things that interest us? Is there really nothing else to talk about? Are we really defined by men all our lives such that the second we stop being considered Daddy’s girl, the single ones are defined by the men they don’t have?

Could we have articles that think outside this recent and unimaginative box?

Men:Women

The results are in! There are 19,192,458 males in this country (less a pal of mine who tells me that he and his chicken weren't counted) and 19,417,639 females. That means the the ratio is almost 50:50 ...

I'm just saying ...

The Bad Seed

My ex-landlady had a baby from hell. This baby girl was 2 and manipulative in ways that would have made Cruela Devil blush! She even had the knowing look she'd throw your way when she got what she wanted against your better judgement; hidden of course from the sight of the person who gave her her way. (If you ever watched the Tazmanian Devil, the kid was remniscent of that evil cat Taz would battle with)

This had me thinking today. What if you find yourself in a relationship with a person who has children from a previous relationship? That's bad enough and a big responsibility yeah? Well, what if their kid is the Bad Seed? What if your tempted to comb through their scalp with a fine tooth comb in search of the mark of the beast? What if the kid is Chuckie? Do you stay or do you go?

Just a thought.

Coast the 24 hour City Under the Sun

Was down at the Coast this weekend & it was really great! Coasto is probably the only place in this country where you can eat a meal from a roadside duka at 10pm (with no ill effects on the tummy), walk over to a rave joint at that hour and club hop on mats 'till your hotel at whatever hour of the a.m.! Niiiice! It's more likely to hit the 24 hour economy we've been hearing so much about than Nairobbery. Kudos on Nakumatt for trying but I wonder how much night time activity they see that's not linked to young guys buying booze at RRP to drink in their parking lots!

Have a 24-hour-thinking day!

The World Cup is here - Yippeeee!

I absolutely love & adore the World Cup. My life is lived in 4 year increments from World Cup to World Cup ... as though I'd been born on Feb 29th. I am having a ball (pun intended!)

It must be said that my favourite goal of the games so far was that of Maicon in the Brazil - North Korea match. The guy kicked it in from such an impossible angle, I was actually seating back waiting for the goal kick, only to notice the celebration. Kudos.

The season has been relatively goal-less; a situation that has been blamed on the Jabulani (the ball) which has been stated as baing too light. At first, I thought this was a whole lot of rubbish from sore losers until I came to realise that 3/4 of the crosses aren't finding their marks (and actually end up way too far on the other side of the field) and also noticed that a number of shots on goal end up above the bar. There must be something with that ball. A near miss by Adidas?

My team (after all African teams (which seem to be putting all they have behind attaining an early exit from the games))is France. They've had a most lack lustre performance but let's watch and see. It's like I was saying about SA jana, if they're loosing, they may as well do so, so we can concentrate our cheers on more deserving teams!

Of Office Policies & Riots

The office has a new internet policy that blocks facebook & other social networks and even yahoo mail & blogger while allowing MSN & yahoo chat ... yeah, go figure

I have come to think that campusarians are evil. It's really not my fault that you had troubled elections. I work in Westi and going home has been such a headache of late, what with the rains coupled with the riots! I'm glad the Campus is closed and hope you get to go home and think about what you've done. The worst of it all (as I remember from my Campus days) is that it's less than 10% of the Students who engage in the violent misbehaviour I've seen reported on news but 100% who are blamed for it. Guess such is life.

Israel jails man for 'holy semen' sex abuse

Well, this is probably not the funniest story on earth ... probably not funny at all when you really think about it, but I honestly can't help but smile. How? How really? "My semen is holy and will cure the cancer" ... "If you touch me, you will be healed" ... "The sent of me takes away all evil" Come on!!

So brings the question, are we just so eager to beleive anything that's put on the table by supposed 'Holy Men'? Do we lap up all that's supposedly 'prophecied'? Are the Finger of God saga and this psycho that far away from the Waco disaster? Why do we find it so hard to find God we jump at all that's availed.

Makmende

This guy has become a Kenyan phenomena over the span of little more than 48 hours. Who is he? Rewind .... play: Just a band - a really great and different Kenyan group, recently released the video to Ha-He, one of the best songs in their album '82'. (Watch it below) The protagonist of the video is Makmende, Kenya's self styled Jack Bauer straight from the 70's. After the release of the video, Makmende developed a following of his own quite seperate from the group and video, and he is everywhere! Facebook, Twitter, Mashada; there's now even a Makmende site.

This goes to show that Kenyan creativity is something to reckon with. These sites have been keeping me in stitches all weekend long!

Yahoo doesn't think you should be single ...

Well I am single and don't have much beef with that and all is well with the world. Well, at least it was, until I was requested to re-activate one of my dormant yahoo accounts. No big deal huh? I didn't think it would be either. Until I saw that they require me to input 2 secret quesions that only I would have the answers to. The options?
-Where did you go on honeymoon?
-What's your oldest/last born's nickname?
-Where did you meet your spouse?
-What is the last name of your maid of honour/best man at your wedding?

Heeeeeeeeeeeeey! Come on now!

Of the 'Cost' of Silver

So leo I was in town. And as always, minding my own business. I've recently been stung by a jewelry bug and was out looking for a pretty silver ring. At this juncture I must pause and state that this country is no longer our own. You and I are not expeced to have enough money in our pockets to buy more than the dollar-a-day basics. This realization hit me like a slap on the face. Fine, I was dressed casually in top, jacket and jeans but that should be no reason for the feedback I was getting.

The first guy was polite enough but wasn't bothered to get his nose out of the paper he was reading and only gave me half grunts in response to my queries. When I required to see a ring, which meant his getting his ass off the chair, I heard an audible sigh and the heavy shuffling of feet and was all but too aware of the fact that he felt that I was wasting his time. I didn't let him get dissapointed on that and left without buying a thing.

The next place I went to had a mama who begun, upon hearing my query, by announcing that their rings cost x/= (which I felt was rather low) ... those ones of don't bother me about them if you can't afford them. When I insisted on seeing them, she reluctantly brought out a collection of (rather plain) rings and it was all that she could do to keep herself from forcefully ejectig me from the premises.

What to do. I liked one of the rings I saw in the first place so I guess I'll have to undergo a bit more of the same. Najivunia ...

Of New Years, Old Bars and Karaoke

So, the other day I was minding my own business having gone to my local for a couple of drinks after a bad day. As the evening progressed, I noticed the owner of the bar and thought I'd have a word with him about the quality of their karaoke.

Pause to give background: I love karaoke. To me it's the best thing since Big G chewing gum. I've been known to fraternize joints solely on their Karaoke days and disown them immediately after karaoke is shelved. So this bar's karaoke night was one of it's appeals. Well anyway, they moved their karaoke night from Wednesday to Tuesday and got rid of the guy who used to facilitate the karaoke, replacing him with a new chick.

The first Tuesday I unsuspectingly attended the New and Improved Tuesday Karaoke (with powerfoam plus), I was in shock. I was greeted by a chick, who sung beautifully, but could not do much else! The woman gave us a 10 minute lecture in screeched tones amplified by a mic, on the importance of clapping for all performers at a karaoke event regardless of the quality of their skill. She said she was in charge and we may as well put up with it. She said that if we don't like it, we might as well leave. And leave I did. Nobody gives me a dressing down at a place I am paying to be. I am not prone to headaches, but that day I got one. I now understand what people mean when they refer to nagging wives. If she were married, I'd changa for her hubby's divorce lawyer's fees. Roho safi.

Well, back to our story, on that day, I noticed the owner of the bar and approached him seekng that he ask the chick to tone down and be friendlier. Lo and behold, the idiot owner gave me a dressing down (in a tone likely to suggest that my opinion was worth to him little more than the bible to an atheist) saying that the chick had caused a rise in their sales on Tuesday (yeah ... she invites her friends ..) and that he was very happy with her. Surprised and dumbfounded, I shook my head and left. Let's see how purported increase sales last!

I'd have been happy to add that I've not been back since, but that woulndn't be true. I love that club if not its owners & singers ... But I've definately not been back on a Tuesday!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Blogosphere! The year of the World Cup!!! Need I say more?!

The festivities around the 31st were great. I had a ball.

Immediately after that, I was recalled from leave, have been having the worst cold of the year, and found myself in the middle of the Matatu strike (asi!)

Anyway, I choose to look at the half empty glass as half full (still trying) :)

Hope you embrace your 2010.