7th August 1998, 10 years on; we live

May you find serenity and tranquility in a world you may not always understand. May the pain you have known and the conflict you have experienced give you the strength to walk through life facing each new situation with courage and optimism. Always know that there are those whose love and understanding will always be there, even when you feel most alone. May you discover enough goodness in others to believe in a world of peace. May a kind word, a reassuring touch, and a warm smile be yours every day of your life, and may you give these gifts as well as receive them. Remember the sunshine when the storm seems unending.

Teach love to those who hate, and let that love embrace you as you go out into the world. May the teachings of those you admire become part of you, so that you may call upon them. Remember, those whose lives you have touched and whose have touched yours are always a part of you, even if the encounters were less than you would have wished. It is the content of the encounter that is more important than the form.

May you not become too concerned with material matters, but instead place immeasurable value on the goodness in your heart. Find time each day to see beauty and love in the world around you. Realize that each person has limitless abilities, but each of us is different in our own way. What you feel you lack in the present may become one of your strengths in the future. May you see your future as one filled with promise and possibility. Learn to view everything as a worthwhile experience. May you find enough inner strength to determine your own worth by yourself, and not be dependent on another’s judgment of your accomplishments. May you always feel loved. – ANONYMOUS
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. – ALBERT EINSTEIN

Vintage Mandela

I see no better way to remember his 90th birthday this than with his own quote:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Enough said

Thanks to y’all

So I am a day older than I was yesterday. Little difference!

All the same, thanks for all the wishes I have gotten from everyone. I can not possibly reply to each personally so take this all of you as the appreciation. Small problem though: where is the money? I thought we agreed you would send me money so I can buy birthday presents of my own? I am still crossing my fingers for that 🙂

Muchias gracias!

RIP Lorna Laboso, Kipkalya Kones and other crash victims

Again.

This time it took Kipkalya Kones and Lorna Laboso. Also his (still unnamed) bodyguard and pilot.

Rest in Peace.

Grass will grow

TELEVISION

By Roald Dahl

The most important thing we’ve learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set —
Or better still, just don’t install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we’ve been,
We’ve watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone’s place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they’re hypnotised by it,
Until they’re absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don’t climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink —
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE! HE CANNOT THINK — HE ONLY SEES!
‘All right!’ you’ll cry. ‘All right!’ you’ll say,
‘But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!’
We’ll answer this by asking you,
‘What used the darling ones to do?
‘How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?’
Have you forgotten? Don’t you know?
We’ll say it very loud and slow:
THEY … USED … TO … READ! They’d READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching ’round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it’s Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and-
Just How The Camel Got His Hump,
And How the Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There’s Mr. Rate and Mr. Mole-
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They’ll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.
And once they start — oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They’ll grow so keen
They’ll wonder what they’d ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.

————

My, my, this has got to be one of my best poems of all time. 😀

The Real Achievers are in Sports!

As as a matter of principle and practice, I do not usually republish my pieces published elsewhere in my blog. However, I will make an exception for this particular opinion from the Daily Nation of Friday 11th April 2008. So here goes:

THE 14th US CHIEF JUSTICE, Earl Warren, was quoted by Sports Illustrated in 1968 as saying: “I always turn to the sports pages first, which records people’s accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man’s failures.” Of late, with the political temperatures in the country at fever pitch, I have come to a new appreciation of both the quote, and the truth in it. And after paying closer attention to the back pages of the papers, I was pleasantly surprised to note  that a great deal is happening in the world of sports. But, naturally, these have been eclipsed by the cat-and-mouse game played by politicians as they figure out how best to run our country down. It is as though they have not already done us the worst possible damage with their two month-long blame game. In fact, I now hold the view that even if the Cabinet issue is finally resolved, it won’t be too long before they find something else to disagree on with equal gusto. You will be amazed at the tomes of useful information tucked away in the last pages of newspapers. Believe it or not, the much derided Kenya Football Federation may be making more progress than our Government has done in the last four months. The Kenya Premier League matches are now being beamed live to a continental audience thanks to a unique partnership with continental pay-TV channel, Multichoice. This will be on for the next four years, at the end of which, the standard of Kenyan football is expected to be much higher than it is today. CLUBS ARE EARNING MONEY OUT  of the deal, and locally, football is now going professional. Coaches, players and fans are all upbeat about this development and the only reason why it probably didn’t make headlines is because we were all transfixed on the words ‘‘stalemate’’, ‘‘collapse’’, and their respective derivatives. Kenya’s rugby has never been better. The Bamburi Rugby Super Series just ended a very successful run last weekend with the Lions franchise taking home the crown. Not that it wasn’t contested; it was bitterly fought over. The newly-formed Nguvu Sharks side that brought together Nairobi-based universities posted  an impressive showing to emerge third overall. Now, that is what I call achievement. Internationally, the Kenyan seven-a-side team made great showings at both the Hong Kong and Adelaide outings. They fought gallantly, taking some deep bites and cuts and giving a few of their own in games that were certainly entertaining. It is for all of these reasons that the whole idea that President Kibaki and Prime Minister-designate Raila Odinga are unable to agree on a Cabinet appears like pure balderdash. After having hammered out the more contentious National Accord that ushered in peace, the small matter of who gets appointed to help in healing this country should be a walk in the park. At times like these, calls like those appearing on Facebook to privatise government are not only plausible, they may even turn out to be desirable.

Happy Easter! Moonvertising?

Like I do every Easter, I look at some of those totally bizarre, far-fetched and eccentric things that make this century. How else would you explain this: moonvertising – yaani advertising on the moon.

A beer brewer in the States, Rolling Rock is set to beam their logo on the moon over the next few full moons!

Ok, well, there you have it. In fact, their first attempt is going to be today: March 21st!

If you ask me, these guys are high on their own product. Which is why it’s kind heartening to know that we haven’t reached that level. If anything, we may be having quite the reverse! 

Happy (and sane) Easter y’all!

So, is Kenyan radio any better now?

Now, Yours Truly has been paying a lot more attention to the radio these past few days. Of course, the sheer variety is terribly amazing and maddeningly unnerving. Have you tried scanning the dial these days and notice just how much talk there is on the airwaves these days?

The newest kids on the block Homeboyz Radio and Ghetto Radio have also been doing their thing. I absolutely loved Jeff holding it down for G Money in the morning. On the other hand, every time I switch to Ghetto, they just seem to be playing reggae all the time, and I CAN’T STAND REGGAE!

I also passed by Hot 96’s Liquid show in the jioz and there was Albert Josiah and Dj Joe going on and on about some listener who had confused the station with Easy FM. “Kama uko ndani ya Easy FM mbona unatutumia sms, fala hii? Ati that guy is confusing us with Easy FM, he is absolutely out of his mind,” AJ for you. I can almost imagine he got a call from his boss after the show.

In all this array of choice, obscenity and difference of opinion, is Kenyan radio more entertaining than say, two years ago?

Looks like we really love the hawkers

The hawkers really don’t want to leave the streets of Nairobi, where they have been plying their trade ever since the elections caught up with us. Now that we have a peace deal, therefore the New Year is a few weeks late (when they were expected to be flushed out after the polls), the man who we didn’t give kazi in 2002 has some kazi to do. UK has declared and insists, it is time they moved.

The good people at Haiya! polled to find out how we feel about them:

If this is anything to go by, we are hopelessly divided as to whether we want the hawkers to leave the city centre, or to continue wading through them every time. Me, I have made up my mind, OK I just changed it just as I was about to write my decision here.

There are so many reasons for and against them! Man, my head hurts! Can we have some resolution on this, anyone?

OK people, you got tagged!

Rules: –Link to the person that tagged you. – Post the rules on your blog. – Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. – Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. – Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

Man, what do I write now? Here goes:

1. I always forget (OK, procrastinate) to cut my hair until one of my buddies complains that it (including the beard) has overgrown.

2. I would never forget my phone at home. Never!

3. But I once forgot my belt. Mercifully, the jeans fit and I had a T-shirt over it.

4. I am an Internet junkie. I could literally live in it, but am still great at relationships.

5. My ‘Geek Rating‘ is just shy of half (49%)

6. I would never walk around in this monstrosity. NO, thank you very much.

Cool, now that am done, the nice part. Who gets the summons?

a. Boyfulani – dude, you knew this was coming didn’t you?

b. Eudiah – you aren’t spared sweetheart

c. Farmgal – do this to get your mind off everything

d. Joyce – what else is there besides rock?

e. Unyc – I dont care if someone already did this, I will be inspecting to make sure the post is up.

f. GG – child, and why should I spare you?

Looks to me like we are done here, or aren’t we 😀