I started this year on a book high. I was so pumped I would read a book in a few days, despite work and all. Eventually I was going to burn out, and burn out I did. You will notice a trend, but here goes the books I loved in 2016 and those that I gave up on in the end.
Whoa. At some point I thought this was not going to make sense now that the past details were kept from the reader for so long, I got tired. Then everything made sense. Good read, save for the many repetitions.
I began with a psychological thriller, of course. Kindle store has this cool section it recommends current Kindle bestsellers. I was not disappointed with Kathryn Croft. Mostly because it reminded me of Girl on the Train but also because it is set in London. I noticed a trend, all the psychological thrillers I read in 2016 are set in London.
I have been known to make fun of my sister for crying too much at the slightest provocation. I find it a tad too much. But as a grownup, I probably cry more than I should and I only realized this in 2016. I am just from tearing over the movie Siege of Jadotville. This is an amazing story about a five-day gunfight between Irish soldiers and mercenaries in Katanga, DRC. I had never even heard of the story before today. You should watch it if you haven’t already. Before that, I was watching The Magnificent Seven. I cried over this one too. Seriously. I cry over everything. Sometimes I do it so much, I end up sobbing. I have this peculiar way of rating movies, if I don’t cry, it was not that good. Even something like Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them; I didn’t necessarily get the point of it or think it was an amazing movie, but I cried, so there is that. Something else, if a movie makes me spend minutes or hours on Google after the credits have rolled, that is an awesome movie.
Therefore, I will go down my Google History and tell you the movies that made me cry and Google, in addition to the above. I would track movies and shows I watched very easily in the past with what-was-that-app? I will remember by the time I am done here. Listed from most recent backwards.
You get a good amount of rain on you today. In a skirt. You shiver alright, but you have to go to church. Today is an interesting one. You have been separated into groups. You are in the 20+ group. The crazies. The facilitator decides you are going to break into smaller groups and discuss relationships. In the end, it is very clear you are one of very many singles. Too many. It’s a bit sad. It seems the issue is not really the men, like you’re all trying to believe. It’s you. The men also have their own issues, but from where you are seated, laughing at the shouting match, you nod at their points, while your fellow girls shout them down. It makes you wonder why you are in the group claiming independence and lack of compatibility. Why won’t you find someone who is compatible? One guy stands up and says girls are confused and do not know what they want. Reason, one girl said we want simple acts of love, another said guys are broke. You sure are confused. Or maybe you all just want different things.
First of all, I am, still, very single. I just did not feel like October warranted an entry in the Diary of a Single Girl. Accept my sincere apologies. Not. 😀
Now, onto the business of the day. What have I learnt this past week? A lot, but I will not number them today. I will also keep it short, we all have things to do.
I will start with the most recent. I discovered TAG today, thanks to Apple Music recommendations, again. I couldn’t stop playing Let My People Go. Good music from a barely known artist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE9qzK3ds_U
There is something called infobesity, maybe you suffer from it. I know I did at some point, not so much now but it may still apply.
Let’s get right down to it. But before I tell you about that, what have I learnt this past week?
1. Mungu Pekee – Nyashinski
Awesomeness. That is what I am feeling right now. I was feeling real good today. On a Monday. I had cleared up a lot of work last night so I kinda knew I was going to have a good day today. I had all the time in the world to focus on all the work I love doing, you know, content and stuff. Then toward the end of the workday, I discovered this YouTube video/track today, at 5 PM. I cannot stop playing it. YouTube displayed it on the Trending section and I was like, why not? I have heard of Nyashinski before but I cannot tell you any of his songs. I had a feeling he was part of Kleptomaniacs or something of the sort. But who cares about that when there is an awesome awesome track coming through your eardrums? When the “Mungu Pekee” chorus came on, I knew I had heard it somewhere recently. Maybe Kubamba Radio. Not too sure. I did not fall for it then. But today, it’s like my brain opened up. And then, you know what’s more awesome, it has a lyric video! A Kenyan song has a lyric video!!!!! That is super amazing. I only see this with American music videos, tobyMac, MercyMe, Matthew West, name them.
Yaani I am so amazed, I cannot stop talking about it and telling everyone in the house about it. I even brought a little JBL speaker from the office to play the video on repeat. LOL. So deep. Rich content. Awesome awesome beat. Feel-good words. What more can you ask for? The song is making me repeat the word awesome and break so many grammar rules but again, who cares? You get the message, right? Question is, are these Kenyans songs available on iTunes? I want. And if they are not, why are they not? I would expect to see a link to the track or album in the YouTube description.
Oh, I just Googled. I was kinda right. They were Kleptomaniax. I saw Collo on The Trend on Friday too. I never watch the show after Larry and my brain broke up. But that Friday, I saw those kids dancing and I sat a little longer and watched. He was part of that group too, right? Good stuff.
Have you ever used something over and over again and not asked yourself what some parts of it do and never bother to find out? Well, I do that all the time. Last week, I learnt something new that made me feel very stupid. Thankfully, my stupidity gave birth to a new section of this blog. So here we are. Every week (so help me, God), I will write what I have learnt that week. I realize I learn so much and then it goes to waste without me sharing it. I discover things too, but only share them when it occurs to me that someone needs them. Sometimes, it’s just a reminder of something I had either forgotten or not taken too seriously. You know that Dead Sea analogy, if all you do is take in and never give out, you turn into a lifeless thing. I refuse.
One year ago, I wrote this post. I remember because of this awesome tool I use called missinglett_r. This amazing website lets me schedule blog posts for an entire year. I just sit back and relax, waiting to discover what it has posted on my Twitter after someone comments or retweets. So if you’re a blogger, you know what to do. It is mostly free. You’re welcome. 😉
Anyway, we were talking about singlehood. As usual. Maybe I should stop talking about it, right? In the meantime, as we chew on that thought, let’s see what has changed since one year ago. Am I still gaining weight? Nope. I have made a conscious decision to stop myself from doing so. It is not quite healthy, gaining weight ovyoovyo, to be honest. Regardless of all those all-up-in-your-biz mamas who keep asking why you are not eating during family get-togethers. Don’t listen to those mamas. They want you look like them, which is not healthy at all. Maybe they could avoid it themselves and it’s culturally acceptable to gain weight as a symbol of “having arrived”. If you can avoid blowing up without making a huge effort, then avoid it. Not even for the look but for the health of it all. Your future babies need you in one piece. Exercise. Eat natural things. Give natural yoghurt a shot. That thing sucks but it’s for the greater good. Tell yourself that, it will keep you going.
It’s beautiful. Morning or evening. But especially in the evening, if you ignore the blinding sun that’s right on the windscreen at 6pm. That’s when I head home from work most times. It’s right there. The sun visor does not help. (Don’t worry, I didn’t know this is the exact word until I Googled. I was calling it a sunshade.) I’m too short. Bear in mind I hoist the seat to its maximum raised position. Anyway, I was talking about this beautiful phenomenon. The Southern Bypass is half empty half the time. Most times it’s just you and a truck. Once in awhile, a Porche Cayenne will whisk past. Or one of the million Harriers around. Sometimes, you’ll see those Kenyan Cowboy Pajeros. Then there will be a Vitz with a lady at the wheel. A red Vitz. A red Vitz that never leaves the right lane. You know it’s a lady because of the huge hair that goes above the driver’s seat. Not because it is a Vitz. Not because it will not move to the left lane. Tafadhali stereotypes peleka huuuuko. Other than that, it’s just you, blinded by the sun, and the sprawling nature. Sprawling in a nice way. That’s the beauty I’m talking about.
You were going to procrastinate again. You were going to write this post some other day. But then someone somewhere insisted that you had to do it today, not tomorrow. So you gave in. He has a point. A few days more and it will be September! Sigh. Where to start?
You have so many things running in your mind on any given day or time that they all seem to evaporate and override each other by the time you want to sit and think of one of them. Days are a blur most times. You get up, snooze a million times, take your sugarless tea (oh yes, you can finally take sugarless tea without blinking) and get to work. Speaking of sugarless tea. It’s been a journey of many turns. You have thought about some of the ladies you know with flat tummies and they have one thing in common – no sugar. Why not you? People insist that you don’t have a tummy but you know you do. These are the kind of friends you don’t need in your life. Friends that tell you lies to make you feel better. Lol. We see you.
So we got a new reverend in our church quite a while back. I only saw and listened to him for the first time yesterday. Every time I am on duty in Sunday school, he is preaching. Let’s just say I have missed a lot. The very tall minister of the word is one of those for whom people actually walk into the building to listen to instead of walking out. Best believe. I saw that for the first time yesterday, where the opposite happens. His sense humour is something else too.
We’ve been having sermons about the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It so happened that yesterday’s was Self-control. Na by the way you guys should stop saying the fruits of the Holy Spirit. It very clearly says the fruit. One fruit with many aspects. But anyway, that’s just politics. Fruit can very well mean fruits. Depends on where you went to school and with whom.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5: 22-23
Olympics mode.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Back by public demand. Or rather, because Dickson insisted. So, guys, I mentioned that I ditched Samsung phones. For good. Okay, maybe never say never. Maybe they will change. I went into the bowels of Luthuli Avenue and got my awesome Sony Xperia Z5. Oh yes I did, a while back. I am a hustler, people. Get this, the authorized Sony dealer that was based next to Uchumi Sarit Centre (until recently, not sure where it was moved to) was selling it for almost 80,000 KES. 80,000 people! Who does that? Like why, then, don’t I just get the S7 that everyone was head over heels and that very much tempted me? That camera, eish!
Anyway, I was not going to change my mind because of a camera and good customer service at their service centres. No way. Background, Shindroid 2.1 went kaput for a while. I think I jinxed after I wrote about it. I had to go back to Samsung folks to fix it at an outrageous price. But a Kikuyu had mercy on me and did the same thing for almost half the price. So it’s a brand new phone again and belongs to my mother. Two birds, one stone.
So how much, did I buy my Sony Z5? Take a wild guess.
Can you believe it? It’s already second half! Let’s not start with a cliché about time though. You know how it is nowadays. Let’s start with the cold cliché. July. *shivers* You sit by the jiko nowadays, even as you browse the Internet. Your cat too. But she prefers the hot water bucket next to you. You wear twenty pieces of cloth during the day. You even campaigned for a heater in the office. No one wants to walk to lunch in the fog. You all wait for someone to volunteer to bring it. You don’t complain about the car A/C being on. Heck, you turn it on yourself to rise above the 12 degrees outside. This year is different though. No cheesy texts from dudes asking what’s keeping you warm. Whether they can help. You pretty much closed that chapter officially. Only positive vibes, Positive energy. Constructive discussions. Anyone who dares brings trash to your space gets shut out.
You finally (FINALLY!!!!!) get that new mattress. Of course not without some drama. You and your all-knowing dad drive to the supermarket, confident you have the right measurement for your beds. (Side note: he used a string.) You shop around every supermarket in the vicinity and finally the cheapest. You make the purchase, haggle over transportation cost and hit the road. Your days of sleeping on a boat of a mattress are gone. Then you place it on the bed and it does not fit. Anti-climax. Lesson learnt. Soma lebo next time. Eventually the supermarket orders the right size and you get your mattress. Sema struggle ya kuamka! Not like you are not known for snoozing your alarm from 6:30 all the way to 7:00. Even your sister has mastered your alarm tone. But this makes it even worse. It’s good for your back though, and it’s not like you’re getting to work late. Far from it.
The not writing was getting toxic, so I am back to writing as often as I possibly can. Last July, I wrote a similar post. Can you believe it? It’s been a year! Then I just read it and realized, boy do we change! Just wait and see. Also, this is now, officially a yearly post.
1. Quarter-full bottle of Stoney Tangawizi
Depending on how you look at is, that is. It is three-quarter full if you subscribe to that school of thought. I am not a fan of soda, but sometimes, I insist. This is from Friday. Imagine. And it’s still fizzy.
Takeaway: Plastic bottles are not that bad, they keep stuff fresh. Just dispose them of correctly.
2. Notebook
This is still here, as was last year. Only a different notebook. Kartasi. More or less still new. My other bag has one that I used for sermon notes yesterday. Paper Factory brand. Those are the cutest notebooks!
The Girl With No Past by Kathryn Croft