Breaking a sweat

Sweating is one of the best ways to flush out toxins from the excretory system. It helps maintain your temperature and, therefore, a healthy lifestyle. When salty drops run down the face, it means that you have engaged in an activity that is blowing a kiss of life into the body. I am not implying sweating because it is hot outside. I mean the glow as a result of physical exertion, most probably training. Being in an area with sweltering heat normally triggers sweating. However, it's a better way to discover the type of environment your body is conditioned to acclimate to.

Exercising remains the best way to invigorate the body and induce a healthy sweat. Yet, the mere thought of working out causes the body to instinctively cringe and involuntarily shudder. It is rarely an activity you approach with fervent zeal and enthusiasm. Very few can transform working out from being a daunting task into a rewarding ritual that makes the body look forward to such a positive experience.

Ideally, you force your body to go through the torture and discomfort associated with physical exercises. Even simple exercises like raising your arms can be challenging if you are not used to them. It may appear simple to hold your hands aloft for 2 minutes until you have to start progressing from easy to extra strenuous versions that add complexity. 

If you increase the number of repetitions and sets, then your body automatically ignites that burning sensation, which signals the onset of fatigue. It is normally a fiery sensation that builds muscle strength and endurance. Over time, you adapt and become more resilient. It is wise to make small changes over time. Do not expect to achieve it all at once. Evolve your habits to suit what you have immersed yourself in. However, if you make the mistake of forgoing consistency, you will easily regress.

Once in a while, I exercise because I sit a lot. In a day, I spend close to 12 hours seated. I could be working to make money or engage in other hobbies that involve sitting, like writing or reading. The two hobbies are closely linked and have a strong correlation. Therefore, I allocate a lot of time to them. Luckily, I can sharpen my mind and strengthen my mental muscular memory in bed. 

I normally flip through my phone or a read book. I prefer reading eBooks hence my phone is the one-stop shop for perusal. Currently, I have a few physical books. But I plan to increase my collection in the coming months. That said, it has never crossed my mind that I should go to a bookshop or even order some online.

While reading can be done in bed, writing requires a chair and desk to candidly engage in. Asked, I spend more time reading. Sometimes, I wake up in the middle of the night because my sleep is disrupted because of a salivary chock, a cough or an impending pee. If I have not fallen back to sleep after thirty minutes, I usually turn to reading blogs. 

What works best is skimming through a book. Some sites offer free eBooks, provided you subscribe and become a platform member. As usual, the websites take advantage of your data and use it to their advantage to tailor advertisements that algorithms think suit your age, gender, and all other traits that they deduce from your profile given the kind of books you read. Of course, I clear cookies, cache, and web history after a while to avoid being marketed products that lead to frivolous purchases.

I often end up lousy and lethargic while indulging in the two hobbies. Fortunately, my body tends to signal that I should get moving to relieve the buildup of tension. Naturally, the body becomes clenched and tensed because of the sedentary and indoorsy lifestyle. My daily routine is simple: I wake up, brush my teeth, and shower. Then dive into the day. Subtly, if you work from home, like yours truly, there is a high likelihood you may get caught up in tasks that stretch for long without pausing for a breather.

That is where a smart band comes in handy. Depending on your lifestyle, after every 1 or two hours, you get a gentle reminder to be up and about. When you have been in the same state for a long time, you might become stiff due to prolonged inertia. That is why a band comes with ingenuous nudges to encourage you to stretch and stay limber.

One of the regions in the body that usually ends up in pain is the lower back. If you are not in a job that involves a lot of sitting, then stand is your posture. Standing is beneficial. You rarely end up in pain because at some point, you will walk.

That cannot be said of sitting. It is easy to forget to get up and move when I am busy involved in a task that occupies so much of my time. I normally suffer from lower back pains, and sometimes, I just overlook the issue because I see no need to work on the body. When I sit down to read, I have come up a strategy in where I do around 50 pages in one hour. Sometimes, depending on my mood, it can stretch to an hour and a half. Ideally, if I spend three hours reading, I do not notice that I was absorbed in the activity. 

Unfortunately, writing and reading occupy so much of my time to the  extent thatI forget that I need to stretch my body. I love lower back stretches because they are less intensive and help promote cardiovascular healing while strengthening the core. Exercises like body tilts, cobra pose, child pose, planks, bird dog pose and other exercises have come in handy lately. They help melt away stress, and you feel revitalized. The bridge helps with lowering back pain. It stabilizes the spine and delivers relief from discomfort in the strained area.

If you do not incorporate a workout regimen, you may end up having a slight stoop. You never notice that the body is in distress because you sit down longer than usual. No wonder there are mirrors in gyms to remind you to shape up. What I love about the exercises is that they are freely posted on various platforms. If you are a fitness buff, you can easily follow your preferred fitness influencer to keep fit. Alternatively, you can join like-minded individuals in the various gyms.

I rely heavily on YouTube for my workouts because it offers an array of exercises. Most exercises are tailored to suit your fitness level or the stage you are in life. You may opt for beginner-friendly exercises and then gradually advance to pro exercises. However, it is easier said than done. Workouts demand dedication and consistency. If you spend most of your time in the house, there is a high chance that you will be discouraged from working out. You might even give up. Few have the discipline to stay on course because you are causing pain. It's wise to join others. Being part of a group helps with motivation since you are not alone.

The results are what sometimes keep me going strong. After the pandemic, most jobs that did not involve meeting clients directly could be done from home. I have been working from home since. I have never looked back because it has offered me a chance to engage in what I love doing beyond the job I am paid for monthly. 

A self-employed chap once told me he cannot imagine being paid only 12 times in a year. Which is what I go through yearly. As a salaried employee, when you are financially stretched, you have to wait till the end of the month for your next paycheck. Meanwhile, depending on how his business operates, someone like him likely earns money more frequently—sometimes even hourly. Not forgetting that he charges depending on the customer. Sometimes I envy him. Take an Uber driver, for instance, turning up at the right location guarantees income, a privilege I don't have.

During the pandemic, I can recall I gained weight in all the wrong areas. I had massive adipose deposits around the belly, which made it hard to walk the way I once did. Even 5000 steps would leave me sweating as if I had been trapped up in a sudden downpour. That was the turning point that spurred my erratic fitness journey.

Along the way, my body regained its former shape. Like every journey, life is full of ups and downs. I have to work very hard because I have a pot belly. I used to do exercises that involved cutting down weight. Presently, I am fit judging by my body shape. However, when it comes to yoga-like exercises, that is where I draw the line.

Hasta La Vista, Baby.

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REAL BLOGGERS.

I love reading blog posts more than I love reading books. Given that I use a moniker to run this blog, I know that I am quite bland in anecdotal symphony. I know it and that is why I use a pen name. At least, no one will castigate me for my lackluster performance. I can silhouette the bluff incandescently while not having to juxtapose the immediate contents of my banal experiences ludicrously (sic).

I love those who do not use a pseudonym when it comes to blogging. For example, let’s assume a guy called Patrick is blogging. Obviously, if he is gutsy enough, he will ensure he acquires a domain name by the name Patrick. Assuming it is even possible to get such a domain name given that there was a guy two decades ago who eloped with it even before a bugger like me ever knew that blogging exists.

As a matter of fact, because Patrick loves all the brouhaha that comes with blogging, whether he does photography, writing or some other hoity toity stuff on the net, he will decide to also have a Facebook page. The page will be non performing because Zucks will not give you fame for free on a platform he started in a dormitory. So Patrick will use his Facebook account instead. If he is the steadfast guy, after sometime, he will reap what he did sow. Guys will start 'liking' his posts and this can be a boon if exploited with zeal.

Ideally, Facebook charges for creating a page. In order to reach many people, just like any advertisement platform, you need to pay. As your numbers grow, so does the amount of money you need to pay. You also need a set of skills which will come in handy in the sense that they add value a lot. Like a little bit of Graphic design won't hurt. As a blogger, you need to invest. Twitter is not also free, to advertise, you need to pay them. So, you gain by having more readers visiting your blog by paying to showcase your products on the online networking sites.

The best thing about Facebook is that once you start being a perennial user of posting your works in it, you will get the results even though it will be only organic reach. As time progresses, it will be easy to get more people to like your posts because that is what Facebook is all about. However, links never work that much. The bottom line is that in order to get an audience, you will need more than just being good at what you do. You need money. If you do not have it. Like any other guy, no one will ever notice you.

I love the stories of bloggers who tell it as it is. The fact that I can see their picture makes them more relatable. A picture is worth a thousand words. It’s even dear to the heart. On the contrary, for a bugger like me, I have tried to keep the whole thing in the dark. It’s like going to the back streets and looking for contraband or being a sex worker. Though you think that you are never seen, there is that guy who will see you doing your stuff but he will never tell you about it. The same way someone knows about the writings of this blog but never talks about it. You let it pass just like that because its nature to do so.

Sometimes I wish I had the guts to put my blog on my Facebook page. Will it even add anything? Maybe it can. Then one day those sniffer dogs hired by Zucks will realize that I am reaping from it. They will then muzzle my reach and there will be nothing I can do. It’s a capitalistic world though. It’s the reason why I also abhor the duo who run blogger. In fact, it is no longer lucrative to be a blogger without bucks. It will force you to go offline if you want to make it. Online advertising can be expensive but it is worth it in the long run.

Since this blog aims at anonymity, there is no pressure to consider paid up advertising. Which boils down to cutting your coat according to your size. It is kind of lonely yes but the satisfaction is liberating though sometimes ennervatig. On the contrary, being like Daft Punk is quite unrewarding. You achieve success much later as opposed to it being sooner. As a result, you get no offers for free drinks, a movie opening and other stuff that real consistent bloggers who advertise get. The bottom line is that if you put people in the dark, they cannot give freebies you way. Preserving a level of pseudonymity is in line with being in control and trusting that my intuition is right even if it is checkered. It also gives fulfillment in creating a personality which I could not once my nee brought me to this planet. 


I love it this way because no single employer has ever found this out to derail my plans and cut me off. You can get dirty. Obviously if they knew certain traits in my character they would have let me off even before I knew it. I can also be honest sometimes as I go about my duties. Never mind that I consider my 8 to 5 job one full of a lot of idling. You may ask why? From the perspective of someone who has ever worked for a Chinese, there is nothing like gibbering while at work. You are only allowed to be productive. After all, giving out free money is not what anyone wants.


This cocoon offers so much comfort. At the end of the day, when I am feeling like I have not achieved, I can bring the hullabaloo here. What I don't know is whether I am using my authentic voice. I have a couple of times thought that I am imitating someone. And I do not want anyone to find out that I  am a copy cat. I only do this because I want it to remain an avenue to self affliction and affirmation. It's also self effacing since one day I will take a leap of faith and go the extra mile of showcasing my other personality. I obviously have boundaries in my scripting if you may ask. I would have loved telling some lewd stories but my conscience cannot allow me. If someone else narrates those salacious anecdotes, I occasionally  entertain them because they excite me. But from me!


Anonymous blogging is a disease. One day, the chips will get down. A friend once told be that a little changes in life. Every time I hit the publish button, I usually get excited. Especially when I see some few numbers. Then things return to the pattern prototype. What is for sure is that this blog perfectly mirrors to an extent my assumptions about life. The messy stuff and complicated things that make life interesting. My vulnerability is also revealed and their is this feeling of illusion that everything in life is fine when in actually fact I am still at a limbo. I hope I will turn around and help inspire others once I am through with this rippling effects.


This may hinder my freelance writing career but I am content in the meantime. I think I should endeavor to write about les jeux sont faits. 

Hasta La Vista Baby

[Picture Source: Google Images]

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CORONA AND COROLLA

There is a phrase that goes, ‘Life is a series trial and error’. I have made errors and realized that even though they are times you regret; they serenely make you stronger. That means there are moments in life you need to live a dog’s life and think that you have wasted the master ball. Then there are those moments when you have overcome the manly errors and people love that you have made it and hence love your association. They never know how close you were to giving up, they never know the sacrifices you make each day just to ensure you see to it that your dream comes alive. There are those vain moments, those you never want to talk about. There are those moments that you should talk about, because society has dictated so. Society only loves successful people. As a result, never tell it when you have down moments, just say how easy it has been. Because that is what the regular guy wants to hear, if you talk about the struggles, then you will create enemies, and we don’t want to be loners, we want to be loved. We want to be in a society where we are accepted. However, when the day comes to a close, so shall you lie. As the Swahili proverb goes.

Today, I want to outpour my frustrations to my current bae. I don’t know if that is the right name, nonetheless, it applies to her since I spend more time than average intervals being worried about her, thinking about our union and the probable rewards I will get if this union materializes. Which will take ages, and ages. But the end of it all is that if I stick around and never give up, I will smile all the way to the bank as opposed to being drained off and being a sponger. I had to steal this phrase just for her and it goes. “I am sure this is worth what I am going through. I don't want to waste this opportunity, or I won't get another one. But this is my choice . . . so I have to choose wisely and be decisive.”

Because of the struggles, I have decided to write a letter to my bae. It does not mean that I have to suffer every time I am with her. She has made me go places, which I will continue going and see many more as time rolls. But here is the letter.

Dear Bae,

In a flash of shock and dread, I did twitch awake, finding myself in the bathroom as I had to wake up very early in the morning today where I did wash off the slumber. I had lost sleep, because the alarm never rung. It was those wee hours when the thief strikes. I am also from a short siesta, having got tired and realized that I need to take a breather because all work without play is a disaster in waiting. You know that the reason why I woke up was because of you. You mean more to me now than ever. I don’t know whether this should be a love message or a dirge. You will be forced to read in between the lines to figure out.

For the past few weeks, I have been forced to take drastic measures. It’s like a newlywed couple. They have to forget about the bachelor days and start acting married. They have to take time to ensure they nurture their relationship so that they withstand those who try to rock their boat. Like those newlyweds, we have started our journey. When we shall celebrate or tie the union is virgin. Given that I want to finish this journey in a record time, I have been forced to forego those that I should not have. But I have to let it move across me, seize every movement of locking my limbs and emotions in place, long enough for it to cleave and claim another part of my being.

You see, I long forgot to party five months ago because of you. I stopped hitting the bottle and even joined church. But amid all this, I have not stopped being worried. The sole reason why I eschew liquor is because of the energy effect. Recently at an event organised in one of the ritzy hotels in the city, I got to know why I have to keep that energy. There is this economist who argued that interest rates are like alcohol, you feel the impact later on after having enjoyed. Let me be terse, I know interest rates are too academic or economic, so I will tell the alcohol bit.

You see, when you drink alcohol, at around midnight, you usually become super active, dancing moves you would never pull when sane, peeing and just feeling good and energetic. You never question where all the energy has come from. It’s not that alcohol gives you energy, its only that you have utilized tomorrow’s energy before its intended time. It’s also like having a given portion of food to eat which you should divide for lunch and supper. If you consume it all at once, you will have yourself to blame if hunger pangs take the better of you and you have no victuals to bribe the marauding enzymes and amylases in the digestive system. Similarly, ale has the net effect of metamorphosing into a hangover. And what does that mean?  You will be spent the next day. And for a person like me, it could magnify because it also means less of partaking meals resulting in losing so many hours. Which I never want to. Now you know why I have stopped drinking liquor, right.

You see, there are these test I have been taking to find out if I can pass the minimum threshold to be with you. Actually, I have realized that I need to go an extra mile, even though I am writing this letter, it highly contributes to wasting precious time. But I am not, I am not wasting time. I am investing it because it’s worthwhile to go back and find out where you have been because pictures cannot give meaning illustrations like words. They may not tell that I spend more than three hours seated patiently somewhere just to test myself if I qualify to be with you. In that regard, I have decided to go through the torture of failing each time. Only once have I met the minimum requirement. The rest of the time, I have been scoring average grades. You know that it is my responsibility to check myself if I am prepared for you or not. And it looks like I should keep preparing. Till I succeed, I am not relenting. Rome in essence was not build in a day. And it looks like I have to sacrifice more days and forgo luxuries in preparing.

But the most outstanding reasons why being in love with you is a demand is because I have ended up forgetting about my first love- scripting. I have mused a couple of times of the untold stories that have not penned just because I have been betrothed to you. In soliloquy, I sometimes talk to her. Though occasionally, I try to revive our checkered union to no avail. It’s like am now captive to you. I don’t remember tying the knot with those small handcuffs we put on our ring fingers in a civil or religious ceremony. Sometimes I hear her crying of neglect, painfully and with sorrow. She looks sad and forlorn. Inside this thing called a blog I have left her. So that people can come and check her out and comfort her, just to give her solace. She never complains, but something inside tells me she is hurting. She wants me back. I feel like taking her, but those many days I have spent with you will not go down in futility. You know I mean it. If I ever decide to get back with her……………, you I mean it. Reminds me of that rap by G-Easy. Looking at how neglected she is, I feel sorry. Its human to be so. Yet I have not done that which I am supposed to. And as a result, I have decided to check her out today. Just to tell her she is not alone. That I will take care of her in some other way.

Being in a union with you is like being married to a nagging woman even though I have no idea what the institution of marriage is like. I have lost touch with reality. I no longer love that which all and sundry loves. Even taking up some small tasks has become an issue. I am even selective in what I want to do. You have your own demands and also require me to be like the good old husband, be there to deliver. But you also know that I am jobless. And having read widely, I realized that it is not easy getting a job in the industry I desire, not that its easy anywhere else. It’s not. I have to try to be the best in the meantime. However, frustrations and lethargy usually gets the better of me. It has even got to that point I am a stranger to many people. Even my immediate neighbours never see me and they wonder where I have been to. Likewise, my peeps are sometimes forced to call me just to find out if I am doing right. Obviously, I am fine. But its lonely. I feel like am an under achiever.

My job, my only job is to preserve myself and I do it very well. You remember after a small stint working I decided to relieve myself of duty. Sometimes I do have few regrets, but materially, I feel like I have achieved that which I could not have in the event I had stuck around. Let me hope that you’ll let me crack the code to riches so long as I swear my loyalty, so long as I bid farewell to the petty feel good moments that don’t last. However, what is for sure is that you have taught me discipline. I have to stick to a rote. I have to keep showing up and that is the essence of it all. Showing up is like what Malcolm Gladwell authored differentiates the regular guy from the achiever. Even if I do not get a job, I have learnt so much. That with dedication, you can be what you want, as long as you forget what others think. Join forces with likeminded people and forge on ahead.

I just love the fact that you have opened some doors that I am yet to take advantage of. I am not the zetetic type, I am no the go getter type, but I love to continue getting better so that when I get there, when it is my time, it will be a smooth sail. Guess my time will come and I will get there, where you have intended me to be. In fact, I must acknowledge that I have materially grown intellectually. I know so much yet I have no opportunity to relay back yet I am an upright being. I love the monopoly I now have. It’s very material. Even when I am not in a position to fend for some things, I am contented in the short while that I am bequeathed with gem. Knowledge that is. I have also tested the frustration of being jobless and have come to appreciate that you have to find ways to mitigate and ameliorate.

Do you know how many hangouts I have ceased going for even after receiving an invite? You need to realize that I am not taking you for granted. And like a Eurobond beneficiary, I will be there for you. Never mind that Kenyans talk about Eurobond yet they never know what it is. That we were loaned and as such we have to pay those bondholders at a premium is not a joke. Since we are not investment grade and because of credit and market risk they need compensation for loaning a third world country in form of higher coupons. And as tax payers, we have to pay for it whether the infrastructure will come to materialize or not. Anyway. Like I intimated, I left partaking of ale. You know ale and energy don’t go hand in hand. Plus, there is the possibility of killing those brain cells that I should keep safe. I know some of the decisions are not sane. Like how can a grown up guy be committed so much that he cannot take a break to engage with pals. Ideally, I have become a societal misfit. I don’t know if am headed in the right direction. But ideally, I am committed to get where I want to be. Which means I need to take a break. Even though I thought I would have done better by writing even more. In either case.

Hasta La Vista Baby.

[Picture Source: My own]

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QUARTER LIFE CRISIS

Have you ever been asked about your net worth or value and musing over the question, you conduct a complete audit of yourself and realize you are in a financial bind. Then you feel like you are this morbid failure whose financial status is better off rendered insolvent or liquidated or in layman terms you are in an economic turmoil since you are operating on a deficit in relation to your financial spectrum that you envisaged would be earning interests as you make more for sustenance having invested in index funds in a tax haven country, say Belize, British Virgin Islands or Mauritius.

At my age, I feel like I have gone through a series of up and downs but having not achieved a well-defined financial path could just be the reason why this post has surfaced.

Allow me to say that I am a freelancer. This is a courteous word knowing full well that I am not attached to any company that can offer me a leeway to start a financial journey through offering my services because I have no income to rely on at the end of the month or day because of impulsive decisions that have caused this financial quagmire. As I write this, I am hopeful that this sojourn will be pro tempore. Failure of which I will lose respect in the eyes of society and even my current beau (feminine version). However, I am not worried, life is about going through those situations that help you in identifying a Mojo stance that will be unwavering in the long term. The folly of short-term ebullience that is characterized by petty triumph is that it is soon hobbled into redundancy if cogent contemplation is overlooked.

Indeed, I have learnt that easy come, easy go. That which comes without much sweat is like a lottery win. You have not adequately prepared for it, so you end up making decisions that are reckless and immaterial because the new found fortune knocked on the door that was at a limbo inside. Take for instance yours truly, I made one of the most fatal mistakes in life when I left my teaching job that even though was not well rewarding, but had the prospects of taking me to the next level. Am I regretting? Yes and No. Yes because probably, as at now, I would have been in paid employment and not having to be that guy who borrows money having exhausted all the savings I had made in my former job. And No because my former job exposed me to new skills and aura that is present in most workplaces where the employer feels entitled to treating you the way he likes because you are his employees. But I gained material knowledge of social media marketing, graphic design and copyrighting that may one day rake in some cash. Since such tools cannot aid in quashing my financial obscurity in the meantime, I have taken time off to concentrate on my studies. Luckily, I am buoyant that things will start sprucing up after plummeting for a while, sooner. Because the good thing about life is its unpredictability.

As a freelancer, there are many facets of life that usually give one the impetus over those who are tied to employment. You have plenty of free time that you can use to genuinely aid in making money or loafing around lolling in the milieu of your hodgepodge or in rare occasions use it to gain knowledge on how to be beneficial to the self or society through watching online tutorials or reading books or attending webinars or seminars that contribute to the same.

Ideally, I discovered this MOOC (massive open online course) instituted by scholarship giants Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) called edX. It has the ‘F’ word most people like and that is, it is Free of charge like oxygen. Yes, everything on edX is free apart from the fact that getting issued with a certificate requires a little payment at the end of the day. Indeed, learning has been liberalized. You get the best education from the best university at no cost and you can even land a scholarship to one of the Ivy League Institutions as the Mongolian wunderkind Battushig Myanganbayar. I saw him in a conference organized by World Bank where the institution was launching its maiden Open Learning Courses and realized how a global village the world has become. When you take up those courses, you need to program yourself to finish and have intrinsic motivation and discipline to complete. The setback is that MOOCs today are primarily serving the education haves, not disadvantaged learners. Why? You need internet which is far out of reach of many people especially those that could gain from MOOCs.

As such I can only imagine how MOOCs can be of help to the many hustlers who have a thirst for education but cannot find an avenue for gaining free education at the comfort of a click. If investors could realize that the future of a nation is incentivized through technology, they would ensure that more centres such as @ilabAfrica and @iHub are given more emphasis at the grassroots level so that more people can be able to gain an education in lieu of resorting to drug abuse and vices that destroy the moral fabric of the society. Sometimes when I look at the many hustlers who while away their time waiting for things to happen instead of making them happen, I usually empathize. Anyway, every other person knows what’s best for him or her. I am a firm believer that individual actions are sometimes within one's control. Except in incidences that are outside one's scope and as such they may be termed as macro influences. When I usually hear the stories of such individuals who I sometimes engage, I usually take an agnostic viewpoint.

Anyway back to my quarter life crisis, there are times when I usually feel like I made the worst decision to quit paid employment waiting for aggrandizement in the future in the event things go as planned, ceteris paribus. The folly of this is you never know when your bait will be ensnared and then these are there online jobs that are sometimes too good to be true. Of course there are those optimistically fabricated job ads that go viral on Whatsapp and any other group that has jobseekers will have such messages doing rounds on them. Sometimes the idle man in me dedicates time to go find out the authenticity of the job vacancies and the grim reality is that most of the jobs are cock-and-bull stories especially those that come clustered so you have an array of jobs to apply for. Methinks, most genuine jobs are those that are advertised on the mainstream media and a corroboration of the same is available on the company’s website or internal sources such as employees. Again, genuine employment agencies may help in efforts to verify the same. I doubt whether Brighter Monday is a better forum for searching for employment as they never have a contact and contract with the employer.

Looking for employment is tricky if you are not in one. You look desperate and can take anything most of the time. Just to make money. Then you come to realize that life is more than making money. And money is the root of all evil. If you live a life where you are not getting money from a reliable source like yours truly, then you cannot make plans bound by monetary decisions. The problem with money is that you usually spend it before you have it. Worse is if you are a low income earner. Being one means most of the time, you are left indebted and as such you cannot be able to invest in a substantial investment that can rake in more cash. You also have to work more hours or spend the same from and back home and this has a heavy toll on your mental and physical agility as you will find that most of the times you are exhausted to a point you cannot engage in an activity that will ameliorate your status. You subtly realize are subservient to your employer. He has the capital, which you need. Furthermore, if you have no pushers, you end up being frustrated by the bureaucratic systems you take up the easiest route. Which is the case mostly for a majority of the populace. Forget about those who went to study medicine finished and realized they loved acting. Those are extreme cases. They probably are sons and daughters whose fathers had an opening account for them at birth while you and I were born hohe hahe (with nothing). They make you think that you can pursue law and end up being a musician because you love music.

The reality is that, unless you become very cogent in your decision making and adopt a committed line of specialization, then you probably will remain that guy who wanted everything and got none. Why? There is a lot of dedication and sacrifices in each field. If you want to make a better musician, use education in any field as a backup so that you are not financially ruined. But the best education is that got through life experience. Not those that are certified at the end of the process. Those are just papers. Unless they secure you an avenue of having a big break or a small one, nobody ever knows you have them. They are like your groin nobody knows how it looks like until he sees it.

Life is about taking risks, the more risky it is the probability is that it can either result in a fatal loss to ultimately ruin you or a gain that will elevate your social status in the future. However the risk must be germane to what you aspire for in life. If it entails bending yourself into pretzel shapes to be able to get to the other side of the terrain, then do it. As long as it’s fun, and you have no other option, take up the challenge. Life is too short to live griping over that which you should have but you don’t in your current dispensation.

There are those times I usually contemplate of having a job seeker’s profile on LinkedIn. The amount I have to should spend is way above that which I can give a recruitment agency to write me an impressive resume and probably aid me in gaining an interview just to reassure myself that I am still competent and marketable in the job market. The amount though minimal is still not worthy of investing in such ventures. Furthermore, it delineates me from the process of finding a worthy employer as in the case of a recruitment agency. Like you promise to work for one month with a firm and someone else gets the proceeds all because they helped you get a job. But they say, ‘Hii ni Kenya, kila mtu lazima akule.’

One thing I realized is that there are so many employment opportunities available to people who user them as a conduit to make money or recruit cronies if the requirement of the duties and responsibilities are not very technical or specialized or not well defined. Like my old man told me of the infiltration of relatives of the seniors to positions they may qualify for or may not have qualified for thereby you hear of no vacancies in such organizations. The end result is that buggers like us take remnants in mediocre companies and if we work just fine, we can give such firms our best shot and this can form the foundation for success in the event we detach ourselves from the feeling of inferiority complex that you cannot work for a certain firm. Eventually such small firms perform best if you dedicate yourself and stick to the ideals if the owner never gives up. Chances are, you will reap big in future. This world is based on, ‘you never know’. Even a mustard seed is usually very tiny but its end result is unfathomable.

I also want to get there sometime in future. When I was young, I thought that life is about academics, passing exams and blah blah blah. Now my belvedere has been broadened. When I hear high-school graduates pondering on mainstream professions such as law, medicine and engineering in order to gain acceptance or reverence in the image of society, I usually feel like they are only after titles and the eventual benefits that come with such professions. Yet we have people who sell charcoal, lollypops (Like I saw one of my former pals in high school selling them on Thika road in the morning jam and imagined how others would have commiserated at his deplorable status. He passed in primary to join high school. You had to have scored 400 marks and above out of the possible 500. Then inwardly I concluded that the best hustle is that which you do with a passion. Who knows, if he becomes shrewd enough, he will be able to start a kiosk and we will eventually read about him on Business Daily’s Top 40 Under 40.)

Sometimes I wish I could also get the courage to go take up a job as a grease monkey in one of the many garages on Grogan and gain skills in the mechanical or electrical components of a car (I love cars). Or probably go to town, request whether I can push those carts for some pay at the end of the day just to get an experience with kanjo. Obviously there also those who sell smokies and eggs which is an easier job in comparison to the other two. These are the kinds of jobs that if you highly disciplined financially, you can be able to reap big because you are not tied to working for specific hours. You work based on the income you expect plus there no taxes since you have irregular income which is not steady.

Again, these are the kinds of jobs people associate with those they think are uneducated because they are done on the streets. However, nobody ever knows how polished those doing them are. Worse is people will start talking when you take them up and term you as a failure. Yes that is how our society is. While I am busy thinking of the fact that I am making myself a future without an elaborate income, some other person is taking advantage of the investment opportunity and smiling all the way to the bank of that which most people do not want to engage in.

However, our society is wired in such a way that no one will respect you when you are jobless and struggling to make ends meet. Guys will never tell you but the reality is that a jobless person is a pain in the ass. If you want to gain respect and acceptance in any society, make money and in colossal amounts. Our only idiocy is that we tend to regard highly those who fraudulently make the money and then remit pittances to us. All because we do not have an income to sustain ourselves or have to rely on them for monetary well-being.

  

As for yours truly, when I get a respite. It will be a beginning of another journey. One which should be on continuous progress till that time I will achieve self-actualization. In the meantime as I struggle with self-acceptance waiting for a rolla-coaster, allow me to sing Angela Chibalonza’s ‘Nataka nitoke chini.’

Hasta La Vista Baby.

[Picture Source: My Own]

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KENYAN BOOKS

Are Kenyan books good reads? This is my 150^th post on blogger (just saying and am a tad proud of it). I now have two Kenyan books under my cap since the begging of the year (sic). All published by Kwani?. Apparently Binyavanga Wainaina features prominently in mentorship by the two authors of the books withal. Kenya literature is past its nascent nappy stages of growth. The testosterone levels in writing are improving albeit much cannot be written home apart from the fact that we still adore the colonial literary behemoths in matters penmanship like the legendary Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Micere Mugo. If our mainstream media especially the dailies are anything to go by in terms of media coverage and mention. Plus they lecture in universities USA, a plus because Kenyans revere so much those who have made it in the west. Say an African weakness.

I will actually buy a book by the latter because she actually has this flawless goddess image when it comes to the literary scene in Kenya and because I have always taken for granted the notion of reading her previous works because of some unfathomable primal. Again which I have no clue about.

Actually, the books were good reads (those that I bought). I am planning to buy more books and ad to my library that I hope will inaugurate a series of works in immaculate condition and crisp so that there are no defects on the book or pages in the near future. How will I achieve this filial overture? I have a salary for heaven's sake. I will prorate a small portion of it to quench my reading thirst. Again it is not easy to get that someone I currently know of who has Kenyan books (lots of them) I can exchange the few books (read two) that I have.


This is the point I remind myself that I need to get out of the cocoon and reduce the introversive nature in me which is full of contentment but still inebriated to maintain my selfish status quo.

Going to buy the books was one of the decisions I had made last year. Whereas I have been postponing the purchase, I finally had the nerves to purchase them two weeks ago on a lousy Sunday mid-morning when I was feeling bored and the couch pastors on local telly were somehow not assuaging the nervous me to sit down and watch the sermon that would have had a spiritual impact on my already fragile amend with the Greater Spiritual Being.

I decided to leisurely foot to make it to the supermarket that sells books because taking a matatu would have instinctively meant I was not going to ponder on the state of affairs in the hood. I realized so much has changed within the little time that I have been tacitly absorbed by work, school and returning back to the house as my wonted. My current salary though cannot afford me a getaway from the city or dining in one of the ritzy restaurants serving gourmet cuisine which I will be eager to sample if matters go well with this beautiful girl who makes my heart skip a bit when I think about her (is this just infatuation or lust). I am complaining inwardly but things are looking up and they will ultimately turn rosy eventually.

On arrival at the supermarket, I was tempted. My initial intent was to procure a single Kenyan book since I was under the impression that one was retailing at Ksh.1000 but luckily, I found two which I settled on. Eve Kasaya's "Tale of Kasaya" and Stanley Gazemba's "The Stone Hills of Maragoli." Settling on the two books was not easy. I had heard of Stanley Gazemba. I initially had no idea on which book I was to buy actually. Still I just wanted to buy a Kenyan book though I had this notion that most authors are novices with their lingo and attribution of their works would be a little easy if not disappointing or full or inadequacy. When the two books turned out to be just slightly above the initial budget I had projected, I was salivating. My fingers were having this powerful feeling of fondling the books that had gathered dust on the shelves, a clear indication that they were less prestigious or in other words they were louche. I love the font used for publishing the books. It was just wow.

But there was an even better offer. It turned out that three books were retailing for just Ksh.1000. They were Western literature by big names all the publications being best sellers. And the way I LOVE how those authors are able to ingenuously tell stories by keep someone in suspense and creating flow that keeps makes you want to clutch on the edges even if you are feeling very gauche.

I pondered over the next available move but stuck on the initial decision. Buying Kenyan books which I did not find in the usual location where they had been placed the last time I went to the supermarket. They were hidden in my opine, because for the untrained eye with no fetish for books, one would even wonder that the same were in existence if you asked latter if they took notice of the Kenyan books. But how many people take their time to read Kenyan Books? The figure is mind boggling because I have no real statistic of the same.

Reading Kasaya’s book, I was eagerly awaiting for that time where she was to get to or complete high school. Apparently, there are very many high school graduates who I know of who cannot intuitively flow as her because she has very good spoken English. The fact that she was a maid past a dozen years and her near death experience working for an employee who also never paid her other than take her once to a salon where she was done her hair at a figure I am even feeling something inside me pierce the heart painfully because it is not what I can spend on beauty in my current state more than ten years down the line. Luckily her neighbors came in rescue and a pastor later told her to forgive as human is to err and instead of reporting the matter to the police, she followed the word of the minister.  

Watching her later on YouTube in Jeff Koinange’s “The Bench” on K24, I could see she was quite polished. Somehow she is achieving her dream because she has been able to move a notch higher in her societal status. Interacting with likes of Ngugi and Micere on the same dias is no mean fete for a class eight drop out. Bet by now, she has  completed her high school as she stated she was going to complete the same and even go to university. This is a true manifestation that the inhibitions in our brains are folly creations that only circumvent our aspiration into cruising a notch higher because time and tide waits for no man who clings on inertia.

The horrific experiences working as a maid was quite an eye opener on the general conditions some maids have to go through. From eating alone while standing in the kitchen, washing bloody underwear, walking at night to go fetch water, working with no pay for months and other unearthly instances such as the probability of being raped by the man of the house and since most do not know their rights, they end up suffering in silence.

A way from the Kasaya’s tale, Stanley Gazemba has a way of using language is sententious and rich, not too much purple prose such that you are lost in flourish of fancy wording. His magical and flowery use of words in a pictographic way leaves one with the impression that they are in the scene and the storyline resonates well with the rural folk with vivid descriptions that create a strong momentum that energizes you as a reader to continue flipping the pages without ceasing. His judicious use of vocabulary is on point keeping one captive and that is what I loved about his artistry in general.

Gazemba’s book was everything that I have always wanted to read in a nutshell. It usually sounds gloriously elegant and beautifully crafted to the eye with near perfect diction. The story setting takes you to a world full of fiction and though it does not capture the real life situation, it is the real deal. The creative fiction in it was however limiting because it oscillates within the rural set-up. Yet most rural folks have relatives in urban areas who they visit once on a while.

It was easy to dissect how the next chapter unravels because there are hints before the next chapter comes in quick succession. Say it’s like watching an Oga movie with a predictable flow. Ombima being the main character has his fair share of life hurdles (losing his daughter, then sight and finally his mistress). His goose is however cooked for deeping his loin in his seductive master’s better half honey pot that results in the latter’s house maid taking over the house when she is still cold six feet under.

HASTA LA VISTA BABY


[Picture Source: Photoshop Inverted Google Images]

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