The Mission: 28th Feb 2011, 1pm, 1 nation, 1 people, 1 anthem, united in 1 prayer for 1 Kenya.
Simple huh?
So simple, that people are still looking for a catch. A behind-the-scenes. A the-making-of. A whats-in-it-for-me.
So simple, that people... not just people... but young and upwardly mobile Kenyans, refuse to participate. What good will it do? Okay so we all sing, then what? Will Kibaki and Raila become friends? Will fuel prices go down? And then there's the classic, "Like, OH EM GEE, I can't just stand up in my office and start singing the anthem. Like, GAWSH! What will people think???"
I've heard the phrase, you can't win with everyone, but Kenyan YUPPIES have turned the phrase into a lifestyle. Perfected it and owned it! Who can compete with us? Who can match our love of convenience?
What do Kenyans do when one day they come out of their houses and find the roads outside their houses flooded after heavy rains? They buy gumboots!! We need to learn to create solutions for our country - Muriithi Wanjau, Mavuno.
I was greatly inconvenienced last year, when I took a morning off work to go to Uhuru Park, draw placards and march to Parliament to protest the MPs pay hike. That was not so simple. When I spoke about it on Facebook and blogged about it, a big chunk of my friends gave me the Kenyan YUPPIE default response "GAWSH! You didn't tell us, next time please let us know we goooo pamoja."
I did.
I did it again a week later. Instead of doing my usual lunch time round of Farmville, I took a matatu into town (and if you know me, a matatu is as bad as it gets) to form what was to be a human chain around parliament to protest again. I used the words "what was to be" because what we ended up forming fell very short of a chain. Of my THEN 828 FB friends, only 4 showed. While standing there yelling outside parliament, some other YUPPIES on their way to lunch walked by us and aired their views while at it. "Good job guys, ebu tell them!" "Why are you making noise, just vote for the new constitution all our problems will end" "Wazi! Wazi!"
When I got back to the office that day, I realized that I needed to work out a way to get us YUPPIES to participate without the INCONVENIENCE of having to leave our high flying jobs and Key Performance Indices to pull an Egypt, or a Tunisia on what I feel is a ridiculous system of governance in this country. So I googled and came up with an online petition that I hoped would reach the masses of online 'protesters' and which I would in turn send to anyone willing to listen.
Last I checked, I had collected all of about 400 signatures. FYI The MPs 'had a change of heart' about hiking their pay so that ended that.
But wait, a little bird once told me that there are about 5 million internet users in this country, and about a million of those are on Facebook regularly! (By the way I don't do statistics so, my little bird could be off by a couple of millions). So why didn't people respond? Okay, so maybe my marketing is a little off. But there is another online petition right now, that is being given MASSIVE airtime by Caroline Mutoko and KISS100. How's that for marketing. Last I checked they were at about 10,000 siggies.
So recently some Kenyans on twitter, came up with the KENYA28FEB concept. I think its GREAT! I think, what better way than to get everyone focused on KENYA; not on useless politics and politicians, impunity, land grabbing, all the things that are not working in this country. How about we focus on KENYA for a change.
It was... it is such a simple thing to do.
Then why come we have some YUPPIES going on about what effect it will have or why this or how that or whatever. I put it to you, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TODAY TO BRING CHANGE? Or are you wallowing in the CONVENIENCE of hiding behind a name and a photo on the internet, bickering about how bad things are but not moving a finger nail to do something about it.
I say this, I gave it a shot. I did what I thought I could do. Now the SIMPLE folk at Kenya28Feb are doing THEIR part. The sooner you get off your behind and do something, or be a part of something that's already BEING done, the better for you. The better for us. The better for Kenya.
Simplicity is divine. BE the change.
28th Feb 2011, 1pm, 1 nation, 1 people, 1 anthem, united in 1 prayer for 1 Kenya.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Tummy Contact
Ever wondered why it's so easy for one to conceive BEFORE they get married, but how it becomes rocket science AFTER you get married?
I have.
Only today actually, I thought long and hard about it. These thoughts disrupted my usual morning routine of snoozing and shower singing. I really thought about it. But why Alejandro, you may ask? Well, of late, I've realized that my relatives on both sides have started addressing my tummy. Talk of tummy contact! I have deliberately stopped talking about Nia's terrible threes because of the line that follows soon after "You know if you have another one, she'll straighten out". Then I reason, what happens when this "other one" hits two or three? How many other ones do I need to have to fix the previous ones?
I digress.
Anyway, so I started toying with the idea of having "another one". I sure ain't getting younger and if I'm to accomplish my dear husband's KPIs for childmaking, then I best get started no? So seeing as google is my friend, I googled "myths on conception" and WHOA!!!! What??? I wasn't prepared for how IMPOSSIBLE it is to have a baby when you actually WANT to have a baby.
Let's sample some of the myths I found off of gettingpregnant.co.uk;
Sex is sex - we don't have to change anything Not true. While the basics of sex will remain the same when you're trying to conceive, you could make some minor adjustments. Don't have oral sex or use regular lubrication, since saliva and lubricant can kill sperm. SERIOUSLY??? There is such a thing as sperm killer? Like the terminator of sperm?? I could swear before I got married, that the very thought of having sex could get me pregnant. Now I would even need to choose what sex I have.
Certain positions are better for conception Most of the time some ejaculate will fall out, no matter what position during intercourse. However, your cervical mucus when you are ovulating becomes a special texture - one to hold in sperm so chances of conception are greater. Therefore, you don't need a special position to keep the sperm in. However, sperm deposited closest to the cervix will have the best chance of fertilizing the egg, so using positions that allow for deep penetration won't hurt and neither will tilting your pelvis upward. Okay, so I ABSOLUTELY remember in high school, the True Love Waits folk taught us that if you so much as shared a towel with a boy, you would get pregnant. There was a story of a virgin girl that got pregnant with her brother's baby because of using his towel. TRUE STORY! Well that's what they said. So what is this about pelvic positions and keeping sperm in again??
Hot tubs, briefs, and douching: all no-no's As far as hot tubs are concerned, high temperatures kill sperm, so avoid them as well as steam rooms and saunas if you want to get pregnant. Here we go again with the Sperm Terminators! The movies lied. Unbelievable. So besides all the other things, if you want to get pregnant, really, you need optimal temperature conditions as well. Who would have thought Mombasa in the 'summer' was not a good place for babymaking? Hmm...
I just think it's AMAZING how before I got married, I thought looking at a man would get me pregnant, and now after, when it's okay to be pregnant, I need Dumu Zas conditions to make a baby. How warped is that?? It's really sad to hear stories from friends of their struggle to conceive in marriage, while some 21 year old somewhere conceives multiple times without really 'wanting' to and has abortions. Quite sad.
As always, just thinking.
I have.
Only today actually, I thought long and hard about it. These thoughts disrupted my usual morning routine of snoozing and shower singing. I really thought about it. But why Alejandro, you may ask? Well, of late, I've realized that my relatives on both sides have started addressing my tummy. Talk of tummy contact! I have deliberately stopped talking about Nia's terrible threes because of the line that follows soon after "You know if you have another one, she'll straighten out". Then I reason, what happens when this "other one" hits two or three? How many other ones do I need to have to fix the previous ones?
I digress.
Anyway, so I started toying with the idea of having "another one". I sure ain't getting younger and if I'm to accomplish my dear husband's KPIs for childmaking, then I best get started no? So seeing as google is my friend, I googled "myths on conception" and WHOA!!!! What??? I wasn't prepared for how IMPOSSIBLE it is to have a baby when you actually WANT to have a baby.
Let's sample some of the myths I found off of gettingpregnant.co.uk;
Sex is sex - we don't have to change anything Not true. While the basics of sex will remain the same when you're trying to conceive, you could make some minor adjustments. Don't have oral sex or use regular lubrication, since saliva and lubricant can kill sperm. SERIOUSLY??? There is such a thing as sperm killer? Like the terminator of sperm?? I could swear before I got married, that the very thought of having sex could get me pregnant. Now I would even need to choose what sex I have.
Certain positions are better for conception Most of the time some ejaculate will fall out, no matter what position during intercourse. However, your cervical mucus when you are ovulating becomes a special texture - one to hold in sperm so chances of conception are greater. Therefore, you don't need a special position to keep the sperm in. However, sperm deposited closest to the cervix will have the best chance of fertilizing the egg, so using positions that allow for deep penetration won't hurt and neither will tilting your pelvis upward. Okay, so I ABSOLUTELY remember in high school, the True Love Waits folk taught us that if you so much as shared a towel with a boy, you would get pregnant. There was a story of a virgin girl that got pregnant with her brother's baby because of using his towel. TRUE STORY! Well that's what they said. So what is this about pelvic positions and keeping sperm in again??
Hot tubs, briefs, and douching: all no-no's As far as hot tubs are concerned, high temperatures kill sperm, so avoid them as well as steam rooms and saunas if you want to get pregnant. Here we go again with the Sperm Terminators! The movies lied. Unbelievable. So besides all the other things, if you want to get pregnant, really, you need optimal temperature conditions as well. Who would have thought Mombasa in the 'summer' was not a good place for babymaking? Hmm...
I just think it's AMAZING how before I got married, I thought looking at a man would get me pregnant, and now after, when it's okay to be pregnant, I need Dumu Zas conditions to make a baby. How warped is that?? It's really sad to hear stories from friends of their struggle to conceive in marriage, while some 21 year old somewhere conceives multiple times without really 'wanting' to and has abortions. Quite sad.
As always, just thinking.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
WAACHA TU!
I really love this quote from Oscar Wilde:
“The world has grown suspicious of anything that looks like a happily married life.”
I would hope it's not true for the bulk of society but it seems like so many are skeptical about the long haul of marriage and immediately question it if a couple appears to be happy more than six months out from their wedding day... Shouldn't happiness be the default for the scores of people who take the plunge each year? Not being lukewarm, feeling stuck or drowning in misery...
I've been married for close to two years now *applause* and the two words I can use to describe my experience thus far are WACHA TU! It's been crazy, madly exciting, inspiring, mind boggling, solemn and to wrap it all up WACHA TU!
There are days when I could L.O.S.E. I.T. My husband and I are fire and ice. Literally. I'm the happy-go-lucky "I'll take it!" type and he is the excel-sheet "priorities" type. This loosely translates to a number of possible ways that we could kill each other. And we did those first few days. Until we discovered that our differences are what make us a team. Our business is thriving because of these differences. He'll never be spontaneous, and I'll probably never be able to perfectly execute anything the way he does, but that's why two get greater return for their labor. Innit?
Marriage is made to be for life and if two aren't happy together, don't truly enjoy each other and aren't willing to shoulder a storm every now and again because they both realize that joy is waiting on the other side, I don't see the point. Life is too fleeting to spend it being neither here nor there about who you wake up beside each morning... Marriage gets a bum rap and it makes me sad because it can be a really great adventure. No other relationship is designed to be as intimate, as honest and as lasting as marriage is.
Thank you, God, for seeing that it wasn't good for man to be alone. (Tiffany Parks)
“The world has grown suspicious of anything that looks like a happily married life.”
I would hope it's not true for the bulk of society but it seems like so many are skeptical about the long haul of marriage and immediately question it if a couple appears to be happy more than six months out from their wedding day... Shouldn't happiness be the default for the scores of people who take the plunge each year? Not being lukewarm, feeling stuck or drowning in misery...
I've been married for close to two years now *applause* and the two words I can use to describe my experience thus far are WACHA TU! It's been crazy, madly exciting, inspiring, mind boggling, solemn and to wrap it all up WACHA TU!
There are days when I could L.O.S.E. I.T. My husband and I are fire and ice. Literally. I'm the happy-go-lucky "I'll take it!" type and he is the excel-sheet "priorities" type. This loosely translates to a number of possible ways that we could kill each other. And we did those first few days. Until we discovered that our differences are what make us a team. Our business is thriving because of these differences. He'll never be spontaneous, and I'll probably never be able to perfectly execute anything the way he does, but that's why two get greater return for their labor. Innit?
Marriage is made to be for life and if two aren't happy together, don't truly enjoy each other and aren't willing to shoulder a storm every now and again because they both realize that joy is waiting on the other side, I don't see the point. Life is too fleeting to spend it being neither here nor there about who you wake up beside each morning... Marriage gets a bum rap and it makes me sad because it can be a really great adventure. No other relationship is designed to be as intimate, as honest and as lasting as marriage is.
Thank you, God, for seeing that it wasn't good for man to be alone. (Tiffany Parks)
Rebranding
I've re-branded my blog for the umpteenth time in about 2 days and now I can finally settle down. Now that business is picking and Pixell8 is becoming a household name, I'd hate for clients to be able to read my mind. That can't be helpful. You think?
So I have aptly renamed it to "Salamu Za Hewa". Loosely translated to mean "Greetings in the Air". Swahili isn't exactly one of my strong points. I tell you the truth. The origin of the term Salamu Za Hewa (for my non-Kenyan friends) is mainly from a church setting where a preacher cannot personally greet everyone by hand and instead chooses to send them greetings in the air.
I ramble. Now let me blog.
So I have aptly renamed it to "Salamu Za Hewa". Loosely translated to mean "Greetings in the Air". Swahili isn't exactly one of my strong points. I tell you the truth. The origin of the term Salamu Za Hewa (for my non-Kenyan friends) is mainly from a church setting where a preacher cannot personally greet everyone by hand and instead chooses to send them greetings in the air.
I ramble. Now let me blog.
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