the grammys, theirs and mine again

It's that time of the year again, when they release their list of the grammys and I b**ch about it coz I don't agree with their choices. And when they sc*** up, man they SC*** UP! What the hell's a jazz album doing winning album of the year?!?! Do that many people even know about the genre, let alone fans of it! Anyways, that's where our rift starts. If you ask me Kanye deserved that award this year. He's been side stepped long enough. I know that, and I don't even like hip hop [I do like him though]. And what the **** is all this fixation with Amy Winehouse? I mean, sure, she resurrected an almost-dead British singing style, and she sings from personal experience songs that have meaning. But surely! Grammy's propel someone to the international stage. One gets name recognition after winning a grammy, so Im thinking its about time the person behind the songs became a judging factor in deciding who wins and who doesn't. Coz really, do we want our kids to grow up and become like Amy Winehouse? Shooting up on crack to escape from all the terrible pain and sadness associated with her superstar lifestyle of wealth and fame -:) ? Apparently once one goes down that road there's usually no coming back. Just ask Britney, and Whitney [ok, Mary J Blige was a bit of a one-time occurrence, so don't ask her].

Anyways, my list [in the categories I give two ****s about]: [BTW, unlike last year, this year I had a lot to do, so I spent considerably less time listening to music, so there are gonna be some categories where I haven't even listened any of the albums, like best new artist]

Album of the year
Kanye West - Graduation [but if Daughtry had been nominated they'd have been my choice]

Record of the year
Beyonce - Irreplacable (most likely song from their list of nominations)

Song of the year
Carrie Underwood - Before He Cheats (hands down!)

Best new artist
Amy Winehouse [she's the only one whose album I've listened to so]

Best female pop vocal performance
Fergie - Big Girls Don't Cry [...and I don't understand how this song lost]

Best male pop vocal performance
agree with them - Justin T

Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals
Plain White T's - Hey there Delilah

Best Pop Vocal Album
again agree with them - Amy Winehouse

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance
[haven't heard anything here - odd right, considering I live for rock]

Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals
Daughtry - It's Not Over [they were even 2007's best-selling artists, I mean, Hallooo!]

Best Hard Rock Performance
agree - Foo Fighters [they're the only ones I even like so, although I would have wanted Linkin Park to be nominated and to win]

Best Rock Song
Daughtry - It's Not Over [see above]

Best Rock Album
Daughtry - Daughtry [though Wilco was also pretty good, as were the Foo Fighters]

*********** After now there aren't very many categs I give a damn about*********
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
agree - Alicia Keys

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance
[don't care, not a fan]

Best R&B Song
again, agree with Alicia Keys

Best Rap Solo Performance
agree with Kanye West

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
agree with Rihanna and Jay-Z [that song was off the hook!]

Best Rap Album
again Kanye West [remember I wanted it to win Album of the Year]

Maybe this year I should try and stay abreast with developments so Im not floating this time next year. But then again, I am getting pretty old for this stuff. Who knows? Maybe by then I'll have caught up with my age.

END

(my country), tears of thee

Three months ago, this country was gunning for double-digit economic growth. The shilling was at a near-10-year high against the dollar. Investors were super-confident, and we were on our way to the biggest IPO in East African history. Now there's a completely different story. What's changed? I wonder.

Well, there has been a general election, with catastrophic results. Man has risen against woman, tribe against tribe and friends against each other. I actually saw this on the news and my insides churned: a 75-year old woman stood outside her house as the youth burned it to the ground, and they could see her. They actually knew she was there, could see how old and helpless she was and it didn't faze them. They didn't even bat an eyelid. My God! Im pretty certain this was not the dream our post-colonialism heroes had for us, but then again they are from the tribe that started all this, so maybe I shouldn't underestimate them. :(

I took a drive across the western part of the country and saw for myself. Cameras really don't lie. The devastation is gut wrenching. In a town called Turbo, essentially everything was razed. Im guessing the town even shut down for a few days. All around the rift valley you see ruble, large stones beside the road [that were used to form jua kali roadblocks for purposes of oppressing travellers and extorting cash out of them], burnt up trailers and cars, and blood in a few of the areas. No doubt people got pumelled to death there. At the G7 conference, I saw other countries agonising over the rising prices in the property market, oil, inflation, and I was thinking, "That's supposed to be us." Such problems actually pale in comparison to having to wonder if you'll wake up tomorrow, or have a place to sleep. I've actually seen a woman deliver at one of these concentration camps. I've seen someone slaughtered by the roadside, just coz he happened to be from the wrong tribe. Growing up these were things I thought were the stuff TV was made of. The thing about TV is you can turn it off if it gets to be too much, or change channels. So what if it's all around you? Where does one turn? You wait to hear that relief is coming, instead you hear more militia and foreign troops have been dispatched. You hope for food, you get more blood. Music to calm the senses, you get gunshots. A blanket of peace to sleep under, wreckage. I mean people are even burning down churches! Imagine!

And through all this, one can't help but wonder, where the ***** is the president!?! At statehouse, I guess. He's supposed to stay there, isn't he? He got sworn in in record time - 30 minutes after the announcement, with only a handful of invited guests at the Statehouse [don't even get me started on how irregular that is - the National Anthem didn't even play, and the media were shut out] under the guise of "...insecurity around the country cannot allow there to be a power vacuum at the top..." One would at least expect that insecurity would be the first thing he'd try to deal with, to give people a sense of hope of a brighter tomorrow, even if false. But no. The areas most affected were not Central or Eastern, so why should he bother? The rest are opposition regions, aren't they? Let the opposition handle it. Seriously, a sitting president?!!? All this is of course made worse if you look at it through the binoculars of the US elections. The kinds of principles you need to have to even stand a chance, leave alone win. Their campaign platforms. I look at Obama and I say, that there is leadership [I am a fan of Hillary though, it's I think a personal thing, or maybe coz I've read hers and Bill's autobios so I know a bit more about her]. Granted they're 200 years old, but even then, I've seen the Declaration of Independence, and that was written in 1776. If they thought like that then, they can't have been very far off from what they are now leadership-wise, and two of their three great presidents actually led around the 20s, not recent times.

I guess what Im trynna say is our leaders scarcely have an excuse. They cannot blame the current state of affairs on our young age as a democracy. That UN director had it spot on, a peaceful state is predicated on justice. If there is no justice, there will be war, it is only a matter of time. Our time had probably come. Im just sad I was alive to see it.

It's Valentine's Day tomorrow and love isn't even in the headlines. Imagine that. :(

END

assesment of the situation in the country

This was actually written by someone I know, and I thought it was really deep:

There is no hell for a man than the stupidity and wickedness of his own kind -

Marquis Sade

If you ask me who won the December poll, I would probably give you the 'safe' answer: "I am not sure", of course, in lieu of your political affiliation. What I am sure about though, is a simple fact: Kenya deserves better political leadership than is presently available.

There is a moment in the political history of any nation of repute when there arises a burning desire for inspirational leadership. Often, such leadership defines itself in times of great strife: whether political, economic or social.

In 1994, it took the will and resolve of two men to ensure that South Africa charted the way it charts today. There were hardliners on Mandela's side who wanted to see all whites purged. Similarly, hardliners on de Klerk's side wanted nothing but the perpetuation of white supremacy. Of course, the two found middle ground in the best interest of their populace, compromised and brought forth the 'Rainbow Nation'.

The very act of compromise is what makes a man noble.

Today, Obama inspires millions of Americans (and world citizens) across all social, racial and economic spectra. He is their genuine leader. Anyone who listened to Tedd Kennedy's endorsement of Barrack surely must concur. Barrack is hailed as America's spark in the darkness of unnecessary wars, an energy crisis, a polarized social class and an economy tittering on the brink of recession. And rightly so. Obama has been able to nurture a social structure vis-à-vis housing and other amenities in his Illinois state that is unparalleled. In the process fostering a social and racial harmony only Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed about. Now, that is leadership.

If you are to make me join your cause, first make me your friend. - Abraham Lincoln

And that is the nature of inspirational leadership. That one feels closeness almost describable as friendship with a man whom you've never been in any proximity with, but the proximity and in fact concurrence of ideals and a shared vision for the future.

There is none so deaf as those who will not hear; and none so blind as those who will not see. We are what we stand for.

Decades of life on the African continent have brought to Kenya's screens death and destruction in myriads of African states. Mostly, on the basis of tribal differences. Still, Kenya veers ever closer to such a stereotypic and fatal end.

There is an uncanny, almost inane, ability of human beings to discriminate.

That people of one race, one nation and similar socio-economic structure still delve to find cause to turn on each other based on a variable that is out of the control of any human being (tribe) is simply absurd to the logical mind. Still, we live on Earth not Utopia. And thus the place of leadership is defined in any society: Bringing realization to every citizen, of the need to unite for one cause and one cause only: Prosperity; social, economic and political: building on past gains.

Show me a man who will stand up for justice and I will show you a million who yearn for it.

Presently, I believe, this country yearns for a leader who will inspire. Cut across all differences of whatever nature and collate us behind a common vision of unity, justice and good old time prosperity. A leader who will have a vision for this country that spans beyond his pot belly.

Who will rise above his own personal political ambition, and put the immediate interests of the nation before his own? Who will be our spark?

In the midst of such deep tension, neither side of the political divide seems to be intent on reconciling the population. Neither side yielding in its hard-line stance regarding the polls. Neither side rising above partisan politics. Sadly, in this country, we do not have leaders, we only have politicians.

Show me a man who will inspire, and I will show you a million who that inspiration, they desire.

Under English colonialism, Sir William Wallace, formerly a peasant farmer, inspired and rose to unite Scotland and capture the spirit of freedom for Scotland forever. At a time when Scotland lacked a King, he did not seek title. His knighthood bestowed upon him by his peers. To be revered as Scotland's ultimate Patriot for ever.

How will history judge our current generation? How will history judge our current crop of 'leaders?'

At a time when expedition of 'talks' and 'reconciliation' is pegged on our politicians' response to threats of sanctions and freezing of personal finances by the West rather than the ideal of love for one's country, our situation is but aptly described as sorry.

I did not manage for profit, I led for patriotism - John McCain

my writing skills, or lack thereof

nSo recently some guys from over at Nation Media came over to our school to do some recruitment thingie for us final-years [ya, neglected to mention that, Im a final year! The end is finally in sight, and would you believe Im now dreading it. Must be that whole green grass on the other side thing] Anyways, the recruitment. They surprised us by asking us to write a ka-article describing the presentation they had just made to someone who wasn't there, the dean actually. They also asked as part of their presentation how many people actually already write, for fun. And turns out, I was the only one, courtesy of this blog which till now Id sort of neglected [but of course they didn't really ask for my name or anything, so it's not like I have an unfair advantage over everyone else, which is probably a good thing coz some of my stories tend to be crappy, even for me :) ]. I must have written a killer article, coz I remember leaving the room patting myself on the back, and now Im sitting by the phone waiting for that crucial call. [who am I kidding, guess I'll be really lucky if I get called, it was a REALLY difficult event to describe descriptively like they asked, being that it was mostly a powerpoint presentation and the lessons learned were facts, not opinions]. But still, hope makes people get up every morning, and now it's making me charge my phone every two days because I CANNOT miss that call when it comes. :)

Er....

Ok, maybe it's just hard to write when you put yourself under pressure to actually write. Lemme just let myself get into the zone naturally and see what comes out of it. Meanwhile, I saw this quotation somewhere and I think it rules:

Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous half possession... Do that which is assigned to you, and you cannot hope too much or dare too much.
Ralph Waldo Emerson [duh... How many other people actually speak like that!?!]

story of my life

This is a poem that was written by a friend of mine and I really liked it so thot I should share, as I do poems by published authors. Hope she goes far someday with her poetry. [I have her perm so this is not plagiarism :)

Beauty and the beast
All time masterpiece
Over the seas was told

But now mystery unfolds
Two forces oppose
The good, the bad
The bad so ugly
The good so lovely

The elusive butterflies
Down the lawn I chase
Beautiful roses I behold

It follows all around
Crawling, calling out
It wants to embrace me
I want to say goodbye
The story of the bad

Helo me tell my story
Be the ears I tell too

The good I love
The bad I don't
The good I long for

END

God! I haven't blogged in like... forever, running on five months now. It's been a crazy four months, and a lot has happened to me and to the people around me. Actually I've gone through a whole semester of school in those four months. As we speak Im now doing the end of sem exams and the second one is beginning like immediately this one ends - it's not fun at all that we're not going to have a holiday in between. [but of course we being us are going to create one anyway Im sure :) ]

Im in a uni organization [a CBO-type thing] called SIFE for Students In Free Enterprise that carries out projects in society aimed at empowering people to make money for themselves who didn't know how. We present all our projects at a National Exposition at the end of every SIFE year in front of a panel of judges in compe with all the other unis that are also members of SIFE global. Last year we were the champions and went to rep the country at the world compe in France, so no prizes for guessing who was champs this year. And it totally rocks because the world compe this time is in NYC!! Can you feel me?!?! We were so on top of the world when numbers three and two were announced and neither was us, and we still managed to squeeze in a group prayer [there were five of us competing on behalf of the rest of our team] - right there on stage, with everyone watching and waiting. Of course there were celebrations afterwards but I don't really drink and/or rave so...

I've also done and finished the CPA exams - that nightmare I go through twice every year. This sitting it was real rollercoaster, coz I hadn't read at all until the last two weeks, then I spent one under the weather with malaria so I only had one to read. Oh, that's another thing - I caught malaria for the first time since '97! Not anyone's cup of tea :(. But I did pona and now Im back on top. And anyway, now that we won the SIFE championship it won't feel as bad if God forbid I don't pita the papers, coz I dedicated most of my time to SIFE instead of reading.

And I don't know if I've already said here that I finally got bought for that Dell I've always been dreaming about. It's so cool sometimes I just sit in my room and look at it. Now all I need is net and I never have to leave my room again. Naturally the music collection has grown in leaps and bounds, and the latest additions are Avril's The best damn thing and Linkin Park's Minutes to midnight. Also the WOW Hits collection for 07.

I've read, and finished for the second time, Bill Clinton's My Life, and I was still blown away, just like the first time [I must lead a really boring life]. I don't know a lot about that country, but I can tell there can't be more than five presidents they've had who were better than him. As a person he's one of my role models. And now I have Hilary's so that's my next project. Just today I passed by Books First and man! is there a lot of stuff to read, except the books cost house rent so can't really buy all the ones I want.

What else... Oh, I've fallen in love. Finally, and I thought I was above all that mushy stuff. Not really, just pulling your leg. Im still the same ol' me. Still alone and still loving it. :D

But if there's one thing I've learnt through this whole period, coz it was stress to stress, it's that when you emerge from the other end of that tunnel you always emerge a stronger person than you were, and in hindsight, nothing really happened to you that you couldn't handle with a little help. The old Chinese say this:
"The tree that is cut down grows again; and the moon that wanes after a time waxes again. Thus do the wise men reflect, and, though distressed, are not overwhelmed."

END

the grammys, theirs and mine

So I recently got the entire Grammy 07 list, and I have to say, Im unjazzed. Not a single song I thought would win won. Not one, out of like sixty (OK, maybe one or two). What are the chances? (Gotta thank Providence Im not into betting and wagers, otherwise Id be selling my sould black market right about now - to cover my debt :) ) Anyways, Im seriously beginning to question the credibility of this so-called "Academy", because I do not see a world where James Blunt gets beaten out by the Dixie Chicks. I mean, how many people even listen to country outside Texas and Nebraska and Kentucky?!?!? Granted, the Dixie Chicks are good - even I like them, and that album of theirs is currently in the works, should have it in a week so's I can see what all the fuss is about - but when two artistes are both really good, methinks the winner should be the more mainstream one. Im guessing that's how U2 manage to win every time they put out an album, coz they always get really stiff compe. And I still can't for the life of me figure out in what universe a song by Bon Jovi would be ranked under country. How?!??!

Now Im thinking, if I was the who's who at that "Academy", what would my grammys look like? (Just the crucial categories - I discovered they have like a thousand different ones!):

Record of the Year
You're Beautiful - James Blunt - from Back to Bedlam

Album of the Year
(Here I wasnt crazy about any of their nominations, but since it's all up to me in my world...) How to save a life - The Fray

Song of the Year
(Again, none of their nominations jazzed) The hardest part - Coldplay - from X & Y

Best New Artist
James Blunt

Best Female Pop/Vocal Performance
(Here, I like their choice of artiste, but not the song) Hurt - Christina Aguilera - from Back to Basics

Best Male Pop/Vocal Performance
Bad day - Daniel Powter - from Daniel Powter

Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group
Stickwitu - Pussycat Dolls - from PCD

Best Pop Vocal Album
Back to Bedlam - James Blunt

Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group
How to save a life - The Fray

Best Rock Song
Chasing cars - Snow Patrol - from Eyes Open

Best Rock Album
How to save a life - The Fray

Best Female R&B Vocal Performace
(I like their choice) Be without you - Mary J. Blige - from The Breakthrough

Best R&B Song
(Again, good choice by them) Be without you - Mary J. Blige

Best R&B Album
Testimony vol 1, Life & Relationships - India Arie

The rest of the categs don't really matter much to me, except New Age where Amarantine won. I totally agree with them - Enya is just good. Not really big on rap, hip-hop, classical, male R&B, country, and the gospel artists I listen to aren't particularly mainstream so I can't speak with authority in that field. Clearly me and the "Academy" disagree A LOT (I have indicated in brackets where we agree), so I'll stick to good ol' Dees. At least his countdown and I seem to have closer preferences.

END

freedom feels like lonely

So I finally got round to listening to an old Yellowcard song I've had for a while called Empty Apartment, and it's about a guy who got dumped but has never gotten over it, and so he's trynna find out if she shares the same feelings: "...How's your life, what's it like there/Is it all what you wanted it to be/Does it hurt when you think about me/And how broken my heart is...If ever you loved me you'd say it's ok/It's ok to be angry and never let go/It only gets harder the more that you know/..." And that song really touched me. I have no idea why, seeing as how I've never been through a break up tough or otherwise. I've never crashed and burned, I've never even been dissed; so I shouldn't know how all that stuff feels like, and I shouldn't care, right? And yet somehow I do. I wonder why. Could be that I read a lot, and I do BTW, thereby learning things w/o necessarily having experienced them myself. Or it could also be that all this time I've been a closet romantic and didn't know it. I think back and I notice the kinds of movies that jazzed me: Miss Congeniality, You've got mail, Bridget Jones' Diary, The Titanic, The Notebook(!), Legend of the Fall, The Wedding Planner, If Only, 10 Things I Hate About You, Coming to America. The artists I listen to: Trespassers William, Natalie Merchant, Aqualung, Dido, Five for Fighting, Gavin DeGraw, Tyler Hilton, James Blunt, Lifehouse, Michelle Featherstone, Emiliana Torrini. The TV shows I watch: The O.C., One Tree Hill, Felicity, Gilmore Girls, Dawson's Creek, Sex and the City, Desperate Housewives.

And Im thinking maybe I do have that void that I've always thought was for the wimps. Maybe all this time I've been lonely and instead of getting hitched up I've been choosing to see it on TV and read about it in books. I've always thought Im not wired for all that relationship stuff, but maybe I've just been supplementing subconciously and didn't realise it. I love the freedom that comes with being alone. Living for me and me alone. Not having to think about someone else all the time lest I be crucified for it. It's amazing, and I still don't think I want to give that up. But, if the eyes and ears really are the windows to the soul like they say, then isn't my soul full of all that mushy stuff? And what does that make me? I wonder.
END

invictus

This is the title of a poem I recently came across. Now, I've once said here that I love to read poetry, but not by authors I've never heard of before and definitely not by Shakespeare. However, I got a chance to hear this one before I read it, so I did make an exception even though Id never heard of William Henley before [he's the author]. I totally dig it. It's so deep. Here's how it goes:

Out of the night that covers me
Black as the Pit from pole to pole
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the shadow of the shade
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishment the scroll;
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Ok, if that's not deep stuff then I don't know what is. Plus it was inspired - William Henley survived a TB infection and an amputation. And the title is latin for unconquered.

New on the music scene, another form of art Im in love with, and definitely going down my annals of all-time bests:

Lie in the sound - Tresspassers William
Sideways - Citizen Cope
Easier to lie - Aqualung
Boston - Augustana
Born to try - Delta Goodrem
Chasing cars - Snow Patrol
Swingset chain - Loquat
Who's to say - Vanessa Carlton

END

22 years ago today

Today is my birthday. Yes I grow a year older, and Im accustomed to having the earliest birthday wherever I go so I always wonder in the very first year what happened from first to 29th (or maybe everyone born before then was born in China - you know, so the Chinese had a head start on the rest of the world which is why they more than double the next most populous state :) )

Anyways, events like these in someone's life usually cause one to look back and see if one has accomplished everything one set out to do. In my case, I haven't reached the first of my set milestones, which is 28. I have however, gotten one year closer to it, and so I ask myself what I am doing towards achieving my millenium development goals :). I am first and foremost in uni, which in this country should go a long way in securing a future for me. I have learnt how to download music and movies from the internet in cyber cafes. I have played both the XBOX and Playstation 2, and decided to go the Microsoft way. I have read My Life by Bill Clinton, and Im about to read it a second time. I can confidently say I have an idol in the man, BTW. I have learnt the basics of graphics editing using Photoshop. Im currently spending this month teaching, so I can say Im honing my public speaking skills which a few short months ago were non-existent. I've been to two five star hotels and quite a few 5/4-star restaurants, and confirmed what I have always suspected: Im an eat-out kind of person. I have attended three classical recitals, and liked them - but my music of choice is still rock. I've learnt to drive, and actually driven long distance (400 km) and at night, several times. I've gotten bored watching satellite TV (with over 40 channels I didn't think that was possible). I've read The Alchemist, and liked it, but didn't learn that much from it, wondering what all the fuss was about. I've watched A Few Good Men - best movie ever! I've made a foray into the stock markets.

OK, so much for things I've done. Now, what haven't I done? Obviously all the major stuff, like I don't have a house in an upmarket locale, and Im not part of the upwardly mobile young executives, I haven't launched a successful online business. Also some of the little things: I've never been to a golf club. I've never driven a Beamer. I've never been to a live rock concert. I still don't have an iPod and/or a classic laptop with WiFi (but in my defense I do have branded desktop and I also have an mp3 player from Mega Star International). I'm not in a relationship currently. I haven't watched any of the Legally Blondes. I haven't learnt how to set up a network from scratch all by myself. I haven't learnt how to serve a Windows network from a Linux machine. I haven't read Direct from Dell, Living History, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Jack Welch story, Business @ The Speed of Thought. I'm not yet a subscriber to Fortune, Time, PCW and PC Zone Magazines and Reader's Digest.

Ya, and the lists go on, both of them. These are just the things I could bring to mind at short notice. However, I make these lists now strictly for recreational purposes. I am not defining my success/failure in life according to them. And my wishes will simply remain that - wishes. Until such time as they can come true. In the words of Robert Burns (18th century poet), "The best laid plans of mice and men/gang aft aglee." so I don't wanna cast any of my plans in stone.

END