a comp all my own

So I finally have a machine of my own in school. It has been a long journey to this point, full of ups and downs, but I learn that as they say, good things come to those who wait. From where Im sitting, it dont come no better than this [if you know what Im saying]. Of course, as Murphy would have it, every silver lining has a cloud lagging somewhere behind, and mine is that the machine comes at a time when I cant really make any productive use of it. This semester has just been a conspiracy by the lecturers against free time [maybe they finally heard about that whole idle minds and devil's workshops thing], so they have all given like six assingments and five CATs, and all of them almost back-to-back. Obviously my main reasons for wanting the comp in school had nothing to do with research or any of that office productivity crap so I get presented with a classic catch-22: to read, or watch movies and seasons [naturally now that I dont have any free time to spare the seasons come in droves]. I'd really like to say that's a no-brainer, but the days of just showing up in class and still passing appear to be fast disppearing behind me, if my recent CAT results are anything to go by. And then we are now moving to the third year, which is where everything we do now goes towards getting us an average for our degrees.

Our local phone network has also recently launched GPRS, which for those of us who are technology savvy, is a really efficient way to surf the web on phones that are GPRS-enabled. It's made in such a way that unlike WAP, you're paying only for the amount of data sent between you and the server, not for the amount of time you spend online. And webpages can get small, pretty small. So then you can spend a whole hour surfing and end up having been charged only 4 shillings. I know - it's cheaper than even cyber cafes! The moment I learn how to use my phone as a modem for my comp I'll be so set. ISPs and their exorbitant charges can the go straight to hell :)

Oops! There goes my consience, reminding me what the time is again, and that I have a really complex paper tomorrow that I havent read for [don't you hate when that happens?]...

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letter of appreciation

Came across this letter in a rudge book and it totally cracked me up. :D

Dear Sir,

I am sure the Homestead Retirement Home has thanked you and the many others who made gifts to the home that have brought pleasure and comfort to us residents. But I wish to thank you personally fro the bottom of my heart because I am the recepient of the little portable radio which you gave me. I listen to it constantly when I am awake.

It has been so much company for me. I have wanted a radio of my very own ever since I came to the home to live. We have nice accomodations here and they take very good care of us. There are two of us in each room. My roommate is Martha Nelson. She is 87 and I am 83.

Martha has had a radio of her own ever since she came here ten years ago. She kept it so low I could never hear the programs. When I would ask her to turn it up so I could hear the programs too she wouldnt do it. Bless her, she is a sweet old soul and I suppose she just cant help being that way.

Last week she dropped her radio and it broke into may pieces and cannot be repaired. Last night I was listening to the early evening services of the First Methodist Church and those beautiful old hymns I love so much. Martha asked me to turn the radio up higher so she could hear it too, so naturally I told her to go f*ck herself.

Again, thank you.

I am,
Dorothy Murdock

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about the movies

Mother Earth has since let up a little on the weather aspect and these days it's bright and shine all day long. But of course, people being people, we are now crying foul that there is no rain. Can never satisfy them, can you?

Anyways, I've watched quite a few movies since I landed here [landed not arrived, BTW], and none of them have turned out to be disappointments. It's like fate is making up for all the boredom I had to perservere when I was on hols. There was Superman Returns - which totally rocked coz Lois has an actual husband on earth but it was so obvious she still had a thing for Clark, and - get this - they have a son [who Lois thinks is Richard's] who actually happens to be impervious to Kryptonite. Cant wait for the next installment - where he'll probably have grown up and taken over where his dad left off [but wait, Superman cant die, can he?], although knowing Hollywood, they'll probably develop a vulnerability for him, maybe even ultraviolet rays just to spice things up, sometimes they suck. Just sometimes.

Then there was X-Men The Last Stand. This one I liked coz Wolverine and Jean finally did something about their feelings [although Cyclops had to die for it to happen, I totally dont mind], but in the end she died. I dont see another sequel for this one. But who knows?

Then Underworld Evolution. THis movie has like six people in it's cast list, everyone - or should I say everything - else being a werewolf, ugly apparition or just plain ugly. But it was thorough. Not just coz Kate Beckinsale is drop-dead gorgeous [where has she been all my life? :)] and moves at the speed of light, but it actually has an emotional side. And Scott Speedman [he of Felicity fame] isn't that bad either, just could have been better. The others weren't so major - Hitch, Man on Fire, V for Vendetta [actually this one was classic - I just dint watch it big screen] and Uptown Girls. Still arranging for M:I-3, tho all sources indicate it's major boredom. But I wanna discover just how boring all by myself. If I have to pay for it and get unjazzed I know I'll probly end up crying foul or raw deal but that matters not for now. We never learn, do we?

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school so far...

I've been in school for just about a month now, and I can say with all the confidence possible that school so far rocks! First of all, the CATs and gradable assignments have not yet started and they are not even on the horizon, I went and got my transcript for the last semester [the one I was dreading - got some outside help on that :)] and wonder of wonders I actually got a B[!], I have since run into three programs I've always wanted to watch - Smallville season 4, Lost and Smallville season 5, though I havent yet watched them - I intend to make meself copies soon so they are immortalized, and of course who could forget, I've eaten fries so many times I think my heart has a coating three inches thick [this stuff tends to go where it's least wanted]

The temperature these days however comes really close to zero at times so most of us,including yours truly, have come down with the cold. It's a really inconveniencing disease to have, coz just at the time when you've forgotten your handkerchief your nose starts to run! It's almost as though Murphy's Law were true, and it totally blows! But all in all, this looks like it's gonna be a really good semester. Oh, and also, I havent made any enemies yet, in fact, friends. Im really proud of myself.

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the road once taken

Im a reader of poetry, of sorts. I love to read poetry, but I only do so when there is absolutely nothing else to do, and also when the author is someone Ive heard of before and who's not Shakespeare [I think he's overrated]. So I've read Robert Frost's "The road not taken", and in it he took the path less beaten, and hoped he wouldnt live to regret it. Well, recently when I got to my own fork, I have taken the path well trodden, the one Ive been on countless times before, the one called school. Yes, hard as it is to believe, school is now in session again, and I find Im not very amused with the status quo. This from someone who just a few days ago would have given his right arm to be back in school - the grass truly is greener on the other side I say.

Anyways, other than school being open resulsts for the last semester are out. That was the sem when I decided To hell with uni stuff and concentrated solely on CPA exams, which I myt add I passed with flying colors [Ok, I barely made the passmark but who cares, I passed, didnt I?]. So one can only guess how not dying I am to see my transcript for last sem. The first thing I did when I got to school this time ws to sit down and tell myself I am going to actually make an effort to read this time round in order to make up for any losses,and I know there'll be plenty of those. Im still trynna muster up the courage to go get that piece of paper. One of the best things about uni is that it's totally up to you whether or not you pick them. But I find leaving it in the admin block doesnt change the D's to A's so I'll go pick it one of these fine days.

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my, my how time flies

Damn how it does. Has it been a whole month already? It was a hesht that one. During that month Ive done a lot:

I went back to school for exams - those professional papers we are forced to do because of peer pressure [ts all about fitting in with the in crowd :)]. Actually its a little more than just fitting in. These days if you dont do them you really dont get employed, or get a job as a front-office teller. So damned if you do damned if you dont. Anyways, this occupied a substantial part of the month - the whole of it to be precise. But I have gone thro it unscathed, and mercifully I am still sane.

I had never slept outside the confines of the watchful eyes of my parents [or a respective aunt/uncle], now not only have I, but Ive also slept on a wooden chair - twice, in a club - once, sat on a bench reading all thro the night - once. I swear the worst situation to be in is be in a school where you dont attend and so not have any friends around to accomodate you. The day I slept in a club I dint really sleep - I bot coffee, enough, and I blinked and it was 5AM. My nights were full of drama. But they once told me what wont kill you can only make you stronger, and now I daresay I think I can live on the streets, if only for one week, OK, I lie, ONE DAY, no more than that, otherwise Ill freeze to death, or just die of despair.

Such are the conditions under which I did the exams, so if I get less than distinctions, you'll know why and no one is gonna point fingers.Anyway, now Im back, in my room, with a bed, a hot meal every day and loving every minute of it. These small things we take for granted, wait till they're no longer there.
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the big what if's

These 2 months have been so full of long weekends. It's like every holiday or non-working day fell on a Friday or a Monday. And these short stints at an actual holiday have opened my eyes as to just how much I dislike my job and the environment and conditions under which I work. Not the people, my workmates are nice, and they are doing their best to cope under the circumstances [targets that are too high to meet, lorries backfiring every day - we transport fertilizer to farmers, rain and impassable roads, farmers complaining here even when the fault is clearly not with our office et al], so I like my workmates. The only thing that keeps me going is that in two months school will be open again and it will be back to basking in the sun all day and surfing for free and meeting friends. So for now I have a better tomorrow to look forward to. For now.

But lately Ive gotten to thinking, what happens when there is no brighter future? What would I do if this was it, if this was my calling in life, my niche, my job? What if I was one of my workmates, [you know, 20 years and Im still gonna be at the exact same place]? These things just cant seem to get out of my mind. And now Im continually praying that when Im done with school, I at least get a job I actually like. To me the hours wont really matter [coz I dont have much of a social life anyways so even if I had the time...], and the pay matters yes but not as much as job satisfaction. I just want a job I look forward to on Mondays, a job Im not in a hurry to get away from at 4 on Friday, and most importantly, a job where I work in the back-ends with no nosy bosses looking over my shoulders asking why the email Im sending on company time is not work-related [coz there's gonna be alot of those :)]. I want a job where my performance record will be let to speak for itself, where they wont want to know why I was six minutes late in the morning so long as I meet all my deadlines, and they wont be asking me to follow their methods if I have my own that arent illegal but get things done. If there will be no specific dress-code at the company it will be nice too - I hate dressing up. I dont want to be in the spotlight or dealing direcly with people, unless Im the CEO [in which case all my misgivings about whatever job it will be become moot]. Also one that involves a lot of travelling. And if it's at one of them Fortune 500 firms, I wont complain. If the company happens to be Google then "let Thy will be done on earth.." I havent narrowed it down to anything specific yet, but this much I know - I do NOT want to be a doctor. Or a teacher or an insurance salesman!

If only wishes were horses and beggars actually rode...
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about the ones in print

This time I wont even bother to talk about the crappy ones. There's just too many. First local, I guess, and here I have to talk about Capital - the radio station, 98.4FM. Some time back [think I was still in fourth back then] they used to run a couple of ads in the Going Out Guide where it was just a blank page with a huge speaker in the middle in isometric projection [dont ask!] then the lowest corner of the speaker had started like melting and was forming itself into a round drop ready to fall off. Then at the bottom of the page it was just written "Capital FM. Sound solution" I swear that ad just jazzed me, so much so that a friend and I had it blown up [Going Out is smaller than the small exercise books people use in primary school] and we stuck it on our wall. Plus the Capital logo of a smiling sun with sky skrapers in the foreground, depicting Nairobi as the city in the sun [when they started they were an only-Nai station] is the best logo I can think of.

KCB have also once had another one in the papers that impressed me. It was first of all a whole page on its own. At the center of the page they'd written: "Want to deal with people who know business? Commercial is our middle name" Literally. Get it? Kenya Commercial Bank? I totally hope that whoever came up with that one was elevated to head of PR for that bank. Also the current ones being run by ABC bank, modelled along the same lines. First there's a picture of a timeline then they say "ABC = Age Breeds Confidence" then explanations about how old hence good they've become, or a pic of many 40-bob coins piled up on top of one another with the text "ABC = Asset Based Capacity" then they talk about how extensive their assets hence capabilities are. Really nice. Simple, everyday language put together in a striking and relevant pose. Nothing can beat that in advertising.

There's that ad for Nestle where a chick appears twice, enjoying a hot chocolate, then they say double the pleasure or something like that. It's currently running. Ok, this one has nothing striking about it, only mentioned it to say I think she's really fly.

OK, international, finally. [I read Fortune, Time and Car so that's how I see these things. OK, maybe FHM as well, but only sometimes]. Citibank. I dont even know why they advertise seeing as they've been the largest bank in the world for like forever with a trillion dollar asset base, but they do. And when they do it's just class. Their ads are usually just on a white page. One has a picture of the Everest in the middle, then beside it they've written "Where would you like it moved?" Just that. Another one has a pyramid, then beside it says "Let's say you wanted twelve more of these." At the bottom the page in both those ads they explain how nothing is impossible with them as your bankers. Those ads are off the chain!

Then there's Infiniti. If you dont [like me] like cars you probably dont know them. They are to Nissan what Lexus are to Toyota [It's a $40,000 luxury car made by a company traditionally associated with cheap cars]. We dont have Infinitis here but they directly compete Beamers, so now you have an idea. I saw one of their ads, for the 2005 G35 [that's their entry level sports sedan. Be clear{been watching FunkMasterFlex :)}, being entry level doesnt mean it's cheap. For Infiniti entry level means $35,000 - Again I guess the figure has to be put in perspective: A Merc, C200 Kompressor is $36,000 and the Lexus IS300 $33,000 in the same market] where the page was just black. The G35 was at the center on a round black pedestal, its color gunmetallic black hence shiny at all the curves-and those are many-so it can be seen despite everything else being black. Then the text at the bottom of the page: "If you're not generic and ordinary, you stand out, no matter how similar your surroundings." Simply elegant.
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the nicer side of the divide

So now over this Easter that dint happen, I decided to study ads again, this time looking for the good ones. Two went straight to the heart. First is the KCB ad for S&L, where they say "want to live in a thriving community," [and show a hive of bees] "or somewhere a little less crowded?" [show a hermit crab living alone] "Want to move away from nosy neighbors" [show three humming birds squeezing in one nest] etc. That is just the most creative ad I have ever seen. I never tire of watching it! And the best part is: It's by Kenyans. That's the reason I dont buy any of that "Our industry is still young and growing..." mumbo jumbo they hide behind whenever they make substandard stuff [surprisingly very often!].

The other one are actually many different ads, but all for UUnet. Eg. two guys talking in a restaurant then it suddenly becomes full and they cant hear each other, then the commentator says "Want to communicate in an environment with less interference? Come to UUnet" or something to that effect. Or the one where the other guy suddenly starts breaking up and rewinding and fading away, then they [UUnet] ask about reliability. Or the one where a guy goes into another's office and clears away with everything while the owner is busy looking for docs everywhere else, then UUnet ask about security. Those people are just good. Again, a Kenyan company did those ads. As in, the advertiser doesnt have to say a lot, the ad speaks for itself. For me that is just the hallmark of advertising that hits home.

Then there's Fair and Lovely. The one about their 10/- sachets [BTW I noticed that all of a sudden every company was introducing sachets costing between 1 and 15 shillings. My God! Are we really that poor?] So anyways, this lady cant make a sale, then she tries the new Fair and Lovely. The next day [mind you they say the sachet takes four weeks to work its magic :) ] when she comes to work she's glowing. Her colleague [the guy] looks at her first time like "Oh, its just her" and then looks again, stunned. There's something different about her! There's nothing really striking about this ad, but the look on his face right at that time - wide-eyed, astonished - that look is just priceless! I think he really nailed it. And, of course, he's Kenyan.

On the international scene, Oh! Here there are so many class ads. But the one company I have got to mention has to be Closeup [Ok, the company is actually Unilever, but they are a divisionalised bureaucracy - many unrelated products - so there is nothing on the market actually called Unilever]. First that Ultrawhitening ad for back in the day where a guy smiles, chick gets dazzled by his white teeth and knocks her head on a wall, then the sequel where she's now wised up so when he smiles she puts on sunglasses but blows fresh breath his way and he's so captivated he doesnt see the hydrant right in front of him. Needless to say there's a situation. So shiny white teeth and fresh breath, enuff said. Whoever heard of ads with sequels. Those two just rocked, they were so thorough, in the sequel she even had BandAid where she'd knocked herself in the first one. Then there's the recent one for RedHot where a tooth is taking good care of itself. Cracked me up.

Nokia ads arent that bad as well. They're usually pretty deep. It took me a while to realize that the matchstick that lights up in a dark room towards the end of the 6111 ad actually means the 6111's camera has a flash. Neat.

When we return, it's gonna be ads on radio, then ads in print. One is all sound and the other is all visual, so at least in those ones there's less room to mess up as compared to TV which is audiovisual.
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the easter that was

So last weekend was a long one, Easter Sunday and Good Friday when we celebrate Jesus' death and resurrection not necessarily in that order. Naturally, since I work in a factory, we were expected to go to work because "essential production operations dont stop over holidays" [Memo from the Head of Human Resources]. Now for the permanent employees this usually has monetary implications - if they work over holidays they are paid double the rate, but for us casuals, it's biz as usual. So we staged a ka-small revolution and got sent off. At the time I was thinking that I was gonna be busy, hmmmm, si was I in for a rude shock!

The beginning of my woes was five days before actually, my grandmother falling sick - she developed an eye infection and became allergic to light. Then the doctor gave her medication that you apply every five hours, not morning and evening or after every meal like we are used to, every five hours. So she had come to stay over.

Then there was supposed to be a trip to Mombasa by my dad's workplace for which my mum was being smuggled in. So they were to meet in Eldoret [where he works] and head from there, and I was gonna drive her over then [hopefully] remain with the car and a full tank - all alone. So freedom and mobility . Si I set up plans to go to a certain campsite with some buddes for Eldie. Everything is going according to schedule.

Then comes Thursday. The trip to Mombasa gets cancelled. So Im stuck in Mumias with both parents. But luckily, they decide since they have time on their hands to go shaggs and plant maize, this being the planting season and all. Strike one. They decide to carry the mboch with them. Strike two. On such trips [the ones where the intent is not leisure] it has become a foregone conclusion that I am not expected to attend. So Im remaining at home alone, not Eld as Id have liked but still alone. Strike three. Boy was I wrong!

So anyways, the long and short of it is that, since my paroz were now going shaggs they went with the cars so I was left bila, my ailing grandmother was left in my care because "no one is going to have time there to medicate her", my friends went and had fun anyway, I dint get to eat a lot of junk [usually associated with me being alone hence the cook] since I was cooking for me and her [she's diabetic], I couldnt leave the house to go anywhere in case an emergency arose with her health [aside from the above two conditions she's also asthmatic] so I was holed up in the house all easter watching the clock for the next five hour block, bored and now my salary is going to come short of expectations coz of the two days we refused to go work [Fri and Mon] - us casuals are daily rated. The things we sacrifice in the name of love... If only I had had a good excuse like Im needed at work all weekend, things would have been so much better. But I've learnt that the water-pot usually breaks just when you are at the doorstep. Now Im living every day as it comes.
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