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My part of the world.......
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23:40
From: My part of the world.......
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I bought a digital camera recently, still breaking it in but while I'm at it I may as well share a few pics here and there.  This is the river that runs behind the apartment complex I used to live in. Really beautiful.  Despite their plummeting stock, you'll still see a Starbucks everywhere like here at the local mall  A Chinese Food Franchise, Panda Express; I've never eaten there though and don't plan to soon  Another shot of the river  A neighborhood that is being revitalized aka chasing out the poor black folk, note the graffiti on the walls  Just like good old days, the Church shot!  One of the office buildings in the swanky part of town.  This is a shot I took at Lennox Mall, the mall the rich and famous go to here. The price of stuff here is just insane I tell you!  Some posh houses on the way to the gym  Looking for a home?  Some art on display at an event I went to a few months back In other news, I hear that Akon's concert was postponed or something of the sort. I think with all the drama that goes on with organising international acts in Kenya, we aren't going to have anyone of note coming for a long long time with all the red tape, back stabbing and politics involved. What I wonder though, is that were peeps who bought tickets given refunds? Quote of the day - " Kenyans are giving birth like Mexicans!! " That was what my small sister told me after going to a baby shower for an acquaintance and running into the sheer number of chics with kids or in the family way. I just hope that in some of those cases that other than bowing to the biological clock these mamas have long term plans because sadly unlike back home you can't just dump your kids with the house girl or extended fam and continue life as usual. Plus it doesn't help that some Kenyan men out here just have a pathetic record when it comes to meeting their obligations when it comes to their seed. Oh well at least that isn't a problem I have to worry about. I have this feeling that there is something I was supposed to post about but haven't. Anyway back to the grind..............
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16:27
From: My part of the world.......
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Over the last few months I have heard the following statements from 3 different women; " Aco, why aren't you married??" "Aco, you know what? You should woo me for a few months and then marry me" "Aco, now all that you need is a wife, tihihihihihihihihi" First things first, my life isn't in such a mess that the only person who can straighten me out is a wife, so I dont think that is where they were coming from. I think the statement esp the first one is similar to how a dude meets a hot chic who is single and wonders how that can be, although I dont know how my eligibility was being gauged by the woman in question. The second statement was by an ex, who seems to have not moved on. Needless to say the fact that I feel jack for her and she lives almost 200 miles away made turning her down very very easy. Note to self, never ever go to visit; may be held captive. The last statement was from this chic I met recently as I was searching for an apartment. She has some potential but this mambo of being herded down the aisle isn't happening, anyway since she is in her mid 20s I guess time is ticking away. What happened to the good old days of 2 years of dating and 1 year plus engagements? Do you remember those couples in Kenya who would live together for years and even have kids but were still engaged? On the other hand I do advocate for marriage in such a situation because I shudder to think what goes through the women's mind when after that long "engagement" the dude decides to pick up and move on to the next pretty young thing. I'm putting that chic on my "keep an eye on" list, why oh why can't I meet a woman who tells me; " Aco you look like you haven't had some hot sex in a while, let me give you some hot loving on a periodic basis without any commitment?" A man can dream can't he? Anyway seems I got sidetracked, I was listening to this clip that I got on an African magazine. I do think that the chat was too short for them to get deep into the issues that lead many African men to decide to go back home and get married as opposed to marrying African women here. I do think that the blame for this state of affairs goes both ways; 1. Many African men here want African women who will treat them like the women back home - That would be possible only if all the social factors that you had back home were reproduced but that isn't the case. Gender roles are different here in the West and in many cases even swapped. You can't bring someone to a totally new environment and expect them to remain the same, mores and norms change with location. So if some African men aren't willing to change, no wonder they shall always butt heads with many African women out here. 2. African Women Change Too Fast For Their Good - This isn't a blanket statement as many African women still keep loyal to their respective cultures. But much like many men, the lure and glitz of Americanization is too hard to resist and in the quest to fit in many African women throw the baby out with the bath water. Women out here on the surface appear very proud and fulfilled by their independence, and since many African countries are patriarchal; it is only natural that that independence would appeal to African women. So what they do is do away with their traditions and social roles and adopt all that they see as American, be it accents, gestures, thought patterns, norms without giving them any further thought or the consequences. If "independence" is such a wonderful thing, why is it that America has the highest divorce rate in the world and an equally high rate of depression to go with it? It could be argued that African men just want women that they can "step on" hence the rush for women from back home, but some research has shown me that even American men who like foreign women are advised to marry and settle with them in their native countries and not America because as soon as they bring the women to the states; their character changes and the relationship develops difficulties and goes down the drain. So I guess the simple solution would be for both parties to find a middle ground. African men should accept the fact that their women shall change and take on new and challenging gender roles which may appear to disempower the men. On the other hand African women need to know that there are some facets of their traditions and culture still worth holding onto, and that all that is Western is good and adjust accordingly. But till that happens I guess the impasse will remain. That reminds me. I only thought it was people in third World countries who jumped on anything Western without thinking. The picture below is some young men from a concert in the UK, Mocha went to recently.  You see the dude in the NY cap? The idiot is wearing receiver gloves, these are worn in American Football usually by running backs and quarterbacks, they are shaped in such a way that makes catching passes easier yada yada yada. Unless he is going to be playing touch football during the concert they are totally unnecessary. I guess the next time a British musician comes here I should go wearing a pair of cricket batting gloves. And yes I know he most probably wore them because they had the Nike logo on them. Anyway I did get a digital camera a month or so back and I do have some wonderful pics lined up for ya'll since it's been quite sometime since I've done a picture post. I do love looking at pictures of places I've never been too and even moreso pictures of home. It's always good in that it helps me keep the connection alive. I'm very visual by nature, so even when I look at pictures of Nairobi more often than not I can identify the place. Sadly that doesn't help me too much over here because thanks to franchises there is a Burger King and Quiktrip on every corner so you have to memorise highway exits and street names. Let me try to find my way home, nice weekend all!
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22:16
From: My part of the world.......
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I know some of you have been wondering where The Acolyte disappeared to for the last 2 weeks. Well I was playing a major part in organizing a conference and of course I had to attend it, so that led to some pretty intense days I tell you. Anyway the conference is a post in itself for later, but I want to touch on a thing or two in the meanwhile.
China owns the world, real talk. For me one of my rituals when I travel as is the case with many of you, is to buy a souvenir. For example in Kenya, you can get Kisii soapstone carvings and Maasai jewellery; original and handcrafted. Well what I have noticed is that when you get to the Western world is that few if any souvenirs that are sold to tourists are hand crafted, most of it is mass produced and when you turn it over; it has made in China stamped on the bottom. So when you travel from one country to another and one of the things you do to commemorate that is to buy something that represents that country but was made in another country, call me petty but that doesn't do much for me. But besides trinkets, other than food stuffs and specialty items have you ever noticed how 90% plus of what is on the shelf (at least in supermarkets here) is made in China? I'm not hating on the industrial nature of the Chinese but it makes me wonder in many cases what happened to any local industries that have been impacted by the tidal wave of Chinese goods. Like in the earlier example of my search for a souvenir, what happened to the dude who used to make individual hand crafted t-shirts when an influx of t-shirts that looked just as good and were cheaper than his came into the picture? Anyway I'm no economist but I guess that's what we get when we welcome globalization into our house, it turns into the elephant that asked to put just its' trunk in the house for shelter from the rain and ended up pushing out the owner of the house. Anyway I've ranted enough about that.
I'm experiencing my first cold in 3 years and it isn't amusing. The stuffy head, running nose and cough aren't doing me any favors at all. If I was dieting I would be thankful for the loss of appetite that comes with the loss of smell but since I'm not, that isn't a silver lining.
Now onto other affairs, residents of Eastlands; poleni sana. From what I read in the press ya'll are being forced to walk from the outskirts of the cbd. The mission the local gvt Minister has has a great aim but how he is going about it I disagree with big time, the problem is private cars and not public service vehicles (not that matatus are blame free of course). Even when I was leaving Kenya, the country was becoming alot like the States; there were alot of single passenger cars on the road causing alot of traffic, here we have a lane for cars with more than one passenger and emergency vehicles and let me tell you that that lane is empty for the most part. Anyway at least they are making an effort to address the issue. I'll sit back and watch and hear from you out there.
Anyway let me lay my head down and recover from this cold and I'll be back.
ps: I have a confession to make...I was made in China! Nah just kidding I'm 100% Kenyan Jua Cali made!
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9:00
From: My part of the world.......
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I think I have discovered the root of my malaise. For some reason or other I have found myself listening to the kind of music mentioned in this earlier post, so dank days are here again. No nothing bad has happened in my life. Yes I may have to spend some more time at work so I can't go to the gym so that in turn reminds me how empty my social calendar is but I don't mind my job or my work mates, I'm in good health and I'm not broke. Oh yes, I think the root of my malaise is the fact that I think too much about things, not to the point of obsessing or worrying but thinking too much anyway. Case in point, there are small things people like to do to take their minds off how pathetic their everyday lives are here, such as shopping. That's great go out and shop, enjoy yourself and just heap up more debt on yourself while America is in the middle of a recession so you don't even know if you are going to have your job tomorrow. Or maybe what I could do instead is meet a nice girl, get to know her and even get laid! Wonderful suggestion, were it not for the fact that 1 in 4 women have herpes, so who knows what other wonderful surprises you might come across. Maybe I could go out for a few drinks with the boys instead and try not to have too much fun and end up with a DUI like quite a few Kenyans out here. Don't worry I'm being a tad bit dramatic but quite a few times I do think about things I could do and I either do them or shrug my shoulders. I want to be more like those people who drink and party like there is no tomorrow. You know the kind of people who work for their next paycheck so they can go out and have some fun, instead of being like me who is trying to scrimp and save and plan for what I'm going to do and be several years in the future. So don't worry The Acolyte isn't balled up in some corner depressed or anything, I'm just having one of those internal self examinations where you make the mistake of examining your life by the standards of the world as opposed to your own and we all know where that leads but the good thing is that unlike many I do manage to come to my senses before any long term damage is done. At times I think it does take a strong person to cope with life in the West because everywhere you look, someone is telling you what you should have, where you should be, where you should live, where you should work, how you should look and who you should be with. It was never this bad in Kenya when I think back, no wonder so many people here crack up trying to be the Joneses. In other news, anyone who works in an office building in the States is aware of the fact that the windows here are just for show and don't open at all. I understand about the higher floors but are they scared that someone on the ground floor will still try and toss themselves out of that window onto the curb? Because of that air conditioning is the sole form of climate control, so when the air con gets busted you are in trouble. Last week our thermostat was having issues so the office became rather warm, I didn't know that but when I began feeling hot flashes the first thing that came to mind was, "Damn, aren't I a bit young for male menopause?" Anyway a new week is here and it's time to get back to the grind, just marvelous!
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7:42
From: My part of the world.......
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As time goes by I have been realizing some interesting things about myself, some new and some old. I've come to the realization that there is little that we can't stop doing if we put our minds to it. I have friends or rather acquaintances, who confess about certain habits that they have that are messing them up but they "can't" stop. I have had very negative habits that used to hold me back but like a drunkard waking up in a ditch, I often have a moment of clarity that brings everything to the fore and I walk away; not that it's easy of course. Some battles are harder then others. It's just that holding onto a bad habit is a crutch in itself, a way to avoid change; case in point people who use sexual relationships to avoid intimacy. It seems like much more fun to be screwing a new chic/dude every other day as opposed to working to build a relationship with someone and taking the risk of heartbreak and the other issues that come with a relationship. One of my interesting habits or quirks? I have borderline OCD, I have to check doors and locks 2-3 times before I can go; this also extends to light switches, taps, mail boxes and electrical devices. It sucks when I lock a door, walk several hundred meters and then turn around and go back to make sure it is closed even though deep inside I know I closed it. I also have this thing for bathroom sinks, my bathroom sink can't have any gunk of sorts in it, I have to have it as clean as possible. I leave it so clean that I can usually tell if someone else has been using it other than myself, it used to extend to kitchen sinks but sharing an apartment with slobs cured me of that because there was no way I was going to clean up after grown men. Yes that's me, your borderline OCD sufferer; now stop eyeing my gleaming sink and clean your own! I'm sure those of you who are in Kenya now must notice the way ethnicity has become such a charged issue almost like race here in America. Well the other day, I was on facebook and I was going through my Kenyan friends' profiles and I began noticing some interesting things, case in point was how with some people 99% of their Kenyan friends were from their tribe. This got me to wondering about a few things; did they make this choice consciously or subconsciously? Do they have friends from other tribes? What do they think about people from other tribes? Anyway at the end of the day someone's friends say alot about them and their lives so I guess at the end of the day, its' their lives and the people they choose to have in them is their choice. Interesting days we live in. I came to the fine realization that over time my American work mask has been slipping? What is this mask you ask? Well you see here in the States, people who work together are meant to be one big happy family or at least make the pretext of it. Well in the early days when I got my job, I used to make daily chit chat with people at work and listen to their stories and such, dont get me wrong they are nice people for the most part. I get along just fine with my supervisor and the Head of our Department; there was a chic who was a good pal and we used to share jokes but she left so for the most part I'm on a cordial basis with most of the people. So as time has been passing, I have been making less and less of an attempt to get chatty with people. I'm an introvert by nature and also this whole telling the whole office about the funny small things that are happening in your life isnt my thing; for example our Head of Department sent around an email asking people if they knew any natural cure for toothache; this is because his son had braces put in and due to the pain he has been on painkillers but they are tired of giving him Tylenol so he wanted some tips. I dont have a problem with the request for advice though, I do think at times that with my silence and "secrecy" some people at work must have a few things here and there to say about me; anyway let them talk. I just believe in having my home life and work life separate. I also came to the realization that there are some fights that you can't win. Case in point, the gay issue. If you don't like gays and are against the lifestyle; you are a closet homosexual and are scared of them. If you are for the gay cause then other people say you are just a homo waiting to come out and have no morals whatsoever. I think you all know that I' m the Prince of Apathy, what you choose to shove up your orifices is no concern of mine, nor is that fact that you feel that you were created the wrong gender and want to change that; do whatever you want. Please just keep the volume down if you decide to have a coming out rally somewhere around my block. Speaking about playing for the other team, Meshell Ndegeocello is in town this weekend and I may just go see her perform. Have a nice weekend!
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10:09
From: My part of the world.......
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Don't you just love it when you have all sorts of interesting stories passing through your mind and all sorts of fun things but as soon as you sit in front of the monitor it all dries up? That's me now. I was listening to the greatest hits of Babyface and my, you had to admit it; that man had talent. I think he was among the last of an era. The time when people were talented and used to write love songs and not these mindless baby making songs we hear now. Case in point, Jagged Edge; those boys have made the same album several times. The most ironic thing is that they have a cd called....Baby Makin' Project! I was reading this story and with the amount of times I have heard the excuse of video editing used by people to deny being caught in the act I think I would be able to buy my own video editing studio. If you were busted trying to lay and egg, you were busted; own up! I was also reading this story, and all I can say is that it was inevitable. Foreigners come to Africa start businesses and treat their employees like crap with the local Authority's blessings, I'm not calling for anarchy but I think one day Kenyans should rise up like that to the Indians who treat their workers in Industrial Area like slaves. Yes we know it but since it doesn't affect us directly, we all turn a blind eye. When the US came into the peace talks, President Kibaki and his cohorts were screaming about sovereignty, how can you when you foreigners come into the country and do as they please, Arturs anyone? Anyway Iet me stop ranting.... There is some stuff that adds no value to the world at all. Case in point, Flavour of Love 3. I think one season was more than enough. I do hope that that crap is never show on Kenyan tv! Speaking of Kenyan things, I love Kenyan radio! Capital is the only Kenyan station of note that streams online so I tune in like every other day. So on Nini's late night show she was having her break ups to make ups where she calls couples on the rocks and tries to help them iron out their issues after reading their letters or texts. So now there was this dude who was trying to pull what I affectionately refer to as the fast fade, well he wasn't fast enough if the chic caught on. In my case I use it when I have started vibing and things aren't flowing, so I fade away bit by bit. The contact tapers off till nuthin'. Anyway in this case the mama told Nini how her boyfriend hasn't seen her for some time, nor has called her and he doesn't answer her calls. So now when Nini calls him and puts him on the spot, he gives some weak excuse of jobo and how things have changed between them and how he wants to get round to it; so she tells him point blank to stop being a pussy and call her. Now that was funny! I miss Kenyan radio...... I'm sure some of your fans of the many sitcoms and dramas that are churned out are aware that there was a Writer's Strike that recently ended, so in lieu of the regular programming studios opted for reality shows since their writers aren't in the union (yes reality tv has writers, you didn't think all that stuff that happens and the editing didn't have a story board to it?). Anyway one small observation is that the more women you have on the show; the more drama you will have while on the other hand the more men you have on a show; the less drama. I'll give 2 examples, compare Bad Girl's Club or Real World to Contender Asia or The Ultimate Fighter. It's like women live to fight, bicker and back stab! Anyway I guess I've said enough today. ps: I don't have nude Nini Wacera pics, I'm tired of people googling for that and for some reason or other my blog pops up. But now the sad is that by typing those words, this post is going to show up in the search. I can't win can I?
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