Time for some sense!

I have to interrupt your daily reading of all this great stuff to speak about something that used to be dear to my heart but has sorta gotten clouded out by life in general, Environmental stuff.

Here is one survival tip for the future, learn how to swim. According to the environmental gurus and what not out little blue planet is going to flood over and we shall be in a virtual water world.

But there are still those that a championing the fight and in our back yard none the less albeit from miles away. By our back yard I mean Uganda and from miles away I mean Sweden. Yeah you got that right; some other guys are making money by planting trees in Uganda. Follow this link to get served. http://grist.org/list/swedish-fast-food-chain-makes-bank-by-becoming-klimatsmart/ and if that is not enough you can follow this link for some more face slapping. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2111372,00.html

Mighty painful stuff but well it gives me hope. According to scientist there is nothing we can do to stop global warming . I guess we can all sit back, relax and wait for Mother Nature to lose her cool, literally, in some parts, and lose her temper in others.

But there is always a little something that each of us can do to help out. Like that fast food chain in Sweden that has chosen a greener option for its business model each of us can make small changes to the way we live to try and help our planet heal. Imagine if the whole population of china went green, wouldn’t there be a change in the life of that country almost overnight.

If Ugandans chose to buy their airtime electronically and do away with those small tit-bits of paper, how much better would the planet breath and the city be cleaner? How about in our own homes and lifestyle? What can you and I do to help out. It may be a small drop in the ocean but it is your drop. Let not some far off chain in Sweden plant trees in your back yard, buy one and plant one, for you, your children and your country.

In search of talent.

These days it’s in fashion to be a writer or an artiste of some sort. We string together words, arranging verse and line to amaze, dazzle and awe. We work really hard to make sure our work is up to scratch and can pass the test of public opinion.

But is this really the path of talent. To play to the gallery and twist and turn at every fad, trend or craze? Can we enjoy art for art’s sake? Abandon the endorsements and celebrity crowd to just revel in the pure flow of an art form or revel in the true heart and life of a talent.

That is what I am saying, let’s do art for art’s sake and leave the rest to follow. I doubt Picasso was that famous in the beginning but now you would be committing some sort of modern art suicide if you said anything negative about the man but seriously who sees all that meaning in a bunch of skewed, misshapen, totally unreal box shapes. But you see, that is art and it speaks for itself.

It does not need the lens of the camera or the reach of the internet or radio waves or the RGB treatment of T.V. it speaks, it lives, it breathes and with that, in the heart of the true believer and enjoyer it takes flight and life of its own. It spreads not with the touch of great editing but of a heart elated and touched.

From mouth to mouth it moves from heart to heart, without the help of hyperbole or popularism, it rises and falls on the crest of the true believer or nay sayer. It stands its own both in the crowd of the adoring and in the halls of the unimpressed. From the detractors to the promoters, from derision to appreciation, it allows itself to be transformed by the mouths that speak it and the hearts the believe it.

Like a meek humble servant it conforms to the titles, and forms and structure given to it by those who love it and love it less and on it goes, to the next ear, heart or mouth, to stand judgement afresh and in so doing take on a new life and a new form.

That is art that rides on its own merit and circles the globe on the hearts, minds, mouths and ears of those that it meets. It has not life of its own except that which the people give it. Its identity and potency is in its lines, its ability to survive and thrive in this unruly throng.

Now that is true art.

I shall not throw stones at the guy holding the rope.

About four years ago my grandfather died. It was the single most devastating blow my young mind and heart then had ever gone through. I had not been there in the hospital when he was sick believing he would be fine. He was always so strong and bounced back faster than a rubber ball.

But he would not be coming back from this one, at least not alive and not on his feet. He succumbed to cancer of the throat. He could not eat. His throat was so brittle it came apart at the slightest nudge.He literally starved to death.

For the second time in my life I stepped into a catholic cathedral and for the first time in my life I got onto a bus to head to my mother’s village.

We were packed like sardine or close to that and the ride was long, very long. The roads were terrible and it was slow going most of the way after; we had left the miles of tarmac closer to the central region behind.

I struggles with my grief and thoughts of rebel ambushes. While it had been a couple of years since ambushes were common place it was still a real threat and here we were in the dark, in a slow old bus. The headlights did not stretch far but with each pothole they shone light onto the tall elephant grass which very easily was a higher than a grown man standing.

Something else was caught in the dim headlights. I kept spying this row of kids ranging between 7-15 or over  walking along the side of the road. I kept wondering why on earth they would be out in the dark in the middle of nowhere. In some places I saw small lamp lit kiosk fronts and heard the stray squeaks of battery powered hand held radios. I was beaten. There was nothing out here but someone still had the audacity to set up shop. My small kampalan mind was in knots.

It was only on my return journey that I fully understood.  All along the road sometimes for several meters were these displaced persons camps stretching as far as the eye could see. It was now in the light of the morning sun that I could see why so many children trudged along a lonely dark road in the “middle of nowhere” only this was not nowhere, for them it was home.

I cannot begin to explain what that sight did to me but something inside died, or broke or was awaken or all the above. I saw in the eyes of those kids my fellow countrymen but more than that my people. For while I may have grown in Kampala most of my life I an Alur and my mother is Madi. My roots straddle with ease the width and breadth of the conflict that was the LRA war and for many years I could not visit my ancestral home because of the insurgency.

I have heard all or at least most of what has been said and I have my own conspiracy theories but one thing is for sure I shall not throw stones or careless words at the Invisible Children initiative. They have tried hard to do what I desire to do. I may not like their methods or question their motive but when a hungry, dying man, woman, boy or girl is given food, they do not ask where it came from and why they are being given the food. To them hunger is a bigger deal and getting fed is welcome regardless of who gives it.

Of course there are several sides to this story and the politics behind it is diverse and a little abstruse but I hope, I sincerely hope that one day I could do something for those that I call my own and for now I shall start with not criticising where I have not participated.

A couple of things I am grateful for:

A couple of things I am grateful for:

1. Hot showers. Now for some this may seem trivial but after a long day’s work a hot shower just seems divine.
2. Meat. I have lived off fruits and even vegetables for more than a month. And that stuff is healthy and the mainstay of the world’s longest living primates but there is something about meat that is just soo I don’t know...just so different.
3. Now in meats there is normal meat and then there is pork which is in a league of its own. Slightly below that and in second place is goat’s meat. So I can tell you this for sure that there will be a limited number of goats in heaven and absolutely no pigs, not live ones anyway. Remember that feast spoken about; well pig is the main course in this. At least I would love to think so.
4. A close third is electricity. I know fire made a hell of a lot of difference back then but mehn...electricity is in a league of its own (that statement is now becoming redundant) but you get the point. Well it’s a sort of cool thing unless you leave in a small country on the African continent called Uganda. Electricity in steady supply has not been seen here in a long time. If you look at us from space, well we are that patch of darkness surrounded by the lights of our neighbouring countries.
5. The number five. It’s a nice odd number that strangely enough makes all things even. It tells you that you are half way there, if you are going to stop whatever you are listing at ten. It’s a number filled with hope.

Internet needs the light too..

Back then I used to be easier when it was just the village.

I get the whole desire to get off all forms of networks and just go back to “the simple life”. Yes, I get it. I recently sold my smart phones. I sold my television set. I want to sell my laptop and most other portable electronic devices. If possible I would like to use internet only when I am at work and nowhere else. I am severing all electronic umbilical cords.

But while I may understand the angst of off this entire tech overload I respond differently. I do not sign out, close my accounts and withdraw. No! Instead in jump right in, embrace it and allow it to engulf me. The only thing I strive to achieve is control. Control is everything. Power is nothing without control you see.

I believe that all those that throw in the towel, have struggles and lost the battle for control. ‎"Anyone can hide. Facing up to things, working through them, that's what makes you strong.” - Sarah Dessen. I believe that true change comes when ordinary men take ordinary things and choose to do extra ordinary things with them. So instead of robbing the world of my light I choose to shine it and instead of expending myself in the name of what is cool, I expend myself in search of control and balance.

To hide from the world of internet, social networks and all that is trending at the moment, to speak in silence and to avoid the lingo of this generations is to be unseen and unheard and yet your message is desired. Yes it does get tiring, and mundane, and boring but hey when I Rome to jig to the Roman beat or at least speak in the language they understand.

Another thing about this craze; at the heart of it all I suspect is selfishness. Self preservation I can understand, but that exist to protect us from harmful situations and if that is what social networking and the Internet is to you then unplug, but if not then I wonder what you be going on about. But then again, it’s a free world so you can do as you please.

But do not make it look like it’s the fault of the network that you pine over new comments or write in such a way to attract them or find that you cannot do without it blah blah blah. Internet and social networking is morally neutral. Chances are that whatever you are feeling or whatever hole you are in is mostly of your doing. Internet is just one manifestation of it all.

Also don’t make it look like the rest that are happy where they are clueless, brainless mash with nothing better to do with their time. If that was the case then I am sure Wikipedia and even Google would not exist. We would be just a bunch of zombies clicking like buttons and writing on walls.

There is so much more than can be done with the resources our generation has, let’s pull our heads out of our asses and use them. The internet needs the light too.

Other random thoughts.

Why can’t we eat real food for breakfast?

101 things about me also known as why i am the night rider...

ok not 101 just 20 only...could not be bothered to think all the way to 101. Dont enjoy.

1. i love 24 hour joints that stay open all night]

2. i like walking out of my house at 2am to meet my need for some coke or something to eat.

3. i pray and do my quite time mostly at night.

4. i read better at night. Fewer distractions.

5. i have totally brilliant and mind boggling ideas, yup you guessed it at night

6. i definitely will make most of my future babies at night although there is room for creativity on the Kronos element.

7. i love the stars and they show up only at night

8. i think shooting stars are Gods little gifts to me and ways to show me he really really really loves me and yeah those show up at night

9. i eat late night snacks, a lot seeing as I stay up late into the night (I think I mentioned this earlier no time to proof read this)

10. i used to do my laundry mostly at night and no I would not hang them out to dry. the moon can’t do that silly.

11. some of my funnest moments have been with friends hanging out late into the night

12. phew I guess I need to change this title because 101 things are hard to come by guess that’s why all of you used that generic list right?

13. I loved the Dark Night movie but not the fright night movie. the latter was about vampires on roller skates and I was eight and yeah that creeped me out. (I doubt I ever recovered from that unfortunate childhood scarring)

14. Oh yeah I have been to a night club and I still think I requires zero brain function to go and enjoy the hot, sweaty, crowded and noisy atmosphere. That is why some guys are just loud, they are now stone deaf.

15. Really loved the movie nightrider or was it the serie? Anyway I read the book and it was much cooler than the series I think I was somewhere around eight.

16. I wish I could work the whole night and sleep the whole day and I don’t mean as a security guard unless of course is has secret service which let’s face it is just glorified security guard stuff only you get to wear dark glasses and act all cool and stuff.

17. We once had a house help called Night and she told some of the most brilliant stories I have ever heard. They were child hood favorites.

18. And still on the subject of stories my favorite aunt introduced me to the art of storytelling on those long dark nights when the then UEB would send darkness flooding into our neighborhood and homes till late into the...yeah I know...night.

19. I did not always love the night until one night I was floored by malaria and I had to spend the night in a room with windows that faced into a courtyard and the room was pitch black as in you cannot see the finger in front of your nose and since then I have been a creature of the night.

20. most of my attempts at being a knight in shining armour have met with hmmmm how can I say this? well let’s say that the evil witch’s spells have yet to be broken.

Humble Brag

My first article from my new Acer laptop miny. It’s really small and it takes some getting used to.

Humble brag. That is something that I have look into but I got it from some series I am watching at the moment.

It means when someone complains about something positive or in a guise of bragging makes an apparent positive thing about them so for example man every time I go to the gym it’s so crowded or any time I try to finish MW3 for the fifth time power always goes off.

Or “maybe every time I go to the club dope chics keep looking me over and smiling suggestively. What’s with that?”

Or “man, my really big tundra keeps getting stuck when I try to drive round my 400 acre piece of land up country.”

Hehehehe almost as bad as, “I have a land Rover, a range rover, a Benz and 7 houses but do you hear me saying.” its famous Ja-lou stale crack very popular in Nairobi.

I am not sure if you noticed but the first part of this article was a humble brag.