Weekend trip observations

Had 2 days off last Thursday and Friday - decided to do something thats characteristic of me, in two ways - take a spontaneous (read:unplanned) lone road trip to Toronto. I'm not particularly fond of the city, rather my agenda was to see a good friend before she left the country.



My friend happens to be mixed asian, so I spent lots of time with her and her chinese pals - mostly Hong Kong Indonesian natives who in similar circumstances to mine came to Canada to study and were now working diaspora.



My discoveries, which may strike you as sweepingly ignorant generalities, are only observational notes that appear to be consistent:



1- Young asians here are sharper more focused than most diaspora i have interacted with since coming to canada.

2- They are incredibly hard working and often passionate about succeeding.

3- They are modest when it comes to furniture, but go all out when it comes to tech. This must point to some sort of frugality or honed spending habits.

4- Most young asians in the diaspora will go to great lengths to learn their language and culture, often travelling back to their home countries to learn the language.

5- It is incredibly difficult to estimate their age. I failed each time i tried.

6- Soju - Korean rice wine - is bloody fantastic. It is 20% alcohol, presenting itself like a fine mild vodka that goes down like tap water, and is just as refreshing. No pungent smell or aftertaste. It is drunk from a shotglass among friends during or after dinner, sometimes alongside an omena-like fried dish. Bottle was so good i bebad it back to Montreal and I'm still sippin sippin it from time to time.





Great learning experience overall. As Kenyan diaspora I think we are challenged to learn from a few of these salient features of the asian community abroad. It is in knowledge of self that we shall truly be liberated and successful in these distant lands.

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She's gone

So am blogging finally.

My housemate of 3 years (above) is moving to Melbourne to do Med and I am extremely sad to see her go.. Imagine, she did the foundation course in 2005, unfortunately she couldn't get into Med,but she was invited to do Dentistry but she wanted to do Med and only Med.So she did the foundation course again last year, and fortunately she did get into Med.Truly a go-getter and will not settle for less.She's been there for me whenever I was down We would pig out or binge eat together, buying 2 large pizzas each, 2 litres of coke, cribas and chocos and watch 3 to 4 movies in succession on weekend nights.She gets me and it's important to have someone who gets you.We have soo much in common yet she has imtroduced me to this beautiful world of new stuff, stuff that I would never do, like eat Tofu or Dumplings or go for a game of squash.

So, this is to my dear dear housemate, thanks for everything, especially the laughter, much love and God be with you wherever you go.

So, that's the latest with me. Cheerio

Africa, Media, You.

Ever wanted to know how exactly to unlash that perfect kiss??

lol. Well now you do. Theres lots more where that came from; on Videojug.com - you'll never be bored again at work. I take cash and credit cards.

In an era of youtube boredome-killing tube ethos, can you really expect any less?

Seriously - I do NOT have cable tv. I don't have regular hangar arial tv either. My game console, the nintendo wii, has a web browser, so when wageni's come over I switch to stand up from eddie murphy, chris rock, or some other material that is the latest fodder for office cooler musing.

Actually i have this friend who is going to climb kilimanjaro soon - her first time to Africa she is kinda scared shitless. So while we are chatting about it, i decide to see whether theres any stuff on google regarding safaris etc. Wololo i stumble across videos of the mara wilderbeest migration, champaigne breakfasts on hot air baloons etc..Africa is transformed :) Thank you youtube & google!

In fact, so new-media are my TV watching trends that I have been eniterly hooked to a new show called battlestar Galactica - in three weeks, I had watched 3 ENTIRE seasons; over 40 episodes via torrent. So this is not new, but i still find it amazing..

It is a brand new paradigm. I watch what I want, when I want, How I want. That paradigm is not too far away or too far fetched for folks in Kenya either. Broadband penetration is making inroads into African cities through the likes of KDN, UUNET, telcoms Kenstream. (maybe not fast enough) We need that next level of entrpreneurs/matyrs to offer that additional layer of service that will allow us to define our own media.

But at that exact juncture - it hits me. As a mass market - who's watching what in Kenya? Is there even a mass market? What makes for great entertainment for the masses? I was very impressed by the traction gained by Tusker Project fame when i was back home, despite it being an overwhelming port of american idol with east african brands. is the the future of African media? I mean for that staggering 60% or so of Kenyans living under a dollar a day - what does entertainment mean??

Will they be ever in a position to enjoy/laugh what they want, how they want, when they want?? Access media, industry, business, social networks, enlightentment, surprise, knowledge at the click of a button?

That day must come. We have an obligation to make that day arrive. or we might as well be on another planet. We are the web. ALL of us.

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Straight outta luck Preacher Margaret?

Ouch - just read about the High court halting Bishop Wanjiru’s wedding It may appear that the "glory" might have temporarily evaded her.



"Kamangu wants the court to restore his conjugal rights, which he claims the Bishop had been denying him for several years now."



Restore conjugal rights. ROFLMAO!!!! Kenya ina maajabu kweli - and men there have some balls.



Then again - whoever once talked about Karma coming round to bite you in the behind may have been on to something. This guy, in all his audacity, could not have been lying low, scoping, watching, surreptitiously waiting for a time to pounce on poor preacher Margaret with this for NO GOOD REASON. These are some pretty high drama allegations here - it also appears that the dude isn't really after chums. (I sooo stand to be corrected here) I posit that this is a case of a brother meting out a repository of sweet vengeance. Vengeance for what - perhaps we shall never really know. But agenda there is.



But conjugal rights..geez, he really got me there. Is that even enforceable constitutionally or even via customary law? If so, surely, HOW? Better still, can women claim for their conjugal rights?



That said - there has never been such a thing as bad publicity - perhaps even for political office aspirants. Something tells me women in Kenya are going to rally behind "Ms" Wanjiru and her fight for matrimony - whats more this support will be the vindicating factor in her parliamentary run for Starehe. What about our deprived friend Mr Kamangu? I guess we'll find out in due time. I sure hope he enjoys his time in the limelight.

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Data, 3rd world, music and some inspiration

Hans Rosling, a swedish researcher, debunks a few myths about the developing world with an urgent efficacy that is compelling to watch. The liberated data literally unfolds before your eyes...

Then move over jobs and the iphone - I then got wowed by and Jef Han's visionionary research on multitouch displays, a sensibly futuristic interface between man and computer. He didn't fail to mention (or at least imply) that it was scalable enough to throw on the 100 dollar computer....There's an even better vid with no yackedie yak, where Jeff just goes at it like hes in the Matrix..apologies to those @ sub broadband speeds..

As if that wasn't enough, watching the 11 year old violin prodigy Sirena Huan from Connecticut perform humbled me - like for real i need to haul some 24-yr-ol ass and develop a talent! How is such virtuosity achievable in a 5 years? Is this indigo child theory for real???

Its confirmed, TEDtalks is a resource too neat not to share.

Virtually insane in 2007

Much like Jay-z return, I'm unapologetic and evolved. I ask that you embrace this evolution and new-found cynicism. My respite away from blogging has been good.

Unlike Jordan's return, i think I've returned sharper, perhaps more poignant and less optimistic than before. I think you will want to keep up with my insights.

First order of business was to give the ol bugger of a page a facelift. I lost all my images, beloved flickr zeitgiest, and mzalendo banner; tsk tsk - to compensate in the short term I added my profile. A ka biased glimpse into me incase you were unaware. I'd love for blogger to add the noticeably absent functionality for adding the profiles of your team blog members. There you go Google. a million dollar idea. Hire me!( job frustration, can you tell !)

Second order of business: find out why on earth Virtual Insanity is no longer on the list of blogs aggregated by KBW. Even with infrequent posts and a readership thats nearly dwindled to zero - i find it ghastly to think that we may have been ostracized from this community without even so much as an email. If theres any remaining readers out there that belong to the KBW - can you kindly offer any insights as to why this may be?

Third order of business - Start talking about things that interest me - as bland as they may seem to you. Better get used to it :)

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