Props For Poperah, Beautiful Braids and F*ck 4shared!

Poperah aka Oprah has opened up her $40 million Academy for girls in South Africa. Ya'll know that I am not an Oprah fan but I have to support her on this, let's hope it turns out well. Of course there are some people who were sipping on haterade when she said she didn't build such a school for inner city kids because,

“I became so frustrated with visiting inner-city schools [in the U.S.]. If you ask the kids what they want or need, they will say an iPod or some sneakers. In South Africa, they don’t ask for money or toys. They ask for uniforms so they can go to school.”

I am not going to play the race card here, but more often than not inner city is just another word for black. Also as a whole the States isn't faring that well when it comes to appreciation of education. High School drop out rates for both black and white students across America have hit record highs in the last few years. When compared to students from other countries, American students rank rather low especially in the Arts and Sciences.

In my opinion if there are some American kids who won't go to school when it's free, I think that Oprah may as well build schools in places where kids want to go to school but have no schools to go to or can't afford to.

Moving on I have read time and again people railing against the eurocentric hairdos women rock nowadays specifically weaves (and of course we men get blamed for that). I was looking through the BBC website and I came across the picture below.



Frankly since I came to the states I can hardly recall the last time I saw a well done creative braid centred hairstyle. A few women here (very few) sport natural hair or braided hair, otherwise it is weave city galore! I have do admit that some of these weaves look good but the idea that the girl may be flossing with someone elses hair and the fact that underneath that weave her hair has been so messed up that it could be worse than mine really bring me back to earth with a thud.
So you ladies out there who are rocking the braids, natural locks or even no hair you have a supporter! Keep on keeping it real!

Now onto the first bastards of the year. The bitches at www.4shared.com, these muppets decided to delete my online storage account without telling me. So now most links I have to music or documents on this blog are dead. I think if they had a problem with anything on my account they should have told me.
Good thing that I don't trust free stuff especially since that website looked kind of shify and I had set up 2 accounts elsewhere and backed things up on dvd.
ps: I am reading a book on writing. I have found out how hard it is to try and learn the mechanics of something you do by reflex and instinct. There are so many rules and procedures when it comes to writing that I didn't know existed!

Out with the old, In with the new!

I think this year has been a lot like a hill. It was hard to begin with but once I got over the hump it was over really fast and effortlessly.

There is so much that has happened this year for me in the blogosphere and in the real world. Ranging from being on the bilas train to dating and back again, thinking school would never end and now being free. I am in the process of writing a series of posts to sum up the high points and low points.

Blog pals have been met, made and lost. Of course one of the major points in blog relations was my international incident and the "Battle for Freedom" that followed. At that point I knew who my real friends were and who weren't, but those are details I will go into in my post summarising the year.

New Year's Resolutions?

1. Excercise - Dating the Derailer made me move from a 4 pack to 2 pack. Her idea of spending time was going for takeout add to this how time intensive dating her, school and work was led to me falling off my gym regimen. So when Jan comes round it's back to the grind!

2. Get stable financially - I don't have any crushing debts, Thank God! But I want to be living on my own by April or May at least. I have to do my non paying internship first so that is why I am giving myself a bit of a window.

3. Become a teetolater - I rarely go to clubs and I don't drink much at home unless I am celebrating something. So that isnt going to be a hard resolution to adhere to, but I plan on joining Mocha and being alcohol free!

4. Begin Foundations For Long Term Plans - In a few years I want to set up a non profit agency, a foundation and a company. I do have a registered company name back home, but it's of not much use here. So next step is to save up to register an LLC. I don't plan to work 9 - 5 forever.

5. Work On My Swahili Sanifu - Please note I did not say swahili but swahili sanifu. I had began sprucing up my swahili sanifu by reading BBC in swahili but as pressure picked up my diligence suffered. So it's back to nguzo za swahili for me!

6.Cultivate A Close Group Of Kenyan Friends - When I was back home I was somewhat picky about my close friends. This has made it an uphill task here making friends because I am not around Kenyans much and when I am, most of the time when I encounter them it is at their worst.
I know those I have come across or heard of don't represent most Kenyans so I will take my time and see if I can make friends with some Kenyans who have their priorities and lives in check.

There they are my simple New Years' resolutions! Happy 2007 for ya'll and don't party too much!