One key thing is scheduling and re-scheduling, and always looking up time zones to set up zoom meetings, attend webinars and so forth.
Google Docs has made collaborating on proposals and working drafts easier.
I’m online more than I’d love to.
I throw a fit when there is a power outage- and yes, I remember the one time I bought a selfie ring light and stand that can be powered using a power bank because I couldn’t stand missing four meetings in a week.
Sometimes, fussing or stressing over things leaves me exhausted to the point that I fail to identify or see what truly needs to be done, and in the end of it all it creates that mountain when I barely had a mole hill.
A little bit of this and that is what comes to mind.
Each day brings its own stories and experiences, each moment an opportunity for me to decide how to react.
And just like that, for over thirty five years, from climbing mango trees when I was five, to making my first meal, getting the ingredients right for that sponge cake, traveling outside Kenya, or that time I had food poisoning while traveling home- a six hour drive that nearly killed me, or getting on that motorbike, losing my friends, grief, love, shopping….graduating from university.
It’s like I have a little garden of wins and misses in my pocket.
Listen, if I tell you of the time I wanted to change my seats and embrace the theme of blending african print with pain black cloth-you’ll call me crazy, and you would be right.
I blame it all on Pinterest.
I saw these awesome designs and thought I could do it, until I bought the fabric-cut it into strips and they were the wrong fit. Then I got the black cloth, only to take the pieces to a tailor and she says that the two fabric do not blend well- texture and quality wise, making stitching a nightmare.
She proceeded to give me an unwarranted lecture on how clients think they know stuff instead of asking to make sure they are right and end up wasting money, time and fabric.
I took my african print, made cushion cases and bought a bottle of fanta to wash down the bile of irritation that was rising up my throat!
Never ever, have I gone back to Pinterest for DIY projects.
Each day comes with it’s own buffet-the things that stress you now, may not appear on the menu tomorrow.
Focus on your studies-good grades are great, but kindness- a good character, now those two will not fail you.
Yes, you’ll not wear that navy blue skirt anymore once you graduate.
Love your friends, some of them will break your heart and you’ll grieve them when they die, especially the one whose laughter makes your day. She will die before you.
Listen to your Mother, love her, she’ll push her dreams aside to watch you thrive.
Love your Sister, now that one will burn the world to see you soar…and she’ll give birth to a son, name her after your Father, and your heart will be his, forever living for him.
Write those stories, you’ll publish books one day.
Oh to ask the heavens for rain, when you could get thunder, lightning, showers, a torrent, a downpour, the rainbow…they clear blue sky, the dark heavy clouds…
And since you asked this of me, listen, I want to read books:
with bright colorful covers
written by Kenyan Writers
written by women
in hardcover
written by me
with a playlist the author was listening to while writing
by Asian writers
anime/manga
by Jennifer Makumbi
BL themed books
in public library
gifted by friends and family
that I swore I would never read (if you mention Anna Karenina I will punch you in my head while smiling, and don’t get me started on the level of heartbreak I endured reading Wuthering Heights)
Harry Potter series (again!)
by Chinua Achebe (my absolute favorite: Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, and Arrow of God)
Democracy: the aspect of having to vote for one side/team into governance…counting of ballots and the whole electoral process because in Kenya, clearly it hasn’t done much.
Zoom: This is my way of saying that spending hours over a call via screen is not my forte…and to have done this over two years-at some point the frustration grew into loathe.
Carbon credit: Because it is clearly another form of possession of indigenous communities and habitats.
Banking system
Geographical boundaries: I still don’t understand why those who came before me had to chart boundaries and say this is our country, no one is allowed to come and go as they please and they have to pay us to get in and tell us when they get in and get out.