Desiderata - child of the universe

-- written by Max Ehrmann in the 1920s

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
 

Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
 

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
 

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
 

You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

WORDS TO LIVE BY

Ginger's House Background Text

Ginger's House Background Text (clipped to polyvore.com)

Boyfriend jacket look

Boyfriend jacket look by wairimu254 featuring a fringe necklace

American Vintage vintage style shirt
£31 - cureuk.com

Boyfriend jacket
£35 - republic.co.uk

Citizen of Humanity slim jeans
€255 - placedestendances.com

Shoes
599 SEK - nelly.com

Penny Loves Kenny stiletto heels
$90 - heels.com

ABS Allen Schwartz beaded bangle
$150 - bloomingdales.com

Fringe necklace
£7 - peacocks.co.uk

As the year ends

As we approach the New Year, and I reflect, did I achieve my 2011 goals? 

Am in a new town, ok not new but I feel like a fish out of water, and am having to learn to readjust all over again. After getting used to Mombasa life and appreciating the beauty that is our coastal town in Kenya, I am back to the hustle and bustle of Nairobi, AKA the concrete jungle.

I have had my fair share of disappointments and heartaches, and I guess sometimes you are not treated the way you would like to be treated but you still have the decision whether to accept the treatment or walk away. Am getting a bit worried that I am getting very good at walking away. Note to self "pray for more patience" or better friends lol

I had made a bet with my friend that I needed to start a hobby/ money making venture that would help me build my enterprising skills. Well I started with grand ideas but all were nullified

to be continued

(volunteering), Lucky in love, 20 things that am grateful for

A Million Reasons for Kenya's Girls to stay in School

Life can be very boring, when all you are doing is accumulating. Accumulating dates, wealth, status, work experience, without giving back to the community. I have always done at least 100 hrs a year on community service be it in the rape rescue center, the children home and the under privileged primary school.

For the last six months i have not had a chance to give back, or as i like to call it pay it forward till i meet a dear friend Kiarie.

The World Bank carried a study that showed that girls miss 10-20% of school days during period school missed due to period, girls complain about poor sanitary products or lack of any. The girls are forced to use pieces of cloths or tissue paper that is bound to stain the clothes and cause them serious infections.

 Surprisingly the pioneer of this program has been a Guy, Kiare. He tells me that this idea came when he was providing first aid equipment to Baharini Primary School, a community school in Maweni Village in Kikambala, Kilifi. The issue of girls and their needs touched him that he reached out to all his friends on a noble idea of all donating a dollar each (Ksh 80), to buy one pack of sanitary towels. thus a noble cause started.

i was based in Mombasa with Kiarie and i became his number 2, right hand gal to teach him more on sanitary towels and also help him lobby the Mombasa market. I acted as a drop off point in Mombasa town,  his friends in  Eldoret, Nakuru, Nairobi and Mombasa who act as drop off points also thus reducing the logistic costs.

So our quest is to collect a million packets of sanitary pads and reach as many girls as possible and make sure they don’t loose valuable class time.

Latter on we decided, what is a sanitary towel without anything to hold it, Did these girls have any panties to hold on to the sanitary towels. So came a new campaign to raise money to buy underwear to support the sanitary towel campaign and help keep the girl child in school.

Platonic Freindship

A study that aimed to get respondents to approximate what percentage of their friends had a close but platonic cross-sex relationship. The average for teens was 73 percent; for 20somethings, 59 percent; for 30somethings through 50somethings, about half; and for 60somethings, 24 percent. The trend could be taken to mean that younger (unmarried, unattached) people are more likely to form cross-sex friendships in any era. But it could also reveal something about the time in which we live: Maybe it's much easier to make cross-sex friends now than it's ever been. 

its the meeting of a kindred spirit in form of the other sex. a person you can let loose and just be friends.Is this possible?  it is said that men never go out of their way to keep female friends unless they have an agenda, an motive.

Today: are you happy

are you? :-)

Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou

Today being International Women Day, i would like to wish all women a happy women day. Women are phenomenal. they love intensely, and are stronger beyond words, they have held homes, economies and countries together.

So today ladies,i leave you in capable hands live in the words of Maya Angelou - Phenomenal Woman.

She inspires pride in all of us, as i read this poem i feel good about myself. With my shoulders up high i embrace my womanhood and concur indeed i am a Phenomenal Woman


Maya Angelou - Phenomenal Woman

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman

Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

No-nos for women after 30

After the jump, 30 things every women should stop doing once she turns 30.

1. Buying clothes from the junior section.
2. Forgetting her parents’ birthdays.
3. Making out with her BFFs at bars for attention.
4. Making out with her boyfriend at bars for attention.
5. Filling her bed with stuffed animals (really, even one is too many).
6. Carrying a torch for anyone she hasn’t seen in the last five years.
7. Rebelling against her parents for the sake of rebelling against her parents.
8. Declaring an entire gender “all jerks.”
9. Holding a grudge against anyone who wronged her in high school.
10. Skipping regular gyno exams.
11. Going to bed without washing and moisturizing her face.
12. Being “that person” who had a bit too much to drink at the office party.
13. Crushing on Justin Bieber.
14. Thinking she’s got it all figured out.
15. Calling her father “daddy.”
16. Engaging in sibling rivalry.
17. Trying to get by on her looks.
18. Living paycheck to paycheck.
19. Expecting a man/knight in shining armor to swoop in and save her.
20. Aimlessly jumping from job to job.
21. Using MySpace to pick up guys.
22. Expecting a man to do all the wooing.
23. Wishing she had someone else’s life.
24. Expecting everyone to drop everything because it’s her birthday ...
25. ... or because her “boyfriend” of two weeks dumped her.
26. Measuring her self-worth by a number on the scale.
27. Being cheap.
28. Quitting a job without having a new one lined up first (especially in this economy!).
29. Blaming her mother for all her issues.
30. Romanticizing her 20s.

Thursday Blues

Today i wake up, i ve not been talked to in a while and i am not happy about that, but in life you have to let everyone make up their mind about stuff. I believe that you can not make decisions for anyone for sooner or latter they will hate you and i can only be responsible for my own actions and decisions. I guess time will tell.

Anyway today i plan to go to Kilifi for some work related issues, i was there yesterday and i really enjoy the atmosphere and the peace the 1 hour road trip gives me. So i am looking forward to some soul searching.

I am very optimistic and have started enjoying my life. I am enjoying the peaceful and quiet nights as i either surf, read a novel or just stare blankly at the wall with no care in the world.

So Thursday lets see what you have in store for me............... BRING IT ON

Surprising truth about what motivates us

I have always thought that the biggest motivator was money, how wrong was i. Well i come from a sales background where for over 3 years i managed a sales team of 25, i was one of the best motivator with the best sales team in Nairobi, not to tut my own horn. 

For long people kept on asking me, how do you motivate your people, how do you ensure they are always selling and how do you have them report to work on Saturday all day without supervision. Well i would say the usual treat them well,  ensure they earn and assist them to achieve their goal. 

Well after today i tend to think i did something different, i made them masters of their own game, i gave them guidance when needed, i cultivated a need to master the art of selling and they got some purpose from being the best. Every Monday we won the best team prize, this made them greatly satisfied. 

Let me stop braging, lol, 

Today i have listen and read research by Daniel H. Pink from his book  Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, he talks about 3 key motivators in life Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose

He goes on to elaborate that human beings have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self-determined, and connected to one another.

Autonomy : Setting some one free, it leads to engagement, brings higher productivity, less burnout, and greater level of psychological well-being. He goes ahead to state a case whereby a group of software makers were given 24 hour of freedom to do any thing they wanted all they had to do was give results after 24 hrs. The owner thought that they would party, but was very shocked at the productivity and initiative taken by his people, they fixed software glitches, invented new software. Amazing what people can do if left to direct themselves.

Mastery: the urge to be good at something thus improving productivity.Every one wants to self develop and learn new skills, the challenge and the thrill is more of a motivator than money. That is why on Saturday in your own free time you can be found trying to master the guitar, why and you don't get paid and you have not decided to change your career to music, just for the fun. To be able to master a skill.

Purpose : Every human being's  deep desire to direct his or her own life, to extend and expand our abilities, and to live a life of purpose. People need to feel that their work has purpose, without the feeling that you are working towards a higher purpose, something  greater than yourself -- eventually you start asking "what's it all for?" and lose motivation.

Why money does not work  in most cases is that once you're called to do more  than simple  cognitive skills, the larger reward led to poorer performance. The problem is that threats and rewards do work, but only for repetitive mechanical tasks like in manufacturing companies. When people work in a carrot and stick environment, they just learn how to work for the carrot, they don't learn anything else and this in turn means that people learn to cheat their way to the carrot.

Money motivated system is a flawed system. The guy at the top gets all the rewards, the guy at the bottom gets punished and the guy in the middle gets nothing. Basically this is the world of sales, where effort is not rewarded only result is. Unfortunate but true. 

For your to get better results from your staff you need to remove the need for them to think of money thus you need to pay them well so all they are thinking of is how to apply themselves more.

Case in Point

 

matatumania

It all makes sense, my brother max spend days and nights building this cool website matatumania.co.ke, he would spend countless days visiting matatu (vans see picture). Well he perfected the website all night, had all creativity rights since no one could dictate how it should look like and  mastered the art of making a website and hosting it, and eventually felt very great about it. For him it was never about the money it was the satisfaction of a Job well done. Thanks Max for pointing me towards Daniel H. Pink. 

Mimii's Random Rant

Today i am doing a short random rant. 

Today started pretty shitty with me looking out the window and seeing a dead decomposing rat in my back yard. So as any normal person would do i, i woke up and cleaned my backyard and burnt all that garbage that my neighbours had thrown. 

Took a shower had some crisps and crackers and i was off to work. At work all my plans were canceled thus had to look for new business. Meet a pal for shopping where we proceeded to buy sanitary pads for charity. This goes to a small school in Kikambala, to reduce the number of days that a school gal doesn't come to school due to mensuration by offering them the necessity. That made my heart swell in pride, ensureing the future of our Gal Child. 

Went for lunch with another pal, and i actually realized that Mombasa is a small town with everyone knowing everything about everyone. Now my frustrations begin. I am actually not happy with my life and when not happy i tend to make drastic changes to it. I dread what i will change, last time when i felt like this i distanced myself from pals i thought i would have for ever but u know what they say if your right hand causes you to sin chop it off. 

Well watch this space, i am in the most weird relationship if i can dare to call it that, and it has stopped making me happy. Something has got to give, God never planned for me to feel this nasty. Let me see if a shower and a drink will make me feel better about myself. 

Peace out..............

Mary J. Blige - Each Tear ft. Jay Sean

Each Tear

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvash3C5G9c

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Funny Santa Animations provided by MySpaceAnimations.com

Merry Christmas Animations provided by MySpaceAnimations.com

THE ELLIPTICS AWARDS GALA

Red Carpet

The long awaited Elliptics Awards Gala was on the 20^th November 2010. I traveled to Nairobi to witness this special event. Mind you I left Mombasa at 10pm, after having an eventful night at Nana’s restaurant (a story for another day).

Me n my Award lol

I was not so sure about reaching Nairobi and for the first time in many months I took a bus, I kinda enjoyed the ride, atleast the time I was awake. 

Back to the Gala, I was buying my dress n shoes at 6.30pm, yeah am a joker.lol

I arrived at The Barn on Ngong Racecourse at around 9pm. At the door was Katini n Tonyango to welcome all the guests, then a photo session, perferct for one to remember they were there. I got to take a photo with the tropy so I can brag to my pals that I got the award for Fan of they Year, Pole Millie. 

Kule n Renee

So I was just in time for the call to start eating, and who was the MC, my homeboy Kule and the lovely Renee, Dressed to kill, I must say that rugby folk clean up nicely. 

Not all the KRU officials were present but the fact that Director Edward Rombo was present was enough for me. Most major rugby clubs were represented, there was Harlequins, Impala ( to quote namcos – I was busy stepping on some quincakes lol), Nondescript, Mwamba, Mean Machine and other random peeps i dont know.

Tony Wept

The night went smoothly other than when tony wept lol. He was overwhelmed by the turn out.




All in All the Fans came all dolled up to award the best in the game and the awards went to:

1. Elliptics MVP of the Year (MALE) : Innocent Simiyu

2. Elliptics MVP of the Year (FEMALE): Philadelphia Orlando

3. Elliptics Referee of the Year: Godwin Karuga

4. Elliptics Director of the Year: Edward Rombo

5. Elliptics Team of the Year: Kenya Harlequins

6. Elliptics Best Audio Media: Capital FM

7. Elliptics Best Visual Media: Supersport

8. Elliptics Best Print Media : Nation

9. Elliptics Rookie of the Year: Ayange Felix

10. Elliptics Coach of the Year: Edward Kinyany

11. Elliptics School of the Year: Mang’u

12. Elliptics Fan of the Year :Millie Mwango

13.Elliptics Hall of Fame: Jackson ‘Jacko’ Omaido

We danced the whole night long thanks to my gals Katini, Mumbi, mad love,

me, mumbi, racheal, n katini

My Most Famous Posts

Who knew that when i wrote about Koi fish that would ultimately be my most famous blog post ever.

As of today 15th Nov 2010 my best posts are:
1. Koi Fish 
2. Tell them what i know now
3. Kidum: My African John Legend
4. New Ministry of Rugby Website
5. My Love of Shawarma

6. Experiments on Date number 3

Tell them what i know now

The first day i heard this song i was so touched. it took me a while like 3 weeks then all the media stations were playing this song. 

Shontelle, is another singer from Barbados, "Impossible" is her the lead single from her second studio album, No Gravity.  

 

Shontelle:  Impossible

 I remember years ago
Someone told me I should take
Caution when it comes to love
I did, I did
And you were strong and I was not
My illusion, my mistake
I was careless, I forgot
I did
And now when all is done
There is nothing to say
You have gone and so effortlessly
You have won
You can go ahead tell them

Tell them all I know now
Shout it from the roof top
Write it on the sky love
All we had is gone now
Tell them I was happy
And my heart is broken
All my scars are open
Tell them what I hoped would be
Impossible, impossible
Impossible, impossible

Louis Madness

As i am self proclaimed shopaholic with a love obsession of Louis Vuitton bags, today while visiting a customer i bought a new LV bag, click here to see previous blog

Louis Vuitton Cherry Blossom Pochette
According to the LV shop:  Limited edition from Takashi Murakami and Louis Vuitton.  This handbag is perfect, with pretty pink flowers and a little bow


Welcome to the family dearest.

Newest member of my family...............................

seen here the pink version in the mean girls movie

EAT, PRAY, LOVE

 

VS