Socializing the Introvert: What June taught me, what July is proving to be in five simple phrases.

Indecision is a time waster

Postponing a decision doesn’t make it go away.

 It just adds to you unnecessary options that rattle your mind and you cannot think of what it was you wanted to do. A decision will eventually have to be made, and unless you make it you won’t know whether it was a good one or a bad one. You might find out you have shot yourself in the foot, bitten more than you can chew but having regrets is worse than the bad decision. Just limp away on your good foot and find the good bits in the new decision. That’s my new motto.

I have a mean streak

And oh God I really need to get rid of it. Something about treating others the way they treat me. People are kind and thoughtful. I am not always kind and thoughtful and I can be quite mean. Sometimes I think maybe it’s coz I feel it may not be appreciated, or taken the wrong way. But that is a cliché excuse.

Take your brain to work

I once got some writing work from a client who really didn’t know what they wanted. It was hard trying to interpret their request and I spent quite a sum on the job. It didn’t end well and I felt cheated and insulted by a claim they made. Said I hide behind computers instead of meeting with my clients.

It was true; but truth is, such face to face meetings scare me. I am never sure if I will be able to express myself clearly, afraid they will discover I don’t have all the answers, and mostly rely on search engines and my smart friends.

Meetings mean, I got to dress up, arrange my hair, and arrange my thoughts.

But I read an article here (bad assery) that said something about not letting your big ideas go unseen. And so I tried, and spoke up an idea I had, and the idea pleased those that heard it and pretty soon I had to go decent shirt shopping coz I had a bunch of other meetings scheduled. So I am gonna let people take a peek of my brain once in a while.

God is in control

I was gonna write supernatural forces are in control . But that is not always positive so,,, But it is the only way I can explain why I haven’t burnt down my house, got shot in the head, been exiled. Coz really sometimes I’m not sure how I get by. I am 25% crazy and 70% insane and most times my brain is over there while it’s supposed to be here looking out for me.

in the wild without a single care in the world

I have walked right into danger wearing nothing but flip flops, I’ve been missed by speeding cars, and a highway bus yesterday. And onetime I found myself in a deserted 10 plus acre compound, chatting up two men who were cleaning out a very deep swimming pool. I wanted to look at the old colonial house I saw while taking a walk, alone.

I’m quite attached to friends and family

June, May and Ciss

Ironic as it may sound considering my mean streak, free spirit, leave me alone behavior, I’m quite a sucker when dealing with the above set of people. With family, it’s usually the many sleepless nights when I feel I am not doing as much as I need to be doing for them, like calling oftener, and even though we don’t agree in everything, they are the best.

With friends it’s not wanting to part when we meet, yet knowing how much we value the spaces in between, and how often I get amazed by how much they get me when, they text me instead of calling when it’s something important coz they know I need to think about it before I can talk it over, And how we all got the same service provider so we can make two hour phone calls, and skype so we can see how the other is looking. The little notes, notebooks, hats and music they keep in supply.

5 winter fashions I'm gonna try and look fab

 I have the books but I gave my jacket that looked like this to malimali..

still shopping for thick white sweater, or....my granny had some white seat covers which I could borrow and stitch myself one....

it won't be hard to find a hard leather bag...

 and when it gets under 20 degrees you will find me here... my duvet will do a fine job here.

 If you are cold it's all your fault na shauri yako.

Legal Weed: 5 Types of weed that are completely legal.

Mũnge’i

This is practically what I fed by rabbits everyday, after fighting off the sheep that would start pulling the pile from under my armpits, I’d stagger to the hatches and pack up these weeds. We discovered they are edible later in life. Mũng’ei is soft, and better mixed with the following four. If you have heart burns and acid influx, chew some of this too, the juice is as good as any anti acid.

Mũhehenje

If on a Sunday afternoon, you have ever walked through a maize farm that has not been weeded, wearing your viscose cotton dress, perhaps to pick some green maize to roast by the fire, you know this weed. And you know if that was not your favorite dress you might have set it on fire that same day. The seeds have a way of dispersing themselves by attaching them to Sunday wear.

Mũhehenje or mũcege has a strong aroma so, use only a few leaves. I am told it can used in place of tea leaves too. Will try in August.

Togotia.

In January, there are few green leaves to be got, but this weed survives it all. So we would feed it to the rabbits. You can use it in mashed food too. It’s texture is like pumpkin leaves, so you know you’ve got to mix it with something lighter.

Mũriaria/ mũthũnga,

Mũriaria means, it secrets milk. And this is rabbit’s favourite dinner. But if you are in Malindi, you will see it being sold in bunches next to spinach. It is a little bit bitter, but they tell me it prevents malaria and is high in magnesium.

Mũkengeria.

I had to eat this one to believe you could it without poisonig yourself. I know cows love it. It doesn’t have a distinct taste, but I was told it is rich in iron.

There is more than one way to make a maize meal go down as you can see.

5 ways to wear a bowtie and look like these really cool celebs

When I started thinking about this post, I met this boy that looked real cool in a green and black bowtie, but my brain only processed the idea of asking for a picture after he had passed me, but below is a list of my favourite bowtie wearing celebs. Enjoy...

1.Pharrell Williams

You guessed it, no one does it better. You all know this guy..at least my crush on him is now gone after I saw a picture of his wife,,,phew!

I like his music, but most of the time I'm just checking out his clothes.

2. Jay Chou

Just one of the hottest Asian musicians alive. Check out his song here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B8RaLCNUZw (he sings in swahili..tii mama na baba,usijifunze ubaya,,then he says mo fire...).
There was another picture of him in a proper bowtie, but not as goodlooking as this one.

3. Jonny Depp

I love this guy, someone I wouldn't mind hanging out with, so had to google him in a bowtie and He had to make the list some how.


4. Richard Gere

My best man ever since Pretty Woman.

5. Jon Bon Jovi

He is a very handsome man. That's all I'm gonna say.

so, that's it, but I also like coloful ones.

5 ways to keep your feet free of athlete’s foot this cold season.

If you are a man, do you wash your feet or does the water in your karai get finished before you get to the ankles?

If you are a woman, do you really wash between your feet every time you take a bath?

If your answer is, ‘sometimes’. Then you have probably had to suffer two weeks of fungal infection between your toes.

Your feet smell too, a mix between bread dough and a cow shed. Quite an unpleasant state of affairs that we want to try fix especially with the cold season setting off in such unpredictable weather.

1. Wash your feet.
   
   

You will need;

• Clean warm water,
• A pumice stone. I use the black variety.
• A srubber, you can cut off a piece of gunia and burn the sides to stop it from running.
• Soap, and water to rinse.

Scrub every part of the foot, use the pumice stone for the bottom, then rinse.

2. Dry your feet.

If you only dry your body and let the feet dry as you go, you need to make serious lifestyle changes. Get a special towel for your feet. Feet are feet, so unless you are a clean freak, get a darker color so you don’t have to wash it every day.

3. Avoid infection

Wear the right shoes for the right ground. It beats common sense to wear open shoes in wet weather.

• Wear the right size of closed shoes to avoid too much sweating.
• Wear cotton socks to absorb moisture.
• Don’t walk on bare feet in public bathrooms.
  be like this.

4. TLC for feet- Foot baths
   
   

• Throw in a tea bag in warm water and soak your feet for 10 minutes. Tea has components that can reduce the possibility of athlete’s foot.
• Lemon. Pour in the juice of two lemons in your foot bath and soak for 10 minutes. Lemon has essential oils that leave you feel feeling soft and fresh by balancing out the bacteria levels between the toes.

• Vinegar bath. Apple Cider Vinegar or white vinegar will work just fine.

5.  Get rid of bad habits

• Change cutex regularly, and wash your feet before applying a new coat.
• Wear a clean pair of socks every time.
• Trim your toe nails often, a straight clip is best.
  

• Clean inside your shoes when you come home and let them dry before using them again.

5 ways blog to keep away SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)

I am on a personal challenge to blog about things that pass through my mind as I go along. Cold months are not my most productive months. But I gotta keep my mind active otherwise the winter blues might take over. I came up with 15 categories.

food

travel

pop-culture

entertainment

technology

human interest

household

literary

sports

General knowledge

Fashion

African fashion

Animals

Personal growth

Arts

I have managed to come up with 75 possible blog entries. Look out for topics like in technology 5 photographers you should meet.

In human interest, 5 arguments you have probably had with someone this week

In Health and fitness (this I just added, it was in human interest) 5 work-out songs to get you moving regardless of your age.

In pop-culture you will find, 5 colors you never thought could do for your wall.

If there is anything unique you do, you could get featured too in the 5 rare people section, so let me know what it is you do best- 5 honest tailors,  short girls who don’t wear high, heels.

Finding God: But, God is not like a father…

“At least not to me,” I say to myself, going over the printed text again.

-God is like a loving father ready to hold our hand whenever there is trouble-

“Yeah right.”

I don’t get it, I cannot understand this. How can God be like A father, or any human? I refuse to accept it.

BUT, I want us to get to the part where it says God hears the prayers of those that pray from the heart. I want to learn to say a real prayer without mixing it with my imagination and half created stories. And I want to tell God I know he heard my vernacular prayers, long long ago before I could pray in English.

So I nod and say “yes, God is like a caring father” and blah blah , but I’m only saying what I’ve heard people say and the photograph on the page does paint a picture of how a father should behave..

But I have a loud question in my mind.

Why can’t we just say. God is wise, and clever, and kind. Like your best friend, and always ready to pick out thorns out of your foot like the grown up relative who wonders why you’ve been limping for a week and decides to get you out of the misery.

If it said, -think of a nice person, now that is how God is like- I would get it right away.

But here it says- He is like a father-

This will take a while.

So let us find this father and get a comparison. And of course the father doesn’t want to father a grown up, and something about having had sex with your mother a million years ago which doesn’t qualify him for such a title that I am seeking..

God will have to wait.

Until the clods of blood from my internal wounds find a way out, else we’re done for good, and I’m off to North East Germany, or somewhere..

But I meet a girl that makes room in her wardrobe for my clothes and says – you are welcome to stay- but I am not ready for that kind of benevolence so I escape.

Then an old man, not known to me a month before, he exchanges my indo-mee for high quality bean noodles and gives me a pork recipe. And I stop being so frightened and cold..

Soon I am surrounded by people that don’t care that my teeth are the color of my skin and I have an accent.

“God is greater than our hearts and knows all things” she showed me the text when I began to fidget.

-God is greater than our hearts and knows all things- That is reasonable enough.

He knows I cannot call him father.

But he knows I know exactly who is.

I see him, his image in those that choose to wear it. God is like a father, true. A father that really loves his children. Not just, any father. But to me, he is:

My friend, My God. And we are cool.