STONE COLD HAVEN

Has it been a year??? Well, Happy Birthday Stone Cold Haven. Well- belated really, but I couldn’t be arsed backdating this post a few days. Time really does fly. It seems ages since this blog developed a life of its own. Actually, tell a lie, I started the blog on the other platform before I decided to move a few months later to one that I don’t have to fight with (as the local blogging legend may have it).

It’s been a great year though, and from a blogging point of view, I’ve learnt a lot and I’ve laughed a lot. I hope I’ve given Stone Cold Haven readers as much joy as I’ve had from reading other blogs.

I wouldn’t have met wonderful people like Kellie who had the privilege of being the first person to leave a comment on my blog; or the schizophrenic 3TOC who cried after reading my tribute to Michael Jackson (at least I can say I’ve made a grown woman cry); or the many blogthren like Farmgal, our girl from the bundux; the girl from Valentia Street; Mo who spent time actually psycho analysing me from my posts; Our Kid my favourite divorce lawyer; Shiko the celebrity blogger (well Zuqka thinks so); Savvy the campus genius; CB the drama queen (btw I’ve upgraded you on the Stone Cold Dramometer) – and all other contributors and lurkers on this blog.

You will of course forgive me if I’ve left you out of the roll call either by design or inadvertently, but all you all including Kidada (‘acha kupotea Mami), Mystic, Mama, Maua, Mrembo, and all other blogthren – thank you for making 2009 a good year on the blogosphere.

I’d be lying if I said I haven’t grown up from the experience. From my first post The Ghosts of Christmas past, to other thought provoking penmanship attempts like Why do we rarely ask why?

I was thinking which was my favourite or most inspiring post and I concluded it has to be the Kenya’s Shotgun wedding post. I think it’s because of the raw emotion and pain I still have about what happened after the 2007 election with the hope of an entire generation that got flushed down the drain because of…well – it’s a long story.

There were other amusing moments like when all hell broke loose when ’POTUS The Eagle’ landed in central London for the first time to try and sort out the blue eyed white folk who left our economy in a mucking fuddle; or when the Russians decided to shaft us during the winter; or the discussion as to why men should never be anywhere near a delivery room lest they lose all interest in the business end of their partner’s femininity; or a running commentary of my day in therapy; or even my confessions about well….a lot.

Apart from the Kenyan shotgun wedding post, 2 other posts were very emotional for me – one just acknowledging that we don’t have to go to hell because we already live in it; and the other emotional post being my tribute to Whacko Jacko, simply the greatest entertainer who has ever lived on this planet.

I even managed to get myself suckered into writing a weekly column for one of the most popular Arsenal blogs (did I mention that I love Arsenal??? Coz if I didn’t, then I thought I’d just clarify that…LOL!)

It’s been a great 2009 folks and you all have been responsible for making it a great year for the Stone Cold Haven. Happy new year to you all.

I could have sworn it was only the other day that thousands of tree hugging, Guardian reading, bike riding, fair trade consuming mercenaries for the cause of mother nature got together in Portugal. It can’t have been that long ago (I’m talking a matter of weeks or at the extreme, a few months).

The reason why this is pricking my stone cold conscience is that I distinctly remember the environmental doomsayers breathing fire and brimstone down our throats that if we don’t do something about the environment pronto, the world is inevitably going to suffer the worst death of its kind (speaking of which – I’d like someone to validate this claim with a plausible comparison of any other kind of bad death of human kind).

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If it was only possible to get a beer each time I was tagged…..

Well, since Val tagged me, I guess its good netiquette to actually respond….and I must admit, some of my answers surprised me.

4 things that I’m passionate about

1. My family. I know I missed out a lot on my son’s first year growing up coz’ of work schedules and routines that tested the boundaries of insanity. I guess sometimes we struggle to get the balance between providing for and actually living life, but I’ll be damned if I do that again.
2. I’m fanatical about Arsenal football club. Some argue that my obsession is insane and unhealthy, but hey! Some folks love sex, others worship money, my serenity is the Arsenal. Of course it doesn’t help that my wife is a diehard Chelsea fan (you should see her shouting down a dodgy ref on TV – Oh! She makes me so proud), and people have asked me how I can live with a Chelsea fan – but stranger things have happened I tell you. At least we’re both passionate and crazy about the mighty All Blacks when it comes to rugby.
3. Music. Did I mention music. I listen to most stuff except classical (despite studying it in high school and performing classical pieces) and hard core head banging noise that some folks prefer to call music. The only time I certified myself as clinically depressed was when in 1998, my entire music collection (I won’t say how many records or CD’s coz’ it was obscene – Imelda Marcos and her shoes wouldn’t touch me), was stolen while in transit. I was more gutted about the sentimental value of some of those songs rather than the financial cost of acquiring them.
4. Writing. If I’m in a good zone and I’ve got the right headspace, I enjoy writing creative and thought provoking things. I sometimes scare myself when I read back what I’ve written in the past but I don’t regret it for the most part… Someone once told me that if I put my mind to it, my vividness and descriptive precision can be disturbing…LOL! Ye with issues….

4 words or phrases I use often

1. Whatsmijiggmiface. Another variation is whatsmithingibob. I smile at my introduction to the whatsmijiggmiface word by my Australian flat-mate way back in college (bless her cotton socks…).The poor girl wanted to find a way of articulating her thoughts about the male genetalia without blushing in a room filled with warm blooded males.
2. Lakini some people jomoko yawa – a phrase I use a lot in “mshangao” mode
3. “I must have given you the impression that I actually give a fuck” – usually reserved for those that I want to ensure that there’s absolutely no ambiguity or grey areas about where I stand.
4. ”Where did that come from?” – particularly when wondering what’s with the attitude….

4 things I want to do before I die

1. Drive a train through a subway tunnel. I think its crazy driving an underground train in the dark and I just want to experience that madness.
2. Renew my marriage vows at Ashburton Grove in N5 1BU, the most famous post code in North London. In case you’re wondering, its the magnificent Emirates Stadium, home of the Arsenal. Don’t tell anyone, but I don’t think my wife will buy that standing on the centre circle of the pitch with a vicar sort of thing (though I personally wouldn’t mind Arsene Wenger doing it)…but hey, you can dream….
3. Do a road trip with a few good friends (the usual suspects know themselves) driving from the furthest point in the East coast of America, to the opposite side of the West coast. It’ll just be fun stopping for a few days nowhere in particular, or trying to find someone you know in a strange place like North Dakota. Considering you can fly for more than 8 hours and still be in the same country – I dread to think how long it will take and how many hired cars will be broken…but it just feels like a damn good thing to do.
4. Learn how to use a fax machine and a photo-copier by myself….Yes! I confess (LOL!)…its a long story.

4 things I have learnt from the past

1. Some people are only alive because it’s illegal to kill
2. The only thing a good credit rating is useful for is to get you into debt – fuck that!
3. Ambition is a poor excuse for those without the guts or the balls to say fuck it once in a while. It’s OK to be comfortable with what I’m up to…what’s all the fuss about.
4. Everybody in life has their own demons…most never talk about their trials and tribulations, but behind the many faces that they present to others, there’s always one messed up person behind there.

4 Places I want to see or visit

1. A proper traditional bull fight in Spain (I don’t want to be the matador)…but I most def want to experience the drama and run like a nonsense with a bull vying for blood chasing folks down the street.
2. Being at the stadium where Arsenal lift the European Champions league trophy
3. I want to go back to the little Italian restaurant in Old Town Alexandria…I don’t know whether they were having a bad night the first time I went there, but having the restaurant to ourselves with a chef who enjoyed cooking for us was the bomb.
4. Seoul. When I was last in South Korea, I spent most days working and couldn’t venture out much – well except for the magnificent pub, the Warbar down the road from the hotel. But the couple of nights we went downtown was not enough to soak up the experience. When they say Asian tiger, you have to ride this one to believe it. It’s a fascinating place that I want to go back to.

4 things that happened yesterday

1. I watched 2 episodes of Spooks
2. I read an excruciatingly boring report with many figures that just went way over my head.
3. Tomas Rosicky started training again – Yippee! (its an Arsenal thing)…
4. My son cracked me up playing his own rendition of twinkle twinkle little star on the piano…

Do I even have enough people to tag? Let me see – Rafiki, Mystic, Acolyte, and where the hell is Pink when you need her?

Ebu unleash.

Talk about flying high. An almost routine trip between Jo’burg and London normally doesn’t seem like one worth stressing about.

Except this time, someone forgot to mention that they were carrying shed loads of whacky backy and 4 kilos of cocaine, and the police and customs officials were waiting anxiously to nick the whole lot of them. Heres one link to the story (there’s many more if you google.

Is it only me being cynical, or is the airline industry no longer a place you can claim you have a decent job. Granted, its very rare for an entire shift of both cabin and flight crew to be arrested on suspicion of trafficking drugs unless Aunt Lizzy’s border agency cops and the henchmen from her revenue and customs team smelt a rat (or marijuana more like it).

The court of public opinion already has its jury out, though due process would suggest that these 10 ladies and 5 gentlemen are innocent unless proven guilty….or maybe someone just sold them out.