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.Related Articles:

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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).

I note that over 2000 of our beloved tree hugging friends of the earth are meeting again this week in Copenhagen. See, I’m one to be cynical about these types of events. 2000 people in one event are way way too many to get anything of substance done. I’m talking here from the experience of attending a couple of conferences of this magnitude for my sins.

Such events are notorious for the difficulty of locating a clean toilet where you don’t have to tip toe while pulling up your trousers to avoid a disturbing cocktail of water and bodily fluids of all manner taking residence on the floor (you get the picture) before executing a fine acrobatic act of peeing without soiling your immaculate suit – speaking of which, at one such event, I had to force my female colleague to take a taxi back to the hotel to use the toilet in her room. The girl was clearly suffering and her bladder was in distress, but her martyrdom for the cause of clean toilets around the world was clearly putting the long term health of her internal wiring at risk. In more familiar surroundings, she is the sort of hard nosed girl who is comfortable in desperate times to look for an alley while shouting back “Darius just keep watch while I take care of business here” – but clearly, some locations don’t give you the option of an alley conducive for squatting in times of emergency….but I digress.

My point is that it’s difficult to see how to get anything decent done at such an event following hot on the coat tails of another similar event weeks ago. In fact, most productivity is normally achieved at breakfast get-togethers in the hotel or in the evening at the hotel bar. Roll call is impossible and you’ll be surprised at the number of joy riders to such events who just go for shopping and spend the whole day down town, some even still wearing their event name tags and carrying the paper bags of exhibitors crap that they’re pretending to take back home and put in the staff common room as if it were evidence to justify the cost of their attending of the event.

So when I see that there’s another environmental get-together not so long after the Portugal one, where supposedly scientific experts, environmental lobbyists, professional event attendees (aka joy riders) and any number of so called environmental NGOs are again hooking up to shove the perils of our disregard to the environment down our throats, several questions start disturbing me.

1. What has changed since a few weeks ago when the same number of environmental mercenaries got together in Portugal?
2. For folks who preach about carbon footprints and unnecessary air travelling, why isn’t anyone bitch slapping them for this sort of nonsensical travel for information that can be posted on the internet?

It would be even cheaper for Al gore to make a sequel of his Inconvenient truth power point presentation and post it on YouTube.

This constant mantra of ”You will perish and die if you don’t stop polluting the earth” smacks of more arrogance than fundamentalist right wing movements that operate unsavoury tactics to get their ideologies across. Folks are not stupid and shouldn’t be treated as if they are with the constant bombardment of the same information laced in different ways.

So I ask again – What has changed since the last meeting a few weeks ago in Portugal so as to warrant scaring the living shit out of folks about the world coming to an end faster than we thought?

If there’s one thing Abraham Maslow did, its injecting a reality check with his theory of the hierarchy of human needs. I suspect that for most folks around the world who are being credit crunched at the moment, and for the majority of the world’s population who were economically screwed anyway before the credit crunch, global warming and the need to worry about the environment is kicked into touch for a while. Folks are more concerned with the small matter of putting food on the table for their families.

As a side note, one of my clients does a lot of environmental work. I have spent a lot of time working with them and if there’s one thing I’ve come to understand (and something that acts as another contributor to my cynicism), it boils down to the ability to pay salaries and pay mortgages for their staff. All the focus and enthusiasm and passion and whatever you can call it about the cause for environmentalism, is simply a cover for a direct route to government funding and donor funding for the environment. The environment and lobbying about global warming is a fashion statement for the next decade. In the 70’s women’s liberation was fashionable, in the 80’s race relations was fashionable, in the 90’s it was all about the gay and lesbian movement, this decade disability rights has become the new gay, and next decade, watch out for the fair trade consuming tree huggers.Related Articles:

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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.Related Articles:

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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.Related Articles:

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