•Friday, December 29, 2006
i am just about to change my calendars. i can't wait for 31st, to do it. it is a nostalgic moment, where a year goes and a new one comes. if only it were for real. but 2006 is too old, it can't go an extra month!
i am not used to consciously planning my life on years. however, for the last few years since leaving school i realized i needed a compass to mark my days. in school, time was so predictable and you could tell what would happen next. standard 3 to 4. 8 to form 1, form 4 to college or uni. you get to uni and its first year, second year and so on. you get to fifth year and your mind automatically reads 'job' as the next stage.
woe unto you! you step into the job market and you realise it is not automatic! you tarmac and pothole the city, its suburbs and estates until you get a sabbatical back to shagz to reorganize your thoughts. upcountry, you become an exemplar to those who dropped out. why it was not worth the toil! you crack your feet, scale your hands and depress your mind till you decide to rural-urban migrate again and face life like a man and not like a student. you are humbled as you spend days at industrial area looking for any, i mean any, job opening.
with a new mindset, you work your way through the indian boss, fake titles and no pay and build a resume that an upcoming bank can have a second look at. you get there as a clerk or teller and start a new life of paycuts as you pay for your day's deficits. with time you get a life and become a professional job hunter and a career interviewee till you get something close to your dream job. all this time you lose track of time and years. school holidays don't matter anymore and april, august and december are just any other months. so are years, 2004 is the same as 2005, ditto 2006. no change. no more papers.
with such a background i decided to make years some form of radar to check my progress and plan my life. what do i want to achieve this year? what did i accomplish in that year? is there any progress in my life? what changes do i need to make to better my life? how was i responsive to those i care about in that year? what do i need to do for them in the next year?. and so on. mind you, no new year resolutions! that's captivity.
what is my report card for 2006 like? i had four goals i wanted to achieve in 2006.
one, do something about my income. it had to grow in one way or another. in mind i had three ways of accomplishing this. change jobs, start a business and save and invest more. i did change jobs twice. i did start two businesses, one is already on its feet, the other is still having teething problems. a third has been re-planned to 2007 (i banned the word procrastination from my dictionary). i am now keen on what a sacco is and the nairobi stock exchange has played my game. but i am not happy about the spiraling expenses despite good budgets. that needs to be checked in the coming year. all the same, its good progress on this goal.
second, was to become a pastor. no kidding. my second goal would help me achieve my first goal. churches are a money minting business in kenya. all i needed was to scout for open space or playground, get some iron sheets and a fancy name like epistlic miracles celebration centre. but first i had to work hard to resume going to church every sunday. i had a 52 day calendar for all the 52 sundays. i intended to have them all marked. going to church is a good thing, a good way to start the week. you shift all your burdens to an invisible divine who calms your soul and gives your mind peace. what else do you need to succeed in life? that proved to be a tall order. first, the kind of stuff that has been pumped into my head over the years was grossly inconsistent with the pulpit and some stains inside there are to coarse that no extra-terrestrial detergent or magical powerfoam can clean it. furthermore, rushing on a sunday morning to secure a pew is not an enjoyable marathon. thank heavens for 2007, i can resuscitate my goals.
the third goal was to marry. i needed to see some semblance of mine jumping around. marry marry marry has no blessings. some things in life are just too close yet too far. i should not have gloated over this matter in one of the posts. but there is still hope. a survey carried by the nation newspapers prior to christmas said that 63% of kenyan ladies would spend christmas lonely. the survey's main question was, what happened to all the marriageable men? a marriage counselor once quoted to us that the ratio of marriageable men to marriageable women is 30% to 70%. well, these are just statistics but it is unpleasant to learn that i am in the category of the 70% men who are made to look bad if the statistics are extrapolated. is there some ova-bank somewhere?
the fourth was to finish school. it is three years now since i started my two-year post graduate course. i intended to get done with the course in 2006 but wapi! my consolation has been that the window is nine years before disqualification and i am not even half-way. so there is hope. and who said mba's get the best deals?, my mind keep wrestling. all the same it has to be done, soonest.
lets get 2006 over and done with, 2007 could be better.
happy 2007, may it be prosperous and fruitful!
i am not used to consciously planning my life on years. however, for the last few years since leaving school i realized i needed a compass to mark my days. in school, time was so predictable and you could tell what would happen next. standard 3 to 4. 8 to form 1, form 4 to college or uni. you get to uni and its first year, second year and so on. you get to fifth year and your mind automatically reads 'job' as the next stage.
woe unto you! you step into the job market and you realise it is not automatic! you tarmac and pothole the city, its suburbs and estates until you get a sabbatical back to shagz to reorganize your thoughts. upcountry, you become an exemplar to those who dropped out. why it was not worth the toil! you crack your feet, scale your hands and depress your mind till you decide to rural-urban migrate again and face life like a man and not like a student. you are humbled as you spend days at industrial area looking for any, i mean any, job opening.
with a new mindset, you work your way through the indian boss, fake titles and no pay and build a resume that an upcoming bank can have a second look at. you get there as a clerk or teller and start a new life of paycuts as you pay for your day's deficits. with time you get a life and become a professional job hunter and a career interviewee till you get something close to your dream job. all this time you lose track of time and years. school holidays don't matter anymore and april, august and december are just any other months. so are years, 2004 is the same as 2005, ditto 2006. no change. no more papers.
with such a background i decided to make years some form of radar to check my progress and plan my life. what do i want to achieve this year? what did i accomplish in that year? is there any progress in my life? what changes do i need to make to better my life? how was i responsive to those i care about in that year? what do i need to do for them in the next year?. and so on. mind you, no new year resolutions! that's captivity.
what is my report card for 2006 like? i had four goals i wanted to achieve in 2006.
one, do something about my income. it had to grow in one way or another. in mind i had three ways of accomplishing this. change jobs, start a business and save and invest more. i did change jobs twice. i did start two businesses, one is already on its feet, the other is still having teething problems. a third has been re-planned to 2007 (i banned the word procrastination from my dictionary). i am now keen on what a sacco is and the nairobi stock exchange has played my game. but i am not happy about the spiraling expenses despite good budgets. that needs to be checked in the coming year. all the same, its good progress on this goal.
second, was to become a pastor. no kidding. my second goal would help me achieve my first goal. churches are a money minting business in kenya. all i needed was to scout for open space or playground, get some iron sheets and a fancy name like epistlic miracles celebration centre. but first i had to work hard to resume going to church every sunday. i had a 52 day calendar for all the 52 sundays. i intended to have them all marked. going to church is a good thing, a good way to start the week. you shift all your burdens to an invisible divine who calms your soul and gives your mind peace. what else do you need to succeed in life? that proved to be a tall order. first, the kind of stuff that has been pumped into my head over the years was grossly inconsistent with the pulpit and some stains inside there are to coarse that no extra-terrestrial detergent or magical powerfoam can clean it. furthermore, rushing on a sunday morning to secure a pew is not an enjoyable marathon. thank heavens for 2007, i can resuscitate my goals.
the third goal was to marry. i needed to see some semblance of mine jumping around. marry marry marry has no blessings. some things in life are just too close yet too far. i should not have gloated over this matter in one of the posts. but there is still hope. a survey carried by the nation newspapers prior to christmas said that 63% of kenyan ladies would spend christmas lonely. the survey's main question was, what happened to all the marriageable men? a marriage counselor once quoted to us that the ratio of marriageable men to marriageable women is 30% to 70%. well, these are just statistics but it is unpleasant to learn that i am in the category of the 70% men who are made to look bad if the statistics are extrapolated. is there some ova-bank somewhere?
the fourth was to finish school. it is three years now since i started my two-year post graduate course. i intended to get done with the course in 2006 but wapi! my consolation has been that the window is nine years before disqualification and i am not even half-way. so there is hope. and who said mba's get the best deals?, my mind keep wrestling. all the same it has to be done, soonest.
lets get 2006 over and done with, 2007 could be better.
happy 2007, may it be prosperous and fruitful!
