THE ZEAL IN ARSENAL'S SUMMER BUSINESS

A club record 50 million Euros buying for Arsenal and selling by Madrid brings a German beauty to grace the pitch at the Ashburton Grove. The euphoria that comes with Mesut Özil is unexplainable. When news broke that Real Madrid were seriously in for Welsh star Gareth Bale, my buddies and I discussed the implications on Madrid's XI. The arrival and pre-season form of erstwhile Malaga boy Isco didn't help matters. All in all, it was agreed, Özil was untouchable. di Maria seemed the dark horse. Well Arsenal left it late as is the norm, and pulled an unexpected, as is the norm. I'm so ecstatic.

Alot of useless and baseless opinion from goal.com lovers (mostly from some bridge in London) have already started flying in to the effect that Özil will be sold in a year or so. I'm actually amused at the bitterness in people because Arsenal has proved their asses wrong. Inside, people are still to come to terms as to how a player of Özil's caliber could join Arsenal.
Some claim Arsenal didn't really need a playmaking maestro as we already had Midget quick feet Saint Carzola. Oh the goal 'coaches' even accessed and concluded we needed a goalkeeper, defender, defensive midfielder and striker more. I chuckled.

If anyone genuinely watched Arsenal last season and the previous, you'd know how much we struggled to create chances. You'd know how our 1st halves were a boring contest, you'd know that if Carzola was tightly marked, we stood no chance. Heck we even played a full game with no shot on target registered. Arsenal's game was based on chance after chance after chance. Last season was dismal, pathetic. It really hurt to see the club that graced among EPL's greatest playmakers struggle in such a fashion.
The previous season, an artistic dutchman salvaged our season. I'm grateful for his contribution to Arsenal FC.

Defensively we are improving. The pair of Koscielny and Per is a very good partnership. Per's composure compliments Koza's soldier play. Not to mention the blessing that is Bacary Sagna's ability to play at CB. At the middle of the park, Arsene no longer needs a destroyer kind of defensive midfielder. If anything, Arsene always says he needs his midfielder to be all round, contributing to all phases of play. With Arteta, the ever improving Aaron Ramsey and now Marseille money boy Flamini, I think Arsene can really work out how he needs the team to set up defensively. I'm not against a more specialized defensive midfielder but I like how Arteta aids to the team. He's grown into that role, a good passer, good tackler, some creativity and composure, what Arsene really requires of a midfielder in front of the back four. If only he was 24. Arteta's biggest and only weakness is pace.

I know Özil's signing doesn't assure us of silver ware but its good to note that when the silverware was missing, we really enjoyed the football Arsenal played. Everyone did, till Cesc and Nasri decided to become more ambitious than Arsene, till a small boy in a dutch man found his voice. We really enjoyed the football. But now with Özil, this is a statement, or so I hope. We have stepped into the new era. We are starting to reap the fruits of moving to the big Ashburton Grove grounds.

It is because of the Emirates that we've been making do for the past many seasons. Its why we sold players at 28-29. Arsene says, at that age, with limited funds, he thought it wise to sell big because really at that age, a footballer was headed for a decline. He would sell, get a promising player and invest the rest in the stadium project. It made sense from an economic point, Arsene is a masters degree holder in Economics. Unfortunately, it hurt our competitiveness.
The promising young players were to grow together and challenge for honours but Arsenal's ambition became blurred. Players started moving away. The big short term plan crumbled. #WengerOut replaced "In Arsene We Trust".

I'm quite optimistic. I've grown to dislike Arsene because he's played a part to the decline of the club. He is accountable. With Özil's statement, its back to beautiful football. It may not win silverware but it will be interesting to watch. That is the Arsenal way, beautiful sleek football. The O to the zeal in Arsenal will have the whole stadium scream "ÖZIL".

Ps : I remember Fergie, oh my manners, I meant Sir Alexander Fergusson, trolling Arsene's multi lingual ability, claiming he knew a boy in Africa who could speak 7 languages. Funny thing, Özil claimed Arsene's fluency in German played a part to his move. It's time Moyes mastered some Spanish or got that African boy to his coaching staff, the spanish boys won't come easy David.

BEFORE WE TOUCHED

A friend of mine shared this with me. Its a true story. It was very deep I thought I should share, with his permission of course.

So I asked him what I should title it and he replied 'Letter to my unborn'. Too cliche plus who writes letters anymore? Tuko digital bwana. I called it 'Before we touched' because its a story of a man who lost a fetus, before it was born and before they got to touch, like father and kid.

"Special greetings my sweet
little baby! I know that you are
in a place of great love and
healing.
I often wonder what your
little body experienced as you were
being ripped away from mum. I can
imagine that you were trying to
cling to me with all your might. I
know you were because the doctor
was experiencing difficulties tearing
you away. I'm sorry for the pain
that caused you and that mum
allowed.
Your body to be discarded in such
a dishonorable way. Sorry that she
denied you life or even a funeral.
And that your coffin was a glass jar
and then later, who knows what,
perhaps a garbage can. I wonder
what they did to your remains; I
hope they didn't dishonor you too
horribly bad.
I'm sorry that I didn't fight for you
baby. But I couldn't fight for
myself. I just thought that if none
of the people who were supposed
to love and protect you were going
to – then why should I love and
protect myself. I should have
protected you baby
I'm sorry that she
denied you the privilege of seeing
my face and gazing into my eyes,
and that you will never get to hold
my hand or feed from her breast.
Sorry that you will never get to see
your daddy's face lovingly look at
you in awe and wonder of the
beautiful life that he created. I'm
sorry that you will never get to
explore the wonders of this earth.
I want you to know that I
desperately long to touch you and
see you. I want to hold and
protect you. I want to dress you
and comb your hair. I want to do
all the things that a daddy does.
I want to see your tiny little
hands. Do they look like mine or
do they look like Lilly's? And
what about your nose? Is it cute
and kinda pointy? Who do you act
like? Are you chatty or quiet?
What kinds of things would you
like to do? I picture you with
sweet kinda curly blonde hair and
blue eyes. I see you on fire and
ready to explore the world. And I
deeply regret not allowing myself
to watch you do it, or you to be
blessed with life.
I'm sorry that your mum
didn't want you. I'm sorry that she
couldn't love you. I'm sorry that
neither set of your grandparents
wanted you. They were just all
scared. They were all scared of
you and the responsibility that they
would have to you. I could list all
the things/reasons/excuses that
everyone had, but they don't
matter. Because I know that that
is not what you are about. For the
very name that God gave to you
baby exemplifies the very essence
of what God's unfailing love
represents. I know that you have
absolutely no condemnation for
what was done to you, and for the
life that you were denied. Nor do
you have any condemning feelings
toward your family members. I
know that you want to see
everyone healed and brought closer
to your heavenly father who you
get to experience everyday. I know
that he finished forming you from
mangled pieces and made you
perfect in every way.

@JAKAYA10

The Genius Of The Crowd

Reblogging this from here

"

I have not found or
read a poem that
describes me this
well…

there is enough
treachery, hatred
violence absurdity
in the average
human being to
supply any given
army on any given
day

and the best at
murder are those
who preach against
it
and the best at hate
are those who
preach love

and the best at war
finally are those
who preach peace
those who preach
god, need god
those who preach
peace do not have
peace

those who preach
peace do not have
love
beware the
preachers
beware the knowers
beware those who
are always reading
books
beware those who
either detest
poverty
or are proud of it
beware those quick
to praise
for they need praise
in return
beware those who
are quick to censor
they are afraid of
what they do not
know
beware those who
seek constant
crowds for
they are nothing
alone
beware the average
man the average
woman
beware their love,
their love is average
seeks average

but there is genius
in their hatred
there is enough
genius in their
hatred to kill you
to kill anybody
not wanting solitude
not understanding
solitude
they will attempt to
destroy anything
that differs from
their own
not being able to
create art
they will not
understand art
they will consider
their failure as
creators
only as a failure of
the world
not being able to
love fully
they will believe
your love
incomplete
and then they will
hate you
and their hatred
will be perfect
like a shining
diamond
like a knife
like a mountain
like a tiger
like hemlock
their finest art

Charles Bukowski "

Follow the blogger @movebreathing

FORGET AIDS AND TB. FRIENDZONING IS THE NEW NATIONAL EPIDEMIC

Politically speaking, its sad to note that all our ladies friendzoned Peter Kenneth. Friendzoning has become a national epidemic and the government should treat is as such. I haven't as yet read the Jubilee manifesto but it is my wish that these young gentlemen, who claim to understand our plight, the youth, have a plan to tackle this quickly spreading vice.

Nice guys finish last. That is the sad reality in life when dealing with women. This past election just reaffirmed that. From the candidates, PK looked untainted. The girls adored him, adored his family. On the social media, all women were PKd. PK was fooled. This women cannot be trusted. They toyed with him and when it was time to get some, they gave it to the bad boys.

Women make the majority of voters I presume. Look where they left him. I can imagine the scenario at the voting box. "PK is such a cute guy, but I don't like him that way. I like him as a ______(insert nonsense here). I hope he understands" then they went ahead and marked their ballots for the other tainted men.

Women did the same to Kalonzo in 2007, Musalia in 2013. These are nice guys. MaDvD even promised them safe hands. Wapi! Our women love adventure, unpredictability. They want rough hands. Surely friendzoning has become more than a boy/girl situation. From these examples, it has become a political issue as well and we need political intervention as such.

I want our president to come out and declare it a National Disaster. Set up a body, "National Friendzone Council" or something. NGOs should join in this fight as well. Its high time our women understood that we are men and want to be viewed as such. Not being reduced to tools to listen to their escapades.

The body should go round and gather statistics, tell us which cities have the highest prevalence. Which ages are most friendzoned, the rate of friendzoning and the effect of friendzoning to the economy. You'll be shocked. The amount of investment men make on women who later friendzone them. The amount of emotional investment that goes to drain. The body should give complete social, political, economic and religious effects of this epidemic. 

Its high time we became frank with each other. All investment bodies do it. Women as such, ought to come clean (no pun intended). Don't pull that women are not bodies line here. Men know it is the case, investment wise. And we love this body specifically. We invest so much in it. Negative returns is a raw deal.

Let us join hands fellow countrymen, let us save mankind. If we do not take action soon, then this will be a brotherly state. Now we don't want that, do we?

©Jakaya10

Josephine Nyakerario

Today, the 10th of April marks 13 years since I lost the woman I first loved, a mother and the only parent I knew. One Miss Josephine Nyakerario Orang'o, whose middle name I had to carry with me through high school. A name which proved to be a tonguetwister to many. Miss Nyakerario was a modest woman who made a honest living for the few 9 years I was privileged to know her. A beautiful woman with an infectious smile who many claimed to say I took after. My early childhood pictures betray me. To say the list, I kinda looked like a girl when I was below 7 years haha. I always thought its because I already had two elder brothers, nature took a little longer to recognize me as a boy. Though with age, I acquired all the essentials to put my looks beyond reasonable doubt. Miss Nyakerario spoilt me as her last born of course. Eating vegetable is something I started doing past the 10th April 2000. I always had a shilling for break time snack. Yes 1/- for either those coloured ice cubes or some bhajia or samosa. Past 10th April, that 1/- went right with her. 5 shillings for a movie after school before she came back from Kibuye market where she used to sell onions. A business woman. I watched alot of action movies then plus the ndombolo music in between movies. I lived large in my own terms. Subconsciously she brought me up as a champ, a winner. I recall one morning I came from school with a report card reading position 4 in class. Boy I cried. I wailed. I had failed in my mind. I bet she felt proud of me as she took to comfort me and reassure me in her arms that I hadn't failed and would do better the best term. That was in class two I think. Well missing classes to watch Sinbad and Connan had to take a hit on someones grades, no? Losing a mother at the age of 9 was confusing. I remember I forced myself to cry because to be frank it really didn't quite hit me. I lived through thinking it was a bad dream I'd wake from. We received the news from a from my aunt early morning. I was confused, my grandmother wept. I was just there, a confused boy. For years, I imagined I'd wake up one morning and go back home with my mother but that was not to be. I grow older and accepted that indeed, this was real. Life was hard as it was. Taken to another family, not being the king I used to be took years to adopt to. My mother was a polite woman, soft spoken. People eulogized her so. She would not hurt a fly. I felt like an intruder in the new family because to be sincere, these circumstances and arrangements were unplanned for and I've really never felt home since I was last home 13 years ago. I'm not faulting anyone. To be honest I think my new 'home' tried as much to make me feel home but it just never happened. My elder brothers lived separately, devastated with the turn of events took to substances (explains the weed part), one dropped out of school(explains why I strive for excellence). Events that really changed the life of a young man. When you lose a mother at 9 and don't really have someone to take you through it, your world crushes. You are left with a few things to live for. On my own account, my childhood could have been better but well, here I am. When I qualified to go join Starehe, I imagined what she'd have felt like. When I aced my secondary exams, I couldn't help but wonder how proud she would have been. My wits and all come from her. I don't mean to brag but my family of 4, mother and 2 brothers are a brilliant unit. So today I'll celebrate the life of the woman I first loved. I live my life to ensure wherever you are, you keep that beautiful smile. You are missed beyond measure. 10/04/13 © Jakaya10

19 Things To Stop Doing In Your 20s

By BRANDON SCOTT
GORRELL (via @Thoughtcatalog)
1. Stop placing all the blame on
other people for how they
interact with you. To an extent,
people treat you the way you want
to be treated. A lot of social
behavior is cause and effect. Take
responsibility for (accept) the fact
that you are the only constant
variable in your equation.
2. Stop being lazy by being
constantly “busy.” It’s easy to be
busy. It justifies never having
enough time to clean, cook for
yourself, go out with friends,
meet new people. Realize that
every time you give in to your
‘busyness,’ it’s you who’s making
the decision, not the demands of
your job.
3. Stop seeking out distractions.
You will always be able to find
them.
4. Stop trying to get away with
work that’s “good enough.”
People notice when “good enough”
is how you approach your job.
Usually these people will be the
same who have the power to
promote you, offer you a health
insurance plan, and give you
more money. They will take your
approach into consideration when
thinking about you for a raise.
5. Stop allowing yourself to be so
comfortable all the time. Coming
up with a list of reasons to
procrastinate risky, innovative
decisions offers more short-term
gratification than not
procrastinating. But when you
stop procrastinating to make a
drastic change, your list of
reasons to procrastinate becomes
a list of ideas about how to better
navigate the risk you’re taking.
6. Stop identifying yourself as a
cliche and start treating yourself
as an individual. Constantly
checking your life against a
prewritten narrative or story of
how things “should” be is a
bought-into way of life. It’s sort of
like renting your identity. It isn’t
you. You are more nuanced than
the narrative you try to fit
yourself into, more complex than
the story that “should” be
happening.
7. Stop expecting people to be
better than they were in high
school — learn how to deal with
it instead, just because you’re out
of high school doesn’t mean
you’re out of high school. There
will always be people in your life
who want what you have, are
threatened by who you are, and
will ridicule you for doing
something that threatens how they
see their position in the world.
8. Stop being stingy. If you really
care about something, spend your
money on it. There is often a
notion that you are saving for
something. Either clarify what that
thing is or start spending your
money on things that are
important to you. Spend money on
road trips. Spend money on
healthy food. Spend money on
opportunities. Spend money on
things you’ll keep.
9. Stop treating errands as
burdens. Instead, use them as
time to focus on doing one thing,
and doing it right. Errands and
chores are essentially rote tasks
that allow you time to think. They
function to get you away from
your phone, the internet, and
other distractions. Focus and
attention span are difficult things
to maintain when you’re focused
and attentive on X amount of
things at any given moment.
10. Stop blaming yourself for
being human. You’re fine. Having
a little anxiety is fine. Being
scared is fine. Your secrets are
fine. You’re well-meaning. You’re
intelligent. You’re blowing it out
of proportion. You’re fine.
11. Stop ignoring the fact that
other people have unique
perspectives and positions. Start
approaching people more
thoughtfully. People will
appreciate you for deliberately
trying to conceive their own
perspective and position in the
world. It not only creates a basis
for empathy and respect, it also
primes people to be more open
and generous with you.
12. Stop seeking approval so
hard. Approach people with the
belief that you’re a good person.
It’s normal to want the people
around you to like you. But it
becomes a self-imposed burden
when almost all your behavior
toward certain people is designed
to constantly reassure you of their
approval.
13. Stop considering the same
things you’ve always done as the
only options there are. It’s
unlikely that one of the things
you’ll regret when you’re older is
not having consumed enough beer
in your 20s, or not having bought
enough $5 lattes, or not having
gone out to brunch enough times,
or not having spent enough time
on the internet. Fear of missing
out is a real, toxic thing. You’ve
figured out drinking and going
out. You’ve experimented enough.
You’ve gotten your fill of internet
memes. Figure something else
out.
14. Stop rejecting the potential to
feel pain. Suffering is a universal
constant for sentient beings. It is
not unnatural to suffer. Being in a
constant state of suffering is bad.
But it is often hard to appreciate
happiness when there’s nothing to
compare it to. Rejecting the
potential to suffer is unsustainable
and unrealistic.
15. Stop approaching adverse
situations with anger and
frustration. You will always deal
with people who want things that
seem counter to your interests.
There will always be people who
threaten to prevent you from
getting what you want by trying to
get what they want. This is
naturally frustrating. Realize that
the person you’re dealing with is
in the same position as you — by
seeking out your own interests,
you threaten to thwart theirs. It
isn’t personal — you’re both just
focused on getting different things
that happen to seem mutually
exclusive. Approach situations like
these with reason. Be calm. Don’t
start off mad, it’ll only make
things more tense.
16. Stop meeting anger with
anger. People will make you
mad. Your reaction to this might
be to try and make them mad.
This is something of a first-order
reaction. That is, it isn’t very
thoughtful — it may be the first
thing you’re inclined to do. Try to
suppress this reaction. Be
thoughtful. Imagine your response
said aloud before you say it. If
you don’t have to respond
immediately, don’t.
17. Stop agreeing to do things
that you know you’ll never
actually do. It doesn’t help
anyone. To a certain extent, it’s a
social norm to be granted a ‘free
pass’ when you don’t do
something for someone that you
said you were going to do. People
notice when you don’t follow
through, though, especially if it’s
above 50% of the time.
18. Stop ‘buying’ things you
know you’ll throw away. Invest
in friendships that aren’t
parasitic. Spend your time on
things that aren’t distractions. Put
your stock in fleeting opportunity.
Focus on the important.
19. Stop being afraid.
 
Link here -----> Thoughtcatalog

TO WHOM MUCH HAS BEEN GIVEN..

Let me begin by addressing the elephant in the room. I'm among the lucky 15000 or so people in this world to have had the privilege to school at Starehe Boys' Centre and School. With that out of the way, I can proceed to write a post that has kept me out of blogging.

Writing nice, inspirational or life changing posts is hard. You ask why? The fear of judgement. I'm in my early 20s, I personally detest inspirational stuff. I'm a believer of self inspiration and so to go around blogging inspiration stuff contradicts the person I tend to believe I am. This post though is different and will go against all that BS. Judge me.
I've been thinking alot about giving and receiving of late. When I first joined Starehe as a fully sponsored student, I was quick to try find where the catch was. The concept of schooling a young Kenyan boy without pay was strange to me, too nice an act. I searched, asked around, nothing. I imagined that Starehe would tax you or something after you get employed to repay the fee but that was a myth demystified. So indeed it was full sponsorship. I was overwhelmed. The only way we were to repay the home, the institution as Mr Gikubu, the only remaining co-founder would put it, is to be appreciative, be extremely disciplined. His 'We feed you, we clothe you, we give you first class health attention' emphasized how much the school gave. Quite fair the way they expected to be repaid you'd say but being a teenager and being disciplined was a task but most succeeded to repay. 

Starehe is a great institution, I loved it for its foundation, its beliefs as an school, the upbringing. A smart guy would walk out of the school changed. It was an experience, the best in my life so far.
The concept of giving selflessly and not expect anything back struck me. It awed me. It was the greatest lesson learned. The concept although can get confusing especially since at the entrance of the schools Assembly Hall reads 'To whom much has been given, much will be required'. To my understanding, that is much of, if much is accorded to me, then its my responsibility to appreciate and repay in my own way, not necessarily the same way.

Now to bring this home. The life we are living. The country we live in. If you asked me, we are more of receivers, always expecting much but not caring to give, or giving very little if any. I can be selfish, in fact I am on occasions because we are generally wired to think about ourselves first. Acts of generosity from people surprise us. We question intent. That has not made the act of giving any easy. Its a world of if I give you this, what's in it for me? Its made giving very questionable, very ingenuine.

I remember this period in school I felt generous and wanted to buy some girl lunch. Damsel stood me up. Either she thought I was bluffing or was to buy her lunch at some shady joint. I had nothing in mind. Just buy a friend lunch. At the best restaurant in school for that matter. My intentions were questioned I suppose.
In my own little ways, I've started cultivating the culture of being a giver, expecting absolutely nothing in return. Its hard trust me. Its something you need to practice over and over. One thing for sure, its a very fulfilling practice, it adds so much to life. Life becomes more about others than ourselves.
That is it. Not well written but I hope my point is home. As we approach Easter, let us treat other people, expecting nothing in return from them. Just enjoy peoples company, spend time with friends, family and loved ones. Hope you find it as fulfilling.
From that quote above, if we all received and gave as much as is required, these acts would balance out and we'd all give and receive in equal measure.
©Jakaya10

BACK BLOGGING?

When I quit blogging two years ago, I blamed a couple of things for my death of creativity. My main excuse was always lack of material. During my prime blogging period, I always had fast access to the internet and a computer to churn my 2 cents on word document. Soon, I had neither. I quit. But that was just an excuse. I was lazy. I didn't feel so confident about my writing but when I look back, read through my pieces, I am always awed.

True I lacked resources, joining campus didn't help my creativity at all. Between the classes, partying, the girls, really, there was no time to sit and be creative. I imagined that getting a better phone to blog from would be the answer but that phone never materialized. Other matters had financial priorities, plus I never fancied an IDEOS which was the available low-end smartphone then, before the market went crazy.

Now things have changed. After my priorities got sorted, saved a few coins for a better phone. So one morning I wake up in such a reading mode, go through an article on being a man on @Esquiremag. Coincidentally, I remember having penned such an article, I go through my archives pull it out and share. Then I download this blogger app and like they say, okay not really, I mean and like I hope I'll say in future, 'The rest is history'.

Many of my favourite bloggers quit as well, notably 'Miss Noelle' who I'll never forgive for quitting. Her writing was raw, capturing and from her life experiences. The type of writing you relate to because of the lessons learnt from the blogger. @Bikozulu ran out of steam, my tribesman @Nyanchwani went to Sudan where I guess the internet is an illusion, plus a couple of good bloggers who ran out of ideas.

My reading culture is back, I hope I'll grab my writing mojo back. Till then, I guess I'll keep being boring.

©Jakaya10