3CB

It’s no secret that my dream car is an X6. I have no idea where I’m going to get the 15M to buy one, but until quite recently, I’ve been content to wait. After all, driving a Nissan while dreaming of Aisha (that’s her name) seems blasphemous somehow. That’s why I was so excited when I found out I could get her for 4.4 instead of 15! Yay!

Unfortunately, I need a car faster than it will take me to raise those millions. See, our office is in transit. We’ll be moving to Kalamu House as soon as they put the new sofas in. And the walls. And the windows. And the cubicles. And the pool table. And the bunk beds. The boss says six weeks, but I’m guessing it could take a bit longer than that.

Here’s the thing. Kalamu House is a beautiful working space. But it’s faaaaaaar! I’d have to get off the mathree and then walk 15 minutes just to get to the office gate. That’s not so bad in the morning, but could be tricky at 6 or 7 p.m., which is when I generally leave the office. Plus, the road is a murram stretch with minimal lighting. Granted there’s a military base nearby, but I doubt the soldiers would jump to my rescue if I was being mugged. Apart from my interesting office hours, I’m also spending a lot of time at Landmark, which means I’ll be in town till 10.00 p.m. at least twice a week.

The clincher was this weekend. The little one and I had a busy day running errands and visiting people. We had to go from Lang’ata to Waruku to Kileleshwa and back to Lang’ata. We ended up spending 500/= on matatus alone, and we lost a lot of time connecting mats. I kept thinking how much easier (and cheaper) things would be if we had a car. I know cars need maintenance, insurance, and the patience of 69 saints (you know, to avoid sacrificing matatu crews to the gods of wrath and vengeance). But with 500/= worth of fuel and ample parking at our errand spots, the weekend would have been so much better.

I have a neighbour who works in my building, so we randomly bump into each other both at work and at home. He drives, I jav, so lately, we meet at 6.00 a.m. He’ll be taking his morning run and I’ll be … walking my baby to school. See, to get to work by 8.30, I need to leave my house at 6.10. He can leave much later, because he has a car. Also, I spent way too long in traffic yesterday, and got thoroughly pissed off. Add that to all the money I’m spending on transport lately and I really need a car.

Three things. One, I  haven’t been in a car since the day I passed(?) my driving test. I can’t be sure I passed because the cop lady yelled at me and I panicked, froze, and burst into tears. Later, the male cop tried to make a silly move but the police woman stopped him – bless her! But I do have a valid license, so that’s something.  Two, I have no idea how I’m going to pay for that car. All I know is I’m getting it. And three, it’s going to be a ‘family car.’ The family members in question live in three different houses, so I predict a lot of custody fights.

I don’t know what kind of car I want, except that I need it to be pretty, cost effective, fuel efficient, manual, and red. All the cars that I find pretty are expensive. For example, I’d rather not drive a Toyota unless it’s an Allion or a  Corolla LX. The Platz is pretty too. But none of those are in the 300K range. I wouldn’t mind a BMW or a Peugeot 406, though I’ve been told they have low resale value and expensive parts. That and you’re unlikely get either for 300K.

I’d actually looked at a gorgeous Peugeot 306 with an asking price of 270. It was Jungle Green and had a driver’s door that opened using a method that looked eerily similar to hot wiring. The central locking system had issues, as did the wiper motor. The windscreen was cracked in two places, and the boot could only be accessed from inside the car.

I named the car Vedito, from verdi, which I think is Spanish for green. I was going to call him Verdy, but that’s my iPod’s name. Yes, I liked the car enough to give it a name even though I didn’t own it yet, and yes, the car is a he. I talked to the owner a few times and arranged for a test drive, but my brother didn’t like it. The car, not the test drive. I trust his powers of veto, so we’re back to just looking. Suggestions and specs are welcome.

In other news, I have a new crush. He’s someone I see on the daily, so it’s unlikely that I’ll date him. I think I’d get tired of being with someone all day every day, which is why I don’t quite think I’m ready for marriage. About my crush, I’m attracted to his spirit and his character. He has a way of getting things done which I find very powerful and manly. It put me off at first – his take-charge attitude. But now I think it’s his best feature. And he has the most adorable smile.

I know couples that met at work, dated, got married, and lived happily ever after. But I don’t think that would work for me. I think if I spent my entire 8-hour workday with you, I wouldn’t want to spend my away-from-office time with you as well. It’s fine for civilized, one-off chips-type things, but I’d find it hard to gaze into the eyes of someone that I sit with every day from 9 to 5. So I clearly don’t want to date my crush.

Besides, I’ve finally accepted that men like to chase, and that as a strong woman, I’m asking them out at my peril. So I don’t plan to confess my crush or anything like that. What I’d really like to do is spend more time with him in a  non-work setting. Yes, I realize that contradicts what I said up there *pointing*. It sounds like I want to date him for a little bit, with the sole purpose of eliminating my desire to date him.

Of course the question becomes how to ask him out without asking him out, especially when the whole point of the exercise is to go on enough dates to make me stop wanting to ask him out? Hmm. I need more chocolate.

♫ When they Come for Me  ♫ Linkin Park ♫

I work in advertising, though my boss prefers to think of it as Integrated Digital Marketting. In a way, he’s right, because we don’t actually sell a product. Our ATL partners have a focus of getting people to buy stuff, while our digital campaigns are more about making people aware of a product or service. We want them to engage and interact with our client.

The thing with advertising in Kenya is that it’s not exactly a blue collar job. As a result, lots of people in advertising are expected to be ‘baabis’ even though that isn’t always the case. Speaking for myself, I was a baabi long before I got into advertising. Which is why I know what bingo is. For me, the word ‘Bingo’ makes me think of different things:

1. Old people playing playing with balls and yelling a lot.
2. A song about a dog – it was probably invented by a nursery school teacher.
3. The only scene in Inglourious Bastards that actually made me laugh.
4. A cartoon character named Didgeri Dingo.

I don’t know a whole lot about bingo except that it’s a mild form of gambling. There’ll be a scene in a movie with some poignant conversation. The conversation might involve two residents of a nursing home, or a visitor and his mother/father/grandfather. In the background, someone will yell ‘Bingo!’ But in the ‘real world’ bingo isn’t just a plot device. It’s a low key lottery where you can make some good money.

Enter Foxy Bingo, a site that proves anything is sexy if you look at it the right way. It’s a virtual space where you can play bingo anywhere you like, without the soundtrack or the balls or the scary orderlies with meds and needles. Don’t worry, it’s perfectly SFW, and the fox in question isn’t going to give you a heart attack.

I’m on this mental trip that makes me try out new things. It helps me get out of my comfort zone and ‘take control of my life’ though the phrase we use is ‘Being Cause in The Matter.’ Yes, it’s a Landmark thing. No, Landmark doesn’t make people gamble, though for one of my forum leaders, gambling was how he knew his mother was finally happy.

In her case, gambling was a good thing, because she’d spent her whole living for other people. She had dropped out of school to look after her siblings, then gotten married and looked after her husband and children. So when she was finally free to ‘do her own thing’ she got into the fun and exhilarating game of chance. Luckily, she had kids to help her do it responsibly.

For me, Landmark isn’t about slot machines and blackjack. But I am taking chances in my life. Gambles like noting down the number on a ‘Quick Sale’ sign, talking to the vendor, and taking a test drive even though I have no idea how I’m going to pay for the car. Or having conversations with my exes just to clear things up. So while I’m not quite in casinos yet, if I was going to try my luck, I’d like to be sitting in my house, curled up on my favourite chair, playing on a safe, colourful site with lots of pretty lights and foxes. And the site has purple too!

♫ Crooked Teeth ♫Death Cab for Cutie ♫

This happens periodically, usually triggered by some kind of beef. This time, it was caused by offline arguments with people very close to me. I stopped spending time with them, and watching their TLs was painful, so I logged off. A few weeks later, I logged on again, but Twitter had lost its flavour. I wondered what drew me to it in the first place.

I figured maybe I was on the wrong TLs, so I reviewed my lists, culled my follows, and logged out. Three days later I looked at my TL again. Still nothing. It made me sad. These days I hardly tweet at all, though I lurk the TL once in a while. I almost always respond to @Mentions, and I communicate a lot on DM, but it’s getting harder and harder to talk to the bird.

I’m sad because it makes me feel old. It makes me feel the fad has passed for me, and I miss the fervour and passion that I had for my addiction. I also feel sad because I’ve met such cool people on Twitter. Some of my associations have blossomed into offline friendships and even a romance or two, #NoChipsFunga. I feel sad about all the new people I’m missing out on just by losing interest in Twitter.

Chirping less does have some advantages though. I’m reading a lot more, and have finished 7 novels since I made the decision to log off on 22nd January. I’m writing more too – mostly in my journal, because all those random thoughts have to go somewhere. I also text a lot, because 160 characters is as close as I can get, and since I can only text people I physically know, my relationships are working better. New levels of communication and all that.

I can’t abandon Twitter completely, because I work at a Digital Agency, so I use it a lot for work. But the ‘social’ in social media is now largely dead for me. Right now, it’s all about business. So If I don’t follow-back or reply your mention, don’t be mad. It’s nothing personal. I’ve just kicked an addiction with no withdrawal symptoms. I’m sure I’ll be back eventually, but for now, it’s me and my SMS/Journal/Blog/PDF/Novels. Peace.

♫ First Try ♫ Tracy Chapman ♫