Finally, folks, I crossed that quarter century milestone! Coincidentally, I share my birthday with International Women's Day. It's great that my birthday and my blogiversary are just a week apart, so I have extra reason to celebrate. What did I get up to this year?
Watched a scene from a movie about a woman who was sexually harassed by a man, and two other characters are talking about it. "Didn't he realise that she is someone's daughter, or sister, or wife?! Goodness!!"
Wait... WHAT? So you're implying that as a woman, I should be respected because of my relationships with other men. You may mean well, but it's a dangerous way of framing the dialogue - it tells us that our value is derived, not from who we ARE, but from the men we are RELATED to.
Next time you're tempted to say something like that, please try this instead: "She IS someone."
Well, Wednesday was pretty busy with work, so it was a low key celebration with family. On Saturday, I had lunch with some girlfriends, then pampered myself at the Angsana Spa - Sankara for three and a half hours (and it was divine! More on this later.) After dinner, I went out for drinks and dancing at one of my favourite spots in Nairobi, J's in Westlands.
Some of you may know me personally, but many of you only know me through what I write. To celebrate being another year wiser older, I thought I'd give you a (very random) sneak peak into what (sometimes) goes on in my mind.
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Have you ever really thought about the moon? I mean, really thought about it? Here's this floaty orby thingie in the sky that we get to see on an almost-daily basis. This little speck in the sky has influenced mythology and culture for thousands of years (that we know). Now that we finally have the technology to get to the moon - how many of us will actually make it there? GUYS. Will I ever visit the moon?!
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It's almost lunch time, and I'm kind of starving. This would be the PERFECT time to look at Darshani's latest restaurant review, right?
(5 minutes later)
DAMMIT DARSH
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(Every time someone chews bananas near me.)
Me on the outside: (Smiles politely and says nothing)
Me on the inside: ARGHHHH RAGEEEE WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY STOPPPP!
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Have you ever thought about the concept of nothingness? What if there was no universe (or universes)? And no life? And no ANYTHING? I mean, there couldn't even really be any nothing, because there would be nothing for that nothing to exist in! There'd be no empty black space. No potential all-powerful being. Nothing. AT ALL.
Kinda makes my head hurt...
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I've watched the Lord of the Rings movies enough times to know some of the dialogues by heart. Needless to say, they're my favourite series and I try do them at least once a year. However, one part I hated (in the book too) - the ending!! I know that it's kind of the origin story of men and blah blah blah, but why'd they have to leave to the undying lands? Why'd Frodo go? Whyyyy?
Unpopular opinion, but as far as the movies are concerned, I may just have to stop watching at Aragorn's coronation.
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On another LOTR note (one can never have too many), Eowyn is a badass.
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And they totally under-utilised Faramir in the movie!!
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Isn't it weird that people think breastfeeding is strange? Literally, a baby is eating - what's there to be weird about that?! I've always found it so weird how women who want to breastfeed will actually APOLOGISE to everyone else and then find a discreet place to go feed their baby. I don't know if it's as common elsewhere, but I've definitely noticed this in the Indian-Kenyan community.
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What's your test for books? If within the first 2-3 pages, I can't see the scene I'm reading actually playing out in front of me, I know the book won't be worth it. Granted, my imagination ensures that not many books fail this test, but at least it weeds some out!
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I don't understand what makes people so uncomfortable about the word 'moist'. However, I do respect that it's a valid fear, which is why I refrained from using the word at least three more times in this snippet alone.
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First date deal breakers?
"I don't like dogs."
"I don't read much."
"Yeah, travelling's not really my thing."
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I wish I could create beautiful art and photos. Since I cannot, I appreciate those who can all the more! I think one of the things I love best about pictures is that they serve as a reminder that we live in a wonderful world indeed, and my corner is oh-so-tiny.
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I think that one of the scariest things that I can imagine would be waking up tomorrow and realising that what I have learnt in my life so far is all that I will EVER learn - that new knowledge will be inaccessible to me and my mind will forever be confined.
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As someone who thrives on words, I treasure those I receive from others very much. I got a very unexpected, but lovely message from a friend on my birthday that warmed me and made me feel like maybe, there's something I'm doing right.
Never underestimate the power of your words.
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I feel like I've been saying this often enough over the past few weeks that others might just be starting to get sick of it, but I'm amazed at and extremely grateful for everything life has been throwing my way recently. I wish I could go back to my past self at the very hardest of times and tell her - yes, this will mean something one day. Or maybe not... I guess that was part of the learning.
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We really do not deserve dogs. They are furry little angels who make everything better. I'm going to go cuddle mine right this instant and tell them how lucky I am to have them!
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Sleep is so cool, and yet, so weird! We're literally programmed to put ourselves into an altered state of consciousness on a daily basis where we often have very weird hallucinations that we accept as being real at the time. Apart from when we're lucid dreaming. Which did happen to me every night for a few weeks last year. It was weird. I knew I was dreaming, but I still had no control over anything.
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Okay, full disclosure over a weird dream I had - I think this one was inspired by an article I read about a 'manel' that was discussing how to close the gender gap at work...
So every time a woman is on her period, all the men in her life come together to send her to this magical land with unicorns and rainbows and candy so that they don't have to deal with her. I woke up and actually had to admire how profound the imagery was for this one.
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Why do people say 'Happy new year's'? It would make sense if they followed that up with 'day', since it is the day of the new year, but otherwise that extra 's' just doesn't fit.
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Wouldn't it be weird if men in work places started getting feedback and reviews that were less about their work and more about their personality?
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My brain is a strange, yet wonderful place. Thanks brain. You do you, buddy.
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Isn't it weird how we talk about love? 'I fell in love.' Sounds kind of violent, if you ask me. And also takes away the whole point about love being a choice, an action, something we have to do.
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If you think about how our ancestors lived their lives, it's actually scary how much we sit nowadays.
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Watched a scene from a movie about a woman who was sexually harassed by a man, and two other characters are talking about it. "Didn't he realise that she is someone's daughter, or sister, or wife?! Goodness!!"
Wait... WHAT? So you're implying that as a woman, I should be respected because of my relationships with other men. You may mean well, but it's a dangerous way of framing the dialogue - it tells us that our value is derived, not from who we ARE, but from the men we are RELATED to.
Next time you're tempted to say something like that, please try this instead: "She IS someone."
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Isn't it funny how we think that happiness is on the other side of some imaginary finish line? Yet whenever we reach that line, we redraw it to be further away? I don't know about you guys - I'm beginning to realise that it's not about the destination, but the journey.
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Any reactions? I'd love to hear from you! Feel free to comment below, or reach out to me on my Facebook page.
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