Kangai Mwiti

… I need healing.

Since the writing bug finally lodged itself firmly in my… well… brain?, I’ve decided that I’ll be undertaking my most exhausting, yet fulfilling writing challenge yet- NaNoWriMo! (My first was this blog…)

NaNoWriMo is a really cool program/event/thing/challenge where you get to flex your writing muscles all in one month- November. The goal- write a 175-page, 50,000-word novel (fiction) by midnight November 30th each year. They have a rather cool history which I’ve reproduced here, for your viewing pleasure.

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YEAR ONE!

The very first NaNoWriMo took place in July, 1999, in the San Francisco Bay Area. That first year there were 21 of us, and our July noveling binge had little to do with any burning ambitions we might have harbored on the literary front. Nor did it reflect any hopes we had about tapping more fully into our creative selves. No, we wanted to write novels for the same dumb reasons twentysomethings start bands. Because we wanted to make noise. Because we didn’t have anything better to do. And because we thought that, as novelists, we would have an easier time getting dates than we did as non-novelists.

So sad. But so, so true.

The first year’s trials and tribulations are laid out in the introduction to No Plot? No Problem!, but the short version is that our novels, despite our questionable motives and pitiful experience, came out okay. Not great. But not horrible, either. And, more surprising than that, the writing process had been really, really fun.

Fun was something we hadn’t expected. Pain? Sure. Embarrassment? Yes. Crippling self-doubt followed by a quiet distancing of ourselves from the entire project? You bet.

But fun? Fun was a revelation. Novel-writing, we had discovered, was just like watching TV. You get a bunch of friends together, load up on caffeine and junk food, and stare at a glowing screen for a couple hours. And a story spins itself out in front of you.

I think the scene—full of smack-talk and muffin crumbs on our keyboards—would have rightly horrified professional writers. We had taken the cloistered, agonized novel-writing process and transformed it into something that was half literary marathon and half block party.

We called it noveling. And after the noveling ended on August 1, my sense of what was possible for myself, and those around me, was forever changed. If my friends and I could write passable novels in a month, I knew, anyone could do it.

Which is how the whole thing really got rolling.

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To get years 2 through 9, go here. To think about what it means to go through this relatively creative challenge, go here and get some of your questions answered.

A Birthday Workout for QuiiQuiix
Hike across green Ireland;
Bike the USA;
Backpack through New Zealand,
But don’t call it a day…
Do yoga in lovely Paris;
Jump rope in Katmandu;
Avoid Italian pasta,
(Well, maybe taste, but don’t you chew!)
Climb atop Mt. Everest;
Do aerobics on China’s Wall;
Lift weights on Mexican Beaches;
And honey, that’s not all…
Shake your booty with native dances
In Fiji and Bora Bora;
Move your body and exercise
Like you’ve never done befora.
Okay; that’s good; you’re finished;
Now you can take a break;
You’ve finally burned enough calories
To have your birthday cake!

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Happy Birthday Sis!
One day we’ll go to all those places, ama?

When the going gets tough, and the tough go broke, a familiar Kenyan saying begins to crop up. You begin to hear CEO’s, managers, staff members and support staff saying “Ai! Manze things are thick!”

I’m in the thick of things right now, what with the demand for psychosocial servicese on a serious decline. (I work for a firm that provides behavioral counseling and psychosocial support to Africa). Many people are cutting back on extreneous spending, especially for items that are not needed.

So what would you do if your target market decreases their budget, cutting you out of the loop? Would you scale back- decrease spening, decrease costs, just do what you’ve always done, wait, pray? Or would you do the exact opposite?

Many employees right now are fighting to keep their jobs. How? By lying below the radar and not doing anything wrong. By sticking to the rules and not breaking any. By being constant, consistent and… well… employable. But this is also boring. Employers don’t like boring. In fact, the more boring you are, the higher your chances of getting retrenched.

It takes guts to go against the crowd. To provide a product or service with insane amounts of marketing and advertising when your peers would just look at you and wonder if the Sandman had been around your home recently. To finally pitch that project you’ve been scared to pitch because it’s just so crazy. But this is exactly what you should do.

Today, 30 of the world’s best business schools will be in Nairobi. Sign up.

Yesterday was my brother’s birthday.

Today marks the 89th day of the year which means that we’re 24.384% of the way into 2009. Are you 24.384% of the way into reaching your goals this year?

I just got back from a meeting with my doctor (Dr. Somoya at the Nairobi Hospital Doctor’s Plaza). For those of you who don’t know, I’ve been having recurrent migraines for the past three or four months, and I didn’t really know what caused them until today.

She unpacked my life over the past three months and discovered (to my unbelief and astonishment) that I’m stressed. Actually, I’m more than stressed because it’s affecting my health and my relationships. My prescription was, and I quote, “Kangai- do what you like to do. Don’t do what you don’t like to do. Relax and stay in sleep more. Go to spa and have the massage. Go to place where you do the relax. Call your sweetest friend and tell them for coffee and talk. Do what you want to do…” (she’s a very cool Egyptian woman with a thick accent…)

I realized that there are quite a few triggers for my migraines, and top on the list is one combined group of idiots. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, idiots are the greatest cause my migraines. You know- those people who literally just decrease your own level of intelligence to the point where it rubs against the floor- causing migraines. Second on my list was the amount of work I have on my plate. She said I’m overworking myself. This is true, if you combine the fact that I’m in school 16 hours each week, I work 40 hours, and I run a business part-time. Which led to the third reason- I’m not spending enough time with my ’sweetest friend’, which tends to relax me quite a bit.

So, in the spirit of having a イースター休暇リラックス, I’ve decided to do what I want to do. Here’s my list of 10 things to do in April (after exams, of course), and if you don’t fall under trigger #1, you can join me.

1. Spend time with my sweetest friend (ok- kinda limiting for those of you who wanted to join us…)
2. Spend a day at the spa (I’ll get the costs and available dates and let you know) and get mah hrrr did; get a pedicrrrr and a manicrrr
3. Do at least four FUN photo shoots with my cool buddies- Jimmie and Kepha (and maybe Eric if he promises to behave. He almost made it into trigger #1)
4. Travel to Naivasha, Nanyuki or Nakuru with Andrew, Tiffo, Livi, the Boys in the Band and anyone else who wants to spend a weekend away from Nairobi
5. Sleep in at least three times each week (I somehow can’t stay asleep after 6:00am)
6. Complete my pet web project
7. Completely idiot-free my life, or try to convert them to people who aren’t idiots
8. Hang out with my very cool mentor
9. Hit the gym… again…
10. Hang out with Pastor Carol and Pastor M (if they’ll have me…)

And to help you relax too, here’s another stretch worth… well… stretching. (Plus it can be a really cool way to stretch and lay prostrate before the Lord…)

Place your lower body in a kneeling position. Slide your hands forward & draw your buttocks back to create a stretch in the upper torso. You can also perform this stretch standing with your hands against a wall.