JOSEPH OWAGA.

  He says that growing up, he had a rather salty relationship with his dad. His dad was the typical African dad. Those fathers who expected everyone to be on their best behavior when they returned home When he spoke, you obeyed. You'd never say anything back. You were never allowed to hold an opinion, and in case you did, you kept it to yourself. Not like in our days, where we have the audacity to scream, "I hate you!" and run to your room and slam doors. He paid fees, and you went to school. He said you'd study medicine, and you said "Yes, dad!" only to discover, during a period of one of year holiday , that you hate what you do and end up hating the people you do it with, and the only thing you want to do is stand in front of crowds with a guitar in your hands and a crowd shouting in your direction. We are seated in this spot, under some shade, on a sunny afternoon, the kind of afternoon that makes you think, ‘What if the sun had moved an inch closer to ea...

Joseph Owaga © 2023 Come to think of it, we have so little control over our lives. We can’t control who likes us and who doesn’t, we can’t control who will hire us and who won’t, we can’t control who we get to love and who loves us back…we don’t even have the slightest control over life and death.   What I have come to learn is that we have so little control about how our lives and situations turn out…probably a whole 95%. But what we really have control over is how we choose to respond to situations that occur in our spaces.  To be honest, I love control, I bet most if not all us do. Control means order and yes, I love independence, to shape the different aspects within my life and be the sculptor, crafting myself to the person I want to be. But with all the effort there is always something that turns out to be contrary of what you expected or rather wished for. with all that was said, it trickles down to one question, ‘how do you react when you find yourself in situation...

This Blog is inspired by a talk a had with older men in a club, not long ago. I trust it moves you, especially men. No man on the earth has ever dealt with heartbreak like a man. None. Whatsoever. He can be big like Goliath, have the thickest beard like a biblical legend, and be a women magnet like the greatest fabled Luo man, yet he can also be dumped and heartbroken. Every man has that one lady who is capable of putting him in his place. He can be the head of a country's military, one of those faceless deep state officials who decide who the next president of a country is, or one of those hit men who can plant two cold bullets into your heart and two to your head, in other words, as manly as one would imagine the toughest man is, but trust me when I tell, there is always one woman who told them, "you ain't shit." Barack Obama was told that. Cristiano Ronaldo has been told that. Steve "Stonecold" Austin was told that. LeBron James, Donald  Trump,  Nel...

I look at his elbows, they have wrinkles, and those wrinkles have their own wrinkles. The bottom of his trousers patched with a darker shade, probably a tailor's effort to try and extend its time of use. His head is bend low, like he is obsessed with sadness. On his feet, are old dusty pair of sandals,looks like those maasai's pastoralists wear in their quests along great spans of unforgiving deserts. According to Troy, he looks like those men who wear their right sock on their left leg, he toils more than he breathes, sleeps less than a sinner, eats like it is a duty and forever walks alone. And, whenever he is walking along those campus corridors, he is always in a hurry, like he is always late for something. To him, every second counts.  He is an introvert, not because that is how he is or he would say 'I was born like this' but because his circumstances have made him be accustomed to that kind of approach to life. Despite being in the same class since first year...

Males who are financially strapped are twice as likely to refer to women as "gold diggers" and other derogatory phrases. Contrarily, loaded men, unless they are particularly frugal, have little problem allocating a portion of their earnings to providing for the lovers in their lives in proportion to their income. These people can afford to eat dinner and have a few drinks. Foot rent and other monthly expenses. Others don't have the money to periodically treat themselves to extraordinary things like a vacation in Seychelles, a dream machine, or the luxurious lifestyle she so desires. But not many ladies are so fortunate. To impress their lovers, some guys go above and beyond, sometimes even incurring greater debt. However, broke dudes are frequently cynical about love and relationships. Consider me for a second. I complain constantly as if life owes me an explanation. Valentine's Day is thus upon us this Tuesday. It's that time of year when guys can never be exc...

_joseph     It occurs to me that as we grow older we become more afraid to be wrong. I recall times as a kid when failure only meant lower scores on a test. This meant I couldn't get admission to Alliance or Mang'u, which meant I couldn't be, let's say the neurosurgeon, pilot or doctor I wanted to be... That was my worry then. Education is the key to life, right? I bet that is why we read that much, especially in high school. Those early mornings were pure torture. I hated school. Besides friends and food, I had little to look forward to. Sunday nights were my longest. I hated Mondays. I wonder why they named them Monday blues; it should be Monday blacks. Monday paved way for another long week filled with misery. But in all we needed to win. We had to. Education was the key and we needed that key to open the doors that we knocked on. But you didn't make it to that Med school you dreamt of; and while you fought so hard to become a pilot, your brains didn't...

  I would have started this story with 'ushawahi kaa chini ukafikiria vile...' but not today guys. So, do you ever sit down and think, you literally don't know what you are thinking about but you have these thoughts...scattered here and there. Well, like I had said earlier, one thing about me, I think a lot. But hey, don't mistaken me for an over-thinker, I know when to stop thinking, not every time though. I guess most of the times I have the most odd thoughts, like, why is grass green and not red or why do humans walk when every other animal 'crawls'...crazy, right? But lately, I have more sensible thoughts, like, after school, what next? So, today I am seated in this room,  wondering I am tired, on a Monday morning. There is a thing about Mondays mornings, if not yours, then I spend my Monday mornings wishing for Friday. I think, being in my final year in my last semester has a role to play in this exhaustion. Honestly, I feel like I am riding on an empty...