Mental break: 8-4-4 memories

Apologies for the lack of posts, been dealing with personal stuff (read drama).

So I’ve been thinking it’s time for a little break since the news is slow pending the outcome of the Annan negotiations. There’s all sorts of people complaining about “imposed” solutions,and foreign intervention, and “Kenyan solutions“, but the last time I checked we were achieving zero on our own as far as working towards a local solution for the crisis. Except for continued violence. That’s what we get for having leaders who are bozos…we have to be put in line by other guys. Do I think that ultimately whatever solution that is reached will have to have local legitimately? Of course. Do I think that ultimately the solution to the deeper problems that are underlying the crisis will have to be tackled by Kenyans? Absolutely. But I think it’s a bit rich for folks to be scoffing at the current international mediation (or bullying) efforts from the safety of their houses and their offices. Can anyone tell me where things were heading if Annan was treated as shoddily as Kufuor and others? Frankly, I think we are “lucky” in some ways to be a country that has some international goodwill remaining (hello Somalia?). It sucks, but it is what it is.

Oh, this was meant to be a mental break. Dammit.

OK, so a couple of days ago a few of us were cracking each other up with stories about our 8-4-4 projects. Those dreaded pyjamas, nyatitis, huts (the guys who built huts, pole…I went to Conso in Westlands and the biggest dilemma for the school admin was where to actually put the hut), woodwork (I can’t even remember what we built, but the woodwork teacher was a terror…apparently all woodwork teachers had “issues). My dad was old school, so he had banned that storo of having the housie shona your pyjamas and do your weaving (yes we had to weave a rug with some hideous loom, WTF?), not to mention that he was cheap (for good reason, school fees was expensive enough, and I really appreciate the sacrifice in retrospect but going to a posh school without the necessary accroutements was trying at times in that I’m-going-to-be-made-fun-of kind of way ). So my pyjamas were made from this material that was really for sewing machines, and I won’t even go into the story of the wool for the rug. You know that kind of cheap where the plastic for covering your books starts ripping apart as you are unfolding it? And when you FINALLY got an Oxford mathemetical set (and not the cheaper ka-red and gold one), it was accompanied with a fire and brimstone lecture on how you better not lose it? But he caved when we got to the nyatiti. Mine was made from by some Jua Kali guy in Kariokor.

So (presuming that some of the people who read this blog are 8-4-4 products) what were your “project” experiences?

21 Mar 08 at 16:54

How late am I to publish this? was reading something about Quincy Jones that had links to Keguro’s blog that had links to Ory’s blog. Ory I did go to Consolata too but was a few years behind you, the woodwork teacher we had was Mr. Kimani (who replaced the six fingered teacher) who said stuff like ‘aand ooonds’ (hard woods) and ‘soft oonds’ the six fingered teacher I remember used to go around with a tape measure measuring boys’ backs and telling them who had broad shoulders or not (who was yet to reach puberty).

My pyjamas were good, so were my scarves and (we didn’t have to build a hut) the sackcloth thing which stank when it got wet. I remember you guys playing kati and it was such a big deal cause everyone would come and watch you under the shed (my sister was in your year)……yeah……memories……..

in form 1 for agriculture we had sukuma patches and i watered mine faithfully every morning plus fertiliser plus scarecrow…….but just! just! before they were assessed the monkeys from state house (you know which high school i went to) came and ate them :cry:(yup monkeys eat sukuma)