Surviving College:#Freshmen'sFreshTips

I don't know if you read my last post here, but I hope you felt my pain and more so walked in my shoes because boy, didn't I need some moral support. Clearly, the day was more than memorable but not the memories I'd like you or any other individual planning to join university to have.

To save you the trouble, I have come up with a couple of pointers to prevent you from experiencing the first day of university from hell, you can thank me later or now, my postal address is...no, just kidding. 

This is mainly for those in Kenyan universities but may be applicable all across the world, I wouldn't know if indeed they are applicable elsewhere but who knows? A tip or two may be of help.

1. Get your letter of admission as soon as it is out. This will lead me to maybe the most important tip, tip number two.

2. Once you get your letter of admission and the documents that come with it, fill them immediately. Especially those that need the involvement of another party other than you and your sponsor. From the medical to the legal documents... everything.

3. Double check and triple check the forms you filled have been filled correctly.

4. Pay your tuition right...you do not want to be a sequel to my story here.

5. If there's anything that can be done online do it. I t will probably save you some trouble somewhere.

6.  Have one or two passport photos of yourself even though it's not been indicated. I should let you know, that if you  own a wallet or purse that should be a staple by now.

7. Dress pretty, top half at least, you deserve a nice school identification photo.

8. This may not be highly advised because apparently now you are an adult and you should be responsible, independent and all that mumbo jumbo but rebel to this specific extent: go with your parent(s) or guardian , have them close by at least. They can bail you out of every speed bump incurred, save you a spot an a queue, keep you company, get you food and/or drink at their expense of course while you stand on the line, raise their voice at a couple of individuals on your behalf, the list is endless. Just don't let them do any of the dirty work. 

9. Get their early it will only pay off if your documents are in order of course.

10. Start enjoying freshman year.

Happy Freshman Year !!!

Back to school

I never imagined that my four no, five month holiday would ever come to an end. I'm a nay sayer when it comes to the all-good-things-come-to-an-end saying but as usual the joke was on me because yes, all good things do come to an end.

You would think that my "summer" which is winter on this side of the globe, was filled with lazing around and getting together with an amigo or two, quite the contrary. In fact, I saw less sleep while I was on "break" than when I was in school.

Enough with my moping already, more with my moping.

Why I thought my first day of law school would be any different from all my other first days of school, beats me. Maybe it was the fact that despite getting a mere five hours of sleep, I still beat my alarm clock to it or maybe it was my bangin' back-to-school outfit (it was pretty killer) or maybe it was the sun that shone oh so well, a sign I read it to be, registration was going to be a piece of cake.

Nothing, and I mean nothing could have prepared me for the hours head.

A recap of my first days of school. Kindergarten, my uniform infested by ants while I was still in it. New high school, got on to the bus, stuck out like a sore thumb, a sore hand is more like it, unpacked my book bag only to be brutally informed that I was in "her" seat (let the records show, I have no hard feelings against "her"). University (diploma course) ratio of boys to girls 10:1 can someone say, uncomfortable. University(undergrad.), all in good time.


With such a pathetic history the odds were clearly never in my favor, nonetheless I thought otherwise. Nothing like foolish positivity.


A standing ovation is in order for getting to school on time, I'll give you a minute to do that. That is probably the only thing I managed to do right that day.

There were signs that a couple of things would go south, but the optimist in me ignored them. Nearly everybody around had tuition receipts. I on the other hand still had the cheque, meaning my fees was yet to be paid. Non-payment means no registration number, no registration number means no registration, period.

And so, my misery began.

Do you know what the worst part was? I'll tell you what the worst part was. That cheque was sitting in an envelope for nearly two weeks as I sat pretty and convinced that I was indeed set for school.

Emotionally, I was doing pretty good. Still no tears or vented frustration. Naturally I thought getting tuition matter handled would be just a minor speed bump and headed to the bank to handle it myself.

Another sign, never mind locating it wasn't a walk in the park and it opened later than it's supposed to, but I am duly informed to take it to the school's account office.

Now, I'm playing it cool. I end up walking in circles in the name of finding the shortest route in the sweltering Nairobi heat only to arrive there to be told they don't accept cheques anymore.

At this point I'm a mess. Dripping in my own sweat, frustrated, wearing a turtle neck in this furnace we call Nairobi (the things I do for fashion).What's keeping me sane at this point? Besides my future being at risk, all my dreams and aspirations could be gone just like that.

My only hope is to got to the bank that issued the cheque. After a minor cardiac arrest when the cheque temporarily disappears in my bag. You can only imagine my disbelief when I was told that only the account holder, mom, can make the transaction, get this, at the home bank which happens to be all the way across town.

I troop my what used to be feet to the bus station and I got to start my field trips to the banks all over again.

Eight hours later, tuition handled, now all I need is to get my registration number, be registered and Presto! Registration successful. Yeah, that would happen in a parallel universe with my crummy luck. Turns out it takes between three to five hours to reflect on the system. (Darn computers!)

A few choice words were exchanged between  1)myself and the facilitator 2) mother and the facilitator 3) myself, mother and the facilitator. That didn't change but a thing except I would have to come back the next day.

You can only imagine my delight when the system hang literally immediately after I got my business handled the next day. I just want to give a big shout out to my homie karma for coming through, allowing those who will have the pleasure of being my classmate...LOL to experience a smidgen of my pain.

Picture from www.whatroseknows.com

#BookReview: The Help

Hello you who has stumbled upon this delightful piece of work, I trust you are having an exceptional day or night and I sense that you need a touch of awesome in your life and I'm happy to inform you, you're in the right place.

On wards then.

Yet again I have been able to come across another more than impressive book, The Help.

This one has you from page one literally. My first encounter with The Help was of course the movie, which came outwhile I was in high school. Since it features Emma Stone, I was pretty much sold on it due to her stellar performance in Easy A, which may I say was a hell-of-a good movie. So good that up to this day, I can hardly sing "Pocket Full of Sunshine" with a straight face this scene right here.

So turns out The Help was nothing close to Easy A and once that discovery was made, I paid little or no attention to it. Turns out I was missing out.

Fast forward three years later, yes it took me that long to realize that The Help would become one of my all time favorite books.

Set in the sixties in Jackson, Mississippi when racial tension was probably then at an all time high, three ladies, two colored Aibileen and Minny, one white, Skeeter, decide to do what was then considered unthinkable.

Both Aibileen and Minny are maids who've been working for white folk since their teens. With such vast experience, they could only have millions and millions of stories. Until Miss Skeeter, a struggling writer who is looking for THE STORY comes in, they never thought anyone would ask for their stories much less want to read a compilation of their stories.

Kathryn Stockett could not make this book any more crystal clear than she already did. Dividing the book such that Minny, Aibileen and Skeeter each have an individual section in nearly every chapter really connects you to each character intensely.

These ladies couldn't be more different from each other but that's what makes them so similar , captured by Stockett, "We are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I'd thought."

The beauty in this book is that it's not only Aibileen and Minny's stories, but nearly every maid in Jackson who were reluctant at first but after an unfortunate turn of events jump in, both feet.

You would think that nothing but name tainting of their former and current bosses would be the order of the day, but you will be quite surprised at what is in their testimonials, I sure was.

An array of emotions overcomes you as you read you this book. One moment you will be stifling a laugh, the next I guarantee you will be laughing out loud, forget the LOL you are used to while texting, this here will be the real deal. The next moment you will be fighting back tears eventually leading to down right bawling, which I suggest you do in your own company, we can't have you scaring away potential suitors if you plan on reading it in public. Moments like these are rather intense and wide spread in the book. Forget TFIOS when Gus,no, Augustus Waters died and you sobbed. The Help has you closing the book, having a moment, pulling yourself together and getting into it all over again. It is safe to say that emotion is one thing this book is not lacking.

It doesn't stop there. The writer is not black and it is a completely fictional story but the authenticity will have you second guessing the fact I made right there. It's beyond amazing how she did it. Stockett, a cyber high five is in order.

There is so much I would love to say about this book, a single post seems like an injustice, I may probably do another one in the near future. My advice, don't walk you're butt to the bookstore, run it 'cause Law it's good. (Read the book if you wanna get that line).

I just wish it didn't have to end.

#BookReview: Tell the Wolves I'm Home

I think it's pretty insane how out of all the books I'm reading, none of them are a disappointment and Tell the Wolves I'm Home is no exception.

First up the cover.

May I just first say that the illustrators did an amazing job and  these guys rarely get the credit they deserve, especially in  a world where we are allowed to do the otherwise frowned upon judge-a-book-by-its-cover move.

It's pretty hard to choose which is the best out of the two because once you've read the book, each cover effortlessly tells the whole story, of course one more clearer than the other but you be the judge of that.

The book is about June who is not your average teenage girl, for one she's mesmerized by the whole medieval era and has a negligible social circle. As if things cannot get any worse the apple of her eye, her uncle Toby cum godfather is dying of AIDS. June's world literally comes crushing down on her once it sets in that Toby won't be around much longer.

Toby happens to be a renowned artist and his last work would be a portrait of his nieces, June and her sister Greta who also happens to be going through a lot but hides this by pushing everyone around her away, mostly June.

The portrait and Toby's inevitable death serve as tools that will open chapters in June's life that she didn't even know existed.

While reading this book I could not help but think of other published works such as RENT and Philadelphia that address the same issue; AIDS. But what makes this book stand out, is that its from a whole new perspective. RENT and Philadelphia show AIDS from the perspective of the patient; the physical and emotional and any other type of pain these people go through as they die while Tell the Wolves the type of pain the affected go through. Not the wife or partner we are used to, although that too is there, but immediate family who usually in my opinion are painted out to pick up the pieces and move on or are not painted out at all.

Yet another thing that sets this book up there is that Toby had a life before and during his diagnosis. He had a story, a life. He didn't let the disease become him., if anything he put it aside.

But what took it all though was that all this AIDS stuff is seen through the eyes of an American teenager. This may sound rather odd, but when you are African or living in Africa, it's mostly made out to seem that this type of stuff only happens in the doomed-from-day-one dark continent and it's rather eye opening to see that this type of thing affects everyone and anyone.

If I was to sum it all up, raw would be the word. The ignorance at the time in regards to AIDS was at an all time high and Carol Rifka does a rather commendable job in showing that. The rawness is portrayed in all aspects, from June's teenage thoughts to Greta's downright mean attitude to the characters' lives the good and the bad.

I could go on and on about how intriguing this book is, but honestly you just have to pick it up and feel it for yourself. Through it all, I thought that it just was another documentation about someone with AIDS when really through June and Toby I understand that a person is a person despite their pasts or imperfections.

The only let down was that it left me with quite a number of unanswered questions, but what good book doesn't?


********* Thought that I'd just slip this in,  listening to the RENT soundtrack would be the best soundtrack to this book but "Who you love by John Mayer and Katy Perry" just took it all. But don't forget RENT's "Seasons of love".******

Okay bye! And Happy reading!

#WomanCrushWednesday: Malala Yousafzai

In all honesty this article was meant to be a book review but in the spirit of honesty, "I am Malala" is not an easy read, most especially if you were on a young adult binge like I was.

The beauty of having to pump the brakes on the young adult genre and delving into biographies and autobiographies, a much needed reality check is received.

So without further adieu my #WomanCrushWednesday goes to a seventeen-year-old who is right up there with Nobel Laureates and nominees. I'm talking Wangari Maathai (I jut had to start with her cause well...Kenyan!) Nelson Mandela, Barrack Obama, Desmond Tutu among others. She's had a sit down with the Obama's at the White House, rubbed shoulders with Queen Elizabeth, has been nominated and won countless awards; the Nobel Peace Prize, U.S. Glamour Award for Woman of the Year. The list goes on and on and on and on and...you get the idea.

She's even got her own day, dubbed, "Malala Day".

If you have not caught on by now even with the obvious "Malala Day" hint and the title of this article, I am talking about none other than Malala Yousafzai.

Until I began getting to know Malala through her book of course, Mondays were associated with school and work, code name for doom and gloom. But it never really dawned on me that women somewhere were and in some places are still being robbed of both an education and a career. In Malala's case it is/was the Taliban.

As a mere teenager Malala chose to stand up to one of the most wanted terrorism groups in the world. Spreading awareness on women's rights defiantly was her weapon of choice, tenacity and endearment her fuel. The Taliban would not take this lightly, being challenged by a fifteen year old girl who did not budge even when they sent her and her family death threats.

On the ninth of October 2012, the Taliban had had enough and retaliated by attacking her school bus, shooting her,  injuring her friends in the process and leaving her for dead. Many thought it was the end for Malala and that she had finally lived up to her name that means "grief stricken" but if anything, thanks to the Taliban, what did not kill Ms. Yousafzai definitely made her stronger.

Though the climate in Malala's life is far from the land of milk and honey and what not , she does manage to give you insight to her typical life. For instance her choice of wardrobe, jewelery, BFFs and her love for the Twilight saga (I wonder, was she Team Jacob or Team Edward?).

She simply does not stop this girl even influencing her once illiterate mother to learn English. Doesn't she just want to make you start singing Beyonce's Run the World?

TeensCanWriteToo Blog chain: What Characters are you most like?

This is my first blog chain ever and I am super stoked. But that being besides the point who would have ever thought that the 31st would get here this fast?

On too the business of the day, what characters am I most like?

I gave a lot of thought to this and I had a couple of outrageous characters like Dora the Explorer, Elmo, Po from Teletubbies maybe its because I've been watching a load of cartoons but its probably because those are characters I've also wished I was. And yes, you are still reading a teen writer's blog.

The following though are the characters I did settle on:

1. Christina Yang from Grey's Anatomy. First up, me and Christina are similar in more way than one; we are both uptight, we know what we want and how to get it and blunt just to mention some of the attributes we share.
   
2. 
   
Julia Braverman from Parenthood. May I just say that I absolutely love Parenthood in one of those set aside a whole weekend just to have a Parenthood marathon type of way. It seems like at first everything is going Julia's way and then the inevitable happens; change. Instead of complaining until she can't complain any more, she adapts. Yes an emotional breakdown here and a fake smile there but she scrapes through. With all the chaos in her life she still thinks of others. A lot like what I have to do. Not forgetting that her dress sense and mine are in the same league and that she's a lawyer like I'd like to be when I'm older.
3. The Huxtable Kids. I thought about it being Denise Huxtable only but I settled on all of them because let's face it the Huxtables, they come as a package. So Denise and I both have trouble adjusting to college life not to mention all the responsibility that comes with it; from grades to money to self-motivation but in the end we both find a way through the problem plus her wardrobe, I wish I could get lost in it
   

Theo Huxtable. I am just going to say it right out Theo and I buddies in having an untidy room, unconventional studying methods and embarrassing high school grades.

 Vanessa Huxtable. Just like Vanessa I like getting myself into other people's business, horrible I know, but again just like her I don't find out much. on a lighter note though we both try out different things with our hair, that if I do say so myself are not too shabby.

Last but not least, Rudy Huxtable. The youngest out of all of the Huxtables and she gets away with a lot of mischief that she manages to get herself into just like I used too.

I realize that there are five Huxtables but I honestly do not connect with Sondra, sorry?

4. Quentin from Paper Towns. I am not exactly like Q, but one thing's for sure, Q and I we do not let things go. Maybe I'm a tad bit milder in terms of not letting things go unlike Q who would even go to the ends of the earth just to find a girl, sorry, just to find Margo Roth Spiegelman.

5. And finally June from Tell The Wolves I'm Home. There are like a billion things June and I have in common and to sum them all up and the one thing that sticks out like a sore thumb would be how such a non conformist we both are.

I hope you enjoyed and be sure to check out the previous blogs listed below seeing as mine is the last one.

5th – Sometimes I’m a Story
6th – The Little Engine that Couldn’t
7th – Against the Shadows
8th – Sammi Talk
9th – Musings From Neville’s Navel
10th – The Road Goes On
11th – Brooke Reviews
12th – Miriam Joy Writes
13th – Uniquely Anonymous
14th – The Upstairs Archives
15th – The A.R. Files
16th – NutFreeNerd
17th – Unikke Lyfe
18th – Writer’s Place
19th – Roomble
20th – Tara Therese
21st – The Writing Duo
22nd – Free As a Girl With Wings
23rd – Butterflies of the Imagination
24th – The Weirdy Station
25th – Teenage Ink
26th – Where Books Never End
27th – Insanity Inc.
28th – Miss Alexandrina
29th – ripped out pages
and The Long Life of a Lifelong Fangirl
30th – Fantasies of a Pocket Human
and Turtles in My Soup
31st – literallylovely
and Teens Can Write, Too! (We’ll announce the topic for next month’s chain)

Book Review: John Green's #PaperTowns

You know one of the many things I miss about being a kid? How stories ended; "And they lived happily ever after," "The end". Nothing was left to the imagination. Once a story ended it ended, except now when you think about it what happened to Little Red Riding Hood? Did she and the fox (or was it a wolf) form an alliance and start punking other kids visiting their grandparents...just a thought guys.

Then comes young adulthood where nearly everything is a sequel or left suspended in mid air. Well John Green has mastered the latter. I guess that's the beauty in his books really.

With Green's books, you never want the books to end but you do want to know what happens in the end and when you find out what does happen you a) want to hurl the book across the room because the ending and the road to the end is everything you did not expect or b) read everything after the last page, acknowledgements, discussion questions I mean everything in an effort to appease the denial phase you've just entered (denying that the book has indeed come to an end) and to make sure no "An Imperial Affliction" has been pulled on you.

Paper Towns in particular is no different.

May I just say, that before John Green wrote Paper Towns he read "Into the Wild by John Krakauer" which I also happened to have read before reading Paper Towns. Purely coincidental. Oh well you know what they say about great minds.

I found this book so captivating that you remember how I bowed down to TFIOS? Yup that's yesterday's news.

It basically revolves around Quentin or Q,  a senior in his last few months of high school and how it all unravels after the sudden disappearance of the school's IT girl Margo Roth Spiegelman who also happens to be Q's all time crush.

I'll be the first to admit, that it does not sound like much, but it is so much more than a mystery novel, in fact, it's far from it. That's what makes it sooo great. It's more of a  welcome-to-the-male-species-mind and the never ending high school experience type of novel.

The welcome-to-the-male-species-mind couldn't be brought out any clearer by anyone other than Q's friends, Ben and Radar. From referring to girls as honey bunnies and bringing the word "bro" back to absurd outfit ideas for graduation these guys will have you girls rolling your eyes and you guys giving imaginary high fives for this trio's "awesomeness".

High school experience, I don't think anyone can forget but in case you have or are yet to experience it or you happened to miss out on it, Paper Towns fills you right in.

This book offers that teenage temporary high and does not forget to include the trials and tribulations most teens go through. Basically, a roller coaster ride that is only going up my friend (see what I did there, put a little TFIOS in it).

By the time you're done reading this book, you'll probably be calling everybody bro and even though its not a sequel looking for anything John Green related to read and I almost forgot you'll be enlightened on what a paper town is...at least I was.



Picture courtesy of: www.dailycal.org