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Items by wambui jr

Surviving the College years

Yikes, Ike!

Posted: September 13, 2008, 9:07 pm by wambui jr

I survived Ike! thank God! Pictures…
gag

Posted: September 4, 2008, 5:23 pm by wambui jr

The republican national convention has revived my blog mojo, thanks!

I am literary sick and tired of politics who’s aim is to maintain and/or increase the ignorance of voters, to draw attention away from the real issues. Let me say that both parties are guilty of this, but this week, the republicans have just taken it to another level! thus my first facebook note.
Yes, one’s voting record is important, but for the love of God, when you accuse senator Obama or senator Mccain of voting against bill X, pay us the courtesy of mentioning policies a, b, and c which were also passed along with said bill.
This taking quotes out of context to use as jabs against the opposition is just as sickening. When senator Mccain was asked to define rich and said $5 million, he clearly stated he was joking, and also said that he knew he would be taken out of context. And taken out of context he has been. This is not to say that I agree with senator McCain’s economic policy, but please, using that $5 million jab, or the McCain not knowing how many homes he owns jab, that’s just shallow, because these are not the main principles of his economic policy. Give voters those principles, highlight their deficiencies, and let them make judgements based on that.
And senator McCain, when you tell us that we need to “drill here and drill now”, have the courtesy to highlight the fact that this drilling here and now will not produce any oil in the next president’s term. Don’t give the false hope that it is an instant solution, if even the word “solution” applies to it.
And yes it’s true, Senator Obama does not have as much experience as senator McCain, and he even may not have as much executive experience as Governor Palin, but that is no reason to undermine his accomplishments as “nothing”…and when that is the ONLY thing that seems to fill the speeches at the Republican convention, well that just sickens me. Because personal attacks in politics are nothing but ploys to pull voters’ attention from the issues at hand. Speaking of which, how many times has the economy been mentioned at the Republican convention? hmmmm

end of rant

comment from a friend on facebook:

lol..take a deep breath lady. I agree with you for the most part but this really shouldn’t shock u. I barely lifted an eyebrow listening to the speeches. Voting nowadays is basically picking the lesser of two evils. This is what they do, the days of listening to speeches about how the candidate actually plans to fix the nations problems are long gone. Its more of a street-fight than it is a debate, basically whoever can s*** more on the other’s head wins..pretty simple

my response to comment:

I’m not saying it shocks me, I’m just saying I’m sick of it…that’s the whole point of my note, that voting shouldn’t be about picking the lesser of two evils, because that is not any way to bring about changes or reforms. And that’s exactly the attitude that politicians want the voters to have…and the fact that voters HAVE adopted this attitude, well that’s the problem! Because this attitude makes them forget the power they have to demand results and better policies from their government. And so Washington stays the same and voters are reduced to complaining about it’s failures and shortcomings, whereas it was their ignorance that put those failing lawmakers in office!

discuss
losing mojo

Posted: July 1, 2008, 6:14 am by wambui jr

I think I have lost blog mojo :(. Maybe I should start blogging in French, which by the way, I am learning quite nicely. My goal is to be fluent in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese. and maybe Russian.
living out of a bag

Posted: May 26, 2008, 9:36 pm by wambui jr

So I haven’t written in a very long time. I would blame it on my busy semester,which is true. This was my busiest semester so far. However, my main reason for not writing is coz I just didn’t think anyone reads this, which I’m pleasantly surprised to find is not the case.

So in the last one month, I’ve literary been living from my bag. It all started on April 24, when, after the last day of classes, I left H-town and went to Charlottesville, VA for a conference. I got there Thursday evening and left Saturday morning, proceeding to spend a week in Virginia Beach with family. A week later, I left and went home to N.C. A week after that, I took a 12-hour car-ride through South Carolina and Georgia into Florida. I spent a week at a College-Christian Conference in Panama city - I literary had a view of the ocean from my room, it was amazing. Lots of learning and lots of fun. Then at the end of the week, it was another 12-hour car ride - this time through Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, back to North Carolina. And now 8 days later, I woke up at 3:15 am this morning so I could leave home at 4 and be at the airport by 5 to catch my 6am flight back to Houston. And here I am, finally able to unpack. I’m getting really sleepy, so more later.
pages from my journal part 2

Posted: January 13, 2008, 7:23 am by wambui jr

undated: late 2006

Dear Diary,

All things work together for good for those who love the Lord. As Jesus asked, I refuse to worry about tomorrow, for today has enough troubles of its own. I can’t believe that all this time I didn’t realize the secret to pure bliss, to unnerving peace, to eternal and uncompromisable joy that no-one can take from me, to the meaning of life, all of it is in one book. God is great. I will trust him even if it costs me everything I love.

In other news, did I ever tell you I love my novio? Because I do. He’s truly my soulmate, you know, he says what I’m about to ask before I even ask. Because I pray and ask God to be the center of our relationship. Go s great, all the time. Praise God!

Life may be hard, but God has great plans for me and I choose to trust him come what may.

Anyways, I could go on forever but I’m going to pray and call it a night. God is great.
pages from my journal part 1

Posted: January 10, 2008, 7:17 pm by wambui jr

I’ve kept a journal/diary for years now, sometimes I write sporadically, other times I write obsessively, now I’m getting consistent. I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve written, and hopefully someone out there will be encouraged.

August 28, 2006:

Dear Diary,

2 cappuccinos and sleep has left me. Today was my first day of college classes. I’m dropping PHIL 103 coz I just haven’t the time to read so much. Hopefully I’ll remain in Span 201 and improve my Spanish communication skills. Speaking of which, I need my dictionary and old notes. Yay for parents day on the 16th, Mom’s coming.

HWSNBNITB will be home in one day discounting tomorrow. Yay! He’s emailed me quite alot lately, I hope he’s ok. What else, I told him about college which might get him mad at me or make our conversations awkward but whatever ( I don’t know why I ever ever thought this!??!)

Anyways, I was just reading Ephesians 5:22 -> about how husbands should love their wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for it which got me thinking, Jesus had feelings just like man, yet he gave up his life to save humanity. Now that’s love. The devotional was about a man who visits his Alzheimer’s-infected wife everyday although she doesn’t even know him anymore. Now that’s love. Can you imagine how difficult it is for your soulmate whom you’ve most likely spent the majority of your life with to not know who you are? To not remember any of the memories you shared? Wow

What HWSNBNITB have, that’s love too. It’s hard, but I’m not about to screw up something so real. I’m sure it will well be worth the wait, however long the wait may be. Goodnight. So much to do, so little time, yay for coffee!

NB: my relationship with HWSNBNITB is long-distance. I have since given up coffee coz I had gotten addicted.
akili ni mali

Posted: November 24, 2007, 2:59 am by wambui jr

Got this in my inbox today:
Mwangi lived alone upcountry. He wanted to dig his sweet potato garden, but it was very hard work as the ground was hard. His only son, Mwaura , who used to help him, was in kamiti prison.

The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament.

Dear Mwaura ,

I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won’t be able to plant my ngwashe garden this year. I’m just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here, I know you would dig the plot for me.

Love, Dad

A few days later he received a letter from his son.

Dear Dad,

Don’t dig up that garden. That’s where I buried the BODIES.

Love, Mwash

At 4 a.m. the next morning, kanga squad agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left. That same day the old man received another letter from his son.

Dear Dad,

Go ahead and plant the ngwashe now. That’s the best I could do under the circumstances.

Love, Mwash

Akili ni mali, tumia yako!!
something to think about

Posted: November 17, 2007, 8:35 am by wambui jr

Just got back from a Joyce Meyer conference: can you say awesomeness??? I am so blessed and filled with God’s fire and overjoyed and any-other-awesome-word-that-transcends-awesomeness-and-joy right now! Can’t wait to go back tomorrow. Anyway Joyce told a story during her sermon today that really touched my heart: Think about it, true story yall!

A faithful man’s son fell really ill. And so the man proceeded to pray for his son’s healing day in and day out. Unfortunately, things did not work out as hoped, and the man’s son ended up dying…Now the man got angry with God, as he did not understand why he would let something like this happen to him! After all, he was faithful and obeyed God and all that good stuff.
So one day, still angry and hurt over his son’s death, he angrily asked God: “God where were you when my son suffered and died? ” and the man tells of how God clearly answered him “The same place I was when mine died.”

Powerful, no? So no matter what you’re going through, God is still right there. It may seem like he doesn’t care or hear your prayer, but he’s there! And just like he allowed his own son to die for the forgiveness of our sins and for our salvation; his son, who was sinless and never did anything wrong; just like God let his son get beat up and nailed on the cross for YOU and ME, God will allow some unfair things and hardships to come our way. But the good news is that Jesus ressurected on the third day, in all his glory and splendor. So if you just keep the faith, if you just hold on to God’s word, your third day, your day of resurrection and restoration, your day of freedom and glory is on it’s way! So don’t you dare give up on God! We may not understand everything, and in fact we never will! But the next time you want to say “God I don’t understand this, or God I don’t understand why”…the next time you’re tempted to do that, try to understand the cross; try to understand why God would allow his son to die and suffer so much for you. Try to wrap your head around this wondrous love God has for you. You cant! It’s like that song we used to sing:

Jesus’ love is very very wonderful

Jesus’ love is very very wonderful

Jesus’ love is very very wonderful

So wonderful love!

So high that you can’t get over it, So low that you can’t get under it

So wide that you can’t get around it. So wonderful love!

So if we can accept this amazing, unendless, unfailing love that has no limits, if we can accept this love without being able to understand it, we can certainly accept our circumstances without understanding them! Because there is nothing we will ever go through that will hurt us as bad as Jesus hurt for our sake. He became one of us, was persecuted for our sake, and died for our sake, not because we deserve it, but because he loves us just that much! So the next time you’re tempted to get angry at God, or to question God, think about the cross. think about the greatest sacrifice of all.

Dude I’m in a preaching mood tonight! but I’ll stop myself because it’s midnight and I must get up early tomorrow. I hope God touched you with his word like he touched me.
studying for the final!

Posted: November 14, 2007, 4:47 am by wambui jr

First of all, every single christian needs to see this video. Take the time to view every video by P4CM, it is truly convicting.

I had this conversation last week at dinner with my two best friends about how I never go out with them on Saturday nights, and how I should start going to parties more and open myself up to the things of the world…and when we had the conversation, all I could say is that “you’re not being fair”, but I couldn’t really put my feelings into words. Later that night it came to me: The reason I don’t party or go clubbing on Saturday night is because I go to church every Sunday morning, and just as I like to prepare myself for exams the night before, I like to prepare my heart for God’s word… a few nights later God deepened this analogy for me. He said Carol, TOMORROW COULD BE THE FINAL! In fact, now that I write about this, I get the word that THE FINAL COULD BE IN THE NEXT SECOND!!! For no-one knows the day or the hour…And I’m telling you guys, I want to be ready. God is still dealing with me on this issue, and I just pray that someone is touched by this word the way it is touching me..I hope someone reads this and decides to prepare for God’s final test, because it could be any minute now, and you want to be ready.
boys choir of Kenya

Posted: November 8, 2007, 7:23 pm by wambui jr

Hey guys, I am working on bringing the boys choir of kenya ( see promo here ) to Houston on March 9 - 10, 2008. If you or anyone you know is interested in being on the planning committee, helping out with publicity, etc. please leave a comment and I’ll get in touch with you.
Going down memory lane: music festivals

Posted: November 7, 2007, 3:17 am by wambui jr

Man, I just watched this promotional video for the Boy’s choir of Kenya, and it just brought back so many memories from the music festival days..

My school, Githuguri Township, used to be excellent during the music and drama festival season. My sis won nationals in Std. 3 with a poem named “Elephant.” We also won the national ’singng games’ 2 out of the 3 years we participated. The third year we came in third at provincials. The provincials that year were in Nyeri and we arrived late and were told we were disqualified. Of course, the fifth graders that we were, we decided to make the most of the free day, and proceeded to eat all the icecream and sausages we could place our hands on….then the teacher came back and said we weren’t disqualified afterall… Of course, by the time we went up to perform, the sugar rush had flown away and the sugar crash had kicked in….we still managed to place 3rd though, we were pretty awesome.

The same happened with choir…we rocked our socks there. We won nationals in at least 2 categories every year I participated. And we were big winners before that as well. Unfortunately, that streak seemed to end with our class…who knows, maybe they reinvented themselves….I hope so.

I used to absolutely love the music festival season! The atmosphere, I think, is something everyone has to experience at least once in their lives. High schoolers used it to fraternize and aprovechar of la opportunidad to-hook-up-with-members-of-the-opposite-sex-otherwise-nonexistent-at-their-own-high-schools. And we middle schoolers took the opportunity to eat endless icecream and kebabs,buy jewelerly that we lost within a week, admire the high schooler’s uniforms, and of course gossip about who was hooking up with whom….at my school, we also loved the music festivals because when we had to travel, we were all treated to the very delicious and special lunch of french fries and sometimes even beef stew…now french fries are something I eat when I’m too lazy to cook or too broke to go out. Of course, part of what made the music festivals so special were the internal competitions between students…on what snacks their parents gave them. From biscuits and juice (anyone ever heard of zesty? ) to fully cooked meals, it sometimes turned into a who’s-mom-is-the-best-cook competition.

The best part of music festivals though, was the ride back home. You see to preserve our angelic voices, we were hardly allowed to speak before we performed. So the bus ride to was usually filled with us waving at random drivers, sticking our heads out the window and telling truck drivers to stop polluting the environment, etc. The bus ride back however, was …..see when you have a bus full of energetic pre-teen/teen choir members who have just won most of their competitions, well there are no words to describe the atmosphere in that bus…honestly I get goosebumps just thinking about it…I mean have you ever been to a youth service at a Kenyan church and heard them medley all those songs?? Multiply that atmosphere by 50 and you’ll get pretty close to that in the bus.. I mean we were all over the place. You have to hear it to do it any justice, but it went something like this

“kama wampenda Yesu sema Amen, kama wampenda yesu sema haleluyah, kama wampenda yesu sema

eh yaweh yaweh yaweh yaweh, ee yahweh yahweh, eh yaweh, eh yaweh yaweh, eh yaweh yaweh

Jesus is a mighty God, he is a mighty God, everybody bow before him, he is a mighty God…

up the mountain, down the valley, on the land and in the sea, up the mountain down the valley, on the land and in the sea, Hallellujah the Lord is my shepherd in the land of the living, the Lord is good, forever more

I will praise the Lord, I will praise the Lord I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, with my whole heart, I will praise the Lord, I will praise the Lord praise the

Pepo mbaya, tutaishika hivi, tutaikanyanga (and the bus would shake while we kanyangad), tutaitupa nje kwenye ziwani, pepo mbaya, tutaishika hivi tutaikanyanga tutaitupa nje kwenye ziwani

Hallelujah the Lord his my shepherd in the land of the living, the Lord is good, forever

ndedire kurio ni nyamo mwendwa gwetereire, gwetereire, gwetereire, mwendwa gwetereire , gwetereire

Bwana umetama laki, hakuna aliye kama wewe

Pepo mbaya, tutaishika hivi, tutaikanyanga, tutaitupa nje kwenye ziwa…

He has given me eyes to see, he has given me legs to walk, so why don’t I praise him praise the Lord, so why don’t I praise him praise the lord, (we had a sick melody for the chorus to this song)

Then when we got near Githunguri, the main chant went something like this:

” Tumeshinda tumeshinda kikombeee!!

Wamelia wamelia machoziiii!!”

And we were not even making that up!
being brave

Posted: October 29, 2007, 4:00 am by wambui jr

So….Friday was my birthday, and an awesome birthday weekend I had. One of my friends baked me a cake, then I went out to eat both days, and bought a cute pair of shoes…life is goooood.

I did something brave today. I told my best friend I like him. He was genuinely shocked, he said we’re best friends and that he needs time..we all know what that means. But I feel good about having told him, even though it wasn’t the best turnout for me,at least I don’t have to wonder what if anymore. C’est la vie!
flashing my existence

Posted: October 4, 2007, 11:47 pm by wambui jr

Wow, I didn’t even know people actually read my blog, so I’m back. I need this place to vent anyways.

So the last 1 month and 1 week has been the busiest of my life. First two weeks of school were fine, getting used to classes, buying books, settling into my room, all that fun stuff. Then on the third week, my endless cycle of work began.

Now, the third week of school is usually when class starts. Let me explain: First week is basic review - people are filtering in and out of class so the teacher doesn’t really want to start anything too new , and if there is new stuff, it’s just the basics(except of-course if you’re in my Partial Differential Equations class). Second week is new material, but again, not the most difficult thing in the world…in the third week however, class truly starts. Homework becomes hellish, you actually need to go to the help sessions to figure it out, and for classes with in-class testing, you have your first test around that time…let’s just say I’m taking 3 classes that have in-class testing.

So around the third week of school, I realized that taking 19 hours a semester is equal to the never ending homework and test cycle. Since then, it’s basically been, study for exams/tests, catch-up with all the work I would have done instead of studying, over and over again.

And when you’re me and you take Partial Differential Equations because it seems interesting– then you realize that it’s the hardest class you will probably ever take in your undergraduate career — so hard that even the teacher says that the material is hard .—and then teacher just so happens to be a Russian genius and the most difficult teacher in existence, who doesn’t discuss homework—well, you have a lot of calling-mom-in-the-middle-of-the-night-so-she-can-talk-me-out-of-quittting moments.Because even though I know I’m not going to quit and that it’ll be okay, sometimes I just need my mom to tell me.

But that said, I know that WHEN I make it through this class with an awesome grade, I can make it through any class at Rice. But if you’re out there and you ever want to take Partial Differential Equations for fun? Don’t do it when you’re taking 19 hours a semester, it’s not just about partial derivatives :). But whatever, I’m going to be taking 20 hours next semester and 19 the next two semesters so this is good preparation for the stress. But with this heavy courseload, I’ll be graduating on May 9, 2009, exactly un añó (1 year) early,so bring on the work man. I can do all things through Christ who Strengthens me.

School stuff aside, I have also had more time this year for myself and to do outside stuff than I did last year. I’ve learned that it’s just a balancing act, and my personal well-being is just as important as my education.The only thing is that I haven’t been working out, but I plan on rectifying that starting tonight.Anyways, that was a pretty long post, sooo, I’m out like a light.
update

Posted: August 26, 2007, 6:23 am by wambui jr

I just spent the last 24 hours packing, travelling, and then unpacking. I am spent. My computer quit on me so I will have to use the computer lab for at least the next week. Will be back when I get settled and have more energy.