Quote Of The Day

I share my life with six honest and selfless companions.
They help me in all I do. Their names are:
What
Why
When
How
Where and
Who
....................................................Adapted from Rudyard Kipling

The Shredder In My Mind

Your mawkish choice to make your heart a museum
Of our past encounters is the least of my bothers
I will however not fail to let you know
That I have already shredded that past from my mind

D.R.U.N.K.A.R.D.S

Captured phantoms
Fading souls
Hollowed pieces
Trapped in endless empty plains
Eclipses of despair dancing to drowsy beats of concocted reproach
Echoes of self-loathe drifting out of surrendered worth
Chasing dangerous excitements
Lives ebbing away
Gulp by gulp

Thoughts About A Father

Walking through fallowed fields of my soul

Happy memories of a father

The price of precious pursuits

The charm of unfeigned sobriety

The endearing portrait of virility

The assurance of strident care

The fervency of fortitude

A surreal thesis of fatherhood

Engrafted upon my heart

Examination

In a psychopathically-patterned gray vacuum
Entirely drained of sanctity and desire
A frozen horizon symbolic of doom
A Concentration camp for wannabees
Congregants
Willing prisoners
Seated
Dead-like
Silence
Pregnant minds
Birth pangs
Pens and papers
Neuronal marathons
Rhythmic inscriptions
Three hours
One by one
They leave
Cheerless
An MBA examination

A Mob-Persuaded Adventurist

The probabilities are pretty good.
So finally I have persuaded myself to do it.
This weekend.
Mobbish group of friends are to blame.
This adventure sure to be nerve-whacking.
Already feeling the Adrenalin rush.
So here I hang my hormones on the ropes.
For I am going Bungee jumping.
Yahoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Generic Taxi Driver

The amplitude of his suffocating thickness
The unbearable drama of crude dense-ness
Pigheaded brat
Roadhogging rat
First he cuts right in front of me
Screeched to a halt right ahead of me
Then proceeds to show me his middle finger
My attempt to move to the right lane
Provokes his insanity to do the same
Who else but the generic taxi driver

God Must Be Blowing A Vuvuzela!

Yesterday was spectacularly awesome in the streets of South Africa.
Sandton was the centre of this extreme excitement. Close to 100 000 people congregated around the area to salute Bafana Bafana as the team rode in an open-top bus in the push suburb.
Around noon, most workers come out of their offices to the streets to stand together behind Bafana Bafana.
The Spontaneous celebration unleashed country-wide to boost the morale of the entire nation was beyond belief.
The Colours, the flags, the songs, the dances, the hooting, the jubilation, the vibe-right in the streets-was irresistible.
South Africans have really embraced the spirit of the world cup and I can't wait to see the opening ceremony and the first match on Friday.
We are told that from 1400 hrs to 1407 hrs something extraordinary will be showcased during the official opening ceremony.
BTW, I think I know who are going to take the cup home-the Germans. They will play against the Spanish in the final and Germany will win. That is my prediction!
As for Ghana... hmmmm, they will proceed to the next round and we will see what happens from there....

Shattering Assumptions With Femme Gravitas

A 3D mathematical oddity
Beautifully proportioned

Infinitely long legs
Disarmingly sweet-faced

When she spoke I almost sighed with delight

Here was a differential equation buff
The professorial kind
With grace and refreshingly endearing attitude

Defying all essential assumptions
That to be taken serious
A mathematician must be
Bald

Boring

Socially inept
Beyond comprehension
And possess the personality of a wet blanket

Jennifer Hudson on my Mind

On my way to work today, Radio 702 was playing Jennifer Hudson's Spotlight song.
It's been more than two hours now and I can't seem to bring myself from under Jennifer's spell.
After catching myself belting out the song the umpteenth time, I am beginning to wonder why there is such a strong cognitive itch with that particular song just a few days after my birthday?
Is there perhaps a relevant lesson hidden somewhere in the song for me today?
I wonder.

A Project within a Project

One late Thursday evening
Recently
In my favoured corner
In a corporate reading room
All by myself
Tackling a CBA project
Lost in the heated permutations of deadlines
Surreptitiously I feel the probing stare
I turn
First
To the left
Then
To the right
To a great view
From a window
In the opposite office
A pair of beautiful smiling eyes
Starring coquettishly
Hands-on-the-hips invitation
I wave
Wondering. . .
Is that for me?
Waves of rapid permutations float through my mind
Then I remember I have a presentation
Early Friday morning

A View from the Fireside

Next to the fire
On a cold colourless rainy day
Feeling supremely phlegmatic about all things
The kind of wheeze that one can only dream about
A million thoughts run through my mind
Then I remember
The Cold comfort of visiting a wall
Suffering pangs of conscience
Suddenly blogging feels numbingly Cathartic
Quite liking coming back to this place
For now busyness can wait

National Cleavage Day 2010

National Cleavage Day is here. Again!
Today, I hear, is officially NCD.
So here is a toast to this year's 'celebration'.
What should people wear to celebrate?
Dark glasses, I say!

The Delimma Of A Middle-aged Orphan

1978
A besotted night
A full-blooded knight
A dutiful dame
A cherished game
9 moons
A birth
A child
A son
A man
In the footsteps of time
A tragedy
A cruelty
A mother's unscheduled exit
A breached heart
Having never grieved
Sits like a stone in the corridor of anguish
Days and nights in flight
Seasons passing in haste
Years going in and out without care
The other night
The precious knight
Falls into perpetual sleep
In the path of the unending exodus
Now
With all the architects gone forever
In this silent autumn
I ask of those still around
Where are the happy dreamers?
What do I do with these memories?
Where do we belong?
Here?
There?
Left behind
I feel so abandoned

Fields Of Puzzles

The cruel tricks that life ever plays
The games of chance he dearly frays
Perpetual winner he never vows
Glorious trophy ever in his paws
Trailing voices all around
Diminishing choices set abound
Tension
Contention
The valiant ones amongst them say
Hold sturdy for yet another day
Beyond the sighs the victory songs
Rays of hope on redeeming tongues
Sacrificial patience
Animated nations
Steely-eyed we crave some easing
Transcending limitations of feeling
This place where life feels so strange
Our lot has got to change

Contemporary Ghanaian Contrivances

Living outside the borders of Ghana, as I do, one of the few self-preserving delusions I allow myself to harbor and indulge in regularly is this puritanical and idealistic image of Ghana and Ghanaians-the feel-good this-type-of-sh*t-can-never-happen-in-Ghana lines, refrains and pretences Ghanaians so love to carry like a badge of honour.
Perhaps, like many a Ghanaian, I have developed an image of Ghana largely based on false idealism- a hollow concept that places Ghana on an impeccable pedestal of high moral excellence.
On many occasions, I have found myself comparing the Ghanaian way of life to those of other people, cultures and value systems and puffing out my chest proudly in the belief that our way, the Ghanaian way, is far superior. I have always contented myself - that Ghanaians are not criminally minded as others; that the cases of teenage pregnancies in Ghana is below the continental average even though I do not have the facts to support such an assertion; that Ghanaians are a breed of hard-working geniuses; that Ghanaian men do not rape their women and girls; that our education system is one of the best, if not the best in the whole continent; that Ghanaians are the most friendly and peace-loving people in the entire world. . . . .I suppose that I am referring to my own irrational assumptions of Ghanaian exceptionalism.
I am perfectly aware of the fact that Ghana is far from this idyllic picture of perfection I have chosen to believe in, however I cannot seem to bring myself to admit that the view I hold of Ghana, when outside, is outright naive, unreasonable and even deceptive. Call it patriotism, nationalism or whatever you like.
Every time I am in Ghana, my idealist views come into sharp confrontation with what pertains in the real world of today's Ghana. But as soon as I am outside Ghana's borders, guess what, the same idiosyncratic mindset creeps in. So today I want to dwell on some Ghanaians peculiarities for a change.
This preconceived Ghanaian 'superiority complex' has got to go.
To accept an image of Ghana which is totally different from the enormously deficient one I have been carrying, I believe, is the beginning of a therapeutic release from my self-imposed idealism. So? ? ?
Here are a few of my observations regarding the absurd contrivances we so cherish and love to pursue.
Our funerals
We are a bunch who love entertainment. So we even trivialise the funerals of our departed ones and turn what is supposed to be solemn moments into mindless occasions for parties, where all sorts of debauchery are not only permitted but encouraged with glee. How we love to lavish attention on the dead as supposed to the living! No wonder funerals are the primary occasions where families and communities come together. In many cultures, a funeral is short and simple-solely built around bidding farewell to the dead.Nothing more nothing less.
Our cultural mindset is the opposite. We are always looking back such that we place obscene value on what is dead and past and not enough focus on the future, on our children, our jobs and our dreams.
Perhaps, it is a symptom of our collective fear of the future? So we hold unto the past?
Valentine day celebrations
Not only have we embrace the vanities of other cultures but have jump into them head first. A case in point is the celebration of valentine day. We have managed to take it to levels previously unheard of any where else. Husbands leaving their wives at home and splurging on mistresses and other people's wives with wanton gifts they cannot afford, whilst their children walk around in tattered clothes. Misplaced priorities.
Sakawa
The get-rich-quick by-all-means phenomenon of sakawa is another contrivance in Ghana today. We have perfected the science of swindling other people of their hard-earned money for our selfish use.
We have become a society gripped by the urgency of 'having, using and enjoying' instead of one concerned with 'doing, creating and becoming'. And the sad reality is that nobody bothers any more to ascertain the source of people's wealth.
To us wealth is wealth irrespective of the source and the processes involved in its acquisition. That is why many Ghanaians never bother to learn and develop the habits, skills and the value systems needed to create wealth for ourselves and our communities.
Disregard for integrity
We are as vain as it gets. Most of us claim to be believers but our actions do not bear testimony to our faith. The idea of integrity is a foreign concept to most Ghanaians. Our own kith and kin do not brink when it comes to taking advantage of us. Comfort and convenience triumphs over integrity and accountability in our corner of the world.

And I think that we are not as awesome as we think we are!

You Are Not Her Match!

It is said by those who really know their stuff that, a woman on an average day can spit out approximately 6000 words with ease.
This is a remarkable feat judging by the fact that most men can barely manage 2000 words in the same time span.
That means, in simple proportions, that for every word spoken by a guy, a woman is able to breathe out three effortlessly.
For most people this is a obvious fact of banal interest.
But it is a whole new ball game if you come to really grasp the implication of this gladiatorial advantage of the fairer sex.
The probability is: if your are a man, you will never be able to match your woman as far as the daily requirements for a healthy verbal self-expression is concerned. As quiet as she may appear on the surface to you, your woman's need for 'rich' conversations and communication is quite literally insatiable.
So it must become obvious to you that she will need verbal affairs.
So how do you make sure that this psychologically essential need of your woman is catered for? Simple. Introduce her to other women who are potential chatting mates.
Remember that, as a man, you are wired to meet only a third of her optimal need for interactive communication of the round, colourful and floral kind. And you know what? Your relationship will be better for it. That is a promise!

A Big Fat Bigoted Loser

A demented bigoted bore
Cold-hearted and frozen to the core
Perched on a wall in the neighborhood
With a penchant for war against negrohood
Still living in the bubble of apartheid's pampered airs
He dishes out generous loads of unimaginable slurs
Those favoured with continental pigment are his stoke
Having lost his bread and butter to a melanin-rich bloke

Advice For The Scared and The Shy

It takes just a second, two or perhaps three

• to smile
• to wink
• to wave
• to say Hi
• to hold my hand
• to squeeze a hug
• to plant a kiss
  
• to look into my eyes
• to let me know I stand a chance
• to whisper your salient point
  
• to say I love you

There are 86 400 seconds in a day and over 31 536 000 in a year.

So what are you waiting for?

You will never know until you try.

Do it now.

Contesting Realities

On this side of the political wasteland
The real unending terrain of utter depravity
Sustained purely by auspicious idealism
In a world of
Unfettered neighbourliness
Obscene warmth
Colour
Culture
Humanity
Great Friendships
Genuine selflessness
Gifts of beautiful smiles
And little else
But chronic anger
At
That side of the divide
The mundane world of the privileged
Inhabited by sub-souls devoid of ubuntu
Driven by rat race persuasions
The neo-apartheid world of heartless realism
With their
Cocooned spaces
Celebrated self-imprisonment
Emotional coldness and distances
Personalised boundaries and walls
Obscene consumerism
Incorrigible selfishness
Rotten personalities
Disdainful attitudes
Repulsive glares of wanton animosity
And mulish conformity


Having tasted the free lunch of the looted kind
They want more
And more
Now they have forgotten how to be human
How did these ordinary folks become such utter degenerates?
Letting themselves go so far
Becoming slaves in a world of no return
I dread a monumental collision of these contesting realities
Is there a way out?

Deluged With Delight

There is something
To be said about a happy heart
In my dream the other day
I was walking alone on this path
Unsure
Confused
Then
From within I heard it clear
The lucid voice saying
Sing a song
Hype a ballad
Give voice to your heart
Suddenly
Hymns of contentment flowing
I am standing in million circles of desire
Being baptized with favours I require
Soaked with fresh appetite for adventure
I am feeling empowered to venture
And so I run
And run
On
And on
And I begin to soar
Higher
And higher
My heart deluged with delight
I am in a happy space



* Wish me well*

The Picture Of Love

Last night
On the way to bed
I looked at the picture on the wall
Was greeted by the satisfaction in your eyes
And arrested by the redeeming contours of your smile
And desire summoned me to your side
This morning
As you slept by my side
I stole a glance at the picture on the bed
The way you like to curl up beside me
Even in prosaic sleep you exude angelic charm and grace
Engraving the picture of contentment upon my heart
Thanks for the picture of love
Your love

You Cross Your Legs, I Cross My Heart

What do you expect?
A waspish lecture on openness?
Yes my heart is crossed
Because all evening your legs have been crossed
That
Is the hard fact

Val On My Mind

There is this thing, erh, . . . dread?, apprehension?, drama?, failure?, . . . squatting on my mind.
Last year, I received a traumatic post-valentine reprimand.
Got brutally lectured to by MW( my woman) in the theory and practice of valentine, i.e the romantics extraordinaire that is supposed to flow effortlessly from me to her for the purpose of advertising and magnifying her super specialness. Apparently I got a big fat F for the effort.
I must confess. I have painfully tried to be romantic. But it appears the more I try, the more frustration it breeds. It is official: I am hopelessly unromantic. Perhaps even anti-romantic!
The problem is MW still thinks I have the potential to become Mr romantic if only I would let loose what she calls "that special thing sitting within my heart".
I have searched over and over again and I regret to conclude that, like the elusive G-spot, there is no special thing sitting in my heart for valentine. I think this whole valentine thing sucks!
So I have given up on ever making the valentine grade.
Pathetic is not strong enough a word to explain what I know will happen tomorrow.
BTW, I am not even sure why it is so important to try to pretend that I am in some sort of romantic mode when clearly I am not. Why should it be so difficult for folks to understand that valentine is nothing more than a savage commercial ploy meant to fatten the suckers.
MW must surely KNOW that I love her valentine or no valentine.
The problem is getting her to buy that in the face of all the retarded marketing gimmicks going on everywhere one looks.
So folks. Say a little prayer for me as you read this. Or else. . .

Not Tonight

'Hi, can we meet at my place tonight?', he asked. Charmingly.
'Not tonight, I am sorry, erh. . .', she replied apologetically. Her tone flaccid as one waiting to be persuaded to give in.
'Why the hell not. . .?', he interjected. Confident.
'I am purifying myself for the once-in-a-month treat for my hubby this weekend', she emphasized unashamedly.
'Okay. . .', he gasped. Shocked. Bemused. He looked around as if to make sure nobody else heard what he has just heard.
'. . . bye', she hanged up. Gazing at the cellphone for a brief moment. Before strutting off. Home bound, happy that she has managed to have her way this time.

How Do You Outsmart The Bully @ Work?

The workplace is for work. Period.
But for some folks, it is a war zone.
What do you do if your place of work becomes an unpleasant space of emotional bullying.
How do you deal with an aggressive, nasty, menacing and terrorising manager.
A friend's nephew, a recent graduate, is contemplating leaving his first ever job after just 5 months. The team leader at the place where he works, a middle age woman of a different race, is bullying the crap out of him like you would not believe.
My opinion was sought as to how to deal with the issue. And it occurred to me that I have not had any real experience with that sort of thing. My take was for the young man to ignore the abhorrent behaviour of the sadist and carry on with his work. But it appears the guy is not able to tolerate the problematic lady any longer.
To be frank, I really don't know of a better way to handle such a problem.
Perhaps, some of us are blessed with a thick skin so much so that we do not even notice all the crap going on around us.
Has anybody got any experiences to share concerning workplace bullying.

The Spirit Of 2010

Wow, I can't believe January is over.
Already, for me, the year appears to be in acceleration mode.
Somehow I am feeling supremely rushed and a bit lethargic.
Don't know why it is like that so early in the year...
Could be something to do with the death in the family and the suspense that comes with it.
I sense a degree of inner drag as I stride to catch up with the spirit of 2010.
Don't want to miss anything. This year has a lot of great promise but also lots of challenges.
I pray that I rediscover the momentum and eventually slide into my personal rhythm.
I guess I need to encourage my weary soul somehow.
It is only when the going gets tough, that the soul gets an audience.
Have a blessed day!

Death

Cold
Cruel
Merciless
The dissolution of life
The end of the journey
The nasty fellow has visited my family
My step-father, SK, is the victim
He was a good man
Patient, caring and loving, he lived his life for his family
He shall be sorely missed
Rest in peace SK!

The Street Child

An unwanted
Deserted
Being
Raised
On the streets
By no one
For no one

A jagged phantom
Of a wizened childhood
An ejected nestling
Roaming
The veins
And arteries
Of cities and towns
With no obligation
And no consideration

A vagabond
Of wretched existence
A weed
A parallel life
Doting
Alongside
Contours of unconsciousness
Like an aborted shadow
With no voice
And no choice

An apoptotic blip
Programmed to deviate
So he wanders
All his life
Searching
Itching
For his lot
In all the wrong places
Without peace
And without ease

The Most Beautiful Moments

1. The best state of mind – being able to take care of those you love.
2. The sweetest sound in the whole world – the chuckle of a happy child.
3. The most rewarding moment in the whole world – getting your first paycheck.
4. The snazziest feeling in the whole world – finally laying the-hard-to-get chick.
5. The most consummate touch in the whole world – kissing the woman of your dream in a beautiful dream.
6. The best sight to behold in the whole world – the smiling face of a proud and contented mother in the company of her successful son.
   

Vampires

Surely posting the new eye-popping bootilicious babes
To hunkdom floor is the mischievous ploy of 2010
An engineered maze inducing twisted attractions
A dark room chemistry synthesizing sordid affections
Somebody must account for so soiled emotions
And the diminishing returns chasing scattered attentions
Send them back before the whole team is vampired dry

Positive Vibrations

As fully persuaded as I am in the wisdom of logic, the power of living life inside out has not escaped me. The message of the inner witness, my personal counsellor, is something I take very serious. I am accustomed to spending time at the beginning of each year getting feedback from within concerning thoughts, ideas and direction for the months ahead.

And I am happy to say that deep within, I "feel" really good about 2010.

I hope the positive vibrations are rocking your side of the pond as well. Bless!