I was going through some blogs today and came across some very interesting ones that I really liked. The highlight of my search being the discovery of some blogs by some of the Olympians in Beijing. I am very happy that now I will know their day-to-day experiences through their blogs. You will remember that on my last blog entry, I complained bitterly about how some commentators are damn ignorant. Well, unfortunately I can't stop watching the games on TV, but I can read about the athletes' adventures too.
2 olympian bloggers of note; an Indian man named Abhinav Bindra, who just won a gold medal 2 days ago http://abhinavbindra.blogspot.com/ and an American named
Dave Durante http://durante08.blogspot.com/ both these blogs are powered by 2008.lenovo.com where you will find a whole lot of athletes from around the world.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
Oh! Gag me...
So the Olympics have begun! Great stuff...I settle in to watch the opening ceremony over the weekend, very excited especially for those countries that are entering for the first time. I can feel the electricity of the moment inside the National Stadium at Beijing even though I am thousands of miles away. It was truely exciting. I waited patiently for my teams to arrive one by one, and being an African, my teams are surely those African countries that I feel an affinity for (wont indulge you with that info right now, but next time). Watching this on television means I have to rely on the commentators; those people who are employed to make comments and observations about an event...and I say this in the most cynical way :(
It is indeed a noble profession to be the one dishing out information especially to millions of people watching their screens at home, but;
My gripe is that since all we can hear over the noise of the multitudes in the statium are the commentators' voices, shouldn't we at least be given precise, accurate information about what we are looking at? I mean, does it take a lot to just do a little research about a person or place before you decide that you are going to comment about them? For years I have listened to and believed in commentators, I still do...but on Friday night I began having misgivings about what the commentators were telling us...right at the moment when the teams from countries that I know so well were entering the stadium. The comments were not accurate to begin with, but to top it off they were outright ignorant! I am not mad, but I am disgusted at the level of ignorance that we still have to listen to at these events. I can't say I trust whatever I hear coming out of their mouths, because besides being biased, they are resentful to some nations, thats my opinion anyway!
Should I now start watching the Olympics with the television volume on low, for fear of getting offended by the lies?...It is frustrating because I love the Olympics!...
I am proud of all those athletes who went to Beijing, China to represent my country in sports, and I will be sitting at home rooting for them all the way, with my volume down!
It is indeed a noble profession to be the one dishing out information especially to millions of people watching their screens at home, but;
My gripe is that since all we can hear over the noise of the multitudes in the statium are the commentators' voices, shouldn't we at least be given precise, accurate information about what we are looking at? I mean, does it take a lot to just do a little research about a person or place before you decide that you are going to comment about them? For years I have listened to and believed in commentators, I still do...but on Friday night I began having misgivings about what the commentators were telling us...right at the moment when the teams from countries that I know so well were entering the stadium. The comments were not accurate to begin with, but to top it off they were outright ignorant! I am not mad, but I am disgusted at the level of ignorance that we still have to listen to at these events. I can't say I trust whatever I hear coming out of their mouths, because besides being biased, they are resentful to some nations, thats my opinion anyway!
Should I now start watching the Olympics with the television volume on low, for fear of getting offended by the lies?...It is frustrating because I love the Olympics!...
I am proud of all those athletes who went to Beijing, China to represent my country in sports, and I will be sitting at home rooting for them all the way, with my volume down!
Monday, August 4, 2008
Keep Left, Pass Right!
To those of you on the fast lane I say, La Vida Loca! and to you on the left lane (notice that I don't say slow lane) Aluta Continua! It takes guts, strength and determination to stay on course and see your way through...I hope you realise that Im not talking about driving, but about life.
When driving, the road says 'Keep Left, Pass Right'. Im often on the left lane, seeing the nice cars zooming past in a hurry to wherever. I would stay on this left lane, and wish I knew where they were rushing to, maybe there is something to grab at the end of the road! but is there?
'Keep Left, Pass Right', thats the philosophy that I chose to live by. If you are in a hurry to get somewhere, have a nice ride, I'll find you there. There is enough room to go past. I chose to take my time and do things my way. If it means losing out on the fun, then tough. I can't keep up with those zooming past because Im busy tryin to navigate my way through, its a struggle, but I'll get there anyhow. There is no shame in remaining behind when your peers are a few miles ahead of you.
When driving, the road says 'Keep Left, Pass Right'. Im often on the left lane, seeing the nice cars zooming past in a hurry to wherever. I would stay on this left lane, and wish I knew where they were rushing to, maybe there is something to grab at the end of the road! but is there?
'Keep Left, Pass Right', thats the philosophy that I chose to live by. If you are in a hurry to get somewhere, have a nice ride, I'll find you there. There is enough room to go past. I chose to take my time and do things my way. If it means losing out on the fun, then tough. I can't keep up with those zooming past because Im busy tryin to navigate my way through, its a struggle, but I'll get there anyhow. There is no shame in remaining behind when your peers are a few miles ahead of you.
Friday, August 1, 2008
If you think Education is expensive, try Ignorance..
I think that says a lot about the importance of education. That just about sums it up, if you were to be imaginative and finish the line yourself...'If you think education is expensive, try ignorance..'
It is one of my favourite quotes. The price I put on education isn't monetary, but it is very valuable. I don't mean being educated in terms of having been through university/college only, Im also talking about being informed and knowledgeable about things because you take time to read. That is the kind of education that we all need, to get through life. We often think education is expensive, especially education at tertiary level. That is indeed true, but think about this; the price we put on education is nothing compared to what ignorance offers us. We put ourselves through so much struggle because we choose to be ignorant. In our quest to be educated we learn things that help give us an edge over many obstacles that life can throw our way, why? because we know what to do when it happens. Thats the beauty of being well informed.
Lets take a look at ignorance. The dictionary says it is 'the condition of being unaware, uneducated and uninformed'. Just think about how much you lose from just being plain ignorant...e.g. in most cases an ignorant person would buy a house just to live in it, not looking at it as also a future investment that needs to be protected and maintained. An informed person will look at the area where they are buying that property among many other things before they make that purchase, and when they do, they know they must take care of it. This is just an example for lack of a better one, but do you get my point?...
I make it a point to always know whats going on around me and elsewhere. I read a lot of newspapers every week and I watch the News on a regular basis. My father has instilled that value in me from a very young age and Im grateful for it. My sisters and I would spend hours watching music videos on Tv during school holidays. He would then yell at us for not being interested in anything else other than music (of course! we were teens). So we would switch on to CNN to watch the News with him. He would say to us that one day we will wake up into World War 3 and we wouldn't know what started it! In my house there were always plenty of books and newspapers to read, documentaries on videos to watch, and the radio would surely be switched on during News bulletin times. That helped make me part of who I am. Im often always the one telling the others of whats happening where. Sounds funny, but I find it a shame.
Its very important to put yourself through tasks of getting informed for your own sake, it could SAVE YOUR LIFE!
"The freedom which comes with being educated is liberating and priceless." Oluchi
It is one of my favourite quotes. The price I put on education isn't monetary, but it is very valuable. I don't mean being educated in terms of having been through university/college only, Im also talking about being informed and knowledgeable about things because you take time to read. That is the kind of education that we all need, to get through life. We often think education is expensive, especially education at tertiary level. That is indeed true, but think about this; the price we put on education is nothing compared to what ignorance offers us. We put ourselves through so much struggle because we choose to be ignorant. In our quest to be educated we learn things that help give us an edge over many obstacles that life can throw our way, why? because we know what to do when it happens. Thats the beauty of being well informed.
Lets take a look at ignorance. The dictionary says it is 'the condition of being unaware, uneducated and uninformed'. Just think about how much you lose from just being plain ignorant...e.g. in most cases an ignorant person would buy a house just to live in it, not looking at it as also a future investment that needs to be protected and maintained. An informed person will look at the area where they are buying that property among many other things before they make that purchase, and when they do, they know they must take care of it. This is just an example for lack of a better one, but do you get my point?...
I make it a point to always know whats going on around me and elsewhere. I read a lot of newspapers every week and I watch the News on a regular basis. My father has instilled that value in me from a very young age and Im grateful for it. My sisters and I would spend hours watching music videos on Tv during school holidays. He would then yell at us for not being interested in anything else other than music (of course! we were teens). So we would switch on to CNN to watch the News with him. He would say to us that one day we will wake up into World War 3 and we wouldn't know what started it! In my house there were always plenty of books and newspapers to read, documentaries on videos to watch, and the radio would surely be switched on during News bulletin times. That helped make me part of who I am. Im often always the one telling the others of whats happening where. Sounds funny, but I find it a shame.
Its very important to put yourself through tasks of getting informed for your own sake, it could SAVE YOUR LIFE!
"The freedom which comes with being educated is liberating and priceless." Oluchi
I sabotage myself
Yes I do, can anybody say this?.... 'I sabotage myself, im my own worst enemy'. Take this morning for instance, my plan was to go the whole day without eating anything until much later, but did that work? I think you know the answer to that. I often make plans and decisions about certain things in my life, and then I immediately set out to destroy those ideas from my head by telling myself all sorts of discouraging things like, 'can I really do this?' 'What if..?', 'do I have time?'...sound familier?
Its unnerving how I could have wanted to do so much with my life but sabotaged my own efforts from the beginning by making myself think that I can't do it. I am my worst enemy! It stops now.
That photography class that I've always planned on taking, Im going to take it. That camera, im buying it, so my favourite hobby starts! I need to stop thinking that my cellphone camera is good enough, hahaha! thats a joke.
That beautiful journal that I bought last year, I need to start putting entries in it, because if I really want to write that book, I must make use of it, this is how I can make that start to actually write! I need to stop telling myself that I can't find the time to write on it. Everytime I have an urge to write something down, I always say I will do it later (I say this while sitting in front of the tv), then later I have completely forgotten about it!
That project that I meant to have started at work by now, it starts today, no wait, tomorrow is still good enough..
You see what I mean?!! It is things like these that happen everyday in our lives that we don't realise we are sabotaging ourselves and our efforts. I have it planned out in my head, and all I need to do is put it on paper and just start the project already!!!
Oh dear me..
Its unnerving how I could have wanted to do so much with my life but sabotaged my own efforts from the beginning by making myself think that I can't do it. I am my worst enemy! It stops now.
That photography class that I've always planned on taking, Im going to take it. That camera, im buying it, so my favourite hobby starts! I need to stop thinking that my cellphone camera is good enough, hahaha! thats a joke.
That beautiful journal that I bought last year, I need to start putting entries in it, because if I really want to write that book, I must make use of it, this is how I can make that start to actually write! I need to stop telling myself that I can't find the time to write on it. Everytime I have an urge to write something down, I always say I will do it later (I say this while sitting in front of the tv), then later I have completely forgotten about it!
That project that I meant to have started at work by now, it starts today, no wait, tomorrow is still good enough..
You see what I mean?!! It is things like these that happen everyday in our lives that we don't realise we are sabotaging ourselves and our efforts. I have it planned out in my head, and all I need to do is put it on paper and just start the project already!!!
Oh dear me..
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