more mandela and asa (a--sha)

the last 2 wknds have been pretty amazing. last weekend, i went to a concert celebrating mandela's birthday in town. yes, this was yet another mandela birthday bash. its really become a birth year now. and they'll keep celebrating it for the rest of the year, i think, as long as it gives people an excuse to sing and dance and party. and see mandela. i kind of feel bad for the guy who's pretty old now and still appears at many of these celebrations. but not too bad, cuz i was as delighted as a kid in a candy store when he made a suprise appearance at the concert last weekend. i guess it wasnt so much like a kid in a candy store, it was more like you were in the presence of something that was holy and precious and super. what an honor.

mandela didnt speak, but he got on stage and sat down. pretty much everyone was quiet and still when people were speaking about him and reminiscing on his life. everyone, except for some guys that i was with. so i ask them, jokingly why they werent respecting the presence of god on earth! one of the guys replied with the, almost expected, response that a legend is always much more respected outside his home that within. pretty much the locals know him, his good side and his faults, too well to think of him with the same reverence as the rest of the world. i dunno if i buy that entirely, but i'm sure its true to some degree. i forgot my camera at home so i have no pics for y'all; i tried to take pics with my phone, but i gotz a crappy phone.

as some of you that stalk me on facebook might know, i have fallen hard for a lady with a brilliant voice, thick nigerian accent, and ability to hold her own on the guitar. her name is asa (pronounced aaaa-sha). i got to meet her finally this weekend. ok thats a lie. i saw her from about 100meters away this weekend when she played at this jo-burg jazz fest. she was very good. even better live. and better than i expected. there were a couple other artists that were pretty good, like ringo, and this weird, but good, traditional singer. see the pics below.




this pic shows 2 of the 3 people i went with; but all 3 of us in this pic are named fiyinfoluwa. even stranger, the boet on the left also has the same middle name as i do. hmm, i think our parents had an evil plan...

oh and finally, of course, congrats on b-obama's historic nomination. brilliant speech also. im beginning to believe that one of the good and progressive aspects of south africa, is that the people are not afraid to talk about race and often times confront it head on, no matter what difficulties or emotions may arise (cuz nothing can be worse to going back to how life was..). i think this is something the us still hasnt got. race is still very much a taboo thing that no one likes to speak of, but black people like to pull often whenever they're offended; or likewise, that white people like to ridicule, citing the savior, b-obama as evidence that they no longer need affirmative action or that they no longer have to watch what the say, do, or behave (im generalizing quite generously, but hopefully u get the point). anyway, check out this article and it will highlight some emotions brough about from b-obama's nomination: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/opinion/30herbert.html?ref=opinion

2nd finally: shout out to my sis and her hubby. happy 1yr anniversary guys!

roomy, etc

hmm, it's seriously been a while since i've posted anything. well, truthfully there hasn't been much excitement in my life since the last time i posted. i go to work usually before the sun comes up to try to avoid traffic. 1.5hrs later (if im lucky) i'm at work. and then i leave well after the sun goes down to avoid traffic. 1.5hrs later (if im lucky) i'm at home. day over. this actually brings me to a story from last week actually. the HUGE trade union federation here, COSATU, decided to have a national stay away and organize rallies in many big cities around the country. i don't know the number, but i think many people did decide to stay away from work for that day, including the ubiquitous taxi drivers. that day i left a bit later than i usually do and was prepared to stranded in traffic all morning. instead, i got to work in 30 minutes. that day i left work at peak hour, also mentally prepared to be sitting in traffic. instead, i got home in less than 30 minutes. THIS seriously was the best day of my life. i dont know what they were striking or staying away from (perhaps some global problem that no one in sa really has any control over??...) and i dont really care. but im firmly advocating now that COSATU or anyone with any pull call for at least one stay away/strike per week. and im not being selfish here. i do this because i care about workers right. viva!

on to bigger news. i finally got a roomy. he is p-eter from p-oland. well kind of. he's sort of a mutt: polish-canadian-south african. its been very interesting living with a flatmate after going so long without one. i didn't realize just how much i'd grown accustomed to doing my own thing and how interesting it would be to adjust back to having a roomy. well, its taking a bit of adjustment. plus he's a huge house music fanatic. huge. also a dj when he feels like it. so he's trying to get me into house music. it hasnt worked that well. tho im tryin, cuz ~98% (to put it modestly) of sa-ans love their house music. i like house when it doesnt all have the same beat and they change it around a bit. no, ive actually heard some/a few house beats that arent too bad. think im just too stuck on my hip-hop/blues/jazz ways. anyway, if u see p-eter from p-oland at ur local house club, say hi to him and welcome him to chez folu.

finally, you avid ubuntu-adventures readers (all 2.8million of you. congrats.) will appreciate this. a few posts ago, i mentioned how the bathroom at work has a stall that looks like a stall with a stall door, but when you open it its actually 2 very closely placed urinals. when i wrote the post, i said it was weird, 1 to have a stall door (do u open it or lock it) and 2 to have 2 stalls that close to one another. i now believe that there someone at work reads my blog (welcome), cuz now they have removed the stall door. solves one problem. bt theres still the fact that the stalls are close together. well u can't ask for transformational change to happen too quickly i guess. but this is one change i can believe in.

speaking of change, i read this column a couple days ago that laid into clinton and her supporters for still creating problems for the democratic party and wanting to hi-jack the DNC. The op-ed ended by stating: "A woman who wildly mismanages and bankrupts a quarter-of-a-billion-dollar campaign operation, and then blames sexism in society, will dampen the dreams of our daughters." yikes! best part, this was written by a very popular female columnist. yoh!

till next time.