Posts Tagged ‘leisue’

20 Dec

The Christmas Gathering and Beyond

Posted by ssmusoke in entertainment, social media. Tagged: , , .

I know the first thing that came to mind is who gathered, where and for what. And for those of ye who have knowledge of old English or Celtic history you are thinking of a meeting of wizards, witches, faires, elves, dwarves, gnomes or smurfs 🙂

Well it is nothing like that, this is where it all began. A friend of mine Dennis Assimwe a talented pianist has had this knack for writing and social media, Facebook in particular provided him with an outlet for his writing he has a coupla good notes out there. Anyway whilst reading his notes, we suggested that he creates a group intially to share his notes but it later turned out to attract others who have an interest in the “written word” creative writing and so on. Personally I am trying to find my artistic side, trying to stimulate it so that it does not wither and die on me something which I have always enjoyed but never had the time to do.

I am trying to read the classics, started with the Art of War, now moving to Shakespeare, am also starting to listen to soft rock as I have been advised that the artists there still write, pour their hearts and souls into the music.

Now back to notes, well we started the group now 700+ strong, and then an idea came, what if we were to meet, put faces to people and share more in person.

The idea was hatched and in October we had our first Gathering. The format was simple have a guest speaker, then interweave it with music, poetry, and let it take a life of its own. Fortunately there is a cafe, Soho’s (FB Page here), which we used. On the day the weather was terrible, it rained from 3pm to 7:00pm, and the traffic was not just murder, but unbelieveably bad. But 15 or so turned up, and our first speaker for the day was James Onen, a radio presenter, free thinker and well articulated atheist. His topic of choice was Hotel California by Band Name, the lyrics, meanings behind the lyrics etc, the history of the band, link to Satanists etc. It was enlightening and we wondered where time went … There were a few renditions, and a blues number by one Susan Anique (Google her) but all in all it was a great evening.

Since the first one was a success we decided to have a second stab at it, this time with Santa thrown in and see how much trouble we could get into …

The date was set Wednesday December 14, at our venue Soho Cafe and Grill, with the usual guest speaker, this time I Am Enigma (http://iamenygma.wordpress.com/), an MC and Hip Hop artist, did not know what to expect, plus buffet, egg nog and mistletoe (the package of this got caught in customs so we could not partake of the meanings).

The ladies were out in the sweet little red and black dresses, it was definitely a sight to behold …

Well I was late, occupational hazards, but thanks to a power outage, I was able to get  in fashionably late in my blue outfit, the green elf outfit did not dry because of the rain. So there I was all spruced up and ended up becoming the master of ceremonies …

The guest speaker was up next, he walked us through the lyrics of one of his songs, and explained the thinking process being the lyrics and how he brings the words and rhymes together using anagrams, plaindromes, and related places e.g., Lebanon (near Isreal for freedom), you and me are like decepticons on their way to the prime (the journey of life to the top).

The Q&A highlighted differences between MCs and DJs, why he wears the mask, his path to the top, etc. After which was food, after a prayer by our guest speaker which started in Arabic and ended with an Amen 🙂

After food was music time, Suzan our resident crooner did a rendition of Little Drummer Boy (of course I pushed for that one), James Onen did an oldie by Silk with the end being Dennis on the keyboard and Ouma Myko on the guitar and can those boys mix the beats.

A gathering is never complete without something on the wild side, not so, well we then had some freestyling poetry between myself and Justyne, called “Nightfall Lover” which is a poem about two lovers and their romantic adventures …

We then cut the Gathering Xmas cake, secret Santa gave out gifts to those who had brought (all u had to do was pick out a package that u did not bring and there were some very nice surprises). Finally the moralities were done then it was time to mingle and shake hands, drink more of the punch and just chill out …

Before we knew it … it was way past midnight and other gathering was concluded. Just watch this space for the next one which will be informal and we already have an eye on our guest speaker …

5 Dec

MTN Kampala Marathon – 2010

Posted by ssmusoke in marathon. Tagged: , , .

After the MTN 2010 Marathon The reality is that I need to train for the next one.

I am still waiting for the official stats for my number 11528, but my first marathon was an experience

How did it start, well I woke up at 5.30am, because I thought we were setting off early at 6:00am. I was at the starting line by 6:15am, fashionably late, but I walked around and met a few of my friends saying hello and warning everyone to memorize my number because they would be looking at my back all the way to the finishing line.

The 42km and 21km races set off first, at about 7:00am and 7:30am respectively.

The start of the 10km race was like the release of hundreds of spanish bulls from their pens into the streets. There was a bit of jostling here, and there, but the race was on, pushing the race to the next point.

Into Kololo we ran, down to Lugogo bypass near Kati Kati restaurant, the corner of the first water point. By the time I got there, it was like a tornado had hit, but I got a sponge and bottle of water to cool the body, I had not trained remember. I walked quite a bit, ran when I could, off into Kamwokya.

By the time I got to the Uganda Museum, the muscles were screaming for me to stop, my only path was forward to the end. I had to cross the finish line. When I saw the 7km marker, I was in shock I thought it should have read 10km, but I called up superhuman strength to keep putting one leg after another.

Into Yusuf Lule, then Golf Course, I was happy to hear the music since I knew the end was near. Finally I crossed the finish line, I could not believe that I made it. I had really got into the final stretch, I helped a friend over the finish line, and there I was.

My whole body ached like I had been hit by a truck, but I had finished the marathon. The rest of the day was a social and business event, made a few contacts and I enjoyed my self a lot.

MTN Uganda, well done, it was a lovely event and we had a lot of fun, especially we who run for fun.

Till 2011, I will aim to reduce my time for the next event