Things have moved far since I first started blogging. I am part of a Kenyan blogosphere with over 200 members. I am part of a social experiment that is steadily turning into a social movement. I interact daily with people on different sides of the global. My blog is an interactive space, I have learnt a lot from comments and emails. My blog is a space for debate, I have changed minds and had my mind changed, and that is brilliant. Exciting times indeed.
Despite all this constant change and excitement the main reasons why I blog have not changed dramatically, if they have changed at all. First and foremost my blog is my space. I blog about things that interest me, I blog about things that excite me, I blog about the issues I care about. In short I blog for myself.
I may have adopted this seemingly inward looking position towards blogging because when I first started out there were not that many African leave alone Kenyan bloggers online. A comment every other day was brilliant and nine of ten times it would have been one of the few other African bloggers who I interacted with at the time that would have left it. Today things are different. In many ways they have changed for the better. For example, if you start a blog and join an online blogging community, such as KenyaUnlimited, you almost automatically get a large readership and the interaction that comes with it. The KenyaUnlimited aggregator gets thousands of hits per week. Everyone’s blog is displayed equally; whether it is your first day or your fifth year, you will be read, and you will get comments. Back then a lot of blogging time was just me amusing myself.
It has never bothered me that a lot more people read this blog than leave comments. That has always been the case and will always be the case! After all you all can not be interested in everything I am interested in; you have your passions, your own interests and many of you your own blogs where you share those passions and interests. If I never received another comment would I stop blogging? No. If everyone stopped reading would I stop? No. Do I feel you are breaking some sort of mythical “I write, you respond” deal with me? No. Because mainly, I blog for myself.
This is important to me because in blogging there will be times when the interaction is lively, when your blog is a hot bed of activity, when your name is mentioned in positive terms, when it seems that everybody wants to be associated with you. People stand with you virtually, mention you in their “wink winks and nudge nudges”. You can feel like you are on top of the world, if you take all the praise too seriously. But beware for there are times when you feel almost alone, when it seems like everyone is tip toeing around you, when those same people who were quick to associate themselves with you when all was well disappear at the first hint of drama.
If I blog for myself then everything else is secondary as my focus depends on me not on peoples perception of me. During the good days my head will keep me humble, during the not so good days my spirit will keep me smiling. Are 20 comments really better than 2? “Pauca sed matura.” Are 50 friends better than 5? “Pauca sed matura.”
A smile crosses my face; because I have people around me that will never let me get too full of myself, never let me get ahead of myself. This is important because I can get carried away with all the smiles and pat on the backs. You can mistake the warm interaction for true friendship. You can mistake all the positive mentions of your name for a badge of honour. But my true friends warned me, “When things change who will stand with you?” Wise words indeed, from wise friends.
To this group of friends, for your support, for your honest advice, for your jokes that made me smile on dark days, and most of all for being there when it was not fashionable to, for not blowing in the wind, for deciding, for level headedness. Thank you.
Carl Friedrich Gauss, was a German mathematician and scientist of profound genius. His motto was “pauca sed matura” which means “few, but ripe”. He did not mind if he did not produce the same quantity of work as the rest of his peers who would release theory after theory, proof after proof. What he cared about was that the few theories he did come up with were good, that they would stand the test of time, that they were “ripe”.
Few, but ripe. When I do wrong they tell me so. Equally when the chips are down, when what needs to be said has been said, when the time comes for hard decisions, they are rocks of stability. Few, but ripe. I am grateful for true friendships because although they may be few they are ripe. I am grateful for each comment on this blog, because although they may be few, they are “ripe”. During the good days my head will keep me humble, during the not so good days my spirit will keep me smiling. My friends, few, maybe, but ripe, certainly!
Have a good weekend all.
Pamoja Tuangamize Ukimwi
Kaybees - Thanks for voting!
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May 12, 2006 at 6:12 pm
Nyakehu
Dear Mental Acrobatics
Good post you have a friend in me no matter what the 50,20 or 5 think or say and you are not alone in this. You welcomed me into the weblog and how come I never got those IM calls!!!!! Please continue to show that maturity and dignity that you possess in abundance which I have only witnessed through Kenya Unlimited.
May 12, 2006 at 6:22 pm
mshairi
amicus usque ad aras…
…and even after then, we can always discuss
May 12, 2006 at 6:31 pm
Mama JunkYard
MentalAcrobatics.
Thank you for doing this post.
Firstly I have to say I truly admire your devotion and commitment to KBW and KuL. In spite of all the knocks you have taken as a direct result of being so involved in KBW/Kul you still manage to show nothing but love. As a member of KBW and of the admin team reading your positive take on KBW/Kul is like being given a new lease of life. It is a reminder that no matter how bad things may get; the good stuff always outweighs the bad. You started a good thing and 99.9% of our members are working 100% to ensure that we remain the best African blog ring in the whole blogosphere.
Secondly your take on why you blog is superb. I am happy you mentioned your ‘lonely’ days. It is something Mshairi and I often mention because we have always admired how you kept at it even when no-one knew you existed. The net can be a fickle place and is certainly not the venue/forum where one should seek validation. The comment system may be a useful tool but it should never be used as an indicator of how good/bad one’s blog is. As you say, it is easy to get carried away but you are a strong principled person and this certainly comes through in how you blog.
Thirdly, and on a more personal note, you are someone I truly admire and respect. Not just as a friend but as a blogger and a fellow member of admin. I can not even put into words what a wonderful person you are. Your loyality and your ability to be there for friends whatever the hour are one of the many things that I love about you.
Lastly…I have a wee bit of Latin to share with you:
Non illigitamus carborundum
May 12, 2006 at 8:44 pm
Mama Mia
Nice post … well-stated.
I must say, being new in the blogsphere, and not being a writer generally, I enjoy reading posts more than writing my own… kudos to you and your team for starting this venture.
May 12, 2006 at 8:59 pm
Guessaurus
Thank you so much for doing this post MA - not because of you but for the fact that it raises quite a few points.
First off, we should be the ones thanking you (KBW/KuL) for tirelessly working to make this space a home where we can all happily (and sometimes unhappily) interact with one another. As I have pointed out elsewhere before, no one pays you to do what you do, and while the rest of us are catching up on precious sleep and personal life, you are out there making sure our community runs smoothly.
Blogwise, your place is like the stop joint for all/any stuff - be it dissing Arsenal or praising Liverpool, to learning stuff about Kenya - with sometimes (bar Liverpool et al) unbiased opinion with statistics and researched info - who would complain about that? Eh?
Also, personally, I have learnt a lot from you. I know you have been there whenever I called to sort out my geeky problems, and even non-geeky ones - no complaint, no questions, no hesitation. For that, I should be the one saying thank you.
And still, there have been some moments when we have disagreed, when I have been a ‘child’ and you were patience about it, you were kind, and you let me rant until I was ready to revert to the adult that I refuse to be sometimes, and yes, I am thankful for that too. You know I could be here all night if I were to enumerate what you have done/been for me!
Sticky moments nothwithstanding, I value you as a friend and a blogger and a Kenyan and a ‘geeky’ helpful person. I hope that when all is said and done, you can say the same for me.
LOL this so sounds like an ass-lick - but maybe it is, maybe it isnt - but hey - whatever - you know what I am saying and that is what counts.
Lastly, I will say this as much for me as it is for you - You cannot please all of the people all of the time - and you shouldnt try.
Ni mimi wenu (what happened to OWW)
:D
The crazy ass blogger from London (do not snigger over there)
The G.. (Akiey help)
May 12, 2006 at 9:15 pm
dangerouslyshy_uk
Lol Msahiri nemo hic adest illies nominis, Vah! Denoune latine loqueber? Oh well, Me ineputum. Interdum modo elebitur. Wewe Mental, nihil declare you know it already so die dulci freure
May 12, 2006 at 9:35 pm
mshairi
Vah! D’shy, te audire no possum. Musa sapientum fixa est in aure
May 12, 2006 at 10:00 pm
uaridi
Like you too I began to blog for myself and my family, and to explore the blogsphere. Thanks to you we belong to a global community. KBW is growing in number and fame.
您知道您有我的卫生支持保留在blogging, 和明天享受橄榄球
May 12, 2006 at 10:08 pm
uaridi
Oops I meant 所有, not the other one. Thank Mshairi and D’shy for this!!!
May 12, 2006 at 11:43 pm
kabinti
Thank you to the KBW/KuL admin, without you, there would not have been many of us, thanks for keeping Kenyan bloggers individually multiple.
May 13, 2006 at 9:06 am
Guessaurus
*sob sob* am I the only one wondering what the secret codes being passed around mean? Go on, alienate mono-lingual kid…
For that Mental, I will be supporting West Ham today!
So there
May 13, 2006 at 9:36 am
dangerouslyshy_uk
@Mshairi
LMAO Errr…Id tibi praebet speciem lepidissimam
@Guess
Eh? Mono-lingual? Nihil curo de ista tua stulta superstitione Lol..
@Uaridi
Aii 请问我听不懂 你会讲英文吗?
保重 D-Shy
May 13, 2006 at 11:51 am
Guessaurus
*sob sob* talk about being alienated.
To start with I was on the fence
Then I fell over cos lotsa peeps were occupying said fence
So I broke a leg or two
Then I went to hospital
Them people in there couldnt speak a word of English
So I had to point ———> foot
They all laughed
I shoulda done one or two lessons in foreign speak they seemed to intone
I am a KBW blogger I said, I am Kenyan I pointed
They all looked at me blankly
Then pointed me back to KBW
I came back, and found this UN convention
Without the interpreter
*sob sob*
Even google translater is on a weekend break
West Ham rocks, West Ham rocks…
May 13, 2006 at 1:27 pm
dangerouslyshy_uk
@ Guess
LOL @ 公约, 以及 Guess 我现在感觉不好,还好我将把我写什么,不能做的一样 Mshairi and 以及 Uaridi..
May 14, 2006 at 10:02 am
Soul
mental..
I still dunno whats going on, I’m not really sure that it even matters.. what matters is that it gets resolved.
I don’t know how the heck that happens, but stuff needs to get sorted.
We all blog for many different reasons.. many use this space to rant, some use it to build a persona they wish they could have, some use it to open up, some to make friends, some to form virtual alliances, some to reach out to find people, some to form communities, some for communication, some to have their 15minutes of fame..
No reason is more noble than the other (I think) gosh reminds me of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we are all at different points in the pyramid and we all have different needs.
Life is strange we all know that, what we always forget is that most times we meet people not to retain them, but to experience them and either flow with them or move past them.
I’ve always felt that the measure of friendship is not just who has been in front of your face the longest, but also who you have learnt from the most.
Every single person who has called you a friend has taught you something.
Even the one’s who run at the first sign of trouble. They were valuable to you to recognise the signs for next time.
In anycase, I have gone on long enough.. I still don’t know what’s happening, and I wish everyone on all sides of the fence the patience to get through and get over.
As difficult as this might be, everyone must put there heads together and get to the bottom of whatever is going on.
I’m not a Kenyan Blogger so excuse me if I have overstepped the mark…
Just another African in the diaspora.
Be well all.
May 14, 2006 at 12:23 pm
Mentalacrobatics
You people are crazy! But crazy in a good way! Hehe
Lation, Chinese, we need to add lunje to that google translator!
Thanks!
@Soul, wise words indeed. You can always speak freely here, your perspective is welcome.
as for the liverpool haters … just another rountine win eh!
May 15, 2006 at 7:27 am
Ms K
Routine win my @%ot!
I don’t speak fancy languages but… I hope we can move past this.
May 16, 2006 at 9:54 am
prousette
I do speak fancy languages but since there is no one to speak them with me I shall join guess in complaining about the fancy code being passed around and all over my head.
I will be speaking for myself only. Mental would be one of those people in KBW and the virtual world that I respect deeply. Notwithstanding the fact that I have never met the person in any other way apart from here his blog. And will continue do so.
May 22, 2006 at 12:01 pm
Shiroh
Hey trials come and go. That was one heck of a trial and many came out as confused as ever including me.
At most i thought we had interacted on a more personal note to mean outside http://www.
Anyway the writer is a lawyer.I forget the latin translation that “Everyone has a right to be heard”. The verdict was nevertheless hard to come by.
All of us can just assume what happened. We were not there.
However blogin could never have been without you. Founding KBW from where i have met aMazinG people.
I guess every one has had their moment of disgrace. And for sure you handled it very well.
But all the same, many questions have been left in the minds of many.
One day the truth shall come out. Can i be the defamation lawyer when that day comes. I don’t mind having the cake and eating it.