Truth be told, we are always surprised at how cool certain people look when they are in their element. You don’t believe me do you StreetSyder? Seriously, coz I have not even dropped the punchline…

I met a couple of my old skool chums a few months ago at a corporate presentation on Housing Finance in the Ugandan economy.. . The main presenter was a supposedly highly experienced corporate finance expert with a PhD thesis in the Mortgage sector of Eastern Europe including Turkey, Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic et al…

He had done the bulk of his research from both his home country of Hungary and spent at least two months hanging around the larger financial type institutions within the above mentioned countries…

When he was introduced as Dr. Stetho Financial Listiks, I was not moved as distinctly recall being asked by my former boss (yeah Tumwi, the one with really nice legs), to read about something real hard before making any form of presentation about it. She cautioned me to test the presentation first in the mirror to build my confidence first but above all, make the presentation a little bit (just a little bit AntiPop) skewed to seem like it revolves around the recipient of the presentation.

So when Dr. Financial Listiks was intro’d with his amazing PhD in Financial Economics, I was waiting with bated breath to be PhD’d into Mortgage Heaven. What proceeded was the most interesting presentation on housing finance in my short history.

He proceeded to simplify all the basiks of interest rate setting for condominiums (tandra, that’s condo to you), the impact of reduced savings on lending rates, increased economic activity and its relevance in smaller economies, increased presence of financial institutions and how this flattens the financial landscape, the difference between renting, leasing and purchasing and finally the impact of increased government spending on the housing sector.

All in all the technical part of the presentation was pretty amazing, considering that sometimes I am hard to please… (ask Mrs.Basiks) Anyways, after the display of his financial acumen, Dr. Listiks said thank you and good night. I for one (mind you I was writing out some of his technicalities and waiting for the Q&A session), was taken aback.

You see Dr. Listiks had shown us his above average corporate finance knowledge (with a name like Financial Listiks, who could say much, Ivan do you copy?), but he absolutely did not relate any of it to the Ugandan Sector.

What the email invite said was; Lessons in Eastern European Mortgage Finance and how it can affect the Ugandan Model. I wasleft wondering why almost 92% if the time, people who look the part never fulfill the look and assume that coz their intro is snazzy, they can’t prove that the snazziness is the real-deal (just like Holyfield, Ask Mike Ty)

—–

Fast forward a whole 12 months later, and Dr. Listiks is back with a doper presentation highlighting the exact same presentation but with the words HOW IT CAN AFFECT THE UGANDAN MODEL…

I have learnt that whatever is said to peeps that relates to them will always make them want to listen to you…

“no matter how hard you work achieving your goal, there’s no doubt someone out there working twice as hard to make sure you fail..”

Andre Rommel Young                                                                                                             aka ”Dr.Dre”                                                                                                                                                                                                                          CEO Aftermath Entertainment

Going Back to the corner where I first saw you
Gonna camp in my sleeping bag I’m not gonna move
Got some words on cardboard, got your picture in my hand
saying, “if you see this girl can you tell her where I am”

Some people try to hand me money, they don’t understand
I’m not broke I’m just a broken hearted man
I know it makes no sense but what else can I do
How can I move on when I’m still in love with you

Cuase If one day you wake up and find your missing me
and your heart starts to wonder where on this earth I could be
Thinkin maybe you’ll come back here to the place that we’d meet
And you’ll see me waiting for you on our corner of the street
So I’m not moving, I’m not moving

Policeman says, “son you can’t stay here”
I said, “there’s someone I’m waiting for If it’s a day, a month, a year”
Gotta stand my ground even if it rains or snows
If she changes her mind this is the first place she will go

Cause If one day you wake up and find your missing me
and your heart starts to wonder where on this earth I could be
Thinkin maybe you’ll come back here to the place that we’d meet
And you’ll see me waiting for you on our corner of the street
So I’m not moving, I’m not moving,
I’m not moving, I’m not moving

People talk about the guy that’s waiting on a girl
There are no holes in his shoes but a big hole in his world

Maybe i’ll get famous as the man who can’t be moved
Maybe you wont mean to but you’ll see me on the news
And you’ll come running to the corner
cuase you’ll know it’s just for you
Im the man who can’t be moved

Going Back to the corner where I first saw you
Gonna camp in my sleeping bag I’m not gonna move

Some people will argue that being an introvert, is synonymous with wanting to be alone most of the time. This is not necessary true, in Blabelle’s experience. I have met introverted people, just that-introverted. They can interact at work, parties, they even hang out but it won’t be long before you get to know that they are introverts, there’s a side to them that you just won’t break into. But good thing is as soon as you get to know this, you get to flow with them regardless….

But an ‘introverted loner’ is…. hmmmm! very different. This is a dangerous combination if you ask me. I mean picture this: a person is an introvert, and a loner…wow! How do you possibly break through to them. Those two walls {introvert and loner} are quite high, probably with electric barbed wire at the top! Simply put: access denied before you even try anything. Now, extreme extroverts get so bothered by the ‘Introverted Loner’, because why? They {extreme extroverts} just can’t figure out how someone can afford to be and an introvert and on top of that, a loner. I hope you get my drift, huh?

So when the coin is tossed in the air and we expect a head to turn up and end up getting a tail, we are consistently surprised that we end up acting contrary to how we say we are going to act…

As being the total opposite of being an introvert, yet totally click the loner part, I must say that I am growing comfortable in my skin as being an Extroverted Loner…

Truth be told that when I am in the company of many, I do tend to both act and react in a very candid way and blend into the company with much ease…

Deep down however I would rather just be by me’self… Chilling out watching and observing whatevz is goingz on… Many times this ease of blending is mis-interpreted totally by the wannabe playa types and end up messing up my rep by thinking and saying that the BasiksDawg is a smoothe type dude who can and eventually gets chics easily….

It used to bother me loads, till I recently realised that the power of self is what is controlled in a gradual sort of way…. The power of self is what we all too cleverly attempt to ignore and just plow along like the world is making its own footsteps for you…

This power of self is what made me realise that one can both be an extrovert and a loner at the same time….

“I have a belief that life isn’t about balance, because balance is perfection….Rather, it’s about catching the ball before it hits the floor.”

Carol Bartz

CEO – Yahoo Inc

I see you chatting in the corner with your friends and your natural smile captures me automatically…. I try not to look twice, but the hearty laugh I keep hearing makes me steal glances over to your table….

 At first I am blinded by the cleavage of the cute friend of yours seated to your right, but then you laugh a little deeper and you try to take a deep breathe to catch yourself so you don’t die of laughter…

I look away from the cleavage just in time as you catch me looking at the lovely pair of coconuts… I maintain the look in your eyes, and your friends notice the look and also look at me!

I do not flinch and actually step up from my table of chips and a pitza, and walk calmly to you all the while maintaining the steady eye contact…. I then whisper into your ear that you have a beautiful smile….

You then blush mildly and I ask for your name and number….

Your friends are all silent and wait as you input the digits in my phone but reply that you will tell me your name when I call and I see that the gun shot for the game has began

I walk away and do not look back, and sit and finish my chips, cheese burger and the hot coffee…

You and your friends keep chatting away as I finish reading my John Grisham in peace and steal one last look at your friend’s cleavage and your smile in between glances…

You and your friends walk out in haste as it is getting late and you all need to cramp into one ride….

The next week blazes by and I call your phone on a Monday evening and I am surprised to find it is off…

I head to the library to catch up on some reading for exams and I am pleasantly surprised when I get your call saying who you are and that you found a missed call message…

I smile over the phone and tell you I can’t get your smile out of my mind!

I hear you grin on the phone and then you keep quiet. I take my cue and ask if I could see hat smile again sometime soon… You ask when and I say the day after tomorrow…

The day after tomorrow can not come quick enough and I am forced to engage my patience game!

I do not call or text as not to tempt fate!

The day finally comes and I dress up in my usual gear and ask the Lord to fast forward the work day!

I text you at 5.00pm letting you know where and when and we finally meet!

We hit it off like two old chums and go back and forth about how our lives are so interesting! Then we realize that it is time to head home and look deep into each other’s eyes knowing definitely that we are going to see more of each other….

——-

Lulu, this is sorta like your writing… I am not copywriting anything..

Just dreamy sort of! I could be wrong!

The unspoken word does not usually come out…

Allow me to give you an example…

You are at the lecture theatre. You are late. But there is a cute lady at the near-front with a free chair next to her…. You start walking over in her direction, and whence she sees you, she automatically scoots over to the next chair coz she has peeped at you and noticed that you need to grab the seat next to hers…

Or….

When you are at the yawning stage of a lengthy business meeting and the lovely lady seated across from you notices and just stands up and goes to open a window to let in the cool breeze that is lacking and cause the acting chairperson to stop nodding off uncontrollably!

Or better yet, when the RogueKing and Queen or better yet, Uncle and Auntie Pop have an un-necessary argument and end up not saying nada to each other till someone waves the white flag….

The moments of unspoken thoughts are legendary, just like when Vince Carter stuck his hand in the ring for a honey dip at the 2000 slam dunk contest…. Don’t believe me huh!

Ask my main man Moe... He was there…

The ish with the unspoken word is that it takes quite a little observance skills, that are really hard to come by especially as we are always taken aback by what comes out fo people’s mouths…

The unspoken word can be a huge positive though, if used properly!

It allows the other person to cleverly anticipate what the other one will say….

Like if your Boss is tripping over something you anticipated and yet, you are trying to direct the conversation elsewhere, you end up waiting for him to get there, and when he does…..

It’s over…

I guess I am not getting at anything…

Just an attempt at randomizes….

Hola at Mrs Basiks for me, so we can get her to write more…..

So as we had pre-arranged it, I agreed to meet her at that quiet hang out in Entebbe called Q’s Joint…. It was a stray Sunday evening with no plans of heading to work the next day, as I, B2B was on leave for a few days… and Tumwi… well being freelance is her thing….

So I arrived on time as I sometimes do for all the dates I have been on, and called her like a gentleman does when I didn’t see her seated in the spot she had chosen. She told me to just look in the left corner of the spot and come and sit next to her. I waved and went to the bar and asked to have the waiter come over to where we were seated…

So, as I walked towards her, she did not flinch, she just continued looking at me like I was the usual suspect and I indeed read her mind and did Verbal Kint’s lame walk reminiscent of the Kaiser Soze in…………

Anyways, that didn’t cause any appreciation as the real reason whey we had agreed to hook-up was primarily business… It went like this:

B2B: howdie Miss Tumwi… Thank you for turning up!

Tumwi: Basiks, I see you appreciate time keeping! That is a good sign!

B2B: Yeah, I learnt the hard way… Missed a few deals because I assumed people were on Ugandan time like I was!

Tumwi: I know the feeling Basiks…. One if the main drivers of Uganda’s Private Sector is time keeping…. The reverse is true for the honourable state employees!

B2B: you hit the nail right on the head Tumwi

After the waiter came by, and we had ordered; (no prizes for guessing)

I had a cup of stir fried rice with vegetables and grilled fish fillet with a touch of tarter-sauce, while the lady had pork chops n’ebigenerako! With a cold beer for me, and a glass of *&#$%@ cocktail, which I can not name here, as the joint has some innocent readers!

We talked about the possibility of setting up a News/ Knowledge Portal that would envy The Sun, The RedPaper, and BBC’s The WeakestLink! We chatted at length about is disadvantages and impracticalities in a very different type set-up in a country like ours. She seemed pretty skeptical, but I asked her how the concept of Uganda Health Marketing Group came up with the TV program that airs on Sundays and has Irene Kulabako as its host with Abbey Mukiibi! She didn’t react much, till I finished my point!

She then asked me the target audience!

I told her the main target is intended to begin at the age of 15 i.e those that have just started O’Level… and my reason was the fact that the information diarrhea that is seeping through Uganda’s teenage population is nasty! Young people know  more about a certain Mr. Keifer Bauer, wait… a certain Jack Sutherland than what is going on in our very own Teso! People are amazed when the lightening Bolt decimated the 100m WR, but do not even know about Moses Kipsiro’s mishap as he ended up 4^th in Berlin a few days ago!

The youth are more conscious about Dr. Meredith Grey’s age and on-going happy humping with a handsome brain surgeon than the plight facing the state of public health institutions in our own country!

This got her going, as she added the fact that the mess of the Ugandan education system is one that has been gradually spread and not listened too by those that set it up for the lower numbered population in the 1960s and 70s…. You should have seen the disgust on her face when I asked her comments on the unaccounted for public funds that are being wasted in trying to develop a National Construction company t compete with the Zzimwe’s, ROKO’s and Pearl Engineering type firms in Uganda!

It is amazing when you sort of share the same or should I say similar rants with someone who effortlessly expresses them!

The discussion reached its high point when she asked me how this plan is intended to work! I told her that we embark on a regional school drive spending time with students across different regions alerting them of the rot that is going on in the Ugandan public administration system… Alert them that not all is lost, but lobbying done to parliament is allowing the inclusion of a few new subjects in the curriculum like entrepreneurship, personal money, and career guidance  that will allow them to start thinking deeply about themselves and their impact in the future, by making better choices now….

The discussion ended a little earlier than we had envisaged, but it was time well spent!

I am not going to bother letting you know that Tumwi was wearing a dark coloured skirt with a light top which showed off her cleavage…. Ok, not that I was looking! And also that she has a dope i-phone… also, she is very eloquent even more so than she sounds in her posts! And on top of that, her head contains lots of information about Uganda…. as you listen to her, you can’t fail to see her love for this country, and one day perhaps…. she could harbour some potential leadership ambitions….

She didn’t even flinch when I asked her this. All she did was say she would love to act as a voice for the ones that are down! And not as a full fledged politician! She did draw some lovely inspiration from the late Corazon Aquino and Benazir Bhutto!

—–

Anyways, nuff with the fiction, me and Tumwi on a date to discuss basikness is a dope idea! But she has bigger fish to fry, not so Tumwi…

hola