diplomacy

got a new roommate. just for a month.

she's an iranian documentary filmmaker/freelance photographer. i'm conducting us-iranian relations in my flat. we're still working out the kinks - shoddy english, cultural differences, my work schedule and her month-long holiday... but she's extremely cool. and so beautiful she makes my eyes hurt. all my guy friends who chided me for shacking up with someone they were sure would arrive in full burka are chomping at the bit now.

so, i think i'm really leaving. unless a full-time job appears out of the blue, worked out to a tee in the five weeks. if anyone's got any good job leads, please send me an email. i'm thinking that i've got this whole wire thing in my system, so i'll probably try to get a full-time job at a bureau in the states. that being said, please don't email me with an opening in montana!

nothing terribly new to report. the earthquake tremors finally ended with the explosion of a volcano in tanzania - whose swahili name translates into mountain of god. am writing an article about an independent kenyan film that just got optioned for international release by a french film company - malooned. about a pair of attractive kenyans of two different tribes that get trapped in a loo. (see, marooned and loo. clever no?)

just thought i'd throw out some trash on the keyboard.

shakedowns and shootouts

tremors!

nothing like being thrown off the toilet seat mid-stream as an earthquake of 6.1 magnitude bears down on you. i realise it's not the most damaging on the richter scale, but for an earthquake novice like myself who's been scarred with footage of dead people in rubble piles in third world countries, well, it's not entirely heartening.

we've had four days of earthquakes between 5.5 and 6.1 on the richter. according to the metereological folks, they're starting in tanzania and because nairobi's in the rift valley, obviously they travel.

i've decided never to live again in an earthquake prone area - ruling out south asia, california and mexico, japan and obviously, the rift valley. i'm no geologist, seismologist, what-have-you-ist, but aren't i basically living in the womb of the great continental divide?

and have i mentioned my favorite favorite store in nairobi? guns and cameras. seriously. that's its name. conveniently located next to a branch of western union. it recently removed its window display of assorted smith and wessons, colts and nikons inside - figuring it would be best during this supposed crime wave we're having.

i asked a friend about this surprising combination of wares and he answered, amazed at my inability to logically compute this on my own, "you shoot with both of them, don't you? why wouldn't they be sold together?"