Olivia Rodrigo: driving home 2 u Review

 Singer and songwriter the mighty Olivia Rodrigo together with Disney made a film documentary behind the making of Olivia's sour album and we are here for it!

The film which is over an hour was out on 25th March 2022 and like every livi fan, we rushed to watch it, okay l didn't rush as such but l knew l would finally get to it. 

If you don't know any song on the sour album, then l don't know which era you're living in. 

I know most of us were introduced to Olivia from driver's license. The minute l heard the song, l immediately fell in love. Actually, a friend told me to react to it on youtube (watch video) and after making the video, l crawled into a rabbit hole of Olivia's singing clips mostly from the High School the Musical musical, l don't even know the show. 

At just 17, she was the most played artist in the world!! The entire world! Imagine what you would feel in such a situation! Pressure, everyone looking at you, whether your next work will flop. 

This is why l love this film so much. It is realistic, and not just for a worldwide celebrity but we can so much relate to it in our daily lives. 

When you produce really great work at work and all of a sudden you're the boss's favourite. Even when the boss is not that nice, you will definitely be the first to absorb the hit, suddenly the people in the corner office no longer see eye-to-eye with you.

Don't get me started on content creation when one of your posts/videos goes viral and suddenly you have to gravitate towards that topic for life lest you want to lose your traction... 

Well, driving home 2 u implicitly unveils that not all that glitters is gold! Celebrities are human, they at times worry about who likes them and who doesn't. They scroll through Instagram feeds comparing. The least we can be is being kind. 

What l liked about the film.

I love so much about this film but the first things that come to my mind will have to be;

• The scenery in which it was shot. 

Yes, most of those places are where she was inspired to write the songs but the set-up, the capturing, the aesthetics! It definitely did it for me. The forest performance was my best, the gas station, the beach...arrghh it even gives me tingles just thinking back to it.

My favourite performance

• The authenticity

Most of the scenes were recordings from making the album, l want to say from ideation to design (currently swimming in UX content) but the process of making a song. Those moments an idea hits you and you pull up your phone to record it before it fades away. 

It really put meaning to "documentary", we were being carried along the behind-the-scenes something most documentaries don't possess. 

• It was all about her

You might think this is actually a bad thing because she has friends, family, that helped her in the process of making her songs but hold your horses, let me settle the ambiguity. It's her album-making documentary, she shouldn't be overshadowed in her own movie! 

Might also show proof that not every teenager has a massive of friends. 

The fact that the previous performances were not let to outshine the behind the scenes performances was also a plus for me. 

• The originality of the songs. 

Some of the songs were presented as they appeared on the first recording before they were refined and this brings me back to the authenticity. The fact that she showed us her demo work is not a small thing. 

• Love is not about age. 

If you know the back story of the album then you should know that she wrote almost every song from personal feelings and emotions. 

I hate it when people go like "you're just 17, you don't even know what love is" after your first heartbreak. Sour makes you believe that emotions are totally mutually exclusive with age. No matter how old or young you are, once you truly and openly give your heart to someone or something, then you will be knee-deep when the feelings are not reciprocated. 

Channelling your emotions into making something creative can be a good thing. 

What l did not like about the film.

Well, well, well, l didn't say everything was roses, yes there are some minor parts about the film that didn't settle well with me. It's not entitlement, like "the film wasn't made for you" it's just me being me.

•  Some of the songs were not fully performed. It made me wonder they were not key or less relevant but who am l to assume! 

• We didn't see the interviewer at any one point. 

You know how a documentary is well put if at least we see who asks the questions while the other one answers? Yeah, l never got to see that. All the time Olivia would be like answering questions we don't even know where they were coming from. 

It could be what the person wanted and we are fine with it but l personally, it didn't rub me well. 

Thoughts.

Anyways, sour film is a great one if you want to have a performance experience of the album. Every performance slaps! If you a fan then this is a good one for you. If you love to see young talent, then it is a great one for you too. 

I always tell people that in the next 5-10 years, the creative industry will be populated with the babies we have literally raised! 

Look at Olivia Rodrigo, look at Jenna Ortega, and l can not wait to see a shift in all this. 

This also indicates that we are slowly or rather rapidly ageing, facepalm! 

International Women's Day, what does it feel like to be a woman for just a day?

 Celebrating International Women's Day 2022 got me thinking, what's really the essence of the day? Why is it celebrated? Why do we need to celebrate women? What is it like to be a woman even if it's just for a day? 

For history matters, International Women's Day was officially marked in 1911 but wasn't celebrated till 1975. Why did it take us so long to put up the celebration even when we already had it marked off the calendar? I don't know either. 

Anyways, we are not here for the history but to get a feel of womanhood. 

The other day, a certain man l was talking to was fronting the statement of "what a woman can do, a man can do twice better". From my knowledge, it should be the other way round but l wasn't ready to argue at the moment. Had no emotional energy to go into the depth of what womanhood feels. 

PMS - Premenstraul Syndrome. 

This is commonly defined as the changes, emotional, mental, behavioural a woman experiences according to her menstrual cycle. It is normally noticed during ovulation and on the days leading to the period. 

When the "womanhood" topic comes up in the presence of the other gender, the first thing that comes to their mind is the PMS. 

I think l don't have to repeat phrases like; 

• Are you in your "those" days? 
• That's how women are like when in pz (they will even write it like that)
• Are you in your special days, you know those days? 

Something women definitely don't want to hear on their period is you trying to find a better fitting word to phrase it. 

Just a mere change of emotion even when one is hungry or don't want to engage in small talk, then it's PMS. 

Before you come to conclusions about a woman's mood, first understand how the menstrual cycle looks like and gauge your feelings after then. 

So, how well can you explain the menstrual cycle to a non-primary six (middle school) student but rather a grown man? 

Explanation of the menstrual cycle to a layman. 

Forget about what you learned at school, this is a small depiction of what a menstrual cycle feels like. 

The first day of a woman's period is considered the first day of their cycle, but let's start from what leads to that, ovulation. 

Ovulation occurs about two weeks after the period. It's not just a matter of the uterus releasing an ovary (not scientifically) but imagine having a kidney failure, or that pain you feel around your kidney area when you run after a long time of not running. 

That's the kind of pain a woman feels for about 5 days of pre and post ovulation. That pain is coupled with cramps, a fever, headaches, dizziness. 

Now imagine going through all that and a co-worker is calling you out how you don't want to engage in a conversation about why the printer doesn't have paper even when you both know there is paper in the store!

Okay, so now we have battled ovulation, also don't forget that for some women it comes with heavy vaginal discharge and you have to wear small versions of pads or what they call panty liners for all that time like as though you're on your period. 

Right when you finally have the energy to move out, pre-period cramps kick in. 

Talk about constant stomach aches, headaches, insatiable back pain, joint pain, weakness, butt cramps (feeling like someone is shoving a stick up your butt), lack of appetite, cravings. 

We might take a whole day describing cramps.

This is doubled when your period starts. Picture all this pain as you're constantly bleeding. Nasty, right? 

On top of that mental picture, add having diarrhoea. Phew! Now keep that picture for 5 days or so, day and night. 

Tell me why a woman  wouldn't experience an emotional change. 

So, the week of the period is done and you have to worry about spotting (mild blood stains when you thought your period is done). 

After like 3 more days you get comfortable to wear your white leggings again, after 3 weeks. Just when you think life can be good again, then boom! ovulation starts again and we are back to square one!

In a nutshell, a woman only gets like 5 days of rest from her "womanly duties".

We haven't talked about how this can positively or negatively affect the sex drive,  your general routine activities, and all that. This will literally became a fundamental routine of a woman until menopause. 

Everyone says we should be used to the pain by now since it is routine and constant, but has anyone ever told you to get used to malaria just because you stay in a place that is infested with mosquitoes? 

Yeah, l don't think you can ever get used to this even if you wholeheartedly wanted to. 

The next time you throw PMS at a woman just because she looks grumpy, take a second to think about what she might be experiencing. 

Maybe some other time we shall talk about pregnancy and giving birth, possibly when we are stronger and more tolerant. 

Oh, the topic was women's day but like always, rules are meant to be broken. 

I hope you showed appreciation to the women in your life on this day, and to the women, you are strong, you are magical you are phenomenal, continue carrying the entire world on your shoulders even when it shows no appreciation. 

Happy women's day!

Compulsory Health Insurance in Uganda: Will it really work amidst all this corruption?

 If you are Ugandan and haven't heard about the National Health Insurance Scheme or simply put, the compulsory health insurance, l wouldn't blame you. Who still follows this country's shenanigans? 

But well, our "great" country don't ask me why the sarcasm, we all know it, is tabling the NHIS to be passed and this will have every Ugandan receiving medical services for free! That sounds really great, doesn't it? 

Also, don't forget that this will be accessed in all sectors be it the private sector or the government. 

You will have a right to walk into Case Clinic and they will be on the floor to cater to all your needs!

Envision that. Really feels magical. It will put an end to the cries you make when you just buy painkillers from the store for your recurring headache because you don't have the money to go for a body checkup, been there. 

You might be now asking "how much will we have to pay for this royal treatment," we all know our country is not that generous.

Don't get me started on our country's corruption. Was doing a paper about corruption in Uganda and my oh my, l think l will forever be traumatized!

How the National Health Insurance Scheme works/will work.

Every citizen will have to contribute to their insurance plan, hence the name "compulsory insurance".

Whether you are 90 years old, or 2 years, as long you receive medical services in Uganda, you will have an account where you deposit your share for the insurance. 

• Formal workers or what we call taxpayers will contribute 4% of their salary and their employers will add 1% for them. That makes it a total of 5% contributed by the taxpayers. 
• Non-formal workers the nekolela jaange will have to pay an annual amount of shs100,000. 

While the amount structure is not yet critically laid out, the Minister of Health says all categories will be accommodated. The bodabodas will have their slated amount, the elderly will have their own to pay, the peasants will also have their share. 

It is also stated that the covered services will be just the basic medical services, nothing fancy like a heart transplant or what. 

Now that we have established how much it will cost us, how will this money be collected?

That, my friend, is an issue the people fronting the bill haven't even figured out because they know how corrupt they are!

Read more about the bill on our news website, l hope you're subscribed.

Prime Minister Robina Nabbanja during the first tabling of the bill

Personal opinion about the Insurance Scheme. 

Personally, l commend the country for even getting the guts to borrow a leaf from our neighboring countries who are said to have adopted the scheme. I really do not know how it works for them though. 

As a Ugandan citizen who has evidenced the poor health services the low-income earners are subjected to, this would be a huge step up for the country. 

But will this money really be collected and not eaten by the collectors?

That is one of my biggest worries, to be honest. 

Considering it's a small amount, sums can easily be neglected and the taxpayers will again have to carry the burden of the entire country on their shoulders. 

Don't get me wrong, l love my country but it is what it is. 

I also feel like this should be in the vision 2040 or even 50. The amount of time Uganda gets to round up its citizens is quite underestimated. 

We all saw the covid-19 relief food, masks, and what-not. Where l was staying by then, l didn't see anyone get even a mask! Oh and we were in Uganda, to be clear. 

You telling me you will send village Insurance collectors to get 100,000 from peasants could take 5 years on its own. Then let's move on to printing insurance cards after collecting the money, let's say we are now in a fintech Uganda and that will take us just 2 years. 

As we speak we are already in 2029. Also, don't forget that some people have never even got National IDs so let's add in an allowance of like 2 years. 

It's 2031 and we are still figuring out how to compensate the insurance payers who died. Then boom! Election campaigns and massacres put a halt to the program. 

I could be overthinking it maybe.

If you invited me to the advisory committee now, my advice would be for us to first enforce compulsory insurance for all employees. Be it government or private employees. 

As long as the company is registered, let it pay health insurance for its employees. This is the best method we can collect that money and with time self employers will have to pay for their insurance and we move on to the elderly. 

Let's not bite what we can't chew. The leaders themselves know this will be hard to achieve but they still go in head-on. 

Once we establish what we can and can't achieve, then we will be able to talk about compulsory health insurance. 

For the time being, let's keep flying our officials abroad for "failed" treatment as our government hospitals continue operating under trees. 

For God and My Country. 

This is me after waiting for over 5hrs just to talk to the doctor

The Tinder Swindler: Is it possible to still believe in dating apps after watching the Netflix's Documentary?

 If you have watched Netflix's viral documentary based on a true story, The Tinder Swindler l believe you have had a moment of reflection on whether you can still believe in dating apps or not. 

You're not alone, been there too. You could have even deleted your tinder profile already.

 As someone who has used tinder a lot, l really didn't find much success with other dating apps or platforms so l can't speak much for them, watching this Netflix documentary made me have a whirlwind of thoughts of what could really go wrong trusting someone l met online. 

If you haven't watched the film, long story short is, an online con artist portrays himself as a billionaire from a rich family that deals in diamonds and lavishes the women he meets on tinder with fancy trips, private jet lifestyles, gains their trust and promises them a future then uses that trust to swindle money from them. 

For starters, l have nothing on the women that were swindled, the world is a pretty messed up place and good people are always being taken advantage of. It's opening up to someone, giving them trust, them showing you their vulnerability and you end up trusting them, that's literally what life is. 

The fact that most of these women were people that were independent and had some savings, makes me believe he particularly targeted them. 

One of the women called herself a "tinder expert" because she had been on tinder for quite a while and she had no idea that a sweet, loving, charming, and somehow really successful young man could be a con artist. 

Being scammed through love is not being gullible and neither is it only to the people you meet online. You can meet a well-to-do man at a work conference get to know him for months as he lays the plan to scam you. 

But will all this stop you from trusting people? Will you completely give up on finding love because you were scammed by someone you loved with your whole heart? Is it really possible to still be able to swipe right on tinder profiles after such an incident? 

Well, how can we move on and still be cautious? 

Some of the women that were swindled 

Dating, whether online or physically will always be hard. It is up to you to realize which are the red flags and when to pump the breaks. 

Googling up the person and finding questionable articles may not be enough. Through my own understanding, this swindler had a whole bunch of a crew set up, so he could possibly have had a plan for if the ladies asked to meet his family. 

Phew! It's so hard, finding someone to give your heart to may not come on a silver platter.

Do not ignore the signs, it is okay to question your every move. 

Take a step back when the people you have just met are asking for ridiculous demands from you. Although deciding what demands are ridiculous could be stifled by the amount of love we have for the people. 

Just because you understand that the other person is capable of paying you back does not mean you have to take out loans for them. I know it's hard especially if you love and trust the person and feel like you have to be there for them. 

Money will always save you from or land you in difficult situations, not to say that you shouldn't be able to help the people you love, but don't bend over backwards to the point where you literally break your back for them. 

Here are some of my own (non-tested) tips l use to stay cautious with people l meet online. 

Google search them, that's the very first thing l do in case there isn't an Instagram page linked on the online profile. Follow through anything with their name on it, be it a LinkedIn profile, Facebook page, a blog article, hell even a university registration number!

It is quite hard for people in my country though, because someone can even not have anything listed on them online. But these small findings you can get from google can come in handy, you can find out where the person works possibly, some of his friends. 

There's this guy l used to know, hadn't met him online but our conversations were not solid l then found out from his registration number l found on google what he had studied and what job he was doing in my town, FBI agent right here. 

Contribute to the bills when you meet up, this is something many females will object to, but even paying just for your transport to an agreed place will give you some power and not a sense of being indebted to the person. 

I have specifically not met someone that has offered me a lavish private jet treatment, lol, but l believe my instincts would not let me accept such an offer. What if say we got stuck and we were asked to contribute, l wouldn't afford to. That's definitely a sign for me to pump the breaks.  

Don't make hasty decisions, don't drop everything else because someone you have just met has asked you to go live with them in a different state. Make decisions that you can handle in case the other person bailed out. If you have decided to suddenly move in with him, can you still make the rent if he disappears on you? 

Asking yourself such questions even if it's in regards to a smaller decision will always help you pump the breaks on your love spree. 

With all that said, please go ahead and keep looking for love, you can not lie to yourself that you will give up on the search because as humans, we are tailored to love and be loved. 

One of the women in the documentary said she was even already back on tinder! 

Look for love because good men and good women are still out there. 

Let me even go and renew my tinder profile. 

The difference between Personality and Character

 Many times when someone mentions character and personality in one sentence, we tend to do a double-check within our minds, well maybe just me. But the two words have incessantly been used interchangeably that we even no longer care which is which. 

In my personal development class the other day, we discussed the two terms and it is shocking, okay not a lot, how different they are. 

So, what differentiates character from personality? 

I scavenged the internet for a definition of character and Macmillan dictionary defines it as "Qualities making up someone's personality". Now leaves you wondering what personality, which is made up of the character is, right?

To better understand or differentiate the two, use the analogy of a tree. The stem and the leaves (what we see above the ground) is the personality and the roots (what we even don't think about) is the character. 

Character vs personality tree analogy

The personality of a person is depicted by their visible features. The first noticeable, visible attributes you point out about someone you have just met. The old sneakers they are wearing, when they talk your ear off even when you are not on a name basis yet, their non-stop smiling...

These then lead you to make conclusions about their character, the roots that we can't dig up the ground to see. You conclude that because they talk too much then the person is talkative, a character, them wearing old sneakers maybe they are into vintage fashion. It is what we see, personality, that reveals to us what we don't see, character. 

Although, the two go hand in hand, you can not have poor roots and expect to have healthy leaves. Your root system should be strong enough to support your stem system, personality. Many times we focus a lot on our personality and forget what truly matters because, without deep roots, your personality won't stand the winds. 

Someone said that character is like pregnancy, you can hide it but not for long, it will always come to light. 

Ooh, by the way, we are discussing Stephen R. Covey's "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" in my class, you should definitely check it out if you haven't. 

How to Thrive in Tech.

 

The Technology (Tech) Field is one that has tremendously grown in the past decades following numerous technologies and tech start-ups. with the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen an extensive shift in the tech field and how it has influenced most operations in other different fields. The need to thrive in this field and not just be mediocre or lose your mind is highly necessitated. 

In our class orientation today, did l mention am a student at Refactory? Okay, not necessary, we were elated to hear from Ronald K Sebuhinja, Chief Technical Officer at Yo Uganda, and as someone who has been in the tech field for a while now, his presentation was mind-boggling!

So how can you ace your way through this tech field? 

Have a passion for the field. 

Not just passion for coding but passion for the ever-changing technologies. Take it upon yourself to find out what the latest tech invention is, what programming language is selling like hot cakes. The tech field and late nights go hand in hand and if your passion can't see you through the late nights, you might never succeed. 

Acquire Knowledge. 

Learn as much as you can, don't fall back on that one programming language you were first introduced to. Learn how to achieve the same tasks in a different language. Have it on a virtual machine so you don't dismantle your perfect setup. 

Familiarize yourself with the whole pipeline of production, from the idealization, planning, development to deployment. The tech field is constantly changing don't limit yourself to just coding but be flexible and move with the changes. 

Identify what you're good at. 

Scale down what you like and what you are actually good at and strengthen the area you're already excelling at. If you are strong at back-end development, explore more in that. Forcing yourself in a field you are not genuinely good at could end up stalling your overall development progress. 

Practice, practice, practice. 

You will never know what is missing in your code if you don't write it down. Practice as often as you can, code a complete website and deploy it on any of the free hosting platforms. Share your work on platforms like GitHub and get feedback. Write documentation for your programs, make it look like a real gig, and do it to the "customer's" satisfaction. 

While you're at the practice, check out other services in the field and see how they run, could you manipulate a certain platform that you just came across?  Practice both as a tech user as well as a tech developer. 

Network. 

Most of the opportunities will always come easily through the networks you have cultivated. Get out of your introverted programmer mode and join tech communities, locally and internationally. Interact with your idols in the tech field, attend tech seminars or in the modern-day, webinars. These will even introduce you to new tech findings that you would have never known about or maybe have taken longer to know about. 

Take care of your health. 

Having established that the tech field and late nights go hand in hand, very many developers have traded their health, sleep, relationships for perfect code. Take breaks before your body demands them, move upcountry for 5 days without your computer, love and accept to be loved, get married, raise a dog with someone you love. Generally have a life outside your code and computers. 

Consistently be on the lookout for opportunities. 

Programming opportunities are literally available in everything, whatever field. It could be the commerce sector, there's now the association with tech, which is e-commerce. Look out for what you can transform to technology, and that is almost everything. Seek remote freelance opportunities, when you are sure of what you can provide. This will, in turn, keep you growing in the tech field.

May the force of tech be with you as you thrive in this field.

What every girl should experience in their 20s before marriage.

 The other day, l came across a tweet that beguiled me on a one Twitter account @DonCorleANN. It said, "Because l don't want girls giving up their careers and lives for men. Please share what you think girls in their early 20s should experience even before they consider marriage." 

I am one person who advocates for woman emancipation, well on the low, and not tying your life to the needs of a man. Going through the replies was an awakening, like this gospel needed to be preached! And if you are a common Twitter user, you know that aside from the banter, the Twitter community really has a way of dishing out all the helpful and life-saving stuff. 

Okayy let me relay some of the stuff here;

"Date yourself: Get to know what you like/dislike, what recharges/drains you, buy yourself books/games/flowers or anything you like, level up your skills. Remember marriage is an optional quest altogether it does not affect the main progress."  _I can not emphasize how crucial dating yourself is! Once you appreciate and enjoy your own company, you will find it very easy to enjoy someone else's company too. Many times we rely on men to get us the things that make us happy, but have you ever tried getting those things yourself and realized how refreshing it can be? 

Lately, l have fallen into the habit of buying myself alcohol, something l didn't think l would ever do but l must say it has been one of the things that changed my perspective about enjoying a drink at the comfort of your home without the thought that maybe your owe the guy the bought the beer sex. 

"Learn who you are and unlearn your conditioning. Choose friends who are not man-obsessed. Experience being single without the suffocating desire to commit and that way you learn to date for the pleasure of the company and not because you want to be in a relationship."  _Have you ever had a group of friends that were all in happy relationships and bluntly made you feel like you have failed at life for not finding a man? Ditch them, get new ones. If you ever feel like you really have to be in a relationship to be happy,  you are not dating for the right reasons. 

"Learn to give yourself an orgasm. Be able to teach that to someone else. Don't accept that the goal for sex with a man is when a man has an orgasm."  _I think this is my favorite! Very many women have made their brains believe that once a man climaxes, that's it, that's all! Heyy you are entitled to the pleasure too, it's supposed to be a two-way street. And for you to come to this realization you must have figured out what works for you, what gets you off and be able to convey your wants and desires to the other person. 

"Being financially stable. When you are able to support yourself, you no longer fantasize about being "saved" by rich guys."  _I always tell people that why am not in a relationship is because I'm not financially ready for one. Many actually laugh at me saying that if the man has the money why do you have to stress yourself. There is a fulfillment that comes with financial freedom. Once you can give yourself the things you wish a man could give you, you are not even blinded when it comes to loving someone. Money most times masquerade as love, the small and cheap things you glorified someone for, turn out insignificant when you can give them to yourself. 

"Don't make career and life decisions based on a hypothetical husband arriving. Live based on the context that you're in, cross that bridge later and find a man who will help you cross the bridges in life rather than be the obstacle you need to get around." _If you ever find yourself in a situation where you have to choose between a career path and a boyfriend, don't even think twice. How do you even allow yourself to get to that point? Worst of all is when the boyfriend is even not sure that you are the one.

"Have your own life before becoming someone else's wife. Have your own home where you choose your own furniture and make your own rules. Have your own friends. Have your own long-term dreams. Just be your own whole person who has a full life."   _There are girls who move right from their parent's house to their husband's or boyfriend that later turns into a husband. How will you know how to live on your own? If anything happened to our husband, God forbid, would you move back to your parents' house again? Learning to live on your own and having your own friends and support system is one thing everyone should experience before they commit to a lifetime partner. That is how housewives fall into depression when their husbands get back to work because their husband is their entire life! They have no personal goals, passions, other friends. 

Ask yourself, would my life still be full if l never get to find a man? If the answer is no, then start on the self-discovery journey already. A man should be just the icing to the cake, the cake being your life. You should be able to get that beach house you want to live in with your husband and 3 kids even if the husband and the kids never come. 

But we will not neglect the fact that love is a beautiful thing and you deserve that beautiful thing too. 

Literal peace out!