2017 in review.

First of all, I would like to thank The Almighty God for having helped me pass through 2017. It has not been all butterflies and rainbows, sometimes I got thunderstorms but hey, I am still breathing and by any standards, that is what really matters. As long as you are still breathing, anything else can change. So here I am, writing about my year in review.

January kicked off with New Year’s Day celebrations, and I kicked it off with my very lovely friend Sa’ra, who also doubles as my big sister from another mother. It was a fun filled night, with music, watching fireworks, endless laughter and a few non-alcoholic drinks. She interviewed me, and you can watch that interview here.

February set in with me starting to write my first book. I am halfway through it now. I know progress is slow but hey, I started with a single sentence, and now I have 120 pages. I am pleased with myself. Besides, I am not in a race with anybody. Then Valentine’s Day came, which really does not mean much to me these days because it has not found me in love since 2014. 15^th February was the better day because it opened up a new relationship for me with this very gorgeous lady. We had been talking for about 10 months and we had never met. We met on 15^th February and fell in love with each other. Or so I thought.

March 14^th was my birthday. Did not have a party of course, I have never had a birthday party in my life. I think it is wastage of money, which money I do not even have in the first place. Aha. Anyways in this day and age of celebrating events on social media, I got loads of birthday messages from online friends. My Mom sent me some money too. Oh okay we can call that a gift.

From April towards the end of August, I really felt so loved and wanted by the awesome lady I mentioned in the February section. We did everything people in love do, except getting married and kids. We were looking in that direction though. We were happy. In between there, from May to August, Arsenal won The FA Cup for the record 13th time, and Real Madrid became the only club to successfully defend the UEFA Champions league.

Speaking of success, I successfully did and completed at short course in Mobile Apps development from Makerere University. So if you have an app you want to be developed, contact me please. Aha. Also in May, Uganda Police’s AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi was gruesomely shot dead in his car, on his way to office in the morning, together with his two bodyguards. May their souls rest in peace.

Also, popular musician Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu, aka Bobi Wine easily won a heated by-election to fill the Parliamentary seat of Kyaddondo East. It was a famous election that took the country by storm, popularizing the statement, “If the parliament doesn’t go to the ghetto, the ghetto will go to parliament.

The Ghetto President, H.E Bobi Wine, downgraded himself to Hon. Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu, just to serve the people in his constituency. Such a man.

After that, the famous Togikwatako campaign set in to stop the government from amending article 102(b) of the constitution that would allow anybody of over 75 or 18 years to stand for presidency. Many saw this as a move to allow *in Besigye’s voice*, Mr Museveni life presidency. There was a fierce battle in parliament, some from the opposition were suspended, others severely injured.

MPs fighting in Parliament. Jab one jab one two..

Back to me, everything was going good until I learnt of her unfaithfulness towards the end of August. And the reason, wait for it, wait, wait, wait for it, “I was weak, Norman.” She told me. Really? That is one of the most ridiculous cheating excuses I have ever heard in the entire cheating history. Truthfully, at this point, I was madly in love with her. My heart was beating for her I was thinking about her most of the time. I was thinking about moving in with her. But I was broken. And believe me when I tell you, a broken heart hurts more than a broken limb, and by rate at which it’s happening to me, I am getting used really.

September started with Eid Adhuha, and it was wonderfully celebrated at home with family. We ate the chicken, the pilau and everything halal in between. Eid is a big deal to me.

Can't wait to become Hajj so people can stop asking, "Hey, your name is Norman, how come you are a moslem?"

Back to my love life, I decided to forgive the lady I was in love with, because truthfully, I wanted our relationship to work. She had big dreams, I had big dreams and she was a part of them. I am a forgiving person really. You can do me so dirty and I will still convince myself that those were not your intentions and I will forgive you because I believe there is still goodness in you, so I give people second chances to redeem themselves. Sadly, many people take that for granted. Long story short, we got back together.

Nothing much happened in October, except our country’s independence celebrations.

Fast forward to November, I got to know that the lady I was in love with, was cheating on me, again. This time it was fate because how I knew it? We were just there joking like, “Hey I am divorcing you now...” And she opened a book she usually used to write stuff in, for me to sign the divorce papers, all purely jokes. Then I read something she had written about kissing another man, and enjoying it. That was it man, I was done. I went from being taken, to being taken for granted. I felt so unappreciated and disappointed, but I was brought up in pain, so I know well how to hide it.

Relationship ended in December. Sadly. I know it is for the best for us all. I still want her to be my friend though. The love is still there.

Also in December, NRM MPs finally decided to amend article 102(b) of the Uganda constitution that allows someone above 75 and 18 years of age to stand for president. This was long overdue I mean, we all know they were just stalling us but were to do as they wanted because they have the numbers.

Festival season set in.

Bonus stuff:

I have not fallen sick all year round. I thank God for that. Of course, there was some flu and cough in between but I do not count that as sickness. But my grandma got a terrible accident her legs almost fractured. She’s currently receiving treatment and responding well to it. Thank God.

I made some new friends; fell out with some old ones. That is life though; people come and go. Imagine if you had stayed friends with everybody that you crossed paths with, wouldn’t you be friends with almost the entire country? Life goes on…

And oh, the president forced every media house to air his end of the year message on new year's eve. Yeah I can imagine.

So that was my 2017. I pray 2018 is full of God’s blessings and grace, fulfillment of our dreams and realization of our goals. Ameen. You can tell me about how yours went in the comments below. Happy new year. Don't forget to be good.