One of my resolutions this year is to be in more control of my life decisions; making choices that I know are going to help me take steps to my goals, and not choices that others think will be good for me.

It’s probably not news to many of my readers that besides blogging (and shopping), my actual day job is pursuing my Pharmacy Doctorate. Of recent, I have been thinking a lot about how I plan on using it in a way that will feel worthy of spending almost a decade in school, and a way that will make me love going to my job. Writing being my passion, there is a good chance I will likely end up becoming a medical correspondent of some sort.

With this in mind, I decided to face my PharmD advisor and request taking advanced writing and reporting classes for my electives.

She responded by asking why I wanted to waste my time with those classes when there were better options like Emergency Preparedness classes. Once I broke it down to her, that not every pharmacy graduate was destined to stand behind a counter, and that it is pharmacists with writing skills that are putting research findings into readable material for the masses, and that I could be a chief medical correspondent of a prominent media house (hello Dr. Sanjay Gupta), that her eyes widened in agreement. It took some convincing but she soon approved of my choices and I was well on my way. For the first time in my professional career, I felt in control. I knew what I wanted, and I was going for it, despite the doubt from all corners.

So in the master plan to actually make this “Your Year”, don’t sit around and wait for life to happen to you. Go make your life what you want it to be; Don’t just be alive, Start living!

Enjoy these great shots from my little adventure across Africa’s biggest lake, Victoria.

Images from Lake Victoria

I’m all about the experience so instead of a speed boat, I opted for the wooden boat with a tiny engine at the back…no regrets…except the part where I literally had to jump into the boat as there was no step to get in. A good portion of the boat is in the water so it’s actually longer than it looks. My legs were too short to keep one leg on the ground at each time and I’m no jumper, so you can imagine the kind of show I put on for people around…it took at least three tries before I could get into the the damn boat. I even heard one of the onlookers asking, “Ono kiki ekimuleese,” (what brought this one here) right before he came to help tilt the boat so that I could slide in…lol.

Check me out being unafraid

It was a 10-minute boat ride from Ggaba town to a nearby Island, Katanga, a small village whose breathtaking view of the lake is steadily attracting developers.

I was told this little floating island had come to visit two weeks ago, and was expected to stick around for a couple of days more. Just when my tour guide and I had discussed the insane amount of snakes it might be carrying, we saw two teens walking around in there.

These guys were fishing…

This little place was the most quiet, most peaceful tiny beach I had ever been to. In the few moments I spent there, I could hear every leaf, every bird, every wave of water, with absolutely no worldly distractions…simply nature at its finest.

Finally, we got back to Ggaba where the vibrant market was in full swing.

If you ask anyone in Kampala, they will tell you Ggaba has the best fried fish in the city…and I wasn’t the one to miss out.

Happy February, Love and love, Buba.