Merry Christmas y'all

Dear Blogpals,

This is just to wish y'all a Merry christmas and a Happy new year... Nothing much to write, just wanted to send my christams greetings...

Happy birthday to Calabargal and Biodun by the way...

God bless y'all

~Nyemoni

Back Again.....

Hi Peeps,
Man, It’s been ages!!! That's not to say I haven't been in the blog world, I have been reading other peoples blogs for over a month and a half and I think it's time to update my own...

Calabargal had a post driving safely always which really tugged my heartstrings...
The overwhelmed babe kept me busy for soooo long and what struck me most besides the fact that I felt sad while reading her write-ups was the honesty in her posts, maybe I should take a cue from her and give a ‘lil more..
Tminx has this poll thing going.. I would love to see what the results would be!
And for my dear Life thru rose tinted glasses, I'm taking the baton off you now with this post; maybe I can give you a 'lil insight as to my absence...

It was a Horrible horrible November for me, I had so much drama and the last thing on my mind was blogging about it then, but I feel much better now about the turn of events so maybe I can blog about it now...

First off, It was the infamous chicken pox, then I had malaria, then I went off to Ghana to 'take a chill pill'...btw, I left my job sometime in-between the Chicken pox and Malaria... Got back to 9ja on the 19th ‘cos I had to start my new job on the 20th and on the 21st it was another story...

My house help poured 'HOT WATER' on the right side of my daughters' face, her right ear, some parts of her head and it even got up to her eyelids... The 1st Miracle was that it did not get up to her eyes. Now, that was my second day at work, and I had a kid with a first-degree burn on my hands and of course the tart ran away ASAP..... Claimed it was a mistake, she did not see my ‘lil girl (with whom she was in the living room) bla bla bla...

Anyhow, I took her to the hospital for dressing, which meant I was late to work, thereby causing raised eyebrows at my new office and had to call my bro-in law to come get her for the rest of the day. I have been a full-time working wife, full-time mother and house wife all in one. Of course my little girl could not go to School for the next week or so, so she had to shuttle from family member to family member for the interim.... She resumed school shortly after but I was living life in a whirl! I hardly knew what was happening because I was so busy picking up after everyone…. Anyhow, the second miracle was that she has healed rather nicely... One can now only see only faint traces of her date with hot water. Thankfully, I finally got another help last Friday who seems pretty O.K (let's pray she remains that way) and so things have really slowed down for me and I can take time to smell the rose...

Phew! There's the story of my life in November in a few short paragraphs...

I bless God for Healing my daughter, for bringing a new helper (necessary evils I call 'em though!) to lighten my burden, for my new job (oh yes, it’s much better than the last!) and generally for His grace which abounds bountifully in my life...

~nyemoni~

I had CHICKENPOX!

Hi guys,
This is going to be a really short one....
Your girl has been down for weeks and I had malaria and then chicken pox! Would you believe it? At my age? Man, this thing is no respector of persons oh! I was so ill....
It started with the malaria and that I could handle.... I mean, I'm a Nigerian living in Nigeria and all.. I must have had it at least 15 times in my life.. then these blisters started to appear all over my body....

I thought it was a case of misdirected pimples of some sort! Next thing I know, it's all over my face and back, legs, arms, everywhere! It was official! I had to be quarantined.. I couldn't even see my daughter or hubby for fear of passing it on and I was forced to bathe with the loathsome IZAL and rub Calamine Lotion within every inch of my body! God... I smelled and looked awful!

So here I am now guys... same 'ol NYEMONI but with some scars to show for my date with chickenpox! I'm sorry I've been away but will do my best to keep blogging...
Next week, I'm off to Ghana for a week or so and then I will be back fully.... Many thanks to Calabargal and the Overwhelmedone for missing me.. I missed y'all too but I was so outta touch with everything! I have some much work to do now.. you know getting back to reading the previous blog entries of y'all......

Phew! I have no more words at this time.... Have a fun weekend y'all!

TAG-A-LONG

Thank God it's Friday!!! Happy weekend y'all... overwhelmed babe tagged me so I gats to play along....

FOUR JOBS YOU'VE HAD IN YOUR LIFE
1. Shop keeper (Mum's Hair & Cosmetics shop)
2. Industrial Trainee
3. Database Manager
4. Contract Administrator

FOUR FICTIONAL JOBS YOU WISH YOU HAD
1. Queen of the World
2. Batwoman
3. Superwoman
4. Lara Croft

FOUR MOVIES YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN
1. The Untouchables
2. Pirates of the Carribean
3. Lord of the Ring
4. Crash

FOUR CITIES YOU'VE LIVED IN
1. PHC
2. Benin
3. Lagos
4. Haven't lived elsewhere

FOUR TV SHOWS YOU LOVE TO WATCH
1. The weakest link
2. 24
3. Friends
4. Ally McBeal (Calista fan Alert!)

FOUR PLACES YOU'VE BEEN ON VACATION/TRAVELED TO
1. duh!
2. duh!
3. duh!
4. I've never been on vacation!

FOUR WEBSITES YOU VISIT DAILY
1. www.blogspot.com
2. www.people.com
3. www.mail.yahoo.com
4. www.google.com

FOUR OF YOUR FAVORITE FOODS
1. Eba and Okro soup
2. Boiled unripe plantains with loads of snails, dried fish scrumptious! (kekefiyaye)
3. My mothers special fried Yams (like biscuits!yummy!)
4. Club Sandwich anyone??

FOUR THINGS YOU WON'T EAT
1. Dog meat aka 404
2. Akpu aka Santana
3. Gbegiri
4. Fried insects

FOUR THINGS YOU WISH YOU COULD EAT OR DRINK RIGHT NOW
1. A nice glass of chapman would be fine
2. Chocolat' Royale's Palmier
3. Fresh fish
4. Pepper soup

FOUR THINGS IN YOUR BEDROOM
1. Electronics: TV/DVD/Stereo/Fridge etc
2. A ranting three year old who calls me mummy!
3. My man....
4. Loads of books and CD's (sorry, I cheated)

FOUR THINGS YOU WISH YOU HAD IN YOUR BEDROOM
1. A baby..... (I'm craving for No. 2!)
2. The new book by Chimamanda Adichie- Half of a Yellow sun- come hither payday!
3. More space
4. More clothes....do we ever get tired?

FOUR THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW
1. Tims
2. Jeans
3. Tank top
4. Underwear

FOUR PLACES I'D RATHER BE RIGHT NOW
1. In Canada... with my sister for an hour or so
2. In PHC, eating from my mama's kitchen and gossiping
3. At my 'new' job
4. In Heaven hehehe

FOUR FICTIONAL PLACES I'D RATHER BE RIGHT NOW
1. Neverland
2. Wisteria Lane
3. Gotham City (Cos Batman would save us from all ills!)
4. Planet Krypton

FOUR PEOPLE YOU’D REALLY LOVE TO HAVE DINNER WITH
1. Anne Robinson (I'd love to pick her brains)
2. Alicia keys (she will sing until she croaks)
3. Callista Flockheart
4. Sean Connery (A gentleman and a half)

FOUR THINGS YOU ARE THINKING RIGHT NOW
1. Will this link thing work?
2. Lord have you selected Angel No. 2 yet?
3.When do I become certifiably rich?
4. When will these questions end?

FOUR OF YOUR FAVORITE THINGS
1. My family- If they count as 'a thing'
2. My book and Audio Library
3. My car (for now)
4. My blog...

FOUR PEOPLE YOU TAG
1. igo
2. jem
3. tp
4. l*i*g*h*d*e*h

News from around the world.....or something like it

Today, I have some news from within and outside Nigeria, most important of course is the one about Nigeria. My, is this country getting crazy or what? I wonder why he did not declare a state of Emergency in Oyo and Bayelsa States then when the Govs were impeached on corruption charges. Or maybe it’s because the furor was not as much as in Ekiti State. Tsk tsk.

NIGERIA
President Olusegun Obasanjo today declared a state of emergency in Ekiti State following the unconstitutional impeachment of the State governor, Governor Ayo Fayose and his deputy over corruption charges.
"I hereby declare a state of emergency in Ekiti state," he said in a National television broadcast."It is a clear case of usurpation of power. It is dangerous for our democracy ... to allow this flagrant violation of our constitution to go unchecked," Obasanjo said.

Governor Ayodele Fayose and his deputy were impeached on Monday by lawmakers after a judicial panel found them guilty of corruption. The lawmakers had earlier removed and replaced the chief judge who headed that panel; a move which Obasanjo (and the NBA) said was illegal.
Fayose, who was/is in hiding, insisted that he was still the governor. His deputy said she was the acting governor, while the lawmakers named their speaker as the new governor.
The President said this situation could not be allowed to continue as it risked causing a breach of order and safety in Ekiti and elsewhere in Nigeria. He suspended the governor, his deputy and the state house of assembly with immediate effect.

Obasanjo appointed a retired Major-general to run the affairs of the state for the next six months and said the move was to prevent Ekiti descending into anarchy and threatening security in Africa's biggest oil producer.

~OTHER WEIRD NEWS~

NEW YORK
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's car was stolen on Wednesday and his assistant was punched in the face during the carjacking, police said.Bloomberg was not in the 2001 Lexus, which was stolen while the aide was running an errand in Hackensack, New Jersey, local police said.About 9 a.m., a woman approached the window of the car and asked Bloomberg's employee for money, Hackensack police said. When he refused, a man opened the car door and began to argue, they said.
"He punches the driver in the face. She reaches into the car and starts grabbing at the driver and at some point ... they wrestle (the driver) out of the car," a Hackensack police spokesman said.The car was found about two hours later, abandoned by the side of a road in Fair Lawn, N.J. Police said they were still searching for the two suspects.Police said the employee, who helps look after Bloomberg's personal business, was not seriously injured. Police declined to give his identity but said he was 62 years old.

BRUSSELS
BRUSSELS - A Belgian court has sentenced two 73-year-old grandparents to two-year suspended jail terms this week after they were convicted of dealing in heroin and other drugs, the tribunal said on Wednesday.The elderly pensioners had taken over the business of their grandson, who himself had been imprisoned for selling heroin, cocaine and ecstasy.The court established that the couple had sold a variety of drugs to people, including one minor, who dropped by their apartment near the northern town of Aalst. Some even came by to make large orders, the court said."The only thing that counted for them was to continue the profitable drug dealing business of their grandson," the judges wrote in their ruling on Tuesday.The couple, who had no prior criminal record, were also ordered to pay fines of 1,000 euros each.

RIO DE JANEIRO
Brazil, Oct 18 - A 67-year-old Brazilian grandmother who shot and wounded a bag-snatcher in Rio de Janeiro will get a medal from the crime-ridden city's legislators even though she faces trial for illegal gun possession.A spokeswoman for the municipal legislative chamber said on Wednesday deputies had voted unanimously to award pensioner Maria Dora dos Santos Arbex with the Pedro Ernesto Merit medal, for exceptional service to the city of Rio de Janeiro.On October 8, the retired nurse was walking her poodle in the middle-class neighborhood of Flamengo when a thief tried to take her cell phone and purse.Dos Santos Arbex, who said it was the fourth such assault she had faced, took out a .38 calibre revolver and shot the thief in the hand. The man tried to flee but was caught by police, who also charged her with illegal gun possession.She has been released on parole but is awaiting trial. Her case has caused a barrage of criticism against the authorities for doing nothing to contain street crime.Police argue the award sets a bad example, especially since the gun had not been legally registered.

The Fortune Cookie Prophecy

I am a fan of Chickensoup for the soul.....got this off em. Hope you like it.

I was married three times before I was seven years old.
My older brother Gary performed the ceremonies in our basement. Gary was good at entertaining the family and neighborhood kids with his creative ideas. Since I was the youngest boy in our group, I was often on the receiving end of his creativity.
What I remember most about those weddings is that all the girls were at least five years older than I was, and they all had beautiful eyes that sparkled when they laughed. Those weddings taught me to imagine what it would be like to find my soul mate one day and to be sure that I would know her by her beautiful eyes.

Puberty hit me late. I was still afraid of the opposite sex when I was fifteen, and yet I prayed every night for the girl I would marry. I asked God to help her do well in school and to be happy and full of energy-wherever and whoever she was.
I first kissed a girl when I was twenty-one. From that time forward, I dated many beautiful and talented young ladies, searching for the girl I had prayed for in my youth and still certain that I would know her by her eyes.

One day, my phone rang. "Don," it was my mother. "You know I told you about the Addisons, who moved in next door to us. Well, Clara Addison keeps asking me to invite you over for cards some night."
"Sorry, Mom, I've got a date that night."
"How could you? I haven't even told you what night it is?" my mother responded with exasperation.
"It doesn't matter when. I'm sure the Addisons are nice people, but I'm not going to waste an evening socializing with people who don't have any eligible daughters."
That's how stubborn I was-I was positive that there was no reason for me to go to visit the Addisons.

Years passed. I was twenty-six, and my friends were getting nervous about my prospects. They kept lining up blind dates for me. Many of these dates were fiascoes, and they were interfering with my social life. So I made up a few rules about blind dates:
1. No dates recommended by my mother (moms don't understand the sex-appeal factor).
2. No dates recommended by a female (they're too easy on each other).
3. No dates recommended by a single guy friend (if she's so awesome, how come he hasn't asked her out?).
In three simple steps, I eliminated 90 percent of all my blind dates, including one recommended by my old friend Karen. She called one evening to tell me that she had become good friends with a beautiful girl who reminded her of me. She said she knew we would hit it off. "Sorry," I said, "you're ruled out by rule number two."
"Don," she said, "You're crazy, and your silly rules are eliminating the girl you've been waiting for. But have it your way. Just take her name and phone number, and when you change your mind, call her."
To get Karen to stop bothering me about it, I said I would. The girl's name was Susan Maready. I never called her.
Just a couple of weeks later, I ran into my old buddy Ted in the university cafeteria. "Ted," I said. "You look like you're walking on air."
"Can you see stars under my feet?" he said, laughing. "The fact is, I just got engaged last night."
"Hey, congratulations!"
"Yeah," he said, "at thirty-two, I was beginning to wonder if any woman was going to have me." He pulled his wallet out of his pocket. "Here," he said, suddenly serious, "look at this.
It was a thin strip of paper from a fortune cookie. "You will be married within a year," it said.
"That's wild," I said. "They usually say something that would fit anyone, like 'You have a magnetic personality. They were really taking a chance with that one."
"No kidding," he said. "And look at me now."

A few weeks later, my roommate Charlie and I were eating dinner at a Chinese restaurant. I shared this story about Ted's fortune cookie prediction, and his subsequent engagement. Just then, the waiter brought over our postmeal fortune cookies. Charlie laughed at the coincidence as we opened our cookies. Mine said, "You have a magnetic personality." His said, "You or a close friend will be married within a year." A chill ran up my spine. This was really strange. Something told me to ask Charlie if I could keep his fortune, and he handed it to me with a smile.
Not long afterward, my classmate Brian said he wanted to introduce me to a young woman named Susan Maready. I was sure I'd heard that name before, but couldn't remember how or where. Since Brian was married, and therefore I wouldn't be breaking my "rules" about being fixed up by single guys, I accepted his offer to meet Susan.

Susan and I spoke on the phone, and planned a bike ride and a cookout. Then, the meeting-and as soon as I saw her, my heart started beating hard and wouldn't stop. Her large green eyes did something to me I couldn't explain. But somewhere in me, I knew that it was love at first sight.
After that wonderful evening, I remembered that this hadn't been the first time someone tried to fix me up with Susan. It all came back to me. Her name had been popping up all over the place for a long time. So the next time I had a chance to talk to Brian alone, I asked him about it.
He squirmed and tried to change the subject.
"What is it, Brian?" I asked.
"You'll have to ask Susan," was all he'd say.
So I did.
"I was going to tell you," she said. "I was going to tell you.
"Come on, Susan," I said. "Tell me what? I can't stand the suspense."
"I've been in love with you for years," she said, "since the first time I saw you from the Addisons' living room window. Yes-it was me they wanted you to meet. But you wouldn't let anyone introduce us. You wouldn't let the Addisons set us up; you wouldn't take Karen's word for it that we would like each other. I thought I was never going to meet you."
My heart swelled with love, and I laughed at myself. "Karen was right," I said. "My rules were crazy."
"You're not mad?" she asked.
"Are you kidding?" I said. "I'm impressed. I've got only one rule for blind dating now."
She gave me a strange look. "What's that?"
"Never again," I said and kissed her.
We were married seven months later.
Susan and I are convinced that we are true soul mates. When I was fifteen and praying for my future wife, she was fourteen and praying for her future husband.
After we had been married a couple of months, Susan said to me, "Do you want to hear something really strange?"
"Sure," I said. "I love to hear strange things."
"Well, about ten months ago, before I'd met you, my friends and I were at this Chinese restaurant, and…" She pulled a slip of paper from a fortune cookie out of her wallet:
"You will be married within a year…."

The Fortune Cookie Prophecy by Don Buehner
culled from Chicken soup for the Romantic Soul

Auto-Manual: Tales of the lazy left foot and right hand

For the past 4 + years, I had been driving an Auto(matic gear) car and driving was pure bliss, infact it used to be a way of release for me. I actually went to driving school in early 2001, where I used a manual (stick) beat-up volkswagen beetle in my attempt to learn the art of driving in Lagos. I did not even complete the course. Well, what happened was I went for 5 days out of the 10 days course and since I could already move the car, I felt I was good to go.

I got my first car a few months later and it had an Automatic gear so I promptly forgot everything about my fiends, "the clutch" and "the gear stick" I was living the life!!! I felt, driving is way too easy! and I thought that was all there was to it.

Fast forward 5 years later. My S.O and I decide it's time to get yours truly a new care and we decide on this cute thing. For a manual of the same car, it's say Naira x and for an automatic gear it's Naira x + some. The price difference is actually over a Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira more, so we decide to do the Economy thing and get the cheaper one. Then came the challenge. How was I, a die hard Auto driver going to make the switch to a manual car? As usual with me I psyched myself "if some 16 year old kid can do it, so can I!" (same thing I thought through pregnancy and delivery btw)

There I was a few days later, a 5 year old driver turned Learner (I didn't put up the big L sign, mind you) struggling on the streets of Lagos to get to work and back home. It's like learning how to run without first walking. Oh how may times I forgot to clutch down or change to a higher gear! Anyway, all that is past me... I am now a fully certified Class B driver -According to my drivers' license!

My next challenge will be learning how to swim... How on earth did I, a girl born and brought up in the Niger-Delta miss learning that throughout my youth?? Phew!

The Bookseller of Kabul

This is the book I am reading now.... I am halfway through it and would finish it tonight! It's a true life story of a book-seller and his family in Kabul, Afghanistan written by Åsne Seierstad a Norwegian journalist, who moved in with him and his family for three months with the primary aim of writing a book about them and Afghanistan as a whole.

In her book, she mirrors the traditional family life of the Afghans, their communal living, their religious and socio-political life, the rise and fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan and above all, the bookseller.

She wrote her book based on her take on the words and actions of the books' main character Sultan Khan, his wives Sharifa and Sonya, His sister Leila, His sons Mansur, Eqbal and Aimal and daughter Shabnam.

It's sad that although this book is the Norway's biggest Non-fiction bestseller in history, it also caused a lot of fury from the real Bookseller Shah Muhammad Rais and his family, the models upon whom the novel was based.

He described the book as containing "...defamations of myself, my family and my country contained in her book "The Bookseller of Kabul" involving questions of honour and truth that extend far beyond the lies and distortions committed in this particular case..." he also brought legal action against the author.

Whatever the verdict was, my take is this: Forget the book was based on "the book seller" - although that is the title. Just try to read the book. It is worth a thousand words.

For all the Ladies....

Hi every one.. Its been a long time, if I may say so myself... I got this in a mail from my sister and decided to share it will all the ladies....

Enjoy.

THE SILENT TREATMENT

A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment. Suddenly, the man realized that the next day,he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 am for an early morning business flight. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (and LOSE), he wrote on a piece of paper, "Please wake me at 5:00 am” He left it where he knew she would find it.The next morning, the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 am and he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go andsee why his wife hadn't wakened him, when he noticed a piece of paper bythe bed. The paper said, "It is 5:00 am. Wake up." Men are not equipped for these kinds of contests.

WIFE VS. HUSBAND

A couple drove down a country road for several miles, not saying a word. An earlier discussion had led to an argument and neither of them wanted to concede their position. As they passed a barnyard of mules, goats, and pigs, the husband asked sarcastically, "Relatives of yours?" "Yep," the wife replied , "in-laws

WOMEN'S REVENGE

" Cash, check or charge?" I asked, after folding items the woman wished to purchase. As she fumbled for her wallet I noticed a remote control for a television set in her purse. "So, do you always carry your TV remote?" I asked."No," she replied, “but my husband refused to come shopping with me, and I figured this was the most evil thing I could do to him legally."

UNDERSTANDING WOMEN (A MAN'S PERSPECTIVE)

I know I'm not going to understand women. I'll never understand how you can take boiling hot wax, pour it onto your upper thigh, rip the hair out by the root, and still be afraid of a spider. W O R D S A husband read an article to his wife about how many words women use a day... 30,000 to a man's 15,000. The wife replied, "The reason has to be because we have to repeat everything to men... The husband then turned to his wife and asked, "What?"

CREATION

A man said t o his wife one day, "I don't know how you can be so stupid and so beautiful all at the same time. " The wife responded, "Allow me to explain. God made me beautiful so you would be attracted to me; God made me stupid so I would be attracted to you!

WHO DOES WHAT

A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew the coffee each morning. The wife said, "You should do it, because you get up first, and then we don't have to wait as long to get our coffee." The husband said, “You are in charge of cooking around here and you should do it, because that is your job, and I can just wait for my coffee." Wife replies, "No, you should do it, and besides, it is in the Bible that the man should do the coffee." Husband replies, "I can't believe that, show me." So she fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testament and showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says........."HEBREWS"

God may have created man before woman, but there is always a rough draft before the masterpiece.

The Nigerian Independence Celebrations

I was at my daughter’s school yesterday for their Independence Day celebration. The whole week has generally been a buzz of activities with them doing cultural things like tie and dye, viewing artifacts and Nigerian coins and such. Yesterday, all parents were asked to dress their kids up in their respective cultural attires and also bring a local Nigerian dish which would be tasted by all the kids. The parents were also invited to the school for a fashion parade, food-tasting and also a presentation by the children.

I dressed my daughter up in her (I’m not from her state) traditional attire of a wrapper with beads on her neck and head. Not enough beads, she’d have worn some more on her wrists. My, did she look like a princess! I decided to go my way a bit and cook something from my locality. I made Boiled unripe plantains and a vegetable sauce to go with it and off we went to school!
Boy was I glad when our efforts were applauded with cheers from her teachers who called her a princess and all on seeing her! Anyway, the festivities began with the food tasting where all meals were opened, described by the teacher, and tasted by the kids, and a presentation of “greetings” by the children in the 3 major languages.

The people we see and their languages too, are different you know, are different you know (2x) Ekaro ma, Ekaro Sir…… you know the drill!

What followed was a fashion parade and our little ones paraded out with the moderator announcing the state each kid represented amidst a lot of applause from the parents, picture taking and hugs and kisses for the kids! It was all so sweet! It ended with the presentation of a brief history of Nigeria, the singing of our National Anthem and the pledge.

Pity I can’t put up a pix of my princess, I wouldn’t want to violate her privacy! Anyway, I salute my fellow country men as our nation Turns 46. May we grow from strength to strength, and may our Leaders lead us aright!




The Nigerian National Anthem
Arise, O compatriots,
Nigeria’s call obey
To serve our fatherland
With love and strength and faith
The labor of our heroes past
Shall never be in vain
To serve with heart and might
One nation bound in freedom, peace and unity.

Oh God of creation,
direct our noble cause;
Guide our leaders right;
Help our Youth the truth to know
In love and honesty to grow
And living just and true
Great lofty heights attain
To build a nation where peace and justice shall reign.

Counting my blessings

This is going to be the first post about ME!

I turned Twenty something last week (I've been Twenty something for over 5 years now, mind you), and I wondered about my life’s very essence. I mean most of us l have various things lined up in our 'Things I'll do before I hit 30' (or 40 or 50) list, and I worry that I've not been a super-achiever these past few years! My birthday was fraught with worries for some hours, until I decided to make myself happy and turn to the blessings I've got.....

Sometimes we feel so down because we feel we have not attained whatever goal we set for ourselves and we forget all the blessings God has given us in those moments. Rationalizing this thought more closely shows that we measure ourselves against phoney standards, mostly because of where our peers are at.

I want to use this post to remind myself of my success, rather than my failures; my capabilities rather than my inabilities and my blessings rather than my 'hard-luck'. I also want to thank God for being faithful to me against all odds. I may not be the queen of the pack, but I know I’m richly blessed.

Lastly, I want to remind everyone who reads this post and is a believer in Christ no matter how sinful you are: "God always answers your prayers, but sometimes the answer is NO"



P.S
I also want to thank God for Manchester United's win against Benfica yesterday... We may not be at the top of the English Premier League, but we may just make it No. 9 this year!

P.P.S
All you United haters, get a life!!

Nigeria' s President 2007: Who da man?

The Intro…..
I have so much on my mind yet so little to blog about. I am guilty of reading other blogs rather that writing in mine, but I have no apologies. I guess I’m still young at this blogging thing but I promise to do my utmost henceforth. Now back to today’s entry.

The Entry
I have often pondered about Nigeria's future, and what the tide will bring come 2007. We all know that a change of power usually leads to Violence, Riots, Kidnap, Political rallies, Debates, manifestos and all-what-nots, but the most mind boggling thing is the big Question: “Who will be our next president?” Besides watching the progress to the elections 2007 on local TV and forming my own opinion about who the likely President may be, I've asked people around me the question time and again, and the answers I get vary from “Dunno”, “Don't care anyhow”, “Na them know”, and some other lousy answers which make me wonder if we really care about our country's leadership? Have the future leaders of Nigeria lost all care?

Now, don’t get me wrong. There are also the other1/2 who are interested in the “So who’s next?” They have come up with names like:
Donald Duke, Dr. Peter Odili, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, I.B.B, Pastor Chris Okotie, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Professor Jerry Gana, Professor Pat Utomi, Abubakar Atiku, Dora Akunyili, etc. Mind you, some people name candidates according to their geo-political zones rather on their conviction that he/she will do a good job!

I can’t tell whether the next President is even on this list, or if he (that’s the one thing that’s definite!) has come out to declare his intentions even, but I hope and pray that our next leader will be one who will conscientiously try to move Nigeria ahead and appoint like minded people in his cabinet regardless of gender, tribe or religion.

I got this in a mail I received today and it’s going to be The Outro….
“Never doubt that a group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead

P.S
Do tell me what you think about who the next Pres will be. I appreciate feedbacks!

Tupac Amaru Shakur: From the cradle to the grave

The first time I heard Tupac’s “Brenda’s got a baby” I was blown away by the lyrics of the song and I wondered who’s song it was…. Then I watched the movie “Juice” shortly after and didn’t know whether to love Tupac or to hate him, because the role he played in the movie Juice was so intense, it left such an impact in my young mind.

From then on, I began to follow his career, and he wowed me more and more with songs like, “I get around”, “Bury Me a G”, “Pour Out a Little Liquor”, “How Long Will They Mourn Me?”, “Cradle to the Grave”, “Me Against The World”, “Lord Knows”, “Dear Mama”, “Life Goes On”, “California Love”, “I Ain't Mad at Cha”, “Picture Me Rollin”, “Ratha Be Ya N____”, “All Eyez on Me”, “Just Like Daddy”, “To live and die in L.A”, “Krazy”, “Against all Odds”, “White man’s world”, “Me and my girlfriend” and lots more from the albums “Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z.”, “Thug Life Vol. 1”, “Me Against the World”, “All Eyez on Me”, “The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory”

Tupac Amaru Shakur was born Lesane Parish Crooks on June 16th 1971 in Brooklyn, New York to Afeni Shakur, a member of the Black Panther Party. His mother changed his name from Lesane Parish Crooks to Tupac Shakur. The name is from an Inca Indian tribe and means ‘shining serpent’, and his last name, Shakur, means ‘thankful to God’. While a young child, Tupac discovered his love for dance and music. His mother encouraged him and as a teenager, his family moved to Baltimore, MD.

While living there, Tupac started attending the Baltimore School for the Performing Arts, studying acting and ballet. He began his career in 1991 as a member of the group Digital Underground and in the same year he received individual recognition for his album “2Pacalypse Now”.

Tupac always shared his life experiences through his music. Every song was about his journey through life, and to me, he was a poet. I also saw him as a regular kinda guy, and he seemed rather like someone I could hang with. He was very out-spoken and his music reflected his many sides, some lyrics were motivated by love, some sought self-understanding and others were angry responses to the cruel injustices of life. He was also an actor having acted in movies like Juice, Poetic Justice, Above the Rim, Gang Related, Gridlock'd and Bullet.

His life was filled with a lot of drama and he has been romanticized to the level of a martyr. During his lifetime, he was seldom out of the spotlight with a 15-day jail term in 1994 for assault and battery, a conviction in 1995 for sexual assault of a female fan, his influence in promoting gangsta rap, his war of words with the Notorious B.I.G aka Biggie smalls/East coast rappers/Bad Boy Records and his constant talk about his death and funeral.

There are mixed views from people regarding Tupac, with people seeing him as Inspirational, a thug, a poet, a gangsta, and a realist. To me, Tupac was the Ultimate. His lyrics, beats and poetry are second to none and it was sad when he died exactly 10 years ago today, following a drive- by shooting after a boxing match in Las Vegas 6 days earlier, from which he suffered severe gun shot wounds. He was only 25.

I remember him today and hope that his music positively affects all those who listen to him.

……..Rest in Peace Pac!............

My A to Z of Music

Saw this on a blog and decided to do mine! Here goes!

A. Alanis Morisette

B. Boyz 11 Men, Beyonce

C. Coldplay

D. Donnie McClurkin, Des'ree

E. Enya

F. Floetry, Five for fighting

G. Gavin DeGraw, Goo goo Dolls

H. Hoobastank

I. India. Arie

J. John Legend, Jill Scott, Jodeci, Jason Mraz

K. Kanye West

L. Lauryn Hill

M. Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey

N. Nelly Furtado

O. Outcast

P. Pharell

Q. Q-Tip

R. Robbie Williams, R.E.M

S. Steele Pulse, Sound Sultan

T. The Cranberries, Tupac Shakur

U. Usher, U2

V. Vanessa Carlton

W. Whitney Houston

X. Xhibit (Just cos there's no one else)

Y. Yolanda Adams

Z. Zhane (same reason as X above)

Anyone who reads this has been tagged! That's it! I'm out :-)

Shadows of 9/11

Today is the sad anniversary of 9/11 2001. It’s been 5 years since the world was thrown into Terror after the attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon by nihilistic radicals.

On that unparalleled day of sorrow, 19 suicide bombers hijacked 4 American jetliners American Airlines Flight 11, United Airlines Flight 175, American Airlines Flight 77 and United Airlines Flight 93, five on each, except for United Airlines Flight 93, which had four hijackers and then flew the jets into the aforementioned locations as well as into a field near the town of Shanksville in rural Somerset County, Pennsylvania (which is believed to have resulted from the hijackers deliberate either crashing of the aircraft or by losing control of it as they fought with the passengers)causing the death of over 2,900 people and damage to public property worth Billions of USD.

The United States claims that Osama bin laden and al-Qaeda are to be held accountable for the attacks. It is claimed also that he has declared a Jihad (holy war) against the US, and a Fatwa calling for the killing of American civilians, their motives being U.S. support of Israel, U.S. military occupation of the Arabian Peninsula and U.S. aggression against the Iraqi people.

Over the past five years, the fight against terror has become increasingly desperate, with the raging war in Afghanistan and Iraq and the global fever of the “War on Terror” as well as the fear of Islam. Intelligence has improved and much of al- Qaeda’s command has been destroyed, but the al-Qaeda franchise or should I say, brand-name has gained a lot of publicity. We have had the introduction of desperate measures by the authorities to reduce the risk factor as well as educating the public about the threat we face by the over usage of words like nine eleven, burqa, jihad, Taliban, ground zero, Let's roll, Homeland security and Weapons of Mass Destruction aka WMD. Whatever name we call it will not change the face of terror. Let me summarize it by stating this well known fact- Intelligence and security measures alone will never close the gap on terror.

I want to use this medium to pray that God protects us all from terror, and may He give the families and friends of the people whose lives were lost in this heart-breaking episode the fortitude to bear the loss. Amen.

Female Drivers in 9ja

Well well well! My first post in my blog! Yipee! I'm listening to Mariah Carey's When I saw you - God, I love her music, especially this album. Its 12 noon on a Tuesday and I'm looking forward to reading the Guardian. All Nigerians mos' definitely know what the Guardian on Tuesday is all about..... Yeah, I have a job, but I'm seeking a better one, as is always the case.

Now, this is something I've always wanted to write about. Yes, you know- Female Drivers. I don't mean women who have the job title - Driver, but the everyday chic driving. Why are a lot of us soooo agressive? We act like someone is tying to take our birth right when they try to get ahead of us...... Last week, there was a nasty hold-up on my way home from work, and I noticed the lane beside me was moving faster than mine, so I decided I had to move over and join the moving train.
I indicated to my left and also stuck out my hand to let the fellow sistah on that lane know that I wanted to get in from of her. Voila! She accelerated so fast, she almost hit me. I had to keep to my lane for the time being.
I eventually suceeded in getting the desired lane, but I kept wondering, "why is it that women tend to be agressive behind the wheels?" I have tried out this changing lanes thingy a couple of times since then, and the result is almost always the same. On the contrary, I most certainly do not drive that way! I almost always make sure to let people(be it male or female) who indicate their desire to get ahead of me get ahead...
Anyway, that's my 2 cents on this first post!