My Hair-Story

This past weekend, I did what was probably the most drastic thing I have ever done—I cut my hair. To be clear, I did not do it on a whim; I am still not that spontaneous. I had thought about it for long before deciding. And even after deciding to cut it off, I planned it. I remember saying here that I was never going to cut my hair. That’s why they say never say never. Haha. I never would have once thought I’d be one to cut off my hair though. I had never even cut my hair before. So why did I cut it? Maybe I’ll be able to answer that question as I type further along.

Friday Reflections

1.) Nigeria's elections are over.

2.) On one hand, I'll miss ALL the banter about the election. On the other hand, the process revealed too many unintelligent people, and I'm just glad we are over all that.

3.) It made me wonder, can I marry someone with completely different ideologies than mine?

4.)  Speaking of marriage, I gave my Mom a hint of what I think the next five years of my life may look like. She immediately expressed concerns about where and why marriage isn't tucked somewhere in those plans.

5.) Life is funny. Or rather, parents are funny.

6.) I believe I have a sense of humor to some extent, but I can't ever understand why some people deem it fit to crack lame jokes in very serious situations.

7.) There should be limits to sarcasm and jokes; why would I tell you I was stranded for eight hours on the highway, and you'll still have the effrontery to make a silly joke out of it?

8.) Yeah miss me with that. Call me uptight or whatever. I laugh a LOT, but I know where to draw the line.

9.)  I have been so disciplined with blogging these past few weeks. I don't think it'll be possible for the next few weeks...it's going to be very busy for me.

10.) It's Easter...Happy Easter!!

11.)Time and time again, I am thankful Christ found me worthy enough to die for my sins. I am very underserving, but I know (without a doubt) that if he had to do it again, he would. Thank you, Jesus.

12.) My sister, tired of me having just 4 songs on my phone, picked up my phone and sent me some songs. She sent me the exact songs I would want to listen to. How can someone know me so well?

My Love and Hate Relationship with Maths

It is a confirmed fact that Mathematics has come to stay permanently. There is no doubting that anymore. When we were in junior secondary school (middle school for my non-Nigerian audience), it was always "just wait till you get to senior secondary school, if you are not in the sciences, it won't matter as much." Okay. But then we got to senior secondary school (high school) and then, it became, "you won't get into any University if you fail Maths." Okay.  First degree for me meant freedom from maths (Thank God) because I was in the humanities. But then came time for a graduate degree. "Oh look, you gotta ace the quantitative section on GRE. If not kiss that prospect of an acceptance goodbye." Okay. Blood and sweat again. Graduate school came, "Oh Statistics class is compulsory, because the job market is hella crazy right now, and employers are looking for candidates who are quite quantitative focused." So now, I have just given up. Maths is a horrible tragedy that as come to stay.

The truth is I am not terrible at Maths (I never was), I just loathe the subject; I have absolutely no interest in it. Let's analyze issues in plain English or whatever, just get the formulas off my face. Ironically, I am good with numbers. There is no friend or family whose number I don't know off the top of my head. Or what does it mean to be good with numbers?

Anyway, I remembered an incidence tonight and thought to blog about it. See, at the end of every term in secondary school, my Mom and I always did a particular 'dance.' She would look at my report sheet: I would ace my Literature class, ace my Government class, ace my C.R.S class, even ace my Economics class (we all know Economics at that level was child's play), ace my Accounting class, ace my English class (and believe me, this is impressive. Q.C English teachers had NO mercy)... but then we would get to Maths and Biology and it would be terribly mediocre: some terms, I barely passed the passmark. My mother would talk and talk and talk  all through the journey home from boarding school. She would remind me how hopeless a future without Maths and Biology was. She would start to rack her brain to figure out how to get me extra lessons during the holidays, because again, what future did anyone have without Maths and Biology? In those days (unsure about now) a WASSCE result was hopeless without those two subjects. I was never bothered though. I knew it wasn't a case of being smart or not, it was an absolute lack of interest in these classes. My Biology classes were such a drag, and my first Biology teacher did not help matters. (Hello Mr. Ayuba.)

So this dance always happened. Normal stuff. I got used to it. A few days into the holiday, everything would be back to normal. How do parents have so MUCH patience? LOL. There was one term it did not happen though, I remember clearly. It was the third term of S.S.1. I had an 81% in Maths. It was memorable. It was thrilling. It was exciting. What made it even more memorable was how many people had failed Maths woefully that term. It was so bad that the Principal had to call for emergency meeting because considering the reports, about half the students in S.S.1 (we called it Corridor. I miss Q.C!) were going to have to repeat. I heard the news from Abuja, where I was enjoying an excursion with some of my classmates. Oh what a feeling? I remember the exam being unusually easy for me. I went for the exam with little studying (I never bothered wasting my time with Maths) and the exam was really GOOD, I had a 57 out of 70. I had got a 24 on my tests so, 81. See I remember something from almost nine years ago, because it was a gooood feeling. Success is so exhilarating. I remember my Mom being really happy, and beaming with pride.

Imagine my surprise when I scored higher in the quantitative section of GRE  than in the verbal section lol. It then occurred to me that we can't always dismiss our weaknesses. Sometimes, all it takes is to divert a little more interest and take the time to know it. That has worked for me with Maths. Higher level statistics on the other hand, LOL. Seriously though, I believe if we put out minds to something, we can conquer it. However, using our strengths to our advantage does not hurt at all. So what if you are only good at one thing? Use that one thing to shine. Use it so much, it brings you before kings. Besides, there is no one who is born perfect.

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence therefore, is not an act, but a habit." -Aristotle.

Love,
I

March 30--Nigeria Has Decided.

Monday!! Before I get into today's gist, let me digress. Today's weather was really good. It was the perfect spring weather. I even took some pictures...in awe of nature...in awe of God's awesomeness...in admiration of God's creativity.

Sunshine :-D

     

Election weekend in Nigeria!!! Where do I begin to describe this past weekend? For one, Nigerians are now more aware of things. Gone are the days when we would be very indifferent and nonchalant. There was a time Nigerians would not even step out of their houses to vote. Last weekend though, Nigerians proved they had had enough. There comes a time in the history of a nation, when the people come together in unity for change. I heard it was a rainy day in Lagos, yet majority went out to vote, to prove that power belongs to them. I even saw pictures of very old men and women, step out (mostly aided by walking sticks or younger people) to vote. They are also concerned about the Nigeria they would be leaving behind.

At this stage, like I have been saying on all my social media, I am just glad that now those political leaders looting the nation will finally realize that the power belongs to we Nigerians.  The real victory belonged to Nigeria and Nigerians. Our voices have been heard. If any politician messes up, we will VOTE them out. 

The final results aren't even out, but I have to trust in and believe in the system. I have to trust that this system has not betrayed me or the other 169 million Nigerians. It is my hope that fellow Nigerians accept this too. I pray for a peaceful Nigeria. I am one of the many who was hoping the incumbent gets (got?) voted out. That also means I am one of the many people who received unnecessary insults, both directly and indirectly. I have tried throughout the entire process anyway, to remain as objective as possible. This was even more possible because I am not partisan, and I usually try to not be, instead I stick with a candidate I believe stands out based on his/her principles, commitment, values etc. Although, I don't have the slightest idea why anyone would want to support GEJ (except you have vested interests), I have tried nonetheless to respect everyone's individual opinions. That being said, the priority is Nigeria. I want Nigeria to win.

The announcement of the winner was scheduled for today. The process which would turn out to be very long, tedious and almost boring (thank God for Twitter) made many nervous. Even I did not think I would be as tensed, as I had been calm all weekend. Although the process will be continued tomorrow, today will go down history books in Nigeria as that day when all Nigerians stayed glued to watch history unfold. The truth is no matter who wins the election, the next four years...let me just say I leave those years in God's hands. Imagine my surprise when I figured some people were wishing the opposition failure (should he win) just to be vindicated. As someone on Twitter said, that is like cutting off your nose to spite your own face; you are only hurting yourself.

Again, I am glad this weekend happened. It was memorable. It was history. It was good. 

Here's to change!

Love,
I

#NigeriaDecides

When my father was my age, he was not just fully responsible for himself; but he was comfortable enough to take care of his own father, get a sophisticated apartment, and live life as comfortably as a young person in their twenties so desired. On the other hand, there’s me and millions of others currently in their twenties – many of whom can barely take care of themselves, how much more take responsibility for someone else. The economy of Nigeria must have been more favorable to my father’s generation. Or are we just unlucky? Aren’t things supposed to be getting better?

We should remember this salient fact when we walk into those polling booths on Saturday. We are no longer so little as to be indifferent about the elections, or turn a blind eye, or worse, ‘run off’ during elections. Young people need to claim what we want — a better Nigeria. We can’t do that by paying no mind to politics.

Politics is intense. It is sometimes exhausting, but it is definitely necessary. March 28, 2015 is fast approaching. It is the day Nigeria decides her fate for the next four years. In the past few months, we have seen candidates campaign—or smear each other’s campaigns. I thought about writing this piece in an effort to sway you towards a particular direction. However, it might be better to be as objective as possible. Personally, I don’t care much for political partisanship. Rather, I believe in personal principles, values, commitment, and ideology. I have tried to weigh the major candidates on these bases. I suggest you do the same, realistically.

Remember though that we need the experience and tactic of older people to run the country, we also need the originality, enthusiasm, and energy of the young people. Ultimately, the choice of who to vote for belongs to you and you, alone.
However, as with everything in life, weigh your options, and pick the better/best of those options. If you owned a trillion Naira company, or perhaps you invested trillions of Naira in an establishment, would you select a manager because both of you sit in the same pew in church on Sundays? Would you select a manger because you both bowed in the same direction in obeisance to Allah? It would definitely be less-than-smart to pick such a manager on the basis of trivial sentiments like your tribe. I urge you to appeal to your inner conscience; in the name of whomever you serve, to make the choice you believe is the absolute best for our nation. Look at past experiences, goals, plans…look at the people around each candidate because, eventually no one man can run the nation alone.

I am not ignorant enough to forget that there are some groups of people with vested interests, who would prefer for Nigeria to rot in misery. I am positive, however, that the majority would rather see Nigeria thrive. We can pray all we want, but God has given us the gift of freewill and choice. Ultimately, the power belongs to we the people.
And this goes for every level of the election—legislative representatives, state governors, and local government chairpersons—which is just as important as the presidential election itself. While we vote for our leaders on March 28, it is imperative that we also decide to be better followers—better Nigerians.
May the best person(s) win.

This article was first posted on Bellanaija.

Loveoasis Magazine

I have written about Loveoasis magazine time and time again. And I really hope you always check it out. There’s a new edition and let me just tell you, it’s really good. This time around, we have put it a digital magazine newsstand for your viewing pleasure. Now I understand you might want to take my review with a pinch of salt considering duh, I am the Editor, what else will I say, but good things? I promise you though; I am being as honest and unbiased as possible. The magazine is really good, but there’s only one way to find out—check it out yourself at www.magaden.com. It took a lot of work to publish. I can tell you that first hand. However, after reading it with fresh eyes when it was out, I was truly impressed.

    

Apart from just being a beauty to behold, the cover personality and the couples are really interesting people. You’ll love reading about them. The columns too are quite enlightening and entertaining. It was done for your viewing pleasure. Ha-ha. I better stop here and let you go enjoy it yourself. The only thing better than enjoying it yourself, is that you can read it on the go on all your devices. Yes, ALL—tablets, laptops, desktops, phones…anyone is good. The only other thing better than that is that you can also share the goodness with your loved ones. When you do check it out, if you like it, let me know please.

I am so proud of all the work that went into it. Working on it was sometimes painful, but seeing some of it come together makes it all very worth it. I think we did a pretty good job (if I say so myself) so I hope you all check it out.  Thank you all.

Love,

I

People Watching: Pink Blondie

I was walking down a pathway last week—one of those days with the perfect spring weather—when I noticed this family of three in front of me. I quickly came back to reality from my deep thoughts, as I was sure there was going to be something rather interesting about them. A father, with two young children I presumed were his; the girl about six or seven, sashaying in her all-pink outfits. It’s almost an annoying loud shade of pink, but I would call it ‘cute’, because you have to be nice to children. She seemed like a connoisseur of fashion and style. Her brother, although just about ten or eleven was much better in appearance, and seemed like a nicer version, or at least sounded like one.