I'm Starting With The Woman In The Mirror.

This is completely coincidental. I did not even know Michael Jackson would have been fifty-five today until my Dad said it. May his soul rest in peace. The guy made great music though, very great music. More so, he was my brother's icon so he  probably grew on me too. No human being loved that guy the way my brother did, his ultimate dream was to meet Michael, unfortunately that was one dream that couldn't be fulfilled. Anyway, sorry for both of them, I put up the chorus of his song, 'Man In The Mirror' as my Facebook status and I thought about personalizing it. There's too much truth in the song. You want a change kwa? Stare at that mirror and begin the change with the person you see in the mirror.

An Ode...To Food.

                                                   
                                                                            (source)
Life can be really awesome, especially when there's food. May God always make life awesome for me and for you. :) Food really makes life better and bearable, good food, that is. I particularly like Naija food sha. If I have to choose between Naija food and any other, I will proudly choose Nigerian meals. That does not make me more patriotic than the next person, I just love it, mostly because that's what I grew up eating. I also try to eat very healthy foods, the secret to that is moderation.

 I'm thankful for so manyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy (the Y is endless. lol) things and people. Food is somewhere on top of that list. Why am I going on and on writing an ode to food? I had the juiciest watermelons this evening, it was so delicious, I almost went overdose on it. The only reason I controlled myself was because I wanted some left for tomorrow morning. Plus, I wanted my family to taste the awesomeness too. I'm nice like that. About twenty minutes later, I had dinner. I felt like I was in heaven. It wasn't any meal out of the ordinary; just a plate of rice with vegetable stew. But, I totally LOVED it. My Mum made it and she has made meals equally delicious, if not more delicious in the past, but for some reasons unknown to even me, I was very ecstatic to be eating. It was so bad/good, that I literally went on my knees and thanked God as soon as I was done. Now, I'm getting scared oh! Lol. I have never done that before. However, I try as much as possible to make it a habit to always thank God. Nothing is by our rights or privileges or whatever, we get everything we have by grace. That special and amazing grace of God. So, of the many things God has done, tonight I've chosen food to thank him for. I pray I never lack or have to beg for it. What are you thankful for?

Love,
Ifeoluwa.

Overcoming The Fear Of Vested Interest.

 

                                            http://youtu.be/IjViGLJIU9g

The Governor of the Central Bank Of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi recently spoke at TEDxYouth at Maitama about overcoming the fear of vested interest in the country. I suppose everybody knows about TED or at least have heard something like 'TED talks' from time to time. For the benefit of those who haven't, TED  (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". More about TED and what it really is can be read here or here. It's a very enlightening platform and I just like to, once in a while listen to brilliant minds. TEDx is a part of the main TED. 

I don't know much about Sanusi, except that he once  fired several Bank CEOs and many people thought he was crazy. I never for once thought he was as straightforward and exceptionally thorough as he was in the video above. Our political system in Nigeria is full of many bad eggs that should be thrown into the thrash. I bring you good news; there are some good eggs albeit a few. Now, when I started to listen to his talk, it sounded like the usual cliche; Nigeria-has-many-corrupt-people-so-lets-just-sit-still-and-watch-them-'chop'-it-all, I had no intention whatsoever of listening to the entire thing. But then, he caught my attention somehow later on. Thinking about it now, I had of course, heard about the things he spoke about before but I'm not sure there was as much clarity as in his TEDx talk. He started by explaining how Nigeria has great potential yada yada, he proceeded to explain how we export things we don't have and import things that we have. I wanted to close the page at that point, when he started to talk about the period he became Chief of Central Bank and how Bank CEOs had personalized the banks. 

"...they had taken away depositors money to buy property all over the world and just like people do in ministries, government agencies or whenever they have opportunities in oil companies, the banks were themselves a..."  

On Hair and Other Random Things...

Yesterday, after six months,  relaxer touched my hair again. WHEW! I felt so liberated. lol. Seriously, it was hell. Don't ask why I waited so long. I've very good hair, thank God. If not... Anyway, so I was basking in the beauty of my hair again when it suddenly occurred to me that relaxed hair is never appreciated these days. Every body celebrates only natural hair and some go out of hand to make a big deal out of it. Sometime ago, Chimamanda Adichie made a statement about how people with relaxed hair were trying so hard to be like white girls with straight hair. I was just confused. Natural hair is good, quite expensive to manage and may take a lot of time, but it is good. But what anybody does with their hair is their business. Personally, I believe the most important thing is healthy hair. Whether relaxed or natural, your hair should be healthy. Simple. I have very good, healthy and beautiful hair. (I'm a tad obsessed with my hair) I like to see ladies with their teeny weeny afros, it is always very cute but the true tests of natural hair comes when it is long. I know this because I had natural hair until I was about 15. IT WAS HELL. Kai, words can't describe. I felt something close to those previous pains again yesterday. I was relieving the memories. I always threaded the hair or put it in very tiny weaves that would make my delicate scalp swell. Why did I not cut my hair then anyway? So, I admire you natural sisters; your hard-work, patience and dedication to your hair is admirable. If I ever cut my hair, the moment it starts to grow well, I will relax it. By the way, being natural is NOT an excuse to look scruffy. On the other hand, there are many ladies with  extremely cute natural hair, it could make you swoon. My own be say when will relaxer become ridiculously cheap, since many people don't use it anymore? I dey wait am abeg. With all these noise, I only relax my hair twice or at most three times a year. Yesterday was my second time this year and I was happy it was done by a professional.

Nigerian Graduate teacher can't read own certificate in Edo state.

The sad part about this situation is that, this woman is probably be one of those that criticize and condemn the government. One of those people who insult government officials. What she doesn't know is that she is basically like them. God forbid that I insult civil servants, because I was mostly taught by civil servants. But, to be honest, civil servants have a history of being lackadaisical with their responsibilities. Many of them are lazy and rude. If you doubt me, take a stroll into a government university's administration office, or take a stroll into a nearby NYSC secretariat or worse still, take a stroll into the nearest government secretariat to you. Just walk in. Ironically, I always believed teachers were different. That they had a better approach towards their duties. 

How can the future of innocent children be placed in the hands of someone who can barely read her own certificate? The fact that she has been a teacher for twenty years makes my stomach rumble. Gosh. It's no wonder you see some Nigerian graduates stuttering at every attempt to speak English. I remember NYSC camp, sad story. I always wondered how they were supposedly graduates. Now, I see. As far as I know, primary school is the foundation. Nobody teaches you how to speak English in Secondary school, you mostly build on what you already have. So, somebody, anybody at all should please tell me how on earth this woman teaches. It can be argued that she merely has a poor eyesight but I disagree. It can also be argued that she was nervous, you know being right beside the governor of your state. But, I disagree. If anything, she was rather over-confident. You should see the way she was talking to him.

Politicians may be wrong. Not may, many of them ARE wrong. But what are you doing in your own little corner of the nation? How effectively do you handle your responsibilities especially when it involves the lives of others? Before we throw stones and remove the specks of wood in other people's eyes, lets examine the planks in ours. I wonder why some people think Gov. Oshiomole was simply trying to humiliate her. That was certainly not the case. In fact, he was calling our attention to problems we normally would never have known. Let's assume she was unfortunate enough to be unable to read when she took the job 20 years ago, what stopped her from developing herself over the course of TWENTY years. Okay so, politicians are looting money that isn't theirs. We know that, but she also has been earning salaries she probably did not work for. Sigh. Nigeria, we hail thee! 

http://youtu.be/6OJDt-8i0Mw

The Gospel, According To Emmy Collins.

My people, how una dey? I hope sey una dey kampe. Please ignore my lame attempt at pidgin. Nigerian Pidgin fascinates me actually, its interesting and very witty. Okay, enough of the Linguistics 101 class. So, my sweetheart, Evuas sent me some links. Let me start by saying I can be incredibly stale when it comes to entertainment or anything for that matter, I tend to always carry last in matters like entertainment or songs. Thank God for my friends who take it upon themselves to once in a while carry me along. These links were from Emmy Collins' website diarybyemmy.com. To start with, I didn't even know who Emmy Collins was *covers face in shame* I am certain I'm not alone. Anyway, my first visit to this man's website was an article were he praised Bez's new video and indirectly insulted Clearance Peters by suggesting that he should take a break from making videos and go on a holiday because folks like Kemi Adetiba are here to stay. My first thought was who is this one? I took temporary job as vol tron for Mr. Peters who of course doesn't even know I exist. Smh. I was tackling my friend that why would Emmy say stuff like that and besides what was the big deal about Bez's video anyway. Hiss. It was shot in New York. Ehen, and so? My friend and I went back and forth on the issue and dropped it.

Yesterday, she was laughing out loud about a post from the same site and sent me more links. So I thought, why not just go through the whole thing. I went to his site and I had the time of my life. My ribs still hurt from laughter of yesterday. The website is not centered around comedy, it is his bluntness mixed with humor that is just so interesting. My guy's (Yes, I've claimed him) bluntness is on another level. As far as I know, no fashion or entertainment blogger says the truth the way he says it. He is arguably the most honest Nigerian fashion/style/entertainment blogger. I take that back.

The Mysterious Anatomies of Grey.

This post is specifically for ranting. I must warn you before you go ahead. I don't know if I'm a TV person. I like TV, that's for sure but it's certainly something I can do without. Thank God for internet. Anyway, so being a very loyal person-I'm loyal to a fault-I always stuck with the two shows I was familiar with and because they were very great shows anyway, it was hard to not love them. Prison Break and 24. I'm a sucker for action thrillers (Prison Break isn't an action thriller though, is it?). I could kill for those shows. Okay, of course not. Point is, I loved those shows and totally ignored the many other shows that sprung up in the aftermath of those. Then I met this young man/woman called Netflix at a time when I happened to be quite jobless. hehe. On meeting Netflix, instead of watching the many new shows that are available, I re-started my favourite old shows (Prison Break and 24), my rigidity and loyalty may be more of weaknesses than strengths. I'm the type of person that will not start new things simply because I'm too in love with an old thing. Ugh. Talk for another day. When I was done revisiting my old shows (every single episodes of at least over 150 episodes), I was left with no choice but to consider new shows. A part of me wanted to go over the old shows over again, which would have been completely sick and disturbing. Grey's Anatomy has been very popular for a while and I was torn between picking Grey's Anatomy or Nikita. And when you're considering between two things, you have to check out the stakes, the pros, the cons and both parties have to present their cases so that when you finally choose, you would be sure the better man wins. Oh yes, it is that serious. I'm not going spend hours of my life watching crap. I know what you're thinking. "Who is forcing this one to watch show?" Ask Shonda Rhimes (sp?) and those other script writers if they don't send me tons of personal emails begging me to review their shows.
                                           
                                                                        (source)
I finally chose Grey's Anatomy. Now, Grey's Anatomy has a great plot. An absolutely great plot of sexy surgeons doing their thing on the human body. More than anything, it makes me appreciate God's creativity and intelligence very much. BUT, the sub plots are so damn stupid and crappy. It can be really twisted and depressing. I understand that life is not a bed of roses and that life doesn't always have sweet, beautiful endings. Maybe, my vantage point of life is extremely limited and I am somehow privileged, but I believe life is not that sad. Every single person in Grey's Anatomy dies. In a particular episode, the Residents call the hospital 'Seattle Grace Mercy Death Hospital'. Not just patients who stroll in with mere hiccups and then end up in the morgue, even the employees of the hospital seem to have death hovering over them. Ugh. One Resident had a car crash and died, another one had cancer, another was shot. Ewww. I know Life can be that messed up, but spending hours of my life watching a show with tissue and drying my eyes, nah I'm not about that life. Patrick Dempsey probably cries in all episodes and sadly, I cry with him too. Sigh. Then Shonda or whoever, had the guts to just fire my favourite character, Preston Burke because of a very flimsy reason (as far as I'm concerned). I really loved the character and his relationship with Christina Yang, another great character. Then all of a sudden, he disappeared. Mehn, Shonda and I have to talk. What nonsense?

I was ready to overlook all these, when all of a sudden in season 7, another Resident had a fatal accident. The accident wasn't the problem, I was getting used to disasters on the show. This babe was rushed to the hospital and while she was being wheeled to an OR, she removes the oxygen mask from her mouth and whispers to her colleagues that her name-Calliope-means music. Okay...cool. Next thing I know, the surgeons were singing in the operating room. Pause. The episode was like a MUSICAL! grrrrrrrrr. Seriously? MUSICAL! I do not like musicals.It's one reason I didn't ever bother with Glee. I'm not even sure the whole of Glee is a musical, but I know they sing, so no I didn't watch. I heard a lot about the movie, Les Miserable and wanted to watch it. Then I saw my brother watching it one day, they were singing in it. End of story. So, when I saw supposed surgeons screaming at the top of their voices in the name of singing, I wanted to dial Shonda's phone straight away but then, I was too busy.

On the plus though, I believe that some of the actors and actresses might actually be able to perform a real surgery now. It's so amazing how much they must have learnt on the show. Being paid to learn such things must be incredibly cool. Ignore my rants, I absolutely enjoy the show and I am currently on season 7 and I am still enjoying it.

By the way, this was not a review. A review wouldn't be this long anyway.