Saturday 25 February 2012

Musing, ranting.....

You’ve had a really long day and are completely stressed out and you cannot wait to do something that eases you of your discomfort. Of course you can identify with that.

There are many ways we find to ease ourselves of stress; some people just go for a long walk, others hang out with friends, some turn to their journal or their laptop and write about something, like I’m doing now. However, most people can identify with listening to really cool music to ease themselves of stress. I try it every once in a while though it’s not really my favourite method of easing myself of stress. But oh how i love indulging myself with some really good music that moves my whole being and is definitely good for my spirit. I mean music that makes SENSE!!. The emphasis is placed here on ‘SENSE’, because really most of what is brandished today as music is just pure rubbish. Mind my use of language please but ermm that’s just how I feel. (I’ll be using the word ‘sense’ a lot in this post)

I’m what you’ll probably call ‘old school’ or ‘grandmamaish’, but I’d prefer ‘conservative’ if you don’t mind’. This doesn’t just affect only my choice of music, but every other area of my life. I love listening to music that makes sense, music with lyrics that make sense and I love watching music videos that make sense. I mean the definition of what kind of music makes sense may differ among people, but it can never be music that is downright ‘demoralizing’, cos that’s most of what we get.

Na all kind of music dey reign nowadays and if you don’t hear the words ‘love’, ‘lust’, ‘touch’, ‘body’, ‘girl’, ‘omoge’, ‘omo ele’, ‘sexy’.... etc,  in a song that song is not complete. The height is when you are jejely watching your TV o and the next thing they say or display is “so, so so and so’s music video is up next”, then the next thing you see is some shameless half naked girls shaking their bodies on your TV screen and trying to make sure you notice their endowments.

What a waste of resources and a reduction of bride price...smh. Everything in this life now is about sex, sex and sex and anything that implies it. People especially women open their body everywhere all in the name of entertainment. Somebody is trying to sell common wristwatch, I said common wristwatch o and in their TV commercial they employ half naked women as props; women swaying their body like agama lizard and making you wonder oya what next o. The way they’ll be stretching their neck sef and twisting their waist while touching their whole body at the same time can be so annoying one will feel like puking. As in since when did selling wristwatch or any other thing for that matter have anything to do with naked women.

Those women should respect themselves o. Me I’ve said my own o. Because I don’t know why they will allow themselves become an object of somebody’s desire. ( I know I’m sounding old now but that’s just the topping on the ice-cream. You ain’t seen nothing yet)

It’s as if this post sef has shifted from a discussion on contemporary popular music as I see it to the society as I see it. Please pardon me o.

For me if music doesn’t help me feel better mentally and spiritually it’s not music. Sometimes I’d listen to some kind of music and I’d feel dumb, I mean really stupid and useless, as if I should not have bothered listening in the first place. However, it doesn't mean I don't 'enjoy' some of these songs, but my choices are quite limited. Most of the time I just take solace in gospel music, Disney soundtracks (call me a baby o, I know already), Asa’s music (I don’t know how to classify her music, but she makes so much sense joor. She’s unique) and of course my dear Afro beat (especially Lagbaja’s music). I also like listening to old old songs, ah those ones our parents and grandparents used to listen to, whether English o or Yoruba (I.K Dairo (Senior)’s ‘Rora feso jaye’ comes to mind...hmmm). The only snag about all those old songs is that they usually contain repeated lyrics, but I still like them anyway, at least they make me feel good in a good way and their music videos contain no explicit content.. And oh, I love Abba!!.... ‘dancing queen’, ‘i have a dream’, ‘super trouper’... don’t even get me started yet.

It’s feel good to have written this and to relive all those memories.

Thanks for checking me out. Keep checking, even if you don’t think anything new will be up. You never can tell.

Ciao.

Sunday 12 February 2012

All Because of BOUNTY???


Hiya, how was your weekend?

I’m happy ‘cos now I have two new followers. Ehn, I know there’s no reason to be so happy but two more followers is something joor. At least to me. My growth as a blogger is a slow process, I know, but I’m being patient enough to wait for that period when I will have my growth spurt.

Thanks LDP and JO for following my blog.

Now to the tori of the day. I know you’re looking at the title and wondering "what about BOUNTY?" But I’ll talk about that later in the post, because actually it’s divided into two. First I’ll be pondering on what makes people find it so easy to lie, then I’ll be talking about the Bounty story.

One of my watchwords ever since I’ve known myself is ‘Honesty is the best policy’ and seriously I’ve tried with the help of God to remain honest in all I do. I’m not claiming to be any saint o, but I’ve always been of the opinion that in everything we do, we should be honest even when it looks like we might get killed for trying to be or even if being dishonest will fetch us something supposedly ‘good’ without us getting caught.

Early this semester in school, I was late for one of my laboratory classes. It was my first time late for that class and I was distraught because I knew it meant I wouldn’t catch the introduction to the work for the day, which always comes early before we start the real practicals and because I knew I stood the risk of being sent out of the lab for that day. Well I wasn’t the only one who was late. The lecturer sha said he was not going to let us in, then people started begging, "Excuse me sir, this will be the last time", "I came to the class earlier, but I went out to buy something", "I ‘m coming from a lecture..." Basically all kind of excuses. The lecturer decided to let us off, but on one condition, that we wrote an "affidavit" promising not to ever come late for the class. Obviously we were supposed to include our name in it. Me, I thought to myself, ‘well what’s the big deal’, I tore out a sheet of paper and started creating the perfect piece of writing like I love to...lol.. I had begun to write when I noticed that the almost 30 others I was late with were writing fake names on their affidavit. I was worried o, because I wondered what prompted them to, because personally I didn’t even feel the lecturer was going to take the whole thing serious and the loose sheets of paper will probably get lost in his office. I wrote my real name, submitted my paper and proceeded to start the work for the day. But, I still had the whole thing on my mind, because seriously I really don’t understand how the human mind works and why people do the stuff they do.

Lying has become such a fad, that if you don’t know how to lie, or better still cheat, you’re either described as ‘holy holy’ or as a ‘mumu’. Because I’m very sure that day gan some people were looking at me like, "see this mumu writing her real name". But to me if I get into trouble, I get into trouble, because after all I always try my possible best to stay out of trouble.

The above is just one of the many examples of cases where I try my best to understand why lying is so easy to do. People cheat on exams like it’s no big deal. The annoying part is that they would have read o, but they just feel they must cheat sha, if not they will not pass. At least that’s what I think. Because, remember I don’t understand people o.

Last year on boxing day, I was having a discussion, or rather listening to a discussion among my dad, my uncles, my cousins and brother and my brother was talking about the utter disrespect he had for people who cheated on exams when he was in the university. He said if he saw such people in the future and he was asked to vote them into a place of power he would rather not. "Cos na from small e dey start".

We complain our leaders are bad, they are dishonest, they are this, they are that. But you, look at yourself in the mirror. If you can find it so easy to cheat on tests, cheat the market woman selling indomie to you or vice versa, how much more when you get into power. If you can’t be trusted in little things, how about when you are given much more. Look at Luke 16:10

That was a digression, just a bit. Nyways my uncle spoke and told my brother that, funny it’s those kind of people that end up getting into power when they grow up. And he was very right!!!!

To my second story of the day which actually gave me the zeal to write this post.

Okay, this evening o I went to one provisions store on my campus to get something. When I got there, there was a small crowd. Finally it got to my turn, but there was this guy who had been there since complaining that he had paid for ‘pure water’, but the only lady selling had not answered his request. Just then another guy came into the store. The ‘manager’.  The manager gave the guy the pure water. The guy was still standing there sha. Then he started asking how much Bounty Chocolate is. The lady didn’t answer. They were too many people to attend to. The manager came to the rescue and gave the guy the Bounty and then went into the inner room of the store, while the guy remained waiting for his change. The girl selling finally paid him attention and asked tiredly, ‘has the manager given you the bounty’ and guess what, the boy said ‘No’ innocently. I was shocked and watched as the lady opened the fridge and gave him another Bounty as she fished out his change. Seriously I thought the guy had forgotten he had been given Bounty already or maybe I was the one that thought he had been given Bounty. Just then I looked into his carrier bag and lo and behold was a Bounty already sitting there comfortably, while he added the second one to it. Oh, I felt like telling, really I did; that might sound babyish. I mean he had lied, he had stolen. What a mess!!!!! Even when he went I still felt like telling, but I kept it to myself.

Now back in my room, I’m thinking to myself, ‘Should I just have blurted out that he had one already or was it best what I did, minding my own business’. I feel kinda bad for the lady, ‘cos she didn’t know.

Anyhows, I hope I get over it. But that’s what prompted me to write this new post before I sleep.

So what do you think?

**********
That was pretty long.

Thanks for stopping by....... Oh and I better say, "R.I.P Whitney Houston" :(

Wednesday 8 February 2012

Practice makes perfect

When I was in secondary school, there was this head girl I admired for a while and that was because of an article I read about her that was cut out from a newspaper and posted on our notice board in school. The newspaper featured her because she had won another competition (she was always winning them). This particular competition was in mathematics and once sentence that struck me in her interview was when she stated that 'practice makes perfect'. She said she practised mathematics everyday, and that was what made her so good in mathematics. I was interested in the article and after I went back to my class, I thought to myself, "one does not necessarily have to be a genius or child prodigy, one justs has to learn how to practise frequently, because practice makes perfect".

The more you work at something, the more you become familiar with it and the more you excel at it.

This principle has become more important to me since recently I started working on my final year project. If I hadn't tried to master all those principles I had come across since my first year down to my fifth year I wouldn't be finding it so easy to carry out the work I am carrying out presently. I practised, practised, practised all over again and now I look back and I'm happy with how far I have come. I have no regrets whatsoever for being such a 'good' student (people tend to label one the 'good' student more or less in a sarcastic fashion, but at the end of the day one is still better off than them and they will be frequently amazed at how one is able to do some things as if those things are rocket science).

And of course when I'm done I'll scream!!!....in joy!!!!......

And might I add, practice doesn't just make perfect, it also builds confidence.

My confidence in my abilities has definitely increased over the years.


Anyways that's it for now. Just wanted to bare my thoughts.

Thanks for stopping by.

Saturday 4 February 2012

My Prayer For You is This....

My prayer for you is this...

That one day yours will be a land that people would yearn to be in, a place that once rejected by its own people will become a place of pride for them.

                                 

I pray that you this land, my country, Nigeria will be great one day.

I pray that one day I would be able to take public transport in this country without being worried that the vehicle would break down halfway to my destination.

I pray that there will be so many options for transport in the future that talking about taking the train, for example, wouldn’t sound so odd and would not just be a choice for the lower class.

I pray that one day we will look back at those days when we used to say ‘Up NEPA!!!’ and just laugh and say ‘I mean, seriously, we used to say that?’

A day students/lecturers in the university will be able to carry out research work in their laboratories without being impeded by epileptic electricity.

A day when a Nigerian in the Diaspora would say she’s coming back home and no one would think she’s crazy.

I’m praying for that day when people would actually stop ‘running away’ from this country and will be comfortable with living at home (doesn’t mean I won’t run away soon o, but it’s not because I don’t like you. It’ll be for just a while and I’ll be back to help repair you. So gbo?).

I’m praying for that day when quality education is not something only the rich would be able to pay for.

That day when children would stop hawking on the streets and at Bus garages as part of their ‘duty’ to their parents as children.

I’m waiting and still praying for that day when the government will actually invest the right amount of money in the health sector, so that people will stop traveling to other places to get good medical treatment and even those who want to get their face ‘lifted’ or want to inject their face with botulinum toxin-A (botox) will be comfortable with doing it back home.

A day when our medical schools will be known for groundbreaking research in medicine and not just our medical schools o, but also other areas of academics, because the government has financed such.

There are so many things I could pray for about you, but my head is so full now..

I actually do get tired of waiting for that day sometimes, but I pray for the strength to carry on because I believe in you so much!! I really want to see you get better, I do. I want people from other places to envy you joor..

Oh that day!!

If that day ever comes I hope to be part of those who made the change possible.

*Sigh*

So help me God.