Coming up.....

Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, will be released in Lagos on April 27 at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island.

The book is already on sale in book stores.

For up to date info on the book tour and every other thing ‘Americanah-ish‘, visit here

:D

What has been on my mind this past week

Ever since I heard about Chimamanda's latest novel getting released, my mind has not been at rest, literally!!!

It's going to be on sale in Lagos from April 21st, 2013 and I'm so looking forward to that day.

From the award-winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun, a dazzling new novel: a story of love and race centered around a young man and woman from Nigeria who face difficult choices and challenges in the countries they come to call home.

As teenagers in a Lagos secondary school, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love. Their Nigeria is under military dictatorship, and people are leaving the country if they can. Ifemelu—beautiful, self-assured—departs for America to study. She suffers defeats and triumphs, finds and loses relationships and friendships, all the while feeling the weight of something she never thought of back home: race. Obinze—the quiet, thoughtful son of a professor—had hoped to join her, but post-9/11 America will not let him in, and he plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London.

Years later, Obinze is a wealthy man in a newly democratic Nigeria, while Ifemelu has achieved success as a writer of an eye-opening blog about race in America. But when Ifemelu returns to Nigeria, and she and Obinze reignite their shared passion—for their homeland and for each other—they will face the toughest decisions of their lives.

Fearless, gripping, at once darkly funny and tender, spanning three continents and numerous lives, Americanah is a richly told story set in today’s globalized world: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s most powerful and astonishing novel yet.

SOURCE

Are you as excited as I am?  

I guess I'm back

Growing up is hard to do.


That's what I tell myself every time.

I'm sitting here, holding this wheel and all I can hear in my head is your voice telling me I can't do it.

I realize, I really can't do it and I freeze for a second and then scream, 'I cant do it' and then the tears start pouring.

Your voice doesn't really encourage me.

I want to curl up and just continue crying, just disappear, stay hidden from everyone else in this world.

I don't want to grow up.


Growing up is hard to do.


And then I hear another voice.  I stop crying for a moment.

You're telling me it's me, only me that can help myself,

This world is hard as it is.

I just wish everything would fall in place.

I want to cry, I want to.

I think I've started to cry already.


Oh no, I hear your voice again.

"Grow up", you say.

"Don't let it all get to you. You can be what you want to be."

"Only you can help yourself. You just have to be strong."

"Grow up my dear, grow up."



All of a sudden I find strength. or do I?

I really do want to grow up. I want to be a strong woman.

I can still see you smiling at me in the distance and urging me on.

And I find that's all I need to carry me on..




Ay...    5:17pm

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Okay, so I wrote this random note in just a few minutes, during one of my 'black moods' today. Guess that's what I needed to help me make a comeback to my precious blog. I have no excuses for why I have been away for so long. Just haven't found out how to balance my time effectively, just when I thought I knew how to.

It's been monthsss since I wrote anything or read anything.. sigh.. Anyways what do you guys think of my write up above. Dunno if it to call it a poem. I don't like poems, funny enough.

I hope to be more consistent with blogging and everything else. So help me God.

Thanks y'all for stopping by!

Ciao!

Award

Hi guys!!

I hope your year has been good so far. Thanks for the lovely comments on my last post..

I was given the Liebster blog award by Daughter of her King. Thanks a lot DOHK.

The rules for accepting the award are:

1.Thank and link back to the giver

2. Answer the giver's questions
3. Nominate five other blogs with fewer than 200 followers
4. Ask five questions for one's nominees to answer
5. Post it on your blog

Number 1, done.

DOHK's questions and my answers;

1. Five amazing things you recall from your childhood

   - playing football with my brother and his friends... funny, 'cause they never really wanted me to play with them

   - singing "Daddy o yoyo, daddy o yoyo",  and dancing everytime my dad came back from work.

   - playing dress-up and acting in front of the mirror

   - gisting with my family around a candle light or lantern, before we had the luxury of buying a generator (I can't explain how precious those times were  :D )

   - sitting on a mat with my siblings and listening to folktales told by our housemaid :)

2. Your favourite method of asking someone else for something you would like or help you desire?

I really can't say I have a 'method', because most times I just wait for people to offer their help or any other thing.. I dunno

3. What makes you giggle or laugh the most?

Anything!! lol... Giggling/laughing is such a hobby for me, especially when I'm in a very good mood.. Sometimes I really can't understand why I'm laughing or what's making me laugh.. it can even get embarrassing. I'm weird like that :)

4. What would you like to change about the world?

The lack of love among many people of different tribes and races, and also poverty and suffering... if only..

5. Challenges you look forward to overcoming and accomplishing?

The stressful one year Pharmacy internship, getting a Masters degree and and one day having a place of practice of my own where I would be adding value to people's lives.

My questions

1. Love over money, or money over love?

2. What is the one thing you wish you could be right now?

3. Who is the one person you wish you could meet right now, and what would you tell them?

4. How do you react when you are upset?

5. Where do you see yourself in five years?

And my five nominees are;

1.The Mayoress of Casterbridge

2. Re-birth of a DramaqueeN

3. Life through Ani's lenses

4. Words in me

5. True Talk .... let's see a guy do this for a change :)

Thanks again, DOHK..

And thanks guys for visiting..

God bless you.

Before it gets too late...

*covers face in shame*

Hello everyone....

Wow, I haven't be here in a while. Thank you guys for not un-following me..:D I don't have any excuse, except that life happened and I've been unusually busy.

Before it gets too late, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year.

This year has been great. We thank God...  I started the year on a gloomy note..:(  But before I knew what was happening things started falling in place for me and God just started embarrassing me with blessings left, right, center. From bringing someone special into my life, to making me graduate successfully from Pharmacy school and start Pharmacy Internship.... and a lot more other things. I owe it all to God.

There have been down times, in fact many, but I choose to be happy in spite of everything.

Image Source

Right now I'm trying to balance everything in my life.... Sometimes it seems like I don't have time for myself or anyone. But things are getting better everyday and I'm starting to learn how to manage my time to a good extent. At least I was able to squeeze out some time for putting up a new post...

Now lemme go catch up on blogs before it's time for me to go to bed...

Thanks for visiting and do have a lovely week..:)

The reason for the season

Since I was a baby, Christmas has always meant to me taking yearly trips to my hometown;
getting together with family, those I have not seen in a long while and those I see often.
It has always meant buying rams for the season, and the men of the family killing them on Christmas morning; we the children taking trays of raw meat to different family houses and the King's palace and getting small tokens in return.
Attending the village church for close to three hours, donating money to the church and dancing to the altar in thanksgiving as our family name is called.

When I was much younger it meant throwing knockouts and having mini-wars with kids from other houses;
listening to bootleg tapes/CDs of Christmas carols and Awilo Logomba's/ Olumide's makossa songs.
Listening to the old women speak the native language as they gossip and 'speak' to the chickens and tortoises they probably kept as pets. Now most of them are gone.

Christmas has always also meant lots of food; jollof rice, fried rice, pounded yam, pepper soup and lots of drinks.
Sometimes it has also meant getting constipated or having diarrhoea.
It has more recently meant throwing big parties at our family house and crashing other parties; receiving visitors and catching up on all the stuff that have happened since we were away from each other. Listening to our daddies and mummies gisting and trying to get to know our cousins better. And sometimes, dancing like there's no tomorrow.

source

For me, every year Christmas is always celebrated the same way. Christmas time is synonymous with traveling to the village and meeting family from far and near. It's a very important tradition worth continuing.

But recently I've been thinking how I've never really sat down and given much thought to the real reason for the celebration. And I find that's it's so very easy to get carried away with all the eating, drinking and dancing that we forget that it's the birth of Jesus Christ that we celebrate on Christmas day. I'll be keeping that in mind this season even as we celebrate and hope not to get carried away by everything. I think we should even celebrate Christmas everyday in our hearts. But I still love the idea of dedicating one day to the celebration.


I stumbled upon this amazing video!!! It just helps to further pass the message about the Real reason for the season. Please watch and be blessed!!!.. I still get this warm feeling in my heart every time I watch it.

Later guys..

Merry Christmas in advance..
And don't forget to 'Keep Christ in Christmas'

:D

Tribalism or what?

Hello guys!!

Hope you are all doing great and having a wonderful month. I wish you all a blessed and happy new month.

How time flies. It just seems like yesterday when we began the year 2012. 

I am really thankful to you all that read and commented on my last post. It is all very encouraging. You guys are part of the reason why I find the zeal to come back. I pray you all find complete happiness and fulfillment in all your endeavours. Amen.

I’ve been just here and there. Working part time and anticipating my graduation day. What to wear is somewhere at the back of my mind.. I’ve not gone back to driving. Not yet. Will get back to it sometime soon.

So, on to today’s post

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Recently, I was chatting with a guy and somehow our chat narrowed down to a discussion on relationships and what ‘tribes not to marry from’... Weird topic in my opinion.

Okay, so after the whole exchanging of pleasantries and all, this person let me know  that, ‘he can never allow me’ (I’ll choose myself, by the way)  marry a man from Remo, Ogun state. Of course I asked why now? 

Please, just ignore the typos

His reply was quite daunting at first and at that moment I couldn’t believe I was in the middle of such a chat. I expected much more from this person.. or am I mistaken?

The chat didn’t end there. He went on to let me know that Igbo people are worse and that also he cannot marry an Egba girl (another tribe in Ogun state), because “they mess around and kill their husband at the end so they inherit his properties” (in his own words).

At this point I was irritated and let him know I am of the opinion that a person’s tribe, or whatever stories and myths were attached to the tribe do not determine who the person really is or what they’ll do in the future. You can’t judge a person based on their tribe.

He sent me a picture of an Egba girl he once dated, a career woman who also attends his church. He said when he heard the story, he immediately broke up with her, although he loved her...Hmmmm.

At this point I don tire.

He then said, after that he dated an Edo girl, who he's no more with. I asked sarcastically “ So Edo girls are not bad”. He answered that “they are ‘bad’, but some parts like Ishan are good”.. My word.

He ended everything by saying he cannot marry from Ijebu-ode ‘lai lai’

I told him to kukuma not marry sef, especially as most of the tribes he had rejected are even from his State.

I was very disappointed in this person. Or maybe I’m over-reacting, but seriously I was oblivious to the fact that people actually consider these things. I don’t just believe it’s okay to judge anyone based on their tribe or whatever. Because, in fact there are many people all over from various tribes who have never been to their village and don’t know where it exists. And so just because, you have some story about their tribe doesn’t mean you’ll judge them based on that, because some people are just a product of the environment they have lived in mostly irrespective of where their family originates from. And good and bad people exist, but it all depends on the individual person!! And a life partner should be chosen on the basis of their character and other important qualities, not tribe!!.

This person thinks I’m too naive and that I need to grow up.

But seriously, I don’t see why I need to or why I need to change the way I think for that matter. Maybe, I’m too naive, or too westernized, or I don’t watch Africa Magic Yoruba movies enough, all I know is tribe doesn’t matter.

Abi, what do you guys think?

I didn’t want to blog about this at first, because I consider it really unnecessary to have a discussion on, but I just wanted to get other opinions,  as the matter don tire me..

Till next time. Take care and stay blessed....:)