Guns and Roses

Who knew 18 days could come with more drama and action? at some point, especially last weekend i felt like i was watching a Spielberg production like ‘na me be dis?’. Highlights of it so far is the Lagos trip I did last week. I don’t think i’ve had a better time in Lagos in a very long time. Loved the hotel stay [the spaghetti al polo type pasta was just on point, and the garlic bread had me semi comatose from joy], and I had a few days of pure quiet and bliss to myself. Spent time with the parents which is always a trip- on that note i think I am one of the blessed adults who actually like her parents and enjoy spending time with them, they are very cool, yes we have our moments but it all comes from a place of love and a desire to see progress, I am truly sorry for anyone who does not have a good relationship with their parents, it is one of the most special relationships human beings can form.

Apart from hanging out with the parents, we went to an uncle’s for the night [after eating till throwing up point] and ended up seeing my favourite girl cousin, her husband and her adorable baby. I kept thinking to myself- this woman is just about six months older than me and she already has her own family? I kept remembering those days when we practically grew up together, passed important milestones in my life with them, and learnt the importance of having friends through her and her sisters, friends who did not quit on you just cause you misbehaved, friends who challenged you to be better and not get complacent or slack with one day’s success- I mean this cousin had me on my toes in terms of school. I think she is incredibly smart and the last thing i wanted to be known as was her dull cousin, so i read more, thought more, and just when i thought i was ahead, she’d throw me a curveball that would send me back to my reading room. Even when I moved abroad, she was my inspiration- I could not imagine the thought of failing, I’d think, what would she think, or say? Would it lower me in her estimation, something which would absolutely render me distraught.

I remember her wedding, I knew if I never attended anyone else’s wedding I could not miss this one, if I didn’t come for hers, I was dead rotten meat. I knew I could not go there looking stupid [as per gbogbo bigz ges na] so the trad game got upped, if anything her wedding produced one of my favourite trads; at her reception she was calling all her single friends out and she called my name, i refused to go instead I decided to hunt for wild game under the table [didn’t find game, found wild looking shoes and feet!], I only got up later to meet her personally and she gave me a rose out of her bouquet which i thought was really cool instead of the traditional ‘jump for Jesus’ bouquet business most weddings had.

I could not forget when my Mom told me she had delivered a boy. I was like my cousin? A boy? First thing I thought was now her father has the boy i’d always imagined would be an awesome brother to my cousins. Fast forward to a year plus later and with all these running through my mind, all i could think of was how happy I am for her. Her son is so beautiful [he became my new fan and I his, over the day. We bonded like crazy!], her husband is a good man, and I just sat there thinking, I could not be any happier for her, she is a great woman who deserves this and so much more, and one day very soon I want to be able to bring my parents this much joy in terms of me having a happy home and twin boys to give them [as a starter], and have her son and [other kids] bond with mine the way I did with her. So note to self: double up on prayer titled ‘Lord, the man, the kids and the home we discussed…’ 🙂

In other news, got my phone stolen by a desperate nutter, I got mad and went all out on the next one; the Pink ball has been cancelled 😦 but I am still on my quest for a dress, I have put my new tailor to work on a new outfit as a starter, I have like 4 more in the works, I’m almost 10,000 words into my nanowrimo project [which is way below target], and I have two new major writing projects coming up, one is an anthology, I’m on this meal replacement thing [started today], I have discovered the perfect song to sing when the above prayer part 1 [see above, and first request] gets answered, and TODAYand I mean THIS DAY, I am writing my 2011 plans. I cannot be dealing with the same 2010 ish in 2011, there must be progress! Oh and I am not into my twitter crush like before, he posted a few confessions that had me review his crush status and downgrade the strength of the crush, I have a few bubbling under the surface [#residentcutie and co] but I am happy, inspite of everything, I chose my disposition a long time ago and my disposition forecast is HAPPY with a good chance of heavy LAUGHTER

Vote or Die

My room smells like watermelons- all thanks to one tiny wooden ball. Its my latest discovery, you see this tiny thing that looks like coconut candy [I swear had they not put a ‘do not consume’ sign on it i woulda cracked it open with a sledgehammer and gotten right down to its nitty gritty.] but its so powerful. When I was offered it, i scoffed- one? one tiny malteaser looking thing can work? The person who offered [my resident office cutie :)] just smiled and said, just try it. I kept it for days, he asked about it, I was like ‘hmmm will try it later’, and eventually I grew a set of kidneys and did- lo and behold my surprise knows no bounds. Small, effective,  and not overbearing, I’m ‘yuving’ this. Creativity is definitely twin sisters with necessity, the mother of invention. This person did not reinvent the wheel, they simply made it look better.

This got me thinking on how something so small can be so powerful. I’ve often bandied about the phrase ‘small but mighty’ about certain people I know who may be on the petite/short/tiny/not far from the ground/last to know if it rains [take your pick] side but their talents are ridiculous, their height is not even a factor in what they do, you just feel their impact. They walk into a room they own it, they just own every radiance you see in the room, you even forget they are [take ur pick from the above]. Apart from people, lets bring it down to actions, like Tesco’s usually says ‘every little helps’ sometimes the most important results are gotten from the most insignificant looking actions- like voting.

In America they just concluded mid term elections and by now the results are up and plastered all over google, yahoo and the lot. It was a crucial election as it was a sort of referendum on the Democrats so far. In the House they did not fare well at all, Republicans carried that vote as predicted, but Democrats hung tight to Senate which is not a total loss, I guess. From the little I observed, a lot of mud was slung by both parties, a lot of adverts designed to paint the other side in black, charcoal and midnight and scare the daylights out of voters about the perceived ‘henemiz’, all to do what? Capture one vote- yours [well yours if you were in America and could vote, if you were not, go plant yam cos they don’t care]. Well as usual you know statistics generators were standing by ready to roll who voted and in what percentage, and I was saddened…no horrified to hear that only 10% of African Americans voted [twitter declared 4.7% so take ur pick].

That was the most disheartening thing of this whole campaign. 10% of African Americans could be bothered to vote, leaving the remaining 90% doing what? As at the last census early this year, African Americans made up 12.3% of America, so basically only 2.3% voted? In a country where one of the most disadvantaged community if not the most [i stand corrected] is the African Americans, even pre economic crunch they bore the brunt of poverty, I can only imagine how the crunch has affected the average black family, and yet they could not/did not/failed to/whatever you want to call it vote?

Consider the fact that they’ve been able to vote since 1865 and only just managed to elect a black president into the White House in 2008, 143 years after they got this right- I would have expected that now that you have a president whose skin colour you can relate to [if it matters to you so much] that you’d want to be heard more. Who says another cannot be elected successively or must it be another 143 years before the next one is elected? Lets think of the fact that from the stats I could get, 46% of the American population in prison are African American, and 1 in 3 African American males will go to jail in their lifetime at somepoint, some for a lifetime. Lets not even go into stats on single parent homes, high school dropout rates, and all the ills plaguing the black community in America. The least they could do is give themselves a vote, let that be heard. In one of the freest and fairest democracies in the world I would have imagined that if all issue free African Americans voted, the results may be much different today. You cannot keep quiet yet complain. These leaders will make decisions concerning your life, they will make laws that will directly or indirectly affect you, yet you keep quiet and choose to murmur under the background? Land of the free home of the brave? I didn’t see that and I was disappointed with the low turnout. Harriet Tubman, MLK and the rest should be turning in their graves, they fought, bled and died to give their descendants freedom and a voice and yet they squander it time after time? I was even more surprised to see Essence Magazine a top mag for the community not even mention the elections at all, I would have expected a stinging article on the crappy turnout, yet so far nada. This is your life, don’t sit and blame the ‘man’ when you are content to do nothing, and something as simple as voting is an issue. Not to say every one is capable of voting, but did everyone who could did? Honestly? The next time I hear complaints from an African American about the state of their nation, I will ask two things- COULD YOU VOTE? and DID YOU VOTE? If the answers are yes and no then I cannot take them seriously. You had a chance to vote and yet you didn’t- too bad.

If you are fortunate to be in a democracy and a free one- USE YOUR VOTE, don’t squander it. That vote you didn’t do [and I regret not voting when I had the chances] could one day turn on you via a law made by someone your vote could have prevented from entering office in the first place.

The whole morale behind this is VOTE or DIE, and don’t do anything stupid to jeopardize your ability to vote e.g. getting arrested thru your own actions.

Ok so this was a long one- had a lot to say, read in good health!

A weekend away keeps the doctors at bay

Yes this is my longest title like ever but it is exactly what i wanna say- this last weekend was literally awesome [bar some moments] but for the huge majority it was a rousing success.

I don’t care how old you think I am, nothing beats going home and being taken care of by the fam, it was so cool seeing the ‘rents again and grandma who looked very well [ever the caring soul, apparently she was asking Mom what i would eat while i was waiting for my flight today :)]. The ‘rents still haven’t forgotten how to party like its 1975, and it was just a good time. Had a real snicker bar [yay!]. oats and turkey [no i’m a carnivorous horse] and all the biccies I could ever eat…within reason :). Even church was awesome, it was right what i needed to hear- HOW TO PLAN, for a 31st October message and with the mood I was in, it was perfect! And yes for the first time in ages, I actually got to be home sunday night, usually i’m hitting track sunday evening, and no matter how my morning was today, I am thankful, I will find the silver lining in my rainbow, and find the drumbeat in my thunderstorm.

Came back feeling missed [like ppl telling me they missed me- best feeling ever, I heart you much], and ready to roll. This month will be exceptional…..oh I have signed up for this NaNoWriMo aka National Novel Writing Month where you have to write 50,000 words of a new novel before the end of November, I guess its to give a good creative kick up the backside and I must say its nice, the TT on twitter is going off the hook. I don’t know if I should post up selected and random pieces of what I write, but I might ask certain ppl to read it for feedback.

PS: Just discovered one of my fave cousins [former baby] has a band called DyNAsty Music, they are going to be awesome and I’ve just become a fan, so when they start winning MOBOs, you’ll say you read it here first!