I've been a frequent subscriber of The Word Among Us daily spiritual readings for over 4 years, and I've always felt it was a great way to start my day. Todays reading talked about hope.
Referring to Romans 8:24-25:
"...for in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."
...and it got me thinking, as humans we should always strive to maintain or hope and faith in God. Believing in things we may not see because of our faith in God. Take me for example, I live in a country I like to refer to as 'developing', as opposed to 'under developed' and you may ask why the difference- it's because I believe that someday we will become a developed nation. Some day we will overcome the plight of corrupt leaders and our governments inability to implement laws.
I say this, because when I think of all the recent developments been made, it gives me one simple thing - hope. Take a look at the following:
Lekki Free Trade Zone: An initiative which originated during Bola Tinubu (former Lagos state governors) regime. Though it may take a couple of years to reach their goal, the idea of our government coming up with such an initiative and actually working on it (yep, i've passed by the area and work is being done) gives me - hope.
Road Construction and development: We all know our naija roads are below par. With the numerous pot-holes and weak bridges i've driven on, it's amazing i'm still alive and without backaches (lol) Anyhoo, that said we have Hi-tech Construction company and our good old friends Julius Berger working on about 60% of major roads in our country, and building new roads and bridges to help ease traffic. Check out the links and the current projects in the country. This gives me - hope.
Bar beach project: Don't know if y'all have heard, but our government is currently working on reclaiming part of the sea in Bar beach, V.I. to develop Eko Atlantic City - The New Lagos. Check out the CNN Inside Africa video on this. Again, this gives me - hope!
For all my Naijas across the continent, who may feel little or no hope for our nation; hope (lol) this gives you a bit of joy/excitement knowing our government is working on such initiatives. Granted, we may not live to see and enjoy the outcome of these projects, but we know our unborn children, grandchildren and great-grand children will surely live in a developed Nigeria.
Keep the hope alive y'all!
P.S: if the links don't work or aren't correct, just google search the project listed. I'm sure you'll find something on it. Forgive me, dont mean to be lazy, didn't verify each link. The internet speed and connection here can be sooo slow and annoying atimes. lol
Hope everyone's great. How was the weekend? mine was not bad. Worked late on Friday nite (which confirms I kinda don't have a life lol). Spent Friday nite with my sis and her friend at Soul Lounge, pretty cool spot in Lekki, Lagos. Had this really tasty club sandwich and french fries, yum. Saturday - wedding, which was fun!
So Sunday evening a friend of mine came to visit and we get talking about the weekend and what we did, and he says "do you have a different outfit for every wedding you attend?" ha! and i'm like why do you say that and he goes "well you go for a wedding almost every saturday, figured you would" and then it hits me, he's right! I do go for weddings almost every saturday.
I can't help it. People are always getting married in this country. There's always a wedding somewhere in the city. I started thinking as far back to December 2008 (when I moved back to Nigeria), reflected on how I missed out certain saturday events cause when i initially moved back, it was almost like i was tied to my moms hip lol i mean she took me everywhere she went. Sheuu the lady even went as far as not hiring a driver and somehow was always able to guilt me into taking her places (*side thought* ..hmm how do mothers succeed in getting into our minds?) ...best believe, most of her saturdays were spent attending weddings, so that's where I was. Her room's filled with ashwebis and wedding invites and wedding souvenirs. I remember a friend of mine saying "your mom is really tryna get you hooked. With all the weddings you attend, she sure is focused on showcasing you to her friends" LOL she did have a point though.
So yeah, concluded - my saturdays are spent attending weddings, but I don't mind 'cause they are soo much fun! This particular wedding, damn! the food was awesome! I mean Onion Cateres (lol at the name) did a smashing job. The continental aka Chinese food was banging! at about 4:15pm when we arrived, the food was warm and tasty, the presentation was on point (quite rare to have all that at past 4pm, when the reception started at 1pm). Though I ate at home before coming, 'cause I was scared there would be no food by the time we got there, I still scraped my plate at the wedding lol Ah, yes and my meal was downed down with a cold glass of Baileys (one of my fav alcoholic beverages btw).
Oooo one more highlight, at this wedding I actually got up to catch the bouquet, maybe it was the alcohol in my system that loosened me up, maybe it was the good food, whatever it was I was a happy guest :D
...nope, didn't catch the bouquet but, it was fun participating. They had a little dance session between the single ladies and guys before the toss, loved the song they played! Can't remember the name, it's by the legendary Victor Olaiya (yeah, you youngins may not remember too, was sometime during our parents era lol)
Good times!
...o and to answer his question: no I don't have an outfit for every wedding i attend :p (wish I did though, my closest would be .....ah.....filled with variety) lol
In other news, been thinking about self-employment lately. Do you think it's easier than being a subordinate? I do. Hmmm...
Hey all! sorry, been MIA. Been busy busy busy, plus power failure and inconsistent internet connection makes it difficult to blog. Anyhoo, lots to say. Was sick throughout the weekend - had malaria. Tried taking 3 different malaria drugs over the past two weeks and none worked. So, had to make that much dreaded trip to the hospital and doctors prescription –injections for 5 days (ick!) and tons of medication that made me feel sleeeepy!
Anyhoo, on Sunday I managed to get out of the house for a bit. My friends niece turned 1 and she’s the first grandchild in the family. My o my, talk about a party! I mean her grandma took this pretty serious. She (i.e. grandma) and all her friends were in blue lace and headties. Yes! You read right, ashwebi at a 1yr old birthday party! They even shared out souvenirs for guests – vase, dishwashing liquid, party packs (for the kids. wish I got one, I’ve always loved party packs hehe, that’s the big kid in me lol) and a few other random items. It was fun though, naijas sure love to party (even if the celebrant can hardly walk lol).
On to the story of the day ….So, this morning I was having ‘one of those mornings’. Woke up thinking “gosh, don’t feel like going to work, bored at this job, blah blah blah” and it hit me February is fast approaching (February- the end of NYSC), What am I going to do after that? Nothing looks promising in the job market. I don’t want to remain in my current position, it’s getting boring, blah blah blah. Guess I was feeling this way ‘cause of the movie I saw yesterday (gist for later). Then I get to work a tad late, missed the 7:30am Thursday lecture and my boss reminds me (again) how important it is for me to attend the lectures. “The bank is downsizing, little things like this would make it easy for you to be kicked out” (and I’m thinking – whatever men!), dude prolly sensed my lack of interest and that I was having ‘one of those mornings’, so, he says a joke to lighten up the mood and walks away. I know he meant well, but I just wasn’t in the mood to hear that.
Few minutes later, I go to the main building to get a copy of a customers’ audited accounts and geez, you should hear how rude some people are to their subordinates! This lady goes off at this poor girl who was tryna help me get the financials, simply because she asked if she should include some excel spreadsheet with the audited reports. She sounded soo rude and the girl looked soo pissed and it wasn’t even 9am yet, imagine! Then, I think to myself – I’m sooo glad I don’t work in that unit. And right there, my frustrations from earlier this morning reduced considerably.
Point of the story is- we humans can be difficult to please. When I was searching for a posting for NYSC, I remember praying ‘God give me an understanding boss’ (‘cause we all know how naija bosses can be), and I got one. I’m learning from my job, my boss NEVER screams or yells at me (even when I make the silliest mistakes). He corrects me with a decent tone, and here I am complaining of boredom, while some poor girl is being yelled at and talked to rudely simply because she asked a question *sigh* forgive me Lord. Goes to show, we are never alone. When you’re feeling scared and confused, it takes one little incident to help put you ‘back in check’. We thank God for his presence in our lives.
I express my fears to one of my closest buddies and as always, she calms me down a little by telling me her new prayer. According to her, it’s no more “God find me a job”, it’s now “God use me for whatever you want after NYSC, place me where you believe I’ll make the greatest impact to your glory”. Nice prayer, don’t you think?
In other news, the funniest thing happened at the cinema last nite, while we were watching a Nigerian movie The Figurine-araromire – NEPA TOOK LIGHT! LMAO! Yes! And I’m soo not making this up. About an hour and 30mins into the movie, the place goes dark. Everything is off, little light in the room coming from peoples phones. Gosh, my friends and I were cracking up! Then the light comes on about 5minutes later and we are back to a scene that took place 20mins into the movie. Even funnier! ‘cause they had us screaming “fastforward o, it’s getting late”. Hahaha! the things I’ve seen in this country, too hilarious!
..and, yeah they recently started showing Nigerian movies on the big screen, we doing BIG THANGS!! lol
P.S.: keep in mind power failure at the cinema isn’t common, actually this is the first time i've ever experienced it.
Meanwhile, y’all should check out the site for the movie The Figurine. Pretty entertaining movie, you’d be impressed.
In conclusion, here's a short funny story I received earlier this week:
Proudly Nigerian
An American lawyer and a Nigerian from Warri are sitting next to each other on a long flight. The lawyer is thinking that Nigerians are so dumb that he could put something over on them easily...So the lawyer asks if the Nigerian would like to play a fun game.
The Nigerian is tired and just wants to take a nap, so he politely declines and tries to catch a few winks.
The American lawyer persists, and says that the game is a lot of fun.
I'll ask you a question, and if you don't know the answer, you pay me only $5; then you ask me one, and if I don't know the answer, I will pay you $500, he says.
This catches the Nigerian's attention and to keep the lawyer quiet, he agrees to play the game.
The lawyer asks the first question. 'What's the distance from The Earth to the Moon?'
The Nigerian doesn't say a word, reaches in his pocket pulls out a five-dollar bill, and hands it to the lawyer.
Now, it's the Nigerian's turn. He asks the lawyer, 'What goes up a hill with three legs, and comes down with four?
The lawyer uses his laptop and searches all references he could find on the Net.
He sends e-mails to all the smart friends he knows, all to no avail. After one hour of searching he finally gives up.
He wakes up the Nigerian and hands him $500. The Nigerian pockets the $500 and goes right back to sleep.
The lawyer is going nuts not knowing the answer. He wakes the Nigerian up and asks, 'Well, so what goes up a hill with three legs and comes down with four?'
The Nigerian reaches in his pocket, hands the lawyer $5 and goes back to sleep, pocketing $490.
Colleague : hi Colleague [3:31 PM]: hw has ur day been? me [3:35 PM]: hey, it's been busy (as usual). urs? Colleague [3:36 PM]: same Colleague r [3:36 PM]: u obviously cant wait 4 the weekend me [3:37 PM]: yeah, i can't Colleague [3:38 PM]: so hws it goin down this wkend? me [3:40 PM]: what's going down? Colleague [3:40 PM]: the weekend naw Colleague [3:40 PM]: any better? me [3:41 PM]: lol me [3:41 PM]: at all o me [3:41 PM]: u nko? Colleague [3:42 PM]: i dey wait 4 ur control me [3:42 PM]: lol..i hear u Colleague [3:43 PM]: ok o Colleague [3:44 PM]: i dey wait me [3:44 PM]: ok... me [3:44 PM]: lol
(didn't quite get what he was trying to ask). WTH is "i dey wait ur control" ???? Naija guys...
