shirak!

Relocated a little while ago to Port Harcourt from Lagos.
Got here and the mess is even more noticeable because it is a smaller town with so much money.
Roads are tiny, not seen power in my new apartment in days, (can you believe its actually worse than Lagos?) militants here, there and everywhere (not seen any, though)

Couldn't care less at first. As far as I was concerned, who the heck was the governor of the state anyways? Who cares?
Until I saw my pay slip and the huge chunk that statetax took off!
A whopping 22%!
Some a**hole has a lot of explaining to do as to what is happening to my money!
Good grief!@?!
Who is the freaking governor and where does he live?

strange that I look forward to reading other peoples' blogs but do not bother updating mine
dasugo?
what are you waiting for?

I love my country, I no go lie
Na inside am, I go live and die
I love my country, I no go lie
Na me and 'im go yab till I die'

Not quite sure why this came to mind now (some old folk song from way back), because I'm not sure I really feel that way now!
Believe me, I love Naija, but there are sometimes I feel like tearing my hair out at the potentials we have and how we are just crawling.....

I just made an 'investment' (I choose/decieve myself to call it that, no blame me. Forget Rich Dad, Poor Dad - the guy no be Naija guy) on a state of the art home entertainment system. I bought an Samsung LCD tv (my parents should not hear this) to replace my 25 inch Samsung CRT. Wired my LG 5.1 surround sound system. Setup my new Playstation 3, my slightly older Xbox 360, and real older Playstation 2 to the tv and amplifier. Purchased 2 PS3 games and even went as far as buying a HDMI and optical cable for the connections.
Non of these are made in Nigeria.

Took me a whole Saturday morning to get the connections right.
All this happened about 2 weeks ago.
Guess what?
I havent played the games or rocked the 1080i functionality of the TV as I write this.
Why?

NEPA!!! (Never Expect Power Always)
Or is it PHCN now? (Pls Hold Candle Now!)

There has been no power supply to power these equipment.
Jeez! Seems we have run out of water in the dam (again) and there is no gas to supply the power plants!
Light comes on by 7am - on my way to work, and goes by 6pm - on my way back from work.
The rest of the night, I'm on my own. Except of course I have the now basic household appliance of a power generator.
I don't.

Anyways,
the objective of this rant is that all the stuff mentioned above is for sale.
And for very cheap too.

Any takers?

P.S. Naija is what Nigerian's fondly call our country

Stumbled on this Toshiba blog this morning.




Interesting topics come up weekly.

Read my response to one and vote for me to win a laptop - wishful thinking.

Darn, time does fly.
Actually thought to do a better job of blogging last year. Sigh. Never did.
Right now, supposedly at work doing some serious work....... blogging.

I have just been inspired about love and life by Ugo. One of my oldest friend.
Will fill you in on it later.

Why do you want to know about me?
This will be the last post in which I will discuss me with you.

Suffice to say that I have found someone who makes me happy.
What more can I ask for?
Nothing.

Now, I will just share my opinion an a myriad of issues and my interests.
Lets see how long this will last.

ouch, no blog updates in the past 7 months!? Seems I'm getting to busy for my good.
This has gotta change.
A coupla interesting (very) stuff has been happening to me recently (very).
Am I delighted/excited/etc/etc?
YES!

We (blog and I) will talk later.

Yes!
Back home.
Really missed Naija.
Almost kissed the tarmac.
Came back all clothed in 4 shirts. Had to rip all but the inner shirt off as soon as I got off the airplane. Twas really hot.

Picture attached is an aerial view of Apongbon. A popular bus stop on Lagos Island.
Thinking of becoming a camera journalist of some sort. So you will be seing some more pictures on this blog. I think I should focus on Nigerian scenes and people?

Stay tuned.

(Seems like I'm talking to an audience abi? The audience is me! unfortunately, I suffer from a dual personality ailment) One good person (with a halo on my head) and one, not particularly bad, but with certain weaknesses - carrying a trident. No, without horns.

But, like they say, the saint always wins...... I hope.

sunset from the skies of madrid

This should have come before the last post.

Decided to take a vacation to America in January.
Yes, January.
Bad choice.
But, it worked out pretty ok.
Spent most of the time in Jersey and a couple of days in Austin.
Its amazing, these 2 places are almost as different as night and day.
My time in Austin with a friend and his wife was awesome!
They took out time to make sure I enjoyed meself.
So was Jersey. Actually drove out one night with my host in Jersey to Atlantic city! - A renowned gambling town. Went in to places like Ceasar's place, Trump plaza etc. Places I only saw on TV.
Guess what, I lost $30 gambling. Yes, I know. It was a shame.
Also took a day trip to New York, the big apple. Yes!
Hung out at Madison Square Garden, broadway, fifth avenue, the Goddess of liberty, Empire State building etc etc. The list is endless. Pity the cold did not allow me to make the best of it.

I don't think there is anything more valuable than friends.
Find them and keep 'em. For life.

Its amazing to notice how the environment influences the way people live their lives.
Currently on vacation in the US. Believe me, it is a whole different environment.
Thought of myself as a liberal person but I'm not too sure anymore.
All the stereotypes I grew up with in Nigeria came to the fore. No thanks to movies and music videos. - african americans are either gangsters/drug dealers or 'hoes'. To some extent, that is sometimes true, but not always true. (common entrance exam)

Actually got into an argument with a Nigerian American about these stereotypes and she almost bit my head off.
Nigerians here actually work a lot harder that those of us here. Most of them are great people.
Its funny, I think if I work as hard as they do here, I'd be a $ millionaire already!

I thought that cold could never kill a Naija guy until I came here. Believe me, if we had the weather they have, (-3 to 3 C) half of Nigeria would die in 24hrs.
Refused to wear winter hats because I thot they made me look like a gangster, I had to get one the next day after I almost died of frostbite of the head. (If that exists)


Coming over here was great for me. Opened my eyes well, well.
In Nigeria, we care too much about what people say and we are too interdependent. An extreme. America has the other extreme. I think it has got to be balanced to some a large extent.

But, I will come back to Naija a different person.
Life is too precious and short to live my life the way other people expect me to.
Its between me and God.
I plan to enjoy it.

another year strolls in.
just like that.
Its the big year for me.
The big three-oh year.
Yikes!
The time of kidding meself of my youth is drawing to a close.
My bones feel a bit cranky and brittle already.

Thank God, though.
Its because if him I'm still here.
YES, I am a believer. A Christian. A follower of Christ.

Been off work for a week now. Great.

We've had incidents in the country this past year that has made me do some thinking about life and my purpose.
If I die today, what would I leave behind? How many lives would I have influenced? Would my footprints remain on the sands of time? Like Achilles, would my name be remembered?

Answer is NO. Not yet. Not until my purpose is fulfilled.
So, what is my purpose?
.
..
...
....

That's my business.

Back to the new year.
What are me plans?
Priority 1: Get a lovely apartment by quarter 1
Priority 2: Get admitted for an MBA degree in one of Europe's top universities by mid year - online or fulltime
Priority 3: Find a beautiful lady to share my life with. Timing is flexible
Priority 4: Become God's leading man. NOW

These are not my resolutions. They are my plans.
Resolutions.....?
Not too sure of them.
I might do a blog of that later.
I could do with a lot of improvements now.