Blog Review For Today - Naapali

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Monday, May 19, 2008

From the info page to the blog pages, Naapali struck me as some shaman or internet sage of some sort.
His blog is simple but has this look that strikes you with the feeling that you are about to go into the depths of a deep spiritual and philosophical mind. The Mysticism is interesting and engaging.
Naapali’s interest and use of rich art murals which adorn his page and avatar space are elements that reflect the nature of the blog’s owner: a lover and devotee of the arts.

But those are not the only things you’ll notice when reading Naapali’s blog.

The depth of knowledge, the artistic virtuoso of narration, the powerful metaphoric allusions, the richness in choice of words and strength of entertaining semantics makes Naapali’s blog a delightful read.
The strong sense of intellectual reasoning is unmistakable. When Naapali narrates a story, you are compelled not to only be entertained but to also look for a take-away message because you’ll somehow sense that there’s much more between the lines than what you see and read.
When you read Naapali’s entry, you are taken into the depths of an unusual mind. Its always very possible to be both entertained and educated on Naapali’s entries with all the allusions he makes now and then to historical facts, biological facts, and all manner of educative facts and references.

I would have gone ahead to say Naapali’s blog only appeals to the intellectual mind but that would be a misnomer because even a non-intellectual mind can be carried along as well. It’s a classic example of intellectualism rendered with simplicity (I hope you get what I mean). The creativity and thinking is outstanding (check out his Second Floor Macy's series). I’m inspired by this blog to fully resurrect my writer’s skills into full swing.

Undeniably. Naapali’s blog is a blog I will always enjoy reading. That’s why it made my list.

Rating for Naapali
This Blog Rocks!

kush chronicles 101

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Monday, May 19, 2008

Okay, I have been hearing complaints about my comment section on my blog. Most people dont know how to work it. So here's a simple tutorial on how it works. I hope y'all get it.


When you open my comments page, this is what you see. At first it looks as if all the other comments are not visible but the are actually there. What you probably don't notice is that there is a side scrollbar at the bottom which the red arrow in the visual is pointing at in the image below.




When you scroll horizontally, the other comments will appear. There is also a vertical scroll (arrowed in yellow) in case you want to scroll upwards.



If you don't see the scrollers, then your explorer is probably outdated but all the same if you click on the space and move the arrow buttons on your keyboard, the comment segment will scroll.

Answering to the Random Tagging

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Monday, May 12, 2008

Okay, so Standtall tagged me and I promised to respond. So here are the random things about me. I actually had done it and was about to post it as Things you won’t believe about me. But it don't matter. Its the same thing. So here goes...

1. I don’t watch football.
Yeah! And when I say this most look at me in a funny way and think I’m weird just because I don’t dig what every other guy likes. Duh!
The reason is simple…as long as I gain nothing except a sore throat from screaming at players goofing on the field, then it aint worth it. What even sickens me the most is the fact that over here in Nigeria, we have people who are fans of foreign football teams like Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea etc. but no one will claim to be a fan of our own Eyimba football club and the likes. Apart from watching Nigeria in International tournaments, I don’t watch anything else about ball.

2. I’m not ‘shooking’ till we’re married.
That’s true. I don’t believe sex is the true expression of love and besides I feel it’s wrong to even do it b4 marriage. I believe that any guy that can’t hold his zip up till he ties the knot is still a boy and not a man. Yeah, I know some of you will think I’m nuts reserving sex till marriage but know this, its only strong and determined people that can hold out like that. Besides that, I always make sure my woman and I never get into a circumstance that will make us to do it. We’ve faced temptation many times but we always find a way to fight it. To me, that’s a way of respecting my God who has laid it as a law in the Bible and a way of respecting my fiancée too.

3. I dislike huge nigerian wedding ceremonies
Yes I do with a passion! All the ‘aso ebi’ thingy and flamboyant spending and spraying of money on people. What in the world?? Ugh! I believe the wedding should be a brief ceremony with just modest celebration, not a carnival! The bigness of the wedding doesn’t determine that a marriage will last. That’s why I’ve decided not to let anybody push me into what the nature of my wedding should be. After all, the size of my wedding won’t be in my resume, will it? And the funniest thing is that after the whole thing, it’s forgotten. I can’t even stress how bad the money spraying habit is. I think huge weddings (especially when you struggle to do one that eats your pocket) are just a sorry excuse to throw a big party and ‘show dem say you sabi.’ Sorry if I’m bursting someone’s bubble.

4. I don’t believe in Visa Lottery
I just feel it’s another form of slavery. It’s what’s been responsible for taking away most of the brains from Nigeria and Africa. Bad enough, we all get to be second class citizens when we get there.
I’d rather just travel abroad for better education and come back here to explore the endless opportunities which the many Asians are seeing but Nigerians are failing to see. I’ve discovered some of the secrets to these opportunities and I’m gonna tap into it.
Visa Lottery is just awoof that will scatter belle.

5. Success is in how I’ve touched lives, not how many houses and cars I have.
It’s a common thing among Nigerians here. A man hits big money (mostly illegal) and uses cars to decorate his compound and builds houses in high brow areas with ‘prison walls’ to show the world that he has ‘arrived’. He doesn’t know he’s just displaying his low self-esteem. One of them occupying our seats of power once made a stupid comment some years back that mobile phones were not for poor people. Today, everybody, including the poor are mobile!

6.I have beef for Nollywood

The average Nigerian movie is downright predictable, stereotypical, occasionally senseless, lacking in suspense and creativity and negligent in details. Apart from classic Nigerian movies that were produced by Nigerian producers/directors with foreign exposure and expertise, I can never be found accidentally spending my money buying a Naija movie. Most of the culprits are the English movies. The Yoruba movies are not doing bad though they are still affected. The most annoying is the term ‘Nollywood’. Where did it come from? It’s nothing but a copycat! It’s just an intangible entity unlike Hollywood which is also location in itself. It’s no wonder it’s hard for original stuff to come out of the industry.

I'm tagging Ollay, Charizard, Pamela, and Archiwiz. So you guys get cracking!

The Gaping Maw

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Tuesday, May 06, 2008

It was like 12 years ago when I paid a visit to the dentist to have one of my molars filled. I had a nasty sweet tooth and was finally getting to 'reap the benefits'of my obsession. I had awoken in the middle of the night groaning in pain, waking up the entire household. My parents had rushed me off to the dentist the moment it was morning and the dentist had resumed at the hospital.


If you've ever been to the dentist to have a screwed up tooth drilled with a small drilling machine in order to clean out the decay and make room for proper filling, you can understand what I mean when I say, it was a nightmare I never wanted to experience again.


As the the dentist drilled my rotten molar, I screamed in horror as unspeakable pain ricochetted through my entire body. Mum held me and assured me it was gonna be alrite.

I was like WT?? Alrite? This dude is drilling me to death!



As the drill bit deeper into my molar, I percieved the smell of granite, it was the smell of hot friction against my tooth as it chipped away under the intensity of the dental drill. I screamed like a banshee, the nurse and my Mum held me down tight. I sweated profusely like a condemed criminal. I thought I was gonna die.

Eventually the dentist stopped drilling, got me to rinse my mouth and proceeded to fill up the gap in my tooth. I promised myself I'd never get into a dentist chair again.

Wrong!!

12 years later the same tooth started acting up. I was like 'aw hell no!' But hell yeah I needed to go get my choppers checked.

The dentist was a nice middle aged lady. I thought because she was nice I would have it easy on my dentals. She examined me and discovered the tooth had cracked and some it had broken off (Now I know why I thought there was stone in my rice!). She did a temporary fill, then instructed me to come back in a few weeks but if it begun to pain me I should come down immediately.

A week passed. Two weeks, then the pain came. I dismissed it as just a healing process thingy until it became excruciating and kept me awake all night. The next morning I took off for the dentist from the office on permission. The tooth had no choice but to be removed.



My dentist, the nice lady got me seated in the comfortable dentists chair. somewhere inside me, the dread began to mount again. She's gonna dis-tooth me. Won't it be painful? I had heard from others that there would be anasthetics to dull the pain and that's what chilled me a bit.


She injected my gums with anasthetics and I relaxed as my mouth-flesh went limp. My dentist is a nice lady so I thought she would do it gently on me.

Wrong!!

I almost screamed when she picked something that looked like an ice pick and began to break the base of my tooth. It was so intense that I accidentally bit her finger.

I almost fainted when she picked up something that looked like a plier.
I close my eyes and practically went half dead as she yanked my skull and pried to and fro. I was still waiting for more terrible episodes when I was told it was over. I gasped in relief, my mouth region still half-dead and feeling like Sylvester Stallone's face. It felt so good to over the whole nasty toothy affair. But I felt strange; I now had a gaping maw which I had to adapt to for the next four weeks before I had a replacement. It was like being disabled, I could only eat unpleasantly with one side of my mouth for the next few days.



Word to y'all - take good care of ur frigging dentals! After my experience I understood the full meaning of 'Prevention is better than cure'!




PS. I'll soon be posting my own 'random things about me' as posted by Standtall who 'tagged' me to do my own version. Haven't forgotten!

ORANGE ACADEMY WALL OF FAME

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The event took place on Sunday 20th. The venue was Eko Le meridien Hotel in Victoria Island.

The nominees and winners to the Orange Wall of Fame were selected through online voting. Its an event that celebrates brands that have made impact in the country.

The winners included, Indomie Noodles, MTN, 141 Worldwide, TBWA, Skye bank, GTBank, Coca Cola, Guinness, Insight Grey.

That's just some out of the many pics taken.

For more information on Orange Academy and the whole works, check out the site -->

http://www.orangeacademy.net/

Blog Review for Today - Black James Bond

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Wednesday, April 16, 2008

What actually attracted me to this blog was its name. ‘A Black James Bond’? I was like ‘what the heck?’ but still clicked the link to get a load of what was in store from this fellow claiming to be the negro version of one of the world’s most popular sleuths.

I didn’t regret clicking the link…at all.

Black Bond’s site got me hooked with the rich placement of colors and the powerful header visual which consisted of traditional African rendition of what a black James Bond would look like. The rich use and blend of black and bluish green spoke of a mastery that got me suspecting that black 007 is a real artist. A colleague of mine saw the site and was like, ‘Did this dude finish from Yabatech?’ (Most of the best artists in Lagos were products of Yabatech).

The artistry was evident in Black 007’s use of majorly just 3 colors alone and sticking to that scheme all through. The advantage of such a layout is that you your eyes get a pleasant view and are not confused with too many colors here and there. And I must add, it’s a neat blog, very tidy in every sense of the word, no scatterings to make you loose concentration.

And the content? Black James Bond can write! The dude is actually a cool storyteller. His entries on the series ‘Richard’s Battles’ tells it all. With fluid narration that keeps you toeing the line with him you take in every detail of the story he tells. The strong aspect of his storytelling is that it describes complex situations in a simple manner. You don’t get bored at all.

Babatunde a.k.a Black James Bond made it to my list because his site is unique- yeah, that’s the word.

Rating for Black James Bond
I’m loving it!

SOCCER DEATHS: IS SOCCER JINXED?

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Friday, April 11, 2008

This entry is a bit of a surprise to I myself but I just couldn’t but help noticing something quite alarming in the world of soccer sports. It all started when I came across an online footage of a tragic moment in football. A Hungrarian footballer collapsed suddenly on the field during a game and died on the spot.

His name was Miklós Fehér.

The footage was shocking. One moment the dude was smiling and the next he crashed to the ground. I watched as team players and officials tried to revive him. Then there was panic as the realization that he might be dead sent all his teammates into sorrowful fits as they began to cry…

I googled Miklós Fehér and found out what actually killed him was some kind of heart ailment with some big name. Fehér died from ventricular fibrillation brought on by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. I guessed from the ‘bigness’ of the name it was some sort of nasty killer.

My search them led me to other footballers who had also died while playing on the field. I discovered shocking facts;

Almost everyone of them died of a heart problem!
They were mostly young fellows in their prime.
They died quicker without chance of survival.
With very minimal exceptions, it happened while they were on the field.
Nigeria and other African countries were not left out in the string of football deaths.

It made me ask the question, is soccer a jinxed sport? I’m really not a soccer enthusiast but I can’t help noticing some things which may be overlooked.

Here’s the shocking roll call of some recorded insidents;




1970s
Renato Curi - suffered a heart attack on October 30, 1977 while playing for Perugia in a Serie A match against Juventus. Perugia's ground is named after him.

1980s
Samuel Okwaraji - Okwaraji collapsed and died while playing for Nigeria against Angola in a World Cup Qualifier on August 12, 1989. An autopsy showed that the 24-year-old had an enlarged heart and high blood pressure.

1990s
David Longhurst - suffered a heart attack on the pitch while playing for York City against Lincoln on 8 September 1990. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. To honor his memory, York City named one of the stands at the Bootham Crescent stadium after him.





1997: Emmanuel Awanegbo, a Nigerian playing in Germany, died after only 12 minutes of play. The death was attributed to cardiac arrest.

1995: Amir Angwe, 29, a striker for the Julius Berger Club of Nigeria, collapsed a minute before the end of an African Cup Winner's Cup semi-final match with Maxaquene of Mozambique. Doctors believe he died of a heart attack.

2000s
February 2000: John Ikoroma, a 17-year-old Nigerian youth international, suffered a heart attack during a friendly match in the United Arab Emirates. He was in a trial match for Al-Wahda against Kazakh Club Astona when he collapsed 20 minutes before the final whistle. He died in hospital.

Eri Irianto -The Persebaya Surabaya's midfielder passed away at 1:45 AM on April 2, 2000 in Dr. Sutomo Hospital in Surabaya, East Java after heart failure. Eri was taken to the hospital during halftime of Persebaya's league match against PSIM Yogyakarta because he said that he was having trouble breathing. He had some treatment at the hospital but there was nothing the doctors could do to save his life.



Marc-Vivien Foé - collapsed while playing for Cameroon on June 26, 2003 whilst playing in the FIFA Confederations Cup semifinal between his country and Colombia, and died shortly afterward in hospital. An autopsy later revealed the cause of death was a heart attack caused by an enlarged right ventricle.








January 25, 2004: Benfica's Hungarian international striker Miklos Feher, 24, collapsed during a Portuguese league match against Vitoria Guimaraes and never regained consciousness. The autopsy revealed he had suffered from a heart malformation.
In memory of him, Benfica have retired the number 29 shirt which he wore during his time at the club.








October 27, 2004: Brazilian Serginho, 30, collapsed during a Brazilian first division match between his club Sao Caetano and Sao Paulo and later died. His death caused a huge controversy after the autopsy revealed that his heart weighed 600 grams, twice the normal size. Sao Caetano, the club's president and the doctor were sanctioned by Brazil's sporting authorities.






Matt Gadsby of Hinckley United collapsed on the pitch on September 9, 2006, during a Conference North game against Harrogate Town and died soon afterwards in Harrogate District Hospital. Medical tests revealed he died from a heart condition known as Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy, an inherited condition that affects the muscle of the right ventricle of the heart.






Cristiano Junior collided with Mohun Bagan goalkeeper Subrata Paul in the 78th minute of the Federation Cup finals while scoring his second goal after chasing the ball into the box, staggered away, then collapsed. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful. The game continued after Junior was taken off the field. He was dead on arrival at Hosmat Hospital. Dempo won the Cup, 2-0. He was the highest paid footballer in India










Antonio Puerta: 22 year old Sevilla FC player Puerta died on August 28, 2007 of multiple organ failure, stemming from prolonged cardiac arrest, three days after suffering from several heart attacks during a league game against Getafe CF on 25 August, 2007.





Chaswe Nsofwa: Zambia-born player signed by Hapoel Beersheba, died on August 29, 2007 from sudden heart failure during a training match against Maccabi Beersheba.






VIDEOS OF THE SAD MOMENTS
SERGINHO'S DEATH


ANTONIO PUERTA'S DEATH


MARC VIVIEN FOE'S DEATH


MIKLOS FEHER'S DEATH

Blog Review for Today

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Monday, April 07, 2008

My blog review for the day is Ollay's blog.



‘The Parakeet’ as she’s nicknamed is true to her blog description as she plainly stated in her header;

“My blog promises to be honest, heart wrenching and a no holds barred to events in my life, that of my friends, families, acquaintances and perhaps colleagues. I am not a master of fanciful words but I could make you smile and most importantly make you think…”

I was referred to her site by someone else, either Oluwadee or someone whom I can’t remember right now.

Ollay’s blog is a what I’d call a Social Realist Blogger because her entries keep it real; she takes time to mirror or present the happenstances of our everyday society, be it in the western world or back home in Nigeria. From the entries I’ve read, I’ve seen how she discussed topics that touch issues that matter.

How else would I say it? Ollay’s blog is informative. She takes time to get into her details and carry you along. Ollay has a writer’s mien in her, no doubt about it. Her titles can be engaging enough to want you to check what its all about.

Another unmistakable fact about Ollay’s blog is that she keeps it neat enough for your eyes not to get distracted by some funny colors or images scattered all over the pages. In my years in advertising, I’ve come to know the importance of keeping layouts tidy and not too loaded with visuals that will be too busy for the eyes to enjoy scanning through. This makes Ollay’s page a pleasant read.

That’s why ‘The Parakeet’ made the list of the blogs that I view.

Good job Ollay.

Rating for Ollay's Blog

I'm Diggin' it!

The Muses

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Wednesday, April 02, 2008

WARNING: If you intend to answer with an insult because a point touched your nerve don't bother!

4 Questions
Give an answer if you think you have one


Why is it that majority of bloggers are females?

Why is it that it’s mostly in black music videos that half naked women are showcased rolling their bumbums?

Why do some people think being gangsta is cool?

What’s good about smoking a cigarette?


My Convictions
Agree, disagree, or state otherwise

I am convinced that;

>That black folks who play loud music and show off their blings are suffering from low self esteem

>That falling in love is just having a stupid crush. To Love is an act not an accident. You can choose to love or not.

>That condoms won’t protect you much longer. Sperm cells are mutating.

>That America has the nastiest case of obese people.

>If you wanna get in trouble at work open ............’s blog on full screen. (fill in the blanks)

>Decent people are extinct

>There’s hardly anything for kids to listen to anynmore. Too much adult trash on the airwaves.

>Too many idle folks in the western world.

>When you’re female and in your mid-20s, you are either confused, playing around or getting serious with life. Unfortunately the serious ones are very few.

>A copycat is just a lazy coward.

>Nollywood is a copycat

>It’s easier to commit suicide when you’re a white man than when you’re an African.

>Nigeria is changing and would soon become a nation to positively reckon with.


Each of these convictions can become a topic for an entry no doubt.

Fooling Around

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Just an April 1st happenstance I wanna share

Essy one of my colleagues came to work looking so smashing that I was forced to compliment her.
The effect of her good look must have been really very strong because when Neyo, a dude from our Media department stepped in to get some info, he just had to do the ridiculous by all means. He stepped up to Essy and the dialogue took place between them.

Neyo: Give me a hug. Today’s my birthday.
Essy: Today’s your birthday? So you’re a fool?
Neyo: Eh?
Essy: Today is april fools day now. E mean say you be fool.

Okay, I couldn't help but laugh but Neyo looked stupid when she told him that. I knew he just wanted to 'committ touchery' due to the unpalatable tetosterone rush that hit him after seeing the good looking Essy.

..........................................................................................................................................................................

Racqwel nearly lost her mind I told her we had lost one of our prestigious clients to a rival agency.

She had worked her butt, lost a lot of sleep and apettite over the account and to hear of it being poached by another client was a serious nightmare happen in the daytime.

When I eventually told her she had been april fooled and that no such thing happened, she nearly tore my head off.

Happy April Fools day y'all! (If its worth celebrating)

PROJECT L.E.A.D

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Thursday, March 27, 2008

Today's a day I won't ever forget easily.

It was the day we had a seminar with the students of Lagos State University, Ojo campus. I was among the organizers as well as one of the speakers.

The seminar was titled Project L.E.A.D and we had eminet professionals coming to speak; there was Mrs. Uche Majekodunmi, the owner of Newton & David, a renown interior and exterior decoration and florist outfit which had gathered a number of awards for impact in the industry, we had Gbenga Sesan; an IT professional, powerful speaker and Nigeria's first Information Technology Youth Ambassador who has spoken in over 20 countries, we had Niyi Adesanya, a high profiled speaker whose company Fifth Gear Consulting has addressed and done consulting for mega corporations and high profile individuals, and we also had Emmanuel Effiong-Bright, a Brand Sepcialist whose oratory power of speech is always guranteed to ignite a vicious desire to change in you.





We (Oragnizers) got to the venue, the dramatic theatre hall, at about 7.00am to make sure everything was in place before 10.00am when the program would start.

By 10.30am, the sound engineers were nowhere to be seen, the projector guy was telling us stories over the phone, and some student excos said they needed to build a set in the hall so we were time bound.


Then Tolu, our leader got a call that he had to fill in for another Doctor at work urgently. Now we had to go on without him.


Then our speakers except Mrs Majekodumi, arrived.


Then the Honourable Health Commmitee Chairman from Lagos State House of Assembly, arrived.

And the sound engineers were nowhere to be seen. The projector guy goofed and couldn't get it down to the venue.

And the students were leaving for a test or lecture.

Things were not looking good and it had reached a point where one could give up.

But we needed to act fast and do something. We couldn't afford to give up.

Finally, Kenny, one of our facilitators had to get another sound engineer who got his equipment down to the venue and began to set up. After setting up, the equipment failed to work!


Boy! Did I feel like the devil was seriously after our progress! I said prayers to god under my breath and held on to faith that things will work out.

After waiting for about an hour, The Honourable Chairman took his leave because he had other businesses to attend to.

We had to fashy the projector since all efforts to get one failed.


Finally the sound guy got his equipment working...but his equipment didn't include music! Drat!

We had to think of something. Quickly I got my laptop and plugged it with a connecting cable which we had to wire up using earphone cables and attaching it to the big cables of the sound dashboard. At last Asa's music belted through the huge speakers and the attention and interest of students was ignited.


Niyi Adesanya opened the event by saying a few things to alert interest of the students.


Lin Chung the stand up comic took the stage and got the students laughing. gradually more people began to troop into the auditorium out of curiousity.

Kenny gave a talk on the stock market, I did my stuff on creativity delivering it like I never did before and charged the students up.

By the time speakers took up the mic and began to deliver, more people streamed into the hall. Mrs. majekodunmi joined us by 2.00pm and took the stage. She delivered stuff borne out of her own experience and touched the heart of the students.

Emmanuel Effiong-bright shacked up the audience with powerful issues on branding that set students scribbling madly on their papers.


Gbenga Sesan stirred the audience in an angry delivery of how to get employed without experience using his own personal experiences.


Niyi Adesayna set the students retrospecting and gaping for more with his brief talk on capacity building.


He stated there may be need to come back to LASU to talk more to the students because there was so much to tell them about the outside world, especially the final year students.

The seminar ended very well, students besiged us to get contacts and take pictures. We were so thankful we said a prayer together thanking God for turning things around when everything looked like it would flop. We had spend so much on the event solely with our own money since sponsors failed to respond. (I'll be doing an entry on this issue later). The seminar had been free with no fee attached to it and the students came heard and when they left were not the same again.


I'll put up pictures from the event later as soon as I get them from Ola, one of our facilitators.

The Watchers - Part Two

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Tuesday, March 25, 2008

"Bros, shey you wear your wedding ring?" Tunde the PA asked.

"No, why?" Kenny replied.

"I for say make you take style flash your hand make those babes know say you don marry"

I burst into laughter. It didn't occur to me that Tunde had also seen the mystery women who by now had left the line beside us and were now right behind us. From our sitting position and the way in which Kenny rested on the armrest between us, he was at a better vantage point to be oogled at by the mystery women. I was hidden from their view. I wasn't even going to take any second glance. A warning inside me told me it was dangerous.




"Tunde! Haba, can't you just ignore them and face your driving?" Kenny said still keeping a straight face. He didn't even bother to check what Tunde was yapping about. He was more pre-occupied with the worship music playing on the stereo and sang along with it. That's Kenny for you, once the music gets into him, he gets into it.

"You can't blame them anyway. Afterall, you be fine guy now, which is as a result of your wife's hard work" I added.

"Na you know oh" Kenny replied.

"Its true. All these ladies that find married men attractive don't realize that it's because their wives have worked well on them that they look that good; many of them want to eat where they have not sown." I emphazied.


Kenny and Tunde burst into laughter. I had said the latter part of my statement in yoruba and it sounded so hilarious the way I rendered it.


Finally, the road was clear and Tunde hit the gas pedal. The car picked speed and we left our watchers far behind in the crowd of fellow motorists.

The Watchers - Part one

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Thursday, March 20, 2008

I relaxed in the back seat of the Toyota corolla contemplating what the outcome of the rest of the day would turn out into. Kenny, my creative director sat next to me in the ‘owner’s corner’. Tunde, his PA was at the wheel.
The weather was humid again as it had been turning out to be in the past few days. But we could hardly feel it since the Corolla’s air-conditioning took care of everything. We were on our way home after spending four days at the Lekki Peninsular Resort where we had just concluded an official working retreat for one of our clients. We were very relieved to leave the place. Kenny had been missing his wife like crazy and I had been clamoring for a restful weekend.

We were held briefly in a small traffic around the Lekki Phase 2 axis. We waited patiently to move while Juanita Bynum belted powerful worship tunes over the car’s digital sound system.



A light brown Jeep (A Honda I think) drove up beside us in the hold up. Two dangerously cute ladies were in it. Not an unusual sight on the streets of Lagos where everybody tries to show off their rides with reckless abandon. I had taken a brief glance at the Honda and noticed the ladies - especially the one in the passenger seat next to the one driving – were looking at us. The one in the passenger seat refused to shift her gaze and I quickly shifted mine. Hiding my eye with all diligence

A thought hammered in my head. She put ‘something’ for eye?


To be continued....

THE SCANDALOUS WORKPLACE

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Friday, March 14, 2008

I long to break out of employment and run my own outfit. I've just discovered that the place can be so trying on you in so many ways. Okay, I get to learn a number of things such as 'How not to run my own business' when the management screws up.

I also get to establish connections and build a network with people that are highly placed both in the business and entertainment world. There are some concessions that you get to enjoy such as official retreats and trainings that take place from time to time amongst other things.



But my pet peeve is with the emotional attachment that gets to grow in funny places; attachment to the job, attachment to the environment, attachment to the concessions. The one that scares the bejeebies out of me is the emotional attachment that tends to grow amongst colleagues; the one that factors the phenomenon called 'Office Romance'.



My workplace is fond of hiring dashing and attractive females.
And a number of males keep falling into their seductive traps. I don't blame the ladies,they can't help being pretty. It's the dudes that I will blame for not resisting the temptation of falling. But there are also females who enjoy the promiscuity so it’s a two sided situation.

I've seen married men go the adulterous lanes without any conscience, I've seen single guys pick ladies they just want to wham bang and thank. I've seen newly wedded ladies do 'Aristo' runs (Going on trips with yuppies or suga daddies) It all disgusts me but I've had to cope with it.






I've had a tough time keeping myself away from being pulled into this web of office scandals which runs from top to bottom management. I've had ladies who were attracted to me flirt around me in such a way that my hormones were almost raging out of control. Its always a mental war cuz I've had to refresh Biblical scriptures in my head as well as my fiancée’s image so that I stay loyal to her as well as to my God.


I became a close confidant to one of these ladies because I had mentored her when she first joined the company. Along the line, we got so close that I sensed we were about getting way too personal. I could see she had a crush on me and I had to fight off the urge to succumb into a sinful tango with her.

Believe when I say it was an emotional war, it really was. I'll probably tell the story some other time. It was really serious but I'd determined in my mind and thank God I didn’t succumb to it. We spend about 85% of our days at work every weekday and get to see these same colleagues at work. It’s no surprise that emotions get to grow. It’s been discovered that when you spend a lot of time with someone of the opposite sex, an attraction may build, even if the person isn’t cute!


You see why I feel like running my own thing? Maybe it’s not a very good excuse but man, I gotta get away from all those females before they do things to me. Boy I feel like Joseph who had to run from his seductive mistress...Men were designed to be attracted by what they see but there's a need to control it.

Proverbs 6:257

OUR KIDS IN DANGER 2

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Monday, March 10, 2008

The world is a busy place.
Things are changing.
Mum and Dad gotta go to work.
They leave the kids with the housegirl
Or they send them to boarding school or just keep them away whichever way while they make money.
Mum and Dad hardly see their kids except on Holidays

As the kids grow, they become partial strangers from their parents
As the kids grow, they hide stuff from parents cuz they see them as people
they can't share everything with...



They learn from their peers more than from their parents cuz their parents are too
busy to have time for them.

Nyemoni asked a question, 'Where do we really draw the line'?
It looks like a tough question to answer but for every problem, I believe there's always a solution.
What a man sees or listens to or does frequently becomes part of him
what becomes part of him, he will always think of
what he thinks of, he becomes.




I believe that as a parent, one should be VERY close to their kids.
Spend quality time with them.
Become your child's best buddy and not just his Dad or Mum.
Don't be an authority figure that he or she'll just grow to fear
Be the one they'll want to share everything with.

I say this out of experience.
You know that kind of childhood where when you hear Dad's horn, you feel like going to hide?
Or everytime your parents go out you feel happier?



And the thing that actually brought you closer to them was when its time to get spanked...
And I'm not talking about being spanked with a ruler or a slap on the hand, I'm talking about being whipped with thick belts and rubber wires or shoes with nasty soles...
Some of us can relate with those moments and how it was back in the days but believe me, those are not the best ways to relate with your kids.

I said this earlier;
What a man sees or listens to or does frequently becomes part of him
what becomes part of him, he will always think of
what he thinks of, he becomes.

When your child is close to you, he or she sees, listens and does the right stuff with you.
It becomes part of them and they will always think of them.
And what you have put in them will address what they will become.
The best way is to bring them up in the fear of the Lord.

Proverbs 22:6
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

I believe I can do it better where my Parents did it wrong.

What about you?

OUR KIDS IN DANGER 1

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Saturday, March 08, 2008

I took a trip to 'Iya Oni bread's' shop to buy me some freshly supplied 'Agege bread'; that locally baked bread that many Naija kids grew on; a popular staple food next to garri.
There's was a supermarket nearby that sold the sliced bread variety but I just didn't feel like being an 'ajebutter' today. I was in the mood to go back to ma roots; I was itching for a razz meal of bread and tea.

I got to the shop and met three kids there having fun singing their favourite songs in turn. Its cute at times to watch them youngsters do all dat stuff but I just couldnt help but listen in shock as they belted out dirty lines from a dirty song by a controversial artist. A big question rang like a large sounding gong inside my head...

Should little Kids be really singing and dancing to stuff like this?

Another day, I had just gotten back from work and I heard nusic blasting next door. I took a walk to check out what the hulabaloo was all about. It was a kiddies party...and the music that was playing was 'Pretty Pussy' by lady saw, and the kids frolicked excitedly to the song! Another question rang thru my head...

Where is the age of innocence?

Its an age which every child ought to go thru. My own generation went thru it as little kids. In those days there were less dirty songs all over the place. There were actually songs that kids could sing,

musicians who skewed positively towards younger audiences were in good supply. Things have changed now...even youngster musicians are singing nasty stuff.

People say it don't matter, that its just the rythmn they'll dance to, that they'll never guess the lyrics. Wrong! That's no excuse. Infact its the more reason to be wary the more. Kids from toddlerhood till their teens are like tape recorders. They record stuff they come in contact with, and in this information age, because of the complex nature of our society today, Kids are learning much faster than before, smarter than their age. Know what that mean? They learn stuff quicker and get curious much more...

Its no wonder teenage pregnancy has blown into a higher proportion.

I fear for my own kids when they come into this world, with all the dirty music parading filthy lines, with all the music videos parading half naked women and debasing them before cameras and special effects.

Another bugger...why is it rampant among black stars? Theres hardly no hip hop or R&B music that doesn't sell hard knocking sexuality. Is it because black women are more bodily blessed that they must be put in the musical showglass and told to shake all manner of obscenity into the minds of every viewers?

Believe it or not, our kids are in DANGER!