I met my future.....

I hate that I always have to scold myself for being AWOL on my own blog BUT life as a leisure scribbler and a full time MBA student amongst other things just isn't that easy to juggle. However I have no excuse as my first semester is officially over....HOORAH!!! and since I ain't making the customary trip home *boo hoo*, I actually can get on with some bloggage :-)

Sooo tonight I'm in the mood for some deep banter after a rather wonderful and unexpected weekend of revelations and just good 'ol Scribblediva chilling. Yesterday I went to church for the first time in a loooooooooooong *tumbleweed moment* time...and I have to say, it felt jolly GOOD! There really is no place like "home". My favourite pastor did his thing and had his son in-law in tow...hmmmm I need to think of how best to phrase the rest of this post because seeing him was a revelation in itself. I really thought men of his calibre (in EVERY sense of the word) were now extinct. Ladies I have prayed long and hard for God to give me a hint, a glimpse, an idea, something if anything of what my future husband would look and act like and I think He finally came through on that prayer yesterday. The intent with which he listened to his father in-law, the look of respect, acknowledgement and understanding, the ease between them and the g-swag he had going on was just ridiculous. What I saw could only be heaven sent and I think I can sincerely say he is probably the best looking Nigerian dude I've seen in a WHILE like wow! Yet the humility was on point. Like he hadn't clocked enough brownie points, my brother enlightened me on the obstacles he faced before he finally settled down with my pastor's daughter, being born into a Muslim family et al. Hearing and seeing really makes believing a walk in the park. I've always known at the back of my mind and somewhere deep in my heart that I would marry right especially as marriage isn't necessarily what keeps me up at night lol (no thanks to my intense MBA programme) BUT more recently I have had some major doubts. As a firm believer in God, I believe yesterday's encounter was a much needed and well timed vision of what's to come.
I don't know about anyone else but great men still exist and I know my not-too-distant future husband is one of them :-)

Now time for some much needed indulgence....Gu Hot Chocolate Souffle......bellissima!

Ivory Towers and all things random...

Oh how the time flies! I can't believe we are more than half way through the semester and I pretty much know everyone on my programme by name and face (major drum roll!!! lol). I'm going to have to make this post mega short as I have to be in bed shortly (switches off telly and blackberry simultaneously), BIG day tomorrow (don't ask!). So Monday was interesting.....we had a mash up Interpersonal Skills session and got to see the other groups yay!!! (fresh minds to prey on lol). Sadly it was a pretty drab session not helped by the gloomy, wet weather we had ALL day (yuck!). On the upside, Team D (yes that would be me and 4 other equally creative and intelligent guys), won the Ivory Tower challenge (*cue music: All I do is win win win no matter what!! :-D*). Thrown into compulsory silence having been placed in groups of 5, we were asked to build an Ivory Tower, out of 10 sheets of paper and 2 rather short strips of sellotape in just 2 minutes...yikes! It was fun and things got heated towards the end as you know we MBAs are a naturally competitive bunch :-)
However, having withstood the test of paper planes, over enthusiastic hand gestures and other durability tests both expected and unexpected lol, we won! We have our last Interpersonal Skills session next Monday and I can tell you one thing for a fact......I'm gonna miss 'em!

On a brighter note, I just completed the first batch of another exciting group presentation and I have 2 more to tackle *yawn* (I really must work harder at getting a social life!). Good night scribblers I'll be back sooner than you think muah!

P.S. I just realised this is my 50TH BLOG POST OMG OMG OMG I'm so proud of me!!!!! *hugs self tight* To all my readers I luv you guys!!! Thanks for the support I promise to keep blogging so long as my imagination and life remain somewhat interesting :-)

TMI!

Another quick number, student-hood is not entirely about lazy days and drunken nights (FACT!). I'm actually killing two birds with one stone here, basically every glorious Monday, we have an Interpersonal Skills session from 2-5pm, during which we discuss even more fluff and basically probe and pry way too much into each other's lives (then write up a journal about). Frankly, I thoroughly enjoy these sessions as I've always thought myself to be some sort of an amateur psychologist and my tutor is just so cute and lovely, its difficult to get mad at what most of my classmates find to be an utter waste of time. More importantly, I am on a scholarship (yes ScribbleD is a rare find...beauty+brains hahaha), so yea I have the the great joy of serving as a model student and can't really afford to skip classes except for the odd sick day :-)

Right, let's get to the meat of my post. Yesterday, we tackled Stress Management which was in itself a somewhat stressful session (the irony!). To start off, about a third of us turned up to class which made the session  a bit too intimate and to some extent boring as we were stuck with the same groups for the entire duration of the class *yawn* Firstly, our tutor Tim (I'm using a fake name by the way lol) gave us a brief history on stress and its derivation from the engineering field, and then he went on to describe how stress typically manifests itself in 3 different forms, physical, emotional and behavioural. He then handed out a sheet with an extensive list of these stress manifestations, asked us to tick those we could relate with, then invited us to form groups of four to discuss our observations. In my group, one of the guys actually ticked "loss of interest in sex" and felt the overwhelming urge to go into great detail about how this particular trait applies to him. It was of course hilarious and a tad bit uncomfortable to take in (at some point I said "ooookay too much information!" but he kept going). Turns out sex for married people almost always becomes an after thought in the face of real life pressures like bills, insurance, fees and what have you. Furthermore, he told us that as a married man who has had sex waaaay too many times and in all the different positions he knows of (I think this was my TMI moment lol), he felt somewhat bored and less excited about sex as it was in his mind a matter of "been there done that" (eureeka moment! lol). Anyway we somehow managed to get off that topic but the shock factor of such intimate revelation left me rather scarred and anxious for what our next session might cause some people to reveal!
Bottom line, I was able to take away that some amount of stress is necessary for us to stay motivated about life and indeed too much of it could lead to death. Seeing as I do not believe in the usage of new age religions such as Yoga e.t.c. to destress, I believe simple mantras such as EAT.PRAY.LOVE go a longer way in ensuring long life and prosperity...hip! hip! hip! HOORAY! :-)

Live in the moment....

Have to keep today's post short and sweet as I have mountain loads of work to get through tonight and my eyes already feel heavy with sleep and sheer laziness *yawn* Decided to take a hint from Drake and "live in the moment" over the weekend......ended up being "The Best I Ever Had" and I really didn't want it to be "Over" but as they say all good things do come to an end, so I bid goodbye to my long suffering boyfriend (London....yes I am in an intense and very rewarding relationship with a city lol) and headed back to the man currently after my heart, Robin Hood. I am quite an easy person to please so really I didn't get up to anything outrageous but I spent unprecedented quality time with my even more long suffering male best buddy and we had a BLAST! As someone who never really had strictly platonic relationships with the opposite sex, I thoroughly enjoyed the company, conversation and everything else, it was amazing to just be able to hang and talk and flirt and get some much needed perspective on a few things that were weighing on my mind. Anyhoo I finally conquered my presentation demons today and delivered a near flawless presentation with my dream team (Group 8). The consensus was that we totally ROCKED the class and I hope this success is sustainable for the rest of my MBA programme.

On that note I need to get through some case studies and other readings in preparation for class and some other group meetings tomorrow *sigh*

First...a quick detour....gidilounge, YouTube and BB messenger....what's really good?! :-D

About time....

So I know I disappeared for fear of fame come too soon (I wish!). Honestly I can't even use the "busy" card because that has been my excuse for the last few months and frankly no one seems to be buying it. And they say honesty is the way forward (tell that to the people in my life)........on a lighter note, I haven't been ill or anything equally traumatising. I've just been forging ahead with my MBA programme and yes my dear friends told me it would be a tedious year ahead but having worked I-banking hours I thought it would be a walk in the park (sooooo not the case!). I barely have time for any extra-curricular activities apart from messing about with my wardrobe every morning, in my bid to look like your average student lol. Geekily enough (yes you probably wouldn't find geekily in the dictionary but who cares :p), I am loving every moment of it, especially my ScribbleD inspired pad complete with a spa and every facility I do NOT have the time or energy to enjoy (I'm working on this). Also helps that my sis is here so hoorah to new experiences and opportunities!

Furthermore, this city is blessed with HOT TALL MEN!!!!! Can I get an AMEN from a fellow tall sister?! Lol. Sorry but I've never felt so petite in my vertically endowed life. Best of all they are hotties and from different walks of life so I'm spoilt for choice. Sadly, two things seem to be getting in the way, for starters, I seem to have lost my appetite for men (yes ALL of you) and secondly, I think I may have to embrace my inner Cougar seeing as most of these potential hotties are undergrads (eeeeks!). On a steamier note, I have something that you might call a crush on a fellow classmate BUT I've always only ever played Away (geddit lol) so I'm not entirely sure how this is gonna pan out but for now it's somewhat exciting / distracting (in a good way). Anyhoo I felt the need to express myself especially as our Interpersonal Skills coach says better out than in :-)

Happy Sunday guys......watch this space xx

Guess who's baaaaack? :-)

Short entry as my writing is a bit rusty given my unforeseen hiatus. After much pondering and bickering (mainly with myself) lol, I decided to carry on with my random ramblings. Thanks to all those that actually sought me in my absence and the eager readers that offered blog topics for fear I'd been struck by a deadly case of boredom (partly true). Without much ado, I would like to inform everyone that ScribbleD is back and hopefully here to stay HOORAH!!!.......xoxo

Men Cry Too

As sleep decided to play an endless game of hide and seek with me tonight, I thought I had engage in a bit of work related research via http://www.bbc.co.uk/, but ended up going from reading an article about private equity firm, Lion Capital, putting up its c.70% share of Wagamama for sale at c.£250m (bought at £102m in 2005.....sweet!), to skimming through an article on twenty films that make men cry (big mistake!). In light of news that Toy Story 3 makes men cry (WHY?), male readers got in touch with their emotional side and opened up about their own private tear-jerkers. Judging by the list, it is no surprise that men and women really do not speak the same language emotionally. True to form, a lot of the movies selected had nothing to do with romance, more about friendship in testing times and triumphing (men are so simple no). Personally, The Champ did it for me! I'm still sniffing and forcing back tears from watching the final scene of this heart wrenching classic film on YouTube as shown below (Warning: You WILL cry!!!).

Top Male Tear Jerkers (selected by real men)

1. There's one scene for me, it's the Grey Havens at the end of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. I've seen it loads of times, but even as a man in my 30s, it still manages to get me going every single time! The emotion of the characters, having gone through their personal sacrifices (particularly Frodo of course), coupled with Howard Shore's brilliantly moving score always makes me weepy with that lump in the throat feeling - I remember wailing in the cinema lol (such a girl sheesh!)

2. The Shawshank Redemption had me in fits of tears because of the joy and happiness that ensues when those two lifelong companions are reunited on that beach. The hardships they've endured and the power of their friendship stirs the longing for good friends in me. Yep, I'm a weeper and proud! - I still haven't seen this film

3. Picture this: me, my wife, her mom and dad, my mom and dad, the kids. We go to a movie all together for the first time ever. We go to Up and the only person in the group not sobbing is my father in law. Now I finally have proof that he is a robot. My dad cried for an hour. I tried to hold it back, but my throat was throbbing so hard it felt dangerous not to give in. Then I let it rip like a little girl. - OMG I saw this on the plane, was sobbing silently in my seat, how embarrassing and its a bladdy animated film!

4. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest has a tragic ending, and makes me bleary eyed when I think too hard on it, but the tears strangely intensify upon the victorious final shot, to see something positive and good come from such bleakness and despair. - Never seen it

5. The one film that makes me cry every time I watch it is Marley and Me. When he says goodbye to the dying Marley... I'm starting to fill up just thinking about it. I don't know if it's because I have a dog and have had to go through the heartache of saying goodbye before to my previous dog when she passed away but this film makes me cry more than any other. - This was one emotionally charged movie, especially as the relationship between Marley (the dog) and Owen Wilson was so believable. I also thought about my late dog when I saw this, so sad :-(

6. When I was a tender 18-year-old in the RAF, they showed The Champ to a bunch of us raw recruits. The room filled with male bravado soon quietened down and although dark you could see sparkling eyes. Nobody dared talk for fear of showing a trembling voice. - I dare you to watch the below clip and not blink back a few tears like really, this movie made us weep as kids *sniffles*

7. I wailed out loud at the end of The Notebook which wouldn't have been so bad except I was in the middle row in a packed 747 and I don't think anyone else was watching it. Oh the shame. - Yet to see this

8. I'm a 48-year-old man, ex-rugby player and motorcycle racer and I admit that Babe did it for me. Right at the end when the farmer says "That'll do Pig", I start welling up at the thought of it. - Eeeek! Babe made me cry too, I'm not abnormal after all :-) oops I mean :-(

9. I never cried at movies until after my daughter was born. The first time was Field of Dreams. When Kevin Costner had a catch with his father, I was bawling. I purchase the film every time it comes out on a new medium (video, DVD, anniversary edition, Blu-Ray), and I still cry. In fact, I cry before that scene, in anticipation. Some day, when the holographic version is released, I will cry on James Earl Jones when he says "for it is money they have and peace they lack". - No clue
10/11. Many readers found the end of The Railway Children particularly emotional 10. I have only seen my Dad cry on two occasions, and one of them was during Chariots of Fire. The end of The Railway Children, with Jenny Agutter running down the platform crying "Daddy, my daddy" gets me every single time. I must have seen it 25-30 times over the years and on every occasion, I am a gibbering wreck.

12. The Finnish sauna documentary, Steam of Life, had a reputation for being a tear-jerker. I didn't believe it until I went to see it myself, and all the men in the cinema were in tears. Fantastic doc, by the way. - Never seen it

13. The 1941 Tom and Jerry cartoon The Night Before Christmas has a very emotional ending. Tom sees Jerry freezing in the cold bitter snow outside the house and then feels bad for Jerry. He warms him up by the fire and gives him a Candy Cane as a present and Jerry then takes a mousetrap hidden in Tom's bowl of milk and Tom and Jerry become friends. This is probably the most emotional scene in a Tom and Jerry cartoon. - Are you having a laugh? lol!

14. Man On Fire, with Denzel. A hard hearted soldier of fortune discovers the inherent goodness of human nature in a child and gives his life in exchange for hers. I can't watch it without crying. - Hmm, never seen it

15. Mary Poppins makes me well up, at the redemption of Mr. Banks. - Huh?? LOL. Actually Mary Poppins was a tad emotional but come on!

16. The only film that got me blubbing was Life is Beautiful right at the end when the little boy gets to ride on the tank after winning hide and seek and then finding his mother. What made it worse was I was in the middle of a flight to New Zealand, it was half past something in the morning, everyone else was asleep and I was crying like a three-year-old whose balloon had burst. - Never seen it

15. Bridge to Terabithia had both myself and my 12-year-old son in tears in the cinema, openly asking each other why the girl had to die. I am not worried about being teary in front of my sons; I think it's good to let them know it's OK to let your feelings show. - Never seen it

16. The Green Mile often gets men blubbing 16. I've watched The Green Mile a few times and always end up crying. I'm usually sobbing at the lines, "Please boss, don't put that thing over my face, don't put me in the dark. I'm afraid of the dark." - Don't remember much of this movie to be honest

17. The bit in The Italian Job where the Mafia smash Michael Caine's Aston Martin and the two E-Types had me crying like a baby. - LOL madness

18. Rocky winning the title and manages to say "'except for my kid being born this is the greatest day in the history of my life, I just want to say one thing, to my wife at home, Yo Adrian... I did it!" Gets me every time! - Don't think I've ever seen this

19. My Life as A Dog, a Swedish film that observes a 12-year-old boy, Ingemar, struggling with life with a terminally ill mother and an absent father as well as meeting all the normal developments that life presents us. The tear-jerker for me is how Ingemar tries to come to terms with the story of Laika (a theme that runs through the whole film), a dog sent to space with a guaranteed death sentence. Ingemar consoles himself constantly with "life could be worse" - [I'm] in tears now. - Wow never seen or heard of this film but it sounds really sad :'(

20. If I want a really good purgative cry then it has to be Truly, Madly, Deeply. That's one film I can only watch on my own. - Never seen it

Going Nude

Get your mind outta the gutter folks, I'm talking about lipgloss :-) I'm not really big on makeup, purely because I lack the patience to spend quality time fussing over each feature on my face, but my vanity means I have piles of unused or partly used glosses, lipsticks, powders, mascaras and professional makeup tool kits gathering dust on my dressing table lol. Sadly, I keep picking up whatever the must-have item is and so far this summer, nude is the way to go. Pink has had its time in the spotlight too, knocking le rouge out of the way for the bright summer season but nude is the next big thing (or so I've been told). Innocently walking through the makeup floor in Harrods, I clocked eyes with a male makeup artist at the Bobbi Brown stand (big mistake!). He had one of those pitiful faces that made you want to buy something just to make his day better (sigh). So anyhoo I strolled over and let him work his magic, seducing me into splurging on a few nude essentials, even telling me their Pot Rouge for lips and cheeks in Cabo Coral made my cheek bones pop like Beyonce's (as if!). Fortunately for him, my sister approved and so did a few passers by who actually stopped to watch the transformation process (eeeek!). Ever since that fateful day, I haven't braved the nude look but I thought I'd try it out today, wish me luck!

Wearing Boobi Brown rich color gloss in Melon

Back in the day..

If there were ever a time to obsess about the past, I think now would be it. With shows like Mad Men receiving rave reviews (for obvious reasons! the show is AH-MAY-ZEEING!!! like OMG Don Draper!) and a lot of 80s trends making a comeback this year, I think a little walk down memory lane should be embraced. Besides history is a great reference for the future (okay I just made that up lol). Having zoomed my way through all the episodes of Mad Men thanks to http://www.tvduck.com/, I decided to go out and buy a couple of DVDs from the 80s to help pass the time. It was during my rummage in HMV that I stumbled across an 80s movie club DVD box set for Working Girls, which included five movies: Desperately Seeking Susan, Moonstruck, Romancing the Stone, Where Harry Met Sally and Working Girl (great selection no). Given my investment banking background and work withdrawal symptoms (which I felt for the first time this week), I obviously started off with Working Girl which I had never seen. I was glued to my screen from the opening song (Let the River Run), till the closing credits. Top movie without a doubt! Great wardrobe, stellar performance from Melanie Griffiths (never knew she looked / acted that good once upon a time!), intelligent script with some great lines:

Mel G - "I've got a head for business and a body for sin, is anything wrong with that?" (Fierce!!!)

Mel G - "I'm not steak, you can't just order me"

Sigourney Weaver - "Dress shabbily they notice the dress, dress impeccably they notice the woman - Coco Chanel"

Aside from Alec Baldwin, the male talent was lacking (visually). I actually found a young Harrison Ford a bit too clean cut for my liking, but he still made a fine executive, and what is it with men (Don Draper too) and extra shirts in their office drawers?? Doubt my colleagues ever had such stashes, not that I was looking. Oh and the outdated computer monitors were hilarious with the plain black screen and ghastly green text display (life with no MS Excel eeeek!). All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this flick, think I'll be checking out Desperately Seeking Susan next :-)

London State of Mind

P.S. Excuse the not so great blackberry camera shot

What do you do when you are all blogged out? Top up your Oyster card and hop on any night bus heading West :-). Well that was exactly what my sis and I did earlier tonight and yes we got lost a few times but we found our way home (phew!). Another great thing about good ol' London, is you don't have to do much to get BUZZED on a night out. We initially planned to have drinks in any bar around Piccadilly Circus or Leicester Square, but got carried away with our people spotting and ended up strolling across the Westminster Bridge whilst trying to shake off some annoying dudes (some guys just lack tact). Anyway after pretending to speak no English, they eventually buggered off and we got down to some serious tourist acts like taking goofy pics of ourselves on our blackberries and some equally distorted pics of the London Eye (it was a great view but I will NEVER go on that Ferris wheel). Can't believe I actually considered hiring out a capsule for my 21st birthday, given my severe case of Acrophobia. Funny enough, my friends and I decided to ride The Wheel of Manchester earlier this year (BIG mistake! lol), we ended up pressing the emergency button half way through especially as one of us (*cough*), had a panic attack and threatened to pass out if the operators didn't bring us right down lol. Where was I? Oh yes, London ;-) After much roaming (Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, Parliament Square), we eventually headed home, quietly content and appreciative of this very cosmopolitan city's gems!

Facebook woes

I'm sorry but Facebook is getting on my last nerve. Like every time I sign on, there is a new random person trying to add me as a friend??? What is that about? I would NEVER even dream of adding a total stranger to my "friends list"........people forget what the term "friend" means these days! Well according to http://www.dictionary.com/, a friend is a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard. HELLO! lol. Okay I do sound hysterical but seriously it is beyond infuriating, it is actually extremely rude, presumptuous and a severe disregard for privacy (still sound hysterical lol but I mean it!). These people need to stop! The excitement of seeing that red alert box over the friend icon on my facebook page has now been replaced by anxiety. I'm even getting good at ignoring it for some days before checking in, just to make sure a real friend hasn't been ignored for longer than necessary. Someone needs to sort it out. A friend suggested I change my profile pic because it could be attracting the wrong sort of attention BUT the invites are also coming from females (should I be concerned? lol). The polite thing to do is send a message first then a friend request not vice versa, but I guess that is asking for too much. The good news is I know the solution to my problem, LEAVE FACEBOOK (duh!) but the bad news is I can't go through with it, at least not yet. So till then my soon to be long lost genuine friends will need to join me in playing the waiting game, while the strangers can keep getting the ignore button :-)

Hookahdom

Yesterday was one of those days that were just too good I wasn't quite sure what part to blog about. Everything was splendid and to top it all off, my dear friend (first ever person my antisocial self made friends with at uni *blush*), treated me to my favourite Thai restaurant, Busaba Eathai. My close peoples know I'm ALL about great conversation and boy did we have A LOT to talk about, especially as we hadn't done a one-on-one session in ages. One of the things we talked about was our blatant love for London and how this city caters for everyone like none other, especially in the summer when we have a gazillion tourists roaming about (sometimes aimlessly lol).
So on my way back home, driving through Edgware Road a.k.a. Hookahdom (some call it Little Beirut), I couldn't help but notice how different this road looked back in the 90s when hardly any Hookah or Shisha bars existed. Now, a drive through this stretch of road feels like a drive through the streets of Persia, Egypt, Morocco and other Arab cities. It also smells different and every other restaurant doubles as a Shisha bar. Even their Starbucks is customised, luv it! For someone who lives really close by, I am certainly not a hookah queen, in fact I've only smoked it once and that was on a trip to DC sometime last year, probably Thanksgiving (random I know). Anyhow it was fun but I hear it is worse than smoking a fag (well that is what my lil sis told me). For now, I'll just stick to admiring my miniature Moroccan Hookah pipe (see photo), which I bought on a trip to Marrakech with my friend, a few years ago (great place but take a man, you'll need the protection!). Lurve bric-a-brac and try to get some wherever I go. That reminds me, must head to Portobello road tomorrow (note to self, no Hummingbird cupcakes allowed!)

Jerk!

Okaaaay so it's past 4am and my sisters and I have been jerking all night lol (the joys of youth!). They are still going strong but my over 25yrs old bones and muscles called it a night about an hour ago. It all started because my party throwing friend sent me a list of new hot tracks to check out (he is the only reason my playlist stays fresh). So any way we started off with a mix of whiskey, boiling water, honey, lemon, and cinnamon a.k.a Hot Toddy (Usher featuring Jay Z and Ester Dean). Everyone and their mama have had an opinion on this song today so I'm not gonna say much but it's fierce! Thankfully my sisters and I are quite talented (my youngest sis is great with lyrics, melody and everything in between, oh and she's a great dancer just like me and my other sis....so I like to think lol), so we really didn't hold back in terms of our music selection for our impromptu dance session. We went through an eclectic playlist, often taking dance notes off some brave folks on YouTube and that was when the jerking started lol. There is something retarded but insanely fun about jerking BUT it won't be a move I'll be displaying outside the confines of my bedroom, unless I've got some fierce juice in me veins :-). Speaking of which I think I need a body double for this weekend, so many parties (I CAN'T get out of *groan*) so little stamina eeeeks! Time to hit the sack xx

Love Mondays....

Feeling good, looking better, has been my motto for today, thanks to a few special people (one in particular......sigh). As I sit in bed, with my duvet wrapped around my legs (nippy London night) and my well deserved glass of my favourite tipple (Malbec wine) on my bedside table, I can't help but smile (you know that nerdy lovey dovey smile *shy face*) as I sway from side to side to Yori Yori remix (funny I didn't care much for the original). Like someone rightly commented on YouTube, "the song gives me feelings". Feelings I haven't dealt with in a hot minute and the timing is apt (hmmm). Summer '010 has been beautiful. I think it's safe to say I have ALL I need now :-)

Thought I should spread the love, enjoy! xox

P.s. All this good music has got me dancing....who knows one day I just might treat you to one of my sessions.....yah!

Born to be Wild!

I decided to go back to my roots yesterday, having suffered an excruciating migraine for the last few days. Yea I I know I am a bit of a hypochondriac but I had taken several Ibruprofen tablets, given up watching Mad Men on my laptop so my eyes could "rest" and downed several gallons of water to cure what I assumed to be a dehydration inspired migraine and yet my head felt like a clueless carpenter had moved in with the hopes of constructing the next world wonder......it HURT like hell and it just didn't seem like any known cure was working. Needless to say my featherlight Peruvian weave began to feel like an over fed hippo, weighing on my throbbing head. So I chopped it ALL off and freed myself of the bondage. I am not sure if plain old fresh air or psychology has anything to do with it but boy do I feel as good as new today :-)

I know a lot of natural sistahs like to say "I'm not my hair" BUT today I most certainly am my hair. I haven't felt this much liberated, eccentric and exotic in such a long time. Granted I had a relaxer about a month or so ago so my hair isn't entirely in its natural state. Still, I'm luvin' its wild state! Defo giving the weave a pass for the rest of the summer :-)

Let's go there!

I've always thought it pretty rich of Western media to remain fixated on the great divide between the rich and the poor in Nigeria, particularly Lagos. Between 2007 and now, I can't tell you how many articles and documentaries I've read and watched about how a large majority of Lagosians live in absolute poverty while  the upper class who typically reside on the island i.e. Ikoyi, Victoria Island, Lekki and the ever expanding areas beyond Lekki, live like rockstars (okay not in those exact words but you get my drift).

Anyhow, a few days ago, I drove through some parts of London I never quite knew existed. London can be a pretty depressing place sometimes, no thanks to its unpredictable weather and blatant lack of modern architecture (not that I mind but some people find Victorian buildings dull), so you can imagine my state of mind after discovering what I now call the pit of London. For reasons best known to me, I will rather not divulge the exact location of these parts of London but I can tell you it was a depressing experience. Run down buildings and equally tattered residents, abandoned vehicles, unattended dump sites, empty nil-star rated restaurants with clumsy looking sign boards and a handful of druggies, beggars and homeless people roaming about. It had nothing in common with the London I have grown accustomed to. The London I see when I look out my bedroom window. It definitely lacked the presence of tourists, most especially Arabs who now make up a significant portion of London's creme de la creme. Few weeks ago, my sister and I were in Knightsbridge for a bit of shopping and even though all we did was shop, we felt like we had journeyed to the set of Sex and the City 2, even indulging in a bit of car spotting (Rolls-Royce Phantom, Lamborghini Murciélago and Porsche Panamera to name a few). Meanwhile on my drive threw the pit, there was a vivid lack of life, hardly any cars on the road, we even saw one of those retro Volkswagen Beetles, and the local transport was nothing as efficient as that in Central London.  Granted, the poor in London are better catered for than in Lagos but relatively speaking, they are not necessarily in a better position if travelling from one post code to another makes you question if you are indeed in the same city. Also unlike Lagos, a vast majority of London's upper class (in financial terms), are foreigners >>>>>> food for thought.

As a trained economist, I am well aware of the existence of income inequality in every nation, measured by something we call the Gini Coefficient. According to http://www.poverty.org.uk/, inner London is deeply divided: it has by far the highest proportion of people on a low income but also the highest proportion of people on a high income. So not only have I witnessed a great divide between the rich and the poor in the UK, by class, education and post code, there exists statistical data to back this fact up.....(just saying!). Still love London though hehehehe xx

Short Story 2: The Unexpected Call

With a number of people loving Sound of the Underground which I posted a few weeks ago. I thought I might give another short story a go. I find short stories easier to come by as they hardly ever need to be conclusive and always provide some sort of suspense for both the reader and writer. So I literally wrote this in my sleep several weeks ago and only just stumbled across it when I was searching my scribble pad for a post inspiration....

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Much like every other city sleeper, Jackie knew sleeping was an art not an act. Having moved from the country to the city almost a year ago, she had diligently mastered the art, ensuring her days were kept very busy so she was nothing but exhausted before heading for the boudoir. However, in the weeks following Dotun's brief visit, sleep had become scarce. As she lay in bed subconsciously reciting the speech she had carefully rehearsed for the moment she knew he would pop the question, she tasted the salty wetness of tears as they slowly travelled down her beautifully contoured face, pausing at her model like cheek bones before adopting a roundish bend to roll down the sides of her face, finishing around the corners of her lips and dripping to her Egyptian cotton 1500 thread count sheets. She had spent every other night in this state and as much she hoped for an end to this emptiness, she somehow knew tonight might be different, if only she tried a bit harder to push Dotun's memories out of her mind.

Friends had come with their words of wisdom, encouragement, hope and promises of better days to come. Her mum had offered to ride the train down from Devon, despite her phobia of travelling and her disdain for her African lover. Yet, Jackie remained transfixed by memories of that moment when he walked away with no signs of ever coming back. So she did what she knew in her heart a lot of other women would do but dared not share. She stayed in anticipation of a sign, perhaps an unexpected call, the kind that you hold out for so long you pretend to have forgotten about. That which you hope would come when the night seems a bit too long for your thoughts or dreams and warms you up like a blanket on a cold winter night. As she tried to blink back the tears, her eyes stung and knew it was time to stop. She knew more than ever before that she wanted a sign from her long distance lover but true to form it never came. Partly waiting with abated breath, she used her remaining mental strength to attempt a telepathic message which she knew wouldn't travel past her bedroom door, obviously because what they had was no more. They had lost their spark and connection and like many others had failed to make it to the finishing line, even though they had run a good race. Her skin looked paler than she remembered and her hair felt limp and dry, just the way her world felt whenever she remembered his last words to her. She pulled out her outdated diary and did what she felt was her last shot at regaining her sanity. She wrote. The more the words came, the closer she came to the brink of sleep, till she finally fell into a deep slumber. In the morning, she rose, full of ambition and hope, rushing off to the post office, satisfied but still very much anxious of what was to be of his unexpected call, following her heartfelt letter.

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Youth is wasted on the young

I remember spending countless hours as a young child, peering into what I thought the future would be, flirting majorly with the idea of myself and the world, several years from where ever I stood in time and wishing it all to happen so fast so I could get to where I could only access in my dreams. My favourite game at the time, was "playing grown ups", pretending to be a mother, wife, doctor, journalist, actress and everything else but my youthful self. I certainly enjoyed cooking and sometimes eating make believe "pepper-soup" with sand, water and flowers lol (I guess that was the youth in me). Like a lot of other kids, I couldn't wait to grow up in so many ways and yet in some ways I wasn't prepared to give up my youth. Now the future I dreamt of so many times is finally here, I look back and wish I spent more time being a kid. I can't entirely say my youth was wasted because I did a lot of silly things a young child is expected to do, but I also took myself waaaay too seriously. Especially in secondary school. While most girls wanted to have a reputation for being the "hardest babe" in school or the one who has gone out with the most guys e.t.c., I simply had no interest in such frivolities. I have always been very adept at doing the right thing at the right time, not necessarily thinking the right things at the right time BUT at least I maintained control over my actions and this is something the youth of today lack.

Given the amount of information we are clogged with on any given day, thanks to the internet, I am not surprised that today's youth know a little more than they should or can handle. So the fact they appear to be spiralling out of control shouldn't come as a shock. We have blamed parents, broken homes, weak school systems, the government, God and technology in our bid to justify the disappointment that is today's youth but why aren't we blaming them? We have all been young once upon a time and yes we thought we had seen the worst, but innovation has meant the worst of the worst is yet to come so the problem isn't entirely in the amount of exposure the youth of today have. It is also in their character. The other day, I read about Kimberly Walsh (Girls Aloud), who revealed she had only had two lovers (a.k.a.sexual partners) and immediately rushed to read the comments following her revelation. Judging by the comments, I could sense that a lot of young people do not read the Daily Mail and secondly, a lot of parents were happy to have one positive story out of celebdom, to share with their kids whom I can be certain would mostly reply "So what? She is no Cheryl Cole that would explain the lack of interest from men. Besides how uncool is she......just two boyfriends her entire life. How boring?" Sad but this was the reply I got from a  young person when I shared this piece of information with her. Interestingly, there is a follow up article on Kimberly's story this morning, with the writer putting Kimberly's lack of promiscuity down to her luck, rather than morality. Saying she has been incredibly fortunate to find two good men she has stuck with (personally I disagree with this). Morality is not inherently conditional. Besides if the first man was wholly good, a one-man woman like Kimberly wouldn't have needed a number two (duh!).

Having younger siblings has also been an eye opener. I have heard so many stories that make me worry deeply for my unborn children. Stories of young girls aged 16 to about 21, owning sex toys and declaring it proudly on Twitter, having multiple sexual partners a la Samantha Sex and the City (she is a fictional character for goodness sakes!), holding orgy sessions in 5* hotels, paying younger boys to spend "quality time" with them when their boyfriends are unavailable and all other kinds of craziness that I don't even feel comfortable typing. The guys aren't any better, with boys as young as 8 smoking and binge drinking, walking around with pitbulls (and their signature oversize Adidas tracksuits), beating each other up and innocent passersby for no reason and of course the credit card fraudsters trying to live like the Hip Hop stars they idolise.

I may have been boring for not ever having a boyfriend until I went to uni, for not ever smoking or drinking heavily (or just generally being badly behaved), BUT I'm glad that for all the times I wanted to grow up fast, it was for the right reasons like being accomplished. Thanks to strict parents and being level headed, I enjoyed and am still enjoying my youth!

80's mania!!!

As an extremely proud 80's baby, I've got to say I am enjoying the attention this decade is getting from fashion, food, music and film at the moment. I mean, we've had Karate Kid (1984), The A-team (80's TV show) and Predators (1987) all of which I saw at the time but was certainly too young to understand (bless). Fashion wise, aside from the 20's flapper-esque era and the late 50s / early 60's Jackie O era, I also love the 80's punk fashion scene for their leggings, leg warmers, shoulder pads, pastel colours, Ray Ban sunnies and denim jackets which we all seem to be fiercely rocking this summer. However, my greatest 80's love is the music! Think about it, the decade birthed MTV (1981), which show cased music videos from the likes of Aerosmith, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince, Phil Collins, Lionel Richie, Queen, Duran Duran, Bon Jovi and New Kids on the Block to name a few.

Given the great socio-economic similarities between the 80's (a.k.a decade of greed which saw increased spending on luxuries and conveniences) and this current decade, perhaps it isn't a coincidence that we are currently witnessing what I like to call "80's mania". Now for a trip down memory lane, anyone remember this track? (luv it!).

Grrrrrr!

On days like these, I have nothing but admiration for the brave people who go to whatever dark lengths, to secure anything else but the dreaded Nigerian passport! Having just spent the last 2 hours prowling the over 20 pages long Tier 4 Visa application form, I can assure you that the Nigerian passport is a certified pile of shite! Yes, I am angry and frustrated because unlike a lot of other people who would be resuming business school in September, I am stranded in London (I know we are having a peculiarly hot summer but I want a vacation gaddemit!), staycations are soooo summer '09. Worse still, I have to spend my precious time filling in this cursed form that makes stupid demands for things like my blaaady birth certificate (the cheek!).

Aside from better chances of securing a place at a top ranked UK university, thanks to your coveted international fees, I struggle to find any other great joy of having the Nigerian passport. Its dirty green colour certainly borders on offensive, at least in comparison to the British burgundy or American navy blue. The fact you have to apply for a Schengen visa (nightmare!) just to travel within Europe is retarded (someone needs to sort this out). What exactly are the perks of being a Commonwealth nation?

Even though I've never quite had any dramatic experiences with immigration officers, I am not entirely unaware of the one too many questions they tend to ask you because of your questionable nationality. Or the way they make you wait for all the EU/UK/US passport holders to pass through, before attending to you as they do in some Greek and French airports. Yes we don't have it as bad as some other countries like Pakistan, but I really detest my passport sometimes and even though I am a VERY proud Nigerian at heart, I am not such a proud one when it comes to carrying my passport around. I confess, I have several passport covers which I deploy for specific trips; the simple black cover is for business trips, the vibrant orange cover is for group holidays with my girls and the dark brown leather (European Union labelled) cover is for solo trips (a bit extreme I know lol!).

There is also the cost and stress of renewing your million and one visas. Securing a Schengen visa is the definition of cumbersome. Where possible, do yourself a favour, use an agency! Otherwise get organised and plan well ahead of your trip (trust me I learnt the hard way). While US embassy trips are just a right pain in the backside (lets not even get into the over the top security checks.....Americans and their "oversabi"  (translation: know it all). And lets not forget how it stifles your productivity at work, as you can't just up and go on an unexpcted business trip because you need a visa or the one you already have needs renewal grrrr (I almost missed a very important business trip to NY a few years ago thanks to this).

For whatever sins I may have committed in my past life, I have been cursed with a Nigerian passport in this one and I can't wait to get my hands on my British passport (fondly called "the red" by we green passport holders). Yes I said it!

P.S. Anyone want to help me complete my form? I pay good money......