Observations... or Errr

So, how is the week coming along? How was the Valentine weekend? Hope everyone had a good time. I sure did. Thank you all for leaving a comment on my last post! I liked how Parakeet said there is no pressure of 'first'! Hahaha, those times, when we used to rush to make the first comment on posts. Definitely no more pressure.

I was thinking about the things that I have observed over the past year and decided to post it. Warning, this post will tend to be random.

1. Since I turned 30, things have kinda changed, I will only mention body wise. I didn't give much thought to this until I read Isio's thoughts on it on BellaNaija. My hips have filled out. I was a little excited that finally, I have some curves! In the days when people are making millions off the fame of their butt, side eye to you know who. :D I have always been slim with a good sized chest. But, alas, no tush to go with it. Fast forward to turning 30, and things have rounded out nicely. Pun intended, LOL. I am still slim but with more curves. However, it is so pronounced, even my girlfriends are talking. Comments have ranged from, "your husband is doing a good job"; to "what have you been doing?" You know how Nigerians bring up body observations  at any opportunity (without thinking it's rude). I have no complaints and Hubby definitely likes it. I just need to watch it, 'cos I don't want it getting any bigger!

2. I get way too excited about food. When I talk about it, my face lights up and people ask me where all the food goes. I am on the small side of UK size 8. I wear US sizes 0 and 2. I don't care where the food goes, I just want to cook nice meals and bake yummy stuff. My current favourites are banana muffins. I make them every week now. And shout out to Dooney'skitchen. That girl gets my creative juice flowing.

3. I am obsessed with makeup. I am such a junky for makeup and beauty products. I have different makeup bags, filled to the brim with different pouches for different things, sorted viz: eyes, lips and face! Oh and I went natural, so I have all kinds of products for my hair. I also have several wigs for the very many days that my hair won't do what I want it to do. I just don't bother. I moisturise, plait it, wear my wigs and voila! Someone said, going natural will be cheaper, because you will make less visits to the salon. *Blank stare* wrong! Making wigs and those fancy natural hair products do not come cheap. With so many people hoarding shea butter, that stuff is getting expensive too.  

4. Am I the only one or are there more street sellers in Lagos? Like seriously, they are everywhere! I think it's sad and a reflection of how hard the economy is hitting people. I find myself buying things I don't need just to let them make a sale :(

5. I was gisting with a colleague recently about cabs and how I wouldn't take an unmarked one because of kidnappings. (I was supposed to pick someone along the way and she didn't come in time, so we left without her and she got a cab). Then, I remembered the rampant kidnappings during election times in years past. Who else remembers those times? When people went missing and body parts would be found and Newspapers would claim ritualists were at work etc. We had a good laugh and thanked God for a little enlightenment. Politicians don't do as much rituals anymore, instead, they are perfecting the act of rigging. Mehn, this country!

More things come to mind, but I gotta go.

Have a great week everyone!
Xoxo.

OHEMGEEE!!!

Like I can't believe I came back here! It's been ages. So much has happened in the past few years, I don't even know where to start.

I have missed this page so much. I am at work and just decided to check in because of a conversation i had with a friend recently. My God, I can't believe the allure, I didn't even know I had started typing until I put in a title for this post!!!

Twitter and Instagram have taken over. I must say I am not active on twitter, except for times I need to vent! Take the past weekend when the election postponement was afoot. I won't even get started on that.

I do wonder where everyone is and what they are doing now. I have missed everyone. Far simpler times, I an't believe I called those times simple Hehhee. to think, that so much was going on then that I thought that was life. Mehn I hadn't even scratched the surface.

I am kind of proud of who I am today. I have done some growing up. Where is everyone? Please drop a comment if you are still on here. I miss the old times.

Que sera

Hello everyone. I trust you are all doing well. I have been fine and doing good. Life hasn't changed much. Lagos is still what it is. This post will be random. More like grouses :D

Is it just me or does anyone think it's weird that MTN wants to give away an airplane? Instead of improving on their service delivery, they have devised a way to make us forget that their service is crappy. I am sad for our nation and our wanton consumerism attitude. In any sane country, would anyone be giving away an airplane? Like really. Smh.

There are so many online outlets in Nigeria now. I haven't had any bad experience with them, although, I know people who have. Late delivery or mixed up orders. Naija, we hardly ever get things right. I was on one of the sites and the prices were craay! I mean, my office is on Lagos Island, so I took a stroll to the market to compare some of the prices. Suffice to say, I will still be heading to the market, thank you very much. Even for the imported things, I will rather pay the shipping cost, because the savings are worth it.

This is an aside and I normally don't care what other people do but I sometimes wonder. So, my friend's brother whom I have known for more than 10 years recently got married. He was dating a particular girl whom I have known for as long as he. They were practically inseparable then. I know the girl has issues and so does he, in fact I thought they matched perfectly until they broke up sometime ago. Now the guy is married to someone else. I wish him a lot of happiness but I wonder whether all those years were wasted. I mean you have spent the better part of a decade with someone and then you break up. Why? Ah well.

There was a time in my life that I didn't like kids. But today, I still can't say I am crazy about them but I am much more accommodating. I think since I learnt my sister was pregs, I have been fascinated. Now, my niece will be one next month and its been a beautiful journey. I love that girl to pieces. She is quite a little madam, independent and I suspect she will be as naughty as her mother was!

Why do okada riders derive perverse pleasure in scratching people's cars? I also noticed that most men in Nigeria dislike progressive women (notice I didn't say successful women). They see you behind a wheel, they start calling you names. I was along the Marina axis one day and this 'keke marwa' (those tricycles), pulled up alongside and tried to squeeze his way past. When I wouldn't move into another lane so it could pass, the driver (can I even call him that?!) and the male passengers started their insults. I have since adopted the attitude of "that's why they are not/won't be successful, because they are too bitter". Choi. I have noticed this attitude at work even. Na wah.

On a lighter note, where are these bloggers? SolomonSydelle, Temite, Nefertiti etc.

All in a day's work

So here I am. Almost a year after! I have thought about putting up a post many times, but alas, something always stops me. Truth is, I have missed this space. This post will be a bit random.

I have a new job. My old job was way too stressful. I am not cut out for 15 hr days. I am simply not paid enough. My new job is alright, dare I say it? I like it even :D

I have a niece. She is beautiful. When my sister was preggers, I used to rub her belly and talk to the baby. The baby was born and she is just gorgeous. I have never been a big baby fan but when I saw my niece the very first time, I can't even describe the feeling. I can however say that for the very first time, I felt pure love. No inducement, nothing, just a sense of wonder that my baby sister produced this. It's a miracle!

My niece is so lovely. I am enthralled with her and I think she is enamored with me too. She is always staring at me. She follows me with her eyes and her mother complains that her baby is obsessed with me. Gosh, I love that baby! She is eight months now. Curiously, I can spend hours just playing with her. She gets naughty and fussy occasionally but mostly, she is peaceful.

The past year has been good. Very good to be honest. I have much to be thankful for.

Does anyone know where the blogger Temite is? I think of everyone here sometimes and wonder.

Toodles

Officially...

The week started on a very good note. I got notice on Friday that the result of my ICSA (Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators) exam would be released on Monday but that only students that have paid their annual dues would be able to access the portal. I am still pained as it was my last exam and wouldn't need the student site anymore plus that money would have bought me some fantastic shoes. My frequent readers would recall that the last time I wrote the exam was in 2008.

I passed three out of four then and decided to take a break. I couldn't write it in 2009 'cos I was doing my LLM and since I was doing double degrees, there was no extra time to spare. Fast-forward to 2011, I decided to take the plunge again. Studying and working full-time is very difficult. The exam was written in June, one of the busiest times of my career so far. I would get home at 10pm or later and still study.

I also remember hiding in one of the conference rooms during break to study. And the week of the exam, I juggling my office and the conference room! I was not given exam leave as you had to have applied about 4 months before the exam. I couldn't 'cos I had not spent u to months then.

The exam itself, was alright except I didn't finish! I answered three out of four questions and I was worried. I can't afford not to pass. The first time around I didn't study hard enough 'cos all my devotion went into the other course, Corporate Financial Management. The whole debt/equity/(in)solvency calculations and formulas was overwhelming. I had to go back to SS1 maths text books to cope and I got a maths tutor to take me through! It was that hard. I still hate maths.

Here we are in August and I passed with a merit! So I am officially an ICSA grad now. Yep, I can add Chartered Secretary to my titles! The funny thing is, when I was at law school, I swore I wouldn't study for any more exams! I finished and I immediately registered for the ICSA. Then I repeated the mantra but I still went ahead to do an LLM not one but two. That done, I registered for my ICSA retake. Now that I have conquered that, I am wondering whether to register for another professional course. I am either crazy or I love studying!

To everyone having a set back in any of their goals or targets, don't let anything deter you, just keep at it, keep working hard and you will reach it with time to spare.

Have a blessed week.

Here Again.

Ramadan Kareem to all my Muslim brothers and sisters. How is everyone doing? This fasting is not easy seriously. I am not a big eater but declare fasting and all the things I wouldn't normally touch just becomes very desirable.

To compound matters, workload has reduced drastically which leaves room for a lot of distractions. I can't even fall asleep to catch up on the extra early hours I have to wake up. The courts are on vacation, so I can't even pick anyone's brain from the Advocacy department and the Olori oko has gone on vacation! I am in Transactions and we get busy all year round but it's like the clients all got a memo to go on holiday!

I have a sneaky feeling they will all return in September and bombard us with their mostly insurmountable problems! Usually caused by greed and lack of patience. I am almost dreading the endless meetings and back & forth emails. Most especially the foreign lawyers who all think they are superior. We have been putting them firmly in their place sha! I have been closing early too, I am dancing for joy for that at least! When everyone comes back, it will be back to the 15hr work days and work vigils!

Most of all, I like this period. The calmness of Ramadan, I can't really engage in the heated discussions as wont to do by lawyers when they are less busy. The reading of the Qur'an in serene moments. My colleagues have even stopped eating in my office out of respect! Yay.

I share an office with a guy and it's just the two of us while the others are in a pool. So people sneak into my office to eat all sorts instead of going two floors down to the kitchen.

I don't miss the distractions they bring especially when I am busy!

On an unrelated note, Our Presido is falling my hand o. This single term proposal is ill-timed and not what he should focus on at this time. I remember his meeting with the youths, it took place right across my office, where he promised to tackle power. Why has he forgotten that so soon? At the very least, he should focus on the health sector. May God guide us right.

My next spate of weddings is October, plenty time for my finances to rest before they take another hit. Seriously though, I will soon stop on the aso-ebi. I don't need it. Mostly over-priced things I would never pick for myself. No accounting for taste in some. I recently saw one, and it looked like something you would use to cover a table as decoration. It was supposed to be silk damask, but we have a material so light, it cannot be constructed into anything meaningful to justify the price. I have politely declined.

Have a blessed weekend people.

We are not friends!

So yesterday, I made plans with friends to go to Swe bar for their weekly Thursday Live band shows. It's been long since I went there. This job of mine is robbing me of my extra curricular activities!

As usual, it was packed. Finally found a seat, and ordered a cocktail. I had forgotten how long it takes to get your order when the place is full. Finally the waitress brought my drink, but wait it was the wrong drink or so I thought. Apparently I mixed up the order, even the bartender came over to ask inquire. Nice touch. So I ordered a daquiri instead of a capirinha! Blame the intense gbeborun I was doing. BBM just doesn't deliver the lascivious part of a face to face juicy gist!

I don't like white rum or vodka! It always leaves me delirious and I cannot be responsible for my actions after ingestion. So I thought I could handle it, but for where, my body rejected it like poison! I was tipsy from the first few sips! I even ordered some food to combat the effects but no, it didn't help.

I managed to drive home. (Drinking & driving is not a a good idea, I know, but I ensured I was in full control before I ventured out). I even saw past school toasters! The age process hasn't been kind to some people sha. I was home in less than 20mins! The strangest part was that, I felt like I was looking outside myself. I was hyper and at the same time, my reflexes were slow. And I was laughing like an idiot!

Got in and said hello to my Mum. I even managed a shower but my body felt heavy! I climbed into bed and slept so soundly that when the alarm woke me at 5.30, I was up like a shot. I took some very cold water and went by my morning rituals. At work now but my eyes are 'lerry' according to my colleague and he won't stop asking my opinion on all his assignments!

I have told him that if my brain can cope with his incessant queries, then I am fine. But I am not fine, I want to sleep! I know I will escape to the library soon to catch a nap. The last time I had vodka was my sent forth party in 2009. It was a disaster! I was so hung over I could barely walk! I blogged about it. My sister had to support me and we were flying. The air hostesses all thought I was just ill and were extra nice!

This is my second incursion into white spirits, no more! We are not friends. You don't treat my body right. The weird thing is that, I am fine with dark rum or brandy. I can't stand red wine. I need to lie down or something.