(Parts of) my body
Although I often mention that I have a lot of weight to lose, I am thankful that I was blessed with good proportions. Although they are disguised now, when I get my act together, I won’t have to worry about an upper half that far eclipses my lower half or vice versa; God has really created me perfectly.

I also like my legs. Don’t ask me why, but I have been noticing how many people have what is referred to as “cankles”. That is when your calves are wide and don’t really narrow into ankles. I like my calf:ankle proportions. Also, more than one person has commented on my legs being like Beyonce’s! A gross exaggeration, of course but it’s great to hear!

My laugh
It’s loud, it can be high pitched if I’m really into it, it makes others laugh. It’s a gift.

My creativity
I have always wanted to be considered a creative person, but have struggled with whether I truly am, since I tend to see thing I like out there and recreate them in my own way. To me a truly creative person would come up with their own thing.

However, sometimes being creative means seeing something out there, taking it and putting your own spin on it. There are few truly original ideas out there, but there are lots of ways that different people make something unique by using things that already exist and adding their own “spice” to it. So guess what? I am creative!

My “don’t give up” attitude, especially when searching for something
I went camping last weekend and had a lovely time (thank God the mosquitoes were also on vacation, away from where we were staying). I had lost something that belonged to one of my friends and some people said I should stop looking for it, that it will turn up when we are packing to leave. However, I have a hard time thinking that I have lost or misplaced something that isn’t mine, so I continued to search while the others sat around the campfire, talking and gisting. I double checked every place I had looked, emptied out the car and reloaded it, then looked somewhere that I didn’t think it would be and there it was. The relief that filled me afterwards was worth missing out on the conversation for a while. I got that trait from my father, 100%.

Canada Day
It was Canada’s holiday yesterday, and it was nice to have a break in the middle of the week. I had a relaxing time: I helped my friends move, then I spent the evening gisting and hanging out with my mom and sister (and my dad, though he was relaxing in his room most of the time). I even slept over, in my old room, which was nice. One of my brothers has taken over my room but I stole it back for the evening. I think next time I’ll give him more notice so he can have the bed made with fresh sheets :)

Filed under: Thankful Thursdays by goodnaijagirl | 13 Comments »

Good morning!

It has been quite a week with respect to celebrities passing away: Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson in the last few days. I pray for their families, to whom these stars were “just” Ed, Farrah, and Michael, to whom their passing isn’t noteworthy because they were a celebrity, but because they were a parent, a sibling, and a child. As much as we may miss Michael’s music, their loved ones will miss something we never knew: the presence and essence of the person.

When someone dies, the memories and tears usually come. We remember what they meant to us, what we did with them and other things. There’s a hole that only they can fill.

My father has dealt with loss in his life: his father, his two younger siblings and his nephew. We have never been in Nigeria when these deaths have happened, and mourning from a distance, not being able to be there physically for family members, is not easy. But one thing my dad always says is that you have to make your time with your loved ones count while they are alive because that is when it matters. My dad has lived this philosophy fully his entire life, giving everything he can to support his family financially and emotionally. He has suffered for his complete investment in the lives of his two families: I don’t think his family or my mother, siblings and I are ever away from his thoughts. Instead, he spends his life showing us all that we are important to him, his number one priority. If he sees a job opportunity he thinks I’d enjoy, he passes it to me, same with a book or anything he thinks will benefit my life. He is like this for everyone in his family. He’s the middle child but he often has to take on a leadership role in his family, and certainly that of the peacemaker (perhaps that is the role of the middle child).

Some people go into bankruptcy arranging huge celebrations of life and thanksgivings for their loved ones that have passed, yet while the person was alive they wouldn’t give them money to buy food, or share what they have. I’ve seen this more often with parents and grandparents: when they were alive it was a chore to visit them, help them with things they are no longer able to do, yet when they pass you suddenly feel the need to party, invite your friends, feed and ply them with drinks, all in the name of mourning and celebrating the life of a loved one. That, in my dad’s opinion is ridiculous and a reversal of how we should spend our money and time after a loved one dies.

But it’s not only death that inspires this. What about when your mom wants you to teach her how to send an email and you roll your eyes and get frustrated because you see it as one hour of your life that will be wasted repeating instructions over again? Or your sister calls to make small talk when you’re watching your favourite show and you rush her off the phone? Or the times you’ve almost bitten your father’s head off for asking you to pour him a glass of water, yet if he were to be rushed to the hospital, you’d suddenly become the concerned daughter or son, moving heaven and earth to make sure he’s comfortable and well cared for? It’s great that your true feelings are revealed in scary times, but what about on a regular day?

Let’s all commit to make every day count when it comes to showing our loved ones how special they are to us. Help your mother in the kitchen even if you’re exhausted yourself. Give your father a call at work just to say hello. Give your sibling who’s always broke $20 for no reason at all, or help your sister with one of her tasks without waiting to be asked.

Life is short, and we hope that God grants us a long life. Since we don’t know how much time we do have, let us focus on making the most of our every day.

I’m feeling pretty thankful for the lives of my family and friends today. There are just too many reminders of how lucky we are to wake up yet again. Please think of my friends, sister and I as we leave for a weekend of camping in a few hours. Yes: I am Nigerian and I enjoy camping. My friend’s boyfriend made me laugh: he apparently told her that if he wanted to camp he’d move back to Cameroon!

Filed under: Personal, Thankful Thursdays by goodnaijagirl | 15 Comments »

I did a little recording to thank you for the birthday wishes but it’s messing up my whole blog so I give up it seems to be working now:

Can you tell I didn’t read the list of commenters beforehand? :)

If you missed the debut of Vera’s radio show you missed a good thing (but don’t worry; you can hear it here). She was great, the people who called in (hi tobenna!) were fantastic and next time I won’t miss half of the show! I can’t wait until the next show (I’m hoping she’ll change the time though: it’s going to be at 10am my time…I’ll be working!).

Filed under: Celebration, Personal by goodnaijagirl | 13 Comments »

Do you think when I was picking what day to do my thankful posts, I ended up picking Thursday for a reason? I ask because today is my 30th birthday and if that isn’t a reason to be thankful for my life, I don’t know that is.

THIRTY.

To me, a 30th birthday has always been significant because you can no longer pretend you’re young. Even if your face is as fresh as that of a 20 year old, say your age and people will automatically expect certain things of you. If you’re 30 years of age and are out of school and are not established in a career, you will not be afforded the same excuses that a person five years younger than you may be afforded. If you still live at home at age 30, especially if you’re established in a career and are not busy supporting your family, there’s something sort of strange about that. This, of course might be more due to the way society views certain milestones but that’s not what I want to talk about today.

Thirty years of age is a huge accomplishment. Nearly a third of my life is over (remember, I plan to live to be a 100, God willing) and guess what? I am so thankful that I am alive to reach this milestone. So many die before reaching 30, and like my mom was telling me this morning, not only did I reach the milestone, I reached it in good health. Some are sick from birth and cannot say they’ve celebrated a single birthday without pain. I thank God that I can say that confidently and truthfully, and I pray that my health continues to be preserved. It is the greatest gift I’ve received since receiving the gift of life and although I have been very cavalier about it, I want to change that. I want to honour this body that I have been given, and use it to the best of its ability, adorn it to the best of my ability and care for it the best way I know how. That will be my goal for the next 30 years. :)

Today has been beautiful so far. I am very emotional today: tears have spilled a few times. My heart is full because I really feel lucky to be alive. It’s around noon here and I have received a phone call from both parents, both of them sang happy birthday to me. I cried when my mom sang to me because I was thinking of how she would have sang to me in person if I still lived at home: she would have come to my bedroom, woken me with the singing and then jumped all over me. Growing up is something else o! But even so, I can’t cry because I was able to accomplish one of my personal goals and purchase a home before the age of 30. I am blessed.

A woman whose life I think I was brought into for a reason also called me and sang happy birthday to me. My sister, so thrifty that she doesn’t send text messages because you are charged for them, sent me a text message, not because she couldn’t call (it’s free to call), but because I tease her all the time about her thrifty ways. My baby brother also sent me a sweet text message.

And friends have been leaving facebook messages and sending cute emails, which are so nice and appreciated. Blogville members who knew it was my birthday have been sweet too: aloted called and hers were the very first birthday wishes I received (she sounds too adorable for words!), archiwiz sent me a lovely text, Funke has been doing a countdown with me and showered me in good wishes, and sweet Writefreak, whose birthday was yesterday sent me her wishes too (let me expose her age here if she hasn’t already: she’s a year less a day younger than I am!). I am feeling the love, and I really appreciate it.

This year will be magical, even if I have to buy some glitter and sprinkle it on everything I do. Anyways, even if I don’t, I know God will work his magic in my life. I feel like this is the year (lol or maybe it’s the 30 in me talking).

Have a beautiful day everyone; I know I will!

Filed under: Personal, Thankful Thursdays by goodnaijagirl | 47 Comments »

Ms. O wrote about her disappointment with promoters of concerts and that reminded me of this entry that I started a few months ago.

Earlier this year, I went to the eLDee concert that was heavily publicized, and was disappointed. I felt bad because I convinced a few friends to go with me and nobody got their money’s worth.

When I heard there was another Nigerian-organized event being planned a few weeks later, I decided to give it a try, but sadly it disappointed again. I will officially count on Ms. O and Bob-Ij to advise me on events that are worth it and events that have “Fail” all over it.

When my friend and I arrived, we were the first two females there. The other six or seven people there were guys. We went in, called our friend who had arrived there before us (he had said the place was completely dead), and he met us there. We stood around waiting for people to arrive for a couple of hours and they just trickled in. I felt horrible for the organizer because when we left after a couple of hours there were less than 50 people in the whole place. He was actually in the back of the bar taking shots of alcohol and looking very down when we left him.

The organizer tried to get people in a party mood: he came up to my friend and I a couple of times and told us to not worry, that there would be tons of people arriving any moment. Sadly he was wrong. The DJ was great but for some reason no one was dancing! I’m not the type to open up the dance floor so maybe everyone who was there that night felt the same way. Even the bartender started drinking Red Bull to stay awake, it was that dead…she certainly did not sell up to 30 drinks.

Let me give the organizer credit:

• he came up to us and welcomed us and thanked us for coming
• the DJ was good
• the club was nicely organized
• we received a facebook message after the event, thanking us for braving the rain to come

But again, I left feeling cheated and angry that once again I was duped by something that sounded good and would have been good had it delivered what it promised. I honestly believe that we have to support our fellow Nigerians who take on these initiatives but how many chances should they get? Nobody wins if we give up: Nigerians don’t get an opportunity to meet and mingle with people in the same city that they might not otherwise meet, and promoters or organizers decide that there is no need or interest on the part of Nigerians in this city for such events, which is totally wrong. When I think of Femi Kuti and King Sunny Ade who are coming to my city this summer, I can be happy that at least they will come (God forbid bad thing) because the organizers are not amateurs and have consistently delivered on their promises year after year. Perhaps some of these people running around calling themselves promoters should volunteer at this festival and learn a thing or two about how to organize an event and deliver what you promise.

I’m sure the organizer of this last event I attended barely earned enough money to pay the club for renting the space, but he wasn’t the only one who lost out. What about those of us who paid to come to a club and were sorely disappointed?

Filed under: Naija Music, Rant by goodnaijagirl | 17 Comments »

The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church was in my part of Canada this weekend, and although my family does not attend Redeemed, we went to see him. My only regret is that I missed the earlier part, with the singing and dancing, but at least I got to hear Pastor Enoch Adeboye’s sermon in its entirety.

The message was simple, but it was timely and so relevant. He talked about the importance of faith, prayer and obedience in our Christian lives, and each of his major points were backed up with biblical (of course) and humourous examples. I appreciated the reminder that God does not like a lukewarm Christian: you should be either for Him or against Him. That definitely got me thinking about my tendency to straddle both worlds at times, going through some of the motions of a Christian, while also taking part in things (gossping?) that are definitely not commendable. I feel up to the challenge of improving this area of my life.

Some elements of the service took me straight back to Nigeria: the people calling out Amens and getting completely involved in the sermon, dancing to the music being played and sung. Worship is more obviously a full body, mind and soul experience in the churches I have been to in Nigeria and also at this event I attended, and I really love it. I have been looking for a new church for some time and I’d like to give the Redeemed church a try.

When Pastor Adeboye led the final prayer, he asked us to tell God exactly what we wanted Him to do in our lives, say our prayers and have faith. The room erupted as everyone began talking to God about their own desires and I did too. It felt great to tell God what I want, and admit that a part of me can’t imagine that it could happen, just like that. I think it was the powerful testimonies we heard earlier that reminded me that it can happen, with faith. Pastor Adeboye had also reminded us of the parable of the woman who was ill and wanted to touch Jesus’ cloak because she believed it would heal her. She did and was healed and Jesus told her it was her faith that had healed her. Imagine having that kind of faith!

I left feeling lighter. It was so great!

Filed under: Personal by goodnaijagirl | 18 Comments »