Words and Memories

Everytime I hear the word 'reprehensible' specifically when qualified by the word 'morally' (is that right, does morally qualify reprehensible?) I remember the movie 'Witches of Eastwick'. I do not know if I saw this movie before or after the biggest crush in my life (nop second biggest, the first one caused the scar on my thigh) made a recording of the scene between Daryl and Alex on a Maxwell Metal Tape (remember those?) and gave it to me to listen to. I do know that this movie made me fall in love with Jack Nicholson, and Daryl (the character he played) is responsible for my facination with 'dark' men.

It was a painful crush I had on this guy. Once I am within a 100 metres of him my heart starts working over time. He changed schools and I was crushed only to be lifted up when he wrote me a letter a true testament to our mutual love for Prince. I slept with it under my pillow for years. I saw him again after he changed schools, he came for a visit and I was so overcome with all the feelings I was feeling to be in his prescence, I didn't say a word and when I did I babbled incoherently. I felt like a real idiot afterwards and it took a while to shake the feeling. Till this day when I here the word reprehensible I remember the movie 'witches' and I think of him. And I wondered what it would have been like if we had actually dated. We had soooo many things in common and we could talk for hours (ah, all those overnight reading at anatomy moves). Sigh. Anyway crush number 2, if you are reading this, now you know how I really felt about you in 1992!

SO

About 2 weeks ago I was flipping channels one evening and what did I see was showing on MAX, 'Witches of Eastwick'! I was this close to subscribing to MAX so I could watch it. I constrained myself sha, consoled myself by thinking about crush number 2 for like an hour! I was doing some grocery shopping in Target on Saturday and once I was done with my list decided to browse through the dvd collection and see if they had 'Notes on a Scandal' as I perused the offerings, under the $5 or less dvds you will not believe what I saw. No, not crush number 2, (that would be who not what) Witches of Eastwick!!! I couldn't believe my luck. I felt like I had won the lottery, thank God I didn't waste my money getting MAX. I planned to watch it on Sunday afternoon but that didn't happen. I watched it last night and the movie is still a delight 20 yrs after. For me the highlight of the whole movie is that scene between Daryl and Alex at a time I could recite it all word for word and yesterday I found I really hadn't forgotten much of it, here goes

Alex: What is it that you think you are doing?
Daryl: Being as direct with
you as I know how. I thought you might appreciate it and eh ... anyway I always like
a little (grinding into the mattress) pussy after lunch. What do you say? Hmm?
Alex: (incredulous) Are you trying to seduce me?
Daryl: I wouldn't dream of seducing you Alexandra. I wouldn't insult your intelligence with anything as ... trivial as seduction. But, I would (eye dimming, hips grinding) ... love to fuck you.
Alex: Well I have to admit that I do appreciate your directness Daryl
and I will try to be direct .. and honest with you as I possibly can be. I think
... no I am positive that you are the most unattractive man I have ever met in
my entire life. In the short time we've been together you have demonstrated
every loathsone characteristic of the male personality and even discovered a few
new ones. You are physically repulsive, intelletually retarded, morally
reprehensible, vulgar, insensitive, selfish, stupid. You have no taste a lousy
sense of humor and you smell (Daryl sniffs his underarms). You are not even
interesting enough to make me sick!
Daryl: (Trade mark Nicholson brow arch)
Ummm ... would you like to be on the top or the bottom?
Alex: Good-bye Daryl
and thank you for a lovely lunch (makes for the door)
Daryl: (luxuriating on
the bed) Well if thats the way ou feel about it ... thats the way you feel about
it. Is that the way you feel about it?
Alex: (Turns around, marches back
into the room flabbergasted) Who are you?
Daryl: (Trademark evil smile) Just
your average ... horny little devil (trademark leer).

(for those who have never seen this movie, a little fingering of Alex' brain ensues and he does get a little 'sumin-sumin')

I love that scene, I am going to copy it onto my iPod!

My Treacherous iPod

As I contemplated my perfectly planned weekend, (organise the delivery of the rest of my bedroom furniture, do some grocery shopping, buy 'Notes on a Scandal') my iPod decided to muzzle its way to the top of my agenda. Actually it started giving me warning signs Thursday evening. I recently bought a Des'ree cd (I Ain't Movin') and I ripped and copied it onto the iPod. When I was done I ejected the iPod and noticed that the battery charging icon was still flashing. Hmmm ... I reset it and connected it again to charge then I went to bed. Next day, I check it, power meter hasn't moved. Hmmm ... I take it to work planning to monitor it. I am thinking perhaps the battery is bad. I plug it in and promptly forgot about it. By end of day when I looked at it the battery was completely dead. Why is this thing not charging? Is the battery bad? Is there a problem with the comms interface? Is the charger bad? Of course by now I had whipped myself up into a real frenzy, If I were a souffle I would have been floating! I am hardly coherent, going mad with dispair, what does this mean? Is that it, 4 months of a fantastic relationship and then just like that its over? Silence? How will I cope in the gym? In the car? At night? Especially at night? Oh! It hurts just thinking about all that silence. I get online and find the nearest apple store. Thankfully its like down the road from the office. I hop in the car and arrive at the store without incident.

25min after I set foot in the store, I finally got to talk to someone. After carefully explaining myself the guy plugs the iPod into his laptop and can you imagine the treacherous thing? The backlight comes on, the yeye thing is charging?! I could see the tech mentally filling me under the 'dumb' category in his support call list. Although I was glad it mean't I wouldn't be forking over $100 for a new battery I was a bit confused, why wouldn't it charge at home? I ask the technician and suggested perhaps my charger was bad. We switched to my charger and my iPod continued chugging up juice! After like 10 mins the tech disconnected my iPod and asked me to just let it charge over night and all should be well. 'Let me just turn it off' he says as he clicks and holds the play/pause ... button. 'Hold on' he says after like 5 secs, 'there is something wrong with this iPod, when did you buy it?' he asks. Phew! 'December' I reply with relief, so I am not a dumb user after all. 'I will have to replace it for you' he replies as he readies himself to initiate the required paper work. 'Ehm what will happen to all my stuff on the harddrive'? I ask. 'Not to worry, its all synched with what you have on your computer' OhOh! When I just got the iPod in an uncharachteristic move I didn't read the manual and so was unaware that you can only synch an iPod with one computer. Shaky shaky me, I had gone and synched my iPod with my friends laptop and as a result I had no backup of ALL the cool albums I got from Seattle. Bummer! I remembered copying off the entire IPod_Control folder sometime ago but I wasn't sure if what I did would be viable. Come o, shebi the thing don dey charge? Maybe I can go home and mess around a bit more and see if I can rescue my music. 'I actually have stuff I haven't synched yet, could I take this home and synch it then come for the replacement tomorrow?' 'Sure' he replies handing over my iPod. I wanted to shake it like the naughty child it is. However I need to keep it 'alive' until I got my precious music off it so I restrain myself and carry my high behind off to my house, thankful for the warranty, hopeful that I will be able to rescue my precious albums. You know how your car makes one strange noise for like 6 months which disappears the minute you drive into the garage and reappears the minute you drive out of the garage? substitute 'car' for 'iPod', I wanted to swallow a bottle of sleeping pills and just lie down! Hold that thought, not before 'real Time with Bill Maher'. An hour later I was no longer suicidal just hungry. I go online and make an appointment at the apple store for saturday, thank God for bmgmusic.com, I should be able to replace most of those albums, the ones that I can't find I will beg/toast my friend to burn to dvd and mail to me.

A little help ...

Anyone remember a young boy on tv in the early 80's with the afro and the gold lame outfit? I remember these lyrics from the song - 'lookup lookup look up in the sky'?
anyone????

Incredible

I need the address of this 'plastic surgeon'! Imagine you retire to your farm for the weekend as Obasanjo and emerge on Monday as Yar'Adua. Wonderful!

Not a great lunch

Lunch today wasn't the same, Raphael was in the back doing God knows what (his job you ninny) and by the time I spotted him through the glass pane in the door, Julio was preparing my sandwich. Too much mayo, greasy bacon, I miss Raphael.

KSA at Starbucks

Its 9:10 am on Tuesday, I am on my way to work and my stomach is growling. I stop at the Starbucks down the road from my office to get a slice of Banana Walnut cake. I braced myself for the usual loooong queue and was pleasantly suprised to find it was only two persons long, nice. As I wait my turn I look at the various items on display for sale; brightly painted mugs, various coffee making contraptions and of course exotically name coffee beans. Its my turn and I place my order I make a silent promise to work and extra 15 mins on the elliptical machine as I added a vanilla mocha, non-fat, no whip to my order - not my fault, the smell of coffee seduced me! As I waited on the other end for my concoction to emerge generally enjoying the combination of the lighting, smell and music, I heard a very familair beat. I must be dreaming, Sunny Ade? In a Starbucks shop? I stepped back from the group of waiting customers and listened carefully. 'Pererem perem pererem pem' (Thats supposed to be a guitar lick!) Yup once again my ears had not fooled me it was Sunny Ade. Who would have thought I would be listening to KSA in a Starbucks shop in sunny California? I couldn't resist swaying to the beat, as my head swelled with pride. I wanted to nudge the person next to me and tell them they were listening to KSA, that he and I are Nigerians and he had actually received a grammy nomination in the 'World' music category for 'Odu' released in '98. I constrained myself though both in voice and hip movements and sang along in my head:

aiye aiye
ebe mo ma b'aiye k'aiye ma ma ba wa ja
aso iyi ko ma faya mo wa lara
aiye le o Adegoke mi aiye ma le
hello o
'ello 'ello o penkele
penkele
hello o
'ello 'ello o penkele

My order was ready and as I walked to the car I tried to remember the title of the song I had just heard. Was it 'Aiye le'? Once I got to my desk I searched through my collection of Sunny tracks on my iPod. Nop no song titled 'Aiye le' by Sunny Ade. I got online, nop no such song on iTunes although I did find a song titled 'Aiye le' by Solomon Ilori and one titled 'Aye le' by Tony Allen. No luck on Walmart, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, not even Limewire (I asked a friend to search for me) hmmm ... I could tell I was going to learn a lot about Sunny before the day was up. I tried searching on google using the line I could remember from the song 'Aiye le o ore me aiye ma le'. I found a link to an extensive discography for KSA maintained by a Japanese biochemist named
Toshiya Endo! Imagine that! Not only did he have stuff on Sunny Ade, he had stuff on Shina Peters, Ebenezer Obey, Dele Abiodun, Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, Kollington, KWAM 1, Ayinla Omowura (imagine!), Haruna Ishola, Oliver de Coque, Prince Nico Mbarga, Sonny Okosun, Victor Olaiya, Victor Uwaifo, Rex Lawson, Youssou N'Dour, Salawa Abeni!!!!!!!!! (E gba mi!!). And of course the Afrobeat king himself Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Has anyone noticed that a lot of old Fela stuff (Koola Lobitos, etc) seem to surface in Japan? I wondered why this Japanese man would have such an interest in African music and would have taken such pains to document it. It appeared he actually had the vinyl originals of some of the great work put out by african artists in the 50's, 60's, and 70's. One cannot begin to put a figure on the worth of such a collection. Whatever his motives I was glad to find that somebody had some form of coherent documentation of the works of these African sons and daughters and promptly emailed him to thank him for taking the pains to do what he did ( I think I thanked him, I did ask if he could help me with my current search). I must point out that I didn't find a song titled 'Aiye le' by Sunny Ade. Perhaps this was not the title of the song. I proceeded to quiz everyone I knew. Everyone seemed to know the song, no one seemed to know the title not even Princess save a very very indigenous friend who told me emphatically that Sunny Ade had no such recording, I.K. Dairo did though. Could there be a repository for the lyrics of african songs? Perhaps Yoruba Google would be able to help out ... nothing. I did confirm that I.K. Dairo recorded a song titled 'Aiye le ore mi'. I have spent way too much time by now searching for this song so I put my search on hold and try and get some work done. I resumed my search when I got home, still no luck. Shebi I heard the song played at a Starbucks store. I am sure they will have a song list or something. Yeah I am thinking they will so I put all thoughts of Sunny Ade out of my mind and settle down to watch Idol (go Melinda go!!!!). Today I stopped at the Starbucks store and asked about the music selection of the day before, 'Oh we played a reggae selection cd yesterday' No you didn't I say to myself. 'Really? I was in between 9 and 9:30 am yesterday' I replied. 'Hang on let me get the list of stuff we played yesterday' she replied. The girl no lie, the list was titled 'Reggae Selections' and there it was, 'King Sunny Ade - Penkele' atleast they got the name right. How can you hear this music and classify it as reggae? I returned the list to her and informed her that King Sunny Ade was actually not a reggae musician, he is from Nigeria and his music is classified as Juju. She gave me a preoccupied smile, why am I worrying myself sef, she probably thinks Nigeria is just down the road! Finally! Phew. I can rest now I feel like a load has been lifted off my shoulders.



FYI - 'Penkele' is a track off the 'Synchro System' Album released on the Mango Records label ( a subsidiary of Island Records) in 1983. It was the 2nd of the 3 albums Sunny Ade would release on the label. (The first was 'Ja Funmi' in '82 the third was 'Aura' in '84). According to the discography on Toshiya's site the song was also included on the b-side of 'Ajoo' also released in 1983 as well as the cd titled 'The land of Carthage' released on the label Dynamite in 1994

Dissapointed!

Raphael is not at work today! Imagine that after I was all pumped about saying hi and calling him by name! I am all of a sudden not hungry.

Massacre at Virgina Tech

Along with everyone else I was shocked and horrified to learn of the shootings at the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg yesterday. I heard earlier on in the day on the radio that the shooter was apparentaly motivated by a fight with his girlfriend to kill 32 people and take his own life. A Yoruba prayer immediately came to mind:

Olorun ma jen rin irin arin fesesi (God, don't let my feet lead me into
trouble)

A friend and I were discussing the whole unfortunate incident and she pointed out that some of the students probably spoke with their parents/loved ones minutes perhaps hours before they met with their demise. Normal conversations. I imagined a VTech student calling home, checking in with their parent:

Hello?
Darling! How are you?
I am fine, how are you guys doing?
Oh we are fine, how is school?
School is fine, I have class in 30 mins
just wanted to say hello.
Thanks dear, I hope all is well, no problems ..?
Yeah we really need to discuss my allowance! Just joking.
Laugh! You do
your best and study hard ok? I am very proud of you.
Awww! Thanks, gotta run
love you
Love you too
Click.

The parent would have gotten off the phone happy to know their child was doing well and all was okay. The chile would have hauled their behind over to class, knowing this was the right thing to do, knowing they were in the right place at the right time. Go to class get that credit, get that degree. Perhaps for the students who lost their lives with hindsight we see that they would have been better off cutting classes yesterday. Hmmm ... How will that parent who spoke with their child a couple of mins/hours have felt when they turn on the news and hear of what happened on the school campus in the 7 and 9 am hours? How would they have felt when they learn later after trying frantically to reach their child that they are not picking up their cellphone because they are dead? People don't die 'doing the right thing' they don't die going about their business! Increasingly we learn that they can and that they do. Oluwa ma jen rin irin arin fesesi. My heart goes out to the families and the friends of the departed including the gunman.

I worry. I worry that at the rate at which we seem to be assimilating american culture its only a matter of time before sensless killings in Nigeria are not just the result of a N20 bribe at the illegal road block in Agege.

S.Korean student blamed for shooting rampage reuters.com

Raphael!

His name is Raphael!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For those who might be wondering 'who'?, see my previous posts (On Lunch, Lunch ... Update).

I didn't ask him though, I asked the lady behind the till. I intend to 'suprise' him with this information tomorrow.

Outrage!

I am quite upset. I heard B.u.d.d.y (why does it seem like everyone is setting their spelling lessons to music these days ...) a track from Musiq's new album Luvanmusiq and fell in love with it immediately specifically the drum/violin intro ala Soul II Soul's 'Back to Life'. I bought the track off iTunes and over the weekend purchased the full album from Best Buy (yeah not content with the deal I got on my HTS I had to throw money away somewhere in my defense the album is not yet available on bmg). When I listened to the cd, something just didn't seem right with my jam (B.u.d.d.y) the intro which I loved seemed ... short. How long can a song intro be when its not that K.C and JoJo song ... I am thinking perhaps all these years poking stuff up my ears combined with listening to 'Pump de jam' at full blast on my iPod in the gym is finally catching up on me. I pushed my confusion to the middle of my head (this is where things I plan to resolve) and moved on. Yesterday I ripped the album to my laptop for onward transfer to my iPod and all my peeps via MSN Folder Sharing. Again I was listening to my jam and since my earlier confusion was in the middle not the back of my head, I just couldn't shake the feeling that the intro was all wrong. So I play the copy I bought of iTunes then the copy off my cd in quick succession to compare and banish this niggling forever. O yes, my ears will probably fail me but it would be sometime in the future; the intro on the iTunes copy is 11 secs longer than the intro on the cd version! Imagine that! As if that was not criminal enough, the album on iTunes has 2, TWO bonus tracks which my 'hard copy' album is missing!!!!!!!!!!!!! and the iTunes album is cheaper (even after adding the tax) and I still get the coveted liner notes albeit in digital form. I am soo angry if no be say I don open de cd, I for just return am. This is the reason why people will not stop Kazaaing, and limewiring, etc etc. Be consistent please, spreading the 16 tracks on an artists album over different media doesn't mean you will make more money, with fans scambling to acquire the full release by buying the album on the different media, you are just justifying illegal sharing of files and making it easy for the rest of us to cross over to the 'darkside'.

Lunch ... Update

So I march into the deli determined to get his name. He is not there! The other guy takes my order and as he puts the bread in the toaster he appears. I say hello, he smiles with his twinkling eyes. I lower my eyes to hide the dissapointment I am feeling at the fact that he isn't making my lunch. The guy asks 'mayo and mustard?' 'Just mayo please extra extra easy' I reply dragging my eyes from the bag of chips I had been furiously concentrating on. I hear him mumur something in spanish as he shoos the guy away and takes over. Damn you mochafella! I can feel a stupid smile tugging at the corner of my mouth. Once again he turns over my lovingly prepared lunch with a twinkle in his eye, a smile on his lips and an admonission to have a nice weekend. I smile my thanks and added a 'right back atcha' as I move over to the cashier to pay. I exit the deli and I still don't know if his name is Eduardo or Juan.

CBS Radio Fires Host Don Imus

So, CBS followed in the footsteps of MSNBC and fired Imus. I guess the plan is to lay low for a couple of years (although he is 66 he stills has those left in him) and then before you know it he has a show on satellite radio and continues to shock jock on into the blue yonder.

CBS Radio Fires Host Don Imus washingtonpost.com

On Lunch ...

Lunch for me is usually either pasta or homemade chinese (from home) or a turkey on wholewheat from the deli downstairs. I don't bring Nija stuff from home because I don't know if I can handle anybody squeezing their nose and asking me 'what is that?' in the lunch room. I fit commit murder! For like two weeks now I have been frequenting the deli (been too lazy to pack lunch) and although they have a huge variety of sandwiches I always order the same thing; turkey on toasted wholewheat with fruits on the side. I noticed that on Monday by the time it was my turn to order my sandwich was already half way through being prepared. On Tuesday I noticed that as I walked in the ... cook? who served me the day before reached for the wholewheat loaf and put 3 slices in the toaster. I decided not to say anything. I walked up and waited in front of the counter. 4 mins later he placed my sandwich on the shelf in front of me with a twinkle in his eye. I flashed him a 5000 megawatt smile and moved on to the cash register. Yesterday as I walked up, my usual ... sandwich maker? was serving someone else but he put his collegue through making my sandwich - extra extra easy on the mayo, no mustard, no pickles. I flashed him another megawatt smile still a twinkle no smile in response hmm ... Today my collegue brought bagels for breakfast so I was feeling perhaps I would just skip lunch then my yeye belly started growling like 20 mins ago so it was off to the deli. As usual my sandwich was 'lovingly' prepared and when I smiled my thanks I got a smile in return! I was so suprised by the smile I forgot to follow through with my initial plan to ask my personal sandwich maker his name! A well there is tomorrow!

The Brick Awards 2007

The Today Show did a segment on The Brick Awards this morning which will be hosted by Leanne Rhimes and will be broadcast live on TV (tonight April 12th on CW) for the first time in its history. One of the 12 honorees is Kimmie Weeks, a 25yr old Liberian refugee currently residing in the US. He leads the Philadelphia based human rights organisation 'Youth Action International' and is being honored for his lifelong work rebuilding communities through schools, playgrounds, and business opportunities for women and children in war-torn African countries. Well done brother.

kimmieweeks.com

Thanks

My respect and love for Princess just keeps growing.

15 years ago I was convinced I was adopted and like most teenagers fantasized about being rescued by my birth mother. With hindsight my birth mother did rescue me, time and time again. I was so caught up in this fairytale world that only teenage hormones can conjure to realize it at the time but now that I am older I keep getting those ‘Eureka!’ moments which make me rush blubbering to call Princess my heart almost bursting with love apologising for being such an ass growing up and thanking her for ignoring me and being my parent. I had one such moment recently. I had a conversation with a relative who had recently graduated from university with a 3rd class and was facing the challenges of getting a job in Nija. I had spammed everyone I knew with copies of her resume knowing that it would be an uphill task getting any offers ergo her class of degree. As we talked I recalled my university days. In as much as my mum respected that I was an adult and that I could be trusted to get my behind through 5 yrs of Uni by not being all up in my business (pretending not to know about all the partying I was up to) she was far away yet close enough to keep an eye on me. Then she used to say she didn’t know anybody (except God) that she could push me on to when I graduated and needed a job so she really couldn’t afford to be napping while I was in Uni. For her it was imperative that I graduated with a marketable class of degree so that I have no further delay moving on to the next stage of my life. One or two close shaves and 8 yrs later I finally graduated and while the ink was still drying on my certificate I got a job and I didn’t even have a resume. A couple of months after that through a referral from a guy I had only met once I got another job in Lagos. By investing in The Guardian newspaper every Tuesday for like 6 months I got another offer even after a friend at the recruiting firm who placed the ad asked me not to bother turning in my resume because I didn’t have as much experience as the client requested. I spent a memorable 2 years at this job and moved on to my next job once again by a referral (recall the guy who I had met just once that referred me for a position early on in my career as a working adult? He came through again!) I spent 3 years at this job and it was from there I moved to the US. Looking back, not once did Princess have to go see Uncle Lagbaja or Aunty Tamedun to talk to someone to hire me. Indeed with each move I made I usually called her on the phone and informed her I was changing jobs. I have hardly ‘arrived’ but I am getting there and it is really great to be able to look back and say I am where I am today by merit, perseverance of a determined parent and grace, well mostly perseverance of a determined parent and grace.

This is not to say my relatives’ parent was napping all this time as I realized when I called Princess to thank her for not taking it ‘easy’ with me. She surprised me by thanking me for listening to her and for the most part (wink, wink) being an obedient child. Apparently its one thing to show a person the path to take, it’s a totally different thing for the person to follow said illuminated path. Word.

My poor calves

My calves are killing me!

I think it is safe to say I have the skinniest legs in the whole universe, coupled with the fact that I am slightly knock-kneed, it is a wonder they can support me. I mean they are so skinny, my fingers actually touch when I grip my ankles! It would be nice to wear short-short skirts and shorts without having people comment on how skinny they are or marvel at how I keep from toppling over, but more importantly seeing as how I would like to be active and mobile for as long as I have the privilege to grace this planet with my wonderful presence its imperative I do smething about them oh there is also a history of athritis in my family. I am already working at strengthening my legs in general while taking it easy on my knees and last friday I started working my calves. I don't know if it was the combination of hamstring and calf exercises alone, or that as well as the fact that I spent an hour on the exercise bike Sunday morning but by Sunday afternoon I was in serious pain, so much pain I had to resort to crawling about my apartment! Who send me message o?! After a hot shower and a massage with good ol Robb, my left leg didn't hurt so much but my right leg no gree co-operate. I had to sleep with it curled up and I almost didn't go to work this morning. I woke and got out of bed only to go crashing down on the carpet in pain. Another very hot shower and massage again with good ol' Robb and I was okay. Of course I am wearing the flatest shoes I own and I do smell like my grandma and I think I see my colleagues eyes watering (as per all the fumes I must be emitting) but I am here and the pain is now a dull ache. I really should get my behind in the pool though, best excercise for a person in my condition (low impact on my leg joints) but working out with all those old people?!? So not cool.

Arsenal 0 - 1 West Ham

'So when is the Arsenal burial?'

This was the question my sleep addled brain had to process this morning. Apparently it was a very important question, my friend called all the way from Nigereia to ask it. This particular friend doesn't follow football, I know she is channeling someone elses fantasy. With a promise to call with the details I quickly go check the results of the Arsenal/West Ham game on Soccernet. Incredible! West Ham managed to score a goal at the end of the first half and more incredible they managed to hold us off for the whole of the second half! First loss at Emirates ( I was hoping we would go atleast a season unbeaten at home), 3rd straight premieship loss. We are in 4th position with a game in hand which win or lose doesn't really affect us (the 4-1 Liverpool routing made sure of that!). We are hardly dead and in need of burying, come on!

Match Report soccernet.com

Music sweet music

I am seated on my airbed in my living room listening to music playing on my spanking new Philips 100W 2.1-Ch Home Theatre System. Of course the speakers came with like 2 inches of wire so I am not able to position them for optimal listening pleasure even at that Seal never sounded so good. I like my iPod and all that but nothing beats being 'enveloped' in good music. I got the car jack for the iPod but the 7 yr old speakers made listening to anything other than the radio painful yeah I fiddled with the bass and treble and when I finally get it just right for a particular song, the settings are all wrong for the next one (I have the various media I have accumulated music from over the years to thank for that). Assuming that I was willing to tweak the settings for every single song I wanted to listen to (I am not) the risk of being involved in a totally different type of 'jam session' on the 405 is very high and at this time not desirable hence I have resolved my self to futility of the whole thing and embraced the radio. Of course I have to suffer through some peoples’ spelling lessons (notice how every other song on Fergie’s ‘The Duchess’ album has her spelling?) I am rewarded with gems from Robin Thicke (Lost without you) and Musiq Soulchild (B.U.D.D.Y). Oh did I mention that the cd player in the car is on the fritz and Honda is telling me they have discontinued this particular model so the only other alternative is to send it to a repair facility and it could take anything from 1 to 4 weeks to get it back? I am sure you guys would be like what’s the big deal? The earlier you get it sent out the better. I have already established that the deck wasn't the best anyway sound production wise, off or out it wouldn't make much of a difference abi? I am afraid I would go mad with boredom. Those of you who knew me in Nija would be quick to point out that my old car didn't have a deck. I would like to point out that I didn’t need anything to distract me then, the engine in a Beemer is one to behold and listen to especially when you are in the drivers’ seat. I can't wait to own one of the 98-05 (Koja) 3 series BMW’s, now those engines (Vanos introduced in 1992), they sing a pretty tune. I have really digressed haven't I?

The iPod works when I have the head phones on, but a times I want an all over body experience, from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet I want to be bathed, enveloped, cocooned, caressed by whatever I am listening to, be it Maxwell, 2pac, Evanescence, MaryMary, BonJovi or Lagbaja. *Sigh* Seal is tickling my feet right now, I feel like I won the lottery. I think it is safe to say that I did, my home theatre cost less than $90 minus tax. A couple of months ago I had a lengthy conversation with a dear friend about buying a home theatre system. I wanted to do the proper thing and buy a component system and the more I thought about it and researched it the higher the cost of acquisition became. The past couple of weeks had been really intense at work and every night when I got home I just wanted to be embraced by some classical music. By Wednesday I was ready to just go to Wal-Mart abi Target and buy a $30 boom box when I browsed the Best Buy site and found this gem. I initially meant it for my room but now I am thinking it can hold its own in the living room and my plans for the component system might be moved to the back back burner. Let’s wait and see what tomorrow will bring; I will buy more speaker wire and experiment with speaker placement and sound levels from the little I am seeing so far, I might still be buying that boom box for my room!

It is well ... Update

Yes!!!

Today is the 4th day of the rest of my life sans lint, I am lint free, yipeeee!!!!!

My first conscious encounter with lint was like 10 yrs ago; I had a dark sweater which I couldn't wear as much as I wanted because it always seemed to be covered in fibers. No matter how much I washed it I could never get them off. I forked over the money to get it dry cleaned and although it came back sans the dreaded fibers it started picking them up again the minute I took it out of the plastic sheath. Then Princess unearthed a lint brush she bought in the 70's (I inherited my pack rat tendencies from her obviously) which made the whole situation manageable although I didn't get as much wear as I would have liked out of that particular sweater, all that brushing combined with the weekly yam pounding sessions (Princess is Ijesa) where making my biceps very prominent! From that time on, it seemed I was plagued by lint.

The predominant color in my wardrobe is blue. I would prefer it were black. I like the color black for clothing (like most women) because it makes me appear svelte. This is a key characteristic especially with all the cottage cheese I have to disguise. Also like any woman worthy of the name I take pride in being well turned out. My desire to always strive to look my best, coupled with my lint situation ensured I didn't own as many black items of clothing as I would have liked. Now the issue was not just overdeveloping my biceps, it was also time. Recall I am living in Lagos on the mainland working in Lagos Island. In order to beat traffic I need to be out of my house at the latest 5:45 am. Considering the fact that I didn't get home till like 10 pm the day before and I can't function with less than 8 hrs sleep, I really can't sacrifice the 30 mins to be de-linting my clothes.

Imagine my horror when I moved here and not only did I have a lint issue with my black items of clothing, I had a lint issue with every item of clothing I owned! The situation grew increasingly worse with each new item of clothing I purchased culminating in me going through one lint brush a week. I expressed my concerns to a friend who suggested perhaps my apartment needed airing out. I vacuumed religiously, dusted furiously, and nearly died of frostbite on evening when forgot to close my windows. As I huddled next to the oven, trying to thaw out I thought there must be an easier way. I started looking closely at peoples clothes when I went out. No one seemed to be having the issue I had. They can't all be brushing their clothes all the time I determined, there must be something they are doing that I am not. Then last week I was watching TV and caught the ad for Bounce. Fabric softener! So that’s what it is for! Could this be it, the end to my anguish? Would I be able to once again wear my black khakis, the ones that make my legs look longer and slimmer than they actually are and flatters my high bum? I almost could not wait for the weekend to arrive. I bought Bounce (fragrance free of course) on Saturday and proceeded to launder everything I owned. It was so well worth the $4 for the Bounce and the sack of quarters I could see the difference the minute I opened the dryer door. As I inspected each item I almost wept with joy. Finally! Its sooooo good to be free of lint!