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!

It is well ...

I have been involved with a battle for about 10 years now. Those of you who know me will be really suprised to be reading this. When I was in Nigeria, the condition was managable for me and for the most part I actually forgot I had it. However since I moved to the US the condition has reared its ugly head and gotten progressively worse. I will spend this weekend undergoing prescribed treatments and I am really hoping and praying for the best.

P&G wins $19.25 million in Satanism suit

I remember hearing the whole P&G, Satanism thing in back in QC.

P&G wins $19.25 million in Satanism suit msnbc.com

My 'Singing' Purse

I love gadgets and I am one of a dying breed of people who read actually read the VCR manual and try out all the features. When my IPod was new and shacking me a lot more than it is shacking me now I must have set like 50 different clocks for different time zones (okay I set 3; Nija, Jand and Dallas) I noticed I could also set an alarm. How will I 'hear' the alarm I wondered as I set the sound to 'beep', the IPod comes with headphones and the yeye thing will not play if the headphones are not connected. I promptly forgot about the whole thing until like a month ago when out of curiosity I changed the alarm sound from beep to one of the playlists I have set up with the intention of watching the thing at the appointed time. I must have gotten caught up watching HGTV or something cos I forgot all about my experiment. The other day I was napping when I was roused by - Corrine Bailey Rae? 'I dey heaven?' I wondered as I opened my eyes. My laptop wasn't on and I do not have a cd player or anything like that. The sound seemed to be coming from my purse. My heart started beating double time as I backed away from the said purse, believing it to be possessed then my sleep addled brain finally figured it out - it was the alarm on my IPod! But how come I hadn't heard it before I wondered as I reached for my purse and retrieved the culprit. Usually about this time I am listening to my IPod at work which is why I hadn't heard it up till now and on weekends when I am not at work I am either at the gym or the headphones are not connected. I was shocked at the volume coming out of the headphones, I could hear the song clearly, lyrics, intruments and all. Not bad at all coming from such tiny headphones. Usually when I am in the gym I have the volume turned all the way up so I guess that was another reason I could hear it so clearly from so far away and immediately feared for my poor ears. Dummy thats what the 5 holes on the other side of the ear piece are for!

Where is Africa? - Update

Over the weekend I stopped by WalMart to pickup a disposable camera (I had to record the metamorphosis of my room for the sake of posterity). I try to avoid going to WalMart when I can the lines to pay are always so long a quick trip to get sugar could well last an hour minus your commute time! Anyway I had no choice really on Saturday, WalMart was really the only place to go since it was on my way and I am conserving fuel (recent increases in gas prices have bumped the cost of my bi-weekly trip to the gas station from $35-37 to $42!). Soooo … I am patiently waiting in line when the guy behind me asked where I get my printer consumables from. One of the ‘joys’ of owning a printer worldwide is buying printer consumables especially ink. I have a friend who has a somewhat radical solution to the problem – trash the printer and buy a new one. I passed on this solution. We started chatting and he asked the inevitable question ‘Where are you from?’ I took a deep breath and said Nigeria. He then asked ‘How is it over there? Is it as chaotic as the media always seems to portray it?’ That kinda stopped me in my tracks; this is not the kind of question I am used to being asked. ‘Not all the time’ I reply taking a closer look at him. ‘Didn’t think so’ he replied. ‘I go online and want to read about Africa and that doesn’t make any sense since Africa is made up of different countries’ I nearly passed out! I took another good look at him. Nothing looked amiss could this guy have read my blog and somehow found me here on the ’10 items or less’ line which was moving a lot slower than the other line where each person had atleast 2 carts brimming over with purchases? Could he have followed me with the intention of proving to me that not every American is ignorant to the fact that Africa is a continent not a zipcode? ‘That’s right’ I reply. ‘I am from Nigeria which is only of 54 countries on the African continent’. We spent the remaining time in line talking about Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa well I talked and he listened and no, he wasn’t staring at my paint speckled bosom going by his body language (head cocked to oneside) he was actually really listening to what I was saying. As I finally got the chance to pay for my purchase he bid me a good afternoon and thanked me for the enlightening discussion. ‘My pleasure’ I replied. What a coincidence, considering the fact that I only just blogged about my annoyance with the whole ‘do you take I405 North or South to Africa?’ thing. I guess the ‘Universe’ is trying to tell me something, less annoyance more patience perhaps?

Yar'Adua Blames Opposition for Death Rumour

At this time I think we should all be paying close attention to Yar'Adua's running mate the man with the two first names - Dr Jonathan Goodluck (abi na Goodluck Jonathan!?). Make we no be like the Trojans, as I dey look am so e be like say na him we go dey vote for come election day!

Yar'Adua Blames Opposition for Death Rumour allafrica.com

A little home improvement

It’s been warming up of late (or I have adjusted to the cold whichever one you like) and I had been telling myself I needed to get a proper bed, that and I don’t think my back or knee can take much more of my present sleeping arrangements. I knew I wanted a blue themed room with apple green, purple/chocolate brown accents. At this point I think I should mention I am suffering from an overdose of HGTV. All those 30 minute makeover shows where beginning to put ideas in my head and I was beginning to fancy myself as an interior decorator of sorts. It has gotten so that when I am not watching a specific program on TV I am watching channel 74 on mute.

Last week Sunday I was working on my laptop and as usual HGTV was on mute. I looked up and saw the most beautiful blue themed room on ‘Double Take’. I quickly interjected some apple green accents in my mind and was convinced I wanted this room. A quick trip to the HGTV site and I found the blow-by-blow of how the total look was achieved. In January a colleague had taken me to a reasonably priced furniture store and so on Monday I went back to look through their catalogues. I found a perfect bed at a reasonable price and asked to have it delivered at the weekend. Next I needed to change the color on my walls from ‘Hospital White’ to ‘Seaside Pleasure’. Unfortunately the paint store listed on the HGTV site is in North California, so I had to find a substitute locally. A colleague suggested I try Ralph Lauren Paints and I was like ‘shebi na light blue, how difficult can it be to choose’, boy was a wrong; I never knew there could be so many variants of ‘light blue’! After much deliberation I settled on one (I can't remember the name now) and stopped by HomeDepot to pick up my selection along with paint supplies plus I had received a discount coupon in the mail and if there is one thing I love, it’s a bargain. Paint? Check; Roller and paint brush? Check; Paint pan and painters tape? Check; Plastic sheets to protect the carpet? Check. I head of to pay and while in line had an interesting conversation with a 70-ish year old man about finding bargains in unexpected places. He also suggested I get a canvas sheet that I could reuse on future paint projects and as much as that sounded like a good idea, storage would be a problem I passed.

Saturday, I was up bright and early and spent an hour carefully taping my room. Then I whipped out my roller and started painting. I was very happy I decided to do this before my furniture arrived; with each roll of the roller a fine spray of paint was emitted and in a short time I was covered in tiny spots of paint. 3 hrs later as I tried to survey my ‘damage’ I realized that painting is not something to be done on an empty stomach I was starving. A tub of yogurt and a granola bar later I was able to see clearly, I felt like I had conquered the world. I found it was much more convenient to use a chair as opposed to a ladder to get to hard to reach places and wearing old socks meant afterwards I just took them off and tossed them. Clean up was a breeze (although I forgot to anoint myself from top to bottom with baby oil as suggested on a site I visited, its supposed to help get paint off skin easily) and since I was in the spirit proceeded to clean my apartment from top to bottom. Once my apartment was spick and span, I pulled on some sweats and went to get the furniture people. Somehow they had forgotten about my delivery as such I had to wait till like 6;30 pm for them to come. As long as they will carry the bed into my apartment, no wahala. I was beginning to feel the effect of all that activity as I left the furniture store. I went home and lay down on my airbed (for the last time) as I waited. By 7 pm I was beginning to suspect they would not be making the delivery on Saturday. I was glad, ba energy. Sunday morning and everything hurt, and in the oddest places! Who send me message o! I hobbled over to the phone and called the furniture people and with all the iciness I could muster I demanded to know why I didn’t have furniture in my room. The guy apologized profusely. Na apology I wan chop? Abegi give me a further discount! The furniture is on its way he assured me. Finally it arrived and setting up wasn’t so bad considering the fact that I almost couldn’t move. I wiped the sweat from my brow as I surveyed the result of my weekend of manual labor. Nice. Now all I need is a club chair in pinstriped fabric and a bench for the foot of my bed then on to the hard task, picking accent pieces. I can hardly wait! Before that though I needed someone to bathe me, feed me and tuck me into bed I was that worn out. I must report I slept like a rock and was surprised I heard my alarm at all this morning. Now that the aching has subsided, I am keeping an eye out for ideas for my living room and yes I will be painting!

Where is Africa?

Along with a lot of people I was shocked to see Sabrina Sloan voted out of the top 12 on Idol yesterday. Unlike a lot of people who after the fact swear at a persons brilliance (a la Jennifer Hudson), I actually devote time after every show to vote for my favorite performances of the night, not that Sabrina is my most favorite, that honor goes to Melinda who I think is very good if a little polished and as such might not win. Anyhow I didn't think Sanjaya would still be around or that Sundance would be going home this early. I did want to keep Jared around just for eye candy!

Anyhow they had been buzzing all week about a huge announcement on Idol and finally it came; 'Idol Gives Back' to whom I wonder. According to the Idol website,

‘"Idol Gives Back" is a two-night special to benefit children and young people in need in American and Africa airing Tuesday, April 24 and Wednesday, April 25 on FOX.’

The show is partnering with the Charity Projects Entertainment Fund (CPEF) for this

‘historic television event – IDOL GIVES BACK – a two-night special raising awareness and funds for organizations that provide relief programs to help children and young people in extreme poverty in America and Africa.’

Ryan announced on the show that he and Simon had already made a trip to ‘Africa’ to witness the poverty and sickness firsthand perhaps to authenticate its existence after all they are serious celebrities who can only lend the ‘weight’ of their ‘serious’ celebrity to real causes. Cowell seemed totally convinced that poverty is real in ‘Africa’ as he stiffly shook hands with children on the obligatory tape made of their fact finding mission. Ryan went further to try and experience this poverty by attempting to balance a basket of bananas on his head. Randy will be taking Paula on a tour of his beloved home state Louisiana and its surrounding region to see how people are living post-Katrina. You guys should save the money and watch Spike Lee’s documentary, he managed to capture the whole Katrina situation very well and since we all know the mess FEMA has been my guess is as good as yours that not much has changed since that documentary aired.

First it irks me when I hear ‘celebrities’ especially the black ones (who in my opinion should know better) say they went to Africa like it was a suburb of LA! Oya bring a map and show me the exact spot on which you stood and I will name one of the 54 countries that the continent is made up of. When your assistant made your travel plans, where did they tell you you will be going? Did you land at the Africa International Airport? Please do not tell me you traveled thousands of miles and don’t know exactly where on this lovely earth you where headed! South Africa is one of the 54 countries on the continent, if that is where you went, please say so. I here people say all the time they went to Europe, traveling through Spain, Germany etc. If you can do it for Europe you can do it for Africa. The inability of these celebrities to tell you exactly where they went shows me they don’t give a toss about the place, they just want to mark the attendance register of ‘African Pilgrims’, making this like some rite of passage so you can show the world you are ‘down like that’. Then again ‘Do me I do you, God no go vex’ is a popular saying. The locals are not as ‘simple’ (dim witted) and ‘happy’ as you might think. While they (celebrities, etc) are busy making the ‘in’ trip, my African brothers and sisters have wised up and will pose for the obligatory photos and participate in the requisite games just ‘drop something’ before you go.

Second, generating awareness on behalf of a cause and raising money for it is a good thing. I am pissed that today’s scam seems to be raising money for ‘Africa’ to eradicate aids, combat poverty, emancipate the girl child, etc. With the effort put into raising money for Africa by now one would have thought ‘Africa’ would be totally ‘free’ from the different elements it has had to wage a ‘war’ or ‘go into combat’ with. Alas! Enough with the videos of the snotty nosed, half naked, mud encrusted, fly/flea attracting very black children. Your persistent display of these images on your national TV is the reason why I have to put up with such comments as ‘You speak English so well’ every other place I go. Imagine my further irritation when I read about Bono and Project Red abi Champaign Red abi Red Champaign! (I dey vex no be small!) At least with most Nigerian scammers, the ammo is to hook up with the scammee’s greed; no ‘innocent, starving, disease ridden African children’ are exploited in the process. How can you spend $100M to make $18M? As my people will say ‘Oluwa ma je kin sowo short’ (God don’t let me trade at a loss). You really don’t need to wear your charity on your new boobs which you acquired on credit or receive calls on it for that matter. Shey they would have done a lot better by donating the $100M instead of ‘investing’ it with the belief that it will yield fruits/multiply (as if the weeds of their greed go gree). I know that the $100M didn’t come out of any one person’s pocket, the participating companies (GAP, Motorola, etc) spent the total from their individual marketing budgets. I say continue to sell your normal $10 t-shirts and give to charity fair and square, God knows you get the tax break. Shey if they hired marketing companies indigenous to Africa, they can at least claim the money is right now circulating through the continent, creating jobs for people who actually want to know how to fish and not wait in line bowl at the ready to be fed. And don’t get me started on the outside influences from the US, Asia and Europe that are fueling the various conflict areas on the continent, conflicts that are ensuring that we cannot heal ourselves from within.

I am not impressed; Oyinbo man if you want to help Africa, help Africa else leave my mother land out of your scam!

Bono, Who Preaches Charity, Profits From Buyouts, Tax Breaks bloomberg.com

Reunion Galore

Just heard Genesis are also reuniting and going on tour. The tour 'Turn it on Again' will kick of in Toronto and the reunited band will be without Peter Gabriel (the original lead singer who left in '75 and was replaced by Collins) who is busy on a solo project. Phil Collins will be available as will Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks.

Do You Have Two Ears and a Heart? Genesis Reunion Tour! rollingstone.com

Incredible!

Over the weekend I received a link via IM from a friend. I recognised the name as that of a guy I had gone to school with. I clicked on the link and nothing could have preped me for what I was to find there. Here was this young man from a good home professing to not only be a 419 scammer but also a gay male escort with a preference for transsexuals! I was just shocked to realize that by reading that profile I had in that instance become the acquaintance of a 419 scammer who was a gay male escort with a preference for transsexuals! I didn’t even think the 6 degrees theory would relate me to one! As if this was not bad enough there were pictures, full frontal and 'sidal' nudity erasing all doubt that I had somehow managed to read the whole thing worng! Is this some sick joke played by his friends? A scorned lover (female or male) out for revenge? A young man coming 'out of the closet'? I proceeded to read the sole post on the blog. The more I read, the closer I came to the conclusion that some one/people really had it in for this man. But how did they get such incriminating pictures? Which brings me to a question I always ask when another celebrity sex tape gets released - Why take naked pictures of yourself (copulating with another human being, doing a hand job, stepping out of the shower, striking a Superman pose, whatever?) Why make a sex tape and be so careless with it that your biggest opening at the box office would have to be financed by you? If you must take pictures of yourself in the nude goofing around ala Superman or make a video of yourself making whoopy, the next thing to do is fly to Switzerland and entrust such pictures/tapes to a Swiss banker. I am thinking our 'stud muffin' here probably posed for these pictures and his scorned lover decided to post them online. What a grudge!

Speaking of home videos/pictures that 'kobalise' I caught a report on TV this morning about two teenage boys in Fort Worth Texas who decided to teach their 2 year old and a 5 year old nephews how to smoke pot and had the genius to catch this apparent coming of age ritual on tape! The police found the tape while searing their house on a warrant for suspected robbery.

In situations such as these, two heads are better than one so I buzz another friend and after much discussion we arrived at the conclusion that the guy was the victim of '19' hunters. My friend had heard and seen things that made him believe our stud here was actually into 419, apparently after graduation from UI this guy came back like 2 months later to say hi to his peeps driving a very correct Mercedes Benz. This doesn't say much I mean it could belong to his parents, brother, sister, sister’s sugar daddy etc. The fact that this same guy was always seen in the company of known '19' boys in the Gbagada area made the source of the financing of the car and his status generally suspicious. As we talked I decided to Google the guy and the first link was to this blog! That kinda blows a hole in any attempt he tries to make to get legit work in this part of the world, a startling amount of employers actually Google prospective employees and unless this guy does facial reconstruction he really can't talk his way out of this one. (Out of curiosity I Googled myself too, was glad to find that all references to me were in ASP and ASP.NET forums asking/answering work related questions I am thinking that’s a good thing from an employers point of view) I then found links to other sites online dedicated to 'outing' '19' scammers. I found pictures of other '19' people in various compromising positions much like what I had seen on our studs blog which quickly threw my jilted/scorned lover theory out the window. Then my friend tells me that there a people who actually hunt this '19' boys down and out them. In Dateline NBC style they ask then to do specific things, e.g pose in the nude on 3rd Mainland Bridge with your erect member facing Ketu! I don't know if I was a guy I would be able to sustain an erection butt naked on 3rd Mainland bridge but hey I guess the thought of all the money that will soon be in their possession is more of a turn than I will ever know! Our stud muffin said on his blog he drove 10 hrs to and from a rendezvous with a bisexual man, his wife and their gay friend all for a fee of 7,000 Euros. Apparently the naked pix he took were for an application for an escort service and of course they needed to see what he had to offer. I am thinking the latest hot scam is to con gay men/women. One of the ‘19’ scammers outing websites featured a guy I knew very well from UI. (fashi 6 degrees!). This one was really pathetic because not only did they publish his picture, home address and international passport information page, they also dragged his wife into it pictures and all! Of course they had a sensational story as well which only helped me join the dots! Imagine there I was some 7 yrs ago thinking the guy was a hard working effico entrepreneur meanwhile he just had everyone so fooled. I guess the revelations of the weekend brought home to me a startling truth; 19 scammers are not some guys far removed from us, we know them, work with them, went to school with them and we really are sitting ducks, busy believing they are the thieves without when in reality they are the angels within.

The Wa-Zo-Bia Naira

'Wa - Zo - Bia, wa lede meta'

Those lyrics are from an Ebenezer Obey or I.K. Dairo song? Anyone?

I just saw pictures of the new Naira notes on the BBC website. The look nice and all that, but I wonder was it necessary? Really? I mean the cost of producing the notes and coins (which apparently cost more than notes) fine the notes have a host of 'relevant' security features ... After further digging I found out that the arabic writing on the notes had been removed and the new notes carry writings in Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa. I have often wondered what the Arabic writing on the notes mean't but have not been sufficiently motivated to ask. Since a lot more people speak/read either Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa as opposed to Arabic it does make more sense to have text on our national currency in those languages and assuming the 'Wa-Zo-Bia' renderings on the notes are a direct translation of the Arabic text I guess I will have my answer as soon as I can get a close up of the new notes. I must also admit its a small albeit relevant victory for Christians.

The Number 23

I just got home from seeing this movie and I will not lie it did occur to me as I got home to grab my eyeliner and begin to 'calculate' my life on my living room wall but I would like to get as much of my deposit back with minimum effort on my part when I move out :)

Initially it seemed he wouldn't pull it off; his character was narrating, and his delivery of key lines made me laugh out loud. I find Jim's comedy a bit manic and as the movie progressed I was drawn in, the laughs got fewer and far between I saw less of Jim the pet detective and more of Jim the confused father and husband who had allowed his head to be filled with nonsense now walking the thin line between fact and fiction. The last like 20 mins had me on the edge of my seat. The end ... I don't know I had so fallen 'in love' with the character I was hoping for an 'Unfaithful' type conclusion but I loved the last frame it gave me the goose bumps. In all a refreshing if not suprising performance from Mr Carey

House Cleaning

I find I am a little idle at work. Last week Wednesday I got an assignment which was supposed to take me two weeks to complete; I completed it in two days (Friday last week). I tried to look busy on Monday and I had to just give up and tell my supervisor I was done. We were supposed to have a show and tell with my other team members yesterday but a crisis on another project put that on the back burner the end result of all this is that I spent yesterday cleaning out/organising my hotmail inbox.

I started out with over 3000 emails in total in my inbox, over 700 of them unread. I managed to reduce the total number to a little over 1100 with unread mails narrowed down to 26 and I am not done cleaning. A lot of my unread emails were job search related; daily listings from Dice, Monster, and CareerBuilder. It was interesting to note that about half of the emails in my inbox were job search related; prior to my Houston job I had between 350 and 400 job search related emails, between that job and getting the offer for my current job I had another like 550 - 600 emails and after that offer till I actually started work another like 300. I wanted to try and make an estimate of how many copies of my resume I ended up sending out but Hotmail unlike Yahoo doesn't have that robust a search feature.

Of course I unearthed all sorts of gems; jokes, pictures of friends offsprings, 419 solicitations, and a sex manual sent to me by a friend who admonished me to study hard and practice only after I had a band of precious metal and couple of carats on the fourth finger (yes the thumb is a digit) of my left hand!

It was also interesting to see all (almost all) the people who have left comments on my blog (over 500 of them!) and of course the regularity of commentators (anonymous really should start his/her own blog!)

The Police Reunion Tour - Update

I was a bit dissappointed to find that when the initial tour dates were announced L.A. wasn't a stop, the closest stop was Las Vegas. I am in heaven this morning as I learn that they have added dates in Oakland and L.A! I am not sure if I will not still make the trip out to Toronto since I have never been, killing several birds with one stone. We'll see I guess it all depends on if I can get time off work.

Police add dates in Oakland, L.A. yahoo.com

The Police Reunion Tour

I must be the happiest Police fan, I can't believe they are going on tour and I will not have to read about it, I can actually attend! I am so happy I am amazed I haven't passed out from sheer joy! Or that I still need to eat, I would have thought the adrenaline coursing through my veins would sustain me till July! Alas I will have to shed my extra pounds like everybody else - watch what I eat and exercise!!!

Each day brings more good news about the tour, I just got an email from gotickets.com informing me that new dates had been announced for Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver while new dates are expected for New York. Details for the London and Europe dates will also be announced soon. The best birthday present ever would have been to watch them perform in Fenway Park (Boston) but my friend (whom I have coerced into following me) says he is not budging from Toronto so Toronto it is either on the 22nd or 23rd of July. I am sooooooooooooo excited, I can hardly wait for July to come!

Russell Simmons Presents ... Def Poetry

I stumbled upon this show quite by accident on Saturday and really enjoyed watching it. I am shocked to see that it's in its 6th season, never heard of it. For fellow JJC's out there, the show is hosted by Mos Def and as the name implies is about poetry. If you watch Russell Simmons Def Comedy Jam then you already know the format of the show. The first recital (The Industry) was from DMX who for some strange reason I happen to like. Then there was this guy who did 'Sexy'; a redefining (is that a word?) of what is perceived to be sexy; and this couple who did 'Six Million' as in 6 million ways to die they chose marriage; and a girl who did 'The Reasons I Love You' (she really cracked me up) and Jill Scott Sang her poem which I wasn't really feeling. My favorite performance of the evening was by a guy called Asia titled 'The Waiting Hour' about his bout with cancer and chemo. I really really liked it. Unfortunately HBO doesn't have clips on their site :(

If I am not mistaken ...

I just heard Jay-Z say 'Ejo' on the track 'Can't Hide From Luv' his collaboration with Mary J on her 'The Breakthrough' album. Is this something he picked up on his trip to Nija abi na me wey no dey observant as in e don dey talk am since?

Word Cloud

I saw this post on Ore's blog and quickly jumped on google and like 2 mins later found this site. I think my cloud pretty much sums up my present frame of mind although I suspect the webot that generates the cloud scans just the first page of your blog. I am presently contemplating having my cloud made up into a t-shirt.

V-day Suprise

Its 8:20 am, I am getting ready to go to work. Phone? Check, Lunch? Check. I grab my keys and open the door; Thud! What was that? There is bag on the outside of my front door. I open it and its a box of chocolates from my neigbour across the ... across from me. How sweet. I met him when I had just moved in and was moving some borrowed furniture he was recruited by my super who was helping me and I learned he had been living in the building for like 20 yrs Wow!. I have no intention of eating the chocolates, but the gesture was sweet and I plan on preserving the memory (hence the post).

Weekend Runs

Slept in on saturday as usual, woke up at like 11 am. I really had no plans for the weekend save for grocery shopping, a quick trip to Ikea to buy a TV stand I saw online and of course watching the Grammys. I had intially wanted to go see 'Notes on a Scandal' but I think that will have to wait till next weekend or perhaps Wednesday.

Grocery shopping was a breeze, I had taken some time off on Friday to organise my list according to the stores with the best deals for said items (I have learned the art of shopping with coupons and store sales papers). I then headed out to Ikea for the TV stand. Locating it on the display floor was easy enough, I jotted down its details on my shopping list and head off downstirs to pick it up. Apparently its a very popular model, that or the re-stocking people were slacking up. Anyways I had to wait almost an hr and half for them to bring out additional units from the warehouse. As I waited, I sent up a silent prayer for the good sense I had shown earlier by stopping at home and putting my perishables (fish, shrimp, chicken and veggies) in the fridge/freezer. Imagine what condition they would have been in after like 2 hrs in the suprisingly hot sun. Finally I pick up the stand, pay for it and head off to the parking lot. The thing was bigger than I had imagined it would be and just as I got to my car and was wondering how I was going to lift the thing into the car by myself (another quick prayer of thanks that I had bought a cr-v and not a civic as I had initally planned) two very helpful guys appeared and helped load it. I got my building super to help carry it upstairs to my flat. everyone I know has complained at how difficult/exasperating it can be trying to assemble Ikea furniture. In all it took like 15 mins to set the thing up; 5 mins to read the instructions, 5 mins to lay out everything, 5 mins to put it all together. Finally I can stop tripping over all the wires running every which way across the apartment. Sunday was spent cleaning my apartment from top to bottom (all 2 sqft!) oh! I bought a wok on Saturday so I 'seasoned' that. Then I made lunch for the week. I had been craving Shrimp Etouffee and decided to try and make it. Etouffee is a Cajun dish and is basically veggies and shrimp/crawfish in a flour base. It turned out pretty nicely and I was very proud of myself. I was really itching to use my wok but I had promised myself I would take it easy so I spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping. I woke up about 6 pm and watched the pre-Grammys show on E! and then the Grammys proper.

With the TV stand my living room is beginning to take shape, yesterday I found a lovely picture frame in which I put a picture of Princess. I really miss her and Bee. I think I am missing Nija as well. Everywhere I went this weekend I could have sworn everyone was speaking yoruba even the white pple! Does this mean I am going to join a Nija video club and begin to watch home videos? I don't think so! Anyways although I am itching to I will not be buying anymore furniture till it gets a little warmer then I can move out of the living room into the bedroom then each room can serve its original purpose. Target has these distressed square chests which I think will make really nice side tables as well as serve for storage. Maybe I will 'spoil' myself and buy one, maybe.

I wonder ...

Can you tell a persons birth month in the US by looking at their car tags? Anyone?

The Grammys have come and gone

The Police performed and I could hardly contain myself. Their performance was short and sweet (they did 'Roxanne'), a teaser of things to come I believed and prayed and was glad to hear yesterday that it was official; they announced they will be touring North America starting on the 18th of April. For sure this is an opportunity not to be missed, Sting is 55; Stewart is 54; and Andy is 64; there probably will not be to many tours left for this band. What am I saying The Rolling Stones (Mike Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Wood, Charlie Watts)are well into their 60's and are still rocking on the road! Anyway tickets for the Canada shows go on sale in a week no word yet on the tickets for the American shows. I had read somewhere that the tickets will be priced between $50 and $225 so I am really encouraged. Gotickets.com already has tickets on sale for the New York shows in August at Madison Square Garden for $1800!!! All of a sudden the tour dvd is an option!

I liked the grammy version of 'Crazy' performed by Gnarls Barkley, especially the marching band drum beat. Mary rocked with 'Be Without You', and Christina Aguilera payed a fitting tribute to James Brown with 'Its a Man's Man's Man's World'. I know Beyonce performed but for the life of me I don't really remember it, bright lights behind her made her dress see-through and she kept splaying her legs it was very distracting. I enjoyed the Corinne Bailey Rae/John Legend/John Mayer (didn't know he was that tal ; 6'1) performance and as always it was a pleasure seeing a green eyed Smokey (I never knew till a couple of months ago that he had green eyes) and the seemingly ageless Lionel perfom although I felt it was odd pairing them with Chris Brown ( he had these like 6/7 yr old boys crumping it was wicked)!. I felt it ruined the flow of that particular joint performance. I think John Legend would have been a better pairing you know, keeping the singer/songwriter thing going.

Seal and Burt Bacharach presented an award together and Burt said he would be honored to work on a collaboration with Seal. That would be interesting, lets wait and see.

You know I am thinking about it now and you know the person who is truly ageless? Prince! That guy at 48 does not look a day older than he did almost 30 yrs ago when he first started performing.

Since I am counting ...

Its been a year on the 6th since I started blogging. As seems to be the case with all my anniversaries, I can't believe it! I remember my very first post like I wrote it yesterday. I am not sure if it is the act of writing the post itself or what that posts stands for that makes it memorable or the incident I wrote about. Anyways I am so so suprised a year has whizzed by already! A friend asked me a couple of weeks into my existence as a blogger if I felt I could keep this up. 'Of course I will' I replied with as much indignation as I could muster even as I could see my sisters half knitted sweater in the bottom of my closet. I must mention that I have been knitting that particular sweater for almost 10 yrs now! Over the years I have embraced many many projects with a lot of enthusiasm only to give them up before completion. Somehow blogging has managed to hold my attention for a whole year, with no signs of it getting boring. I am really very suprised, I guess this is a victory for me albeit a small one. Here is to many more anniversaries of my existence in the blogshere. And by the way I am going to knit my sister a sweater she can wear, I will buy supplies this weekend!

Its been a month ... already?!

A month ago today I started work, a month ago on the 4th I moved to California. How time flies, it seems like just yesterday that I said a teary goodbye to my peeps in Houston, hoped on a plane and became best friends with mapquest!

Introducing Robin Thicke

Courtesy of a dear friend (who is yet to make a 'bad' music recommendation) I was introduced to Robin Thicke yesterday. A very black voice lives in this young white man. My favorite song on his 'Evolution of Robin Thicke' album is 'Got 2 be down' feat Faith Evans. Somehow I see Marvin Gaye when I listen to that song. Other songs of note include 'Complicated' and 'Would that make you love me' which sounds so Maxwell.

Really weird news

This has got to be the weirdest news I have heard this year.

Anna Nicole Smith collapses, dies at 39 msnbc.com

Music Playlists

I was mucking around with my IPod and iTunes the other day and noticed that iTunes actually keeps a record of how many times you play a song either via IPod or iTunes. Why? I wonder. The only reason I can think of is perhaps this information will help 'people' at iTunes have an idea of what kind of music you like and then be able to make more appealing music selections to you. Hang on, iTunes doesn't have a music club abi? You know which music club I know which would really benefit from this kind of information? bmgmusic.com. When I joined I was required to select my favorite music category and I picked R&B so I guess its my fault when I keep getting some undesirable selections. But seriously who listens to music in one category? I think you can also select other music categories you are interested in and then you rank them but who has time to be doing all of that, the (percivied) way iTunes is going about it is so much better if a little intrusive. If bmg had taken a peek at what I have been listening to in the past month or so, they would never have offered me Beyonce's 'b'day' album. Yeye people I got the email about the featured selection and promptly declined the offer. They now had the effontry to send it out anyway! If they had mistakenly sent out some other artist perhaps I wouldn't have been so upset (I would have sent it back though). Please don't get me wrong, I think she has a good voice and by all accounts is a great on-stage performer (not actress) I am actually planning to shell out a whole 99cents for her song 'irreplaceable' (although I am beginning to get sick of it I hear that song at least twice on the radio everyday.) however will I shell out a whole $18+ for her album including the plastic case and liner notes? No! Looking at the top 10 played songs on my iTunes, God help whoever will be trying to categorize my taste in music.

• How to save a life - The Fray (I fell in love with this song the first time I heard it on Grey's Anatomy. No day seems complete if I don't listen to it)
• Bring me to life - Evanescence (I secretly have visons of 'performing' this song at a karaoke bar!)
• Makeda - Les Nubians (I heard this song for the first time while I was in uni and recently got the chance to the rip the album from a friend)
• Gonna make you sweat (everybody dance now) - C+C Music Factory (Gym staple, I like to think this song is the reason why I can last a minute on the elliptical machine :-))
• Like a star - Corinne Bailey Rae (I just like Corinne, her sound seems so unspoiled and pure)
• If you really want to know - Marc Dorsey
• Take your time (Do it right) - S.O.S Band (I have some fond memories of dancing to S.O.S Band hits in JSS1)
• Nothing at all - Sanata feat. Musiq (L-O-V-E guitars and the oh so sexy guys who play them, I am suprised this song made the top 10 and not 'Game of love')
• Wish I didn't miss you - Angie Stone (I recently had a huge longing to listen to 'Seems you're much to busy' I listened to this song furiously during that period)
• Coming out of the dark - Gloria Estefan (I like the lyrics to this song)

Red, red everywhere!

I walked into Wal-Mart yesterday to buy bread and was assaulted almost at the door by their very V-day inspired new supply of lingerie - vasts amounts of red lace. Everywhere you look evidence that V-day is rapidly approaching abounds, with tv and radio adverts reaching fever pitch. I was wondering the other day what all the effico guys in my office would be up to this V-day (I no know how dat one take concern me) now I have one less guy to wonder about courtesy of the FedEx guy who outed him when he delivered his package. This particular guy will be attending a very intimate and private Victoria Secrets fashion show!

Love is ...

apparently a pair of really good jeans. news.yahoo.com

Me and Cold Sores

I left the gym on Friday feeling very accomplished, I had a session with my trainer and as I have said before, working out in Houston and LA two different experiences. I worked my legs and core and one would have thought cos I was working mostly with the Smith Ball and floor mats that it woudn't be strenuous. Think again. I was perspiring hard by the time our 45 min session was up. The 'highlight' of my session was when I, laying on my back was supposed to hold my trainers ankles and then swing my legs towards him while he would push them back with me resisting the push. I wasn't supposed to let my legs hit the floor on the downward motion. as I grabbed a hold of his ankles I was like thank God this guy isn't wearing shorts I would have had to ask that we do something else. The thought had not finished forming in my head when he said, 'I am sure you are grateful I am not wearing shorts!' I had to pause to allow for a good laugh.

In all my sweatiness as I hop in the car grateful for the leather seats (no fear of stinking up the car) I feel the left corner of my mouth start to tingle. Oh no, not a cold sore! I go home and shack some Vit C and decided to try Abreva the next day. Now Abreva is supposed to as well as help relieve itching, help speed up the healing process. Instructions said to apply it like 5 times a day, I can do that. I wash my hands and apply it on my sore, repeating this once again before I went to bed. Imagine my shock when I woke up on Sunday to have the right corner of my mouth tingling!!! Then I remembered what Princess always said if your have something wrong with one eye or ear, apply medication to both. I guess I should include mouth to the list. Now I am at work with both corners of my mouth oozing water and I have been having cold sores long enough to know that the Abreva has had no effect (save multiply my sores!) Drat!!!

Customer is king III - Ask and you shall be given

So I am shopping for phone service and the choice is between Lingo and Vonage. I am leaning towards Vonage because if my friend refers me she gets 2 months of free service and I get the first month free but Lingo has a special on; 1st month free and $17+ for the next 6 months then regular price afterwards. Hmm ... what to do? I decide to call Vonage and see if I can get a deal similar to what Lingo is offering. 'Hi I am shopping around for a VOIP solution and I was wondering what you can offer me' Much marketing and hyping of the Vonage sevice ensued. I am calling with my precious minutes on a wednesday morning so I quickly cut to the chase, 'Lingo is offering this special; 1st month free, $17+ for the next 6 months then regular price there after, do you have a similar deal you can offer me?' 'Could you hold on for 2 minutes ma'am while I talk with my supervisor?' she asks me. 'Sure' I reply. About 3 mins later she comes back on ' Thank you ma'am for holding, at this time we can only offer you the first month free.' 'Thats a shame, I guess Lingo it is then' I reply I thank her for her time and hang up. It was worth a shot I console myself as I get back to work. A couple of hours later lo and behold I receive an email from the sales department at Vonage (I had given them my details at the start of the phone conversation) offering me 2 months free. Hows that for a 7 minute phone call?

Arsenal 3 - 1 Tottenham Hotspurs

Cardiff, here we come!

Match Report arsenal.com

Match Report soccernet.com

Police reunite at Grammys

Like I needed another excuse to watch the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, The Police (Sting, Stewart Copeland, and Andy Summers) will be reuniting and performing! The Police spawned such hits as 'Roxanne', 'Every breathe you take', 'Don't stand so close to me', 'Demolition Man, etc and disbanded in 1986. There had been rumors about a reunion of the band to mark the 30th anniversary of their formation and this announcement is such good news. I personally would like for them to go on a reunion tour just so I can get the opportunity to see them live, I love Sting!

Five-Time Grammy Award-Winning Band The Police Reunite For First Time On The Grammy Awards With Historic Kick-Off Performance Sting.com

I wonder ...

What stimulates the growth of hair in humans? Specifically is hair growth stimulated as a response to our bodies need to keep warm over a prolonged period of time? Why this odd question? Unlike Prince Phillip, I have no problems growing natural fibers i.e I am naturally a hairy so I am used to seeing hair in really odd places. This morning as I was getting dressed I noticed hair all over my chest (from my the top of my boobs up), hair that I know for sure I hadn't seen before. This wasn't the 'normal' chest hair, (wiry/curly) its the downy kind of hair, you know the kind that women/pubescent boys grow on their upper lips? There are two possible answers to the question 'Am I turning into a werewolf?'; 1. The hair had always been there, I had just grown fairer and it was now more noticable or 2. As a response to my always feeling cold, my body had received an emergency work order to produce these fibres to trap the heat my body produces naturally and keep me warm. I don't think its the former, (I am rubbing my body with Palmers Cocoa Butter not know for its skin lightening qualities) and the latter sounds really evolutionish although the human body is just awesome just like its designer/architect. Anyone with a probable answer? anyone?

Customer is King II

So I get home on Monday and all the appropriate lights on the cable modem are blinking. The technician had thoughtfully provided extra cable so I could move the modem out of my closet and into the living room. Well I was one step ahead of him I had stopped at Fry's on my way home and bought a wireless router. I quickly power up my computer and open up my browser. It never felt so good seeing the MSN homepage. Yes! I quickly go about setting up the router (easypeasy) in about 10 mins I was sitting at my borrowed kitchen table watching TV and eating a bitter tasting salad (I really need to join Sam's Club I know their Romaine lettuce tastes much better than this). Perhaps I don't need to write no complaint letter I muse as I simultaneously say a little prayer that my dinner would miraculesly dissappear from my plate I know I could just trash it but I am just funny like that.

Two days later I am stuck at home (my car battery died its a long story) and I am trying to vpn into my office network so I can get some work done na so my connection just dey break anyhow shuo? I then went to the Vonage site to test my connection. Na vex I take call TWC imagine! This people sold me the 6Mbps Upload, 786Kbps Download package. The readings I got of the Vonage site did not even come close to that. The woman I spoke with was like there must be a problem (you got that right) yada yada yada, if I don't mind holding she would connect me to the technical department. Hell no! This no be weekend, I no get 200 mins to just burn like that on my cell phone na im I drop phone. For real now I am seriously looking for an alternative service provider. Then the guy the dealer sent out to jump my car arrives and I have to go attend to that and then I took the car in to get the battery changed. I got back like an hour later and I check my mailbox, yeye TWC don send me bill and of all things to be billing me for installation!!! Installation wey una never do finish? Meanwhile when I signed up I was told installation was free. Now dem don gone and did it, I was hopping mad! I stomped up to my apartment and prepared to call TWC to give them an uncensored piece of my mind. As if on cue my phone rang it was someone from TWC requesting service assessment. I was very encouraged na im de flood gates collapse and my 'assessment' flowed eloquently out of my mouth. She asked me to rate the technician I gave him/her 0 (for messing up the instal) she asked me to rate the sales person, I gave her 0 (for messing up my order and making me wait a whole month okay 3 weeks for cable) she asked me to rate the quality of my Internet service , once again 0 it seems the company overpromised and underdelivered. We will certainly look into this case she said as she dropped the phone. Na una sabi at this rate na my brake light una go dey look. I had dropped the phone before I remembered the bill. I will wait till the weekend and call them about that right now I have research to do.