David Dein Redux

Like a bad penny, Double D is back. Well to be honest, I didn't think he was going to roll over and die ... but really don't 'call a dog a monkey' to us, we can see through your veneer of hastily applied Arsenal club loyalty. At least the imminent take-over bid from Red & White Holdings Ltd is not like tomorrow:

Dein will spearhead plans to increase its stake in Arsenal, although he insists there is 'no current intention to make a takeover offer'.

Dein sells Arsenal shares to Russian billionaire soccernet.com

Gunners MD plays down Dein news soccernet.com

Red and White Holdings Ltd now own 14.58% of Arsenal
arseblog.com

Arsenal 3 - 0 Sparta Prague

Match Report soccernet.com

Wenger Humour

'When I saw my Dutch striker step up to face Schmeichel from the penalty spot, my memories went back to Dennis Bergkamp and an FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United back in 1999,' said the Arsenal boss with a chuckle. 'Then Schmeichel saves again. I just hope I don't have to meet his grandson in 20 years time.'

soccernet.com

Arsenal 1 - 0 Manchester City

Infact! I no know say Schmeichel picken don reach to dey keep o. The boy do well sha, even im papa no fit stop Fabregas shot so ...

The boys were looking good today, I expected a bit more from Manchester City with their 3 game unbeaten record and all but you know they are our 'wife'. I must say I was a lot more comfortable with Almunia in goal ( I can't believe I am actually typing this!) and he did have one or two saves didn't he? Lehmans Achilles injury could not have resurfaced at a better time although one can only wonder if this was a real re-occurrence of said injury or just a way for him to take some much needed time off to get himself together. Either or I wish him 'soonest recover'.

Match Report soccernet.com

Che che colé

Che che kole
Che che kofiza
Kofi salanga
Kaka chilanga
Ayeiyeee

Ladies (and some gentlemen), does anyone remember singing this song during break in primary school? I know it involved clapping and in typical African fashion, caller response but I can't for the life of me remember if it involved dancing ... Sigh the good ol' days when I didn't have bills to worry about and my only responsibility was finishing my breakfast.

Anyway so there I was jejely easing into the days work. I have switched from listening to celebrity gossip on WBLS courtesy of Wendy Williams (How u doin'?) actually I think the incessant speculation about everybody and anybody's sexuality tired me more than the gossip ... I now listen to my very own radio station on Yahoo (Launchcast?. Its so much fun to not be 'responsible' for the selection of music you listen to well this is not exactly true, you can (and are encouraged) to rate genres, artists, songs, albums, etc and based on these Yahoo makes selections on your behalf. Of course you still get some strange music filtering through no matter how diligently you rate (I guess Yahoo has to make money somehow) ... SO I am listening to my radio, I had been welcomed to work by Sting, Seal, Tupac and Heatwave (in that order) then like some 5 more songs after the unmistakable percussion of latin music, 'e don tey when I listen to Buena Vista o, e be like say time don reach make I give 'Heavier Things' a rest' I thought as I 'tuned' in then I heard it:

Che che colé, (que bueno e’………)
Che che cofriza, (muerto e’ la risa……)
Coqui saranga (ay viene la malanga……)
Caca chilanga, (viene de catanga……)
Ayeiyeee, (a ver e’ tu lo ve………)

Are you kidding me?!

You mean that 'sensless' chanting I did in Staff School wasn't that at all? You mean it was a song, a real song I was singing? OMG! Who is singing this song o? Kia I checked it was Marc Anthony, the sing is titled ' Che che colé' and it is on the soundtrack from the movie 'El Cantante'. Wonderful! The song was apparently originally performed by Héctor Lavoe on whose life the movie was based. I had planned to see this movie but somehow it slipped off my radar. Okay make I no lie, the prospect of being introduced to a 'new' artist and his music was enough to ensure that the movie would never leave my radar. However the fact that I would have to suffer through a J-Lo performance seemed to high a price to pay. I promised myself I would go to B&N and go take a listen to the soundtrack and possibly make a purchase. Now on the strength of this one song and all the warm memories it has unearthed for me I will be buying it.

The Internet is a wonderful thing o! Apparently Osibisa had a song in the 70's titled 'Che Che Kule'. Perhaps this is the song that crept into our playtime repertoire?

Blackburn 1 - 1 Arsenal

Interesting to note that the two goals scored came 18 mins into the game and 18 mins from the end of regulation time. Again, Lehman was credited with an assist on the opposing teams goal. I think Arsenal played a better game than they did last weekend although one could also say I was able to focus more on this match seeing we took the lead early on. Either or we had no business sharing the points, I really hope we are not once again towing the line we did last season.

Many thanks to Chxta for this info, I was able to watch the match live as opposed to waiting till 11 to watch it (recorded) on FSC.


Match Report soccernet.com

Sparta Prague 0-2 Arsenal

Match Report soccernet.com

John Mayer

I recently rediscovered John Mayer. I found his sophomore album 'Heavier Things' on sale in Target and bought it like two weeks ago and I must confess that it bumped 'Lost Highway' (the new Nashville inspired effort from Bon Jovi) from its position as most played recently acquired cd. By the way for all you Bon Jovi fans out there, this is no Dolly Parton album, yeah its a bit more 'stringy' with more pronounced fiddle, banjo, mandolin etc parts but thats it. Jon's tenor is still rich and slightly rough and the bands sound is essentially the same. Go get it if you haven't already.

Back to Mr Mayer, my favorite on 'Heavier Things' is 'Home Life' followed by 'Something's Missing', 'Split Screen Sadness', Clarity', 'Bigger Than My Body', 'New Deep', 'Come Back To Bed', 'Only Heart', 'Wheel' and 'Daughters'. I like the lyrics for 'Home Life' (see lyrics below) although it was his Sting sounding vocals on that particular track that initially caught my attention.

Think I'm gonna stay home

Have myself a home life
Sitting in the slow-mo
And listening to the daylight
I am not a nomad
I am not a rocket man
I was born a housecat
By the slight of my mother's hand

I think I'm gonna stay home

I want to live in the center of a circle
I want to live on the side of a square
I used to be in my M-Z now
You'll never find me cause my name isn't there

Home life
Been holding out for the home life
My whole life

I want to see the end game
I want to learn her last name
Finish on a Friday
And sit in traffic on the highway
See, I refuse to believe
That my life's gonna be
Just some string of incompletes
Never to lead me to anything remotely close to a

Home life
Been holding out for the home life
My whole life

I can tell you this much
I will marry just once
And if it doesn't work
Giver her half of my stuff
It's fine with me
We said eternity
And I will go to my grave
With just the life that I gave
Not just some melody line
On a radio wave
It dissipates
And soon evaporates
But home live doesn't change

I want to live in the center of a circle
I want to live on the side of a square
I'd love to walk to where we both can talk but
I've got to leave you cause my ride is here

Home life
You keep the home life
You take the home life
I'll come back for the home life
I promise

Arsenal 2 - 1 Fulham

(I am trying to write this post and my STUPID Bayern Munich fan friend is guffawing in my ear!)

As I was saying ...

80 mins into the game I had already composed this post in my mind - Same ole same ole, it seems the only thing Arsenal is committed to this season is to continue the losing to/drawing with soapy teams. Then Toure managed to get a penalty which Van Persie scored superbly and Hleb ensured we didn't lose our opening game. Big up to the Fulham keeper (I think he did well considering 10 mins to the start of the game he didn't know he would be starting) As usual one can only hope Lehman is back on his meds!

Match Report soccernet.com

Match Report arsenal.com

Results!

I was beginning to think I was loosing my 'edge'

Finally someone hit on me at the gym and just when I am finally seeing the results I have been waiting for! There I was jejely doing my cardio in my Technotronic (Pump up the Jam) induced zone and all. I thought I saw this guy saying hello ... I wasn't wearing my glasses, he could have been (or not) saying anything to anybody. I hit the 25 min mark and I am now psyching myself to finish the last 12 min when I notice the same guy in different clothes walking towards the elliptical machine and I am thinking 'oyinbo funny sha, this guy has different clothes for different exercises in the gym, he must not mind doing laundry' imagine my brief shock and long lasting pleasure when he drops his business card in front of me on the elliptical machine he had written the following note on the back:

Hi My Name Is Mark I Think You Are A Very Beautiful LADY If You Are Single and would Like To go out for Dinner Please Give Me a Call 123-456-7890 OR 234-567-8901 MARK

This is not a bad looking guy, he doesn't look young (as in early to mid 30's) but with oyinbo's I find it hard to tell (my oga at work is only 30 and I could have sworn he was like 35-36). I am however suspicious of anyone who can manage to write such a long sentence without at least 1 comma, and in sentence case no less; what will conversation be like? I will be the first to admit though had he worked for BMW as opposed to Mercedes-Benz all this wouldn't matter a hoot!

My mummy is golden!

Princess sent me a birthday card. It took a week (I checked the postmark) and N330 (I added the value of the stamps). I am glad to see that something actually still works in Nija believe me Nipost not dropping the ball is something worth celebrating especially seeing that the 'cargo' is so precious. I don't think I have fawned more over pieces of paper. I guess knowing they came from so far away, that Princess and Bee touched them (yes I miss them) and that Princess didn't wait for someone coming over to deliver them (like I did last year although posting them just goes to show how old school she is) is making me all sentimental, a tear escaped my eye when I recognised her handwriting on the envelope. I miss my mummy

What do you you know ...

Its my birthday today, at least thats what they told me all of a sudden 40 doesn't seem that old!

I am home alone recuperating from the activities running up to this 'big' day; bowling on thursday with the guys (way too many beers), enthusiastic workout on Friday (my trainer is very cute! Note to self: take the Aleve immediately after the workout not two days later when you are practically immobile from the pain) followed by a movie with a friend (I guess my non-stop commentary wasn't such a turn off cos he signed up to see '300' with me on Saturday - buff, half-naked hairless men yum), errands all day Saturday and a play in the evening.

I am sooooo pissed!

I bought a dvd and a cd among other things from Target then I went to get my car washed. Guess whats not in my shopping when I got home!? I am too sure I carried all my purchases away from Target although I was a bit distracted (chatting on the phone) so now I am not entirely sure waht happened i.e. did I leave the stuff in target or did it get pinched at de car wash? arrggghhhhh!!!!

Stop Trying To 'Save' Africa

Well said Uzo ... Stop Trying To 'Save' Africa washingtonpost.com

Last Comic Standing

I got back from the gym on Tuesday and in one fluid motion deposited my mail on the shelf, picked up the tv remote, divested myself of my many bags, got a cold beer out of the fridge, collapsed on my poor couch, turned on the tv and cable box, took a long swig from my drink then let out a long sigh ... heaven. Why bother with the gym you may ask (re: the cold beer) and I would respond its only 100 calories (a mere 8 minutes on the elliptical machine) bugger off! Where was I? Oh yes the TV! 'Last Comic Standing' happens to be on, this is a show I find myself watching while not actually watching. They have apparently gotten to the semi-finals and I was surprised to see Thea Vidale competing. I hit the info button on the remote, nop this is not the new season of Surreal Life, interesting. Thea has been doing comedy (as a professional) for like 20 yrs by her own admission, isn't this show supposed to be something for like amateurs or at the very least like never before seen comics in the US? Anyway after listening to her tired jab at Condoleeza Rice's hair and her not too brilliant conclusion that a man with big hands and feet would be a clown, I was not really surprised she didn't make the semi's and wondered how she got this far in the competition anyway. I could now understand how with her 20 yr experience she would be on a show like 'Last Comic Standing'. A word to NBC, we the viewing public are expecting to see 'new' talent on this show, there are enough comics, you guys really needn't recycle. But if you really MUST recycle, Gina Yashere (a.k.a Mrs Omokorede on the Lenny Henry Show) is a good example of what to do. Search other continents and introduce their comic talents to Americans. Gina is in the top 10 and look forward to watching her next week. Here is to a successful launch of your career States-side durlin!

'Soul Legends are back'

Looking forward to listening to this album, love Caron Wheeler, love Jazzie's beats.

Soul Legends are back! mirror.co.uk

The red-headed I

I am watching 'Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants' for like the 3rd time in like 20 hrs (HBO will do that to you) and I suddenly had the urge to color my hair. I had had a conversation about hair color with a friend like 2 months ago and on her recommendation purchased a box of hair color (4rc Cherrywood by Clairol) . So out came the box, on went the gloves and in my hair went the color. I am like 15 mins into the wait for the color to set in. I hope it tuns out well, thank God for my wigs!

Strange Drink

It was a Friday morning a couple of weeks ago people are arriving at work, logging in to their computers etc and some how the gist turns to urban legends and my colleague describes a very strange coffee bean preparation process involving the digestive tract of a monkey! What!? All it took was two words in Google (Monkey Coffee) and urban legend became fact with some modification, the monkey is actually a palm civet. I am so behind times on this one, among the links that came up on Google was one to an article saying Oprah had hosted a tasting of this very esoteric coffee like 3 years ago. After much discussion and involuntary shudders, my boss whips out his credit card and declares that a tasting is in order and this purchase qualifies as a company expense. I believe all things should be tried once and only once, so I am definitely game for a tasting. Some things should be tried several times in different positions but I digress. Like joke like joke my pipo order a sample from a company online somewhere in Asia. We soon ease into the days work (the credit card does have to be paid off at the end of the month) and by end of day I had promptly forgotten all about Kopi Luwak. Then it arrived yesterday vacuum sealed straight from Indonesia. It was not a small ceremony this morning o, brewing the coffee. Finally it was time to taste it. I must say I was disappointed. I do like coffee, I cannot claim to be an aficionado or anything but the aroma of this particular coffee was like practically non existent (I had to stick my nose in the cup to catch a whiff of it) and it tasted like ... Nescafe! Could this be a case of too many cooks (in this case 4) spoiling the broth? Abi na 'normal' (but very high priced) coffee beans wey we buy? Who knows. We still have some beans left over and we have decided to reconvene on Monday for another tasting, lets see if I will have a different opinion then.

Photo Courtesy of animalcoffee.com

The Artist ...

I found this in the People section of Time magazine.

'With behavior like this [Prince] will soon be the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores.'

Paul Quirk, co-chairman of the Entertainment Retailers Association. Record-store owners were livid that Prince gave away millions of copies of his new album in Britain

LOL!!!!!!

Actually the give away hasn't 'technically' happened, its scheduled for the 15th of July in the UK, the new album (titled Planet Earth) will be given away free inside The Mail on Sunday. Make una buy paper, rip de cd, and log on to LimeWire ;)

Hell Yeah!

Dialogue between a male and female character (played by Tatum O'Neal) on 'Rescue Me'. I don't watch the show so I don't know what their relationship is, judging from their exchange though I am inclined to believe they might be romantically involved:

Guy: You are drunk
Gal: And you are an idiot but I don't rake you over the coals for it
Guy: My being an idiot isn't a choice!

(More like occupational hazard! LOL!!!)

Confused

I caught parts of the BET awards on TV the other night and was surprised to see Jennifer Hudson win in the Best New Artist category. I was a little confused seeing that she was nominated alongside MIMS, Corrine Bailey Rae, Gnarls Barkley and Lupe Fiasco who all had released albums in the year under review. Has she released an album, or does the soundtrack for ‘DreamGirls’ qualify her? Or maybe what what I really should be pondering is the definition of 'artist' with respect to the category she won for. I must admit that I have had cause to be somewhat confused when it comes to categories and qualifications for said categories when it comes to award shows. Remember when Craig David was nominated in the same category two consecutive years (2002, 2003) for songs (Fill Me In, 7 Days) from his 'Born To Do It' album? I guess he rode the coat tails of the UK release date versus US release date technicality on that one. I still think he deserved to win the grammy both times though.

Non Surgical Facelift

These oyinbo people are slow o, they are just catching on to the face lifting powers of hair braiding! I had to laugh as I watched this report on accesshollywood the other day. Why do they think us beautiful women from the African continent never look our ages? Yeah (good) black don't crack and whatever does manage to crack we be repairing (albeit temporarily) by braiding our hair creating smooth skin on our foreheads, temples and the nape of our necks. As a matter of fact 'Threading' is another hair preparation method that serves a double purpose. Of course beauty is pain and nothing is as painful as having the misfortune of getting your hair braided/threaded by a person with an excessively firm grip. Panadol does come in handy for the headache, and the pain will go away with time. If you are lucky thats all you will get, a real unlucky person gets the bumps too. aarrgghhh!!! The bumps!!!! Nasty little painful things and they can be the most unsightly mess oozing pus and all.

Lauryn, O Lauryn

Can You imagine that 10 years after her debut album (The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill) we are still awaiting her sophomore album? I heard a couple of months ago that contrary to what we all believe (i.e. she has been undergoing a 9yr plus mental breakdown) Lauryn has been recording and she has an impressive body of never before seen nor heard work not exactly rivaling Prince (but coming close). I also heard Columbia was refusing to release her sophomore album for not very clear reasons. Lauryn had a concert this past Wednesday in California and if reports of the said concert are anything to go by, I am beginning to see why we will have to wait a bit longer for the much awaited sophomore album. The new material is supposed to be un-inspiring and apparently Lauryn's pipes are rusty. Incidentally I have been listening to the 'Miseducation' album for about two weeks now, I LOVE that album (from 'Lost Ones', 'Ex-factor', 'To Zion', 'Doo Wop', 'Forgive Them Father', Every Ghetto Every City', and her cover of the Frankie Vallie hit 'Can't Take My Eyes of You') and I have been seriously wondering if Lauryn would ever be able to atleast match her debut effort and preferably surpass it. I just pray she gets herself together and puts something out she is so talented and I just love her voice. Love you Lauryn, I will continue to pray for you, you be aight.

Concert review: Lauryn Hill show in Oakland a fiasco
mercurynews.com

Lauryn Hill's Paramount Theatre show gets off to a rocky start
sfgate.com

Joblessness

You can usually tell a persons ‘place of origin’ in the US from the first 3 digits of their cell number. Mine of course gives away my Texas origins. I have had a couple of friends who have changed their numbers every time they moved from state to state I am very lazy and have often wondered why they bother. On Friday I found motivation to do the same.

I usually listen to the radio on my ride into work. When I bought my car the sales person tuned the radio to 102.7 Kiis FM ‘this is my favorite station’ she proclaimed as she fiddled with the buttons. ‘How nice’ I thought. I later realized she was scamming me out of noticing that the cd player was broken. Or maybe she wasn’t. Anyhow I have on occasion listened to a segment of the morning show called ‘Ryans Roses’ where women send email/fax or call in their relationship issues. Basically a woman or a man calls in because they are not sure about the fidelity of the guy (or gal) they are dating/married to and wants to lay their doubts to rest. After authorizing the show, a call is placed by the show to the unsuspecting spouse/significant other and an offer of free roses is made which they can send to anyone in the continental US of course the ‘florist’ needs the name and address of the recipient as well as a message to go on the card. The call can go either of two routes after the recipient of the roses has been established. Profuse apologies are offered (and I imagine a lot of off-air make up sex) if the recipient of the roses and the person who initiated the Ryan’s Roses call are one and the same or abuses and a lot of on air drama if not. On Friday Lupe called the show. She had been dating this guy for sometime and she needed to know where she stood with him. He had been making promises but nothing seemed to be forthcoming and oh, he is married! Donkey! Why do women do these things to themselves? Men are not as noble as we like to think, if a guy is tired of a relationship in as much as his partner is not his meal ticket he really doesn’t need too much persuasion to move forward. I have heard the old ‘I am only here cos of my kids’ line but ehn … I don’t know. Apparently this particular guy had been promising to leave his wife (spinning her the ol’ yarns) and she chopped his lines so much she broke up with all her friends and introduced him to her parents (as what abi?) etc etc and now 2 yrs later she has a really bad taste in her mouth and needs a huge dose of public humiliation to see what is obvious to the rest of us; she is just a jump off that homebody is recycling like rain water. So the call is made and like a good boy who just got tired of eating ‘rice’ all the time he asks that the roses be sent to his ‘lovely wife Marie’ with a message worthy of any loving husband. he donkey (Lupe) was furious. At this point Ryan butts in and tells homeboy what is really going on and asks who Lupe is to him. Y’all think Doug E Fresh can beatbox? Yo Doug E aint got nothing on this Cassanova. I haven’t heard so much scratching since the 80’s! The guy sef no get any kin game, if na me wo I go deny sotay de girl sef go begin second guess herself by the time I am through with her she will be apologising to me! Anyway, moving on ... After what seemed like an eternity (I was on the verge of putting my car in park in the middle of the 405, climbing on to the roof and breaking out in a break-dance routine no point wasting his beat-boxing/stammering) when he manages to stammer out that Lupe is his friend and after further coaxing admitted they where ‘romantically platonic’ friends. I am laughing so hard by now I can hardly see. Of course every married woman in LA is calling in to the show by this time (I bet the boards hadn’t seen so many calls prior), and the ones who made it on to the air were doing a damn good job of yapping our poor damsel in distress. Me sef, I don reach for my phone to deliver some choice words when I realized that I wouldn’t be connected; the 1-800 number would only connect local (California) numbers. Chei! Could this be the reason? Is this why my friends always change their numbers when they move? I figured they must have been trying to give bill collectors the slip or something but I think I have hit gold here. I mean the ability to call in to local morning radio shows and add your 2 cents to whatever issue is on hand sure as hell beats buying a cat. Perhaps. I am quick to realize though that it would take more than Lupe the Donkey and her inability to realize her jump off status to get me to go through all the wahala. And I am hardly in danger of buying a cat (not a huge fan of animals up close and personal). Besides why bother when I can blog about it?

Its about time

Sad to see you go, I do understand your quest for the elusive Champions League title. I wish you all the best with Barca.

Thierry Henry headed to Barcelona sportingnews.com

Epidemic of Ignorance

This isn't even funny.

The Difficult Struggle Against AIDS in Africa speigel.de

OMG!

Eni ba je gbese da oran (Whoever owes is in trouble). This statement is usually made by my people when contemplating how fast time has gone by. Today marks the 1st anniversary of my departure from Nija. I can hardly believe it, one year ago today I overdosed on 'liver', packed up my suitcases kissed Princess and Bee so long and hopped on the plane. I must say the past year has been a great experience I really have a lot to be thankful to God for; the courage to just trust Him and launch out into the deep, He not denying Himself and waiting on the other side to catch me, raising people to help me, get me settled in and all, taking care of Princess and Bee (so much so I fear they don't even know I am gone!). I am really grateful. I would like to say a big thank you to my friends who opened up their homes, lives, friends and family to me, may God continue to bless you and may you always find a helping hand. Today I face the coming year not with as much fear as the preceding one and with a lot more hope

He is back!

Raphael is back!!!

I did a little cheer as he hobbled out from the back room. He looks a little tired and all that, his eyes looked a little tired, poor thing. The deli was busy so we didn't get a chance to do do more than say hello and keep it moving. I'll go down later to buy chips or something to catch up. By the way, my sandwich is great!

Lunch has no been the same ...

Raphael has not been in to work for almost two weeks.

I skipped downstairs last week for my usual sandwich and he wasn't there. Julio made my sandwich and it wasn't too bad, it was owever missing the Raphael touch (whatever that is). Well there is always tomorrow. Tomorrow comes again no Raphael. 'May I take your order ma'am?' Asked a strange guy. Oh no! Has Raphael been fired? Did he resign and not tell me? So many questions, relax, I am sure it is none of the above he probably just has some time off work and no this stranger is not 'replacing' him like that. Besides there is a more pressing issue to contemplate, do I really want the new guy making my sandwich? How can I get out of this? It would not be polite of me to ignore him or ask that another person attend to me, plus this is where I eat, I really don't need to be making enemies here before they start serving sandwich wit a side order of spit. And the yeye man wasn't helping matters at all, being earnest and everything, drat. I am between a rock and a hard place here, I placed my order. I watched in horror as he slapped my sandwich together OMG! Not the tomato slices directly on the bread, don't you know that will make the bread all soggy!? You for try squish the avoado a little before adding it to the sandwich that way it wll help hold the bacon to the bread not fall out in chunks as you are masacaring my sandwich under the guise of cutting it up! I couldn't watch anymore! I muttered my thanks and paid for my food. Na dustbin get this sandwich I thought to myself, watching the guy put it together was traumatic enough, I didn't think I could put my stomach through the ordeal of digesting it. 'Speak for yourself honey' my stomach growled as my hand hovered over the trash. I had a meeting in 30 mins with clients from out of town. The nearest 'Subway' is like a 20 mins walk away in the 'upstairs' (4 inch platforms) I am wearing. And today is the day I decide to leave home without my trusty Nature Valley bar. And dis my belle sabi embarrass person, na so de yeye thing go begin dey make noise like say I swallow lion, loud and long growls. I no get choice, I proceeded to eat the messiest sandwich I have ever laid eyes on. Picking the thing up from the Styrofoam box no be small work, taking a bite out of it nko? At one point na im I just give up begin to use fork eat am. I managed to eat half of it and threw the rest in the bin. At least my belle no go embarrass me for meeting.

Note to self: I am a paying customer, I should get my money's worth. Next time that guy attempts to make me a sandwich I will politely decline. Raphael oh Raphael, where art thou? Please hasten to me lest I fade away into the woodwork from lack of proper nutrition

Next day I am bobbing and weaving the minute I got off the elevator. No Raphael! Where is Raphael? Why is he doing this to me!? Thankfully Julio was on hand to rescue me from the new guy. I was pleased to see he had learned to cut my sandwich just right (the Raphael way). 'Julio, where is Raphael?' 'Oh Raphael, he fall, he in hospital' 'What?!' That came out a little louder than I had intended, but I couldn't help myself. 'Is he alright?' 'Yeah, he hurt his knee, he phoned today' Thank God! Its not like he is unconscious or anything like that. 'Could you tell him I said hello and get well soon?' and I miss him and who told him he had the right to be falling down and hurting himself and get himself all hospitalized leaving me without a lovingly made sandwich for lunch? 'Sure' Julio replies with a smile and twinkling eyes. Na you sabi, sha greet him for me. Everyday I go down for lunch, my heart is in my mouth, is he back? As at this afternoon he is not AND I learn today he might be having surgery. Eya. Get well soon o, lunch has not been the same and I really don't know for how long I can avoid the new guy without making an enemy of him. I think I am going to take lunch to work tomorrow.

Ope O!

MG don born o, abegi helep me rejoice!

Person go think say na me pregnat de girl as I just dey show my teeth like Cheshire cat since I hear de good news. Gudugbe na 'abi girl' o, I hear say de picken big (4.1kg) and say she long. I happy no be small o, I am anxiously awaiting pictures, I don dispatch everybody wey I know make dem go take picture email to me. I happy sotay, I dey suspect say I no dey coherent. My heart just de do somersault for inside my chest. God is good o! I have been bombarding poor MG (to be known as Maa! from now on) with silly txt messages, I figure they will be less stressful on her as opposed to me calling every 10 mins. I am so happy I could scream (come o wetin dey stop me?) Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Music sweet music - An Update

Today I bought Dr Dre's 'The Chronic' and Bon Jovi's 'Slippery When Wet' albums. Both albums are on the '100 great albums youu shoud own' list (according to bmgmusic.com) which I am trying to make up, I am currently 64 albums shy of my goal, and I have promised myself I won't pay more than $10 (inclusive of tax) on each one. Wish me luck. So I am home, watching American Idol on mute (A well deserved win for Jordin Sparks) , rocking my 'new' Dre album, doing some work on the computer (pathetic I know) thinking why oh why is the cd player in my car not working? I had blogged earlier about the cd player in my car, till this day I have not taken the car in for the unit to be removed and sent to some 3rd party facility to be repaired primarily because I cannot imagine riding around in the car without music. I guess I was missing the cd player today because I didn't feel up to ripping my new cd's to my iPod. Ah well thats that, case closed. The I remembered I was out of hair conditioner and I needed to make a quick dash to Wal-Mart. I grabbed my bag and keys and on a whim the 'Slippery When Wet' album. 'Who knows' I thought, 'Maybe the yeye cd player fit work sef'. I start the car and slip the cd in the player ... it played! I was very happy I listened to my 'Church Mind' as I screamed along to 'Livin' on a Prayer' on the drive to and from Wal-mart. So what happened? Did the player just decide to start working? Perhaps it was working because I had a tape in the tape player. I ejected the tape, ejected the cd, turned off the ignition, turned it back on the slipped the cd in the player ... it worked. No I didn't do all that while I was driving! I performed my little experiment while parked in the Wal-Mart parking lot all the while looking left and right like a thief make dem no go car-jack somebody. Maybe its the particular cd, hmmm ... I waited till I was back at home to perform the second part of my experiments. I whipped out my cd case which holds like 20 cds but I have the sleeves holding at least 2 cds each so who knows how many cds are in it. Anyway I proceeded to try each one. Eject cd, turn off ignition, turn on ignition insert new cd, eject cd, turn off ignition, turn on ignition insert next cd etc etc. My ignition survived the experiment and so did the cd player. Yipee!!! I unload myself and my purchases and skip up to my apartment. Could the people at the dealership have inadvertently fixed the cd player? Who knows, who cares! My cd player is working.

P.S. I just remembered that Time magazine also had a list of must have albums (The All-Time 100 Albums) which they published in 2006. Bon Jovi didn't make it on the Time list, I ain't mad though.

Sir Shina Peters

A friend sent me a link to Sir Shina Peters 'Ace' as a present the other day. I was at work and it was really hard not to just get up and fling my hips around. Anywho, although the lyrics (at the time the song was released) were considered really raunchy, I could not help but admire the imagery they conveyed especially this line:

afara omi ton da mi lorun ton je siki-siki

(the bridge that is your breasts that is 'breaking' my neck)

Back to Black

'They tried to make me go to rehab I said no, no, no'

I am currently 'in love' with Amy Winehouse. There has been a lot of buzz about her US debut album which is actually her second album ‘Back to Black’. I googled her and this tiny white girl under a hug beehive and like tons of mascara and eyeliner emerged. A very ‘50s-‘60s look to match her ‘50s-‘60s rock & roll (as well as R&B and soul) inspired album. I have only listened to two tracks off her album (‘Rehab’ and ‘You know I’m no good’) and I love them both. I especially like her very defiant singing on ‘Rehab’. The story behind the song is interesting too, she apparently penned it after her management company suggested she go into rehab for her … eh … drinking ‘problems’. She dumped them before she wrote the song by the way. As usual iTunes is offering a ‘jara’ track on their site (You know I am no good feat. Ghostface Killah). I heard it once on the radio and it sounded interesting. Hold on, that particular track is on GhostFace’s album ‘More Fish’. I definitely will be putting my money where my mouth is.

Does your poopoo float?

I do like Gregory House. If I were a patient of his, I would be far more interested in his ability to have me cruising down the freeway to recovery and less about his bedside manner. Believe me being critically ill in the hospital hooked up to all sorts of gadgets with your organs crashing with every breath you draw (as is the case with all his patients) it wouldn’t matter that your doctor was polite it would matter that he is able to pull u back from the white light. I am watching House as is my custom on Tuesday evenings after Idol and he had to attend to this couple who had come in because the guy was producing ‘floaters’ not ‘sinkers’. According to his vegan girlfriend who was also a nutritionist, he shouldn’t produce floaters. House agreed with her, since he wasn’t eating meat, fatty or lean his poop shouldn’t float. ‘Floaters’ are caused by a diet rich in fat. House declared.

Hmmm … could this be the answer to the puzzle that I have been pondering ever since I heard Frank Olize ask the following question on NTA’s Newsline – ‘Does your poopoo float?’ Does anyone remember that particular episode? He had Quincy Ayodele on when she was just starting out and he opened the show by asking that question. I recall we all watched in my house in Ikeja like the rest of the nation wide eyed as this woman analyzed the state of peoples health based on their excrement and I have been fascinated ever since. Apparently floaters meant a person was healthy while sinkers were an indication of something gone/going awry. As a toilet worker in form 4, I was conditioned to hate floaters especially when there was water scarcity. You could flush with a hundred buckets of water and after all the commotion, and dodging of splashing toilet water the damn thing would just bob back up defying all your efforts like some sick jack-in-the-box. With time I perfected my technique and I must admit a floater was much more desirable than the ol’ padlock or used sanitary pad in the toilet bowl! A couple of years ago I noticed I was consistently producing sinkers and asked Princess about it. ‘Don’t you have something better to do with all your spare time?’ She asked. She did say as long as I am going regularly, I am not constipated and it’s not black like charcoal or bloody I am fine. I kept meaning to get online and read up about floaters vs sinkers but I guess I was ‘afraid’ of what I was going to learn coming from my Quincy Ayodele/Newsline background.

This morning, drawing ‘hope’ from the Tuesday episode of ‘House’ I got on Google. I found this article online which put everything in perspective. Vegetarians think the floater is king and apparently strive to produce them. In a healthy person floaters are caused by air and gas. The more air and gas in your poop, the less dense it will be and the more likely it is to float. So what causes the air and gas situation? Dietary changes for one. The inability to digest fat as a result of a dysfunction in the GI tract can also cause floaters. Also gastrointestinal infections cause increased gas content in the intestines which will also cause floaters. So I have finally laid the whole floater/sinker controversy in my mind to rest. The final nail in the coffin will be to ask my doctor about it at my next physical.

I also stumbled upon this article which is just hilarious. I can really relate though. For those who know me, I must have regaled you of my eventul trip from Lagos to Ibadan in '92

Arsenal 1 - 1 Chelsea

A draw is the next best thing, congratulations to Man-U

Match Report soccernet.com

Solidarity, my eyes on the line

When I moved to LA I had a list of things to do. Of course the first thing on my list was get an apartment then a car etc. In March, the next item on my to-do list was to get my eyes tested and get a proper prescription. In Nija I had been told I was short-sighted and slightly astigmatic. But to what degree was I a combination of both? Apparently it was for the optician to know and for me to return every year for a checkup and fork over N X for new lenses and N Y for new frames and N Z in service charges. My search for an optician/optometrist in my area returned several doctors including one I identified as Nigerian from her name. Solidarity forever! I immediately called her office to make an appointment. I got the answering machine telling me the clinic was only open Tuesdays and Thursdays and Saturdays by appointment only. I had called on a Wednesday and made a note to call on Thursday. Many calls later Thursday evening and I still could not get a human to pick up the phone. A well, Tuesday is another day. Come Tuesday, same thing, machine no human. I decided to leave a voice message. Thursday is yet another day. Two months and several voice messages later, nothing. I started getting headaches over the past weekend; you know the type in the front of the head around the eyes. Tuesday I tried the lady’s office again, no show Thursday the same thing. Patriotism/solidarity is threatening to kill me slowly and painfully by headache. I run another search on my insurance website and pick the first optician that comes up (she is Chinese). I call the office and on the first ring a female picks up all bright and cheery. ‘I am new in the area and would like to make an appointment to see the doctor?’ ‘Sure may I have your name and provider please?’ Five minutes later I am all set with an appointment first thing Monday morning my cache of Panadol should tide me over the weekend.

Darwin Correspondence

Letters between Charles Darwin and his friend and theological sparring partner Asa Grey are being made public and will be re-cast in play, Re:Design (nice title) written by Craig Baxter which is due to start touring in theaters soon. Apparently irrespective of how you believe you came to be ('intelligent design' or evolution) we all share a common insecurity about atleast one part of our anatomy in Darwin's case it was his nose. In one of his letter to Grey, Darwin writes:

Will you honestly tell me that the shape of my nose was ordained and guided by an intelligent cause?

I am looking at pictures of him and I must say that his nose is big but I have seen bigger and it was clever of him to keep such a huge beard, it kinda balances out his nose!

Darwin's doubts revealed in his letters to friends independent.co.uk

Enough!

Today its a life saver, tomorrow it is speeding you along the highway of bad health. I say the real culprit here is over indulgence, life takes moderation ... and Visa. That said I will be resuming my one a day cup of concentrated Joe habit with a clear conscience. I will replace my Peak Evaporated milk with skim milk and will be holding off on the sugar.


Coffee can be good for you, experts say news.yahoo.com

AC Milan 3 - 0 Manchester United.

So we will be having a repeat of the 2005 Champions League final, talk about Deja vu. Well technically not true since this final will be played in Athens.

Match Report soccernet.com

Liverpool 1(4) - 0(1) Chelsea

Way to go Liverpool, 2nd Champions League final in 3 seasons! For sure I will be watching this final.

Match Report soccernet.com

Yikees!

I had the scare of my life this morning. I got to work and was waiting on the elevator with two guys in the lobby. The elevator comes and I am ushered on by one of the guys. I get in and punch my number, saying a quick prayer for my quick and safe arrival at my destination (this particular elevator is notorious in my building for misbehaving) the doors close. As I am thinking that the cab seems crowded with just 3 people in it, one of the guys asks me 'So how is your day going'? It seemed an odd question to be asking seeing that its just 9:05 am and why is he interested in the way my day is going anyway, is he planning to influence it for the better ... or worse!? 'Good so far' I replying with a smile which I hope came across as care-free. I waved my crossed fingers in the air for good measure. 'Please don't have a gun, please don't have a gun' I pray fervently to my self. The elevator seemed to be inching along at snail pace. It seemed my latter prayer had bumped the former down in the priority list! Ding! I am here! In one piece! 'Y'all have a good one' I admonished as I got off, 'You too' they chorused in unison. I need to stop watching the news!

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