R.I.P James Brown 1933 - 2006

The Godfather of Soul passed on in the early hours of the 25th of December, he had been ill with Pneumonia. May the good Lord give his famiy fortitude to bear the loss.

Another pipeline blast

See what fuel scarcity has caused, 200 to 500 people have died senselessly as a result of another pipeline blast in Abule Egba. Recall a similar incident that occured earlier in the year at Inagbe Beach? Saw pictures of it in Time Magazine, gruesome. I tire o!

Up to 500 killed in Lagos fuel blast reuters.com

Where art thou?

I am upset, I spent the whole of last night trying to find the 'A Matter of Fact' album by Vertical Hold. Specificaly I was dying to listen to 'Seems you are much to busy'. I have checked everywhere, iTunes didn't now who they were, neither did Walmart or BMGMusic, though Walmart and iTunes had stuff from M People. I wasn't really expecting a match on BMGMusic ( a Sony Music company) because Vertical Hold was signed to A&M Records and their latest album was released in 1995. I don't know if A&M Records has a 'BMGMusic' thing going on, anyone? Finally a match on MusicMatch and AOL Music unfortunately both of them did not have the album nor the songs available for download (bummer!) I was especially annoyed with AOL Music. The way they displayed their search results, one would have thought that once you sign up for AOL Music Now, you would be able to atleast play the song if not buy/download it. Although Yahoo! Music also had a match for Vertical Hold I could neither buy/download or listen to it. The best they did was offer links to user stations who had rated the artist. After streaming music (good music I must add) for like 3 hrs I had to give up. Amazon and Ebay had used copies of the cd for sale and I will probably be going that route once I move in January. Gosh I could just scream, the more this album eludes me the more intense my desire to get it!

What kind of race is this?

I am not even going to pretend to understand Nigerian politics, aside from the fact that we are horribly divided along tribal lines (which never ends well) nothing else makes sense. This past weekend political parties held their presidential primaries with interesting results. Buhari secured the ANPP ticket (no suprise there), Atiku the AC (an amalgam of AD and PDP rejects) ticket (in my opinion that pretty much puts an end do his dream to rule from Aso Rock) and Yar' Adua the PDP ticket suprise suprise. I haven't been following Nigerian politics as closely I used to so I was really suprised to learn this to me the guy came out of nowhere. So what happened with all the people throwing their hats in the ring, notably IBB? With all the noise that had been made I thought he would have left the primaries and moved straight to Aso Rock. I am assuming he is rather content with the role of king maker for now. I hear that Yar'Adua has a good record in Katsina as the incubent governor. I wonder what good that ecord will do once/if he gets into Aso Rock. Not much if the puppet masters are as rotten as we know them to be. God help us all.

The gift of music

I do not recall the last time I received a christmas present so you can imagine how pleasantly suprised I was over the weekend when I received an early one - an 80 GB IPod! I went visiting with a friend who owns an extensive collection of jazz cds. Now anyone who knows me knows I absolutely LOVE music, I have an extensive, very eclectic music collection to prove it. I wish I could say that I actually paid money for every piece of music I own alas I have to admit I have in the past hooked up to Kazaa, audiogalaxy etc. no more now though, I have joined BMG. Like any audiophile worthy of the name, I have been dreaming of owning an IPod. I actually came this close to buying one just before I moved in June, but it was hot and I knew my conscience no go gree me. When I started work, I came even closer to buying one considering the fact that the bus ride was long and since I can't read in a moving vehicle listening to music was the only option I had to pass time, that or sleeping. This was a really tough decision for me to make believe it or not; listen to music or sleep seeing that I love to do both not simultaneously mind. At the end of the day, the costs involved swayed my decision in favour of sleep. Seriously I felt it would be frivolous of me to get one at that time, and I promised to buy one in January. When I started going to the gym I once again considered buying one, the Shuffle this time but decided against it since it doesn't have an FM radio an important feature at the gym so I can listen to the TV as I work out on the treadmill. So I am in my friends car on our way from the airport and I look in the back and it is full of cds as usual. Then it hits me I have neglected to pack the most important thing on this trip; my external hard-drive for the purposes of ripping cds. I then berrated myself on my sensiblity. If I had not been so sensible about the whole thing I would have bought my IPod ages ago and I wouldn't now be morning all the music I would have to live without till I either buy the cd's or visit again. I voice my error and my friend is like you don't have an IPod I am like no, but its on my to buy list along with the Canon Rebel XT. We start to talk about other things and like 15 mins later he said he had a suprise for me. I thought he was building a house or something and as soon as the thought formed in my head I dismissed it, how would that be a suprise for me. I really hate suprises (my gbeborun side) and I tried to get him to give me a hint all to no avail. I decide to not push it, I will see the suprise soon enough. After lunch he says he has to run an errand and the next thing I knew we were driving up to Circuit City. Do I dare dream? We go in and he leads me in the direction of the IPods, I didn't know what to say, I did say thank you though and excellent place to start to show appreciation. 3 days later I am still basking, why is that I am wondering. I guess the fact that I did not see it coming made it such a nice suprise, that and the fact that my music collection was now finally playable wherever, whenever. Now that I have nailed the IPod, guess what item got bumped to top priority on my wishlist? The Canon Rebel XT!

The hunt for healthy snacks

I love to snack. I have since learned that its snacks that do the most damage, especially when you use them to replace proper meals. Now that I am trying to loose weight and be healthy I have to watch what I snack on. While I am not walking around with a scale and measuring cup tied to my waist or a calculator strapped to my wrist I am conscious of my portions as well my caloric intake. Lets face it e get how far u go chop banana and apple! All the things I like to snack on are really high on calories, especially calories from fat, calories which go straight to my hips, butt, arms, etc and live there as fat. With each day, my pool of appropriate snacks shrinks so you can imagine that the day I actually get to add to the pool I would be celebrating. I recently discovered vegetable chips well not me, my work out partner did. It is sold at H.E.B and its actually green beans, carrots, zuccini, yams and something else I don't know what it is. All these vegetables are somehow fried/proccessed till they are crisp like potato crisps. It tastes really nice and if you like crisps like me you will love them. Unfortunately I have not been able to confirm the nutritional facts for this particular snack, so I haven't officially added it to my pool, I am going to make sure I confirm that asap.

Happy Thanksgiving

I am thankful and tired.

My first thanksgiving in the US was nice but as I had expected it to be tiring. We had guests so we did a lot of cooking. I managed to not blow my 'diet', although even if I wanted to eat 'orisirisi' as y'all know, food that I am involved with cooking 'smells' to me. I had often wondered at the origins of Thanksgiving, and I assumed it was like denim - a US creation. According to Wikipedia, 'Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is an annual one-day holiday to give thanks (traditionally to a God), for the things one has at the close of the harvest season'. This sounds very much like the New Yam festival celebrated in the east, and the Harvest Festivals held in the churches in Nigeria. I think I prefer the American version though, here thanksgiving is more about the individual and less about the church building fund!

So what am I most thankful for this year? I think it would be getting the liver to move here after many years of procastinating. I am thankful for my friends who have opened up their hearts and homes to me. I am also thankful for family.

The Forbes Fictional 15

The richest fictional character according to Forbes is defense contractor Oliver 'Daddy' Warbucks with a net worth of $ 36.2 billion. Apparently he shot to the top of the list by virture of the fact that Santa's status has changed from fictional to real (yup you read that right) and also due to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Its good to know someone is profiting from those conflicts! Coming in second is Charles Montgomery Burns with $ 16.8. At number 9 in the rankings is Prince Abakaliki of Nigeria (of the 419 email fame) with a net worth of $2.8 billion.

The Forbes Fictional 15 forbes.com

On the march again

I am on the move again.

My contract in Houston has ended and once again I am on the move this time to sunny California. My contract was supposed to run till the end of November and I was really praying that my services would be retained. Alas. Not only did my project end way ahead of schedule, the company could not find further use for my services. I was a little miffed because I had made all my plans based on the premise that I would be employed till the end of November, where do I begin? At the beginning of course. Luckily I had never really relaxed with looking for work so I just got back in the swing of things. My job search this time was a lot more confident, afterall I now had some 'US' experience. Three weeks into my search, I got a call from some guy in California. He had actually sent me email about a week prior but I had not bothered to reply (I don't know why). I had apparently applied to his listing on Dice.com and he wanted to now if I go his email and if I was still looking. I lied about not having received the email (there really was no excuse for my tardiness) and yes I was still looking. We fixed a time for a phone interview for the following week and I promptly forgot about it, California is too far (from where?) and for a lot of reasons I would prefer to remain in Texas, preferrably Houston. Anyhow the day for the interview arrives, and courtesy of my trusty phone I was not taken by surprise. The interview went well and as we were rounding up, they asked if I had received an email from them. I promptly checked my email. Yes I had received the email, could I be so kind as to carry out the attached skill assessment test, I had an hour to complete it. I was suprised and a little flustered, I had made an appointment to meet with my trainer right after the interview which I had assumed would take an hour max, not 2. I had rescheduled the appointment with my trainer 3 times already and I really didn't want to have to call him yet again to reschedule. Plus I wasn't going to take no skills assessment test under 'duress'. I quickly voiced my concerns to the guy who was supposd to be conducting this test via phone. Okay why don't I go run my errands and let him have the test by 6 pm my time. Sounds good to me. I drop the phone and smile to myself, 3 months ago, I would not have been dictating terms with no recruiter, if he said jump I would have asked how high, how far I have come! I really wasn't feeling like doing no skill assessment test, I sha forced myself and managed to submit it and run all my errands (sweet) Imagine my surprise when the very next day I got an email requesting I come out to California for a second interview, all expenses paid. Why not, never been should be fun. They sent me my itinerary and I rushed off to the Internet to check out the lodgings, the quality of the lodgings would determine if I would be making a trip out or not.

We interrupt this narration to bring you an advert for the Shade Hotel

If ever you are in Manhattan Beach and need a nice boutique type hotel to relax try the Shade Hotel. The rooms are well appointed, the bathrooms luxurious, the staff are very nice the service is really personal and the food is good.

Narration continues below

Mind you this is my first face-to-face interview, AY (my half workout partner) had earlier told me that the best outfit to wear to an in-person interview is a navy blue skirt suit. Please do not ask me how she knows. I am a woman and I really don't need an excuse to shop. Kia off to the mall we go in search of the perfect suit which we found without incident. The plan was to arrive and interview on friday, spend the weekend and return sunday evening.

The interview went well, it started with lunch (Americans eat too much) then we went back to the office for the remainder of the interview. I really liked the people and the offices, I could see myself working with these people in these surroundings and enjoying it. Lets see if the price will be right. Finally at about 7 pm we wrap things up with a promise to get back to me with their decision either later that evening or first thing Monday. Finally I get to go check out my lodgings, the drive down was uneventful although I hated my rental car (a Ford Taurus) it felt like I was diving a fully loaded truck; non existent turning angle, 0-60 in like 300 mins, this car has done nothing to positively enhance my opinion of Amercian cars. The room lived up to and surpassed my expectations. I had just finished tipping the bellhop when my phone rang, yes they wanted to offer me the job, the compensation however was not very attractive. Thankfully I had the whole weekend to think about it. I put all money matters from my mind and proceeded to enjoy the weekend. Manhattan Beach is a lovely place and by Sunday as I drove to the airport, I could see myself living there driving a BMW/Lexus/Mercedes. Sunday came by too soon and although I enjoyed myself I found I missed my peeps in Houston. Monday rolls by and I politely decline their offer, they ask me to make a counter offer which I did after some polite haggling we agree on compensation and here I am, once again preparing to move.

Arsenal 3 - 1 Hamburg SV

Match Report soccernet.com

Match Report arsenal.com

Money for nothing

Found this video on YouTube, it brouht back fond memories of saturday mornings at home watching Top of the Pops with my aunt. I love this song because it features 2 of my favorite things; guitars and Sting!

A huge step towards healthy living

So I decided to stop moaning about my thickening thighs and do something about it, I closed my eyes and joined a gym. This is in line with my new philosophy, 'strive to do today what you can, tomorrow might never come'. My first week was horrible, every part of my body ached. I ached in places I didn't even know I had muscles in. My second week was just as bad and at one point I was about to just give up then I thought of all the money I had shelled out the unrecognisable me who stares at me everytime I look in the mirror. That was all the motivation I needed to get out of bed into my gym clothes and off to the gym.

My trainer is South African and it seems he can't 'count'. 'Now you gonna give me 2 sets of 15 reps on this machine' I get onto the machine and I begin to do my reps counting to 15. With a sigh of relief after the first set I am about to disentangle myself from the yeye aparatus (who send me message) when he goes 'what are u doing? I only counted 8 reps' WTF!!! The first time he did it and I argued with him I ended up doing an extra set of reps so now I just grit my teeth and let him count. Thankfully I only meet with him once a week. Exercising for me has been painful (I cannot emphasise that fact enough) but fun. Fun in the sense that its been challenging, pushing myself and all that. I also find that having a partner helps. I actually have two partners, well one, okay one and a half. My main/whole partner is my friends mum and I must say she is in great hape, fashy the fact that she is the same age as Princess and no, she is not white or half-caste. My other partner (the half one) is my main partners daughter, my friend whom I stay with. We both registered at the gym on the same day three weeks ago and she has only been twice. Having a gym partner really pays off especially when you are doing cardio, you will be amazed how a 60 min gruelling workout on the treadmill will just go by when you have someone to gist with.

Alongside exercising, I am also learning to eat sensibly. Normally I would eat 1 max 2 meals a day. My trainer gave me an interesting bit of information; the only athletes who eat twice a day are Sumo wrestlers! That got my attention. The key to weight loss is increasing my metabolism. Right now, the way I eat, my metabolism spikes once, max twice in a 24 hr period. For self preservation, when I eat my body converts a small percentage of the food to 'fuel' for the body to use and stores the rest as fat since it knows it wont get more nourishment/sustenance for atleast another 8 to 20 hrs. Since I do not lead a physically active life, the probability that I will make use of the stored fuel is low. The next day I eat, my body stores food and soon I am like the squirrel storing up nuts for winter only that I have no problem locating my hoard, its right there on my thights, hips, butt, arms, etc inching me closer and closer to the next dress size. Also since my body is skimping on 'fuel' thinking it needs to save for a rainy day, I find that I am slow and sluggish during the day (Is that the reason? There I was thinking something was wrong with me!). How do I fix the problem, i.e. get my body to use up a lot more of what I eat as fuel and store a lot less? Eat more frequently, 4 - 6 times a day (according to my trainer) and build lean muscle. By eating frequently I increase my metabolism. Since my body knows it will always get food,the amount of fat stored in all the wrong places reduces. What do I eat frequently? Fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, meat, chicken, chocolate, ice cream, pretty much anything I want as long as I portion my food (a good rule of thumb is the size of your fist, no second helpings!) and don't overindulge in the 'bad' stuff, (sweets, chocolates, ice cream, chocolate cake, etc) I should be okay. I was also told that for every pound of lean muscle I possess, my body will burn 50Kcal every day during my rest period. The goal is to build 10 pounds of lean muscle so during my rest period I burn 500Kcal everyday. It will take 10 - 14 months to build lean mucle (this is where excercise comes in) I eye my instructors 32" biceps as he says this, 'Mr man I just want to lose weight and be fit, I am not planning to enter the Mr World competiton' he laughs. I am in no danger of developing 32" biceps by developing 10 pounds of lean muscle he assures me.

Okay now, how the heck am I going to be able to eat sensibly I wonder as I go home after my orientation class where I learned all about metabolism. I love all the bad stuff, how will I cope? Quite well apparently. I am eating right and exercising, enjoying increased mental alertness and slowly but surely dropping the weight. I am not starved for all the 'bad' stuff I like to eat, I have learned to enjoy a scoop of ice cream as much as a whole tub. I have managed to suprise myself at the level of discipline I have been able sustain. I must say it, I am proud of me! Wish me luck as I pace my self for the marathon called healthy living ahead of me.

How I would have killed my ex-wife?

However way I would have "dunnit", for sure I would not be hypothesising about it. I really can't believe the premise of O.J's new book!!! Please how insensitive is that? Is it not bad enough that his kids are growing up not entirely sure their father killed their mother, does he have to go and make light of the fact of her unfortunate demise? Pehaps this is all a publicity stunt to promote his new book. Again its the most insensitive and selfish thing he could have done. I read somewhere that Fox is airing a two-part interview with him, the theme of which is similar to that of the book. The whole thing is sickening. If I were him, I would remain in my hole in Florida, work on my golf handicap and prepare to meet my maker. I sure as hell would not be tempting fate in this fashion, she has been known to be fickle.

OJ Simpson reveals how he would have killed his wife guardian.co.uk

And the new Dancing with the Stars champion is ... Emmitt Smith!

I yelled till I was hoarse! Of course Mario Lopez is a great dancer, and his free style to 'It takes two' was awesome and brought back sweet memories. Carrie Ann Inaba summed it up nicely when she said about Emmitt; "What's so great about you is you are the everyday man who became a dancer in our eyes in the past 10 weeks". For such a big man with no showbiz experience he really did a good job on the show. He along with his nuturing partner (Cheryl Burke) deserved to win.

Emmitt Smith Wins ABC's 'Dancing' Title msn.com

Car Pooling

As is the case with adjusting to new surroundings, I am having a lot of 'Eureka' moments. The other day I discovered that my office has a shuttle service between its numerous locations in the Houston area. Goodie! Taking the shuttle drastically reduces my waiting and walking times and now that the cold is settling in that is a real blessing. I took the shuttle for the first time last week thursday. The only downside I see is that I now get on the bus at a rather crowded stop. I got in line and proceeded to wait for the bus like me felow commuters. It never ceases to amaze me, the way people over here organise themselves. Whether you are driving or waiting on the bus or waiting to be served at the store/restaurant/hospital, forming a queue is like second nature, and it is never a bother to wait your turn to be served. Even getting off the bus. The other day I had dozed off on my ride home and i woke up to find the bus had stopped moving. I turned to the lady seated next to me and asked if we had arrived at the park and ride. Yes we have she replied. I was about to ask why aren't people getting off when I realised this was a bus in Houston not the BA flight to Nigeria where people would have already begun to unload their stuff from the overhead cabins while the pilot is still trying to land the plane!

So I am waiting in line at the bus-stop, enjoying the crisp air and marveling at the ant like orderliness of my surroundings when a black Porsche Cayenne pulls up. 'I wonder how this car drives' I muse, I make a mental note to check it out on the Internet. The passenger window comes down and the guy driving leans in and shouts out a bus number, actually the number of the bus I am waiting on. Ewo! So dis na how dem dey do sole in America? Correct last chance be dis o! Dem go dey see people catch well well o, me sef if no be say I don see sample for nija I for don jump enter moto. tey tey! JJC, (this is my serious side talking from days of experince watching law & order, csi, etc) no be inside town like this in broad daylight where witness boku na im dem dey do sole (you know say oyinbo sabi gbeborun), na for heavily wooded area where half naked women choose to jog! Seriously, what I just witnessed was carpooling in action. Houston has a BRT system using a designated lane called the HOV. (I hope say I no yarn dust) The Metro buses as well as people car pooling with 2 or more occupants get to ride on it. What this guy was doing was trying to make up the number of passengers riding with him so he can wizz down I-10 instead of queuing forever in traffic. While on that subject, I had heard a lot about the famous 'Houston traffic'. I guess what I have seen so far is rough for US standards, but coming from Lagos Nigeria, this traffic na childs play. Traffic wey dey move? Na real bonus be dat. If this was what I had to face in Nigeria, Lord knows I for dey sleep my house till day break, watch cartoons instead of running out at 5:30 am. Which reminds me, how far with our attempts to start up a BRT system in Lagos? I had never ridden on one, and I along with many others couldn't really see how it would work. Until recently I wondered at the reasoning behind designating the innermost lane the BRT service lane instead of the outermost lane. I felt the outermost lane made the most sense, for ease of dropping off passengers, etc. Now I see that the whole purpose is to move people between two points as quickly as possible in the case of Lagos move them between the island and mainland. Say I am going to work in VI and I live in Magodo. I get on the bus at the 7-Up Transit Centre and get off at the Bar Beach Transit Centre from where I will take a taxi or a white bus (local transport within VI) to my final destination. There is also the issue of transit centres. I didn't see any going up while I was in Lagos, anyone know if there are visible plans that they are gonig up? I remember when the roads had just been marked and the whole BRT issue was hot on everyones lips. A lot of people (myself included) where all open to its introduction provided that it would actually function even though we couldn't really understand how it would. Now that I have actauly used one omo its a really good idea. I do regret that I am unable to totally enjoy the benefits of being ferried to work. I get motion sick, so the one and a half to two hours I spend riding everyday is wasted, I can't catch up on my reading! :-(

Snip Snip

I cut my locks on Saturday.

I had begun to tire of them, and I also itched to run a comb trough my hair. I wondered at the timing of my actions this morning as I waited for what seemed like an eternity for the train to arrive. Shouldn't I have kept them to keep my head warm during the winter? I asked my self as my teeth chattered away. 'Thats what caps are for silly' replied my sensible side. Now I have a mini afro which I have tucked away under a wig. I plan to get may hair braided though, but first I will rock my wig into the ground!

Reading 0 - 4 Arsenal

Did you see my boys school Reading? Awesome! (my oga don infect me) The Henry goal quick but e still no quick reach Babangida's opener (40 secs) against South Africa at the Africa Nations Cup in 2000 now that was sweet!

Match Report soccernet.com

Match Report arsenal.com

My office building isn't exactly in the heart of downtown so when it comes to lunch there aren't too many options. I usually just get a sandwich from the cafeteria, and I mut say I never knew two slices of bread could be so filling, usually thats all I need to get me through the day. Day before yesterday I decided to try something new, I brought lunch from home. Lunch comprised of jollof rice and fried catfish which we bought from a nija store the day before. The food was actually supposed to my lunch/dinner but as usual I was stuffed from one sandwich lunch; a chicken salad sandwich and the only logical thing to do was to have it for lunch the next day. I must admit prior to this time I had never eaten fried catfish. To me catfish is something to be eaten boiled for no more than 15 mins, either in pepper soup or in a very hot (peppery) thin stew eaten with freshly boiled rice. I really enjoyed my lunch, and totting an extra bag to and from work wasn't as much as an ordeal as I had earlier imagined. Infact the whole experience was such a hit for me, I considered doing it again the very next day. Alas some confusion as to how I was going to get to work distracted me and I forgot. At about 10:30 I got an email from my boss; an invitation for lunch. I said a silent prayer of thanks fo forgeting my lunch as I replied that I would be available. At 11:15 we all gathered in the lobby (9 of us in total) then we carpooled to pappadeaux, a cajun restaurant like 2 miles from my office. We then proceeded on a 3 hr lunch (wetin concern me, i dey bill dem dey go). I have learned that the nicer looking an oyinbo dish is, the more likely it is to be totally tasteless so I approched the whole ordering business with a lot of seriousness. At the end of the day, I deided to have rice and shrimp stew (shrimp etoufee) and it was really good, so good I finished my serving. My last mouthful threatened to spoil my whole experience though, I don't quite know how to describe it in english, in yoruba I would say 'Ede yen npa okuta' (translation suggestions welcome). I think the shrimp wasn't properly cleaned cos it was sandy to the crunch. On a good day I would have promptly spat it out, but I am out with my project manager and there is the issue of exending my contract so I said a small prayer and swallowed. Well I am happy to report that I am very okay as I write this thankully. As I wiped my mouth (daintily) and laid my napkin aside, I heard someone mention dessert. Dessert ke! I was stuffed. When the dessert tray arrived however I couldn't resist the vanilla cheesecake (ole) I did try my best, but I couldn't do more than half. Back at my desk I wondered how I was going to manage to keep awake till 4:30 when I will be able to legally escape. Apparently no be only me dey suffer from the effects of lunch, and hour after we returned my supervisor was like he was off for the day and I was free to leave if I wanted to. There is a God kia I carried my bag I didn't even take the shuttle downtown, I walked to the train stop I was that full I needed the excercise.

Breast Cancer Awareness

As the week ended I despaired, I was yet to find a place to move to. I had begun to reconcile myself to another week at the hotel (chei all my money throway) when I got a call from my friends, 'we are coming to pick you and we won't take no for an answer, you are coming with us!' So thats how I moved once again, to the suburbs. My new commute is 55min by bus and train as opposed to the initial 10-15 mins by leg. I do miss living so close to work, my new commute however does involve some walking so I still get the excercise in. Riding the bus has been a lot of fun, on Monday I saw a very interesting photo op, and I really wished I owned a camera. As my train pulled up to the stop I looked out of the window and saw this ... appariation! After about 30 secs I was able to tell that it was not a giant jellyfish but a human and female all dressed in pink. From the top of her head to the soles of her feet, pink and monogrammed with the pink ribbon. I am assuming she is dressed like this since October is cancer awareness month. I must confess I cannot recall the last time I did a self breast exam and after hearing the stats for women of color and breast cancer I really should pay more attention. The lady in pink seems to be looking for something, I guess thats why I initially mistook her for a jelly fish, with each foray into the pockets of her numerous bags she sent various items of pink flying in the air; scarf, hat, sunglasses, iPod, etc. What can she be searching for so frantically? I wondered as I inched closer to the window. I feel the train shudder, 'find it find it' I pleaded as I stared hard at her, mortified at my voyeurism. Suddenly she stops and from the depths of pink pulls out ... a pack of cigarettes!!! I watched in disbelief as she lit up and took a really long drag, you know the type, the 'gosh I can't believe I haven't had a smoke in 15 mins' type. Imagine! She made for a really interesting diversion on my commute that morning sha, I am not sure if a picture would have adequately captured the scene sha, more like a short movie. Anyways I have scheduled a breast exam in my monthly routine.

Arsenal 3 - 0 Watford

Match Report soccernet.com

Match Report arsenal.com