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