a-Z Alpha Tag

So DonChi.....Here ya go

Ambitious

Would love to own my company eventually but for now I’m building my career. Don’t want to have to depend on anyone for survival (not that it won’t be nice to have someone paying my bills but I don’t like taking risks either).

Runner up: Amiable.

Bold

I don’t shirk away from difficult situations. I may be nervous an jittery but I always follow through

Runner up: Blessed

Cautious

With my feelings and emotions. I tend to size people up...sort of guage them when I initially meet them. If you know me, the person you initially met is prob different from the girl you know now.

Runners up: Critic, Cheeky

Disorganised

Like you wouldn’t believe it! You only need to see my desktop to start to understand what I mean. I call it organised chaos. I need to get a PA J

Runners up: Deep, Dysfunctional

Easygoing

I get along with pretty much all kinds of people. I don’t stress under circumstances where most would like losing a wallet, phone blah blah. I don’t get bothered. Life goes on.

Runners up: Evasive, Erratic

Fabulous

You know me. I’m F A B O lol

Runners up: Forgetful, finicky

Guarded

I guess this is similar to being cautious. You can’t really tell what I’m thinking half the time.

Runners up: Good natured, Generous

Hard-headed

I guess this is where my Taurean nature comes into play. Some days I am just so stubborn even when I know I’m wrong.

Runner up: Humorous

Impulsive

This has gotten me into some troubleeee. I just go ahead and DO IT, forget the consequences.

Runner Up: Intuitive

Jovial

I’m definitely a fun-loving kinda girl.

Runner up: Jaded

Kind

I consider myself a kind person. Do you?

Lucky

I have had more lucky breaks than most. And I thank God.

Runners up: Loyal, likeable

Moody

You don’t want to see me in my moods. I get all weird and quiet and sombre and just plain weird.

Nonchalant

Its quite a problem. Sometimes I just don’t give a shit.

Runners up: Nice, Naïve

Optimist

I always think positively. Everything always works out.

Runners up: Observant

Pacifist

I am ever the peace maker. I worry over quarrels, fights disagreements even when they don’t involve me…but even worse when they do. I can’t function until everything is ok. That’s the only time when I’m not nonchalant…and the only time I wish I was.

Runners up: Patient

Quixotic

I can be quite unrealistic about life.

Reserved

Ask my mum, she uses the word all the time to describe me, interchangeable with conservative.

Sensitive

I get hurt too easily and am quite sensitive to the feelings of other people around me.

Runners up: Spontaneous, Sociable, Stubborn,

Temperamental

Falls in with the moodiness bit. Infrequent but it happens none the less.

Unique

That’s me. There’s no copy

Runner up: Uptight(ish)

Volatile

Watch your step, I could blow unexpectedly.

Weird

Even I find myself weird.

Runner up: Witty, Wary

Xtian

Okay so I cheated.

Youthful

I have a youthful look and can behave like a big baby sometimes.

Z onked

This exercise has tired me out. Thanks Don Chichi!

I tag: Low, London Buki, Onada, Vera, Nneka

Urban Massive

I spent my weekend watching the box set of Greys Anatomy Season 2. I LOVE IT, FANTASTIC! All I can think of now the darn show, help.

I’m supposed to be going on vacation to Bermuda on Friday but things are just not falling into place. First of all I cannot find my ticket (I’m the most forgetful person you can think of). I kept it in a safe place and now its REALLY safe. Second I have an interview on the 10th and my ticket is for the 1st to the 12th. I went over to the airline, North American Air, which now flies directly from Lagos to NY and they tell me its $384 to change the incoming date!!!! What the hell!? BUTTTTTT the interview is in SWEDEN!!! So I called the HR dude of the company and asked if they could route my ticket from Philly to Sweden and of course he said NO, your career is more important that your holiday. I beg to differ at this point. Nigerians can be so rigid it’s unbelievable! So I'm in a mess and the minutes are ticking. I can't get my money for the NY ticket back...its non refundable (some guy is hovering over my desk, saying beautiful Tminx, he likes my hairstyle and that I should take a photo...please stop hovering). Anyway, yeah so I'll forfeit the ticket money if I don't go. Woe is me.

Anyways here’s the link to the pics for the Motorola Urban Massive Concert

DonChichi tagged me...I'm working on it.

Wedding Photographer

Another weekend yay! At the office we are all wearing the same Aso-ebi as my colleagues’ father passed away and the burial ceremony is today. Everyone plans to get there after work so that they can conveniently miss the ceremony and be there in time for the refreshments. So bad. I personally would have gone but at this point in time my tummy is fighting world war II. I need to be within a 1/2 mile radius of a well trusted lav.

Introducing....

The Wedding Photographer

So this is the area I want to develop and have an expertise in. I also love taking abstract shots and have big plans for the future. If you have anyone getting married in Nigeria, I'll be happy to cover their wedding. I'm currently developing a wedding portfolio and you can view my photoblog for some wedding shots I've taken.


I'm loving Bella Naija's blog. I know I'm guaranteed a good read. Random right?

Have a good weekend people, will let you know how mine went on Monday...there will also be pics from the Motorola Concert featuring Dbanj, Wierd MC, Sasha, Ikechukwu, Kabelo from Chanel O and Olisa.

Airport Drama

The Airport in Lagos is in Chaos. Yesterday we went with the family to say goodbye to those who came for the wedding. BA is totally crazy right now. They are overbooked for dayssss and the queue is outrageously long. My aunts were supposed to leave with Air France to Philadelphia but we got there and realised the queue was a bit on the long side. This was at 4pm for a 10pm flight. We proceeded to join the queue at which point we were told that there were two..one for people from Port Harcourt and one for people from Lagos. Apparently PH airport has been closed for refurbishment...just like that.

We were further informed that no Lagos passengers would be leaving on that day and needed to put their names down. They would be given $500 and would be booked to stay at a hotel. Not just any hotel, noooo, not Sheraton or Protea or Eko Hotel...they would be booked into the Airport Hotel (horrors upon horrors). Those working obviously were not impressed by the $500, a guy on the queue was quick to protest that it was no where near half his daily earnings. If you decided not to stay in the hotel there would be no further remunerations. Stay or don't stay.

One guy came up to the manager on duty.
'Sir my wife is sick and has an appointment at the hospital in London'.
Manager not looking sympathetic 'There is nothing we can do'.
'I have the appointment letter here. It’s quite urgent that she sees a doctor, is there really nothing you can do'?
'I'm sorry sir, there’s nothing we can do. Write your name down and we will see that you leave tomorrow'
'We are quite desperate....
'Sir MEDICALLY, there is nothing we can do for you. I am sorry'

Naijas like to blow OP (out of point) grammar oh.

As promised

To View the bday pics click here!

Its mid-week. My company is hosting an event at the Palms shopping mall this weekend and as hard as it is to believe..I don't have tickets. Yes, a whole Tminx aka girl with the dancing spirit does not have a ticket. I even heard about the event on the radio and was wonderghasted. They never tell us anything in our marketing department. I sharply went over there and made sure they were organising tickets for everyone seeing as they cant be bought. I mean, really, how many are we in total? Lets see what happens.

I'm reading Men are from Mars Women are from Venus. Very insightful book. I'll analyse it for you guys when I'm done.

Featured today on my photoblog is the crappy Lagos City Transport, the MOLUE

Monday Blues

I was woken up this morning by a loud BANG. Looking out from the balcony...well the glass door leading to the balcony which has been locked since as far back as I can remember when my younger bro caused commotion by holding on to the railings insisting 'I'm going to jump' after being scolded by my mother. At that that time, seeing his little hand clutching tightly to the railings for his dear life, I thought to myself, 'jump sucker, blackmailer oshi' lol. Till this day my mum says 'that boy has mind'.....anyway I digress. A couple of Nepa workers were on a ladder tweaking the NEPA line in in front of our neighbours house. In this day and age NEPA still sends the boys to cut down lines of customers who may have missed payments or have outstanding issues. Once payment is made, you have to bribe them to come back with their ladder to reconnect the line. Its extremely dangerous because of the high voltage and I almost expected some poor sucker to be convulsing on the ground close to death. It’s also sad cos the lines end up looking so ugly and rough. When are the cables going to go underground?

Low threw a bash on Sunday for her birthday which is today....happy birthday boo, love youuu....I'm proud to say I made carrot cake from scratch and it was finished by the sweet toothed guest on the spot. Thank you, thank you, no pictures please. We had a great time and there’s a trend going on at house parties now...Musical chairs, dancing statue and dancing competitions…you would think we were 10 again but we had so much fun fooling around.

I know I always promise to upload pics but will get these to you pronto. Look out on Wednesday but for now, check out the Photoblog. I'm working on making peeps look the way front page models on a magazine do.

How was your weekend. Did anyone get up to anything interesting?

Palava

Wonders shall never cease! I have stumbled unto so many blogs and blogs of people I thought would never blog. We are more than we think.

So about the wedding pics..I shall put up a link very soon but for now you can check-out the Photoblog. It features to couple today. If you are not reading this today, you need to go to the photo archives for previous pics.

I'm getting so many calls for Photoshoots that I'm starting to get cold feet. What if they don't like the pics. What if something goes horribly wrong and all the pics come out blurry and they take them , roll them up and stone me to death with them. Whoooosaaaaaaaaaaaaa

My mum and her sisters love each other but when they meet up, the inevitable always happens...they quarrel!. Having 9 sisters is no small feat but where woman are gathered, hormones are present. They bicker then laugh then quarrel then laugh then shoot each other with automatic weapons. This 'love' is also extended to the rest of the nieces and nephews. Don't make a mistake or it will be remembered for years to come.

'TMinxs, pass me N2000, I will give you back when we get upstairs'
'Sorry aunty, I don't have cash on me'
'You never have cash, are you forgetting you are a grown up now. Don't be stingy with money. You have been working for a year now and I didn't even get the first salary you were meant to share. You are turning out to be tight fisted'
'Aunty it isn't my fault that this is a cash country, im not used to not being able to withdraw money when I need it. I hate carrying wads of money around..and about sharing the first salary, you were in Philadelphia!'.
'So what? Its just a token fee. Aunty Evelyn said she had to ask you before you gave her. As for the cash flow, well, this is Nigeria so get used to it'.

I forget about the episode and a few day later, I get a lecture from my mum.

'The aunties complained that you are selfish with money but its not difficult for you to ask for money from us'.

What theeeeee????? When did it get to that. After the story has been passed down a long line of people, it changes completely like chinese whispers. So you have to watch your every step, every move, every word.

At the wedding, the lady catering was in a mighty dark mood and looked extremely unapproachable. My mum was organising the servers at the food area so I told her to pass me a plate of food. Later that day KATA KATA BUST

'You treat her like a child. Sister Helen said you got up from your seat to go get food for her. How will she grow up and get married like Isi when she is always being babied'

I have learnt to sort of remove myself when these kinds of conversations are going on, sort of like elevating myself to the spirit realm. They sure can get on one's nerves but its still all love.

After the Wedding

The trip to Benin took us 6 hours! A 3 hour trip turned into 6. The roads are so bad because the rain practically washed the shabbily done work on the roads. Those things don't last more than a few months and we don't have the culture of maintenance in Nigeria. Anyways here is the story

The arrival

La familia who don't live here started arriving a week before. 7 aunts 4 cousins and my lil sis all prepared to leave for Benin Wednesday morning. They filled up two buses, 2 aunts in one with the luggage and the others in the second, and left at 9 am.


The accident

At 10 am we received a call from with my cousin screaming incomprehensively...an accident...down a ditch.....sob sob....and all I could from my mum (she picked up the call) was, 'its a lie!, armed robbers?, accident? Is everyone okay?', they went down a ditch????' The tears had already started flowing rapidly.

Apparently the two buses were driving in a convoy when a few cars in front of them had a terrible accident. The first bus skidded to a halt to avoid the accident while the second swerved off. A Peugeot behind the second bus was not aware of what had just happened and was still speeding so the couple slammed hard into the first bus (with the 2 aunts) and pushed it over the side.

The bus went down the side but was supported by tree branches as my aunts looked down to the river below. They eventually climbed back up the hill unscathed. It was another story for the couple in the 504 who flew out the car and sustained terrible injuries. Apparently the lady’s two legs were shattered and dangling. She and the guy were rushed to the hospital. I pray that they survived.

I thank God that everyone in my family was okay. We were so glad we had prayed before their departure.

The journey

Driving on the highway is very frustrating. There are police checkpoints every mile and they make very dumb requests. One asked for the receipt for the registration of the licence plate. Another group asked for C-caution and fire extinguishers. The most hilarious one was this dude who looked at the car documents and said…’Its expired!’ ‘Your insurance expired in March’. Of course we were quite shocked because knowing the way police like to extort citizens of this dear country, we make sure we don’t give them room to and seeing that it was a company car, we expected all the documents to be okay but apparently not. He opened up another page where a representative attested to the ownership of the car on behalf of the company and asked to see the representative. My mum and I were perplexed. ‘He’s not here’, my mum said. ‘I don’t even know who he is, he’s just a representative not the real owner’. ‘When he signed this, did you read it?’ the police guy asked?. My mum was really tired at this point, she came down to his level,‘You know what, I’m really tired, just tell me what you want and let us go, this journey has taken longer than it should have already and we still have a few hours to go. ‘Ehen mummy, that’s what you should have said since nowwwww. Just drop something for your boys’. We later found out that the insurance expires March 2007 which is why he held onto the document and wouldn’t let us read it.

The wedding

The wedding was fun. I was a hostess and the dress was quite lovely. My cousin and her husband couldn't stop staring at each other and holding hands. They looked so cute together.

Note to self: There will be no kids in my bridal train.

Some of the kids were so moody! Unbelievable. I will download the pics and will post some up on my Photoblog.

Like I said it was a family reunion, I don't think I slept a day without a headache and totally fagged out! So much commotion and noise but it was great! I took a friend along with me and I'm sure she thinks we Benin peeps are loud! I hope you had fun Steph.

All in all, I had a great time and ohhhhh...I caught the Bouquet!

Thanks for all the comments on the last post!

Tomorrow i'm off to Benin in Edo state for my cousins wedding. As she's the first grandchild to be getting married, its quite a big deal. All the aunties bar 1 (my mum has 9 sisters!!)from all around are flying in, so you can imagine all the airport trips this week. This is going to be one fun weekend. Like a big old family reunion. But alas the inevitable question from them all and their battalion of friends will be 'So where is he'...I'm next in line so they will be focusing on me so I'll have to do some dodging moves lol.

Featured today on my Photoblog is my youngest sister...Omono, Ms Sassy. She looks a bit like me don't you think?