LESSONS LEARNED...four hours to the end

This year was hard for me in a lot of ways. But as hard as it was, I also feel like I've grown. I've learnt a great deal: 

I've learnt how to love and be loved (believe me, it's not as easy as it sounds and frankly I'm still working on it). It's like you feel that you don't deserve the good things of life that you have, but here's the shocker: YOU DO! You do deserve to be happy. You do deserve to be loved. And you do deserve the Grace of God that keeps you alive.
So I've also learnt to love myself and to know that loving myself means doing things that are beneficial to my life, not just permitted. After all, the Bible says, "some things are permissible but not all things are beneficial". So just because smoking is okay doesn't mean I should indulge in it and kill my lungs. (I mean, just saying).
I've also learnt to love and respect people who may be different from me. I've learnt to accept them as they are without judging them, even though I may not accept what they are doing. It's not my place to serve as their judge.
I've learnt to step out of my status quo and prove that I can do whatever I set my heart to do. Our destiny isn't set out in stone. We can change it. Either for good or bad. (Although I reccommend good)
I've learnt that although love could be so tarnished and faded and sometimes it may look like it's not there, at the darkest hour just before dawn, it begins to brighten and change into something new and beautiful and fill our hearts with so much light and life.
I've learnt that life is too short to waste it focused on the bad things and thinking of ways to hurt others or how others have hurt us. Instead, it should be spent creating memories that we can live on and that can live on after us, long after we're gone.
I've learnt to never feel like people owe me something because happiness is only achieved by looking at what you can do for others and not what can be done for you. It's a simple principle of selfless giving, which has existed for a long time, you know? God gave his only son, remember? We didn't even ask, he just did.

I've learnt a lot more this year as I'm sure we all have too. So as we get our wishes and aspirations for the new year ready, let's not forget the lessons learned as this year rolls by and in the new year to come let's always learn to take count of the little things in life that matter and the little lessons that we have learned.
Till then however... Bye!! Ciao!! Au revoir!! Adios!! Arivaderci!! Sayonara!! And see ya in the year 2012!....

MAKING PLANS

Ever notice that things never quite work out as we plan them to? We make plans, New Year resolutions and the like but most times end up spending more time making them than actually doing them.
Bottom Line: Things never work out as we plan. Planning...Scheming... Preparing what we want our lives to be like NEVER WORKS!!!
For instance, I had "planned" to put up a blog post on Christmas day. I had the entire article written and ready to go. Care to take a guess as to what happened? Yep, the "plan" flunked.
So my advice? Quit planning!! Things only work out how they were supposed to in the first place anyway. So what's the use wasting our time bothering?
And if things don't work out as you plan? Make a new one!
But hey, what do I know? I may just as well be rambling! But you can't deny the fact that I may have a point.
Anywho, taking my own advice to make a new plan, this is the piece that I "planned" to post here on Christmas Day. Hope you like!!(Let me know what went wrong if you don't)

A MESSAGE FOR CHRISTMAS
This is a message for you this Christmas,
  so share it with all your family and friends.
Once, a little boy had nothing to live on,
 except a threadbare jacket and a few pieces of bread.
He met a homeless man on his way one day,
 with nothing but sores on his arms, feet and face.
He stopped and sat with him and said,
 "Hey mister! It's Christmas, would you like to share my bread?


In all honesty, this little boy knew not nor cared,
 where his next meal would come from or where he would lay his head.
All he knew was what he had done:
 It was Christmas, he had food but this old man had none.
So together they sat in the cold on this fine day,
 celebrating the birth of our Lord in their own way.


Thus, let this be an example to each and every one of us,
 that in the midst of our bounty there are some who have none.
And let it be a reminder to us for all time:
that the reason for the season is giving,
 even if all you have is a dime.

TO MY FIRST 'COMMENTER'!! ... if that's even a word.

Hey y'all!! I'm in a super-duper, over-excited, happy, mood today! You know why? 'cause I just got my very first comment!! Yay!!!
I checked my email today and saw that I had a comment from someone named "Anonymous". I know this is strange but so many things have been happening in my life since I've started counting down and taking note of the occurences in my life and today more than ever, I would like to take count.
So today being the last day of the countdown, I would like to thank my very first 'commenter' (forgive my spelling if it's wrong).
I know 'Anonymous' is no one's name and it's just someone who didn't want his name to be published on my blog. But to 'Anonymous', whoever you are, I just want to say a big THANK YOU! You have no idea how much you've made my day. Thank you, and to all of you who have read or read my blog....THANK YOU!!

Taking count of everyday of your life helps you to appreciate the most important little things that happen...it helps you make the big things count!!

HELP BRING TOSIN HOME!!

Today is the third day of my countdown to the end of my two month long intern-ship. I have two days to go in the broadcasting house I work at (Radio Nigeria). And as I was thinking of what to post on this fine day to commemorate my countdown, I stumbled on a facebook post from a friend about a Nigerian girl named Tosin who has been missing for five days in the United States.
I didn't know what to think. I've watched so many programmes on Crime and Investigation channel for my mind to decide on it's own what may have happened to her. But God forbid it! The evil ones will not have the upper hand, not this time.
Please, this goes out to everyone out there, especially Nigerians all over the world. We may not have known her, we might never know her. But she's one of us and we've got to help our own. Please, send this to as many people as you can, in as many was as you can. So we can create awareness, get everyone searching and bring Tosin home. P.S - there is a blog about her, the link is below.

Help bring Tosin home. Everyone is praying and waiting for your return, Tosin.: Help bring Tosin home. Everyone is praying and wai...: Yesterday, I heard one of the worst news ever. I found out that the beautiful lady whose picture is on the left, Tosin Oyelowo, went missing...

A KNIGHT'S TALE

Was flipping through my notebook today (it's the fourth day of the countdown to the end of my intern-ship by the way) and I stumbled on a poem I had written a while back but didn't finish. So I decided to finish it today in the office and so here it is. I call it KNIGHT IN LOVE. Hope you enjoy it!!

What an irony,
           indeed it's true!!
For I'm always on his mind,
           as you are in mine too!!
My heart feels taken,
          given as in a duel.
Fighting a long lost battle,
          and knowing not what to do.
It's fate that keeps us bound,
          in these two separate plains:
Apart, yet so close;
         Together, yet so far away.
Love was our sail-boat,
          but now is lost at sea;
                                        beaten down by the stormy waves of passion and greed,
                                        now is washed ashore the sandy beaches of our past,
                                        broken down and dismembered, who knew it wouldn't last.
The gulls and crabs and things
        sort through the remains,
The last bit of what once was,
        scattered through the plains.
But out of the stormy clouds,
        peeks the morning sun.
And out of the debris of our old love,
        new life has begun.

BUSINESS BEFORE PLEASURE:

So it's a countdown to the end of my intern-ship training (IT) at Programmes Unit, Radio Nigeria and I'm taking account of all the things going on so I don't forget it. Well, it's five days to go and a very interesting thing happened today. The business trend in the office reached its peak; I'll explain:

It first started about three weeks ago. The latest addition to the office 'staff' is an artist and her function on the Radio isn't exactly clear cut. The short story is; they help with production. Anyhow, for the purpose of anonymity we shall call her 'Artie' in this blog.

So Artie brought her aunt's beads and jewellery to sell and we all - like the women that we are - rushed on it like pigeons around crumbs of bread and bought our hearts out. I was even convinced to buy a necklace and matching earrings using the guise that it was for my sister's recently celebrated birthday and I had never given her a gift as an excuse to pay such a large amount of money for two pieces of jewellery and not even original ones at that (The stones on the earring came out when it fell that day).

After the jewellery spree, I brought some baby clothes to sell for my mum. Yes, I did. I fell and joined the booming, upcoming office business trend. And boy did I sell! Well, I just sold to one person but who's counting? It's baby clothes for pete's sake! It's not exactly a booming market. People don't buy baby clothes unless they have a baby to buy them for. It's an on-demand item.

Anyway, today Aunty Amy (not her real name) also brought some stuff to sell for her sister and the office came alive once more with business activity. Buying on credit, paying later and taking stock. So this has become the business. And the pleasure? Whatever their being paid for from nine to five every day.
But that's not true. They do their work, they just do something else, something additional on the side. It's not mixing business with pleasure, it's simply putting business before pleasure. Sounds fun, right?

PROVERBS 101 (PART ONE)

So yesterday I stumbled on a couple of strange proverbs from different languages. The funny thing about these proverbs is that they share an extreme similarity with the culture and tradition of the people. But then why shouldn't they? That's why they're their proverbs right?
Well, here are a few of them. Some are funny but have a definite truth in them, others are just downright silly. But I won't decide that for you, you can make your own judgements for yourself.

1. “Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves”. (German proverb)
2.  “One who finds a friend finds a treasure.” (Italian proverb)
3.  “May it be healthy for you” (Turkish proverb)
4. “A strong stomach makes a happy heart.” (Quechua proverb) And if you didn't know, Quechua is the most widely spoken Native American language in South America.
5.  “When the master’s not home, the chickens will get into the shrimp pot.” (Vietnamese proverb) 

What did I tell you? Funny, silly AND true. Anywho, part two of Proverbs 101 will be coming up soon. For now, have fun with this. See ya!!

IT'S BEEN A WHILE...

So, it's been a while. A LOT has happened, but I won't bore you with the boring details of my life. All I'll say is; it's been good. I'm almost done with my IT training with Radio Nigeria (I have just one more week left) and I may likely have a play acted on the radio, so fingers crossed!
So I wrote two poems for a competition of sorts. I'm going to post it here. Hope you like it!!

SEASONS
The Summer sun shines warm and bright
The winter snow makes all things white
In Autumn (or Fall- as it could be called)
The leaves dry up and begin to drop
But Spring makes it all come alive again
As another year begins, another season to grain.

The Second doesn't really have a title. Enjoy!!

You are one in a million and a million in one
You are the healing balm to my aching heart
Your presence is as the sun
Giving light and giving life