Monthly Archives: December 2011

~251211~

It would appear the creative streak responsible for the awesome titles (if I do say so myself) my posts usually enjoy has failed me today…. -__-

Oh well, this post shall not be lengthy and is designed to serve two purposes…

The first: it serves as an intro for a mini-series I’m having on here which begins tomorrow.

Seeing as the creative streak I talked about at the beginning of this post has refused to, well, streak and is still rather static at the moment, I may just end up using the (in my opinion) subpar title I have so far…

The Vocabulary Series

This may just change before tomorrow. Just may. I guess we’ll see…

Anyways The Vocabulary Series is for the next five days, going to focus on a word in my personal vocabulary that I particularly favour and which I’ve leart very valuable lessons on in the recent past. Each word shall be unveiled on each day of the series and I’ll then attempt to make my point.

Why the series? The whole point of the series is to share some of the lessons learnt from my experiences and hope that they edify someone who shall read them. The timing is also key. I’m not really one to make New Year Resolutions, if I believe something in my life needs to change badly enough, I try to effect it immediately, no matter what part of the year that is. For some people though, new year resolutions work and so, these series are my contribution to anyone who may want to work on any parts of their lives that the series may touch on. Doesn’t have to be for only new year resolutionists though. If you feel the need to take something from it, pls feel free.

The series will also be a sort of run up to my entry in the #30DayGuestBloggerChallenge presently going on on @HL_Blue’s blog. My entry comes up on the last day of 2011, 31st December, and is supposed to highlight my highs and lows of 2011, minus romance. I’m still a bit nervous about that and hope it turns out great, especially seeing as it rounds off the series, wouldn’t want to be an anti-climax to what has been a great run so far, would I?

Be sure to visit 19th Street to check out the amazing entries so far.

The second reason for this post: to extend my ‘christmas greetings’ (whatever that means) to all my loved ones without sending any broadcasts, putting up statuses that only few people will see or burning credit that I don’t have… and No, I am not a cheapskate, just a broke, proactive brutha who works for an organisation with inept management who have not paid staff their december wages as of christmas day… (Ok, just had to let that out #MiniRantOver).

Before I get to the ‘christmas wishes’, lemme just say that I share a few of @weird_oo’s sentiments on Day 25 I feel it’s become very perfunctory when we just greet people “Merry Christmas”. Greetings should me warm, thoughtful and impactful, especially considering the significance of what we are celebrating. It just seems so shallow to just leave it at “Merry Christmas”. After christmas nko? I believe words are really powerful and if those are the only gifts you’re going to share with someone during christmas, easter, sallah, birthdays (these especially)… celebrations generally, then they might as well be meaningful.

That said, here’s wishing everyone reading this divine joy, peace, favour and love which transcend the season and extend into the new year which shall be a prosperous one unto you and yours, in Jesus’ name.

ps Please subscribe to the blog to receive instant notification on each post in the series as it goes up. I shall not be tagging people individually on twitter in order not to spam others’ timelines unnecessarily

pps I shall be receiving christmas gifts in words as well as taking contributions for a new/better title for The Vocabulary Series in the comment section. Please give freely as it has been/shall be given unto you…

😀

The Birthday Post

Well, the title says it all, doesn’t it? It’s my birthday today 😀 I should probably just end the post here and know that I have done what nearly every blogger in these parts feels obliged to do at least once a year…

Put a post up on their birthday.

As nice and all as it is, that is cliché…

This would be where you would expect me to add “…and I never do cliché”, right? Which would be me contradicting myself, seeing as you reading this means that I HAVE gone ahead and done the cliché thing by putting up a birthday post. Well, what I was actually going to say/write before I began this deviation was…

But for once, I shall gladly do cliché

But only in my own way…

#Barzzz -_-

Birthdays are usually seen as a time for celebration by loved ones and acquaintances for the life of the celebrant and on the celebrant’s part, sober reflection and the reminder that the biological clock ticks on. Or maybe the latter part is just me… *shrug*. Well, personally, I like to set goals that go something like “By the time I’m so and so age, I’d like to have acheived so and so” or “By my birthday next year, I shall have completed so and so”… You get the idea, yeah?

Well, while I’d like to give everyone the opportunity to celebrate me (hope I didn’t sound too vain and full of self there), I’d also like to ask the favour of whoever is reading this to help me with my sober reflections.

I would like that YOU tell me two things on here:

1. What one thing, if given the chance, would you change about me? That flaw that you first notice about me; that little (or big) thing that, for whatever reason, irks you everytime I do it; that thing that if unchanged, is left only to my own detriment. What is it? Help me become a better me. Afterall, “Even the man who uses a mirror cannot see all of himself at once” #ToxicWisdom

and

2.What one thing about me would you preserve and celebrate if given the chance?

It does not matter how long you’ve known me, how you know me, how little you know me or that you do not even really know me at all. Perhaps all you know about me is what I tweet, or this blog, or you haven’t seen me in over a decade or have never physically met me. Maybe all you even know about me is what you’ve read on someone else’s timeline or this blog post is the first encounter you have of me. Please, share still.

Both questions can be answered about anything you want. My writing, my carriage, my philosophies, my career, attitude, dressing, gifts, sense of discipline… Anything at all, no matter how mundane or of epic significance it seems.

One thing you would change and one thing you would not.

This post is unashamedly all about the comments. Please use the comment box freely. I would consider it an honour and a birthday gift of sorts if you did…

I am to Blame

Today is December 1st, another World Aids Day.
Today, a poem of sorts…

_______________________________

I am to blame
No doubt it is me who bears the shame,
The fragile frame that bears my name
Is the gain I lost in the game
The game of the dame, my dame the hurricane
The one that swept me away when she came

Most certainly
Put the blame on me
Who else would it be?
Me, definitely
Certainly not the other half of me
My baby, my one and only
To whom apparently
I’m one of many
The only mystery seems to be
How I could have been so full of gullibility
My sensibilities lost in shows of virility
The endless possibilities ending my sterility
My positivity in reality a negativity

I’ve got HIV

But na my fault
Say my baby no better pass pillar of salt?
Say for only a bottle of malt
My baby fit follow you enter cot
Enter cloth, comot cloth
Baby dey floss
But of course for her mind she no be slut
Jejely she just bin dey carry her cross
True, true no be her fault

True, true na me be the mugu
Who knew?
To be truthful, it could be you too
What! You think. Impossible
It’s unimaginable
You’re too true, too good, too cool
You’re too schooled, too beautiful, too faithful
The chances, too minuscule
You’re not that gullible
In other words you’re saying I’m the fool

In other words you are saying I must deserve this
I must have earned this mark on this black list
Me and a million faceless babies
Whose this fate is
Me and several ladies
Who really wanted to encounter their rapists
Mine and a thousand cases
Of mistakes in the basics
Of blood transfusions and infusions
Medical non-vestigations
Aberrations
Tiny incisions in barbers’ salons
And tinier ones still in nursing stations

We are unfortunate preys of chance
Victims of circumstance
Some caught in battle stance, some in victory dance
Others in a seemingly inconsequential instant
Of happenstance
At the speed of a glance
We lost all chance
But one: we are still humans

No less…

This may seem like just fantasy
May only tickle your fancy
I’m no Clancy
But if you look closely enough,
You can see
The clarity, the irony
The fictional reality,
The truth is no candy, it’s candid
Tragic, almost slap-stick
But not quite
Quite sick
Tragic!

Someone says ‘Don’t discriminate’
But disgrace relays the phrase
All priorities misplaced
We escalate the case
Sure, “AIDS no dey show for face”
Except the one that castigates
Yours in this case

So am I to blame?
Should I hang my head in shame?
What difference does it make
When all the same
I hear your eyes saying
With that much disdain
That…

I am to blame