LEAVE THE MORROW ALONE

I swear to God I get uber unhappy sometimes, brooding over stuff. Asking God why always me. This phase comes intermittently. These days, thankfully, those intermittencies are few and far in between. In my late teens, it was a far more regular occurrence, which prompted an obsessive self-development voyage. I like to think its paying off. I just want to complete this tedious degree programme of mine. Get a good job. Get filthy rich. Get married to a really beautiful lady in 2022...or thereabouts. Start making some serious money -- but not necessarily in that order. I just wanna be happy, and I imagine we're all in perpetual pursuance of happiness..which is a really vague word in and of itself.

What really constitutes happiness? As I wrote in VALUE FOR MONEY, there are many facets, and philosophy/psychology  has tried to understand the basics of fundamental human thinking. That piece was about satisfaction. This is about worry and apprehension. I'd like it noted here and now that I'm not basing my theory on academic philosophy. Its strictly my thinking that I'm going to present. Thanks.

To substance, I really do think that unhappiness stems from basically two main sources: what happened in the past and what'll happen in future.

To put a little context on this; I'll reminisce. Growing up, my folks would buy stuff -- stuff much bigger than I was, on the premise that I would grow into them. I would get bigger school uniforms, buy ill-fitting shoes. End-result? I didn't like those items. My folks didn't like me not liking those items. Shocker? No one enjoyed it.

The mind gets fickle occasionally. You start wondering if your current situation might've been better had you done things differently in your past. Other times, you just sit there thinking of what would be...if you'd end up happy.

No one knows what the future holds. Sometimes, I get super apprehensive as well. Happens to the best of us. But in one if those self-  books, I found a passage saying "..why worry if you can solve a problem?...if you can't solve a problem, why worry?" or something like that. I.M.O, worrying fosters panic -- which fosters desperation -- which fosters general ineptitude; itself a byproduct of unhappiness.

By all means, plan for tomorrow. Work for tomorrow. Pray for tomorrow. Just remember, (as V. said): "tomorrow, you might get hit by a truck or win a million dollars OR tomorrow you might win a million dollars AND get hit by a truck".
Its a crazy world. Give it your best and strive to be happy. Live for the now. Live in the now.
Our tomorrows will be good.

       --->>>Cue (...I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly...)

We're Back Baby!

Saturday was a bit meh. After breakfast, I had to stake the cucumbers that were starting to crawl in the garden. Weeded the weed, watered the tomatoes, took a shower, went back to bed. Watched the el-clasico & it petered out very nicely.

Right now? I just watched United take on Chelski at the theatre. Bloody hell, we're back. Late equalizer. I fucking love late goals. They're the footballing equivalence of a baby's smile; you poke, tickle, spank, caress, tweak, pinch that baby for that elusive late goal -- and when it eventually comes, its bliss. Pure unadulterated fun. Footballing orgasm.

Shouts out to those who brought dem traditional Arab garbs from Mecca. Good luck to the students that just resumed. The lot that just concluded their NYSC thingy, get out of our houses & get a job. Lol.

Have I missed anything? Not to worry! I'll write an article and post tomorrow. Should be a good one.

---->>>>Cue (glory glory, man united..)

ON THE FENCE

There I was, sat directly behind the taxi driver, chewing gum, checking goal.com for their preview of who United would play at the weekend..when a pretty young girl sat beside me, baby in hand and all that. As we made our way to school, her baby started crying, when upon a sudden, the mother lifted her blouse, adjusted her bra and started to breastfeed the baby..all in one swift movement. I swallowed hard. Here was a girl, pretty much my age (early nineties), bare breast, very beautiful. Naturally, a full blooded young man is religiously obliged to look, but a more moral voice in your head tells you that's someone's mother's breast you're going to look at. It left me with a decision to make.

When I finish a book review, I leave it in my room; untouched, unedited -- and go out for a walk. On these walks, I wrestle with some serious doubt. Is it right for some guy to sit there and critique a book that someone laboriously wrote? Is it right to make a living off of someone else's book..just because you can write!

I no go lie you, a proper critique will say what the author/director did wrong, things he did right, the believability of the work, historical accuracy, stuff that could be improved upon..all these will be found in a review, but its not always in equal measure. At the most, you get in a few lines about what's good about the book/movie...then you coin lovely little phrases about what's wrong about the work.

The negative is what people look out for. That is certainly worthy of criticism, but then you would be criticizing human nature. There are probably thrice as many synonyms for bad as there are for good. But these things have to be done, as when one reads a compendium of reviews and you evaluate the negatives pointed out by those critics, you can then weigh the pros and the cons and decide if the work is worthy of your time.

That's when I make the decision that I'm not doing something bad by critiquing a work. Then I go back home to edit, and post.
*phew* Weight off my shoulders! Thanks for listening..

--->>>Cue (I seriously tried not to look. I really did!!)

GUEST POST: Let them die, Nobody cares.

Woke up to a mail from an aggrieved alumnus of Federal Government College, Ilorin. Pretty sickening, this. Anyway, read and spread.

"I witnessed what can only be described as the height of the display of irresponsibility, negligence of duty, and exhibition of inhumane behaviour as Federal Government Colleges resumed. The unity schools called off the strike for reasons best known to them and fixed the resumption date to be 19th October 2014. The students of Federal Government College Ilorin, had to do their registration by the school gate outside the school with only a few tents around, and rather consternatingly; there was a single table for the registration of all the students -- as against the usual 3-4 tables which would have made registration easier and faster.

Some students were registered while numerous others, including some who got to the school gate around 2:30pm were not registered. It got heated when the School said it had closed registration for the day at 6:00pm and told students who were yet to be registered to go back home. It all appeared like a joke till it turned out to be not; the "normal" process and procedure obtainable since my days in the school was to allow students go in their hostels and complete their registration the next day. This wasn't the case this time, for all we were told was "it is the Principal's order".

Parents pleaded for hours before rain of curses in the Nigerian way began. Some staff smuggled their wards into the school. Some parents took their wards back home or at least where they can pass the night. Students from far North and far South who came with no parents around were begging for mercy but there we stood when the Principal and other "Important staff" of the school drove off to their homes or wherever they were headed. Persistent call from home forced me to leave to school gate leaving the "Secondary students" in the hands of God around 9:00pm.

The rationale behind this decision i wouldn't know; a situation where students were forced to sleep outside under harsh conditions and also considering the state of security of the Nation!

The Principal owes these students duty of care as without them what will she be "Principalling" over.
Issues like this ought to be investigated, questioned and also discussed at PTA meetings but no, everybody is concerned about how funds will be generated and spent. I just hope and pray those children are safe and sound. Those who care are powerless and those with power, do not care."
--->>>Babalola Larthieph.

PS: There's little I can do about occurrences like this, as I'm only a student myself...but something has to be done. If you can do more than I have, please do. You'll be helping the country.

--->>>Cue (concerned citizen)

WHEN IS IT NIGHT

It is never, at any point in time, totally dark the world over. This is the case because the earth revolves around the Sun, while it (the earth) spins on its axis; which is defined as an imaginary line running from North pole to South pole. The earth being a spherical entity, it works out that one half of it (the earth) faces the Sun and is consequently illuminated while the other half, hidden from the Sun is dark. Day and Night they call these two phases. Pretty simple, I think.

However, a little something gives my earth palpitations (see what I did there?). It's something I think about when I retire to my bed and can't fall asleep. It's a nonsense thought I know, but I just need some clarification. There are some caveats, but basically, when its bright, its day and when its dark its night.

Before noon, its morning. After noon, as the name suggests; is afternoon. Now what evening entails is sort of vaguely defined as the period between dusk and when it gets dark. Night however, is very fucked up. When I call a girl up around, say, 8pm..its still 'Good evening'. Just before midnight nko? Say, 11pm. How do you greet someone around that time? Good night doesn't sound right.

When its 1am, its morning already. Is there a night? Yes? When does it begin and when does it end. Idle thoughts on my end. Dunno what the main feature of the week will be, as school is back in session -- but I'll come up with something good; as is my prerogative.

Until then. Be excellent!

--->>>Cue (..dreaming of what could be)

Agbaya?

Morning peeps. This past week, I gallantly battled, and thankfully defeated a rather serious medical condition; the like of which I'd hitherto not had the distinct displeasure of facing. Its something like a boil, but not quite -- as it began with ominous pain in my eye, then quickly metamorphosed into a red eye, a swollen eyelid, and a rather hefty bag below my right eye. It fucking looked like I had a scrotum under my eye. Which soiled my mood and made me miserable. Apollo? I wouldn't wish that thing on my enemy.

At the beginning, I stated that I have a keen interest in noticing things that aren't there to be noticed. I was in a bar on Saturday, drinking coke (Lol) when the conversation of the girls occupying the adjacent booth drifted to the porn they found on their uncle's phone. They called him agbaya. Agbalagba dey watch bluefilm, you dey call am agbaya -- its called 'adult movie' for a reason, I think.

I'll do a review of a book authored by a Nigerian this week. Its gonna be legendary. Keep those fingers crossed. In the meantime, be brilliant.

Till then.

---->>>>Cue (I am looking for that shawty...)

VALUE FOR MONEY

The human mind is so infinitely complex; its mere location is disputable. Some point to their heads when saying "have you lost your mind", others point to their hearts when saying "keep me in mind". Wherever its location, there's no disputing the fact that it harbours all feelings and emotions.

Greed, hurt, satisfaction, love, contentment and all sort of human emotion are hard to quantify; as there's no metric to gauge them by -- which all adds up to make psychology an interesting study.

There are many facets to happiness -- the most sought after of human emotions. Vengeance, morose delectation, masochism, opulence etc are all capable of giving varying degrees of happiness to different people. Today, I'm gonna talk about satisfaction, which I define as the gratification of a desire/want.

Not too long ago, in a not-so-weird father-son bonding exercise, I went shopping with my daddy. I rolled the cart and picked up some stuff. When we got to the nutrition section, i picked two 500g sachets of Milo when someone said that had automatically qualified me for a raffle draw and i would stand the chance to win a car, a laptop, a tablet and other assorted debaucheries. Cue the disappointment when I drew a paper revealing I'd won a pen. A fucking pen! All that money and I only have a 20naira pen!! When I left the store,I was a tad unhappy.

So in the evening, while hanging with friends, I brought the issue up. One of them said, "...but you still have your Milo. Whatever you were going to win with the coupon is just a bonus." I never thought of it that way. That shit transcends tea peeps! Sometimes in life, you set a goal. Along the line, there's an opportunity to achieve more than the set goal (and you take your eyes off the prize a little). When in the end, you end up with 'just' the goal (& not the bonus), you should be satisfied that the primary aim was accomplished.

Also, when a seller accepts the price I offer, I feel I should have made a lower offer. But hey, as long as you get value for your money, be happy.

Thoughts?

      --->>>Cue (imperfect me)

STORY OF FOUR

"This is a story about four people named EVERYBODY, SOMEBODY, ANYBODY & NOBODY. There was an important assignment to be done. EVERYBODY was sure SOMEBODY would do it. ANYBODY could've done it, but NOBODY did it. SOMEBODY got angry about it because it was EVERYBODY's duty. EVERYBODY thought ANYBODY could do it, but NOBODY realized that SOMEBODY wouldn't do it. In the end; EVERYBODY blamed SOMEBODY when NOBODY did what ANYBODY could have done."

There's a tonne of 'bodys' in there. Asides that, I must say that this isn't my idea. I'm not that smart. I was going through my secondary school notes and jotters when I saw it on the back pages of my Further-Maths note. Unfortunately, the younger version of Cue didn't know to quote the source. Apologies to the author.

On a much chipper note, this is one piece that fits snuggly into the Zeitgeist. The piece is self-explanatory.

Dinner is in the oven. I'm going to bed.

          ---->>>>Cue (...in the early nineties, that was the beginning..)

Return of The King

You ever watched those lovely movie adaptations of the books by Mr J.R.R Tolkien? The third was 'Return of The King' I think. I know the story has very little correlation with my 'return' coz technically; i never left -- but a little braggadocio never killed anybody. While making inroads into my ram meat,  I would open my blog and worry about you people. What have your eyes been reading? How has Sallah been? Good, I bet.
To substance: after that brief recess, I must say 'apologies' like they do in that Spartacus movie for not keeping my promise of posting throughout the week that just left us to never return. Unreserved apology? No sir. I only missed Friday which translates to 20% of the target. 80% is a bloody good grade in any exam. Apologies!
I went swimming today (first time in my life). Since we're friends, I'm gonna be upfront with you. When I was in the changing room, I felt good about my physique & shape -- until I had to approach the pool. Cold shrinks penii; FACT! And it was windy. Still, when I saw how 'little' heftier guys were, I chuckled, looked down, gave myself a mental high five, and walked majestically to the pool. Now, how to get the water out of my ears!
That's that for today/tonight. Tomorrow, I'll post one of my write ups. Its been a while.

          ---->>>>Cue (is penii even a word?!)

Barka de Sallah

It would be totally remiss of me to not wish you a merry, happy Sallah, so I'm going to wish you people a merry, happy Sallah. Full gist after/during the celebrations.
Enjoy!

---->>>>Cue (Merry, Happy Sallah)

Quickie

Not even Lucifer's acolytes can derail my aim of achieving a perfect week, blogically speaking. Its been a crazy day. I saw a ram that, had it been a cow, I still would've thought it 'big'. I also went home. Not home as in, home home, but home as in hometown home. I have to admit it was good to see my people.
I would post something concrete, but when I'm tired, my brain functions at a quarter of its normal capacity. Plus, my battery is running low. Plus, the journey is taking its toll. I'll make it up to you people.        Still, it feels good to fulfill my promise to blog every single day of this week. Now I'll grab a little sleep. Odàáro..

---->>>>Cue (Baby, I wanna love you...I wanna be with you, both night and day..)

I LOVE AMERICA

"Now listen here mister. We got no way of understanding this world. We got about as much sense of it as a bird flying in the sky. Now there's a lot that bird don't know; but the world is happening around him just the same..."
-->>Forrest Bondurant (Lawless)

You just love some things. Some can be explained: your love for/of self, parents, siblings, friends. Some are understandable: your love of/for your girlfriend, food. Some are tolerable: the love you have for 'your' football team, masturbation, a particular soap opera. Some are brow-raisingly questionable: like your love of violent porn, older women and other peculiar fetishes. And then there's stuff you love without a discernible reason. My friend, 'Lekan, loves drinking water straight from the bottle and he can't quite explain why.
Me? I've never been to the country, but I love America. I love their egotistical way of referring to a championship that, exclusively involves teams within the country as a 'World Series'. I love the arrogance etched on the faces of their athletes at the Olympics. I love the fact that people like Kim Kardashian make it big in America. I love Harvard. I love their reverence of their heroes. The sheer intensity of their diversity is astonishing (even black people have blue eyes) -- I love that as well. I love how they value convenience (have you been in a Ford?). I love Hollywood, and a great many of its movies. I love the cheap food. I adore Johnny Depp and Daniel Day-Lewis. I love so many things about America.
But I'm not from America, and I'm not in anyway downcast about it. I used to be sha. A friend's dad would say "..we didn't come to a wrong world, we only came to the wrong country". That line still cracks me up when it comes to mind.
Being a Nigerian is a really big challenge as its hard for a man to rise, whose qualities are thwarted by poverty. Make we no lie ourselves, poverty pervades the land. Why that is, is anybody's guess.
Like that man said, sometimes I really do wonder if Providence could've made me an American -- but it is what it is. I'm not gonna cry foul at the ways of my country, I'm not even gonna complain. I think I'm Nigerian for a reason. The reason, I do not know just yet, but I like to think its to effect a positive change or two around here.
My love for my country is borderline xenophobic. Walai I don't know why that is. I guess I have as much sense of it as a bird flying in the sky. I know that wishes aren't horses, but if mine count for anything, I wish that we somehow..somehow, surmount our many challenges.
Happy Birthday Nigeria.

---->>>>Captaincue (...and uphold her honour and glory...)