Tavis Smiley Interviews Maxwell

End of Year One!

RA's NEPA

For those of you unfamiliar with the acronyms above... RA (Roosevelt Academy), NEPA (National Electric Power Authority)....the organization that distributes electricity in Nigeria.
Ok, my point.........Recently, at RA we had this switch over to CampusNet, which sort of supplies the various campus sites with internet.....at they are becoming as unreliable as NEPA. Yesterday, the internet was down from like 10pm till this morning, you can't imagine the frustration. Unfortunately, we don't have a 24/7 public library facility here in Middelburg...so it's not a matter I'll just go by the library. It' a matter of I'm doomed and that's a fact! .....When I came to my laptop and saw my Skype icon whirling around.....the Nigerian in me screamed NEPA!
Of course, there are other unreliable happenings in one's daily life, but nothing can surpass our dependency on light(electricity) and now..Internet. You have to take the necessary precautions, don't buy so much fresh food, cos the "light" is not consistent....Download your PDF articles cos the internet is not consistent.
Aaah, I just had this thought when I was forced to go to bed due to the internet problem. I'm up surprisingly early today.....Like when you have to wake up at a crazy hour of the night to check if there's light so you can charge your phone.
Some amusing stuff I found while looking for the meaning of the NEPA acronym....It's not that I didn't know what it meant I just wasn't sure what the first "N" stood for...was it Nigeria or National......well, I found out they have changed their name to PHCN(Power Holding Company of Nigeria)........you have to love the Nigerian who came up with the variant meaning for PHCN (Problem Has Changed Name) or (Please Hold Candles in Nigeria).
Thanks to the Wikipedia article :) ....what's life without Wikipedia.

Week 14 Happenings

I'm back......I'm really horrible at being consistent with this blog, I try my best. This past week was filled with "free days" which have been anything but free. I basically only had classes on Monday. But the programme for this week we've come into haunted me the whole time. I have a Dutch Listening Exam later this evening, Urban Geo presentation, Dutch Grammar and Vocab Exam on Tommorow....then Wednesday is "free"...Thursday an Anthropology & Qualitative Methods Presentation, Friday a Qualitative Methods & Urban Geo Exam. WOW!

I just finished doing the reading for my Anthropology presentation on Thursday....It's absolutely amazing and really makes one question the works of anthropologists that have sort of now gained canon status in the field of Anthropology. The proposition for the presentation is as follows "Bronislaw Malinowski's Argonauts of the Western Pacific and Margaret Mead's Coming Of Age in Samoa should no longer be considered 'classic' ethnographies".

In preparation for this, Derek Freeman author of "The Fateful Hoaxing of Margaret Mead" which is a criticism on Mead's work in Samoa was read......I actually was pretty surprised but then to an extent I could totally understand why such and such happened...Well, basically what he says it..and what my initial perception of Coming of Age in Samoa was the manner in which Samoan people were portrayed....you know the typical island people....loving life, living so "pacific" (I'm trying to play on words here....living extremely peaceful lives) free all things negative.....The exoticised preconception of islanders was exactly what was brought to the table...Somehow, it made one question...maybe this was actually how it was in the 1920's before the society was destroyed by western civilization.

Before even reading Freeman's article I was like.. “Well, duh..he's doing his research 40 years later...of course things have changed”. Only to delve deeper into the reading and discover how Mead's informant pulled one really expensive joke on her....a joke that cost the Samoan girls a view that all of us gullible-consumers-of-Anthropological-finding's have about Samoan adolescent girls. Freeman was lucky to meet up with one of Mead's key informants who was at the time of his own research now an octogenarian....She recollected..and told on how she and her fellow girls would fabulate stories to this young naive American Anthropologist(Margaret Mead).....the Samoan girls would pinch themselves in-between their stories making sure they were concise with the cooked up tales of how they met up with the boys and had passionate sex under the palm trees. Aaah, how romantic! Mead’s conclusion was that unlike American adolescent, Islanders were given the freedom of promiscuity, it was something they were not chided for as it part of the life for a teenager on the Island. A premise that became so believable in the West.

It was eye-opening...how we are so quick to making a reality or lack thereof out of our pre-conceptions.....the other day we read this article of the "Nacirema People"....without doing any background research and possessing this preconceived idea that any article dealt with in Anthropology class has to be about some foreign culture...that even when the article turns out to be something so un-alien to us...we are blinded by our prejudice.....In a sense you could kind of notice the over-exoticisation of that Nacirema text...I was thinking to myself...Where on earth are this people from? With all these funky shrines, rituals and all.

Back to Malinowski...the founding father of Anthropology....who was conradesque in his approach to native people, had little interest in his informants....basically he wasn't in the right state of mind during his research about the New-Guinean people. After his death, the Diary which he kept during his fieldwork was published...revealing the other side of this almighty “wow” father of Anthropology. The other side which is purely human but how un-academic and un-ethnographic of him...to add pepper and salt to his observations or as he put it "dress-up" his observations. But to some extent I guess, having had some amateur experience with participant observation myself...you add the occasional relishing here and there to make the story "sweeter" and ultimately fulfil the purpose of that preconceived opinion of the reader....Unknown to me then..even Malinowski himself did that. The bottom-line here is be critical of what you read, even the most admired revolutionary Academic made stuff up or was to gullible to decipher the real from the made-up.

It's amazing..how much things I've read this past week always go back to either Conrad or Achebe...It's incredible!

Well, in between reading for presentations and what not..I've been having constructive discussions with my housemate and ultimate-distractor Tassiana. I think it's amazing to have people around you, who add to your knowledge and view of the world in one way or another. We basically had an impromptu history lesson the other day...well we kind of have impromptu lessons everyday. It all started with an innocent Chimamanda Adichie (pictured right with her novel "Half of the Yellow Sun") speech on youtube...and ended with the Nigeria-Biafra war documentary "No Victor No Vanquished" and a Samora Machel speech(subtitled ofcourse!)

The Rustic Look

My mind goes straightaway to Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married when I look at this rustic furniture. It looks like the furniture in the lodge on the top of the mountain where the couples went to reevaluate their marriage. Something about the arrangement of the logs just appeals to me, it not only looks like a sturdy alignment of pieces that you’ll definitely want to be dozing off in but it sure does bring the outdoors inside. The scent of the wood and the weight of the bed might be something to worry about later. Nonetheless, it is one piece of furniture that would certainly add a tinge of nature to the bedroom, and who wouldn’t want that.

Untitled

I’ve been playing safe for all these years,
Preventing nature from taking her course.
Lately, it’s been kind of bothering me.
I feel like I am ready to take that step,
To make that commitment,
To give that sacrifice.
They say it’s life-changing
And that’s exactly what I need,
Someone to change my perspective,
To make me more responsible.
I promise to cope with all the responsibilities
You come with, dear unborn child.

See, I’m writing this
In anticipation of conceiving you.
In the event of my demise,
I want you to know that you were always loved by me.
Before your conception, I envied other mothers.
I need you to remold my being.
My friends are not keen on me having you
They say I am not ready
They say I should explore the world first
They say you are time-consuming and expensive to maintain
But I don’t care what people say.
For you will grow on me, not them.

My dear child, I will nurture you like no mother can.
You will be my precious jewel.
I will give you perfect comfort,
Shelter you from the rain.
I will not let you grow astray.
Beware of the worldly, dear child.
They will look down on you
They will scorn you,
They will judge you without knowing you
Remember, you are your mother’s child.
Even if the rest don’t show you love
You know where my heart is.

I will adore you and adorn you with gold.
I will baptize you in the Jordan.
I will feed you fruit from the tree of life.
You will be different from the rest.
Take pride in your difference
You are pure,
Born of the virgin.
You will suffer under the eyes of unbelievers
Make note dear child.
For you are the beloved of the all-knowing one
You are his child too
So don’t ever wander.

Your conception was from love
And your birth will be divine.
For these months to come,
I will crave all sorts
Just for your nourishment.
I wait, anxiously
Feeling my bulge as the months go by,
Already admiring the creation of the Almighty.
I pray to him for strength, courage and wisdom,
As I will singlehandedly bring you up,
I will teach you to walk in his light.
In preparation for your coming,
I will bathe in the Euphrates,
I will cleanse with vinegar from the Orient.

This labour shall not be in vain.
And at your birth you will bring forth the revelation,
You will redefine this woman.

Weekend with Songz and Holiday

The Show
Wow.....that one hell of a weekend! I don't even know where to begin. I was going to write this yesterday but then I was too tired. So, Friday was absolutely amazing....super spectacular....we (my housemate and I)went to see Trey Songz and J.Holiday perform at The Sand in Amsterdam. I had a Trey Songz phase right about the period when his album Trey Day came out, after that he didn't really have anything out that was worth me listening too...ouch!..But I'll listen to Mr.Holiday anytime..just for the mere fact that he has an amazing voice and in a sense is more soulful than Trey. Ok, the essence here isn't to compare them, they are both amazing..let's just put it like that. But, whose performance did I enjoy more? I'd have to go for Holiday....cos I knew all the songs he performed..so it was more fun being able to sing/scream along...as for Trey half the time I was like ...huh? and in my head I'm like "what song is this?" but then some girl behind me was singing enthusiastically, I swear she knew the words to every single song Trey sang, even the ones that weren't his. I was actually pretty tired by the time the show started, so there were bits during the show, where I just totally zoned out. I have to say the DJ was soo amazing, it's like he was eavesdropping on us somedays ago, cos he played the exact songs we were listening to. Last Tuesday my housemate and I were reminiscing over the old days growing up with Channel O and we were playing our generation "old school" and this DJ played a bit of that and then like new stuff that we'd never in a thousand years get to hear in Middelburg....It's so surreal to see the difference in the Amsterdam and Middelburg youth....I know..duh? cos it's Amsterdam..but the difference is just too large, you almost can't take it in, it felt as though I was in some other different country...I was just wishing to take the Amsterdam crowd home with me to Middelburg.

The Wait
After what happened at the Giovanca show in Goes in February...we decided that this time around we'd be really cautious and make sure we know exactly when the train leaves for Middelburg, so we looked on the NS site and what not...and we saw that there was train to Middelburg after the Songz and Holiday show....but on getting to the station they tell us.."No, the next train to Middelburg is at 6 in the morning" And it's not even mid-night yet..We were like..WHAT?..No, on the site we saw that there was a train at 00:45..it was just crazy. So, then we thought..hmm, what do we do now? We decided to go see Amsterdam a bit....but it was tooo cold, so we sat in KFC...for abit...Oh my God!..what's it with Scotts and Amsterdam..the whole place was filled with Scottish people, all speaking their incomprehensible type of English. The last time I was in Amsterdam on a school trip ..this was back in '04...the whole place was filled with Scottish people too. Anywayz,....so we couldn't stand the cold any longer and decided to do our journey in bits..so we hopped on a train to Rotterdam.....The train was warm...but smelt like dog....on getting to Rotterdam station..we were just hoping there would be a warm wachtruimt where we can spend the rest of our waiting time.....we saw a waiting room on the platform but the heaters weren't working. So, then we went into the station proper...and we followed this sign saying "lounge" and got into this building, it was warm and gezellig, so we sat down against the wall...and funny....we took out our dutch book and began revising some dutch. Then some lady comes in and tells us we weren't allowed to wait in here.....she sends us back into the cold....and then we had this brilliant idea....so we took refuge in a lift.....It's the best thing ever, if you're stranded at a cold train station...just close yourself off in the lift...it's closed and warm.....Honestly, it kinda looked like a scene in Pursuit of Happyness....we just sat with our backs on the wall, motionless and half-dead for God knows how long. Then someone was about coming into the lift...and we sprang up instantly and tried to look seemlingly normal. It was about time we got out ...and then the madness began...just to buy time....boredom forced us to be creative. But we were so tired...that half the time we were talking with our eyes closed...OK after awhile we got crazy and instead of talking we decided to sing...so it was like the scrubs episode with the woman who had the accident and heard everything by way of songs. Now, the funniest thing happens.....apparently..we were yet again in an area that wasn't meant for regular people...so, in the middle of our boredom-meets-creative Opera...some NS worker comes in...and the dude must have been standing by the see-through door for God knows how long, but by the time the door opened...we also opened our eyes....only to hear the guy send us out into the cold cold station. We had killed almost 5 hours now...and our train to Roosendaal was leaving in like 10 minutes...so we hoped into it...aaahh the warmth. And, you'd think our misery ended there.....but Noo...on getting to Roosendaal...the train tracks were been repaired so there was no connecting train to Middelburg..we had to take a bus from Roosendaal to Kruingen-Yerseke...but not after waiting in the cold cold Roosendaal station. By the time we got to Kruingen-Yerseke...and hopped into the train to Middelburg...we were extremely exhausted and slept the whole ride through...amazing that we woke up just in time. The walk from the station to our dorm was zombie-like, all that was in our heads was food and bed ....and also we kept saying....Were Mr Songz and Holiday worth all this?

The Rest
We had some breakfast....some really hard pizza..LOL...and then it was bed time. I'll never take the gezelligness of my room for granted after this whole 'ordeal'.....Saturday night...was soo productive...surprisingly productive...partly because I wasn't able to use my laptop...so it was just reading, reading, reading relevant school related stuff until I gave up at like 5am in the morning. Sunday was pretty chill....made some decent lunch and watched EastEnders....been awhile since I watched it last. And after EastEnders it was back to work....then a No1 Ladies Detective Agency break....gosh...How amazing is Jill Scott? ....the show is just gosh...so good I can't even describe how good it is......it left my housemate in tears. You kind of get this nostalgic feeling watching Ladies Detective Agency.....so I definitely recommend it to everyone...it comes on BBC2 at 10pm Holland time..only on Sundays. It's filled with a brilliant cast. ...WOW...never written so much! Anywayz..so now I'm off to bed...and hopefully off to starting a brilliant week!...Ooh yes...I have to choose my courses for the next semester this week.....Hmm....I think I might take the Rhetoric course in the Fall...mainly because I want to take the 300 Creative Writing course...so I can up my writing game.

Poetic Genius - Sekou Tha Misfit

Oh my gosh.....where do I begin? What an absolutely transcending performance. Gosh, this is one of those clips that when you watch it, you get lost for words...just dumbfounded by the profuse magnificence of the content. I've always admired his works, the manner in which he can talk about the real grim life and still manage to add a tinge of humour into it. I heard pieces of "Lesson" sometime ago, the little piece I heard was so powerful and I was just dying to hear the whole thing, until I came across it yesterday. Enough said, you see for yourself and I assure you, this poem is so real that it would resonate within you emotionally. You can almost hear some of the audience catching the spirit at points in the performance.

His poem "Africa" is also an amazing one. I really admire him for bringing his personal experiences into the mic, unlike some poets who are amazing at their craft but sometimes their content is rather abstract and arbitrary. Like one of my favourite pieces from Saul Williams is "Children of the Night"....he's a master at being so elaborate with imagery that at times the message of the poem is lost, or at least I find it difficult to understand. The reason I really love "Children of the Night" is mainly because of the way he performs it, but now then listening to Sekou makes Saul sound a little mechanical and lacking emotion while performing. Gosh, all Sekou's poems are really dope and sizzling. Ooh, I have to warn you....this can make you really hooked....it's like now I have to have my dosage of fiery hot spoken word in order to begin my day.

Lionel Richie on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross

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And It's Supposed to Be Love

It's quite an old video now.....but I absolutely love Ayo's music ...and something about this song makes it really catchy, its the kind of song that you'll just start humming its tune a long while after listening to it. The funny thing is, I never really payed close attention to the lyrical content cos the melody was so catchy. It was just recently, that I really listened to it and figured out she was singing about domestic violence. Rihanna should do a cover to this song. lol...ok, that's just being mean. But I'm really exited though, cos I'll be going to see Ayo perform in Amsterdam sometime in April.

Holiday is coming, No more Morning Bells

no more teachers whip,
good-bye teachers,
good-bye scholars,
I am going on my jolly holiday.
on my jolly holiday.

Reminiscing the good old Froebel days......Us, dressed in purple, like little soldiers -marching. Except we only sang this anticipating the big two - three week'ish holiday. You'd dare to call this a holiday now,...no one ever does anyway. It's just a damn break....a break from the school building. I'm soo looking forward to the break....Any kind of break would suffice for now, I don't really care how long the break is. Well, I'll be happy just as long as it's longer than the usual weekend.
Okaayy..my mouse just died.....my external mouse (haha...for a second you thought I had a pet mouse) This is soo annoying, I hate using the one on the laptop it strains my fingers. ;) This would have to be short then I can't really function on the laptop without my external mouse....one of the reasons I'm so glad I'm one day away from the break..I would have lost it if I were in the middle of researching for an essay and this happened, I'd go crazy... pull-the-locks-out-of-my-head crazy. Knowing me, I'd probably even start crying....do you ever have that, when you are super stressed, tensed up and all.....and then some little thing that you really depend on goes bezerk.....you really don't know what to do and you just burst out crying and wallow in self-pity for a bit........and the funny thing is..there's always a really simple solution to your problem, but in the midst of all that built-up frustration you can't even think straight anymore..and after letting it all out by crying you start thinking right......aaahhh blessed memories. Anywayz, I've just wrapped up my the revision for my anthropology exam at 11am. I'm off to bed now. Wish me Luck!

What's your fragrance?

I know it can be hard shopping for gifts, but the somehow when you are out of options the safest thing to get is some perfume or cologne.....cos everyone loves to smell good, right? When you've made that decision, the hard part is choosing the right scent.....there's nothing better than perfume testing..you have to be careful though. I can sometimes be clumsy, so I take extra caution when in a perfumery with lovely delicate perfume bottles. Scent.net is a new site focused on ..you guessed it scents...take a look at the site by clicking this link -->Scent As far as picking scents I think I love the more yummy or sweet scents as they call it....chocolate, caramel, vanilla....but spicy is nice too..like cinnamon but I always end up getting flowery or fruity scented perfumes as gifts.

Let's Take A Long Walk

If you've not realized already.....this is my platform for de-stressing. It's funny how the days go by so fast, I was about to write ..How can a Tuesday be so stressful, when the week hasn't fully begun? But then I looked at the little thing on the bottom right of my screen and it tells me, it's already Thursday. WOW..that went super fast..In no time I would be back home in Huissen.
I've realized what adds to this stress, I know I'm making it sound bigger than it actually is....what I'm trying to say is that..Middelburg is soo small and limited..that you don't see more than you've already seen. The space is soo small and can frustrate the hell out of you when you are having one of those days when things don't go your way. ....and tomorrow can't come soon enough.

So, Tuesday after class....was worship night organized by yours truly...There was such a big turn out the last time and honest to God..I wasn't expecting there to be many people this time around, just because I realized the time-period this is..paper deadlines, mid-term exams and the like. We had a great time though, the few people that showed up..it was relaxing....just the thing I needed.
After the worship...I decided to take a long walk....just walk..somewhere..So I did..and it was so relaxing...it was a bit cold but that didn't stop me from discovering some new areas of the not so limited Middelburg....I discovered... well, there's more to Middelburg than the Centrum and the dorm locations...I walked around for about an hour, I could always see the time on our 'Big Ben'.

Wednesday....really..just ran across without me even noticing...I was the time-keeper for one of the debating rounds of the university college debating tournament. In case you are wondering, No...debating is not my thing...I ended up there because I was performing a favour for my housemate, who is a debate enthusiast and was among the organizing team of the whole event today. They didn't have anyone to do the time-keeping, so I thought...hmmm...at this time on a Wednesday..I'll probably be in bed...so it was a good way to get me up and start my Wednesday earlier than usual. So, what were the debates about, you ask? ...hmmm...I was soo busy frantically concentrating at the time, that all the debaters were saying sounded like jabberwocky to me....OK...I would have to be a complete retard to have absolutely no clue of what they were talking about...but it was something surrounding governments bailing out banks and a lot of economic jargon.

oooh...I'm listening to Arrow Jazz FM....."put your money where your ear is" ...How corny?
"Dit is Arrow Jazz FM, Cool Funky Jazz” says the guy on the radio......Radio?..on the Online Radio :).......I'm doing it again...........of course,...digressing is my thing...it's an art...like everything else ,I do it exceptionally well. ....like everything else meaning like my salads :)
Enough with these smileys...you probably didn't even notice them, but I'm so used to instant messaging that I use the colon and bracket to express my facial gesture at that moment the sentence was written. :) ..I also used to, thank God I stopped...I used to write LOL..in the middle of my sentences. There's some stagnant water outside by my window..and smells so rank...if this was the tropics I'd be sick with Malaria by now... It's funny how I almost considered chilling my salad overnight by my window. What's this sudden obsession with salad?

Busy Bee

Ooh gosh..I think I blog mostly when I'm stressed and have a lot of things to do, I kind of need to deviate from anything work related. So here I am...blogging. It's not like I have anything much to say, in fact what I really had in mind to say it that...I will post an update on the Giovanca concert...which was amazing....pictures & videos...and the whole adventure in Goes. I'm probably going to do that friday evening, because this week is really tight. I've always thought of Wednesdays as my FREEE day...the day I can sleep in....but wednesdays this semester have been filled with meetings here and there. But, im not complaining it's nice being busy and having 'work' to do. In the beginning of the semester there wasn't much to do..or so I thought. Anywayz, I have an anthropology presentation to round off. Ta ta for now!

Thank God It's Friday!

It's 2:15AM...Just got back to my room....Finally, finished the Interview transcript and evaluation. I'm going to go to bed now, and I'll hopefully get up in time for 8:45 class tomorrow. Yeah, this is the worse part of my schedule....I end Thursday with Qualitative Methods class from 16:00- 18:00 ...and start early Friday morning with Qualitative Methods from 08:45 -10:45.

BED TIME.....

Update on Me (I couldn't come up with a catchier heading)

Wow...I can't believe a week has almost gone by since I last posted. So, what have I been up to? A lot, so much that I can't even put into words. Today, has probably been the most busy day of this semester. I've been up, down, and sideways today.....went to Vlissingen (1)(yes Daniel, Vlissingen)to do some participant observation in a Mosque. Which went really well, chilled a bit at my fellow anthropologist place and had very healthy discussions...Diets, Eating Healthy, Exercising and the likes. Apparently, consuming little amounts of food at short intervals happens to be the most effective and healthy way of eating.

Anywayz, straight after that, I did the write up, it's hard to squeeze one hour's observation of into 750 words....but I tried my best to. After Anthropology I had to deal with Qualitative Methods....an Interview on 'Intimate Relations'.....the subject matter alone would frighten volunteer interviewees...but we were blessed with a chatty interviewee who wasn't afraid to open up to us and we had a blast....and ehmm Always make sure your voice recorder has working batteries, ours died half way into the interview..hopefully our professor isn't reading this....but you see we had another fully charged voice recorder..but that was definitely a lesson learned. Experience is the best teacher, they say. Wow,...hats off to the journalist people or whoever types out interview transcripts. It is one frustrating and super time consuming job. Rewinding, pausing, rewinding...just hoping to write out the sentence correctly. I took 30minutes to write out an 8 minute conversation. Either our interviewee (can't mention name..remember cos it's highly confidential)talks really fast or I listen and type really slow. But , all this is giving me more reason to crave for the weekend.

As you probably might have already deduced nothing goes on in Middelburg..and this is unfortunately not a generalization. We have our little bar/club place thingy the Barrel....but that place would drive you insane...you see Tuesday nights hypothetically are the days you want to release stress...stress that's built up from starting the week with so much to do. But when you get there, you only end up becoming more depressed and stressed out. I was really depressed the morning of my birthday, haha.....again I was doing my Qualitative Methods assignment when the clock struck 12midnight...and it was only until 0:11 ..that I realized "Oh my God, I'm 19"..well lol..it's not like I turn 19 immediately...I was born in the evening of the 11th. Anywayz, my point here was....I went to Barrel...and got soo disappointed because for the 1hour I was there, I was only feeling the last song. So, in conclusion..Middelburg is boring. Hence, this Saturday I would reunite with my francophone sisters (hopefully Ms. NA can make it)...and ehmm..(2)Anglo/Franco/Luso -Phone Africa would be represented at the Giovanca concert in Goes on Saturday.

Giovanca is ammaaaazzzing. I only heard her music recently, and I was completely blown away.. If you like Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, India Arie, Adele, Ledisi...you know them neo-soul artists you would definitely..without a doubt like Giovanca's music. She's the first dutch artist that I've bothered to listen to, she & Sabrina Starke.."Foolish" is my jam.

Blogging is gradually becoming therapeutic for me, I need to do some stress release. My AIS stress-ball isn't exactly helping, it keeps falling off the table and making so much noise on the floor. Which reminds me..if you live in House 12 and are reading this...which is very unlikely..but I would say this anywayz...can you please return the vacuum cleaner to a place that can be visible to everyone i.e like somewhere that isn't your room. Yours truly needs to vacuum her room asap, these floors attract dust like vaselined shoes attract sand.

Vaselined Shoes????..Ok...when I was in secondary school in Nigeria, you had to wear black shoes, and the ones I had were kinda suede material...it was hard to clean them because they ended up looking dull if you used water on them....so in the mornings I would dab a bit of vaseline on it..so that it would look shinny...but then after walking to school and walking about in the sand...and the end of the day..the sand would just stick on the vaseline on my shoes. After a while, I stopped using vaseline ...and resorted to Kerosine...it made it shine...but the smell was a downside...Good old Walbrook days.


* (1)My little brother Daniel, is fed up of hearing about Vlissingen, he got traumatized after driving to Middelburg on two occasions...he's seen too much Vlissingen on the highway...Ok Daniel...here's a new one...GOES!
* (2)...Do you ever get tempted to say..Anglosaxophone...like you know Saxophone the musical instrument. haha...It was only recently that I heard of the term Lusophone...It never really occurred to me what Portuguese speaking colonies were called.


It's just me to digress while writing, I lose track of the point I was planning on making. There was a point to this. But somehow I get sidetracked....those were bits I wanted to put in..but it just didn't fit and it would confuse readers even more.

Should I have included an abstract for this blog post?

NAACP Image Awards

Yesterday was the 40th NAACP Image Awards which was hosted by Tyler Perry and Halle Berry. Tyler Perry has been talking about this for weeks now, from the videos and photos it seems like it was an event not to be missed. Jennifer Hudson paid tribute to Mohammed Ali with her rendition of "The Impossible Dream". Beyonce opened the show with a performance of her 3rd single "Halo" - this is first live performance of this song, she took home a trophy for Outstanding Female Artist. Jennifer also won an award for Outstanding New Artist. Taraji Henson was also honored for best supporting actress for her role in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

If This Isn't Love - Jennifer Hudson

Happy Birthday To Me!!!

....gosh..I've been meaning to do this blog post since well...earlier today. Ok!...I'm 19 now. My last teen year. goshh. I'm really tired and sleepy right now.. Just watched the movie - Babel. I know, I know I'm just seeing it for the first time, cos right around the time it came out I was infatuated with Dreamgirls.....but wow..Babel is a brilliant movie..If you haven't seen it...go see it. You'll love it!...it's the kind of movie that when it ends....you really don't have anything else to say to the person beside you...you're all just in awe. It's funny how earlier today I was talking to my brother about movies...like I don't watch a movie just cos it's a movie and people say it's good. I have a purpose....it's either I have some affinity for the director or any of the actors...and when it's the actors...I'm only interested in seeing the parts of the movie that they are in...For example...Cry Freedom with Denzel Washington......the movie for me ended when Steve Biko(Denzel) died. Cadillac Records with Beyonce...I skipped the first 45mins or so..until Etta James(Beyonce) showed up. Smokin' Aces I only watched the bits with Alicia Keys. But I should learn how to watch movies from beginning to end....and there are a few movies that I've watched without actors that are familiar and I still loved them...Little Miss Sunshine for example ..and now Babel.
I did all my assignments for Thursday..yesterday..so I would be FREEEE on my birthday. LOL..I know the 11th of Feb is just a day like any other.....wait..a minute..It's not...That's why I took the day off from anything work-related. I slept in..until it was midday...then did my laundry...Oh my gosh...I've been meaning to do my laundry since the weekend..but it's like my housemates read my mind...anytime I'm thinking to myself .."ok, time to do laundry"...the next thing I hear is someone shoving clothes into the washing machine..and then after that I probably have to leave for class or it's too late to wash. But today was my day! so...I got to do my laundry!!
Okkkies...having a slanting ceiling actually isn't such a bad thing..except when you wake up on that side and hit your head against the ceiling...which has happened to me only once by the way. I recently found a good use for it.......you know how sometimes you have to read in bed....and it's soo stressful cos your hands hurt while holding the pages up and turning...well....if you have a slanted ceiling you can use it to your advantage. I was reading for my geography class, and I realised at some point that my papers where touching the ceiling, so it dawned on me..how about I just pin it to the ceiling, cos it takes about 8-10 mins to read a page, so I got my pins out and stuck the my sheets to the ceiling so you can fold your arms and just look up to read, when you're done with the page, you flip it and pin it. I swear it was a eureka moment..so I had to get out my camera and take this shot. ...OK! I have to go to bed now.....
I really lost hope of today being a fun day...after the Barrel disaster(I'll dedicate another post to this matter) in the early hours of the 11th....but I'm actually feeling pretty happy...and well..all the gifts and cards and birthday wishes made my day. So big thanks to everyone who remembered and made me feel happy today!!!!



Speaking of Denzel playing Steve Biko....just a reminder to people who didn't know..but I was born on a rather historic day.

************* History Time*********************

On this day......19years ago. 11-02-1990
Nelson Mandela was freed after spending 27 years in prison.










*Feels like I a good time to insert Labi Siffre's 'Something Inside So Strong'


And Labi Siffre leads me to something else which I would talk about in the Barrel disaster post.

You Pulled Me Through - Jhud @ Grammys

Yesterday was the 51st Grammy Award ceremony. Jennifer Hudson got 4 nominations and 1 win in Best R&B Album catergory...for her self entitled debut album. When her family tragedy thing happened last November, I was listening to her album....and I thought to myself when she recovers she should definitely release this song as a single "You Pulled Me Through".....it's coincidental that she recorded a song like that without knowing how much it would mean to her in the months to come. It's great to see David Otunga by her side being a supportive fiance. I'm so happy she won that Grammy....and her performance was brave, she pulled through and as always sounded amazing. I got teary-eyed towards the end when she got emotional. She's such a strong woman. Her family up there will be so proud.

Beyonce to play Angela Davis ??

Bouchareb, working from a script by novelist Yasmina Khadra, has his lead actress firmly in mind: "I want Beyonce Knowles to play Angela Davis," he said.(Click the post title to read full article)

I'm a big fan of Beyonce the singer & Sasha the performer. However, I have a problem with Beyonce Knowles the actress, Beyonce herself admits she's sit a baby in the world of acting...but why does she always have be a singer in her movies...Goldmember, Fighting Temptations, Pink Panther, Dreamgirls & Cadillac Records. The only exception her newest movie Obsessed....one movie I can't wait to see...she plays the wife of chocolate fineness Idris Elba. I loved Dreamgirls..and I think Beyonce did a really great job with Deena Jones. Somehow, I wasn't really itching to see Cadillac Records...in the end I only watched the 15mins where Beyonce played Etta James, and she honestly did a superb job there too, but I'm just tired of seeing her doing similar roles every time. If she really does get this Angela Davis role..I'm sure she'll do an incredible job and well, we'll get to see a different side of her also.

....The whole Etta James dissing Beyonce thing was so uncalled for and random.

I'm Addicted to Your Chocolate High

No One Does it Like 'Tasia

OMG! She's soul on fire...this is another level. I love love love the way she expresses herself while singing, she definitely learnt that from Ms.Patti...but she's the number one diva in her own right too. Gosh....the performance gave me goosebumps. WOW..breathtaking, absolutely breathtaking.

Return of Jennifer Hudson

It's so good to see JHud back on the scene, and she still sounds as beautiful as ever. This is her first public appearance/performance since the murder of her mother, brother and nephew last November.

Cozy Homewares

Oh gosh, y'all know what it's like to clean shower curtains, you can't put those things in the washing machine, and cleaning them is such a task......but wait a minute imagine if those curtains were made of fabric not that plasticky material. With fabric shower curtains you can easily take them off the hook and straight into the washer. Explore reusable grocery bags where you can get fabric curtains and also everyone's going green nowadays right?.....you can also get your natural and resuable grocery bags, cooking aprons, and all that comes with free shipping.



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Back on the Grind

My first blog post since I got back to the marvelous city of Middelburg. Feels good to be back though, most especially back at my humble abode, Room K. I did the most idiotic thing, well see.. what really happened was my organizational skills that backfired on me. When I left home for Christmas, I decided to keep my room keys away in a safe place so I wouldn't lose them, but then I totally forgot about the keys until I got out of the train at Middelburg station. All I was thinking when we arrived at Middelburg was ...I'm just gonna up those stairs and lie in my bed, unpack in the morning, I was like hmmm, let me gets my keys out of my bag now and hold it...cos I anxious like that. Then I realized "OMG! I didn't take my keys!"...oh gosh, I was soo soo pissed with myself, I really didn't know what to do, so I quickly called my dad, and he was going to post it the following morning. I felt so homeless or should I say roomless....on getting to my house..I tried ringing up my housemates so they could at least let me into the common room, but no one seemed to be home. I was so frustrated that I just randomly hit any of the buttons until someone opened the door. I sat in our living room for a bit, then decided to go to the other campus, the only option I had was to crash at my Nigerian friends place until I got my keys.
Anywayz, I'm glad all that's over. I'm back in my room.....there's no place like my room lol...its just so cozy and somehow always warm...and of course there's bound to be some neo-soul playing in the background at any given time of the day....
I totally love all my courses this semester.....it's fun when your assignments are actually interesting, you know, like you don't get bored of the stuff you're reading.
Gosh....I had in mind to write so much this week but somehow the words aren't coming. Here's something, today's the 1st of februrary..LOL..It's the first of the month!!!!..get it? Chris Rock reference** ,anywayz that means 10 more days till yours truly turns 19.

Alicia Keys Performs at the Inaugural Ball

Beyonce sings for the First Couple

My Country 'Tis of Thee

Aretha Franklin a.k.a the Queen of Soul. What was that? She pulled an Amy Winehouse, remember that Winehouse 'Back to Black' performance back at the '07 Europe Music Awards..where you could hardly make out the words to the song. I was watching the inauguration live from MSNBC..and when I heard Aretha Franklin was going to perform I ran to see it on TV, gosh..I shouldn't have bothered, she sounded so terrible. If only Jennifer Hudson wasn't in mourning she would have done the song justice, or the incomparable Patti LaBelle..Now, Patti would have torn the place up, she would have given a befitting memorable performance. Oh well, Obama is president and that's all that matters.
Here's Aretha Franklin's Performance at the Inauguration. (with subtitles)

These Boots Were Made For Working

Whatever your line of work may be, we all need something of quality to protect our feet. I’m talking about boots that would give you the great cover you need, insulation when required and most importantly durability. If you want to be like the man in that old Irish proverb who has wears a boot so he doesn’t mind where he places his foot, you have to invest in boots of top quality....like the known brands – Timberland, CAT, Wolverine, Converse, etc. While reliability and durability are of top concern when considering a new pair of foot protectors, you want to make sure you can also pay your rent after you’ve purchased those oh so protective boots, that’s why WorkBoots USA provides you with boots (just the quality you need) but at very affordable prices. You have a whole catalogue of boots to choose from, be it boots for construction work, mining or even military boots, WorkBoots USA has got you covered. And if you live in the US, you also get free ground shipping on all orders over $50. If you need quality foot protection, they have you covered. Click this link ---> Boots and order those boots now. We don’t want any toes broken this year, do we?

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America The Beautiful

I'm so happy she got to perform at the pre-inaugural concert....She's being dying to sing for Obama, well she did it and sounded really beautiful. Come on, when has Beyonce failed to nail a performance. I love what she does at 2:15...Luthervandrossy

Last Week of Freedom

Wow.....I can't believe I've been at home for over a month now, It feels so good to get this much rest. Just sitting back and relaxing, blogging (writing blogs/ reading other blogs) like there is no tomorrow. I know all this might become rarities as the semester unfolds, but I would definitely try my best to keep y'all updated. Hey, I'm doing fine this month..right?
So, I'll be heading back to M-City next week....the wonderful land of Zeeuwse tranquility. And then ofcourse the work starts...I have pretty chill courses this semester - Intro to Socio-Cultural Anthropology, Qualitative Methods, Dutch and Human Geography. It'll be fun and kinda weird starting Dutch classes, after such a long haitus. Ugh, enough of thinking about the semester ahead, cos I always think up some dreary scary things and the semester turns out to be far far from what I imagine (at least once I've gotten over the scary parts) so I'm looking forward to an interesting and fun-filled second semester.
Anywayz, so my big sis turns 23 this week..I'll have to go celebrate with her and see how she's living it up Deventer style.

Acobay!

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Click the link above and register to find people who are just like you. We all know what it's like filling in all those forms...but all you need is your username and password..hassle-free.
Join in the fun, meet people who share something in common with you. Whether it's that book you would read a thousand times again, or that audi you are driving.



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Gabby's Dresses

Gabrielle Union hosted the BET Honors Award yesterday. She looked lovely in all the dresses she came out with.