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Thirty Over Thirty
Now playing: Celebration by Kool and the Gangšµ We did it guys! 30 days of writing. Do I feel a bit smug? Absolutely. On a hot afternoon in October, I said here that I would start a 30-day writing challenge. A couple of days in and I was already lamenting. Just what kind of problem had I gotten myself into? Who sent me? But through various trials and afflictions, I persisted and here I am finally at the finish line! Since that afternoon in October I have written about all kinds of things: this sensational one about why you’re still single, this one about pet peeves, this one about places…
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Of Mercury and Maradona
I.Ā āIād sit alone and watch your light my only friend through teenage nightsā¦ā Last night, sleep eluded me, so I stayed up looking for some good entertainment to watch. Past 1 am, I finally settled on watching Bohemian Rhapsody, the Queen biopic. In the dull moments of the movie, I would start to doze off but suddenly, Queen would start to sing electrifyingly: Donāt! Stop! Me! Now! and I would be jarred awake. As is the usual response after watching such a vivid and wonderful portrayal, I went on the internet to read about the legend, the very brilliant, very human lead singer of the band, Freddie Mercury. A complicated…
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Always On My Mind
“How many c’s are in ānecessaryā? But when will this coronavirus era end? I havenāt had shawarma in a while. It’s also been long since I heard Pretty Girls Rock by Keri Hilson. I should download it. What am I doing with my life? Whatās my matric number? 183.. What did I come to get in this room again…?” There are usually about 3,058 thoughts going on in my mind per minute. How did I come up with that number? I donāt think it matters. Until recently, I used to think that things like ‘practicing mindfulness’ and ‘meditation’ were for our most beloved, most serious professional friends, also known as…
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Ninety-Nine Questions (Not Really)
Day 22: 15 facts about myself Helloo Nigeria my peoples. Today I shall be answering a list of select questions about myself, and they are interspersed by a few cute pics I took a while ago. You know what our ancestor Nelson Mandela said: When life presents you with it, one must never turn down an opportunity to be vain. So here goes! 1. If I had one superpower what would it be? Teleportation/Telekinesis is where the life is at. If you had asked me when I was ten years old, I would have said flying, but now Iāve seen that life is not really like that. Flying for what?…
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20 10 20
There is a man at the end of Burna Boyās ’20 10 20′ track, at the 3:18 mark, who in the midst of the gunshots, the running, the chaos, shouts āEnd SARS!ā. I think about that man a lot. Last month, something happened. I remember it felt like we had all been simultaneously plugged into a system of consciousness. Unplanned, protests were springing up all over the country. All of a sudden, there were people organizing action in Kaduna, in Ogbomosho, in Port Harcourt. Despite the odds, people were donating money, food, offering free medical service and legal services. Nigerians from varying economic classes, Nigerians at home and abroad came…
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After the Reggae
ā¦play the blues… Let me first mention that the title of this post is in no way related to the content of the blog post, but it looks good as a heading, donāt you think? Itās been a hot minute guys. In the last post I talked about putting a pause on the writing challenge because of all the revolutionary things that were happening, or seemedĀ to beĀ happening, in my country. I did not, however, foresee the unprecedented trauma that we would collectively experience as a generation. It is the type I know will stay with me. Though I am still reeling from the events of last month, life must go…
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The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Hi guys. Sorry for my unexplained absence for the past couple of days. Thank you so much to everyone who has reached out to check if I was doing okay. I am so grateful. I’m taking a break from the writing challenge to contribute to the current conversation going on right row. In these past few days, I have experienced a roller-coaster of emotions, from feelings of overwhelming pride to intense sadness to burning passion. I know itās easy to stand back and look away from all that’s going on because nothing ever works in this country. But it appears that unplanned and unintended, the match has been lit, and…
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Venus in Lucozade
Day 18: Your zodiac/horoscope and if it fits While Iām not deep into horoscopes and interpreting planet positions, I enjoy reading about zodiac signs and associated personality traits. Astrology appeals to the human obsession with understanding ourselves. Whatās better than reading (mostly) good things about yourself? And the memes? Make Lucozade jokes all you want, you have to admit some of these astrology descriptions can be oddly specific and accurate. My birthday is February 10, so friends, they say that makes me an Aquarius woman. Aquarians are born between January 21st and February 19th, they belong to the air element, and ruled by the planet Uranus (associated with disruption, the…
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Sweet Fifteen
Day 15: Bullet point your whole day. Weāre halfway into the challenge and I am equally pleased and surprised that I have been writing here for fifteen days. Here’s how my day went (because I am not a gangster, I rounded up most of the time to the nearest hour): 6 am: I woke to the sound of my alarm, the voice of Train singing Drops of Jupiter. I stared at my screen angrily for a few seconds, before I quickly turned off the alarm so no one else would wake up, and I could sneak in a few more minutes of sleep.
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The One About Movies
Day 14: Movies you never get tired of watching. Iām so excited about this one, can you tell? You know those people who say āOh my God, thatās my favorite movie!ā to about fifty movies? I am regrettably one of those people. Keeping this list short was not very easy. We have all kinds of favorite films: thereās the category of movies that are brilliant but are too long or enthralling to watch every day. Then thereās another category of movies that are enjoyable, and can be watched over and over, yet never get old.
