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Showing posts from March, 2018

Bitter Leaf Soup Series: Roasting (Aftermath of a splintered ego)

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Photo Credit: YouTube.com Good evening everyone, So sorry I didn't post the continuation of the 'Roasting series' yesterday. Sunday was kinda eventful for me so I was too busy to finish up the article. So back to the series. Roasting: The Aftermath of a splintered ego Few things can make a grown man cry those man-tears, stare at the skies, shake his head and sigh 'See my life.' Roasting is one of them. Fast forward two and a half years later after my first 'roasting' experience I had the opportunity to work at (in my opinion) a very prestigious college in the country. I loved the suitable environment for learning, the facilities and techniques used to educate the children, but most of all what I loved was the drive for excellence among the students instilled their academics and competitions instilled by the visioneer and chairman of the group of schools, leading to whooping amount of 54 awards from competitions (Mathematics, English, Science a

Louder then I'll sing Your praise

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Photo Credit: hillsong.com Tuesday morning, I laid awake in bed, thinking of the goals I am meant to accomplish that day. I pick up my phone to read a message I had just received. It was my bank notifying me of 52 Naira debit for some ATM card maintenance. It's seemed okay, no big deal. Banks always find means of clipping change from your savings as usual. Then I checked the balance, which was like 790-something Naira, What?! OMG! I saved 5,000 Naira last week and that was all I had. I was supposed to use the money to travel in ten days time. Along with someone else I had to sponsor. I searched all over the bank teller but I couldn't find it. I had never had any problem like this so I was not so super-conscious of where I put stuff like that. [DIGRESS] Have you noticed that when you are looking for something important like documents, you annoyingly stumble on useless things you feel should have been missing instead like used recharge cards, justrite receipt

Bitter Leaf Soup Series I: Roasting

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Photo Credit: favim.ru Roasting It's a pleasure to start the Bitter Leaf Soup series with this theme; Roasting This thing changed my life ehn...quicker than some 10 sermons put together. (Depending on who is giving the sermon o. Lol) Who first mentioned the idea of roasting to me?  *taps brain box* Was it Tunde or Toye or Efe? Aargh... Honestly can't remember but may God bless that person. You might wonder what the fuss is all about, I will tell you why. Growing up, I had this flaw, I had this flaw that didn't look like a flaw but rather a gift. It was a gift that blinded the eyes and enhanced the mouth I would do something clearly wrong and will still have something to say to excuse myself... Now that I am trying to write about this, I really can't remember any of the silly excuses I used to give back then because most of them were never valid reasons. OK, sometimes, Mum can walk into my room and be like, "Emeka, why is your room dirty li

Clocked: 3 lessons I learnt from my Dell system

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I have a system. An old, black dell system - Latitude series E6450 I damaged the battery. (Don't ask me how. Happened sometime last year.) I still haven't replaced it yet. I'm taking my time, good laptop batteries are hard to find. So last year, the system wasn't so useful to me. But now that my fountain of inspired words started flowing again. I saw the need to use the system much more often. And when I start using it sometimes, typing away the those transient words that may never show up again... [Digress] You know those fleeting breaths of inspiration that sometimes catch you unprepared as a writer? Those kind that will come to will you while you are in the bathroom, naked, with soap lather all over your body, threatening to enter your eyes if you dare open them to concentrate. You worry about running out there to capture inspiration in a receptacle e.g a pen, phone, recorder, anything, with the risk of falling down, injuring and shaming yourself i

Similitude: Don't act dumb on your smartphone

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Photo Credit: articlebplan.com Romans 1:19-20 "Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse..." "...and I have multiplied visions , and used similitudes ..." Hosea 12:10 Hold on, it's not a sermon... Okay, maybe it is, maybe not. It depends on how you see it. I get it. 'Sermon' these days is synonymous to boring. But I assure you if you can stay with me here, it would be worth it. My understanding of the above text is that God in a bid to reveal himself to his creatures (we) who hardly seek or recognize Him, leaves clues or uses similitudes all around creation (including man-made things) for us to acknowledge His existence, His ways and other spiritual laws and principles. Today, we'd be goin

Bitter Leaf Soup

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I walk into the kitchen and see my mum washing some vegetables leaves in a bowl and panic... "Mummy..." I ask almost hyperventilating, "...what are we eating?" "Bitter le..." "Ooooooh God!" I wail "Emekis, come now...ehn, this thing is not as bitter as you think..." My much younger, childish self was angrily sulking, 'bitter' towards my mum and her bitter leaf soup that she was preparing. Why in all God's good green Earth will anyone eat something called 'bitter'? Oyinbo children dey enjoy o. Sebi na spinach and cabbage they go dey do shakara, make them come chop Onugbu na make them know how far. (White children seem to be enjoying when they are asked to eat cabbage and spinach veggies, yet they throw tantrums They should try some bitter leaf and tell the difference) Bitter leaf (vernonia amydalina: in Igbo, Onugbu, pronounced as spelt: in Yoruba, Ewuro pronounced as spelt.) soup was a delicacy th

Die Empty

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Hi there, I opened my blog today. March 4th. The only day with a command. 'March Forth.' What a day do great things. Opening a blog...the feeling...takes me back to that day. I remember that day... I was in the printing office for hours on end,   mentally drained, shifting my 'bom-bom' all over the place. But I remember the moment... Finally, the Hardcover copy of my final year project for my undergraduate studies was handed over to me. I was almost brought to tears.   I think I cuddled up my 'new born baby' and kissed it's imaginary nose like a mother who just put to bed would.   It would not be wrong to call 'it' 'baby'; It was the embodiment of my research, sweat and words I slowly wove to life for over a year.