NECESSARY ADJUSTMENTS

My dog has had to learn to adjust some of his intuitions and innate behavior.

Earlier on, whenever I sprint into the kitchen because I suddenly remembered what I was cooking might be burning, Max will run after me barking. His thinking was that I was in danger.

Few minutes ago, I was frying plantain, and sprinted out when I remembered what was on fire (narrow escape). Max followed me, but didn’t bark. He just looked at me to be sure I was okay before turning back. Interestingly, I haven’t had to sprint to the kitchen in a while, but my dog had learnt to change his way of reacting to my sprint. Yes, it still piqued his curiosity but he trained himself not to bark again.

In our relationships- romantic, filial, work and so on- people do things that make us bark; but like the famous saying says if you cannot change something, change the way you think about it.

6/4/2012

A Man’s world? No! It’s the devil’s world

So many times, I hear the phrase “it’s a man’s world” from both men, and brain-washed women. While laundering, this phrase came to mind, and I mulled over it.

In Nigeria, and to a large extent, Africa, men are expected to be promiscuous, and the women have been brainwashed to accept this. I was a 16/17 year old starry-eyed girl when I heard a university student tell her friend that men would always cheat, and that what one should hope for is that he doesn’t bring such an affair to the matrimonial home.

 I was gobsmacked!

I had never heard of this before, as all I had always heard about was the sanctity of marriage.

Over the years, despite my argument with those who held on to this belief, I’ve come to realize it’s the norm, while not cheating on your wife is unusual, stopping short of being abnormal.

Another side to the “it’s a man’s world” cliché is that men are expected to get married, and retire. Women complain that once they get married, their husbands treat them as glorified housemaids, making them question all the confessions of “I’m absolutely in love with you”. Some go as far as refusing to look after their babies while their wives take a much-needed rest. Some women sigh “it’s a man’s world” in resignation.

I don’t view it as a man’s world, no it isn’t. The bible expects a man to love his wife as himself, and to shun adultery. If this is so, men who do not obey these principles are going against the will of God. Anything that is anti-God is for the devil.

Thus, it’s the devil’s world.

10/1/2012 6.27pm

CANDY?

Right now, I picked up a recharge card from my wallet to load on my ETISALAT modem as I needed to post on the blog. The moment MAX heard the rustle, he came to me, looking up with expectation, and hoping it was some biscuit he likes, or a piece of candy. I tried to warn him verbally (like he understands English lol) but he didn’t heed the warning.

Funny enough, a lot of us are deceived by what we see or hear without digging deep. It saddens me to hear and read of many ladies who have been deceived by a man they thought was good because he ‘rustled’ or appeared to possess good qualities like their brothers, fathers, uncles or friends. Of course, the male folks aren’t immune to this deception too.

Like the Vances of @BeTrulyFaithful reiterate severally, always check fruits and be led by the Spirit. I’ll also suggest that you test those qualities by probing, prodding and pushing.

If only Max could read this, he wouldn’t come bounding towards me whenever he hears the rustling of stiff nylon, but treat the sound with skepticism.

Cheers.


PS: That's Max waking from a nap (he ONLY sleeps on a bed when the Ac's on)

THE 'EDGY' SIGNAL

Impossible is nothing- author unknown

For the past few days, I’ve been unable to browse on my phone, despite being fully subscribed for the Blackberry service. I get the 3G or EDGE signal yet I still couldn’t browse. Anyone who knows me well knows that I can barely do without the internet. For example, Yesterday, while learning El espanol (Spanish), ,my sister exclaimed Mucho Gusto. Now I knew ‘mucho’ meant ‘plenty’, which we had just learnt, but we both didn’t know the meaning of ‘Gusto’ and I wanted to hit the internet to check it out, but I couldn’t, which was frustrating.

Fast forward to this morning; I got a BBC SMS saying that Anelka was going to be a player-Manager. I wanted to read the news and quickly hit the link WITHOUT remembering the PAST network failure. Immediately, I got directed to my phone’s browser, and then I realized that I had only an ‘edge’ signal.

Now, anyone who uses or knows a bit about blackberry will attest to the FACT that it’s almost impossible to connect the internet with an ‘edge’ signal. It has to either be ‘EDGE’ or ‘3G’. When I saw the signal displayed on my phone, my hope of reading that story plummeted, as I knew I wouldn’t be able to connect to the ‘net.

I was amazed when I saw the ‘requesting’ indication change to ‘loading’. I couldn’t believe it, so I tamed the rush of hope I felt, because I still believed it would never open, and left the browser running in the background. When I returned and met a blank page, I thought within me ‘not surprising’. I then touched the screen, and voila! the page had opened fully while I was away. I was able to browse other pages (though I still rue not taking the opportunity to check out the meaning of ‘gusto’) until the signal changed to the so-called ‘almighty 3G’ signal. Then I couldn’t and still can’t browse.

The small guy did the job the big guy couldn’t do.

LESSONS

• Impossible’ is a human-limiting word.
• Never underrate anybody, or thing. Insignificant people have achieved great things. Also, mighty people have been brought down by little things. For example, I recall that the former military dictator, General Sani Abacha was a ruthless man, who was seemingly invincible and killed anyone crossing his path, yet he died after eating a small apple offered him by an Indian whore.
• Do not be guided only by what you see. If I had seen the ‘edge’ signal before reading the sms, I wouldn’t have bothered clicking the link.
• Trying beats not trying.
• If you fail at something, and you appear to be faced with same situation, still try again. It could be that the circumstances surrounding the previous experience might have changed.
• If you tried using a hammer to kill a fly, and you didn’t succeed, try a book. In other words, if you try a great technique to solve a problem, and there was no success, try a smaller one like your common sense.

NEVER SAY NEVER

Do  have a pleasant weekend.

Cheers.

WEEP, EVEN FOR THE DRUNK

It’s so easy to ignore the drunken vagabond and not see anything special in him.

This evening, I stopped by a local battery seller to get a battery, when a drunk stopped by. I quickly took few steps backward, as he looked like a lunatic on the loose. His clothes and feet were dirty, and he looked totally unkempt. I soon caught a whiff of the alcohol beneath his breath. I’d drawn my conclusion about this man before he had opened his mouth. But the moment he spoke, I  was amazed!!! He spoke flawless English, devoid of an accent. In that state of stupor, his brain was still sharp, as the trader tried to play a fast one on him, but he still took permanent control.

It occurred to me that he just might be a victim of circumstance, and might even have had a proper ‘buttie’ early education.

I can remember one of the managers of Celtel Nigeria, telling us during training that he had a schoolmate who attended his ‘buttie’ private school (in the class of Andrao and Corona schools) whom he saw at the bus stop one day. He was an area boy with all the ‘area’ around him, but he still spoke flawless English. He lost his father, and from then on, things started going down for them, till he landed where he was.

Before drawing up any negative conclusion about that woman that was caught eating from the bin, and was given some food, only for you to see her smoking, or the lady that would sleep with any man so much as says ‘hello’, or that drunk that isn’t easy on the eyes oe nose, think twice!!!

Written on 10/8/2011

WHEN YOU THINK YOU’VE CLINCHED IT

I was playing spider solitaire this Monday morning, instead of staring at a blank screen, when I thought the game I got was super-duper easy. I felt like ending the game for one that would be more challenging, as things started adding up right from the start. I decided to enjoy the ease, and coast along. I didn’t take it serious ‘cause I was very positive that I had it clinched, and was playing on for formality-sake.

I lost the game.

I couldn't believe it, and had to wonder where things had gone wrong.

I realized I had taken the game for granted, because I was sure I had won.

In the real world, this kind of behaviour crops up in various scenarios:

The man who thinks he’s married his wife, and therefore takes her for granted and treats her badly;

Or the woman who thinks “phew! Now, I have him in my ‘trap’, so let me relax, and forget about looking good”;

Or the student who thinks “Well, I’ve got a 4.8 cummulative GPA, and I’m in my final year, they can’t but give me my 1^st class”;

Or the parents who take their children for granted, and do not bother fostering good relationships with them;

Or believers who take God for a ride, and don’t give him reverence.

Let’s watch out for areas in our lives we are taking some people, God or situations for granted.

Written 11/14/2011 11:47am

All is vanity

I yearned for a car, how little it came, I did not care,

All my care was that I had my own means of transport,

To take me to places of pleasure,

Beaches, the movies, restaurants, I must visit,

To visit friends and acquaintances, I mustn’t miss,

When at last the car arrived, small it was, yet excited I was,

Alas, the places I yearned to visit, I scarcely went,

All is vanity, my soul then sighed.

I was reading Ecclesiastes today, about how King Solomon got whatsoever he desired. He became the greatest of all men and kings, yet at the end, despite having it all he said “and I looked on all the works that my hand had wrought, and on the labour that I had labored to do: and behold, all was VANITY…”

I look at life, and realize that I’ve had various desires, yet they have no lasting thrill.

My latest desire was to have a dog.

I’d been nursing and nurturing this desire for a couple of years, such that I looked up extensive information about the breed I desired.

It was a dream I thought would take a long time to achieve as my parents didn’t want a pet in the house…until I talked about dogs (once again) to my dad, and he said I could get one.

I couldn’t believe it!!!

I started searching the internet for a local dog breeder, and got one, unexpectedly (of course I prayed about it).

I contacted him, and we arranged on delivery…and of course, payment. Mind you, I was still a bit scared of dogs, and didn’t know what to expect. On seeing him, he was so adorable and cute, and barely filled my palm. That was it.

I love him, I’m happy I have him, but the thrill is all gone ( but this isn’t vanity, as he is a wonderful creature of God).

Written on 25th July, 2011 6.06pm