Sunday, January 12, 2014

Questions worth pondering/ words to live by

 

No seriously, do. No one knows tomorrow.
The last few months have had some shocking high profile accidents and deaths like the terrible accident that killed Paul walker and his friend and the accident of Michael Schumacher. These incidents show us that death is no repecter of persons, it might be anyone's turn tomorrow.
A lot of young people are dying, since I'm Nigerian I'm quite aware of deaths of Nigerians, with the advent of Facebook, it's easy to see it is really about 3 degrees of separation in many cases. The death of a certain young man that I don't know, but who went to uni with my bro and knows a few people that I know is what has spawned this post.
Money, fame and love do not protect one from the inevitable end of all mankind. So may we number our days as is written in the bible in the book of Psalms 90:12

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3 What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens to the place where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
7 All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
8 All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things,
nor will there be any remembrance
These are some of the questions I have been asking myself and you should consider asking yourself too if you haven't
1) what footprints will I leave in the sands of time?
2) if today were my last day on earth am I ready to go?
3) do I have my priorities right especially with respect to work life balance? Remember, an employee can easily be replaced in most cases, but never a parent and only with difficulty a child, wife/ husband or friend.
4) am I in Gods will for my life?
5) am I taking care of myself like I should be ( adequate sleep, destressing, proper nutrition etc)?
May the souls of the departed rest in peace and may God grant comfort to the loved ones left behind.

Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Good daddies rock!

I came across the Daddy Doing Work blog via a post on the Good Men project Facebook page. Apparently, the photo below went viral.





I follow lots of mothering blogs and pages, but this is the first time I have been made aware of the also large ( it seems) community of daddy bloggers out there. It's awesome that there are men out there who are comfortable enough with their masculinity to be hands on dads. I think most men find it fulfilling, and more would find it fulfilling, once they break out of the boxes that society has pleased parenting into.

I'm glad when I see young Nigerian men stepping up to be the daddies they should be. My father was distant in some ways, but I remember him bathing us to get us ready for school in the early years and playing monopoly with us. In his sixties now, he still gets down on my kids level to play with them whenever he is around them.We definitely had a close relationship with him, perhaps closer arguably than the average Nigerian kid had with their dad ( he has gotten more traditional Yoruba as the years have gone on though, but that's a whole different story for another day).

I was facetiming with a younger male friend yesterday and while we were talking, DH was on the floor playing with my son. My friend said wistfully, I don't have any memories of my father playing with me like that. He will become a father soon, and I wish him from the depth of my heart all the best in fatherhood and that he breaks the cycle of passive fatherhood.

If you had/ have an awesome dad or if your DH/ partner is an awesome father to your kids, I would love to hear your story, so please leave a comment. Don't be shy, the cobwebs have come off this blog for good. Lol. Have a great week ahead.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Dundee United

The words Dundee united, the name of a Scottish Football club has a hilarious claim to fame in Nigeria.
It is an insult.
example:

Dundee buruku* - stupid idiot
Dundee united - absolute fool

Apparently this slang term for idiot came about after Dundee United FC lost several matches during a tour of Nigeria in the 60s and 70s. I grew up using the term without really giving a thought to how it came about. Apparently the rest of the world became acquainted with the Nigerian use of the words via the BBC documentary "Welcome to Lagos".

Hilarious! Read more here



*buruku is Yoruba for bad/stupid

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Back to the basics

I have been away from blogging for a while. I know that's quite an understatement.

Juggling children and a career in obodo oyinbo is not easy at all o, my people. Like I have mentioned in previous posts, I like to write, but can only write when I am in a certain state of mind. I am back to that place where I can blog. I will still be updating this blog from time to time,as the spirit moves me, in Naija speak. Please also check out my new blog the (Complete) Chatterbox Companion, with anecdotes about my family life. A link to the blog is under the Arins Odyssey 1.0 Tab on the pages panel above.

Lemme share this funny story with you my readers before I end this post i think it depicts the Nigerian obsession with marriage.
So I just had a baby, and my aunt came to visit from Nigeria. She met one of my friends, an American Lady.

American woman: how old are your children

Aunty: 26, 24 and 20

American woman: oh, so they are already very manageable

Aunty: yes o, they are marriageable

Me: Aunty, she said manageable.

Aunty: oh yes, indeed, they are manageable

Me( trying to cover my embarrassment: they are manageable and marriageable.

Lol!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Nigeria@50 - a series

Its been a long time! I don't know if anyone still comes around here, but just popping by to do some PR for the Nigeria@ 50 series. Check Loomnie's blog for more details http://loomnie.com/2010/09/25/nigeria50-a-series/.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Helloooo.....anybody there?

We like to think that we are unique. But really, we aren't all that special. We are prone to doing the same things as many others. It might be due to the last vestiges of the 'survival' programming in our DNAs, where the chances of survival are higher in a herd.

What I'm trying to say, to cut the long story short is that the fact that I too have been MIA is directly attributable to the Facebook phenomenon. In spite of the fact that I resisted the urge for so long, I have now, for almost a year succumbed, and have been badly infected by that deadly virus which has been going around. And yet, it doesn't give the satisfaction that writing does.........

I still have a lot to say, but demands of family and FB have bitten into my time, so that I almost never manage to sit down to put a fleeting train of thought to paper before it disappears. I would like to do more of that in the coming months.
BLOG WATCH!!!! Don't forget to give credit if you borrow anything from this blog.