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I drive an old Toyota Camry. Black outside, gray leather inside. It doesn’t qualify as fancy…I bet you will not turn to take a second look if I drove past. It blends in with the regular; the things that do not stand out.

Every now and again I need to change one faulty part, or service another, or old Toyota would sit in one place and refuse to move, like a stubborn male goat. It’s frustrating to have to fix a part that seemed okay just 5 few minutes ago, especially when I have achieved that Perfect Broke State. But I find a way usually, somehow… Read more

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So, eventually, I got a few more thoughts scraped up to make a sequel to a first part you could read up right here. I’d love that you share your thoughts after you’re done reading. Here goes…

1. It’s amazing when two hearts meet each other half way. Amazing is bliss. Amazing means that smile is shared. Amazing is vulnerable. Amazing is a risk. Amazing is questions only amazing can answer. Amazing means that cuts go deeper…yet isn’t amazing all that there is to hope for?

2. I like that I’m friends with the people I’m friends with. I like that I can share and laugh and be cynical. I like that they see my weak places, point them out, and still hang with me regardless. I like that heaven has blessed me with some of her best people. Read more

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A few days ago I posted a first part to this here. You can read this post right after reading that one, just so you get a fuller picture.

When life gets overwhelming and you get tempted to loose focus, these thoughts may help keep and strengthen your resolve:

1. Regardless of race or creed, you have a stake in whatever form your life takes…try to keep faith. Try. Then, get involved with your life.

2. Sooner than later your eyes may grow dim, and shuffle replace swagger. Then, more than ever, your mind will work in retrospect. You will redeem your life’s images, and wonder if you could have done any better. Then, more than ever, you will need the comfort of the knowledge that you did your bit to make a mark, regardless the sort of legacy the one you called father left you.

3. Remember that the choices you make will matter…maybe not now, but later. Read more

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Hey guys! ‘Feels great to be back! I’ve been away for longer than I imagined, and err, I’m tempted to cover my face in shame. A few times I tried to write but my thoughts just wouldn’t form, and more often than not I felt like I was stranded in a barren place. My job left me worn…no creative nerve would just kick-start!

Anyway, I’m passed that now…I hope.

A lot has happened in this period. Work’s mostly been in my way, taking my Saturdays and Sundays and public holidays…I didn’t even get the chance to vote a president, which is sad because I was really looking forward to it! Read more

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I think Christie Gowon is one of earth’s loveliest sweethearts…

But in this post I also write about everyone else who made my Closest Friends and Acquaintances of 2010 list.

Meeting Chimamanda, Chika Unigwe, Binyavanga Wainana, and Muhtar Bakare was for me the most exhilarating “meeting” experience of 2010. I, and 19 other of Nigeria’s most talented upcoming writers, had a life-transforming 10-day creative writing workshop with these gifted minds…and I’d give anything to relieve it.

At the workshop I also met the soulful, multi-talented pHisayo, who’s got the sweetest most complicated mind, and Wana Udobang, a most lively being, an amazing story teller, an amazing broadcaster, an amazing hustler…And then there was gregarious Tracy, whose dreadlocks I loved, and talented Kesiena, who I started to envy because he wrote so well. There was and is crazy ‘Rayo, who’s so slim you’d be shocked at how fat her mind is, and Lola, who I sang with on the closing day of the workshop…ah, sweet memories! Read more

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We own worship centres on every street, and as I write another man just got inspired to start his. I do not stand against this trend, in fact, I think it may be great.

What is appalling though, is that the names of the criminals in the Guardian, and in the Daily Trust, and maybe in Thisday, still feature prominently on our members’ lists. They still take the same communion as the sane ones do. Maybe they still have their tithe accounts in check and up to date, and for all the minister cares its “bless you brother, your enemies shall fall at your feet.” “Brother” even may be an elder. Read more

I found this interesting short story by Chika Unigwe online and decided to share…after seeking her permission of course. It was written a couple of years ago, but it still is fresh and timely. Enjoy it.

The Burden of My Being

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I have just learnt that for one with a Nigerian passport, getting a visa into Kenya is like drawing teeth. It is excruciating. It is long.

“We will have to refer your visa request to Nairobi, Madam. It will take around six weeks before we get a response. And even then we can’t assure you that you’ll get a visa.” The receptionist’s voice at the Kenyan embassy on Winston Churchillstraat in Brussels is polite. Calm. Almost bored. She might have been filing her nails. I do not have six weeks to wait for a visa application that may or may not be granted. I have to be in Kenya at the beginning of March for the Caine Writing Workshop. It will be my first time in East Africa and I do not intend to miss it. Read more

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Crush her. Don’t tell her you hate her. Throw stones. Just tell her you hate her. But oh, you don’t. Maybe she only just disgusts you. She broke your rules, you custodian of earth’s morality…she, she plays dark lord. You almost wonder why heaven gave her an earth pass just like yours.

Crush her. Tell her you hate her. Don’t say it as you speak in her face, fling it as a sneer at her back.

Errrrr, but she had a baby out of wedlock…

Oh, but you told a lie so you wouldn’t get caught.

Dude that was a baby OUT of wedlock!

Girl, does heaven measure sin in degrees? Read more