Fumigation Didn't Get Rid Of The Nigerian Mosquitoes, What Next?

Tuesday June 11 2013
Today my boss comes back citeris paribus. What do I have planned out for today? Not much really, being a travel guide for MD is definitely not one of them. I’m gonna work from home until I get a call from my boss that he is coming back then and only then will I go to the office. That is provided there is power at home. I haven’t called Ifeanyi yet since he resigned, I need to speak with him. I did some small chores first as a result I read my open heaven late today. I prayed, downed a bowl of cereal.

The fumigation didn't get rid of the mosquitoes. I have already started having the unwanted and unhealthy company of mosquitoes in my room that was fumigated recently. This is the fifth day after the room was fumigated! I've not even started reaping the health benefits of the fumigation.

I specifically asked the oga of the fumigation crew how long the fumigation will keep mosquitoes at bay and he said 3 MONTHS! I want to enjoy the benefits of the fumigation for at least one month! I know I had an ample exposure to the health hazard of the fume. These people just mix milky solution with toxic fumes strong enough to take down an elephant but weak enough to keep mosquitoes out for at least 5 days. It’s so annoying.

Is it that the Nigerian mosquitoes are insects of steel that can't be killed even with kryptonite or is it like I said the fumigation solution is just a ruse?

Next I calculatedly inserted myself intensely into the internet, the internet culture has it good and evil. There are so many things I want and need to research especially about blog SEO, if only the ripe and conducive condition is always at my disposal. I will explore or research till I drop! I stayed glued to the white screen till 12:33 pm when my boss called. Earlier Godwin his driver called to inquire if he will go to the airport today to pick MD. His move is dependent on MD’s call. The call is finally here. He instructed me to come with the driver so I can monitor his driving like his driver instructor.

I dressed up quickly and left the house. I passed the info to Godwin. He is to meet me at MD’s house. There was no fuel in the car so I drove to the filling station for fuel. I did that out of adventurous temptation to drive the car since I’m with the car keys and to eliminate waste of time when Godwin shows up. I bought more than half tank of fuel. I got breakfast from Spar, not one of those super healthy foods. Now I wait for Godwin.

He called complaining of heavy downpour in his area. Meanwhile the sun was happily and diligently doing its job in the Lekki area. I ate my delicious breakfast in the car once I got to MD’s house. Gradually the weather changed and the journeying rain reached the corridors and doors of Lekki. It rained for a while. Trust Lekki, flood is up already in some areas. Godwin is still nowhere to be found. My boss landed in Lagos but had to take a cab when I told him the situation.

He got home after about an hour or so. We talked about this and that. Then I asked him to reimburse me for the fuel I bought. He was like how? Who drove since Godwin didn’t show up? He has never believed I can drive. I don’t want him to believe either, it’s perfectly fine by me. I don’t want to turn to his substitute driver. He was so surprised. If only Godwin showed up this awkward moment would’ve been avoided smoothly.

My mind was preoccupied with some thoughts as I left MD’s house. I walked down the road towards the bus stop. A girl probably in her late twenties was coming in the opposite direction. The unladylike way she was walking caught my attention. She was just bouncing like some irregular guys would. Noticing I was looking at her, she locked her eyes to mine. In that moment we were about to walk past each other she said; “In the name of God come.” I was like “huh?” I didn’t quite hear the last word I think it was “come.” Are you kidding me?! I kept going wearing a stern unfriendly look without looking at her again. She starts following me behind and goes on;

“Answer me na. Answer me na! Na so una go dey suffer for Lagos. Stupid people!”

With that she turned back and continued heading the opposite direction. What in the world just happened? As I continued to walk towards the bus stop I wondered what onlookers or passersby who witnessed this think transpired now. This was the last thing I expected today. I’ve heard stories where a few men got into trouble for innocently and unknowingly helping out heartless prostitutes who turn around to claim the men slept with them and refused to pay. For the average eyewitness on the street, it’s pretty difficult to tell the truth. Thank God for the way it turned out. I took a bus home.

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Accidental Household Fumigation. I'll Try Mental Fumigation

Tuesday June 04 2013

The cold is killing me. This weather for two isn’t “werking” for me at the moment. I got drenched last night before I reached home. My sweet skinny frame is graciously built with very little subcutaneous fat, I’m at a loss at cushioning my body against cold. My body just absorbs cold easily like it gets paid a fortune to do so. I did my rituals and was gradually getting ready for work when my instinct asked me to go out.

I saw a workman fumigating the passage. That must be Tony my landlord doing this household fumigation. Note that my landlord is a bona fide tenant in the compound, he only sublet the back part of his flat. The workman went downstairs and was fumigating odd places where mosquitoes are prone, also they are places Tony would never touch before. I called the guy, it seems like you are fumigating the whole compound today. Why don’t you fumigate my room specially? Dude asked me to pay N1000. I'm like seriously? I know this is his side money. We haggled down like men to N500. The man came back upstairs to my room with his tools. It was pay-before-service before he did anything.

I hadn’t taken my birth then, bad mistake. Well I didn't have a choice or something. The toxic fume took over as expected. I felt a bit woozy and headache. I hurriedly dressed and left the toxic room. The toxic fume smell was all over me. It even over powered my cologne. I continued to feel light-headed. I got to work late. Meanwhile my boss called and sent a text when I was taking my bath which I didn’t reply until I boarded a bus to the office. He noticed the smell of toxic fume on me. That proved beyond reasonable and unreasonable doubt that I wasn’t lying. I paid for the tickets I booked yesterday. Put some money in my account. I got some food but still unable to do the police errand for Victory. Mehn, at the rate things are going will I ever have the opportunity to do it for him? I wonder. He called to let him know.

My instinct told me that Amara will come to the house to cook this evening and I need to warn her about the toxic fumes. If I let her know before hand, then she can be extra careful when preparing food in that environment. I had another thought, I shouldn’t bother with that definitely she’ll smell the notorious toxic fumes or see telltale sign of it. Yahya is back in town. He went to Beirut for a surgical operation on his leg. Imagine going to the gym to stay fit and coming with a shattered leg, it was a terrible accident. His right foot was bandaged up. Ifeanyi didn’t show up. Yesterday he just breezed in to say hi and breezed out.

My boss divided the PPM and worked on it while I worked on the presentation. The presentation is being modified almost every day to, he is not satisfied yet. Plus there are some really difficult to sought data that needs to go into the presentation. Lately I’ve been making remarkable progress on the thing. I need to call my father. I haven’t spoken to him in a while now. I put some post on my blog. We toiled until after seven o’clock before I went home.

I stopped briefly at Igbo Efon to see Caesar and Doc. I told Caesar the latest in accommodation palaver and he reiterated his resolve never to shelter anyone again in his one room self-contain unless it’s a bigger apartment with many rooms. He has gotten burnt a couple of times doing that.

I Need A Mental Fumigation To Rid My Mind Of Rodent And Pest Thoughts So I Can Have A Healthy Focus.

The toxic fume still hovered faintly in the room. My instinct was proved right once again when I got home. Amara indeed came around and she cooked jollof rice. My portion was in the pot as usual. I didn’t eat. I didn’t quite feel hungry. I went to straight to bed

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Life Under New Management Tuesday May 28 2013

We have not had light for like three days now. I wonder what the problem is. They flashed it briefly last night. I don’t know what to wear today cuz all my clothes are not ironed. Heaven heard my heart and voila, there was light. I quickly ironed a shirt. I read my devotional open heavens. Today's topic was unusual Command. The memory verse was Matthew 4:4 which says;

''And He answered saying man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.''

I finished study and prayed. I cleaned my room. Did the dishes. Prepared noodles with hotdog, by this time the minute hand has gone a few minutes past nine. I hurried ate it while it was still hot. My dear mouth and its entire inhabitant please me forgive for putting you through this torment. I showered hurriedly also. I got to work a few minutes before ten. A Jay Z’s song I just heard triggered me to drop four sweet lines. The lines are below;

''My Life Is Under New management

I’m Reviewing all Engagement

Old me Just Got Fired

Better Me Just Got Hired''

On my way to work Elsie said she has a gist for me. She narrated to me in detail via series of text messages a tale of monstrous lust, brainlessness, shameless boldness, zero dignity, and unending struggle of how her auntie’s husband tried to force her to kiss him. I wonder what else he tried to force her to do. According to her, her auntie went to school earlier than usual. She was in the kitchen doing the dishes and the kids were at the dinning eating. That was split chance was when the sexual adulatory predator chose to strike. He came to her in the kitchen and forced her to kiss him. She refused and he began to struggle with her. In the struggle of what seemed like near rape ensued plates and cups were broken in the kitchen.

I’m handicapped to paint a vivid picture of what happened since my eyes weren’t there on the crime scene. After enough plates and cups were broken he regained his consciousness and gave the Elsie N20,000 to quickly replace all broken kitchenware so that the wife won’t know. Also before he left the house he asked if there’s anything he can buy for her. She hasn’t slept over at her auntie’s place before but she visits regularly. She didn’t know he had interest in her. This is all according to her. I advised her the best way I can letting her know that this is just the beginning. He will keep coming back until he gets what he wants, there’s a fall out or he gets caught. She has to leave that rape arena for another place.

Since their school is on strike she can come home to her family. There's this small ball in our office about the size of an adult palm closed to form a ball. We used to have a smaller ball and a basketball rim for kids. Me and Ifeanyi used to go head to head for superiority of basketball skills lol. Office redesign and renovation relocated the rim to bad corner so we now use the waste paper basket. The first time we did it he beat me 6-1 after uncountable times lol. That was on Monday. Today I whooped him. He couldn't believe his eyes at throws I was making. I couldn't believe myself either lol. Kobe can’t stand me, I’m on fire!

I went to Access Bank by Chevron roundabout to cash a cheque. Smack in the middle of processing my cheque, the power went off. I had to use my phone torch to light up the cashier's keyboard so she could see. The rain was feeling very generous it started showering. I’m not sure it has ever rained this heavy this year. Thanks to the bank, they were so efficient in reverse mode as they delayed the customers. Everybody was grumbling. The rain didn't care, was it supposed to? It kept pouring, showering, the road got flooded. Luckily I got served at the bank after wasting my time. But all through the time embezzling period, I remained absolutely calm. What will I achieve by panicking?

One of bank's securities escorted me with an umbrella to the car. At the other Access Bank branch beside Four Point Hotel, they always escort me out of the car to the bank or out of the bank to car to shield me from the sun today it was from the rain. I used to take it for granted but today I deeply appreciated it. We couldn’t finish the entire task we set out to do. We lost some time to inefficiencies of the bank and the traffic induced by the rain. We went back to office and shortly closed for the day.

I stopped at Igbo Efon bus stop as usual, the road was flooded. I decided to take a bike. But the greedy bike riders took unnecessary advantage of the flood to inhumanely hike bike fares by up to 200% I had no choice but pay and went home. I went to bed straight.

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Every Disappointment Is A Blessing Tuesday May 21 2013

I slept alone in the house once again. Feels like old times but the house don't quite smell or look like old times yet. I read my Open Heavens and prayed. Did a little laundry. I reworked my article about the accommodation crisis I'm going through. Before I did laundry something happened. I went in the toilet, one look at the water cistern tank and something looked off about it. I looked closer and it wasn't lapping to the wall like it's supposed to. I checked the under and the iron holding it to the wall was rusty and weak. I was like this this is gonna fall soon. My disposable gillet cover got stuck in the narrow gap that has gradually formed where it should've lapped to the wall.

My premonition or sixth kick-started and imminent danger was sort of averted. As I tried to remove the shaving stick cover the tank dropped with the speed of a faulty elevator. I didn't even see how quickly I moved. Trust my sharp reflex, I'm not bragging o lol! But I caught firmly. Mind you the tank was full. I was like what the hell just happened. I’m glad it happened the way it did. Imagine the shattering outcome had I not been rightly positioned when it fell off the wall and more importantly if I failed to catch it. It would've smashed to bits on the toilet floor maybe damaging the floor tiles in the process. The other likely outcome was to land on my toes and that would've been painfully bloodily ugly. Thank God for the way it happened. I cleared the rust that dirtied the toilet.

They say every disappointment is a blessing, I've always wondered how. This time I saw a blessing in disguise. We've been having water problem, I had no idea that clean water flowed into tank while no water flowed in other taps. Now I know, I don’t need to go downstairs to fetch water. Matter fact I fetched from the pipe feeding the water cistern, no dulling. I used the water to wash my swimming gear, showered and stored some in the bucket.

Fifi the girl that lives directly below me came looking for Amara. I’m guessing just like me she has no clue where she went to unless she was pretending. She asked if Amara went out this morning I said yes. I went to work. I ran into Caesar as he was going to work too. He gave me a lift, and transport fare saved. He works in Lekki too with wife of Peter Okoye of PSquare. We talked about joining forces with a few young guys to start a business legacy. I loved the idea. If you ask me I’m ready. I was first to resume as usual.

Chris came in almost immediately. The boss came in late. I didn't do much of running around today like I did yesterday. I downloaded a list of Jaci Velasquez songs for him. She has nice songs. Then I faced that energy sapping boring presentation again. That was all I did till close of work. I made significant progress. South Africa called Ugo asking after Ifeanyi like they wanna recruit him. That’s good for him. Ugo promised to send them a brief profile of Ifeanyi. He asked me Ifeanyi's birthday and it dunned on me that I don’t know it. That’s really awkward. I’m sure he doesn’t know mine but I felt like I should know his.

I emailed my progress on the presentation before leaving the office. I got in the first bus, a very comfortable front seat. The back seat wasn’t as comfortable though. The bus doesn’t have a window you can open at the back. It’s just a plain sheet of glass. It’s good for cars that always use the air-conditioner. I hate sitting at the back of such buses. You don’t get enough air back there. Most drivers and conductors alike don’t give a rat’s ass how uncomfortable it makes passengers. They just want your goddamn money. The bus was taking long to fill up cuz people get in the back, notice window and just get out the bus fast.

One woman complained to the conductor, and I was taken aback by the magnitude of rudeness laden response of the conductor. It was very aggravating. I can imagine how the woman felt. The conductor went on talking so rudely to other passengers and I just couldn’t stand it. I got down from the bus and waited for the next one. Jeez people should learn a little manners, it won’t wear away your personality. I got to Doc’s shop, didn’t spend much time there. Me and Austin went to Onye Mama’s place to take care of stomach emptiness. I didn’t quite enjoy the meal. The garri was too soft for my liking. I went home.

Amara was at home. Okay. I didn’t bother asking where she went or the whereabouts of his delusional husband. I was contemplating removing the extra key from where I keep it for emergency entry. I decided to leave it for a while. She picked a few things and left again. She also left a burning candle dangerously placed directly on top of the kitchen cupboard. If not for God’s protection she might’ve burnt us all a long time ago with careless placement of burning candles. You will think they know how to take simple precaution. I watched a movie on my lappie and hit the sack.

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Let The Sleeping Dog Lie Tuesday May 14 2013

I just couldn't get enough sleep in the morning, the usual suspect being I slept really late. I was up till after 3:00am. I can’t blame my system for wanting a little extra snooze time. I just lay there on the bed after I woke. I grabbed my open heavens to read but just couldn't concentrate. Ibe was already watching a series titled Suit and the television was a tad too high for me concentrate. I didn't bother to go that route of telling him to lower the volume. Just let the sleeping dogs lie. The rate at which they watch movies or television you’ll think their life depended on it like oxygen. I know sometimes it can be boring then one need to escape to the movies, but dude it is way too much.

Amara served us breakfast, white rice with stew. She hurried prepared and left. I finished my meal and put away my plate. Ibe finished and kept the plate aside just like he would drop pure water sachet anywhere. I got myself ready for work and left. I got to the office played two rounds of spider solitaire to put me in the mood. Next I worked on the presentation my boss left me with. I didn't do much browsing except for where I need data for the presentation and there are numerous sections that need Nigeria tailored data.

At around 3:00pm, I stopped work and started reading my workers-in-training manual. I have exam on Sunday this week, failure has never been an option. On top of that, I’m hungry. I don't have any cash at hand, the few kobos I have is held hostage by my bank. They call it savings bank account. The saving it for me they say but am I not saving them the problem of looking for cash to investment via loans or other investment instruments? And they make tons of money from my cash.

I wanted to go Shoprite for a meal, I weeded out the thought, later the thought infested my mind again. I set out to make the thought a reality but it was a bit late, I don't want to waste my time going only to view empty show case cuz it has happened to me before. It was on fine evening like this. I just went back to the office and packed my stuff, let’s call it a day fellas. I can always eat at Onye Mama's place, besides it saves me a few kobos too.

Oh I almost forgot I don't have a dime besides my transport fare, great!. I went to the nearest atm waited out the short queue then lawfully robbed myself and headed home. I got to my bus stop and only one path opened up to me, calling me. I have no choice in the matter. I just heed the call and followed the path. Guess where the path led me to? You guessed wrong. The path led me to Onye Mama's place. LOL! I ate and went back to see Doc. I can see clearly now that hunger is gone.

I felt like I was watching a boring television soap. There was nothing interesting to watch at channel Doc. I tried reading my manual again but the blasting speakers won’t allow. I went home. Nobody was home. Ibe came in shortly followed by Amara. He and dished some food before Amara came in. It was like they came in together. Amara said she was so tired that I can dish mine by myself, I said no problem. I watch a movie on my lappie after that I ate and slept off.

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Work Resumes Thursday May 02 2013

Work resumes today, holiday is over. I woke up with a special air of satisfaction, air of pure peace of mind. I like this. I read my open heavens prepared for work and left. Ibe and his wife were still sleeping or seem to be when I left. Got to work early and as of 10:23am my boss and Ifeanyi are yet to arrive. What could be the cause? Is it hangover from fun of yesterday? I highly doubt that lol. Chris and Yahya are here with me working. They finally made it. Everybody felt so energized today. Could it be what happens after a day of golf?

I reflected on the only reason I still keep these people, PITY. The only thin thread of pity I have for them is being threatened. I’m well aware that if for some reason the accommodations I share with them no longer exist, they will find an alternative. Either by latching or “leaching” onto the next volunteer or victim but still I have that pity on them hoping they move into their own place. But Ibe’s recent detrimental behaviour is ferociously and corrosively corroding the letter Y in the pity I have for them until all that will be left is his self-designed unending pit to fall into. Let no one confuse pity for powerlessness. It’s not as if I don’t know how to forcefully kick them out but I still hope they leave like they came. They are really forcing my hand. Am I too kind, gentle/soft or stupid?

Who knows how this will end?

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Open Heavens Tuesday April 23 2013

A call from Ugo woke me up. Accompanying the call was stomach wall disintegrating hunger. I didn't plan to go to work today but with the instruction he gave me all the way from South Africa over the phone, I have no choice but to reach the office. At least I still have the power to decide the time to get there. I will do some clean up at home before leaving for office. I stayed in the house gamed on my phone, worked a little on my laptop and did no house cleaning whatsoever. I’m hungry. Yeah I read my open heavens did a little preparation for my worker-in-training class on Saturday, I will be teaching from the open heavens.

I left for office around 12:40pm. I branched at Spar to grab a meal. I’m broke. My rent is still giving me deep concerns. I prayed and wished and is still praying and wishing for a miracle of getting another apartment so I can have peace of mind. I went to the bank to pay for the PHCN bill which I will later use to complete the KYC form as requested by Swift ISP. PHCN link was down so I couldn’t pay. I went back to the office, ate my meal hungrily like an uncivilized primate. I checked my emails. I posted a few materials on my blog. I will go to PHCN office tomorrow.

I did some research on the web regarding the site I wanted create and I saw a deluge of similar site with one created as far back as 1998. I got discouraged to continue the pursuit of the idea. Chris came later in the evening. I wanted to go early today but Onayimi called me bringing to my notice a bug on my blog when viewed on mobile. I had to rectify the problem. By the time I’m through it was like closing normal office hours. I went home.

I hung out with Caesar and Doc for a while. Doc just returned from the East. He attended his younger sister's wedding. I went home to an empty room. Ibe was away. Then I noticed the electric fan was broken at the neck. If it were a human, that's paralysis from neck down. It was really annoying. Brethren you don’t have the faintest earthly nor celestial clue as to how it made me feel. These people disaster/calamity personified. They are reckless in using appliances. Very disorganized they scatter the room at any moment. Very unhygienic, their filth-friendly attitude brought a disgusting roach infestation that I've been struggling to eradicate. What more can I say. These greatly deeply painfully irritate/disgust me to every cell in my body. 

Did I mention that I’m broke? How do I fix all these mess and madness I see every second? I’m just playing some music to calm my shattered mood. Lord take this cup away from me. The yoke is too heavy laden. He came much later in the night. I was half awake/asleep. He explained how it happened, it didn't make any difference. If you did the right thing it wouldn’t happened. He said the mattress fail when he walked past it, he barely touched it. That’s why he normally stands the mattress on the corner of the room. He said with unfounded air of conviction that that keeping the mattress to his preferred corner was the smartest solution to putting it away with the undertone of was I that stupid not to know. I gave it him straight.

I told him first of all the mattress should be on the bed. Left to me alone I will put it back on the bed the minute I wake up in the morning, I don’t need to stand on the wall whatever the corner. It’s because he or they are always asleep when I wake that I rest it against the wall. So the best to when they wake is to put it back on the bed where it belongs not shifting it to your preferred side of the wall. If it’s on the bed it won’t fall and damage the fan. Sometimes when I get home the mattress will still be on the wall which I find distasteful. Most people are work in progress, these

When the kids were around, they will just let the kids convert it to play ground while still resting halfway on the wall. Sometimes it will fall and hit the kids. I hate seeing such destructive sight. I will tell this people over and over and over again, my bed or the bed is not a freaking playground, don’t let them play like that on the bed. Even when I put the mattress myself on the bed in the morning by the time I come back from work they’ve brought it down or lean it against the wall. These supposed full-fledged adults will literally convert the mattress to a foot mat. GOD! I need God's open heavens of goodness in it's fullness in my life right now.

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Computer Configuration Tuesday April 16 2013

Tuesday April 16 2013
I’m getting used to my new 5:00 am wake up alarm. It takes a strong resolve to do stuff you know. I often just shut up the alarm consciously or unconsciously before. I do my laundry myself for now. I soaked a few shirts I will wash later before going to work. I did my ritual of reading Open Heavens and praying. Then I washed out the shirts. While I was washing around a few minutes after Ibe and Amara had already started eating. Mine has been dished too. I couldn’t eat it because I was fasting but I didn’t tell them that.

I hit the road that will take me to the office. I got there on time. I had this strong urge and thirst to drink water, eat cashew nuts then my spirit reminded me that dude you are fasting. I don't need to explain to you that fasting is a religious practice of going without food in order to strengthen your spirit and subdue your flesh. The temptation to taste something was strong, thank God I overcame.

MD came to the work with two brand new identical Windows 8 HP laptops bought by his wife. One for him and one for their second son. He brought it to me the supposed IT guy to configure it. Computers and IT has always fascinated me. I just realised it late, otherwise I would've studied computer related course. I'm still thinking about getting a second degree on that. Configuring gadgets is second nature to me. People often come to me to configure their new phones and stuff. Maybe I should a configuring agency or something. Now what name will I call the configuring outfit? Let's see. Chronicle Configuring Hotspot, lol.

Most part of the configuration is piece of cake to me. But I must say Windows 8 navigation sucks to me. I explored the laptop like I usually do. I set username and passwords, I checked out Windows store, Skydrive (similar to dropbox and serves as a backup), installed drives, etc. MD left for meeting afterwards.

I configured the laptops. Ifeanyi represented our office at meeting for office complex to discuss major issues affecting the complex like power, water, parking, etc. The meeting really lasted a long time judging by when he came back. Unless he had a little detour after the meeting.


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Lazy Tuesday April 9 2013

God woke me at the first ring of my alarm at 5:00am. I had very sound sleep. I watched Inuyasha a few episodes. I read my open heaven devotional. But I wasn’t feeling anything like going to work. I feel like soaking away at the Bahamas or Monte Carlos, you know what I mean. I’m sure you do. I showered for work and suddenly without warning, the sky turned dark and it started raining. Oh mehn God moves in a mysterious ways his wonders to perform.

After showering I just sat back at home and relaxed in my imaginary luxurious, refreshing vacation spot located in my room. I wonder when the rain will stop. Do I want it to stop? I don’t know. It got so cold that I truly envied those who are happily married. Of course if one's girlfriend was around, it would've been wonderful being wrapped in each other's arms. The rain persisted till around 12:00 noon. I left for around 12:30, it was still drizzling.

Mr. Ugo apparently went for a meeting elsewhere that I didn’t know of. He came back late to the office. at home Amara prepared spaghetti which we all ate. The chili in the spaghetti was extra extra hot and spicy. The burning sensation in my mouth was just what I wanted. 

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Tuesday April 02 2013

I woke early, I intend going to work early too. I kept drifting in and out of sleep till I finally got off the bed around seven. A long epistle came from my boss detailing goals and target for today and this week and urging us to come to work early, it wasn’t inspiring. It wasn’t depressing either.

I went to work very early. Ifeanyi surprisingly came to work early. Guess who came late? I mean very late. The boss of course. My task today was mostly handling the visa, passport, plane ticket and embassy appointment booking issues. I succeeded in doing all that. I wanted to go to school today but because he's leaving for Abuja this evening I decided taking the whole tomorrow will be best.

Later in the day his Abuja meeting was postponed till the 8th, next week Monday so he didn’t go again today. My mind and plan for tomorrow has already been made, nothing can change it I suppose. Zweli Nkosi his South African partner was in town, he paid our office a visit. 

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Tuesday March 26 2013

I’m up early. Maybe I will go to work early too. I’m still waiting for Aero, Interswitch and Gtbank to reverse the transaction that failed deliver service but succeeded in taking money. I want to write them again. Aero staff has been on strike now, could it be the cause of the delay?

This couple has started piling candle wax on the speaker shelf again. What is it with these people and their despicable tendencies to mess the aesthetics of their environment. It’s so annoyingly amazing how they are comfortable with the eyesore. It gets under my skin. And they say they are not comfortable enough, I can agree to an extent. But I also can’t help but wonder how dirty, messy, filthy, aesthetically tarnished the place will be if they were ‘‘comfortable’’ enough.

I went to work. Again nothing much to do. I went to Access Bank to rectify a transaction issue. We believed we left N189000 with the cashier to deposit in a new account that was being opened. Since the account number was not yet assigned and my boss was in a mad rush as usual, he was just hurrying the process by leaving the money with the bank to deposit once the account is active. The cashier even filled out the teller for him. So when the deposit alert came it was N181000. Howcome? We left N189000, what happened to N8000? A tough situation I might add. They was no proof of giving the bank that amount. The bank did its investigation and trust the staff involved for meticulous work ethics. We on other hand was certain of the amount. Obviously there's a mistake somewhere but where is it? My boss they must give him his N8000.

On my way back to the office I bought spicy porridge yam and fried sweet potato from Shoprite plus a bottle of fanta. I need it. Earlier in the morning I went out with the driver to pick a few items for the office, Ify came in with domino pizza. They devoured it without remembering me. When I was eating my lunch my boss complained about I bought lunch for just myself not giving about the rest. In my mind I was like, do you really wanna go there? 

Finally the staff involved paid the money. My boss later asked her to take back her money. He just wanted them to take responsibility, that a customer's money disappear without the person/s involved not paying for it

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Tuesday March 19 2013

I made it to the land of th living today, thank God for life. Most times we take waking up for granted like it’s our bona fide right. I reached the office a little after nine just about same time Chris was stepping out his car. He pampers this car more than a baby. It’s a convertible black Volvo car. Very rare make of car in these parts. He is a grandmaster when it comes keeping a car washed, waxed, cleaned. As a matter of fact he is importing his own trusted cleaning agents from the US, he doesn’t trust the products in Nigeria. Ifeanyi came in at the same time too like we all timed each other.

Chris doesn’t have a key yet so he has to wait for us even when he is in a hurry and we are late. It really sucks to him. He is the one delaying molding the key somehow, just drop the cash and the key will drop. My boss came in much later. We did some work. He has been planning a South African trip which might include all of us. When the time came to it, he excluded me. Later on he was like I should start processing my visa but he isn’t promising anything. I looked up SA visa application requirement and process. I was waiting for some sort of go ahead green light. Today that light turned crimson blood red. He asked me to book a plane ticket to SA for Ifeanyi.

I didn’t quite expect him to come through about me joining the SA travel team but somehow I felt bad. My mind started playing the devil's advocate. I remember how on every occasion he has left me out of things that should naturally seamlessly include me for equity sake. After a while as if realizing the impact of what he has said, he added “I’m sorry I couldn’t include you. I tried. Maybe next time” Yeah I feel so much better now. Yeah right. I leached away that bad feeling from my mind by researching online about ways to think creatively and come up creative ideas.

I need to start thinking creatively again like I did back in 2007-8 I need to flex my brain tissue to its limit profitably. I couldn’t book the flight cuz Ify don’t have his passport with him. And the day came to an end. Got home Ibe and his wife weren’t around as usual, neither was my scrabble. I’m guessing they go to Threadstone's house. Going by their reputation to spoil things, I pity my scrabble. I didn’t know when they came back cuz I was fast asleep.

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Thinking Tuesday March 12 2013

Thank God for another beautiful day. I woke hail and hearty except for the what-do-i-wear fever. I confess, I've been feeling horny lately. Man got needs you know, I gotta satisfy them. ''Body no be firewood like the parlance here goes'' I did my devotional and prayed. These days Ibe's wife Amara dont sleep in the house, only God knows what they are up to. I didnt do much browsing with the office internet modem that I took home with me yesterday. So I gotto be early in office today no matter what! I made it on time and set the modem back on its throne. There you go, the internet Kingdom is complete once again.

I have been downloading some videos since this month and never bothered to check my usage. I checked our bandwidth and froze. 70% of our monthly plan has already been used!! What?!! Dont look at me, look at him within me. He made me do it. How the heck did I get so carried away to this extent. The good thing is if I stop my downloads, the remaining 30% will see us to March 31st. Immediately I conscientiously banned download, at least my downloads. I'm thinking of buying an internet topup card out of my pocket just in case. I then worked on my appeal letter. Ifeanyi walked in when I was printing it.

Everything in check, off I go to Yaba, let the Lord's favour be abundant upon me, AMEN!! I got to Yaba with little traffic hassle. I dropped my appeal. One of the secretaries called Nike was kind enough to tell me to follow up on the appeal after two (2) or three (3) weeks. I was like TWO or THREE WHAT??!!! Is it going to take that long? Won’t the semester be over by then? Mehn this is such a drag. I just sounded like Shikamaru from Naruto anime. I got back to the office after doing a little shopping at Yaba.

I have been thinking seriously about my life, where it is, where I want it to be and how I will take it there. What do I gotta do? Please my dear head don’t explode because of too much thinking! We are in this together. Im just looking out for all of us. Together we will achieve quality result/success!

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Tuesday March 5 2013

I didnt wake up on time. I stayed awake from 3 till 5 when I drifted off again and woke up around 8. My boss wont be coming to the office today, has an avalanche of long meetings to attend mostly SEC related. He asked me to pick up our office internet modem from his house. By the time I got to his house, no one was home.

I couldnt get online in the office almost althrough the day. I designed some charts for Chris on PowerPoint, that was the major thing I did today. I went to house around three when one of his domestic staff came home to collect the modem. I closed early. I went straight home.

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Dear Diary: Tuesday 26-02-2013

I woke up early today. Performed my morning ritual. Waking up to a numbing headache is now a commonplace. I can’t wait to rid myself completely of this cough and catarrh. The catarrh is almost completely gone. The cough shows its presence lesser and lesser. Its just a matter of time. Amara is on one stupid mad rush again. If only she had any shame. I tried to tune their voice out, I dint achieve 100% success. I just remembered my paycheck, and I lit up. It’s the koko today. I showered quickly and left the house to the nearest access bank. I cashed the check and deposited it straight to my account. I went to work at my own time cuz my boss is out of town.

Mehn Im freaking hungry. I went straight to Shoprite from my bank. I bought porridge yam one of their latest dish. I've never tasted it before so I decided to try it. I bought a yoghourt drink too. Immediately I got to the office I hungrily ravaged the food. It was deeply filling but not deeply satisfying. It got too much salt or salty tasting sauce like it had too much seasoning cube. If that's the regular taste Im not tasting that shit again. I like to believe it was mistake today until I taste it again. I worked on my blog a little. It needs a lot of work though and is a luxury I cant afford at the moment. Chris is back in the office doing his thing. Ifeanyi is back as well. He went to cash his check. Chris has been dying to get a favourable response from Diamond bank on a training programe like yesterday. He called the bank and they gave him a shock therapy literally. They told him that any form of response favourable or not has been postponed for two weeks cuz the person in charge is on two weeks vacation. He is furious. His argument is why cant someone else take charge until she returns?!

Ifeanyi on the other hand has his own issues too. The management of his estate 1004 in Victoria Island cut power of their section of flats until they pay N200,000 levy. Dude doesnt have it at the moment. He is planning to take refuge at Festac town but the catch is, he owes someone in Festac. On top of that doctor told him this morning that his former driver who was sick whom he is helping with medical bills has HIV 1 & 2! Doctor said its well advanced and the sick man is not responding to treatment. He said the guy's wife just put to bed two months ago. The wife reached out to him for help in the first place, now he is going to break the bad news to wife. Ify was like he needs to hit the liquor store. Like his mouth needs a conjugal with a bottle of alomo. I tabled my own case about the folks squatting in my apartment and they were like dude they have to leave. Chris is point blank about it. He said Nigerians love to beg but this is not a begging situation, I just cant live that way. We all have our own shitty situation.

My uncle once said something that shocked me cuz of how true his words of wisdom was for me. He said people our family love to help people but they do it to a point that it really hurts us and we keep doing it. Why do I keep doing this? I keep pitying them but do they do same for me? Im not mocking their situation but they are compounding mine. Later Bisi called to say hi. I asked her to see me before she goes home which she did. I closed work early. Hung out with Doc for a while before going home. I had a heart-to-heart sob chat with Cleavie about a particular woman in her life. I felt so much her. I wish I can just eject her out of that situation. When I got home a little storm brewed.  I took my sweet and sweat time to scrap off all the repulsive candle wax these people used to reverse-beautify the aesthetics of my room. I mean I don’t understand how comfortable these guys are with making everywhere messy and ugly!

So I told them please you guys need to remove the wax one of you (which I don’t care) left in the bathroom cuz I took my time to remove wax you piled up on every surface in this house like stalagmite on a cave floor. Not that I said it like that but I wasn’t nice and cuddly about it. So Ibe went off like “Are you now a landlord? You shouldn’t have said it thy way you said it.” We exchange a few remarks but nothing major or damaging. I wasn’t really bugging. Amara was cautiously in the middle. I didn’t care, glad I have passed the message across. I wasn’t in a good mood either. I went out to let the message marinate. And when my bed called, I answered.

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Dear Diary: Tuesday 19-02-2013

Woke up. My head aches. A dull annoying persistent ache. I read my Open Heavens Devotional for the first time since I bought it. And the topic centered on a question I have been asking myself. The topic is "Give Life To Your Faith". Memory verse was Proverbs 21:25 - The desires of the slothful killeth him for his hands refuse to labour.

I often ask myself since I have faith of owning my own car this year, as a matter my choice car is now my darling desktop wallpaper on my laptop, is it my current job that will give me the money to buy that car? Which is possible. But I feel like there is something greater I should do to facilitate the process or make it a reality. Afterwards I prayed. I took my shower.

I felt good reading that devotional and felt even much better after praying. I was torn between going to work and staying at home. I was like Jesus when he prayed, ''Oh my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me...'' if it be possible let the cup of going to work today pass from me. I dint even have or know what to wear, I'm yet to wash my clothes. My phone battery was down and PHCN was out. I gave my neighbour's house-help my phone to charge for me. She said they were about to turn off their generator and I was like let plug it even if it’s for 1 minute.

I should've just listened to her if I knew I would regret later. Then it happened. They left to God-knows-where with my phone locked in their house. What!! She even turned my phone on, what was she looking for? Of course she couldn't go past the security code. The phone was useless to her but it now transformed to vault for missed calls and messages. I was fuming. She should've given me the phone before leaving.

My head was aching. The catarrh mucus wasn’t as red as yesterday. I managed to find my way to the office. I decided to be a little mischievous when asked about my phone because as sure as the sky is up, my boss must've tried to reach me severally. I decided my response to why I was phone silent will be that my phone is missing. Chuks replied the letter I sent requesting for financial assistance, well the result was negative. Not really surprising to me. At least I have gotten that out of the way. I can now focus on other things.

Later in the day my boss came back to the office from his myriads of meetings and complained and inquired why I dint pick any of his calls and dint reply any of his text messages. That was when it dawned on me that the house-help switched my phone on. I’m so cocksure that I gave her a switched off phone. I started imagining the number of missed calls I will get and how angry it will make some people when their calls are supposedly ignored by me. I told my boss that I don’t know where the phone was as planned. He was like

 ''dude you can’t afford to lose your phone now. Buy a new one immediately, I don’t care how you do it. You don’t know how much I depend on you. I was going mad when I couldn't reach you today. We are on the verge of making money. We are on edge of the mountain about to jump off into money. Once that happens, I will increase your salary by 300+% instantly. I will relocate you from that environment to a better one where you won’t be falling sick often. We will just take care of everybody's pressing needs.''

And Im like really? I know Im his babysitter, oh please tell me something that I dont know. He asked if N4,000 can get a new phone of the lowest tech ever provided one can send/receive calls/texts with it. He went ahead to give me the money plus extra for transportation and line retrieval. Now I’m cracking my brain on how not to spend this money on a new phone (makes evil face). I have a phone that I don’t use cuz the case is bad. All I have to do is get a new case for the old phone chikena! Ooh, I’m so smart, won’t you agree? At least this be opportunity I've been looking for to repair my old phone.

I left work feeling a bit feverish. I dint take complete dosage of my drugs though I doubt the efficacy of vitamin C tablets, blood capsule and cough syrup on my cough, catarrh, headache and dizzy spells. I got home in one normally functioning piece after spending some time with Gabriel, Aver, Blessing and Doctor. The house-help brought my with a guilt look on her face. It was as if he saw me coming from a mile away as

I approached their door she came out with the phone in hand. I gave her pieces of my mind. I let her I was angry. And why did she turn my phone on? She apologized. She wasn’t happy though I can tell by her reaction. She must be feeling like 'Is this the motherf**king thanks I get for helping you charge your phone?' I wanted to thank her and scold her but I ended up only scolding her. I wonder how she will react the next time I ask her to help me charge my phone. I got inside the house, ate rice and zzzzzzz.

 

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