Travel Photos: Souvenirs From My Journey To God's Own State

Travel Photos: Souvenirs From My Journey To God's Own State

I traveled to the eastern part of Nigeria from Lagos recently. I went for a burial of one of my uncles. God recalled him when he went to answer natures call in the fateful morning. The burial went absolutely smoothly.
As a traveler I took a few travel pictures. I would've taken more exotic travel pictures if only my camera didn't go out of commission, so sad.

Travel Photos: Souvenirs From My Journey To God's Own State - Usekwu

The photo above is that of a modest USEKWU. Usekwu is an igbo word for kitchen. There's another modern kitchen indoors. A pot of white rice is on fire, it's almost done. You can see ITE (pot) sits on three legged EKWU or tripod stand for cooking. The fuel is firewoods. The firewood is dried OKA shrub and OWARA. I don't know what "oka" is in english, the english word for "owara" is jute palm fronds. The jute palm fronds is usually used to erect yam barn

Travel Photos: Souvenirs From My Journey To God's Own State - Ihu Ezi

 This our IHU EZI. That is compound. A coconut sits in a small roundabout in the middle. That coconut don't taste good to me but I eat it anyway lol. Beyond the red gate is a fairly large farm land but it wasnt cultivated this year. You can see the plantains, banana plants, etc.

Travel Photos: Souvenirs From My Journey To God's Own State - Usekwu with no fire

This is that usekwu where a pot of rice was on fire. Its early morning, no fire yet. It doesn't usually see fire everyday.

Travel Photos: Souvenirs From My Journey To God's Own State - Maize storage

 Maize storage. Maize hung over the cooking area, the heat from the cooking helps dry the and preserve the maize.

Travel Photos: Souvenirs From My Journey To God's Own State - Pot of bush meat

 A pot of ANU OHIA (bush meat). In this case the bush meat is NCHI (grasscutter). Its a delicacy.

Travel Photos: Souvenirs From My Journey To God's Own State - Isi Nchi

 This is the head of the ANU NCHI. This was a fully matured grasscutter. You have no idea how delicious this tastes lol.

Travel Photos: Souvenirs From My Journey To God's Own State - Youth Day

 This is Mazi Alozie and Nwada Chinwe presenting a mock news during Methodist Church's Youth Day at Trinity Methodist Church Umuegwu. It was a hilarious comic relief. Mazi Alozie is talented at doing this. He cracked everybody up lol!

Travel Photos: Souvenirs From My Journey To God's Own State - Abacha

 Now here's another delicacy. I love this dish. It's called ABACHA or popularly known as AFRICAN SALAD. The ingredients include abacha (cassava flaked a bit like pasta), potash salt, oil, garden egg, garden egg leaves, assorted fish, prawn, etc as you want to add.

Travel Photos: Souvenirs From My Journey To God's Own State - Okpa

This is called OKPA prepared from OKPA seed. I don't english word okpa sorry. But this is a delicacy. This particular one is wrapped with plantain or banana leaves which is the traditional and healthiest method. The plantain/banana makes it leaves gives it extra nice taste or flavour. It can be prepared using nylon bags too. Okpa is heavy and very filling healthy energy food.

Travel Photos: Souvenirs From My Journey To God's Own State - Coming back from the stream

 This photo is one of my oldest exotic travel photo lol. I didn't take this phot on my recent travel. The people in the photo were coming back from the stream called OTI. The have no idea they are on my blog. I have no idea who they are. There a guy who went to fetch firewood in the photo too.

Travel Photos: Souvenirs From My Journey To God's Own State

The road behind was constructed recently. It used to be very muddy during rainy season and very nastily dusty during dry/harmattan season. Everybody is happy this road was finally constructed courtesy of NDDC.


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Dear Diary: Saturday March 2 2013

I jogged this morning, it’s been a long while. Contrary to my fears I didnt get tired easily but I took it easy. I read my devotional after I showered. I relaxed a bit then went over to Ceaser's. There I had my breakfast which was yam and egg. We played drought and he beat me three times. He has been practicing with some bad players like he's going for a competition. The result was expected. Its so hot inside and equally hot outside. There's breeze outside but it blows mostly hot air. I came back home and slept real good. Mehn it was so energizing. Thank God for sleep. I woke up in the evening. Ibe and his wife went out to God-knows-where.

I called Cherrie to come around. She came much later. We talked about this and that. Then she started with her whining, complaining, too much attention seeking attitude. Going on and on about her observation and the mountain she expected from me and how she is getting a tree stump like she is perfect without flaws. She has flaws, I dont dwell on it. I have observed she keeps malice and is vengeful. She didnt meet my expectation too. She ended up annoying me to the roots of my being. Scopium has had enough. I have had enough. Me, myself and I have had enough. This bad rubbish is getting a good riddance from me for good. In the middle of the arguments she stormed to the door that she is leaving, I didnt bother stopping her and she was like ''so you are letting me go?'' In my mind I was like ''you freaking think I'm gonna beg you? Not today girl'' I've really had it with you.

I have never met a personality like hers before, frankly I dont need such unnecessary difficulty. Later she said she was leaving. This time she announced it unlike storming to the door, I said okay. It was a few minutes after nine, I didnt see her off. Im closing this chapter, woe betide who dares open it. Ibe and his wife came back a few minutes later just before the rain started to fall. The rain was on my side cuz it washed away any trace of her in my life.

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Dear Diary: Friday March 1 2013

Its a new month! Welcome everybody, what's shaking? Lets march on to success in this month of March. I neither read my devotional nor prayed today. I misused my time in the morning. I couldn’t make headway in the letter I wanted to write this morning when I woke up so I decided to watch something to clear my head. I chose Bleach anime to watch. I got carried away somewhere along the line.

I got to work on time. But there was no light. The generator was bad and PHCN was out of commission. The day dragged by slowly and painfully. I ran a few errands to the banks to make payments and also pay into my account. Also I went to Etisalat shop at The Palms to configure my boss' new ipad and back to the office. I slept to my heart content in the office. I was the only human around. It was a few minutes after three that the generator roared into life like a nightmare monster.

Ok my boss asked me to download a couple of songs unfortunately we've ran out of internet bandwidth. He called someone he knew from our ISP to give us internet connection while payment will be made later. This method is like a routine and it works like a charm cuz we always pay, we never default no matter what! I downloaded his songs as well as mine. They took the light just when one of my downloads reach 99%, that’s mean. My boss brought champagne to the office when he came but somehow we forgot all about popping it. It survived today to be popped another day. I left office almost straight to Cherrie's house but she wasnt around. I went home eventually. Mimi served me small food as I told her. I watched a few more episodes of bleach and then zzzzz.

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Dear Diary: Thursday 28-02-2013

I’m up early. I did a little work on the insurance presentation last night. Im glad I did. I ironed the clothes I wanted to wear, read my devotional and prayed. I prepared my mind for the day's task. I showered at my convenient time and left the house. The sun was merciless or should I say over efficient in the discharge of its duties of lighting and heating earth. The year 2013 didnt leap so the month of February ended today being 28th.

I needed to board Obalende bus and from Obalende take Yaba bus. There were no buses for some reason. What is the problem? The few buses that came were not going to my direction. And there I stood with other passengers like meat on the grill. This is not the kinda weather for standing at a bus stop without shade. Im sure some plants though they need it for photosynthesis will complain it’s too much.

That still small inner voice spoke to me. You know that inner voice that tries to guide us that we often refuse to listen to? Yes that voice, it spoke to me. It asked me to call my course coordinator, the man Im going to Yaba to see. I've called this petite-statured man endlessly on his two lines to the point the ring will deafen me but he never picked my call. I decided not to call again. This time the stars were aligned. First I listened to my inner voice and called. Just one dial and he picked! First I felt like maybe its the wrong number but I ignored the feeling of negativity.

I spoke to him respectfully as calmly, calculated and confident like he's a confidant. He responded likewise. He asked me if it was the only course I had an issue with and I replied yes. He then asked me to write an appeal letter to the course coordinator through the MBA School to see if there's any help they can give. I went numb with joy. Serious joy paralysis struck me as the feeling of hope was violently rekindled. I've gotta act fast.

I went straight to Shoprite to get something to eat before going to the office. At the office I worked some more on the insurance presentation, mehn its a lot more work than I thought. Ifeanyi dint come to work today. The office has been devoid of his presence for two days. He had complained of being cash strapped, oh well I am too. He pushes a range rover sports and a Benz  suv, I push none. In his cash strapped state, he still doing well compared to mine. I went home early.

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Dear Diary: Wednesday 27-02-2013

Im up early. I have been up since 1:07am. There was no light, I stayed awake in the dark rummaging through my phone for stuffs to do. I listened to the radio on my phone and read a novel till I fell asleep again around 5:00am. My phone battery went dead, no power to juice it up. I woke again around 9:00am.

Performed my ritual. Left for work afterwards. I got to work really late. By the time I charged my phone I saw a bunch of sms and whatsapp messages. One of them was from Enque thanking me for lending an ear yesterday when we had the sob chat. I didn’t know I was that helpful, lending an ear can be a huge relief help. I was not very productive for the office today. I was very productive from a personal and leisure standpoint.

Tonight Im gonna work like mad on insurance presentation. I plan to go to school tomorrow. I dint go home early like yesterday. I went to see Cherrie. I think she whines or complains alot over things that I find trivial. I dont understand. I don’t need all that. I did just that.

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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: Monday 25-02-2013

Woke up feeling much better. The night rest was more than therapeutic for my headache. I did my morning ritual. This couple in my house are disturbing the peace and quiet of the trying to decide what the wife will wear that morning. She is on another imbecilic mad rush this morning. Every time she has any engagement its always the same foolish approach. If the appointment is by 10:00am, she will waste all the time in the morning gisting specifically gossiping (they are very good at that), watching tv, a miniscule fraction is spent on chores in the kitchen and when its 9:30am she will start hurrying up. What kinda stupid lifestyle is that? It’s always the same every goddamn time.

One day I got so pissed by her annoying commotion and I told her to wake up on time get prepared for your engagement and stop leading this irresponsible life. Did it make any change? Hell no! She will always be late. Her's is a hopeless case. If Im the person she keeps delaying like this all the time, I would've stopped waiting for her lateness ass a loooong time ago. I dont say shit again. And will never say shit again. Let the dead bury the dead. Period! Her chronic lateness drama dint end until she asked me for some transport to wherever-the-hell she was going to. I dressed up calmly and left for work.

Generally, I dint do much in the office today. I still had the Lion of Africa PowerPoint presentation to work on. My illegal immigrant cough and catarrh still resides in the state called my body. The catarrh has seriously gone down the cough is still there. Maybe the cough is cuz I skip the medication sometimes. I dont know about the efficacy of the syrup but I find the taste so damaging. I went to The Game to pick up a few things.

As we were preparing to leave the office for the day, my boss gave a check for my salary with a ⅓ increment. My eyes glowed at the sight of it.  I can use the extra. Earlier in the day he asked if I eat well I said I dont. I told him Im losing weight no thanks to the Saturday 10-15km run. I told him Im going to stop the weekly run cuz my goal and theirs are at polar ends. They want to lose weight, I want to gain. They want to eat less, I want to eat more. They are already eating well, and Im not. You see I have no business being in the camp. I only want to be fit so 5km weekly can do that for me. He said he will take care of my lunch every month. He assumed an average figure and did the maths, I guess thats the reason behind the bump in my paycheck. Its all good. I just started paying my tithe, it will go up like wise. We went home

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Dear Diary: Sunday 24-02-2013

I woke up with a start, feeling good. Read my devotional and prayed. I have feelings of immense and overwhelming success, peace and bliss. I went to Victory Inheritance Ministry, Ceaser's church. There was one wonderful testimony I heard that really moved me. The testimony in summary was how an ordinary commission staff whose boss is very difficult and has spent the last six months whining, complaining and trying to quit a job which she has done since 2010, now got rewarded with manager training course in USA. The embassy gave her instant 2 year multiple visas with working permit. Someone put her name and she got chosen. She wasn’t qualified in any way. She wasn’t a full staff nor a manager. That’s the power of God's awesomeness. After service they held eagle's (they call the youths eagles) meeting.

We went to Tony's place at Isolo. They reception was grand. His mum prepared wonderful delicious meals for us. She wasnt around when we went there. Some of the dishes were already laid out nicely on the table. We helped ourselves to some nice food. I have not eaten like that in a long time. I thanked him from the depths of my heart for his hospitality. We all did. His mum came in much later, she had to rest so we didn’t spent time with her. We left Tony's house around 4:30pm. We dropped him at Dolphin Estate and headed home. Soon as we got home we changed immediately into our sports gear and went to Ikota school to play football. It was late we dint have much time to play but we did anyway. To my surprise I got tired very quickly though I played till the end. I sweated so much. What could be the cause? Ceaser usually rides his bicycle to the field while I drive. The car refused to start at first, it later started at its convenient time.

By the time we got home Ceaser was home as usual and Doctor was in the house definitely because of Aver. This guy is married with four kids but still pursues girls heavily. I find it very disgusting when men cheat on their wife with multiple partners. I can endure cheating with one person. Though the bottom-line, cheat is cheat. None is a lesser crime. I can’t imagine myself doing that when I get married. I wasn’t really feeling myself. This drummer called headache was pounding the left side of my head with 20 ton sledge hammer. I just disinvolved myself from all the raunchy chats and plays. Aver came so alive and overcharged with all the raunchiness going on. I just tuned them all out like a station with nuisance program. Few minutes later after I had a cup of wine, I begged for my leave and went home. I showered and zzzzzz instantly.

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Dear Diary: Saturday 23-02-2013

Woke up late. Read my devotional and prayed the lord's prayer. I got alot of shit to do today. I gotta wash, clean up etc. Oh boy Im feeling lazy about it. 'No escaping dude' Thats my mind taunting my body. Finally got the strength to do it. Dont ask me where I got it from. Maybe from a kyubi. I always feel like a load is lifted off my shoulder anytime I get all my clothes clean. Time check, a little before two o'clock. I ate beans with fried coarse cassava grains mixed with sugar then saturated in water. In simple english I drink garri with the beans.

Left the house to see Gabriel. I missed them by a few minutes. Gabriel and Aver went to the church for rehearsal against tomorrow's church service while Blessing was at the shop. I went to Doctor's shop instead. The weather was unapologetically scorching hot. At least my clothes won’t have any excuse not to dry fast. There was power outage as usual but Doc has a way of tapping into his neighbour's electricity when this particular neighbour turns on his generator. So Im in luck cuz I cant imagine how hot his shop will be with the intensity of the sun. I went into the inner partition plugged my phone to charged, stationed the fan directly on me and then dozed off. I have no idea how long I slept.

Few minutes after my ship sailed in from slumberland Gabriel a.k.a. Ceaser came from the church. We went to the his house played couple rounds of game of drought or should I call it checkers. I never drew once let alone win. Im not surprised. Im not good at the game. But if it were chess, the outcome would've been very different in my favour. Later in the evening we went for a leadership program he invited me to at Ikoyi. Ceaser and Tony sat at one section while me and Aver sat at an obscure section. Not like we planned it, that was where ushers ushered us to. A few speakers spoke.

Light refreshments went round. Refreshments like cocktail, juice, and finger foods. Bad luck, for us the finger food dint get to us. Just as they were serving our section of the hall Ceaser sent a whatsapp message to Aver that we should go. Aver had already complained of being bored and sleepy. I was kinda not feeling the whole event because of poor audio from the mic or speaker. The temperature in the small hall was very unfriendly. It was the chilled cocktail that served as a coolant to my system otherwise I would've been baked. We left afterwards.

Another guy Sunkami joined us to Falomo bridge Ikoyi where we dropped him and Tony. The guy needed a little change like N200 for transport fare from Ceaser and four of us (Ceaser, Aver, Tony and me) almost disappointed him, can you imagine that. Ok Aver provided the money for tollgate and just has N100 left. Tony just had enough to get him home. I had N1000 note and N90 but no change. Ceaser said he dint have money. Im guessing he dint have spare N200 and dint want to give above that. Finally we gave Aver's N100 and my N90 problem solved.

We got home. I stayed at Ceaser's place for a while. He beat me some more at the game.I got home and just slept off.

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Dear Diary: Friday 22-02-2013

Woke up around three o'clock and the dull nagging headache woke up with me as well. How long does this headache want to remain an illegal tenant in my head?  Im trying to think out a plan for today's activity. Left for work eventually, due to less traffic and fairly fast transportation I got to work before 9:00am. I did a couple minor office tasks. Then my boss asked me to prepare a presentation on insurance company with a template of 2007 AIICO insurance presentation. That means a lot of economic figures must've changed so I gotta research online or elsewhere to get them. I really did some work on that. You need to see the email my boss sent me to really really motivate/ginger/pump me up for the task. Here's the email below...

Nwab please update to today’s numbers.  Perhaps Ifeanyi can help you source current data on the insurance sector, particularly Lion of Africa which is different from Royal Exchange but both owned by the Odogwu's.  But this assignment is your baby.

Start work immediately.  You will get a piece of the action on this for delivery quality work.  You will use the money earned to pay your school fees, get a new place, get a car and get married.  Please do a good job of the graphics

I got a call from my coursemate Chika back in university. She was in the neighbourhood and was saying hello. She is a nice girl. Sometimes I wonder what if I marry her. Never mind I said that. Dont tell her lol. Oh well I don’t know her real real close. She came to submit her resume at one company. I went out to see her and we had a nice conversation as always. Her hustle muscle really inspired me. I felt like I've not really taken my employment situation really serious. May God bless our hustle in Jesus name, AMEN!! After that I went to the bank make some payment and back to the office. It was already evening. How time flies.

I went home afterwards.

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Dear Diary: Thursday 21-02-2013

Woke up. Read my devotional book. Prayed to my almighty God. I went to work late. The persistent cough and catarrh puts me through a slow start in the morning. My brother Ugo called me earlier and was like when you come to the office you will go to a proper hospital. By the I got to the office he was like you sound better. So the idea of going to a hospital went extinct like dinosaurs. We carried on with the day's work. 

Later he and Chris talked about Chris' financial situation. He advised him to be 'creative' in coming up ideas to get short finances to sustain him till his deals go through. Chris is into security consulting. He relocated from the States to Nigeria. His car he's shipping in from US will hit ports on 28th of this month and there's no money to clear it yet. Ugo then used the opportunity to talk to me about my UNILAG issue. I told him Im banking on a waiver besides that I dont know where the money will come. He said ''you will bear the pain for your mistake'' I understand that. Sometimes it seems like the pain is greater than the mistake. Not like it was a deliberate act. Yes I blame myself for the mistake. Don't blame me also for the poor educational system in Nigeria. You all went abroad to study, you dont know what its like in a typical Nigerian university of nowadays. He said I should plead, beg, roll on the floor, cry that I dont have money so they can waive the course like they used to do. If that dint work I should arrange an instalmental payment plan with them in which I pay half my salary until the extra fees is paid off.

Of course there is provision for instalmental payments but its more stringent. I can barely survive with full salary now let alone when I have to slash it in half. My rent is around the corner and its more than double of the fees. Mehn it sucks to be me right now. No! Its bucks to be me right now. I gotta get a solution to this somehow. I always do. God always gives me a way out, I just havent seen it yet

I drank too much hot water cuz of the cold. I even bought another drug called Flucoday which I'm taking every four hours. My friend Hitman sent another request text message. This time he needs transport fare to Ogun State for NIMS interview or was it aptitude test, I cant even remember anymore. The timing couldn't have been more wrong and annoying. Dude Im in need of money too!

I branched at Doctor's place on my way home. Let me tell you a little about this doctor. He is a special kinda doctor. He dint go to school to learn his profession. He laid so many innocent lives to rest during the course of his self-trained process. Unlike other doctors he doesnt save human or animal lives rather he saves the life of phones. He is doctor of phones. He fixes phones and some other electronics. That's his initial business but now he sells almost anything. His shop is next to Blessing's shop. Blessing is Ceaser's girlfriend or fiancee. Doctor's shop is my usual port of call when coming home from work either for business or pleasure. He is married with four kids but you can barely tell. I went to collect the phone I paid him to change the case the previous day. Luckily he came through. The phone really looks brand new!

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Dear Diary: Wednesday 20-02-2013

Woke up. Read my devotional book and prayed. The topic was 'The Unbroken Christian'. Memory verse was Psalm 138:6. Laid on my bed for a while thinking. Should I go to the office first before going to The Palms regarding my phone issue or should I go straight to The Palms? My brother had already sent me a text this morning which I almost replied. Technically my phone is still missing so replying his text means I have found my phone though he may not catch on to that. I didn’t reply. I went to work then went to Saka Tinubu looking for casing for my old phone. Mehn it was like looking for a politician that has never lied. You won’t find any. Exactly my point, I dint find any case anywhere. Howcome it’s this scarce? I decided to get a new phone after all from Slot. I bought a nokia dual sim phone.

I strolled over to mtn office to do sim swap. I was shocked to the molecular level of my essence when the lady said my mtn line has not been registered. I’m like WTF??!!! Is she nuts or made out of nuts? Im damn certain like Im damn certain of my gender that I have registered. I have even sent 'REG' to 789 to verify. And they replied with confirmatory message that my line has been successfully registered. Anyway I registered again and did sim swap then left mtn office for our office.

Back in the office, it was full house. Ugo, Ifeanyi and Chris were there. Ugo and Ifeanyi were seriously deliberating on share percentage. Its amazing that every time such discussion is going on, it always includes two of them and no one gives a rat's ass about my own share. I thought we are in this together. Let just let it slide today. I will ask Ugo later if I’m labouring in vain. Sound of increasing salary is good but also having miniscule stake is even better. And I think I deserve it after all I’m playing my part well.

The day dragged by and we closed shop. I went home to the humdrum of my crowded room. Well I slept. God gave me sleep.

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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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Dear Diary: Monday 18-02-2013

Health Issue: Red Mucus (Phlegm) Discharge A Symptom Of Tuberculosis?
Woke up. If I didn't wake up I wont be writing this, right? Should I stop starting my daily dairy with 'woke up'? I will think about it. But seriously that's the first thing I do every morning I'm alive. My catarrh booked a long early appointment with the toilet. Little did I know what the deal was. I blew my nose several times in the toilet and the mucus kept pouring but it had this frightening red colour.

I noticed the red mucus discharge yesterday. I didn't do anything about it, I left it in the limbo of inconsequential. Yesterday it was just the first mucus that came out my nose that had the red colour, the rest had the normal milk colour. I was wondering could it be dust or is it blood. I concluded it was the dust because this wasn't the first time I experienced such thing. Yesterday stroll with Suggy was a strong suspect regarding the dust. But today's red mucus is too suspicious to be left in the inconsequential thought zone that it's dust.

Tuberculosis Test 

Whats more, when I blow my nose its like I can feel my brain coming out of my nose. This muddles my thought process. The dull pain makes me dizzy for a moment and I can feel it throbbing across my skull. I decided to visit the hospital. I sent my boss and brother a text that I wont come to the office instead the doctor will be prodding me today. He replied that I should do tuberculosis test. Is this the symptom of tuberculosis? Now he got me worried. Funny he didn't ask me to do HIV test, because it seems to be the only test that spews out of his mouth anything I said I'm going to the hospital.

Do I look like I've bought HIV ticket and now waiting for take off? Does my lifestyle even give an iota of hint like that? Shoo!! I went to the hospital, did a wbc test, whatever that means. I will Google it. Or I can just ask the doctor lol. I forgot to ask the doctor. They took my blood sample twice. Said the first wasn't enough. Hope these guys are not vampires. Please leave some blood for my heart to play with. I kinda like the chic that sucked my blood the second time. She's a tall cute and dark skinned beauty. For some reason I didn't suck out her name and number. The test said it was advanced ordinary cough.

Good Doctor/Hospital Means Good Money
I went back to the office that late afternoon. Everybody were or at least acted very concerned about my health. At the end of the day they advised I see a good doctor or go to a good hospital. You know good doctor/hospital in Victoria Island Lagos means good money. Did anybody give me good money for a good doctor/hospital, hell no! I don't blame them though, times are hard.

I went home feeling better than I felt leaving home in the morning.

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