Holiday Hitches!

Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year to all my faithful bloggers and readers!!!!


Its been almost a week since i graced this page with my usual rantings or call it what you may! And you can bet it hasn't been a dull week considering i've travelled from one continent to another and in the process, lost my luggage! If you recall, my last two posts titled 'singing a different song' spoke of 'an adventure to come', well as i suspected, my trip to England wasn't without drama!

Name of airline? Some of you may have never heard of it, while some of you may have.................... "Royal Air Maroc" or to give the name some poshness Air Morocco as i prefer to call it. To be honest i only heard of this airline like 4 months ago while searching for flights to England.. Its been categorized with the likes of "Afriqiyah" (Libya's national carrier), another story for another traveller.. Anyway to cut a long story short, apart from the fact that it was free style seating in the craft, 3 hours delayed for takeoff, more than half of the in-flight communication was in french (or something that sounded like it) and arabic, cabin crew were not fully compliant with air regulations and finally my luggage was lost in transit between Casablanca and London, they actually exceeded my expectations! Lol!! Crazy right? Not to discredit them or anything but i prepared my mind for the worst seeing as i could find only 1 person who'd ever flown this airline and the reviews weren't great!

Anyway 2 days later my luggage arrives at my doorstep (thankfully) and intact..

FINAL VERDICT: will i fly ROYAL AIR MAROC again???? YES!!

So for all of you who don't know anything about the airline, now you do and you have a review to go by thanks to me! lol..

PS: Casablanca is beautiful too.. See pictures of Moroccan skyline below......

Oh and the food was good too!


Tuyo por siempre!
Chinny ;)

GUYS AND POT BELLY

Guys, I don’t mean to be rude but pleeeeaaaaassssseee shed the pot belly!!! Geez!!! Do you all have to walk around looking 3-6months preggie? I don’t even get where the huge belly comes from considering you don’t get to be preggie ever!

And please don’t tell me it’s only natural because there are still loads of guys out there with 6pack abs! I just looked at a colleague of mine before writing this, and for the first time I realized how big his belly is! I probably never saw it because he was always on loosely fitted shirts, but today he’s on a T and it’s so obvious.

I know what you’re thinking, what of the ladies? Yes some ladies have big bellies as well, but I think we are allowed some slack considering we get to carry children ranging from 2 to as high as 9 kilograms for 9 frigging months! And even at that, the men are competing with these kinds of women for protruding bellies. Apart from the fact that this belly fat or pot belly, as I prefer to call it, isn’t sexy, it poses a serious health risk for men. Heart disease, diabetes, stroke are just some of the likely conditions you guys could develop from carrying a few extra pounds around. So guys, if you are interested in knowing if your pot belly is too much, get a tape and measure your waist. If it’s more than 40inches (120 centimeters) then it’s time to break a sweat. Quit the alcohol, particularly the beer! If you can’t stop drinking, then start gyming!

Tips for ladies; if you have just had a child and are trying to get rid of the belly fat, do it the African way by tying your tummy real tight with a ‘wrapper’. This is a guaranteed tummy flattener. Some women are lucky to shed the fat without breaking a sweat while others have to fill up buckets. If you haven’t had a child and are struggling with belly fat, hit the gym and quit the snacking at odd hours!

Plus my all time favorite remedy for healthy living, drink at least 2litres of water every day!! 100% guaranteed detoxifier. Replace beer with water.

BOTTOM LINE IS IF YOU HAVE A SPARE TIRE, DON'T DESPAIR. Just work on it!

Singing a different song

Hi Peeps!
I haven't forgotten about my blog just yet! Have been busy lately with other stuff but i'm back now and i gat news! Lol!! About 3 weeks ago i was ready to fly off to the UK for the holidays.. I was singing "Oh the weather outside is frightful and the fire is so delightful and since we have no place to go... let it snow!".... Now i'm singing a different song oh..So quickly can things change. My song has changed to "oh snow snow, please go away so i can fly away"! Apparently the weather in the UK is the talk of the season! Out of 1300 flights daily from the Uk, only 20 flights have been able to take off. Thats terrible! I can only imagine what the airports look like. Heathrow and Gatwick were shut over the weekend. I'm particularly concerned about how this plays out seeing as I've gone to book myself on one of the world's cheapest airlines!! And i'm transiting, yikes!!! Did i also mention my flight is on the eve of Christmas?? Please pray for me, i cant be stuck in an unknown territory over Christmas, that will just be one heck of an adventure... Anyway i can't release all the details of this 'journey' e.g name of flight and country of transit, till it unfolds...i have to save some suspense for later so you guys can have great laughs! hehehe.. :)...

I have a feeling i'm going to have one heck of an adventure and a fun story to tell over this Christmas...

Watch this space guys ;)

Tuyo por siempre,
Chinny

CERTAINTIES IN LIFE: DEATH & TAXES?

You and I both know that death is a certainty. But are taxes certain? I’m tempted to say no because people do succeed in evading taxes, at least till they are caught! And when they are caught they pay heavily, possibly incarcerated. In summary therefore, taxes are just as certain death is. And yet are we prepared for when the time comes?

Death is scary. I refuse to say otherwise. The idea of a loved one dead is even more terrifying. Forgive me if this scares you but I just wonder sometimes…. Alive one minute and aware that you are (known); dead the next and unaware that you are (unknown). There’s some comfort in the unknown, since when you die you don’t realize your dead! But what happens to those left behind that know you’re gone? How do they handle the grief? How do they live with the regrets of unfinished acts of kindness, unsaid words of passion, unsung words of praise and untold stories of friendship? How do they move on? A thought on the theme of death and taxes is Margaret Mitchell's line from her book Gone With the Wind, 1936: "Death, taxes and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them." This is so true! When can death ever be convenient? Or taxes, or childbirth? (Not to discredit childbearing considering it’s a gift from God) It’s not about convenience but about necessities and inevitability's, so to speak. It’s unavoidable. Depending on how you’d like to think of it, death can be likened to a half full or half empty glass; peace or trouble. It can be a blessing to those in pain and need of comfort or to those in need of freedom from oppression in the hands of the wicked (when the wicked perish there are shouts of joy Proverbs 11:10), there’s no escaping it.

So how do we deal with this enemy since we can’t avoid it? By living right now that we know we have life. La Vita Nuova (The New Life)! Live a new life now doing the things that matter the most. Laugh, love, give, play, sing, pray, speak etc. Show the people you love how much you love them, through words, acts, speech; whatever expresses love, do this. Life is short, Caper Diem (seize the day). Love like your life depends on it and live like it’s your last day on earth.

For as right as rain is; so is death as certain.

Tuyo por siempre,

Chinny 

Road Rage

“Idiot, foolish man, are you a learner?!" Just some out of the bag of insults that spills forth from one’s mouth while driving in Lagos. I like to pride myself on generally not being quick to swear or insult people however my ‘self-gratification’ in this quality is put to the test while driving on the streets of Lagos. I'm embarrassed to say this but its been so bad sometimes that I've almost stuck my hand out the window to 'give the finger'. Either to the hearing or not of the offender you can’t help but swear. It’s a total disaster. If the world’s driving association were to conduct a test on every driver in this country ALL licenses, including mine, would be revoked with the speed of light. As for Okada (motorbike) riders, theirs is another story altogether to be discussed in the future. Just this morning an Okada rider swerved right in front of my sister’s car without notice, he and the passenger were 6 seconds from being swept across the road. 

The most difficult time to drive in Lagos is from 7pm onwards. Last night I drove into a huge dent on the road as a result of being blinded by the lack of street lights and the “white light” from oncoming cars in the opposite lane. Thank goodness I was a safe distance from any car or persons. No wonder my tires are always flat and the brakes always messed up. I’m not Michael Shoemaker but I do observe the rules of driving as best I can. I drive without full beam and only use it when ‘absolutely’ necessary. However, most people in this state are completely clueless of driving rules. First rule of driving at night is “You must DIP your headlights”!!! Hold up, how can we know that? Most of us who were privileged to have gone to driving schools didn’t even take the time to study the rules book not to talk of people who learnt to drive bashing their father’s cars or using semi-abandoned vehicles in the scrap yard. One night while driving I was literally stalked by a car behind me that just didn’t dip his lights! Worst part is the particular road we were plying was fully lit; you could have driven without your lights ON and wouldn’t even notice. I had to ask the “toll gate” attendant to ask the guy to dip his lights. It feels like a suicide mission sometimes driving in this state. I don’t know if it’s because I use glasses or if this is truly the situation of things here.

Whatever the case may be, we need street lights! Tons and tons of street lights! And when they are installed, they will need security to avoid being vandalized. That is 9ja for you o, good things have expiry time here.  

OK my road rage ain't this bad yet! lol..

MY HOMELAND, NIGERIA

My homeland, when will I truly love you?

When will i raise my head high, beat my chest and sing your anthem like my life depended on it?

When will I not hide my head in shame when the vile deeds of your children are spoken of outside?

When will that green passport not avail me detention and inhumane treatment in the hands of the law?

When will I see the value of your currency rise to its past glory of value beyond that of the greatest nation?

When will your children be proud to celebrate their heritage rather than struggle to acquire western values, culture, passports and accents?

When will your children stand in battle with pride to defend the land of their birth?

When will we fight for the extinction of corruption, bribery and injustice?

When will we fly the flag with pride & truly boast of the existence of the meaning of its colors?

When will your children say, ‘I am proud to be a Nigerian’?

When will we defend your honor and integrity to the outside world?

When will we say, ‘Land Of Our Birth, We Pledge To Thee’?

I am Nigerian, I no go fit lie, but………

Oh my homeland, when will I truly love you?

                                                                         

Chinny..

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

No light all night last night...

I woke up by 6:31am this morning pretty upset and jumped off my bed with a resolve to be ready in 30 minutes and literally run out of the house to head to work. Root cause of my anger was the sound of generators in the compound! Gosh!!!! This country can be exasperating! As if it wasn't hard enough that i had to sleep without AC or fan, i had to contend with the sound of buzzing generators. Its as though my eardrums were set to explode. I was so upset a part of me inside wished all the generators would just suddenly switch OFF automatically and not come ON again. I don't blame the owners of the generators, i blame our government that has made no effort to come up with a lasting solution to solve the problem of power supply in this country.

I'm sure Nigerians are immune to the sound of generators considering they are ON at least 12hours in 24hours. What a pity! No wonder the cost of living here is not cheap and can never be cheap until we have a basic amenity such as power. What baffles me the most about our leaders is the lack of concern or complacency they have about the situation of things here even after touring the western countries?! Even Ghana has 24hours light, i can attest to that from the 4days i spent in Ghana this year. 9ja, where does your pride lie? Giant of Africa my foot! Wake up!! In fact its so bad here you'll most likely be greeted by a blackout in the International Airport, one of our many ways of saying "Welcome to 9ja". Our leaders have standby sound-proof generators so how will they know what it feels like to sweat out of no light all night, or to have your sleep cut short because your ears wont stop ringing! As for the likes of Mikano, Marapco and Caterpillar, lets not even go into the amount of wealth they've amassed in this country courtesy of selling generators. I'm sure the politicians are shareholders if not the owners of these companies.

If i swear for them, walahi it'll catch up with them... hisssss......... Now i'm at work feeling terribly sleepy with a stuffed head and my ears still trying to recover from the buzz.

When will this country's story change? When?....

4 and half inches

The length of my heels, 4 and a half inches, total length of shoes= 7 inches! More than half the size of a 10inch ruler, as the pic below shows.

 I felt hot and sexy but underneath I screamed at myself for wearing such! I'm not too used to wearing heels (being 6ft 3inch...i wish!). My left toes hurt like hell and I walked like I was a puppet being controlled by a puppeteer. All the guys ‘noticed’ and loved the shoes (or the legs ;)… The ladies? No comment…

I couldn’t take it no more! Before the day was up I climbed down to my palm (raffia) slippers! I was done being the corporate chic and sexy executive.. What a relief?! 

Will I wear the shoes soon again? Hell yeah!! Lol.. I know, such madness??! What women go through in the name of beauty and fashion?! God help us.

Until later,

Chinny ;)

Resume of unfinished works.....

I learnt to play the piano, but haven't played to become a pianist.
I learnt to swim, but haven't swam to become an Olympic medalist.
I learnt to sing, but haven't sang to deserve accolades.
I learnt to cook, but haven't become a professional chef.
I learnt to drive, but i'm not Michael Schumacher.
I learnt to write, but haven't published nor sold.
I learnt to love, but haven't loved like Mother Teresa.
I learnt to live, but not living like Jesus did.

I'm 27 and i have a resume of unfinished works.. I'll live another 70+ years, who will i be?

Food for thought...

Tuyo por siempre,
Chinny

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE ONCE MORE!!! SOUND OF MUSIC REUNION, FIRST TIME IN 45 YEARS!!!

I don't know about you but as for me i'm a die hard Sound of Music fan!! Even as an adult, i've seen that movie about 5 times over again. Classic, timeless, splendid, pleasant and peaceful are some of the best words that can be used to describe Sound of Music.. The name truly depicts the beauty of music. The serenity that comes from sounds so sweet to the ears, you just have to sing along and shut your eyes in appreciation...

Sound of music makes me happy.. It makes me feel like i should have been in the movie! lol.. And for the first time in 45 years, ALL cast of the movie reunite on Oprah! Kudos to Oprah for bringing back sweet memories of watching the movie as a child! I recall how we'd all sit with our eyes glued to the tv in my father's living room, singing along to 'Edelweiss' and 'Do Re Mi' as though we played a part in composing the music :).. And i remember how sad i was as a child when i heard little Gretl (last kid of the Von Trapp family) died in a plane crash not long after the movie. That turned out to be quite untrue as i found out only last year! Its like we all felt connected to the cast of the movie and to the movie in an indescribable way, you have to watch it to feel it.

I've taken the liberty to include the link to the reunion on Oprah, for those who'd like to see pictures and read more on it

http://www.oprah.com/showinfo/For-the-First-Time-in-45-Years-The-Sound-of-Music-Cast-Reunites .

PS: I looooove Christopher Plummer!! Talk about Handsome!! As for Julie Andrews, she's an amazing woman aging gracefully! It must be the music in her soul....

Have fun!

SUNSET AT SEA

Hi People!
I worked all day on Saturday. I usually don't work weekends so this was a big deal for me. What was even more interesting was that i worked "offshore"! You see my job requires me to go on board all kinds of vessels aka ships, for inspections or audits. I like to think i'm girly but I've realized i only 'look' girly.. My actions speak otherwise.. I was subjected to climbing rope ladders from a speedboat that was bobbing in all directions as a result of the roughness of the sea, to get on-board a Platform Support Vessel. It wasn't easy but finally i was pulled up from the top by the ship crew, whew! Of course the vessel wasn't steady, bobbing in all directions, one could be sea-sick from it all! Surprisingly, i was fine.. It made me wonder though how these guys are able to get any sleep with the boat swaying from side to side.

After several hours of perusing documents and speaking with the ship crew, and having lunch of egusi soup with eba and kpomo in the ship's galley (aka kitchen), i left the vessel using the same rope ladder, back onto the speedboat as usual with the water crashing away on the side of both vessels. So we sailed to an even bigger ship, an Anchor Handling Towing Support vessel, and again the same process of getting on an off it ensued.

Finally by 550pm we (my colleagues) were ready to leave the vessel and back onto the speedboat we hopped back on and headed to shore!

It was an interesting experience.. I watched the sunset and you bet i captured it! Hope you like the picture below :)

Nice right? And i caught this with my blackberry!

This brings me to conclude that 'skill' is not by the type of device but by the innate talent within to use any device to its maximum capacity. Quote by Chinny :)..lol..

Have a nice day y'all!

Tuyo por siempre
Chinny ;)

SEQUEL TO MY LEAVE AND MY BOSS

VERDICT????????..............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..............Drums rollingggggggggg.......I bet you can guess what the answer is?? He saiiiiiiiiiidddddddddddddd Yeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm over the mooon with Joy! Yippeeee.....

Its gonna be my first "WHITE CHRISTMAS"!!! :D

Oh the weather outside is frightful.......lalalala (don't know this part of the lyrics)....let it snow, let it snow let it snow!! :)..lol...

Love y'all...xxx
Chinny

MY LEAVE AND MY BOSS

I walked into my boss's office with my heart racing for what i was about to ask....... I sat down confidently on the guest seat and said;
"So i wanted to discuss with you what the plan is for the rest of the year...", barely finishing the last word he says, 'not right now, lets meet by...3:30...and gives me a look of approval..? and i say, "um.. ok".. I start walking out the door and poke my head back into his office saying "but there's just one thing i still want to discuss before that time. Without looking from his computer he reluctantly says OK.. i walk back in and blurt, "i want to take my remaining leave for the rest of the year".. With a smile on his face he says "NO".. you've already gone and have to give other's a chance.. And i smile back and say to him "others (in my team) are new and cant take leave until 6 months!" So he still says we (me and my team) should all see him by 3:30......today..........


To be continued...................................

Please pray for me..

This girl is set to pack her bags and waltz to Europe, ain't no one gonna cramp my style, no no!

First day of Christmas

"On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me, a partridge in a pear treeee"!! Lol.. Today is the first day of Christmas, how exciting!! Its been a few days since i posted anything here. I've been physically and mentally busy...between moving houses to work stuff to trying to figure out how to ask my boss for a leave only 2 months after taking almost 3 weeks off! Oh how i wish i worked for myself, i wouldn't have to get a headache scheming!

I just smacked my bloody Malaysian colleague across the shoulders for using a derogatory (kiddingly) line on me. And now he just offered me the dregs of peanuts in a bottle! What a naughty boy he is! Imran i'm gonna get you one of these days... :-P.
Anyway your probably wondering why we're playing in the office, well lets just say we have the office to ourselves for today considering the "big bosses" are in a board meeting.

I'm going to see the new HP movie today, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows".. Did i mention i see movies at the cinema ONLY on wed as its soo cheap! I mean why pay 3 times the price on a different day?! Yea yea, cheap skate like me :-P

Ok i've rambled enough for today, time to make myself useful!

Till later,

Tuyo por siempre
Chinny ;)