"Talking the Talk OR Working the Talk?"

Its 11:34 pm, way past my bedtime and guess what I'm doing? Playing 'Angry Birds" on my ipad while desperately waiting for a ridiculously slow game download of 142MB to get completed! What would that make me?? A game addict? Playing games by 11:34pm, when i should be in bed and then waiting for another download to complete! Oh dear!! Well truth is I'm not waiting for it to complete so i can play more games, simply waiting so i can shut down all my gadgets..

I'm sure most of my ardent blog followers are wondering why I've gone silent lately....I can't say I haven't, I think I've just been preoccupied with recent happenings and my impending relocation to a different country! Anyway that's not what I'm here to talk about! I'm here to talk about...................um...........I don't know! Lately I've been wondering "what da banana's happened to my inspiration?!".. Sometimes i have a million things i wanna talk about and at other times, my brain cells seem fried! Maybe i should talk about the recent bombings in Nigeria and its impact on the lives of the people....? Or maybe i should talk about what we can do to help others in difficult situations?! 

I think that alot of times when people are far removed from disasters, they don't really identify with it and as a result have a limited level of empathy to those who weren't as lucky. What I'm trying to say is that its easy to talk about accidents and events 'in passing' and to proffer a million solutions of what we think the president should say or what the government should do, because we know better sitting our behinds in our comfy swivel chairs at work or couches at home, reading the papers, Internet and watching CNN! How about we start talking about what we can do? And after talking about it, actually get up and DO SOMETHING! Or do we not think we can make a difference in influencing our environment and changing the lives of people around us? I just read an article about a 13year old boy who when he was 5 was inspired to send all his toys to a little girl whose house got burnt and whom he saw on TV (oh the sweet innocence of a child). Well, eight years later, a charity organization has been formed with thousands of volunteers, rebuilding homes and lives and making a measurable difference across state borders in the US all because the little boy saw a need and decided to meet it. Why can't we be like this boy? Now here's inspiration for me to write! Don't get me wrong, I do not ostracize myself from those who talk the talk but can't work the talk! I'm just like you, wishing in your heart that you could sacrifice your time and resources and actually do something; I'm just like you thinking that sending a donation across to the less privileged is doing my own 'biblical CSR' (CSR in this context meaning Christian Social Responsibility)-By the way my download just finished so I'll be wrapping this up soon- and Yes, maybe sending a cheque is good enough but is it "best"?

I strongly believe we are called to do just more than sit in our comfy lives and send cheques or talk the smart talk without doing the work.. There's work to be done, alot but the laborers are few... Its time to step out of our comfort zones and get our hands dirty volunteering to make a difference in people's lives. It could be volunteering at an old people's home or at an orphanage teaching kids or just playing with them and making them feel loved, or raising funds to help out those in dire need of financial assistance to solve real problems or sending relief materials to victims of the crisis in Jos, or spending your next vacation in Sudan or Somalia instead of the UK or wherever else you go (i say this to me inclusive) or even sacrificing the vacation money and raising funds to send across borders! After all true love should be without borders right? People, it could be anything, just start "working the talk"!! Lets do something that counts in other people's lives!

My prayer is that this week God will help me meet the need of someone truly in need... I ask this not with expectations of receiving blessings for myself later, but i ask selflessly with the desire to see someone smile. :)

So i urge you readers, lets get people smiling this week :).. God bless you as you touch a life and as you "work the talk"!!

Now its beyond way past my bedtime guys! Adios!!!!

Letting Him in "On D Plan"

I'm not sure what exactly i came here to blog about today! Its been 15days since my last post and in those days a lot has happened! I'm now a year older and hopefully wiser (winks), I've sort of moved houses temporarily (gist for another day) and my future has just been set in stone by the good news i received yesterday! However before I go onto the news, let me tell you about my birthday! I had a wonderful day in the midst of colleagues, friends and family. I got gifts and 3 cakes in total, 1cake i bought and 2 as gifts! Any more cake and i'll be blowing out cake from my nose! lol.. In my company when its your birthday, you get to spend your money on the company instead of the other way round; funny right? Anyway your's truly had to buy drinks and a cake for the office to feed over 80+ people, so getting an extra cake for this feat was more than welcome! After work, spent the rest of the day and night at a bar called SS lounge (i don't know what SS means) where there was a live band and comedy on air.. Loads of friends came (of course with their own friends as is customary naija practice) and we wined and dined! So that's how my birthday was.
Now onto the good news.............drums roll............ your's truly is relocating from Naija!!!! (Mixed feelings).. I'm leaving to the UK to start a masters for the next year and i'm excited and overwhelmed with the number of things i have to do pre-and during study! I've wanted to do a masters for the last 2 years but somehow it never quite worked out before due to circumstances beyond my control, and now its here it feels surreal. On the other hand a part of me is ambivalent about my departure cause i get the feeling i wont be back to stay in a looooong loooong time... don't ask me why, its just a hunch (winks).. Anyway "life is a beach; and then you dive" (slogan on my sister's t-shirt when we were kids)... Life comes in various shades of colors and mine just took on ALL the colors of the rainbow! Yippee!!!
So that's the story of my life lately.. Makes me think back to when i was in secondary school and what i envisioned of my life post secondary education...um..to be honest i can't remember what i thought i would be doing or where i would be! lol.. kinda silly not to remember but hey! Life takes us by surprise, we move onto places and phases we never thought we would be; and in all of it we hope we can look back and be thankful for our blessings.
For me i feel like who i am, where i am going to and all my plans has got absolutely nothing to do with how much effort i put in, its more about how much "in the plan" i let the Big Guy upstairs in on and take control of. For you see, my life is not my own to do with as i please so no matter how much i want something when i want it, he's not gonna let me have it if its not in his own timing! In my place, we say "Oge Chukwu ka mma" meaning "God's time is the best"; my life and my experiences so far is a clear indication that this phrase is true.
What of your's? Are you patient enough to let Him lead and you watch?

Toodles people!
Who else?!

Fear of Getting older

Its my birthday in exactly 8 days from today and i'm going to be 28. I know a lot of women don't like to tell their age, but i ain't one of those women.. Saying my age or not won't take or add any more years to my life or increase the size of my bank account, so what da hell?!Anyway i never thought i would be single at 28 but here i am, single and satisfied! Don't get me wrong when i use the word 'single', doesn't mean i don't have a man in my life, matter of fact i do and he's wonderful... So back to the age thing....I'm guessing my blog title gives the impression i'm scared of getting older? Far from it! I'm happy and thankful for life to this age, hearing the way young people are dying everyday.
Reminds me of when i was 23 there was this tall, handsome, blue-eyes, light skinned guy who wanted to marry me, but i barely knew him and in my naivety i couldn't even get myself to date him cause i felt his ultimate agenda was marriage and there was no way i was gonna be getting married at 23, hell no! In fact i did say to him to leave me alone and move on cause i wasn't gonna be ready even in 2years from then (at 25) to be married. In retrospect, i'm like 'what was wrong with you'? Why shouldn't i have been ready to get married at 25 right? I don't know.. I guess this marriage thing has to do with psychological and mental readiness and i was certain that it would take me more than 2 years to get there. I remember in university when i and my friends would discuss marriage, 26 was my ideal age. I wanted to be married at 26 and have had 2 kids by 30! I guess i'm now 2years behind on my ideal dreams ;)...hehehehe...Then the funny part was my friend who is so opinionated and a very independent type of chic was so sure she wasn't gonna get married before 28 and even said she didn't mind getting married at 30! Need i say who is married today?? Her of course! Married at 26 and laughing at herself for thinking myopically all those years! Guess life can be ironical..
And as i sit and think about the fact that i'm turning 28, i realize that i don't look nor feel 28! I look at least 2 years younger than i actually am and feel 3 years older than i am! Lol! Yep, i feel 3 years older.. I bet you thought i would say i feel 20 or something right?! Far from it.. Call me old-school or old mama, that's the truth! Maybe its because I've realized i behave, have views far ahead of my peers and have been told i sound older! Whichever the case, I would rather be caught acting like a mama than like a girl in her 20s with little to offer intellectually! Just me...sue me!
To answer the question if i now feel ready to be married? The answer is Yes! Not that i don't have my doubts some-days, but ultimately, I'm just about ready to start a new phase in life and curious as to what my babies would look like! lol.. Anyway you know what they say, the race is not to the swift! Time and chance people, time and chance....So live life with no regrets and stand by the decisions you make everyday.

ps: make sure y'all be wishing me happy birthday on the 11th of August!
Hasta la vista ;)