THE INCOMPETENCE OF ARTISANS

Tailors, generator guys, plumbers, air-conditioner repairers, housekeepers etc THEY ARE ALL THE SAME; INCOMPETENT!! I've found writing to be a release for me from life's many emotional roller coasters.. Today its borderline frustration.

I gave a tailor three materials to make me outfits, going on two months now, and you wont believe he hasn't sewn any! I'm sure a lot of you reading this have been in the same or similar shoes and you must be laughing out loud now! You see the last thread of patience and understanding in me of artisans has been shoved out of my emotional and compassionate storehouse! They have raged war and unfortunately they are winning...smh.. winning because all i can do is shout, and all they can keep doing is being HIGHLY INCOMPETENT & UNRELIABLE!! What to do?! The saying goes "pick your battles and win them", how do i win this one?? They have the tools and the skills and i don't so i'm dependent on them. Do i learn to fix my generator, sew my clothes, fix the air-conditioner and clean my house all at the same time just so i can no longer be dependent?? Talk of 'jill of all trades'! To be honest i wish i could do those things myself, i'd never employ an artisan again!

Generator man: "I dey for road, i dey come; just give me 30 minutes"....(3 hours later you're still waiting and of course he never shows up)
Air-conditioner repairer: "Ah, i can't come today but i'll be there on Tuesday abeg".... (it's Thursday, you've called him like 5 times and he's not taking his calls)
TAILOR: "I know your cloth should have been ready but there's been no light, i even slept at my shop waiting. Please eh i'll bring your cloth for you on Saturday, no vex. Even people that gave me their material before you, i still never sew their own" (like that is my frigging business!!)... He said Saturday, A WEEK LATER HE HASN'T CALLED NOR SHOWN UP.

Now can you see my frustration? SMH.....As a last straw I've called the tailor this morning and asked him to return all my material, sewn or unsewn, tomorrow morning. I'm fed up!
Oh dear......

DILEMMA OF A PRETTY GIRL

photo from theaishwarya.com

While i have no doubts that Aishwarya Rai (former miss world shown above) had no difficulty in bagging a man (with looks like hers), i know for a fact that this is often NOT the case for a lot if not most pretty girls. Funny topic? Maybe so, but true. I've had some conversations on or similar to this issue. I'll explain what i mean.

A lot of people tend to assume a pretty girl ALWAYS has a boyfriend and hence the guy who's been checking her out with his microscopic visual and mental lenses will likely pass up an opportunity to meet her or date her because in his words "she's GOT TO HAVE a boyfriend!". This is not to say that the only reason he'd pass up on her is  because she's pretty, but often times that cliche comes to play when it comes to meet and greet! If you differ on this opinion, ask the guys around and you'll be surprised. "She probably has a line of up of guys after her"; "too hot to handle, why would she look my way"; "i can't afford her".. just some of their tots.. 
Example: a colleague of mine who was engaged to be married last month had the hots for me before he got engaged but never had the courage to ask if i would date him because he 'heard' and 'assumed' i had a boyfriend! Newsflash, at the time he heard and assumed i was in a relationship, he was wrong! See what i mean now? Now i ask myself where he heard i had a boyfriend from since i don't let my private life out in the open to any of my colleagues?! Simple, it was a natural assumption that there's no way in God's green earth a 'pretty and nice' girl (not to pomp myself or anything but heyyyy..:) like myself would be single and hence he missed what might have been his chance! (not like i'm into office romance anywayz). 

Second example: I was watching a western movie yesterday (crappy one by the way) and a very pretty girl was complaining to her friend that no one asked her to the prom the year before because they all assumed she's got to have a boyfriend since she's so hottt! Now though its just a movie, often times there's truth behind what we see and hear. It got me thinking back to the few conversations I've had with guys on this topic. Most (not all o) guys who admire a pretty girl and assume she has a boyfriend may go one step further to hit on her but they'd make up their minds to NOT be serious with her (just in case). Guys, true or false? Think before you answer.. Even when they hear she's singles, some tend to still not believe and hence step in through the door with one leg out! Before i had a boyfriend, i was single for a looooooooooooong time (too long for me to remember); now don't get me wrong, i had 'toasters' but they weren't exactly my type! Some friends accused me of being picky and others wondered if i was lesbo (God forbid). None of the above. I was me... Not one or two but several guys whom i met ALWAYS assumed i had a boyfriend and were somewhat surprised to hear i didn't. I don't know if the assumption is because statistically most people are IN relationships or if the assumption was simply the clichéd mindset that pretty girls have hotties! Whatever the case, that's what they thought. Some guys however are more motivated by the sight of a pretty face and don't give a rat's ass if she's single or double. They see it, like it, want it and go after it! And yes sometimes, they get it! Just to confirm my tots on this, i spoke with a few female friends as well and they concurred on the stereotype of PRETTY FACE= MUST HAVE BF! Infact one girl told me some guys were admiring her friend's pictures on facebook and said to each other in Pidgin English: "this girl fine o, but she go get boyfriend na"  (in English: the girl is fine o, but she surely has a boyfriend) (and she didn't) hence he wrote off asking her out... He however stepped out of his assumption by asking and marrying her eventually,  when he was kindly informed by his brother that she was single. Perfect example of the dilemma of a pretty girl and perfect proof of the phrase that "assumption is the termite of relationships (or lack of it"

I guess what I'm trying to say ultimately is; when you see something or someone you like and want; make an effort to meaningfully go after it or her, she just might have been waiting for YOU to ask her all along *winks*

I mean what have you got to lose right?? :)

TEXTING WHEN ANGRY

Just when I thought I was beginning to have writer's block, I start to have dramatic days that allows me to have stories to write on my blog!
It is safe to say that "sh%* inevitably hit the fan" last night! What happened? Hmm.... I had a heated row with a friend last night and I was royally pissed! You know when your so angry that you feel like you have to vent out to avoid exploding? Well I decided to vent out by sharing the story with my twin sister via blackberry messages and of course I ended up sending the message to my friend whom I had the argument with!!!!!! Ooops and Ouch!! I'm sure you're wondering at this point "oh my, what did she say"?? Well what I said wasn't so nasty or bad but it wasn't exactly Christlike either soo hey..... To be honest I can't say i'm sorry I said it cause i meant it. I am however sorry that I sent it to her accidentally! For the life of me I don't know how I managed to do that??! Oh well...sh% happens! That's why it is a very baddddd idea to text when angry! NEVER do it, I talk from experience and it can have rippling negative effects that could last a lifetime! Sighs...
For me I guess what is more ironical about all this is the fact that I recently blogged about "anger" and about "the flaming untamed tongue"...then so quickly I fall victim and I fail to relent! Reminds me of the scripture that says, "starting a quarrel is like opening a floodgate, so stop before a dispute breaks out (Prov 17:14)".. The funny thing is I didn't know this scripture until after we quarreled last night and i decided to study my bible and when I saw it I was like "wayyy to go, perfect timing" (of course in sarcasm)... Not that I didn't know better and God knows I never set out to have an argument when we started out the conversation but iI guess these things do happen.

Anyway I know better now and sometimes it takes stuff like this happening to keep a tighter rein on one's tongue. I'll do my best to speak less when such tensions arise... That's my 'lessons learnt'!~

NEVER TEXT WHEN ANGRY! www.kirotv.com 

A weekend away

Hi guys! I've missed blogging so much! I've had a very busy past week between traveling to Benin for easter to spend time with my brother and his family, and running after my 16month old adorable niece who right now has stolen my heart for a lifetime! All in all it's been  a fabulous week and i wish the holiday could continue forever... if wishes were wands, we'd all be rich...sighs...

Speaking of my trip to Benin reminds me of the hassle i encountered to get to the airport on Thursday afternoon, i'll share my encounter with you. I tell you traffic in Lagos is shortening longevity in this country, no doubt. My journey to the airport started a few minutes before half past 1 in the afternoon and a trip that should normally take 45minutes from Lekki to Ikeja took twice the time (an hour and a half).
Issue 1: I and my colleague were supposed to hitch a ride with one of the MDs but later reconsidered due to the rumor of traffic on the road. So we decided to take a ferry across water from Lekki to Ikoyi to cut off most of the traffic and i guess i can say it was a wise decision.
Issue 2: We were going to two different airports and decided to share cabs since the airports are within close proximity of each other. The cab driver blatantly refused that he would make the 5 minutes apart trip between the two airports even at an increased cost of the cab fare. So which means one of us would have to get down and continue on foot. Having less luggage i agreed to continuing on foot.
Issue 3: The cab had no air conditioning so you can only imagine the immense heat and exhaust fumes which we were baptized with en-route to the airport, it wasn't pleasant. Then we got to Ikeja (which is were the airport is) and were held up in traffic! Deciding to sit out the traffic would have meant missing our flights so we decided to get down and take an okada (aka motorbike) to the airport for the rest of the journey.
Issue 4: The rest of the journey between where we got off the cab and the airport was like a 10 minutes bike ride (i'm not good at calculating distances but maybe that's less or about 2miles) and on a good day shouldn't have cost more than a N100 bucks (less than a dollar). But guess what?! The okada drivers were charging exactly 15 times that price, N1500 frigging bucks for a 10minutes ride!! The catch of course being that they know your heading to catch a flight and that inevitably makes you desperate and is a golden opportunity for them!     Well i refused to fall for such a trap and decided to give a few more bikes a shot to see if anyone was gonna charge less! (I had about 45 minutes to flight departure) So i guess i can say i wasn't desperate yet!
Issue 5: No bikes were forthcoming! The traffic was horrendous and was exactly what we say in naija BUMPER TO BUMPER. The few bikes that passed by had passengers on them, the ones that didn't have passengers weren't commercial, and the few that were commercial were ridiculously overpriced! And that is how i stood for almost 15 minutes under the blazing sun, hand luggage in hand looking like a lost puppy, praying to God that a bike would come by and i would humbly pay the 1500, as long as i was out of the sun and on my way (as i now had just 30mins to flight departure)! My colleague of course left the minute we got off the cab (not knowing she was gonna cough up 1500), only for her to arrive at the airport and given a stupendous bill which she was forced to pay! Lool..
Issue 6: Okada finally arrives and agrees to take me to the airport at 5 times the usual price, N500, i quickly accept and off we go to the airport! I rush to the check in point and meet a queue and humbly take my position at the back of the queue. Of course as with most things in this country, they take their time to process boarding passes and it occurs to me that "as usual", ARIK Air is going to be late! That airline is infamous to always having delayed flights and in this case they didn't fail to live up to their reputation. Finally get my boarding pass and head to the waiting lounge to hear that the flight is delayed and by this time the hour on the clock is flight departure time. I take a seat and fall asleep after the loong assiduous task of getting to the airport!

Finally an hour and a half later from the original scheduled flight take off time, we get to board and head to Benin, which by the way is just a 35minutes flight! Being such a short flight there is no in-flight snacks and FYI i was starving and hence had to manage the cup of water which i was given. I finally get to Benin in one piece and am happily welcomed by family which made the journey all worthwhile.
So that's my Lagos traffic story oo.. How grateful i am to live so close to my office, i wouldn't trade that comfort for a million bucks!