#ValentineDayChallenge2022: A Letter to my Soul Mate
When I read about #ValentineDayChallenge2022: a contest for love! By Infinity I thought about who I’d write about and my family comes to mind. Then I remembered how I’d never told you how much you mean to me. So, I decided to write to you, and I hope I don’t end up having a teary eyes in the end. https://read.cash/@Infinity/valentinedaychallenge2022-a-contest-for-love-0571ca98
***“A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”***
–Proverbs 18:24 (NKJV)
I remember the first time I saw you (in 2007) and as I watched you walk to school that day and thought to myself *‘this guy is so tall’*. I remember our first discussion was about our primary school experiences and what started as an ordinary has now turned into a love story, a story of true friendship. You are proof that soul mates come in different forms, and not necessarily as the romantic partner.
I remember how you had been one the reasons I started working to earn for myself at a very young age. I used to watch you do work for people in the community, and that made me want to do and earn for myself as well, looking back now, that was the start of my journey to independence. Although, I am still on that journey for the past 9 years or so, I must say that those times we’d work together I have learnt deligence and working hard from you. After the days work, we'd go home with money in our pockets, enough for the coming school week. That played a crucial role in shaping me into the person I today.
I remember the time we got duped by fraudsters all thanks to me, I had come to you about an opportunity, and you had no problem giving you all you had to take the risk, unfortunately for us, we were naïve and we didn’t know the world wasn’t that kind. I mention this because, though I have never said it, that was an important lesson in my life, as it has been the first and only time I have been scammed. It also serves as a reminder about your selflessness. I remember all you asked for was your money back, and nothing more from the profit I was going to make. You never wanted more than that. Also, it was your willingness to give me all you had, even though you needed it for your own use, you still gave me to pursue a chance.
I remember my first year in the university, I always wondered how it would have been if you weren’t there. The times we’d starve because we had nothing to eat. Then we’ll make jokes and laugh to keep our belly full. Perfect memories if not for that we had them on empty stomachs. You’ve been a constant for as long as I can remember. Ever so honest and honourable, you say the most brutal truths with gentle kindness. And I can’t thank you enough for all the times you have given me a pat on the back, advised me, and tolerated my shortcomings, for the times you put a smile on my face, looked out for me.
You made me realise that family are not only those related to us by blood, we can choose them too. And I always feel joy to know that our friendship had brought our parents close and our families too. All these years, and not once have you betrayed me, not for anything or anyone. And I really appreciate all of it. It might also interest you to know that I wrote this article with a teary eyes and words are not enough to express my gratitude and tell you that **I LOVE YOU** more than I could scream. And I believe you’re my soul mate, my perfect match.
I had said to you before that we have starved together, we will dine together. And I meant it. We’ll turn all the dreams we’ve fantasised about into reality. Together forever.
With the greatest appreciation and love,
Yours forever,
Aimure Omoijiate.
This my my entry for the #ValentineDayChallenge2022 I hope I met all the requirements. @Infinity @Jane @PVMihalache
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The Human Condition
Being the apex species on earth, being human has not been a walk in the park. Perhaps it is the responsibility that comes with having dominion over every other creatures on earth, but arguments about whether we have been taking care of the planet or destroying it is still on. There are different ways to surf on this sea of troubles being caused by humans daily.
To start with, we could talk about the tons of wastes – organic and inorganic – being generated by humans around the globe yearly. The problems with this is that:
• These wastes are produced due to our daily activities, some of which are essentially for survival;
• An efficient means of recycling or managing generated wastes does not exist.
It’s ironic how our daily activities are detrimental to our home, our only home. For example, transporting from one place to another daily especially to find our daily bread is inevitable. For the world to spin, gears and wheels have to move. The mechanization of everything aimed at making life easier and better has been a major contributor to the gas blanket forming in the atmosphere, and trapping heat from the sun.
Global warming has been a major concern for the world in recent years, and even though the warning bell is being rung, we seem to be doing nothing to avert the situation. Or am I wrong to say that? Perhaps we aren’t doing enough. The reason I had decided to write about this today is because of a fracas that happened in the farm today. One thing led to another, and I believe the ruckus that lasted about 2+ hours was a means to several ends such as closure for some and a means to finally clear a smoke that had been looming in the air for long to others.
I heard a harsh, yet somewhat truthful realization today. ***“WE ARE ALL BIASED***”. This was said by one of my classmates as the rumpus ensued.
The question I ask is: ***WHAT IS FAIR?***
I remember sometimes last year, a friend had casually asked me if I thought I was a biased person, and he went on to say that sometimes, we’re mostly bias and we don’t even know it. (Unconscious bias). Well, I would say I am yet to read more about that and fully understand what he meant.
Moving on from bias, today was an eye opener as to how an impression or do I say what we want to be an impression of someone can greatly affect our perception of said person. It is so easy to not give people benefit of the doubt, as we subconsciously already have an impression of people, and that often leads us to believe that people are not so much more than the impression they have shown us.
As we strive to make our life filled with joy and happiness, going on with our daily activities and trying to survive the condition we find ourselves in each day, it is important we remember that the earth the world around us is changing, and it is changing fast. Let’s try to stop our habits that contributed negatively to the ecosystem, and do more of the ones that help the ecosystem. Plant flowers in that space just behind your house, plant trees when you can, help the needy and do the little you can to make the world a better place. I assure you that if we make this conscious effort together, we will find that it is a step in the right direction. Together we can go it.
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Two Sides to a Coin
*“One of the most interesting parts of writing is that you can think about it all of the time. Writers get their ideas all day and all night long, not just when they sit at their writing tables. No one will see your thoughts, but inside you head you can always wonder and ponder. “Hmmm…that’s strange.” Or, “I might write about that later.” When you write, you notice things that other people do not. Artists and scientists do this too. To create, one must observe”*
– **Edgardo H. Pangilinan**
Earlier today in the farm, I was watching a TV series titled ***A Perfect Life***. A particular scene caught my attention. The female was a painter who seemed to enjoy painting, and it seemed like she was basically doing it as a hobby. But as a adult, she has responsibilities and bills to pay, she needs money. So, she is compelled to exhibit her paintings and hopefully get a buyer or maybe become a popular painter.
The problem with her paintings was that she paints erotic images and I suppose that isn’t exactly palatable for most of society. This was probably the reason her exhibition of the paintings was a total failure, as not even one person looked at them more than once. Perhaps it was because she isn’t a popular painter, but the thing about a painting is that it makes the painter famous. It is not the painter that makes the painting famous.
In the scene that caught my attention, she was talking about how we have been brainwashed to think that if we want something, we’ll get it. And when we end up putting in the work and things don’t turn out how we expected, we end up being disappointed and demoralised. Sometimes, it makes us feel like we’re losers and we could end up being depressed for a while. I had written an article Truisms That Aren’t True in the past, and one of the truisms I talked about is the fallacious belief that hard work always pays.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that you shouldn’t be hard working or quit after trying for the first time and it doesn’t work out. NO! Don’t do that, after all, quitters aren’t winners, and winners aren’t quitters. What I am saying is that even if you want to achieve something with every fibre of your being, and you even though you have really worked hard to ensure something is a success, always prepare your self for the worse. And be ready to get back up and try again.
As I watched that scene, I remember a lyrics from a song by Passenger. Because we have been taught to believe that whatever we put our mind to, will succeed, we have been conditioned to only be prepared for one outcome. When the only outcome we are prepared for does not come to fruition, we are left devastated, and unable to cope with the pain or feeling that comes with not being successful.
I was listening to a man talk about his experience days ago. He said that among his mates that they learnt together, he had the toughest when they started practicing. He was the only one among his 5 mates that wasn’t a success in the first couple of years, but as he was failing over and over, he was gaining experience. He talked about how his passion for what he had learnt was the major reason he didn’t quit, and even though he wasn’t making any profit at that time, he was still determined. He specifically emphasised how being patient and not quitting has made him the man he is now, and even his mates that were successful before him reach out to him about what to do when they are going through the challenges he’d already experienced before.
**CONCLUSION**
My message here is to be prepared for any outcome. As that would make the blow easier to handle should it be a negative one. Whatever plan you make, always be prepared for any eventuality. That is not to say you shouldn’t be optimistic, but if things don’t turn out good, it doesn’t mean you’re a loser, don’t quit! Keep trying and one day you’ll see that all that failure have prepared you for success.
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The Grade Character Rumination
Today’s epiphany was about character. Not to be a judge of character but more of an analyst, something prompted me to think about humans. Walking home today, people I was with were talking about each other, and a lady talked about how one of the guys with us was a decent young man. And some of the other guys laughed about it. I suppose the reason was because he likes girls, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t respect them. Let’s just say he’s wild when it comes to that aspect. It made me think about what is the yardstick for measurement of character, and because perfection is not human, we can never be 100/100 – perfect score.
Like I said, this is by no means an attempt to be a judge of character. And I would appreciate if it isn’t interpreted in that context. I am a thinker, and I like to relate things I hear to real life, even if I am being taught in class, I like to think about whatever new knowledge I have gained and apply it to a real life situations and only when things make sense to me do I move on, and if it doesn’t make sense, I ask questions until it does. What transpired activated a series of thoughts in my head.
Firstly, I thought about what qualifies one as a decent person. I thought about the grading system used in my university, and how 70–100 points is grade A, 60–69 is grade B and so on. If a student scores 70, and another scores 98, they both get the same grade A. And it doesn’t really matter if there was a 28 points difference between both of them, they are both A students, since they have the same grade. I wondered if that was equivalent to decency. If there are grades to it.
No matter how good, nice or decent a person is, they can have a bad trait or character that peculiarly makes them a bad person if you’re looking for that character only. The very fact that good is relative from individual to individual further proves my point in some way. My experience, principles, morals and the environment I grew up in has shaped me into who I am, and while I might have something of a bad habit or character, generally, I am a nice person.
Let me use a hypothetical example of a person who is a thief, he is a thief because he steals what belongs to others but he’s also kindhearted, as he helps people in need and defends a random lady being harassed on the street. His only flaw now is that he is a thief. Now this led to my other chain of thought about how we can different persons to different people. Now, the aforementioned person in the example above is a thief to some, and a gentleman and to another.
The question now is this, is he a bad person because he is a thief, or a good person because he defends the defenseless and helps the needy? Or is he just a person who isn’t perfect, but with his own flaws? That was what was on my mind for most of the walk home.
In conclusion, I apologise if I had sent the wrong impression at some point of writing this article, but that was how it came to me. I have this migraine that’s making it difficult for me to concentrate and maybe express myself in a more understanding manner, but I hope the message was passed nonetheless, and I would like to hear your thoughts on the matter in the comment section.
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Love, Marriage, Money
Today has been quite a day, as some of my classmates and I were in the farm together, we dived into one of our random conversations as always. This time, it centered around **LOVE**. There was a debate about how sexual attraction and love have been branded into different types.
There was a debate about how crush and lust are branded sexual attraction, and how love in itself is a chemical reaction in the brain. And how love itself has been branded into different types. The argument was: there is love, and there is sexual attraction and both are two different feelings and not dependent on each other. For example, I can be sexually attracted to someone, but I do not love them. Also, I can love someone and not be sexually attracted to them.
Examples given was strictly on:
1) family and friendship.
2) Romantic relationship.
3) Crush.
The first was said to be just love, while the second was said to be love and sexual attraction, and the last is just sexual attraction and nothing more. I heard one of my classmates say crushing on someone could be just you admiring them. And I asked if crush was a synonym of admire. She thought about it and kept mute.
The argument was yet to be concluded, when one thing led to another and one of my female classmates said the number one thing she’s looking in a man she wants to marry was money. That really caught my attention. And I blatantly said to her with a straight face that she won’t be happy in such a marriage.
**Why Did I Say This?**
On a good day, I wouldn’t have spurted out those words as I had done, but it came out from a place of gross disappointment. Firstly, I know she’s one of the oldest people in our class, and I had expected she’d be all the wiser, and not say something like that in front of the younger females. That not to say everyone does not have their preferences, and things they look out for, and I suppose she had her reason for saying that or why she has that particular mindset.
She was surprised to hear me say those words so straightforward, one of another female asked her ***“SO, YOU WON’T MARRY FOR LOVE?”*** She replied “Marry for love then I start to suffer, is it love that wants to feed me?” someone else asked if she was insinuating that in all love marriages, there is poverty and suffering. I went on to as her ***“WHAT IF YOU GET MARRIED TO A RICH PERSON AND HE LOSES ALL HIS MONEY AFTER YOU TWO ARE ALREADY MARRIED?”*** She was quiet and had no response to the question I had asked.
I must admit that I was quite surprised at the kind of mindset she had. I later went on to say that money shouldn’t be the number one thing on her criteria for a husband. That is not to downplay the importance of money, especially when you want to raise a family. But, the thing with money is that you can lose it. What happened to love, trust, understanding and loyalty?
I was going to ask her why she’s not focused on making her own money, instead of waiting for a man with money to come her way, so they can marry. Unfortunately, the conversation was interrupted and we didn’t get to complete the discussion.
After thinking about all what was said, I wasn’t really surprised at the kind of mindset she had shown earlier. I mean, it is common for among ladies in this part of the country to be interested in money and not actually love. Then I think of how one would be willing to spend their life living with an husband they don’t love. I suppose love could start to grow after they are married, but how many marriages actually end up like this?
As always, I would like to hear the view of my readers in the comment box. Ad I also want to use this medium to appreciate all of you guys for the support and love you’ve been extending to me all this time. May you all receive abundant blessings for your kindness.
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Technology I Wish For
Technology has come a long way since the beginning of the 20th century. A lot of things that could not have been possible are possible now, and are even done better than they used to be. While there has been commendable advancement in technology, and it has made life easier, some might argue it has made humans lazier, exposing us to health issues such as obesity, as we don’t use up much of the energy we get from food ingested. There are a lot of things too I’d like to be invented and they haven’t been. They include:
**COOKING MACHINE:**
I had thought about a pre-programmed machine that could make food if I just poured the ingredients into it. More like a washing machine where I put the clothes in and add detergent, let the machine do its job, and I don’t have to keep checking and turning it at intervals. Like an electric oven, but I don’t have to mix the batter for the cake I want to make, I just put in the flour, egg, milk and all other ingredients.
**TELEPORTER:**
Always loved the idea of teleportation, disappearing in one location and appearing in another. But I suppose a teleportation machine would come like door stationed at certain locations, and you can just pay to use one, inputting any location in the world before you enter. That would be cool yeah?
**TIME MACHINE:**
Who wouldn’t want this, everyone wants one, either to go to the past or the future, a lot of things we’d probably want to change, something we’d want to have done differently. Or applying the knowledge we have now in a certain time in the past.
**HEALING MACHINE:**
Imagine there was a machine you’d enter, and whatever ailment, illness or disease you have would be cured for good. With COVID ravaging the earth now, every government can use the machine to eradicate it from their respective countries. And perhaps the world would be free of the pandemic.
**MIND READER:**
This is farfetched, even for me. Imagine there was a device that could just read someone’s thoughts, and tell you. This would be a great intrusion of one’s privacy, as their thoughts could be private. Unless of course the device is modified to read thoughts that concern you. That would be fiction isn’t it?
**STRESS RELIVER:**
A lot of us are stressed due to our day to day activities and routines, and stress can cause serious damages to our health. The funny thing is, it is not just physical stress we can experience, it can be emotional, psychological, among others. So I have thought of a machine invented to relieve our stress. Say we just lie down in it for some time, and we come out of it stress-free and rejuvenated, feeling energizer and fresh for another bout of stress.
**CLONER:**
This specifically is to serve the purpose of cloning material objects. A lot of times, we wish the money we have in our wallets can just multiply. Maybe this machine is the solution to that problem, and it will make our wish come true. We can just multiply the money we have at hand by cloning them. I suppose that would make everyone rich, leaving to inflation and therefore an economic crisis.
**CONCLUSION**
This is merely wishful thinking, and fictional. But a little sci-fi won’t hurt. Perhaps to make life easier and more convenient for people. Saving us time used in doing these things daily. As you read, you can add to the list by mentioning what you’d like to be invented that hasn’t been invented yet.
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A Bed of Thorns and Roses
Lovely evening or morning to you all depending on your time zone. I had missed a day of posting due to my inability to write an article to post. Every time I picked my phone to type, I just lose the ability to concentrate on my thought, and end up falling asleep. I think this happened three times last night, so I just decided to drop my phone and sleep the third time.
All these had happened because I have been sleep deprived for about two weeks now, barely sleeping 5 hours a day because I spend practically all day in farm and come home in the evening, between cooking, writing and interacting with posts among other things. So all these activities eats into my sleep time. But I have had the time today to catch up on sleep, at least, the little I could when it was not noisy. Tomorrow is another day to continue paying my sleep debt.
Moving on to the main purpose of this article, I had overheard some of my classmates talking about travelling abroad last night in the apartment. Some seem to have the notion that long as they can make it to a foreign country, they have made it, and would never return, as there are lots of jobs and opportunities abroad than there are in our country, Nigeria. One said that if he was to travel out, it would be for vacation and not to reside there permanently. And that he doesn’t think he’ll feel at home there.
My mind quickly rushed back to a book I read 12-14 years ago in Junior Secondary School. It was a book titled **THE STRAINS OF PARADISE** from what I could remember, it was about a man who left his life in Nigeria to start anew in the US. So, when he realised that ‘*paradise*’ wasn’t as easy as he’d thought, it was already too late to go back to his relatively better life back in his country.
This I can guess has been the realisation of many who had abandoned their life to start afresh in a foreign country; the realisation that life isn’t as rosy and easy as portrayed in the movies. I have had the chance to ask a friend of mine who had relocated to the United States in 2015 with her entire family. And although she talked about how the social structure is better than back home, there is still a sense of freedom with being in your country than being a foreigner in another country.
I had understood what she meant, because I could relate it to a book I had read in 2018: **SECOND CLASS CITIZEN** by Buchi Emecheta. Basically talks about the feeling of being a guest in a foreign country. There is a popular quote that ***"THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME"*** and while the question that saying brings to my mind is **WHERE IS HOME?** We can agree that home can be where your family is, or where you’re at peace or most comfortable. And not necessarily where you grew up in. What if I go to a foreign land and start a family and were happy, doesn’t that make it home?
Also, there are restrictions as to what you can try or attempt to do in a developed country as opposed to your country or do I say – my country. Like for instance, in Nigeria, I can say a lot of persons do not pay tax. Say for instance the roadside sellers or hawkers. These people earn a living from their venture, thus, it is a business. One that yields profit, however little. These profits ought to be taxed in a proper system, like in developed countries. But again, there are a lot of jobs that pay below minimum wage here in Nigeria, but that isn’t the case abroad, as there are protocols put in place to check this. That is not to say that there aren’t jobs that pay below minimum wage, but is is not as common as you’ll fine here.
**CONCLUSION**
I guess the truth is the mindset that the grass is greener outside the country stems in the fact that they exchange rate of hard currencies to our local currency is high. And I believe if that gap is closed, less people would be eager to travel outside the country seeking greener pastures. That is not to say that the sole reason people want to go out of the country is to make more money. Some just want to live a more organised life, and the social structure and the systematics that comes with living in developed countries (I have heard people say that). I believe there are more opportunities to be exploited in developing countries than in developed countries.
***DISCLAIMER: this is by no means an attempt to dissuade people from doing what they want to, neither is it an advice against travelling out of your country, neither is it an attempt to paint any country in a negative light. It is merely the manifestation of my thoughts in writing.***
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Freedom
It was another day for me at the farm. Though it was a new experience for me today, as I and some of my other class mates were designated to the poultry section of the farm. You see, I have specifically avoided going into any of the poultry halls to have a look at the birds for the sole reason of experiencing it newly the first time I’ll be assigned there. Fortunately, today was that day, and just before the farm manager assigned us to specific halls, he had given us a general work of cleaning one of the halls for poultry birds.
With the excitement of doing something new, for the first time after much anticipation, we cleaned the hall – although with the help of one of the workers in the farm. After we were done, the manager called us as assigned us to specific halls of duty where we will either pick eggs into crates and sort them into three different sizes after we were done. We are supposed to do this routine at twice (Noon and at around 4pm).
It was time, and as I walked into the hall assigned to me, I could already hear the hens increasing the volume of the sound they were making as though they had something interesting to tell me, and I couldn’t hear them unless they spoke louder. As I picked the already laid eggs, I couldn’t help but wonder what must be running through the minds of the hens. Do they even have minds?
After picking about 56 crates of eggs at noon,, I had to join the workers in sorting them accordingly. And I less than 2 hours, we were done with all the work we had to do. At 4pm the eggs to pick weren’t that much, so I actually had time to look at the hens. Boy was it an expression on their face. Some looked like they were angry at me for not listening to them earlier, and with what you could call anger on their face, I thought about the life, how they are caged like prisoners, and are fed for the sole aim of producing eggs for as long as they can. And when they had stopped being useful to the cause, they are simply replaced.
I thought about a time where women were married for the purpose of childbearing, a time when all they were good for was cooking and bearing babies for their husbands, and if this setting can be unpleasant even for a hen that doesn’t have much of a choice. Did women felt imprisoned by the shackles of societies’ patriarchy? Was this the reason the fight for gender equality sprouted and has since then flourished.
What was freedom? As I was in the hall, one of the birds was out of the cage, and as I looked at it, it seemed like a the happiest of them all at that moment. As she walked graciously towards me like I was an ally helping her breakout out of jail. Happy as she was determined. I stood in its path. And just the I could see the confusion on her face as she bent down submissive to fate. I suppose she was confused how the saviour had turned the captor.
I teased her, gave her hope by moving out of the her way, and she responded quickly by rising to continue her jail break, I stood in her way again, she paused and bent down like she was submitting to fate. We continued the show for about two more times. As her cell mates cheered on and on. I finally decided to let her have a taste of the freedom she so craved. I locked the door, leading outside, and let the hen be, let it walk about savouring the taste of freedom, however brief it might be. I am sure many other birds were jealous at that moment.
This made me thought about life and how we will always crave for something we may never get, and even though we might not get it completely, a taste of it is sufficient to make us happy. Even if it was only for a moment. We deserve to be. I am sure the bed might be sad when it was put back into the cage, but it will cherish that brief moment of freedom it experienced today.
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A Random Day
Hello beautiful people, I hope you’re having a great week and year altogether. It was a slow day for me, as I didn’t have much work to do today, spent most of the day sitting and talking with my other classmates. We swung in and out of different conversations to the other, one a prequel for the next. It got to a point I was sleepy and decided to go catch up on some sleep, as I have been sleep deprived since the beginning of our Field Practical Training. It’s simply because 24hrs is too short for all the things I have to do in a day.
I had spent the most of this evening just watching and observing my classmates in the apartment and I daresay it hasn’t been a bore. I like to observe human behaviour, and it gives me an ideas how to relate with who and how. All the characters are almost unique, and some complimentary to another. I like to to think of the past couple of weeks as a Philo-psychological phase of my life.
While in the farm, a conversation had ensued about the delicate luck involved in childbirth. My classmates was talking about how there is a good chance of giving birth to a deformed child. From that, we moved on to how twins – even though they share the same genetic make up – can never be equal. From his stave, he was saying that even if the twins were exposed and taught the same things, one would be smarter or better than the other.
This speaks about the effect of environmental factors in the role of child or human development. I had said to him that even if two people are exposed to the same things, they would experience it differently, and one of the illustrations I gave was with a bus; That while two or more people might be in the same bus they’ll have different views of the road they are travelling through the window. And this is same for identical twins too.
On our way home from the farm, as we got close to the house, we were looking at the houses in the vicinity and sharing opinions about what we liked about them and what we didn’t, and also what we’d have done differently if it were our houses. Can’t blame a couple of young adults for dreaming and learning in the process eh?
When I got home, I felt a bit tired and just wanted to eat and rest, doing nothing in particular. This has been how I have felt since last night, as it seem the whole schedule was taking its toll on me. Although, I had a plan to have a bath, eat and sleep for a bit before waking up to write what I’ll post, but things don’t always go as planned right? As a matter of fact, the only thing I didn’t do in the aforementioned plan was to sleep, all others was done, but not exactly how I had planned it.
I had decided to just make this a random write up about random things that happened during the day because all the topics I have thought of writing about in my head just aren’t coming up with enough words to build it with, while others are seeming like I haven’t done enough research to write about.
On another news, I heard the latest collection of NFT on sBCH was minted in just 5mins. How outstanding it is to mint 10,000 apes in 5mins, that’s about 33 apes per second. That the site could withstand this much traffic is commendable. And I was quite impressed with the artwork by the designer. Saw a couple of them on King_Gozie's post Ape NFTs Are Literally The Best. I was fast asleep when this happened, and I have missed the likes of Queens and Reapers too. Hopefully, minting of King NFT collection isn’t so fast as it is scheduled to happen later this month. https://read.cash/@King_Gozie/ape-nfts-are-literally-the-best-e7a31d3e
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Time Travel
Time has always been precious to us humans. Practically everything is based on time, and used to plan our day to day activities. An even more interesting time concept is Time Travelling. You see, the trick with time is: once spent, it can never be regained. Time has lead to the formation of Past, Present and Future.
With the past being time we have spent, the present being time we are spending, and the future being time we will have to spend. Let’s just say time is a universal currency which everyone has equal amount of, and the difference is the manner or way every individual choose to spend the time they have.
People have always believed that the breakthrough discovery for the human race would be time travelling. Something no one has been able to achieve from time immemorial. Albert Einstein, one of the greatest minds of the 19th century had proposed that time travelling would be possible only if humans could travel at the speed of light.
Now, the problem is can our body sustain travelling at the speed of light? Only light has travelled at that speed, and since humans haven’t, there has only been mere speculations about what the effect would be to the human body, and it is not a positive one. Not that the technology can’t be created to nullify the effect.
***NOTE: the speed of light is accurately 299,792,458 meters per second. That’s approximately 300 million meters in one second.***
If we lived in a world where time travelling was possible, many people would have gone back in time to change one thing or the other. Maybe buy a lot of Bitcoin ten or eleven years ago. Maybe take back what they said to someone out of anger. Maybe say “hi” to that girl they liked but never spoke to. Perhaps take that risk they contemplated but never took and it paid off in the end.
That is not the end, a lot of people will also travel to the future, to see what their life turned out to be, if all their hard work and risk paid off in the end, how their family life turned out to be, and if they were truly happy.
But would our life have meaning if it were programmed like that? Every thing already predetermined. Isn’t the uncertainty of the future one of the factor we strive against? To pave the path to our future by our actions of the present, hoping it all goes well. Isn’t that one of the adventure of life?
**CONCLUSION**
Maybe the only time travel human will ever make is one from one time zone to another. Say travelling from Australia to USA that’s over 10 hours difference, so it is technically travelling back in time.
Although, I believe a breakthrough in time travelling would help humans travel in space. Explore other galaxies millions of light-years away, and perhaps we could meet really see if we’re alone in the universe or not.
***P.S. : people have often mistaken the term ‘light-year’ as a unit of time. It is a unit of distance. It is the distance it would take a light beam to travel in 365 days (a year). You can imagine how long the distance is since light beam is travelling at approximately 300 million meters per second.***
`Thank You For Reading 🖤🖤`
Change and Growth
Today has been a stressful day at the farm, and I hate to start my week that way. I have been home for over two hours now, and I tried sleeping earlier but couldn’t because it’s was noisy in the apartment. And I am feeling quite sick and too tired to even do anything at all. I have been exposed to mosquitoes the past week, and I suspect I might be coming down with a malaria fever, but I can’t say for sure just yet.
I spent the day with some of my other classmates milling about 9,000 kilograms of bird food, and that took its toll on me, I must say. As I was responsible for adding the major ingredient (Maize) into the mix. I was practically pouring a pre-determined weight of maize into the hammer mill to be crushed before it is transported by suction into the vertical mixer where it is mixed with other ingredients that doesn’t need to be crushed.
I had gone to see the crushed maize come out on the other side after pouring it into the hammer mill, and it was looking like something different from what I was handling. That made me think about how change – which is constant in life – is a result of one or more action.
Change can also be subjective and mean different things to different people. Different perception. While the change the maize had gone through was good for the birds, as it became easier for them to invest it, I can’t say the change was good for my eyes. Firstly, though, it doesn’t matter how aesthetically pleasing the maize might relatively look to my eyes, after it had be crushed, it was reduced to an ugly-looking rubble of crumbs. Also, the dust from the crushing was uncomfortable for my eyes and nose.
These are merely perspective I had thought about change from. Especially when I relate it to human life, people change because of circumstances and experiences, and not because change must happen. If I had not poured that maize into the mill, it would not have undergone any change, it would have remained the same, so is the case for humans. Circumstances we have experienced often spark a change in us.
A simple link of **CAUSE** and **EFFECT** is practically the foundational principle on which almost if not every thing on earth lies on. The basic act of eating leads to nourishment and growth of the body.
I was recently involved in a situation where I had to make a choice, and while what was to be the logical choice seemed selfish. I pondered about why something could feel right and wrong at the same time? What was weird was that I was contemplating whether or not to make that choice because it seemed selfish. A year ago, I would have chosen the choice I felt was right even if it was a selfish choice.
It was strange to think what could happen in a year. Relationships can go sour, people can change and become better or worse. But the main point is: There is always a reason for change. And while we want change and are keeping an open mind to it, let’s remember that there are two sides to it, it could be bad and or could be good. Depending on where you are viewing from. And while you feel there is need for a change, think about which side of the change coin will it flip to, the good or the bad or both?
So, question for my readers: ***WOULD YOU MAKE A CHOICE EVEN IF IT IS A SELFISH DECISION?***
`Thank You For Reading 🖤🖤`
Life Goals
The weekend has gone by fast, and as we start a new week, I hope it is a progressive one for us. I can say it was a productive weekend for me, as I started reading a book I have wanted to read for a while now. As the apartment was less crowded and I also had a good rest from the work I had done during the week, and in preparation for the new week.
One of my life goals is travelling the world and seeing most of it ,other cultures and people. I do know travelling the world would be expensive as it involves a lot of tickets and hotels, so today I'll be writing about some of the places I'll like to visit or things I'll like to see before I die. In no particular order:
**PYRAMIDS OF GIZA**
One of the seven wonders of the world, it is actually the only one still standing. Located in northern Africa, Egypt to be specific. I have always marveled at the sight of it on the internet and in movies too. The manpower needed to erect such structures and in a desert too. Would really want to see it in person some day. And walk in to see the Pharaohs rumoured to be buried as mummies inside.
**GREAT WALL OF CHINA**
Would like to stand on the wall with a smile on my face shouting "Yes, I am here finally". Though I read most of the wall is in ruins, I'd still like to see this historic heritage site. Perhaps when I visit China.
(Image source) https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/great-wall-china/
**NORTHERN LIGHTS**
A beauty I must say. First time I read about it, I was wowed and to think it’s practically a natural phenomenon that is responsible for it and there are also southern lights too. A visit to the North of Norway close to the north pole and I'll catch a sight of one of the most beautiful views on earth (for me) on their darkest days.
(Image source) https://www.kiwi.com/stories/best-places-to-see-the-northern-lights/
**GRAND CANYON**
Located in Arizona, USA. This is a natural geographic wonder of rocks. Estimated to be millions of years old, an episode from Avatar the last airbender had cemented my desire to visit this tourist attraction.
(Image source) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canyon_National_Park
**TAJ MAHAL**
Architecture at its best. A masterpiece of you ask me, and to think it was built in the 17th century makes it even more outstanding. Perhaps when I visit India, I could drop by to have a look and relish in the beauty of it.
**STONEHENGE**
Located in England. For stones to stand and arrange such that they form a pattern. There is more to this heritage site than meets the eye. Would really like to see for myself, and maybe try and push the standing rocks and see if they fall. Hehehe. Just kidding, like I have to power to push tons of weight.
**STATUE OF LIBERTY**
Located in New York, USA. I remember watching a video by Michael Jackson where he was high up on the statue dancing and singing. I’d like to climb high too and get a view of New York City.
(Image source) https://unsplash.com/images/travel/statue-of-liberty
**MACHU PICCHU**
A citadel located in Peru. Although a lot of it is in ruins, I’d still want to visit the elevated site someday and marvel at the ruins of perfection.
**EIFFEL TOWER**
The symbol of Paris – the city of love – where it is located in France. Despite being a popular monument and one of the most visited, it still hasn’t diminished my desire to see it for myself.
That’s all for this article, perhaps I’ll make another list as continuation, since I have not been able to exhaust the list. If like me you want to visit any of the aforementioned places, do make a comment to signify which and why.
`Thank You For Reading 🖤🖤`
Gratitude
I cannot overemphasise the importance of building relationships, as we need people (directly or indirectly) to survive on earth. To keep this straight and simple, it is almost impossible to say we have not been beneficiaries of someone’s kindness or generosity. That you’re on this platform, writing and earning is due to someone’s benevolence.
Gratitude is an essential gesture or the right response to someone’s kindness. Being grateful for what you have or for what someone had done for you opens way for more. John Randolph Price says:
*“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life, and turns what we have into enough and more. Gratitude make sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”*
I am the kind of person who automatically feels indebted to people for the little kindness or help they show to me, I never forget. It is not like they expect it from me, but it is how I am. When people help or show kindness to me, they automatically become someone I like, because that impression hardly leaves me even if they are unkind to others. Weird, I know, but it is what it is.
Gratitude is the least you can show when someone helps you out in a time of need. We must be grateful for even the littlest gesture of kindness and generosity people show us and also for the things we have.
So, I ask **WHAT ARE YOU GRATEFUL FOR?**
First of, I am grateful for life. That I am alive now is something to be grateful for. People die daily, every minute worldwide, and for some reason I am still alive, pushing and trudging life’s bumpy Road.
Secondly, I am grateful for my family and friends. They have been amazingly instrumental in forming the person I am today. Friends who have stood by me through thick and thin and never left me to deal with my problems by myself. I cannot thank them enough. I am grateful too for those who have hurt me or have been a part of my life at some point in time, at least they have taught me something.
Also, I am grateful to the creator(s) and sponsor(s) of this platform, they have created an avenue for me to learn and see the world through people – amazing members of the platform who write beautiful stories daily that are educative, insightful, and exciting. Reading and writing daily articles has been a blessing, so much so that I look forward to it daily. I am sure you do same too. To my amazing subscribers and users who engage in my articles, to my benevolent sponsors, I say a big **THANK YOU** 🤗
Feel free to comment about what it is your are grateful for in the comment section, and show gratitude to those you can. Remember, it doesn’t have to be a grand gesture or monetary. A little THANK YOU… I APPRECIATE can go a long way.
I will leave with a piece I wrote many years ago, not sure if I should call it a poem or if it is even one, but I came across it some days ago and thought to add it to one of my articles, so, here it goes:
***For the smiles we lost***
***For the people that turned dust***
***For the efforts that failed, no matter how hard we tried***
***For the pain we hid, even if all we did was bleed***
***For the tears we never shed, even though our hearts bled***
***For the times we didn’t gain, even though all we experienced was pain***
***For the times we were betrayed, and our trust shattered***
***For the times we wanted sweet dreams, but all we got was nightmarish seam***
`Thank You For Reading 🖤🖤`
Our Superpower
One of the characteristics of living things is **ADAPTABILITY**. And humans have an innate ability to **adapt** to situations and circumstances they find themselves in. The only variable is the time taken to do that. And while some take short time, others take long time, even for all living things too.
I had said before that we are currently at our designated outstation doing the first phase of our field practical training, which started last Monday. One of the things that swam in my pool of thoughts as I prepared for it was how I was going to cope with twenty two (22) other persons in the same three bedroom apartment.
At that moment, I wasn’t thinking I will adapt neither was I thinking it won’t be a terrible experience. Why did I think so? Although, we have been classmates for years, but have never had to live in the same apartment until now – except for a few who stay in the same hostel or are roommates – we spent the most of last year doing hands-on practical in our departmental experimental farm, and these practical required a lot of team work, that is, us working together to achieve a common goal.
Many a time, the bickering and unnecessary fracas that would erupt among us became incessant and either brought us apart or closer (not sure which at the moment). All these, coupled with the fact that I love my space and relish in privacy which were what I never saw myself having all through our staying together for three weeks of the practical training. I had played out instances and scenarios that could get me agitated, irritated or cranky. And thought about how I’d react in such scenarios.
So far, many of those scenarios have not played out yet, and as it turned out, it seems I got a bit of the space I wanted, needed in fact. And I have managed to adjust my sleep schedule to suit me. I am usually up two hours earlier than my other classmates or apartment mates, any goes at the moment. The reason for this is because I have to cook what to eat, and the only time I’ll practically not get anyone traipsing in and out of the kitchen is when most people or everyone is asleep.
The moment everyone is awake, expect everywhere to be crowded at the same time. I don’t know how that happens, but it’s the fact that anywhere you go to in the apartment, there is almost always someone. And if there isn’t, they are just right behind you, coming into the room. The only place that could be classified as your *fortress of solitude* when you are there is the bathroom.
Though, about 5 out of the 23 people who are supposed to be living in the apartment do not stay in the apartment with the rest of us, and I suppose this has helped the other 18 of us have relatively more space to ourselves. And about 6 persons out of the current 18 flat mates have gone home for the weekend, to return Sunday evening for our second week of training. So, relatively more space for those of us still sticking around at the moment.
I must confess that I am quite impressed at how things have been going thus far, the unity and sense of togetherness is commendable, and everyone seems to have **adapted** to our current situation quite well. There has been no major disagreement. Perhaps it is too early to say that, or maybe we are still in the tolerance phase, where everyone can tolerate things until they get to their limit and explode. Of course good behaviour matters in the next three weeks and maybe that is why everyone is on their best behaviour.
Whatever the reason, I don’t see any major argument happening though, at least not in the manner I had envisioned, as new relationships are forming, and broken ones seem to be getting mended. It’s interesting how it seems everyone has adapted so quickly and at the same pace. Brings to mind the current pandemic ravaging the world at the moment.
Maybe we will get over it sooner or later and things we go back to as they were or maybe this is the *'new normal'*, and we have no choice but to **adapt** to it and continue with our lives. As I have **adapted** to my new sleep schedule, and even though it is the weekend, I still woke up 1am like I have done since Monday to write this article.
`Thank You For Reading 🖤🖤`
Emotion - The Father of All Errors
Emotions have always eluded me. I remember growing up and being as stubborn as a mule, and when I do get angry, I go out of my way to do what I feel is the best revenge. It made me unforgiving. I remember something had happened (can’t remember what exactly) many years ago. But, what I vividly remember from this memory was the words of a family friend whom my mom had called to speak to me about my anger and stubbornness. I like to think that was the moment I started training my mind to control my emotions.
(Image Source) https://www.yourquote.in/abhay-chauhan-hvd0/quotes/emotion-it-s-father-all-errors-you-control-your-emotions-you-f9pp3
***Fun Tip: TAKING DEEP BREATHS WORK WONDERS.***
You see, I have come to realise over the years that *emotion is indeed the father of all error*. Since the day the family friend had spoken to me about emotions – anger in particular, I had been quite conscious about my emotions or if I might say, try to master how to control them.
This has shaped me into the kind of person that process as much as he can before reacting to things. Because of this, people have termed me a Computer and a robot . That is not to say I am always wearing an indifferent countenance or expression. I do have my ways of expressing what I feel, I have only learnt to not exactly show it or let it control or cloud my decisions like how computers work.
When angry, I am probably the most quiet person ever. I don’t like to speak in this state so I do not say something I’ll end up regretting because I never meant it. There are times I am indifferent too, and I just stay quiet irrespective of what is going on around me and it could be mistaken for me being angry. In times like this, I like to listen to music, especially the melodious poems of **Passenger** – one of my favourite artiste.
Looking back, I remember how reclusive I was prior to my admission into the university about 5 years ago. I’d practically sit down amidst a casual family conversation and not utter a word. Since I gained admission into the university, I have read books and met people and experiences that have reconditioned me to being more social. I suppose we could say there has been a major improvement in that aspect of my life as I was the least social in my family. But when I go home now for holidays, I could almost see on the faces of members of my family being surprised and happy at the same time when I engage in casual conversations with them.
It’s strange how one’s reaction to emotions can be unpredictable sometimes. You could react a certain way to a situation now, and still react differently to the same situation another time. And as we age and grow, experiences condition us to feel differently. To cite an example with pain, what could probably make you cry say 10 years ago, will probably only make us sad now, or indifferent.
CONCLUSION
If we could manage our emotions and not let them control us (I speak mainly of negative emotions), then we might see that we have attained a certain level of growth, ergo, becoming better persons. I can blatantly tell you that learning to control your emotions is no easy feat, and you might never master it in fact. But trying to is a step in the right direction.
Efforts to master controlling my emotions has made me less vindictive, and I find myself more forgiving than I have ever been. Holding on to anger and pain have no gain, and you’ll find that once you let go of them, you feel renewed with lighter heart and shoulders.
***Lastly, emotion is a polygamist, and fathers many errors with many mothers***
`Thank You For Reading 🖤🖤`
Technology and Nature
Today has been just another day for me, it’s day three of our outstation, and I had a lot of rest for the day. Although, I couldn’t use my phone as I would love to. As the electricity supply at our accommodation has been terrible, I was charging my phone every chance I get at the farm.
I got home in the evening and after having a shower sat outside the house for cool breeze. I thought about what to write and later indulged a course mate beside me, she was saying something about feminism and how males are ***naturally designed to*** ***care for females***. It was when I thought about nature and how there are actually species that the male wait for the female to do all the work, also in some species the male go all the work why in some, it is a joint effort.
Perhaps I’ll write about that later, but what I actually remembered was the topic for today which I have been meaning to write about, and how I had thought about the link between technology and nature. I have thought about how a lot of humans great invention have been to replicate what certain animals do naturally. I could only list some them out so as to expatiate more on them and state the link between said invention and nature.
***AIRPLANE***
You need not be a genius to assume that this invention is to replicate the ability of birds to fly. Even planes looks like birds when in the sky, and the concept of aerodynamics has been applied to its invention. This has made travelling much more easier and much more comfortable, especially over long distances and curbing demerits such as traffic that can be encountered when travelling by land, this is one of man’s greatest invention.
***SUBMARINE***
Yes, transportation by sea is one of the oldest means of transport, but transportation in water has been a more recent development, and with hydrodynamics incorporated in this, you can almost see it as a giant shark swimming in water. This invention has been used greatly to the advancement of science It self, helping man understand more about the aquatic habitat, and also for other scientific purposes.
***GRAPPLE EXCAVATOR***
I have always seen this as a giant hand. I have also likened it to man himself and how the motivation behind it could have been our very own fingers. Imagine a person picking up a pinch of salt with two fingers, then picking up a handful. Or an eagle catching its prey between its claws. Doesn’t an excavator come to mind? Hehehe. It has served an easy way to dig up the soil, especially for construction.
*Image Source* https://www.ecvv.com/product/4621957.html
***ROBOTS***
This is not farfetched, as it can be likened to humans. Although robots could be in parts or full, over the years it has evolved to become the closest invention to mimicking the apex species – **MAN**. I guess what is missing is the incorporation of raw emotions and breathing of oxygen. Maybe before the end of the next century, there will be robots that could feel emotions, breathe air, and procreate. Hahaha.
**CONCLUSION**
*These are some of the inventions I could mention on this article and it is not aimed at mockery but for educative and entertaining purposes. Also, you can mention those inventions you also feel can be likened to something in nature in the comment section.*
***I want to specially thank my subscribers, sponsors and engagers, it been a wonderful one month with you guys, and I am so glad on how far we’ve come together. I look forward to better relations with people on this platform as we continue to build and progress together. Thank You 🤗***
`Thank You For Reading 🖤🖤`
Differences
Buenos dias fellow readers. Today has to be one of the most stressful days I have had in a long time. All my basic understanding of Physics had to be applied to most of what I had to do today. You see, about 8 tonnes of fowl feed had to be formulated and converted for today’s work given to my group.
Assuming the least weight you had to move or carry is about 66% your total body weight. You can understand why applying the laws of Physics were important. It was interesting though to so something new and actually learn at it while trying to enjoy every bit of it.
A squabble had ensued between two of my classmates. One of the parties involved was telling me about it. After it had happened, hoping I can talk to the other party involved to steer clear as they didn’t want any trouble.
After hearing both their sides of the issue, the common ground had been that individual differences. The case being one wherein a party A didn’t like how party B had interacted with them, and even though party A told party B to stop it, party B didn’t think party A should be mad about it, as there was something party A did to party B and could have warranted in party B being unfriendly towards party A.
I wondered why one should not be offended about what you do to them because you supposedly tolerated their ill behaviour. Oftentimes, we have had expectations based on our capabilities and personalities. Because we press the toothpaste from the bottom, we expect every other person to do same too.
I am guilty of this too, I have caught myself expecting people to do things a certain way because I do them that way, convincing myself to believe I merely want them to do it the right way. But isn’t right relative? What might be right to one person can be wrong to another person. What might be right in a particular area or zone could be wrong or not common in another area or zone too.
So, it is our responsibility to not judge people so quickly. As they are not the same persons we are. And accepting that it is possible for everyone to be different, have different beliefs and still exist together.
Variation I believe has been an essential factor in the continuity of life. It is what makes the little difference, helping a living thing adapt to its environment much easily. Imagine if every animals were herbivores, and had taste for only the leaves of plants, would we have more or less plants? It is because they all have a taste for different things, that’s why there is a balance that has perpetuated the continuity of life itself.
CONCLUSION
As we go on with our daily lives, let’s ensure we are more tolerant with people. Cut them some slack, as they are not the same person we are, neither could they ever be. Even siblings born and raised by the same parents end up being different people, they might have similar beliefs and hold the same values, that doesn’t not mean they will be the same persons.
People will always have a view, and their opinion and perspective may not align with ours sometimes or every time in fact. We should respect that.
`Thank You For Reading 🖤🖤`
The Money Equillibrium
Earlier today, my group members and I had to move to the outpost we’ll be doing our Field Practical Training for the next three weeks. For convenience, we had to rent an apartment close to the designated station. Not sure if the apartment will serve it’s primary purpose due to the number of persons it is accommodating.
Anyway, I like the area the apartment is located for its peace and quiet. More so for the beautiful houses and buildings around. While sitting in front of the apartment for fresh air, the view of a classy white-painted house provoked the thought that birthed this article. Looking at this particular house and the building around, it sparked a question in my mind.
Firstly, I thought, with this many classy building, you don’t need to be told a lot of money went into building it. One of the questions I thought about was: ***WOULD THE OVERALL STANDARD OF LIVING OF PEOPLE IMPROVE IF MONEY WAS EVENLY DISTRIBUTED AMONG THE ENTIRE POPULACE?*** Basically, my question was that if there was no difference in the social status of the entire population, and everyone was in the same class, will things be better?
That is one of the arguments I’d like to indulge my readers, and I’ll like their opinions in the comment section. But before we proceed, let me ask more questions to help condition your chain of thoughts:
***Can everyone be rich?***
***If everyone were rich, who’d do the job the ‘not-so-rich people do?***
***Is the current imbalance of money distribution in equilibrium?***
***Or is the imbalance really not balanced?***
You see, the honest truth is: **NOT EVERYONE WILL BE RICH** and with that truth accepted. I suppose the question about even distribution of money is the big question that can be viewed from different angles.
It is no news that people are greedy and always want more especially when it comes to money. Even the wealthiest men are looking for ways to amass more wealth. Even distribution of money will put everyone in the single middle class. And while the middle class are comfortable and can relatively afford what they need to be comfortable, we can say that the greed for more money will make some people want to do every job they can find.
Assuming they manage to get many jobs done and move up the social ladder because they’re earning more, and the more they earn is from their other middle class people. Thus, moving money from one set of people to another. This group of people that have gained money go up the ladder, while those who have lost money go down the ladder or remain where they are.
Brings to mind **Le Chatelier’s principle** in Chemistry. It states that ***when a change in concentration, pressure, or temperature is applied to a system at equilibrium, the position of the equilibrium shifts in direction that tends to reduce the effect of that change.***
I believe there is a delicate balance about everything in the world, from nature, to relationships, to every system, including the chemical system **Le chatelier** talked about. And I believe the world’s wealth distribution cannot be even. There will always be the three distinct social classes and that is where equilibrium lies. And as an individual move from one class to another, there is a individual that moves in the opposite direction. Believe it or not, the rich go broke just as the broke grow rich.
***P.S: THIS IS MERELY ME THINKING OUT LOUD AND WRITING MY THOUGHTS HOPING IT WILL STIMULATE THE MIND OF READERS POSITIVELY AND CREATE AN AVENUE FOR THEM TO AIR THEIR VIEW THROUGH COMMENTS.***
`Thank You For Reading 🖤🖤`
Weekend Wrap up : Emotions and Thoughts (Rant)
Good evening lovelies welcome to another random rant by me. It would seem I have turned this weekend into my weekend of rant. While I have my reservations about what the next three weeks holds for me, today’s rant is more random.
Mentally, my mind has been like a container with molecules of gas thoughts exhibiting random movements here and there. And my emotions I like to think was the temperature, making my thoughts move much more rapidly – that is increasing pressure.
It’s the early hours of Monday, I had dozed off about 3 hours ago (Sunday) when trying to write my article to post. I woke up 1:13am to finish up and post as soon as possible. I spent Sunday packing up what I need for the next three weeks I’ll be out for the outpost of phase 1 of my outstation.
I am a creature of habit, and also a planner, I like to plan myself days before. I am the kind of guy to pick out the clothes I’ll wear all through the week the weekend before. So as not to have anything mixed up. That was one of the reasons I wasn’t having a good Saturday. You see, I had made certain plans before now, only to hear Sunday morning that my plan was a one way plan, and the other party it depended on had their own plan.
I remember I used to be very reserved and an island. What I mean is: I used to do things on my own, and not depend on people, or even tell them anything about my plans. I was majorly on a need-to-know basis, and I was the one who gets to analyse who needs to know what. Over time, after a growth process, I started seeing people differently.
I became more dependent on people, freer and more sociable. Looking back, I am surprised how this cold hermit has transformed into a social hermit. That is not to say I don’t have my days. Days where I just keep to myself and be quiet even in the midst of *my friends*. As they share tales and jokes, I am there, absorbed in my thoughts.
My mum called me after I had learnt about the disappointment that was my plan. Her voice was full of joy and calm. It soothed me. I was in a better mood when the call ended than when it started. I thought about home, about my family, and how much I have missed then even if I was with them just about 3 weeks ago.
I decided to come on read.cash to read some posts with the hope that I’ll feel better when I am done. Yeah, not only writing helps, reading helps too. I remember reading a post about the constant change in life, and how we are constantly adapting to them. It is a vital characteristics of every thing living – Adaptability.
I recently found myself doing things I didn’t use to do. Like this rant post for instance, I wouldn’t write about how I feel or felt threes years ago. Would likely go listen to some of the sad melancholic songs on my phone and as it resonates to me, my mood changes for he better. Weird right?
I have found writing therapeutic, or if that’s too strong a word, let’s say mood-lifting. I can’t thank you guys enough, for reading and interacting with my post every time. Next couple of weeks promises to be exhausting and I hope to adapt to it as quickly as possible, so I find a way to enjoy it too. Hopefully, I can be active here as I should.
`Thank You For Reading 🖤🖤`
Saturday Thoughts: Write-rapy
They say writing helps you manage your emotions and lift your spirits, thus, you being in a better mood. I am trying that out to see how it goes and at the end of this write up, I’ll access myself to see if I feel any better than when I started writing it.
The day had started cold, so I woke up and had a cup of lipton tea with some milk and sugar. This has become my morning ritual since the turn of the New Year, and I fear I might get tired of it soon. I had made plans to prepare this weekend my group’s journey to our outpost for Field Practical Training (FPT) on Monday. This is the first phase of our outstation programme, and it is at a private farm.
After seeing videos and hearing tales from members of the first group that went to the same farm, I am starting to lose interest altogether. I remember our FPT coordinator coming to ask if we’d rather go to a research institute in the Northern part of the country and my classmates had killed the suggestion immediately it was birthed due to the incessant issue of insecurity in that part of the country.
In preparation for the quest that would last 3 weeks starting Monday, I had to do some laundry and bring out work clothes that will serve me all through my time at the farm, because from what I have seen and heard, there is a lot of work to be done, not to mention the many challenges waiting for us.
I like to be prepared for circumstances like this. First, I condition my mind to the process so it doesn’t weigh down on me, and I have spent most of the day trying to do that, but it is proving futile. How can you hate something before you even try it out? I am not one for hearsays, but this is much more than that, I have seen a glimpse of what awaits us.
To cope, and maybe squeeze out every bit of fun or enjoyment in this supposed training programme, I need to first believe there is something to enjoy about it. It is unlike me to keep a close mind, but I can already see myself irritated at every little thing that doesn’t gel with me. I am also worried about my sleep schedule changing and me taking too much time to adapt to it.
Perhaps this could really be a training to test my resolve to control my nerves amidst everything and sense of patience and endurance of every challenge that comes my way. This could be an opportunity for self growth and realization of the unknown. I could challenge myself for the next three weeks, and set daily goals I want to achieve, so that by the end of the training, I will emerge a better and more fulfilled person than when I started it.
I have designated tomorrow to packing my clothes and all I will need for the period of my training, and also to drafting as many articles as I can so as not to miss a day of posting here within the next three weeks. Hopefully, I can draft more by next weekend since I’ll only be having the weekend to myself. So, wish me all the best of luck and the strength to come out better in the end.
I also want to apologise in advance if I don’t interact with all your posts. I will try to make time for you guys and visits all your beautiful posts when I can as much as I can. Thank your for your understanding in advance.
Phew! I feel a little better now that I have written all that out. I suppose writing helps.
`Thank You For Reading 🖤🖤`
My Top Shows And Why
I have been meaning to write about this for two weeks now, and I have always put it off. I decided to give a run down of some of my favourite TV shows/sitcom of all time and why. In no particular order:
**THE BIG BANG THEORY (TBBT)**
A sitcom really, and one of be best I have got hooked on and re-watched time and again. Honestly can’t get tired of it. In fact, I have sometimes used it as a mood lifter when I am feeling down. It is twelve seasons packed with comedy, laughter, and knowledge. I daresay the sitcom prompted me to make research about a lot of things I had heard for the first time while watching it, and it also taught me about the values of friendship and love, patience and consistency, among other things. Big ups to the producers Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady for this classic. Lest I forget, Sheldon was strangely my favourite character. I’ll leave you with a meme from the show.
(image source) https://scatteredquotes.com/cant-be-my-wife-and-best-friend/
**THE ORIGINALS**
If you can look past the vampire horrors and witch magic, you will see that this series centers on the importance of family, that you can overcome a lot of things if you have your loved ones with you, supporting you every step of the way. This series reconditioned my mind about family bond and how you should keep them close ALWAYS AND FOREVER. Started as a spinoff from The Vampire Diaries, I have watched the series so much that I have can hear their voices of Niklaus and Elijah in my head with their wittiness and eloquence saying the lines I love. I saved the image below because of the words inscribed on the tombstone.
**GAME OF THRONES (GoT)**
I always tell people who say they haven’t seen this show “GO BACK TO YOUR PLANET”. I mean, it is Game of Thrones, one of the most watched show on planet earth. I have also seen people belittle the show because of its explicit contents. I had started watching the show with my reservations, but it took just one episode to pique my interest, then came Tyrion Lannister – my favorite character in the show – who stole my heart with words 😂😂. Explicit amorous scenes, yeah. But behind all that is the lesson of strategy and how to achieve the things you can with alliances (people) and being clever. And also remember that what you chase might not be the most important thing in life. After all, *we all play the game of thrones*. I’ll leave you with the wise words of Tyrion.
(Image source) https://www.gameofthronesquote.com/tyrion-lannister/a-wise-man-once-said-the-true-history-of-the-world-is
**FRIENDS**
Another sitcom that captured my heart. I didn’t watch the show until during the lockdown in 2020. I still randomly sing the theme song as I had to learn the lyrics. It cemented in my head the importance of friendship and how you don’t really need many people but a few good friends and you have all you need. It also taught me to remember there is but a thin line between friendship and romantic love, and the best of the latter starts from the former. With my favourite character being Pheobe, she seemed the odd one in the bunch, but has the biggest heart. I’ll leave you with one of her lines that I couldn’t agree more to. 😊
**THE BLACKLIST**
Even though I saw a pattern just after the first couple of episodes, I was still glued to it because of one man Raymond Reddinton – a criminal mogul who could get anything he wanted, anything but family. And in searching for the love and trust of family he so craves, he had to surrender himself. But being a master strategist, this was only a façade, as what he really wanted was a successor and who better than family eh? With his wittiness and many anecdotes, I can’t help but fall for this character. I mean, what’s a good show without all the witty talk? Well, let me leave you with something he said.
**BREAKING BAD**
Whew! What can I say, one of the classics. Although, it’s been years since I watched it, I have been wanting to re-watch it from the very beginning all over again. Centred around the burden of being a provider for the family. And in wanting to secure his family’s future before his demise, a man broke bad and started to like his new activities because boy, was he good at it!
***‘****To my sun and star W.W.’*
(image source) https://www.magicalquote.com/series/breaking-bad/
Conclusion
I have arranged these shows in no particular order and picked them mainly because they taught me a thing or two about life that I will carry with me for as long as I live. Feel free to make your lost and tell me if you have seen any of the mentioned show.
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The Blind Date
As Jane walked into the cafeteria, she stood for a while looking around, unsure where John –the man she had come to meet was – was seated. Her friend –Beatrice– had texted her earlier to say he was already at the place they decided to meet. As she looked around, there were two tables to her right with a young couple and the other with a woman who had two kids with her. To her left was an empty table and another with six people seated around it – two males and four females, they looked like friends hanging out and catching up.
In front of her was the counter where orders were made. “Had he changed his mind about the date? Or has he lied about being here already? Or maybe he was outside the cafeteria, trying to see if she was worth his time” she muttered to herself. As she decided to walk up to the counter to ask the waiter if he had seen any man come in earlier, she caught sight of a frame coming out from a door to the extreme left.
She turned to get a clearer view and saw a picture close to the description Beatrice had given her. In fact, he looked better than the description she had given her. He was muscular, evidence that he works out. About 6’2 tall with a round face and bushy brows. She always wondered why guys had bushy brows when they don’t really need it, not for fashion at least. She waited to see if he was going to be seated or if he was with someone else. But as he waked to the empty table to sit down, it almost confirmed her suspicion that it was him she was here to see.
She walked up to the him as he brought out his phone, as if to check if there was an emergency. “Excuse me, please” She said “Are you John Graham?” she asked. “Yes, I am” he replied. Before he could say anything else, she spoke almost immediately “oh, I am Jane Potter, I am so sorry for coming late, my car broke down about 10 blocks away from here, and I had to walk all the way down because I couldn’t get a cab”. “it is alright, I haven’t been here long, sorry to hear about your car, hope it isn’t too serious?” he said.
His voice was calm and soothing, he talked slowly and eloquently, as though he rehearsed what to say before saying it. His lips were symmetrical in size, and moved so sleekly as he spoke. He was very attractive. Jane stood thinking why such an attractive man would be single, and more curiously about why he’d even need to be hooked on a blind date. When he could get anyone’s attention just by them looking at him. His appearance ticked every woman’s boxes. Thus, he shouldn’t need a blind date to go on a date, after all, blind dates were for unattractive people or attractive people that something is fundamentally wrong with some might say.
What could be the reason he’s here today, waiting for her to come. To have a conversation with this stranger, to socialise. Should he ask him over the course of their conversation? Would that be a proper topic of conversation? She has no intention of making this awkward or ruining the date by asking the wrong question. This is too good, too special to be dented by anything.
***Disclaimer: this is all a figment of my imagination, and by no means a real story. Neither is it an attempt to portray any character in any light that might be demeaning or insulting***.
Inspired by fictions written by @FarmGirl
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Fear vs Respect: The Parent-Child Perspective
Over time, I had always try to maintain a position, and not cross the line between respect and fear. Yesterday I was going through a friend’s status on WhatsApp, and his post gave me an idea about what to write today as I’d already drafted my article for yesterday. His post brought to mind two things or do I say *‘feelings’* people had always confused one for the other.
I remember as a child, myself and children my age mate in the neighbourhood played street football together a lot. I remember a particular boy who always wanted to play with us, but can’t especially if his dad is at home. I remember one day he had joined us in playing football, and as we did, I suddenly saw him running home because he’d sighted his father coming from a distance.
Thinking back now, I wondered if he’d skedaddled so swiftly out of respect or fear. I am sure we know it is fear. For if it wasn’t, he wouldn’t run so fast. I also can’t help but wonder how our upbringing really affects our life in ways we can’t imagine. I also thought about an argument my classmates had in the farmhouse yesterday.
As we were all seated, resting after we had done the work assigned to us by the farm manager, one thing led to another and I heard one of them say that they wouldn’t spear the rod when it comes to their children. And that long as the child is old enough to differentiate between good and bad, they would be beaten if they did bad, especially when they lie about it. I heard another say that you have to build a relationship with your child so he or she doesn’t he things from you, and listens to you whenever you tell them something.
Beating of children by their parents is a common practice in my country. And while it might be considered *‘child abuse’* in some other countries, it is normal to punish a child by beating them, long as you don’t take it to the extreme by inflicting bruises and serious injuries.
I thought about how this common practice is merely instilling fear in children and they might start to do things in secret, or careless about the beating they might get from you. You see, we have to do better as parents – raise your children with love, and treat them like they are your friends and not your subject that must obey every of your command. Psychology is a weird thing, and humans are likely to rebel when they feel they aren’t given much of a choice.
If you treat your children like your friend, you build a good relationship with them and talk to them freely and give them the liberty to talk to you freely and without fear, give them a sense of choice and as long as they are old enough, let them know that the **CHOICE** is theirs, and your role is solely to guide and advise and provide for them until they are old enough to do so for themselves. You’ll see that they will respect you more and the relationship will be better and stronger.
I can say that a lot of children actually fear their parents because of the strict rules and tight fist they had been raised with. We should learn from the mistakes of our parents and do better. Be friends with your children, that way they’ll trust you enough to tell you anything. You don’t have to smack them hard to teach them a lesson.
Respect people! I can not overemphasise this enough. And what is that about respect being earned? Do people have to work before you can respect them or you just respect them naturally. Then as time goes, you can either respect them more by their actions or less. I believe everyone, irrespective of age, gender and size deserves to be respected.
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Raiding And Found Raiden
Yesterday, the gallery raid was the trend, and @Theblackdoll had challenged me to raid my gallery when I made a comment on her post, you can read it here. So here it is: https://read.cash/@Theblackdoll/gallery-raid-a-look-into-bhargavis-gallery-f9e0aea3
**OLDEST PHOTO**
This photo is from 2013, and I remember I was attending tutorial for an upcoming exam, one that determines if I get to apply for college the following year. I had come early for class, then stood by the balcony feeling good and took a shot with my Nokia phone then. Hahaha. Time flies eh?
**LATEST PHOTO**
This was days ago, on my way back from the farm, as I was walking through our faculty’s arboretum. I don’t know what made me open my camera to take a picture, maybe I felt cute or it was the beautiful trees around me. Nature was calling me. LoL. But it didn’t come out perfect because of the sun’s reflection and my unsteady hand because I was walking.
**NO IDEA PHOTO**
I remember this one well, it was the holiday period in school sometime in 2018, but I hadn’t gone home early, so I was going to the school’s library to read secular books. Took the picture just outside the library, I didn’t know what I was doing and why I had that facial expression. LMAO.
**EMBARRASSING PHOTO**
I was going home with my friends, and gave my phone to @Mhizutty to take a picture of me, and was making goofy moves or maybe it was taekwondo. I think I was in a good mood that day. This happened to be one of the shots she captured, and I couldn’t help but laugh embarrassed. Funny I never deleted it till this day.
**A GROUPIE**
After being away from school for almost a year due to the pandemic and lockdown. My classmates and I took this photo on the first day of resumption in our departmental farm. All smiles and jolly. With our beautiful faces glowing from being indoors and away from the sun for so long. See me behind with my farm hat looking like **Raiden** and the guy in front looking like subzero. Hahaha. @Kushyzee remember this eh?
**BEST PHOTO**
This has been my all time best photo as it represented a phase in my life. And I had perfectly depicted my state of mind at that time in the picture. Cool, calm and at peace. It’s been years, and every time I look at it, it brings back memories and serves as a fervent reminder that peace of mind is golden. And should never be trded for anything.
**FOOD I WANT TO EAT AGAIN**
Since this is practically the only food photo on my phone that I had taken myself, I am compelled to use it. Although, I do remember it was a good meal, as I had visited a friend, and she cooked me a nice vegetable to go with rice. Was in deed yummy. And I’d like to eat it again 😋
**PLACE I WANT TO VISIT AGAIN**
One of the best trip ever! I had visited **OKOMU NATIONAL PARK** with some of my classmates. The trip to the national reserve was organised after our exams and I took it as a means of stress release, what better way than with nature eh? It was indeed more fun than I had hoped, as I saw a live antelope and indigenous dwarf crocodiles found only in that park in the country. I also got to climb a tree house about 100 feet high and what was exciting about it was the fact that the tree house was on a tree right in the middle of a swamp with crocs. Was really nice having an aerial view of the place, and the picture above was taken at the top of the tree house. I would love to go back there again especially to see the elephants there in their natural habitat. Unfortunately, we couldn’t see them the last time because it seemed like they were evading us.
I want to challenge anyone reading this and haven’t done theirs yet to raid their gallery and tell us a little about the pictures there.
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Special thanks to @Mictorrani for the sponsorship. I really appreciate the gesture and faith you’ve shown in me. Thank you very much.
A World Without The Senses
The human body I believe is the best machine existing. Like the basics of most machinery, it has its own fuel called food. I believe humans had evolved over time to adapt to their environment and the world at large.and earlier today, as I was drinking my cup of morning tea, I was thinking about about our senses, and how the tongue is an hybrid as it could feel temperature and taste.
Brings to mind our senses. I am sure we are all family with the 5 senses and their organs:
Sight – Eyes
Smell – Nose
Taste – Tongue
Hearing – Ears
Touch – Skin
All these senses are independent of another, and they can all function at the same time for different people.
As I sipped my tea savouring its milky bitter-sweet taste, I couldn't help but wonder how we would have viewed the world without these senses.
**SIGHT**
Imagine a world without the eyes. I remember watching a TV show last year titled **SEE**, where most of the characters in the series were blind. But what's unique about that is that they have found a way to survive nonetheless, they have developed their other senses better than average, and could read knots and fight too without their sight.but I wondered if they really could see the beauty of the world, and not through a shade of darkness. How could they read books and see the other beautiful Hans they have known all their life.
Over the years, I have grown to like my room dark-ish and with little or no lighting especially at night. And even in that darkness, I could tell what was where and navigate the room like it was a bright day. Would I have been able to navigate the room so easily in the dark if I didn't have sight? I don't think so, as spending time in the room when it's bright had made me know what was what and where.
**SMELL**
What if you couldn't smell flowers, tasty foods, our lover's hair and every other smell we like. Imagine a world without the ability to smell, I suppose there would be no cologne or perfume, and maybe people wouldn't bathe for days because they don't smell anyway. But would we be able to tell the gas is leaking? Maybe there would be another way to tell that.
*PS: I like the smell of petrol and new money note. Weird right?*
**TASTE**
I don't think I can imagine life without the ability to taste the goodness of delicious meals and chocolate, Sprite, pizza. I mean these things gives us satisfaction because of their taste. But I guess on the plus side there won't be anything bitter or too salty or too spicy. Everything would just be bland.
**HEARING**
First thing that comes to my mind is the sweet sounds of music, the sound of a baby's laughter. How would we farm in life if we didn't have ear to listen to our parents and the words of wise men. I don't think I'd want to live in such a world.
**TOUCH**
Oh wow. What if I couldn't feel the warmth of my mum's hug, the gentle softness of a flower's petal. What if we couldn't feel our lover's kiss. A world without touch, where nothing is hot nor cold. Could we live in that world?
**CONCLUSION**
After carefully thinking about all the senses, and a world where they are absent, I couldn't get myself to be comfortable in thinking of life without them. They help us enjoy life itself. But if I must, I'd give up smell out of all.
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Vagaries of Truth
I had chosen what to write about today because of an incident that happened earlier today. Yesterday evening, I had accompanied a man to acquire brood stocks of **Clarias** **garipienus** (African Catfish) in a *‘****reputable farm****’* I have had to buy brood stocks before, but never have I gotten from the farm in question. We had to hire a cab to take us to and fro, and on getting there, it didn’t take long before the owner of the farm drove in. He greeted us since we had already informed him of our arrival.
The standard the farm portrayed to me upon arrival had given me the impression that we will not be disappointed after all. You see, I had initially thought that we’d be disappointed if we patronised them because I had heard one of my predecessors in school talk about how their Field Practical Training at the same farm had been like, especially when they tried artificial breeding of catfish in the farm. I remembered my predecessor saying they opened about 5 male brooder and found no sperm sac in them. And that is an essential component used in carrying out artificial insemination.
As the owner of the farm approached us with warmness as most sellers do their customers, especially when there is a need to make a good impression. I had sensed he was a businessman from the discussion he had with the man I was with. They became fast ‘friends’ or so it would seem. We proceeded to the tanks which we were to make our selection from. We started with the female brooders and after about 6 fishes were harvested out of the tank, I personally decided to check for the viability of the eggs myself.
I am not exactly an expert in Aquaculture and Fisheries Management, but I know a thing or two about it, as it is my field of study. And just as animals on heat are naturally restless and volatile, gravid female catfishes tend to be volatile. There are also several other things you consider before choosing a female brooder: a distended abdomen and reddish genital opening. While you needn’t turn to fish over to see its distended abdomen, you have to turn it over to see the genital opening, and also check if the eggs it’s carrying are viable.
Looking and the bowl with the fishes they had harvested from the tank and with disappointment in my heart, I could barely see two out of the six that were harvested. So I decided to check the one I could see was with a distended abdomen. Fortunately, the eggs were viable, but I thought about how easily I had turned the fish over to check for its eggs. That worried me, but as I was about letting it go, it struggled, so I picked that one as it seemed to tick all the boxes for me. More female brooders had to be harvested because we were to buy about 3 female brooders and two male brooders. Then we finally had our three female brooders.
Just when I thought there couldn’t be any more disappointment for me, I didn’t know they had a greater one in store for me until I saw the male brooders they had, boy oh boy! I wanted to actually ask if they were really being cultured for breeding purposes or for consumption. They looked sickly for brooders, and quite small in size, compared to the female brooders. I chose the best two from the catch and asked them to send the others back into the tanks.
Because of the good rapport the owner of the farm and the man I was with had, he (the owner) had given a 33% discount because he liked the man. That was a red flag for me. This man had given the impression of a businessman. Businessmen don’t just give discounts based on a good rapport with someone you’re meeting for the first time. I was thinking about it as we drove off in the car. The man I was with along with the driver of the cab we hired said that the owner of the farm was nice and friendly. I didn’t buy that. Perhaps it’s my untrusting nature, or the fact that I am quite meticulous and tend not to trust people so easily.
We got to our destination and kept the male and female brooders in different tanks over night, and this morning, we found one of the male brooders half dead and two of the female brooders in a bad state. I thought: could this be why the owner of the farm had given such high discounts for the fishes? Did he know they weren’t the healthiest or he foresaw something going wrong? Or was it just an act of sheer kindness, and he honestly didn’t know such fate would befall the fishes?
***These are the questions that ran through my head as I was staring at the fishes earlier today. Truth can be an illusion, I stood and thought about how we could believe in something so strongly because of a perception we have of a person or experience, and our belief is totally wrong and not even close to the real truth – like there is a fake truth.***
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Epiphany on the Bus
I haven't been as active in the last week as I have been in the weeks before. Like I said in one of my previous articles My World Without Phone, my phone had gotten bad and I was without a phone for about 3 days. In that time, I did manage to use a friend's phone to interact a bit here and make that one post. https://read.cash/@Aimure/my-world-without-phone-8b10b40b
This week has been a busy one for me, I have had to go outside of our school campus to work for three consecutive days on two different fish farms. On the first, I had to go to a farm, and sort the fishes there into different sizes, as it is one of the management practices of fish farming. The other two days, I had to go help another farm with the sales of its fish. Two days, and we still are barely half way through the sales. As the farm is stocked with thousands of fishes.
The problem with these kind of job is that they are never planned for as I said in my article Time Management, I had planned to use my time more efficiently this new semester, and for the year too. Information about these kind of jobs come say one or two days to and as a student of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management, you need these jobs to gather experience and broaden your horizon. https://read.cash/@Aimure/time-management-5fd428cf
I haven’t had a decent sleep for the past three nights as I had to leave the house as early as 6am for three days now. And I come home about ten or eleven hours later all spent from the work I had done. Sometimes, I try to rest and interact with articles, then before you know, it is night already. I make dinner, try to write an article to post and end up dosing off till the next day, and not completing the article. This has been my routine the last three days. And it’s been hectic.
Do I wish it wasn’t that way? Yes, I do. Would I do it all over again? Absolutely, I would. I remember leaving the house one day, and as I was commuting in a bus with other commuters, I sat by the window and was staring at how busy the road is so early in the day. I stopped, and looked at everyone in the bus with me, and everyone was heading somewhere, so early in the day. They had a reason to be out so early and the reason for most is to make their daily bread – Money – myself included.
I thought of how ironic it was that money which was made by man had conditioned the life of humans. In fact, the world. People’s are living a programmed life because they want to work for money. Think of someone who has a job and works an average of 40hrs a week 8hrs a day, 5 days a week. He has the resume work every morning at 8am or 9am and close 4pm or 5pm respectively. In between, he has to commute, and spends about 3 hours to and fro the journey that’s about 11 hours out of 24 hours gone. Almost half a day has been spent chasing the bag. And I wonder how much time that person has to spend with their family.
I had stood had the Bus Stop, thinking about all this and how a lot of people actually never really enjoy the beautiful things of life because they are stuck on a particular routine for most of their life, until they are old and retired, and it is actually too late to enjoy those things. Perhaps, they have found a way to make the most of the situation they are in, and enjoying every bit of their daily routine.
While we lead our lives based on the circumstances we are in, let’s try to create our own circumstances too when we can. Enjoy life. We shouldn’t be so worried about the future that we forget to enjoy the present. I’ll leave us with an excerpt from an interview of The Dalai Lama.
Image Source https://www.pinterest.com/pin/476044623085531575/
I want to use this medium to wish @Princessbusayo a Happy Birthday. I wish you all the best things in life and more smiles. More Bitcoin Cash too. Hehehe.
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Diary of The Odd
Patrick has been a lone wolf for most of his life. He had grown into a young adult without being a member of any social group, nor peer group. While the children played hopscotch, he’d sit somewhere watching them like it was abnormal. Observing their behaviours as though he was a psychologist conducting an experiment.
His reclusive nature has taught him how to be independent and also a good predictor of the human behaviour. But it came at a price. May be a price too high. While he become a self-reliant adult, he also became a dork, a robot some might say. One who couldn’t socialise with other humans, at least not in a way that was socially appropriate.
Pat had a friend named Pete. Pete had known Patrick for most of his life, and loved him in spite of his flaws. He was Pat’s social compass, he has been a guide for Pat, whenever he needed help navigating the maze of social conventions. He has also been the glue holding Pat together with what many would consider normal.
After many years of having Pete as his best friend, Patrick thought perhaps he could do better in strengthening his bond with societal norms, maybe he could have many Pete to make his journey through life much more bearable. He fortuitously became a member of a social group. The perfect group, he thought. Perfect because the misfits should fit perfectly, as they alone knew what it means to be ostracised from society.
They were to be the backbone and confidant each of them needed. They would complement each other in ways none of them had ever experienced. Perhaps this was the essence many craved to be a part of a group, so they can get the gratifications they can’t seem to get on their own.
Time passed, and slowly, Patrick realised that you can’t really get as many Pete as you want by joining a social group, much less in a group of misfits like himself. He erroneously thought they would understand him more than anyone ever did. He was wrong! Perhaps the whole reason they all came together in the first place was because they were searching for **NORMAL**, obviously they didn’t find what they were searching for. Thus, the need to create their own or maybe search further. Misfits are starting not to fit, at least not completely, as some parts had more fittings than the others, a stronger bond that had turned two into one.
It was easy for Pete to cope, as he has been a loner for most his life. He was now a loner in the same group that was supposed to be his saving grace. Where does Patrick go from here now?
**SIDE NOTE**
I had started writing this article over 24 hours ago and in between work, school, an excuse for a sleep, watching a football game, thinking about three topics I could write about, what title to use for this article and practically surviving, I had edited this article more times than I can remember and also changed the storyline from something to what it is now (not sure what to call it). Still, I ended up with what is up there. I suppose it happens sometimes.
**I want to use this opportunity to thank my subscribers, sponsors, readers and upvoters. I am very grateful for staying with me through my temporary absence. I have finally fixed my phone, and I hope to be more regular now.**
`Thank You For Reading 🖤🖤`
Women The Super Humans
Many a time, I have caught myself thinking how my life would be if I wasn’t a male by gender. Growing up, I was particularly interested in the workings of the female anatomy. Why are they how they are, and how they can do the things the males can’t do biologically.
I remember what sparked my interest was when I was travelling with my mum many years ago, she was pregnant with my younger brother at that time as if that wasn't enough *food for thought* . In the bus, I saw a couple with a toddler, this toddler was being carried by the father, then the toddler started crying and after futile attempts by the father to calm the baby, I watched the mother carry the child from the father.
The mother started breastfeeding the child, and immediately the toddler stopped crying. At that moment, it seemed like the woman had a superpower. My childish mind that believed in superpowers as I watched a lot of the Marvel and DC animations had thought that the woman had a superpower which she used to calm the baby.
This was the first time I observed a baby being breastfed, and saw one of the many wonders women could do. I have grown up having great respect and appreciation for the female gender, as I believe they are the better half of the human race. I mean, they can do things like carry a baby for 9 months inside them
I was prompted to do a lot of research online about the female anatomy, trying to understand how it is possible they can house a human in them and the male gender can’t and if males could do what they do. I had read somewhere that childbirth is the second most painful thing, after being burnt alive. Although the woman body has evolved to endure and carry out the rigours that comes with childbirth, it is still no easy feat.
I remember years ago, when I just finished reading the book **Everywoman** by **Derek Llewellyn-Jones** (I strongly recommend it for every gender, that is if you have not read it before). I was having a conversation with a female friend, and I asked her if she had read the book, and she replied that she has. She stopped and stared at me for a moment, as though perplexed and asked why I would read such a book. I laughed and asked *“Why not?”*.
Though the book was more about women, it does give a great insight to understanding the female gender. I had told my friend that every human irrespective of gender should read the book, especially men in fact. Because women are one way or another familiar with their anatomy, but men are not, and what better guide than a book about women?
That experience on the bus had imprinted an image in my young mind. I have since seen women as super humans with super powers. And that is not far from the truth. They are heroes.
***DISCLAIMER: THIS IS BY NO MEANS AN ATTEMPT TO DOWNPLAY THE IMPORTANCE AND EFFORT BY THE MALE GENDER, AND SHOULD NOT BE INTERPRETED IN SUCH LIGHT. IT IS MERELY AN APPRECIATION FOR THE GIFT OF BEING A FEMALE***.
In conclusion, my mum is the main inspiration behind this article, as I was in a bus earlier today and saw a woman with a toddler, which brought back that memory from my childhood, and subsequently made me think about my mother, and all the sacrifices she has made for my siblings and I.
`Thank You For Reading 🖤🖤`
Special thanks to @Rehi for the sponsorship, I appreciate the confidence you have shown in me, and I hope I don’t let you down.
My World Without Phone
The last day has been unusual for me, as I have been without my phone. The screen got bad yesterday while I was in school. I had gotten to farm and decided to charge the phone in the farm house as my classmates and I work in the farm. After working, we were discussing and catching up, as it is the first time I was seeing all of them this year, after about 4 hours, I went to check my phone so I could interact with some articles on read.cash. And to my surprise, the screen of my phone was all black.
In a state of partial shock, I pressed the power button several times and watched the lighting go on and off several times. I tapped several parts of the screen to see if any magic of some sort would happen, but my reality was more factual and facts rule my world. @Mhizutty offered to dial my phone number, but we were met with disappointment when we heard the machine voice say my number was switched off.
With different thoughts streaming through my mind at different wavelengths, I was in a world of my own, a world were everything was needed to be done urgently and in this world was the gloomy cloud of impossibility above every thing. I was experiencing internal chaos, thinking of everything and nothing at the same time.
It dawned on me how important my phone is to my life. How practically every thing I wanted to do needed my phone to be functional. Stuck in this limbo, I started thinking of solutions, the most important being how to fix my phone. I needed money (about $30). Money I can't get without my phone as the cash I had with me wasn't enough, and I had planned to use it for something important that day. I couldn't call anyone as all my contacts were saved to my email. One of my classmates offered to give me her other phone so I could put my SIM card in it to receive calls and SMS, at least until I fix my phone. I was glad and thanked her graciously for the gesture.
I started thinking about how this would be one of the longest weekends of my life without my phone. And what I could possibly do to keep myself busy until Monday when I would return to the farm and at least converse with my classmates to pass the time – this was my though for the entire journey home. When I got home, I asked my neighbour if he had any hard copy book I could read over the weekend, but he only had e-books.
I wasn't myself, I felt like a drug addict experiencing withdrawal symptoms. I realized that I am addicted to my phone, I would have argued I wasn't if you had told me before now. The night was long, and I woke up many times to check the time and it still wasn't dawn. When dawn finally came, I spent the first 30 minutes of being awake thinking about how I'd spend my day, and what I would do to keep myself busy.
Firstly, I decided to clean all the window glasses in my apartment. Time seemed to be torturing me, as that only took about an hour. Then I went to peruse through a pile of books that is for my roommate. Looking for something I could read. I managed to pick three books I probably won't read on a good day I know I should be grateful to the books for saving me from the claws of boredom, but I hope that before I read through two of the books, I would have fixed my phone.
That has been the reason I have been somewhat inactive here. But a friend came around today, and I can occasionally use their phone to interact and write articles here for now. Thanks for your patience.
`Thank You For Reading 🖤🖤`
@Aimure
