This or That (Food)
Date: 4th of April, 2022.
Hey guys, it's Monday today. The beginning of the week for some of us. How did it go today? Sometimes, we usually have plans for the upcoming week and we hope that the week will tutn out better than the other but sometimes we forget about the plans as soon as the rigors of the week consumes us. So, it is better to remind ourselves of what we aim to achieve this week and see if we are still on track or need to make adjustments.
As you can see, there's an image above for the This or That game prompt. This one is the food version of This or That. I first saw this prompt on @BCH_LOVER article and I decided to try it out.
**Pizza or Pasta**
I love both food dearly, really. The last time I had pizza was probably when some friends I had went to Domino's. There, we sat, talking, catching up, playing etc. Of course, some people were taking pictures with each other and making videos. Despite being in a most of the pictures and videos, I didn't post any of them anywhere haha.
For pasta, I love everything about it. So much so that I can't even mention a specific thing I love about pasta, I just love all of it. So, if I have to choose between pasta and pizza, I'll definitely choose pasta
**Icecream vs Cake**
I think this is the easiest one to answer for me. I don't think I've ever woken up just thinking about cake. I do enjoy having cake especially occasionally like a birthday cake but it is not something I could ever crave.
Ice cream on the other hand is something I truly love. I find it silly that some people think ice-cream should only be for kids. If don't think of it that way. I think everyone deserves a chance to enjoy delicious treats such as ice cream. If you can't already tell, I love ice cream and I'm going to choose it over cake
**Rice or Noodles**
This one, I know the answer from a mile away lol. Rice is the generally acceptable ceremonial food in my country, especially jollof rice. If you want to have a birthday party, cook rice; meeting your in laws, cook rice; celebrating an holiday or hosting an event, cook rice; simply because it's Sunday, cook rice. Rice works all the time but is it my favourite?
Noodles is also called kids food because some people believe that things that tastes so good should be for kids while the others should be for adults. Well, I did not sign up for a life of self-induced stress or hardship. Noodles had been a lifesaver when someone either could not afford to eat other food or they don't know what else to eat. Noodles is however very high in sodium and not as rich in other nutrients, so it will be nuce no supplement with uther meals. So, my choice here is noodles. I eat it way more than I'm supposed to hut I'm not complaining.
**Vanilla or Chocolate**
Vanilla is my best flavour for anything. I'm yet to see what can best the taste and even smell of vanilla. It is such a delicious taste that just makes your taste buds in your tongue feel excited and longing for me.
Chocolate is a fine flavour and I have noticed that drinks with chocolate flavour are somehow more expensive than regular drinks. It makes no sense to me though. I grew up believing chocolate was more suited for hot chocolate or as a sweet. With time, I realised chocolate can be used in drinks, cakes etc lol.
**Vegetable and Fruits**
Are there really people out there who actually chose vegetables over fruits? Lol. For me, it is definitely fruits. Fruits win this round. The are sweet and juicy. I can have vegetables on the side with a meal. But fruits works anytime. You can have fruits before meals, when on the go, at works, stuck in traffic etc.
**Spicy or Sweet**
I know I've talked about sweet things a lot above but I also love me a good spicy meal. Something that has my sensory organs just working full time to enjoy the goodness I am having. On another hand I love sweet things. Imagine having a cold drink after a very hot day, you will fill extra appreciative of the time.
My conclusion about sweet or spicy is that they both compliment each other. After having a spicy meal, taking a sweet dessert or a cold drink will definitely take your meals to the next level. So for this, I chose both of them. Sorry if that's cheating but I can't let go of any of them.
And that's all folks!
Thanks for reading this far, you are awesome!!
Relatable quotes
Date: 3rd of April, 2022.
Happy Sunday! How was it for you? I can't say exactly how mine went though, I have mixed feelings based on certain events and I can't guarantee that tomorrow will be better.
Today was supposed to be a day of rest for me especially after the long stressful day I had yesterday. I was at home but I was busy. I had to help a friend work on a project and it was a large body of work. Tomorrow, I foresee a lot of work coming my way and I'm not loving it. I'll just wait to see what tomorrow holds. Who knows, I might be surprised.
So, today, I was came across an online publication that talked about a restaurant that put up really interesting signs outside and I thought to share with you guys.
Life is too short to have fake butter, fake cheese, fake people
Whoever came up with this must have been through so many disappointments in life. It takes a lot for someone to compare humanity and food haha. This person was actually disappointed by food haha and the funny thing is that I can relate to it. I have been disappointed by food before. The experience I strongly remember was one involving noodles. A friend vouched for a particular brand of noodles and had me buy it. By the time I tasted it after cooking, I was so pissed haha. At first, I was confused by the taste and then I fl into the state of disappointment which then proceeded into anger. It is safe to say that I didn't try that noodles again. So, if one can be that disappointed with noodles, imagine how they would feel about fake people.
I have no more passwords left in me
Ain't that the truth? Nowadays, we need to log in to anything and everything using different password some of which requires some specific needs like the use of numbers, special characters etc. I believe I am not the only one who is tired of coming up with new passwords
I like to treat people just they same way I want them to treat me, by not talking to anyone
This should be the introverts pledge haha. So many times I have wished to be left alone so as not to be sucked into the obligation of having to respond or carrying out any social duty. Wanting to be left alone doesn't necessarily mean one wants to appear snobbish but some of us can't handle dealing with social situations.
Cells in the brain, skin, and even in the hair dies, but fat cells seems to have dedicated their lives to the Lord because they seem like they have eternal life.
Fat cells are so stubborn! Haha. They are like the troublesome tenants in our body such that once they move in, getting them out would be such a hassle and could take a long period of time. It is almost as if they are there to live forever haha. It sucks that it is easy for most people to gain fat but the process to losing them usually feels like a battle.
Me: no problemo
Narrator: but it was all problemo
Hahaha. This speaks to all the problemos we never talk about and how behind a polite smile and maybe the nod of a head. It is actually best to say how you feel so that you don't end up resenting them in the future but sometimes, it feels impossible to speak up especially if the person is older and you have to be respectful so you just end up saying no problem. Sometimes, we feel obligated to help out a friend who has asked for a favour and then we say no problemo.
That's all for today. Fun fact, I slept off while trying to post 🤦♀️
Thank you so much @foryoubtc09 for your kindness and support in being my sponsor. I wish you more BCH in your wallet now and always!!
Thank you so much @foryoubtc09 for your kindness and support in being my sponsor. I wish you more BCH in your wallet now and always!!
Busy Saturday
Date: 2nd of April, 2022.
My plan for the weekend was to rest and sleep for as long as possible. I felt like my dry needed to recuperate from the stress of the weekdays; Monday to Friday. Well, that plan feel through entirely.
A close friend of mine is getting married at the end of the month and she had asked me and some of her other friends to be her bridesmaid. Normally, I do not like the general acts that comes with this role but it is one I must accept because she is my friend and for get, I am happy to do it. However, this role comes with some expectations. First is the financial one. As a bridesmaid, we have to pay for some things, buy the recommended accessories and perform some duties even before the wedding. For these things to be organised smoothly, a whatsapp group was created for the bridesmaids to discuss and reach conclusions about certain matters. The problem here is that when it involves money, some people are either less or more financially stable than the others and the two sides try to find situations that suit only them rather than finding a common ground and seeking where to make compromises or stand their ground.
Another friend of mine, who is also on the bridal train (the only other bridesmaid I know there) planned for us to go to the market next weekend to get our accessories for the wedding. I agreed to this plan until yesterday when we remembered that the prices of products usually got hiked as we neared the Easter celebrations. This then made us decide to go to the market today.
My friend said it would take her 30 minutes to get there while I knew mine would last for as long as 1hr 30mins. So, the plan was that I would leave first while she got ready, I would then call her when I was 30 minutes away. I followed this plan to the T and I called her when I was 30 minutes away. I got there first and called to know where she was only to find out she was still far away. I had to wait for an hour under the scorching sun. When she finally got there, I couldn't find her because she couldn't locate meeting point. She got lost and turned around a lot.
When we finally saw each other, we're took our time to find the things we needed. We had to go from shops to shops to check for a better product or compare prices. The market we went to is the biggest market in the state. We had to go to different areas of the market and we boarded commercial vehicles to get to the farther parts of the market.
It wasn't easy finding something we liked, haggling the price and carrying what we had bought. I was also very hungry because I left home in the morning before breakfast was ready. I bought myself a bottle of lipton iced tea and a small packet of biscuit. For most of the ordeal, I was tired and hungry.
Something I struggled with was how high the prices of things kept going up. I had to spend way more than I had planned without buying all I needed.
From the market, our friend, the bride to be, invited us to her house to get some thing we would also use for the wedding. So, instead of going home after spending so many hours in the market, we had to go to the bride's house. The place was quite far and took us a while to get there. When we got there, she wasn't home yet so we were entertained by her elder sister (who we also consider our friend in a way). We hadn't seen her in a few years so we decided to stay back and catch up. It was really fun to hang out with her. My friend was so tired that she laid on the floor and after an hour, she slept off haha. I had to wake her up so that we could go home and rest.
We then bade goodbye to our friend's (the bride) parents and her sister. My friend and I had to take separate routes to get home so we boarded different vehicles and we both got home safely at about 7pm. I immediately ate and rested before doing the work my parents assigned to me. Tomorrow, I might also be attending an event with my sister, that means no rest again but it's cool.
How did your day go?
SAAM
Date: Friday. 1st of April, 2022.
Happy New Month guys! And TGIF! How are you doing? For me I'm excited because I finally made 1BCH!! It feels like a dream come true but that's probably because it is actually a dream haha. Happy April fools day. I do wish to earn more BCH than I usually do even though I struggle to find time to spend here but I'll keep trying.
While today is a new month, it is also the start of #SAAM. SAAM means Sexual Assault Awareness Month. It is a month when people come together to raise awareness about the ills of sexual assault and join in the fight to stop it and ensure justice for survivors. Now, I'm going to paint a scenario using two stories.
*****possible trigger warning! ⚠** ***
The first story. A man and his wife who have been married for five years with two children started having marital issues. The problem is that the man always stays out late and doesn't return to see his children before they fall asleep while the woman stopped preparing for the husband since he is barely at home. This situation leaves both parties unsatisfied and St logger heads with each other. Resentment starts building and love starts dwindling. One day, the man comes home at midnight wanting to make love to his wife who was already asleep. She turned him down and went back to sleep. The man gets frustrated because she is his wife after all and has to fulfil her marital duties no matter what do he employs the use of force to hold her down while he has his way.
The second story, a guy and a girl in the university have been dating since the last semester. The relationship was going well and all was beautiful and nice. The only thing was that the relationship was not sexual because the guy said he didn't want to take things to that level. This issue makes the girl worried and has her trying different means to intentionally seduce the guy. On his birthday, she put together a romantic setting in his home filled with candles, dim lights, slow music and a generally sensual atmosphere. She would say dirty things and sometimes "mistakenly" graze his body parts but the guy wasn't falling for her tricks. When her plans didn't work, she got pissed and yelled at him for not being a man. She explained how other men would jump at the opportunity to have a girl in their bed. This made the guy have a rethink and then slept with her.
***End of trigger warning ⚠ ***
From the two stories above, who do you think committed sexual assault. The first one forced his wife but she is still his wife and his right apparently while the second one consented although it took some coercion.
Now, I'll tell you that both of them are guilty.
Sexual assault can simply be defined as ****unwanted**** sexual contact. If doesn't matter if you are in a relationship with the person, if they had done it with you before, if they consented because you made them to, it is still sexual assault!
While the victims are mostly women, men suffer from sexual harassment too. Sometimes, they are unable to talk about it because society praises a guy who gets any form of sexual whether solicited or not and therefore diminishes the struggles of those who have been harassed.
Unwelcome sexuaI advances are also a form of sexual assault called sexual harassment. A lot of guys in my country have harassed a girl without seeing anything wrong with it because it has become the norm. Sexual harassment involves calling someone, without their approval, names like baby, sexy, hot stuff etc, holding their hands when they want to walk, commenting on their bodies etc. There is also the issue of asking for s3x before attending to someone.
Other forms of sexual assault includes rape, groping, child sexuaI abuse etc.
During SAAM, the colour teal is used. This includes using a teal ribbon to promote awareness and participate. People also wear clothes that are teal in colour to show support etc. You can join these too.
I will be stopping here, thanks for reading! Kindly share your thoughts
Silly Questions (prompt)
Date: Thursday. 31st of March, 2022.
Hey guys, today I was exhausted! When I got home at the end of the day today, I collapsed on the chair and couldn't find the will to get my ass up and go to my room. Then, I was disrupted by some calls. I had a group call with two of my friends for well over 3 hours (which is why I'm only just posting now). In all, my day was still productive.
So, for today, I will be attempting another prompt by @Theblackdoll who is quickly becoming the prompt queen, haha.
The above image had a series of strange or questions that one can answer and I'm going to be answering a few of them.
**What is the dumbest way you've hurt yourself?**
I'd like to think most of the ways I've hurt myself when I was younger was probably dumb. Funny thing is that I didn't hurt myself a lot but I remember one stupid one. I was still in primary school when this happened. I was playing with the kids in the street when someone tied a rope to a big and heavy padlock (Globe padlock). We were just fooling around with it and tossing it. Eventually, it got to me and I held the rope and started rolling the padlock over my head. I was excited because I was easily circling the heavy padlock over my head with more ease than I expected. The went on for about a minute until I reduced my speed and the padlock hit me right on my forehead with the forced from being rolled around. The other kids rushed to me and asked if I was in pain and I said I wasn't and they all walked me home while staring at my forehead which I thought was weird.
The crowd was so much that I didn't have enough space around me to even wipe the sweat rolling down my face. When I got home, my mum took me to the bathroom for some reasons. It was there that I got to wipe the sweat only to find out it was blood. Somehow, knowing that I was bleeding made me lose my calm and I started crying. I still have the scar although it is not obvious.
**What are those things you are to old to do but you still enjoy?**
If I have to go with something, if will be dancing in the rain. Dancing in the rain gives each one a sense of freedom and fun. You get to have a moment when you just get to damn the consequences, ignore the audience (unless they join in) and just let go. One time, I was with friends and it was raining. We tried to hide from the rain but it wouldn't stop so we got in the rain laughing, screaming and running. It was fun, exciting and freeing.
**What is the first thing you do after getting home from a trip?**
Honestly, I think the first thing I always do is sit with my parents and talk about my trip and also recount a few experiences from where I went to. If I'm travelling to a place where I stay without family, the first thing I do is some quick dusting and I lay down for a while to rest and also fight possible nausea from car sickness, after which I'll do a thorough cleaning of the room and then myself.
**What is the strangest thing your teacher has ever done?**
This is probably not the strangest but I remember when my biology teacher came to teach without wearing a belt on his loose-fitting trousers. It was so distracting how he kept pulling it up every few seconds. He could have even opted to sit down but he decided to stand and move around. It got worse when he had to write on the board; we could see the trousers slowly falling as we hold our breaths hoping he would raise it back up before we saw something we didn't want to see haha. It was hard to concentrate especially for those of us who sat in the front row at the time.
So, there are my answers to some of these questions. Thanks for the prompt @Theblackdoll and thanks you all for reading!
Nostalgia (prompt)
Date: Wednesday. 30th of March, 2022.
So @Theblackdoll tagged me in a nostalgia prompt which I was so excited to participate in. It involves putting up old pictures and reminiscing on the memories that were created when the picture was taken. After going through my photos, I realised I didn't have a lot especially older photos. I believe they are on my Google drive but there are lots of photos there and I don't know if I can search by date.
If anyone knows how to search for photos backed up to Google drive by date or any other filter, please tell me in the comments, I'll be grateful.
Well, since I don't have old photos to share, I'll just share old memories.
**Childhood**
One thing that really sucks about my childhood is that I have no pictures from it. They were all damaged. The earliest pictures I think I have now are from the university. Even though there are no pictures, I still have my memory at least. One of the things I miss about childhood was the lack of responsibility and opportunity to just play without having to worry about money, paying bills, getting food, transportation etc. These were all someone else's burden to carry; my parents. At childhood, parents think for you, they anticipate your needs and provide for them to the best of their abilities. Now, as adults, parents can still support but your responsibilities are yours and the consequences are also yours.
**Primary School**
Well, this is also childhood but I have some good memories of primary school. I remember playing with my friends during the break time. I was a quiet child but sometimes, I enjoyed playing with my friends and having fun. I found the educational aspect of primary school really easy so I topped my class a lot. I remember I was a very slow writer lol. My class teacher always found herself waiting for me to finish writing. But my slow writing streak eventually ended when my friends and I started a competition we called "first to finish". The game involved writing really fast and finishing just as soon as our teacher finished writing. The first person to finish writing will be named the winner. The downside to this was the fact that the teacher could make mistakes and wipe it off which will result to those of us writing in the same as her to cancel in our books. The notes on the board were usually not so long, but for primary school it felt like we had written a whole lot haha. After playing this game for a while, I started increasing my writing speed and sometimes even came first. I must say that helped me a lot even though my handwriting was a mess at the time.
**Junior Secondary School**
Due to my academic performance, I was able to start secondary school before my primary school classmates. It wasn't as challenging as I feared but being in a new environment meant that I had to retreat into myself. I hardly talked to people because I didn't know what to say. The art of socialising was an alien concept to me haha. I, however, managed to make friends and luckily for me, my closest friend from primary started secondary school same year as me and in the same class. Because of her, I didn't always feel alone and she was the one who would tell me the guys that wanted to talk to me because I was too socially blind to notice they had been trying to get my attention haha. I attended two different schools for junior secondary. One was a day school; a regular school where we went to school in the morning and returned home in the afternoon. While the other was a boarding school (day & boarding but mostly boarding). I spent a year in the day school and the rest of my secondary was completed in boarding school.
**Secondary School**
I was still in the boarding school, learning how to navigate life without my oa9and learning to be responsible. It was exciting until I learnt about the senior students haha. People above you in class can send you in errands irrespective of your age, social status, whoever your parents may be etc. This was always weird whenever a senior who was a bully fail their promotion exam and had to repeat the class, thereby being classmates with the juniors the were once mean to. Even though senior students sent their juniors on errands, they were not always mean while some were actual bullies. With time, I learnt how to escape the bullies.
One disappointing thing about living in a boarding house was that I didn't encounter any of the bogus supernatural stories people used to tell. People usually had rumours about supernatural or ghostly entities haunting boarding schools. I was scared but the adventurous part of me was a bit thrilled. It sucked to find out the stories were fake. Some people even go out of their way to embellish regular occurrences to make it look like something was going on. However, I did witness an encounter different from the regular tales people used to tell.
One morning, we all woke up to our bunk beds bring pushed to one end of the hall and packed together. This happened with every occupant still sleeping in it. Our lockers were left open with people's provisions (cereals, milk, chocolate, snacks etc) stolen. The general concensus was that they had used juju to sedate everyone while they carried out their plans. But there is the possibility that they used actual physical products (like plants or gases) to kinda knock everyone out.
Thanks for for reading!!
Life Safety Tips
Date: 30th of March, 2022.
Hey guys! How are you doing? It is the end of the day here and my day was mostly uneventful. How was yours though? Today I was going through the Internet and I found out that there lots of life hacks that one may find useful and I'm be sharing some of them.
If you are having a drink and it randomly smells like cinnamon, refrain from drinking it. People usually make use of that flavour to cover up the scent of poison in your drink.
This is quite helpful especially if you find yourself taking drinks from a source you do not know or trust. Sometimes, even the people we actually know and trust may be up to no good so it is good to keep your guards up and avoid drinks that taste like cinnamon for no reason. I know it is tempting to just have the drink since cinnamon is an edible food substance but cinnamon has a strong flavour that when added to a meal, it can easily mask the taste of other flavours or spices.
If you find yourself awake in the middle of the night and you notice the smell of gas km the house, it is best not turn your light switch on as it could blow up your whole house
You know the logic behind putting a paper in an open fire? Well, that same logic certainly applies here. The gas acts as a dangerous fuel that is seeking something to ignite it and turning in the electricity could be just the kindling the gas needs. This reminds me of the time someone didn't then off the gas cooker properly at a relative's place. I visited that day and noticed the unmistakable smell of gas. I called the attention of other people who had been just outside the house unaware of what was happening. When I called them I guess what someone did? They picked up a lighter and was about to light it when someone saw her and quickly snatched it from her immediately. If she had lit that lighter, we would have have been toast.
If you you have the feeling that your home might be haunted and you have also been seeing unusual things or hearing a presence, you should immediately get a carbon monoxide detector as there is a high possibility that you may be hallucinating and this could be result in death.
I have seen instances where people died of carbon monoxide in the news especially in their slepp. One thing I noticed is the fact that they usually have a foamy substance in their mouth and they seem to have died from their sleep with no sign of struggle. Carbon poisoning is very real and is something everyone should never joke with or take lightly.
If you ever find yourself standing face to face to a mountain lion, do not turn around. It ib best to just walk backwards as they will be waiting for you to turn around before attacking you.
Now, I don't know why I will ever be face to face with a mountain lion haha. I don't think there is any in my country but if you reside in an area share this a possibility, then please take heed.
If your house happens to have a fishy smell for no reason, then there is a high chance that there is an electric fire somewhere.
Having your house smell like fish may not be one's first choice of fragrance and hopefully may prompt one to find the source of the smell even if they are not aware of this tip.
If you are ever approached by service dog ever without its owner, follow the dog and do it quickly because you may be saving someone else's life.
I've read instances of a dog saving its owner who may be in trouble by leading people to them. A service dog is one that can do same. Instead of shooing it away, it is best to follow the frantic canine and also call for back up.
I found these tips really interesting and possibly helpful. These are things that could save ones life someday, so it doesn't hurt to share the information as I don't know who may need it now or in the future.
And that's all folks! Thank you so much for reading!
Meetings and Diversions
Date: 28th of March, 2022.
I had breakfast by 3pm today. Word of advice, never do this. I really thought I was going to meet my maker today. Well, tomorrow will be different. Anyway, how has your day been? Monday comes with a lot of work for some people right? While for others it could be boring, normal, fun, exciting, who knows?
My day started with meetings and the second of these meetings started with a random discussion. We were having a virtual meeting and we had to log on right on time or before the time but guess who was a bit late? My boss. He's usually never late so I assume there must have been a reason for that. Well, before he joined the meeting, someone started talking about the trending topic concerning Will Smith and Chris Rock. I'd you don't know the gist, I summary, Chris Rock was telling jokes and making fun of people and he made a joke about Will Smith's wife with regards to her hair (apparently, she has an issue that's affecting her hair growth) and Will Smith slapped him.
During the meeting, everyone was giving hot takes on the issue. Sides were formed and arguments ensued all in good spirited fun. One of us even shared his screen for us to watch the YouTube clip and analyse the situation. We continued talking without noticing on time that our boss had joined the meeting haha. I was the one who called everyone's attention but we were already caught.
The person who was sharing the video on their screen turned it off and everyone greeted our boss and turned off our mics haha. Everywhere became silent like we were just innocent employees who were just there do work and only work but my boss wasn't having any of it. He told us he saw the video we were watching and that we must put the video back up and everyone must share their opinion before the meeting starts haha.
My boss then asked us to go one by one in sharing our thoughts and the people who were just having a spirited argument about the matter were silent including me lol. He insisted until one of us decided to break the ice after which another person spoke before I then did the same and the discussion was back on haha. We kept arguing, some people kept shifting sides when they noticed a side was winning lol.
As the argument went on, I realised we had spent quite some time on a meeting that was supposed to last for an hour, yet the meeting hadn't started. Funny thing is that during regular meetings, I usually get tired just twenty minutes into the meetings and longing for it to end but today, I actually lost track of time. Did I mention I had also not eaten but I didn't feel hungry because I was occupied with the discussion.
My take on the issue though (not like anybody should care lol) is that they were both wrong. For Chris Rock, I know Oscar hosts make jokes about people in the audience but it is actually in bad taste to joke about something someone has struggling with and probably feels insecure about. People joke about Kevin Hart being short because it is not a health problem and it is a trait he has accepted and has no insecurity about but people won't joke about someone struggling with an eating disorder because it's wrong. It is similar in this case, he shouldn't have made fun of something she was obviously struggling with.
For Will, there were so many right ways to go about addressing the situation but he chose violence. Now, people don't really care much about what Chris Rock did or have much sentiments concerning how it affected Jada because Will's act had overshadowed Chris'. This sucks because he is one of my favourite actors if I had to list them. What's funny is the fact that he also laughed at the joke at first but then changed his mind when he saw Jada's reaction. Maybe, he only laughed to be polite and did not realise his wife would be much affected by the joke. This then begs the question, if he didn't realise the joke would be offensive to his wife, how then was Chris supposed to realise it? Also, did Chris know that Jada's her was cut because she was struggling with something?
Anyway, my opinion doesn't matter much lol but I'll like to hear what you think
Sunday Happenings
Date: 27th of March, 2022.
Hey guy! Happy Sunday and Happy Mothers day to those who are celebrating.
This morning, I spent a lot of time in the kitchen. So, I washed the dishes, cleaned the kitchen and proceed to cook. It was then I remembered that the tomatoes I blended previously and the meat were still in the freezer. I brought them out and put the containers in water to thaw. Then, I started cooking the rice. We don't use a rice cooker here when cooking rice, we cook in a pot. Our method of cooking rice might piss off Uncle Roger (Mr Nigelng), let me know if you know him in the comments.
Anyway, I finished with the rice and took the almost fully defrosted from its container. Then I spiced and started boiling it. Everything was going well until I noticed there was no fire anymore. I turned the knob several times but it wouldn't ignite. That was when I realised that we had run out of gas... On a Sunday! Most businesses do not open on Sundays and living in a predominantly Christian area meant that we were in trouble.
I was about to start panicking when I thought to myself that panicking would not solve the problem, so I remained calm and informed my dad who reminded me that we had an electric cooker... Silly me. To be fair, we hardly used it and it was small, like a student sized cooker for just one pot. Anyway, I turned the cooker on and waited for it to turn red as it heats up but it didn't. I tried and tried but it wouldn't budge and I was already getting really frustrated. After some inspection, it turns out that the wall socket was faulty and shaky. It was like the universe was just against me lol. I still tried to put the plug in the socket in a way that let it connect properly and I avoided shaking it. Doing all these took a while but I was able to resume cooking.
While cooking, a guest arrived. I was worried about going out to greet him because I was still wearing what I wore to sleep so I hid in the kitchen, never to come out haha. While I was there waiting for the guest to leave, another set of visitors came in. This time around it was a family of four. I didn't know them but I knew they worked with my dad. It was at that point I knew that I might as well just accept the fact that I then lived in the kitchen.
I still went about my business and checked the food constantly. The bad news was that I had left my phone in the sitting room where the visitors were so I was hella bored! It is not easy to entertain oneself while they're alone in the kitchen. At a point, I started counting the number of onion slices I had cut and I don't even remember now how many I counted haha.
When it seemed like all hope was lost, the guest announced that they were leaving and that they wouldn't be staying to eat with us because they had a younger child with different dietary needs who needed to be fed at the time. The family left and not long after, the first guest did the same and I felt like I could finally breathe. The first thing I did was to take my phone lol. Funny enough, after the visitors left, I forgot why I wanted to leave the kitchen in the first place haha.
Well, the meal was good and I ran back into my room once I finished cooking. My room is my fortress of solitude and I love spending time in it even though my parents complain about it a lot haha.
Anyway, how did your Sunday go?
Embarrassing Stories
Date: 26th of March, 2022.
I think I should start calling Saturdays lazy Saturdays. It had become the day I dedicate to my stuff. On Saturdays I do my own thing, I relax and I avoid doing a lot of work by doing them before Saturday. This act is not intentional, it has just become a steady occurrence and I have come to embrace it. So obviously, today was a lazy day for me. I woke up really late as @FashTioluwa predicted. I think my mum woke me up before 10am. When I saw the time, I was really surprised but grateful to have that long sleep.
I spent most of the day in my room as I do most weekends. Sometimes, I tell myself that I will go out during the weekend but when the weekend comes, I just don't want to leave my bed haha. It is like my bed and I have a relationship with my bed and I don't want to ruin it lol.
Today I was reading about some embarrassing moments different people have had and I thought it would be fun to share. So, here goes:
I went to a pet store and while I was there, I decided to play with the birds. One of them particularly liked my hair until I found out he was actually stuck in my hair. I felt so embarrassed that I tried to hide away from the employees while trying to pull the bird out of my hair with no luck. Eventually, one of the employees had to cut my hair to set the bird free.
Hahaha, I laughed a lot at this because I picture someone out there dancing around, trying to pull out a bird from his hair. It reminds me of Ratatouille when the rat held the man's hair and controlled him. I wonder how he managed to hide from the employers and why he was even hiding from them in the first place. I think if it were me, I would immediately report the situation.
After doing some shopping, I was carrying quite a lot of bags and it was raining heavily. I got down from the bus in the rain and as the bus was leaving, a gust of stone came and lifted my skirt up. What's worse is that the cloth was wet so it just stuck in the position and my hands were full so I couldn't bring it down sooner too.
OK, this is hella embarrassing. I can't imagine what I would do if it was me. I mean, apart from asking the ground to swallow me obviously. I can only imagine the struggle and the skirt got stuck as it was wide open and how the lady would struggle between doing away with her groceries or protecting herself.
I have this teenage neighbour whom my husband and I have called Dave all along and recently he came and told us that his name is actually Greg! My husband has since refused to believe it.
Hahaha, oh no! I actually feel bad for the kid who had to go about responding to Dave for who knows how long. The husband must be in so much shock haha
At my wedding with my husband who has been previously married, the best man addressed me using the name of my husband's ex-wife's name during his speech
Yikes! This is just... I don't even know... Imagine the bride sitting there and listening and the best man goes off about the husband and his ex-wife.
Anyway, that's all I have for you today! Thanks so much for reading! What's your embarrassing story?
Why Stress?
Date: 25th of March, 2022.
TGIFriday! I'm shouting like I had any plans lol. Today, I had a deadline to complete something. I have a teammate but she wasn't available and I had to do the work (she covers for me too, so it's good). Where the problem came was that she understood the task better than I did because it was explained to her so I was a bit overwhelmed lol. I still did my best sha. My boss was to take a look at it at the end of the day but he was busy and I was so happy because it gives me the weekend to tidy up my document.
Anyway, how are you all doing really? How had the week been? Any struggles? Any high points? You can let me know in the comments if you're willing to share. For me, I was exhausted a lot this week. I didn't realise it at first until yesterday. I tried to write my article yesterday and I kept sleeping off, it took me two hours to finish writing, I had to stand up at a point. It was like my body was crashing and needed to rest. This morning, it was also a struggle to wake up. I'm not a morning person but I do wake up before my alarm but today it was different. After the alarm rang, I kept snoozing until my mum woke me up (God bless her). If not for her, I would have been late. I have also had troubles sleeping before midnight in the past week too.
Throughout the day, I couldn't really focus, both yesterday and today. It was taking me a while to grasp simple things or understand what someone was saying to me. It was obvious that I was stressed. Now, this is not the first time that I've felt this way but I tend to just complain about it and not do anything. So today, I will be Identifying the possible causes of stress and maybe if we know the causes, we can avoid it.
There are different reasons why we vmget stressed and these will be broken down into
— Work
— Finance
— Personal
— Relationship
— School
1. **WORK STRESS**
A workplace is where most people spend most hours of their day. Either that or they spend a lot of hours going to work, being at work and returning from work. When the working environment doesn't work for you, you may find yourself stressed. Reasons why one might be stressed at work includes:
Having bad superiors: If you work in a place where your superiors treat you like they are doing you a fabour by paying you for a job you've done or if they are rude, disrespectful without a care about your personal wellbeing and your mental health, you bmay start to resent them, probably fear them and dislike them. Working in such environment will cause someone stress.
Too much responsibilities: There are some workplaces that give people a lot of tasks to do especially with crazy deadlines. Being in this situation continuously with lead to burn out. Having a lot to do can cause your brain to be working overtime to ensure that things get done on time and well.
Presentation: A lot of people (like me) are quite shy and do not like to be the centre of attention while there are others who always have stage fright. Having to make a presentation or give a speech in front of colleagues can be stressful. What I do here is that I just remind myself to breath and I take deep breaths till I'm calm.
2. **FINANCIAL STRESS**
One common challenge with most adults or young adults in life is money. Even those who are rich still struggle to keep making money to maintain a lifestyle, avoiding being duped, even going bankrupt etc. Causes of financial stress for those who are not wealthy include struggling to provide, worrying about debts etc. These things can cause a lot of stress. Signs of financial stress include:
Guilt: This comes with feeling bad after making a purchase that may not be considered a need.
Anxiety: This follows the worry about one's source of income. Where the money will come from, how they will take care of their bills, having to take loans, struggling to pay back those loans etc.
Chaos: This can come when the issue of money is being raised especially with one partner. It could be about the inability to provide/support financially, arguing about what is an uneccessary expense etc.
**PERSONAL STRESS**
There are so many things that one may be going through that can cause them a lot of stress and they include:
The death of a loved one
Job loss
Falling sick
Going through a divorce
Experiencing a traumatic event
Taking care of a dependent
Household chores
Moving to a new location
There are also some things which are supposedly positive but can also cause some stress like
Planning a wedding
Organising a birthday
Hosting family/friends
Travelling
**RELATIONSHIP** **STRESS**
All relationships encounter problems from time to deal. While some people are able to deal with it, some cannot because it is more than they can handle. When someone sees their deal breakers, it causes a lot of stress. Some of these stressors include:
Intimacy: When one or both couples starts getting too busy for the other, this may result in a lack of intimacy and the couples start to lose their connection. It is at this point that they start to miss out on each others milestones and the lack of intimacy/availability can cause a strain on the relationship.
Abuse: When there is any form of abuse (whether physical, emotional or verbal) from any of the partners, it makes the other person constantly anxious and living in fear
Communication: Just like with intimacy, lack of communication is a relationship killer and a major stressor especially when one person longs for the communication and another person is not providing it or considering it a priority. It is stressful to always wonder what the other person is done, if they are safe, what is going on in their lives etc.
Principles: When one doesn't share the same principles or beliefs with their partner, there will always be the struggle of who will have to compromise for whom and who will be giving up on their core beliefs for the other
Break up: This is a definite stressor especially if you still have feelings for the person or were hurt by them.
**SCHOOL** **STRESS**
For school, there are several issues that a lob of students face and they include:
Exams
Deadlines
Accommodation problems
Money
Roommates
Thanks for reading! Do you have any of these stressors?
Types of Exercises
Date: Thursday. 24th of March, 2022.
Hey lovelies, it's Thursday. I was excited when BCH Rose above 380 but now it is down to the 360s; it is still higher than what it used to be so I'm still grateful and I pray it keeps going up.
True to my words of yesterday, I did a lot of exercise today and I must tell you it felt wonderful, like I was floating amongst the clouds next to a rainbow. OK, that's a big lie, it sucked haha but not for long though. The pain goes away after a few minutes when I've relaxed. There are times when one can feel some pain in the muscles after working out and those show that the your muscles are being worked (I believe).
Today, we will therefore be discussing the four different types of exercise.
Exercise generally involves the physical activities one undertakes to ensure that their body is functioning at optimal capacity. Exercising helps keep the body healthy and benefits one both physically and also mentally. The types of exercises we have are:
**Endurance Exercise**
This exercise is also known the aerobic exercises. It comprises of exercise like running, walking, dancing swimming etc. These types of exercises are the types that are necessary for our basic daily functions. Endurance exercises keep your cardiovascular organs in check. It helps to increase our breathing and heart rate. These exercises also keeps our heart, circulation and lungs healthy. It is also known to help reduce several diseases such as colon cancer, breast cancer, heart diseases, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure etc. Other examples of endurance exercises includes riding a bicycle, climbing the stairs, jogging, swimming, dancing, playing football or basketball etc. Note that you have to listen to your body and don't work out till you pass out. Also, always stay hydrated.
**Strength Exercise**
This is also known as resistance training exercise. This is the type of exercise that focuses on increasing your strength and strengthening your muscles. Strength exercises helps one look and feel stronger, it helps one have a better posture, or reduce pains in the joints and also helps control one's weight. Strength exercises include any form of weight lifting where one can start with small weights and then work their way up, others also make use of their resistance bands.
**Balance Exercise**
This involves the ability to move the body freely without falling. One's balance tends to get worse as they get older or when they're pregnant or when they have gained some weight. Exercise that provides one with balance includes yoga exercises, standing on one foot, walking heel to toe etc.
**Flexibility Exercise**
These are the kind of exercises that involves stretching the muscles so that one will have an optimal range of motion. As one gets older, simple things like bending to tie a shoe lace starts getting harder to do because the muscles tighten over time and even the stiffness may even lead to knee having muscle cramps. Stretch exercise therefore helps to free the muscles and increase flexibility. It is necessary to do flexibility or stretch exercises before and in between exercises and also when trying to recovey from an injury. This exercise can be carried out on different types of muscles including the back muscles and the calf muscles. Yoga is also a good way to ensure one's muscles are stretched.
It is necessary to note that this exercises do not need to be done differently. The can and should be combined while working out.
Ps. I was very exhausted today and struggled really hard to stay awake to write. I apologise for any errors you may come across as I'm unable to edit at the moment.
Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!
So Sweet, So Sour
Hey guys, it's mid-week. That time of the week when we get so engrossed in our weekly activities that we even forget what day it is. Today was supposed to be an OK day for me but guess what I did to ruin it? I had too much sugar lol. I am usually the type to warn others to abstain from taking something that contains too much sugar but I guess I didn't practice what I preached lol.
Anyway, here's what happened. A good neighbour of ours celebrated his birthday yesterday and he invited his friends which included my dad. They spent a lot of eating and talking about their families, business life in general while having fun. My dad is considers a lot of things as children's meal and for that reason would not eat them. So, when the cake was shared, my dad brought it back home (we live almost opposite the venue). My mum had a taste of the cake and left a big chunk of it, including the icing, for me.
The cake was great and tasted really but but the icing was like eating raw sugar and it had a high concentration of food colouring. Now, guess the genius thing I did after eating what I believe to be my country's whole sugar produce? I decided to drink a bottle of coke. Am I not full of good ideas and wisdom? Well, my body said otherwise when I woke up this morning feeling a slight discomfort in my stomach. At first, I ignored it but it was becoming more discomforting, I was visibly bloated and I felt like really tired really fast. I knew it was the sugar and I knew I had to make reparations to my body. So, guess who's going to be increasing her exercising frequency? Yeah, me. I'm not loving it but I'm sure my body will be grateful.
Because of this experience, I decided to share the effects of taking too much sugar in hopes of deterring people from being like me.
**1. DIABETES**
Whenever I hear "too much sugar" the first thought that comes to my mind is usually diabetes. I have heard tales of people's legs (why always legs though?) being amputated because they left the diabetes untreated and their blood was unable to clot after an injury. Well, taking too much sugar reduces the ability of the body to produce insulin which is what is used to convert the food we eat into energy.
**2. HIGH CHOLESTEROL**
I remember when I first heard the word "Cholesterol" as a child and I struggled to pronounce it lol. Anyway, there are good and bad cholesterol and an excess of sugar can increase the bad one while reducing the good one which is terrible for the heart.
**3. WEIGHT GAIN**
When talking of sugar, it doesn't have to be pure sugar in cube or granulated forms. Sugars are present in a lot of foods we eat especially junk food. If you also love to have sweet drinks especially sodas, you have a high chance of gaining weight. If you are looking to gain weight, take the healthy route by eating more healthy calories especially proteins and keeping your body fit. If you are trying to lose some weight, a dietary change will make so much difference for you.
**4. CAVITIES**
Cavities is another word that just has you thinking of excess sugar. When I was much younger, I was told chewing gum or sweets would rot my teeth but I never really knew why (I was too busy wondering if swallowing gum would tie up my intestines). Well, the bacteria in the mouth feeds on sugar which leaves acid that rots the tooth. It is best to rinse your mouth properly or drink some milk after taking something sugary.
**5. MOOD SWING**
I experienced this yesterday. I wasn't very productive during the day, I was just not feeling it. As far as I know, too much sugar tends to give someone a high for some time, after which the person crashes, begins to feel down and hungers for more sugar. Sugar has been linked with mental health and is likely to increase anxiety or depression.
In all of these, do not totally abstain from sugar as it provides the body with the necessary energy it needs. So take a healthy amount of sugar but do not take too little or too much.
Thank you for reading!! Let me know your thoughts on this!
5 Compliments to Myself
Date: 22nd of March, 2022.
Good day everyone! How are you doing? I know I'm not the only one who have enjoyed seeing the green markings of BCH. It has brought me a lot of joy recently.
Today, I was so busy that I forgot to eat breakfast till my stomach started hurting. Then I quickly took a drink before having a very late breakfast. After that, I battled with unstable electricity. The light kept coming and going. I had a moment of disappointment when I plugged my phone to charge without knowing that the socket was turned off. After the light went out, I retrieved my phone only to find that it wasn't charging all the while. I felt like crying because my battery was so low and I restrained from using the phone even though I wanted to just so it could charge. After about 30mins, they brought the light again and I finally charged my phone.
For today's article, I got inspiration from @TheBlackdoll who wrote an article of similar name as the one above, and I decided to borrow the idea too. You can read hers here. https://read.cash/@Theblackdoll/five-compliments-to-myself-70601aab
What this post requires me to do is to write 5 good things about myself. This reminds me of Google's #IamRemarkable workshop where you say things that are good about you. It could be something as simple as waking up and choosing to embrace the day. With the state of the world now, we need the reminder that despite what we're going through, what we've experienced, our ups and downs, we are still remarkable!
We as humans are too used to holding back on complimenting ourselves and acknowleding our wins and good side. It is therefore good for us and our mental health to state and admit the things we are good at. You can take a moment to ask yourself what makes you remarkable, what you love about yourself, and even what people love about you.
So here are 5 compliments I will be giving to myself:
I am enough
There are times when we feel like we're lacking something. Times when we doubt what we are capable of, times when the crippling imposter syndrome comes knocking on our door making us feel like we are not good enough but only got by on luck or chance. It is because of times like that that I have to remind myself that I am enough. I don't have to act like someone else to get ahead, ọ don't have to change who I am, I don't have to hide in the shadows as I mistrust my capabilities. I am enough, I am also good enough.
I am strong
OK, maybe not physically lol but I have grown some emotional and mental strength over the years. I have been able to leverage the assistance of those dear to me to get to this point but I am here now. There are times life tries to be funny and keeps throwing obstacles. While that may suck, I have learnt to make the most out of the situation and move on. I am no longer letting things bring me down the way they used to.
I am growing
In the journey to attain my strength, I grew a lot and I am still growing. This is one process that will never end for me and will keep being written in continuous tense. I learning things I need to know and unlearning the things I need to do away with.
I am willing to learn
As I am learning, I also have a genuine willingness to keep learning. This is another perpetual process for me that will keep going on. I am open to learning about myself, surroundings, people around me, my work, life, philosophies etc. I am not limiting myself but I filter out what isn't relevant and use it as a guide to further understand what is and isn't good for me
I am putting in effort
I am like a child with big dreams who do not know yet how to accomplish it but I dream anyway as it is the only place I am not limited and can be whomever I want. I know I have goals, it may not be clear how to get to the peak of my goals but for where I am currently, I keep trying my best to deliver optimal result. I take interest in whatever will lead me to the next milestone and I take action to achieve it and I'll keep taking the baby steps till I'm able to run.
Thanks for reading, you guys!
The Blessed Child (A Short Story)
Date: 21st of March, 2022.
If you are reading this, how are you doing? Today is the 21st of March, the international world Downs syndrome day. Downs syndrome is caused by the tripling of the 21st chromosome which is why it is celebrated on 3/21 every year. Other people have just 2 out the chromosome but people with Down syndrome have three. The extra chromosome is nicknamed the love chromosome because people with Down syndrome are the loveliest people you will ever meet. Having them in your life is like having someone with constant love and joy that is so infectious and therapeutic. To celebrate Downs syndrome day, we wear bright colourful and playful socks. Happy International World Down Syndrome Day! #LotsOfSock #InclusionMeans
I don't really know how I feel about today in general though and I don't really know what to write bout I think I'll write a fictional story. Here it goes:
In my family, I am the third daughter. I come from a tribe rich in customs, beautiful traditions, as well as strong superstitions. In my custom, the third daughter is believed to belong to the gods. She is considered special and sacred. All through her growing up, she is to be fed, pampered and we'll groomed for her big departure. The big departure is the day the girl leaves her earthly family to be with the gods.
As a child, my mother took care of me like I was an egg that must not be harmed. She ensured that I had no scratches or blemishes. At school, my classmates envied me and other third daughters like me. Was I uncomfortable about it? Maybe a little. It was my reality, it was all I knew. I was used to having other kids dislike me because I was treated better than them. Mama would feed me first before feeding the rest, even my younger brother. I got the biggest piece of meat in the pot, and mama always ensured I was full before dishing out seconds to whoever wanted them. Whenever we went to the local school with our slates and white chalk that stained the nylon bag we used as school bags, I would walk in the middle of my siblings to ensure no harm came to me, after all, I was the daughter of the gods.
I don't know what I did to be so lucky to be born as the third daughter. Although, mama said it wasn't luck. She explained that I lived amongst the gods and I have come to bless my household. I remembered looking around to find any traces of blessings in my family because I knew we were not rich and were even barely comfortable. We were tilting between the edges of living for sustenance and abject poverty but despite how much we lacked, mama and papa still spent a lot of money to take care of me.
As I grew older, I started to realise that what was normal for me wasn't necessarily fair to others. My siblings would walk under the scorching sun to the stream while I sat back at home to ensure I didn't get sunburnt or fatigued. It was during one of these trips that I watched as my little brother balanced the oversized bucket in his little while wobbling with each step he took as he approached the house that my heart broke. I was starting to see that things were unfair to others and that my parents had put in all they had, including their savings into making sure I was living well while my siblings fed off scraps. When I brought it up to my mother, she shunned me and accused me of trying to take her blessings away.
One day, I enquired about the blessings and how I was supposed to hive it to them and my mum told me that on my 16th birthday, I would be taken to the village shrine where I would be beautified with clay and marked with calabash chalk in preparation for my divine departure. She told me I would go to a place where there is only joy, a place where I would sit in the table with immortals and have unending feasts, a beautiful place reserved for only a few. It is after my departure that the family's blessings would begin to flow. I marvelled at the thought of travelling to this paradise she talked of and I looked forward to it.
The day eventually came on my 16th birthday. That night, I was taken to the shrine and just as mama said, I was highly beautified and I glowed. The chief priest said some incantations before asking my family to leave. Mama cried as she hugged me and papa stayed sullen and silent. I didn't understand why they were crying because I thought I would be back with many blessings but I was wrong.
After they left, the chief priest resumed his incantations and sprayed some powder on my face which made me dizzy. As I felt my body begin to weaken and my eyes began to close, I noticed the bloodied machete the chief priest wielded. As my body was slowly reaching the floor, he raised his weapon to strike a fatal blow. With the adrenaline that comes with the innate need for survival, I dodged the blow and took to my heels. The old man could only chase me as far as his weak knees could carry him. As I ran, I begged my family for their forgiveness as they would continue to live in poverty, I prayed to the gods to have mercy as I didn't want to join them like this and I muttered to myself to keep going and never stop till the moon gave way to the sun.
The end!
(Fiction)
Thank you all for reading! And thank you so much @fantagira the salsa goddess for renewing your sponsorship!!
My Sunday, today.
Date: 20th of March, 2022.
Happy Sunday y'all! What did you do today? It's the lord's day for those who worship on Sunday and it is rice day for my household.
Today, I had to prepare palm fruit stew (ofe akwu or banga) as against the usual tomato stew. It is actually more complex to prepare than tomato stew. Firstly, we boil the palm fruits till it's soft after which we extract the oil from it. There are several processes of doing this but we do it the more traditional way with a mortar and pestle. The hot palm fruits are placed in the mortar (section by section to avoid overcrowding) and they are pounded hard enough to separate the chaff or the skin from the nuts. After the separation is done, we place the whole content in a thin sieve and place the sieve over a pot. Then we squeeze out the oil with the help of warm water. This oil is then boiled till its thick enough and then the other ingredients are added such as pre boiled meat, dry fish, stock fish which will be left to boil before adding a blend of crayfish, pepper and locally processed Castor seed (okpei) before proceeding to add salt and onions. After the ingredients are properly cooked, we then add the African basil (scent leaf). This is made to eat with rice. There are also other ways of cooking it. Also, the extracted palm oil used for this has less saturated fats than regular oils and it has its own rich flavour. Obviously, this is not a step by step guide on how to prepare this, just a quick run-through.
So yeah, I started my day with cooking and church came later. My mum was the last to return home today because the group she belongs to in church decided to stay back to talk to people about depression. This one topic that is going around but it is still surprising to find out how less or wrongly informed about it people are. What is was is those who throw the word around, claiming to be depressed when they are just sad thereby diminishing the struggles of those who are actually going it. Depression is serious and it is not a switch that can be turned off just like that. If you know someone who is depressed, don't claim to know how they feel, instead, offer a listening ear and let them know yor are there for them, don't force them to share their feelings either, you can also provide them with counselors in your area or online if you know any.
Well, before my mum returned from church, I decided to sleep off again this afternoon. I woke up past 2 o'clock and I checked for my mum but she wasn't back from church so I enquired from my dad to know if he had heard from her and he confirmed that she was on her way back. She was hungry when she got back and started eating immediately before even changing her clothes lol.
After she ate, she told me to get dressed so that we would visit my maternal cousin who's wife gave birth over a week ago. My mum shouted at me not to waste her time, saying that we young ladies always took our time to dress up lol. I must admit, I do take my time. It's usually not necessarily on make up but I just don't like to rush, which is why I usually start my preparations at least an hour before I'm meant to.
I didn't take time to dress up though. I just picked up a big shirt and trousers too wear, and I let down my hair before setting out. I got to my cousin's place and met his wife and the beautiful little baby. She looked like an angel as she slept and when she occasionally sucked on her tongue. She wasn't crying as much as most babies in infancy but it's too quick to tell if she'll not be a crier because some babies change with time.
In all, today was a good day. I'll like to think I got some well deserved rest and I'm ready for tomorrow.
Thank you for reading!!
Bingo!
Date: 19th of March, 2022.
Happy weekend people! Guess what I did today?? I slept! I didn't get enough sleep during the week because of something I was working on. During my presentation, I felt so tired and sleepy. So today, as I laid down on the bed, trying to watch videos on my phone, I slept off. When I woke up, I felt well rested and way better. I could tell my body really needed that sleep.
While I was thinking of a topic to write for today, I remembered I had so much fun with yesterday's This or That game so I thought to continue with games today!
So, for today I'll be playing Bingo. Normally, I would have to tick anyone I've done but since I can't do that offline, I'll just be talking about them.
Have You Ever...
Ridden a Horse?
I have not ridden a horse before but I have been on one. I remember clearly when it happened. It was during the inter House sports in secondary school. I attended a boarding school and the day of inter-house sports was open for parents to visit. During the heat (inter house sports that occurs before the final inter house sports game eg cross-country race, shot put etc), there were usually no vendors around but in the D-day, verified vendors came from out of town into the school and it was fun for us because we had the opportunity to try the new things they sold. Parents also bought a lot of things from the vendors. One year, a mag came with a beautifully decorated horse. He charged some money to ride it through a short distance or to take a picture. I didn't have a lot of money and my parents didn't visit so my friend and I contributed to pay for just a picture with us on the horse lol but I have never ridden one.
Drive a sports car
The simple answer to this is Yes... In my dreams haha. I am looking forward to the dream becoming a reality.
Have a bad haircut
Oh boy, I still cringe whenever I think of this. I have had a bad haircut. The boarding school I was admitted to didn't allow girls keep their hair, we had to cut it low like mini soldiers. My parents didn't tell me because they felt I might have intentionally failed the admission exams (they were not far from the truth). The day I had to cut the hair, I cried all the way to the salon and kept trying to run away but my mum wouldn't let me lol. I still remember the barber using a big scissors to cut down the length before going in with the clipper. He ended up cutting my hair like a boys own and I looked like my brothers twin lol. I wore the school beret throughout the first term because I was very uncomfortable. Now, I don't think I can ever cut my hair again.
Meet a famous person
I don't know really. I have seen a lot of them but I haven't interacted with them (like talked to them)
Go to a concert
Yes, my first concert was in school. It was actually targeted at students and the ticket price wasn't expensive. I went with my roommate and a male friend. It was so much fun. I remembered when my friends and I were searched by the bouncers before entry and they kept finding strange things in out pockets like half eaten biscuits, a pen, a torchlight, a flash drive, sweet wrappers, they bouncers kept laughing especially since others had mainly just money, keys and phones lol.
Fall asleep while talking on the phone
Nah, I usually tell the other person that I'm sleepy and end the call rather than sleep off on them.
Keep a secret
Yep, I won't tell you the secret though lol
Fight with your grandma
Nah, I lost my grandma when I was very young so I didn't get to do that
See the statue of liberty
Yeah... On TV haha
Lock the keys in your car
I like that you think I have a car lol
Sleep in a tent
Nah, I hope to do that someday though
Throw trash on the ground
Yeah, when I was much younger. I learnt discipline in secondary school. Till now, I either find a dustbin or put it in my bag or pocket till I find one
Wear 6 inches heels
Yeah, I remember going to stand next to all the people who were taller than me because it was my only chance to be their height lol. I was surprisingly comfortable in it but I only go for 4 inches now
Win a trophy
I have won things though but trophies were not handed, so no.
Sell a car
Lmao 😂
Lose 20 pounds
Hell na! I'm trying to gain them, not lose lol.
And that's all folks. I hope you enjoyed reading. Feel free to play yours too, I'll love to read it!
This or That
Date: 18th of March, 2022.
Heyo! OK, that sounds cringey lol. How are you doing? You know I'm always excited about Fridays. It's funny how I didn't use to be that way before but now I just like Fridays.
Today was good, I did really well at work. I was working on a project and I wasn't sure if I was doing it right. I have been noticing a pattern of self-doubt lately and I am working on myself to get past it and believe in my abilities. So, today I presented what I had done and it turns out I did really well. My partner and I were so excited because our work was the best. I'm excited to keep working with her and I know we'll keep doing well.
Anyway, I read an article from@Theblackdoll where she used the above pictures to answer questions about the type of person I like in a partner. So, I'll pick some questions and answer them with regards to what I'll want in a relationship.
Taller or Shorter
I’m only 5'4 (I think) and I must confess, I do find myself attracted to taller people lol. I don't want my future kids to be pissed with me. Physically, I probably even look smaller because of my slim stature so I need to keep things balanced lol
Talkative or Quiet
I prefer a talkative person. I'm not much of a talker except in an argument so I well prefer someone who is talkative to create a balance than to have someone who is quiet, we will probably bore each other to death lol.
Short or Long Hair
I will prefer u partner to have short hair. I'm not really into guys who grow their hair too be too full or long unless it genuinely looks good. I prefer if they have their hair cut low.
Older or Younger
I prefer older. I'm not sure why I prefer it this way though, probably societal conditioning since there is always that age disparity here where the guy is older and the girl younger.
Go Out or Stay In
I'll choose to stay in. I love the idea of going out but I never really follow through on that lol. Sometimes I make plans with friends but they fall through most times and if I'm in a relationship with someone, I'll want to stay in with them.
Wear Glasses or Not
I don't care much about glasses or no glasses really. Although, if it's someone who wears glasses, I might like the person to wear one that is stylish, fits their face or makes them look nerdy lol.
Shy or Outgoing
For someone who advocates for staying indoors, I will prefer to have someone who is outgoing. I am already shy myself and try to avoid social situations as much as possible. So, I will prefer someone who can push me out of my comfort zone and get me to go out once in a while as long as they don't make me the centre of attention.
Early Bird or Night Owl
Haha, this is confusing. I am a night owl to the core and I hate early mornings! I wish early mornings can be deleted from our existential time frame, and for the day to start from 10 am instead haha. I also want my partner to stay awake at night with me to discuss, watch TV series or do anything we feel like doing. Even though I want that, I also want an early bird who can get me out of my bad habit of wanting to sleep in and also want to have a human alarm clock lol.
Polite or Funny
Can't I have both? They are awesome traits for someone to. I would not want to be with someone who is rude or someone who cannot be make jokes or take jokes as it keeps things fun and interesting.
Note that this list is not at all that definite as I can definite compromise on most of these because it is not worth it to be in a relationship with someone who doesn't care about you or share your principles. Those things are more important than looks. Also, I chose a bunch of things that reflect the opposite of who I am to balance things out but I've also learnt that it is nice to have someone who is similar to you so that you can both relate to each others experiences and create a bond based on what you have in common.
Thank you so much for reading, I appreciate you all!
Jokes for you
Date: Thursday. 17th of March, 2022.
Hello awesome people! It's really late here but I have to write lol. I'm really glad that I have a platform like read.cash to look forward to. Unintentionally, this place have been a safe haven for me. Here, I get to practice my writing skills, I make mistakes sometimes but I'm getting better. I also get to share my thoughts, ideas and opinions making me express myself more and even learn from myself. I also get to meet a lot of amazing people and I learn a whole lot from here. I'm really glad that I joined this community.
I have good news, another cousin of mine gave birth today! It's raining babies in my family. It is safe to say that I will be having a busy weekend because my family will be visiting them. I also spoke to my younger brother who is away in school. I am looking forward to him returning and giving me trouble haha. Today, I thought I was going to be free but I was wrong and I ended up having a lot to do. At the end of the day, I checked on my close friend and we talked at length till midnight (hence, why I'm just writing now). It was nice to catch up and I will try calling more often.
It has been a good day and on that note, I will like to keep things light by sharing some jokes you might be familiar with. Here we go:
Why did the kid bring a ladder to school?
Because she wanted to go to high school.
Hahaha, maybe he will graduate when he gets to the top of the ladder lol
A child asked his father how people came to be and the father explained that Adan and Eve had kids who in turn grew up and had kids of their own and so on. The little boy the went and asked the same question to his mother who explained to him that we started out as monkeys and the evolved to become the way we currently are. On hearing this, the boy ran to his father and accused him of lying to him but the father explained to him that his mum was only talking about her side of the family
"Use the word 'beans' in a sentence," A teacher said to her students. 'My father grows beans," said one of the students. "My mother likes to cook beans," another student responded after which a third student said "we ad all human beans"
I heard this one when I was much younger and the play on words was really funny to me.
Why does Dracula not have any friends?
Because he's a real pain in the neck
Hahaha, got it? He us a vampire who sucks blood from people's necks.
Teacher: Kids, what does the chicken give you?
Student: Meat!
T: Very good! What do you get from a pig?
S: Bacon!
T: Great! And what does the fat cow give you?
S: Homework!
While this may be a bit offensive but it's also funny 😂
A little boy sitting next to a pregnant woman turns to her and asks,
Boy: Why do you look so fat?
Pregnant woman: It is because I have a baby inside me.
Boy: Is the baby good?
PW : Yes, it is a very good baby.
B: Then why did you eat it?!
Kids are so innocent and brutally honest 😂
I was told by my teachers that I would never amount to much because I procrastinate so much.
I told them, “Just you wait!”
Hahaha, he still procrastinated lol
That's all for today. Thanks for reading! You are awesome.
Also, check out @kiingsleyy he lost his account and had to open this new one.
Appreciation
Date: Wednesday. 16th of March, 2022.
Hey people! Today has been quite odd for me and I was looking forward to it ending really. I'm glad night is here and I just get to rest and get ready for a new day.
Before we proceed, I'll like to express my sincere gratitude to my sponsors. They have been wonderful to me, every one and I'm so grateful to have them.
Today, I had a discussion with someone about appreciating employees when they do well to boost moral. I think it is a good step and even if yor feel its stressful, maybe, while giving feedback, one can simply point out things that one did right and not only what they did wrong. What is your opinion about this?
Based on that, I'll be talking about different ways to show appreciation. Note that appreciating someone and admitting that they have done something right does not make you less than them or make them better than you and it doesn't mean they will stop doing a good job. It is nice to appreciate people in different areas of life whether at work, school, home, neighbourhood, relationship, place of worship etc. Sometimes, telling people a simple "well done" even when what they are doing does not directly impact you (like a child sharing their toy with another child) can really boost the persons character and and make them want to do the right things even more.
Some of the ways to show appreciation include:
**Say “Thank you“**
This is the easiest way to do it and it never gets old. Sometimes, a simple heartfelt thank you is just enough with emphasis on it being heartfelt and genuine. Sometimes, people say thank you because they believe it is what they must say in certain situations but they don't always mean it. It is necessary to consider the effort the other person put in, whether you think it is small or not, and appreciate them.
**Celebrate Successes**
When someone had done something right, it is nice to celebrate them and their efforts. If someone at work comes up with a brilliant idea that brings positive results, it is nice to make them feel appreciated by celebrating them. It doesn't have to be big. You can do something as simple as shake/hug them, buy them lunch, lighten a bit of their workload etc.
**Care Packages**
This can work in so many situations. Care packages can be sent to ones romantic partners, friends, colleagues etc. It is a nice gesture that shows that you are grateful for or appreciative of whatever that may have done.
**Reciprocate**
One good turn deserves another and who's to say you won't be the one granting them the "another". Responding to kindness with kindness starts a chain that builds a kinder and less toxic environment.
**Brag About Them**
It is usually nice to tell people that someone has done something nice for you. It helps them feel that their effort was cherished enough to brag about and they will be more inclined to keep doing better.
**Breakfast In Bed**
This is obviously for a more domestic situation, that is, for people you live with. Make the effort to wake up earlier, make them a nice breakfast and serve them as they wake up. The truth is, even if you are not a good cook, the meal will still be so much appreciated by the recipient as they would understand that you appreciate them so much to even try.
**Leave A Note**
They say the pen is mightier than the sword and this is one scenario where it is true. Writing down little notes to show gratitude can make one's day. It doesn't even have to be a long rhyming poem that would probably shame the poets of old, but something as simple as "you did really well, I appreciate you" us enough to do the magic
Thank you all for reading. How do you show appreciation to others?
2 Broke Girls
Date: Tuesday. 15th of March, 2022.
Hey guys, I think I'm enjoying the pattern I'm using to upload my articles now. It's easier for me to do them at the end of the day rather than struggle to get it done while I'm busy with other stuff during the day.
I don't feel particularly good at the moment and I definitely didn't feel like writing either but I promised myself to write everyday for as long as possible and I haven't skipped a day yet. I don't really know what to write about actually. I guess I'll just talk about an old series in rewatching.
I'm a fan of comedy series. I like watching things that put me in a good mood and makes me laugh and this series is one of them. The name of the series is 2 Broke Girls. I watched it a long time ago but I never finished it. I realised I had also forgotten a lot about what happened in the series, so I decided to watch it again.
2 Broke Girls is about two girls who own a cupcake business and are doing all they can to raise enough money to become a big brand. Sometimes, they get lucky but most times, they don't. Even when they are able to earn something reasonable, they usually have one debt or the other to cover. Both girls live in a rundown apartment at Williams burg. They work as caterers in a diner from night time till 2am and they combine waitressesing with trying to run their business.
Here is a rundown of a few of the major characters:
1. **Max Black** - She is actually my personal favourite. She is an extremely sarcastic and cynical waitress. She is also a very good baker and she bakes the cupcakes they sell. The business is named Max's homemade cupcakes after Max. She grew up with an abusive mum and an absent father but manages to transform her bad childhood experiences into hilarious jokes that will have you laughing hard. She also believes that nothing good will happen for her and tends not to dream but Caroline is always there to push her. Max has street smarts and is also a nice and caring friend even though she always acts tough. She is tough though lol. She also likes to tease Han, the restaurant owner by joking about his size and she has a resemblance of a father-daughter relationship with Earl, the elderly cashier.
2. **Caroline Channing**: A former rich girl who lost all her fortune after her father was arrested for fraud. She is a graduate of Wharton University (as she always happily announces) and uses her knowledge to help push the cupcake business. Caroline applied as a waiter at the diner after she lost everything and was hired the same day. Max could tell that Caroline knew nothing about waiting but didn't report her. Max also offered her a place to stay and she went on to become Max's roommate. She is cheerful, kind and believes in Max and the cupcake business.
3. **Oleg**: He is a Ukrainian chef who siezes any opportunity to fliry with ladies. He is the chef at the diner Max and Caroline work at. He loves to wear sleeveless mess shirts and constantly passes lewd comments at girls or about his body. He highly believes in having several partners at a time. He eventually falls in love with an older woman named Sophie Kashinki, the Russian neighbour of Max and Caroline. Sophie is also always as sexually inappropriate as Oleg.
4. **Earl**: Earl is an elderly man in his 70s of near that age who works in the diner with the rest as a cashier. He enjoys smoking marijuana (Max does too) and always jokes about his age and his heart or the possibility of a heart attack. He is a jolly old man who has a lived a full life and has a wealth of experience to share. He always looks out for Max and Caroline.
5. **Han**: He is the Korean owner of the diner which he acquired in the beginning of the series. He tries to put up with Max and Caroline's occasional incompetence at work and bears the brunt of many short jokes from the rest of the cast especially from Max. Despite how they bicker, he still loves the girls and helps them out in their time of need.
Despite the difference these characters share, they always come through for each other like one big family.
Thanks for reading, have a nice day!
Back to the Old Days
Hey guys, how is it going? Its pretty late here. Today is one of those days when I have my eyes focused on my devices till I lost track of time. Worst still, I don't even know what to write about? I truly miss the times when I could spend a whole day. Speaking of things I miss, I have been around kids a lot lately and watching them play with each other and interact makes me miss a lot of things about my childhood including:
**NAIVETY AND WONDER**
One of the many things I miss about childhood is how innocent and naive we were. We saw the world in an innocent light and are too trusting of the people around us because we did not believe or understand the possibility of anyone wanting to cause us harm. We were marvelled and in awe of so many things. We had the chance to experience new things everyday and were always excited unlike now when we have seen a lot of things and understand how things work. As a child, I once walked several blocks staring at the moon because I thought it was following me; I wanted to catch it red-handed when it changes its course to follow someone else but that didn't happen because it followed me home haha. I miss how every experience was still new and we enjoyed the feeling of learning something new we never knew about
**GAMES**
As a child, I was very quiet but whenever I was home with all the other kids in the apartment, I would play happily and loudly. Most children just want to have fun and sees it as a reason to exist, every other thing like school, chores etc are secondary to them. For children now, they are mostly attached to their phones and the only games they play are mobile or computer games. When I was younger, we played outside under the sun and in the rain. Some of these games made our minds sharper and our wits quicker. There were some games that tested our speed where we had to run to avoid being caught some required some quick thinking, some also required us to remember certain things no matter the distraction. While these were just games to us, they were helping our development as kids in real, practical time. Now, even I play mobile games and I don't see kids playing outside anymore.
**LACK OF SHAME**
Children do not really feel much shame the way adults do. When I was younger, I would leave the house and gị downstairs without a shirt haha. I still can't believe I did that but it happened a lot. My brothers would stay shirtless and so would I. I didn't know what to be embarrassed about at the time and neither did the other kids because it was just normal for little kids to walk around that way. I don't really remember much of it but I know I was very little at the time. Now, I still see little kids who were probably about my age then doing the same thing and I just remember that I used to be like them.
**LACK OF BLAMES**
Being a child comes with being devoid of some responsibilities. I come from a home where we were heavily chastised or punished when we did something wrong but no matter how bad we felt the punishment was, it never really lasted compared to what would have happened if we were older. Kids will damage stuff, do the opposite of what they're told or just be stubborn and they get chastised but after an hour, they will forget and start playing around again because they know that's where it ends. For adults you are held more responsibly. Also, parents will blame themselves a lot when their kids does something wrong and for that, the kid goes about enjoying their care-free and almost blameless life.
What about you? What do you miss about childhood?
Ways To Enjoy Bread
Date: Sunday. 14th of March, 2022.
Happy Sunday everyone! How are you doing? Today was an extremely lazy day for me. I just stayed in my room all through. We were supposed to visit my cousin who just had a child today, but we couldn't go so we had to shift it till next week. My mum and dad were busy visiting people and also receiving visitors while I hid in my room till unless a visitor asked after me and whenever I went out to greet them, I acted like I had just woken up from sleep lol.
Basically, I used the whole of today to crack how to stay lazy and it's easy — do nothing! 😂 Okay, actually, don't be lazy. If you have chores to do or anything at all, kindly do them. It is also best to do them on time so that you'll have the rest of the day to rest rather than worrying about the things you are yet to do.
Although I didn't do much today, I spent a lot of time on my phone taking phone calls and catching up with friends so much so that I forgot to post here on time. But I have decided not to miss any day unless it is inevitable and beyond my control.
At first, I didn't know what to write and struggled to find a topic and after much thought, I remembered "bread" for no reason haha. So, I decided to write about the different ways one can eat bread.
Bread is a staple meal in almost all countries. There are different types of breads that exist and different ways bread is eaten and I'll mention some of them
**TOAST**
Toast is one of the most popular ways to anjoy bread but toast is not just limited to buttering your bread and putting it in a toaster. There are so many ways to make toast with so many toppings. The taste of the crispy and savoury bread is enough to keep you wanting more. Toasting of bread cam also be done in a pan. Here, you can put an egg in the bread by first making a circular hole in the centre of a slice and pouring you egg in it. You can add cheese or any other ingredient that works well for you. You can also make French toast which involves coating the bread with your egg mixture and then toasting on a pan.
**SANDWICHES**
Just like toast, there are so many ways to make a sandwich. It is possible that all the ways to make a sandwich have not been discovered. Sandwiches can be eaten with so many fillings including ham, turkey, chicken, bacon, akara, avocado, peanut butter and jelly, chocolate, lettuce, tomatoes etc. It makes for a delicious meal and can be taken with milk or any drink of your choice.
**BREADCRUMBS**
Breadcrumbs are used in the preparation of a lot of foods. There are lots of ways to make breadcrumbs from scratch with and without a food processor. With a food processor you'll need your bread loaf, garlic powder, salt olive oil and pepper. Some recipes do not use these ingredients except the bread which is the main ingredient. Here, you are simply to put the bread in a food processor till it forms large crumbs. If you're using big sized breads you can cut them into smaller chunks before putting in the processor. After that, steam the crumbs in olive oil while you season it with the rest of the ingredients. Some people even substitute a food processor with a blender. Like I mentioned, there are several ways to do this.
Another way is to toast the bread till it's nice and crispy, put it in a ziploc and then use a rolling pin to reduce it to crumbs.
Thank you so much for reading! Let me know which ways you like to enjoy bread. Also, thanks to @McJulez for renewing your sponsorship. I really appreciate it!
Saturday, Rain and a Baby
Date: Saturday. 12th of March, 2022.
Good day people! How's the weekend going? It's going well over here. In the past two days, I complained about electricity and fuel scarcity. Well, we were later able to get petrol to turn on the generator. I was able to work and charge all my devices. After we turned off the generator, the light came on and I was so happy.
Everything went well till the light went off again in the middle of the night. I woke up because of the heat. I was sweating so much that I had to use a hand fan and I contemplated taking my bath at that hour. As if God was trying to answer my prayer, he sent the rain. I left my curtains open for a while to embrace the sound of the wind and the promise of the approaching rain but when the rain started, I closed the windows and curtains. It felt really nice to feel the wind on my skin and to feel the coolness of the walls.
I didn't wake up as early as usual today. I slept till it was past 8am. When I woke up, I took my phone and started going through different sites, I got news that my little brother was coming home for the holiday soon which had me excited and I also took note of new episodes of TV series I was following. I did that for about an hour and was surprised that neither my mum or dad had come to wake me up and by that I mean shout till I get off my lazy ass lol.
The weather was still cool that I just wanted to stay curled up in bed but I knew I had things to do. I eventually stood up and left the room. I walked around the house to find out I was alone. I must confess, it was a scary realization because I kept imagining the worst. I thought someone may have abducted them (and also thought it would be cool if it was aliens), I was also worried that we may have been robbed while I was busy on my phone but our properties seemed intact and I didn't hear any noise. Not long into my thoughts, my dad knocked and informed me that my mum went to the market while he was with a friend. I was happy because that meant I wouldn't have to go to the market today yay!
When my mum returned, we sat and just talked lazily for a while before deciding to prepare breakfast. My mum helped me cut the vegetables while I did the cooking. The food was ready in no time and we ate to our fill. After eating, my mum suggested that we go visit our neighbour who just had a child. She had been there before but I haven't. I usually dread visitations like that because it's usually awkward for me. I never know what to say or do I just sit there quietly and smile when I'm being addressed lol. I do get anxious in social situations and just hope to be ignored sometimes lol.
I took my bath, got dressed and left with my mum. My dad was out at the time so we called to inform him of where we were going to. Funny thing is that after locking the house, we forgot the keys on the door (thankfully, nothing happened while we were gone). The gate to our neighbour's house was surprisingly open but we knocked on it still to announce our presence. Inside the house, little kids played around while some ate noodles. I interacted with them a little bit and the youngest one continuously waved at me and followed me around, it was so cute. The kids were our neighbour's kids and that of their family friend.
Not long after, the wife arrived and welcomed us. She took us to see the beautiful little baby who looked so tiny. Her clenched fists were so small and her face had the cutest crinkle when she yawned. It is always fascinating watching little humans doing things with their tiny bodies lol. We then left the baby to sleep to sleep and went to the sitting room where my mum and the lady discussed while I remained quiet. The little boy was still staring at me and I had a feeling it was because of my hair lol. It was at this time that I remembered neither of us had the keys so, we had to leave. We were offered some canned drinks but we couldn't stay to take them so we took them home since we lived in the next building. In all, it was a nice visit and I still have another one to do tomorrow because my cousin's wife also just had a child.
Thanks for reading! Do you love being around babies?
See Something, Say Something
Date: 11th of March, 2022
Goodday everyone! Don't you just love Fridays? Well, I do! Yesterday, I complained about the electricity issue and how it affected my work. Luckily, I was able to charge with my dad's powerbank and work on my phone. It was hard, I tell ya but I managed to make do. It is for this reason that I am not able to comment on a lot of articles as I would have loved but I still try.
Last night, my dad informed me that the repairs had been made and I was excited but we still didn't have any electricity. After asking around, we found out that the electricity of the whole estate had gone out. We slept in the discomfort of heat and darkness and we had to heat the food in the fridge to avoid spoilage. Power outages are normal and frequent and even more disappointing. Normally, power should have been restored by now but it hasn't. Now, the powerbank is dead, laptop is dead, phone will be dead in a few minutes and I have a video meeting in an hour. The whole situation is making me anxious but I'm still hopeful and I'm trying to keep calm.
While my plight may seem irritating, there are people out there who have had it worse. The people in Ukraine are more bothered about surving each day than to care about their jobs and whatnot. There are also people who have suffered the experience of trafficking everywhere around the world and this is my topic of discussion today.
Trafficking of any form is a common occurrence in many countries and in most cases, it does not involve an abduction of some sort. These things happen even in homes and sometimes, people do not realised that they are being trafficked. It may sound surprising but it is true especially for those who were trafficked as kids. They are groomed to believe that it is not bad and is what they should do. They are taught that if they do something, they will get something and with time, they will not know how to function outside of the arrangement they have become used to.
Some people dropped some advice to be able to help or spot a child trafficking situation and I will list some of them.
If you go to a motel/hotel and see a child, say hi to them and their reaction may just tell you if they are in danger or not. Sadly, this is easier to do if you are a lady. While it is not foolproof, you may just stumble on the truth. The child might be visibly shaking, they may expose an injury in an attempt to wave, they may burst into tears or even straight up ask you for help.
As a tattoo artist, if a guy keeps bringing girls (either one at a time or in groups) to your shop to get the same tattoo, that is a red flag. Some of these s*x trafficking pimps brand the girls they have working under them with a tattoo in other to mark them as their own.
If you find someone with missing shoes, accessories, identification with eyes darting around, it could be a sign that they are in danger and have just escaped a difficult situation. What you can do is to call the police or any governmental or non-governmental bodies that you know can help.
If a child calls you a familial title like mum, dad, uncle, aunty etc in public, there is a chance that it is a call for help and they are in danger. By playing along, you may be saving a life and deterring whatever creep they have encountered from approaching or giving them an opportunity to actually ask for help and tell you of their situation. This is not only applicable to children.
If you find a group of people where only one person talks and the rest look scared, dizzy or possibly drugged, overly covered possibly with shawls, large sunglasses, face caps etc., watch the body language of the rest of the group. Do they shiver or cringe or fold their arms like they're retreating into themselves? Are they trying to speak to you through their eyes? Do they keep looking around? Are they breathing heavily or do their breath hitch occasionally? etc. These could be a sign that they are in a dangerous situation or that something wrong is going on. This situation can be observed by attendants of any kind either receptionists, waiters, food servers etc.
Note that these signs are not foolproof and you should also be careful so as not to put yourself in any danger. You don't have to take matters into your hands but you can call the appropriate authorities, give detailed information about what you know down to the colour of clothes, smell of perfume, possible height description (eg, their head could touch the door frame). Saying something might help save a life.
Kitchen Tips
Hey everyone! Today was and still is a good day. I had reasons to be happy today and I also heard some good news concerning a family member. Everything was fine until I realised we had no electricity unlike other streets. I asked my dad and he said there was a fault in the street's connection and that it was being fixed. It was bad for me because I depended on the electricity to work and with the issue of fuel scarcity that has been going on, we do not have any petrol for the generator.
It wasn't easy relying on my phone. Luckily, I work with a wonderful colleague who took the heavier part of the work to do, I am very grateful to her. So, despite the issue with the light, I still had a good day but I hope it gets fixed soon, like tonight or something.
Today, I was browsing through one of my favourite sites and I saw some kitchen related tips by several chefs on the Internet and I thought to share some of them here.
So, the first one says to salt your pasta water. I have been doing this for years now and it makes me wonder why I wasn't always doing it before. It is a helpful tip that saves you from oversalting or undersalting your sauce. To do this, you have to add a generous amount of the salt into the water. If the pasta is properly salted, you won't have to get how much more to put in the sauce, you just have to add what is right for the sauce alone. Also, you won't also have to add salt to the already cooked and ready meal.
Next one says to have things prepared and in place before hand. I am also a fan of prepping for my meals before I start cooking. Wash what needs to be washed, cut what needs to be cut, thaw what needs to be thawed etc. This is beneficial to make the cooking process go smoothly. It will not be good if halfway through cooking, when it's time to add something, you start cutting and washing while the rest of the food possibly overcooks.
The next one says "Clean as you go". This means that with each step you take in the cooking process, clean up immediately. While cooking, the kitchen can get messy easily especially when a lot of ingredients are used like vegetables. Cleaning immediately helps keep the place tidy, provide you enough space to cook and leaves you less work to do when you're done and possibly tired. So, clear the trash, wipe the counter etc.
Then this to says not do add garlic and onions at the same time. This is because onions take a longer time to saute that garlic. While onions takes about 8 minutes, garlic only needs 30 seconds. Leaving garlic on for too long will make it burnt and produce a bitter taste. I actually didn't know about this and I'm so glad I read it today. To be fair, I don't cool a lot with garlic as my dad doesn't like it much.
The final tip for today is to crack your egg on a flat surface. Now, I've seen a lot of people crack eggs using the edge of a bowl (I've tried it too, disaster! Lol). Cracking using edges or sides messes with the yolk (for those who want the yolk intact and it tends to spill a lot. So, using a flat surface makes it easier to separate the halves. For me though, I break with a fork by hitting the egg firm enough for it to crack but gentle enough for the fork not to break through the shell and spill it. How do you do yours?
And that's all for today friends! I really want to take this time to appreciate my sponsors. They don't know it but they truly keep me going. Thank you all so much!
Insecure
Date: 9th of March, 2022.
Happy Wednesday y'all! It's already the middle of the week! The sun is burning as hot as ever over here and having us feeling dehydrated and reaching for cold water every now and then.
Apart from that, I'm really happy to ere the green lines in the crypto market today. I hope the rise continues this way.
Yesterday I read @fantagira post about an online personality test. I have always enjoyed taking those tests for fun even though I know they are not always accurate. (the results sometimes make me look like I'm a saint haha). Well, yesterday after reading her post, I decided to try the test for myself and guess what my result was? I got "Thinker" and that makes so much sense. As much as I claim to be adventurous, my adventures are hardly ever spontaneous. I question every situation, every single detail of everything. Even when life seems to be happening around me, I sometimes seem to get lost in the imaginary world in my head. I come up with scenarios, theories that may or may never occur. So yeah, I am a thinker or "a philosopher" as the site says. Your can take the test here https://mycreativetype.com/
Today, I'll be talking about insecurities. This has to do with the feeling when you think yourself as too small. The feeling of lack of confidence, like you are not good enough. This feeling creeps up every once in a while and makes us doubt ourselves, or relationships with others, our abilities etc. It brings about self doubt and has you second-guessing everything you do.
Areas where one can feel insecure include relationships (the feeling that your partner could be with someone better or that they don't really love you), in professional settings (the feeling that you are a fraud and your skills are not good enough or as good as other's. Check out my previous article on Imposter Syndrome), in you personal life (the feeling that you don't look good, act good, talk good etc especially compared to others) https://read.cash/@Daria/impostor-syndrome-9cd89ba9
These insecurities can affect our daily lives and personal outlook about ourselves. To overcome this feeling, we have to improve our confidence levels and believe in ourselves and here are some ways to do it:
**Admit It**
It us one thing to feel insecure and another thing to lie to yourself that we do or that it is a problem. It is not something we can ignore in hopes that it will go away, we have to be intentional about getting over it.
**Stop Trying**
Stop. Trying. To. Be. Perfect. I say this to you and to myself, we can't please everyone, we can't be good at everything, we can't look like everyone and everyone makes mistakes. Ni matter what we do, as long as we're putting in our best, that's good enough. If we make mistakes, we can learn from it and be better, that's how we grow. So stop trying to be good everything in one day, cut yourself some slack and even if you're not good at a particular thing, there will be something else you will be good at, stick to it and learn others.
**Note Them Down**
Like I mentioned above, there will definitely be something you are good at. No matter how small you think they are, note them down. Take note of the things you're actually doing well, the good decisions you've made and the acts you've done right. This will help build your confidence rather than dwell on what you didn’t do right
**Fight Back**
The negative thoughts will try to creep in sometimes and it is up to you to fight back. You can distract yourself from it by going through the notes in the above point or by doing the 5 to 1 method where for every 1 negative thoughts, you are to think of 5 positive thoughts. This will help you keep yourself in a positive mindspace
**Surround Yourself With Positivity**
Amidst all these, you have to surround yourself with positivity. Be with people who genuinely love and appreciate you, people who bring out the best in you and people who make you happy. Also, do things that bring you joy.
**Baby Steps**
You have to understand that things will not change in a day. Sometimes, you may find yourself backsliding but don't despair, just correct your mistakes and move on and with time, you will overcome your insecurities.
Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day!
Important Health Tips
Date: Tuesday. 8th of March, 2022.
Hello people! How is it going today? You won't believe I thought today was Wednesday. So we've only had Monday this week? Haha. Well, I'm sure you've seen everywhere about today being the International Women's Day and I want to give a big shout out to the women I've met here on read.cash. These women are strong and are working hard to be who they are, be good people and provide for themselves and some, their families. I listed some names, but the list seemed long and I didn't want to leave anyone out by mistake.
Today, being the day to celebrate women, if you know any woman around you, celebrate them. Woman here is not limited to adult women, it also includes young women who are trying to navigate their way in the world.
Today, I'll be talking about health tips women (and everyone) should know. Despite the fact that this will be centred on women, it is for everyone; for a friend of a woman, a father of one, a partner of one, a doctor of one, a brother of one, an uncle of one etc.
**Talk to Your Doctor**
In a society that teaches women that everything about them and their bodies is taboo, it becomes difficult for women to speak up when they are noticing any abnormal bodily changes. Not just that, a woman who is comfortable talking about her body is seen in a bad light while guys who talk about women's bodies are hardly chastised. This culture has made some women uncomfortable to open up even to their doctors, especially if it is a male doctor. It is important to note that the doctor is not the same boy who laughed at your body or the society who told you you were a secret never to be revealed. This is not saying that you should go around exposing your body, but when you are in the doctor's office, whether male or female, talk to them. The doctors understand and won't judge you, they are just doing their jobs. There's nothing new to them, and you'll only keep suffering if you don't talk to them in detail.
**Cancer check**
There are some cancers that women are more prone to having such as breast and cervical cancer. While breast cancer happens to both the male and female folks, it is mostly suffered by women. Lots of terminal cases of breast cancer have been reported to be avoidable if it was detected early. I lost my great aunt for the two reasons I have currently pointed out. She never checked for breast cancer and when she noticed a lump, she was too embarrassed to say anything. Her grown-up daughter noticed the already big lump one day when she saw her mum dressing up and forced her to see a doctor but it was already too late. So please, encourage every woman around you, whether young or old, to do a home check for breast cancer.
Google "breast cancer self-exam" for the steps on how to check for possible lumps.
Ps: not all lumps are cancerous but it is best to see a doctor if you notice anything.
Also, breast cancer is more common in people who have reached middle age and above. So, get your mothers, aunties, friends and yourselves to test.
**Love Yourself**
You may have heard this before and chalked it up to being some yoga mantra that doesn't mean much but as a woman, you have to love yourself. This will greatly improve both your mental and physical health. Yes, the society will judge you a lot! They will judge you based on your looks, how you dress, what you eat, how you walk, what you look like and they'll keep telling you to do better. They may go on to dictate how you should live, dress, behave and blame you when someone harasses you even if you follow all their dictates. The truth is even men are judged by their pockets, sexual prowess, physical strength, show of emotions. These things shouldn't be so. We should love ourselves as we are, strive to be the better version of ourselves and give ourselves a pat on the back when we do something right. Also, do not try to see yourself using the lens of another person and do not feel like you're entitled to someone else's earnings.
Happy International Women's Day
Here's to strong women:
"May we know them
May we raise them
May we be them"
Thank you for reading and a special thanks to a special person @Talecharm Thank you for renewing your sponsorship, I really appreciate it!
@Daria