I added another year a couple weeks back and that brought the realization that I've had this space (the blog) for about 4 years now, even though it doesn't feel like that much time has actually flown. It has been four years of posting, disappearing for months and then resurfacing. Four years of discovery, writing to my heart's content, airing my views and invariably exploring new sides of blogging and me. In view of all this, I'd be sharing my BLOG STORY, a peek into the whole journey, my expectations and all that. WHY DID I START A BLOG??    I read quite a number of blogs and as far as I remember, most bloggers seem to have started for a particular reason. Take for example; a fashion blogger looking to air fashion opinions or a writer seeking a platform for literature and likes. For me though, I never really had an idea of what I was starting a blog for, all I knew was I could create one easily--so why not? It took me months to actually start making posts on

   I recall mentioning some posts back that I was on break and, that caused me to have time for more books away from school. If you have been keeping tabs on this blog, you’d probably suspect that I have a thing for John Grisham’s works and, your suspicion is right. My first experience with him was when I stumbled upon THE SUMMONS in my home library (funny how I never got to review that) and thereafter, I went out of my way to find the other books of his that I have read including THE BRETHREN. Anyhoo, I went hunting again during this break and last month, I found the book mentioned in the title and I couldn’t help but want to read it for two basic reasons: I) The seeming christmas theme and, II) It was unrelated to law which as far as I know is what Grisham majorly writes about.   So yeah, I dug right in, head first. OVERVIEW As the title implies, the book tells the story of a couple’s (The Krank’s: Luther and Nora Krank) plan to skip Christmas. Their only child was going

It’s Christmastime!!!! This sure is one of the things that makes December a really pleasurable month for me. The sheer thought of chill air and relaxation and an overwhelming sense of peace hmm!! With Christmas in a couple days’ time, I have a couple words for you. You probably are busy prepping for the celebration so, I’d try keeping this simple and sweet *winks*.    Christmas often meets us with numerous expenses, from wears, to food, family or personal outings, gifts and even travel expenses, just to mention a few. It sure could go without dispute that, we tend to spend more during the yuletide than the two preceding months. I would be talking about curbing excess expenses during this season. Recall the saying; failing to plan is planning to fail? Well, well, there’s every tendency for you to overspend on a regular day not to talk of the festive period/ year’s end. I deem it wise to have a budget, set a threshold amount, the max you’d spend on certain things and be sure to stic

DAY 7 God: There sure are days when I can't help but acknowledge that the things I have managed to achieve have not been solely by my wit or strength. Days when I say within me; “I know that was all you God” and smile like an idiot. Days like that would always be; when one comes to the knowledge of strength and grace beyond human capacity or imagination. When one comes to know peace that transcends any circumstance, good or bad. For your supremacy, For the days you bore me up on your wings. For being my source, For being my strength on down days, For your wisdom. I am most definitely grateful. For who you were, who you are and who you always would be For forgiveness and mercies, For strengths and wise decisions, For your loving kindness, For watching over us. I most definitely am grateful. For your patience with me, For always being there. For the peace you give and always would, I most definitely am grateful. If I was to count it all, a million page

Day 6: Books (good ones to be precise) I probably would be overflogging it if i mention how much of a book person i am well, too late. I just did. I'm grateful for good books in whatever form that come, paperback, hardback, no back (softcopy) or something that has passed through different hands, as long as the prints are clear, and there are no missing pages, I'm game. For the alternate universes I've been thrust into over the years, For the characters I've come to know and love. And those that have become part of me, For the variety of emotions that you've introduced me too, Trust me I am grateful. For the unexpected twists, The suspenseful moments, Times when you left me turning your pages like a hungry bookworm (pun intended) For the beauty within you that I have come to appreciate Trust me I am grateful. For the truths, For painting things for what they really are. For the knowledge you hold, For telling stories that some would rather not,

DAY 5 2018: 2018 started with a bang and on a rather upbeat note for me. It saw me take baby steps to new terrains and an entirely new course of life. 2018 saw me at my strongest and weakest. It blessed me with days I conquered mountains and days I would just wish to sit and stare into blank space wishing to actually detach myself from the rigors of life. For the big breaks, for the small mercies; For the beginnings and ends of each and every month, For the experiences and created memories that would last more than a while. I am grateful. For everything taken in stride, for the goods, bads and uglies, For the brickwalls and “dead ends” and escapes, For the days and months of sun and rain. I am grateful.. For the lessons and blessings in every situation regardless how daunting, For moments of strengths and strength in weaknesses, For the days of benefits and otherwise, I am grateful… For 2018, I’m grateful.

DAY 4 Good people: Photo For the beautiful personalities I have come to know so far, For the people that actually bother to care, For the listening ears, For those that can put up with my trash, For my “ride-or-dies”, For my day ones, For the immensely kind hearts I have been blessed to meet and know, For good people in my spheres and anywhere, I’m grateful.

DAY 3 Storms/ trials/ mistakes: Life no matter how good is laced with any of these. I am thankful for the storms I’ve weathered, they may have roughed me up but I sure survived. I am thankful for the trials and how we’ve come to overcome them. I am thankful for the mistakes made and the lessons learned. I am thankful for the storms, trials and mistakes that have made me ME. They may have been tough enough to break me but then, I am thankful that even in the storm, I found strength and wisdom that would forever inform certain decisions. Thankful, I am.

DAY 2 Family: For awesome people I can call kin. For those home and away, I sincerely am thankful. For the memories we’ve created and forever would remember. For understandable silences, I sincerely am thankful. For the laughs and joys time has caused us to share. For the firsts we’ve witnessed together, I sincerely am thankful. For the support thus far, for bearing me up on your shoulders. For laying good examples and paths to follow, for all and all so far, I sincerely am thankful.

 Hello all, remember me talking about taking on a challenge some posts back? Well, after some thought, I decided to engage in a gratitude challenge. I’m big on the act of gratefulness and believe it should be a daily affair no matter how little but then, I’d be engaging in seven days of gratitude here on the blog (today inclusive). The post in the next seven days may be rather short but then, it’s the idea that it carries that matters. DAY 1 Life:  For the breath in my lungs, the blood flowing through my veins, the air I breath (even if it’s the polluted Lagos version), I sure am grateful. For the jiffies, seconds, minutes, hours and days. For the eventful years and the beautiful story of my life that is being crafted slowly but surely, I sure am grateful. For safe movement from location to location, for my legs that can cover distances. For safe trips and journeys on “very good roads”, I am grateful. For what I’ve been through and where I have been and where I currently am

credit    Habits are definitely part of our day to day lives, they are things or traits that we pick up oftentimes unknowingly be it good or bad habits. I suck at intros at times, so, I ’ d dive into the 4 healthy habits I have to share with y ’ all today: Gratitude : I doubt it can ever be over-flogged how important gratitude is, it sure feels like an essential in the survival kit of life on planet earth. However, an entitlement mentality (that seems to be gaining more traction nowadays) can often get in the way of one feeling the need to be grateful under all circumstances. Notwithstanding, gratitude is a real healthy habit to cultivate, finding reasons to be grateful no matter how little on a daily basis is definitely needed to add meaning to one ’ s day. credit Exercise : if I were to make a list of 100 things I suck at, no doubt, exercising (conscious workout) would have one of the top spots on that list. That aside, exercising keeps the whole body fit (from t

Hey guys!! *peeps in* Sorry I've been AWOL for a couple of weeks now, I just couldn't make it here (for reasons I can't quite place my index finger on). I know this isn't what I intended or said to do but...*face palms*. The year is fast winding up and it is moments like this that people find themselves counting their blessings and reminiscing on their flop and things they possibly could have done better. Based on this, I'd be addressing failure or failing, whichever you choose. source    Experiencing failure (failing) and seeing one's self as a failure are two entirely different things that some may find quite hard to draw a line between. Failure a majority of time precedes unbelievable success, remember the failures Thomas Edison encountered before the invention of the electric bulb? Had it been that dear ol' Thomas downed his tools upon his 50th failure, he most definitely won't have the credit that we accord to him following that invention.  

   So, I'm on break like i mentioned in an earlier post. Being on break translates to more time on my hands and more time in turn means more room to fit books into my life. Plans to get my more preferred paperback novels fell through and, i was left look for a book to take me through some part of the break, the format regardless. After it all, i found the above mentioned book--stumbled upon won't be the right word. I really didn't know what to expect when getting the book but then, my past experience with JAMES PATTERSON wasn't that bad a one. So, i was willing to give it a shot. OVERVIEW EXPELLED, as probably inferred from the title is about a couple of high schoolers who got dismissed from the a certain high school (Arlington) in pinewood city-- a relatively small town. The lead character (narrator) is Theo Foster, a nerdy kid, who serves as the editor for the school's mag and runs a secret but not so secret twitter account, dispersing school news, gists an

   Howdy folks, how have you been, wherever you may be? Trust you've been well and making life worth living. I'd be talking about organization today. Over the past months, a couple of persons have said on different occasions that my life is "too structured" or "I'm too efficient" (their words, not mine). I feel you may not quite agree with the efficiency aspect as I have been slacking on here, that won't be far from a truth. Anyway, I am more than tempted to believe that my seeming organization is as a result of my upbringing. Growing up, I (we) were more or less trained with time, most things had time allocated to them, even if the time might have been in terms of days and not hour. Growing up also to meet to-do lists (written on sticky notes) stuck where everyone would see them during the holidays--love, mom--, definitely made me grow up to a structured life/ scheduled life.     Enough of the backstory *smiles*, I have thought up some things t

   I feel like I say this almost every time I come on here, but Oh well!, I loovvee writing. I actually don’t think I could get tired of it except when I'm—unfortunately—stuck in a writer’s block. I started “writing” a year or so into secondary school and though there have been highs and lows, it’s been love a major part of the way all the way. I would be writing about journaling today, sure the post title has given that away already.    I remember my Sis having a diary at some point and I observed that she updated it regularly. I on the other hand used to suck at keeping a diary—I still suck a bit— basically because I don’t like people stumbling upon my stuff forget I have a journal at times. Lol. Years passed, stuff happened along the way and I felt the need to write my random thoughts and life happenings just for records sakes. I then begun keeping journals—“journals” because I write random things in various books and I must confess it can be hard finding snippets at times. I’

HELLO-O-O-O!!!! In past weeks (a month plus) that I've been away which I apologize for, quite a number of things have happened and lessons learnt. From learning to cope with temperaments of varying kinds to accepting that there are certain things that are meant to happen no matter how hard I may try to change them, it has been a blog break that revealed these and many more to me. Honestly, aside school work and pressure pushing me into a blog break, I slid into a little blog rot, that moment when I you actually put pen to paper but the ink doesn't flow. Yes, I suffered that too. But as the pressure is being relieved, it feels like I'm getting my buzz back. I have learnt and am still learning to trust regardless the "apparent circumstances". Any-hoo!! Exams are due to finish soon and I'd be back to blogging  and I dare say I'd be around for more than a while--by His Grace-- and hopefully be more diligent with my updates. This is just a post to remind you my

Hey people!! Been quite a while but I'm here again with my somewhat random thoughts. I believe you'd enjoy this piece as you take time to read through though it's rather short.   Many a times, things happen and within that moment, you wonder why they take that form. You see them as happening to your demerit but indeed they might be acting in your favor.    Events like these occur daily, in every waking moment of ours. But hardly do we recognize them until the counter occurs and then, you realize it all was for your good at the start. It is said, in all things and under every circumstance, give thanks to God. That is to say, when it looks bad, when the going is great, when things are still, when life moves at a speed beyond what you phantomed... In all these, give thanks.    As i often say and have seen play out more often than not, there's always something to be thankful for in all situations, you just have to clean your lenses and train your eyes to identify t

    Forever young,     I want to be forever young. .... Thus goes the line of a certain song, but unfortunately or otherwise, we can't really the young forever. As far as I know, humans, living things generally are susceptible to change and that includes uhm aging (it's only God that's ageless). I remember how people used to make so much fuss when their 18th years came knocking and I wondered what the hell the fuss was about. I just saw that age–18– as any other regular age when I was younger and even now that I'm there, I'm afraid I still feel same. First off, I'm not one that thinks some birthdays are more important than others, I see every year lived as a reason to be thankful. I don't think one has to wait till certain ages before making or recording some notable achievements.    So, I discovered the whole fuss with 18 was basically the "legalness" of the age, one would be free to do certain things that age had long restricted. To me though,

     Hello world!! (Echoes). I'm back from my unannounced hiatus. I just needed to go off for a while, from exams to projects and life generally. Oh well!! I'm back– for the meantime. Whilst I was away, I didn't forget all about this place and y'all –as usual. I realized however, how impersonal my articles/posts on here have been and for a change, I'm going to attempt giving you a peek into a portion of my life aside my thoughts and musings I post here regularly. Here it goes:    Pardon me if this post ends up being not as personal as you might have thought, I'm not used to that style of writing. This post is essentially me giving you insight to what has kept me away for like two, three months now..... AKA School.    So, late last year, I got in to study what I for a somewhat major part of my life have been yearning to. Hold up, this post was initially meant to give an insight to my experience this past semester in the school of Architecture. But, on a se

Hey! Hey!! Hey!!! Been quite a while I've been here. Hmmmpph!!! I've been stretched beyond elastic limits these past months. Lol. So, the word SCAR has been in my thoughts for quite a while and i just had to write about it. SPOILER ALERT: it's rather short.    Life is hardly ever easy. There are and would almost always be events, things, happenings that turn to torturous memories. There would be events that would leave cuts, gashes and scars as a reminder of the experience and lessons learnt. Scars add beauty to our lives (pardon the paradox). Look beyond the cuts, see the healing process, appreciate the scars.    Just as engravings beautify pottery, scars beautify our years on earth. They add content to the years, the scars frame us. They shape and mold our experiences. They mark us to make us. Don't hide the scars. Appreciate them. They tell the story of your journey cos at times, falling apart is falling in place. Til' next time, 'Mina.

   Some time late last year, December to be precise, I stumbled upon this book. I had seen it two months earlier at a rather inopportune time to read it. So, I flipped through the pages, read the opinions others had about the book—those that usually lie within the first pages of the book. TBH, I picked the book to chase sleep away, it worked. That was how I began to read “ THE SOCIETY ” by MICHAEL PALMER . As it usually goes,let me give you an overview of the book. OVERVIEW    THE SOCIETY revolves essentially around the health/medical sector of the USA. It is set mainly in Boston, copyrighted 2004. There's Doctor Will Grant, a surgeon and father of two who misses the days of “raw” medical practice. Days when patients could get the attention that was required as soon as needed without the doctor having to go through and sign so much paperwork. Or go back and forth with the HMOs (Health Management Organizations) in order to broker “fair deals”. Days when patients could stay

 The post you are about to read was written some while back when I was in my "Socrates mood". Well, I was basically musing about the happenings around and viola!! This post was born. Not pre-planned but I think it turned out well, right? Lemme know when you are done with it.    It saddens my heart to see the society promoting that which shouldn't even be heard of in the first place. Things that ordinarily would be hidden and not spoken of in the earlier days are so easily & shamelessly broadcast nowadays. It leaves me wondering—as always—if the society consciously encourages these things or it has just become normal to we the people. Often times, we do things taking the society to heart, that's why we find ourselves considering what people would say or think when we're about to do certain things.    However, that feeling of the society being right many a time is fading away right before my eyes. Why won't it; when the society now—subtly—encourages acts

We made it!!!! This marks the end of the WEIRD-ISH series. It has been fun all the way and I'm hoping you didn't find my thoughts too weird *winks*. Remember I said LIGHTNING (the first installment in this series) was probably my weirdest write up in this series. Well, I thought so until I saw this that you are about reading. I honestly can't say what was going on in my head when I was writing this. I doubt I had any specific thing in mind, I just wrote and this was born. Anyways, enjoy the read. PS: it's rather short.    Gone are the days of doing things just because of people. People's opinions don't sting any longer, what matters is I'm happy and not going against God's will. I don't need to be motivated to do what I ought to do or do better at certain things. Self motivation is all that's needed, trying to break the previous records I've set. A sense of purpose motivates me, the knowledge/hope of a better future spurs me, not the achi

I'm back, with more weirdness. This particular write up was written "just because". So, I wanted to write something with some element of sentimentalism. HAPPINESS was what I thought up. Hoping it would be a pleasurable read. Credit    Happiness is a choice but it can be a hard one to make at times. Times when one is faced with every saddening thing possible, it's hard to choose happiness. Times when one is up against the worst occurrences, it's hard to choose happiness. Times when life throws rocks and hauls boulders one's way, it's hard to choose happiness.                                       Credit Choose to happy irrespective of situations that glare at you with their ugly faces. Choose to be happy though, it's hard in the face of adversity. Choose to be happy cos sadness hardly ever proffers solution. Credit    Choose to be happy, choose to look adversity in the face with a smile playing on your lips and glittery eyes. Refuse de

  Welcome y'all to the first installment of the WEIRD-ISH series. This is probably the weirdest of the posts I've got in store. Enjoy.    THUNDER by IMAGINE DRAGONS left me not only bopping my head but thinking. Sounds weird? Well, my thoughts created a correlation and contrast between LIGHTNING and THUNDER. I definitely prefer lightning. I feel like it sums me up. You only see LIGHTNING but you hear THUNDER (more like a racket). They both start off at the same time (based on science) but LIGHTNING touches down first as it isn't preoccupied with a show of noise unlike THUNDER. Source    Lightning is more “impactful” than it seems. It does kill (struck by lightning?) but certainly doesn't look it. Thunder, on the other hand is pretty much all bark, no bite. Just a racket to make fear set in but in the long run, it doesn't hurt per se. My inference from all of this is; quite a number of times, it's best to be seen than heard. Let your works speak for you (