simply oroque's view

i swear i was not going to write a blog post today. my abeokuta adventure over the weekend seems to have re-inspired me to just go on about everything. i am literally appaled by nigerians at this stage. so there i was last night, lounging in bed and writing my blog when i suddenly remembered that i had applied for visa lottery a few years ago (just because) and nothing became of it. so i made a mental note to check the official site for the DV and maybe apply. The truth is, i don't know what i would ever do if i was even given the green card because i am not at the stage of life where living in a foreign land would make a remarkable difference to me. i'm kinda used to the way of life here, i know how far my salary will take me and that nepa will not change. but anyways, what does not kill you makes you something or the other so whaddaheck. so i get here this morning and log on to their site and now i am angrier than mary slessor upon ariving at 1876 calabar (all my genera...

so, inevitably I keep getting asked by people for tips on blogging. i'm sure I've given some thoughts in an earlier blog post in passing but with more and more people asking me the same question, i think I should devote a full blog post to this issue. blogging will bring attention, deal with that concept right off the bat. I was traveling the other day when I ran into an old acquaintance who was in mid conversation with a third person as I approached after my security check in at the airport. after we exchanged pleasantries, she moved to introduce me to her friend and surprisingly, the friend said she had heard my name before somewhere. I was just going to tell her that my name is quite popular if she has ever been to the south south part of Nigeria but didn't get the chance before she said "I think its just part of the name of a blog I used to read 'something oroque view or something'. I feigned ignorance and proceeded to change the topic because frankly I was...

so as part of my new found randomness, I upped and went to Abeokuta. just because. everytime i travel outside of nigeria on a personal trip, i find that i move around a lot. i want to see everywhere and go everywhere as far and wide as is possible. however, abeokuta is a few minutes from where i spent many years growing up and i have never crossed the border into the state. i doubt that the realization is unique to me. the truth is many people go to the "need to go" places in their lives. work, church, home, bar. they know that the country is bigger than just wuse zone 2 or ikoyi, but nothing takes them out of their routine to explore. growing up, my parents took us everywhere just because. i have been to yola, jos, kaduna, ibadan, uyo and many cities across nigeria as a result of this exploratory spirit. but times have changed. as civil servants, i assume that the work life balance that my parents enjoyed through the 80's is something that we can only dream about. fast-f...

unbelievably, the ASUU strike has gone on for longer than anyone in his right mind would have thought possible. the students are at home getting pregnant or trying to get someone pregnant. the lecturers are on leave hoping that this drags on for longer than necessary knowing fully well that their salaries remain untouched after everything. parents are at their wits end trying to keep hormone driven youngsters occupied...and I keep worrying that one of these idle hands will burgle my house while I am away at work one of these days simply because they have nothing better to do and bit of mischief is inevitable. o well. if the president can sleep at night with the country in this state, why not I? the populace is so tired that nothing bugs it anymore. we have been so pummeled by bad news and seemingly unending near crisis that when the news broke that a plane just crashed carrying dignitaries on board, more than half the people I know just read it and carried on working like they had ju...