simply oroque's view

nigerians really like to feel cool. thats a fact. if you are nigerian, or have lived in nigeria long enough, one of the first things you'll notice is how people just like to identify with whatever the rave is. seriously, even ridiculous trends just catch on like wild fire down here. good example was the time when suddenly all the young girls who managed to gain admission into university felt that it was a show of americanism to use the phrase "like, you know" in every sentence. for no apparent reason, and with no heed to grammatical correctness. you'd hear an over made up girl telling her friend: "so the guy told me, like, you know, that he wants to be my boyfriend, so i'm like i beg your pardon, and he was moving back and feeling cool, like you know, walking away from me until he just fell into the gutter, like you know, like this". i mean, damn. thankfully that passed real quick (or maybe i just grew too old to notice). and so yesterday, someone who ...

okay, so i came up here today hoping to write about something lighthearted, you know, like how the rain won't stop even though there used to be something called "August Break" when we were younger (maybe we should take all this environmental talk a lil more seriously), and how tiger woods deserves what he got when he forgot for a moment he was a black man, and black men are full of testosterone which the average tepid white woman cannot handle (no racism intended) or even about the very stupid hostage rescue job carried out by the phillipino police some days ago, which left 9 people dead at the end of the dramatic/mission impossible style rescue. i daresay, for once and maybe never again, that i am proud of the nigerian police in comparison to what i saw of the phillipines. even i was doing a much better job with my mouth while watching the thing on television during lunch break at work. but interesting as all those almost-topics may sound, the news story that interests...

for the first time in a long time (happily for my chrsitian peeps), i will not be writing about my church after a weekend. and no, its not cos it got burnt down, but because there was no service yesterday. for me, the perfect weekend is one with books, news on television and the internet....sprinkled with some lazying about and politics. just to start out by saying, that i had the perfect weekend. for no reason on friday, i just decided to experiment with my expenditure flow. you know, over time i have realized a worrisome trend with my weekend spending. during the week, i can actually spend next to zero. well, thats because when i had my car, the fuel money would have been paid upfront and administered by my driver with close supervision. i would use my office phone to make all my calls (shhh, don't tell my boss i said that), and eat my one really good meal for free at work during lunchtime (don't let my size fool you, i'm actually not a foodie person). and so, except ...

okay, so first off, this is not my regular blog post of scathing criticism and unashamed whining. its what i like to call a seat filler. well, i know many of you have not watched a movie of the same name (it wasn't exactly box office material) featuring kelly rowland and mel b, but contrary to what you might expect of a movie boasting of two "formerly famous" music stars, it was nothing to write home about. here's the summary: some dude is broke and gets a job filling up empty chairs at award shows in place of invited guests that dont turn up, and then gets to seat next to a real singing superstar (you guessed it, super...ahem...kelly rowland) and as guys always do, tries to pretend to be who he's not to get her. long drab story short, he gets her, she finds out who he really is, he loses her, she can't forgive him and then she does and then thay live happily ever after. you can wake up now. so basically, this is a post to fill in the space until i read th...

i'm just gonna pretend that it has not been a long time since i wrote my last blog post. a lot has happened that i am not willing to talk about. love remains slow in coming, i am in desperate need for motivation at work, my car packed up eventually and is on the market for a buyer and everything is a tad slow. but otherwise, i guess i am just glad to be alive (doesn't sound like me right? i know, lol). so you already know that my sundays are usually church filled and my posts are often church themed, so no surprises here. but i heard a story last week that just re-emphasises my opinion, that the church has lost its way in the midst of countless varying interpretations of the same scripture, and that chrsitianity has refused to come to terms with the world as it exists today, quite like the ostrich hiding its tiny head in the sand and leaving its huge body exposed, in the hope that whatever it is running from will just stop being so life-threatening by the time it pokes its he...

i know you all saw the papers last week. well, i won't call them newspapers, because there was hardly any news in them. and that was because a few people who are inarguably rich and alligned with the ruling party, but who are arguably undeserving of as much as a standing ovation for their contributions to their villages, were given national honours and  hijacked whatever little credibility that our national dailies had by buying up page after page in congratulations to themselves under different pseudonyms. i browsed with shock as page after coloured page of intellectual space was wasted congratulating the governor of kwara state - Bukola Saraki, the owner of an oil company - Femi Otedola and my absolute favourite, some unknown Hajia who's claim to fame in the minds of all right thinking people, is her uncanny ability to appear in glossy softsell magazines, profiling her attendance of every elite party in town. to be honest, there isn't much to say, so i wont bore you w...

here's a brief summary of the new movie in Nigeria, its an independent production happening in real time, quite like reality TV shows, but only more scandalous. It's titled "when we were true". as always, its directed, produced and acted out by the same folks so grab a popcorn and coke, sit tight and listen attentively. for those of you who live outside nigeria/on a floating meteor in outer space, you may not have heard about the headline kidnapping of five journalists on their way from one of the south eastern states in Nigeria. They apparently went to attend some event somewhere and were returning in a vehicle, when they were abducted. Usually, news of kidnappings in the south east region of Nigeria do not exactly make headline news anymore, as Nigerians have grown immune to this new criminal vice (as with everything else) and have just decided to let go and move on. However, since these were journalists involved, their colleagues in the print and television med...

so as usual, i went online to read the papers and was struck in the face by the following headline attributed to the President on 234next.com: "Power supply will stabilize when we achieve 40,000 MW". part of the report acknowledged that as at today, Nigeria is still trying to achieve 10,000 MW of electricity. and so, in my usual nothing-better-to-do-on-a-weekend mode, i went on a research to identify exactly what the problem was with Nigeria and getting power. As you probably already know, each time there is a massive power outtage (massive means more than we already experience daily) the Power Holding Company of Nigeria will take to the media to explain it away by laying the blame on things like "low water levels" and "lack of gas supply". naturally, that indicates that our present power generation system is based on water and crude oil related sources. so, here's what i found on the internet: In 1969, the 11,500 MW Kainji dam was inaugurated....

okay, today i'm gonna say as little as need to be said. not only because its not a topic i like to talk about, but i'm just plain tired and its the middle of the week and i should be sleeping. as the whole world possibly knows by now, i had a slightly improved weekend in terms of activities last saturday. i went out to watch a movie, and simple as that journey sounds, it brought many many questions to mind. how was life planned out to be? where did i think i would be by this age? what did i hope to become or achieve? i remember growing up, i was constantly planning ahead. by the time i was 7 i had planned all the way to my 17th birthday, by the time i was 21 i had decided what i'd be doing by 30. needless to say, nothing exactly went as i planned, and life often took its own course. fortunately for me, most of it took turns for the better. half of the plans i made when i was younger was borne purely out of fear. from a very young age, i have always feared that for some unkn...

my hand almost reached for you my skin could have felt your touch the moves, the brilliance of your stage so so far and yet so near your voice ringing so true sincere, even through the blue for your make believe, made me believe that being far, your also near my laughter you never heard when gloomy nights i lay in bed watching you mimic life, so true not too far but not so near and now art bows to life as the sun to night sans strife and no more you shall we behold ever far and no more here. goodnight Toun Oni. from a fan you never knew.