Just Thinking Out Loud!: August 2006

Some 2K10 Goals by God's special grace n power

Paint entire house
Set up entire downstairs including garage
Reduce credit card debt by at least $2k
Pay off any miscellaneous debt
Most definitely get into a committed relationship
~~Most definitely send money to mom for a new car~~
Take time to develop relationships
At least, 2 patents
Aggresively work on developing iPhone App dev skills
Create a webpage for DJing
Expand my career breadth
Visit London
Join Toastmasters
Create a will and a Power of Attorney 4 Healthcare
Take complete control of soda drinking
Work on taking a CPR class

SO, HELP ME GOD!

Some 2K7 Goals by God's special grace n power

~~Finally buy some Nyja stocks~~
~~Get a loaded Thinkpad or Sony Vaio~~
~~Join MentorPlace n consistently mentor~~
~~Put at least $2K in stocks apart from investment club contr. & 401k~~
~~Take complete control of coffee~~

SO, HELP ME GOD!

Some 2K6 Goals by God's grace

~~Have a white paper published~~
~~Work on increasing pay~~
~~Get to the next band at work~~
~~Help renovate mom's place~~
~~Give mom n bro at least $*K each for wedding~~
~~Finally visit Nyja!!!~~
~~Take a real estate class~~

My Videos

Go Getta. R. Kelly

Music I'm Feeling...

2Face
Ebenezer Obey
KWAM 1
Cassandra Wilson
Pharell
Ne-Yo
T.O.K
Don Moen
D4L
Teddy Pendergrass
ColdPlay
DMB
Notorious B.I.G
Delirious
Dem Franchise Boyz
Frank Sinatra
Evanescence
All-American Rejects
Billie Holiday
Seal
Obesere
KEM

Books I'm reading...

~~Zero Debt~~
~~The Millionaire Next Door~~
~~The Street Lawyer~~
African Women: Three Generations
Communication, Sex & Money
The J2EE Tutorial

Cities I Have Visited

ATL, GA
Austin,TX
Detroit, MI
Houston, TX
Charlotte, NC
Corning, NY
NYC, NY

Monday, August 28, 2006

At long last....

Word Up!

When I'm finished with you, you're gonna wish that you felt this good again.
~ Jack Bauer

At long last, the best show on TV ever - 24 - got what it ALWAYS deserved - 5 Emmy Awards - including the more than well-deserved Lead Actor in a Drama Series award. Jack Bauer (more like Kiefer Sutherland, I guess : ) ), most definitely deserves it. The depth with which Kiefer immersed (and will be immersing cos I'm sure he won't disappoint next season... he better not) himself in the character is unarguably unmatched to me on TV. That guy makes you feel like you are in the wrong career path; he just makes you think you should be a CTU Agent. : ) Now, got to get season 4 and 5 on DVD on Black Friday. Hopefully they will be on $20 sale again. Most def can't wait for season 6 to start - emerging from being tortured by the Chinese government and all. Hmmm....NOW, THAT WILL BE WILD! Congrats, Kiefer Sutherland!!! I just wish Jean Smart made the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series award cos hmmph hmmmph mehn, that woman has the best looking juggs for any woman of her age. Ok, not just that. : ) She did an outstanding job in her role. : )

All my life, I have never really been a sneaker person. Always wore everything else but sneakers until recent years. I just always saw those things as too expensive especially the Basketball shoes. $150, $125. In some cases, as much as $200 or probably more that I don't even know about. Those shit were (and are) just too expensive making the lives of some parents miserable cos their kids always wanted them. Crazy! That's just pure madness to me. I started wearing them some years back but the most I have paid for any is $80 for my #1 - Adidas Racer Low (LOVE THEM!!!). Always heard people complain here and there, especially parents but none of the people in positions that could change the price gouging ever did. They just helped the shoe giants like Nike rip people off the more, with profits as much as $1.8 billion in quarter ending in May 06, just to mention. They make the shoes for chump change in Asia and make incredible profits charging we, the ever-flamboyant ones exorbitant prices. Not their fault, really...I guess.

Was listening to Clark Howard earlier on today and at long last, someone of famous repute is finally stepping up to the plate to help curb this unnecessary rip-offs by the giants. Stephon Marbury has opened his own line of shoes to help make sneakers affordable. His shoes go as low as $9. Unbelievable, right! Yep! I thought so, too! Till I checked it out - STARBURY.COM. The shoes look great...to me! Some of them might need some work here and there, but I don't believe they look cheap or of less quality at all. Though, that's a whole different story...especially when you think about the market segement targeted by the makers of such shoes. Their (as well as many of us as blacks) mentality is, if it's not name brand, it's nothing! But I think that will be taken care of if more people join him. I very much commend him for this. It's definitely much needed. Keep up the good work, Marbury!!! Kudus!!! Great initiative! You already got one customer - I guess I will finally get my first Jordan-like shoes! :) Could never get myself to pay that much for those shoes.

I really hope many other people that have the capacity to establish companies will follow his footsteps and consequently help consumers bring down the prices of those shoes. To be frank, I got to say that I am surprised he was able to get this point without those bastard mammoths crushing his dream. I really just wonder how far his dream will go cos I am very nervous about the potential longetivity of this great work, suddenly, cut by the robeasts out there. I just hope his line only gets better and bigger. I really really really hope so...

posted by Just Thinking Out Loud! @ 4:52 PM 3 comments

Thursday, August 24, 2006

FINALLY!!!

Eyo ooooo, eeeee eyo oooo! Eyo baba n tawa .... Memories of the days I used to go see Eyo with my mom and the "whole family." I don't know why that comes to mind but I am just dead excited right now. Can't wait!

I remember when I was leaving - how I thought I would be back to see everyone the next year with all sorts of gifts for my peeps! The next year came, couldn't, next year, next year, next year and it has been almost a decade without making it there! I really just thank God that it is finally here! Finally!

I will be in Nyja this year by the special grace of God, after almost a decade. Wow! Yes o! Paid for my ticket weeks ago and finally got it today. E ba mi ki Hallelluyah meje ati abo! (Shout 7 Hallelluyahs on my behalf). lol! It has been quite ironic. Back then, when I was in Nyja, I remember we used to call one of our uncles here in US, Baba Ilu Oyinbo (the Father of the Western world or more literally Father of the White World) jokingly. Like my siblings joke around, over the years, I have pretty much become that. Thank God the joke is over now, though! I can't wait to make it to Nyja this year. Mehn, finally!!! I will finally get to see awon ti temi (my own peoples)! After all these years! Thank God! Like I used to pray, Pls God go before me to Nyja, be behind me, be all around me!!!!

I can just imagine everything will look strange yet the same to me. I pray and hope I will get some great and outstanding business opportunities as I go there in December. Even if I don't (which I know I will by God's grace), maybe I will get to see some Eyo in Lag or Oro Festival in Ijebu. Omo, Nigeria, here I come o! : )

posted by Just Thinking Out Loud! @ 11:08 AM 10 comments

Friday, August 18, 2006

Sold-out Commitment

Word Up!

Without commitment, there can be no lifting or promotion.
~ Eyan

First of all, ni pato oro(briefly), a hearty Congratulations to my friends on their recent great feat! Ok. Last weekend went to MD. Went to the NyjaFest which was cool. It was good but the much more spacious venue, I believe, made it seem less interesting than last year's event. It was great seeing more Americans than I saw there last year. I usually like meeting open-minded Americans that go out to see what other cultures have to offer. All in all it was great and will do it again hopefully with my own tent next yr delivering some kind of service or product. Met a lot of folks from my alma mater and it almost made it feel like a reunion. Mehn, peeps are doing big things for real! I just always feel very inspired every time I go to MD and see how folks are doing. Always!!!

Heard some words about commitment this last weekend and I have to say that that is one foreign word to me. It got me thinking about the relevance of that word in my life. That word is one word that has barely had any relevance in my life for quite a while. Just name the aspect and it barely, if at all, has any poignance. When it comes to non-platonic relationships, absolutely appalling. Platonic relationships, same thing. Awful! Never keep in touch with people! Religion, inarguably willy nilly. Other aspects of my life? Nothing to write home about too when it comes to being fully committed. I really don't remember being completely committed to anything in years...in about the past 4 or 5 years.

The only thing that I have been quite committed to in the past few years is my job. And I guess that's becos I have no choice...man got to eat at least. And come to think of it, even that, I am not necessarily the most sold out. I am one of those that just always gets his job done somehow and by God's grace, it usually comes out great! Not like my mentor who is just sold out. His job is his life. I mean... I actually admire that but just haven't been able to be sold out like that in a while. I remember being totally and completely embedded in Web Development back in the days. I knew every technology out there. But now, that commitment is not as strong as then. I still know a good number of them but not as much as then. Anyway, it's still there, at least. But any other aspect of my life? For where?

I have always admired people being committed to a cause such as religion, politics, social justice, youths, volunteerism, corporate governance, social issues, etc. I, as a person, have been committed to some of those in times past, but in recent years, I have not even been close to committing to anything. Be it religion, be it social issues, be it youths, commitment hasn't been my passionate forte at all. I must say, though, that I have actually been good with social volunteerism being part of Habitat for Humanity and quite a number of youth-based science and engineering events every year for the past 3 years. But that "sold-out" spirit is just not there, like I see in some people and had some years back.

And when it comes to relationship, damn! ...no comments...for real! I was talking to a friend of mine last night and I had to think out loud at a point in our conversation. When was the last time that I had a clearcut committed relationship where we were girlfriend and boyfriend. Almost a decade!!! Gaddem! Damn! She was like Damn! : ) The last time I introduced anyone to someone as my girlfriend was in 1996 in Nyja. WTF? Now, that is absolutely and incredibly dreadful!!! Dreadful is an understatement...for real. But...hey...it's the truth! Camouflaging the truth does not in any way alter it! Mehn, I have dated more people than the number of Nigerian movies released in one month. Ok....maybe not that many. Actually, I didn't date anyone for most of those years cos I was sold out to the most important person in life. But since that has become otherwise, I have had great relationships (and I mean really great relationships) with people a very good number of times, but just refused to commit to them and made it known. Every time it got to that point where the next step was commitment, I just always made it clear that I was not interested in that level. I have just believed that if you know you are not ready for it or if you know you don't like this person enough to leave all, don't do it (Never understood why people get married or committed and still fuck around, but that's for another day). When it comes to relationships, I have just always believed you either FULLY committed or nothing rather than commitment with contrary actions (at least with the last girl I was ALL in). I am in no sense proud of this, but oto ni oto (truth is truth). There are several reasons for this, but I will that for another time.

Anywayz, just thinking about all these and seeing the manifestations in the lives of those who are committed to a cause or someone and in my life when the sold-out spirit was eminent, all I could think was that the commitment nature (be it in relationships or not), is one of the secrets to being a star! Whatever I am doing I have to do it with all my might like the Good Book says in order to become a star. It is definitely not an easy task and it takes getting out of my regular self, but without it, I can only be in the ordinary majority. Be like everyone else on the street. I've got to be committed to make a difference and be a difference. Have you seen a man diligent in his business. He shall stand before kings and not ordinary men. Commitment will always make me the best and consequently promoted and then consequently a star...actually a superstar. For instance, if there is one year that I was completely sold out to my job, it was last year, and guess what, by God's grace, I got promoted this year like I needed. It doesn't necessarily always work that way, but in my short life here, one of the things I have come to truly see as certain is with consistent unrelenting commitment in anything I do (be it sales, be it medicine, be it law, be it barbing, be it whatver), promotion ALWAYS comes. That's why I need to catch that spirit again. I, more than anyone else in the whole wide world, need this complete sold-out spirit in every aspect of my life once again and forever. One of my greatest desire in life is to be an epitome of excellence in life - in my marriage, relationships and every other aspect of my life. Right now, very far from it. I will definitely need commitment to make it happen. Got to get it back and even more than ever! God help me!

ok. enough of the thoughts. I am glad Google finally updated the long abandoned Blogger. I can now categorize my entries like Typepad and some of the other services allow you to. Here is more info about that - Google's Blogger Updated.

For the enterpreneurs and business-minded like Onada and Buki81 here are some useful tools - 20 Great Resources for Enterpreneurs. Also, this might help some folks - Best states for Businesses. Glad one of my favorite states made the top 5.

There are lots and lots of digital photographs folks out there. Thought this article might be very useful - 10 ways to make your digital photos last forever.

And now, this is an excellent excellent deal a 1GB USB Drive for all those files for just $15.99. Even with shipping it's still a deal. And no rebates too. Wow! that's a good deal for sure. I wish I lived in Marietta, GA. That way I could save that extra shipping charge. : )

And this is one of the funniest sites out there to me - South Park Quotes. Don't watch the show avidly but I love it. That is one crazy show! : )

Ok. ok. TGIF! Like I used to pray as a kid, I pray everybody in the world has a wonderful weekend. Enjoy! :)

posted by Just Thinking Out Loud! @ 12:33 AM 4 comments

Friday, August 11, 2006

Help me...with some training...I beg.

Word Up!

Defeat may serve as well as victory to shake the soul and let the glory out.
~ Edwin Markham

If you happen to be in the Baltimore/DC area, check this event out:
NAIJAFEST 2006. It's a festival that shows different aspects of the Nigerian culture with vendors and various artistic activites among others. Last year, I remember seeing a vendor that taught people how to speak Yoruba. They had software and everything too. Quite impressive. I'm really proud of the main organizers - Nigerian Youth Association of Maryland (at the rate they are blowing up, they will have to remove that Maryland from their domain name soon : ) ). I remember when they were just doing it in the living room of the ....s. Kudus, peoples! Iba o! Keep up the good work. And, peoples, if you live in the area, check it out...for real! It will definitely be worth your time. Great place to meet folks too. ;)

Ok. Went to AND1 Mixtape Tour on Wednesday after work with a couple of friends. 2 of them were a couple. They met sometime ago (in March) and they will be getting married sometime this month. Amazing, right? But I will leave that story for another day. The AND1 thing is a show I used to watch every now and then on BET or so. It looked really great on TV. But on going to see the players live, it was not as great as it looked on TV. Still a good game regardless. Definitely a great environment, great crowd, great MC and very relaxing for sure, so loved it! The guys made a couple of classic moves that is normally expected from the AND1 crew. Helicopter did his thing earning the player of the game which he definitely deserved. That guy was making it happen on the court with the dribbles, the 3 pointers, the killer dunks! BAM! WHAT! And the 2 most entertaining moves of the game? Spyda! Mehn, I'm pissed that I didn't catch it on camera. He dunked and hung on the rim all crawled up on it like a kid hugging his dad after being away for a long time. He must have stayed that way for a minute. I really had enough time to catch it on camera but, like everyone else, I was too dazzled to see that live and direct. Then I don't remember who, either Baby Shaq or Spyda too. The guy dribbled another very defensive player, held the ball and almost took off his jersey from his body. WHOW! 1/2 Man, 1/2 Amazing did that before (he actially took it off entirely), but that was on TV. This was live. I loved it. Nice game with a few moves, but I was expecting more.

Why did I go to my coworker's roller skating birthday party last night and sat down throughout. Ok, the last time I roller skated must have been when I was like 6 or 7. So, my coworker had a lil skate party last night (old school grown folks Thursday night, like they called it) and I decided to go out. Went with my friend that was an expert. I had told myself I would try it since I was able to learn how to Ice skate some years back. After much falling, of course. Got there, paid for the skates, put them on. You would have thought I was a skating champion or something. Na yam! Next thing. Mehn, I looked at the people skating and I was like, omo, NOPE, Hell no! I thought I was watching Roll Bounce for real. There was no way I was going to embarass myself by going out there to fall. Hell f&*^ing no!!! I just sat my ass down immediately. My friend tried to convince me to get up. I just told her, I will be aight that she can go do her thing. After much convincing by the celebrant, I managed to stand up. Fuck! I couldn't even move. I tried standing. Barely did it. Managed to get close to the ring, got on it, saw how slippery it was and told her, you know what, how about you go around once and by the time you come around I will be ready. lol! Convinced her to do that and went to sit down. Next thing, she was right in front of me again. Ooooooooooooooh! Why now! I got up, went on it with her. I tried the ice skating move of bending my knees and all, but for where? Anywayz, I just told her to ride on and I jumped over the rails and got out. Of course I fell down on landing outside the ring. Dammit. The DJ called me out too. : ) Mehn, that was it for me for the night. Somebody, help me....with some training!!!! : )

Now for the aspiring writers, check out LULU.COM if you are trying to publish a book. They help with book publishing et al. Onada, Soul (and all the rest of u writers out there), if you are reading this, you might want to look into that. Adaure, you should look into it and release that nice Nyja-based uniquely humorous book. You guyz gotz some skills. ;) Adaure, definitely, not a cookbook though. ;) Just playing! : )

For anyone that shops online and uses Paypal, you might be able to switch to Google Checkout for cheaper and get a free T-shirt too (it's a new payment service competing with Paypal. As much as I love everything Google, I'm sorry to say that it will take a while for it to meet up, though). I wish I still shopped online like back in the days cos I would love to get one of those T-shirts. If only Google Checkout was allowed at Charles Tyrwhitt's website, I would still be down regardless though. Dammit. : )

Now, this is what you call skills. This pool maestro is doing it - Pooling (Billiards) Master. WHAT! Outstanding!!! Got to try those moves the next time I go out to the pool bar. Pls, I wish! Na yam?

Anywayz, loving the day. It's a great day to be alive and working on it as it comes!!!!

posted by Just Thinking Out Loud! @ 8:56 AM 2 comments

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

It's the impact that matters.

Word Up

When you love people and have the desire to make a profound, positive impact upon the world, then will you have accomplished the meaning to live.
~ Sasha Azevedo (American Actress, Athlete and Model)

It's amazing how you can get addicted to(or used to, depending on what term seems more suitable) something and not realize it. In most cases, these things are very simple and seemingly harmless activities. This weekend, I decided not to go out and party in any form and just relax on Friday and Saturday night. Mehn, it was tough. I guess I didn't realize how much I had gotten used to going to a bar or club every weekend pretty much since this year started. On Friday night, I had at least 3 friends/coworkers call me to see what was going on around and if I wanted to do something. Everyone of them wanted to be out. They tried to convince me to come out and were kind of surprised I wasn't doing anything. It was 1st Friday and there were 2 events among many others going on in town - Latino and then the typical HipHop 1st Fridays. 2 nice relaxed events usually packed with the some of the most decent and charming young working class people in the area. Mehn, why now! Why did I choose this weekend to just relax and not do jack socially! Hearing the justifications for coming out from one of my friends didn't help either, but mehhnnn, I had to just sit my butt down and do a more relaxed hangout. It took everything in me...for real!

Same thing on Saturday. Though I ended up going to a get-together (more like a hangout, so it was cool with me. just sit down, eat, watch Nyja music videos kind of stuff) and then tried getting into a spot on my way home. My good friend asked me to come out to nice place for $2. I was like, naaa. No plans to go out. Going home! Thanks. Then I thought about it. I will drive by the area and just say hi (that's the height of addiction right there). Pls! Say hi ko, say hi ni!!! I stopped by on my way home and the security guy said I couldn't come in cos I was wearing a white T-shirt. I was wearing my one and only - white FCUK logo tee. "What? Boy, it's not just a white T. It's designers mehn", I told the guy, bursting into laughter with him and my friend. Omo, I paid for this Tee. LOL! Anyway, I just thought to myself, "Wheeeew! Thank God! This will help me achieve my goal of just chilling all weekend." I just told the guy and my friend no qualms and left. Went home and straight to bed.

I got to say that it took everything in me not to go out. I couldn't believe it. I have always gone out a lot (I have a coworker friend that calls me Energizer), but always knew how to just chill too. In times past, as much as I went out, many weekends, I took the time out to chill alone with the lights off, :) just chilling on my sofa watching Gladiator, Usual Suspects or Kings of Comedy for the umpteenth time. But this time around, I realzied that I had been out every weekend this year so far apart from maybe once in which I travelled. I had gotten so used to it and my whole system just knew to go out every weekend. That's all it knew. It had become a habit. I remember hearing Mike Murdock say something once, "if you can do something everyday for 30 days, it will become a habit [and you will get used to it]." Absolutely true, I realized. Omo, one really has to watch the things that one does constantly before it beceomes a habit and becomes more difficult to stop. Got to keep it balanced...as usual.

Ok. Went to progressive beauty's dad's first sermon event on Sunday. Was there all day Sunday. Different experience (just like I like it) and loved it...for sure. It was a Southern Baptist church deep in the country. Very small town with probably much less than 3000 people. I have always seen and heard about the Southern churches on TV and in the movies. Mehn, they weren't lying at all. I meann...I've been to a couple already...in the cities, but apparently those were not the typical onces I had heard about or seen in the movies. This was the real deal. : ) The type in Kingdom Come movie and stuff. I mean, the typical black church with all the tantrums, wooden pews, white-clad old women with nice but very unique hats and hairstyles. It was amazing. I mean off-da-shiznee like Jerome says. From outside, it looked like the old-time white brick building from outside, with very nice interior. Wooden pews with families, mostly mothers and grandmothers seated with their kids on the pews, shouting, "Preach Pastor, Hallelluyah! Hallelluyah! Gloooorrrryy!!!" Many of the elders had on nice white attires - different styles. The ushers had on white dresses with belts in the middle (trench coat-like with the shoulder flaps) and white gloves. Many of the other ladies in the congregation had on gloves too. Just like I had always seen on TV. There was this old lady especially with white skirt suit and hat each lined with gold in the middle of the suit and around the hat with sparkling white gloves. And the tantrums and trances? All over! It was wild! One lady jumped up and down so hard during the praise, the floors (well-polished wooden floor) were actually vibrating. And I mean vibrating. I could feel them beneath my feet. Earthquake-like! Now, I knew I was definiely in the south. Finalllyyyy!!! The whole thing took me back to when I was a kid in Kerubu and Serafu (Cherubim and Seraphim) church in Nigera. The environment felt so amiable. Very friendly people. You just kind of felt welcomed. It was like one big family. They definitely epitomized the Southern Hospitality. Definitely had the best of time...all day!

One thing I have to acknowledge is their choir. As small as the church was (probably about 100 people or so), it was one of the best choirs I had ever heard in my whole life so far. I mean, it felt like heaven. WHAT!!! I mean.... It was immeasurably outstanding. In the morning, they had a male choir - phenomenal. In the evening, they had their mass choir. Ooooooh Looorrrrd, what can i say! The Alto, outstanding, Tenor, LIKE WHOW, the Soprano, my oh my, out-of-this-world. I mean....WHAT! Lil Jon must have gotten that phrase from the dazzling effect of the Southern Black choir's performance. Their voices were, indubitably, a perfect blend of absolute and undeniably untainted synchronous harmony. I don't know if that makes sense but mehn, I was dumbfounded listening to them. Nyja churches definitely need to catch this. I don't know how, but we need it for real.

Anywayz, by the end of the day, after listening to everyone at the reception, it really just got me thinking. The most important thing in life is the impact you make in other people's lives. Apparently, her dad was the whole town's dad and he had all these people that he had "raised" and made very positive impact on in the neighborhood, all grown up. They were all there. They all used to play with his daughters as kids. It was definitely a classic. Took me back home for sure. I wasn't surprised at all. From apparent observations, you could see that this guy LOVED people! It was even contagious. Besides the point, but him and his wife have been married for over 40 years (Unheard of, especially here in the US). The whole experience really just taught me to take the relationships I have very important, develop them and make positive impact in people's lives, no matter what. It definitely pays!

posted by Just Thinking Out Loud! @ 2:46 PM 4 comments

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

JTOL

Word Up!

To defeat the aggressors is not enough to make peace durable. The main thing is to discard the ideology that generates war.
~ Ludwig von Mises

Wheew! It's a wonderful day! Thank God! Went to see Chris Tucker last weekend with a couple of friends and for anyone that hasn't been to his comedy show, it's not a bad idea with a date or a better-half. Funny jokes and stuff many of us can relate to. It's amazing to see that I grew up in Nigeria and many stories from African Americans about how their parents (especially their mothers) raised them are surprisingly the same. They sound so familiar to me. The spanking, the scolding, the dinners with extended family, the grannies, the you-better-sit-your-ass-down-there way rather than the please-johnny-sit-down-please style, the eye talk, etc. ok. maybe, the eye talk is not that common here but some people surprisingly had that here too. That one evokes memories in me. I remember the eye talk. You go to a party (owambe) with your mom. Some other kids are there playing around and you decide you want to get up and join them and bam, that look shows up on mom's face. She looks at you with that Margaret Thatcher/Angelina Jolie look and you damn well know you better not move an inch. Or for me, the one I always remember, is going out with my mom and someone tried to give me money as we are leaving (which was a tradition in Nyja. I hope it is still a trad), and next thing, I look at my mom's face to get the approval glance. The funny thing is she smiles and says awwww thank you to the person, but guess what? Somehow, I could still see a hidden message under that smile. I could still see a different glance beneath the seeming approval glance. It was the you-better-say-no-thank-you OR the Don't-you-dare-take-that-money message. Won bi e da ko gba owo yen! If you know your name is ..., take that money and see what happens! I knew not to take it for sure. Who born monkey! Mehn, those were the days...

And my oh my, wassup with this heat mehn. WTF! The heat is just unbearable. The heat in recent days just makes me nervous about what the future holds. These temperatures are getting higher yearly. And the humidity? That shit is no joke! Even at night, it's the same thing. Came out of the theater earlier this week and I felt like someone took a very hot and damp towel and was massaging my entire body. Not a good feeling! It was like being in a hot oven with extreme moisture being rained down on you concurrently. This was at 9.30pm for Christ's sake! One would think the night breeze would have taken over. But for where! I just really hope as time goes on, we won't starting burning into pure chaff while walking on the streets as the decades go by cos statistics show that the temeperature has been getting progressively higher each year all over the world and apparently, doesn't seem to be abating at all. Next thing, we might just see people walking on the street and being War-of-the-Worlds. I think environmentalists are sometimes very annoying. I can they, somehow, negate development from some persepectives, but I think they were right all along about the ozone layer thingy. Maybe...

And this whole Isreali-Lebanon thing is just getting out of hand. The Qana incident, the border clashes (or war actually), the Syrian and Iran's intent to be there for Lebanon and shit, the 190 rockets in one day! Na wa o! The Qana case is the worst so far. The pics of those kids and women's bodies was definitely and unspeakably gruesome. But one thing I know for sure. It is more of Hezbollah's fault than anyone else. I believe they were using those folks as human shields. They intentionally lodged their launchers in the midst of these people in order to protect themselves and their launchers. Of course that was going to provoke Isreal. WTF! They knew Isreal would blow them up and they could use the consequence to amass both sentimental support and otherwise (weapons et al) for themselves from the Arab world and at least sentimental support from the world as a whole. No matter how justified any group of people is in their bid to destroy the ooposition, killing of women and children will always generate an destructive sentiments towards them. Hezbollah definitely succeeded at that cos all of a sudden, more people want to volunteer to join their fight, the whole world is comdemning Isreal and looking at them like barbarians, Syria's president comes out saying he will help to defend Lebanon. My own thing is this Hezbollah group is not even the offical army of Lebanon. Rather than use the Qana incident as an opportunity to validate the impression of a villainous Isreal, why can't the Lebanese president and all the Arab leaders do that which is very simple. Very easy! The obvious! Tell Hezbollah to release the Isreali soldiers they picked up from the border and stop these self-triggered killings! Simple! Or so it seems, obviously, right?

I have to acknowledge the fact that Isreal's reaction was definitely too extreme. How do you decide to start blowing up buildings in a country because few of your soldiers have been kidnapped by an illegitimate army. But the way I see it is that Isreal was already a ticking time bomb and just needed a trigger and bam, that's it. Though, one might say that it is very insulting for some foreign looneys to come into your own territory and kidnap your soldiers. WTF! I know Isreal has been nothing to write home about when it comes to their treatment of the Arabs but do something else. Kidnap Isreali citizens in Lebanon or something but don't violate Isreal by going into their country to kidnap their citizens. Mehn, I could go on and on but I just don't know...

I just hope this crap doesn't go out of hand cos I just don't know.... Isreal wants to crush Hezbollah, but I don't think that's possible especially when they are being supported by Iran and its cohorts. Those guys will use all their oil money to fund Hezbollah if need be cos Isreal is a common enemy to all Arabs. And the more Isreal tries to destroy Hezbollah and find out that they they are not succeeding at it, the more frustrated they will get and possibly resort to extreme violence which will possibly ignite an all-out war against them by the Arab world. Let's just hope for the contrary...

Ok. Enough of my Israeli-Arab ramblings. Heard some news about some artists volunteering to perform at a concert that was free for everyone that attended - Boost Mobile RockCorps Concert. Each attendee had to volunteer a certain amount of community service in order to get tickets to the concert. I thought that was a very great idea. They had performers like Paul Wall, Slim Thug, The Game, Lil’Wayne, Keyshia Cole, Young Jeezy, Big Boi and Nick Cannon, the presenter. Afeni Shakur was also there to grace the occasion as she celebrated what would have been the late Tupac Amaru Shakur's 35th birthday. I believe this is the second one they are having. More HipHop artists definitely need to get involved in this. It encourages volunteerism which I believe is extremely important. Very necessary!!!! I just wish I could sing too. I will definitely be volunteering to perform at such a concert cos I think that's a brilliantly generous idea for the community, but oh well...volunteering to sing in the shower has never been a problem for me. : )

posted by Just Thinking Out Loud! @ 10:26 AM 3 comments

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Name: Eyan
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