Tuesday, 9 October 2012

TOTALLY GRATEFUL

I'm down on bended knees apologizing profusely for my long absence from blogsville. I've just been sooooooooo busy and somewhat lazy. Big bear hugs and kisses to Toinlicious, simplymee, mstizzle and sugarspring for checking on me. To my new followers, I'm glad to have you guyz on board. You all rock. Muaaahhhhhhh. Mehnnnn, I can't even begin to imagine how much I must have missed over here. Got some major catching up to do.

I'm a year older today. YAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY. :-D. I'm so so grateful to God for life, my family, friends, good health and a lot of things. God has been too good to me and I can't thank Him enough. Everyday I awake, I'm amazed as He unfolds His plans for my life. He has been overwhelmingly good to me and I want to say Baba God, thank you.

Happy birthday to my blogger birthday mate- A-9ja-Great. God bless you abundantly dear and may His hand of favour continually rest on you. Huggsssss.

I promise not to be away for so long again.

Love and Hugs


Thursday, 26 July 2012

RANDOM POST

I saw this in a friend's bb status and asked for his permission to share it. *Kunle wrote: "Imagine KAI stopped moto for me to cross the road at Ojota, only to arrest me at the other side of the road for not using the pedestrian bridge". I had a good laugh when I read it. Personally, I don't cross the express road directly underneath a pedestrian bridge. I'm not a model citizen, far from it. My obeying this rule is borne more out of the fear of being hit by one of the crazy drivers in a hurry to get to God knows where. I prefer to just jejeli and most times tiredly climb the bridge to get to the other side. I guess my friend was in a hurry and when the KAI official stopped the cars for him to cross, he forgot that he was disobeying a law. The question I asked myself was this: Why would an official assist a citizen in breaking a law? Abi is that a new tactic to catch the ones who err and collect money from them. On further enquiry, *Kunle told me that after the KAI official collected money from him, he said he (Kunle) was a complete gentleman and asked for his number. Kunle was just fuming. I had such a good laugh. Our naija officials sha :-D.

MTN can be crappy in their services. I use their BIS services and they are just inefficient at serving their customers. If I remember correctly, I used to receive a text message two days prior to my BIS expiration date informing me that I would need to renew my subscription to avoid disruption. They no longer send the pre message. One would be busy enjoying their services and then just receive a text message saying that your BIS has expired bla bla bla. What kind of abrupt termination is that na ehn? I wondered to myself whether they were cutting cost. Is it not the same money spent in sending the expiration text that could have been spent in sending the prior to expiration text. Mschewwwwww. Another new "innovation" on their part is to send you an alert after each call you make informing you of how much you spent on the call and how much credit  you have left. I'm not interested in that jorr. I can always check my balance if I want to know how much I have left. The alert they are supposed to send, they won't send. It's the unnecessary one they will send. *smh at them.

There's something my siblings do that annoy me. It has to do with doors: room doors, door of the fridge etc. It's become a rather annoying habit of them to just bang the door instead of holding the knob and gently closing it. I just don't get it ehnn biko nu. I always tell them that the carpenters that built the doors had a reason for putting the knob. It's not there to add to the overall beauty of the door, but it's to be held and used to gently close the door. I have told them these severally and atimes I wonder if it's just me been a nagging sister. But the sound of the doors banging gives me headache. If you happen to visit, you are most likely going to hear me telling either of them to close the doors gently :-)

I often tell people that it is not by force to update your status or post a comment on facebook. I always cringe when I see comments with grammatical errors in it. I'm not perfect in English language and so I have learnt to proof read before I post anything. I also appreciate it when my friends correct me. A friend sent me the pictures below for laughs. I apologize if you know the people involved. I don't mean to spite anyone.



   
                 
I don't understand the last lady that said "Amen & same 2 me". Is it that she was in a hurry to comment and didn't read what the guy wrote. *very surprised look

Enjoy the rest of the week folks.

Love and Hugs.

Saturday, 21 July 2012

CONCLUDING 11'S

Hellloooo everybody, hope your week wasn't too stressful. Mine has been pretty busy. A very warm welcome to my new followers. You guys rock. So I finally conclude the 11's after a month (covers face in shame) :-)

Questions from Ema Leecious:
1. What do you love most about yourself? My intelligence
2. Who are you in secret? Still me
3. What's your best food? White rice and ofe akwu (banga stew)
4. Why do you blog? To let things out
5. Where is the one place you are most comfortable in? My bedroom
6. Who do you call God? Jesus
7. Do you know God or you know about Him? A bit of both
8. What drives you? The desire to succeed
9. In three words, who is a successful person? Three words kee, Well someone who thoroughly enjoys what  they do and is good at it.
10. What's the kindest thing you have ever done? There are lots of them. Don't know which one would qualify as the kindest.
11. When you have a lot of money, what's the first thought that crosses your mind? Hmmmmmmm, still thinking. 

Questions from Amaka's Notepad:
1. All conditions being equal, what career would you choose? Media
2. What is your most annoying habit? Sleeping
3. Which celebrity do you sometimes wish you were best friends with? Hmmm, none comes to mind.
4. What little things could make your day? A kind and sincere word from a friend
5. What is your favorite color and why? Used to be yellow while I was growing up. Loved its brightness. Now I have lots, mostly bright colors though. 
6. Describe your dream partner? An understanding man.
7. If you were the president of Nigeria, how would you handle this Boko Haram issue? It would take wisdom from God and taking some drastic measures.
8. What do you think of Aki and Pawpaw (the actors)? I guess they are ok, cos I'm not really a fan of home movies. 
9. What was your most cherished birthday present ever? and your worst? Would have to think. I dey come :-)
10. Describe the moment that makes you smile every time you remember it? Ermmmmmm...
11. What kind of person do you think the person behind Amaka's Notepad is? I've met her, so I guess I don't have to think. Lol

Questions from Cherrywine:
1. What is the one thing that frightens you the most? Death
2. What song would you describe as your "theme song" i.e a song that best describes you or how you feel about yourself or certain issues? Destiny's Child- I'm a Survivor
3. Kim Kardashian, the entire Jersey shore cast (if they were formed into one body with a medusa head of all the cast bodies) and Nene Leakes; if you had one bullet, who would you shoot? Aside from Kim K, I don't know who the other people are, so I would pass on this.
4. What was the last most outrageous purchase you made? Buying stuff to treat acne and it didn't work as well as i imagined it would. Oh well...
5. Is it best to have loved and lost or is it best to not love at all giving the possiblity of heart break? Give reasons. (P.S: No BS sappy and generic answers too): For me, it's best to have loved and lost. 
6. Tatoos or piercings, which do you prefer and why? ('neither' is not an answer): Tatoos cos I can get a temp one and get it off when i want to. 
7. Who do you love the most your brother or your boyfriend? (If married, replace with husband) and give reasons. My brother would have to do for now cos I don't have a boyfriend. 
8. Is revenge ever justified? Give reasons. I would say no, but it also depends on the situation.
9. Is religion an important consideration in a relationship? Give reasons. Yep, for me it is. Need to be sure that we are on the same frequency in that aspect. 
10. If you were president for a day, what is the first thing you would do? Look for a solution to the most pressing need of the time. 
11. What is your first memory of being aware of / attracted to someone of the opposite sex? Can't remember the first memory. Probably when i was way younger. :-)

Questions from Docia:
1. Do you believe God exists? Yes I do.
2. Why do you think God created you a man or a woman? I guess He knew I would function better as a woman. :-)
3. What do you do at your leisure? I watch movies, read or sleep.
4. If you had the opportunity of changing any part of your body, which part would you change? My hair texture. 
5. Who are you? I am a girl na 
6. If you had the chance of seeing me face to face, what would you tell me? This your questions are something else. LOL
7. What do you think can prevent you from going to heaven? Unbelief, sin etc.
8. If you had the chance of coming into this world again, would you marry the person you are married to or date the person you are dating now? Currently not dating anyone, so can't answer this. 
9. Sorry, but if God decides to turn you into an animal today, which animal would you chose to be and why? A bird, so I can fly and see the whole world. Lol.
10. Do you think you would have been better off if you had one eye, one nostril, one hand and one leg? Why? Ermmmm, nope, I don't think so. 
11. Write your own questions?

I couldn't think of answers to some of the questions jare. ;-p

Have a lovely weekend y'all. 







Sunday, 17 June 2012

11's Part 1 :-)

Hello everyone, thank you so much for your comments, encouragement, prayers and checking up on me following my last post. I came back from Abuja a while ago and I'm doing great. I'm still on the job search thingy, but it will be over soon. So how have you all been? I've started my blog rounds, but still have a long way to go. I met a fellow blogger on friday. Yayyyyyyy (dancing around my room) :-D. Ok,I'm calm now. I went to the salon to dissolve the nails i fixed. On getting there, all the girls were busy with customers, so I gisted a little with *Cynthia: the lady that owns the salon. She asked if I had gotten another job and I responded not yet. As I was about to leave, I stopped to admire the hair of one of her customers. This lady has long and healthy hair. I complimented her hair and I said to Cynthia, Mehnnnn, see fine hair, shay mine would have been this long if your girl didn't mess it up for me. We talked a bit about how my hair was before the "Big Chop". Unknown to me, the customer that had the long hair is a fellow blogger & we both follow each other on blogsville :-D. Alright, alright, I'm dragging the gist abi. Her name is, wait for it..........Amaka of http://amakaobi.blogspot.com/. So she turns to me and asks if I used to work in a bank, I cautiously said yes. She had put two and two together and then asked, "are you Che of naijabankgirl. Instantly, I knew she was a blogger too. When she told me her name, I just started screaming: Wow, Are you serious, OMG. :-).

I was so excited to meet a fellow blogger. We just started gisting and making noise in the salon. She is such a down to earth person, beautiful inside and outside and is extremely lively. Since we had already connected via blogsville, it was easy to just flow with her. She lives very close to my house and we have been using the same salon for years, but never knew each other until that day. It's such a small world.We exchanged numbers and bb pin and I would be visiting her soon.

I will like to say a HUGE thank you to Cherrywine and Didi for the Liebster Award


and to Ema LeeciousCherrywineAmaka's NotepadA-9ja-GreatDocia and Cee for tagging me in the 11's. You guys all rock you know. But ehnnnnn, this 11's own come too much ooo walahi. Ahnnn ahnnnn, where I wan start from sef. Ok, since I have a lot of questions to answer, I decided to do it in parts so as not to bore you all and even myself. Shebi I'm permitted. Thanks :-).. Permit me to also skip the rules :-p..

11 Random things about me:

1. I double check things a lot. For instance, if I'm the last to go to bed. I double check to be sure that the main doors are locked, the cooker is off, the iron is off, etc. It's an annoying habit that I'm trying to stop.

2. I hate been called "Baby". Whether said with an igbo accent: "Bebee" or said normally, I just don't like it at all. It irritates me. It's even worse when a stranger calls me that. Biko, stick to my name  (to the stranger) or any other form of endearment (to my friends).

3. I have 6 names, one of which is Abiodun. I'm fully Igbo, but somehow, Momsie felt the need to give us Yoruba names. I think mine is because I was born on a Muslim festival day: October 9th. Oya, could the Yoruba's in the house help me out here. :-).. And among my 6 names, there is no English name sef. Still thinking of a suitable English name for myself.

4. I am very very choosy when it comes to food. To the extent that it annoys me. I don't take onions, visibly seen tomatoes or pepper except they are ground to a paste. If they are visible, I either pick them out or eat something else. I don't like all them "oyibo" food like burger, sharwama, hot dogs, salad, spaghetti etc. I love my traditional foods like african salad, rice and ofe akwu (banga stew), yam and red oil with alligator pepper and crayfish, eba and oha soup etc (yummy) :-D. I hope to learn to eat all those oyibo food later sha.

5. I love love love children. They are cute, interesting, active and fun to be with. Can't wait to have mine. Would want to have a set of twins first (a boy and a girl).

6. I don't like been asked "How was your night". I feel like most people that ask that do so out of courtesy, they don't really care to know. Maybe it's just me being weird. While I was working, my colleagues would ask, and of cos I would respond: It was fine. Thanks. But would never ask in return how theirs was. Instead, I could say, "I trust you had a lovely night rest".

7. I can be extremely hard working and also extremely lazy. When that "spirit" to work descends on me ehnnn, I can work non stop. But when I'm in my lazy mood, you wouldn't believe it's the same me.

8. I don't like writing with black biro. It's too dull for me. I prefer blue. I love colors too. All things bright and beautiful.

9. I have a pretty good memory. I remember the last places I saw things. So if anything goes missing in the house, just ask Che. If I had seen it before, I would tell you exactly where it is. While growing up, my elder sister would always say: Find my missing A or B and win a prize. I would always find it for her and she never gave me my prize. :-)

10. I love a cold environment. I prefer been in an air-conditioned room to an ordinary room. I guess that's because I sweat a lot. I might be feeling cold, but I can cover up and keep warm. That is much better for me than feeling hot and sweating. I avoid the sun as much as possible.

11. I love to read. I developed the habit of reading from when I was a little girl. I remember reading Enid Blyton books in primary school. I was the Librarian in my primary school.

Cee's Questions:
1. What do you do in your spare time? I read, watch movies or sleep.
2 What one thing are you most proud of? I'm proud of myself and how far I've come in life.
3. What is your ultimate dream vacation? Hawaii.
4. What are you most looking forward to in the next year? Ermmm, don't know yet.
5. Most important thing you are saving up for? To buy my car I guess.
6. Have you ever rescued someone? What were the circumstances? Nope, not yet anyway.
7. Who influenced you the most when you were a child? My mum. 
8. Who influences you the most now? Different people on different occasions.
9. What is the most daring or dangerous thing you've ever done? Ermmmmm, can't think of any now.
10. What person in history would you most like to meet? Nelson Mandela.
11. What would you love for your next birthday gift? A brand new 2012 Toyota 4Runner ( I get big eye abi) :-D. I'm patiently waiting. 

A-9ja-Great Questions:
1. What is the most important attribute you look for in the opposite sex? Honesty
2. What's your passion? I love talking to and listening to people, music, etc. 
3. What would you do if you had a million dollars? Sleep first, when I wake up, I will think of what to do.
4. What do you consider your best attribute? My dedication to people and things.
5. When did you have your first kiss? In secondary school, can't remember the exact age I was. 
6. Do you prefer someone in suit or casually dressed? Casually dressed.
7. What's the best book you ever read? That's a tough one cos I have read a lot of interesting books.
8. If you had the opportunity to see any influential person, who would it be? Nelson Mandela.
9. Do you enjoy PDA (Public Display of Affection)? To an extent.
10. Comedy, Romance, Drama, Thriller, which of these best describes the type of movies you like? All of them.
11. When exactly would you like to get married and start a family? Asap. :-)


I would have to stop here now. Would do the remaining 4 in my next post soon. My fingers are aching me and mehnnnn, this is like writing Jamb. Abeg ehnnn, if one person don tag me, make the others no follow join. :-D..You know I love you all right.

Hugs and Kisses.


Wednesday, 9 May 2012

MOVING ON.....................

WARNING: LONG POST ALERT :-D....

I can't believe I haven't blogged in a whole month. Nnaaa, na wa ooo. I was supposed to have updated last week, but I've just been so lazy :-). So how are you all doing? I'm cool, living and loving life. Work has been ermmmmm, interesting.

I remember when the first tsunami (laying off of staff) hit the banking sector in 2009. It was unexpected and deadly. We all got to the office on the 31st of Dec, 2009 and logged on to our various systems. As many people as couldn't log on (an error message saying this user has been disabled would pop on the monitor) had been laid off, just like that. At first, we thought it was a system error because we were not pre-informed. We communicated with colleagues from other branches who were experiencing the same problem and eventually heard from some of them in HR that the bank had laid off some staff.

That was a rude awakening both to those that had been laid off and to those that were still in the system. No one knew the criteria for the laying off. Some said it was based on performance especially in terms of deposit mobilization. I think people were just randomly picked because really how many people meet their targets. As an operation staff, I have my target too, but I don't even bother myself about it. I have enough to do rendering quality service to the customers when they come to do their transactions. A good friend of mine (also an operation staff) that we had attended her wedding on the 5th of Dec 2009 was laid off. What a way to usher in the new year. Those of us still left in the system were forced to think of plans B, C, and as many as possible in case of any eventualities. But you know how this things can be, after a while, you tend to just relax jare especially when you have a good monthly income coming in.

Following the reformation in the banking sector, some banks were merged and some were acquired. My former bank (drumroll) :-) : Finbank was acquired by Fcmb. The process had been going on for a while and we all just minded our business and continued our normal work. The final lap of the acquisition is to be in July, that is when all Finbank branches will be renamed Fcmb and all that. Some weeks back, a rumor started circulating that there was going to be another tsunami in April as part of the acquisition plan. It was somehow expected because there was no way Fcmb would absorb all the staff of Finbank. But we thought the tsunami would be sometime in June, how wrong we were.

The rumor became stronger that staff were going to be laid off on the 27th of April. There was no way to verify this, so we just prepared our minds for anything. On the said day, we got to the office and with bated breath, we all tried to login to our systems. We all heaved a sigh of relief in my branch when we gained access to do our jobs. Reports started coming in from colleagues in other branches saying that management had changed their tactics. Instead of outright disabling of staff user ID, they sent letters through Dhl and some branches had already received theirs.

At about 10am, a Dhl delivery guy brought a parcel for my branch. My BM received it and refused to open it. My guess was that he didn't want to destabilize the staff affected. He preferred us to go about our normal duties first. Oh boy, there was so much tension in the air. Chats and calls were made from different branches intimating us of friends that had been laid off. Most of us didn't even have the zeal to work that day, we just wanted to be told our fate.

Around noon, the BM called my Hop (Lekan) and spoke with him. Not long after he returned from the meeting, I suspected that I had been affected by the tsunami. As the FT officer, I work on salary schedules of customers. I had a list of Phcn staff schedule and was waiting for the NEFT transfer from First Bank before I could go ahead and credit their accounts. Earlier on, Lekan had told me to go ahead and part-credit these accounts. The idea been that as soon as we received the NEFT transfer, he would conclude the transaction. This would save me from undue stress from the Phcn staff ( I will gist you guys about those people later. Their wahala too much walahi). I had been busy with other transactions and so hadn't gotten round to the salary schedule. So when Lekan asked if I had worked on the schedule and I said no, he told me not to bother doing it again.

I smiled to myself cos I just knew that it was almost time for me to wrap up and waka. He also had this sorry look on his face :-), but didn't say anything to me. But he went ahead and told my colleagues. Later in the day, the C.S.O came to my desk and asked me to transfer my ringtone to her phone. I told her I would do so when I was less busy. She kept insisting that she wanted it and I shouldn't forget. I put two and two together and concluded that for her to be insisting on getting the ringtone that day, it meant I wasn't going to come to work on Monday.

To cut the long and boring story short jare :-), we closed to customers by 4pm as usual and my boss called me and informed me that I and a marketer in the branch were laid off. I told him I figured it out already. He handed over the parcel to me which contained my letter of resignation and another letter with the breakdown of my terminal benefits. I wrote my own letter of resignation, handed over my ID card, official cufflinks and lapel pin to my boss. I was more than glad to hand over my pending work (including the list of Phcn salary schedule) to the Grumbler. She was just crying ( I'm sure it was more because she would now have double work to do, than because she was going to miss me) :-D...

We all talked for a while and I eventually left. It was nice working in that branch, even though it was for a few months. I appreciate the people and the experience I got from my 4 years sojourn in Finbank. I thank God for the impact I believe I made in the lives of some of the people I came in contact with. I made some good friends that I intend to keep in touch with. However, it's time for me to move on to greater things.

So right now, I'm doing some serious soul searching cos aside from getting another job, I need to think of and explore some things I really love to do. Now more than ever, I need to set those other plans B,C, etc in motion.

So y'all, if you hear of any vacancies or have any connections in Shell, Chevron, Nnpc, Total, Mobil etc, just holla @ your girl. :-D

P.S: I'm off to Abuja tomorrow. I decided to go and visit my sister and her family. I saw them last in October when she put to bed. I need to do all my waka and grooving now, cos as soon as the job comes, there will be no vacation in a while.

P.S.S: I'm considering altering my blog name. Oh well, let's see how that goes. Hope to update soonest. *fingers crossed*

Lots of love and hugs *muahhhhh*


Sunday, 1 April 2012

THE PEOPLE IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD

How many people remember this song: "This are the people in my neighborhood, in my neighborhood, in my neighborhood. This are the people in my neighborhood. They are the people that you meet each day". It's from a cartoon way back. I can't even remember the name of the cartoon sef :-). I decided to borrow the line from it as my title because I need to rant about some of my colleagues (as usual). ;-p. I don't know if the plan of some of them is to weigh me down each day with the songs that they play. I know that there is freedom of expression and all that, but biko nu ehnnnn, mind the kind of songs you play in the office. 

I did a post sometime ago on THE GRUMBLER. Well, let's just say that this is somehow related to it. I had been enduring this for a while now and just have to rant about it because I'm tired. Who knows, I might feel a bit better after this post. I don't have a problem with people playing the songs that they like in the office, but I do have a problem when the songs are on repeat and they just drain the energy out of me.The grumbler is the "SPIRO" person in the office, our boss is the "ROMANTIC LOVER" and the customer service lady is the "FUNKY CHRISTIAN".

If the songs are played quietly and at different times, it might not have bothered me so much. The list below is just a few of the songs I hear on repeat and on a daily basis. 

S/N
GRUMBLER
OUR BOSS
CUSTOMER SERVICE OFFICER
1
YOU ARE THE PILLAR THAT HOLDS MY LIFE
LADY IN RED
CECE WINANS
2
OYIGIYIGI OOOO
MAKE LOVE IN THE CLUB
KIRK FRANKLIN
3
ADONAI WE WORSHIP YOU
BREATH AGAIN
WOMEN OF FAITH
4
KPOYA OMENMA
LIFE FOR RENT
MARY MARY
5
BECAUSE HE LIVES, I CAN FACE TOMORROW
SONGS BY THE CORRS
CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN ARTISTES
6
OSHU BA RERE OOO
WESTLIFE

7
JESUS IS THE SWEETEST NAME I KNOW
DIDO

8
DO SOMETHING NEW IN MY LIFE
MORE SONGS BY LUTHER VANDROSS

9
I JUST WANT TO SAY BABA O ESEEE
SONGS BY CELINE DION

10
HALLELUJAH IS OUR HEAVENLY LANGUAGE
SONGS BY BOYS II MEN

11
TALODABIRE JESU
MORE LOVE SONGS

12
IDI EBUBE CHINEKE


13
ALL I HAVE IS YOU IN HEAVEN AND EARTH


14
YOU ARE BIGGER THAN WHAT PEOPLE SAY




Let me paint a scenario for you. The grumbler gets to work and immediately puts on her system and starts to play her songs with the volume quite high. She and some other colleagues are also singing along. 

Me: Madam, reduce the volume of your songs

She: But it's not high na. I need to saturate myself with this songs so I don't fall prey to all this fraudsters.

Me: Na you know, abeg this songs are giving me headache and weighing me down.

I am a christian too and love to worship God, but biko, i don't appreciate hearing such songs over and over again in the office. As if that is not enough, in the middle of the day, when our boss gets into his elements, he puts his own romantic songs and on an even higher volume than the grumbler's own. Whenever he does this, the grumbler would mutter to herself saying stuff like why would he play his music so loud. If he leaves his seat, she would go and reduce his own volume. *smh @ both of them. One day, I had to jokingly say to my boss: Na wa ooo oga, right now, I'm not sure if I'm in a night club or at work. He laughed and reduced the volume of his system a little bit. At about 3:30pm, when we are getting ready to close to customers, the C.S.O slots her own contemporary christian songs and also starts to cruise. I think for her, it's almost like: Oh yeah... I finally get some rest from the customers. :-D.

So you can just imagine hearing this "spiro" songs and "romantic songs" playing side by side throughout the day and competing for attention in your ears. It's really annoying. If they vex me too much, I will just complete the variety of songs clashing in the office with my collection of Flavour N'Abania, WhizKid and other naija musicians. Hmmmm, sounds like a good idea. :-D


Sunday, 25 March 2012

MY NEPHEWS AND I

I had to duck and swipe at the cobwebs to be able to get to my blog page. Phewww it feels so good to be back here. I have missed you all no be small. I didn't know I would be gone for so long, but somehow, time just dey fly dey go and babe no see road to blog. Much love to ToinGeeLucianoDoshOkeoghenePriscyEma LeeciousEddie Steeze and Jemima for checking up on me. So how have you all been? What's the latest on blogsville? I know I have a lot of blog rounds to do. Will get to that very soon. A very warm welcome to all my new followers. You guys just gladden my heart.

I'm sure you are all wondering what has kept me away for almost one month. It's nothing major jare. I have been  playing Mummy to my two nephews and somehow, blogging was far away from my mind. Initially, my internet at home was misbehaving and so I couldn't blog. I eventually got that all fixed up and then my sister needed me to help supervise her nanny and take care of her kids cos she had to travel for a two weeks training abroad. I didn't mind cos I love kids and hadn't seen my nephews in a while. My nephews are Bunna (almost 3yrs) and Ikem (10 months old).

I got to her house in Lekki a day before she was to leave. The plan was that I would stay from thursday to Monday. And on Monday, my aunty would come to take over so I could go back to Surulere on Tuesday. Before she left, she told me some things that I was also to pass on to my aunty. One of them was that the only Tv stations Bunna watches are 306: Cbeebies and 309: Disney Jnr (both on Dstv). She specifically said that if he is awake, we should just try and indulge him and watch those stations cos she didn't want him watching other things, but once he is asleep, we can watch whatever we want to. I didn't have any problem with that. She handed over some other things to me and went on her trip.

It was fun staying with my nephews and somehow I just stayed on for the rest of the week even when my aunt came to take over from me. The only problem I thought I would have was getting to my office which is close to Surulere. My sister's driver took care of that, so i wasn't stressed. Thanks to Bunna, I got used to and even started enjoying the cartoons from Cbeebies. :-D. Cartoons like Teletubbies, Penelope K by the Way, Mister Maker and Boogie Beebies started to make sense especially since my nephew would imitate almost every single thing they did. The songs were catchy too and I even caught myself singing them while at work. :-).

I stayed for a week and on Friday, I handed over to aunt, packed my bag and headed back to Surulere. On Sunday, I called to know how they were and was told that they were in the hospital. Ikem had a high temperature, so they had to get it checked out. I packed my bag again and headed for Lekki. The driver took me straight to the hospital and it was more serious than i thought. The baby had some boil like infection on his face and hand in addition to the high temperature and had to be admitted. It wasn't a very nice experience I tell you cos he had to be pricked several times until they found a vein to use for his drip. He was in so much pain and kept on wailing. He eventually quietened down and we got to sleep and it seemed as if I just closed my eyes and my alarm went off for me to prepare for work.

My shuttle from Lekki to Surulere commenced again. He was discharged the next day and we thought all was well again. We were so wrong. By Tuesday, he wasn't keeping in food, was running a high temperature again and was generally ill. The test result from the hospital said it was malaria and infection but the drugs they gave him were not helping him at all. So his dad decided that we try another hospital. He was readmitted a second time in the new hospital and a fresh series of tests were conducted on him. Thank God for my aunt that was around to stay with him in the hospital during the day until i could join them after work. The nanny was busy with the first son at home, preparing him for school and all that.

A pipe was inserted into his hand to drain the puss from the infection. Ikem got so tired of bin jabbed as pa injections and drips that after a while, once he saw a particular set of doctors and nurses, he would start to cry. He could identify those ones as his "enemies" cos they always came with the needle. We were constantly in communication with his Mom while all these was going on and she was really worried, but couldn't cut her trip short cos it was work related. We kept on assuring her that he was going to be fine.

We were discharged after some days and I stayed on in Lekki until my sister returned. Right now my nephew is back to his bubbly self. We can't thank God enough. A big thank you too to my friends and family that kept on praying for him and calling to know how we were. It was an experience playing Mommy to the boys. I miss singing with Bunna to psyche him to take his night bath and also going "hmmmm yummy yummy delicious" to psyche him to eat. :-D. I miss going "ssshhhhhh" with him when we have to tiptoe around the sitting room cos his baby brother is asleep there, or going "tick tock, tick tock" when we mimic the clock while Mister Maker creates something in one minute. :-D. I had fun jare even with the whole hospital drama thing.

Will be back soon with more gist.

Huggssss and Kissesssss.

Sunday, 5 February 2012

THE BIG CHOP

Hi people, hope your weekend has been great. I had been nursing the idea of cutting my hair for a while now. This was prompted by an incidence that happened at the salon two months ago. I had gone to the salon to remove my weave-on and wash my hair. I didn't meet the usual girl that does my hair at the salon and the owner of the salon was also not around. I was left at the mercy of the lady that i met there who I didn't realize was a novice on the job. I'm this kind of person that likes to stick to a particular salon and a particular person or people attending to my hair. So when I got to the salon and met *Lucy, even though I didn't know how good she was in handling hair, I felt that since it was just to lose my weave and wash my hair, that nothing could go wrong. If only i knew. ........

I realized all was not well when she was taking longer than usual to comb my hair after washing it. You know the usual drill of wash the hair with shampoo, condition it, comb it out with the conditioner still in the hair to soften it and wash finally. After the final washing off of the conditioner, oya, babe comb my hair na. She kept combing the back hair and it just wasn't straightening. I put my hand there and i felt massive tangling of my hair. I froze. I felt it again to know if i could detangle it, but it was really bad. I told her to put more conditioner on that part and leave it for a while to see if it would soften it and aid the detangling. While we were still looking for a solution, her boss *Linda came in.

Once Linda saw what had happened, she quickly took over and tried to salvage the situation. But the damage had already been done. My hair was badly tangled at the back. Linda took her time in detangling it, but by the time she was through, i almost had no hair there again. :-(.. *Lucy was by the corner crying and apologizing to me for the mess done to my hair. In as much as I was angry that my hair had just been damaged, I felt sorry for her and didn't even have the strength to scold her. Besides, her Madam had done enough scolding for the both of us. There and then, I decided that sooner than later, I would have to chop everything off. Linda was so angry at her and they kept on apologizing to me.

I had been postponing the day of the big chop because I hadn't gathered enough courage to go for it. I finally decided to have it done today. I went to a salon in Surulere where I know the guys are good with the scissors. I was scared because I didn't know how I would look after the whole thing. I almost felt like crying when *Akin was chopping my hair off. At the end of the day, he gave me a good Anita Baker hair cut and I simply love my new look. :-).. It makes me look much younger and I kindda feel liberated not having to worry about fixing weaves and braiding my hair for a while. I wish I could put up some pixs of my new look, but i still love my anonymous status. :-D.. I can just imagine the surprised look on the faces of my colleagues come Tuesday, LOL.

Oh well, enjoy the one day holiday. Do i love this surprise public hols or what? :-p

Huggsss and Kisses

Saturday, 28 January 2012

RANDOM FUNNY ISHHHH

I love to laugh and whenever I see funny pictures that can be saved, I do so, so I can always go back to them and have a good laugh. So below are some funny pictures I saw and saved. Laughter makes you look younger and reduces the wrinkle lines on your face (so says therapist Che :-D ). Enjoy:


I remember when there was BB craze in naija. If you met an insecure babe, somehow in the course of your gist, she would mention that she uses a BB phone and not just that, she would even specify the kind of BB phone it is. All in a bid to prove that she is a gbo gbo bigz gal. *smh*. Phone na phone jare, weda na Nokia or BB candle ^_^.


Have you ever studied for an examination and when it was time to "pour it all out" in the exam hall, you forgot almost if not everything you read. That happened to me i think while in my first year in the university. I had crammed as much as possible while reading almost all through the night. Ohhhh, boi, it wasn't funny at all when I got to the exam hall, saw the questions looking like greek and went blank. I was able to write a few things but didn't do so well in that paper. It taught me a lesson though, never to cram, but read and understand. After that too, I tried to start preparing for my exams early in the semester, but that didn't really work for me. Somehow, I still had to do T.D.B (reading till day break). :-)


Imagine if you were taught English by this woman. LMAO. I can even picture her answering the headmaster very confidently. LOL.


Check out this babe's pose. :-)..Now it seems as if this babe has got her life all figured out. I chose to believe that girls don't think like this. That would be hilarious to me oo.


Did you ever have to be dragged to go to church as a kid. Nowadays, we don't even need to be dragged off our systems to go to church. You can take your mobile devices to church. It pisses me off when I see people answering calls or pinging in church. I just don't get it. I always wonder if such people can't sacrifice an hour or two of their time to be in church without fiddling with their phones. You might say the call is very important and so had to be answered, I hear you. If you go for a job interview, i bet your phone would be on silent mode because you respect the interviewers and you don't want to be distracted. That important call can be made later after church. That's just my opinion.

Will put up the remaining pictures in my next post.

Y'all have an awesome time in church tomorrow.
Huggssss and Kisses.








Monday, 23 January 2012

IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY MUM

Today is my mum's birthday. Yaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy. *dancing around* but I suddenly become sober . You would have been 60 years today mama, but you had to take a trip to heaven because you needed to rest. We miss you sooooo much, but we are learning to live without you. Daddy is waxing strong and we are taking very good care of him. You have three absolutely lovely grandsons now mum. You would be super proud of them and they would have enjoyed your company. You would especially love *Bunna. He is such a dramatic kid especially when compared to his brother *Ikem who is such a peaceful and plump darling. And they are both dark like you. :-). *Osato is a really playful baby and is fair just like his Aunty Che. ^_^.

My Sweet Mum *loads of love and hugss*
We are all doing well in our various professions and cannot thank God enough for His faithfulness in our lives. I remember the different things you used to say and I sometimes say them to my younger ones. Things like *Nchita alu (a lazy person who would notice things that need to be done, but would wait to be told before doing them), *Aka efe n'azu (literally meaning hands always at your back. But it's used when a person passes through a door without shutting the door). Whenever I'm about to wear my shoes with really high heels, I remember as you would say *Eji ntu aga ije (walking on nails) and mimic the way I walk on them. I do your funny dance often with *Somto and it just cracks me up cos I can picture you doing them. You would always say "come and learn how to cook, not when you get married, your husband and in-laws will say *Azurugi azu (you were not brought up properly)  :-D.. I could go on and on, but I chose to pause here. 

You were a very warm person. Oh boi, you were accommodating to a fault, so much so that we nicknamed you Madam Goodington. :-D. Loads of people can testify to your generosity and largeness of heart. You were also a super hardworking woman. You toiled to ensure that we never lacked anything. I remember talking with *Nneka years ago and saying that when we started working and earning fat salaries, we would buy you a limousine to cruise around with and we would also send you to yankee for vacations. LOL. 

I remember when you were diagnosed with Cervical Cancer three years ago. We were all so devastated and prayed earnestly for a miracle. We took you to one of the best hospitals and you started your treatment. You were responding positively, but at the end, you had to go and rest. 



I know you are in a much better place now. I'm grateful that you are free from all the pain, though i wish that you had stayed longer with us. I can just picture you chatting with God and His angels, sharing jokes and laughing heartily. We will always remember all you taught us and will keep making you proud. Keep jollificating in heaven Mum. We will meet with you much later after we have fulfilled our life"s purpose here. 

Forever in our hearts,
With lots of love,
Your (onye ocha) daughter, :-D
Che


P.S: There is a lot of awareness especially now as regards cancer in Nigeria. I would encourage everyone most especially the ladies to go for a pap smear and other tests. 

From Google: A Pap smear can detect certain viral infections (such as human papillomavirus[HPV]) and other cancer-causing conditions. Early treatment of these conditions can stop cervical cancer before it fully develops. A woman may have cervical cancer and not know it because she may not have any symptoms. 

Love you guys much. 
Muahhhhhhh 

Saturday, 21 January 2012

THE GRUMBLER

So far, I have spent four days in my new branch and it has been interesting. I say interesting because I have a new set of colleagues and I have had fun studying them and my environment. There's a particular lady that I just wonder at. *Sharon is the Cash Officer and she is quite a character. When I resumed, there was no system for me, so I had to share hers for a couple of days. I don't appreciate when people tell me things about other people. I just don't want to know and besides I feel like that person would also say things behind my back. While working on Sharon's system the first day I resumed, she started what I have termed her usual way of muttering. She was sitting beside me and was just muttering to herself. At first I thought she was praying beneath her breath, but after about ten minutes of muttering and no word from me, she asked me if I didn't hear what she was saying. With a surprised look, I turned and told her that I didn't know she was talking to me.

Apparently she had been grumbling about a lot of things and wanted my input in the matter. She complained about the music our Hop *Lekan was playing. *Sharon said the music was too loud and it wasn't even Christian songs, so what makes him think everyone would want to hear it (she was playing her Christian songs too). I blinked in shock that someone would make such a silly and petty comment. I told her while smiling that it was none of her business what kind of songs he was playing cos it's a free world. Next she complained that *Lekan always favors his people (Yoruba) and would always side them. *Sharon is from Delta state. I didn't say anything to her, but continued working.

She would complain that *Lekan does not do his job but leaves everything for her to do. She would give instances of the tickets that were posted by the tellers and are supposed to be verified by the two of them, but *Lekan would leave everything for her to do and instead be reading his mails. All this while, i had been quiet as she muttered, but I was tired of hearing her talk. I told her that she can't just talk like that and he might have important issues to sort out via mail. *Sharon grumbled about how *Lekan wastes time with customers when he has to personally address their issues. Once, she pointed out to me a customer that had come to see *Lekan and was talking with him. In less than five minutes, they were through and the customer got up and left. *Sharon then said that that was an exception because usually the customer would seat there for a long time with *Lekan.  On and on she went grumbling about one thing or the other that *Lekan and some other people do. I never witnessed any of this things that she accuses them of.

I heard an earful of how *Funmi (the C.S.O) is a very lazy girl and because she is Yoruba, *Lekan would always side her. On my third day in the office, *Lekan called that he was stuck in traffic and would be a little bit late to work. *Sharon started her muttering and was saying that ehnnnnnn, he always comes late to work and has one excuse or the other and it would become worse now cos there's a new staff that can cover for him. It's always to my hearing only, so when she mutters like this , I tell her off if I'm in the mood, but most times, I just ignore her.

Yesterday, I and *Sharon entered the vault to bring out some cash for the tellers and almost as soon as we got in, she said that we should hurry up and leave because she doesn't like wasting time in the vault. She said that the vault was hot and had a musky smell. I shook my head, looked at her well and just started laughing and I told her to calm down. I was laughing because it's not as if she is an ajebutter or anything of that sort. ( I don't mean to be mean cos I'm not an ajebutter either :-D ). I asked her if she has ever seen a fan, air condition or windows for ventilation in a vault before. Of course she didn't respond, but picked the cash and we left the vault.

I don't know if she has had issues with *Lekan or the other people before. I'm not interested in all that. After she has grumbled beneath her breath, she would always turn to them, be all smiley and still work as if she doesn't spite them. I don't want to conclude that she is a frustrated, bitter and spiteful person cos I have known her for just four days, but that is the way she comes across to me. So far, she is the kind of person that I wouldn't want to be friends with. I have decided that I would just relate with her as a colleague. If she can tell me (a colleague that is just 4days old in the branch) such things about other people, then I don't need such a person as a friend.

So far, *Lekan seems to me like a correct guy. He is fun to be around and does his job. My other colleagues all make sense too. I also noticed that the relationship they have with *Sharon is kind of official. They don't really gist with her. Oh well, I might be wrong though.

My system was fixed and configured by an IT guy yesterday, so I now stay on my own and don't have to constantly hear her mutterings. Thank goodness.

Tuesday, 17 January 2012

BACK TO WORK

I wasn't too excited yesterday when I heard on the news that the strike had been called off. I felt as if we hadn't achieved what we set out to. I felt betrayed by N.L.C. I wonder what transpired behind the closed doors during their meeting with the F.G. They seemed so firm in their resolve to fight corruption starting with the reverting of fuel price back to N65. What made them compromise so early, when the people were just gearing up fully for more protests. Lots of questions and no answers. I feel sorry for the lives that were lost in the protest. Their deaths seems to have been in vain. Well, the fight against corruption continues, maybe not in form of mass protests. It might be individually and gradually, but the fight still goes on.

While the strike was going on, I had become tired of staying indoors. I didn't want to go to work. Mba, I just wanted to be able to visit my friends and waka anyhow without fear of anything happening to me on the road. Some of my friends shared the same sentiments with me. I was surprised that even my sister was feeling the same way. I remember she would say that she misses spending time with her hubby and two sons and was eagerly looking forward to the strike. I laughed at her when she complained of feeling caged indoors.

As soon as the strike was called off, I spread the info and surprisingly, most of those people that had said they were tired of staying indoors, didn't want to resume work so soon. That included me :-). Well, we didn't have a choice in the matter. It was hard to drag myself off bed when my alarm went off. I had gotten used to sleeping late and waking up equally really late. I eventually woke up and went quickly went through my phone for recent updates and gists. I saw a display picture a friend put up and it depicted what I was feeling, so I quickly saved it. In the space of a few minutes, some of my friends had changed their display pictures to the same one. I chuckled knowing that even though some of us were tired of the strike, we were not in the mood to resume work. Below is the picture:


I had to consciously switch to work mode when I got to the office. No more excessive sleeping, eating and generally having a good time at home. *Sighs*. Work was sooooo busy today. Chai, i couldn't wait for it to be 4pm, so we would close to customers and I could face some internal things I had to sort out. Hope you all had a splendid day at work today. Enjoy the rest of the fabulous week.

Hugs and kisses.

P.S: Thanks for the comments on my last post. I planned on doing a seriously worded mail to the S.C.U guys today, but the main C.S.O guy kindda resumed today. Tomorrow, I will hand over to him and jejeli waka to my original new branch. It was fun working with a new set of people for a while but it's time to move on. Change is one constant thing in life abi.

Saturday, 7 January 2012

RANTINGS ON THE JOB

I absolutely hate it when people outrightly refuse to do their jobs. Right now, I'm so angry with some of my colleagues. I could just slap them off their seats and make them do what they are supposed to do. If you have been following my blog, you would know that I resumed in my second new branch on the 19th of December, 2011. I did a post on it titled: A New Beginning. Usually, when you resume in a new branch, you are expected to fill out a form where you specify your new job function and other things. This form is then scanned and sent as a mail to the Group Head Operations (G.H) and to a group of people in the Systems Control Unit (S.C.U).  The G.H approves the change and the guys in the S.C.U then effects the change. All this is supposed to be done in a matter of minutes. However, until the change is done, you do not have the work rights to function in your new department.

As I resumed, I was faced with the challenge of not been able to work on the system. I needed to be configured first. Some branchs have an I.T person working with them, but most of the branches would have to call an I.T person to come and help out when issues arise. The I.T person assigned to our region was not readily available, so I had to learn to configure my system via chat. It was an annoying process, but I eventually got that sorted out. The S.C guys efficiently changed my work rights and so I was enabled to function as the Funds Transfer (F.T) person in my new branch. It was quite challenging learning and working at the same time. I'm sure I made a pretty sight armed with my notebook and hopping on heels from my desk to my bosses desk. ^_^. , and at the same time attending to customers. :-).

After working in the capacity of an F.T for one week, the Customer Service Officer (C.S.O) went on leave and I was assigned to relieve him. I configured myself on his system (I'm now a pro on that :-) ), filled the form for my work rights to be changed from FT to C.S.O, scanned it and sent it to those in charge. Now it is from this part that I wish I could slap some people. *insert very angry face*. As soon as the G.H approves, it shouldn't take the guys in S.C.U more than a few minutes to effect the change. My G.H immediately approved the mail sent and you all will not believe that up till now, part of my work rights as the C.S.O has not been given to me.

I will try to explain it as much as I can without outrightly abusing my colleagues, cos I'm so pissed at them. It took the guys in S.C.U almost two days to effect some change to enable me do my core C.S.O functions. Can you imagine that I had a lot of account opening packages to work on, but could not open these accounts because my work rights had not been enabled. The account officers had to keep lying to the owners of these outstanding accounts that our link in the office was epileptic and that was why they hadn't received their account numbers. Also, when a customer collects his cheque book, the C.S.O is supposed to immediately upload the cheque range on the system. This is to enable the customer to use the cheque book to withdraw without any delays. There were situations where other branchs sent us mails asking us to upload the cheque range of customers so they could withdraw. I couldn't upload them because my work rights had not been changed. The customers were eventually paid, but it was service failure to have kept them waiting for a while through no fault of theirs.

I sent a series of reminders to the guys at S.C.U to do their job, so I could do mine, but it was almost as if they see the mails and wait for someone else to do the needful. I called several times and a different person will always pick the phone. I would narrate my issue and they would promise to do their bit immediately. I'm still waiting for them to do their bit thoroughly. I told my boss that it's almost as if part of their brains are on leave. I just don't understand anymore.

As i type this, I have close to 25 customer's requests for ATM cards. It takes just a few minutes to process these cards. I have debited the accounts, but can't process the cards because my work rights in that area has not been done. All thanks to my colleagues at the S.C.U, i have almost perfected the art of sympathetic lying. I just keep on lying to the customer's that the part of the system used to process ATM cards has been down for a while, but also promise them that it will be up soon. *insert guilty face*. Just yesterday, a customer came again to collect his ATM card and I felt so bad cos it still had not been processed. He was really sad cos he needs it especially in the face of this impending strike.

Sincerely, I wonder at my colleagues in S.C.U. Is it that as soon as they receive I, my boss or even the G.H's mail, they "mistakenly" delete it? Or do they plan on effecting the change on my work right after I have called, but forget? Do they want me to come to our Head Office and shake them up before they can do their job? Don't they understand that because of their negligence, some people are rendering gross disservice to the customers?  I tire o.

P.S: I wore a purple peep toe shoe to work last Thursday and my boss told me that the color is not compliant. I told her (politely and smiling while slapping her in my head) that it was compliant and besides I have a copy of our dress code. I was even wearing a pair of trousers, so how did she notice my shoe. *smh*.  She still insisted that it wasn't compliant. I told her I don hear. *sticking tongue out*. I am working my ass out managing the customers with my non existent work rights and you are here noticing the color of my shoe. Mscheww.. .. I just fixed a sanely crazy hairstyle today and painted my toe nails blue. Let me hear what she will say about it when i get to the office. *evil grin*.

P.P.S: So sorry the post is long. I'm just pissed at my colleagues. :-)