Grey Matters

I can blog from my phone! I'm in heaven. Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

Ok Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

I've really grown Years ago I would never have been that brave or honest. When I turned 30, within me I was quite sad. I felt , 'ok, here goes the trip over the hill'. But 30 is a magical number. I just finished chatting today with a good friend of mine. Now i use the term 'good' very loosely.You know those friends with whom you have a weird relationship? Like the on again-off again boyfriend or the girl who you ALWAYS fight bitterly with but end up telling all your secrets? Well, he falls into that category. We met about 4 years ago at the world famous Motherlan'. I knew who he was, so I was just staring at him. He saw a pretty girl and loved the attention. ( I no get time for modesty today, jare.) So he did the right thing and asked my friend to introduce us, we chatted into the night, hung out the next day, I dropped him off at the airport, and he went back to his country. On his next trip to Nigeria, I became i became his official girlfriend, at leas...

Na wa O! This my boyfriend has done it again o. I don tire, I no do again. I mean what sort of mental harassment is this? See me see trouble o. I mean can't a girl just lay her head down to rest for one minute? Must she watch her man like a hawk? Wetin dey do all these men sef? Can't a guy who looks and acts gentle, quiet and kind just be gentle and quiet and kind? Ok, let me just tell you what happened. This Oga of mine- I'll call him Snuffleupagus, Snuffy for short- he has the same name as another character on Sesame street- has been out of town for about one week. Generally we speak to each other everyday. (He basically behaves like a good person and tries to do good by me, apologises every time he does something wrong, calls me regularly. But that's as far as it goes. Sometimes he just drives me up the wall.) I had just finished getting my hair done and I really liked it. I thought of wearing it to see my boyfriend when he came, and just thinking about that...

Waz Happenin', Na so I siddon jeje o on Friday, minding my blogness and staring at the clock in anticipation of the close of work- you know the usual Friday itinerary- when my phone rang. Now this friend of mine had been calling me all day, but I had been in one meeting after the other, so I couldn't speak to her. But she persisted, so in the evening I was finally able to answer her. She had said previously that she wanted us to hang out that day, so I was expecting her to tell me to meet her up somewhere. But she didn't say that. Instead she said she wanted to invite me for something. No wahala. I'm up for being invited for things. What's it, I wanted to know. A protest, she said, we are protesting the felling of some trees on Bourdillon road (IKOYI). Now to understand this story properly I'll give you a little intro to Chili! 's personality. When children, women and human rights are concerned I will take leg waka the whole of Lagos and even Nigeria to...

Hiya everyone, Much as I have complained all week, I must say that this has been a great week for me. I mean, I literally had to just say I wanted to buy something and I had several people jumping up to pay for it for me. I kid you not!!!! (Na that soap wey I take baf sha, I know. Now if only it works on my absent-minded, never-get-a-hint, boyfriend. ) Anyway as I go into this weekend, I will strive to meditate and focus on the next year. For the first time in my life, I'm writing my goals for the next year, AND mapping out strategies with which I intend to get there. And I'm actually speaking of personal goals! (It's a small leap for Mankind, but a giant leap for Chili! , especially in these shoes.) What got me started in this direction, was a little goal I set for myself for the end of this week, which I achieved to my surprise, and one for the end of this month, which I am close to achieving. They seemed impossible to do, but I guess as they say, it's mind over matt...

'Sup!!! I confess, I don't understand men. I've been struggling with this issue for ages but I didn't want to seem weak and unstable to you guys so I never spoke about it. But now 'water don pass garri' o. I need help. And if washing my dirty Agent Provocateurs/Victoria Secrets in publog is going to solve this problem, then wash I shall! I don't get it. What is the purpose of a relationship with the opposite sex? No, scratch that, not the opposite sex , with men. ( Some over-intelligent people go tell me say the relationship na for say make una marry. Ok o, but they will also tell you that you don't tell the man that, at the beginning of the relationship. Then how will you both know what you are aiming for? Sounds really stupid to me. ) Then when you are finally in a relationship- or to put it more succintly- when you think you are in a relationship you find a blog that suggests that you really aren't paying attention to all the importa...

Hi Chili is mad!!!! Again. I mean REALLY mad. What the hell is wrong with Nigerians? Why is it that we cannot differentiate being professional from being friendly? It's annoying. You give someone a job to do, give them a deposit, and they never deliver. And when you confront them they ask you to understand, or get angry that you are asking in an angry tone. Can you imagine? I gave a colleague a printing job to do, a simple matter of some complimentary cards for my younger brother. The design was already on a CD and my brother came by himself to explain how exactly it should be done. That done, I asked when it would be ready, and he said Tuesday (it was Friday then). Ok no problem. He gave me a bill and informed me that he needed half the amount to begin the job. I gave it to him. On Monday he came to me and said the price he gave me for the cards was incorrect and that it would increase by about 500-1000 naira. I teased him about his cut throat practices but still conceeded. On Tue...

Hiya Peeps, It's been a while, hasn't it? Be careful what you wish for.... I've been busy at my work for a while. I wish I could regale you with tales of the 9 week long- including preparation- carnival, that I got nominated to spearhead, but I can't. (Sorry, client- consultant privilege.) However suffice it to say that in those few weeks I've been everywhere but at my desk and in my home. Boy, did I travel, and boy! did I love it. Anyway, back to the present, I've missed you guys. I mean what is life without someone, or some people to pour out your feelings to? But I'm back now and I have a lot of happiness, aspirations, desires and frustration, to vent so watch this page!! How ya living Chili!

Hiya Everyone, This life is funny. Look at it this way. I turned 30 this year and it was such a terrible birthday that I promised myself a present, as soon as I came into my fortune. So fast-forward to this month and I'm going to purchase the phone that has the tag-line, 'what computers have become'. (If you know it,great.I'm a gadget freak.) I'm looking forward to having it, but at the same time I'm planning where and when I will take it -or not take it. The reason is that phones get stolen these days; either by default or by omission; if you are in a place like a pub, or a bar, or even a club, people can just walk in and line everyone up and start collecting 'offerings' of phones and/or cash. (I even heard recently of one robbery where the people were asked to line up and withdraw money from their accounts using their ATM cards!) And if my 'what cameras have become' is under threat of being whisked away from me, I won't give it up without a...

OZYMANDIAS I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things, The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed. And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair! "Nothing beside remains: round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away. -Percy Bysshe Shelley Hiya Lovelies, Now, I'm not attempting to display my literary depth here - though if you noticed that, I really appreciate it- I just stumbled on a poem which happened to be one of my favourites in secondary school. It speaks of the futility of materialism: how w...

Yo My Peeps, There is a whole new world outside this our world o. Has anyone heard of that online world called Second Life? It is another life online! I had been a member of that world for a while but I didn't take it seriously, until BBC and CNN did a story on it. Then I knew the possibilities that existed, and now I'm hooked! But I'm scared o. Could this be the new way of getting us into the anti-christ mode? (Wetin? Am I not entitled to think intense spiritual thoughts?) Its scary that a website can pull you into living a whole life online, frills and thrills inclusive-if you know what I mean. A big shout-out to Nigeria Politricks. Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment. Your blog is quite unique and interesting. How ya living? Chili

Wazzap, I promised you two stories emanating from this weekend so here goes the second. I was in a supermarket on Saturday ,to do a bit of shopping for cosmetics, when I ran into an old boss of mine . At that meeting, he seemed quite happy to see me and even offered to pay for my purchases. Then the usual questions emerged: where are you now/ what do you do now? I was so happy to hand him my business card, as my present job is a departure from where I used to be. I could see that his respect grew when I told him what it was I did, and what kind of car I drive now- although, my darlings, I embellished the story a bit. He then suggested we went for a drink, and we did. As we had our drinks I tried to catch up on the news in his office, my former office. One of the things I liked about this man was his candid nature, at least towards me. He gave me advice,even when it hurt, and always told me the truth about himself. Because he was a notorious philanderer, I asked him about his 'o...

Hiya, Its the beginning of another working week, and a new beginning for me, because I learnt a lot from a series of events this weekend. As I said previously, I had stayed away from work for a few days, and in that time, had attempted to catch up with my life, so to speak. Unfortunately, putting my life in perspective, in the midst of healthy home cooking (mine), and unhealthy treats, like chocolate and coca-cola, was a wee bit difficult. But thanks to providence and my penchant for over-organization I have a few stories to tell.The first of these stories is the issue of fights. Catfights betwen women. It doesn't interest me when the exchange degenerates into fisticuffs, because I think that's just bad manners, but my interest is the situation a lot of women, including myself, find themselves. The situation where we let it all out, mouth wide,arms flailing, eyes wide open, screaming invectives at each other over anything. Now I have always admired people who can be provoked a...

Hello My Fantastic People, As you probably guessed I've been away for a while. Its been out of no fault of mine but I had something to do with it. Maybe someday, in the distant future I shall tell you what went down but for now let's keep to the matter at hand. Before I proceed I must give acknowledgement to whom it is due. I was at home for a few days, unwilling and unable to leave my house but I transacted my business with my bank , conveniently and comfortably, without talking to anyone, from my phone. In all honesty, GTB actually exceeds my expectations most of the time,save for the occassional ignorant customer service personnel- which is to be expected, this is Nigeria after all- by a wide margin. Kudos to them, but i digress. Ok. So here I was at home, minding my business (as I usually do) when a sistah brought a problem to me. Now I'm not in the business of solving everyone's problems, one interaction with me will tell you that, but this problem seemed unavoidab...

Hello My Favourite People, Again another weekend has gone, and with it my earnest desires to regale you with pictures and stories of the one-of-a-kind, gargantuan, and of course, expensive concert that was supposed to take Lagos by storm, and leave it stunned and reeling thereafter. (Now make no mistake, I would NEVER shell out 10 000 naira of MY money to go and watch some over-hyped, under-fed vocalists display the reason why America is Babylon -no offence UB40- but because my office decided that we are into events, and we should watch, and learn, from other events, they bought me a ticket. So there I was, when I had more important things to do, rushing around in a frenzy, trying to make sure I did not keep the company driver waiting endlessly, and that I made the 1pm timing written on the 'ticket'. Well, true to type, my type that is, I made it to the office at about 3pm. To cut a long story short, I arrived at the venue, the much-publicised, state-of -the-art ThisDay events ...

Hey, What's Up, I was going to speak about tagging on blogspots today. You know the recent practice where Bloggers write five things about themselves that people dont know. Or if that didn't seem too inviting, I was going to give a lecture titled 'Tecchie 101', just to bridge the gap between my readers and those who ask, 'what is a blog?', and all other gadget/technology-induced questions. Or at the worst I was going to elaborate on the 'other woman' issue I spoke of and tell you of a series of encounters with hard drugs. (Not mine.) But now Chili is mad. MAD! I mean what is wrong with Nigerians? Have you noticed how we disregard our customers and clients? How rude receptionists and front desk people are? How easy it is for organizations to take your money but so difficult for them to give any back to you, giving rise to such situations as ' I don't have change', or 'sorry, my Madam has to come back before I can know if we will refund you...

Hi Again, Let me ask this question: why do we women like to punish ourselves? We know a man is attached, actually married, and we still go on with the relationship. A guy makes it clear that he is unavailable but we persist, hoping and praying that he changes his mind. I'm not judging anyone because I'm guilty of it but I really wanna know why we do it. Why do we do it? A man would walk away at the first sign of trouble. He doesn't ususally share. and if he does, its usually because he doesn't like you very much. But women, we feel inadequate and empty, and we go into a relationship with a man who sees us as an avenue for free and constant sex, without feeling insulted or sad. Why do we feel that a man who lies to everyone else will be true to us? Why do we feel he will keep to us, when he couldn't keep to the person with whom he exchanged vows? Why? And why is that relationship usually more interesting than others? Why is it always the best or the more emotio...

Hi, Sorry about yesterday. I was overwhelmed with work and I couldn't write as much as I needed to. But here is the continuation of the weekend saga. (I was trying to say yesterday, that I work in an events management agency, which is actually an arm of an advert agency so we organize events around brands, as opposed to organising events for the sake of it. Anyway, because of our job, attending other events is also very important to us, at least to see what else is going on. so that was why I would give the flyer for an event to my boss and expect him to pay for it.) So I had successfully completed phase 1 of my 2-phase plan by Wednesday. I had given my boss the flier and he thought the show was a good idea. So I was just biding my time till Friday before I launched the reminder. On Friday I saw my boss, remembered all the things I needed to say to him, but like magic at some point in the day he picked up his briefcase and travelled!!! I was devastated. So no event for me...

Hi Beautiful People, Another week, another few dollars, eh? Or is it the other way around? This weekend I was looking forward to going to a very special event that had been seriously hyped on radio. So I had it all down to the tee. On Wednesday I would show my boss the flyer for the event, on Friday, after work, I would subtly suggest to him that the show was the next day. He would approve it, and I would be on my way to the show. Well, wednesday turned out ok. He bought the idea. (By the way because I work ... to be continued

Hi, Na wa o. Today was such a wierd day. Not a wierd day but a kind of difficult day. Ever had such a bad day that you fear the next? Well, that was such a day.I dont normally dread the weekend but I find myself doing that this weekend. If you read yesterday's blog you'll know part of the reason but the other part is something I hold dear to my really fragile and broken heart. My home and my finances. ( You know, after I wrote the last sentence I went to do sth else and when I came back I blinked in disbelief that I actually wrote those words.) Anyway, I learnt a valuable lesson yesterday and today. Last night I stopped at an open air bar, where I normally go to avoid traffic, and I met an old friend(?), more like acquaintance, from my brief stint at a business school. Well, after the pleasantries, he accused me of abandoning him, of just cutting him off without any contact info. I didnt deny it, and I tried to explain why I did that. I told him that I felt he was not an effec...

Hi Today I'm going to speak of something that is of utmost importance to everyone. And is the bane of my existence. Its called money. Now its just the - what's it, 5th?- of the month and I have almost totally wiped out my account! Now taking a look at my expenditure I do not see much that I spent o that I didnt need. Yes, even that black blazer. I will attend meetings soon, God willing, and Creative department or no, there are ways to look for a formal appointment. Now dont get me wrong, I've read all the how-to books on keeping your money and all that. Pay yourself first, they say, plan your expenditure. But do they take into account the companies that owe you for endless months? Or the fact that if you do not pay your landlord you will be out on the streets no shortcuts, or NEPA, or fuel hike. How do I manage my money and take care of my expenses? How do I manage, period. God help us o Chili

Hi Today I'm just chillin'. I'm trying really hard to do my job to specifications but its becoming increasingly difficult. First of all I have no idea how to go about what I have to do, and secondly I dont know if I will be able to do it right. I've been in TV all my working life, and when it comes to TV, be it scripting, editing, presentation or production, I'm an expert. A Pro. But this is a whole different ballgame. And, unfortunately, I was thrown in the deep end, fast. Please if there's anyone who knows about events management, sponsorship and promotion in relation to branding, please hola. God help me.

Hi People, Na wa o! Na God dey save person for this Lagos wey we dey o. Usually I wait till its really late before I go home from work, primarily because I cant stand traffic as it wastes fuel and energy, and because it gives room for mugging or robbery. Last night, as I was on my way home, at about 11pm, I decided to pass the Adeniyi Jones/Ogba route, rather than the Allen/Agidingbi route for reasons best known to my subconscious. As I turned into the WEMPCO axis of Ogba, I saw two young men holding their shoes in their hands, running, frantically waving down cars, and shouting at the same time. I was scared. I looked around and saw that all the other drivers were still going in the direction I wanted to so I continued. Then as I drove on, I saw a commercial bus parked on the side of the road and on the opposite end a young man stood and was speaking to someone inside it. The next thing I knew he raised up both his hands like he was surrendering or something. I didnt wait to see what ...

Hi everyone, I had just taken about two hours out to write this blog out carefully, generating about 7 paragraphs, when the unthinkable happened.Everything got wiped off because I inadvertently pressed the 'back' button! What this means therefore is that I cant tell you the gist I wanted to tell you. Simple.Its not your fault or mine. I just believe that incidents do not just occur. There is always a purpose or a conspiracy theory . Anyway its another Monday and the daily grind resumes. As a rule, I dont really feel much for Mondays except for the fact that I always feel like I need more sleep. But today I need a little more than sleep I need medication. I have a cold, a really terrible one, but I know ' this too shall pass'. Speaking of 'passing' something passed over the weekend and I will 'claim' it cos I wont let the devil 'steal my joy'. I sound like 'them' now, dont I? But this is really a serious matter and I want to discuss it w...

Hi, Its another Monday morning and, even though I generally hate Mondays, this one is particularly unwelcome because I had a crazy weekend! Prior to this, it was my style to have a mad dash every weekend, from salon to party, to friendly gathering, to god-knows-where, and to end up panting on Monday morning. ( My younger brother always wonders how I can manage that kind of life.) But I decided to slow down cos I love sleep, men! It is a brilliant biological invention. But, unfortunately this weekend I couldn't avoid it. My office- its the events management arm of an advert agency- organized a party for a client on friday. Anyway I got home at about 6.30 am on Saturday morning. I slept for a while, but at the crack of dawn, a couple of guys who are just moving into my building began construction work on their flat. I dont know if they are demolishing the place but I tell you the sounds emanating from that flat- which is below mine- make it sound like that. Gba! Gba! Gboa! I woke up ...

ps. Because of the problems I identified above, I will have to stick to a topic per day or per week, or per month, as I desire. The topic for now is in the title. (IF I MIND IT MATTERS, for the 'hard of seeing'.) So chat with you soon.

Hi Yawl, Its the very first day of the creation of this fantastic blogspot- even if i say it myself- applause, please, thank you very much. Now, off the top of my head, I can see that I am going to have two, maybe even three problems. ("There are three things pleasing to the Lord, four indeed that delight him" remember that? Oh whatever!) Anyway, the first problem is likely to be the fact that my penchant for grammar and punctuation is going to show through! It already is isn't it? The second is the fact that I'm always at work when I can get access to the Web. So, how do I dodge a possible boot, and feed my excessive cathartic desires- i warned you, didnt i?- to the extent that I need? And thirdly, the age-long problem of journalists- what do i leave out? ok, gotta go now beautiful people, talk to you soon. Please talk to me.