Grey Matters

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 ...