The 5th floor

I remember that day and shudder.


I have had a previous encounter with depression but I was over it and looking forward to a new life in my new location. Depression was a thing of the past!

Or so I thought. Until i was blind sided by the devil himself. I didn't see it coming. There was nothing so spectacular about the day - I went to school dressed up in a flowing Ankara skirt because it was ethnic day. I kinda felt slighted that the most of the rest of the guys didn't dress up but o well, that isn't news. Anyways, so at the end of the day we decided to 'show face' at the stand and we had a bit of fun buying pepper soup and gisting. We ended up visiting the indian stand and I had a nice bite of chicken sauce and some nice not-naan-bread-that-starts-with-p... We were going back to the Nigerian stand so I could hear some loud nigerian music before I called it a day only to change my mind mid stride and wheel around. No prior thought - one minute I was going to the stand, the next minute I was sure I wasn't going, back to my room!

Home! And I couldn't even be bothered - if not that my skirt was dying to free itself from my waist I might have curled up in bed with it. Next thing, lights out - all unplanned. Then my mind starts wandering and an evil thought comes to mind - it's only the 5th floor, you can do it!

4 hours later, I was still in bed struggling with my thoughts and inaction until my favorite person in the world calls. I think that was the first step to me snapping out of it!


God help us all!

what did i remember, what did i forget?

school public holiday:

i guess i've always been absent-minded to a large extent. These days my simple distraction has been inferred to mean ADD-attention deficit disorder or more simply old age. Who would have guessed that big grammar and an attending dire diagnosis would be the explanation for forgetfulness. Meanwhile it is not that i always forget, just on occasion.

Friday school days were usually shorter and more fun - the weekend i guess, but more importantly because the Muslims had to attend to prayers at about 2 o'clock. This means that lunch break was earlier and everyone was happier. Anyways on this fateful Friday, nothing seemed different.

On Monday. there was a public announcement on the radio to the effect of declaring the said day a Public Holiday (I forget why). This was after we'd  gone through the usual ritual of getting ready for school. Unfortunately, the public holiday did not include Public Servants. So it was with vehemence that i insisted that no one had told us about any public holiday in school o!(which was true by the way - or at least as far as my absent mindedness could remember). I don't think any of my siblings raised much opposition - we would all rather be in school than holed up with the wicked help.

As if on cue, the help called me aside and whispered "are you sure there is school? If there is no school, you will be in trouble with me." I prayed even harder, dreading the possibility that I was wrong. Lo and behold, we got to school and immediately I knew something was wrong - too quiet! If it were up to me, I'd have reopened schools just to avoid her spelled out trouble!

Unfortunately, I couldn't reopen school. I was homebound and trying to dodge going home to avoid Aunty 'sisi's' trouble. And did I get the trouble - in full measure. My parents dropped us off at the gate and drove off for work. I braced up for the showdown. Aunty sisi was scrubbing the corridor as we walked in. I took off my school clothes and went on my fours scrubbing with aunty. I don't remember the rest of the day in detail but I remember I cried myself to sleep. I think that is selective memory....

You are not alone

The story of the broom stick and the broom, a lesson in the latent strength of unity.

Little wonder like-minded people or people that have something in common gather together and accomplish it - on my mind as i write this is Alcohol Anonymous group (predictably morbid right?)


As I sat at my improvised desk (I had moved location and my particular role in this new location was as vague as could be), I was having a quiet day and decided to indulge in my favourite past time - blog hopping, of course starting from my favorites (sealed lips).

Now, I don't know if it is mere coincidence or if the trend i noticed yesterday is more than a figment of my imagination. People are sha expressive! The funny part is I could identify with a lot of things the ladies were sharing and some more from the guys. In case you are wondering, the trend I am talking about can be described in one word as explicit - gals are not smiling o! Neither are guys but I think guys have not been smiling for a while now so it was kinda good to hear from the non-smiling gals.

The gist that caught my attention the most was how come it is okay to have friends with benefit in this Lagos, to how to make sure you don't fall for your friends-with-benefit. After watching the movie, I started thinking that it wasn't such a bad idea to have a child by a friend who you have friend-zoned just because mr right is nowhere in the horizon....I even expressed my sentiment to a few friends and I remember vividly one of them saying "tah! shut up there. Miss weirdo". And so I did, I actually reconsidered .... then I met like-thinking people in the blogoshpere. It would seem the blogosphere is filled with all sorts - anyways, I always seem to have a laugh whenever I indulge.

So let's talk about the benefits (or lack thereof) of friends with benefits. Is it the single woman's version of legal promiscuity? Is it the next logical step in these our times where good men are far and few in between and a sexually active sister has to survive anyways? Maybe this is an age long practice sef and JJC like me, I am just finding out last and just because it has a 'cute' name (and movie) to tag it that's why we are talking?

My first reaction was to say 'tufiakwa', we must do it right o - marry as second wife if you must but the option of sleeping with someone with no emotional attachment is sooooo unfeminine. We (as women) don't have to join in the emotional bankruptcy that men have been known to indulge in, sometimes blatantly. Having said that, I kinda understand where these ladies are coming from and that put me in a kinda dilemma. I don't endorse it, but then again I am not the relationship version of NAFDAC.

Like one of the bloggers said, to each their own o! I'm not preaching, just saying.#tatafo.com