January 30th

Hi guys,

Happy new year, yeah yeah, I know January 31st is tomorrow, but bear with me, this is the first time I am posting this year, infact this is the first time I am posting in two months, so yeah, happy new months and happy new year, hope your dreams come through this year. I have been such a bad blogger on both blogs, but I promise to be better this year.

November 28th

Dear diary,
We all know or at least have heard about the rule about dating exes or the eleventh commandment as some like to call it. If you haven't heard, it's one of the unwritten laws in girl code, you do not date your friend's ex or someone who has chyked you friend before, at least no without telling her. She can either give you the go ahead or not to date the dude, it's now up to you to decide if you want to save the friendship and forget the dude or date the dude and forget about the friendship!

So we know about that and what to do if you ever find yourself in that situation. But what do you do when a guy that liked you or chyked you, a guy who you never felt anything for starts liking your friend and asks you to hook them up?

November 14th

Dear Diary,

Why is it so easy for us to jump into conclusion about people without even knowing a thing about them? Why is it so easy to think the worst about a person whose name we do not even know?

I was out with a few people today and we were discussing about prostitutes, they assumed that all the girls that lived in a certain building were prostitutes, I was of the opinion that it was an unfair generalization because families with well-raised daughters lived there too. Just as we were passing the building we saw a young lady standing waiting for a taxi in front of the building, and they both went ‘see, like this girl now, there is no way you can tell me she is not a prostitute’. How can you just look at someone you do not know and jump to such a horrible conclusion about her?

November 6th

Dear Diary,

Today I saw the power of a mother’s love; today I saw a mother’s love in action.

In court today one of the cases that came up had to do with the custody of the kids of divorced parents.

The lady in this case had no lawyer and from the first minute she opened her mouth to tell the judge that a lawyer was not representing her, you could feel the emotions in her voice. She eventually gave in to the tears we, well I, were all trying to hold back.

November 1st

Dear Diary,

I was up as early as 4:30am today, but that’s cool, I was up for a good reason. My family friend had just found out that she passed her Bar finals, not only did she pass, she passed it very well.

Now if you are a lawyer or if you are related to a lawyer, you would know that wait for your bar final result is one of the most tension filled phase of any lawyer’s life. Just one year at the Nigerian Law School makes a joke of the five years you spent studying law in the university. So yes, I didn’t mind being awake at 4:30am while she calls to all her friends and loved ones to tell them about her result and to find out how the had fared, I had been there before, so I understood quite well.

October 31st

Dear Diary,

Why do we like boxing people into boxes of what we think they should be like, without any consideration to who they already are? We just look at people and assume they have to be or act a certain way, without even considering that people were made differently.

Why can't we just try to understand and accept people for who they are? The fact that you don't understand someone’s way of life doesn't mean that their way of life is wrong. It’s just like cultures, the fact that you as an Ibo man doesn't understand why a Yoruba boy has to lie flat on the floor to greet his elders doesn't mean its wrong. Or  the fact that you a Yoruba man can't understand why an Ibo boy wouldn't lie flat on the floor to greet his elders doesn't make it wrong either.

We need to cut each other some slack; we cannot all be the same. Imagine how boring and annoying this world would be if every single person on earth had the same character traits. Imagine if every single person on earth were loud and boisterous, we would end up getting on each other’s nerves everyday. Or imagine if everyone were to be on the quiet side, we would all end up like zombies. Variety is said to be the spice of life, if we were all alike, this life would be so boring.

Why can't we just accept people for who they are instead of trying to change them? Life is too short to be anything but happy, so why would you want to see another person unhappy. Yes, you want to see others unhappy, when you fit them into a box that they don't fit into. That’s what you are doing when you want them to pretend to be someone other than himself or herself.

Life wouldn’t be any fun if we were all alike.

Love always,

Iphie,

XoXo

October 28th

Dear Diary,

Today I had the funniest experience at the saloon.

So there I was sitting calmly as my stylist attended to me, in walk two girls obviously to get their fine on. No big, they didn’t really stand out, so there was nothing to notice about them. Boy was I in for a surprise, yeah nothing really stood out about them, until they opened their mouths.

They couldn’t speak a lick of English yet they wanted everything in the salon. It started with the hair style one of them wanted to have made, all she wanted to make was an invisible part, but it took the stylist about twenty minutes to get what she wanted, I am sure it would have taken an hour if someone with the style she wanted hadn’t  walk in.

Next she wanted to get her nails done, that was when the real laughter started, she kept pointing at her nails and saying she wanted them ‘poof poof’, nobody understood what ‘poof poof’ was, so for a few minutes it was a mixture of ‘poof poof’, laughter and trying to understand what she wanted to be done for her.

Her next target was the guy that sells weavons, she wanted a certain length and colour of weavon, which they guy didn’t have but he kept trying to convince that they one he was showing her was better. Mind you, she walked in with her own weavon which she already asked the stylist to dye blond, note that she is a really dark girl.

So in walks a fair make up artist that sells make up in the salon, and suddenly she wanted to look like her and so in her usually manner, she asked the girl to sell makeup and also teach her how to make up. At first the make up artist was acting all hostile towards her, but when she realised this was a cow that she could keep milking, she suddenly put on her sunny side. At the end she complained that she didn’t look like the makeup artist after her makeup session was over, obviously you can’t look like her, she is fair while you are dark.

It was hilarious and all but I eventually had ask my stylist if she could understand English. Apparently the girls were from Niger Republic and could barely put English sentences together but could speak English and French. He went ahead to note that communication was really important when doing business. He said they were brought in by pimps to ‘attend’ to the needs of our big men; he also questioned their economic value to Nigeria.

While it was hilarious to watch, it raised a few important questions, why are our borders so porous? Girls that had no business being in our country somehow found their way into our country with no problems. You can only imagine what the boys that get in from Niger are up to, definitely up to no good. I think of them and I think of crime, I think of boko haram, I think murder, I think armed robbers.

My stylist also raised an important question, what economic value were they adding to Nigeria, zero. So what were they looking for here? Just here causing a nuisance.

It also brought to fore the very dubious nature of human beings. Everybody in the salon were suddenly willing to serve her the moment they realised she was a cow they could keep milking, a cow that communication barriers didn’t let negotiate. They way they inflated prices was appalling. It’s sad that people are willing to cheat someone who obviously didn’t understand the language or the system.

I cut my hair really low today, very daring I know, lol!!!

Love always,

Iphie,

XoXo