Oklahoma, boarding house woes et al.

I've been in Oklahoma the past week. There was a break between the first and second summer so I figured I'd take it off and visit my sister and the rest of my mumsie's family who live there. I swear that place is full of Nigerians. My baby sister is done with her JSCE so the parentals have shipped her over to yankee. Poor baby, my parents travel a lot these days so she's the only one at home most times. She's now in boarding house which she absolutely abhors! I mean, who would love being in boarding house, especially in Queen's College? As much as I love QC, I do not look back fondly on my boarding house days, especially those in junior school. She has been regaling us with tales about her bathing with orange water from the borehole (which she added 2 capfuls of disinfectant to); Her boarding house mistress Mrs Obi hating and punishing her for no reason; the horrible foos they serve in dining hall which she refuses to eat (no wonder she's so skinny now). I swear it feels like Deja vu. I have no idea why my parents are hell bent on that school, my middle sister is the only one that miraculously avoided going there.

She of course brought me my naija provisions...indomie,chinchin, maggi, sardines, my sure roll on, True Love, nollywood movies and stuff. They confiscated the yam she was bringing me at the airport. I am so mad man! I had plans for it....we don't have an African store in the ville and the yams they sell at the African stores in the nearest cities look quite dead. :-(

Anyhow, my week in Oklahoma was good...it was great to see my lil sisters. Visited with my numerous family members down there. I ate like a pig, it was like they kept stuffing food in my face...I'm sure I've gained like 10 pounds. I need to get back on Kanye's workout plan. Back in the ville now and summer B classes started today. It's the beginning of July so I have to get back on this my GRE study plan, I need to take it ASAP.

Oh my!

Somewhere in the back of my mind I still knew I had a blog but for some reason it totally skipped my mind. I can't believe it's been almost a year since my last blog post...there was a time when I would make multiple entries in one day. In my defense, I have been keeping a physical journal and even an audio one. Audio journal? Yes, one day I realized I could use the voice recorder on my mp3 for much more than just recording my lectures.
So what's been going on in my life? A lot! I was reading through my last post where I was complaining about not been allowed to live on campus. Well, the parentals caved in and yours truly is living off campus in a beayuuuutiful apartment and loving it. However, it's a case of be careful what you wish for because living alone is pretty lonely sometimes. I can't complain too much though, most times I enjoy my solitude.
School is school, changed my major and career direction. I realized medicine wasn't the path I wanted to follow so I switched to something more appropriate for me. A field I have a passion for and where I know I would be feeling fulfilled and still be able to make a living...Physical Therapy. I got a lot of heat for this from my family members, not mumsie and popsie as much as awon uncles and aunties. In the past year, I've tried t convinced them that I'm not throwing my life away and that PT is actually a lucrative career. I plan to get a doctorate in it and someday open my own practice in Nigeria. So many people just go to waste for lack of PT back home. Imagine this, my granny had knee replacement surgery about a month ago (it went well thank God) and she's been undergoing PT since then to help her adjust to the new knee. So many people in naij have surgeries requiring PT afterwards but they are just sent home. Some children are born with abnormal gaits, weak limbs or an inability to grasp and we just assume they are one of those things that happen. So many of these things can be corrected with PT. Anyhow sha, e go be...I've just decided to stop protesting when my uncle says I would just be a glorified massage therapist.

Of paranoid parents and pinyatas

So I called Wachovia, spoke to this cool guy and got my money refunded. The funniest thing is that even though I wanted to shout and yell, I decided to be Kool Kalm and Kollected and got my way. I must say I'm quite pleased with the way I handled myself, it goes to show that you don't need to make a lot of noise to get your way.

My uncle came back with no suya. I'm not too mad at that cos my daddy will be bringing me some on thursday. As usual, he came with naija movies and magazines (ovation, city people and all) that my aunt loves. We saw a couple of pics of my mom and dad in one of those magazines. I still find it weird seeing their pictures in magazines and stuff. Of course my aunt called to make fun of her cos my mom hates appearing in them.

The pool party was nice o. There was enuff food and drink for everyone. We even got a pinyata at the last minute. I ended up breaking it (being the big strong women that I am) and all the candy came pouring on my head...I wish I had a pic of that. You should have seen the way these kids rushed the candy. It was fun sha.

I got my rent statement for the Fall and as usual, UF has increased their fees. This junk goes up every year. It costs more to live on campus and I still have to share a bathroom with 4 other people. Every year I beg my parents to let me move off campus and every year they refuse. Funny enough, last night we saw a forensic documentary on the Gainesville Ripper on INHD and my uncle was like "you are never moving off campus till you graduate, I don't care if it's been years, there are still crazy in that your college town...none of the girls who were killed lived on campus". Lol, parents can be so paranoid.

Check out Mona's forum on breaking points in relationships.

Happy Friday

I'm no longer livid. I haven't resolved my bank issues but rest assured I'll be making an appearance there after work today. My uncle-Dad is coming back from Naija 2day! You know what that means? SUYA!!!!!!!! I can already taste it going down with some extra cold garrium sulphate (GaSO4). Plus my daddy is coming next week...Ah, Good times all around.

So tommorow, my cousin is having a pool party at the house to celebrate her birthday. She recently turned 18 and so she has invited about 20 of her friends. Guess who's in charge? Me Me ME! I was actually planning on making myself scarce tommorow [who wants to hang around with some 17/18 yr olds still in high school or who just graduated? Mind you, I'm only 18yrs and 11 months but I'm a junior in college and therefore so much more matured ;-)] but my aunt-mom has to work tommorow and my uncle-dad will still be jet lagged so that leaves me to do the job. It should be fun sha, barbeque, swimming and all. I mustn't forget to use sunscreen....can't aford to be getting burnt.

The only issue I have with this party is the music. You see, my dearest cousin is really a Japanese Spirited girl born in America to Nigerian Parents. So therefore, there will be a lot of Japanese Pop and Anime themed music. Can't we have some Lagbaja (ok, maybe that's a lil too extreme) or at least some booty shaking music? Anyhow sha, it's not my party. I have to remember to stop at publix to buy fruits for the fruit salad I'm making tommorow. Have a great fun filled weekend.

P.S: The song of the day is 2face Idibia's For Instance(Accapella Version) I heard about it from Bella Naija's Blog. I'm not a fan of the version with instrumentals but the accapella version is very heartfelt. Check it out.

Arrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I'm so mad at Wachovia Bank right now I can hardly contain myself. I can't believe these idiot s pulled a stunt like this. qwueib2218u21yjgdihjnkfegjondlefypw;aopuo;qhpuj;h

Ok Ok BREATHE!!! I'm going to do like JJ and let Jesus take the wheel...

My main bank is wachovia. Since it's the one my school patronizes, they have a branch and ATMS all over campus making my life a little easier. I have a savings and checking account with them. When I opened an account with these people, they told me I had free overdraft protection, meaning if I overdrew from my checkings, they'll pull the money from the savings at no charge. So a couple of days ago I made 2 big purchases that drained a lot of kudi from my checking account. By my calculations, there should have still been enough money in there to keep me from taking out of my saving account. Only to find out that the pedicure people from friday afternoon, hadn't taken their money and neither had a couple of other expenses I made that day been registered. So when I checked my account balance on monday, it wasn't reflective of the real monetary value. Finally, all these people took their money and my checking started going into red, and instead of the people at wachovia to take money from my savings (like they said they would do for free), they just sat there and let the money withdraw. So apparently I had made abt 7 transactions at Walmart over the course of last week, none of which cost more that 10 bucks each (Super-Walmart is across from my job, I can't resist the urge to go in and buy something) and these IDIOTS at Wachovia have the gall to charge me a whopping $210 as unavailable funds fee. Can you imagine my horror when I checked my balance just now and saw it was negative, while there is still money sitting in my savings account!

I am so LIVID! Ok, I know it's my fault for not balancing my checking account and monitoring my account activities but they were the ones who said they will take money from my savings at no extra charge if my checkings was overdrawn. I mean wtf!? These people should not play with me. There is no way in this world I'm coughing up $210 for Wachovia. Banks are so evil, I'm sure when I go and halla for the lady at the bank tommorow, she'll come up with one cock and bull story but I no go gree! This is money we are talking about, money I WORKED FOR for once in my life. Read my lips, WACHOVIA SUCKS and I'm definitely changing banks asap.

Busted Plans...

Thank you for the warm welcome guys :-)

So this was independence weekend for we Yankee folks and absolutely none of my plans came to fruition. First of all, the ladies and I were supposed to go to Atlanta for the Naija Reunion but things didn't work out so that plan was busted (there's always next year). Than my friend Ble-ble, who has an apartment on the beach about 2 hours south of Otown invited me over for the weekend. Come to find out my ride was mescaforming(acting up), so no beach hotties for me this weekend. This is what happens when you don't have a driver's license and have to depend on others for your mobility! I was pretty disappointed cos I spending my 4 day weekend at home. Ordinary movie I didn't even see sef.

This summer has been very one kind, but the blame rests squarely on my shoulders. When my uncle and aunty (aka Dad n Mom Yankee) invited me to come home for the summer, I was so anxious to get away from Gainesville (where my school is) that I accepted. I forgot what it felt like to come back home for Three Whole Months Sha, it's been a good time for me to get rejuvenated, get my priorities re-straightened out and all that. I'm taking summer classes, working and shadowing a doctor so I kinda have my hands full. I'm grateful for the break from the hustle and bustle of school.

My daddy is coming from naija next week. It should be nice to see him again this year. As usual, he'll be coming with my naija movies and music, my tastee fried chicken and mumsi's peppered snails. Oohhhh, I can't wait! When he comes we are planning to go to Boca for the weekend. Let's hope that plan doesn't get busted as well.

My song of the day is No more by Genevieve Nanaji the Naija Nollywood actress. When I first heard about her singing, my first thought was:
"Why do these actors always think they can sing, just because they can act? Who gave her record deal sef?"
When I heard the song I wasn't disappointed. That lady can't hold a note, but the beat was pretty catchy and it has grown on me. It's not too bad sha but she can definitely do better. What are you listening to?

Olowo What!?

I'm sure some people are like what kind of name is that. Olowosokedile is part of my oriki , a praise poem extolling the heritage, virtues and accomplishments of a family. I'm led to believe every Yoruba (:See Nigerian ethnic group:) family has one. Anyhow, Olówósòkèdilẹ literally means The wealthy person that turns the sky to the ground. Does that make sense? It means I'm rich like that (lol, I wish)

Anyways, this is my first blog here (I used to be on xanga not too long ago). This blog won't really have a format, it will just contain my random brain farts (which I tend to have quite often). I've seen a lot of very interesting blogs on this site and I can't wait to read them.

Testing, Testing...1, 2, 3...Testing...
Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah, I don't have anything to say right now, but that will change in a couple of hours.