Slave to Brands

Now i used to love Virgin Nigeria. Roomy aircraft. Well organised and stuff. I staunchly defended them against anyone who had a bad word to say about them. In some way i identified with the goals to be Nigerian and world class and i really wanted them to suceed. However, my experience last week Friday on the Abuja-Lagos scared the crap out of me. Talk about rollercoasters. Its was surreal. I dont know if the Russian pilots had over indulged in their customary Smirnoff (am assuming this is what russians do that is if these guys are even russian ) before the flight, but it seemed your guy was looking for the baddest clouds in the sky and intentionally flying into them. But after we landed and i got over the shock of it all. I started questioning my loyalty to the Virgin Nigeria brand and why i was so loyal in the 1st place.

Its not only true that "You are what you eat", its also true that you are what you wear, where you shop, what you buy there, where you eat, what you eat there. The brands we long to be associated with shows the kind of person we are. Or does it? Quick exercise. Go home and have a look at your shopping bags. I bet you will fall in one of the 3 categories below:

Type 1 (Fashionista):

• Designer bags galore esp Selfridges and Harrods. Brings every single shopping bag gotten when they travelled out of the country back.
  
• Carry their TM Lewin shopping bags everywhere. Serve as bible holders, file jacket for the office. Just need everyone to know i can buy a shirt for 7.5k
  
• Use Nike, Adidas or Puma bags when carrying sport related items.
  
• Use Duty Free Shopping Bags to masks the items contained in local bags inside. Cant have people think we shop in the country
  

Type 2 (Easy Shopper)

• Has a wide variety of bags. Doesnt send which ones. More concerned about value for money for the items inside and couldnt care less what image it projects. This is me by the way. :)
  

Type 3 ( Wanna Be)

• Accumulates rumpled/ used bags utilised by Type 1

Now not to sound hypocrytical, we all probably have a bit of the 3 types in us in different shades. Our level of dependency on these status items for a sense of self-worth varies per person. But we all derive some sense of comfort from the safety provided by brands. Why go to Silverbird instead of City Mall? Suppose the whole idea is not to get hung up on it and know you are who you are. At the end of the day, brand loyalty is just making someone else wads of cash in guaranteed sales.

Anyhow. Have to go. Enjoy

A Tale of Two Cities

With the recent arrival of the Palms Mall in Lekki, which is fantastic by the way, am getting the feeling that Lagos is gradually being split into two very different cities. Yes, that gap already exists. I mean imagine comparing Ikoyi and Agege. But my fear is that this gap is going to be further entrenched and relatively nice places like Surulere, and if care is not taken Ikeja, will be pushed lower down the pecking order. In 5 years time, we could have a wonderful modern centre encircled by crappy, decaying suburbs.

And i believe there is an instutionalised decision to make this so. The majority of the suggested improvements to the infrastructure of Lagos State is centered on Lekki-Ikoyi-VI-Lagos Island axis. When its all done or sorry if it is done at all (weve been here before), we could have a psuedo-developed world where its inhabitants shop at Shoprite and Game, sip cappacinos and lattes at trendy cafes, down shots of tequila in classy bars, struggle to choose which cinema to watch "King Kong II", while cruising on well illuminated and pot hole free roads. And the rest of us. Well thank God for our local Mr Biggs and Tantalizers.

Now dont get me wrong. Am not a communist or even socialist for that matter. I love to enjoy the life and will happily jump at the 1st opportunity to live on the island. But youve got to spread the love round. One should not have to drive all the way to the island just to enjoy the "flenjo life". This narrow minded view of development needs to change. It will only increase the already manic rush to live on the island which will wreack havoc on the "to-be" developed infrastructure. And we will back at square one again wondering how we got there.

Anyhow, i would like to think this is being done in phases and this is just phase one (dont hold your breath). In the mean time. Have to keep hunting for a bargain. This island life sounds appealing..........

Later

Thug Life Naija Style

Now in most countries a thug is what you call rif raff who indulge in illegal activity and go about beating people up. Hold on that's a Nigerian Politician. To be honest comparing Tupac Shakur to a Nigerian politician is probably an insult to the man's memory but in the league of thugs he has to be the benchmark.

But just for a laugh, lets play "Spot the Difference". Tupac was intelligent, forward thinking, cared about his fellow black brothers. And our politicians, well, they are not completely heartless. They care very much for themselves and if they are above average maybe their nuclear family as well. Please dont call them servants of the people, thats insulting and as Africans we should respect our elders.

So there you have it. The result of our rather brief analysis shows the people who make daily decisions about our lives aint any better than an American area boy. But are we surprised? Of course not. Long before the butchers of Ibadan and Anambra came on the scene, we always had an inclination that the level of intellectual sophistication of our leaders was at best suspect. Maybe it was their inability to pronounce words like "integrity", "justice", "infrastructure", or phrases like "fair elections". I dont know. I can't seem to put my finger on it exactly. But what i do know is it wasn't as a result of their charitable well-meaning nature.

But as the phrase goes "If you can't beat them (no pun intended) join them". I know the pen is mightier than the sword but please, waving articles at a bunch of miscreants armed to the teeth with guns and knives is laugable. So if thats the case, How do we reclaim our country back? Well i wont lie to you. I dont know. I have to put that one in the to do file. But in the mean time ive got one very good idea. Pray......

Happy Wednesday

Fergie, Thank U and Goodbye

Ok. Ive have had it. As a Man U fan i feel weve hit a brick wall. Alex Fergusson you have been great. Won us the Champions League. Wonderful (One of the best days of my life even). Celebrated numerous premiership titles and FA Cups. Fantastic. But every dog has its day and times up Fergie. You just aint the ferocious rottweiler you used to be. Even Darren Fletcher aint scared of you anymore.

I just hope Fergie goes out in a dignified manner. Jump before he is pushed. Resign before he is fired. Takes a hint before they take it out on him. Cos the Glazers aint sentimental folk. They will chuck you out like last week's moulding pizza guaranteed to leave a bad taste in the mouth.

Come on Fergie. Leave me with my happy memories. Dont cloud them with nightmares of Man City and Burton Albion with Jose Mourinho dancing in the background. Admit it you just aint the manager you used be.

Am sure deep down Fergie knows but keeps thinking he can turn it around. Dont think you can mate. Just do us a favour: Stop buying anymore players, Save the extra cash for the next manager (hopefully Gus Hiddink), buy yourself a nice house in the Bahamas, even Abuja is quite nice, put your feet up and chill. Cos mate this management thing aint really going anywhere anymore.

Sir Alex. Thanks for everything over the years. Youve been great and i wish you the best in all you do but pls be a nice old man and go gracefully. Thank you Sir

Draw me close to You...

Continuing on the religious tone of my last few posts. One of my main goals this year is to have a closer relationship with God. Over the last few years, this has been an on and off relationship and is definitely something i wish to rectify this year. A good start is to try and spend more time with God everyday. This calls for discipline and effective time management. There can be no excuses. Have to "Nike" it (Just Do It).

The common phrase the "Spirit is willing, but the Flesh is weak" is especially apt in this case. I suppose everyone faces this daily inner battle, knowingly doing things that are wrong and feeling guilty afterwards. Why do we to this? Why does sin seem to have such control over us? How does one stay in the power of the Holy Spirit 24-7? How does one live in this world with temptation all around us and not fall?

I think its possible tho. I strongly believe that if i discipline myself and keep to the straight and narrow, i can get this relationship with God that i eagerly desire. But i have failed enough times to know it aint gonna be easy. Infact controlling your human nature is prob one of the hardest things there is. At times the battle looks unwinnable, the task unsurmountable but its definitely achievable. I just have to realise that i cant do that myself but with the help of the Almighty.

Herein lies the paradox. To get closer to God you have to spend more time with him. The flesh prevents you from getting closer to him. To defeat the flesh you need God's help which you get from spending more time with him. Argggggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!. Okay this might a bit of an exageration but its clear to everyone the challenges which we face.

But i strongly believe it is a winnable battle and one i intend to win this year.

Thanks people and talk to you soon.....

Thou Shalt Not Drink?

Now this is prob a controversial topic but i think its a fair one. Can you become closer to God and still consume copious of alcohol on a weekly basis? Simple answer NO!!!. It ain't gonna happen. Okay fair enough.

What about if you drank a moderate amount of alcohol a week. Lets say 7 bottles of Star a week. But this brings up a dilemnna. What constitutes a moderate amount of alcohol? If i drank a bottle a day. Suppose that wont be a problem. But what if i drank the whole 7 on a Friday night. Now that definitely is not moderate.

So we have a bigger problem than i initially thought. Obviously, everyone has their own alcohol tolerance limit, so a one-fits-all approach doesnt work. Also there are different types of alcohol that you can consume e.g. beer, wine, spirits etc. So how do you come up with a benchmark as to what is a moderate amount. Hmmm interesting.

I can already hear what many people will be thinking. Well just stop drinking alcohol. Easy as ABC. But i will tell them one thing. If you tried to stop drinking all types of soft drinks and juices and confined yourself to drinking water only, you wouldn't even last a week. Yes they are different but the principles are the same. OLD HABITS DIE HARD.

But back to the original question. Do you have to give up alcohol before you can get closer to God. To be honest i dont know. I do know that rolling around in a druken stupour is definitely not going to help your relationship with the Most High ( i dont do that by the way). But is it that black and white? No Drink or No God?

I dont think so. I am being careful not to blaspheme but i dont think its that clear cut. Yes abstinence is the best answer and it would be wonderful to have such will power but i dont believe that the occasional moderate drink is entirely evil. Its about keeping the drink moderate and occasional.

This is a topic i still need to think about a lot more. As the halo effect of the New Year still surrounds me, it will be nice to get closure on some issues such as this.

Definitely to be continued at a later date..........