The inspiration to write this piece came as a result of series of accusation as to me being Proud, so this is a big opportunity for me to work toward correcting this misconception.

I am someone that gets influenced so easily and if you've ever taken time to study my living pattern, you would agree with me on this one. But just as it is common to most of our weakness, I've been able to tame this one.


How do I cope?

Prov 4:23 is my #1 drug, I've been using it over the years to help keep my life in shape.


How does it work?

"Guard thy heart with all due diligence for out of it are the issues of life. Prov 4: 23 {NKJV)

If I must guard my heart:
1. I must watch the company I keep.

2. I must switch to high level confidence and believe-in-self when peer pressure comes knocking.

3. I must watch the kind of materials I expose myself to: Music, Videos, Books.

The #1 reason I listed above has put me in a whole lot of trouble and I must sincerely admit that even though I'm mostly not happy with the trouble that comes with it, there are times I enjoy it! **laughs**
I watch the company I keep because what I do per time is a function of what my company expects from me. I know what effects short talks, long discussions, and all sorts of interactions have on me so I cannot afford to be in certain circles per time.

My inner circle friends will bear me witness to the fact that I always complain when we have to walk down somewhere together and some people join us midway. Occassionaly, I enjoy having another party around, but most times when these people come in in the middle of a conversation and they start puttin up views, I'm always like "what r we doing talking to people we do not share common values with?"


Why do I reason like this?

In the year 2006, I was priviledged to listen to both the MD of Access Bank, Mr Aig Imokhuede and Mr Jimoh Ibrahim, and they talked about the personal core value system and they inspired me to create four for myself and one of the values they mentioned "Pride-in-command" is what I refined for myself as "Class"

In 2007, I started feeding on Donald Trump's materials and that guy did a lot to my Ego!!

And the deal is, these days I never do something eccentric except I commit my ego to it.


Ever find yourself in my shoes?

A man that myself and a couple of colleagues had d priviledge to interview last summer with a group of colleagues said something I may never forget in a long time. He said "Every principled person will always be perceived as being wicked"

A random quote I stumbled on reads "Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind"


In conlusion, we all have one or two things people around us have issues with and you'll always know when you are indeed misbehaving, but there's this right feeling you have deep within when you know you are doing that thing for a greater good.

Friends,
Have principles
Cherish your values
Live by them!

This is rather strange, I woke up at my regular 5a.m study hour and 4 real I knew I wasnt going to read, I remember I had planned to wait on God today n I stil have a lot of study time planned out 4 d remaining hours of the day, so I free acada n I decided to spend some time with God.

I went into my audio archives to dig out a couple of audio messages I'd not listened to for me to sync to my iPod n listen to 1 of em just to keep my spirit man energised for the day, so I picked one of Pastor Poju's message buh I switched the moment I stumbled on one old worship album.... my spirit was rly lifted n I was caught up in dat realm of worship n on n on lik dat.. then Zzzzz......

Hw on earth did I sleep off??? sleepin at 12:30am is really no xcuse, this sleep off during worship used to be one wicked habit back then o..
Nyz, ther was sumtin unusual in dis sleep. I just found myself in my mentor, Leke Alder's office. It looked like I had been seated in his office for a while, then this young guy came in (I was also young guy too sha) n he had a quite a lot to discuss n it so happened that myself n Mr Alder began to dole out encouraging words to dis guy n I was freaking intelligent in my discourse.... as in it was serious o.. then Mr Alder spoke some words that recounting some of those lines as I wake up now actually makes it look lik that young man in that office was me!

In that same dream, there was this other striking scene.... sum random guy that was in d rest room as I walkd in just started picking on me like he had known me 4rm d day I was born, n his blabs was all pointing to how the FEAR FACTOR can ruin me.. one of his lines was "...young men like u will neva go far because ure to scared to bring out that inner u..."

I woke up wishing that this visit left me wit a verse of the scripture, cos 4 reals, I hardly remember my dreams now n its jst strange sha.. more lik I timed out of consciousness for an appointment with d subconscious.
So this one has changed the course of my thinking for the entire day, I need to take out time to carry out a 'Fear factor analysis' on my existence.

I'm all out to stategically fight my fear n empower my guts, what r u fighting??

So lik I've not been doing any serious writing this year,
Exam seasons could be killin.. loads of zero-value-adding information 2 cram in my head.
No serious social activity, cos society says its irresponsible to have fun when ur exams r goin on.
Thank God 4 online buddies that help me make up 4 those fun outdoor evenings, by making themselves available 4 quality indoor chat.
Thanks Miss Mac, Yosola, Bukola...alwys ther 4 me.

So I'v been chattin all afternoon wit one of my most respected uncles.. jst last nite I was talkin 2 my aunty dat didnt hv my time n I was just mission al of my CU uncles n aunties that used 2 b ther 4 me. Now they'v graduated n I'm nw an uncle, buh I stil miss bein "Uncled" jare
So me n my ex-CU uncle were rubbing minds n I'm telling u dat great minds cant stop thinkin alike!
One unique thing about these my uncles is that they r alwys workin on sumtin new per time, and I guess thats one of the major reasons y I love them so much.
And like I'v promised myself, I want my 2010 to be saturated with "results" I want to be achievin something per time, big or small.
It keeps me going!

So now I really have to step out now to go watch naija!
Lemme quickly use this opportunity to appreciate Myne Whitman, shez been a real "blogspot mummy" I alwys appreciate reading her comments!

I'm just excited!!!!

I woke up this morning and all I felt like doing was to yet again take stock of the ending year, n as I began to recall events of the year, tears never stopped rolling and even as I'm tryin to type this I'm soooooo freaking emotional.

I'm just overwhelmed! Really, it's been a fantastic year.
I recall all my close shaves with what could have led to my death.
I recall all of the stupid things I did.
I recall moments when I had lost hope.
I recall moments when I needed acceptance the most and I was rejected.
I recall moments of fun, of joy and of love.
I recall moments of pain and hardship.
I recall moments of hardwork, commitment and reward.
I recall moments of moments I cant define
I recall toooo may moments.

The conclusion is this, God is real and He is ever ready to help.
I've learnt too much in this ending year, toooooo much. I learnt to learnt to learn and unlearn. I was superanturally blessed this year, God did some things that man couldn't have done.. m talkin about those miracles that come with undeniable divine proofs.

2009! these tears cant stop rolling.

I'm grateful to you God.
Everything was God!!!!

So I go inside this old room(store) today which I believe contains thousands of documents, and I had 2 get my own sturvs outta d room cos I was gettin a new room and actually its more lik dis is d 1st time m havin a room all to myself! Its alwys been me n any1 of my brodas.. so its an interestin adventure ahead.
So speaking about the old documents, I was digging out bookssssss from primary sch, sec sch, early uni days n mehn.. its sweet seeing all of those sturvs mehn. My weakest point was when I stumbled on my gift prizes.
Best Grad Student - Mathematics
Best Grad Student - Yoruba
Best Grad Student - English
Best Grad Student - Geography
n Overall Best Grad Student
n damn! It jst brought memories of the glory days. Those days of pride wen I used to feel like an academic god..lol. University educatn came, I hit first class once, n I'v remained on a so close 2 first class P. chai!
Notebooks wrapped wit dis carton coloured brown sheets
...with Pages of X n O at d back
My Technical drawing sheets!!!.. hours of backpain..lol
Love notes were missing tho.. I possibly cldnt hv bin so careless 2 leave traces :-D
Glory texts like
M.O Odiaka
Ugo C. Ugo... ur no1 passport for common entrance exams
Mastering English.. oops! I 4got 2 search 4 my fav story about dat local boy dat raised false alarm

wat else did I c? I dunno jor.. bed time

Best Boxing day ever... was just the best. I had sub my speaking appointment for a precious reunion gig wit my skye high peeps and an opportunity to relate wit the MD, Skye Bank. At first, I felt bad about freeing church youth camp for a social gathering, but I soon forgot all of that when the fun started
1p.m was dropped of in VI by my bro who was headin to Takwa bay wit his fiance
Ehi comes around to pick me up n we head to Ikoyi to McG's house.
We get to McG's house and first thing was to grab d PS3 pad to play our fav soccer game. I dealt wit Ehi n d 1st game, buh I lost d concluding 2 matches, so he was d winner 4 d day :-( I hate to lose!!
1:30 Obioma came in during the 1st match n while myself n Ehi were playing our match, himself n McG were jst busy plannin the 'no-plan' plan..lol. No one knew wat Mr Fiz had in mind
Obioma's dad wasnt leavin lag 2day again, so no big trips 4 him again.. :-P
2:30 we are off to check out Obioma's house I insisted I wanted to see his house b4 I leave d Ikoyi n we sure did have a wonderful time there. We all left McG's house in d corolla 09 Obioms came wit (al these rich kids sef), n we hookd up wit Deji on our way down, dat made it 3 of us plus Obi.
We had a nice time in his house.. sum fresh self-service apartment. His dad had a guest so we picked up our glasses 4rm d house n sat by d pool side over a bottle of wine.
3:00 I had alrdy called Lulu (my host @ d reunion) 2 check if I cld come around wit frnds.. n she was like yeahhhhh..so my guys were def in on this 1.
3:30 we leave Obi's crib so he cld dress up n al, dropped McG so he cld do same.. Myself, Ehi, n Deji wer alrdy dressed so we cruised down to parkview to go check out d noise they'v bin makin about dat estate. Rubbbbbish jor!! its over-rated VGC is wayyyyy beta
4:00 we all leave Ikoyi
4:30-5:00 ish. We get to Lekki, 1st stop is at d Macaulays. Welcomed wit chocolate. Posh party.. but daddies n mummies all ova. 2 bottles of Moets per table speaks a lot about the host. We jst sat down inside n we cldnt help but eat their foot..d buffet was mad
6:00 we leave d Macaulay's met dis fresh babe dat was jst drivin in wit her fam.. as soon as she said LSE, Deji was lik.. "Must all these fresh kids alwys come from london???" Deji, sowi... hehehehe
6:30 we get to Ehi's crib to go upgrade d 2nd vehicle we had in our convoy n den I rmbr Mariya, my blind date dat I'v bin plannin to meet since May, we stopped by at her crib n Alleluyah!! I wasnt soo blind afterall, she made sense.. n so she hops in, says shez partyin wit us. Bt she refused 2 drive her own ride (extra work 4 Ehi dat wil drop her off)
7:00 we get to the Akinfemiwa's crib
Fun Fun Fun
saw all of the ppl I'd nt seen since summer ended. lots of hugs, greetings, smiles......
Wide range of dishes to pick from
lots of drinks
DJ was on steady classics.. old sch hip-hop mehn
Soon, I switched to where d Daddies were.. had my moment wit Mr Akinfemiwa n one other big man lik dat.
Spent time wit my Boss..told him al my fears as regards finishin sch this July n gettin a job, n he said sumtn dat I mite nt 4get in a long while. He said 'Tolu, it's a lot more fun out here than it is in there, so free ur worries..." n he rly assured me dat if all else fails he'l get me a good job
8:30 soon as I left my boss n i returned 2 venue 4 children.. Wande Coal was alrdy on stage.. straight away, I went up 2 get my shot wit him. He rocked 4 lik 30mins ending wit "You Bad" everyone was excited!!! I asked him 2 sing speechless, he sang d 1st 2 lines of d chorus n was like "MJ is dead jare" ... dat Wande is an Olodo boy! lol
9:00 on d dance floor, jst chattin away...
9:30 checked out mehn!

wat a day!!!
I'm happy I didnt catch al d fun alone, my hommies r more than grateful n my blind date was over-excited!!!