Get saved by Stupidity and Laziness

                                                                           Hello Friends,

Early this year, a friend sent me a link to "HOW STUPIDITY SAVED MY LIFE"  by Okechukwu Ofili. The first thought that came to me was "how can stupidity save a person's life". I sat on my bed drinking a bottle of sprite thinking and trying to imagine ways being stupid can save a person instead of me reading the book. As a result of my laziness when it comes to reading, my head began to spin because I could not think of any way stupidity can save a man's life. This anger curiosity made me read the book. Upon hearing the title I was eager to find out how his life was saved by stupidity. I read the book at a stretch. It made me remain in my bed till I finished reading the book. Each chapter made me more eager to read the next, and the next, and the next. I almost cried when I realized I had gotten to the final chapter. I did not want the wonderful, captivating, mind blowing chapters to end. If you do not have a copy of  "HOW STUPIDITY SAVED MY LIFE" BY OKECHUKWU OFILI, you  are not on planet earth are missing. Go grab your copy in bookstores all over Nigeria.

After a while, news about his second and latest book "HOW LAZINESS SAVED MY LIFE " was all over the radio, internet and everybody's  most Nigerian's lip. I was so excited because after reading OKECHUKWU OFILI'S "HOW STUPIDITY SAVED MY LIFE", I wanted to strap him to a chair  have being on the look out for his second book. In fact I kept on visiting book stores around daily  just to find out if the book was available. The title of his second book got me thinking "how can laziness save someone's life". It got me reading till I finished reading all the pages. The sketches in his book are well explanatory and very educating plus artistic.
How Laziness Saved My Life is a hilarious attack at the way corporations and businesses push themselves and their employees to the brink of stress. With chapters such as “Three Things I Learned From Getting Kicked In The Head” and “Why We Need Fewer Meetings and Managers” Ofili is able to poke fun at the work institution as we know it but at the same time offers up simple solutions for Managers and Entrepreneurs for getting the most out of themselves and their employees without killing anyone in the process. If you have ever been stressed at work or felt like strangling your Manager then you need to get this book. I know most Nigerians like me grew up hearing "No food for lazy man"  so my fellow country people like they say on wazobia f.m Nigerians I am proud to say that this kind of laziness can save your lives, not just any laziness, this book! So go grab a copy of laziness in bookstores. 

The book is currently available on Amazon at http://amzn.to/getlazy and at major Nigeria bookstores including Silverbird Lagos, Silverbird Abuja, Silverbird Port-Harcourt, The Hub Media Lagos, Laterna Lagos and Terraculture Lagos. You can also get it delivered anywhere in Nigeria at bit.ly/nigeriagetlazy. You can reach the author at:

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twitter: http://twitter.com/ofilispeaks
facebook: http://facebook.com/ofilispeaks

A cold day in Hell

         Hi friends,


      Two weeks ago, I was talking to Joseph a friend of mine who is in the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria. It all started as a little chat before the conversation got really deep. Joseph is a five hundred level engineering student who has been struggling with his academic performance for years. He complained bitterly of how he was forced to read engineering by his father who wants him to become an engineer. He gets really low grades and his father questions the fact that his grades are low. To him engineering is his hell. He wishes to become a teacher in the nearest future and not an engineer. Teaching is his passion, his addiction and his drive but I know if Joseph puts his mind to it his grades will improve.


       While we were talking, I decided to share my own experience with him. After my secondary school education in Holy Child College, S/W Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria, my father refused to allow me enter for JAMB, instead I was enrolled to study software programming for three years in a computer institute (NIIT). I love computers, and the web but not programming! Having to debug errors and run programs was a very difficult task for me. i just felt it was not my thing. The most difficult of it all was writing a java program and making it run. I did not enjoy any of it because my programs were not running. The joy in programming is having to write a program and have it run. When I just started my computer program in year 2007, I felt programming is impossible, and no matter how much I try I cannot create a software.

                          
      This made me feel I was trying to achieve the impossible just like this boy in the image above. It was as if no matter how much I try I could not make a program run. For three years programming was my hell on earth. The heat was becoming unbearable for me. This made me study very hard. I began to have sleepless nights as a result of extreme reading. My best friend became my Java books, coffee, and a little reading desk in my room. This act of mine changed my hell to a cold hell. Yes! a cold hell because I began writing Java programs with ease. I studied day and night. I was not enjoying it but I had to make good grades so my father will be happy with me. This made me realize nothing is impossible. All I needed was plenty hard work which eventually paid off at the end of the day.




      You mite be facing a similar challenge or maybe facing a terrible boss in the office who gives you "impossible" tasks to execute. I just want to let you know that with a little bit of commitment and hard work you will be able to deal with that task or job you have to do. You mite feel you are facing hell on earth. Why don't you stop complaining and make that hell a cold one. This will pay off at the end of the day. Trust me, You mite get that promotion soon.
     
   Nothing is POSSIBLE Impossible.






E-mail: cuttygurl4rill@yahoo.com
Twitter: @Ruthquill
Facebook: Ruth Paul
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Today Matters

              Most times I sit and wonder why things don't go the way I want them to. I think it is because I want so many things at the same time. I focus on what I want and forget that before I can get something, I have to work for it. Life is made up of a series of stages. It is a gradual process. When my little sister was born, I took my time to study her. She did not start walking in a day, it was a gradual process. Firstly, I noticed she grew from the "lying stage" to the "sitting stage". After that, she started learning how to crawl, stand and finally walk! It was not an easy task but she succeeded in walking without aid after a while. It was one step at a time.

                    
             Watching her mature from one stage to the other has taught me that life is made up of different stages. It also taught me to keep trying no matter the number of times I fail. While she was learning to walk I observed she kept on falling, but never gave up. Sometimes when she falls , she will cry and wait for me or someone around to come pick her up and other times she gets up herself. What amazes me is that after falling and crying, she will still attempt walking almost immediately. I noticed that no matter the number of times she fell, she never gave up!
             Another awsome lesson I learnt from my little sister is the fact that she forgets the pain she felt after falling. This has taught me to learn from my mistakes and not wallow in them. The past should remain where it belongs. We see this when we are trying to start up a business, achieve success or get to our set goal. There are times when things will go wrong and we feel we cannot rise again and we wait till somone comes to help or sometimes we summorn courage and rise up again like my sister did most times. Some of us relax and complain or worry about what we did not do right. Instead we should concentrate on today and learn from yesterday's mistake. All that matters is TODAY. If I don't do what I have to TODAY, how do I expect my TOMORROW to be the way I want it to?
So my dear friends, what you do today matters a lot. Learn from yesterday's mistake and get TODAYS WORK DONE!

CONTACT:
Ruth Paul
E-mail: cuttygurl4rill@yahoo.com
Phone number: +23407083248385
Follow me @Ruthquill
BB Pin: 215ABAA8

Exam Tension

        Some students tend to relax during the semester. They feel exams are not fast approaching so why should they read.They rather read for exams a week or two to examination period, thus increasing their work load at the end of the semester. What they forget is that if they fail to plan, they are planning to fail. When they begin to read, they read in a rush and forget that there is a big difference between reading and studying.

         Let me share my short experience in the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria with You.I was in my first year (freshman year) in school. I was told a lot about University of Ibadan and how difficult it is to make a seven point in most courses in school. As a result of this, I decided to study hard. My first test came up and I scored twenty eight over thirty. I was surprised because I hate poetry.


         The examination timetable was out. Poetry was my first paper. I was afraid. I went to my room and began to study. I studied till my friends began to remind me I also had to read for other courses. I studied till the D-day arrived. When I got to the hall, my heart began to pound, my hands became sweaty. To make it worse, third world war was going on in my stomach. I began to sweat. I was so uncomfortable. Then in the examination hall, the question sheet and answer paper was passed to me. I almost jumped in excitement. I was given two compulsory questions. Thirty five marks were attached to each of the compulsory question.


        I knew the answer to both questions, but I was still scared. I managed to answer question one with my sweaty palm. I moved to the second question and guess what?!!! I went blank. I hear people say that they go blank during examination but I've never experienced anything like that before. I began to think, it wasn't working, so I decided to pray, but that didn't work too. I couldn't write anything again and the time was up. My answer sheet was collected from me by the invigilator.


      I got out of the hall, picked a taxi to my room and cried till I slept. The annoying thing was that I knew the answer to the question but I had gone blank during the examination. When the examinations were over, as I anticipated the result I became restless with fear because I didn't want to be sent out of school as a result of poor grades. Then, the result were released, I summed up courage to go and check the result in the lecturer's office. I realized that I had scored twenty seven over seventy. A very poor performance. After the compilation of the result of that semester I managed to scale through. I had an overall score of fifty five percent.


      The lesson I learned from this experience was, no matter how much you plan for an examination, you should NEVER allow fear set in, otherwise you will FAIL. I realized that the reason I went blank during that examination was because I was scared. I have never had that sort of experience before. That was the first and last time and it will never occur again in Jesus name. Amen. As long as you study hard, you will come out with good grades. Do not give room for any form of fear that will lead to examination tension before or during any examination.




This article was written by Ruth Paul. In her friend's room in Ibadan. Enjoy reading Bloggers...

The sweet taste of reality

   It is funny how much zeal you see in children. You hear most of them say "when I grow I'll love to become a Pilot", "when I grow I want to become a Doctor"and a whole lot of great stuff. Most times you are even amazed by how much zeal these young kids have. They often get to partake a lot of career focused drama. You see the joy in their faces as they slip into the roles of Doctors, Lawyers, Astronauts and all. What baffles me is where all this zeal and hunger for success dissapears to when they become young adults.

What really happens? Is it that our vision changes? Is it laziness? Or inconsistency? I really don't know what happens to all those dreams we had as kids. Now all we hear is "I want to Hammer", "I want to be rich and successful", "I want to ride the latest cars", "I want to use the latest phone and wear all them designer dresses and all" . I guess it all comes with the package of being a young adult in a material focused society. We tend to forget about relevant things and focus on the irrelevant things like parties and time wasting ventures.

I sit and ask myself, how we will become what we want to be when all we do is NOTHING? Most people throw away their goals and start living below their potential. All they want is to get degree in the university, get a job that pays the bills, get married and have children. It doesn't have to be that way. You must not follow the majority.STAND OUT! DREAM BIG! Don't just relax after dreaming. Work really hard till your dream becomes REALITY.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 RUTH PAUL
CONTACT:
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      cuttyurl4rill@yahoo.com,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Xkenebonene@gmail.com
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HUTULA

       I am all alone. It is freezing out here. My whole body hurts. I feel bruised all over. Wait a minute, what am I hearing? Are those birds singing? I can hear some sounds. Am I in a Jungle? or a forest? Ouch! My legs, it hurts so much. It feels like a trailer ran over it. My head, it feels like the movie "Drum Line" is being played in it. My eyes, I am trying to open it, it felt like chewing gum is stuck to my lashes. I struggle to open my eyes till each lash began to separate. All of a sudden, four hefty men step out from the trees and surround me.  They have the fiercest look I've ever seen my entire life. They are all dressed in leaves and covered in black paint. I am in the jungle. How did I get here?

      I am scared to death not only because of the look on their faces, also because I can't remember how I got here. I am still thinking as the men pull me to my feet. I begin to struggle. I try to get out of the grip of one of the men holding me but he is too strong for me. I am tiring out, so i decide to stop struggling and give in to my fate. The men begin to pull me to the north part of the forest. After we walk for a while, we arrive at a small village filled with strange looking people. All of them are covered in black paint and leaves. There is a large clearing on which some huts stand in a semi circle. The huts are made from mud and thatch and have small openings for doors. I notice we are heading towards the biggest hut in the village. 


       The villagers follow us to the hut. They are all screaming in a weird high pitched manner, scaring me further till I feel my knees give way under me. The hut is surrounded by a dozen men holding sharp tip spears. They look like the men who found me in the forest. I think the place is some sort of palace because of the decoration on the wall. A handsome man with a short beard dressed in nothing but a leopard skin loin cloth comes out of the opening that is the door. He begins to address the villagers in a strange language. All of a sudden the people begin to disperse one by one leaving me with the guards holding me and the young chief. He barks a sharp command to the men holding me. And they pick me up and pull me towards a hut to my left. 


       As I am shoved through the door into the hut. My eyes try to grow accustom to the darkness of the hut. In the middle of the hut is a raised mud bed with a raffia mat on top of it. On the red mud wall are a dozen skins hanging. To my right is a giant black pot with a thick boiling gruel. I turn to the sound of something behind me and see a fat woman with massive breasts walking towards me with purpose. I back away from her in fear till my legs hit the mud bed and I sit down. She stops short of where I am and begins to make some unintelligible sounds but I can only make out the words "Hutula!" "Hutula!". She kneels down between my legs and begins to massage my feet with some ointment she pulls from the string of her loin cloth. I feel myself begin to relax and feel some relief from the pain of being dragged by the guards in the forest. Ten minutes later, she stands up and goes out just the way she came. 


        I sit alone for ten minutes and then the young man who had appeared to be a chief walks into the hut. He approaches the bed where I am sitting and sits down beside me. I shift as far away from him as possible. He smiles at me and reaches out to touch my thigh. I scream and slap at his hand. A frown appears on his face and he begins to speak in their strange language. It is clear that he is angry at my rebuff. Then again, he springs to his feet and storms out of the hut. 


       As if on cue, armed men rush into the hut. Some hands pull me roughly to my feet. I scream and begin to beg but this does not stop the men. They soon begin to tie me up. Then they drag me out of the hut. Once we are out again at the clearing, they lift me above their head. I can see a big pot above a huge fire. Now the whole village is dancing and screaming. I realize that I am going to be used as a sacrifice. I scream in terror, frantically clawing at my captors. They move me towards the great fire and the boiling pot. I can feel the heat on my skin as we move close. Then as they make to shove me into the hot water......I WAKE UP!


Arrrrrrrgggggghhhhhh!!!!!! What a DREAM....

    RUTH PAUL

CONTACT:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      cuttyurl4rill@yahoo.com,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Xkenebonene@gmail.com

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I finally decided to do it! I have moved from blog.com and am now here on blogger. Now countdown to getting my favourite stories from my former blog to my new blog….3…2…1 (Can’t wait, right?) So if you are interested in taking a trip into my mind, stay tuned to my new blog for more fascinating stories. *Wink*