Hopeless (the finale)

To get a fuller picture of this post, you may want to first see Hopeless (the prequel) and Hopeless (the 2nd installment). Well, here’s the finale on Hopeless

… So lost, she is so lost
Hope is so lost and still she’s so sought…
after at no cost. on the map there’s no ‘X’
And still she so lost and so on and so forth but
Seekers are finders, finders keepers
Take off the blinders, the mind’s in creepers
It’s time to delve deeper, steeper, be a believer
Be awake and still be a dreamer
Have you seen her? She’s in the open
Hoping you see her, she is so keen
She’s a token for the taking, she’s glowing
But apparently your line of sight is broken
So frozen, we keep roaming
We lost the signal and still we’re homing in
We are groping for a solution and…
Barely coping, we keep hoping, groping, choking,….

And then a miracle, hope finds us
It was inevitable, she was always behind us
Seemingly invisible, sightings at a minimal
With impaired visuals, we’re specimen for blind trust
A one man strike force came and took us away
Bled hope as His life force faded away
Christ’s life was the price that was paid
I’m no more afraid, I found hope when my whole life I laid
At the foot of the cross, with heaven’s applause…
The OST, Christ wrote off all the scores
The chorus crossed out all the laws
And at this clause Christ crossed out all of my flaws
Jesus is hope for the lost, He fought for our cause
Won us victory at the cross
And the cross is a plus, just a little less short
And at 45 degrees, ‘X’ marks the spot!
.
.

At 45 degrees, 'X' marks the spot

.

.
The spot where hope was, is and forever will be
I find that I’m not hopeless,
In Jesus is where my hope is….
So where’s yours?

Simply what my own experiences have taught me and where I’ve learnt to put my trust when all hope seems lost. But don’t take my word for it, try it out for yourself. Certainly worked for me. We can’t but thank tha Good Lord for His mercy and provision towards His shidren. To say He neva send ‘PP’ aka ‘Private Practice’ aka ‘Freelance work’ boku come awa side, na im be say man pikin eye for don see redder, make awa blood come hot weller. But thank God, he haf not allow His shidren become a weist nor our daily journey to be in vain.

Oh, and jus so you know, ‘they’ paid yesterday….
Guess the next thing now is “So when is May Pay-Day?!”

😮

Hopeless (the 2nd installment)

And so, as promised, here’s the follow up to yesterday’s post. In the event you missed out on it check out Hopeless (the prequel), should give you some insight into the thinking behind the following piece….

I’m really focused yet my vision is blurry
I’m headed nowhere but I’m still in a hurry
It’s funny my palms aren’t sweaty, they’re furry
My forehead is gory with worry, I’m sorry…
If I bore thee with the (w)hole of the story
But what’s interesting is the stew in your curry
Like your eba was lacking in garri
The picture bleak, all action a flurry
And the current footage is now played in rewind
The loop constantly cycling, trying to refine
The idle mind in idle times with vital signs
But in fact lying that crime is fine
We need a remedy, no, we need a malady
For the cavities and calories in the powers that be
They eat our salaries carelessly, the calvary’s hungry see
And yet, they’re expecting a strategy….

But it’s hopeless, haven’t you noticed
How these hypocrites have got us so pissed
They think we’re novice, they are so clueless
They lost they’re focus and now we’re so lost…

That I’m blinded, trying to get finded
Constantly forgeting, but somehow reminded
How we lost our way and now want to pathfind it
Refine it, it’s fading away… please outline it
Please paint the lines red, please change our mindsets
before we end up with a couple more mind-dead kindred
How did we stop stopping to have the signs read
Now it’s apparent how we ended up so wynded
Dem wyne us say no way
Monkey work, dem no pay
We talk say “You know since when we don dey?!”
E don tey but all they say is go away…
And pray for better days like when the sun shone
We’ve waited many days and still the storm drums
And we think to return to where we’ve come from
Seems we’ve begun to come undone
And still it’s hopeless, we stand in line…
For days at a time, we are not so inclined
It’s hopeless, please show me where hope is
We’re so lost….

Tomorrow, the third installment and finale. Stay tuned.

Hopeless (the prequel)

Today is the 16th May, 2011, exactly the middle of the month and five days till The Rapture (JK). I presently serve as lowly staff in one of the ‘big’ *rolling eyes* Lagos advertising agencies and for whatever reason I haven’t been paid my hard-earned wages for the month of April. Delayed pay, I’ve noticed, seems to be the trend with so many organisations in our beloved Naija and I find it extremely sickening. I’ve, perhaps by someone up/out/down there’s sick sense of humour, experienced this my entire working life. From a shortlived television acting career in my early college days, to a very prominent entertainment outfit which, until very recently, also housed a certain, highly demanded and in equal measure, seemingly insensitive werey of a presenter *Hint! Hint!!*…. Heck, I’ve got to rant a bit more here. These people noh try at all, at all dat time o. Imagine: after resigning at the point at which I couldn’t take it anymore, a point at which I was being owed 3 months pay and was still expected to show up daily at an office half-way across Lagos from my abode, a point at which the mumus that labelled themselves ‘management’ were still issuing queries for people coming late or absenting themselves, I didn’t get my pay until 6 months after! The nerve of them people!!

…Anyway *ahem* *straightening hair and clothes* moving on with the resume of sorts, I got called up to serve my fatherland barely a month after I resigned (you go fear strategising nah) and experienced the same shamelessness of delayed pay working for government while my Nigerian Youth Suffering Continued in faraway Katsina… Yep, that’s where I served. Don’t look at me funny, I can also be somewhat patriotic when I wanna be *muttering* like say I no try redeploy Die! No luck *shrug*. Closely following that, I resumed work at my present place of work, where things had seemed rosy until… *Ghen! Ghen!!*… Now.

You see, for me, the issue is and has always been- Would these idiots, my fellow employees, whose job description says ‘mangement’ or ‘human resources’ do their frigging jobs like I’ve done mine over the past month(s) and manage the human resources of this slow and lumbering organisation?!” We’re human beings for goodness sake, we’re not farm animals to be used till we’re useless and then slaughtered to be used as feed for our fellow livestock without being given reason. I’ve no grouse with there allegedly being no funds to pay salaries at the very moment, ish happens. My grouse is: “Would you just send us a memo, perhaps a mail, put som’n on the notice board, call a general meeting, look us in the face and explain to us, lie to us, console us, beg us, psyche us…
Just. Frigging. TALK. TO. US!!! *pant pant pant* *pause* *regains composure*

Anyway sha, this one na advanced warning. Boys’ eyes don dey redder for dese zones and if dem no dey careful, we go soon para on top anoda levelz. All dese under-G whispers for corridor and on top staircase say “When dem go pay our money nah?” nor dey work again. E be like say na until we release yawa gas for dis atmosphere na I’m dem go come begin understand the P. Just in case sha, I might just put my cv up on my next post so in case of in casity, if anyborry is finding a mad hatter of a an art director, I shall just indicate my availability (like play, like play, this whole post done turn to long-version of my work experience sha).

Well, it was while I was at Soundcity…. Yeah, I said it! Sue me!! >:p *mscheeew*… Soundcity Blast magazine, to be precise, that I began writing the ‘following’ piece. Concluded it at some point during my service year, erratic writer that I sometimes am. Well, I’ll be sharing the piece with y’all in three pieces (pun intended)… starting with this one, an appetizer of sorts. The first course shall be served tomorrow *now ignoring the glares and pissed off stares that I can’t kukuma see you giving me*

In the meantime, please enjoy the rest of my temporarily very short and measly blog and if you’ve been led here by a mutual friend or a retweet on twitter or from facebook please subscribe so you can receive fresh and first-hand the subsequent posts or/also follow me on twitter (@Olatoxic) to see me rant further (well, not likely :p)

Please fell free to use the comment boxes below. Share your experiences (or the lack thereof) with us. What would you do if you were in my shoes?

My Mama’s kids

So, this would be my first ever blog-post. I’ve been nagging me into opening my own blog after being ‘oppressed’ by a little sector of blogosphere of recent…. Shout out to @Ms_Dania, @KevinWithAnL, @CapoeiraPanda, @FreshPrinceVick, @SamanthaSiren, @JCphoenixx, @UberBetty, @MallamSawyerr, @Adm3on, @JibolaL, @ThePervNerd, @NappyHairedPoet, @theToolsman, @RealistXX, y’all inspire me on a daily. *bows low*

Well, it’s Mother’s Day today in the land in which my mother birthed me; It’s also the birthday of my mother’s last two babies, Funto and Tobi, today. The perfect reason to put up a post if you ask me, how much more my first. So this here is “Happy Birthday” to my beautiful brother and sister, born on the same day, only two years apart, “Happy Mother’s Day” to my beautiful mama, the person who’s made the most positive impact on my life, even in her absence, and “Welcome to my world” to the rest of the world. Enjoy…

SMILE

Fifteen years ago my mama died
Death raised his ugly head in a victory cry
He thot he’d won but the battle had just begun
The fight was handed over to her daughter and three sons.
The legacy goes on…

So just once more
Show me that gap-toothed wonder
Bring it from yonder, for longer
I see it now but it’s frozen in place
Behind a glass pane but stolen away
I’m here, you’re not
You found me, I’m lost
You fought, won the cause and
Walked into the cross
Leaving me behind

I miss you
You’re irreplaceable
Bloated up, shriveled
Yet so graceful, I’m ever grateful
I was almost hateful, had to emulate you
Had to get that shine
You did, so it’s possible
I too can shine, will shine
Whether I rhyme
Or not…
All you had to do was SMILE

And we miss you
Pelumi, Funto and Rachel too
Through us all she knows you
And Tobi sort of into you grew
He loves clothes too, turned out right
Becomes you when he draws all night
I look at us and swell with pride
Four more yous still shining bright
So we cried, we sigh, we’ll grin
Sure we shine, maybe a little dim
We glowed a little under your wing
And now you are the dream
And we will not wake, not even slowly
We will not return to Ikoyi
You left there a long time ago
Back into our hearts in a blaze of glory
And we’re SMILING

Because that is what you’d have us do
Through tears, fears, jeers, blues
Like you, just SMILE it through
And someday SMILE with you

In loving memory of my dear mother
the best ever
Mrs J.F. Aworinde (110453 – 050896)