Addiction

Sweet, Sweet Dopamine…. That’s the line from a book I once read, I believe is fair to say “Dopamine is the root of all addictions”. Before we go ahead, we should do justice to what Dopamine is. Dopamine is a hormone (neurotransmitter) secreted by the brain that serves as a pleasure/reward stimulant. Dopamine has been discovered to serve as a regulatory for movement and emotional responses, and it enables us not to just get rewards (emotional/psychological), but to indulge in a conscious action to move toward getting these rewards. For instance, people indulge in sexual activities with the reward of climaxing (release of Dopamine).  We need to understand the importance of Dopamine to us as it is what the brain uses to tell the body; “you've had enough”. But then, what happens when the body wants more? The body just engages more in the act and voila! More Dopamine which then eventually leads to an addiction depending on the frequency of the act.

Having established that the want for dopamine is the cause of most addictions, I believe it’s also good to note that one other major factor that determines addiction is the frequency of the indulgence in the act. Then the question is where do you draw the line? Do we say that an individual that takes coffee every morning to get his/her day going is addicted to coffee? Do we say that someone that watches porn once a week is addicted to porn? Do we agree that an individual that can smoke 2 packs of cigarette in a day is addicted to nicotine? We need to understand the frequency which an act gets to before we consider it an addiction. The best answer to these questions would be; “there is no one-size-fits-all”. To consider the frequency of an act to be an actual addiction, the type of addiction being addressed really matters.

Pleasure! Epicureanism school of thought believed that pleasure is the ultimate drive/goal of all humans. They believed that whatever we do as human, it trickles down to the fact that we get pleasure from doing it. When we help others, it’s because we get that satisfying sense of purpose which gives us pleasure; eating chocolate – ‘wooo!’, pleasure!; serial killers do what they do because they get pleasure from it. Long story short, whatever we do can be related directly or indirectly to pleasure.  Aristippus, the father of this school of thought, said “The highest good is pleasure, the greatest evil is pain.” and Epicurus further explained that “pleasurable results of an action must always be weighed against its possible side effects”.  This implies that the want/urge for pleasure comes with some side effects and one of them is addiction. I believe one other human nature is greed and I’m going to be ridiculous by saying addiction is; “pleasure meets greed”. No! Wait! That's not actually being ridiculous since Google itself defines greed as “intense and selfish desire for something”. Intense and selfish desire for pleasure is definitely tantamount to ‘Addiction’. So, then if it’s human nature to be greedy and pleasure is the ultimate goal of every human then I guess it’s safe to say all humans have the tendency to be addicted to one thing or the other. The presence of pleasure also explains why it is almost impossible to get out of an addiction.

** Digressing a little from the topic, a phrase, “it gives us pleasure to bring others pleasure”, I read about Epicurus’ beliefs explains one of the questions I have always asked myself; “Why would anyone enjoy giving head(Cunnilingus/Fellatio)?” The answer is simple; because giving pleasure can also be pleasure itself**

Another question that however comes to mind is that; “Morally or religiously, is addiction wrong?” I’ll let you answer that.

I’ll just take this section as a question section as I ask this last question. “Do people that are addicted to one thing or the other often feel inferior to those individuals who aren’t addicted?” in my opinion, Yes! And this is from personal opinion and not a research study. Hmmm…I probably should conduct a research on that or look for a previous study.

The succeeding point would be to address how one can overcome one’s addictions and live free of it. The first valid point and that I am sure everyone will agree with is: Discipline. There’s a famous quote by Mortimer J. Adler; “True freedom is impossible without a mind made free by discipline.” I believe that statement by Mortimer J. Adler sums it up; if you seek to be free of an addiction, you have to exercise your discipline, you have to make your no a “NO” and your yes a “YES”. You have to make a conscious effort towards standing by what you stand for. Discipline is known to be synonymous to self-control and this basically means to have absolute dominance over one’s desires. Addiction comes with an urge to fulfill a desire and the first step towards a turnaround is discipline.

“Know thyself”.

The third point would be to avoid those situations that provokes your addiction into manifestation. For every addiction, there is always a stimulant to the action and this should be avoided at all cost (“I know right, easier said than done”). If you are addicted to masturbation, avoid being alone, staying too long in the shower, shower with cold water instead of hot water, avoid watching pornographic contents and so on. If your addiction is alcohol, avoid those crazy friends that get you all wasted, drink plenty water :P, after the first bottle, call it a day, whenever you are heading to the pub, only take enough cash for right number of bottles and tip for the bartender. If you are a “gambling lord”, the best way is to make sure you don’t have direct access to your own funds, avoid casinos, and avoid conversions that involves competition. The point here is to avoid those enabling factors of our addiction(s). Talking from experience, I know this part of working on getting over an addiction is very difficult because I know that if I do a certain task, I won’t be able to satisfy my addiction, I then intentionally avoid performing that task. Why? Because I’m addicted :( .

We should all be a work in progress and our aim should be to have self-control over every aspects of our live so as to reduce our weaknesses and elevate our strengths.

Random thought; “Is there really a difference between addiction and obsession?”

PS: I found this YouTube video on addiction and I thought it was a good idea to post it here.

References:

http://www.spectacle.org/0603/budde.html

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/discipline

http://www.helpguide.org/harvard/how-addiction-hijacks-the-brain.htm

http://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-Dopamine.aspx

Merry Christmas

I just feel this year won’t be complete if I don’t write this piece. 2013 has really been an awesome year for me and looking back at January and how I started the year, it’s perfectly okay to say it was my best year ever. God has really been faithful to me this year even though I was unfaithful all the way. His grace, mercy and favour has been abiding with me all through the year. This very year he showed me how much he loves me and that he definitely has a plan for life (Which I’m still in the process of discovering). In the last days in church last year (2012), we were told to write a list of what we wanted God to do in 2013, and guess what? God did every single thing on that list to the last letter. Is he not an awesome God?  I almost beat myself up because I thought I should have included more things on the list; well, I have a chance to write another list this year and I’m definitely not going to belittle my God on this year’s list.

2013 was really filled with testimonies and really don’t know where to start counting my blessings from but those who are really close to me can tell that 2013 was a stepping stone to greater heights for me. I achieved more than I bargained for. Every second, every month was blessed and I’m definitely not where I used to be, all glory to God. I was talking to a friend, he asked me a question and after i responded, I took a minute to think about my response *Few months before then, my response would have been different*. When God blesses/increases you and doesn’t bless the people around you, expressing your joy might be really difficult but in his infinite mercies he has blessed and increased my family and friends, they are not all where they used to be, *they have really upgraded*, I also bless the name of the Lord for this.

A lot of people came into my life in 2013 and some of them were just amazing, I couldn’t help but wonder where they've been all my life, *you know yourselves* and I just want you to know appreciate every second of your time you spent with me. For those who came into 2013 with me and stayed with me all through 2013, in my “down times” and in my “up times”, you guys are the best and God bless you real good. Together, we’ll do greater exploits in 2014. I can’t imagine what 2013 would have been without you guys :* And to the friends that became family, you guys mean a lot to me and living without you guys will probably be unbearable. Thank you so much for being a part of my life, love you guys to bits. To my family and loved ones, I miss you so much and I can’t wait to be with you again, I love you so much.

And finally to those affected by ice storm that hit the GTA area of Ontario my heart warm regards to you guys. Please stay safe and as the government and good people of Ontario are trying to restore order, ensure you make the best of the season.   

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Fabulous New Year ahead. Let’s rock 2014 together #bless.

P.S. **Jesus is the reason for the season. Don't drink and drive.

Selling our privacy with the illusion of buying Technology

I have been very reluctant to write these days, I guess it's because of the cold. I have about two write-ups, I've only written halfway and I have just been too slothful to complete them but let’s hope I’m able to complete this. The temperature is falling again but this time I think I adore it, at least for the time being before it goes down to negatives. The past few days, my sleep has been beautiful making me to come to the conclusion that sleep is the best gift to us from God. Blessed is the latter end than the beginning <--- this doesn’t follow when it comes to sleeping in a cold abode especially when it’s the alarm that wakes you.

That aside, what actually prompted me to write on this topic was an incident that happened to me a few weeks back. I was talking to a lady on bbm (for those that don’t know what bbm is, it means Blackberry Messenger but for my mum to know what it means Its ok to assume everybody knows the meaning) and she was able to tell when I left work and when I got home without me telling her anything or giving her any hint. Guess what, my phone did. This was how she knew; since there was Wi-Fi at work and at home which my phone automatically connects to when I’m in the range of the Wi-Fi and bbm voice-chat was dependent on Wi-Fi, she was able to tell I left work when the green color of the bbm voice-chat notification turned grey and then turned green back. It turned grey when I left work and turn green when I was back at home. Without my knowledge, with a smart but harmless approach, I had given my possible location away and she had been able to track my movement to a reasonable degree. She didn't even require any technical skill to be able to track my movement, how sadL.

Privacy, according to Webster’s online dictionary is “freedom from unauthorized intrusion.” Here is what Uncle-Google defines it as “a state in which one is not observed or disturbed by other people”, which I believe gives a clearer illustration of what privacy really is. The minute one is being observed or monitored, they lost their privacy. But the question is, “Is there any such thing as privacy?” We live in a world where it has been said that the US government logs and listens to every call, view every text message, monitor every online activity including random uploads and download, every tweet you have ever sent is logged (and you see some people tweet their privacy away and talk about the most personal things on twitter just to get attention, some folks practically tweet their every action #GetALife). Someone once lamented on how he doesn't understand why some people just posts some things on social media, he simply said, if you can’t hang the post in front of your house, then don’t post it.

I find it rather difficult to liken the pace at which technology is advanced as it seems to be faster than that of light. Technology is faster than fast (Flash). A couple of weeks back, I was planning to get the Nexus 4 since bbm is now on the Android platform but before I was done entering my credit card details to order the Nexus 4, Nexus 5 was out and then I had to take a chill-pill to make a decision. Technology has definitely proven to me that we can be whatever we want to, as long as we believe and set our mind to it. As a kid, I used to think science was witchcraft but over time I realised there was more to science and technology than just witchcraft. It is all about using proven facts to push limits, to push the boundaries set by our minds. I was reading a few months back and discovered that there has been a successful experiment on one individual controlling the actions of another individual using electroencephalography (Neurology). Controlling other objects with your mind is pretty amazing but controlling another human with your thoughts, blew my mind.  Before learning the fundamentals of wireless technology, I actually felt it was a pretty cool advancement but I discovered there was really no ‘abracadabra’ to it and it was just as a result of well-tailored research.

With all these fun and cool stuffs technology has brought to us, the way we live our everyday life is definitely set to change. No doubt technology has obviously eased our livelihood but if not effectively/efficiently, it can be to our very own detriment. An example of this is how easy it is to take pictures and upload it to Instagram and other social media right away with just a click. Little do we know that by default, the geo-tagging of pictures is on by default which is then saved with the properties of the picture. On uploading these pictures, you do so with their properties making it possible for any random person to pick up these pictures, extract the properties and be able to tell your house address, the school you attend, where you shop and a whole lot of other information. Here is a  a video I found on YouTube, it sums it up.

Another example I can think of is the Facebook check-in app they released few years back. With this app, you could check-in to any location you are at any point. I used the app about twice or thrice and my ‘thread-with-care’ instinct came over me. I used it to monitor my friend’s movements though. As awesome as the GPS is, if not properly managed, it can turn to bite us in the ass and remove the brick wall of privacy we molded around ourselves.

I recently learned that Google has a record of every search we have made on the internet, and my reaction was; WHAT!!! Google, in my opinion, actually knows too much about me. Google knows my home address because of course if I want to get directions to anywhere I have been before; it’s usually my start-point, they know my interests and probably know me more than my girlfriend does. Google has my phone number *I had to verify my email*, they have my contact list, they have all the confidential information I have sent via email and sadly, they also have access to this post L. Knowing that Google keeps a track of all you have searched on the internet, someone then asked; “How would you feel if Google posted a list of searches”? Will you still walk with your shoulders high or burrow your face in the ground? Personally, I won’t want Google to post my searches but really I don’t think I have anything to hide. Most of my searches lately have been definition of words *you know when you type a word, Google shows its definition*, school and companies related searches, location of places and probably a few other weird search like “girls fighting”. 

Still on the search list issue, Thelma Arnold was a woman who was identified through her online search lists in the 2006 AOL search data leak. Thelma, who was a 62-year-old widow from Lilburn, Georgia was accurately identified using a list of her searches by the New York Times. It was rather unfortunate but this is just another example to show that there is no such thing as ‘Privacy’ in this modern day.  Our privacies have been violated times over and to some extent as a result of our unconsciousness or rather our truth and embrace of technology and internet. Another hilarious video I thought I should share is a mini movie clips on the search of another woman titled ‘I Love Alaska’.

Another way we let our privacy to be invaded is through the apps we install on our mobiles. Thank God for the advancement in the security of mobiles and the privilege of limiting what apps installed on the new operating systems have access to. We download a lot of free apps these days without even knowing the origin, as long as it looks good. Some of the apps can be used to steal confidential information from your mobile devices. Sometimes back, I installed a screen muncher app on my blackberry and it was requesting access to my phone’s internet resource. For what?! What would a screen muncher want to do with the connectivity; I just deleted the app without giving a second thought. The Application could possibly be munching my screen every few minutes and sending it to a remote location; I wasn't ready to take the pain to find out.

Advancement in science, technology and internet is undoubtedly one of the best assets of this generation but most people aren't really using it wisely not knowing that while embracing technology, they trade it for their privacy and that this can be seen in the country-to-country espionage which is also the order of the day. In conclusion, when embracing new technology, do so with optimum forethought.  

Puzzle

I got a puzzle book a few days ago just give myself that distraction I need sometimes. I'm just going to post one or two puzzles so you could try them for yourself. Solving puzzles helps create new neuron paths in your brain and hence result in the creation of new brain cells, increased reasoning capability, increased retentive memory and enhanced problem solving skills. However, when you don't engage your brain, you stand a chance of losing your brain cells and the forlorn side of the story is that once the brain cells die, they are irreplaceable. Excessive consumption of alcohol is also another cause of loss of brain cells, so you might want to put that in check too.

Here is the first puzzle; *Have fun*

Two-course Meals

A new restaurant opened in town last month and five friends ate there on the 27th, each choosing a different first and second course. Determine what everyone ate by studying the clues below.

1. Fergus isn't the man who ate both chicken pie and strawberry pavlova.

2. Rosie is the sister of the person who chose a juicy venison steak followed by lemon cheesecake.

3. The person who tucked into tiramisu didn't choose lasagne as the first course.

4. Sarah ate a mild beef curry, but not tiramisu.

5. David chose the apple pie.

Diner -David           -Fergus           -Rosie           -Sarah           -Timothy

1st Course -Beef curry                  -Chicken pie                  -Lamb’s liver                  -Lasagne                  -Venison

2nd Course -Apple pie                   -Cheesecake                   -Ice cream                   -Pavlova                   -Tiramisu

It's easier to solve the puzzle when it's in a tabular form.

Diner	1st	2nd

Puzzle #2

Three-legged Racers

In a three-legged race, contestants run in pairs - and the right leg of one of the partners is joined to the left leg of the other partner. Determine who partnered whom in the race in which these people participated, as well as their finishing position.

1. Bob partnered Danny. They weren't the last of the five to cross the finish-line, nor were they the third pair to finish the race.

2. Colin and his partner finished the race ahead of everyone else.

3. Ian and his partner were second in the race.

4. Eddie and his partner finished ten yards ahead of Geoff and his partner.

5. Joe and his partner finished ahead of Adam and his partner (who wasn't Martin).

Partner 1-Bob                -Colin                -Eddie                -Joe                -Martin

Partner 2 -Adam                  -Danny                  -Geoff                  -Henry                  -Ian

Position -First               -Second               -Third               -Fourth               -Fifth

Partner 1	Partner 2	Position

I'll just add one last one.

Birthday Present

Anne's four nieces all celebrate birthdays on different days next week. Use the clues below to determine which present each girl will receive from Anne, together with the day of the week on which each one's birthday falls and her current age.

1. Joanne's birthday is the day before that of the girl who will get a poster of her favorite pop star, but the day after that of the eight-year-old.

2. The girl who will receive a book from her aunt is two years older than the one who celebrates her birthday on Wednesday.

3. The seven-year-old will be receiving a pair of slippers from her Aunt Anne. Her birthday is earlier in the week than that of the oldest girl but later in the week than Polly's birthday.

4. Mary isn't the youngest of Anne's four nieces.

Anne’s Niece -Joanne                        -Mary                        -Polly                        -Susan

Gift -Book         -Poster         -Slippers         -Video

Age -6         -7         -8         -9

Day -Tuesday         -Wednesday         -Thursday         -Friday

Niece	Gift	Age	Day

This is the most difficult one I solved, I had to spy on the answer to be able to solve it.

If you solve any of the puzzles, you can put your answers in the comment. Have a splendid weekend ahead!!! 

**Courtesy: Pocket Puzzles, 2007 Puzzle Press Ltd. 

A piece of my mind

Seems like I finally inspired someone to start writing, Awesome! This write-up was by my better half and she just poured out her heart, i'm sure you can sense the passion with which she expresses herself. I was going to give an introduction of what she wrote but on the second thought, I will just leave you to find out yourself. 

***********

Okay…so I have had a lot of thoughts on my mind lately and I have been finding it difficult to put my thoughts into words, you know,that moment when you have a thousand and one thoughts in the crevices of your mind. I mean deep down you and you can't but un-bottle the pent up mixed feelings.

I am sick and tired of hearing rape stories, it totally breaks my heart, and I just can’t imagine how the rape victims feel. Let's take a look at what rape really is. Rape is having the carnal knowledge of a another person without their permission or express consent and forcefully too, so I can also state that it is possible for a woman to be raped by her husband. I used to think it was only girls that could be raped but talking to my best friend, he brought it to my knowledge that the male gender can also be raped just that the female rape is on the high side, he even went further telling me about a woman in Canada, who sexually abused her son’s male friends and was facing trial for the act. And this brings me to the annoying and depressing case of pedophiles….I mean like seriously *straight face*.

What is so attractive to any man, old enough to control his sexual urge (between, I should think all men know how to control their sexual urges), in little girls that aren't mature? It just disgusts me and beats my imagination to know that some 30 yr old man will push his 'big thing' into a little girl's vagina, a girl who is about 10 yrs or less.  'Oga'  pedophile do you know what you do to this little ones? Do you know how damaged you leave them? Do you know what that dirty act turns these girls into? They are broken, shattered, destroyed on all sides; they feel less loved and guess what? That act destroys their love and outlook of life. That act even follows them into their relationships, oh how you destroy great destinies of our society, nation and world with that one dirty and abusive act!!!!!

Weeks back when I was on night duty at Lagos Island maternity hospital a 13 yr old girl was brought in, she had been raped by a 36 yr old man or so. He kidnapped her and after raping her he took her to Ajah and dumped her there. Like seriously if you must do haba!!!! I feel there are still cheap local babes, why put a girl through that trauma, hurt and pain? He was caught though but what hurts me is that the penalty for rape is less than 5 yrs in our country. At some point this year the rate of the pedophilia act increased amazingly, there were pictures flooding twitter of older men having their genitals in the mouth of little girls, I was disturbed and pained, I mean WHAT THE HELL!!!!! Don’t blame these girls if they become nymphs, you made them that way…..It’s so rampant in India and I love what the government there did weeks back, death sentence should be the penalty for such a crime because to me you have indirectly destroyed a life and in a way destroyed a generation and a hope for a brighter tomorrow.

Dear mother why do close uncles rape your little girls? Note: I am not saying it is your fault but what role did you play in educating your little girls about sex? Did you tell them what their privates are and also alert them that no one; I mean NO ONE was allowed to touch them there? Or that if anyone did as much as touch them on any sensitive part of their body they should let you know? This are questions I ask myself when uncles rape their nieces because trust me it started from somewhere…it started from a Jane sit on my laps, smacking of Jane’s butt unnecessarily saying they are just playing with her, calling Jane my small wife, which small wife? Rebuke such statements as soon as it’s being made! Even with the aunts too, touching the little girls growing breast….I am sorry if I am taking this too far but hey! Don’t blame my mind. I think its high time parents learned and got used to enlightening their kids about these things. I am not a mother yet so if you are saying what does she know about parenting 'sef', you are right I know nothing but I know and feel that the relationship between parents and their kids should be as though they are best friends; get involved dear mum and dad, oh yes! the dads are not left out! Be involved in their everyday life it’s not just about school and assignments, be accessible!!! Let your kids be free to tell you personal stuff, make yourself their daily living diary, avoid a certain level of closeness between your daughter and one uncle or you son and one aunt. Talking about house helps, honestly, only God can save parents from the hands of the wrong house helps. No one knows the heart of man, pray for your kids and also pray that God touches the hearts of whoever you leave them with. God help us all and I pray that we have the grace to be the best parents we can be, AMEN!

Courtesy:

Rx Olakpe

Trip to Ottawa

For the first time, I'm typing this from my phone. Hopefully, my fingers won't begin to ache at some point. I use a Blackberry Bold5 and the keypads are quite wide and soft, so I guess I shouldn't have anything to worry about asides my battery. Used to carry a spare battery around in Nigeria but I haven't had to worry about my battery life since I got here. Oh! There was an incident, my 'ex-phone's' charging port got bad and in the whole of Canada, I couldn't get a Desktop-charger, how sad. In Lagos, I just need to walk to my estate gate. Sweet! Just found out this bus has a wall socket (I can charge my phone). The bus also has Wi-Fi (I don't have to waste my internet data).

So, I'm on a journey to Ottawa, going to the Nigerian High Commission. I have heard a lot about the embassy and the unprofessionalism of the Nigerians that work there. I have tried my possible best to be detailed about the requirements for passport renewal and in my being overly detailed I missed the point that said you should reschedule if you are ever scheduled for a Monday. It was when I booked for a trip on Greyhound before it finally occurred to me that my appointment was scheduled on a Monday and that I should have rescheduled before getting the bus ticket. Called Greyhound but sadly they couldn't help me as I had opted to print the ticket at home instead of picking it up at their office, and so I lost $86. I'm not trying to push the blame to the embassy, because they clearly stated it on their website that if you are scheduled on a Monday or public holiday, reschedule. All I'm trying to say is that they can as well save everybody from all these headache by adding a few lines of code to the schedule generator (if schedule_date_day == Monday then schedule_date = schedule_date + 1). Also, can someone please inform the Nigerian High Commission Ottawa, to please get an editor for their website? So many grammatical errors, it's a shame that Nigeria's official Language is English Language. It's a shame that a governmental website doesn't even have an editor. I rescheduled and I was scheduled for 15th of October. Anyways, this bus is 'kinda comfy' so I'm going take a nap now. Can't believe I have only had 4 hrs. of sleep in the last 25hrs there about. I'll continue when I get to Ottawa, the bus driver said we should be there 5:30am, the time now is 1:28am.

0540hrs, at Greyhound Ottawa terminal, it's kinda cold, about 10^oC and now walking to Metacafe street.

2055hrs, now somewhere at Kanata (sounds like Canada). Thank God for this family, they are definitely God sent. I think I have finally recovered from the shock I met in front of the Nigerian Embassy. Below is the notice I saw in front of the embassy.

Fvkc!!! I lost my sanity for a moment (A moment is actually 90 seconds). What I have always dreaded about this embassy in Ottawa has finally happened to me. I was initially scheduled for a Monday, which they don't work on and now I have been rescheduled for another day they are on holiday. Why me? Jesus, why me? These people just lack organization and communication. I mean, it'll cost close to nothing to send emails to everyone that has been scheduled for today but instead they put the information on their website and expect everyone to get the information. I actually knew there was a public holiday in Nigeria but for some reasons it skipped my mind that the embassy will be closed too.

I didn't know anywhere in Ottawa, so the first thing that came to my mind was to go back to the bus station (I followed the Yoruba adage; "Ti iwaju oba shey lo, eyin ashe pada si" which means: when you can't go any further, you should be able to retrace your steps). Being the spontaneous me, I sat in the waiting area of the bus station and I tried to search for the next available bus to Toronto, "This is another $150 going into the bush" (Bus fare was more expensive because of the thanksgiving holiday in Canada), I thought to myself. Just before I paid for the bus, my miss replied the pinged I sent her earlier and I told her to call. Speaking on the phone with her helped me ease off the stress and she was able to convince me to stay back in Ottawa and wait till Thursday since I knew someone that knew someone. Got off the phone with her, called the ‘someone’ that knew someone to inform him of my situation. Got the address of the ‘someone’ in Ottawa and few minutes later, I was on the bus heading to the direction of the someone's address. Had to call OCtranspo so as to get information on which bus to take and where to get a transfer.

Fast-forward to 0701hrs, Thursday October 17th 2013, back at the consulate's office. I was the fourth to get there, met two other Nigerians and another Jamaican woman who was married to a Nigerian and she needed to apply for a Visa (Nigeria's Visa is hard to get oh, chei!!!). As typical Nigerians, they talked about the issues Nigeria has while ending it with the usual phrase "may God help us". I tried not to get involved but they talked about some issues that got me agitated and I had to chip in my opinion. A lot of these guys were in the same situation as me. They had been scheduled for the day the embassy was closed and someone even came all the way from British Colombia. He said he had to reschedule his flight for $450 and lodge in a hotel (And to think I lost money). I felt sorry for the guy though but I felt lucky at the same time.

0925hrs, the Nigeria High commission Ottawa's door was thrown open without apologises for the 25 minutes delay, a typical Nigerian Governmental organization. I was in the waiting room for another hour where a man called our names and collected our documents before I was finally called in. The whole process of re-enrolling took about 10 minutes max per person.

1932hrs, home chilling. It was a long day but I'm going to make sure I use just my phone to compose this. Can't believe that was my first meal of the day. It was an awesome experience meeting and chatting with these other guys from different provinces. One guy is from Newfoundland, one from Alberta, one from Saskatchewan and the other guy is from Toronto (he drives, so I got a free ride home :D). Good looking guys I must say. So, girls if you are single and searching, these men are up for grabs (didn't even ask if they are single. But if they are, don't worry you'll bounce the other girl). Oh, yea! There was also a lady who appeared to be a Nun (sorry guys) and she is from Quebec. Talking about Quebec, one thing I love about Ottawa is that every sign and printed documents were both in English and French and I think it's high time I took my French-learning quest more seriously.

In all, I think I was impressed with the service I got from the High commission today; at least I got the chance to watch NTA again. This was probably because my expectations were quite low but still I'll give them a pass mark. However, it will be great if they could work on the scheduling section of the passport application by excluding public holidays and Mondays which they are not opened to the public from the dates people are scheduled. In their defence, someone said, the scheduling system is a global system in which other embassy in other countries are served from too and they probably work on Mondays with public holidays also definitely varying. This is not a justification as they can easily create a child_function for Canada in the program that does the scheduling. Just in case any of the staff of the Nigerian High Commission Ottawa is reading this, I'm willing to help improve the scheduling system for free, just comment or send a direct message.

Lastly, I noticed some form of tribalism in the office. Everybody in the office was Igbo, that's so not cool. We have a lot of tribes in Nigeria and I feel there should be various tribes in the embassy too and not just a domination of one tribe. I think the man in the passport waiting area was Yoruba though but still they need to balance out the tribalism. In all, the service rendered to me by the High Commission was acceptable and my trip to Ottawa was a good one.

English

‘Whew’. That was a sigh of relief. Just like I said in the previous post, for some reasons, English language has always been a problem (no, a challenge) for me. I guess what has been helping me scale through is the fact that I have always known it has my weak point. Come on! I did GCE, I think that means General Certification Examination, in Senior Secondary School 2 (SS2) and guess what, I passed all the subjects except for English Language and I was absent for Further maths. All through my secondary days, the best grade I had was a C5 which was in my WAEC and that was after lot of prayers and fasting. That was after taking special extracurricular classes (also called - lesson) with the HoD of the English language department, Mr. Oke (that man made sure I passed). I even fell ill on the exam day and he personally took me to the sickbay and brought me back to the exam hall and told me “Toyosi, you must pass this exam, you don’t have a choice”.

All my life I have been trying as much as possible to avoid writing a professional English Language examination and that is one of the reasons I chose to study in Canada. In Canada, you can prove your English Language proficiency by getting a letter stating that you studied your first degree in English Language from your University. So, I thought that was an easy way out for me. Little did I know I still needed to take IELTS (International English Language Testing System) if I wanted to continue to stay in Ontario. Taking the exam wasn't even the scary part because I have gotten to a point in my life where I see exams as just a norm, it was the cut-off mark that scared me. I needed to get at least a 7.0 out of 9.0, “How am I supposed to do that?” Anyways, I wish to remain here for a while and so it was time to face one of my greatest fears.

The application for the exam costs about $300, I can’t even afford to fail it. I scheduled the exam to be written one month from the date I applied, so that I could at least have some weeks to prepare for the exam. I ‘hired’ one ‘Fake’ English teacher that never even taught me for 5 minutes, I think the best she did was ask me how I was preparing for the exam. Got a couple of books from the library to help practice for the exam but I didn't really use them. To cut the long story short, four weeks breezed by and a few days before the exam I couldn't even read anything. The exam was scheduled for 8:30am and I couldn't afford to get lost in Toronto again. So, I downloaded and printed a Google map directions of the exam venue from the Union train station as I could not use the GPS on my phone (It consumes a lot of internet data and battery life). I took a silly risk that morning, and that was choosing to go to Toronto that morning and not a night before, even though I was pressured by my Ghanaian brother to go a Night before.

During and after the exam, there was no form of anxiety, so on the average, the exam went pretty well except for the speaking section of the test where I was given a topic I wasn't too comfortable with. I was told to talk about exploration of the world. I did the rest of the sections i.e. Reading, Writing and Listening to the best of my ability and I was able to at least attempt all the questions.  The result was to be released two weeks after taking the exam and I didn't even anticipate the result, not even for once. Two weeks also flew by and it finally dawned on me when someone called to ask me if I had checked my result. At this point, my heart started racing and for some unknown reasons, I was really ‘really’ scared. I entered my details and hit the ‘Get Result’ swiftly while closing my eyes. I thought for a minute, “if I fail, it will be bad ooo”. Lo and behold, it was a 7.5 average. “Thank you Jesus”. I passed my first and last (hopefully) professional English Language exam (Hmmmm….come to think of it, I didn't even celebrate. I think I should). For the Reading section, which was my lowest, I had 6.0, for the writing and speaking 7.5 and for the listening section I had 8.5 (I dunno how it happened). I guess the listening section just proves why I have a lot of ‘girl friends’ :D , my listening skill is just superb. I am going to have to answer to a query if I don’t clarify that last statement. Just for clarifications, there is a difference between ‘girlfriend’ and ‘girl friend’ (notice the space between the ‘girl’ and the ‘friend’ of the second). Yea, that’s the friend zone. So, I still have just one 'girlfriend' and others are ‘girl friends’. Anyways, I know i’ll still have a query to answer to despite this clarification. I guess Mr. Oke can really be proud of me now.

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Enjoy!!