What the Bombs could NOt take away

Question: What is it this time...Manchester United?
Answer: No...its he Iraqi National Football Team

Question: So Iraq has a national football team eh?
Answer: Not just that, they won the Asian Cup yestada beating Saudi Arabia 1-0

Question: NO...is it just like a middle east cup or something? Are u sure its soccer you are talking about?
Answer: This was the Asian cup in Jakarta, Indonesia with participants including Japan, Australia, Malaysia etc.

Question: Wow...how did they do it?
Answer: Thats what everybody in the world is wondering. The team included players from Sunni, Shitte and Kurdish tribes. None of the players was untouched by the war. Its the soccer story of the year. Though its not exactly a happy camp going back

Question: Why is it not a happy camp?
Answer: Well there is no camp going back. Mahmoud, who was named best player of the tournament, said one of the tragedies of the war was that the team would not even be able to return to Iraq with the trophy.

'I wish we could go, but you just don't know who will kill you,' he said.

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Well...its inspiring to know that these warring tribes can play together in a team and win a major tournament.

2 Ponderables

...Burj Dubai..under construction


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...Taipei 101



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Number 1
I remember watching Superman/Smallville...and in one episode Clark's father tells the young superman honestly, "Son, no matter how strong you are, there will always be someone stronger than you."
With the exception of God, and while limiting the context to this world, "there will always be a bigger, better, faster, taller, more beautiful, richer". If you doubt, just ask Bill Gates..now he's no 2 richest. But more interesting is the new world's tallest building...the burj Dubai which is taller than the one in Taiwan, which was taller than the one in China, which was taller than The famous Twin towers in Malaysia, which was taller than the ones Osama blew off in 2001 in New York. Interestingly, after being acclaimed as the new world's tallest, the chairman of the developing company then issues this statement, "Its a fact of life, someone will build something taller than yours at some point". Quite profound.. I doubt if the tower of Babel would have come close to any of these four buildings i have posted.


...Jimao Building, China

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...the twin towers in Malaysia...(thats me n Oguchi)

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Number 2
Pls take a very good look at this moron below:



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this criminal was a governor of Taraba state, Nigeria up until a few months ago. Name is Reverend Jolly Nyame. Well on investigations of corruption, His Highness, this so-called reverend actually confesses to looting/stealing over 2.25 billion naira (well over 18.75 million US dollars ) of his people's money. He hopes that by confessing, he may just be forgiven. What did he spend the money on? well just a few aircrafts and other things he cannot remember....maybe we shld play nice and be good christians and forgive our dear Reverend...yeah right!!! No way! This crook should be dealt the highest punishment possible to serve as an example to the others. Yes there are many others, but we are happy to deal with this son of a *** first. Sorry Rev, appeal rejected. Read full story here
Geaorge Bush wouldnt dare go this low, neither would Abdullah Badawai or Tony Blair or GB so u guys (non-Nigerians)...ur leaders could be a lot worse

a sparK of newNess

Breadth of Fresh Air
I feel like i'll be the one throwing some deadly blows pretty soon. Well i am in much better shape.. feel like a breath of fresh air. i am exactly sure why... maybe its cause i spoke to mum this afternoon and we had a couple of really good laughs...or maybe it was the odd call to my broker...or oguchi's call or ..the other calls...or your comments [ayoks, MunK, Princessa, FO, Jeff], sure felt good to hear sheep in a bright mood or maybe it was a lil bit of everything. God knows there are some battles where the strength we draw from others carries us a long way. Thats y He brings those ppl into our lives. Well i feel very close to a million dollars now. Getting close to my contagiously joyful self again


OOps
Well i missed church again today. I really wanted to go especially since i missed it 2 weeks in a row (now 3). Can't remember the last time i went on such a long honeymoon. Its a long story but they are the usual excuses...exams...then woke up late...then met up wif a fren i havent seen for ages...went for dinner, transformers...woke up late or rather went to bed late. I'll be the first on tuesday evening prayer meeting tho...ts my favourite service and i can't wait. Btw i am currently studying 1st Corinthians and i was struck by Paul's humility in Chapter 4 when the man says "my conscience is clear but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me" Its weird cos theres a general feeling that if your conscience is clear, u'r innocent, which is not entirely wrong but the catch here is the man's humility towards the only One who can truly judge.

Transformers vs ShawShank
Well, Transformers was animated, flashy, action packed, full of effects but it din't win me over. Story seemed patchy at best. I enjoyed the comedic parts tho...the indian call center, robotic humour et al.



I did watch ShawShank Redemption this weekend too...bought the DVD. This is an old film, i think early 90's cos i was in high schl when it came out. Its a beautiful story of HOPE and it obviously was the blueprint for Prison Break. if u have not seen this movie, pls watch..its a thrill and it delivers as it voyages round hoping against hope and the human search and ability to deal with freedom.
And while u are at that, the book, "the Burden of Freedom" by Myles Munroe is a good read anyday, in the same line. Its one of those books Myles wrote when he still used to write in simple language. In a scene in Shawshank, Morgan freeman finally lives jail and gets a job. The following dialogue ensues between Morgan Freman and his boss:
Morgan: Boss, can i take a break to piss?
Boss: (waves Morgan to come closer so no-one can hear)"You don't have to take permission from me everytime you wanna take a piss?"
Morgan: (speaks to himself) "For 40 years i have taken permission to piss"

The point is that freedom comes with responsibility, with choice..what we do with our freedom in Christ determines our destiny. Nobody bosses you around anymo or chains you with bondages, depression or whatever issues. But now, we have a responsibility of how to handle the new found freedom...what we do with our lives....

Have a splendid week!!

Fighting Still

Growing up, i loved action movies, loved watching fight scenes, boxing martial art and all those adrenalin pumping rocky, no retreat no surrender, ninjamania and schwarzenger's conan. Funny thing tho i never for one second liked the idea of fighting myself. I was not scared of losing but i always thot of the cost. if i fought a guy and won, he probably would still hit me a few times and i could still be significantly injured. growing up reinforced the idea in me cos boys that couldnt fight would fight dirty. They'd break a bottle on your head.

So why am i talking about fighting. Well this stage of myself can best be summarised as " Fighting ". Its no doubt tough and i have been getting knocked around quite a while in the last few days. Not literally though. i am going through the fights of life that define you. I know i will not lose but i am scared i'll end up really wounded. I need to condition myself, trust His Love more, move in faith, step up one more level but its easier said than done. Just like a boxer, even when i am down, i know its not over yet as long as i get up one more time.

Am i bruised? yes
Am i feeling the pain of the blows? yes
Is my adversary strong? of course
Then why am i not out of the contest? Because i know that defeat comes when i resign and give up. As long as i am hanging in there, there's a chance His Love will bring the victory. I remember friends, brothers, sisters, memories, scriptures, experiences and i try to draw hope against hope that somehow victory will be mine. I sure could use a prayer.


On a Lighter Note
Thankfully i will always have time for a good laugh so here we go:
Mr Al Gore, the US president-reject turned grammy winning environmentalist who preaches the gospel of saving the planet, animals, environment, plants (everything except saving humans) shocked us all yesterday. The man who won a grammy for asking us to eat less, drink less, use smaller cars, dress down, live in darkness, shop and dun take packages, recycle our can drinks, become a vegetarian or just plainly fast as much as possible did not practice what he preached. The lust of the erm..environment we shall call it.
At his daughter's wedding party, the Chilean sea fish was served. This fish is one of the most endangered in the world. So how did Reverend Gore become a carnivore?
Well you can't have them all. The family tried to keep the event green (environmentally friendly) as possible putting non-endangered species on the menu. Somewhere someone overlooked this fish or maybe it was just asking too much of a man's appetite. Read the article here

Here we go

I was tagged by Jeff shortly before my exams ended, now is time to pay it forward.
Here are the rules of the Crazy Eights meme:

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.


Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.




8 THINGS YOU Don't Know ABOUT ME (ER..you probably know 1 or 2 lol)

1. My first name really should be Junior by Nigerian standards (thankfully its not)

2. I have seen more cities and towns in Malaysia than Nigeria (even tho i only spent four yrs in Malaysia compared to about twenty in Nigeria)

3. I used to be a chained smoker. I made a deal with God in 2001, "i will quit smoking if you make me pass this terrible PHY101 exam". God kept his part of the bargain and i kept mine lol.

4. I started acting dramas in church at the age of 6

5. Presently, my favourite song is This is my now...by Jordin Sparks.
p.s. its playing now

6. I am a big..big fan of both George Bush and Tony Blair (there have been much worse leaders in history + George has a spine + Tony never loses)

7. i am from a small town in Ogun State, Nigeria called Sagamu and i love it there... (i'll usually listen to Carrie Underwood's "I aint in checotah (sagamu) anymore" to reminisce)

8. I really thot this list of 8 was never gonna end....

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Tags: i am tagging a few pple whom i have been reading their blogs silently for a while. Here we go


1. Priscilla

2. Jolyn

3. Chris

4. Princess

5. Funmi

6. Aaron

7. Alvin

8. Valentine

Time to pay it forward

Almost There

Exams have been much better than i expected. That was such a blessing. Considering my Tennis-styled exam preparations, the first 3 papers i took were really good (din't think i was gonna say that hehe).
i have got one more to go tomoro...hope the streak continues

Spoke to parents yestada, turns out dad had to go for surgery on saturday. Mum was tellin me the name of the symptom/condition/case but i frankly have no idea (u know what medical conditions sound like). I was quite pleased to learn that dad's ok now, surgery went well. i spoke to him, his new car is also here. My God knows all and is strong enough to keep my folks hail, healthy and hearty.

I have been thinkin a lot about hope the past 3 days. I remember situations in my life (not too long ago) when i felt hopeless but today its a whole different story. Hopelessness is real, you have to look no further than rates of depression and suicide. You begin to get the feeling that that's it, you can't make it, you'r stuck, dreams are crushed, its like u loose the will to live. But the joy of the Lord can swallow all hopelessness.

With Jesus, there is always always a case for hope. You just have to think about the last time you were in trouble and thought you wouldn't make it through BUT you made it through somehow and today you probably have forgotten the ordeal.

On a lighter note, i got tagged by Jeff whose blog is quite interesting(http://psychosomaticwit.blogspot.com/) so my next post is 8 random habits/facts about myself...and i will be taggin some unfortunate bloogers.

a case for hope

"within each of us lies a storm
Some believe it will never end
But he who has faith in the heavens
will weather any storm".....R. Kelly

How true

OOooouuuuchh!!

that was a sound i heard as i was trying to cross the road. It was the cry of a little girl when her mum who was driving was going to hit an unfortunate pedestrian (a certain Michael Temitope). I thot i had looked twice but if you know me, then you probably know by now that i was at fault hehe. But the car din't hit me, thanks to that little girl screaming in time for mum to slam the brakes. Thank God!!!

BLOW

This is one of the earlier movies by Johnny Depp. He was much younger and had not yet become a pirate or think of goin to the carribeans which he is now so famous for. I had watched it wayback in Nigeria but i watched again yesterday night.

It's about a boy (Johnny Depp as George) who grew up with a poor but hardworking father. Father was a plumber and never earned enough. Mum always screamed and vent frustration on dad. Mum left so many times but always came back. George always begged mum not to leave but she'd always leave. Everytime she came back, dad took her in with open arms (sounds like God ya). Anyway the thrust of the story is that George vows never to be poor.

When George was about 20, he went to Carlifornia and he thot the people were happy, the girls were beautiful and to cut the story short he became a drug dealer and made lots of money. The story is full of up and downs of George's life, love, business, in-jail, outta jail, marriage, becoming a father.

The highlight is somewhere along the line when George loses his money cos the Feds catch up with him. Now he's got a beautiful Columbian wife (Penelope Cruz) and a daughter and he's broke. The wife starts screaming, venting frustration and threatening to leave just as his mum had done years on. The same thing he vowed to run away from was staring him in the face.

Aside the usual excesses, i thot it was a very good movie/biography/life story.

The Others

It was good to hear from Ayoks....

missed chattin with Sheep on friday...class was on and.....think i'll get scolded lol

you guessed it..Venus did it!

Wimbledon Women's Tennis vs Exam fever

.... *****........ ******* ........ ****** ..... ok i hav been tryin to study for my exam which starts on monday but i can't get to it so i thot i could blog a bit

The Wimbledom's Women's Tennis is way more interesting than the men's. and yours truly has been grossly captivated by some of the more fierce battles.

Venus Williams beat Sharapova yestada in a match that John McEnroe (legendary tennis player) described as the best he has ever seen Venus play. I enjoyed it cos it a lot not least cos it was more fun than studying.

Today she demolished another helpless Russian to storm into the semis... Justine Henin is the one on fire tho and tournament favourite but i am really hoping its de javu for Venus who always wins when u least expect her to.

In the back of my head i can hear those lingering thots, "Have you studied those investment ratios? Cost Volume Profit Analysis? Total Quality Management?" Of Course Venus and tennis sound simpler and much more interesting at the moment than any ratio....