The Rita Side

So this birthday has finally come and gone. Since 2013, I have gone out for every birthday except yesterday's and I can tell you honestly that it was the best birthday I had had in a while; running very closely with the one where I got a full body massage (shout to my girl!). Someone is going to wonder what was so special about yesterday. Well, let me tell you. It was just perfect. It started off on a strange i-am-getting-old foot where I was thinking of all that I had not achieved and what I should have been. Then, I went to church and it got worse with sadder thoughts invading my mind. On my way back, I turned on my phone to seek solitude. Firstly, I had a trailer load of messages (on days like that, you realise that people are ready to stay awake for you and to me, that is really amazing). Then came this video that was so funny that I might have shed a tear or two. Then I got a call from my aunty who gathered her three children to sing to me. After that, the smile became en...

Do you ever have that phase in life where you start feeling like the world has left you behind and God's graces are slipping from your fingers? Lately, that had become my default mode. I get some tough luck; I blame my diminishing graces. I lose something important; I blame my poor spiritual life. Somehow it had managed to progressively crush a significant portion of my faith in God and myself. So there I was, dwelling in that strange mood again earlier today. I left the school premises (not so far from the institution) for some personal reasons and when it was time to return, I realised I had no money on me. Surely I could have borrowed from a friend, but my pride wouldn't listen. * Walk * I told myself. * What is the worst that could happen? Besides, exercise does not hurt anyone. * So I walked and walked until the heavens decided to send down the rain. That it was just drizzling did not stop me from feeling like my unlucky genes were playing their tricks again.  The tiny ...

Recently, with all the bragging and display of wealth that I had seen on social media, I was forced to ask who humility has really helped. Today we had this great talk on humility and we were given clear-cut reasons to be humble. Here are the ones I could jot down. 1.  We are not as important as we think we are. Some of us think that we are the definition of perfection. Because we have a few zeros in our banks or we hold positions that are supposed to be prestigious, we believe we run the matters of the world. Here is the truth we don't want to accept.  WE ARE NOT AS IMPORTANT AS WE THINK. We might have parents who have 'made' presidents or who are presidents themselves. We might be able to fly from Lagos to Texas and Paris just to take care of a headache. The case might even be that we believe we are the holiest of the pack; always grinding for Christ and never letting the world forget. We should know that there is always someone who has more money or more prestige ...

 I have this amazing app which I use to rant. It is called Writer Plus. Frankly, there is nothing very special about it-no dictionary, no thesaurus, no audio feature, nothing at all. It is just a plain page that says 'Have something to say?'every time I open it. I know it seems inconsequential, but time after time, it pushes me to write. Today, I opened it in anger. The day started out very well, I must say. I took a dreaded test and I was able to smile afterwards. I travelled home safely. I was able to watch movies without feeling  any iota of guilt (med school is horrible like that). To cut the long story short, I was on Instagram (my favourite) this evening, and I saw this story about a secondary school boy that tried to poison his classmate. Out of curiosity,  I googled it to get the full gist, and it split my heart into  two. Maybe you have heard the story before, maybe not, but here it is: A 12 year old boy was caught trying to poison his classmate. His re...

"I present to you the latest couples in town!" I heard the priest say as I walked into the jam-packed church. I had chosen to be fashionably late for this one because  1.  It was not my wedding and  2. I didn't even know any of the couples. Before you judge or call me jobless (which I am not by the way), I got to watch 30 couples get married. Yes 30! Although I missed the vows(the best part of every wedding), I was part of the standing ovation and the dancing that followed. Amidst the chaos, I was able to squeeze through sweating and gyrating bodies and make it to the front. I had to see for myself, the couples that had agreed to share their 'special' day with twenty-nine others, a day that I don't even plan to share at all. Forgive my language, but I was stunned to set my eyes on the most mismatched pairs in the entire universe. There was a couple that reminded me of my grandparents. There was this beautiful young lady who seemed ecstatic to be in the...

This is just an excerpt from my book. It is not complete,  but I promise that before my next birthday, it will be. I figured that if I put my deadline out there, then I will take it seriously. It is just a draft, so it is not perfect. I sincerely apologise in advance for the typographical and language errors that you will encounter. I also promise that this give nothing away, not even the storyline. (If you don't like that, I'm in my room. Feel free to come and beat me.) ................................................................. Adanna Weekends are supposed to be amazing, but let's face it the only real break comes on Saturday. On Sunday, I have to wake up too early for morning mass and when I come back, I spend the rest of the day catching up on work. When Ama started quacking me, I knew it was already Sunday. "Hmmm...?" "I'm awake. I promise" "Just two minutes more, please" "Ok, only one minute" My pleas were l...

For years, I had stuck to the light makeup/plain face routine. To most, I was the kind of girl that did not enjoy painting my face. To others, I loved the natural look. Guess what? You know the girl that ogled at all the expensive clothes from the window because she could not afford them? Here she is. I was a complete novice who could not tell difference between foundation and powder but still wanted to look like the stars on tv. The makeup brushes were so many that I thought some were spares. My attempt at drawing eyebrows always turned out to be a disaster, and it took a long long time for the word, 'definer' to find its way into my vocabulary (still don't get the point of it though). Then came adulthood/university. In the beginning, I was very comfortable with a bland face. I learned to believe people that said I needed no makeup to be beautiful and I convinced myself that my ' man' would prefer to see the real me instead of going though layers of makeup. My vo...