Posts tagged words

Dear Mentee || What you should know about the word think-tank

Dear Mentee Educative 4 Comments

…and other English words.

So I have this leading to start a segment where I write what’s desperately on my heart. Obviously, that’s what the entire blog is for, but this is different. On the blog, I’m addressing myself, addressing my future children and grandchildren, addressing you and your uncles and neighbours. This segment though is addressing my mentees or proteges, if you’ll like. The things that I desperately want to pass on to the younger ones (not only age wise) that’s what I’ll write here. They are some of the life tips I’ll tell my younger ones who come to sit beside me at night and say “advise me. Tutor me”. Its a broad range of advice too.

This post has nothing major to do with the word think-tank, but it has everything to do with my attitude to the word.
I was reading someone’s profile on LinkedIn just now and I saw a reference made to a think-tank that she set up. I would’ve skipped over it since I had the basic understanding that it meant an initiative – an intellectual initiative. But I didn’t skip over it. I barely ever do. Words that I manage to question a bit in my head, I head over to my phone’s dictionary and do a crosscheck. I strongly believe this is a proper attitude to learning.

Make a habit of this and you’ll become so familiar with the words you already know including their context. What’s more? You’ll also become perceptive of the meaning of mere expressions of words you’ve never even heard of.
You’re welcome.

By the way, Think-Tank:

“(idiomatic) A group of people who collectively perform research and develop reports and recommendations on topics relating to strategic planning or public policy, and which is usually funded by corporate, government, or special interests.”

Notice how I largely fell short of the meaning earlier and the disadvantage of brushing over it.
Okay, Mentee, that’ll be it for today.

P.s: If you have recommendations of some great dictionaries for android, please let me know.

Till next time,
Debby.

Mean girl's words

Fiction 5 Comments

Hiii preciousssss. Happy new month. Noticed the changed logo? I took the picture on sept2, my birthday. Yaaaaay ! Maybe sometimes I could go into the story of what I learnt through my birthday this year. You could indicate in the comment section if you’ll like to read a post on it, already I’m getting excited. Wishing you a happy September as you read mean girl’s words. True words.
It’s been all your life staying at home
You complained murmured and snorted
And sometimes baked unfit donughts
But it was home
The flour, the smell of freshly baked snacks
The customers were your entertainment
Your eyes were Forever rolled as you attended to customers
Your voice was flat
Yet it was home
You made mockery of those you tagged ‘trying to form’
But I won’t call them ‘trying to form’ ,
 I’ll say those group of people were your age mates to whom you felt grated knowing they could afford what u couldn’t
You knew how to laugh with your coworkers till you got watery eyes and your stomach felt empty
It was a baseless laugh and it echoed while you thought it would somehow fill the void inside of u
Don’t call me wicked. No, don’t. I’m not yet started.
Your blue uniform fit like it was the missing end of a jigsaw puzzle
It was home… For you
Yesterday,  you left home
Today,  your face is painted
You’re in a red cloth , perhaps this will come Close
Your steps are unsure
You’ve jested, you were all knowing once
Today it’s you, out of your comfort zone
Today it’s you trying on the new things
They don’t fit
Your voice is softer
Your face undefined
Where’s the permanent snort? 
And the ladies with the real designer bags laugh at you while you Jerk past them, your feet singing a tune different from that of your wedge shoes
Today,
You’re new here girl here
And there are rules
While you’re at your own home
Try being kind
image

FORGIVENESS

The Christian Faith

Currently: sitting by the window facing the front porch of my house. Watching a flower dance in its pot. I’m occasionally gazing at the tree in my neighbour’s house. I choose to blog
 
As we grow older, our capacity ought to expand. I refuse to be a 12 year old girl in a 3year old body. At 3 years, the toddler could and would drink water. At 12, she can and would drink but with much more capacity than she did at 3. capacity.
Normally, I’m all shades of good. So I hated it as in turns my good natured attributes got ruffled. The calm superfluity I had, began to dissolve and I saw anger, I saw unforgiveness and I just wouldn’t believe it.
The truth is, it was the new me. I had grown.
 
When a flower grows, it loses it’s form, grows in every direction, still the same bright leaves, it blooms and glows. It’s still gracious but it has thorns sticking out, it is formless unless the gardener takes the shears and prunes.
 
John15:2: “…and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will be clean and bear more fruit”
 
A few months ago, I saw unforgiveness was very very ugly, I tell you. Every time I pictured the devil as a young girl, he was ugly but the unforgiveness I saw, was uglier than I had ever imagined. It baffled me. It was sticking out of me. I was able to forgive eventually as God helped me.
 
2cor3:5 “not that we think we are of ourselves sufficient to do anything but our sufficiency is of God”
 
 
The case this time around wasn’t forgiving someone else. It was forgiving myself. I did something I regretted, to put it simply. I didn’t want to pray, I felt I had failed God. Then I remembered some Christian literature I had read saying after you’ve sinned, God is most ready to hear you pray. Ask for forgiveness. It is cheating to think you’re ‘protecting God’ and hence refuse to speak to him with your defiled self. He wants you to come so he can wash you and restore you.
 
So it’s two themes in my head: Forgiveness and Writing. I have obtained forgiveness from God but how about that other theme? See, I got encouragement to ask for forgiveness without wasting time because I had read.
 
I know people who still read. This blog inclusive. Thus, I’m writing.
 
I don’t believe one who was “despised, and rejected, who endured suffering and pain. No one would even look at him, we ignored him as if he were nothing “Isaiah53:3 yet was enduring the suffering that was meant to be ours, would now choose not to forgive us when we return to him. No.
 
It turns out that my last blog post had a major theme of forgiveness. I gave some excerpts, some of which I’ll quote again. We need to forgive people. We need to forgive ourselves and accept God’s forgiveness. As we grow, we need our spirit man to grow so we can forgive better than we did yesterday because today’s offence is stronger than that of yesterday. we need to love more fiercely. We need more.
The quotes:
 

“I did it to myself . I did it to myself. mea culpa, mea culpa”

Is not the strategy to take, nope, and that’s because
 

“God doesn’t condemn he forgives”

Yes
 

“She looked at him bleakly: ‘your kind of love can’t feel good’
‘Does your kind feel any better?’ she looked away.
He unlooped the reins. ‘right now love doesn’t have an awful lot to do with feelings‘ he said grimly
‘don’t misunderstand I’m as human as the next man. I feel alright. I feel plenty right now, a lot I wished I didn’t’ “

he says love doesn’t have a awful lot to do with feelings. God loves us inspite. Just come
 

” he[Jesus] was a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!” Isaiah 53;3,4

Still in doubt?
 
 
Currently: sitting by the window, my back to the flower still dancing in it’s pot. My body given to typing and eating something yellow again( I did not plan it, seriously!) loool.
What has been your experience on giving and accepting forgiveness?
FORGIVENESS
 
Love, forgiveness and yellow meals
Debby

KNOW THE BLOGGER–100 tag questions(part1)

Life Diary

Heyy guys. In line with this bloggers tag questions I saw, i’ll be answering some questions.

  1. do you sleep with your closet doors opened or closed? I could do anyone. I do have a thing for lines and symmetry though so I’d rather it closed
  2. Do you take shampoos and conditioners from hotels? Either i do forget them or I’d have too small a bag to fit them in. mostly it’s toilet soap and tissue in the hotels I go to, never shampoos and conditioner. I don’t think it’s necessary for toilet paper and soap. Is it?
  3. Do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out? Always always tucked in. I never leave my room no matter how late I am, with my sheets tucked out neither can I go to sleep with it tucked out. Something about as you lay your bed so you lie on it, works for me
  4. Have you ever stolen a street sign before? Nope
  5. Do you like to use post-it notes? I think it’s cute but I don’t use it. I consider it messy unless you can post it neatly.
  6. Do you cut out coupons but never use them? Ahh no coupons for me over here. I live in Nigeria.
  7. Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of bees? A big bear. i always have a fear of things I cannot control. Sorry but I can’t control a swarm of bees because they’re going to come at me from all angles and try getting in my head to confuse me. Imagine the sting. The pain, from all over. A bear on the other hand, no that’s wrong, a big bear on the other hand, I will probably have an overdrive of adrenaline that might push me to make a decision which we can never tell, might pay off. I’ve never been faced with a big bear but i do make extremely brilliant decisions in moments of danger and panic. I’m really not tooting my own horn, just giving you a long epistle on why I will go for a big bear rather than bees.
  8. Do you have freckles? No
  9. Do you always smile for pictures? I wish. I do not always smile for pictures. I mostly smile. There was a time I used to smile that far-reaching smile where your whole being lights up and your face wrinkles with the laughter. these days however, I barely even take pictures. *Sighs*
  10. What is your biggest pet peeve? I don’t know my ‘biggest’ pet peeve. Perhaps cunningness.
  11. Do you ever count your steps when you walk? Nooooooooo why would i?
  12. Have you ever peed in the woods? Lol, just the woods? Yes yes and yes
  13. What about pooped in the woods? Ah, there you have it. No no and no
  14. Do you ever dance even if there is no music playing? On the average, no. when I’m feeling goofy and probably with family, yes.
  15. Do you chew your pens and pencil? No
  16. How many people have you slept with this week? None
  17. What size is your bed? I don’t know, big. You get that average size that a normal human uses, yes.
  18. What is your song of the week? None really. Worship just springs out of my mouth
  19. Is it okay for guys to wear pink? It’s okay. Probably just depend on the shade of it and the context in which it is worn
  20. Do you still watch cartoons? Considering I don’t know when last I did, no.
  21. What’s your least favourite movie? I don’t know. It’s definitely out of my head, thank God.
  22. Where will you bury hidden treasure if you had some? And now why would I tell you?
  23. What do you drink with dinner? Water, fruit drink, soft drink, wine…
  24. What do you dip a chicken nugget in? Ketchup really
  25. What is your favourite food? To think I should be good at answering this question by now, considering I’ve always been asked since perhaps nursery school. I’ve moved from pounded yam, to chicken and chips to fried rice, to toast bread to amala and ewedu. One thing I know for sure is I can’t function for very long without my African dishes.
  26. What movies could you watch over and over and still love? Interesting Christian movies, interesting motivational movies, interesting love stories.
  27. Last person you kissed/kissed you? I’ve never kissed nor been kissed
  28. Were you ever a boy/girl scout? I had an inclination towards girls brigade at some point but we changed church at that point and that was the end.
  29. Would you ever strip or pose nude in a magazine? No
  30. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper? That would be a really really long time ago
  31. Can you change the oil on a car? No, I wouldn’t even know what to open.
  32. Ever gotten a speed ticket? Noooooooo
  33. Ever ran out of gas? Noooooooo
  34. Favourite kind of sandwich? Just put all the loveables inside, I don’t mind.
  35. Best thing to eat for breakfast? Oats and fruits
  36. What is your usual bedtime? 12 midnight. Take or subtract a few minutes
  37. Are you lazy? I used to be
  38. When you were a kid, what did you dress up for halloween? I never even reckoned Halloween
  39. What is your Chinese astrological sign? Yoda yoda yoda…lets move on
  40. How many languages can you speak? I guess two. English, Yoruba. I can greet you and make really super small talk in Hausa and French.
  41. Do you have any magazine subscription? Online, yes
  42. Which are better legos or Lincoln logs? I’m lost
  43. Are you stubborn? No
  44. Who is better…leno or letterman? option E
  45. Ever watch soap operas? Yes, nothing much to them for me
  46. Are you afraid of heights? Of a sort
  47. Do you sing in the car? depends
  48. Do you sing in the shower? absolutely
  49. Do you dance in the car? with my family? With my friends? Yes. Otherwise, no
  50. Ever used a gun? hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Did you get to peek a little into my mind? I considered answering 5o questions is enough for a blog post. I will answer the remaining 50 questions soon in another blog post. Till then, stay blessed and feel free to tag me to answer some questions.

the lad

Fiction

Prov 20:11
it is by his deeds that a lad distinguishes himself
if his conduct is pure and right

 
 
 
Daddy made me paste this bible passage by my bed. He is a firm believer in waking up to read your motivation. What daddy doesn’t know which I’m certain mummy does, is that I don’t wake up to read what is by my bed. In fact I don’t look to that side. I wake up when mummy comes to the room speaking rapid Yoruba, asking If it wasn’t ‘morning enough for me to rise’, her hands smelling of something from the kitchen. The smell I still love the most is that of meat broth. Ezekiel had come to school one day and thrust his thin fingers in my face asking me to smell it. It was weird that he was proud of cooking meat before coming to school but it also led me to envy him. Envy that he could have a spontaneous early morning life, and be prone to eating meat while cooking it. Mummy won’t let me near anything other than washing plates or other errands.
Perhaps daddy will find another way to have me learn it, to read the post by my bed wouldn’t work.
 
 
young young

gleanings from the internet–TO SHARE IS TO CARE

Internet Roundups

Happy new month guys. Good to be back here. School has been progressing. Sometimes I’m a little depressed about the silly things, most times I am so grateful to God for his ever abiding presence, for my friends, for my family, for happiness. God is my hope for tomorrow.
Currently I’m having this internal battle about when exactly I would loose the hair on my head.
About my photography project, I was always subtly aware it couldn’t be posted weekly. I’d try to make it as often as possible but definitely not weekly. Making it weekly will put on an extra anxiety for me, a schedule I will chasing smoke to catch up with. I’ll still term them as weekly posts. I also absolutely promise to feed you with good pictures, trying to avoid pictures of showers(if you missed my last photography project post, please click here)
I have a number of books in my head that I should’ve done reviews of. I have discovered that for me, the time lag between when I read a book and when I choose to start penning it down goes a long way to determine if I will ever review the book. Hence the reason many books have slipped under the door without a review.
I’ve been on Arundathi Roy’s ‘THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS’ for up to a month now. You must understand that life happens. Furthermore I’m reading the soft copy. Yes, you get, it’s never the same as the printed back.
Today I have chosen to give you a list of my ‘currently loving’. A few things I enjoyed checking out in the month of February.
First and foremost the month of February marked two important things for me. On the 11th it was my parents wedding anniversary. On the 23rd it was my mother’s birthday. That’s enough currently loving for me. However here goes my list:
This paris review-the art of fiction. I had many quotes to jot down from it. I even more love the interviewer’s disposition. I long for the time I too like Toni Morrison can afford the luxury of choosing what praise to accept. Lol. It’s a good read for writers, aspiring writers and curious readers, it’s however somewhat long.
I found poetolu on instagramtime to share, I loved his poems. I checked out his website and voila I bookmarked this post. It just rubs of on me in the best of manners. I read it and went over it again. You should most absolutely check it out.
You should constantly check out Afoma’s blog. I follow and visit lots of blogs frequently however certain blogs remain home to me. Ihundasmusings.com is definitely one of them.
Timi Yeseibo has her way of bringing a lively twist to whatever she writes. Read flight to lagos here and just tell me if you don’t love the ending.
This post seemed like a really long tale of her day but I got so many good lessons along the way. Somehow I just couldn’t but quote out somewhere along the end
”I watched some jellyfish dance ,not really going anywhere, just exploring the same territory in slightly new ways over and over” sometimes we’re really not going anywhere new, doesn’t mean we should let the water be stale. Explore the same place in slightly new ways over and over again.
I can’t remember how I stumbled upon this but it’ really good. It’s also about writing. On coping with writers block or the lies we often tell ourselves along the way.
truly, in various wise, a lot of people return home different and have to cope with being different at home. good post this is.
I follow Ore Fakorede on twitter and this led me to an article he tweeted from medium
I hope you gleaned a lot from the people of the internet. I hope you grow in that wise. It was great sharing with you again.
I’d put up my photography project post soon. Do have lovely weekend and keep in touch.
Instagram: @mz_hybeekay
Twitter: @mz_hybeekay
e-mail address:debbyadebayo2012@yahoo.com

we're weak without weekly words

Life Diary

oratorical :
(adj.) characteristic of an orator or oratory; “oratorical prose”; “harangued his men in an oratorical way”- Robert Graves;
limpid :
(adj.) 1. (of language) transparently clear; easily understandable; “writes in a limpid style”; lucid; luculent; pellucid; crystal clear; perspicuous;  2. transmitting light; able to be seen through with clarity; “could see the sand on the bottom of the limpid pool”; crystalline; crystal clear; lucid; pellucid; transparent;  3. clear and bright; “limpid blue eyes”; liquid;
oscitance :
(n.) 1. an involuntary intake of breath through a wide open mouth; usually triggered by fatigue or boredom; yawn; yawning; oscitancy;  2. drowsiness and dullness manifested by yawning; oscitancy;
N.B: i know, i know, i have not made my weekly words post weekly. and no, i am not weak!

grow grow

Fiction

Times my throat is constrictingly free
Grow grow
I swallowed orange seeds as a kid
Where’s the tree?
Let this citrus burst fill my heart, fill my tongue, move my hands