I have a little quirk, but so do you…

February 11, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha37 Comments

Quirks are idiosyncratic habits that distinguishes us as individuals.

It may not necessarily be peculiar to us, but those close to us identify us with these little quirks which can be sometimes amusing or annoying.

It may or not be found attractive by your close ones, but they live with it out of love for you 😉

Please, there is a huge difference between bad manners and quirkiness. They are not interchangeable.

Some people behave badly and bad manners is not cute, period! I just had a little rant post, about such here.

For instance back home, we have something they call ‘African time’ it totally gets on my nerves.

You invite people for a ‘do’ that is scheduled to start at 2pm and they turn at 5pm and it’s viewed as normal.

I respect people’s time, so, whenever we are invited out back home, I will want to go on time, but my husband, will drag his feet until two hours later before we leave and truth be told, he is usually right, because others start arriving at that time and we are not left coming too early and possibly catching the hostess still in her hair net and night gown.

Personally, I had a habit of eating out of my husbands plate and feeding him tidbits of the day’s events. I wonder why his food always looked tastier – meanwhile, I am the one that prepared it.

The poor guy was askance and it took a while for him to get used to my dipping into his plate.

Funny enough, I have let go of this habit, which I got to realize that I picked up from my mother who used to do exactly the same thing with my dad all through their lives together. I was becoming my mother.

I let it go because my husband tends to eat late and it wasn’t helping my weight matters, now, he is the one trying to coax me to join him – looking for a partner in crime of eating late, though on some days he succeeds in persuading me 😉

The Daily Post Quirk of habit.

Which quirky habit annoys you the most, and what quirky habit do you love — in yourself, or others.

Inspiration - Motivation · Life · Lifestyle · Midnight motivation and musings · Self Help

Midnight Motivation and Musings…

February 10, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha26 Comments

The ups and downs of life are guaranteed. It’s full of uncertainties and can never be perfect.

However, how we handle these uncertainties that life throws at us is what perfects our moments.

Life · Social Issues

No City Is Safe For A Woman Alone!!…personal

February 9, 2016February 9, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha88 Comments

I shudder as I write this. It was not a planned post, but I just can’t keep my mind from wandering on how my Angels worked overtime today in keeping me safe from becoming a drowned/missing person.

I will make this as brief as possible.

Earlier today, I went to the creek side to get shots of Seagulls and just explore.

Some part of the creek is very busy and crowded with boats, but as one walks further up, it gets less rowdy, as a matter of fact a bit of a lonely stretch.

I got carried away clicking happily, when these three guys approached me. Two were jet-black and one is an Asian.

A little voice in me just instructed me to carry my bag and start walking away.

One asked if I am a tourist, I did not respond, but I picked up my pace almost breaking into a jog to put some distance between us. Meanwhile, that stretch was just sea water, the narrow path and nobody else except speed boats flying past.

Inside me, I was panicking and I started praying as I hurried along and they followed. One of them even whistled at me and they broke out into hoots of laughter. From the way they spoke and the darkness of their complexion, I think they are Sudanese or Chadians.

My thoughts was that they would try to divest me of my things and push me into the water. At that thought, my heart stopped and started.

I simply said ‘God, what will happen to my children? Nobody will know what happened to me except when my body is found. Please help me.‘ I was contemplating what to do, if I should start waving frantically to the passing boats, when I saw two figures approaching at a further distance – besides I had no idea whether the path I was taking would lead to a dead end – I simply broke off into a run to meet the couple.

Luckily, as I got to them, a Bangladeshi husband and wife, I asked them if they were going back to the road and if I could join them and they accepted.

As we walked back together, we crossed the menacing guys on our way back who looked at me very malevolently, made very rude, derisive comments and laughed like idiots.

I struck up a conversation with the couple and the woman said that sometimes those guys are sailors who have been on the water for a long time and looking for a woman to play with or harass and that though she liked coming out there, she waits for either her husband or son to accompany her.

They walked with me until we came out to the road before we parted ways. I thought about it all the way home and wondered why it was just unfortunate that women have to be scared of their safety at every turn and how sad it is that some men have to keep molesting women or taking physical advantage of a woman alone.

My heart knows a heartfelt thanks, because I know that I had just been saved from danger. I am going to look for pepper spray. I wonder if they sell that here.

Challenges · Humor - Bellyful of laughter · Lifestyle · Little rants · Social critic

You Are Banished! Go To Your Room 101!…Ranting

February 9, 2016February 9, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha22 Comments

What a delightful way to cast my baleful eyes and vent at some poorly behaved humans while having fun doing it as well.

Thank you my dear Amanpan for your generous invitation.

Now, I don’t have to feel bad for using my imperial power of thinking to banish some people 😉

Here are my nominees:

I have a tidy list of offenders that I would like to banish to their room, but I will just stick to five as specified.

That ungentlemanly behaved fellow that traveled up the 43rd floor with me, on a lift that stopped on every floor. He was ‘Chewing gum so loudly’ and blowing the bubbles like a total ass. I love to chew gum but not in a clackety clack manner, right in someone’s face. I felt like taking the gum and sealing his lips for just a few seconds, but only managed to give him a malevolent look 😉

Loud phone calls in public. I love people watching quite alright and eavesdropping occasionally, but for the life of me, I don’t want to know everything about your life that you must have your entire conversation right in my ears in your loud voice. Save the quarrel for when you get home or wherever it is. I sat in the bus beside a lady and my bus ride which was taken as a pleasure to Deira market turned into a cacophony of hisses and heated argument of a lady and whoever it was at the other end for a whole 45 minutes and unfortunately, I did not have my headphones with me.

Can you make up your mind? Keeping everyone else waiting while you dash off to get the tomatoes, then the milk, then the stick of butter, then a loaf of bread. Geez! Make a shopping list please.

The man blocking the plane aisle with his over-sized carry on which cannot fit and we all have to queue behind him whilst he tries to squash it in by force, with all the extras that he has as well. What happened to checking it in?

I know it seems the in-thing these days, but for the love of heaven, can that lady with the need to show some extra cleavage cover up a bit more of those mammary glands and young man, by the way, I don’t think I want to see your butt-crack either. Thank you very much.

I would have loved to continue, but I have to stop now. That guy that leaves his sweat all over the machines in the gym drives me crazy 😉

Here are the rules:

Thank the blogger that nominated you.
Award 5 bloggers who fascinate, intrigue or tickle your curiosity with the Room 101 (award) badge logo on their About pages and linking to them in your post.
Tell us the 5 things you would banish to Room 101!
Attach these rules to your post.
Grab your badge above and enjoy adding it to your trophy case, but please be respectful of the creator of the award by never altering the logo and never changing the rules.

Enjoy the rant.

Inspiration - Motivation · Lifestyle · Musings · My Thinking Corner · Quotes For You · Self Help · Weave that Dream

Tuesday Trickles…My Thinking Corner.

February 9, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha13 Comments

When we sow little seeds of good, we have no idea the depth of roots that we plant.

We can actually retrain the battle fields of our minds to think the way that we want it to.

It’s never too late to try to get it right. Except the person reading this post is no longer on this side of the great divide.

Happiness is truly at home with you. It lives and breaths within you and not in someone else’s abode.

Sometimes, in the bid to hide so many secrets, we bury ourselves alive and forget to live.

Noirfifre’s beautiful message is an advise that would suit a lot of people.

Stella’s simple, beautiful thoughts can take us very far.

Oba’s inspiring post on paying it forward speaks for itself.

I would encourage you to take a quick peek at these thoughts. Maybe, they mirror yours.

So, when can we get a sneak peek at yours?

My regards,

Family · Life · Love · Parenting · Photographs · Poetry/Poems

Since You’ve Been Gone…

February 5, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha42 Comments

I see you around the corner, the likeness of your eyes in the eyes of a total stranger down the shopping aisle.
It startles me.

I see you in everything that I look around me.
In the random formation of the clouds.
I sometimes see your wise eyes peeking through and winking at me.
It gives me joy.

I hear you in my thoughts. Your words of wisdom, of love, of encouragement
Are etched upon my soul.
They keep me warm.

I hear you in the music. The music that you loved so much, that I grew up knowing that love.
They sounds of music comfort me.

I see you in my little boy’s face. Sometimes, I stare at him so hard, as I seek tell tales of you written in his genetics.
It leaves me amazed.

I see you in the hands of a gardener pruning plants, in the gentle waves of a blooming plant, you loved all things green and they did so well in your hands.
It makes me smile.

I feel you in the drumbeats of my heart, because you are me and I am you. Everyday, my thoughts dwell on you, for in every little thing I see you.

I visualize you looking on from high up and I wish my hands could stretch up so high to give you a hug.
I get some comfort from the warmth of the Sun, telling my mind that you are with me.

In the smile, in the laugh, the stare, the walk, the phrase in a young child’s face.

I catch myself holding one-sided conversations with you and your imagined responses prompt me to sigh, to laugh and to cry.

I see you.
In everything that I am.

To you my dear dad. Always.

Yesterday was World Cancer Day, I lost my dear dad to Cancer two years ago. Sometimes, the pain is just so raw that it clogs my chest and my throat. He was a very lovely human and a fabulous dad. If there is one ailment that I could wish away from the World, it would be Cancer.

To those battling The Big C, may abundant Grace and Strength remain your portion. We will beat it. Blessings.

Inspiration - Motivation · Lifestyle · The Daily Post

If I can’t speak now, then when?…

February 4, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha48 Comments

There comes a time in one’s life when the desire to step up to living your dreams over-rides every other perceived fear and if you don’t start doing so, you will simply watch others live theirs.

By letting fear dictate the pace, each day that passes keeps counting, until all the shoulda, woulda, coulda’s pops out of the woodwork sometime in the future to taunt you and the worst regret ever, is the regret of not trying at all, than trying and failing.

Part of my aspirations is to be a lifestyle coach and this will probably involve standing in front of a crowd to speak.

Except I want to dump my dreams and stay by the sidelines to watch, I will simply have to step up to the podium.

The people that I will be talking to are fellow humans like me and okay maybe a handful of grumpy aliens tossed into the mix, but hey, if I can’t speak now to fellow humans then when and to who? I might get nervous the first time or so, but after the baptism of fire, I will rock it as much as I possibly can.

Where are the black socks and the microphone?

Let’s get this ball rolling.

The Daily Post Black Socks.

Are you comfortable in front of people, or does the idea of public speaking make you want to hide in the bathroom? Why?

Devotions · Gratitude · Hope · Inspiration - Motivation · Lifestyle

A Wellspring…

February 3, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha20 Comments

Just a few weeks ago, it was Christmas, then New Year and now January 2016 has come an end. It’s gone forever. We can only witness future January’s of other years, but never the last one.

January took some famous and acclaimed personalities with it, as well as so many other souls, but a whole lot of us are blessed to be well and see another new month cycle in.

That just keeps drawing the transient state of our lives home, that we truly have to spend our days living our best lives now and being happy with it.

As we pursue our dreams and aspirations with tenacity, buoyed with the desire to achieve a whole lot of different things, I am thankful for having had the Grace to stay on course with a good number of things that I set to do.

I am grateful that I have not lost the courage or the zeal to keep pushing along, because it is really so easy to get derailed with the little things that life throws in our path.

I am grateful for the stream of ideas that keeps coming to me and the strength to see them through. Sometimes, the wellspring of inspiration and creativity can run dry, leaving one grasping, so, for me, it is indeed a privilege thus far, to have a fountain that bubbles with inspiration.

I am grateful that for the first time in months, the aches and pains that plagued me has receded quite a bit and I can pencil this down to the consistent little exercising that I have been doing.

I feel a lot more limber and thankful for that. Sometimes, the discomfort of my Myalgia that I have in my back would keep me uncomfortable and awake at nights.

Living in a state of thankfulness, keeps the elusive Unicorn of Happiness close by. That way, you get to ride on it often enough.

Welcome to a new month of abundant blessings and inspiration. Never forget that the little seed of gratitude that you sow, grows into a bountiful harvest for your thanksgiving.

You can join Colline’s or Maria Jansson gratitude challenge platforms.

Lifestyle · Personal story · Photographs · This Is My Life

Hacking It Off! What I got up to in January #1 – personal

February 2, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha109 Comments

My 2016 started with a big step that I had been contemplating for some time. For the first time in forever, I hacked off my hair. It was a way of saying Happy New Year to me.

I even jump in alarmed trepidation as I say this.

I never knew that I would finally have the gumption to take the step to cut my hair down to a low cut and carry it like that, but I am totally loving it.

Why did I take such a drastic decision after decades or perming, curling, weaves and all what not?

The answer is as simple as the fact that I just needed a break from all the stress. Let me give you a brief synopsis.

A lot of African ladies or women of Negroid genetics might relate with me. Our kinky hair can be quite ‘a handful’ to manage and because of that, we have it in constant perm or weaves or braids which takes hours on end to go through the process in the salons. I was just tired of living under the thumbs of a salon dryer.
Due to the time involved in having these hair-dos, and the need to keep it looking good, we avoid our hair getting wet by all means; hence, when I go to the pool, I find myself keeping my hair at an odd angle, never willing to enjoy a good swim because of that. A good number of African ladies that I know don’t mind getting soaked to the skin under the rain but they must find a piece of nylon to shield their hair. Giiirlll! I was sick of the torment especially living in a neighbourhood where the pool stared at me, morning, afternoon and evening.
The cost of keeping the hair in the latest style is not cheap. I am not complaining about the cost, but sometimes, I think it’s a big rip off especially in the Western World where doing your hair costs an arm and a leg. Besides, all the perms and stuff was just making my poor tendrils get thinner by the day.

So there it is and that list up there could go on…..

Now I stand under the shower and enjoy the warm water cascading down and soothing my poor, frazzled brain.

I swim without any worries. I don’t even bother to blow-dry it. Just apply coconut oil and let it dry by itself.

I don’t have to bother plunking my butt down for hours on end for any hairdresser, for now at least. I am totally tickled and thrilled.

Now, I will rock it until I get bored and I can always choose what next to do. I can always revert to the braids and weaves to switch up my looks, though I am seriously contemplating getting them locked into fabulous locks.

The good thing is that I thought I wouldn’t have the nerves to do it, but I braved it and did it. My dear Himself was shocked at first, but it’s growing on him 😉

A few of the different looks.

Challenges · Inspiration - Motivation · Life · Lifestyle · My Thinking Corner · Success

Tuesday Trickles #7…My Thinking Corner.

February 2, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha24 Comments

Every Tuesday, I share snippets of thoughts that I call ‘My Thinking Corner.’

I would like to invite you to participate. The challenge is quite simple.

Each Tuesday, share your very short snippets of positive, inspiring, motivating, health, spiritual, writing advice, clips, posts etc, that can serve as a prop to motivate others and simply add my link to your post.

I call it my thinking corner because, I actually take out a bit of time just to think through things, encapsulate my thoughts as much as possible and detoxify my mind.

It might work for you in a different way, but the idea is to get the positive thoughts flowing.

Please send in your little thoughts. You never know whose life you might inspire.

Affirm positive words over your life each day. They are little pebbles that helps you find your way.

If we spend our lives worrying about being judged, then we will simply do no living, because either sides of the coin, You will be judged!

You have to live in the present, to get the best from it. There is no better time for your best life other than now. Tomorrow, will arrive at it’s appointed time and you will deal with it equally.

On those rainy days and dark days of our lives, we must keep a flicker of light and an umbrella to shelter ourselves during such periods. The flicker of light and umbrella can be kept in the storehouse within you.

Peace is not going to run and grasp you by the hands. You run to peace and hold on to it with your tentacles as a consciously cultivated effort. Sometimes, having peace might involve letting go of some people who are simply not good for you.

Very wise thoughts sent in from Deb of Bookyglover

When you are not so sure, you could try doing this from Rosema of the Reading writer.

Can we hear you think aloud? Please do tell and join in with your little snippets.

Regards,