Category: Little rants

kindness · Life · Little rants

When the corpse is not ours…

jacquelineobyikocha5 Comments

In my place, it is commonly said that “when they carry the corpse of someone you don’t know, it simply seems like the pallbearers are carrying an old box.” To make the understanding clearer, when we are insulated and are not directly affected by wicked acts of fellow men, the outcomes of those actions barely cause us to pause and think.

Image result for images of pall bearers

Until we all as humans recognize that everybody has a right to life whatever race or colour they may be, whatever religion they choose to believe in, whatever gender or sexual affiliation they lean to, whatever tongue they may speak in…

until we as humans realize that no one is superior to the other and that all men are created equal – men used figuratively in this sense…

until we humans understand that the migration of people has been happening from the beginning of time and whether we like it or not, mixing of races and change is inevitable…

until we as individuals begin to question our love for hatred, bigotry, division and discrimination, prejudice and intolerance…

until we start to hold the toes of our leaders to the fire and hold them accountable for their utterances and misbegotten directions…

until we lose the cloak of apathy that seems to have pervaded our minds and taken place in our hearts where empathy should be…

until we as individuals search our souls and ask ourselves if we are truly living and reflecting the goodness that we want to see in the world…

despicable and horrific occurrences like mass shooting will continue to gather momentum…

and who knows…

maybe one day, that old rickety box might very well become ours to bear.

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Little rants · This Is My Life

I know you have to make a buck but please don’t take me for a ride!

jacquelineobyikocha43 Comments

Image result for images of taxi cab

I blistered the taxi drivers ears! Some Dubai taxi drivers like to rip off their passengers because they think that they are smart and that everyone who looks different is a tourist. I gained sufficient experience of their dodgy antics during my early months of living here and because the black community around my area is thin, there’s high tendency of people assuming that I’m a tourist.

My car was taken for service and I had to be somewhere in a hurry. I didn’t want to take the train and stopĀ at all the stations and possibly get to my destination hot and late. I hate going late for appointments.

I also didn’t feel like joining the bus and having a leisure ride through town.

I knew where I was going and what it would cost me to get there give and take the traffic flow. I’ve been there, many times over.

So, I took a taxi and the driver decided to take me on an Israelites journey through the wilderness and he meandered through all the nooks and crannies and the longest route available in town so that his meter would run as high as possible.

I wasn’t in the mood for a scenic view of the town and had not made such a request – no thank you! My interest wasn’t in getting to know about the best Indian restaurant around or about the cheaper malls that are having sales.

Yes, I enjoy Bollywood movies now and again, but I didn’t want to talk about it with you. That I’m a black woman alone doesn’t mean that I’m out looking for a good time.

All I wanted was to compose my marketing thoughts together and to get to my appointment on time.

Maybe the fact that I told him to concentrate on his driving made him decide to run off with me :/

Now and again my charitable side overlooks a dirham here and there and I leave some change for them ‘cos I know that it’s a struggle for them as well, but what I can’t stand is the smart Alec nonsense some of them come up with and the sudden convenient pretense not to understand English well enough. That’s just annoying!

I blistered his ears and told him that next time he pulls such nonsensical stunt he just might meet the wrong passenger who would report him to RTA (Road Transport Authority).

I felt ripped off. Thankfully after a rigmarole that cost me almost double the normal fare, I got to my meeting early enough.

Jacqueline

Image credit: Wikipedia

Finance · Little rants · Uncategorized

FRAUDULENCE AND ATTEMPT TO OBTAIN BY PRETENSE!

jacquelineobyikocha54 Comments

It always makes me chortle seriously when I receive such spam mailĀ with all sorts of enticing figures and ridiculous promises from total strangers. They’ve simply chosen the wrong customer.

It actually makes me wonder who the fools and unfortunate souls who fall for these scams are? They are GREEDY people!

Why would anyone become the beneficiary of huge sums of money out of the blues, when it’s not the open national lottery?

It’s only greed that will make a human want to harvest where they never sowed. It’s only avarice that will make a fool fall for scams that are as old as time.

People should beware of such mail. Don’t click or ever respond to it. Send it forever to the trash and don’t let the creep out.

I receive several each week and overlook them, but it dawned on me that so many poor, unassuming humans have fallen into such pit of rattlesnakes.

Below is a copy and paste of one of such mail.

Please feel free to chuckle with me or reblog if need be.

Regards,

Ā© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

Hello my dear,

This is to bring to your notice the resolution of our recently
concluded Joint Committee meeting with the United Nations Secretary
General (Ban Ki-moon) and the World Bank Group President ( Jim Yong
Kim) with Agenda focused on investigating the unnecessary delay of
international withheld payments which was previously approved.
The Joint Committee discovered with great dismay that
your name with this email address is on the list of beneficiaries
whose payment has not been paid and unnecessarily delayed by corrupt
officials of the Banks in Africa.

Following series of complain to the UN Secretary General (Ban Ki-moon
) over the discrepancies by Banks which has made it impossible for
people like you to claim their compensation / Inheritance funds, a
decision was reached by the Committee with the approval of the UN
Secretary General (Ban Ki-moon) under the authority of United States
to compel all Financial Institutions in Europe, Asia and Africa for urgent
release of all unpaid approved funds before the end of June 2016.

The Good news is that an irrevocable payment approval has been issued
by the World Bank group to release your part – payment through MONEY
GRAM payment Scheme. The federal ministry of finance accredited payment
coordinator (Mr.Tony Jiaja ) will send your daily payment of $5,000 USD
to your name until your total payment is completed so urgently contact
Mr.Tony Jiaja at (wsucenter1@yahoo.co.jp) with Mobile (+229 653 615 95)
and reconfirm your daily payment receiver’s details below.

(1) Receiver’s Name….
(2) Receiver’s Address ……..
(3) Telephone/ Cell# ……
(4) Test Question ……
(5) Test Answer ……..

We will monitor and ensure that legitimate process is followed to
ensure that you receive your fund without further delay. Contact Mr.
Tony Jiaja who is currently expecting your contact, He will assist you
in transferring your funds, so make sure you give him your profound
cooperation to avoid undue delays or further hitches.

Be advised you STOP all further communications with everyone regarding
this payment and keep this communication highly confidential to avoid
interception of information that might lead to double claim or loss of
any part of your approved daily payment as scheduled.

Yours Faithfully,
Mrs Juliana Edgar

 

Blog · Little rants · WordPress

So I earned 34 cents and more than a 1,000 posts!

jacquelineobyikocha57 Comments

1460261912095[1]

Should I rant? Shouldn’t I?

I had no idea that I had hit 1,000 posts on this blog which I started precisely eleven months ago. Actually, this will be my 1,022 (one thousand and twenty-second post).

For some reason, I kept plugging away without taking note of the numbers. I have been weaning myself from stats bingeing. Stats are important quite alright, but I don’t want it to rule my mind.

WordPress what gives with the lack of notification these days? :/

My thought is that 1,000 posts is a milestone in blog-land and would have loved to know for knowing sake.

Gosh, that alone tells me how much I have written in this space in such a space of time especially given the fact that 99.9% of my posts, Ā aren’t reblog and are written fresh off the printing mill in my head, except for photos which are also taken by me.

This girl’s got a lot to say. Oh well, let me say a belated YAY to me and NAY to WordPress!

Now, on to the matter that made me laugh out real loud.

I know some may wonder why I talk about money, so just in case you need to know, ‘money is the oil that runs the machinery of most of our basic needs in life and I, Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha, would like to earn some incomeĀ from the hard work of my fingers.’

In February, I applied to have WordAds included on my site given that my site is a premium site and after their background check or whatever it is they do, it was approved and I promised to speak out on how it goes.

Interesting to know that for that month with 16,000 views, I had 3,449 impressions (whatever that means) and thus earned 34 CENTS. What a hoot!

Now, in all fairness to the manĀ who told that he sucks some time ago, I understand better now why you were fixated with your stats.

I have no plans to get stuck in the bog of stats and peanuts, so there’s got to be better ways and it’s a nut that I must crack.

Ā© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

 

Little rants · Uncategorized

Spiking Blood Pressure!

jacquelineobyikocha12 Comments

Disheveled, Face, Female, Head, Portrait, People, Woman

I opened my overflowing mailbox and my blood pressure spikes in clicking anguish!

A mad woman in my head screams and runs off into the bushes to go and hide.

She just wants to ball herself in a fetal position and protect her head from the imagined boxes of thousands of mail being emptied on it!

Arrgh! I’ve got mail and I am swimming in it!

Family · Little rants · Stream of Consciousness Saturday.

Be Wise, it’s possible that I’ve been foolish!…Streams of consciousness Saturday.

jacquelineobyikocha37 Comments

‘Be wise,’ this caution repeats in my head so many times in a day, sometimes as early as when I rise up in the morning, that I am beginning to question myself to find out where my foolishness lies and why the caution keeps popping into my head.

How I wish the repetitive caution ‘be wise,’ jangled hard with cymbals and SoCS badge 2015vuvuzela when I am about to help myself to a second slice of pie or cheesecake.

I have no problem with being wise after all, that’s what aging is meant to bring, even though I am beginning to question some older people’s sense of reasoning these days.

Some of them seem to have sold their sense for two cents that common sense is becoming less common in the quarters where you expect to see it.

Be wary of slick-tongued politicians. They make promises that they can’t keep. All their bluster is simply empty air. I guess a nation can’t live without leaders to direct their affairs, but the current state of affairs of my dear country Nigeria makes me wonder what those old men garbed as politicians are doing in there?

They are selling the nation short and robbing it blind. Could they just be honest for once in their lives?

I guess not. It’s simply not in their best interest to be pillars of honesty, otherwise, they can’t become thieves.

Besides Nigerian economic and political woes, these days, I have become more cautious with listening to news that simply raises my angst.

I have basically whittled it down to the barest minimum. I barely bother to listen to CNN anymore because all I get to hear is American political brouhaha and we have till November to suffer through such news, not that they used to show better things in the first place :/

Anyway, before I become dour and boring, let me heed to my inner voice of be wise and save myself some foolishness.

This weekend, I am going to be absolutelyĀ and decadently lazy. I am going to be doing some ‘me introspective time’ and generally chilling with my brood.

Life is certainly beautiful and asĀ Linda’s promptĀ suggests, I am just going to ‘be’ing and not doing.

Ā© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

Family · Little rants · The Daily Post · Uncategorized

When The Words Arrived Late…

jacquelineobyikocha33 Comments

I am quite sure that I am just one out of the billions of women who started a good argument thread with yours sincerely darling husband or partner, believing that you had all your words lined in a row, only to find yourself perplexed after a bit into the lopsided argument and at a loss for a good parting shot to drive home your thoughts.

Fast forward two days later, while on the hot stove turning the soup, a phrase just pops into your head and you think to yourself.

Ah Ha! That’s it! I should have said that line as my nailing shot.

That wouldĀ surely make him realize how much thought I gave to the matter.

You traipse to the Living room to deliver your parting shot which is two days late and your husband who is flipping the sports channel thinks you are a lunatic, because for all intents and purpose, he has blissfully forgotten what it was you were talking about šŸ™‚

Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

The Daily Post promptĀ drawing a blank.

When was the last time your walked away from a discussion, only to think of The Perfect Comeback hours later? Recreate the scene for us, and use your winning line.

Family · Lifestyle · Little rants · The Daily Post

I have a little quirk, but so do you…

jacquelineobyikocha37 Comments

Quirks are idiosyncratic habits that distinguishes us as individuals.1455205959464[1]

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 šŸ˜‰

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 šŸ˜‰

Ā© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

The Daily PostĀ Quirk of habit.

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

 

 

Blogging · Little rants

Shaking My Head…A Little Blogging Thought

jacquelineobyikocha97 Comments

Sometimes, you read some things that makeĀ you shake your head in wonder.1455163144750[1]

It makes you realize that even though humans are inherently selfish, some have extra doses of it.

Here I am feeling happy with my statsĀ that seems to be jumping up in bits and I read someone’s blog only to hear them complain about having just 500 views which they consider as ‘piddling views.’

How ungrateful is that? In my opinion, you ought to be grateful for even one view!

It’s a privilege that people come to your site to read your articles and not your right. They are not obliged to do so.

Maybe, you should consider paying for the views, that way, the line would grow so long, hmm?

You ain’t no superstar yet, so just why do you think that 500 views are piddling for youĀ when there are so many other bloggers who are scrounging for 100 views?

What have you been doing for these faithful readers of yours, that should make them glad to be around you?

Possibly, Ziltch, Nada, Nothing, Rien.

Maybe, you don’t even bother to read other peoples blogs, because you are too busy feeling like God’s gift to blogging Earth and caught up in your own World.

We all want millions of views, but it comes at a price and with Ā lots of sacrifices.

I keep reminding myself each day that ‘yes, I love the stats, but I should never lose focus on the reason why I am writing.’

When you lose focus on why it is that you are mingling with others, you stand the chance of becoming ungracious.

You stand the chance of developing unnecessary anxiety over the numbers and spend all your time comparing notes.

Appreciate where you are at each point in time. Adjust if need be.

Otherwise, not only will you begin to suck, but over time, your blog will suck as well.

Attitude is everything and I honestly can’t stand selfish people.

There it is! I have had my little rant and I hope someone will read this and make some sense out of it, especially the whiner.

Ā© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

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

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

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.room-101-blog-award

Thank you my dearĀ AmanpanĀ for your generous Ā invitation.

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

Here are my nominees:

Sabiscuit

Fun simplicity

Azul

Edwina

Element healing

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 šŸ˜‰
  • 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 šŸ˜‰

Here are the rules:

  1. Thank the blogger that nominated you.
  2. 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.
  3. Tell us the 5 things you would banish to Room 101!
  4. Attach these rules to your post.
  5. 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.

Ā© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha