Tag: Blog

Midnight motivation and musings

Midnight Motivations and Musings #55

jacquelineobyikocha22 Comments

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It’s a natural tendency for us to seek the approval and support of those who we consider our friends and loved ones because no one exists in a vacuum or isolation.

It’s also normal to find that some of those around us may not buy into our dreams or be our cheerleaders. Some will outrightly express their dissension while some may not voice it, but their attitude towards you will show their contrary opinion.

The truth is that the natural inclination of most people is to seek for the difficulties and all the reasons why an aspiration won’t work, before seeking for the possibilities.

One needs to be attuned spiritually to determine whether the criticism or voice of dissension is truly born out of honest conviction and concern for your well-being or whether the naysaying is borne out of envy, automated pessimism.

There is always need to weed out the chaff and keep the wheat. It’s not every opinion that you should pay mind to.

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

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Writing

Ah Ha! Now we are talking my language…Streams of consciousness Saturday.

jacquelineobyikocha11 Comments

Ha! When I saw Linda’s prompt for today’s streams of consciousness, I burst into laughter. I wondered how she picked such a random exclamation.

Most of you who  have read my blog would have seen this exclamation littering the horizon of my words from time to time like in these posts:I must have been born exclaiming, Nothing to be tricked about, Fruits of a hustle, Mama Put. I can assure you that there are several more 😉

I actually try to tame my usage of the ha’s and o’s on the tip of my tongue even though it does get the better of me sometimes.SoCS badge 2015

It’s the Nigerianness in me. Even if I live to be 120 years and maybe a resident in Nunavut, I am sure that ha, o  and hey, will feature in my writing as well as speech.

Back home, we exclaim a lot especially when we speak in pidgin language. Our sentences are emphasized with o, a, ha and hey! It’s literally impossible for us to do without our high-pitched punctuated exclamations. Haba! That simply takes away the flavour in the expression.

How can I tell you the depth of my askance or surprise if I don’t say ha? 😉

For instance, we use ha to express things such as:

Ha! Indeed, Really?

Ha! You don’t say.

Ha! Wonderful

Ha ba! What is it?

Now I am speaking pidgin in my head as I write and in conclusion, ‘make I finish quick, quick waka comot for hia. E get place wey I won go buy market – let me finish quickly and go out. I need to go shopping somewhere.’

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

 

 

Uncategorized

HELLO, WELCOME AND THANK YOU….

jacquelineobyikocha

Just a gentle nudge to prod you into sending me some post links to feature.

It’s a two-way traffic of supporting each other and it gives me something to do😉

So feel free to drop your LINKS IN HERE.

Don’t be shy about it, I don’t bite😉

You are most welcome and thank you too.

Jacqueline

 

Life · Midnight motivation and musings

Midnight Motivations and Musings 38…

jacquelineobyikocha22 Comments

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It’s sad and amusing at the same time when people come across with the perception that good fortune comes from luck.

That is absolutely balderdash and misleading. Good fortune has to find you working on it.

Yes, indeed there are those who have been beneficiary’s of fortune that they’ve not necessarily worked for, by virtue of birth or winning a lottery, but the ratio is so insignificant for anyone to fold their hands and expect lady luck to come smiling with shiny teeth.

Remember the saying that ‘HEAVEN helps those who help themselves.

When you take those necessary steps each day, things align and the windows of possibilities keeps opening up.

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

Photo 101 · Photographs · Uncategorized

Locomotion’s…

jacquelineobyikocha21 Comments

Watching people is totally a favourite sport, so it’s no hardship taking photos of their movement.

I can actually sit and count how many men who strolled past in a suit, or tie, or whatever catches my fancy at that point in time. It’s total fun I tell you and if your eyes are keen enough sometimes, you are rewarded with something to smile about.

I was out all day and there’s no time to simulate night movement, so between the gym, school, grabbing a bite at the mall, I think I managed to get some blurry movement shots for today’s Photo 101 theme ‘moment and motion.’

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

Share A Link · Uncategorized

HELLO, WELCOME AND THANK YOU….

jacquelineobyikocha

Just a gentle nudge to prod you into sending me some post links to feature.

It’s a two way traffic of supporting each other and it gives me something to do 😉

So feel free to drop your LINKS IN HERE.

Don’t be shy about it, I don’t bite 😉

You are most welcome and thank you too.

Jacqueline

 

Fiction · Short Stories · Uncategorized

A New Beginning…

jacquelineobyikocha16 Comments

A duty done for home and country, though most times Damon wondered if the toll of duty was worth the sacrifice.

He had seen too many dead bodies and his inner mind had grown jaded. Cumulative years of fighting, of living on the edge had it’s way of sucking into a man’s psych.

Though he no longer served, he wore his fatigues and felt a sense of readiness, like he could face anything.

The stark facts of life’s circumstance whirled through his mind in years, up to the moment the explosion led to his blindness.

It still surprised him that Ann had waited all these years for him. Now, as he fights to find a ‘new life‘ without his sight, she stood supportive, her loving voice encouraging his often cranky, frustrated actions.  His lips curved in a smile at the thought of her blooming belly.

She has persuaded him to take a guide dog, that would help him foster more sense of independence and they were on their way to see the one she intuitively felt he would love.

He hoped so.

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

Inlinkz

In response to the FFAW photo prompt above from Pixabay.com. Thank you Priceless Joy for this enchanting story platform

Online Blog Party · Uncategorized

BRUNCH PARTY TIME…LIVE LINK it’s a PARTY!👔👡🎶🍦🍰🍛🍕🍗

jacquelineobyikocha765 Comments
PLACE YOUR ORDERS HERE ;-)
PLACE YOUR ORDERS HERE 😉

Hop in let’s get this party started. You are most welcome.

Just make yourself comfortable.

Refreshments are nicely arranged down the page: Drinks, Chocolates, Cakes, Donuts, freshly squeezed juice, Coffee, Tea and so much more. 🙂

We even have an Intercontinental Chef in the house. LOOK UP and place your orders 😉

Just a little rules of play:

  1. You must mix and mingle with others. Don’t be a wall flower. Go say hello to someone and you can participate in the Tag a poem up above.
  2.  Please leave your blog link or post link in the comment box below along with an introductions.
  3. It’s one link per comment, but come back as often as you’d like, that way it’s easier to focus on a link at a time for others.
  4. Please reblog, spread the word of the party like butter, or like, share on Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Facebook, etc. Tell your family, friends,  blogging neighbours, even your blogging pets.
  5. Have fun, it’s a great way to find bloggers and have them find you.
  6. Please show some love. Reblog this post. It helps all of us! The more people that see and participate in it, the more potential new follows! So, share and share voraciously!

There we have it. Since all the rules have been clearly explained, have fun and make the most of it 🙂

Thank you for coming to my party and supporting my blog. You rock.

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha.

CAN YOU SPOT THE DIFFERENCE?

 

Let’s add some SPRING to the tale 🙂 You can crack your Story telling imagination by contributing to this tag along Spring fiction below. The full story will be published on my Tuesday’s Trivia with every part attributed to the contributor. So here goes…

 

Buds of Spring

Georgette looks out of the window

The cold is fast thawing out and little fresh sprigs are sprouting.

It should be warm soon

Yet the coldness in her heart did not match the liveliness of the budding Spring

Her heart feels like a ghost town.

Where is he?

He promised her everything and she believed in him…

Counting the days and hoping that it’s just a dream.

‘Back in my home country, when we call for a party, we call for a party. We don’t skimp. Our hospitality is legendary. We even give out party tokens, so help yourself to an Easter Party Pack. You are welcome :-)’

Mashed Potatoes, steak and mushroom sauce
Tempting array
Fruity and Drinks
DONUTS
Cookies in a jar
Soft rolls
Appetisers
More appetisers
say Cheese
Jollof rice
Greens
Easter Eggs
Easter bunnies
More Easter bunnies
Goodie pack

Personal · This Is My Life

This Is Who I Am….Streams of consciousness Saturday.

jacquelineobyikocha40 Comments

This is what it is and I have come to accept that. When I was younger, it was a bit difficult to really describe who I was or am and what I am all about.SoCS badge 2015

I can get quite wrapped up in my books and in make-believe Worlds that open up for me in the pages and I find beautiful contentment from that.

Being around lots of people gives me pleasure and I would be the life of the party. Mingling, laughing, dancing and all the merry-making, yet in the background of all this, is some still brook that runs deep inside me. A reserved person looking from the outside.

This different personalities that inhabited one soul, confused me a bit in the younger years of still trying to find myself. I thought that I had to fit into a mold.

That I had to be x or y, black or white, this or that. That I had to be either an extrovert or introvert and every other label that people put out there to pen everyone else.

My mother would say that I was the most quiet child she has when we were growing up, with an acute sense of responsibility, yet at the same time, she would equally say that I am one person that would arrive and would be welcomed as many. ‘When she comes in, we say you people are welcome.’ A one woman riot squad.

In the early days, I never quite understood these things and struggled to fit into one caption or the other.

Now, I am older and wiser, I embrace the me who is a bundle of eclectic this and that and I have ceased with the defining.

I accept and love the me who rages like a wild-fire yet burns in peaceful flames.

The cool sophisticated lady with the blend of a gypsy, wild child.

I admire the me who loves colours in splashes of vivid brightness and the calmness of cool pastels. Who has a myriad taste, yet particular.  A me who reads like an open book, yet with curling smokes of mystery.

This is me who loves noise and quiet, who embraces life with zest and calmness. A bundle of contradicting this and that.

No more definitions!

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

Today’s SOC’s prompt asking us to write about this and that had me looking around for a few minutes then I realized that I am an epitome of lots of this and that.