Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Earthquake and Bombing Update

This week has been useless. In fact, this week might just go down as the most messed up week in history.

First there was the earthquake. I was fast asleep on the floor when suddenly I found myself unable to breathe and woke up. Turns out the vibrations from the apartment walls swinging back and forth were fucking with my lungs and preventing me from inhaling life giving air. Then I realised what was happening and thought 'hell no. I specifically avoided applying to universities in certain states because coming to America to experience earthquakes was never part of my plan.' Next I wondered if I should drop and get under a table (then I remembered there was no furniture in the house and therefore nowhere to take cover) but before I could get on my feet to run out of the apartment, the shaking stopped.

Next came that damn hurricane. It didn't really blow that far inland so that's not even what I'm angry about. My beef is that it knocked out the power and now there's been no electricity since Sunday morning.

Again, I did not come to America for NEPA to follow me here. If I liked NEPA so much, I would have stayed at home.

No electricity = No internet, No way to charge my laptop, No way to charge my phone, No hot water, No washing machine, No clean underwear, No clean clothes.

Of course, if Americans would only introduce themselves to modern technology otherwise known as BUCKETS I wouldn't have to be prancing about in public with no underwear.

So, shitty as my week has been, all that paled in comparison to the rubbish that broke loose on Friday.

Boko Fucking Haram.

May those people be forever stuck in the deepest, darkest, corner of hell. Amen.

Disasters always seem different when you actually know someone who was involved right?

Meet Member


Member (pronounced Mem-Bay)

Member went to Loyola (meaning she is a Loyola Person). She was in my hostel when I was in Js3, and is pretty much an all around nice person. She seems like a pretty nice person abi?

Guess what?

On Friday, Boko Haram tried to murder Member.

She was in the United Nations building when Boko Haram's suicide bomber crashed through with his explosive filled car and detonated the bomb that killed and injured hordes of people. By some miracle, she was the only person that survived the blast on the floor she was on and even then she was seriously injured and in critical condition. She was taken to the National Hospital along with all the other bomb victims but the National Hospital ran out of blood.

Let's just say Member has some insanely awesome friends because Isioma Coker literally (and I kid you not because she actually fucking did it) scoured the entire country by BBM and Twitter for enough blood donors to save Member's life.

Long story short, she is pretty banged up but she was medi-vacced to London and thankfully she will live. I don't think she's in desperate need of blood anymore, but I'm pretty sure all your prayers and well-wishes will be deeply appreciated.

I am not even going to go into how GEJ's useless leadership allowed this situation to even exist in the first place.

I am not even going to talk about how Nigerians continue to allow religion to lead them on the path of stupidity and Boko Haram is just the most extreme example of what goes on in our country every day.

I am not even going to detail how when we are supposed to be moving forward, creatures like Boko Haram are determined to drag us backward with their primitive stone age ideologies.

I am just going to say to all the people who think Boko Haram is harmless, or that they have a case, or who are thinking of sympathising with them. To all the people who refuse to just outright condemn Boko Haram and everyone else that wants to be like them. Remember that Member is someone's child, someone's daughter, someone's sister, and someone's friend. That is who they tried to kill, not just some numbers being rattled off by the newscaster on CNN. They are murderers and they murdered living breathing people. Innocent people that were just minding their business, going about their day and trying to do their bit in the world. They killed people's children, people's sons and daughters, people's friends. They killed their fellow Nigerians, and they tried to kill Member.

Friday, August 26, 2011

There was a bomb this morning

At the United Nations office in Abuja.

I am really upset. It was another suicide bombing. A man drove a car loaded with explosives into the basement of the UN building and detonated it there.

Several people are already dead.

I am so fed up with the people trying to destroy our country. It was probably Boko Haram, or one of their equally stupid followers or associates.

If you don't like Nigeria, for fuck's sake, move into the Sahara desert or go somewhere else. Nobody is begging you to stay and ruin everything for everyone else.

UPDATE: It seems the National Hospital has run out of blood so if you're in Abuja, please consider heading over there and donating.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Work in Progress


New Igbo Characters

I made some new characters for the Ndebe Project


Monday, August 22, 2011

The 10 People You Meet in Nigeria - Part 1

Who are the people in your neighbourhood? If you live in Nigeria, you probably run into all sorts of characters on a daily basis. Of course, where you live and what your social status is influence the type of crowd you run with, but regardless of where you've been and who you are, if you live or are in Nigeria, sooner or later, you will run into all of the following people.

1. The Alhaji (alhajius alhajius)


General Characteristics: Usually Hausa, Fulani, or Yoruba, instantly recognisable because of the massive voluminous sleeves of his agbada or baban riga, The Alhaji commands attention in any kind of gathering and is impossible to ignore. He will most likely be rich or powerful or both and if not surrounded by a retinue of servants or followers, they are probably within shouting distance or can be summoned at will. Will probably be fat (especially if Yoruba) but skinny Alhajis exist too.

The Yoruba version (Alhajius Yorubarius) is likely to have the leopard whiskers facial scarification that run as four horizontal lines across both cheeks. Always eager to spread their love and money around, Alhajis tend to have several wives.

Natural Habitat:  Anywhere large concentrations of Hausa or Yoruba people are found but most especially Lagos and other Yoruba states, Kano and other Hausa states, and Abuja, which is a neutral location but has more of the Hausa variety.

Notable Habits:  The Alhaji is given to uncontrollable bouts of compulsive sleeve gathering.

Related to: The Faded Glory Monarch, The Cash Madam, and The Aristo.

Natural Enemies: The Aje Butter Pastor

In Real Life:

Alhaji Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (Alhajius Hausa OR Nupe - It's in dispute what he is.)

Alhaji Razak Okoya (Alhajius Yorubarius)

Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu (Alhajius Hausarius)

Multiple instances of The Alhaji in the wild.


To Be Continued.......

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Downtown Lights at Night

Last night I went out with Suliph and her friend Jess who arrived from the next city/county for the day. I didn't really want to go, chiefly because I'm broke and I didn't want to feel awkward about not paying for anything (including the taxi there and my food and drinks) but also because as far as my experiences in this country go, I'm not really a fan of the club scene in the United States. Rather than a focus on good music and dancing the night away, there's more emphasis here on getting drunk and hooking up in ways that are bound to be regrettable later.

 In other words, I wasn't particularly thrilled when it was suggested we go club hopping. (speaking of which, I particularly despise club hopping. I would much rather pick one good regular club and stay there the whole night than meander aimlessly from place to place). We settled on a place called Mulligan's which was supposed to be something of an Irish pub but in reality it was just a nice sports bar with innumerable television screens lining the walls back to back.



The music was decent but much too loud (another thing I really hate - clubs who blast music so loudly that you have to fear for the welfare of your eardrums. I have no desire to become deaf and I don't know why clubs can't just turn the volume down a bit). The fish and chips at Mulligan's was awesome but Suliph kept shooting me dirty looks because apparently I was eating really really slowly and they wanted to leave and go to another club.


 On our way there, I found out that the Girls Gone Wild crew were in town and they were actually at a club across the street no doubt coaxing inebriated girls to flash their breasts for the camera. I wanted to go to that club, if nothing else to check out the Girls Gone Wild people in action but Suliph and her friend didn't want to so we ended up going to a somewhat empty bar instead and knocking back shots of tequila.




Sorry for the blurry pictures. 
Despite usually being a stellar photo taker, my phone's night camera isn't that great.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Q & A Session

I'm thinking of doing a question and answer session. I'll try my best to answer any questions you have (e.g. about my art, me, stuff I like or do, etc)

So, got any questions for me?

Friday, August 12, 2011

Selfish Parents

I just realised that lucky or not, fortunate or not, or however it may be, I was blessed with two extremely selfish parents.

Even better, one of them is a child.

I keep telling myself over and over again.

I should know better by now than to trust my mother.


Oh yeah, I now have internet. Hip hip hurray...I suppose.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Muse Origins Feature

So I just found out a few days ago that I was featured on the Muse Origins blog. This lack of internet is turning me into more of an old newspaper than ever but bear with me because I only discovered the post relatively recently.

Please check it out.

Muse Origins Feature

Sent from my Blackberry on the Sprint Now Network

Monday, August 1, 2011

Where in the world is Sugabelly?

I am currently staying with Suliph because I have nowhere to live. I also still don't have a job so I think I'm down to my last hundred dollars.

Suffice to say this was not the future that I suffered through four years of university for. Hopefully, I will get a job soon and you won't be hearing about how they found me in the river on the nine o'clock news.

Suliph doesn't have internet so I have to trudge with my laptop to the local library every day in order to use the internet and conveniently it happens to be located on top a nearby mountain.

Let's just say things are a bit rough right now.

Currently, I'm sleeping on my two towels which I've spread on the floor and waking up with more aches and pains than I knew I had places in my body and I'm using one of Suliph's rolled up bedsheets as a pillow. My things are spilling out of two suitcases in the corner of the living room which I packed hurriedly three days ago before hopping on a train in the middle of the night to get here.

I'm hoping to save up for a blanket by the time winter hits and so I'm opening commissions because I'm broke.

All commissions for now have to be digital because given the state of this library, hoping they have a scanner is definitely asking for too much.

All of you people who want banners and stuff to give your blog a new look, I'm taking requests.

See the commission page Here.

Contact me about your commission Here.

Thanks!!! I totally appreciate it and I'll do my best. ^_^

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Google Analytics Alternative