I So Totally Miss Kwaku Doe :o(

It's been ages since I last blogged about Kwaku Doe. Why? Cos I don't use the same route to work no more. I hardly ever see him. If I do see him, then it's cos I'm headed home and he's on the other side of the road :o(

I do get to see him on Sundays sometimes but we hardly get to talk. I remember there was this Sunday, I was just at his spot and there was this physically challenged man begging. Kwaku was also making his rounds but the other guy was a step ahead of him. Now, I knew the traffic light was just about to go green so I was a bit impatient when the other guy got to me first. I couldn't wait for him to leave but I dint have enough money on me to give him and Kwaku, and there was a lot of questions I wanted to ask Kwaku. I waved the physically challenged guy away and Kwaku saw it and I guess he concluded I was not in a giving mood. Urgh! I was pissed at the other guy then I felt bad for being pissed at him.

Anyways, something happened last Sunday that I dint quite get. A couple of Sundays ago I asked Kwaku how long he'd been begging and he said he'd been at it for about four years. Then last Sunday I asked what he'd been doing before he started begging and he says that's all he's been doing like forever. I'm starting to think he prolly dint understand my question. I should have spoken a local language or something. He must not have understood the English I spoke or he couldn't express himself well in English. Whichever ways, I'll get another shot maybe next Sunday.

I Remember You

On this day, I remember you.
You would have been 29 today but you dint quite live to see 22. You left this world 5 days to your 22nd birthday. I want to say more but my eyes are just welling up.

I still remember you, not just on this day but all the time. I miss you terribly.

RIP.

Heaven Has No Rage Like Love To Hatred Turned...

How many of us know where the phrase "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" originated from? How many of us know it's a paraphrase? The full phrase is actually "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned". This was a line in a 1697 English Play, The Mourning Bride by William Congreve. Yay! We learnt something new today. Enough with the literary history. But seriously, when one hates someone they used to love, it is so much more intense than hating someone one didn't particularly have any feelings for. That reminds me of another phrase "a thin line between love and hate". Oh yeah, how thin that line is.

That said, did you get to watch "Don't Mess with a Woman" last weekend? If you dint, shame on you. If you don't even know what that is, more shame on you. Naturally, I'm a nice person so I'll share. "Don't Mess with a Woman" is the latest play by Uncle Ebo Whyte and if you missed it last weekend, you can still catch it this weekend. It'll be showing again at the National Theatre on the 8th and 9th of September, 2012. 1st show 4pm, 2nd show 8pm on each day. Tickets go for GH¢40 and are available at Shell Shops at Airport, Achimota, Sakaman and Tema Community 11, Baatsona Total, Frankies at Accra Mall and Osu and Joy FM.

Nothing stops you from watching again if you already did though. Seriously, I could watch the play 100,000 times and not get tired and still laugh as hard as I did the very first time I watched it. Why won't I? With people sending testicles, singing and dancing bridegrooms and Indian jujumen, trust me, you can't help but laugh.

As with every Uncle Ebo Whyte play, there are of course some important lessons to be learnt. Come watch and find out the lengths to which an angry woman will go, to get her revenge on her boyfriend and bestfriend.

It Bothers Me!

I don't know why it does but there's this billboard I see every morning on my way to work and it so gets to me (for some reason).

The billboard advertises a religious conference and it's got the pictures of the speakers (all of them pastors). Two of them have posed with a hand each in a fist and showing a ring. Matter of fact, when I see the billboard, all I see is the rings (I don't even know what the conference is about and when it's gon be held cos I just see rings) and it bothers me. Is it some pastoral ring or something? (I just might be that clueless).

What's up with the rings (and they are huge too)?

Don't Mess with a Woman

In partnership with Joy FM, Roverman Productions Presents "Don't Mess with a Woman", a play written and directed by Uncle Ebo Whyte.

What do you do when your best friend steals your man? For Naa, that is a simple matter - just steal her wedding. And how do you steal a woman's wedding? This is the story told with wit and humour in "Don't Mess with a Woman", the latest play by Uncle Ebo Whyte.

"I don't think a woman knows herself anymore when she is pushed to the wall" - Naa in "Don't Mess with a Woman".

"Revenge is sweet but in the long run, it is empty and very expensive" - Odame in "Don't Mess with a Woman".

Venue: National Theatre
Date: 1st and 2nd September, 2012
Time: 1st show 4pm, 2nd show 8pm
Rate: GH¢40

Tickets available at Shell Shops at Airport, Achimota, Sakaman and Tema Community11, Baatsona Total, Frankies at Osu and Accra Mall and Joy FM.

Main sponsor - MTN, everywhere you go.
Other sponsors - Blue Rose Limited, Onga, Alvaro, Merchant Bank and BF Soap.

Adventures in a Foreign Land - The Blizzard!!!

As usual, I woke up, took a shower, got dressed, had breakfast, got my coat, mitts, muffler etc. and headed on out. I open the front door and oh my goodness! (I dint even get to fully take in what I was saying "oh my goodness!" to cos I had to attempt to shut the door with lightening speed). My goodness! the gust of wind that blew in when I opened the door eh, hm, if I hadn't been holding on to the door, I'd prolly have been blown onto the ground. I literally had to fight against the wind to shut the door (seriously).

Ei! I had never seen that much snow in one place before. Everywhere was just white and the snow in the driveway was like waist deep (I am not exaggerating. I should prolly add that I used my height to arrive at that estimation).

Obviously, it dint make much sense to go out in that weather besides, it was a 20 minute walk to the bus stop (I couldn't imagine doing that walk in that weather). But hey, I had to get to work and it was just about 20 minutes to the time the bus I needed to board to get downtown, would arrive at the bus stop. I did contemplate waiting for the lady I lived with to show up from work, which would be in a couple of minutes (she was on night shift). At least then, I'd get a ride to the bus stop. Decisions, decisions. And I had to make that decision chop chop (time was running out).

Eventually, my Gh friend (I lived with her too) advised that we brave the weather and head for the bus stop (made sense. afterall, in that weather, we had no idea when the lady would get home or if she'd be willing to go out again).

So, on we went, trudging through snow that was knee deep (knee deep for the both of us) and yep, I had my first fall right after the driveway :( Turns out it was gon be the first of many falls {the wind just kept blowing me onto the ground snow, (seriously). Don't know if I am that light or the wind was just that strong, or a combination of both :| }

Hmmmmm... the 20 minute walk turned out to be an hour and a half walk :o The wind was just too strong (I guess that's why it's called a blizzard), I kept falling onto the ground snow (I even gave up after a while and just sat down for a bit) plus it was very difficult to walk fast or walk at all in snow that was knee deep. The roads were being ploughed but the sidewalks weren't :(

Obviously, we missed the bus and all we could do was sit at the bus stop, which wasn't even sheltered and contemplate whether we should go back home or attempt to walk to another bus stop. We were out of breath and the thought of walking any further wasn't appealing at all. Worse yet, we were literally freezing at this bus stop. We had to make a decision and act on it fast (walking dint even keep us warm). It was just too cold and if we sat at that stop any longer, I'm sure all that would be left of us would be ice sculptures :o

And then, Halleluyah! We spotted the lady we lived with driving towards us. Apparently, she'd seen us on her way home, made a turn around and came to get us. The heat in her car was just such a relief (I have never been that happy to feel heat. Well, I could count a couple of other times I was but this one tops all those other times). She dropped us off at another bus stop, which was thankfully sheltered (at least we got some heat) and where we could easily get another bus headed downtown.

We got to work eventually though we were awfully late but hey, who was checking? We'd just survived our very first blizzard (my bum was real sore afterwards though. the snow cushioned a bit but not completely).

Moral? Your friends don't always have the best advice. Bad weather isn't really always just an excuse not to be at work. If it's a blizzard, abeg, stay at home (even if you have a car).

It is refreshing to blog about something other than food :D

Adventures in a Foreign Land - Poutine

What is poutine? Poutine is a French Canadian dish, made with french fries (chips), topped with brown gravy and curd cheese. Sometimes additional ingredients are added e.g. beef, pork, lamb, lobster, shrimp, caviar (I do have a story on "my first caviar", but this is getting too food related), but basically it's french fries, gravy and cheese. Does sound kinda yucky huh? (yeah, that was my first thought when I heard what went into it). This is what poutine looks like.

Poutine - looks yummy?

I remember there was this time I went out with a friend, I ordered a burger and he ordered poutine. I just kept looking (more like staring) at him as he ate and I actually asked if he was enjoying what he was eating. He just gave me this totally incredulous look and was like "of course".

Sometime after that, some Ghanaian friends invited myself and my Gh work colleague out to lunch (of course this time we went very prepared to pay even though they are guys and Ghanaian). We get to the restaurant, look through the menu and we both order poutine while the guys ordered something that sounded familiar (I think one got french fries and lamb or something and the other got rice). I really would have ordered a burger but I wanted to know what poutine tasted like. The food arrives and guess what? I couldn't eat it (neither could my Gh friend). Eventually, she gave up and joined the guys to eat their "familiar" food, but I was determined to eat what I had ordered (and all I kept saying to myself was "where's the MEAT?").

At the end, the guys paid for lunch, I dint enjoy my lunch and I so wished I'd just ordered something else.

Moral: (is there even a moral to this? yeah, I think I can find one) it's good to try out new stuff but you won't always enjoy all the new stuff you try (condition your mind to that) & don't try out new food on an empty stomach (you just might end up regretting big time and just eating what's in front of you just cos it's food) plus it doesn't hurt to give up (sometimes). I seriously wished I'd given up and joined the others to eat the "familiar" food (the guys would have understood. they really dint get why we ordered what we did and they kept trying to get us to change our minds. I'm sure in their heads it was all "I told you so", but they were nice enough not to voice that out). Matter of fact, I dint join them cos I was just fronting (acting all like I was enjoying it when I wasn't). It doesn't hurt to admit when you are wrong (afterall, you human).

I hear poutine is actually real good depending on where you get it at. It might have tasted better if I'd got it at say Burger King or A&W (I had it at a university restaurant).