The Joy of Lying

Come with me and allow me to take you to that place where everything is possible, right into your mind, and now I will point you to the man. See, he is right above you.

Now, I will also take you into his very mind. We are allowed to do so because as I said earlier, this place is your mind – and in this place, anything is possible.

So now, we will enter into his mind.

Alone in the crowd

I remember that day well…

Earlier on, there had been an invitation from a good friend of mine, one of the kindest people I have met on the planet. She had invited me to come over for a birthday get-together. It would simply be barbeque and drinks with friends in the back garden and it would be fun, she had said. I didn’t really know the person celebrating that day, but I decided I’d honour the invitation and go over.

Perhaps, if I had known how the day would unravel, I would have stayed back in my apartment, content with playing a video game, munching pizza and downing cider – but, I had no idea, and like we say in Africa, I carried my two legs and went over.

I walked through the door way with my most polite “hello-people” smile on my face, relieved to see a few familiar faces – and it was then it dawned on me that I was the only black person around.

Stupid “Humility”

I was mad at myself when it suddenly hit that I had been daft for a long time – in the name of modesty.

Now to explain what I mean, let me start with a little story.

So, there I am sitting down with a team member who is also on the MBA. We are seated right in front of a Professor of Economics. I am about to write a mini-thesis and I have done some preliminary work on the subject area, which is actually an innovative fusion of business and marketing strategy with a huge element of bio-technology, and from a publishing perspective.

Sound intriguing, right?

Masochist?

A true life story

I watched him come towards me, shaky legs, with a drunken walk. I knew what was coming, so I bent my head.
Then the thumping began.

He hit my head again and again and again. Finally, I turned to face him and got a resounding slap on my face. I looked into his determined eyes, he looked into mine…and smiled – then hit me again.

For some reason, it felt good.

Free fall...

Ok!

So, I am lying down on the floor with half of my body on the spiral stairs and the other half on the concrete. There is sharp pain shooting out from my elbows, my thigh, my shin, and my thigh to my feet is now wet from the pool of water I am lying down in. 

I just slipped and fell on my way down the stairs.

I think the annoying part is when a friend later said to me “HOW did you fall?”

“Oh, I just thought the stairway looked like an amazing landscape to try out my new-found abilities to fly!”

Depression is a tool...

I sat down in the study staring at the screen, cursor blinking, mind blank, desktop covered with chocolate wrappings, an empty cup on one side, books piled in a corner, unshaven, unwashed – and unhappy. The time was about 3am. 

You have seen the movies: Girl gets dumped and she locks herself up for days till a friend comes in to find her drowning in chocolate and icecream, fetid from not having a bath and with streaks of makeup where tears have washed off what would have made her appear more beautiful. I was at that same point; depressed with a capital “D”!

Can’t give details, but it had to do with work-related changes and how much that affected me. It also involved someone who was (and who remains) dear to me. My wife (the angel) was good as always, trying to cheer me up, making the best meals and all that stuff… Even my son tried too; he crawled in love-shaped circles around me, and at some point tried to say the words in ‘babynese’: “John, or dad, or you lovely man with the shaggy beard, it will be alright…”

Ok, I made that up!

However, if there is something I am lousy at, it is staying depressed for long. I have always had a need to “make it happen” – and suddenly, in my depression, I had an epiphany.

XTsamurai Interview

OK!

So here I am right in front of the cams, doing an impromptu interview which was really quite interesting.

It was done by a friend who co-produced and co-sang (if there is any such word) on the track which will soon be available to the public.

It's a song called "Shine in my Light"

Enjoy the video - and I would LOVE to hear your thoughts and comments.

And do share this one...

Divorce: The sad goodbye

I was stunned to hear another notable figure had divorced from his wife. Two days ago, another celeb had walked away.

In all the cases, the couple had children.

I don't know why I felt broken. I am aware the world is imperfect and there will be such sad incidences, but maybe what I find more appalling is the general decline in the regard for marriage. I guess I am someone who still thinks 'old-school', but in all the misunderstanding and quarrels that may parents had, they stuck - and that's what I have come to understand as what marriage is all about...sticking through good and bad.

A bad cold!

I had a late night, doing things on my computer and blackberry and my guitar, and then playing a bit of video games, and then going back to my computer and blackberry and my guitar.

Get the picture?

Finally, in the early hours of the morning, I had a cold shower and crawled off into bed with my 'natural uniform', got under the duvet and went to sleep.

Well, I learnt a bitter lesson in the morning:

XTsamurai Live in Concert at 9ja Music Fair

I had an interesting time performing at the 9JA Muisc Fair, a wonderful week-long music event put together to showcase musical talents and educate artistes. It includes concerts and workshops and other pretty fun shows.

My brother tagged along that day (as well as my wife and baby!) and he recorded me doing 'my thing' at the event.

So, here is a peek into my performance on that day using my stage name XTsamurai

(You can check out my stuff at www.reverbnation.com/xtsamurai and follow my rants on twitter)

Enjoy 

Disclaimer: Try not to mind my brother who held the cam and was 'sqealing' along!)

Clandestine!

Now, that morning started normally.

I’d said my good-byes to my wife in the morning, and went off to do some business - I do some MLM on the side for extra income.
Now, I did not hit my left leg on a stone or see a black cat cross my path or an owl on a power cable – or any other silly superstitious stuff. I tell you, it was a regular day.

So there I was trying to get and fill an order form, a simple order form. I turned to a lady that happened to be standing next to me to ask for a pen.

It was just like that. No fireworks anywhere – I turn and say “May I use your pen, please?”

She obliged – and I was grateful.

Tips for Writers and Bloggers

I have been blogging and writing for a while and it’s been very interesting. Words are my passion; poetry, plays, movies, rap, song writing, word play and all such ‘stuff’. I’ll quickly like to share some things I’m learning on my journey which the new writer will find useful, and which the more experienced ones will shake their heads to, and say ‘aha, that’s true!’

First of all, experiment with a range of writing styles. There is a huge difference between business writing, editorials and basic ‘blogging’ which have varying level of formality and ‘to-the-pointness’ (whew!). Besides that, play around with the writing style of different authors – and this leads to the second point.

Second, you have no business picking up an interest in writing if you do not like to read. Seriously, if you do not like to read, drop your pen and start learning to play the flute.

Let the music take you - True colours

Ok, in this day and age of crazy music - and I mean that literally -  it's really nice to be able to sit back and listen to something truly wholesome.

Here is a timeless classic and a major favourite of mine.

When 'communication' is the gap!

The alarm went off on my Blackberry and I woke up to turn it off. The sun was streaming in through my window as my wife and I prepared for the day. I sat up in bed and started to go through my mail. A quick hug, while my fingers held a button on my PDA, and she was off, while I continued with the message I was working on earlier.

 I got out of the bedroom and walked towards the study to start work for that day, making some tea as I went along. The nanny said good morning, and I replied without looking up as I got a fresh brew of coffee – and then realised I initially wanted to make tea, but I had gotten lost in gmail somewhere along the line.

What I found extremely annoying was the fact that I still got spam on my yahoo account – the third yahoo account I had – but I guess that was a hazard that came with the terrain. As I logged onto facebook and hotmail, I looked at the time.

8.00 am

Taking Life: Osama Bin Ladin

I remember the first time I took a life.

I was in my teens and it happened with a knife. My hands had been shaking, but I was determined not to fail as I closed the gaps between me and my quarry. Sweat moistened my brow and my heart was pounding, but once man decides to do a deed, feelings and emotions can be suppressed.

The chicken looked at me, and our eyes locked. It couldn’t run because its legs had been tied. When I was younger, I had cried once when I knew a chicken was about to be killed. This time it was different – I had become the killer.

To the thriller and horror movie enthusiasts, this is where I disappoint you by not going into the bloody (used literally) details of how I killed the chicken. But from that day, when it lost its head, killing chickens became easier.

That said, I wish it wasn’t the same when it came to killing another fellow human being, but sadly, it is. The gruesome killings carried out for political and religious reasons, and even for entertainment, still highlight the black nature of mankind.

"White men can't jump" - and other silly generalisations!

A couple of days ago, a friend of mine had an interesting status message about racism and the how tough it was to be 'black in a white man's world'. Now, I can relate to that to some degree, having lived in quite a white part of England myself. Most of the people I related with were very nice, but every now and then, there was the occasional racial drama, from the work place to social gatherings. I think what I found even more shocking was the fact that even among religious people, the issue of racism remains an issue. Unconsciously, people react to the stereotypes they have in their heads when they know a person comes from a part of the world - and these silly assumptions and generalisations can really drive you nuts.

A person who has chosen to embrace racism, tribalism or generalisation of any kind is someone who has decided to be irrational, illogical, and who has not developed mentally enough to UNDERSTAND that though there have been events and circumstances that indicate people may act in certain ways based on the social and ethno-geographic framework they are born into, human nature, is UNIQUE and DYNAMIC.

So people are SHOCKED to see Africans do not live in trees, that some Asians are tall, that some white folks CAN dance rhythmically, that not every Englishman brawls and drinks alcohol,

Dead Time!

After a very hectic day, I was sitting down right in front of my TV, trying to make my ancient PS 2 video game work. Yes, I play video games at my age!

So there I am on the floor, hitting the reset button, hoping that the prehistoric lenses on my video games would read my copy of Pro Evolution Soccer and just allow me indulge myself in a few hours of virtual reality, an apt reward to a stressful day.

Do you honestly think you will succeed?

I hear people talk a lot about success and the glamour that comes with it – the jets, women, travel, high-powered parties, influence, recognition… and I cannot help laughing sometimes.

The truth is most people are not ready for success.

Success, you see, is the exclusive preserve of the passionate loner. 

That is NOT true, many people will be quick to say, but people confuse the aftermath of success with the journey that gets one there.

From musicians like Michael Jackson or Kirk Franklin, to legendary sportsmen like Bruce Lee or Mohammed Ali, or world-renown entrepreneurs like Branson, Bill Gates or even teen tycoons like

Farrah Gray or Mark Zuckerberg, from studying them,  you realise that the throng of followers, fans, enthusiasts (from a business perspective) and investors, all came AFTER the ‘star’ had paid the price to be successful.

Success is about deciding to get ‘somewhere’, and achieving something that many have not, or do not have the strength to achieve, or attaining the uncommon – or even, the unseen.

That is why few are outstanding. Outstanding means you stand out.

To fly...

To be frank, I’ll give anything to be able to fly. 

Spread my arms and take off into the heaven. It would be a wonderful feeling to be looking down at cities and people and roads and little bodies of water. I will probably chase after a group of bird flying ahead in V-formation and then draw back to laugh excitedly about my new found ability.

I think what makes flying so appealing is that sense of freedom that it conjures, a removal of boundaries –no need for a visa or ticket to go from one region to the other, no queues to be stuck in as I wait to board the plane, only time becomes my obstacle as I move from one point to the other. That, in itself, opens up a million possibilities. I can almost be like Superman, without super strength, of course. But then, I can save a child from a fire, bring down the cat from a tree to the delight of an old lady, and deal with some annoying bullies that pester frightened kids in school.

But one cannot fly forever.

Overnight success

"Oh my God!!!" She cried.

I sat down in the back seat watching everyone become excited.

OK, let me go back in time to about an hour before 'now'.

I arrive at a business presentation that is all about certain products with unbelievable benefits and interesting financial prospects. The presentation is carried out by a lady who may not be a professional facilitator, to the trained eye, but she was someone who could talk authoritatively about this business...she had walked the walk.

After the usual power point slides, which had a lot of pictures to keep things really spicy, she goes around and shows a bonus cheque of sixteen million.

Okay, in most parts of the world, sixteen million in any currency is a substantial amount of money. (At this point, the author refrains from calling countries where sixteen million will probably buy you a pair of shoes)

"Oh my God!!" a lady next to me cries and you can almost imagine all the things she will BUY with that amount of money.

Baby for sale?

My baby is crying...AGAIN


So I am up in the middle of the night sulking in my corner, while my wife, who is actually mother Teresa's in disguise, is patting him, cooing him, dancing with him...

I am still sulking.

He has taken my space on the bed and even stole...the bosoms!

Ah!