Icons- The Regina Pacis Experience (4)

Some SS 1 Red girls

“Finally, I can now wear earrings in RP.” That’s what I thought when I got into SS 1, until Princi came along and spoilt my show. She said everybody should start wearing earrings including junior girls. Why did she have to make such a rule when I was just starting to live the life? Princi eehhnnn, mstchewww… Red house girls stayed in Dominic’s Hostel when I was in SS 1. Kelechi Okoroafor was my corner mate and Gladheart Anumudu was my side mate. Kelechi was almost a perfectionist. She hated when things when in disarray or when people scattered her bed. When my friends visited, I always had to ask them not to go close to her bed. Sometimes I wondered to myself, “what kind girl is this sef? Why can’t she just take a chill pill for once?” well, as I came to realize, Kelechi was (and still is) a very principled person. I tried to walk in her footsteps sha, but I could just say i was not created like that. I still remember all the times I had to sneak out before night prayers were over so I could run to the hostel and keep a bathroom space. I used to do this because, I usually wake up late and there was always terrible traffic in the bathroom esp. for SS 1s  we were allotted just two bathrooms. How did Matron Victoria expect about 40 people to bath in 2 bathrooms in 30 minutes? Especially when all the SS 3 girls were chancing us. After I kept a space in the bathroom the night before, I always had this inner assurance that even if I wake up late, I could just walk straight into the bathroom and bathe without being asked any questions. Sometimes, Kelechi would wake up first, take her bathe then come and wake me up. SS 3 girls even started sending me to keep space for them the night before. Then there were my hostel worker days. All SS 1 girls were supposed to clean the hostel as morning function. It was so annoying. The refectory was not any better. SS 3 girls always sent us to wash up their plates, pots and clean their tables because we were the juniors in senior ref. To worsen it, the ref door was beside their tables, so it was always very hard to escape except for the door downstairs, which the refectorians (can’t remember their names) hardly ever let us pass. I still remember the day I pretended to be choked by yam because I was trying to dodge chuking. My friends thought I was almost dead. They were massaging my chest with different ointments. My matron even insisted that I should remove my clothes o, so that the massager could massage my back very well. I even acted as if I fainted. I must give myself thumbs up sha. I put up a first class act that day… After I ‘fainted’, they had to carry me to the sick bay. After like 20 minutes, I regained consciousness and they took me back to the hostel. I even told them to read Psalm 91 to me because it looked like I was going to die. The gist now went round school o. All the SS 3 girls stopped sending me because of that. It was more like an added advantage to me sha.

SS 1 Red was not bad after all. Goodness Egem-Odey was my frontie. She used to claim to be a Mexican. Hilda Adekpe was Goodness’ sidey and Hauwa Dauda was my sidey. Mrs. Ezeikoha was my form mistress. She made us memorize Psalm 121 and always made us bring our bibles for class assembly every Thursday. How can I ever forget Mrs. Ogbonna? The teacher who turned all her students to teachers. Whenever we wrote a test, she would bring our books to the class after the test, so that we could mark it for her. The worst was when she even made us mark our notes by ourselves and help her record the scores. I can bet that there were some shady deals going on in the system.  I also remember when I used to bully Judith Anyaba. Lol… Not exactly bully sha; I just liked looking for her trouble. Then there was calm Betty and Zino Iroro who was always getting on everybody’s nerves, except me sha. I was the very nice one who liked making new friends. I remember Odinchezor Obingene, the intelligent and very scattered girl that never had complete notes. Mrs. Ezeikoha was always after her. Then Shunanum Shamaki, my youngest role model. She transferred into RP in SS 1. She was so calm, had an excellent carriage and she was lovable. Shunanum was somebody I always looked up to from my SS 1 till my SS 3. I remember the drama we wanted to act for the school in Independence Day. In the drama, Ruth Ideva was Phoebe, the woman who killed Goodness Egem-Odey, her daughter because she liked Goodness Udebuani, one boy like that and I was Detective Jacinta, the Detective in charge of the murder case. When we got on stage to act, it was a disaster. Till today I still thank God my part did not reach before we were bounced from the stage. At least, nobody knew that I was involved in such a play. Valz day in SS 1 was not so bad. I remember Ruth and her choko Chinwe ‘Ass Up’ Uche (I wonder how Ruth managed to accept such a choko). Ass up still tried for her during valz o. She bought Ruth correct gifts eehhnnn. I was shocked to my bone marrow. Meanwhile I can’t remember Ruth liking her as much as she liked Ruth. *sighs*. Then I joined African Chorus with Winnie, Jaachy, Ewhoma and the rest. Mr. Ralph told us that we were chosen for the group because we had like the best voices in the choir. We practiced o and decided to perform during open day. We flopped big time and were booed out of the stage. We still performed for grads sha and it was not so bad. Then there was Sister Perpetual who used to hold solo rehearsals in her office after night prayers. She helped quite a number of us groom our voices well. It was in SS 1 Red that SS 3 Red girls started to form the bond that existed and still exists between them.

Kelechi Okoroafor

Shunanum Shamaki

Episode 5, The Regina Pacis Experience----- COMING SOON!!! LOOK OUT.

NI FRIES- The Second Glimpse

Logo Design by Oyeniyi Temtayo of Addict Designs [Twitter: @boss_addict Facebook: AddictDesigns]

As the launch of Ni Fries approaches, we want to bring you so many wonderful recipes the outfit would be introducing into the food market. These special meals would be made on special days at our outlets, so please don’t get your taste buds angry! Take them on an enticing trip with our mix of special varieties, as we have integrated our local Nigerian fries with international recipes.

Last time, we showed you all a variant serving of our beloved akara. Today we bring to you variants of fried plantain servings enjoy them and remember to place your orders when we start.

Image courtesy of http://www.kblog.lunchbox.com

Don’t call it a shawarma, it is simply a meal called the PLANTAIN POBLANO TOFU WRAP. This is one meal you shouldn’t miss when Ni Fries starts up.

Have you ever played with the thoughts that plantains could be made into burger, well thanks to special studies of recipes by the Borinquenon Restaurant, California it is possible and here it is...

Image courtesy of http://www.foxnews.com

No worries you won’t get fat on this burger, Ni Fries would be making use of canola oil which through delicate studies has been discovered to contain unsaturated fat.

Lastly we end with the plantain dumplings, you wouldn’t have reason to hate unripe plantains when you taste this meal. Making use of green plantains to create a wonderful tasty snack you can have at classes, hostels, work or anywhere you feel comfortable to have a snack.

Image courtesy of http://www.elcolmadito.com

Ni Fries has two other recipes we which are planning to keep secret and launch when operations start, quite wonderful recipes that would keep you ordering. Once again we would appreciate your comments and please keep tabs for the last part of this article as we discuss on the beautiful meals that can be made with fried yams.

Child Not Bride

Old age is really telling on all the leaders and senators in Nigeria o. Haba!!! This very stupid thought of child marriage must be as a result of over worked brains. They could not have been in their right senses when they passed that bill now. How can people who claim to be learned pass that bizarre bill??? If they are truly thinking of implementing such a bill for their own selfish reasons, then they should be ready for so many troubles. A good numbers of children are on the streets every day. Most of who have been raped and abused. Who then protects the Nigerian children? If girls can be married off as children, then they should be allowed to vote too. We should ask ourselves what this bill will profit us as a nation. If anybody should ask Yerima what gain a 13 year old wife has brought him, I am sure he won’t have a tangible answer. Instead of our leaders to think of solutions to our immediate problems like Boko Haram, poverty, poor electricity and what have you, they are implementing under aged marriage. When and if Yerima’s 13 year old wife (she should be 14 by now sef) gives birth to a girl he had better marry her off to one of the senators in support of this marriage o. If we continue in this direction, then VVF will be treated as often as malaria is. Come to think of it o, why would a law be made to destroy our young girls instead of building them up? This is ahuge no-no for me. please say no to child marriage

NI FRIES- The First Glimpse

Logo Design by Oyeniyi Temtayo of Addict Designs [Twitter: @boss_addict Facebook: Addict Designs]

Eheeemmm...... My dear friend, Feranmi is opening a small outfit called Ni-Fries. It is aimed at promoting and preserving the Nigerian food culture concentrating on local fries such as akara, fried yams, fried plantains, ojojo e.t.c. Happily soon, our very own fav Nigerian fries would be sell-able anywhere in the world, with bright possibilities of storage and efficient door delivery.

Akara, Vetapa, Prawns, Well sliced green tomatoes and Hot pepper sauce

All I want to show you is a glimpse of how good akara can look like; careful study of the origin of akara which is actually known as acaraje has brought about wonderful ways this snack can be served. So Please eehhnnn, in the name of whatever you guys worship, comment and tell us how you like this idea. Thank you

Inspiration For The week

Saw this and I just thought I should share it with you my Blog Hearts;

A father takes his son into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help to anybody. Once he survives the night, he is a MAN. He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own. The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be around him. Maybe even some human might want to do him harm. The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat stoically. He never removed the blindfold. It was the only way he could become a man. Finally after a horrific night, the sun appeared and he removed the blindfold. It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him. He had been at watch the whole night, protecting his son from harm.

We too, are never alone. Even when we don’t know it, God is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to him.

Moral of the story: Just because we don’t see God, doesn't mean he is not there. “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

Have a great week ahead.

Icons- The Regina Pacis Experience(3)

From Top Left: Ezime Oteri, Chioma Igwe-Kanu, Jaachy Okafor, Winnie Ukwunna
From Bottom Left: Chioma Ohammah, Sewanu Ajose, Ijeoma Nwadiaro, Jemimah Eitokpah, Grace Iroagalachi

Jss 3 was da bomb…. It was like the best part of junior school. In first term, I was in the same corner with Chioma Igwe-Kanu, Chukwufunanya Elumeze and Mary-Ann Abin. Jemimah Eitokpah, Imabong Etukudo, Grace Iroagalachi and Nkemdirim Ihesiaba were in the next corner. Then, Jemimah used to tell me stories about herself. They were always very funny. I still remember how tiny our corners were. All the seniors on our row used to steal from our rat hole space. Chukwufunanya, my bunkmate was a transfer student. We used to call her Gagool (The witch in King Solomon’s Mines). Our jolly good times came to an end when Princi said we all had to stay according to our houses. Gbam!!! I was back to Okoye again. Things were even worse this time. Precious Onyeachu was my bunkmate. I was like “WTH?” She told me that I had to wash her socks and uniforms every Wednesday and Friday and clean her shoes every day. She also said I should never sit on her bed. Please was I supposed to clean her shoes from my bed, on top of the bunk? Anyways, my corner mates, Chidinma Oraekwe and Nene Urua were the nicest people. Nene was very homely and Chidinma was accommodating. Then, Chiamaka Umeh and Ehi Ekoja used to come to my corner all the time. I never liked them until they became my corner mates later in third term (after SS 3s went home).

All Hail Jss 3 Red girls!!! That was the second best class (after SS 3 Red) in RP. When they pasted class list in Jss 3 Red, I secretly prayed that Winnie Ukwunna would not be in my class again. As I was going through the class list, I was almost happy that I did not see her name until I got to No. 32 and I saw her name. I was mad eehhnnn. I wanted to die. But over the months, I got used to seeing her again for another year. Don’t get me wrong o, Winnie is da bomb. She was just too hyper active. In Jss 3 Red, Kelechi Okoroafor adopted the nickname “Pawpaw Baby”. Funny right? One thing I can’t forget is the song Chioma Igwe- Kanu composed for Ezime Oteri. “Singing (using fall in love tune); Zim Square you don make me fall for you (2 x)”. Lwkmd. Aaahhhh… when jollof rice was the worse food in RP, I always exchanged it with Anita Omoruyi for garri and popcorn. There were times when we dreaded night prep in Jss 3 because Kelechi Obikaonu was prepping in our class. There was time Joy Agwu flogged my whole class because she was our ‘prep prefect’. For almost 3 days after the flogging, we used to go to SS 3 Gold for prep because of her. Then I also recall our ‘chuk chuk ‘alert signal. Whenever any of us saw a senior who wanted to send us emerging, she would say ‘chuk chuk alert’ and we would all run away before the senior approaches. Funny right? Ezime Oteri should remember this. She was my sidee in class. The days when we used to forge Miss Igbokidi’s signature in our signing book to submit to. We would forge it whenever she did not come to class so that Mr. Ike wouldn’t query her. We liked her so much and she used to think that Ann Arinze and I were twins. We even used to wear the same bathroom slippers. Rotfl. There was also Inter-house sports. The only one Regina Pacis ever hosted. Up Blues…they came first and fiery red came second. White house girls came last. We yabbed them for days after that. Aaahhhh… I forgot Eucharia Alozie, the taleteller. In Jss 2, when Eucharia arrived RP, she used to ‘prophesy’. She even said Ann-Marie Akaatenger was going to be SP in our set and as naïve as we were, we believed. Only for Ann-Marie to change school after Jss 3. She fell Eucharia’s hand big time. Then there was the great order from the marching squad commander. Our dear Eucharia informed us that she wanted to become a marcher. In RP, being a marcher was a great accomplishment. You must have been a superb marcher. As Eucharia was marching in the field downstairs, we heard a loud cry, “Eucharia, fall out”. The cry was so loud that the people in Jss 3 Green heard it and rushed out to witness the falling out of Eucharia. I joined the Marian Voices Choir in Jss 3. I joined alongside Chioma Igwe-Kanu, Nkem Ihesiaba and Winnie Ukwunna. The yearly routine of the choir was to conduct a screening test (more like auditions), for all the new members.  The probationers are usually screened according to voice and character. Normally, the whole choir would assess you and rate you from A to F (just the way WAEC is rated). The year before, Winnie had tried to get into the choir, but the choir rated her “F” and told her to try again the next year. She came back to class very sad and moody. But when we got to the choir in Jss 3, we were screened favorably and allowed to join the choir. I would say that the first bouncing from the choir improved her character tremendously. She became a great choir Icon…. Winnie the great!!!

The last part of Jss 3 was when we were planning our class party. We even wanted to act Mo hits Kpere, but we changed our minds and decided to do the popular Cinderella drama. At first, we told Mary Adeleye to act the Cinderella then Deborah Ehanire and Goodness Egem-Odey, the evil step sisters. Along the line, we realized that Deborah was a better Cinderella than Mary. When we told Mary, she started crying o. she did not want to act the part of the evil step sister which actually fitted her more, partially because of her height. Our dear Winnie was the Prince; Ijeoma Nwadiaro was the King, then me, the queen. When it was time to dance, there was trouble o. Some members of the class wanted to stomp, instead of dance. This caused a little division in the class. People like Chioma Ohammah and I, could not take any sides because we were singing for the dancers and were friends with the stompers. The dancers even ‘hired’ Sewanu Ajose, from Jss 3 Green to teach them some dance steps. Goodness, Mary, Jaachinma and Winnie (again) mimed ‘Fall in Love’. Jaachy and Goodness did the first verse, while Winnie and Mary did the second verse. You should have seen Mary that day. She was just doing grah-grah; even Winnie could not act the part well because of that.

Jss 3 was such a nice class o. I have so many fond memories of that class esp. that Chioma and Ezime’s song. This is when I was supposed to start wearing earrings in RP o, only for Princi to come and spoil my show. Lmao… Look out for Icons- The Regina Pacis Experience (4)

Which Way Nollywood?(1)

Nigerian movie industry has grown immensely over the years. But to say the least, even with all the growth, there are only a few movies that are void of stupid mistakes and errors. Mistakes that could have easily been avoided.

Most of my friends (at least Icons) know that I am a Nollywood activist. For a few days, I shall be analyzing a few Nollywood movies with some of these mistakes that our dear filmmakers could have easily avoided.

In the movie Phone Swap, a rich dude mistakenly 'swaps phones' with an ordinary tailor (she calls herself a fashion designer). The dude has a BB Bold 5 and the babe, a BB Bold 1. Naturally, if they swap phones, is the guy not supposed to have the Bold 1 and the girl, the Bold 5? Well to answer that, they did have the two phones for a few scenes but after that, the guy starts to use a BB Curve 2 but the girl still uses a Bold 5. Still as the girl uses the Bold 5, the guy starts to use a Bold 4. Later again, they go back to the Bold 4 and Curve 2. Lastly, the babe is seen with the same Bold 1 that was supposed to be 'swapped'... Abeg, how possible are all these things??? Kunle Afolayan... Haba...

I still saw another movie with the same mistake, though not so visible. This one is called Blackberry Babes (BBB). This came out when Blackberry was the rave of the moment. It tells the story of a group of girls who think owning a Blackberry is a do or die affair and they try in every way possible to get it. One of the girls, Nicole (Sugar Asoegwu) steals a BB Tour from her cousin, just to attain the necessary BB status. Her cousin comes to campus, disgraces her and collects the phone (see wetin BB don cause?). Anyway, it is quite notable that this BB Tour has a blue pouch. After the phone has been taken away from her, Damisa (Oge Okoye) her friend, is kind enough to give her a BB Curve 2 with a red pouch (Better Step up Abi?). Later on we find her using a Bold 2 with the same red pouch. Can somebody please explain to me how a Curve 2 turned to a Bold 2? Again, we see Damisa with a BB Bold 2 and Nicole calls it a Bold 3. Does the director think we don't the difference between a Bold 2 and a Bold 3?

Maybe they think that all of us don't have sense o, so they can just play on our intelligence abi???

Just so you know filmmakers, people like us have our eyes on you. I will bring you more analysis in "Which Way Nollywood???"(2).