MWP - Cowards and Christmas Chickens by Seun Odukoya

I mentioned in the post about what to expect here in 2012 that I will be featuring some writers from Naija Stories. So starting this Monday, I will be posting some of the short stories that were submitted for the recently concluded Christmas Nostalgia Contest. The Contest Judge, Ikhide Ikheloa, rated this entry by Seun Odukoya 4th out of ten shortlisted stories, and it was one I really enjoyed. Hope you like it too.

The first time I killed a chicken by myself was in 1993 December, in my parents house in Lagos. I nearly kill myself join.

Thanks to my early love for horror movies the sight of blood did not scare me, but I was appalled by the idea of killing something that actually lived and breathed. Besides, I hated the shrieking of the chickens and would not have volunteered that year had it not been for Peju.

Picture Weekend - For those who like my Braids

As you can see, I can never be a Fashion Blogger so be gentle with me. I already know there's no sense of style or color coordination. As for the postures, I'm shaking my head at myself this time. What of the Poncho and Sneakers combination? My only excuse is that I'm still looking for a stylist, lol. All credits for any nice shots go to the photographer, Atala. The setting is the Redmond Town Center sometime last year. Continue for more pictures, and do have a great weekend, mwah!

I'm really scared for Nigeria - Multiple Bomb Blasts in Kano?

What is really going on in Nigeria? Somebody said on my TL that Boko Haram {alleged to be responsible for the blasts} is certainly not working for Islam. And I totally agree. This is more like political terrorism. It's unfortunate that the Government wasted 2 weeks on an ill-thought out reform on the oil sector that had the masses up in arms. Not only were the government ministers and the police distracted, the president equally channeled military resources unnecessarily to Lagos, a perfectly peaceful city. All these while several northern states were still in a state of emergency.

Naija4life Launches the "Give a Book" Campaign

The Give a Book campaign aims to collect educational books which will be sent to Nigeria. The chief driver is Naija4life, the blogger behind A Pen and a Heart, a teacher and someone with a deep passion for education. Education has made a huge difference in his life and he says he will regard his life’s journey as unfulfilled if he fails to give back to society in any way he can. According to him, "we can be quite critical about the many wrongs in our society and most times rightly so. But I also believe we can take action by making small contributions that can only help improve our society. I’m a firm believer that whatever change we seek will only happen if we take action to accomplish them."

Bald and Beautiful Barbie in 2012 - What do you think?

I saw this on the news over the holidays and when Facebook sent a notification that a friend joined the Bald Barbie page, I visited and decided to post on it. The campaign was started by a group of women who have either battled with cancer or Alopecia or they have children who are going through chemotherapy and have therefore lost their hair. The women want there to be a doll the affected children can relate with, and since I have come to realize that Barbie is a role model for a lot of American girls, this makes perfect sense.

Seattle Whiteout as Major Websites Blackout against SOPA

This picture should give you a good idea of what I mean by whiteout. Yeah, it's been snowing and snowing and snowing some more in this part of Washington, and it has been the same since Sunday. On Monday, we got about 4 inches of snow and it was enough to go out on our decking and throw snowballs at each other.
More snow is expected today, up to 10 inches in some places, and it has been labelled the no-school Wednesday in majority of the School Districts. That wouldn't usually have concerned me, except it also means that Atala will be working from home. Hehehe...

Knowing your Partner's Personality Type in a Relationship

I'm the laid back one, chill and relaxed. With age, I've learnt to accord things and situations the necessary seriousness, but most times, I'm happy to go with the flow. Atala on the other hand is more 'do-things-according-to-plan-and-schedule type. I do not see our personality types as opposites, but as complimentary to each other. Still, we've had some adjustments to make. February will be our third marriage anniversary, and Atala and I keep discovering each other and working on a balanced relationship.

This was echoed in an interview by author Dicey Grenor in Woman's Essence Magazine. When asked what attributes she thought a lady should look for in a husband, she replied,

Blogger now supports Nested or Threaded Comments

According to Blogger Buzz, this "means that it is now much easier to differentiate between whether someone is making a general comment on the thread, or responding to another comment on the thread." Who said Blogger was not a listening platform? As you can see, I've changed my template to take advantage of this development. I can now respond to individual comments without doing the whole omnibus thing with @this or @that. And what do you know, you can too! I mean, you can respond to me, or ask someone else to explain their comments. LOL...I look forward to interesting roundtable discussions going forward.

What do you have to do to enable this on your blog? Maybe nothing. Simply check your comments system and you may already be set. If the reply function is still not available, do the following;

Picture Weekend - Christmas Eve at the Seattle Center

Like I said last week, we didn't really get snow in our area last Christmas. However, there are some ways to experience a white Christmas without real snow. On Christmas Eve, we decided to wander into town for a  movie and some sightseeing. I wanted to see the City Center xmas decorations at the Pacific Science Center, and Atala also wanted us to catch Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol at the IMAX Cinema there.

The 2012 Bloggies - Twelfth Annual Weblog Awards

Hello Everyone, This is short notice, but I hope you'll be able to join in. Last year, as part of the Nigerian Blog Awards promo, I asked what is blogging all about? it was a very busy time for me then and I didn't feel up taking part in the process. This year, I'm more like "Bring it on!" I've just heard about the Weblog Awards, one of the oldest blogging awards out there - it started in 2000. A few years ago, the organizers added the African Region to the already wide range of categories covered by the awards, and this is me asking for your votes in that, and any other category you see fit.