The Source..

Thanks again guys for reading the Tales From Naij series. I received another volunteer from someone who spent time in Nigeria, the focus in these series is more about the lengths Nigerians go to, to show a certain kind of life that is usually far from the truth. so here is Part 1 of Tales About Naij It's actually really easy to develop a 'twitter crush.' A fine avatar pops in your mentions on twitter, they tweet something witty, and before you know it, DM's turn to bbm's, then feelings grow based on mostly written words. This is exactly what happened to me. I found myself deeply in like with a man I had met from Naijatwitterland.  In our "getting to know each other stages," I found out from him that he was 6'1, he played soccer a lot so he's fit, and he had just moved back to Lagos from England where he studied law. Listen, all that meant to me was that he was tall enough, with a nice body that I could possibly carry a conversation with. Cal...

So before I try to flesh out my thoughts to make sense into this blog post I feel like I have to put in a disclaimer that this is not a self deprecating or factual post but just an honest post of my thoughts. If you are an unmarried, boyfriend-less Nigerian woman in her 20's or 30's you have to know that when one other is gathered with you the talk of marriage/men/dating will come up at some point or the other. I was talking to a guy friend of mine the other day and naturally the talk of my single-dom comes up (honestly, when people ask you that question of why you are single, how are you supposed to answer? Will you ask yourself out? Do people will boyfriends/husbands into their lives?). Anyways the convo continues and at some point I tell my friend that honestly, if I am being honest I feel like me being myself/who I am is cockblocking me from Nigerian men. He asks me to explain and I am like I really don't think I am what Nigerian men want. See let me explain, of cours...

Hi Guys. It has been a minute since I did a random, huh? Busy Busy Busy, not enough hours in the day. Lately, I have been saying I am #tvoverwhelmed. Way too many tv shows to catch up on. Used to be a time when summer was when one could catch up because shows are on hiatus but now show are popping up left, right and center. I know, I know I don't have to watch them all but if you know me well then....you know the rest. Speaking of good shows my current obsessions are Fargo, The People's Couch and Little Women LA. Loves them. It's summer yall! I have trips planned and I am broke yall!! but Jesus will provide. And the people said: AMEN! Aite let's random: I was on a flight and the black flight attendant was making rounds and said "You need to put your seatbelt on, girlfriend" that irked me. I wondered if she used the girlfriend on other non black women. I really gotta work on this self confidence thing. A guy friend on mine called me a hybrid. He said I wa...

So this is the final part of the series. You can catch up on Part 1 - Part 4 on previous posts. Thank you guys for reading and following the series and thank you to the author for choosing to share this part of their lives with us. Happy Hump Day! A friend and I were supposed to be hanging out one night. Instead of having to go back home late, I decided to just spend the night at her house. After the hanging out and we got back to her apt, she informed me that "her guy" (maga) was gonna stop by for a bit. She needed some money from him, but she said she'd just go outside when he came. I was like cool, whatevs. A few minutes later, he came. She went outside to see him, then shortly after she came back inside...with him. She was like he wanted to come and greet me. We said our hellos and then I kept watching what I was watching. In my mind, I was like ok well is he gonna go or not? Next thing I know he's like I should excuse them so they can be alone. I'm looking...

It's Wednesday. The Series continues. Next week will be the final part from the series. If you are new, catch up with the previous parts here: PS - If you have any such stories and would like to share feel free to send me an email at taynement@gmail.com. Everyone would be anonymous. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Here's Part 4: Mr. O and I became pretty cool. Not cool like that, but he was always willing to help with no strings attached even though I didn't think that would last long. I still posted him a lot and he would get upset cos I didn't give him the attention he needed. While my cousin was still around, he would always want to hangout and although she didn't mind hanging out, I just used her as an excuse, saying I was busy doing stuff with her, etc. I remember one night I was out at a club with my cousin and some guy friends, I got a message from Mr. O asking what I was doing and I lied that I was with my cousin and aunt at her house. He was like ok, but h...

Hi Guys, the Wednesday series continues today. For those of you who don't know, these are stories sent to me by a reader about her life in Nigeria. If you'd like to catch up, you can catch up with the previous stories here: Part 1 Part 2 And here's today's: My birthday was fast approaching and I’m normally a birthday celebration, super excited type of person, but this year, it was just about to be another day. I wasn’t in the mood for anything at all. My cousin came to visit and I was hoping that would help make me happier but, she was just as broke as me which made it worse cos I had to provide for both she and me with barely nothing. I picked up a horrible habit of smoking cigarettes (still struggling to quit) which was just unlike me. I used to HATE it when people smoked around me…at bars, restaurants, clubs, etc. Whenever I would come to Naij to visit, it always seemed like the “in” thing to do and I lowkey would judge all of those people. Now look at me....

Howdy guys, it's about that time again to share some songs I am feeling. A lot of you seemed to like the Sam Smith song I posted in my last randoms. You can check out this post on him for other songs to check out till his album comes out. Ok here are the songs (that I can remember at this moment) Can you tell with this song that she wrote "Diamonds"? Also, on the flip couldn't you see Rihanna totally doing this song? Ok these are all I can remember right now. I am sure there's a lot I have left out. Hope you are able to find at least one song you like. Enjoy!

My stress level was starting to become entirely too high. Other than dragging myself to work, I would just sit in my room and think about how unhappy I was…in every aspect of my life. I don’t think I’ve ever been this broke before. I mean I had money to get by but I didn’t really…if that makes any sense. My boyfriend wasn’t that “comfortable” so it’s not like I could really get money from him. I was just tired of everything. One night, Nicole called me and was like there’s someone she wants me to meet and she’s on her way over with him in a few minutes so I should look sexy. I wasn’t really in the mood, but I was like whatever. I didn’t really dress sexy. I had a maxi dress on and I didn’t bother brushing my hair. Few minutes later they came and I went outside to meet them. He was this older man, maybe mid 50's. We chatted for a bit outside. There was just something about him that seemed so weird…maybe cos he was around my dad’s age. He gave me some money for a cab to come see him...

Howdy Ho folks, Happy Friday! I can't tell you how glad I am that this weekend has finally arrived. Some months ago, I pulled out the vacay calendar to see how much longer before the next public holiday. See in my brain, it never occurs to me that I have vacation time and I can request time off unless I actually have some weekend travel or so. Maybe because I am used to hoarding for Nigeria in December but I need to do better and start taking time off. Either way, I am very glad for this upcoming long weekend. I have friends coming into town. Add food + booze and it should make for a fun weekend. I am listening to this Mariah album as I type this. I don't know, I am just not the biggest Mariah fan. Even that emancipation album people were going mad for didn't move me, so while this album doesn't sound bad at all, nothing is moving me except #beautiful. still a jam. Aite beautiful people, let's random. See, I get it. We're women. Everyone has a complaint or pro...

As an introduction, I randomed some time about how being in Nigeria changes you and not for the better. I had a reader email me that expressed interest in sharing their story anonymously from Nigeria. I plan to post the stories every wednesday, as I receive them. Here's the first one... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Background I don’t think I realized how true Nollywood movies were so much like real life in Nigeria until I got here. Sometimes I feel like my life is one extra long movie. The struggle is real out here and I’m not even exaggerating. I now know not to envy other people’s “rich” lifestyle, because you have no idea what they did or are still doing to live like that. I have a friend who tells me that since it's almost inevitable that all men will cheat, why sit and be faithful to my boyfriend, when there are magas (rich men) I can date and get lots of money from. At firs...