This Blog has been Nominated!

This is my shortest post. I have been busy with work. My gratitude goes to those that  nominated this blog for the Best New Blog Category . I appreciate you. I will need  your votes for the voting stage which starts May 31st. If you have enjoyed reading any post on this blog, please spread the news and encourage others to vote. Thank you.
With loads of Love.

You can vote at  http://nigerianblogawards.com/   from 31st of May

The Will to CHANGE....

Your Story taught me a lesson
Never to give in
On hope, my dreams, faith, or life in general
Your will to change inspires me
You sought to have a better life
Tired of living the mediocre life.

Late last year I met this young guy who had a story in which I saw the will of a person to change.

He was born and he also grew up in the UK. He grew up thinking nobody liked him coupled with the fact that his parents were separated so he knew little of a fatherly and motherly care. All they provided him was the money he needed to do the things he wanted The only love he seemed to find is amongst his friend who engaged in a lot of unwholesome activities. He had joined a gang. Gangs are not just meant for fun. He was exposed to gang fights, violence, drugs and other social vices. The marks on his body can tell a lot of stories

At a particular point in his life, he got to a point where he did not find satisfaction in the things he did, he wanted a change but knew nowhere to find it. He wanted to commit suicide but I believe it was God that made this impossible. The change actually started when one of his gang mate was killed and some went to jail for other offences. I really don't know how he escaped that. 

He then realised that his association with this gang would not change anything in him. He craved for a change but he did not know how. His environment was not helping either. All the influences were putting pressure on him to return to his ways. 

During summer in the particular yeah he came to Nigeria with his mum and since then has been around. It was an escape from the influence and his old ways.

Now starting a new life is not easy. Habit are not just things that we can easily drop. But with the help of God this guy got back to school in Nigeria. now he should be studying law in one of the universities.

He is doing very well now. He has his priorities right. He has the oppurtunity to live a life of affluence now but he has chosen not to. He now knows his boundaries and things that can influence him.

Things can change, change is inevitable

But note that change can be for better or worse.

The willingness to change, to life a better life is what moves me in this story. You need to hear him speak. He has been through a lot.

His story taught me a lot. For a person to say "I want to change", This  is a major step but dont stop at saying you must believe in the change. Can you remember the "Change We Believe in"  campaign of President Obama in the last American presidential election campaign? That was a great change in the history of American politics

I have not been involved in social vices. I don't have any habits I'm dealing with. So does that make having some things change about me easier? I don t think so.

The will to change is key. But the natural man resists change. He is used to having things work the way they are. He is used to the status quo.  Tell him its going to change you might just create more problems for him.

There are changes we can control and there are changes that we cannot influence the outcome.

We live in an ever changing world.

Only those with the will to change and are prepared for the change will weather the storm a change might bring.

.

Change is coming, Be prepared

What is your Perception of Change?

Confronting FEAR..

I'm confronting the fears that lie deep within me

I know it’s just a lie

A False Experience Appearing Real

Painting a vivid picture

Trying to validate its existence

In a bid to see me bow

And lose the strength I gathered in its absence

It actually seems like a real experience 

It tries; it really tries to weaken my judgment

It tries to suppress my motivation, inspiration and expectations

Telling me failure is inevitable

Telling me my goals, dreams and desires are unattainable

Telling me that hurdles, obstacles, mountains and challenges are unassailable

But deep within me

As small as it may seem

My resilience keeps me up

To my faith I hold strong

Telling me not to give up

Hold on

Even with the little strength and conviction left

As small as it may seem

I wont give up my faith

I wont lose my Mind

Written from an experience....

  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. - 2Ti 1:7

Courage is not the lack of fear but the ability to face it

I would need your comments on this one. How do you control FEAR?

Ten Things I Love

So I was tagged by Suru, NakedSha to do the Ten Things I love Post.


1.God - this is His place.He is always First. God is Love! He is the essence of Life. The Father of all creation

2. Family- I love my family: my parents, my siblings and relations. They have always been there. I value family

3. People/Friends- I love being around my friends, meeting new ones and keeping them.

4. Writing - I know I have a gift to write so i'm trying to harness it. i love it. "If it is not written it does not exist"

5. My Laptop -Wow. this one ehhhn.. I can count the days I have been without my laptop. I'm addicted to it. Its getting old though. I need to replace it (God loves a cheerful giver). btw its saying hi. lol

6. Internet- It one of the greatest inventions, I can hardly do without it. on the mobile or PC.


7. Music & singing. I can sing. Really I can. and I love listening to music too. I'm very choosy though,

8. Photography & Pictures I love taking pictures. I only need to have a reason to capture an event and thats all. I love collecting pictures too. Can't wait to get my own camera (God loves another cheerful giver. lol).

9. Helping people/Volunteering I can over do this one. My heart just goes out to the helpless. Wish I can do more.

10. I Love YOU for reading this.

Watchout for 10 things I will love to do



Please drop a comment let me know you came. That is why I Love you.


-NBB

Tweeting for a Cause!

Tweeting for Charity
I got the opportunity I had always wanted and this was to volunteer for such an event like tweet for charity
It started when I had to help out the Lagos team with some legwork. knowing that the Orphanage was a 5mins walk from where I live.
This is an orphanage I had earlier been opportune to visit and make donations.

My heart always goes out to giving, charity and helping people in general .
I once wrote a poem about some orphans I had once met and that is the best i have written so far (I think). It still pains me that it was misplaced .I had teary eyes when I was writing it I hope I find the poem someday cos its hard rewriting it.


So the event went well with majorly tweeters coming together to make a difference in the lives of these kids ages between 0 and 7.
I used to think all kids in orphanages could be adopted but this thought was dispelled we were told that some are for adoption while some are for fostering. The kids were lovely, the smiles on their faces, their response, they actually felt loved, triplets, the very cute baby...
I always tell myself and the people I come in contact with that we are not better off. Its just a privilege that we enjoy

These kids never knew what it felt like to be in the hand of a mother, to enjoy the cuddle of a father, suck from the breast of a mother....
In all it was a wonderful experience to give to those who are in need.

Also had the opportunity to see some of my followers on twitter for the first time and I came to the conclusion that people don't really look like their tweets (pun intended) but really they don't. your tweets don't define you. You define your tweets.

Our Connected World: From Yahoo to Twitter to...

It started with email(Yahoo, can you remember Onebox?), then chats and pen pal sites. I then moved on to yahoo groups. When Hi5 came. I thought it was the best thing that will ever happen, then Facebook proved me wrong. I was a Facebook addict. I spent hours on Facebook doing what? chatting, looking for old friends, reading friends wall, viewing pictures. I don't know why I was never on Myspace. Guess I don't have friends on the network. Now its Twitter. and the question I always ask myself is what next after twitter?
Can you imagine how a brand can change the way people do things or use their time.
Imagine a world without Facebook, twitter, Myspace... and social networking as a whole (did you say not fun?). I'm sure there would be some other things that people would do online anyways.

Lets go back in time.
Before social networks, what did we do on the Internet?
People communicate only via emails. Then the only form of social networks were pen pal sites, dating sites, etc. And you spend most time of the time online sending mails or for a research of probably chat
Now that you can even take the internet wherever u go on you mobile & laptop.
My main concern is the way social networks like Facebook & Twitter captured the hearts of people such that on the average an individual have a daily visit time of about 15 minutes to update, comment, post, send messages; tweet and retweet as in the case of twitter for hours. One question i always ask myself is how long will these sites continue to influencial and the only answer I always have is : as long as they continue to be relevant and meet people's need. Its not as if there are no other social networks and these are not the first. Other networks like Okurt, Hi5, Friendster, etc have only dominated some continents or regions (Okurt-Asia) failed to have a global significance. With this significane It has become addiction to a lot of people, Medium of advertising, hooking up, networking, social action and ultimately money making venture to the owners.
These sites have influenced the way the businesses operate.
It has become such that if your business is not on a social network, you are missing something out as long as internet presence is concerned. Businesses, Corporations, organisations, Celebrities and Individuals all build their fan base and use the networks as a medium of brand communication.

So I have found this new love for twitter. There is just something about following and having followers, reading your timeline and checking checking your dms. oh I love the hash tag (#) and the @ sign and most importantly my followers.You would love to participate in interesting TTs (#lightupnigeria. #naijawomen #welcometonigeria). Lightherlamp's blog post on twitter speaks volume too

Even Google recognised the fact that twitter provides real time information.

If you are not on twitter you don't know what you are missing. ha ha.

Another question I always ask myself is where is my own Facebook or Twitter (global idea)?
Does anyone have any ideas please share. We might just build the next social network who knows. lol

Please leave a comment!
Follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/9jaboyb

NBB

The World is Coming to Africa

Flags of Participating Countries

Its barely 60 days to the next FIFA U-23 soccer world championship,  South Africa 2010. This is the first time Africa is hosting such an event I guess the next event  to be hosted is Olympics but I guess that is not anytime soon but I'm sure we can do it. Yes we can.

The stage is set SA is waiting and the world is eager. Who would not love to be at the World cup. Even to hear the sound of the Vuvuzela tooting in your ears or hear the Fans Cheering.  This is the time you would wish u were a citizen of SA or at least you live in SA.

A lot of work has gone into this. Stadium Construction, Infrastructure upgrade, etc Sure Millions of dollars have gone down.
This is one of the major events that brings the world together irregardless of our differences. It unites the world this is because every continent is actively represented. This Event is not just for football but it about having the best of football players playing for their countries. The likes of Rooney, Messi, Arshavin, Tevez ....just to mention a few would be expected to root for their country
If Nigeria missed the ticket to participate it would have been a different story but thanks to God.
I so much love MTN's  world cup tag line "South Africa, We can't wait , Lets go!"
32 Teams, One Cup!
Let the game begin!

                                   Polokwane Stadium

Rustenburg Stadium

Soccer City

Ellis Park

Cape Town Stadium

Durban Stadium

Official  Mascot - Zakumi

Picture source: FIFA