FROM DUST TO DUST

Hello hi,

It’s been a minute since I last wrote. I’m trying hard not to say “how time flies” because it seems like I say that every time, but can you believe that it’s already almost the end of February?! Anyway, I hope the year has been going good for you so far. For me, it’s been busy and a few things have happened since the last time I wrote. For example, I was invited to give a talk on careers in academia, one of the highlights of my career so far which I am thankful for. Another thing that happened was that Valentine’s day came and passed and we (I mean single people) survived! LOL. Honestly, these days I don’t even remember when it comes because I am always at a conference during that period. So unless I check social media or I get a message or some goodies, then it escapes me. This year, I got some flowers and chocolate, but as usual they were not from a lover/boyfriend/husband. They were actually from a friend (‘s wedding, hee hee) so technically, they don’t count as valentine’s presents but all the same, I was happy. Next thing that happened was that I went skiing, again! But this time, I had improved very much,if I say so myself – actually my ski instructor said so too and my video here is proof :P.

I also ate too much at the conference, who wouldn’t? There were lots of great dishes for every meal of the day and all were buffet! I knew I had gained weight within my short stay over there and my plan was to go on a diet immediately I returned home. Before travelling, I had cleared my fridge and so when I got home, I had nothing to eat. So I decided to have some nuts – pecans and spicy corns, as well as some cookies I had brought back with me, and then start my fruit cleanse the next day. However, I think I ate too much of everything plus the pecans and before I knew it, I was having severe diarrhoea and vomiting. That was how I spent the next day, in and out of the toilet and pharmacy, and for the next few days, I felt extremely weak. The next day I weighed myself, I had already lost 1kg, isn’t God great?! Ha ha!

Now I can laugh about it but I tell you, it was a very scary experience for me. The last time I had suffered this severely from a gastro infection was when I was in primary school, from a class project of fruit salad. I had passed out and ended up in my school clinic where my mother had to come and pick me from. I spent days at the hospital as I was unable to eat without vomiting and after then, my mother banned me from eating fruit salad which I adhered to until just a few years ago. So when I fell ill again this time, unable to eat, I feared for myself especially as I was alone. I was so weak that I could barely speak or stand. Thankfully, the Lord sent my neighbours to my aid and one of them even ended up sleeping with me that night to make sure I was okay. I eventually regained my strength after about a week of taking oral rehydration therapy, gravol, plantain boiled by my neighbour and bread from another neighbour. I can’t thank them enough for their kindness! Also, to think that all of these just happened last week, and I can blog today makes me realise how blessed I am. It reminds me that life can be fickle and you never know what tomorrow holds….which brings me to what I am writing about today titled:

FROM DUST TO DUST

Today is Ash Wednesday. If you are unfamiliar with what this season is about, it is the beginning of fasting period and lent season for Catholics, which lasts for about 40 days before Easter. There’s always mass (church service) on the Wednesday whereby the priest puts an ash in the shape of a cross on the foreheads of the congregation and either says “From dust you came and to dust you shall return” or “Repent and believe in the Gospel”. The church members usually leave the ashes on their forehead for the whole day as a reminder of where we came from and as a sign of repentance. Most people go for either early morning or late evening mass for Ash Wednesday but today, I went to church during my work break as there was a noon mass. When I returned to the office, I had forgotten about the ash on my forehead until my colleagues started to ask me about it. Some wondered if I had stained myself with soot and someone even asked if I had had an accident. This was the first time I had ever had to explain this much to people as the previous places I had lived in, most people knew what the symbol meant or simply did not ask. However, I was happy to do so.

During this period we (Catholics) are expected to do 3 main things – 1) Pray more, 2) Fast or abstain from something, and 3) Give alms to the poor. In the past, I had abstained from Starbucks drinks, meat, dating, gossiping, keeping grudges against people, and I think I even tried once to abstain from listening to secular music. A few people have asked me what I am giving up this time and after much thought, I have chosen 3 things to focus on:

1. Abstaining from Meat (beef/chicken/pork) – I will not be cooking any of these during this lent season and I will try my best to avoid them, except in public places where there are no other ‘good’ options. Please note that this does not include fish J

2. Attending the stations of the cross – For some years, I have not attended the stations of the cross held every Friday. This usually consists of prayers and portrayal of the period from the carrying of the cross to the crucifixion of Jesus. I stopped attending because there were always meeting conflicts; usually Zumba class or something else fell on the same time. However, this year I will try to attend more often. I think additional going to church on Fridays for an hour will not hurt my fitness regime.

3. Speaking of Fridays, I will be giving up kissing on Fridays. This is not to say that I have been kissing around or that I even have someone or people to kiss, lol. I’m just adding this just in case…, you never know J You might also be wondering why on Fridays, well I don’t exactly have an answer except that it is usually considered the most solemn day of the week for Catholics.

So these are my decisions for lent. How about you, will you be giving up something? By the way, you don’t have to be catholic to join the band; I know lots of non-religious people who take opportunity of this season to improve themselves spiritually and otherwise. So feel free to join and comment on what you might want to give up. J

Until my next blogpost, stay well and live life to the fullest and in gratitude. Don’t forget to keep visiting my blog and follow my Instagram page @lavivsblog and twitter @vivio_gogo for more updates. My main Instagram page is @ugochiukah

Thank you for reading my post and please share. God bless. X

NO FIRE ON THE MOUNT

Hello hi,

Happy new month! It's February already , how these months fly, I can't understand. The next thing I know, we might be celebrating Christmas again. Oh well, I hope that the month of January was a good one for you at least. Mine was busy but great; lots of opportunities that I am thankful to God for.

I was initially going to share a different story today, but I decided to share this one. Enjoy and fell free to share with friends.

NO FIRE ON THE MOUNT

The year had only just begun, at least for Stella, even though it was already the first day of the second month. She had been sleep-deprived for days, owing mostly due to her work load, but also partly because of indiscipline in going to bed early. This habit used to be unusual for her until recent times, where she found herself walking around in aimlessly in her apartment or watching random videos on Youtube until the late hours of the night. She blamed the insomnia on the weather; it was awful! She also blamed it on her hormones, they were sometimes annoying visitors. So once again, she had failed to sleep early on the last day of January and before she could help herself, the clock struck past midnight. She had failed to even realise it was the start of February, the month of love. However, that did not mean much to her anyway, as she had never had the chance to really celebrate it. In the past, she had hoped for a day where she would go out on Valentine’s day for a romantic dinner with someone special and be showered with lots of gifts, mostly expensive ones as that was her taste. She had occasionally received gifts, chocolates, and flowers on valentine’s day but they had never been from lovers. Therefore, that day was still yet to come for her. But this particular day was not the day for such thoughts. She really needed to go to bed now because she had a hair appointment in the morning. Thus, she would need to wash and dry her hair before the hair dresser came.

As she prepared for the night - her usual face and mouth wash, and change into her nightwear, she could not help but notice the smell of cigarette smoking coming into her apartment. Damn that new neighbour again! He was a weird looking dude who she never spoke to. He must have been smoking on the corridor or close enough, for the smell to penetrate into her apartment. In general, she loathed the smell of the smoke, weed, and every other drug. She wondered if there was a way she could stop this neighbour from smoking – she had already stopped the other neighbour from smoking on the shared balcony, but this new guy looked like he would be more difficult to manage. Besides, it was too late for her to knock on his door so she searched the internet to see if smoking inside the apartment was illegal. Sadly, there did not seem to be a clear cut rule and so for she had to let it go. At least the smell was not in her bedroom, she said to herself, as she cuddled under her blanket and began to doze off.

Krrrr krrrr krrr…a continuous loud sound startled her from her dream. It took her a few minutes to realise that it was the fire alarm. Oh gosh, what could the matter be?! She waited in her bedroom for five minutes but the alarm continued. She knew she was supposed to leave the building until it stopped but she felt incredibly tired and only hoped that it would be a false alarm. Her watch told her that the time was half past 1 am. Ten minutes later, nothing had changed. She was beginning to hear the sounds of other neighbours leaving their apartments but she stubbornly stayed back in hers. Another five minutes passed and then she called the fire department. They asked her if there was an actual fire in the building, she said she did not think so but that she thought it came from her neighbour smoking. They said there was nothing they could do about it and asked her to dial 911. She called 911, repeated the same story and they transferred her to the fire department. The firemen were on their way and had asked her to wait for them downstairs, so she grabbed her coat and started the descent. It was then that she realised that she had much more neighbours in the building than she had ever thought. A lot of them were already on the ground floor. Her eyes caught a cute guy and so, she quickly removed her sleeping cap. The firemen were there in no time and she beckoned on them to come up to her floor. However, the fighters went to the first floor. She was persistent, telling them that the smoke came from her neighbour but they ignored her. She bumped into another neighbour who told her that some people on the first floor had been smoking weed and that had triggered the alarm. However, she was convinced that it was her own neighbour and kept trying to urge the firemen towards her floor. After several back and forth, they turned off the alarm and declared it a ‘false alarm’.

Stella was livid; it was not “false”, she told the firemen.

“Were you the one that called us” one of them asked.

She admitted that she was, while she wondered whether they would fine her. She had read somewhere that people who called for fake alarms would be fined. But the firemen did not, rather they explained to her that they were not allowed to go into people’s apartments unless there was an actual fire, and that the alarm had pointed them elsewhere. Additionally, since the alarm did not go back on after they turned it off, that meant that the building was safe.

 Stella sighed and went back upstairs. She was still upset because her sleep had been interrupted and given that she always involuntarily woke up by 6am, she was sure to not get enough sleep by morning. This incident made her remember her time in England during her previous studies; one night when they were evacuated from her apartment building because an idiot had decided to boil an egg by 2am and then had fallen asleep. Who would be so hungry to boil an egg by that ungodly hour, she had asked back then, and who would be so foolish to fall asleep before the 10 minutes it took to boil an egg? As she reminisced, tossing and turning on her bed, she fell asleep again.

Thank you for reading my post and please leave a comment and share. I will be updating you along the year. In the meantime, keep visiting my blog and follow my Instagram page @lavivsblog and twitter @vivio_gogo for more updates. My main Instagram page is @ugochiukah
Have a beautiful week ahead. x