The New & Old

I can’t even bring myself to open with the usual, ‘it’s been a minute’! It has been a long time and then some. I’ve thought about blogging, I think about it a lot. Finding the time had proven to be really rather difficult these days but I’m motivated right now, I’ve got a strong need to write so, here it goes.

Those who are familiar with the blog know some things about me. i.e likes, dislikes, passions etcetera… So, where do I start? I’m still a banker of sorts, since the last time I wrote, I started a project with my boy Mac, we’re pretty serious about this one. Fingers crossed, I can say more about it soon. I don’t wanna jinx it. Yeah, it’s a silly fear but I’m holding on to it. . I bought an iPad, that’s a big leap from me. I’ve gone from being irritated by the ubiquity of Apple products to being a user, though I’m not quite a fanboy like Mac but I coming round. I also bought a camera, and in my personal time honoured tradition, dude is called ‘G. Parks’.

I took a trip to Naija in November, it helped me square my circle. By this I mean, I realised that I’m too open, too welcoming and a lotta folks will take advantage of that! So, what does yours truly do? Well, far be it for me to change, I’m tryna apply some wisdom to the situation, I truly believe in forgiving all the ungrateful muhfuckas, I just don’t have to let them back in my cipher, right? Anyway, the highlight of my trip, I got to hang out with a friend that has quickly become my favourite. Err, let’s call her Yellow, very cool level headed chic, I dig her a lot, Lagos was a let down this time around, but for her and a couple of folk, the trip would have been a total dud, so I’m, pretty grateful.

I’m planning another trip to Lagos and Abuja soon, if anyone knows any cool joints, please hit me up. I should do some more ‘high brow’ things when I’m home. All I get into is drinking and clubbing, I can do that anywhere! The signs are good though, I’ve got G.Parks, I’ll be well armed next time and I promise to document my trip.

So, I was talking a friend of mine the other day, this is a casual friend at work, an older dude, one who has this rather ethereal way about him, I tend to give a lotta weight to what dude says. He gives off this air of having seen and done a lot, yeah, I dunno if I mentioned that Tv and I are giving our little situation another whirl! I may blog on that at another time. Dude did some mad psychoanalysis on me, I’m buzzing right now. Not in a good or bad way, it’s sorta like being made aware of the some exposed nerve(s). I don’t know if that makes any sense.

My tastes in music remain the same, I still dig my Saffa house music. As I typed this joint out, I had this song in my head ‘Those who wait’ by Daley, dude is a British cat who’s real heavy into his soul thing. He put out a free mixtape not long ago, quality stuff, I’d recommend a download. Oh, back to the Saffa House music, I’ve been playing the hell outta this joint, I’m guessing it’s old, but it’s new to me,  , ‘Lento’ by Professor, this is my song!

This felt good, almost like I did take the unduly long break.

Peace.

Me Being, Distracted. (1. The Gadget Edition)

Me Being, Distracted. (1. The Gadget Edition)



So, I love gadgets. I might have mentioned that before but I really love gadgets. So, in the spirit of my love, here is a breakdown.

I am mainly an audiophile; I am on an incessant quest for a device that can deliver damn near perfect audio. I have speakers, headphones, earphones because of this singular mission. Currently, I’ve got beautiful cherry wood speakers with great drivers (really, the sound that these bad boys out put is just great and to think they are about 6 years old), I have a blue tooth speaker, the sound from that is not so impressive but the technology is in the incipient stages, so I cannot complain, plus it’s mad convenient. Lastly, I’ve got a baby wireless speaker, the sound is great, the price was even better, I’d recommend it.

Now, to my passion, my babies, my joys… (Yes, I am slightly nutty but I think you all know that by now) My headphones! I’ve got 5 headphones at the moment; they are all black, all pretty. These are my two favourites, Marshall Majors, bought for me by one of my favourite women  and these Bowers & Wilkins P5s, (That I call Marshall& Kora, yes, I name my gadgets! I may introduce you to the rest of my headphones by name, should the mood take me, I’m sure you’re excited!) bought by yours truly. They both sound great but different. I prefer the Marshalls because they are not as ostentatious as the P5s but I had to have the P5s, I’m a music head and game recognise game.

I knew I wanted to wanted to buy a phone, I had grown quite tired of the Blackberry Bold and its wack OS, its small ass screen and general shittiness. So, I did mad research for a phone that I could use as a personal media player (pmp) as well as having the functionalities that I was looking for from a phone. I decided on the Samsung Galaxy S II. Goodness, the phone is the business, as a pmp, it functions beautifully, the picture quality is great, the Android OS is much better than the shitty ass BB OS, the only reason I still hold the BB is to speak to Naija people. Anyway, I dig my phone, and I didn’t want an Iphone, its ubiquity and Apple’s general paranoia about content put me right off. I wanna do as I please with content that I have purchased or placed on my phone, Apple does not want to allow that, so it can bugger right off when it comes to phones. I’d recommend the SG SII any day. Really, it’s a great piece of kit. I call her Sadé.


Finally, I caught the bug! My boy has been on about the wonders of this thing for years and I’ve just basically aired him. But I succumbed; my senses were overwhelmed with the beauty of the thing. So, when it came time for me to upgrade my laptop, I thought long and hard, did mad research and decided to get a……. *sigh* MAC! I have no opinions on it yet as I’ve just bought it, I’ll give it about a week to see if we’re compatible. I wanted a strong masculine name for him, so I asked around, E.Q. suggested Nkém, and that’s what he’s called.

These are the things that give me comfort right now, I'd put up a photo of E.Q. but she's not a gadget... She's been good to me.

I have two songs of the moment, I like both for different reasons. This one, 'Stimela' by Hugh Masekela speaks to my soul, so I choose to share it with you. My boy Mac put me on to this particular song, dude has the best taste in music, really. I wait for him to discover something and then share, I almost always dig whatever he recommends. So here, this is a masterpiece and I'm sure it is well known to most folks but I'm a Johnny-come-lately. :-)



I bid you peace.

Johnny Mac, the last weekend.

The last week ended on a good note, despite Grandpa’s passing. My mother is surprisingly calm about it, she says dude died peacefully, I guess that makes all the difference considering how old he was. I am still a little bothered by certain things but my pain is once remove d and if moms says it’s okay, I gotta try to see it like that.

Now, I had a nice weekend, I intend to put up some pictures, it’s been a while… I made up with P! That is a wonderful thing, really. I do not know why I was so nervous, she and I are kindred spirits, we’ll be on the same wavelength for life that much I am sure of. She came over, we talked, filled in gaps and I just revelled in her presence, being able to just talk to someone without censoring myself in anyway was a lotta fun. I had forgotten just how much. I told her about TV, she has a bunch of advice for me, none of which I am gonna follow, not because it is bad advice but because I am hard headed. 

Prior to P coming over, I spent the earlier part of Friday evening with Kaya, (I might have mentioned her before, we went to Morocco together). She is the most chilled out person I know, nothing gets to her. We were out in Morocco, the chick got mad marriage proposals, by old, young, sexy, not so sexy men and she remained so unaffected by it. I was hoping we could parlay all the attention into some freebies but she wasn’t having it. We even ran into a very well endowed carpet salesman (how did I know he was well endowed, I hear you ask, well you have to have seen what he was wearing and how it hugged him in all the best places.) and he offered to have us over at his house so we could hang out in his pool, I was almost tempted, I swear. Anyway, Kaya is my home girl, we caught up, we hadn’t seen each other since the trip and she has not changed a bit, that’s perfectly fine with me.

On Saturday the boys showed up, it was a good time with them as it always is. I love my boys, they are so different yet I have just as much in common with each one. Mac and I like the same kinda, erm how does one put this, popular culture. We are both big hip-hop heads, and he keeps up to date with things I want to know. He is very much my chill out boy, we are very cool like that, and I love how when we talk, I can see the change in who he was when I met him and who he is now. He is definitely the coolest dude I know. Johnny is cerebral, he is feeds my brain, dude is incredibly prescient on all matters political. He is a writer, a thinker, a soon to be lover (of a deserving woman) and just a generally good brother. We also share love for the film, architecture and art, the ‘bourgie’ things, as my sister would say. They met TV, they were impressed….



Mac, Johnny.


My home girl Kaya

It was my favourite weekend for a while. My football team was hot, two come from behind wins! You can’t beat that.

I gotta dash. This was rather therapeutic.

Be good, peace.