LAMENTATIONS... and NO, it is not a book from the bible!

Hello all,

Good morning handsome/beautiful... How was your night?

I titled today's blog post lamentations because there are a few grumbles in this post but it is a good read and is entirely true. read on sweetheart.

Journal of 10/01 at 10:30... My Journey to Nigeria
As i walked down to B33 (the check in area) two things amazed me:-
1. How everyone (Nigerians) managed to have 2 big hand luggage
2. How come on almost all flight trips to and from Nigeria, the plan is always full or almost full

Soon an announcement was made for those who had two bags as hand luggage to bring one bag to be checked in free of charge. As I made my way to the line, some of my countrymen acted as if it was a crime to wait turns and stand in line 'patiently'. of course, I was no exception I had two hand luggage but mehn, they were small in comparison to some other and I was returning from almost 2 years away... (you need to see the shock on my face when one man with the really big, heavy checked in luggage was asked how long he'd been away and he said 2 weeks... custom in naija held him for proper check o, hahahaha)

No sooner had we queued did someone try to jump the line, someone else complained of back pain which made it impossible to wait in queue but he had carried 2 big hand luggage from wherever... Omo, the Oyibo lady there don't play! she quickly asked him how he carried the 2 big bags with it and he had to wait in line.

As I boarded, the rowdiness was beyond belief...As I wondered why our people had a natural tendency for gragra-ism, One woman behind me began to give unsolicited advice to another guy some seats away. A baby seated not too far away made very un-intelligent noises and cried for most part of the journey.

It made me conclude, YOU ONLY HAVE NAIJA PROBLEMS IN NAIJA.
since I have international readership let me tell the meaning of some words:
- Oyibo means a caucasian
- Naija is a fun way to refer to Nigeria
-Omo is an exclamation
- gragra-ism is a reference to roughness and not being gentle

I will see you again tomorrow and this time, I mean it *kisses and hugs*
PEARL.

Unfriendly friends: Grand finale

 Hello Friends,
Welcome to todays post and the grand finale of unfriendly friend. We will concentrate on  how to avoid such friends.

I have earlier mentioned that these set of people cannot be totally done away with. They prove to us that the world is like a circus with all sorts.

How to avoid unfriendly friends?
There is no hard and fast rule to avoiding them but some of this advice will help

UNFRIENDLY friends Part2

Hello,
It is a pleasure to be here once again, I am currently in Nigeria but let me talk about unfriendly friends before I whine a little bit about some things tomorrow (you have to promise not to laugh though).

Thank you to all of you who have commented and constantly followed this blog and stay with me all the time.

'UNFRIENDLY friends'... Why are people oblivious to some of these set of people around them? Why do people get hurt when unfriendly friends act out their true self?

How do you identify unfriendly friends?
There is no one definition that captures all the manifestations of unfriendly characters in friends. We are also not looking also for friends who cannot do us wrong or have never put a foot wrong.

A major way to avoid treating unfriendly friends as friends and friends like unfriendly friends is to test them all. A friend of mine always says 'If anything anybody is too good to be true, they probably are'.

Look out for how they treat their other friends, if they always love to talk about other people in a derogatory way... RUN FAR! or at least limit what they see and hear from you. Trust me, you cannot be the only one they don't talk about.

Unfriendly friends do not have anything to be thankful for in their lives, they love a pity party and love you to comfort them with a worse experience of your own, If you do not suffer in a similar way, then they get mad.
When you throw in a bomb of good news or event, watch the first expression and first sentence they say unconsciously.

Do not ignore the little warnings life give us, life will present us with a little expose... there are times you have mistakenly walked in on a 'friend' gossip or back bite... My typical reaction will be to save the supposed friend's face by putting on my earpiece before I am seen and making a little noise so they feel they noticed me first... (ha-ha... kind of devious but yes, I hate confrontation except when necessary) but when such occurrence repeats itself then heed life's warning because a friend is always bold enough to call you to order and if you have some as mean as some of my friend's Blessing and Nma... They do it mercilessly with a straight face or a laugh.

Enough for today, tomorrow or next; I will let you know what to do with UNFRIENDLY friends.
For now, special thanks to all who made my stay in Bristol fun... I love you all.
Pearl.

UNFRIENDLY Friends

Hello everyone,

I have been AWOL for a few days now. It is worth mentioning that in that time I added another degree to my basket and I am now a finance guru. Thank you for your patience during that period.

The topic for today cannot be exhausted in one day so I will begin to tell you about these set of people you should be knowledgeable about (especially if you want to be successful without any major distractions/ challenges.)

Who is a friend?
The simplest definition I could find from 'the free dictionary.com' says someone who is known, liked and trusted.
If a person is unknown, not liked or not trusted, that person cannot be a friend.

The above means that what makes the subject of our discourse particularly 'a problem' is that they are friends (i.e known, liked and trusted).

Who are unfriendly friends?
These are people who do not deserve to be known, liked or trusted by another but by the orchestration of their selfish desires and needs they have worked their way into the hearts of unsuspecting fellows. These types do more harm than good and are good at pretending they are friends until they have wrecked their havoc.

Why is our chat important?
There is an inverse relationship between your goal (where you want to be) and unfriendly friends and taking the time to identify them and handle them is very important (I did not say get rid of them because you cant).

At this point I will ask you to stay with me for the next one or two days for us to find out how to navigate through unfriendly friends and not get badly bruised... till tomorrow, remember I love you all and you can always 'holla' at pearlokoli@gmail.com

Love you,
Pearl.