Kingsley Okeke @kingsleychi

I went on a camping trip with a community that my cousin introduced me to. We set out last month, and it was my first time attending a camping trip. The schedules and places they planned to visit seemed interesting, and the cost was reasonable. My cousin had invited me and convinced me to attend, and I had a close relationship with him, so I thought it was a great opportunity to experience camping for the first time. Aside from church campings, I had never gone for a recreational or fun camping trip before.

The first location we visited was a hotel which was different from our usual modern hotels. They had entertaining sites, waterfalls, and amazing land views. I really enjoyed it. However, the second location was on top of a mountain, and it was a different story. There were mosquitoes everywhere – I′d never seen so many on a mountain before. I wondered how they even flew up there.

As night drew on, the community host suggested we set up tents, just like some other groups were doing. He thought it would be more fun to sleep there through the night, and assured us that there was security around the mountain to keep us safe. That wasn′t my concern though because my main plight was the mosquitoes. I had not brought mosquito repellant or a net, so I knew it would be a bad night for me. I endured through the night, but I couldn′t sleep due to the mosquitoes. I hate mosquitoes, and it was a nightmare to me.

The next morning, the leader said we′d be going to another mountain with more views, but I wasn′t interested.
We journeyed up the mountains during the day and frankly the second mountain had more engaging features and was more broad. But as soon as evening approached and I saw the possibility of us camping, I took the next bus back home ASAP – I couldn′t continue. The money I paid wasn′t wasted though because the first hotel location and the awesome sights from the mountain tops was satisfying enough for me. They could enjoy the mosquitoe package alone.

One very day, I had just finished washing my dad′s motorcycle and allowed it to dry in the hot sun. A thought came into my mind – I could actually take a short ride with this motorcycle and have fun. I hadn′t ridden a motorcycle once in my life, so the thought was new and refreshing to me. After deciding to heed the thought, I mounted the motorcycle, removed it from the stand, and kicked the starter. I kicked the starter several times, but it wouldn′t start. My leg wasn′t well-positioned, and I hadn′t started a motorcycle before, so I had to leg-kick it multiple times.

After many attempts, the motorcycle finally came to life. I didn′t know exactly what I was doing, but I knew that once I kicked the gear with my left foot, the motorcycle would move forward. So, I kicked the gear, and the motorcycle jolted forward, almost throwing me off the seat. I held tightly, but instead of giving up, I decided to try again. I moved the throttle to its limits, and the motorcycle zoomed off, carrying me towards an avocado tree. I hit the tree and fell to the ground, and the motorcycle fell beside me.

Although it had fallen, the motorcycle didn′t turn off; it was still making a zooming sound. The sound scared me, and I hurried away from the motorcycle, almost running. A few minutes later, my dad jumped out, having heard the sound. He turned off the motorcycle, and the look in his eyes showed trouble. I ran away, expecting a beating, but he didn′t give me one. Instead, he told me he was contemplating beating me because I had washed his motorcycle without being asked, but he was partly pleased with that. However, he wasn′t pleased that I had crashed it.
I apologized to him, and that was the end of it.

We were in the sitting room looking at a movie when my mother dozed off. It was past nine PM at night, already past bedtime.
I looked at my mother, who was uncomfortably seated but sleeping on the couch. I tapped my mother and asked her innocently to find her way into the bedroom so she could have a proper rest. She left a remark that left me laughing.
she said “I had done her so good like I had opened a timber shop for her by asking her to go to bed“ fShe said this in our dialect, which made it even funnier.

I started laughing, not finding any meaningful use of that quote. My father chipped in as I laughed continuously. He understood that I found the speech very funny but hadn′t related the quote to anything important. He explained that during the olden days, owning a timber shop was one of the most lucrative businesses people owned. He narrated that back then, having a timber shop meant you were extremely rich because very few people were into timber, and you needed a certain amount of money to purchase land for tree felling and government registration.

I was absorbed and attentive as he narrated this. He added that these days, timber is no longer a rare business; many people are in it, and it′s not seen as a rich man′s business anymore. As he explained how things had changed, I never would have thought that timber was once a lucrative business reserved for the wealthy.

After my dad narrated this, I tried to link it up with the quote my mother made. She had implied, jokingly, that asking her to go to bed was a great favor, like opening a timber shop for her. I doubt anyone would get the joke as well as I did, especially if it weren′t told in our dialect.

We gathered around the large, wooden table, its polished surface reflecting the room′s bright lights. The table′s craftsmanship was impressive, and I estimated its cost to be around nothing less than three hundred thousand naira. As we waited for the meeting to begin, I found myself admiring the table′s design.

Our coordinator had called the meeting to discuss the staff′s persistent tardiness. Despite previous warnings, many colleagues continued to arrive late, and he had decided to take action. I felt a surge of anxiety, having been late once after his warnings. However, I had a valid reason and had explained the situation to him personally.

As the meeting commenced, the coordinator highlighted the importance of punctuality. To my relief, he used me as an example of someone who had responded positively to his warnings. I had been late only once, and he acknowledged that I had provided a legitimate reason.

The coordinator then addressed the chronic latecomers, including two of my friends. After reiterating the expectations, he announced that one of my friends and three other staff members would be let go due to their repeated tardiness. However, he gave another friend a stern warning, emphasizing that improvement was expected.

As the meeting concluded, I felt a mix of emotions. While I was relieved that I wasn′t affected, I was also hopeful that my friends might have an opportunity to redeem themselves in the future. Given the coordinator′s character, I believed he might reconsider their employment if they demonstrated a genuine commitment and change. I just thank God that he gave them a second chance under probation with halved payment.

I stepped out of the shuttle bus, the Lagos traffic already getting to me, and then made my way to the nearest restaurant just around the corner, it′s been my usual place of little comfort for some time now. The aroma of jollof rice and fried plantain filled the air, and my stomach growled in anticipation.

As I waited for my food, I checked my phone only to see another missed call from my landlord, reminding me that rent was due soon ( he always sent these kind of messages whenever his tenants have few months into a new year) . I sighed, knowing I′d have to hustle even harder to make ends meet.

But as I took my first bite of the spicy jollof, all worries shortly melted away. The flavors transported me to my childhood, and for a second, the struggles of adulthood seemed to fade. I remembered when all I needed to do was to wake up and just live.

I devoured my meal, washed it down with a bottle of cold Pepsi and headed back into the Lagos heat. The city was in action, but the good meal fueled me up and kept me going.

As I navigated the crowded streets, I knew I′d face another long day of chasing opportunities, but I was ready. After all, in a city like Lagos, you either hustle or get left behind.

My phone has been acting strangely lately. It makes advancements and manipulations that I didn′t ask for. For instance, sometimes when I try to use the touch screen, it automatically turns off, telling me that it′s not the right hand to use the touch. This can be frustrating.

When I try to open the camera, it sometimes logs off, giving me notifications that I′m running too many apps. However, this happens even when I′m not overworking the phone. I′ve also noticed that my phone resets certain settings on its own, like my camera settings or window bar preferences.

I′m confused about what′s causing these issues. My phone has 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, so I don′t think storage is the problem. It′s a high-end phone with an inbuilt AI that helps me with various tasks, like analyzing school projects, reading for exams, and fetching videos.

I′m hesitant to turn off the AI, as I′ve grown accustomed to using it. I′m wondering if the AI might be the cause of these issues, but I′m not sure. I′ve asked a specialist, and they suggested that low storage might be the issue, but I′m skeptical. The phone is less than six months old, and it didn′t behave this way when I first got it.

I′m still trying to figure out what′s going on with my phone and find a solution that works for me.

I went into the kitchen today to get some soup and swallow, specifically fufu, which was properly covered. As I opened the bowl, I noticed something that gave me a critical thought. There were about seven or more tiny flies that flew off from the fufu. They were small, and at first glance, it might seem harmless, but it got me thinking. We often leave food out, and when we open it, we might see these tiny flies, especially on swallows and white rice.

In my community and family, we tend to underestimate the risk of these flies, terming them harmless. My mother calls them “igegehu“ in our local language, but I don′t know the English name for them. I′m concerned because if it were houseflies, I would either dispose of the food or heat it up to sterilize it. However, since I′m unfamiliar with this particular fly, I don′t know if it transmits germs to food.

I′ve noticed that in our locality, especially in the village, people tend to be careless about these flies, assuming they′re harmless even when they petch on raw food. Without knowing the biological name, I couldn′t look it up online to determine the risks. This experience made me realize that people should be more careful about what they eat, as some things we consider harmless might actually carry worse pathogens and germs.

My elder brother and I would often play karate and practice taekwondo moves after watching action movies on TV. My elder brother was particularly fond of action movies, spending his pocket money and savings on CDs featuring his favorite films. I enjoyed them too, and even now, I love action movies. However, back then, our enthusiasm for martial arts and action scenes has severe effect in our daily lives.

We′d practice our moves on our property, sometimes damaging things, and even on the farm. We′d also have battles with each other, trying to outdo one another with the skills we′d learned from the movies. One day, my brother and I were engaged in a particularly intense session, with him using his physical strength and age advantage to try and overpower me.

As we fought, he kicked me above the knee cap, sending me to the ground. I expected him to wait for me to get up, but instead, he kicked me hard in the stomach. I struggled to breathe and almost lost consciousness. Just as he was about to kick me again, I managed to entangle my leg with his, causing him to fall. I jumped onto his back, and I heard a cracking sound, but I didn′t realize what it was.

When I got up, my brother was struggling to stand, his eyes red and teary. He told me that his leg was broken. As I approached him to check, he kicked me hard on the neck, near a bone, causing me immense pain. For days, I couldn′t move my neck to the left or bend it without pain.

The pain became too much, and I had to involve our parents. They cautioned and disciplined my brother, but I realized that our violent play had gone too far. I learned a valuable lesson that day which is: that watching violence on screen shouldn′t translate to real-life behavior. I′m grateful for that incident, as it helped me kick the habit of imitating violent actions.

I went to the cyber cafe today during the afternoon to help my dad print out some work. As I was there, I had already given the task to the cyber cafe manager and briefed her on what to do. When I noticed a young girl behind a laptop, I looked closer and saw that she had her own table situated just in front of the cafe. The laptop on the table was very old, and she seemed distant, as if unaware of her surroundings. I wondered what she was doing and what type of work she was doing there.

While guiding the cyber cafe manager on what to do next, I noticed an old man and woman walk towards the young girl, who had positioned a table and an old laptop just in front of the cyber cafe. I was interested and wanted to know what had brought them, and I tried to find out what the young girl did for a living. It was then that I realized the man had come for the young girl to transfer some movies into his small mobile phone, a button phone.

I watched with interest and realized that the old man and woman, who had come to patronize the young girl, were husband and wife. Despite their tattered appearance and she seemed stressed, there was a deep love between them. I envied their connection, evident in the way they spoke and carried themselves. The man told the young girl to transfer seven more movies to his phone so that he and his wife could watch them until the next weekend. He mentioned that some of the previous movies they had watched were not enjoyable, and he wanted something more engaging.

This experience interested me, as I had not known that people transferred movies as a business. A person would set up a laptop and table, and their sole business would be to transfer movies and music to make money. I was willing to see where this encounter would end. Despite the unusual nature of the business, I admired the love between the old couple and the fact that the small button phone didn′t hinder their quality time together. I imagined them watching movies on the phone through the night, and it was amusing, yet I genuinely admired their old-school love.