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2017

2017, 25,

Raining Season Reading List




I don’t enjoy raining season. I hate that my nose and chest don’t function right once the season starts and how this lingers till the dry season. Because of my poor nose and chest, I hardly go out so this leaves me with the burden of entertaining myself. On the plus side I get to binge watch series and read a lot of books. 
I love reading and each book takes me on a different journey and they have a way of staying with me long after I am done with the book. The emotions in the books linger and this makes me see the people around me differently understand and appreciate their struggles.
I am subscribed to a number of Reading Blogs and they release their ‘’Summer Reading List’’ about the same time the Raining Season starts. But for me it isn’t warm days where I get to go to the beach, I am curled up in bed reading and letting the stories take me on exciting journey.
I was making a list of the books I have read in 2017 and I thought why not share my list and get my book-lover friends to share their own list and thus the ‘’Raining Season Reading List’’ was born. I really hope you enjoy these lists and you discover great books to add to your reading list.
So let’s get into the list.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Fun fact about Ore; I was a science student in secondary school (not by choice) and I choose to study Literature and I believe this is one of the best decisions 14 years old Ore made. The classes were my first lessons in appreciation of books and the beginning of my love affair.
Things Fall Apart was a required text for my exams in my final year in secondary school and I don’t believe I really understood the ideas the author presented in the book or even appreciated the fact that it is a love story to precolonial Nigeria. So a few months ago I decided to buy a copy of the book and read it again. I am happy I made this decision and it was a good experience, I spent my morning drives discussing the themes of the book with my mum and learning about the Igbo people. I think it is important we take a walk into the past so we don’t make the same mistakes in the present.
Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo

I read this book in a day, it is one of those books that when you start you can’t put down till you get to the end. I fell in love with Yejide and Akin and I carried them around with me for a few days wondering about all the different way their story could have played out. At the heart, the book is a love story but, one marred by selfishness and desperate decisions.

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult

I know you have seen the movie but, the book isn’t like the movie, for starters it ends differently. It is more of an emotional roller-coaster because the author makes use of the multiple narrative technique so you get a peek into how each character is feeling and picking sides is much harder. I had questions about motherhood, how much love is too much and when a mother needs to stop and listen to her children. Safe to say I cried my eyes out at the end of the book. You can skip this on if you have no tissue.
The course of Love by Alain de Botton

My friend Derin recommended this book to me in January and I am glad he did.  It is a realistic view on love, how a lack of understanding of our individual histories affect the love we share with our partners. How domestic routine, poor communication can lead to the death of love. Most important of all it was a challenge to me to examine myself, take a look at how I react in situations and do an over haul of the relationships in my life.
So that is my list, I hope something interests you, before I forget, there are a few books I picked up to read during the month of August and they are;

The Right Kind of Crazy by Adam Steltzner with William Patrick

Opening Spaces: Contemporary African Women’s writing

Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi

The Shack by William P. Young

Don’t forget to recommend a book in the comments below

2017, 25,

Letters To July I

Dear Kike,
Why don’t we have any cute photos together? I realized this when I finally sat down to write this letter, we have one that we took at my graduation but I don’t think it counts. When next we see we will have to rectify this.  
Kiks, I am writing because I miss you, I miss having you in the same time zone – now I have to look up the time whenever I want to text or call and it is stressful. I miss painting our nails to match our moods, black nails for weeks we were unhappy, red nails for weeks we were excited and all the colours in between, my brain can’t remember what each colour stood for.
Every now and again, I am transported to that summer we spent together. It was the summer you graduated from University and your mum’s latest shop attendant was discovered to be stealing so she was fired. You became the shop attendant and I became your assistant. We sat in the shop and talked about your budding relationship with “B” and how my relationship with ‘’Do Not Call’’ was doomed, you never failed to rub it in that you were right.
My grandpa died that summer. The day he died we went to see ‘The Avengers’, it was the movie to see that summer. I got home late and my mum was furious, she kept saying “your grandpa is dead and you are out seeing a movie”, she said this like a broken record. I was sure my mum was losing it that night. We spoke to my grandpa that week and we planned to visit soon. I wasn’t ready to deal with my mum so I apologised reassured her that he was alive and went to bed, but I couldn’t sleep that night, I could hear my mum sobbing from her room, I was at a loss on how to comfort her.
My uncle showed up the next morning with red swollen eyes to break the news to us, I cried and couldn’t stop for hours. I couldn’t bring myself to make anything to eat, so I walked to your house which was a street away from mine and you fed me rice and fish and let me cry. You didn’t say any of those annoying things people say to comfort you when a person dies.
I told you how creepy it was that my Grandpa died around 7:00 pm and that was about the same time we got home from the movie to my furious mother. You know in the Yoruba culture you don’t tell a woman her father is dead if a man is not at home and my dad was away that weekend so the burden of telling my mum fell on my uncle’s shoulder. I asked you if I will feel it too when my parents died, if I will know the exact moment and have the luxury to mourn in private like my mum did. You didn’t have answers to my questions, you just sat there and let me mourn, you suggested that we should paint our nails black. So walked to the salon not too far from your house and we did that, you walked me home after we got our nails done, told me I will be just fine and you were right as always.
The summer was different after that. My mum didn’t want to leave my grandma by herself so we drove up to Ilorin every weekend. I wasn’t excited about leaving the house for the shop anymore, but you never failed to check up on me.  When “Do Not Call” broke up with me that summer because I was too moody, you told me it was his loss while we had yogurt drinks at your mum’s shop.
I am sure you remember all these events, but I am not sure I ever thanked you for that summer, I am not sure I ever told you how much all you did was important to me. You kept me from drowning and I am always grateful.  
There are so many life updates I have for you but, I will keep them for another letter or maybe share them with you in person. I am counting down till the next time we are in the same time zone so we can finally take cute photos.
Love Always,
Oreoluwa.

P.S. You should need to read ‘’Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo’’.
2017, Playlist,

Headphones & Epiphanies – Oyinkan’s Story

Today was a rainy day in Lagos, rainy days equal traffic and aching knees and upper arms. 
What kept me going on my drive home is my current ”One Woman Party Playlist”. I was singing along with at the top of my lungs and I forgot my aching joints and the traffic.
The songs I listened to took me on a journey to a place where all my current problems cease to exist and I could live in the songwriters words. 
Music is an important part of my life, I have learnt so much about life and God’s love through music. 
What better way to celebrate my love for  music than to get my friends to share their stories through music they love.   
The Series on The Over Thinker for this month is Headphones and Epiphanies! I hope you enjoy it. 
Please leave a song recommendation in the comments below! 

I’m a lover of music. Period. Regardless of its genre or category. I’m literally one of those people who was and is still being saved by music (after God of course).

I have way too many favourites so it was actually a pain to try and put them in such a short list. I did try to pick 10 of my favourite songs but I really couldn’t put them in an order. I draw the line in confining such beauty to an order. So here are just 10 out of my many many favourites. I hope you like them.

  • The Scientist by Coldplay – I absolutely love this song. There are so many covers but my favourite is still the Glee cast version. This song sure got me through my heartbreak days.
  • Beauty in the World by Macy Gray – This song actually cheers me up when I’m down. Reminds me that there’s still good and happiness to be found in the world.
  • Skinny Love by Birdy (originally by Bon Iver)– I love Birdy’s sound. Skinny love happens to be the first of her songs I ever heard and fell in love with. This song is one of my favourite songs because i could totally related with the title and it also got me through some heartbreak days too.
  • Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men – The beginning of this song always makes me want to dance by jumping and putting my fist in the air. Lol. And doing that just makes me feel silly and happy. 
  • This is how we do it by Montell Jordan – This right here is a classic old school jam. I know the lyrics to this song from beginning to end and I just always feel like such a cuu kid when I jam to it.
  • Hey, soul sister by Train – This is also one of my best friend’s favourite and it was and always will be our jam. In school, we’d often use spoons as pretend microphones, jump and sing this song at the top of our voices and subsequently annoy everyone around us. But we didn’t care. It was our jam so it had to be done. Lol.
  • Have you ever by Brandy – Back in secondary school, I went through a ‘blues’ phase. This song pretty much summed up my feelings for a crush I had. I’d cuddle up in bed, listen to this song on my walkman ( which was a contraband) and think about this crush (Sad, I know). Lol. It never really made me feel better but it still remains one of my favourites. Oh and if you were wondering, it never worked out with that crush either.
  • He turned it by Tye Tribbett – This song pretty much sums up all God has done and still does for me and how he has put the devil to shame in my life. Love the lyrics and how fast the beat is. No one should be subjected to the sight of me dancing to this song. Lol. You’d probably be intimidated by the joy I radiate.
  • Home by Gabrielle Aplin – I absolutely love acoustic music and that’s basically all Gabrielle does. The lyrics have truth and meaning. Oh and her voice is so sweet and unique. That alone certifies it as a favourite for me.
  • Home is wherever I’m with you by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes – This song puts a smile on my face whenever I listen to it. The title of the song already tells you what the song is about and being the hopeless romantic that I am, how can I not love it. Lol. Love the beat and somewhat amusing lyrics 

These are just 10 of my favourite songs. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this. Cheers.


You can click below to listen to the songs on the playlist

Oyinkan’s Playlist 

2017, 25, Her Version of Events, letters,

Letters 06 (Her Version of Events 3)

Hello Everyone 
This is a follow up to the series ”Her Version of Events”,I should clear up a few things, the events in these letters are totally made up. LoL! 

You can catch up on the earlier letters below; 
Her Version of Events 1 
Her Version of Events 2

Enjoy!! I hope it doesn’t take me another nine months before I write the next Letter. 

Dear Friend,


I am about to go on a date with the wedding singer and I feel the need to give you a life update, so here goes.


Wedding singer, called a number of times after we met, but I wasn’t up to it so I gave excuses and I believe it wore him out and he stopped trying.


I know what you are thinking I didn’t follow through on the last line in my previous letter, I will try to explain why. I wrote that last line, forgetting that my head and emotions don’t function as one, they are two separate entities at constant war with each other making it difficult for me to move forward.


I took a step back to play mediator to my waring parts and arrived at this conclusion, these two parties may never agree, but they can work at peace by balancing each other out. So I listened to the arguments of both parties and made the effort to work on the important points they raised.


Firstly, I needed closure. I know the first name of ‘’he who must not be named’’ so I googled it.  It was a fruitless search who knew the name Folu is a common name, so I moved to Instagram, I tried Twitter and finally Facebook. I gave up my search about two months after I started.


I have always loved writing, I find it very therapeutic etching out my feelings on a sheet of paper. I wrote about the few days I spent with Folu, the process of writing out our time together made it real, that  I didn’t dream up those days. Writing ‘’our story’’ made me feel like Allie from Nicholas Sparks novel the Notebook  I can hear you screaming cheesy as you read this.


Documenting our story gave me the closure I needed, but too much time had passed and wedding singer wasn’t calling anymore. So I put all my effort into my work and went on random dates with men my friends set me up with. None of the dates were memorable, I found myself waiting for the end of each date or not paying any attention to what the guys were saying. Maybe I tried too soon, ‘’give it time’’ was the line I repeated to myself after every failed date.


Proposal season is upon us, the month of December comes with countless proposals and you can be rest assured you will get roped into planning a surprise proposal.


My friend Tito’s boyfriend roped me into planning a surprise proposal, I was in charge of getting the balloons and inviting her to lunch and bam! he would pop the question. I arrived at the venue to Tito’s nervous boyfriend, a few of our friends and yes you guessed it wedding singer.


‘’Hello’’ he said to me, he stretched his hands to collect the balloons from me, I handed them to him and I nodded in response.
‘’This is the person that refused to go out with me’’ he said to Tito’s boyfriend.
‘’It isn’t like that’’ I replied.
‘’Really?’’ he asked
‘’Yes Really’’
‘’How far is Tito, hope you made sure she is coming?’’ Tito’s boyfriend asked. I was grateful for the question
‘’Yes she is, I texted her on my way’’.
Tito arrived a few minutes later, he asked, she said yes. It was beautiful.


I walked over to wedding singer and asked if he still wanted to go out, he said yes. We fixed a time and place. We can agree to blame this on the nostalgia of witnessing a proposal. I am a little scared he will not show up, I will update you soon on how it goes.





2017,

Goals: January 2017

With growth comes the knowledge that new year resolutions don’t work or maybe I just lack the discipline to follow through. Year in year out I set resolutions that I stick to for about a month and forget about, midway through the year I will remember and feel like crap for not sticking with it.

In the spirit of avoiding self-loathe I came up with a system that will help me stick to my goals. So I am sure you are wondering about my system, here is it; I set monthly goals which I further break down to weekly challenges and I try my best to remain realistic when setting the monthly goals.

I would love for you to come on this journey with me, a few of these goals I will fail at, fingers crossed to see how many but I am sure it will be an interesting journey.

January 2017

  • Finish reading ”Soldiers of Fortune” 
  • Read two new books 
  • Work on my ”Prayer Wall for 2017”; I realised a few years ago that you have to be deliberate with your Christian walk make an effort, work on your end of your relationship with God. There is nothing fancy about the ”Prayer Wall”, I just stick a piece of cardboard on a wall in my room write my prayer point on sticky notes and place them on it. 
  •  Work on my ”Promise Jar”; this is a new exercise I plan to write out Bible text and put them in a glass jar so I can pick out one every morning and run with the text for the rest of the day. 
  • Explore new music, I believe it is about time I expand my playlist 
  • Plan a worship service.    
So come on this adventure with me, I know it doesn’t seem like much but I am pretty excited about everything on the list.