₦airaland Forum

Thelma Aoyama - Zutto

@ Ohaneze from your response I can tell you must be from Anambra. No offense, I call it like I see it. I lived in Awka for some time so I know what I'm talking about OK?

And the point of this thread is not to compare my state with yours, its for people to state the worst ones they've visited. That's exactly what I did.

Lokoja, Awka, Benin City & Oshogbo are all fighting to make it to the top of my list. I'll give it to Awka though, that place was dusty as heck,

@ all the people calling Aba, please the capital of Abia State is Umuahia. Didn't you learn your states and capitals in primary school SMH

chowbaby:
^^^Well at least you have started to think now that something must be wrong with the bible and its claims. Nothing can be proven, nothing verified. Prayer is useless. Just live your life. If you want something work for it or try your best to achieve it. If you cannot, just accept it. There is no magic solution. It is good that you have come to this conclusion, it will save you from future disappointment.

@ Chowbaby you've said it all!!

Hmmm,  when I'm out for a night on the town with friends I usually go for a Rum and Coke. Pretty straight forward.

When I have a dinner party or I'm hanging out with my girlfriends we usually have wine or sangria YUMMM

When I was a kid in Naija I had a thing for Baileys (still do). I had a sip of my dad's beer once and thought it was gross. I don't do beer. I had palm wine once a long time ago and loved it. Haven't had it in ages though.

I guess my overall fave drink is Sangria. Love the stuff!

Please drink responsbly!!

A couple of years ago I attended an event where the Dalai Lama spoke on the noble truths. I am not a Buddhist, but after that day I gained a lot of knowledge and respect for Buddhist teachings. At some point when I have more time I hope to do a little more studying on Buddhism. In my observation so far I noticed that Buddhism is capable of coexisting with the culture of the people that practice it, rather than obliterating and attempting to replace eons of tradition with imported ways. Very admirable.


@ OP I really enjoyed reading this in your initial post: "Buddhism teaches that the solutions to our problems are within ourselves not outside."

Nice thread. I'll keep checking in. Hopefully some good discussion comes out of this. For the Nigerian Buddhist(s) do you live in Naija? How have your family, friends, etc handled your 'alternative' beliefs? Would love to know,

@ OP thanks for such an awesome thread! I am a construction professional like yourself, except that I work in the Northeastern part of the country.

What company do you work for? Does the name start with a T ? Or are you with a regional company? You don't have to answer my question with specifics. Also, what is your role on the project? Field engineer, superintendent, project engineer? Would love to know.

My first construction related job was at a hospital. I remember mocking up a PACU unit for the doctors and nurses to review, a birthing room (they had a bathtub type of thing for giving birth in the water, can't remember the exact name) and also some masonry mockups for exterior wall. Fun times.

@ frosbel I really don't know what you're trying to get at here,

You asked a question and you got a pretty good selection of answers, if I do say so myself. Some of us have diminished and/or eliminated the role of god in our lives, and we are here to tell you that we are living well. Some others are quite happy to give god supreme presence in their lives. What else do you need? Are you hoping to judge everyone according to your standards of what a 'happy life' entails?

Also there's this:

frosbel:
African tradition while rich culturally is steeped very deep in human sacrifice, polygamy, killing of twins, tribal endless wars, slavery and host of other unmentionable vices.

Without the white man and his missionaries, you will probably be in a cave somewhere learning how to make idols and or chanting incantations to spirits of the yonder world.

Your strong faith is commendable but must you prove it by displaying so much disrespect to your ancestors whose blood and effort ensured your presence here today? How much do you really know about African traditional beliefs to show so much condescension? Wasn't polygamy practiced in your holy bible? Isn't Jesus the ultimate human sacrifice according to the bible? Didn't he command you to drink his blood and eat his flesh in remembrance of his sacrifice? Haven't (and aren't) wars being waged by followers of the christian faith? Wasn't Joseph sold to slavery by his own brothers who went on to become the founding fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel? There is no religion without its share of vices. Please take time to remove the log in your eye first.

I'm not claiming to be an expert or a follower of any African traditional belief system but if you want others to respect your faith you must do the same to them. Not to mention the fact that (like it or not) it is your own heritage that you are putting down.

I don't know what your aim is but you're doing a haphazard job of getting out your objectives, whatever they are.

JeSoul:
Hmm . . . it seems there are some misconceptions about wearing contacts.

No one is a 'pro' when they first start wearing them. It does take some getting used to placing it on your eyes. Yes your natural reflex will make you shy away from putting it on your eyes at first but trust me, within week or two, you will be just fine. After so many years I can practically put them on/take them off without even blinking.
Hmm . . . I am not an optician, but I would like to challenge your doctor. Are you in Naija?

 First of all, everybody's eyes gets worse as they age, that is standard. Your eyes do not "get better in the future" with laser surgery, it corrects your eyesight now - and over time it will lose 'power' just like everybody elses' due to the natural aging process. You must understand that many opticians/doctors will discourage or 'not encourage' patients to go for lasik because it will negatively affect them! their business. If you can afford it, and medically your eyes are up to it, it is the best option and cheapest in the long run.

And your doctor also asking you to 'give up' just because you were nervous about trying contacts for the first time?    who wasn't nervous the first time? It took me almost 20mins just to put one one the first time.

You are right, I had some misconceptions about lasik myself. I thought If I did it it would be a one step fix for my eyes forever and ever. But my doctor said there's no guarantee that my vision won't change as I grow older. I figure instead of getting the surgery done now and potentially still having my sight degenerate, I'd rather wait till I'm older and get it then. Not sure if it's the best option, but we'll see. Oh, and I'm not in Naija, if that means anything.

As for contacts, they just gross me out!

I've been wearing glasses for the past 20 years. Yep!! 20 fricken years. I lived through being called 4 eyes and coke bottle eyes from a very young age. I have to admit it was hard sometimes  But I'm fine now. I still wear glasses and my vision still sucks, but at least now I wear glasses with cute frames and people think I look cool and smart in them (I AM cool and smart). Not to mention now that I'm all grown up I have strong arms and I can slap anyone that calls me four eyes! I dare anyone to try it 

Oh, I have astigmatism in both eyes and I'm myopic (in the medical sense only). Sounds cool right? Not really.

I talked to my doctor last week about laser surgery and he said it's no guarantee that my eyes will get better in the future, so I dropped the issue for now. I'll keep researching it though. Maybe I'll get it done a few years from now.

I tried looking into contacts but I blink 500 times a second whenever anything gets close to my eyes. I can't even put in eye drops cos I blink so much. My doctor said I should just give up! I don't mind though. Contacts are a bit disgusting to me.

Please forgive me, I'm still a newbie on NL so I haven't experimented with quoting. maybe some other time I'll do that,

@ Frosbel, again, I tell you human beings suffer from hyper inflated sense of self. I don't need the promise of heaven or hell to live a fulfilled and worthy life. I am good for goodness sake, not because I am afraid the devil will poke my butt with his pitchfork when we meet in hell lol! I don't need a bible or other scripture to live a worthy life.

@ ronkebp yes, I took my religion out for a walk the other day and I don't know where I left it. All I know is that it's gone and I'm still the same (yesterday, today and forever!) Sorry that was a bad joke. I mentioned in my post that scripture is not enough proof for me because "it is 2000 year old 2nd hand gist" I'm sure you'll agree that what we study as the bible today is a phenomenon that has mutated over the course of several centuries. But if that fact is nothing but a minor detail to you, who am I to argue?

@ chowbaby it's nice to be on the same page with someone here!

None of us is 100% sure if there is a god or not. To be frank even if there was it doesn't make any difference. Life goes on and isht happens. Did god ever come to you personally and tell you to worship him? Or that he cares if you survive the day? Or that you're happy or sad? Don't quote scriptures here, 'cos that's 2000 year old 2nd hand gist. I need personal first hand information here.

Basically, if there is some sort of god out there, we're wasting time worshipping and living for it/him/her. God is a silent hands off type of guy IF he's out there. The world is much bigger than we are, but just because humans have opposable thumbs we try to act like we know what it's all about. Fact of the matter is that human beings are just a small portion of the huge picture that is the universe. We are suffering from hyper inflated sense of self. This makes sense when you consider that the most religious countries are usually the most impoverished. Believing that there is a higher power out there that cares for us makes life more meaningful I guess.

Rather than waste time on made up things, why not focus on appreciating the here and now? Seems like a more realistic goal. In summary yes, man can live without god. We do it everyday, it's just too humbling to come to terms with it.

LMAO at this entire thread,
Late last year I took a day off work and travelled all the way to NYC for my appointment to get my new passport. I got there only for the guy at the reception to tell me they were CLOSED. See me see wahala. I thought I was going to just go crazy and start killing people there and then. After THEY GAVE ME APPOINTMENT DATE and made me waste my precious vacation time to travel there, they were closed? Who does that? Really??

After closing my eyes and counting to 10 to regain sanity, I remembered that on the website, it stated that the embassy sends staff to different states at different times in the year to process passports for Nigerians living far away from NY, the website said they usually come to Boston in March. So I asked the guy to help me confirm when they would be coming round my way. After laughing at me the guy was like who told you that? These people haven't finished managing their scheduling for appointment and you want them to travel to your state? I don't know if he was lying or clueless, but at that point I lost all my energy so I just walked out and went to find somewhere to cool down before heading back home.

I'll cut the long story short. I actually ended up getting my new passport early this year, after much stress at the embassy. I have to say that place is an embarrassment. The staff is disorganised, the place is dirty, many of the lights aren't working, and it smells funny overall. To top it off, I'm sure someone already mentioned it, but there is a 'mama put' style buka RIGHT IN THE EMBASSY. Yes. You go in there, order your eba and egusi, and then WASH YOUR HANDS INTO A BUCKET before digging into your meal. I mean, it's already weird that they are selling moin moin and what not inside an embassy, but try and make it look clean at least. Is that too much to ask??

SMH @ the whole situation. I am a proud Naija girl and I wave my passport proudly wherever I go (except for right after Muttallab did his thing, I had to lay low at that time), but I won't lie, that embassy is an eyesore. We can do better.

Oh, and one more thing, it seems like no matter what time you call, no one ever picks up, and the mailbox is always full. WTH? Cry the beloved country,

@ Enigma,
Two comments:
1. I suspect you are trying to drum up some sort of argument here. If that's what you want, you won't find it with me. If that's not what you want and you are truly curious, I apologize for my initial reaction and,

2. Here are a couple of links to assuage your curiousity:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnostic

P. S. I don't advocate wikipedia as a 'quotable' source, but those two links should at least give you a headstart. Enjoy.

Has Athiesm ever gotten me in trouble? No (not yet rather). I'm not atheist, I am agnostic.

I'm very careful not to give Naija people (including many members of my own family) details about my beliefs,  Why? Because NIGERIANS DON'T KNOW THE MEANING OF RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE. Persecution is the order of the day.

Just use this thread as an example; several people have used the simple question asked by the OP to spew insults on others that do not share their religious beliefs. Is simple Q&A too difficult to comprehend? Religious intolerance is our downfall.

As for me, While I am steadfast in my beliefs, I'm still figuring out the best way to express them freely because religious freedom is nonexistent to Naija people. If I open my mouth to talk everyone will start trying to 'save me from the clutches of the enemy',  NO THANK YOU! At this point I'm glad I'm away from home and free to practice my non-religion out in the open

@OP I feel bad for you, you only have 2 options now: Convert and get back with your gf; or find someone that actually holds the same beliefs as you (the harder, but better choice). Good Luck!

@aquastar lol you are brave sha,

I don't hate the bible. I've read much of the bible myself. I just don't place it on a higher level than other 'holy texts'. If you love your bible, good for you. May it bring you much joy. Enjoy it with yourself and your friends and leave the uninterested ones alone.

Also, since this is my 1st post, I wanted to give a shoutout to Mazaje, Harakiri, Jenwitemi, ogaju007 and others that are speaking up for their beliefs. I know that the Naija brand of christianity is very agressive and seeks to drown any opposing voices with evangelical fervour, while somehow trying to project the image of being the underdog. The fact that we have very consistent and knowlegeable voices counterbalancing the religious discussions on the forum makes me very hopeful!