Mid-Year Weekend

I'd like to think that we've all earned this long weekend coming up (Gh & US).
Not that I'm counting the days, but we are already half-way through 2011. Yikes!
Time flies so make the most out of this weekend.
Enjoy a good meal, have a sip of something potent, and remember it is easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. (Don't quote me if you don't get forgiveness though).

Cloud Over My Beautiful Beach

In one of my worlds, there is a simple & common english word that is not used.
You start out in that world with all your standard vocabs. After a few years, you drop this word like a hot rock.
Sorry.
Sorry is a sign of weakness. It is an acceptance of all guilt. Any guilt.
In that dog-eat-dog world, the weak are the hunted.
The dogs don't ever stop sniffing for blood once you utter that word.
The prize is all that matters. The sooner you get to it, the quicker you can get to the next prize. And the next. And the next.

All In The Family Quiz

My mother's brother's brother-in-law is my _____________ ?

A.  Uncle
B. Father
C. Cousin

Gift in present clothing

Ever heard this statement by someone whose long-term relationship just fell apart: "I gave him/her my all and yet this is where we ended up."?

When I hear it, I try very very hard to keep these 2 questions from rolling off the tip of my tongue;
1. Can you itemize your "my all" that you gave?
2. Did you at any point compare what you decided he/she needed versus what the person expressed he/she needed that you gave?

I think it is easy for us to give people what we decide they want. Giving someone we care about what he/she wants is not as easy.
If you disagree with my statement above, I'd love to hear why. I might learn a thing or two from you.

Apoh!

I was recently presented with an opportunity in a field different from my field of work. (Like asking a medical doctor to take over a pharmacist's job. About 70% different).
With nothing to lose, I accepted the offer and started looking into how to prepare for the necessary certification for national licensing.
I signed up for a "1 day exam prep", expecting it to be a rough-and-tough tutorial session. It turned out to be a study-by-yourself thing. Each of us got a booklet with questions and their answers, but we couldn't leave the room with the booklet though.
The catch: if you can memorize the questions and their answers, you are guaranteed to pass the exam.

I had no idea these type of "exam preps" were out there. Don't even know if they are legal! They advertise in the open and there are lots of institutions offering them so I'm guessing they are legal.

I passed the exam and I now have the license but not the knowledge to successfully complete a project... yet.
Makes me wonder how many more people like me are out there.

Would you attend any of these "exam preps" for the GRE, GMAT, MCAT, LSAT or professional certifications in fields such as Project management, IT etc?

Tro-Tro driver

A tro-tro driver was heading down a street in Nima, Ghana. He went right past a stop sign without stopping, then he turned left where there was a "No Left Turn" sign and went down the wrong way on a One-Way street. He turned right and went on the left side of the road past 3 policemen standing by their patrol car.
Yet he wasn't busted for traffic violations. Why not?

The most evil of us all

We love them!
They draw us in with their angelic eyes.
Engage us with their innocent look and forever-cuteness.
We never see it coming. They capture our hearts and minds.
It is from this point onwards that they start messing with us.
Get angry at them? Doesn't even cross our minds. Why, we love them!

Come near them and they will find your soft spot.
If you are the kind that melts when you hear a different accent, fuhgeddaboudit!
Hearing someone speak Patois, French, Italian gets you excited?
You will be an easy catch because they will "goo goo gaa gaa" you all day long.

They are something else!  :-)
They know when to put on a good show too. Try changing a baby boy's diaper whilst someone has a video camera running. They never miss that chance to squirt pee all the way to your face.

Babies! They want what they want when they want it (selfish), will cry till they have their way (inconsiderate),
wont play with you even if you are blod relatives (snob, rude) and you better come running when they call (superiority complex).
You know there is so much more to say about them because I haven't even touched on that whole "puking-on-people" thing.

Babies are truly innocent. They are bundles of joy.
Babies are helpless. They don't know any better.
They look up to us and depend on us to love them, protect them and set them on the right path in life.

"Where is all this coming from?" you ask?
I look around and as adults, we do some bad things.
However, some adults do extremely evil evil evil things.
Maybe they never changed since they were babies. That makes those evil adults the worst of us all.

There's a much more detailed reason

Growing up in Gh, I often heard the short explanations why kids shouldn't do certain things.
In our hometown, you'd be told to hush if you started whistling after sunset. Why shouldn't you whistle? Well, go right ahead and whistle, and the dwarves in the forest will come running.
There were many more of these types of "reasons" to deter kids from doing lots of other things. They didnt make sense, but they served a purpose. Easier for hard-headed kids to remember.
The real reason was to prevent kids from disturbing serene nights with their whistling.

Here are a few more
- Dont sweep at night.
Cant remember what dramatic thing would happen, but it was to prevent people without enough light in their rooms, from sweeping away their valuables.
- Females don't braid their hair at night. Those that did, would never get husbands.
The real reason was that less light at night wouldn't help in getting the hair done nicely.
- When washing your hands at the faucet, don't allow anyone to wash theirs beneath yours. If they did, they would be spiriting all your wealth to themselves.
Real reason was to get kids to wait their turn and wash their hands with fresh water from the faucet.

Those old folks meant well. At the time, I guess they chose the dramatic effect to get their message across.

Do you have any similar ones to share?