YAY! School has started

Hello people, how're you? School started on Monday and i am excited 'cos i really did not have a vacation from school. Anyway, i don't know why, but i am just excited. So i went to Baltimore on Thursday for the weekend. I decided to leave early in the morning to attend a 9 am class i was trying to register for. So i left Bmore at 5:30 am and was about 13 miles to Happy Valley, when the Popo pulled me over. As in, i was shocked! In my almost 5 yrs of driving, i have never ever been pulled over in this America by a cop for speeding. Mr. Popo asked me if i knew what the speed was around that area and i told him i thought it was 65mph, he said it was 55mph. I was doing like 75mph, but as soon as i sighted oga police i slammed on my brakes, so i think he really did not catch my speed. He asked for my documents, and then gave me a warning. Omo, i was happy o. Infact i almost hugged uncle police. Nobody told me o, i was gentle all the way to Happy Valley.

So i am a teaching assistant for 2 classes this semester. The most interesting one is the 400 level sex class. Today was the 1st day of class, and the prof asked them to write down the 1st thing they thought about when they heard the word SEX. Omo come and here responses o. I almost fainted and died of laughter. Some things i have never ever heard in my 20 som'n years of life. Let me share some with y'all: 69 (what's that?), moisture, STD's, AIDS, past gf's, present gf's and future one's i want to f*&k ... Abeg, let me keep this blog PG13. Please if anyone knows the meaning of 69 pls tell me. I will kuku come hear to gist y'all about the class 'cos i am sure it will be so much fun. The professor sef, she's so cool.

Looks like i will actually be a full time research assistant in the spring semester. I am so excited! You know what that means??? I am not going to be teaching for a while. Bliss! One thing i know for sure is that when i am done with this degree, i don't want to teach. It's bad enough that they say i already look like a professor/ school teacher/ school principal! That means, i have to start thinking, looking and networking on opportunities after i graduate.

By the way, i just realized that God willing, this time next year i should be done with my classes, and should be working towards my dissertation (the BIG D). I have an idea what i want to do for the BIG D, 1) it will be about women/ girls 2) it will be in global health 3) i will travel somewhere in Africa to collect my dissertation data and 4) it will be a qualitative study. I am sure more things will unfold as i continue to explore.

My Oga reviewed my paper, and he thinks i am doing a very good job so i am excited about that, glory be to God. Now the part i hate is this, having to revise the paper and then resubmit. Now i have 2 papers to revise and resubmit. By God's grace i want to submit those 2 papers to 2 different journals. God willing, my goal before i graduate with this degree is to have at least 4 papers on which i am the first author- AMEN.

Did i tell y'all that i am now a senior gal in my office? There are 2 new students in my lab. I have to "train" them according to my oga. Phew! Huge responsibility, 'cos i have my plate full already. I need to sign off now 'cos i have had my jumpdrive stuck in my computer's USB port for about an hour now. Work calls. Till we yarn again peeps, DEUCES!!! (That's my new slang, from "THE GAME").

Thank God for life

My people, how una dey? I thank God for the gift of life and most importantly good health. I have been down with a nasty cold for almost a week now. Thank God i am alive and well. So what has yours truly been up to? Chilling and working. I move to my new apt in less than 2 weeks, and i haven't even started packing (not like i have a whole lot to pack anyway). Besides my bed, futon, a sofa, TV, TV stand, computer desk, microwave, toaster, small fridge, books, clothes, i am done. Voila! Anyway, so i have been on a 1 week self imposed bed rest, 'cos that cold really had me on lockdown o, if not for God on my side.

On another note jare, i have been travelling to Baltimore like every weekend since summer began. It's not as if Bmore is next door to me like that o, it's at least 3 hours (~170 miles) away from me. So now i am sitting my behind in my village till school starts. I attended praise nite on Friday at Jesus House Baltimore, it was an awesome experience. I have missed undiluted praise & worship like that so much. The worship led by Pastor Paul Irabor and his New Breed International church choir was off the hook, dynamic. It was really an hallelujah good time being in the presence of God. I enjoyed every moment.

My paper's coming along fine, and my Oga has made some revisions to it, so i will proceed. Hopefully, by God's grace i can have it all written and done by the end of summer. Summer break is almost over, not like i really had a break sha. Anyway, it's all good. Take care people. Remain blessed.

I wish ...

2 posts in about 24 hrs, i tell u i am really improving. Woohoo!!! Anyway, i remember growing up, i used to wish i had an english name and stuff like that. I'll share with u some of the names i wish i was christened. Infact, to console myself, i've started making up names for my unborn kids (lol).

DISCLAIMER: No offence to people bearing these names o, i am just talking my own.

I wish i was named:

Tinu: Atinuke/ Tinuade/ Tinuola. You get the drift, anything that can be shortened to Tinu

Deyo: Moradeyo

Deke: Moradeke

Wura: Adediwura, not a big fan of Wuraola

Toluwanimi

Oyinkansola, Oyinkansade

Mojoyinade

Mojoyinola

Mojirola

Olufunmilade

Oluwasomidotun

Oluwadabira

Oluwadara

Kanyinsola

Fiyinfoluwa

Fopefoluwa

English names:

Joyce

Hephzibah ( i know it's not english)

Hadassah (Hebrew for Esther)

Caroline (Pls, i'd hate for that beautiful name to be shortened to Caro)

Rachel

For guys:

Xavier (absolutely love that name!)

Charles

Joshua

I think that's it for now. I will update the list as i remember.

Do y'all sometimes wish u had a different name? Please share?

YAY! Summer's here

I'm back again. Me and this my erratic blogging pattern sha, only God will save me. Anyway, let's have 1 minute of silence for the King of Pop, Farrah Fawcett, Billy Mays, Ed McMahon and all those that have died recently.

Ok, 1 minute's up ......

Back to me. So 1st year's over. HALLELUJAH!!! PRAISE GOD!!!

2nd year, rolls in and before u know it i will be in my 4th yr- Amen!

Anyway, the summer's in, but it doesn't feel like summer for me. I am still in State college, living and working. I have some goals this summer, i pray i am able to accomplish all of them by the end of summer.

SUMMER TO-DO LIST

1. Finish up my paper to be sent out for publishing by the end of the year.

2. Revise the literature review paper and resubmit

3. Take a summer class and pass it excellently- Amen. Seeing as it is a 15 week class compressed into 5 days. Lord help me.

4. pack up my apartment and move.

5. Do whatever my "Oga" (My advisor) gives me to do

Gosh! School is beginning to take over my life. See as my summer list, has nothing fun included. Just school, and school and more school. Even i don't have plans for July 4. Just chilling and working on my projects. HA!

On another note, the boo and i went to New York over the weekend and we had a blast. Thank God for that boy in my life sha. I feel very blessed to have him and i lovvvvvvvvvvve him so much. Whatever jo! Afterall, it's my blog. Anyway, back to my studies. Just on here to take a break. I will try to be more consistent with my blogging. Laterssssssss people.

Bla...

I told y'all i would repent and be a serious blogger, and i stayed true to my word. Err about the title, that kinda explains how i feel right about now. Ah well! The life of a grad student... I have a ton of things to do before the semester's officially over, but 'cos of the lurve i have for y'all, i'm here to share snippets of my life.

I've come to the following conclusions about being a PhD student:

1.) It's purely glorified/ dignified/ (insert an appropriate word) slavery. You get to do work for your mentor, before you actually start getting fully into your own research, and even after that, it doesn't get any better.

2.) You always have a huge pile of stuff to do! As one ends, u have a zillion others clamoring for ur attention

3.) The work never really ends. Did i say that already.

4.)You start re-thinking ur life, and asking yourself countless times who sent u to enroll in the 1st place. Oh, and then u remember that it's ur never-ending zeal for knowledge plus ur hope that one day you will do some amazing research that will end up saving humanity!

I'll share the others, as i continue on this journey of discovery.

I am supposed to be getting work done. In an attempt to being a very good girl, i bolted out of the house to my lab/office. So far, i've been good. I finished grading and entering the grades for my students. Ah, i need to tell y'all there's a story about that... More on that later. Then i went to Qdoba to get free lunch/dinner, comprising of a burrito and tortilla chips plus soda. All free. Well, not really free 'cos i used my gift certificate i earned. I am catching on fast to this my new life, well it ain't new anymore, 1st year as a PhD student is almost over next week. Whew! I have come to learn that as a grad student, anywhere there's free food on campus, is the spot you should be at. So i was sitting down jejely when our weekly e-newswire was sent to my inbox, and i saw an ad about this doctoral student needing female research participants to complete a survey, and since i fit into the criteria, i went. BTW, i chopped enough insult from my labmate for actually walking 10 minutes in the cold to go do this. It was some kinda survey on HPV vaccine. Anyway, i was given a Qdoba gift certificate for spending 30 minutes of my precious time completing the survey. I have been participating in so many studies, being a "research subject" a.k.a. guinea pig that give incentives (of course, what kind of a person do u think i am?)as long as they're not injecting me or doing some weird stuff to me. Alas! The life of a lowly grad student.

Back to the gist about the grades. I am teaching/ TA'ing a 300 level research writing class in my department this semester, in addition to taking 3 classes, and being a research assistant. I had to grade the last exam and return it to them by yesterday. Long story short, i started grading 5 am yesterday and by 10:30, i was done with about 50 papers (multiple choice, short answer and essay questions). To say, i was being a mother christmas with the grades would be a serious understatement! Anyway, i zipped through them all, looking for the key points. Got to class yesterday, showed the students their grades, only for many of them to be making comments like, "WOW! I actually did better than i thought i would." I just thought to cut them some slack, since this was the last exam anyway, and trust me i have been a "good" (read: hard) grader all semster long. With that being said, some people still banged it.

The parents come into town soon, so i'm abso-freaking-lutely excited to see them. Can't wait! Anyway, gotta get back to work, and then finish typing up my 20-30 page paper by tomorrow. Lord, i need you to pls help me, 'cos i just have zero motivation and stamina right now.

P.S: Excuse the typos, should there be any. Brain's fried and too tired to proofread.
P.P.S: Y'all lurve me too much, right? And if u think i can't speak proper english, good for you.
Gotta go.

It's been toooooo loooooooooonnnnnnngggggggg, people!

Helloooooooooo people, if there's ever an award for the most unserious and inconsistent blogger ever, i'll win that award hands down. No contest on that! I've been neck deep busy with school work, omo this PhD no be joke o. It has seriously kept me on lockdown. It is glorified, or should i say modern day slavery, but as i have laid my hand to the plough, by the grace of God there's no looking back till i am done. It is tough, no doubt about that. Tough, in the sense that you have to learn to be an expert at managing your time and multi-tasking. I am taking classes now, at the same time i am a teacher's assistant and a doing my research. God is my strength and i know he has not brought me this far to leave me, so with that being said, i am thankful to God for this wonderful opportunity he has given me.

On a lighter note, i have missed blogging, it's ridiculous! I am thinking of making this a private blog, but then it won't be as much fun. I've made quite a number of friends through blogging, and it has been a jolly good ride so far. I know i am no longer annonymous per se, but whatever jare i really have no skeletons in my closet to hide.

I cannot wait for this semester to be over, but then again the work never ends. I hear from the 2 conferences i sent out abstracts to, then i know if the abstracts were accepted or not. My summer will be full. Preparing posters for both conferences, then i start writing the manuscript for publication, and then i am taking a methodology class that runs for a week this summer. Hopefully, i can squeeze in a vacation. Who knows???

My parents are coming, i get to see my mummy and daddy again after 2 years. Fun!

Okay, time to go back to completing this assignment due tomorrow morning. I'll be back people, i promise.

Sing dat song sista gurl

My people, can you imagine it is the last day in September??? Where did this year fly off to, i remember when it was January1. Thank God for his many mercies sha. Anyway, i have boku gist for una. As in, where do i even start from? Okay, first things first i got paid 2 months worth of my stipend, i haven't been paid since i started school in August, so you can imagine i was seriously managing the funds i had. The annoying thing is that more than half of the money is gone, because i have paid all my bills and cleared all my debts, hmm i lied i "think" i still owe my brother $300 (lol). It's so annoying how money just vamooses sha in this country. What the heck is even happening these days to the U.S. financial system??? Wall street saw it coming though, but that's not the koko (crux) of my gist. That's story for another day.

I have been bad o, my people. Let me confess to you people. I had my 1st, 2nd shot of margarita recently. Okay, this was how it started, i was hanging out with my friends, and just chilling and gisting over a plate of hot and spicy wings, that's how my friend ordered a kiddie size cup of margarita on the rocks, so na so i carry my big head, and i told her that i wanted to taste it, so long story short sha, she ended up pouring half of it into my cup. Yeye person like me, i said shebi it's kuku like mango juice, plus it has ice cubes in, so i thought it wasn't that concentrated. I gulped it down. No wahala, i felt alright. I wasn't driving anyways so i could indulge.

Fast forward to yesterday, myself and 2 course mates went to the same restaurant/bar, na so i dey feel like big girl, i ordered a kiddie size margarita on the rocks again, this time around, i drank it all up no sharing with anyone. 5 mins after i was seeing stars, i could barely keep my eyes open, i started being talkative, u know. I wasn't drunk o (maybe a lil' bit crunk LOL) but i was seeing double. I mean it was the smallest size, that i ordered o. In fact alcohol is so NOT for me. I don't know how people do it, but if the "kiddie" size of mango flavored margarita could make me tipsy then i am so not going there again. NO alchie for me, lai lai. Walahi talahi if i had taken one more extra sip, i would have been gone, as in gone (lol). Anyways, that's the story of my life.

So i joined the choir at church, yes o! We have to sing to his glory you know. I am loving every minute of it. As in, i used to slack before that i can't sing bla bla bla, but it's all about singing to his glory. By the way, what is in me that people like me like this, ehn? Abeg if u know me like that, tell me o. I have 3 girl friends here already as in real "paddies" buddy-buddy type of friends that i feel like i have known them my entire life. What else is there to gist y'all about. School is getting to me small small o. I have deadlines, papers to write and so on. I cannot wait for this APHA conference coming up, Cali here i come! I need me some sunshine (lol). I'll be there for a week, also attending SOPHE. I may also attend the ASA conference in Chicago, just that the department isn't giving me travel money, just hotel, for the Chicago trip, so i'll have to cough out about $200 for my ticket. I dunno jere if i want to take out of my meager student stipend, but it'll be so much fuuuuuuuuuuuun!!!

So my advisor (TBB) wants me to have a draft of a publishable literature review paper by Feb. '09. I need to get to work. As in, seriously. God help me. Ah well! My 1st grad school exam is on the 21st so my face will be scarce eyin folks and for some weird reason all my deadlines for school work happen to fall in October. Oh bummer!!! Vacation time is over for me. TERC is still on, so y'all are invited to call in Fridays at 5am EST. The dial in # is 269-320-8200 and the PIN is 210524#. We have a wonderful time in God's presence. If you want to know what TERC is all about, just leave a comment. It started with a group of bloggers getting together via teleconference to fellowship together and share in God's word. We've become like family now, so i am inviting you to come and be a part of the family. Have a blessed weekend people and remain blessed and highly favored!