Emeli Sande - Read All About It Part 3

you've got the words to change a nation but you're biting your tongue

I think you are owed an update

For anyone who actually was interested in this blog, I am sorry I didn't nurture it as much as I should have.

But today feels like a good day to let you know how life has been.

2010 was a tough year for me and 2011 started much in the same way. I more or less dropped out of Cardiff uni under the pretense of a gap year. I want to say I didn't achieve anything in that year but that would be a lie...a lot that was broken in my life got fixed to the glory of God. So 2011 went from bad to awesome pretty quickly. That isn't to say the journey wasn't difficult, because it was. By the end of 2011 I had revisited the motherland, Nigeria, for the 1st time in 6 years. And most importantly I was back in uni...only this time I'm in Dubai!

All honesty, it's over rated but I'm loving life...one can't complain...much. Now I'm coming towards the end of my first year and it is all very exciting. In the past few months I taking a step closer to overcoming stage fright, won a creative writing competition (my 1st ever might I add) and made some really amazing friends.

So glory be to God.

You most certainly deserve an update!

Well I have be negligent haven't I few but faithful?? To be honest it wasn't solely my fault. So much going on in the world and in my world...you know how life always seems to get in the way of living...

Any way let me save us all some time and fill you in.  First of all I have returned to university...but things are a bit different now. I'm in Dubai!!! Sounds wonderfully exhilarating doesn't it?? You really shouldn't judge a place by its travel brochure. Don't misunderstand: it's a beautiful place to go on holiday, but my goodness can it rear its ugly head when you live there??!! It's terribly expensive too!

But university is fun. I have a roommate which is interesting but nice. I am trying to stay me this time but still have fun. I'm getting more confident about many things in life. Most importantly i am trying to stay close to God which is difficult to say the least :/ But I have no doubt that He will guide and strengthen me. Pray for me. I need it

Becoming Aware of God

Twice now I have become fully aware of God’s many mercies upon my life. He accepts me.

The fact that He even permits me into His presence after I have defiled and blasphemed against:

1.       Him

2.       His temple

3.       His word…

I have redirected my blessings to satisfy self and flesh.

I never understood the mind-set of true believers. They always seemed so hurt and genuinely moved by sin, ignorance, blasphemy and other evils of the world. Then I saw the true blessings of God and I began to understand Your word. I started to see how our sins hurt You, Father! I realised that sin not only destroyed us and our relationship with You, but they hurt You so much because Your children, Your creation, are totally ignorant of Your existence and Your true love for them. We don’t even believe in the sacrifice that You have made. We live in the world that You have made for us! Yet we can’t acknowledge Your existence. You have given so much. You have sacrificed so much. But what have we given to You? How do we repay You for all that You do? How do we acknowledge and reverence You? Wait…do we even acknowledge or reverence You? Our excuse is that the world is imperfect; we are imperfect, yes. Through sin we are…but through Christ, God sees perfection in us.

We do not understand that Your mercies departed from us. If we were truly deserted by You Lord, WE WOULD BE NOTHING. My imagination [as excitable as it gets and as blessed as I am with it] cannot even begin to fathom how empty, pointless, irrelevant, deserted our lives would be. Words cannot express that image.

                                WE WOULD BE NOTHING

                                WE WOULD BE DESERT LAND

                                WE WOULD BE HELL PERSONIFIED…

Because the absence of God is Hell.

All that I am is You Lord

                                I just truly understood what that means. You increase my knowledge and thirst for You and I appreciate You for that Lord.

I Predict A Riot

So the riot started in London and spread to other parts of the UK. For me and other residents of the country, there is tension and panic in the air. The media coverage is appalling by the way...I tuned in to the BBC naively expecting them to be neutral like they always claim to be. But the newsreader was extremely patronizing to someone she was interviewing, and she actually backed up his point.

He was trying to explain that the riots were going to happen anyway. He was trying to make her understand that it was brewing underground and that the youths were rebelling because they were unhappy. She tried to turn this on him by claiming that he was in support of the riots which he denied. But she kept pushing and of course he snapped:

"...have some respect for an old west indian negro and stop accusing me of rioting...u just sound idiotic..."

Apart from that we have a vast array of ignorant politicians including our very own Prime Minister and his house help/Deputy. The newsreaders keep telling us to expect a speech. Yes. Words are what we need now...not action. We are also told to expect the return of the Mayor of London seeing as he has been of so much help to us in the past.

Speaking of action, police action is messed up. The London prisons are filled up and they are transporting people to other parts of Britain....not that this is in anyway a waste of time or valuable resources.

The thing is the devastation is there though many are still trying to turn a blind eye. And this stopped being about alleged trigger happy cops and a black man's shooting a long time ago...if it was the riots would have started a while back. That was just the straw that broke the camel's back. People are aggravated, tired, confused, concerned, shocked. Things need to be done. Actions need to be taken. Political speeches of ignorance are of no help to us now.

I've suddenly gotten really busy...

I'm writing a gospel album o.O

I'm working on a youth project for church :D

I'm writing an article :D <3

I'm writing a short story based on an aspect of my life :D :S

So yh busy busy busy. Which is good right?? WRONG!! lool

Well its kinda 50/50

Don't get me wrong, I love writing. It's my passion. It's all I am genuinely good at. It's God's gift to me and I am thankful. But recently I feel like I've bitten of more than I can chew. Plus my old friend writer's block has resurfaced. Pray for me I think I'm gonna need it.

MUCH LUVINGS TO U <3

The Music of the Future

The first thing I remember about the black beauty with crazy feet and a memorable voice that I now know as Janelle Monae, was the nostalgic energy of her music. It was like watching a female reincarnation of Little Richard. Her current album The ArchAndroid is a bold display of her imaginative journey, compiled with her many musical influences. At first look, the album is simply a surreal musical spectacle. But her unique take on traditional themes such as inequality, romance, war and the future, as well as the way she paints pictures with her music, overrides this knee jerk response. Her music doesn’t necessarily cross boundaries as much as it erases them. She joins a small selection of artists to successfully explore blends of genres such as Afro Punk. As you listen to the album, you can hear the diverse genres she explores and masters. From Classical through to Rock, her eclectic taste spans across musical generations. Nevertheless these mergers of varying genres intertwine seamlessly in Monae’s album and the transition from song to song is very fluid. Her malleable voice tells a structured story with her music as well as her lyrics that makes the album unmistakably hers. Her voice is so versatile that it can be embedded comfortably in many genres and still sound original. Her sentiments of wanting to use music as an instrument for change are evident in the lyrics of her songs. Therefore Monae’s album can be described on a whole as euphoric and overwhelming.

I wrote this for a friend...I still don't know what he wanted it for...but here it is :) enjoy <3