Thank you!

Happy new year!!!

2017, just like every other year, had its ups and downs for me, and for everyone else, I suppose. I like to concentrate on the positives. That is not to say that I bury my head in the sand, ignore the negatives and pretend that they never happened, no. I believe there is always something to be gained (more like learnt) from every situation, no matter how bad and/or impossible it might seem.

With that in mind, this is me saying I'm grateful for 2017, everybody and everything it brought me. The one aim I wake up with every morning is to become happier and better than I was the past day, the past month, the past year e.t.c. I am very positive that 2017 has left me better and happier(despite Mike Dean's best last munute efforts 😂) than 2016 did.

I'm grateful for my family and friends who love me, care for me even though they don't always understand me and my ways. A lot of people my age face a lot of pressure from family and friends to do things like get married, have kids buy cars or houses or other such pressures, just because other people are doing it. I feel blessed to have family and friends who very rarely put that pressure on me.

I'm grateful for my job, my colleagues and the opportunities they have brought and continues to bring, grateful for the things I've learnt and continue to learn as a result.

I'm grateful for the people who do their best to make me feel welcomed and happy even when I'm the only black person in the room or we barely have a language we speak in common. I'm grateful for the people who make an effort to engage with me even when we have so much cultural differences that it is difficult to find a conversation topic.

I'm grateful to the people who take their time to explain things I don't understand to me, the people who teach me their languages and cultures. Thank you for your patience.

I am grateful for the people who look out for me, even those I dont know. Grateful for the people who still make out time to advice me, even though I sometimes do the exact opposite of what they say (haha), end up down sh!t creek without a paddle and come back to them for even more advice.

I am grateful that I'm part of the Arsenal family. I have learnt a lot about life and met some really beautiful and excellent people as result of following The Arsenal. It really does go beyond football.

I'm grateful for a lot of people/things. There simply isn' enough paragraphs in the world to write about them and how they better my life. Special mentions to people like John Boyega, Chadwick Boseman, Ella, Aaron Ramsey, Seamber, Fums, and Arsene Wenger who inspired me, specially in 2017, in many different ways, from a distance just by living their lives.

I have now made the mistake of naming names and will, no doubt, forget to mention some people. Bare with me. Remember I'm still learning this life thing and still mostly suck at at it. Especially the way normal people do it.

Thank you all!

What do I want in 2018? To be happier and better than I was in 2017.

P.S. thank you all, once again, Carmen, Carolina, Eloisa, David, Pascal, Marianela, Maria Geovanna, Maria Angeles, Clinton, Bede and Easy E. You all in one way or the other and to varying degrees made sure I had one of the best summers ever, sometimes without even knowing it.

Welcome to 2017

Welcome to 2017, most of our favourite celebrities and/or role models died last year. Muhammad Ali? David Bowie? Prince? Alan Rickman? Carrie Fisher? Her mother, Debbie? All dead and gone! there are a host of others too. Put it this way, if your favourite celebrity or role model didn't die last year then you're probably too young or dead already yourself. Anyway, back to 2017, the German chancellor has had to remind the President of the United States of America what the Geneva convention signifies. Britain isn't sure if she still wants to be a part of the EU or not. President Buhari has successfully become the worst Ruler Nigerians have had since 1985 when, well, General Buhari was the head of state of Nigeria. Nigerians elected him though so that says more about us than him.

People still die of hunger all over the world and wars still rage on and on while people who instigate and plan them discover new ways to stay as far away from the battle fields as possible. Every event is now a chance for people to get on the soapbox and peddle their propaganda, no matter how vile it is or how inappropriate the situation might seem. Every publicity has to be taken advantage of, lest people have peace of mind or, God forbid, think for themselves.

Some leaders and people of the most invasive civilizations in history have decided they no longer want people, from the countries invaded to build their civilization, trying to come over to their own countries. How dare they try to flee the hardship, in some cases wars, and try to secure a better future for their children in countries built by/on the blood, sweat and tears of their forefathers? They better go back and join ISIS and their likes (or get killed by ISIS for refusing to join) or die in the crossfire. Either way these bombs have to land on someone.

Cheer up though, it's not all doom and gloom. On the bright side, the field to choose the Cunt Of The Year from is ever increasing. Mourinho is no longer the undisputed champion. Who woulda thunk that a few years ago, eh? Even Piers big M small organ is now way ahead of him in the cunt stakes by a cuntry-mile(not to be confused by "a country-mile"). Tottenham are still in The Arsenal's shadow. Arsene Wenger is still our manager and we've got Ozil. Mesut Ozil. I just don't think you understand.  I mean, he's Arsene Wenger's man, he, really, is better than Zidane, we've got Mesut Ozil.

So cheer up, we might yet be able to salvage our world. There are still a lot of good things and people here with us. I reckon if we feed the world enough love, if we refuse to be swallowed by the hate, eventually love will win. Of course, we will still need to call out the odd unbearable cunt(s) from time to time and demand they be drawn and quartered. We will still lose some 'easy' games and shout "for fucks sake, Theo!" but in the end, love will win if we let love lead.

Some People

Some people are just nice. That’s just who they are or have become. They offer you help, compliments and basically everything they have, not necessarily because they expect you to do the same in their shoes but mainly because they understand what it feels like to be helpless or have nothing.

They remind you how beautiful/handsome you are because they know that sometimes life can make you undervalue yourself. They make extra efforts to stay in touch with you because they value your friendship, not because their lives aren’t busy too.

Some people love you, care for you and long to see you smile because they live for the smile they put on people’s faces. They give you a listening ear not because they would rather not listen to music or birds chirp but because they know how much better you will feel after talking to them and getting things off your chest.

These people stop to help random strangers because they understand that their loved ones, or they themselves, could be tomorrow’s random stranger. They know nice guys don’t get the girl but they just can’t be rude on purpose. They walk away from fights not because they can’t knock you out but because they would feel like shit seeing you bleed.

Some people just won’t argue with you, not because they don’t know you are wrong but because in a war of wits they would rather not fight an unarmed opponent. Some people help without asking for anything in return because they know it’s wrong to take advantage of people. They won’t have sex with your drunk ass because they know alcohol has impeded your senses, not because they aren’t man enough.

Some people live simple lives. They are not to be over-analysed, there are no sinister or ulterior motives behind their actions. With these people there is no pretence, what you see is what you get.

Some people are just nice. They are not stupid. They’re not weak. They are just nice!