You can be stupid, but not THAT stupid.

Regular programming.

I don't know why it's frowned upon, but I think it's perfectly okay to treat people the way they treat you. I don't think it's “calculating”, I just think it's you deciding not to be stupid. Maybe you can afford to not think too much about it the first few times, but after a certain point, you're just being stupid. 

The real question is, why are people so quick to point out when you're doing this and not their weird behaviour that caused it. Of course, this doesn't apply to all circumstances. I'm talking about friendships where you know that this is definitely something this person would know and there's no reason why they should move like that. 

It's even easy to know, right? You'd see it in the way they treat their other friends, how they would show up for them, and for you, it's just… nada. You just know you're not on the same wavelength, and it's only right that you adjust and act accordingly. 

Love given cannot be lost, yada yada. — Right. 

There's a newsletter titled “I’ve never gotten over anything in my entire life” or something like that, and it's true. If you move in an x way, best believe, if the tables are turned, I would move in an x way. It makes perfect sense to me, if you expect a certain thing from me, why didn't you do a certain thing? 

These days, I try to be more honest with how I feel about relationships (platonic and otherwise) because it's easier to navigate them that way. I don't have to act like I'm okay with a certain thing just because that's how we (society) have made it to be. 

The only time this wouldn't happen is if I know you genuinely wouldn't move like that, like there's a reason for your action, or I don't care enough to notice and I think you're chill, so I just interact with you however. 

There are some people I have a soft spot for, I can't explain it. I don't exactly want to be friends with them or care about what's going on, but if I come across something of theirs or see them, I would be excited or just happy to be there. 

People are really interesting. I just remembered how I was printing my project work and this man came into the shop, he also wanted to print. He was coming from the teaching hospital. Apparently, his child was sick, but they couldn't see a doctor. So he just had to buy drugs. 

Anyways, he started complaining about the country and the man who had the shop seemed to get really offended because of that. Apparently, during the elections, the other man was a supporter of the current Nigerian president (Tinubu), not because he was capable or anything, but because they were “brothers”. They are from the same tribe. 

I can't even begin to explain how offended and agitated the owner of the printing shop got. You could see it in the way he started shouting and wouldn't even respond to the other man properly. 

He started talking about one of his friends who got kidnapped recently (a lady). This friend was a supporter of the former Nigerian president (Buhari) and his party. When some people got killed during that administration and people were blaming the president, she was against it. In her words, “why are they blaming him? Is he the one who killed them”, and other insensitive things. He was really offended and they had an argument. 

This man is a funny man because he said that he would just allow her to go through her initial trauma first, she's still shaken and all that, but after all that, he would call her and remind her about what she said. He wished they had shot her leg, at least. I know it's a bit funny and you might think he's being harsh, but it's not. Most people don't even survive things like that but you did, and you're a supporter. Why do you have to survive it?

Back to the man at the shop, they got into a heated argument and the other man said something I thought was really laughable and it's actually how most people think. He said, 

“if you pray to God for Nigeria and it doesn't work, pray to God for your family. so no matter the government, things will go well for your family, so you'll always have food to eat.”

He said a lot of crazy things actually, I can't remember the rest. He also mentioned something about praying to God so you can leave the country, and you guessed it, it was like adding fuel to fire. Rightfully so. 

Not everyone can afford to just leave, I recently had to check how much it would cost, and it's so expensive. How many people have more than NGN5,000,000 in their account? Just lying around. 

How many people can even afford to eat 3 times a day? I would always say that the gap between the rich and the poor in Nigeria is so wide. It's crazy when you go on TikTok or X, you'd see people spending obscene amounts of money on dinner, trips, gadgets, etc. Things that other groups of Nigerians would consider a luxury and would probably never experience in their entire life. You'd just be wondering if we're all living in the same Nigeria.

Actually, we're not. A certain Nigerian content creator once said, “my Lagos and your Lagos are not the same thing”, people were offended, but she's right. Somebody that can afford to fly in and out of the country whenever she wishes is definitely not experiencing what you're experiencing. People expect too much from Nigerian content creators. I can't even call them influencers. 

People that their entire personality is going to the club or an overpriced restaurant everyday, doing GRWM with overpriced ready to wear brands, you want them to relate to you? Please be serious. 

I don't even know how I got here, but back at the shop. Clearly, that man doesn't know how much it would cost to leave the country. He wants to go to Canada, lmao. With his family. His entire solution was to pray, pray, pray. You just need to keep praying. 

In fact, let's not even pray for Nigeria again. Just pray that the government will favour you and your family. It's crazy o, this man was literally coming from a hospital where the doctors WERE ON STRIKE, his daughter is sick and if it was serious, she would probably lose her life if she doesn't get medical attention fast. 

If he had money (to go to Canada), he wouldn't be going to a federal hospital and all these wouldn't exactly affect him, and it would be reasonable for him to talk like that. At this point, he's just losing at every angle and he's somehow defending the government and saying “that’s how Nigeria is. there's nothing we can do, let's keep praying for favour upon our families. all politicians are the same.”

Speaking of prayer and church, I'm looking at a series of messages from someone from my church, and it keeps making me laugh. There's a lot of giving, man. Today, we are giving for XYZ, tomorrow, we are giving for ABC. It never ends. Obviously, the church has to fund their programs somehow, but I don't think always soliciting for funds from your members is the way to go. 

The first question I want to ask is, why do you think I have NGN10,000 to randomly give out every 3-5 days? I don't have a job o. It's not even just me, it's everybody in the church. 

Mind you, everybody is a student. Obviously, some are richer than others, but it's a student church. Everyone is a student. Everyone came here to read book and still develop their relationship with God (in church). At this point, everybody is depending on their parents, not everyone works or is interested in doing that. 

Now, they'll see this and be like, “it’s not about your physical bank account, but what the scriptures say about your finance, faith yada yada”, and that's okay until I say that I will give for it on Monday, and you come back and I tell you that, “unfortunately, I haven't gotten the money even though I've been praying.”

At that point, I will be the problem. Apparently, there's no way I would have been praying and I haven't gotten the money, but I have though and there's no money, lmao. The script changes at that point. I'm now the problem.

Now, the main pastor's birthday is coming up, and as usual, we have to give him a birthday seed, “tapping into his grace” and a show of gratitude for everything he has done? Yeah, basically. Understandable. 

There was something that caught my interest when the pastor was talking about it two Sundays ago. He was basically like, “you’re not doing pastor a favour, he doesn't need your money, [redacted] has a lot of money. [a popular billionaire] even gave him a [an ugly type of car] recently” and for some weird reason, everybody got excited. 

I still don't understand the excitement though. He's rich, yes. In a poor country. That has nothing to do with me. And yes, whether I give or not, it won't make a difference, you know why? Because a lot of other people will give. In thousands. Different currencies, and he's rich because of this system that has been there for years. 

Obviously, this is probably one way he makes his money, and as he rightfully should. He has earned it as a spiritual leader, but don't make it look like it's not the people's money that had an effect on all that. Bro. I and money are a sour topic right now. Instead of asking me for money, just send me money. 

I don't know what I was looking for on the newsletter analytics page, and I somehow ended up on the page where I could see the people who read my newsletters. The emails and all. It was so jarring. 

When I write the newsletter, I don't exactly have any person in my head, I'm just writing (talking), so seeing the names individually was like, this person is subscribed?! omg, what does this person think?! i see this person everyday in school. 

It's so funny, but thank you for subscribing and reading. It means a lot to me. I wish there was a way to see the top newsletter reader. My newsletter wrapped should be out soon. I wonder if they'll include that, but I doubt. Privacy and all, and I can't manually check. I wouldn't be able to do it. This will have to do. 

Photo gallery. 

I hope you had a wonderful week. Let me know all about it. 

See you on the 13th. Bye x.