Category: life

Chicago

I have often found myself glued to the TV whenever I come across a few shows. I made a list of some of these shows and promised myself that I would definitely binge on some of them. One of the shows that seem to intrigue me is Chicago. Maybe it’s because of my appetite for good eye candy. Chicago sure has enough of that. The drama is really entertaining too though. I have gathered a little information about the show and I thought I should share.

Chicago Fire, Med and Pd

In 2012, creators Derek Haas, Dick Wolf and Michael Brandt came together to create a media franchise.  The trio created a franchise known as Chicago. This franchise consists of different programs which focus on public services in Chicago; The Chicago Fire service, Chicago Police Department and The Chicago Medical service.

All about The franchise:

  • Chicago fire – The Chicago fire television series was first aired on the 10th of October, 2012. The show has aired for 10 seasons and continues to be on air till date.  It consists of a total number of 217 episodes. This television series is the first of the franchise and depicts the personal and professional lives of the staff and team of the Chicago fire department at Firehouse 51. These staff and team include the fire fighters, paramedics and rescue personnel. 
  • Chicago P.D – The Chicago P.D series was added to the franchise when it first aired on the 8th of January, 2014. The series is focused on the professional as well as the private lives of the intelligence unit and the uniformed officers of the fictional 21st district of the police department.  The series has been aired for 9 seasons with a total of 186 episodes in total.
  • Chicago Med – The third addition to the franchise is the medical drama; Chicago med.  It was first aired on the 17th of November, 2017 and has been on air for 7 seasons. The series has a total number of 141 episodes.  The drama revolves around the personal and professional lives of the nurses and doctors of the emergency department a fictional hospital called Gaffney Chicago medical center.

More of the franchise

Chicago Justice – this drama series is the fourth of the Chicago franchise. It was created to add a picture of the justice services as relates with the activities of the police department, fire department and medical department of the Chicago franchise. It was aired for only one season and canceled thereafter. The series had 13 episodes in total.

The three drama series consist of a total of 557 episodes. A few times, when these dramas cross each other, it may seem a bit confusing especially since they all seem to be running concurrently and certain persons and places are related in all 3 shows.

Whether you plan to binge or just follow it at your pace, you need to keep it in an order to get the most out of it. The show can be enjoyed separately as well, so don’t let that stop you.

Are you already a fan? Which is your favourite?

The share button

I showed one of my young friends a couple of photos that had popped up as memories on my phone. She went through them with a ‘wow’ for every photo. When she was done she said to me: “You have so many lovely photos and you have never posted them”.

My uncle Charles had so many photos. He would take photos every time. He always had a camera on him. It didn’t matter where he was or what he was doing, he would pause to take a photo if he wanted to. He knew how to capture a moment and keep it alive. I remember one trip I and a few other family members took with him, I was 12 years old then. That trip will always remain alive for me now because I stumbled upon some photos he had taken from that trip many years later and I kept one of them.

I have a bag of photos from when pictures were physical, I have lost a few of them due to bad handling and it is the reason I am grateful for digital pictures.

Last month, my friend Nguwa turned 41 and early in the morning on her birthday, I sent her some videos I had recorded at her 40th. She was ecstatic. It was like she was reliving that day again.

Every now and again I get pop up messages from google photos, reminding me of lovely moments I had captured in the past. Some of these memories make me smile, some make me ponder, others make me sad. Whatever emotion the memories evoke, I enjoy the feeling of being taken back in time.

One beautiful thing I have enjoyed from all the many photos I have taken and kept is how I get to see all the lovely moments I captured of my son in his 9 years.

You don’t always have to use the share button when you take photos or make videos. Save them to keep the memories alive.

Love-hate relationships

Love is the greatest thing in the world. I base this declaration on my own personal life experiences and on 1 Corinthians 13. Love allows us to be free. Love allows us to feel. It also allows us to express ourselves. Often where love exists, every other thing seems to be unimportant.

Hate is a very strong feeling. It has a way of eating us inside and outside too. Where hate exits, everything tends to go wrong.

A love-hate relationship exists when the two emotions occur simultaneously. You find yourself feeling so much love with uncontrollable abandon and then the next moment you completely feel hate. This kind of relationship is really toxic and can cause a person to feel a lot of mental tension.

I have a love-hate relationship with carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are so sweet to my tongue. I particularly love rice. I love beans too and I used to assume it was more protein than anything until I found out that it contains more carbohydrates than rice. The carb content of 100g of rice is 28g while beans sit at 63g.

I hate what carbohydrates do to my body. Whenever I decide to stay off carbs, one week is just enough to get my skin glowing, my waist line showing and my body to stop aching. One day back on carbs and I lose all the progress I made in the whole week. This cycle has left me sad and depressed in some seasons of my life.

I am not so sad about it right now but I am not happy either. One thing I am not confused about is how I feel about this love-hate relationship;

I HATE IT.

Questions

I used to hate questions. Especially when I didn’t have the answers. I would freeze, recoil or do anything to prevent me from facing the shame I felt. To me, it ranked really high among some of the worst things in the world.

Now, I love questions. Interesting and intelligent questions. Especially when I don’t have the answers. They help me think. They make me ask questions and the more awareness I get from the answers, the more excited I get.

I am not certain how this change occurred.

I have been really wondering about this. I found myself listening to an old message by Pastor Steven Furtick. I have listened to this message atleast 3 times in 2 years. In the sermon he spoke about the source of his sermons. He said every sermon often began with a question and in trying to answer the question, a lot of things would begin to unravel and be revealed.

I think the sermon may have influenced how I feel about questions.

A few weeks ago my husband asked me a question. I was not certain about the answer but i did hazard a guess. In my usual new pattern, I began to ask the necessary questions. I used my guess as a basis for my research. It turned out that the guess was actually like a  champagne cork to the answer to his enquiry. All the answers came gushing out and it gave me a lot of good things to think about.

I love questions. They make me wiser.

blogtober

I created a WordPress blog page in 2009, I was excited because I had been yearning to find a place to write down and also share with others all the ideas I always had in my head.

I have no idea what happened. I want to say procrastination; I also want to say that I was afraid I wouldn’t know how to express my thoughts properly. You see, I have never been a fluent orator; and so I assumed my writing would not be so fluent as well. I didn’t get to write any word on my blog till February 2021, 12 years later.

It was the same year I heard of blogtober. I asked myself if I thought I could make an attempt. The answer was a flat out NO.

What is blogtober?

This is a worldwide event amongst bloggers. The aim is to click the publish button every day in the month of October. This does not require just clicking the publish button with empty content. Readers will definitely expect to get interesting information, tips, stories and lots more from you.

There’s no price or award for participating or completing a blogtober challenge. There is no competition. It is more or less a personal challenge.

Am I ready for blogtober in 2022? Oh YES. This year, I have lots of ideas and thoughts penned down to share and I hope they interest you as much as they interest me.

So this is my introductory blog for the month of October.

I would like you to hang in here.

Click the follow button to receive notifications daily.

#blogtober #ilovewriting #writerschallenge #october #blogging

Hurting with Hope

A couple of months ago, I started a Bible reading plan with 4 amazing women. It was a 6 day plan that was meant to run from June 4th through June 9th. Some how, I didn’t go along with them. I decided to catch up some days ago.

It turned out that I really needed the words from the plan in this point of my life. I am sharing a word from day two and I am hoping someone needs it as much as I needed it.

Day 2: The Invisible World

At any given moment, there’s always more going on than what we can see with the naked eye. If you’ve ever spent any time stargazing, you know this is true. On a cloudless, dark night, when you are far from civilization, it’s possible to see as many as five thousand stars. But on a cloudy night you might not see hardly any. That doesn’t mean they aren’t there—there are always stars in the sky—you just can’t always see them. So it is spiritually. You must not rely on the naked eye. Faith is the telescope that allows us to see the spiritual realities at play all around us.

The apostle Paul taught about this in one of his letters:

We do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18).

Every moment of every day, you are in an invisible battle that rages on—as real as the ancient ones you read about in history class and as current as the clips shown on the evening news. This is the war: every moment of every day, we must make the all-important choice of whether we will rely on the naked eye.

Will you trust what we can see is there or believe what God says is there?

Hurting with Hope – Levi Lusko

I shared it with my sister and she had this to say:

“I always want to believe and choose to believe that everything is working for my good even though I don’t see it.

That there’s a plan, a carefully laid out process that I’m being led through by God to get to where he’s taking me.
… but the journey with God, from my own experience hasn’t been straightforward. It’s been hard, I know, for all of us here but I’ve come to see that it’s part of the process of building us into the person he wants us to be”.

Conversations

I love conversations. I think they are very interesting and underrated. I love conversations so much that I am often drawn to movies that have excellent conversations. The before trilogy (Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight) is a good choice if you want to see any movie with good conversations. What really gets me going in a conversation is the Intelligent back and forth. When this is lacking, it makes me want to shut down. Without the back and forth, there is no conversation.

If you are like me and you enjoy a good back and forth discussion then one person you may not want to get into a conversation with is a conversational narcissist. These people unconsciously or consciously make the conversation one sided. They grab hold of the discussion and dominate it. It doesn’t matter how long it’s going to be, they are going to be doing the talking and they very well expect you to listen. They will most likely strip it of its initial content and take it to something they are knowledgeable about.

Some of us talk to each other but we do not have conversations. We drop our words and that’s that. Maybe we do not know how to proceed from there or perhaps we are not really interested in making conversation. If the latter is the case, then, that’s out of my scope. However, if you appreciate a good conversation and you would love to have a few good ones, then, I may have a few helpful tips for you.

A few things you may want to note;

  • A conversation is a sharing of thoughts and ideas between two or more people.
  • Not everyone wants to have a conversation. When you are around such people, don’t force it.
  • There must be back and forth. You talk, they listen and respond. They talk, you listen and respond.
  • An argument is not a conversation.

Tips For Having A Good Conversation

  • Listen: The easiest way to get a conversation going is in the listening. When we listen to each other, we are able to ask meaningful and relatable questions that get the conversation going.
  • Pay attention to details: sometimes a little detail can give meaning to other bigger details.
  • Make and maintain eye contact: This is one reason i do not like phone conversations. Maintaining eye contact often shows interest. Growing up, I had eye contact anxiety and I am still working on it, but I realised over the years that I enjoy my conversations when I make reasonable eye contact. This allows me assess your concentration and interest in the conversation.
  • Ask questions and listen to the response: it is one thing to ask a question and it is another thing to actually listen to the response. When you ask a question, listen to the response without interrupting. You can note your comment down and do so after they may have finished speaking. It is always good to ask open ended questions to allow the person you are conversing with go beyond a yes or no response.
  • Don’t force your ideas and opinions on others: Conversations are an avenue to learn new things and also unlearn some. What is known and acceptable to you may not be the same for others. Give room for difference in opinions.

Whether it is an online or physical meeting, text or a phone call, if you want to enjoy good conversations, it would be nice to note and try out the tips above. I have been trying them too and I like how things are going so far.

Story of my likes

Last week Tuesday, on the 23rd day of August 2022, I turned 40 years old. For this milestone, I baked for myself a four tier cake; one tier for every decade.

I had made at least three different sketches of what I wanted the cake to look like and on the fourth sketch, I had just what I wanted. The cake was meant to be a combination of the things that make me happy.

To determine the components and to properly plan this cake, I had to go through my mind to find out exactly what makes me happy. Coincidentally, my pastor thought it was the best time to take a few weeks to teach on happiness, a topic he has never taught on before. I decided I was on the right track. Praise God.

What did I find? I found that I was usually happy when I knew I was in the right place with Jesus. That place where you are certain He is smiling at you and giving you a pat on the back. I also found that I am really happy when I know that He is in control and I have nothing to worry about in my mind and soul. I found that my heart literally swells when I feel His presence. I didn’t know how to put that on a cake. That was the moment I decided I would spend that day telling of the goodness of God in my life at a breakfast prayer meeting. I did and I enjoyed it.

What did I put on the cake? On the cake, I decided I would put up things that keep me going in this busy and tedious world we live in. The things that keep me going when I am stuck or when I need a push. Things that help me relax after a long hard day. I found five things; coffee, wine, books, music and motion pictures.

The cake

The Base: On this tier, I made four roll ups of some of my favourite motion pictures (films and series) like Seinfeld, The Office, Downton Abbey, The Big Bang Theory, Mamma Mia and lots more. On the body of this tier, I placed screenshot images of songs by Dierks Bentley, Maverick City Music, Elevation Worship, Brett Young and so many other lovely musicians.

The Second Tier: This tier displayed a few of my favourite books to appear as though they were on a shelf. My favourite book is The Purpose Driven Life.

The Third Tier: I made this tier in the shape of a barrel. I love to have a good glass of wine or whiskey at the end of the day, especially a very hard day. I think it is one of the reasons I love Olivia Pope.

The Top Tier: This, I made in the shape of a Nescafe coffee cup. It is how I start a good number of my days.

This is the story of my likes, crowned by Grace from my God. These are the things that keep me happy.

What are your likes? What makes you happy?

This is 40

Seasons change. The first time I heard this was in the Fugees song ‘how many mics’. In one of the verses, they followed it with the words ‘madness rearranged’. In my opinion, this isn’t false. Madness is just rearranged daily…it kind of gives us drama to balance our daily lives. My focus however is on ‘seasons change’.

A season is a period in a year, signified by a particular kind of weather. We all experience at least four seasons in a year. From my corner of the world, it is basically hot dry, rainy, dry and harmattan. I have experienced these seasons 39 times. This means I have experienced at least one hundred and fifty six seasons in my life time. I am thankful to God for seeing me through these seasons. However, it is the other seasons of my life that I am most grateful for.

In Ecclesiastes 3:1, we learn that ‘for everything, there is a season’

In our daily lives, we experience seasons. Dry seasons, trying seasons, happy seasons, sad seasons, breaking seasons and building seasons, waiting seasons, growing(mental, emotional and physical) seasons and so many more. No matter what season I have found myself in, one thing has always remained the same; I have had the faithful Hand of God on me in every season of my life.

I am super thankful to God for my current season. It is a season where I have experienced the best days in several areas of life, all at the same time.

I know that I still have many more seasons ahead of me. Some previous seasons will resurface and some new seasons will surface. Whatever may come, I pray the great Hand of God never leaves me.

On this beautiful day, as I turn 40 in this beautiful season, I continue to sing my song of the season; The Story I’ll Tell by Maverick City Music (feat. Naomi Raine).

Happy Birthday Mimi Stacey Terver-Bossua

Grocery Store or Supermarket?

A lot of people often do not know that there is a difference in the names of the places they do their shopping at. You could run into a person who can easily say they are off to the grocery store but then you find that they actually went to the supermarket to stock up on their toiletries. There is a clear distinction between these two places.

The difference between grocery stores and a supermarkets lies solely with the items stocked and sold. While the grocery store has only foods and all edibles, the supermarket stocks everything possible from food to household item and clothes and lots more.  This means that if you are looking to stock up on food only, your stop should be a grocery store but if you plan to stock on food and other things, then you definitely should be heading for a supermarket.

To identify the difference between a grocery store and a super market, we need to really get a good picture of what one is.

Grocery store:  

This kind of store usually stocks and sells all kinds of food items. These foods range from fresh out of the farm foods to packaged and ready to make or eat foods.

  Every grocery store has the following sections and more

  • Meat – this includes all variety of protein. Beef, chicken, fish, pock etc.
  • Produce – these include Fruits and vegetables, they are usually fresh off the farm
  • Diary – this isle or section displays cream, butter, milk, cheese, custard and the rest of its kind.
  • Bakery – grocery stores always stock up on breads, croissants, cakes, pies and more or they have a bakery within and they bake them themselves.
  • Canned food – foods in this section are canned meat/fish, diced tomatoes, olives and lots more.
  • Frozen food – these are food that you get to defrost at home. E.g. frozen fruits and vegetables, shrimp, ice cream etc.
  • Beverages – grocery stores always stock up on non-alcoholic beverages and alcoholic drinks too if licensed to sell alcohol.
  • Bottled and packed items like Breakfast cereals, cake mix, pet food, salad dressings, oils, ketchup, mustard etc.

Supermarket:

This is a very large store that stocks up and retails general goods. One distinctive characteristic about a supermarket is that you get to serve yourself by moving through shelves and isles to pick your items on your own. The range of items at a supermarket is very large. There is almost everything available. One stop at a supermarket can get you sorted out in your personal needs, food needs, home maintenance needs and much more.

The super market is usually arranged in sections to enable the shoppers to find their items very easily and also for proper organization. These sections include:

  • Groceries – in this section, all items available at grocery stores can be found here. The grocery area usually takes a huge portion of the supermarket because it is a section of the market with sections of its own.
  • Household – these shelves display detergents, cleaning supplies, diapers and more. Some large appliances even have kitchen ware and household appliances like bread toasters, blenders or even washing machines available for purchase.
  • Personal health and care – here you would find items like cosmetics, perfumes, hair products and general toiletries.
  • Textile – a wide variety of clothes and garments are found shelves and hangers in this section. These include children’s clothing and shoes too.
  • Magazines/books – a wide array of books and magazine usually fill this section. A wide range of genre is usually covered so that gets to find something that interests them.
  • Toys – children’s toys and event adult toys.
  • Pharmacies – some supermarkets often include a pharmaceutical section for people will such needs.

Distinctive Differences Between Grocery Store And Supermarket

  1. Items stocked and sold – while the grocery store specializes in one category, which is food and drinks, the supermarket has no restriction to the items it sells, it has a very wide range of items and products.
  2. Size – a supermarket is usually much larger than a grocery store.
  3. Location – grocery stores are often located in neighborhoods and meet the immediate community’s needs.
  4. Ownership – grocery stores are often owned by families or small businesses while supermarkets are almost always owned by large companies and/or organizations.

One reason why it is more difficult to tell the difference between the two is that as time changes and things change with it, people are beginning to alter the way things used to be. Like a grocery store for example. Some grocery stores tend to stock up on items that are not food related, maybe because it can turn in a good profit. These items are displayed on isles where you will not miss them, like cards, books, magazines, key holders, handkerchiefs and many other quick buy items. So now, people do not know that it is meant to be specialized to a category of products only.