Christmas with The Goos

At this moment, I'm listening to my Riffs playlist filled with the lovely sounds of The White Stripes, 12 Stones, Muse, Vampire Weekend, Linkin Park, Sixpence None The Richer, Queen, Santana, POD, GS Megaphone and U2.

Papa Goo got back this morning from an 8 day location shoot and is still unpacking.

The Goo is running laps around the couch, watching TV and yelling commentary at us.

We have a tree and those shiny, ruffly, spangly Christmas equivalents of feather boas on our walls and 4 sets of Christmas lights. They are all on.

Because The Goo requested it.

It is Christmas Eve and I'm chilling, bracing myself for the last bit of work before Christmas Day proper. The last bit of ironing and folding; the last bit of sorting out the parlour and dining table; the last bit of cooking.

This is the first Christmas where it's just the 3 of us - me and my two Goos. I'm doing the traditional (Ghomorai) Christmas breakfast, and that's the best part of the day for me. After that, anything goes.

Merry Christmas!

Here's Timi!

Before you say anything, let me explain - the modem in the house overheated, melted and died. We didn't get it replaced till sometime this month, and The Goo has been sick with illnesses that I've been assured are pretty run of the mill for toddlers.

So basically, I couldn't get online and then I was busy and not mentally here and now I'm just exhausted.

However, the 2014 Reading Schedule for The (Unnamed) Book Club is ready and it's a happy place for me so I got over my tiredness to share this.

Drum roll, please.

January - No Longer At Ease by Chinua Achebe
February - This is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz
March - Fine Boys by Eghosa Imasuen
April - The Neverending Story by Micheal Ende
May - The Housemaid by Amma Darko
June - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
July - White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi
August - Emma by Jane Austen
September - Yellow Yellow by Kaine Agary
October - Young Wives' Tales by Adele Parks
November - Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor
December - From 3rd World to 1st World: The Singapore Story by Lee Kuan Yew

I'll put up book covers when I review (I will, I will!).

In other news, guess who read 300 books this year *dusts shoulder*

2013 Reading Challenge

Timendu has
completed her goal of reading 300 books in 2013!

hide

306 of 300 (100%)

view books

Booyah!

My next post, I'll let you know what my favourite books were, beyond the obvious 5 star ratings and why.

Merry Christmas, people!

PS. Eat some cake and drink a coke for me. Gracias!

It's been a while

Holla!

Happy 53rd Independence Day, Nigerians!

What do we have to be happy about? Life and Hope. At all, at all, na winch!

Anyway, this is what I've been up to:

2013 Reading Challenge

Timendu has
read 225 books toward her goal of 300 books.

hide

225 of 300 (75%)

view books

This is what I'm reading now:

Timendu's bookshelf: currently-reading

Surprised by Joy

by C.S. Lewis

tagged:
currently-reading

Anna Karenina

by Leo Tolstoy

tagged:
currently-reading

Amplified Bible

by Anonymous

tagged:
currently-reading

The Message Remix

by Anonymous

tagged:
currently-reading

On Black Sisters Street: A Novel

by Chika Unigwe

tagged:
currently-reading

And this is my current playlist:
Once More With Feeling

• Dog days are over - Florence and The Machine
• When it gets down to it - Fred Hammond
• What the water gave me - Florence and The Machine
• Ring a bell - Late Night Alumni
• Hope is rising - Downhere
• The sun is shining - Third Day
• Breathe slow - Alesha Dixon
•  Love song - Third Day
• Supermassive black hole - Muse
• Loved on me - Fred Hammond
• Till it happens to you - Corrine Bailey Rae
• Automatic - Tokio Hotel
• Atmosphere (remix) - DC Talk
• Reformation - GS Megaphone
• Sing, sing, sing - Chris Tomlin
• A Thousand Years - Christina Perri
• Stronger - Mary J. Blige
• In my place - Coldplay
• Don't wait - Kaskade feat. Haley
• Letters from the sky - Civil Twilight
• Poison and Wine - The Civil Wars
• We are hungry/I will not be silent - Jesus Culture

I've also been writing but I won't be sharing it with you yet. Let's just say it's some kind of weird, not totally made up Ijaw mythology. So if you've got stories of any unusual weird occurrences by the waterside, drop me a line.

Thanks.

Oh, and Papa Goo's movie TABLOID for EbonyLife TV (Channel 165 on DSTV) will be airing on the 6th of October. That's in 4 days. Make sure you watch it!

Conversations with Myself

Me: I want a coke.

Myself: Take water.

Me: But I really want a coke.

Myself: Water is better.

Me: Cooooke!

Myself: How about fruit juice? Or fruit?

Me: Fruit juice? Hmm.

Myself: Better than a coke.

Me: Hmm. Coke.

Myself: How about a malt?

Me: Hmm. Maaalt.

Myself: Yup. Malt.

Me: I'd rather have a coke.

Myself: Why don't you just get yourself a coke?

I am now drinking a coke.

In other news, Hey! It's been a while. No, I have not been avoiding you. I've just been mostly knackered. All I had energy for after taking care of The Goo and Papa Goo was to read.

 

   

      2013 Reading Challenge
   

       

         
       

     

        Timendu has
             read 138 books toward her goal of 300 books.
     

     

       

hide

     

     

        138 of 300 (46%)
     

       

          view books
       

 

   

So that's what I've been up to.

Oh yeah, and I've upped my challenge goal back to 300. Fun times!

I know I should say something about my writing but honestly, I don't want to. I will say, I ALWAYS expect things to be easy - school, marriage, childbirth (no words!), writing a book, but they NEVER are.

So...that's all folks!

The 200 Book Reading Challenge

2013 Reading Challenge

Timendu has
read 37 books toward her goal of 200 books.

hide

37 of 200 (18%)

view books

Yes, I changed my goal again. Let's face it, if I'm going to be reading all those romance novels (and I will), then the tally is going to go up rather quickly. Romance novels are definitely smack dab in the middle of my comfort zone, and since I'm trying not to over indulge with chocolate, cake, or chocolate cake, then well...hello Nora!

Also, this past week I was kinda sorta under the weather - nauseous, poor appetite, insomnia, headaches - bring on the comforting. That's not to say, I won't try to expand my horizon and read things I would normally not read. However, I won't lie...I really like my comfort zone.

In other news, work has resumed. I've started on the wrong foot and am behind schedule, but that should be sorted out by tomorrow. I've decided to put my personal feelings aside, and be a disciplined professional. Yup. A Disciplined Professional.

I'm not entirely happy with my prep work for Good Intentions, but I have to start. Writing is rewriting, I've been told, so I suppose I should just jump to it.

Wish me luck. I'm actually a little nervous.

PS. I write the weekly column Rita's Road for Poise Finishing School's insert in Business Day newspaper (every Tuesday). If you could check it out, and let me know what you think, I would really appreciate it. Muchos Gracias, and have a great week.

Happy New Year!

Hey! Hey! Hey! It's 2013.

Welcome to the New Year.

I didn't put up a post earlier because I was not so compelled, and also because I was recovering from crossing over. Normally, it takes me a day of sleeping it off, but with a toddler who we shall call SuperGoo, well, let's just say I'm still sleepy.

Anyway, it's the New Year. And as a good citizen of Earth, I should have plans and goals. Well, gosh darn it, I do!

This is the year of my 300 Book Reading Challenge. Ridiculous, I know, but if it were feasible like a 52 Book Reading Challenge, then I wouldn't be interested. I'm one of those 'dream the impossible dream' people. A recipe for heartache, I tell you, but ooh what a rush. So far, I have finished one book - Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I enjoyed it. It was a delightful romp with angels, demons, switched babies, and what I consider, a very cheeky premise.

I'm in the middle of Francine Prose's How to Read Like A Writer, and have just read the first seven chapters of The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin for The (Unnamed) Book Club. Expect an update on that soon.

Writing goals? Well, The Plan was to improve my craft while writing six short stories from January to June, and then write Good Intentions from July to December. But, then, I read Good Omens which made me dream up a totally unrelated idea that haunts me. So, the six short stories have been given the bump for Good Intentions, then I will write The Other Story from July to December. I hear you! Foolhardy. Sigh. I'm an all or nothing sort of girl.

Oh Lord, let it not be nothing.

On the Writing for Hire front, things are still kinda up in the air, but I would very much like to work only for the first six months of the year, then use the remaining months to focus on Writing for Myself. At least, that was the plan when I was doing the Six Short Stories and A Novel thing. Now...errr...

On the Weight Loss Goal, I would like to lose 10kg but 5kg would not be bad. I would like to go down two dress sizes, but one would be satisfactory. What's the plan? Well, I thought I would Zumba, Skip, Swim and do some Yoga. You know, slow and steady type of thing. However, Papa Goo got me the Insanity Workout DVD. Yay!

No. Not really.

Sigh. So we'll see.

Ah, well, Happy New Year!