Surprise someone Today

                                                   

Last week Thursday, I decided go on a two-hour trip with a friend to North Baltimore, Ontario. In order to surprise a mutual friend on his birthday as a way of appreciating him for how good he has been to us since we arrived Canada. 

The following Saturday (his birthday), we needed to get him out of the house for a long time so we could get the place set up without him suspecting anything. So we connived with his son to keep him in town for a little longer than normal, since they were only supposed to go to church and return home after two hours, but we needed about four hours to get things set for the party. Thankfully, his son Noah was able to do just what we asked him to.

So when they were out of sight, we got to bake the birthday cake and iced it, prepared his favorite dishes and decorated the house so it was ready for a birthday party. This took us approximately four hours on the dot. Later in the day, when he came back home, we surprised him and sang happy birthday songs to him, we also made him blow out a candle on his birthday and told him to make a wish, then we presented our gifts. I was the DJ of the event where I thrilled the group with mostly Nigerian musicals, we all danced and made merry. Later on we sat down to eat. At the end of the day the celebrant was really excited and appreciated our gifts and he said our gifts were exactly what he needed at the time.

After all this, it dawned on me that people love surprises because it shows that someone cares about them. No matter how little it is, it’s the thought that counts. Everyone should try to be nice to people, this can be done by simply saying hello to someone with a smile on your face, giving someone a hug, complimenting someone or offering to buy the individual a drink or food.

You never can tell how far a simple kind gesture can go in making someone’s day. If there is one thing I know it’s the fact that this world is a small place. You can never tell when next you will be the one in need of a kind gesture, and you could stumble upon an individual who you had offered assistance to in the past and the person would definitely want to do something nice for you in return.

I challenge you guys to go out there today and do something nice for someone.

Beautiful Nature

                                        
                                                   A remarkable view of Niagara Falls


A few of my course mates and I recently went on a road trip to two major cities and three major water falls; The Tews falls, Webster falls and Niagara falls. Of all the water falls the most outstanding was the Niagara Falls. 

Upon arrival at the city of Niagara the rain started falling but that didn't deter us as we went into the one of the shops at the Niagara Falls and purchased rain coats and proceeded to the falls.

I have to tell you it was an incredible sight to behold, I haven’t seen anything as beautiful as that in a while. It made me believe in God the more. No wonder it is among the Seven Wonders of Canada.Everyone should go visit the breathtaking Niagara Falls even if it just once in their lifetime as it was indeed a great experience for me. In fact, I am planning to visit again the next time around I hope to spend the weekend.

For the love of Shoes!

I have always loved shoes for the earliest part of my life but things changed when I turned 15 years old and had to buy shoes for senior year in high school. I discovered that shopping for shoes for people with big feet was a herculean task especially in Nigeria. This was partly because we did not have a wide array of designer shoe shops to choose from like is the case in foreign countries. I often found that I would spend basically the whole day in the market trying to get a nice pair of shoes that would fit me. Most times whoever accompanied me will be so sick and tired of walking around all day and often ended up vowing never to accompany me again.

There were occasions when I would go shoe shopping and go back home empty handed because no shoe was a right fit. Subsequently shoe sections were my least favourite shopping destination. During my travail I found out that an average lady’s shoe size was a size six or eight. Unfortunately mine was a 10 for flats and 11 or 12 for a high heels. Although been a big size also had its good side because I know myself, if I were to have been two sizes smaller I would have been a shoe addict.

That is why recently when I came across this article about ladies getting reconstructive plastic surgery in order to fit into designer shoes grabbed my attention because it affects my directly.For more information click on this link https://shine.yahoo.com/fashion/modern-cinderellas--women-are-having-surgery-to-make-designer-shoes-fit-211107332.html

On a more constructive note is having big feet a deformity? No one should carry out a surgical operation just because it’s trendy to have a small size feet and besides it is an expensive procedure. Feet are a unique part of one’s body I feel are there to compensate for your body weight and should be appreciated and properly taken care of. It could also look good when you get the right shoe size for your feet. I advocate that one appreciates the feet God has given them. But, if you have the money and you feel that you genuinely have a low self-esteem because you have big feet, then you can go ahead and get a surgery as for me I have learnt to live with and appreciate mine.

Hot Topic

I never knew eating on tubes was such a taboo until I came across this bizarre Facebook group with over 25, 000 members “Women Who Eat on Tubes.” This ludicrous group captures pictures of unsuspecting women in London who eat on tubes and then posts them on its Facebook page stating the exact subway line, time and location where the photograph was taken.

I am not one who loves eating on tubes but sometimes you are so busy that the only opportunity you have to eat is when you are on transit. I would guess that is the reason these women have been eating on the tubes. However, it seems the Facebook group has something else on its mind when they see women eating on tubes, it seems they see it as Wildlife photography and as such describe it as Art. As was stated by the founder of the group Tony Burke who insisted that his project was not offensive or misogynistic. I personally think that is a lame excuse to cover up his act since he has witnessed the backlash his group has received from feminists and the media.

This all started in 2011, although the site made headlines last week after journalist Sophie Wilkinson wrote a story describing how she felt "hurt and humiliated" after a man took her photo while she ate her lunch on the tube, and posted it on the Facebook page.

"I'd like to know the name of her finishing school," read a comment under her image.

 "I was the butt of a joke without my knowledge, in front of thousands of strangers. I'd been 'stranger-shamed'" she responded.

In less than a week, Lucy Brisbane McKay and Alexis Calvas had planned last week’s protest, which had garnered almost 500 attendees on the Facebook event.

Armed with a wicker picnic basket and a vintage suitcase filled with bananas, the pair passed out the fruit to protesters, both female and male, in the tube carriage.

While some munched on humble sandwiches and steadied themselves by holding onto the carriage poles, other hungry activists sat with full-spreads of sushi with signs reading "I eat on the tube" propped up against them. At each station, people would join the group with their lunch in hand. The aim of the protest was to eat on the tubes and show the jovial nature of eating on tubes.

Apart from the fact that it is an unfair, sexist and an invasion of privacy meted out against innocent women, this practice is also downright stupid. And that is why I am happy about the protest that took place last week to stop this wrong doing. I know you can’t stop people from acting insane, but I think there can be strict rules or measures put in place in order to stop this inhumane act. If possible I would like Facebook to finally put an end to this group.

What do you guys think?

My extracurricular activities

I am proud to say that I have gotten through the toughest terrain in the Corporate Communications and Public relations (C.C.P.R) program which was last month (February). Where we had to start a blog, write a communicator report, track a Journalist, present a start- up proposal, rebrand a company(LCD)  and lots more in total we had roughly 15 assignments and I survived. That is not to say there are no more assignments. It is just that the work load has reduced a bit so there is little time to explore and mingle in this beautiful city and so I will be giving you an overview of all of the beautiful places I have visited so far in Toronto.

My first major outing was the Comi con at the Toronto Metro centre, this activity wasn’t even planned. I had gone to a married friend’s house for brunch and her son wanted to attend the Toronto Comi com festival and I was invited to come along which I gladly accepted, because it was a great opportunity to get to know the city of Toronto a little more. At first I had the impression that it was a kid event. But when I got there I was surprised to see adults all dressed up in their favorite comic costumes, in fact they outnumbered the kids in attendance.

Some Executive Producers of these Comi con were in attendance and there were signage stands. I got to socialize and take pictures with some of them. Over all it was a nice gathering and I enjoyed it.

 

 

CN tower

The next day my friend Gbenga and I decided to go to one of Canada’s great tourist sites the CN tower and Ripley’s Aquarium, I thought why not use one stone and kill two birds, besides they were both within a walking distance from each other both located in downtown Toronto. So I saw the tallest free standing structure in the western hemisphere from there we headed to the Aquarium.

There was a large number of people standing outside in the cold waiting to get into the Aquarium. This gave me nostalgic memories and made me remember Nigeria, because most times back home we had to queue for almost everything. Eventually we got in after we paid our ticket fee of $30 + taxes.

Initially I felt the fee was exorbitant, but by the time I saw all the wonderful sea creatures like starfish, sharks the aquarium had to offer, I say it was worth it. Although I couldn’t stay as long as I wanted as I got in late at about 4:00pm and the Aquarium closed about 6:00 pm that day. I plan to revisit the Aquarium some other time.

I can’t end this without attaching these lovely pictures of the Aquarium. Ripley’s Aquarium is definitely a go-to destination for tourists.

 

Me in the shark tank at Ripley's Aquarium