Chapter Twenty Three

The part where I'm clearly writing to myself...

Hey you,

How are things? You should have received this letter last week but life decided to life. I’m currently in the throes of job searching and it really is the absolute ghetteux. The offers I’m getting are almost insulting, it’s almost as if hiring managers don’t even know what they’re looking for. Oh well, that’s a story for another day.

I saw a tweet that hit me in the solar plexus, so I had to share it with you because you and I are on this life journey together and no person gets left behind.

TONI TONE @t0nit0ne

Stop trying to convince yourself that you don’t want what you want, just because you think you’ll never get it.

And that’s why imma keep sharing stuff. Don’t get tired of me, okay? When I saw the tweet, I thought it was too loud. I, no, we do this a lot, don’t we? Ugh! But like I wrote in the last letter, we just have to intentionally keep living a life worth writing about despite the fears.

In the spirit of doing awe-spiring stuff, I’m taking a much holistic approach towards my health because the Nigerian healthcare system is so fucked up that you literally can’t afford to be ill. First of all, I started an intermittent fasting thingy with my friends and it has been hard because I LOVE stuffing myself with food. Secondly, I make sure I do some form of exercise everyday and with the ban of bikes in Lagos, I walk everywhere (the ghetteux). And lastly, no more skipping my high blood pressure drugs. In case you’re interested in trying, I got this from a nutritionist who tailored it for me.

I’m having a lot of fun with the tea part. So, it’s either lemongrass or dried hibiscus leaves that I’m brewing. I always boil the tea with cloves and I have them with 1 tablespoon of honey per cup. I added the cloves because I read somewhere that it enhances the libido. *wink wink*

P.S I really hope this week goes well for you. Fingers crossed.

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• One of my favourite humans, Tasnim AKA @reads.and.reveries has launched her newsletter and you should definitely subscribe, highly recommended.

• Blood Feast by Malika Moustadraf, translated by Alice Guthrie is a short story collection I didn’t know I was going to enjoy. I picked it up because I wanted to read a book by a North African author and it pained me so much that the author died young. There’s so much potential in her writing. Ugh! So, please read it when you can.

• I enjoyed reading Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. It’s literary fiction done so well you wouldn’t even know it was literary fiction. The main character, Elizabeth Zott will remain in my head for a long, long time.

• Akwaeke Emezi’s latest work, You Made A Fool Of Death With Your Beauty is making readers choose different sides. Some people felt it was messy, others feel love is love. Me? I’ve read messier books so, I wasn’t shocked but I did feel empathy for the characters and I understood all of their feelings and that’s why I think more people should read the book.

I’ve read a lot more books and you can add me as a friend on Storygraph to keep track of what I’m reading. Also, if you’re interested in doing something fun in your reading life, you can participate in the 2022 Something Bookish Reading Challenge.

• As The Crow Flies is a Turkish drama on Netflix. A young fan maneuvers her way into a seasoned anchor's newsroom but soon confronts the dark side of ambition, envy and the desire to be seen. The episodes are short enough to be binged in one night and while I appreciated that it highlighted what people of different generations do to get ahead, it refuses to acknowledge that it’s really a stalker story more than anything else. Very enjoyable though.

In other news, there’s a new episode of the Something Bookish podcast available where I share things you can do to spread the word about a book or author you love. You can listen to it HERE.

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See you on the other side, Dearest.

XOXO