The Relentless Builder: June 2012

28 June 2012

8 comments

ANNOUNCING: Winners of June Giveaway

Labels: Announcements, Giveaways

Thank you to every single person that participated in the June Giveaway. I appreciate your support :-)

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And now for the winners ...

20 June 2012

21 comments

Parents Raise Nigerian Men to think differently from Women + Embracing Interracial Dating and Marriage | Featured Artiste: Femi Okunuga

Labels: Family, Femi Okunuga, Gameman, Jonassy, Music, Relationships

The first thing that probably came to your mind when you saw the title was: "Well, Duh! EVERYONE knows that Nigerian men think differently from women!" And you would be right.

In a typical Nigerian household, the male children are raised to be proactive with relationships, i.e. the men initiate relationships. The man is the one who goes out to "find" his wife. Of course, you will probably be raising up your hand and yelling: Hey, Relentless! That applies to EVERY family on the planet, Nigerian or not!" And you would be right, to a certain extent. It's a man's world, right? However, when you put this in an international context, it changes things a bit. In a foreign country, the Nigerian man now has an opportunity to test his "proactive" upbringing relationship-wise, in a completely different context. Not only does he have Nigerian women at his disposal; add to that women from every race on the planet (that would be easy in a city like New York, for example).

17 June 2012

18 comments

Sharing your home with Relatives [Yes or No] | Featured Artiste(s): Stage One

Labels: Family, Music, Relationships, Stage One

Before jumping into today's post, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has been reading, commenting, following me on Blogger, Facebook, Twirra ... You know I meant to say "Twitter." I appreciate the support and feedback.

And now for today's special: Fried rice and Fried Fish. What? You're watching your waist line? Okay then. More food for me then. *grinning* Why do you still have your mouth open? You want me to add Dodo to it. You have to close your mouth first. There you go! LOL! Alright, I will behave myself and get right to it.

Growing up in Lagos, I noticed that friends, classmates, etc seemed to have one relative or the other living with them. By relatives, I mean one or more members of their extended family (father's younger brother/sister, father's cousin, mother's sister, etc. You get the picture). When the relative was not wearing the "informal househelp" (should I have said "domestic help") cap, he/she was busy carrying in-house gist back to the main family in the village. These are stereotypes, of course, and like I say every now and then (not on this blog sha), there are two sides to every story.

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What I have discovered, is that where a married couple, for example, have extended family members in the home, it tends to put unnecessary pressure/stress on the marriage. But maybe it is better to take a step back and see the background to this situation. As usual, I will use a scenario to help you understand what I am driving at.

*dramatic music playing and then someone announces*

Behold the Scenario!

13 June 2012

7 comments

Caring for parents in their old age | Featured Artiste: Abby Godwin

Labels: Abby Godwin, Age, Family, Music

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Remember that riddle, What goes up and never comes down? The answer, as you must know by now, is ~~TAXES~~ AGE. Age is one thing we cannot reverse. Regardless of your views on health-conscious or cosmetic ways of reversing age, including plastic surgery, we can all agree that each day, every one of us is getting older. Once upon a time, people consciously decided to have lots of children as insurance for their old age. The high mortality rate in those times due to the prevalence of diseases was a major consideration too. Unfortunately, this is still the case in many countries, including Nigeria. But that is not the reason for this post.

Old age is something we should plan and prepare for. I am not only referring to retirement, but caring for parents when they are too old to take care of themselves. It took me coming to the US to know what Alzheimer's was. Now that I even think about it, who knows how many of those so-called "mad-men" (and women) or were living under the bridge who actually have undiagnosed and untreated cases of Alzheimer's? The fact is that the elderly are at risk for this and many other ailments, thus making it necessary for them to depend on others for support.

10 June 2012

16 comments

Prince Charming does not attend a Redeemed Church | Featured Artiste: S.E.R.M.O.N

Labels: Church, Diaspora, Gold Help Owen, Music, Relationships, SERMON

If you're a Single Christian Nigerian living outside Nigeria (US, UK, Canada, Australia, etc) who has ever voiced out a desire to meet other eligible single Nigerians, you've more than likely been told this (or something similar):

"Ehn, Google the nearest Redeemed Church and find your way there now!"

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By Redeemed Church, I am of course referring to one of the many parishes of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. I have chosen to use this as an example because it is hands down the most popular church with Nigerian roots, outside Nigeria. In larger cities, there are several RCCG parishes in each city. But this is not about Redeemed Churches.