No really....whats in a name?

I have one of the weirdest names...no really, My name seems to belong on the back of a bubblegum wrap or something like that. I have always wanted to know what it means, but to no avail! I am close to accepting that it might just be without real meaning. I often make up meanings for my name when people ask what it means, it has now become enjoyable. Im amused by it and Im starting to actually believe in the made up meanings myself, Ha!..sad.
My American friends used to ask me if I named myself Bandie because Im a member of a band? Haha!...even sadder! No my friends, it is not a play name, it is a real name.

The truth is that I am proud of this name. It is a name that I cannot take lightly. I might not know the meaning of it but I know its importance. It was a name given to me at 6 months of age by my father. This name was taken from one of Africa's history books. My father insisted I be called by that name from then, so my birth name was scrapped from being my first name to being my second name. The name Bandie took prominence. I have never used my 'second name' except in IDs and formal papers. The actual spelling of the name is Nbandi, but my family decided to cut the 'N' (or maybe they got another version of it, who knows what). At age five when I was learning how to write my name, my oldest sister added the 'e' to make it prettier. I have never realised why it had an 'e' at the end until recently when I remembered who first taught me to write my name. I am at the moment thinking about changing it back to the original name.

I was named after a queen of Angola who fought against Portuguese colonialism for over 40 years. Her name was Nbandi Nzinga. She was particularly a strong woman who was also a member of her army. She went into battle herself to defend her kingdom against the intruders from the 'outside world'. These 'intruders' tried to cheat her and her people out of land. My father was mostly impressed by her intelligence and her strength of mind, she had willpower that lasted until her demise. This woman was very courageous and had unwavering spirit. I like to think that I am like her. The more I learn about this woman, there more Im impressed by her and want to be like her. Im proud of my name and what it actually 'means'.
I used to ask my father what the meaning of this name was, but because he too didn't know, he would tell me about this Angolan Queen from centuries ago...it doesn't matter to me what it means anymore, this name means a lot to me.

...So you see my friends, this is a name that carries a lot of weight. Not only does it put me under immense pressure to pull my own weight to succeed at all odds, it also inspires me to be liberated and be true to my heart. The story of Nbandi Nzinga will live on for generations. It plays a significant role in shaping my character. This is who I am. Call me Nbandi.

The Olympians bare it all!...

I was going through some blogs today and came across some very interesting ones that I really liked. The highlight of my search being the discovery of some blogs by some of the Olympians in Beijing. I am very happy that now I will know their day-to-day experiences through their blogs. You will remember that on my last blog entry, I complained bitterly about how some commentators are damn ignorant. Well, unfortunately I can't stop watching the games on TV, but I can read about the athletes' adventures too.

2 olympian bloggers of note; an Indian man named Abhinav Bindra, who just won a gold medal 2 days ago http://abhinavbindra.blogspot.com/ and an American named
Dave Durante http://durante08.blogspot.com/ both these blogs are powered by 2008.lenovo.com where you will find a whole lot of athletes from around the world.

Oh! Gag me...

So the Olympics have begun! Great stuff...I settle in to watch the opening ceremony over the weekend, very excited especially for those countries that are entering for the first time. I can feel the electricity of the moment inside the National Stadium at Beijing even though I am thousands of miles away. It was truely exciting. I waited patiently for my teams to arrive one by one, and being an African, my teams are surely those African countries that I feel an affinity for (wont indulge you with that info right now, but next time). Watching this on television means I have to rely on the commentators; those people who are employed to make comments and observations about an event...and I say this in the most cynical way :(

It is indeed a noble profession to be the one dishing out information especially to millions of people watching their screens at home, but;
My gripe is that since all we can hear over the noise of the multitudes in the statium are the commentators' voices, shouldn't we at least be given precise, accurate information about what we are looking at? I mean, does it take a lot to just do a little research about a person or place before you decide that you are going to comment about them? For years I have listened to and believed in commentators, I still do...but on Friday night I began having misgivings about what the commentators were telling us...right at the moment when the teams from countries that I know so well were entering the stadium. The comments were not accurate to begin with, but to top it off they were outright ignorant! I am not mad, but I am disgusted at the level of ignorance that we still have to listen to at these events. I can't say I trust whatever I hear coming out of their mouths, because besides being biased, they are resentful to some nations, thats my opinion anyway!
Should I now start watching the Olympics with the television volume on low, for fear of getting offended by the lies?...It is frustrating because I love the Olympics!...
I am proud of all those athletes who went to Beijing, China to represent my country in sports, and I will be sitting at home rooting for them all the way, with my volume down!

Keep Left, Pass Right!

To those of you on the fast lane I say, La Vida Loca! and to you on the left lane (notice that I don't say slow lane) Aluta Continua! It takes guts, strength and determination to stay on course and see your way through...I hope you realise that Im not talking about driving, but about life.

When driving, the road says 'Keep Left, Pass Right'. Im often on the left lane, seeing the nice cars zooming past in a hurry to wherever. I would stay on this left lane, and wish I knew where they were rushing to, maybe there is something to grab at the end of the road! but is there?

'Keep Left, Pass Right', thats the philosophy that I chose to live by. If you are in a hurry to get somewhere, have a nice ride, I'll find you there. There is enough room to go past. I chose to take my time and do things my way. If it means losing out on the fun, then tough. I can't keep up with those zooming past because Im busy tryin to navigate my way through, its a struggle, but I'll get there anyhow. There is no shame in remaining behind when your peers are a few miles ahead of you.

If you think Education is expensive, try Ignorance..

I think that says a lot about the importance of education. That just about sums it up, if you were to be imaginative and finish the line yourself...'If you think education is expensive, try ignorance..'
It is one of my favourite quotes. The price I put on education isn't monetary, but it is very valuable. I don't mean being educated in terms of having been through university/college only, Im also talking about being informed and knowledgeable about things because you take time to read. That is the kind of education that we all need, to get through life. We often think education is expensive, especially education at tertiary level. That is indeed true, but think about this; the price we put on education is nothing compared to what ignorance offers us. We put ourselves through so much struggle because we choose to be ignorant. In our quest to be educated we learn things that help give us an edge over many obstacles that life can throw our way, why? because we know what to do when it happens. Thats the beauty of being well informed.
Lets take a look at ignorance. The dictionary says it is 'the condition of being unaware, uneducated and uninformed'. Just think about how much you lose from just being plain ignorant...e.g. in most cases an ignorant person would buy a house just to live in it, not looking at it as also a future investment that needs to be protected and maintained. An informed person will look at the area where they are buying that property among many other things before they make that purchase, and when they do, they know they must take care of it. This is just an example for lack of a better one, but do you get my point?...

I make it a point to always know whats going on around me and elsewhere. I read a lot of newspapers every week and I watch the News on a regular basis. My father has instilled that value in me from a very young age and Im grateful for it. My sisters and I would spend hours watching music videos on Tv during school holidays. He would then yell at us for not being interested in anything else other than music (of course! we were teens). So we would switch on to CNN to watch the News with him. He would say to us that one day we will wake up into World War 3 and we wouldn't know what started it! In my house there were always plenty of books and newspapers to read, documentaries on videos to watch, and the radio would surely be switched on during News bulletin times. That helped make me part of who I am. Im often always the one telling the others of whats happening where. Sounds funny, but I find it a shame.

Its very important to put yourself through tasks of getting informed for your own sake, it could SAVE YOUR LIFE!
"The freedom which comes with being educated is liberating and priceless." Oluchi

I sabotage myself

Yes I do, can anybody say this?.... 'I sabotage myself, im my own worst enemy'. Take this morning for instance, my plan was to go the whole day without eating anything until much later, but did that work? I think you know the answer to that. I often make plans and decisions about certain things in my life, and then I immediately set out to destroy those ideas from my head by telling myself all sorts of discouraging things like, 'can I really do this?' 'What if..?', 'do I have time?'...sound familier?
Its unnerving how I could have wanted to do so much with my life but sabotaged my own efforts from the beginning by making myself think that I can't do it. I am my worst enemy! It stops now.

That photography class that I've always planned on taking, Im going to take it. That camera, im buying it, so my favourite hobby starts! I need to stop thinking that my cellphone camera is good enough, hahaha! thats a joke.

That beautiful journal that I bought last year, I need to start putting entries in it, because if I really want to write that book, I must make use of it, this is how I can make that start to actually write! I need to stop telling myself that I can't find the time to write on it. Everytime I have an urge to write something down, I always say I will do it later (I say this while sitting in front of the tv), then later I have completely forgotten about it!

That project that I meant to have started at work by now, it starts today, no wait, tomorrow is still good enough..
You see what I mean?!! It is things like these that happen everyday in our lives that we don't realise we are sabotaging ourselves and our efforts. I have it planned out in my head, and all I need to do is put it on paper and just start the project already!!!
Oh dear me..