Online musings

Helen Keller once said that "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." In order to achieve success or satisfaction it is necessary to take various risks. In all aspects of our life we have to risk something. After all, as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Like many people, I have ambitions. I would like to climb Mount Kilimanjaro or take up scuba diving but I know that in doing so there is a possibility that something will go horribly wrong and will threaten my life. However I think that it is worth risking my life as long as I have achieved a great feat or do something that I may enjoy. I would also like to start my own business by launching an online translation company but I wonder if it will become successful. If it is a failure then I will have risked my wealth for nothing. This is because in order to start a business you have to invest a lot of your money into it. If the business is a success then you will earn a lot of money. Because starting you

Graceland is a studio album by Paul Simon, one half of the American music duo, Simon and Garfunkel. It was released in 1986. It also happens to be in my top ten list of favourite albums so it is up there with Michael Jackson's Thriller. The first time I came across it was when I visited my uncle in London. He was listening to it a few days before his eldest daughter was born. I remember my eight-year-old self dancing around the room as soon as the music from the album played. I didn't know the name of the album then but I knew I liked it and wanted to get it for myself. Graceland is heavily influenced by South African musicians such as Johnny Clegg and Sipho Mchunu. Moreover the album featured South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo as well as other South African artists and groups. No surprise there as most of the tracks from the album were recorded in South Africa. The album received critical acclaim and was a commercial success. It was a hit worldwide. In 1987 the al

I sometimes wonder when it's the best time to settle down and start a family. Is it in your 20s, your 30s our maybe even your 40s? My father started his own family in his 40s and it looks like I will be following suit, that is if I ever get one. A number of people my age already have families of their own. They are my colleagues, my uni friends and even my school friends. Sometimes I envy them. In a few years my younger sister may have a family. Hell, even two of my younger cousins have families already! I hear that people who were born in the mid to late 80s and even early 90s are starting to have children too. So why haven't I got a wife and some children? As far as I am concerned I am not ready to be a family man. Whether I will ever be ready remains to be seen but I can't help but wonder if I will be better off alone. There will be less stress and less hassle. Moreover it will be a lot cheaper. However if I am lucky enough to have a successful business in the future,

Criticism affects us all. It can dent people's confidence. Everyone goes through criticism throughout their lives, perhaps some more than others, but it's how you deal with it that counts. What I am saying is that it can make you or break you. It is the fear of criticism as well as the lack of confidence that is keeping me back from showing off my scripts and turning them into films or graphic novels. I am planning on building a website next year so that I can upload my scripts there for public viewing. I should expect criticism from the net surfing public but I have also been criticising my own work. After all writers are their own biggest critics. That is why they write and re-write their work several times. Some of my friends have read my very first script and they all thought it was good although I suspected it was a biased opinion. Those of them who dared to criticise my work said that the characters could have been developed a bit more, there was a lack of suspense and

I have two big passions and they are shared by many people. One of them was covered in one of my previous blogs. The other will be touched on in this blog. I have an ever-growing list of places I would like to visit and landmarks I would like to see before I kick the bucket. One of my classmates did a speech about the Taj Mahal. I looked at the pictures of the world famous mausoleum and saw how beautiful it was and I thought, "Wouldn't it be great if I saw it with my own eyes?" I first heard of Angkor Wat when I was playing Tekken on the Sony Playstation as the temple complex featured in the video game. OK so I play video games, don't judge me! I saw a programme where a middle-aged couple visited Macchu Picchu. I thought, "I would love to go there." There are other sights such as the Grand Canyon, the Great Wall of China and the Great Barrier Reef that I would like to see. Oh and I would love to see The Northern Lights! If I were serious about travelling

Throughout my adult life I have observed relationships in the real world and I have surfed the net for advice. I have also attempted online dating - something which I never thought I'd do. I eventually came to the conclusion that there are five ways to earn and keep a relationship. They are the following: Be confident. Be funny. Be honest. Be smart. Be yourself.  I will now go through the five pieces of advice one by one in greater detail. Be confident. One of the qualities that a person looks for in a partner is confidence. This is evident in online dating. Confidence brings about a sense of security and a strength in character which every partner requires. There are people who have ambition and will do whatever they can to achieve their goal no matter how difficult the process is. Now that is real confidence and that is very attractive in a potential partner. I can see why successful entrepreneurs and leaders have faithful partners because they exude confidenc

Hey guys! This post is about one of my two greatest passions and that is writing. When I was little I always had an over-active imagination. Some might say that I was in a world of my own. I also used to read a lot of comics, some of which I enjoyed. I thought it was time I put my thoughts to paper and write my own comics. It carried on from when I was in secondary school. Later on I stopped producing comics not least because I am not a brilliant drawer. I decided to continue writing in a script-like format which was part narrative and part dialogue. The story was about a group of agents who would fight crime and prevent natural disasters. It focused on their friendly rivalry and competition with a superhero. I never completed the series and the scripts were really short. Reading them I thought they were rather average and that I could have done better. From 2006 I wrote my first series of longer scripts called Battle of Wits. It was about a group of people fighting demons. The gro

During my days at university I joined the Afro-Caribbean society. Amongst the events they organised were debates and talent shows. But what if someone came up with the ingenious idea of blending a debate show and a talent show? Well a good friend of mine from uni who also happened to be my one-time flatmate did just that. The result is The Flair Debate Show. Up till now I haven't taken part as I am not much of a public speaker. I usually shy away from these things. Mind you, I won a prize in a speech competition in school. Please note that this is a rare opportunity to big myself up and I sure am grabbing it with both hands! One day my friend invited me to one of the shows. My curiosity, coupled with my support for my buddy, made me accept the invitation. I booked online and paid about £9 for the ticket. On Sunday I went to the event. It took place at the Light E1 Bar which was not far from Liverpool Street station. However it took me half an hour to find it! The topic of the eve

In the autumn of 2010 I started doing something amazing. "What was that?" I hear you ask.  Well after years of deliberating I finally gave blood. Throughout my life I have been shedding that thick, red fluid of mine. One day I thought that the next time I lost some blood I would have it put to good use. However, my apprehension stopped me and I was in two minds. One part of me thought, "Would I be OK?", "Is it safe?" and the other part thought, "Just think of the many people you'll save." My mind was finally made up several years later when I heard that a colleague of mine who has now left my workplace to go travelling - the jammy get! Ahem! OK. Envy over! As I was saying I learned that my now-former colleague became a successful bone marrow donor a few years earlier. I was extremely impressed and it inspired me to take the plunge and give blood. So I registered and booked my first appointment. I was sent a booklet as well as a DVD which pr

Hey folks. This is my first review. There are some books that I enjoy reading and then there are others that I really enjoy reading. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon falls in the latter category. So does the book I read recently. This tome is called Before I go to sleep by S. J. Watson. It is a brilliant book which makes you think as well as root for the protagonist. A close friend of mine recommended the book to me and when I finally got to read it I was intrigued. It is about a woman called Christine Lucas who loses her memory and every time she wakes up her memory is wiped out. I like that it is told in the first person as it makes the readers empathise as well as sympathise with her. She sees a doctor who advises her to write a journal to help her remember things. The majority of the book is written in the form of Christine's journal which makes the book very exciting. What makes the book interesting is that Christine is regarded as an unrelia

Everyone has an accent. You can tell where people are from by their accents. However this is not always the case. Although I was born and brought up in Liverpool I don't have a Liverpudlian accent. It was made clearer to me when I was at uni and I was asked where I was from. When I answered them they would ask "How come you don't have the accent?" "I don't know," I would reply. Another fact about me that few people believe is my age as I am told that I look younger. I always take it as a compliment and besides you know the phrase! I would describe my accent as Received Pronunciation with a hint of Ghanaian. When I was in Liverpool my family would speak English to me and Twi to everyone else. Moreover I didn't go out that much and I didn't hang around with my fellow Scousers. I wasn't the mingling type. It was no wonder I didn't pick up the scouse accent. I do pronounce words like a Northerner though and on rare occasions I would sound l

I have a confession to make. I am a quitter. I know that it is contradictory to my last blog but please hear me out. Quitting is sometimes good. I know what you may be thinking. "Is he mad?" "Is he on crack?!" Of course not! After I finished my degree I decided to go on a teacher training course. Goodness knows why on earth I wanted to go into teaching at the time! One contributory factor was that when I was in France I worked as an English Language Assistant. I enjoyed my job and the pupils were really enthusiastic. When I trained as a teacher in Hertfordshire I realised two things. A) I was terrible and B) I began to hate the profession with a passion. I decided that enough was enough and dropped out of the course. Yeah that's right I'm a dropout!  There's something to add to my CV! Although I felt bad at the time I came to realise that I was not a failure and that I made the right decision. I read an article on Metro Focus which advocated the fact

My father likes to tell stories about our past just like most people. One of them told of when I was a toddler. I was faced with one of the biggest challenges in my life then. My thirteen-month-old self travelled to Ghana. When I returned to Britain I lost the ability to speak. I had language difficulties. I was unable to express myself and as a result I felt withdrawn. My dad took me to a doctor who had little faith in me. He said that I might never speak again. My dad wasn't having any of it and taught me how to read. I then began to read aloud and mastered the ability to speak again with the help of my dad and my speech therapist. Moreover I can understand two more languages apart from English. We all face challenges throughout our lives. In school, in university, at home, at work and during our travels. Married people face challenges, as do parents and everyone else. Challenges make our lives more interesting and give them a purpose. They also make us much stronger people. It

Hello peeps. I am new to this blogging thing but first I will reveal a bit about myself. I am a thirty-something guy who is interested in writing and travelling. I will post my future writing and travelling ventures in my later blogs. I am currently an HR Professional but I am looking to do something with my French degree and study to become a translator. I would like to work abroad at some point. I then hope to start my own online translation agency. I have also written a few scripts for comics and films and will create a website next year to publish them online. I will reveal more about them in my future blogs. So why turn to blogging? Some people see the process as cathartic as they deal with the emotions that go with everyday life. Others see it as an opportunity to showcase their writing skills. I see it as both but then there are other reasons that I am not aware of. Most mornings when I get up I find myself musing and pondering. I go to the bathroom and then I find myself mu