Lydia Ukpai @lydia

We all came out to do the Saturday cleaning, but this particular guy that moved into the compound was stubborn. He didn't know how things were done in this new residence, and he had just popped in a week ago, claiming he was a big boy and muscular, but we wouldn't give him a chance.

Immediately our lodge president identified that he was proving stubborn and not ready to join us for the Saturday cleanup activities. We all rushed out to meet him as we knocked. He was just bewildered. He couldn't talk again. As we dragged him to the spot for the cleanup, it looked like it was a movie because he was far outnumbered. People had clustered around him, and if he had made any wrong move, he could have been taught a very severe lesson.

If he had come from a lodge where they don't do cleanup or they don't respect anybody, this particular lodge and residence is quite different.

He thought that with his big head and wooden shoulders, that he could come here and claim superiority. He's lucky he didnt chop sand.

I just finished watching a horror movie, and I really enjoyed it. It was incredibly scary and fun. I usually prefer these kinds of movies over others because they keep me on my toes. I love experiencing the thrill, the waves of jitters, and all the shocking moments. The suspense in horror films is often out of this world, and that’s what I enjoy the most.

During the day, I watched the movie until the evening, and then it was time for my bath. I typically take a bath twice a day: one in the afternoon and again in the evening. To be more precise, I prefer bathing close to 10 PM to 11 PM at night. It really helps me sleep better.

So, there I was, just about to take my bath, with scenes from the movie replaying in my head.

Suddenly, a wave of wind blew through the windows, chilling my body, and that’s when the fear really set in. I felt the tension I had been experiencing while watching the movie increase, combined with the cold of the night. Just then, a spider landed on my back, causing me to jump up from my squatting position in fright.

In a panic, I rushed out of the bedroom and decided that I wouldn't let myself be won by mental stress this time. Although I realized just a minute later that it was only a spider that had scared me like that, I was already in a towel drying myself up.

I think I’ll skip the bath for tonight. It’s time for some rest. I’ll see you all later. Goodnight!

I was never a fan of herbal remedies, but after I tried synthetic drugs for some time, I resorted to my grandmother's concoction. She had just started preparing it and told me that it would help reduce my stomach ache, which was caused by an ulcer. I doubted her. I doubted the herbal remedies, and I doubted everything—in fact, I even doubted if the ulcer would really go away. I didn’t actually know the composition of her concoction. This is what school had taught us: not to believe in anything without facts to back it up.

However, after experiencing so much pain, I decided to give the herbal remedy a try. I tried it for the first time on that day, and to my surprise, the pain subsided a little bit. I didn’t immediately give credit to my grandmother’s herbal concoction, though. It wasn’t until the next day when the pain began to decrease significantly that I was truly amazed. This change caught my attention, and I asked my grandmother about the composition of her herbal concoction.

She gave me the names of a few trees that I recognized, along with some wild plants that I didn’t know about. My grandmother described them to me, helping me identify about two from the long list she provided. It was quite fascinating to realize that we have so many natural resources around us, yet we often wait for synthetic drugs to solve our problems.

Even after my experience, I still wasn’t completely comfortable taking herbal mixtures. If it hadn’t been for my grandmother and my own frustrations with synthetic medications that didn’t work, I wouldn’t have turned to herbal concoctions at all. Uhmm, we all know that many of our natural plants contain vital compounds and nutrients.

can still remember vividly that I was about seven years old when I first encountered a snake. It was a beautiful green snake that lived around our construction site, which was an ongoing building project my father was overseeing. One day, as I was playing around the lowgrowing grasses on the site, I suddenly noticed something unusual green design against the wall.

As I drew closer, I realized it was a snake. Surprisingly, I didn’t panic at all. It was my first time seeing a snake up close—truly my first encounter. While I had seen snakes in movies and watched others being killed, I had never realized how stunning they could be, especially this enchanting green one. Its tongue flicked in and out, small me? I found it it entertaining.I was about to pick up a stick and touch the snake when my father appeared out of nowhere. I had no idea he was around. Thankfully, he caught sight of everything just in time and shouted my name. That jolted me back to reality, and I ran through the entrance of the building.

It was the seventh day since the construction had started, and as they reduced some pile of building blocks, the sliddering creature must had seemed another comfort zone. My dad brought a bamboo stick and with that, he was able to get rid of the snake.

The crypto event I attended was one of the best experiences I've had in a long time. It was filled with fun, gaming, and a wealth of information about the crypto world. I was fully immersed in the day's activities when they announced a "Fastest Finger" contest. The challenge was simple: participants had to dial a specific code and then input it as quickly as possible. The first person to successfully submit the code would win a prize of 10,000 Naira.

Knowing I had quick fingers, I decided to give it a shot. Who knows? I thought to myself. There were certainly others who might be faster than me, but I was willing to try my luck and aim for the win.

As I prepared for the challenge, I quickly worked out the calculations and retrieved the digits I needed to punch in. With adrenaline pumping through my veins, I typed the numbers with confidence. Just as I was about to submit the code, a sudden error message popped up on my screen.

I hadn't given much attention to the text message we were required to enter, not realizing at that moment that my data was exhausted. I pressed the submit key, but my screen displayed a frustrating "Network Error." Confused and panicked, I couldn't fathom what the problem could be. I tried multiple times to push through the submission, each attempt leading to the same disheartening message.

Eventually, I had to face the reality that the other contestants had likely already submitted their entries while I was struggling with my faulty connection. I took a moment to check the text message again, and that’s when it hit me—I had used up the last drop of my data subscription.

Desperate to participate in the upcoming contests, I reached out to a few friends for support but each of them was earger to win from the fastest finger challenge, so I relax and just watched the fun go on.

After spraying some insecticide in my room, Istepped out to seat around the compound for 30 minutes until the sprayed fumes must have taken action on mosquitoes and cooled off.

I found a comfortable bench outside and under a tree, and there I sat.
few minutes passed and a company came to join me on the seat. we exchanged pleasantries and when he sat and consistently heaved, I peered into his phone to understand what made him sad that was obviously on his phone.

I was looking at what seemed like a livescore interface, he had placed a bet on today's football matches and obviously, his predictions already failed him.
He caught my curious eyes and immediately started letting the load in his heart out_ he had used his course registration fund to place a bet that his friends were all partaking on and while staring at the live score, He was sure to lose his money.
He was a new comer in the betting community, because no male shares his losses on failed predictions with a girl.

After we spoke, I advised him not to ever try betting as people tend to loose more than they even gain, and to exclude religious limitations_ betting was unarguably a bad habit.
He appreciated my words and to assure me of his genuine transformation, he deleted the betting app on his phone, but still I saw the disappointment on his face, he was still bothered about the money he had lost.
A thought almost led me to helping him out but then, one learns with experience. He should endure the pain of the loss.

was going through my bag that contained most of my clothes, and then I found this belt. It had been a long time since I had this belt. I had tied it up as a treasure and kept it at the bottom of my bag, but today I decided to put it on. We were supposed to have a presentation class, and I thought looking good for the presentation wasn't going to be a bad idea.

I put on the belt, but then I noticed that it was kind of hanging on my waist. I didn't know why. I touched it and wondered if it was just a little loose. So instead of opening an extra hole in the belt, I thought it would be better to just leave it that way and let it be. But then, just right during the presentation, when it was my turn to come out, the belt fell!

It kind of aggravated the situation, and it made the audience laugh, but I didn’t actually mind it too much. I knew the worth of the belt and maintained my composure, smiling through it all. Well, many came to ask me about the belt and admired it, saying it looked beautiful, and I appreciated that. But still, that belt almost disgraced me.
But yet, it looked good on me and its colour matched my cooperate skirt.

After getting influenced by some of my friends who used perfume, I wasn't really a fan of perfume, but I think I've sprayed myself either 2 or 3 times while going to school, and I think I started developing some likeness for the scented gas.

Well, I entered the market and decided to get myself a good, well, expensive perfume. When I went to the market with my budgeted plan, I couldn't find the perfume of my taste with the expensive smell that I fantasized, the kind of scent that lasts for several weeks. But then, after wrestling through the market, shuffling and rumbling, I actually arrived at this one perfume. It had a very good scent, and the glass design was perfect. I got that for 5,700 Naira, and that's my most prized possession for now.

No one should start weighing my pockets now, I only got the perfume because I needed it and not like I didnt have problems or some other things to settle with money, its just that sometimes, one need to chase desires momentarily.