Tag Archives: shot

The Booster shot put me down

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It’s 3:20 am. After tossing and turning for about 3 hours, I got up to do two things: write this, and drink some water – let’s help my kidneys get rid of any wastes that’s contributing to how bad I was feeling.
So I have an early day today. Around 9pm yesterday, I broke a 10mg melatonin tablet into two, downed one half, put the other half in the pills bottle, changed my mind, got the remaining half out of the bottle and sent it down the hatch with some water as well.
Then I went to bed around 11pm. Read part of a book I borrowed from the Libby app on my iPhone courtesy of the Lehi public library. Finally turned in around 11:30pm. I like some white noise so I had one of those 10-hour rain video on YouTube playing on the TV.
First thing I noticed was I was shivering like crazy. So I doubled up on the blanket (one on top of another on top of me). Didn’t do a lot. I finally fell asleep.
At some point I dreamt about what it would be like to have powers like the Greek gods of old. I am sure this is due to the book. I was on book 3 of the “Olympus Bound” trilogy by author Jordanna Max Brodsky. (Book 3 of the series).
All this while, I believe I was partially awake because I knew I was feverish and tossing and turning and rubbing my legs together – good thing I sleep alone, but not so good in the sense of “bros, at your age, you are still single?”.
Just before I got up I started “dancing” (in my mind) to the song Essence by Wizkid (and no I didn’t remember who sang it or the title at the time). Which triggered an idea for something I have been thinking of, and putting off for a couple of years. I even have an alarm on my phone to go off at 3pm weekdays with the message “Do the video”. Each of the video clips will go on my YouTube channel and possibly TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat. It will consist of me dancing to a popular song cutting across culture, country, currency, and genres (got tired of looking for that fourth “C” word 🙂 ). Anyway I will be dressed all in black, with a white plastic face mask, the official video of the song will be playing on the TV behind me. Near the one minute mark a voice in Yoruba will say something like “bros, oya, let’s come and be going” to which I stop, cuff my hand behind my ear like I was listening, waive then walk out of the video frame.
I knew I had a thermometer around here somewhere but it took a minute to find it. I got it off eBay so not sure how accurate it is. It read 35.5C when I put it on, rinsed it, stuck it under my tongue, pulled it out when it started beeping. It read 37.9C.
Time to drink that water, get back in bed and try to sleep. I get up at 6:50am and it’s 3:37am now. First COVID shot, the effect was really mild, with the second shot I had a mild fever throughout the next day. But this booster shot put me down: wiped the floor with me.

Still awake at 4:30am
PS: I should have taken paracetamol to lessen the fever but it didn’t cross my mind 5:30am. So I definitely take some of the blame for how shitty I felt.

R.I.P. O.S.!

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R.I.P. O. S.!

A close friend called me now with some sad news. A colleague in the same field (I.T.) was shot dead by armed robbers this morning. The story is still unclear, but he was supposedly accosted at an ATM this morning (in Victoria Island!) on his way to church with his family. So I assume he was shot in front of them (I believe he and the wife had children or at least a child).

I learnt he had only just got a house (built,  bought, don’t know). Most of our interactions back then (about a decade ago) was over the phone. My company provided some Internet services for his company. But I learnt he was an easy-going guy.

I have met a few young widows/widowers and it is not fun. All I could think is “God have mercy!”
I remember some nice young lady with 3 kids living next to my parents house in Ibadan for a year or so. It wasn’t funny for her. I think the husband was a lawyer who died in an auto accident or so. The whole family (as should be expected) missed the dad. The kids were restless and I seem to remember some of the continuous crying was for the dad. One could only imagine the crying the lady was doing in private as well. The children (especially the boys) were at the age where an extra hand (father if possible) was definitely needed for their exuberance and highly energetic behaviour.

The loss is a double-whammy for the remaining partner. There is the emotional aspect on one hand. Then on the other hand is the financial aspect. No thanks to decades of mismanagement and corruption in Nigeria, most homes require the income of both partners to live reasonably well (scratch that, “to survive” is the more apt description).

It is probably also easier for a widower than a widow. Women seem to find it easier to marry a widower compared to men who are for various reasons (some completely valid) very reticent when it comes to marrying a widow.

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This country! This life! Thus given the above, it makes me wonder at times if all the effort is worth it. But I guess that’s the lazy man’s approach?

We can’t tell what the future holds. But with the way the world and this country is, I (think) I would rather forgo the happiness of getting married and having children if for some reason I knew I would die relatively young. But maybe that is the selfish man’s approach as well?

But we can’t foretell the future, so we do what we can with today.

RIP O.S. May God comfort those you have left on earth, grant them strength and ease their pain. May He provide for them materially as well as emotionally. Amen.