Welcome Back Young Seeker, I see that the ardor for knowledge is undiminished despite the infrequent guidance along the path. Such dedication in itself continues to prove your worth, and gives me hope that in time you too will become a practitioner of the Way. As I intimated last time, a fuller discussion of the “If She No Gree, Leave Her Be”

A Seeker of The Way has to live by a simple tenet – “There are no Long Girls” I can imagine your disbelief Young Seeker. After all, every man amongst you can point to countless instances of having to jump through hoops for various girls, at various times in various places, finally labeling the girl in question “a long thing.” In contrast to popular belief Young Seeker, the girl wasn’t long, she just wasn’t that into you.

Every guy has a story of a girl that every guy thought was an impossible ice queen, that practically fell into his lap. Leaving his friends and enemies wondering how he managed it. So too does every guy have the story of the girl that everyone else but him knew, no matter how hard he tried. The guy in the first and second instance did not "do" or "not do" anything. In the first case the girl was into him, and in the second case she wasn't. So say it again Young Seeker, there are no long girls, just girls that are not into you.

Guys like to believe otherwise because after all, if she is just “long” the fault lies with her On the other hand, if she is not into you then there may be something wrong with you. However as already established, the first option is false. So is the second option. A Seeker of The Way has to learn not to take things personally. Time and again I see Young Seekers derailed by their inability to see a rejection as not impacting on their self worth. After all the Young Seeker sees himself as eminently desirable, and if the object of his desire does not see him as such, there may indeed be a problem with him.

Instead the Young Seeker should look at the pursuit of a desirable female as sort of a “best efforts” sale. Where the Young Seeker is representing himself as an agent, and is offering a product “himself” to a prospective buyer “the girl.” If there is no sale “dating or mating” neither the agent “The Seeker” nor the buyer “the girl” is at fault. There was just an inability to agree on price. Like most agents, the seeker should either apply to sell to another buyer or seek to “repackage” and then resell to the same buyer. However there are issues with the latter decision, as is discussed below.

The myth that girls are indeed long has spawned another type of misadventure – the overly persistent suitor. After all if a girl is long, that means that if you chase her long enough she will eventually agree to date you. People that hold to this belief use the archetypal story of the man that chased a girl for years ignoring all her pleas and threats to desist as evidence for their actions. They point to the fact that she eventually decided to marry (or date or hook up with) him as proof that girls are indeed long. The fact that every one knows a story like this, only serves to perpetuate the stereotype of the long female. Young Seekers should treat the odds of this story happening to them as the same as the odds of winning the lottery and act accordingly.

The other, and more damning, consequence of forgetting the “no long girls” rule is the effect that violating it has on the rest of us. The inability of the males of the species to realize that a female is uninterested and act accordingly has led to females having the tendency to tar all males with that self-same brush of “bug-a-boo-ritis”. Still one of the goals of the Art is to overcome the obstacles that the misadventures of those that have come before have placed in our way. This is why the next step on the Way concerns the Approach.

This post sprung like Athena from the mind of Zeus following the exit of Arsenal from the Champions League at the hands of Liverpool. I did not write it immediately because I wanted to wait until the outcome of the following Sunday’s game against Manchester United. I wanted to be sure that the writing of this cathartic article would indeed be necessary. So Sunday came and went with even more need for the cathartic article. I mean Arsenal has had bad runs before but this last run coupled with those heart wrenching defeats to Liverpool and Manchester United were pretty much as low as it gets being a fan, unless of course you were a Boston Red Sox fan. If you want to understand where I am coming from, please direct your attention to the Sports Guy’s level of losing column. Pay special attention to the Stomach Punch and the Guillotine as the Liverpool and Man U games are perfect examples of the respective levels.

Now I would be the first to admit that the analogy about to follow below is not perfect. In fact it may be downright wrong. It could indeed be an Arsenal fan clinging to false hope in the face of un-faceable truths. In effect DENIAL may indeed be a river in Egypt.

After the game, the only thing I could think off was that this Arsenal team reminded me of the 1999/2000 Duke University Men’s Basketball team. In 1999 Duke lost 3 of the 5 starters that propelled the team to the 1999 NCAA finals. 99/00 was expected to be a rebuilding season for the young team, with an NCCA appearance and at best a Sweet Sixteen finish (get to the round of 16 in the end of season tournament). For the first time in a long time, the team was not ranked in the pre-season top ten. As the season started, Duke was off to a flyer. The team unexpectedly started winning. The team rose in the rankings and towards the middle of the season people started writing the “Is Duke For Real?” articles. The team continued its winning streak and finished the regular season as the top ranked team in the nation. It was expected that the team would challenge for the national championship. The team, riding high on all that expectation, ended up losing to Indiana in the sweet sixteen, exactly where the critics predicted they would be come the end of the season.

The parallels with Arsenal are pretty stunning, a young team that lost its main stars being the dominant team for most of the season. A few reversals later the team ended up where it was expected to at the beginning of the season – a champions league qualifier at best.

I am sure my dear reader that you are wondering why this tale is cathartic in anyway. It is because in the 2000/2001 season with more mature players, and a few freshman additions, Duke won the national championship the very next season. It was with these thoughts that I consoled my self as I prepare for another off season without silverware. Tomorrow is after all a day away, as is next season. C'mon Ye Gunners!!!

Yes Yes I know, you are stunned that I am actually posting a mere week after my previous post. Well I guess you'll just have to get over the shock. Also I am also doing a current affairs post. One of those hasn't graced these pages in a while.

For those of you that don't know, there has been fuel scarcity in Nigeria for the past ten days or so. After ten days you are not quite desparate enough to buy from people standing on the road randomly, but you're getting close. Though I would avow that the most onerous side effect of the fuel scarcity is that access to Ikoyi Club is severly curtailed due to the club sharing the same road as an NNPC depot.

Well as someone who just got a full tank of petrol today, I am above such petty concerns :D. This allows me to focus and bring to you, my dear reader, the origins of the fuel crisis:

Aiight so about two weeks ago there were rumblings of a spat between Mobil and NUPENG, the main industry union. It seems that Mobil was dumb enough to contemplate sacking twenty odd workers. Not only that, 4 of the workers were sitting members of the NUPENG executive council. Obviously NUPENG went on strike - btw I blame Babangida for NUPENG's readiness to strike. If not for June 12, NUPENG wouldn't have realised that it has the power to bring the country to its knees. Anyway history lesson done, after the inevitable horse trading, Mobil didn't fire the four people and NUPENG called off the prospective strike.

Now dear reader I know you are wondering, if the almighty NUPENG did not go on strike, why oh why is there fuel scarcity. Well I suppose you have Oando to thank for that. About six weeks ago the firm was responsible for bringing in petrol with a high ethanol contend. The adulturated petrol made the rounds and caused a few engines to knock. Oando typically washed its hands of the entire affair, saying that no tests (its or the government's) identified the ethanol and so it could not be blamed.

I remember an industry friend telling me at the time that all the petrol importers bring in fuel mixed with ethanol, that the Oando cargo was just not blended properly. Well it turns out that my friend was right. The current fuel scarcity was as a result of the love the importers have for ethanol mixed fuel.

DPR has mandated an ethanol content of 5% in petrol cargos shipped to Nigeria and a lot of the shipments coming in do not meet that criteria. The funny thing is that the importers are now saying that what obtains world wide is 10% ethanol content in petrol and so DPR should allow the ships to land seeing as they meet that requirement.

Leaving aside the absurdity of the operators arbitrarily deciding not to adhere to the regulations, you got to love the fact that the importers that were a mere six weeks ago all saying that they did not import fuel blended with ethanol are now loudly demanding to be allowed to do so.

So we will watch this drama play out, while the guys with the clear jerry cans on the road continue to look more and more appealing.

Hey Y'all guess who's back? Ah Ah now, haba. I mean it's not like I was gone as long as last time. How far with the lack of love. Anyhow, I will make no promises about frequency of blogging, cos clearly I am not to be trusted. Still I know y'all love me, if only for my sunny optimisim. Anyway I thought I'd take a break from the Art to present the most overtly religious post that has ever appeared on this blog.

About three or so weeks ago, I was not feeling well, and so my father told me to read Psalm 91 and some commentary that he attached to the email. For those of you who are Christians, it's a pretty common Psalm and most of you have probably heard it, or read it at some point. The psalm is reprinted below:

Psalm 91 (NRSV)
1 You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
2 will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust."
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence;
4 he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day,
6 or the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the LORD your refuge, the Most High your dwelling place,
10 no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone. 13 You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.
14 Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name.
15 When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them.
16 With long life I will satisfy them, and show them my salvation.

The psalm is a beautiful affirmation of God's protection. It assures one that no matter what you are going through God will see you through. Funnily enough I was in Church when I flicked through the psalm again and I realised what had been bugging me about it. The sentiments are beautiful, but extremely selfish. It is a prayer for an invidiual in trying times. However it is not enough to just care about yourself, others too must matter. So my eye cottened on to another Psalm, which speaks about the restoration of a nation. It is another popular psalm; Psalm 126

Psalm 126

1 When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them."
3 The LORD has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.
4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the watercourses in the Negeb.
5 May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.
6 Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.

It's sort of a no-brainer that you should hold aspirations for personal safety and national renewal, but I felt that in this time of national and individual uncertainty, it was nice to reiterate the point. In closing I will just say that I pray that Psalm 126:1 will happen in my lifetime.