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mentalblah & other musings of a Nigerian nomad

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mentalblah diaries
couch potato
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about me
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#photodump Fun fact I’ve kinda hate taking pho

#photodump

Fun fact I’ve kinda hate taking photos because most of the time idk how to pose or what to do with my arms🤷🏿‍♀️😂 it’s an unfortunate symptom of being a gangly teenager which is why Im always going to throw up a peace sign ✌🏿

But a mirror selfie?!? Oh, now we are speaking my language. I’ve got 10 years worth of camera roll doing the exact same pose. And let me tell you something: a dirty bathroom mirror hates to see me coming!

I have a whole camera full of photos I wanted to s

I have a whole camera full of photos I wanted to share from my mini-travels over the last 2 months.

First stop on my October East Coast World Tour: Celebrating Chris & Zoë’s bachelor/bachelorette weekend.

I’d randomly met Zoe & Chris at my first apartment & they soon adopted me as their third wheel. They took me out to my first Chicago bars and taught me all about quality 🤌🏿 tequila & Chicago food spots. When they said I was invited to their wedding I was like 🥹

All great stories start off with shenanigans, this was no different. When we landed in Newark, Zoe broke the news to us that our VRBO had canceled on us that same morning without notice.

Cut to one hour later and 7 girls in a sandwich shop in Hoboken trying to figure out where all 10 of us would staying for the entire weekend. We were ringing hotels, begging Airbnb hosts to squeeze us in, duking it out with support. You name it. Luckily, Chris came through and saved us from homelessness. He arranged for us to stay at the spot he booked for his crew & the next day we got an Airbnb right down the street from his spot. Truly a lemons into lemonade moment. On night one, between the almost homelessness & 3 tequila shots I got too lit to hang & was the first one asleep.

I’d like to shout out Zoë’s bachelorette crew. Coming into the trip, I didn’t know anyone else & my introverted self was very worried. Literally Every single person I met that weekend was so cool, affirming and kind that I didn’t even feel out of place for a second. It’s not a feeling you get to experience everyday and I am thankful that I had the pleasure to meet them. They are all a great reflection of the kind of people Zoë + Chris are.

It was a very much needed weekend. I was only about 10 days into quitting so getting to sit down at Central Park to people watch + being drunk with a perfect view of the Empire State Building was perfect. A part of me kept thinking “Yeah, I’m a happy girl right now” 😁 I didn’t always appreciate moments like this but it felt good to just be carefree around good people.

Excited for the wedding. Barbados 2025!

The First 30 Days ————— On Oct 1st, I d

The First 30 Days
—————

On Oct 1st, I decided to say ✌🏿 out to my first corporate job/ company. October 1st was also serendipitously also Nigerian Independence Day, so as a Nigerian I was celebrating freedom X2.

There’s so much I could say about my first big girl job sand company, the experiences it afforded me, the growth I’ve experienced in the last 3.5 years & why I left but for that I was reserving for a blog post. Unfortunately, laptop up and crashed on me a few weeks ago so tbd.

Giving that company back their equipment has literally been a weight lifted off my shoulders spiritually and emotionally. For most of 2023, I was running on minimal sleep due to anxiety waking me up in the middle of the night and cocktail of meds to give my energy to get out of bed in the mornings. Apparently at 25, your body shouldn’t be breaking down every two weeks or so often but there was only one thing I could attribute the issues to: my job.

Sometime earlier this year I think my body had enough and was like, we’re not doing this anymore. What I thought would be a 1-month health leave turned into 6 months thren into me handing my resignation one week before I was supposed to return. I couldn’t go back to a place that was wrecking havoc on my mental health and body.

No one really tells you how being in certain environments in corporate American with little to no support will chew you out so mercilessly. I ultimately had to realize the golden handcuffs were not worth me feeling this shitty at 26 years old. Leaving felt a bit like breaking up with a toxic partner who you love but know they are no good for you.

So yes, I am back on these trifling ass job market streets. I do have mini moments of panic when I wonder who the f*ck leaves their very “stable” tech job with no concrete back up plan? That idiot would be me, but honestly so far #noragrets over here.

I’ve been shenaniganing with my loved ones these last few months. The uncertainty has somehow forced me to be present, to be grateful and go to outside and touch grass more often. I’m surprisingly so calm and so proud that I honored 2023 me when she said I don’t want to be doing this shxt this time next year 😂

Y’all think if I attach this to my resume these

Y’all think if I attach this to my resume these companies would take it as proof of 10+ years of job related experience? Some of us have been grinding it out since ‘98.

My very last min trip to Philly. A double rainbow

My very last min trip to Philly.
A double rainbow and some light rain welcomed me back into the city.

I got to see a bunch of the lovely folks who made my time at Temple & North Philly worth it.

I made arts and crafts and celebrated a birthday with my fav Virgo, Rodni.

Saw my best friend for brunch where he worked through 70% of it.
Discovered that my friend, Sarah, has a cabinet full of a year’s supply of Bio-Oil from Costco in Canada 😂

Found a water bottle I thought I’d lost in the same spot I left it 3 years ago at my friend’s house.

Tested out my 2 and a half year old license on the winding roads of Kelly Drive. Bruh why y’all be speeding like that?

I obvs also ate good and had some Caribbean which I haven’t had in a long minute.

Next month, during my tri-state east coast tour I actually plan to stop at Max’s for a proper cheesesteak & to see more folks.

Glad I had this time off to get up and go. Being back in Philly this time felt different. I think because I’m so much lighter than the last time I was there, I was just able to enjoy and appreciate the beauty of the city. Side note, is Philly looking cleaner or is it just me? 😂

Conversations with my best friend who truly doesn’t know who most celebrities look like. He is like a version of Barbara Howard from Abott Elementary.

For me, I’ll personally will never forget Maleek Berry’s face cause I still remember the anger having to wait 6 hours for him to perform back in 2017 at a strip club! Man came out, performed for a whole TWENTY mins then dipped✌🏿. My blood was hot. #maleekberry #burnaboy

Some grainy photos to keep the “she just uploads

Thailand was a timeeeee. The culture, weather and

Thailand was a timeeeee. The culture, weather and architecture made me homesick for Naija. The Thai embassy definitely gave me hell and a half. I needed to get a NDLEA certificate in order to get a visa to go. By God’s grace and a very nice man at the Chicago Thai consulate, I got the visa 24 hours before I flew into the country. Traveling on a Nigerian passport is not for the weak, but hey it was worth it.

Phuket was the top ten best nights out I’ve had in a long time. I literally had to be peer pressured to go out cause I was ready to sleep. The DJ was mixing Afrobeats, Hip Hop and Soca flawlessly and he made the night worth it. We stopped by an elephant sanctuary bright and early to feed and scrub down rescued female elephants.

Also, shout out to the Thai masseuse who scrubbed me down, cracked my neck, my back, my… (you know the rest). Baby girl (me) was on that table with an inch of decency called a towel to cover her up. But that strong tiny woman did what she needed to do.

Last & most importantly, I need to talk about the food & especially the mangos 🥭 . We did a cooking class and it cemented why I love Thai food. Moving forward, I will be unfairly judging countries based on the quality of the mangoes. If a country’s produce doesn’t taste as natural as God had intended it, *cough*USA*cough* there is a problem. Definitely wish we spent more time in Bangkok but that just means I have to go back.

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