Hoping one step back produces two steps forward

There comes a time when a man must sit and reflect on what is going on around him. A time when he begins to notice how his surroundings affect his actions, thoughts and even words. This period exists when the soul is troubled, sick and tired of being controlled by forces beyond its reach. It begins to cry out for help, but with a voice a little lower than silence, no one can ever hear its call. But despite this barrier, it still manages to get attention from the cage in which it hides itself. As I take you along these lanes of words, keep in mind, I am not a man of complaints but an identity who seeks answers.

The college I call mine is prestigious and has a long history of producing some of the world's renounced individuals. It boasts about its diversity and how it takes almost all of its students under its financial arms. These I love and adore and cannot disagree with. Its location, small-size campus and student-faculty relationship makes it difficult for one to feel left out of a sense of community. But with all that has an advantage, there are disadvantages attached. My mind, body and soul reflect on the series of events that have occurred around me for a couple of months, some of which I will share because the clouds can only hold for so long before it lets the rain pour. One experience that really bothers me is how well my college links its students with the real world. The journey on that path is not worthy of praise and adoration. For mostly people of foreign status, it does a very horrible job in making sure that at least most of its students get the work experience they need to become all-rounders in any area of discipline. It really does try its best with the regular semester fairs and all but it does not seem to be working as effectively as it should. Many go through the four years, sweating and toiling, trying to get at least one experience that can give them the edge over others in the hiring pool, but never get rewarded for the pain and suffering. At the end of four or five long years, they are forced to make drastic decisions that change the path of their long term goals. Sad but really true.

I remember the words carefully, as told to me by my father, 'For every complain posed, always bring a suggestion for change'. Recall, I am not a man of complaints and to that I pose my suggestion. The management in charge of building the careers for students has a network of companies that it has established its trust in. Using these network, create a structure by which it is a requirement for students to have at least one work experience in their field of study before they can graduate. With the help of a dedicated management, sets of deadlines and ambitious-driven students, such a structure can be established and will work. There will be issues and people who would stand against the ideas and concept but there are principles that make a student an all-rounded and in order to gain results, these principles must be followed.

I can not help but share. A friend of mine, a fine student with a dedicated heart for success, started a business which has grown from nothing to something worth talking about. He did a few jobs for the general public just to gain some experiences and have a start to say the least. With a few experiences in his area of concentration, he approaches some individuals, high in positions of authority of the college I will everly call mine, asking for patronage. To his surprise, he was 'posted' with the regular, calm and deceiving reply of which they would promise to get back to him and they never do. Take a look at what is wrong with this picture. A student decides to start his business, using all what he has learnt from the college I will always call mine. He goes out into the world, gains some experience and comes back to the place that gave him all he needed to know to make things work. Asking for help through patronage, he gets shunned and of course, he feels denied. Is that not a cause to speak?

Most institutions enjoy the benefits of their alumni, who graciously give back in the hope to build an institution that is better than the one they had. A few years from now, me, my friend and many others would be out there in the world, making the most of life and enjoying what it has to offer. This comes without pride or over-confidence but out of sheer truth. We would love to give back to places that nurtured our tender heart while they were soft and tender. We would love to make places that we once called home away from home, bigger and better than they presently are. But how does one do so when they recollect the series of events that occurred in their past years. Events that tend to stir up bitterness and disgust. It becomes difficult and to the receivers, we portray ourselves as ungrateful.

Recall, I am not a man of complaints and to that I say, concentrate and invest on what you have. Do not focus all your attention at individuals who have made it and call you 'alma matar'. Make the lives of people who are presently with you, lives of joyful memories and watch in years to come, the benefits of your investment grow.

*This is just my food for thought*

Congrats Graduates!

May 16, 2009 was an emotional yet long-awaited day for more than 1200 students. It was the Illinois Institute of Technology Commencement Ceremony and a day of recognition for all that have spent 4 or more or less years at this prestigious institution. The day started off with the general Opening Ceremony at 11 am at an outdoor location on campus called Stuart Field a.k.a 'The Hawk's Nest'.

This year's commencement's speaker was Marissa Mayer. She leads Google's efforts on search products — web search, images, news, books, products, maps, — and other consumer-facing initiatives such as Google Toolbar, Google Desktop, Google Health, Google Labs, and more. Her contributions have included designing and developing Google's search interface, internationalizing the site to over 100 languages, and launching more than 100 features and products on Google.com.

The student speaker was Babajide Oke, whom I happened to know not just because he is a Nigerian but because He served a the Resident Advisor in the dorm I stayed in during my freshman year. After the general event, respective colleges of disciplines broke into different areas of campus to have the awards given the graduates. The weather that afternoon was wonderful and the event was successful. I could not stay to the end because I had some other responsiblities to handle but all-in-all, the event was very successful.

Gidi Warrior
=^=

The joy of college

College (Latin: collegium) is a term most often used today to denote an educational institution.
Originally, it meant a group of persons living together, under a common set of rules (con- = "together" + leg- = "law" or lego = "I choose")

Hey everyone,
Hope things are swell with you? I know, it has been a while since I blogged but here I am now :-).
From my movie-watching experience, I have carved out the term "college" to be a place for fun. Yes, there is work to be done but the major aspect of going to college was to have fun. Well, let me tell you that your mind changes when you actually start living the college life. Let me tell you something I have come to realize is my idea of 'fun' in college. Meeting new people, discovering new things, open opportunities and many more. Of course, the teenage mentality of fun is partying and going out, but I refuse to put these under my idea of 'fun'. Not that I am a nerd with my mind filled with Quantum mechanics and thermodynamics, at least I try to be, never works out but the things that get me excited during my time in college are necessary not the things everyone presumes they should be. When I am given the opportunity to represent my school in a competition and I win, I consider that 'fun' times. When given a project to do and it requires me to use the information I learnt from years back, I consider it 'fun' times. When I get introduced to people and we get to hang out and just relax, I say 'I had fun'. All these things lift up my spirit and anything that get me on this level is considered 'fun' for me.
If you meet me for the first time, you would never imagine that these aspects of life ever affect me but, NEWSFLASH!, they do. I may not be the funniest guy around but I do know how to have fun and make the best use of my opportunities. Next week is Finals week, when we have our final exams. I am not really forward to that but at the same time, it has to come and go so I am not really bothered too much. I have studied hard and will continue to do so because it is not how well you start but how excellently you finish. Summer time is in a couple of weeks and it should be 'fun'. Have an internship job, moving to a nice neighborhood and my birthday all during this period.
Till the next time I write, live life to its fullest and have 'FUN'

...signing off.............
LAS GIDI forever!

An ardent spring break enthusiast

Hello World,
It has been quite sometime I came up with something fresh and funky. So this special edition article is dedicated to my fun-loving mates who like to do what they do best; have fun!

Some things in my life have not been all smooth sailing but I love life and nothing seems to get me down to my knees and say 'I give up'. I am stronger than ever and I am making the most of my time as a youth. Beginning of this year, I was elected President of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) for the IIT chapter. It is not an easy job but I am trying my best not to disappoint anyone and most importantly, myself. If you need to know what I have been up to, check out aiche.iit.edu and see the effort put in by the new executive board.

This week is spring break week and everyone, except the United NERDS, is out of school and having mad fun. I experienced some of this fun because I ended up going to Miami, Florida. It was great. I have high school friends up there and so I had free accomodation and food. It was a nice time and to keep this P.G , I will stop ranting for now. What made me come back early from spring break? - (CHE 433) : Process Dynamics and Control. I have mid-term on monday in this class and in my present state of mind, I am not mentally prepared for it takeless of physical ready.

I am taking 6 classes this semester and 5 of them are Chemical Engineering classes. Last but not the least class is my favorite BUS 465 (Business - Entrepreneurship in Industry). I am working with a current company that I know so well. Matter of fact, I know the CEO of the company and he is a very good friend. I wrote an abstract on how to create a niche for his company in the 'GREEN AGE' that we live in. Check it out if you have the time. Not to long and definitely fascinating. [ http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs072/1102248019865/archive/1102482369102.html ].

To end this special edition posting, I would like to say thanks to some important and dear people to me. Mom, Dad - I luv you 2 ppes. Perfect couple for any kid. You mean a lot. My two sis's : Tayo and Bussy, my heart is always on u. Carolyn, Christy, Don, Ryan, Jerry and all I work with - u guys do it best. Great folks. Laolu n Muyiwa, ma homies from LakeView Club House.

Thanks for reading this if you did and I hope to bring out something new next month. Be easy!

Anoti from the year 2g's and forever!

I leave one eye open like CBS

Hope your break was good? Mine was not..............it was GREAT. You know during the break, I needed to water my mind with some knowledge and I asked my boss for a book on leadership. He gave me a book called 'Good to Great' by Jim Collins. This book is not for the soft and fragile minds because the contents of the book gush out at you like trying to drink from a fire hose. I learnt a lot from that book and most importantly, I took some major notes. That was as far as geeky I went this break, now to the fun stuff!

Being from Lagos (Nigeria), it is typical for you to go back home for the break, meet up with old friends (maybe make new one in the process) and then par-take in the par-teas. It is like a tradition. My friends from England, France, Oklahoma, Texas, Indiana, Holland, Canada all come back home to have a youthful christmas. But this year, I decided not to go home and it was confirm when my mom said my sister was coming over to Chicago to spend some time with me. At first I thought, wonderful....but then I realized I needed more money to maintain both of us so we could have a splendid xmas. Of course, this meant working more hours and buying less shoes.....by the way did i mention d love i have for shoes??.....that's a story for another day. Anyway, I took my my sister out downtown, Chicago. We walked the whole Manificent Mile.....(for outsiders, it is a one mile road only for shoppers) and we spent new year briefly together because she was leaving that same day. After she was gone, everything kind of slowed down. I went to my apartment and noticed that there was no FOOD! My eyes ball popped out like somone was choking me. This was 11pm and I wasn't ready to go back into the Deep Freezer that the whole of Chicago is. So I walked up and down the house on search of anything that looked like food but I never found anything. I gave up and went to bed. The next day......you can guess........i went grocery shopping and boy was I glad. Now I am back to work, back to reality which is practically my life. Things are going as planned but I don't know how long this is going to last. I hope it does. Shout out to Mum and Dad......I love u guys!!!

Till next time, have a marvelous life!

codeName : S.I.S.

Did anyone ever wonder where I went or how I was doing? Who cares right? I know! No one cares for you as good as yourself. Sometimes, I wonder to myself : Do I really have friends or just acquaintances? I am the kind of guy you would want to meet only once and never see again because the next time I see you, you are just another one of the many I have met and so you deserve no special attention. I have decided not to deceive anyone. I'd rather be blunt than fake attention. That's my new resolution.

Let me tell you five new advancements in my life :
- I decided to take school as high on my priority pyramid as possible.
- I quit some activities on campus, which you would later on find out.
- I told 'her' that it cant work out because she went to France for study aboard. Hard for me to tell her but I did!
- I try to plan out my day the day before.
- And I took up the responsibility of cleaning my apartment everyday even with 2 other animals living with me.

On the 9th of December, I finished my last final exam paper. It was not easy and I am eager to see how bad I did (You would do well to get the irony of that sentence). Instead of being excited, for some reason I was not excited school had ended even though I had been ____ing about it for a while. I felt lost. I felt that there was really nothing to look forward to now that school is on break. No anticipation of tests or homework to keep the mind in check! The funny thing is that I am nowhere near being geeky yet I act like one. P.O.M.E - Product Of My Environment. The way I see my life is clear and well defined. I know what I want and if anyone does not agree with things I do, which I feel is for my benefit, I WILL cut off. Still I am open to corrections. In anticipation for a new year, I hope to mature mentally, socially and academically. I told someone very recently; 'There are only two kind of people - those who control things and those who will be controlled'. I remember my mum telling me, if you do not have where you want to be in mind, then anywhere would do. As simple as that line was, I pondered on it for sometime and I finally made my conclusion. If you fail to plan, you have planned to fail. With that, I tell you, go out there and make the most of life.

By the way: S.I.S means Stay In School (don't be a fool)

Signin' out..........................
AKay

The Wrath of Midterms

It has been a while since I dropped to say hi. But now I am back with twenty two two's, ain't no half stepping! Back to the issue at hand.

Have you ever known someone who you tried to be friends with but never gave you a chance? Well, I know one and I am going to tell you a little story about this interesting someone. We met a year and a half ago right on IIT campus. I had heard some good and bad stuff about him and I desperately yearned for the day we would meet. I prepared and tried to even learn more about what he was all about so that I did not mess up in front of him. The first time I met him, he seemed nice and I was willing to hang out with him. But the problem was that he only comes on campus twice a semester. He had a big brother who also goes to IIT but comes to school once a semester especially at the end of the semester. This week I was surprised! He was on campus 3 time in a row. I saw him yesterday, today and I will probably see him tomorrow because he assured me of that fact. But one thing I really did not like about him was his attitude. He always tries to prove tough and hard and he was shocked on Monday when I came prepared to face him and chat. He started off trying to test if I was even worthy of being in school and threw at me tough questions at me without mercy. Unknown to him, I had studied his every move and had advises from mutual friends. When we met today, I gave him all the answers to his boring questions and he was shocked. Shocked to know that I stepped up to his challenge. Then he knew I was not like the rest and ceasing the moment, I asked him, 'what's ur name?' and he replied, 'The name's MID....., MID-TERM'. Out of courtsey, I wrote my name on him so he could remember me and we separated ways, saying "See you tomorrow, Ol friend !"