the Nigerian Ghoul in an American Forest
10. Mud and puddles
9. Heat
8. Noise
7. Mosquitoes
6. Elephant grass
5. Houseflies
4. NTA news (cheeky cheeky) 
3. NEPA
2. Expired imported apples
1. Dust
PS: This is the 460th post on this blog. Yay!
PPS: Voting has begun in the Nigerian Blog Awards 2010. We’re up for eleven categories. Click here to vote.
In response to 10 Reasons to Like the Last One Year
10. Nigeria, parents, friends, family…
9. Iyan, amala, ogufe, pepper soup, palm wine, plantain chips, ewedu and gbegiri, egusi
8. France, Jos, Kenya, Ghana, Calabar, Obudu, Abuja, South Africa…
7. An exhibition of photographs.
6. A new academic degree.
5. Agbero, danfo, conductor, go slow, Third Mainland Bridge, Beere-Oje-Agbeni-Ogunpa, Agbowo UI…
4. Sunshine, heat, University swimming pool, rain, mosquito nets, “wetin you carry”, NEPA, sandals.
3. MTN, Multilinks, PHCN, Starcomms, 25-in-one pirated movie DVDs, soccer.
2. Generator, iPnx, KTravula/iGwatala, Twitter, poetry, books, prose, short stories, short films.
1. Freedom
PS: Happy Birthday Laitan. You are loved dearly. Agba ti n de o. Here’s to let you know how glad I am to have you as a kid sister. Have a splendid year. Love, KT
10. The nice new people I’ve met and loved.
9. The new foods I’ve learned to eat and cook.
8. The new places I’ve been. Boston, Providence, St. Louis, Principia, Carbondale, Chicago, Maryland, NY…
7. The number of pictures I’ve been able take of sites, strangers and structures.
6. The knowledge and experience I’ve gained in interacting with students, strangers and situations.
5. The bike trail, the school bus, the traffic lights, the metro.
4. Snow, Cougar Lake, thunderstorms, earplugs, snow boots
3. Voicemail, karaoke, free movies, iPod, invitations, basketball.
2. Electricity, internet, KTravula, twitter, poetry, books, prose.
1. Fulbright
10. If you’re a workaholic, you will get a few more hours of sleep afterwards.
9. You will have an excuse to be lazy and late on work deadlines.
8. You will have a reason to get new up-to-date softwares, sometimes free from the University.
7. You will get to know the workings of Dell’s (or your computer’s manufacturer’s) customer service.
6. You may get to know who loves you and who doesn’t. 
5. You will learn new lessons on how not to use a laptop (e.g. leaving it on all night playing music)
4. You will appreciate the value of $65.05 and five gruesome days of waiting.
3. You will be rid of all the junk in your computer that you have always wanted to delete but didn’t have the required gut, time or patience to delete.
2. You get to read more books.
1. You will get to spend more time with the rest of humanity for a little while.
10. You may actually get sleepless nights and withdrawal symptoms.
9. You will miss a couple of important work deadlines.
8. New hard drives cost money, and you will have to wait for days, go through frustrating customer service phone responses, before you get it back.
7. You may not remember any/all of the things you’ve lost with it.
6. Everyone thinks it serves you right for not backing it all up when you had the chance. The rest don’t just give a damn.
5. Your students’ grades, results and records might be in it, and you will have to work double hard to get them all back.
4. You will never get back poems, skits, writings, translations in their original forms again.
3. The Geek Squad at BestBuy and all of their good brains may not be able to recover any of your lost data.
2. The computer in your office may be occupied everytime you want to use it.
1. By losing Skype with your hard drive, you might miss your mum’s birthday party.
Alton, IL
