Its been really hard writing , i had to really give it my all to finish my first draft which has been done yippee.
I am now working on two projects one you can follow on twitter http://twitter.com/lagosstar and the other you can follow on scribd http://www.scribd.com/lagostar where i shall paste my current writing exercises which will probably bring tears to your eyes as they are supposed to draw all the drivel out of me .
As recommended by my wife the brilliant mrs D it involves 30 mins of writing once a day,the idea being ,so i can be succinct and bright when i go back to Moyos story .

In the mean time i am working on on finishing PoP my beach house which is a wonderful fun project http://www.flickr.com/photos/lagosstar/ also included are pictures from the original lagosstar blog

working on a social media /online sales campaign for my work www.eaglepaintsng.com its very early days ,but very exciting trying to ride the edge of the tech front in deepest darkest Africa

My people have a saying ;
" the father of a child is the father of all children "
This is the first of many blogs on my letters to my children .
4 years ago i created a now defunct website called lagosstar with the main intention of providing information on the city I come from Lagos Nigeria .It was meant to be a link between the city and people who visited ,providing you with your basic 6 degrees of seperation
In researching articles for the publication ,I became deeply interested in the history of my people and aware of the geography of the place .
Lagos is a town built around islands set in a series of lagoons and is therefore very beautiful although in its chaotic pace few people get the chance to stop and admire the city
Its history is based on the constant influx of foreigners through the years and the cultural impact this has had on the people.
Going through the Tate Modern i came across a painting by Asger Jorn titled "letter to my children"
And shortly after that ,while battling jet lag in Los Angeles i had a dream which developed into the story which i decided to write as a letter to my son .
Moyo's Tale
It tells the story of a young boy and his friends who meet a man called Olotu and find a portal in the ports near where they live .They travel back in time and fix a lot of wrongs that have happened For example the slave trade . And in doing this transform their present life ,the main point is to show my sons and daughters what a different life we could all have if we chose to care , to be brave and considerate , it tackles everything from slave trade to recycling to pollution and resource control ,while giving the reader a quick history of the world with sometime in 1422 as the pivotal date when the portal was first established , we learn from the point of view of a twelve year old boy standing somewhere on the coast of west Africa what happened from the ice age to 1986 the year in which the book is set .

The book has its origin in scifi and watching Startrek with my son i realised i have inadvertently written a prequel to just about every scifi movie i saw as a kid , which is cool !

A lot of information about the book research etc have been uploaded to scribd see link and i shall be twitting about it , the information on scribd is delibrately not edited and requires a great deal of patience , i shall be uploading on to scribd edited versions which can be accessed with permission .

I look forward to the challenge of learning how to write , while telling my tale , which i hope will help make the world a better place for my children .

I came ,i saw i ran,i conquered.
I arrived at the meet at around 6.30 am surprisingly there were very few people milling around the CMS end ,the experience concert at TBS was just wrapping up and they seemed to have had a good time . I crossed the road and arrived at outer marina to a barrage of MTN officials and police men shouting at no one seeing as there was no one there ,saying things like only does in yellow jerseys allowed , I kept walking , at first it was dis orientating to see so few people i kept on thinking i must be early ,or in the wrong place , etc .
I saw so few people i belived it was going to be cancelled, by 7.20 when those of us who had bothered to show up got shoved further ,to accomodate a 'minister' who had arrived for a photo up there could not have been more than a few hundred of us , MTN the sponsors should hold the organisers accountable so often we talk about accountability and corporate responsibility well it would seem MTN has been grossly negligent in both ,
A quick poll revealed that everyone there in a yellow jersey had registered by form , not by SMS the organisers had claimed that over 45000 people had registered by this method ,this was a lie ,no one could register .I know because i could not , and none of the people at the meet who tried could.
I ran ,
I got of to a late start ,i forgot to send of my customary begging text on behalf 'sponsor a child' until the starting pistol went off.
I got of to a bad start ,in the confusion i started of running in my old style which i had spent all year trying to change after the injury from 2005, once started i couldnt change it .
the conditions were perfect ,the temperature was low and the sky hazy , the organisers had decided to slash the water stations by about half ,which was annoying.
I got injured at about 13km just opposite the cathedral church on marina my achilles tendon kicked in and i had to stop running and reevaluate .
With so few people running i could not walk i would have been left to the mercy of the Lagos traffic so i walk /ran the rest of the way the longest 7km i have ever endured.
would i do it again ? Hell no.
But then again memory of pain fades fast , my memories are mainly of the sights and sounds and what a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours looking at your city,also i saw the times ran by the winners 1hr 3mins men and 1hr 16mins for the women . this is not to far from what i had done in the past may be a bit of competitive spirit would help give it an edge next time, who's to say .Lets see how i heal .
Its been great .

Ran the 18k this morning and fell flat on my face at about 11km which happens to be quite a popular intersection , o well, the great thing about falling is ; he that is down need fear no fall ....
besides the new way of running as prescribed by all the professionals is to run on your toes falling along so to speak .

I have been limping all day long at work and i think people are placing wagers on wether i shall run or not the odds are against ,i may join in the wager on the sly and see if i can increase the money i raise through foul means as well as fair.

The limp is due to a strained achilles tendon,an injury i picked up on friday , i am at a loss what to do i have to keep walking its an intrinsic part of my job; so i cant take the weight of it .I was a bit dissapointed that the strain hadnt left, and i hoped to be able to shake it of this morning but i am afraid i may have aggravated the case .

I doubt i shall be able to update the blog before the race so i shall see you at the other side hopefully by then i would have recovered from injury ran the race and raised a truck load of money and also lost a toe nail which is half way off right now, but i am just not man enough to rip it off.

what i would really like is a can of the spray used on athlethes especially footballers.

the mtn lagos half marathon takes place on sartuday the 2nd of dec 2006

is 18km proving to much for the man

I wasnt able to make my run this morning and the reason are many pronged ,
1, Injury i think i may have twisted my achilles tendon or atleast strained it ,
2, traffic , i got stuck in traffic on the extra 2 km stretch on saturday , i think it may be more than 2km.
3, diet , i went out to dinner at the newly open Reeds restaurant and lounge,190 Awolowo rd and they were fully booked which was a shame as the menu looked superb and the diners all seemed happy. So all i had for supper at home was a piece of chicken and some cheese and onion crisps hardly enough to run 18 km on .
4, Cold feet what more can i say .
will try again tomorrow.

16 km
O boy, it hasnt been easy. Breaking the 14km barrier was probably the hardest , this was were i faltered and did the walk of shame back yonder in october well we finally crested the wave but not without a fight .
The first try a week ago ,saw me give up 500metres from my house only to have to start 50 meters later when my Kids drove by; 'there is nothing to be gained by them thinking i am less than super human ' On sunday as we drove past Bar Beach and Silverbird galleria, the butterflies but on their kilts and danced a little jig in my stomach, as i regurgitated the memory of what once was .On monday i ran a full 14km with a bit on top "which was nice'
Speed training went ok, but on thursday i convinced myself that my legs needed a bit more rest, a totally reasonable supposition at 5.20 am but left me feeling rather edgy all day. You never know with running if you have over done it or not , like i said earlier... its the mind you have to watch out for, it completely takes over, and comes up with excuses : as we all know "its mind over matter" .To be able to run the race i have to have ran at least 18km especially because of the injury and the new style of running i can't take any chances ,i have been to runners hell and back , i am not going there again .So it was with trepidation that i faced the night , all week long i have had to abstain from booze ,i am no alcoholic but a week is a bloody long time to go with out a drink . It was also my son's birthday on thursday and i was sure i was going to have to have a celebratory glass of wine ,jug of beer ,vat of whiskey....who could tell , all i knew was I didnt run in the morning cause my mind said my legs were too tired to run . So when i found myself in bed by ten it was with a wry smile, which would broaden to a grin when i got up and out of bed at 5.20 am and would turn to an exhausted hallelujah when i completed the 16 km with the bit on top .

I shall attempt the 18 km on monday , my injury keeps niggling me but hopefully i shall overcome , if i am able to do this i should be able to run the race . Running long distances really takes its toll on the mind , you cant even look up for fear of stalling and you do run out of things to think about or prayers to say after about 12 km followed by boredom then delirium and then boredom again this is when injury takes place , I keep on thinking about the charity i run for and how lucky i am to have my health and wealth in such a hard place .
I have run the same route for four years now with little change happening along the route, the roads are still bad ,still not enough people cleaning it. Props go out to the cleaning ladies ,always there, always cheerful . To effect change you have to participate, you have to engage your self in society, love the land you live in. Thats what lagosstar is all about my affair with this slapper of a town , and its only just begun to find out more sign up www.lagosstar.com

STUCK IN A JAM/HOT STUFF
Didnt get to run on friday, couldnt get out of bed .Didnt get to run on saturday ,but got stuck in traffic on my way to a rugby tournament at the British international school in Lekki . Spent an hour on Tiamiyu Savage street, decided to get an okada ,couldnt find one, ended up walking all the way to Zenith bank on Ajose Adeogun before we got one .
This city is really to small for cars it took us no time to walk,and we saw half the people we know stuck in traffic , even the okada ride was perfunctory we were already 500 meters from our destination by the time we got on .

Racing rugby club continued their rivalry with Eko rugby club with Racing winning the tournament . As a supporter of Racing i had to join in the celebrations and so couldnt run on sunday. Thankfully Arsenal won...... at last, and i managed to see 'A game of wit' a play by the talented Ita Hozaife ,starring Iyabo Amoke amongst others at Terra culture which but me in a good mood and meant i had a good night sleep, and no excuses ,so yes i got to run on monday 'Which was nice' so i am at least back on track if not up to speed .
With the new style of running i cant seem to make up the time which is really annoying , you push your self as hard as you can , get home shattered , check you time , and you are no where near where you expect to be.
I have ditched all hi tech gimmicks and gone back to the purist way of running : no ipod, no watch, no pedometer,No back pack, no nothing just me myself and i . This is truly the best way to run , in this busy world we rarely have time to declutter to meditate to clear our minds , i run using the Lords prayer and the Psalm 23 as mantras to be repeated continually , it works for me . The Natural high is not bad also , its a great way to start your day .
My mind as been filled with morbid thoughts for some strange reason , I dont get religon we profess to want to be closer to God and sit by his side in paradise and yet we pray not to die obviously this is hypocritcal but hey thats life .
Harmattan is back this is the worse season for me, i hate the dust and the white skys , But i love the birds they are back and that is so cool ; the humming birds the king fishers the horn bills , the cranes , its fantastic; i am sure the mallards and other ducks will be here soon its great seeing them in the mornings one of the joys of running ,although if you have a garden you can probably spot the humming birds all day, there are also the jetBlue birds with the white eyes i wonder what they are called ? We got to work on monday and there was a huge OWL up in the rafters ;cool.
I ran on tuesday as wellfor speed training , and got a leg rub using some linament called LOCO ..... If you were not when you started, you will be by the end , No kidding my legs were on fire , it may have worked, but i will never know cause i think i have burnt all nerve endings and this is the end of this post .