tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87856807908540948962024-03-13T17:47:05.453+01:00Koye's BlogThoughts on living, loving, and learning...Koye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.comBlogger481125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-63438387814773578352023-09-11T18:34:00.005+01:002023-09-11T21:56:27.234+01:00Happy-ish Birthday, KoyeStop here if you’re tired of reading about my dad. Thank you for coming and I understand why you are stopping here. I hope that the day soon comes when I can again write useful stuff that you will enjoy reading.*****Earlier today, in introvert paradise. Photo credit: Mosimiloluwa Koye-Ladele.If you’ve read one of these before, you know about my practice of writing a birthday pager: a document Koye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-4602422384177459692023-05-17T08:21:00.010+01:002023-05-17T13:26:28.354+01:00For Daddy, at 60With daddy on the day we moved to the UKThe last time I saw my dad in person, we both cried as I left. Me crying on leaving home was not new. I had cried on leaving most times since I first left for university in December 2006. But tears in my dad’s eyes? That was a first. He had just recovered from an illness that had felt like certain death while it lasted. He had been surprised to wake up, Koye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-49913835330501752052022-09-11T00:00:00.021+01:002022-09-11T00:23:27.155+01:00Happy Birthday, KoyeSlowing down, in BerlinI have both dreaded and anticipated this day for several weeks. By “this day”, I don’t mean Sunday the 11th – my birthday. I mean Friday the 9th, when I have finally begun writing this post. Except for journal entries and reams of business writing, I have not written much else since April.Writing again after a long pause always feels daunting. But I’m here now and I’m doingKoye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-12221065681560058002022-04-03T17:27:00.001+01:002022-04-03T17:32:36.460+01:00Life Lately: The slap that was felt around the worldI mentioned The Lincoln Highway, Amor Towles’s brilliant new novel, two weeks ago. When I woke up to the news this week that Will Smith had hit Chris Rock at the Oscars, I began thinking about the book again.We are introduced to Emmet on the book’s first page. He has just been released from a correctional facility and is being driven home by the warden. Before dropping Emmet off, the warden says Koye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-2922469246652654932022-03-27T15:15:00.007+01:002022-03-27T15:22:52.541+01:00Life Lately: Becoming KoyeShow me a better Saturday morning routineOne of my new favourite habits is reading the FT Weekend on Saturdays. It’s really nice to make a coffee and sit down to the crackle of the newspaper and the smell of ink. Every week, the FT magazine interviews a celebrity using a similar set of questions. I’ve been wanting to answer those questions for a while, so I thought I’d do so in this post. If you Koye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-42107075611415796482022-03-20T14:28:00.004+01:002022-03-20T14:28:26.496+01:00Life Lately: On RestartingReflecting on beauty last week, instead of writing 🥲It’s so long since my last post that I don’t even know where to start. What began as a one-week break while I figured out how to incorporate writing into my post-lockdown schedule became a six-week hiatus. I must say it’s good to be writing again, and I have missed the opportunity for reflection that these weekly posts afforded me.I also thank Koye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-80480490013522669592022-02-06T13:20:00.004+01:002022-02-06T13:20:38.644+01:00Life Lately: On Wordle - Why purple cows matterToday’s puzzle. Sorry for the spoiler!I did the daily Wordle a few moments ago, just before I started writing this. I often start with ‘AEROS’ and ‘TULIP’ because these two words cover the ten letters that appear most frequently in English. After guessing today’s word, I copied the grid using the Share button and posted it to Twitter.Wordle 214 1/6🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩I want to brag but I reckon the chancesKoye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-73296796996107870552022-01-30T16:46:00.004+01:002022-01-30T16:52:37.096+01:00Life Lately: On riding out market downturnsPicture of the BT tower from a walk today. Can’t get over how beautiful it was outside today.Last time I bought a new phone, I noticed I could either pay at once or split payments over two years at 0% interest. For clarity, the 0% interest option meant the sticker price of the phone would be divided by 24. No interest, no hidden payments.The second option was better mathematically. Taking a 0% Koye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-90699160214694544722022-01-23T15:34:00.002+01:002022-01-23T15:35:19.239+01:00Life Lately: On Happiness and Lifestyle InflationRemember how I wrote that I’m trying to write longer (and more in-depth) essays this year? Well, I’ve been working on one and I look forward to sharing it soon. Today, I’m sharing two quick things – something I wrote about happiness and a quote from Oliver Burkeman about lifestyle inflation.*****I don’t want there to be civil war in Nigeria; there isn’t. I don’t want a huge pimple on my nose; I Koye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-89573251305281782452022-01-09T13:11:00.003+01:002022-01-09T17:28:40.857+01:00Life Lately: Two things I'm doing differently in 2022Finisher’s medal from a Vicky Park run in 2020When I first started running the 5K, I did not understand pacing. After the warmup, I would start running as quickly as possible – I used to run the 100m in secondary school after all. This inevitably meant I would be out of breath after a few short minutes. I would be so exhausted that I would have to slow down to a walk or stop to catch my breath.AsKoye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-31333784585174786092022-01-02T12:26:00.003+01:002022-01-02T12:26:12.767+01:00What is more important than your 2022 goals?A picture from my NY walk in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic ParkHappy New Year 2022!I hope you enjoyed the holidays and found some time to reflect on the past year. I also hope you found things to be grateful for. I took my own advice and spent some time on the 31st listing highs and lows from 2021. I then read the entire list out loud in gratitude.As we head into 2022, I wanted to share a simple Koye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-30481424889897649592021-12-31T11:00:00.001+01:002021-12-31T11:00:15.302+01:00Life Lately: Some gratitude to end the yearThe author of Luke tells a fascinating story about gratitude. While traveling to Jerusalem, Jesus encounters ten lepers and asks them to present themselves to the priests, healing them as they go. Upon realizing they have been healed, only one of them returns to thank Jesus. Jesus then remarks, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except Koye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-4149161037370507552021-12-19T12:03:00.005+01:002021-12-19T13:08:53.409+01:00Life Lately: What a car accident taught me about livingSeven years ago, I had one of those turning point moments. One minute, I was singing Jaywon’s “we making money, we making money, we making money this year” while driving from Lagos to Ibadan to spend Christmas at home. The next, I was dazed, grabbing the steering for dear life as the car plunged into a ditch, and thinking how sad my family would be if I died.Thankfully, I didn’t die. The car Koye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-76231584176121082672021-11-28T10:30:00.006+01:002021-11-28T10:30:55.966+01:00Life Lately: OmicronI am not surprised that there’s a new coronavirus variant sending everyone into a panic. The virus is doing what viruses do, mutate, and there will be many more variants before the pandemic is over. (As written before, I still believe COVID will then become endemic). Given how recently Omicron was detected, we don’t know yet if it is more infectious, virulent, or vaccine-resistant.However, Koye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-17879620602959645732021-11-21T12:44:00.010+01:002021-11-21T13:00:42.752+01:00Life Lately: The Matthew EffectContemplating my future atop the Sacre-Coeur Basilica in November 2018On this day three years ago, I was cash-strapped. I was approaching the end of my year in business school with an empty bank account. While I could look forward to a nice signing bonus, that was still many months away. In the interim, we needed to fly back to Nigeria, wait out a few months of funemployment, and spend money on Koye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-78542101634022290112021-11-14T11:41:00.009+01:002021-11-14T14:57:23.347+01:00Life Lately: The Psychology of MoneyChilling with my first personal finance coachIf I close my eyes and think hard enough, I can still conjure up vivid images of my mom’s budget sheets from my childhood. While I prefer to think of her as a miracle worker, I know those sheets played a huge role in stretching the family finances as far as possible. After I started my first job, my dad sent me notes from a teaching he did on personal Koye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-34888334919301933782021-10-24T10:47:00.002+01:002021-10-24T14:39:06.020+01:00Life Lately: Winter Blues, Finding & Working with a MentorToday is a great day for football. At 15.15 BST, there’s El Clásico, the first of the post-Messi era. Then at 16.30 BST there’s Liverpool vs. Manchester United. Both will be great games for neutral fans, but I am rooting for Real Madrid and Manchester United (for Ronaldo). Fingers crossed at least one of the two carry the day.*****Lovely blue skies at the Victoria ParkThe past week was tough on Koye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-19689370868101881422021-10-10T11:20:00.006+01:002021-10-10T11:30:43.705+01:00Life Lately: On Black TaxesI was recently speaking to someone who is indebted to the tune of 7x their monthly income. Now, not all debt is bad debt. This wouldn’t be noteworthy if they had taken out all those loans to invest in their future: say to buy a house, move to Canada, or pay for a well-chosen master’s program. But in this case, they were concerned – and I was concerned, because they had borrowed the money over Koye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-35663810764610306482021-10-03T12:15:00.008+01:002021-10-03T12:27:01.689+01:00Life Lately: Virtual bible study and three tips for working more deeplyWith part of the crew. Some of my favourite people in the worldOne of the things I miss the most about living in Lagos is the spontaneous discussions my group of friends, affectionately known as The Crew, often have. I met the first members of The Crew when I started at OAU and joined the Student Christian Movement in 2006. I took an instant liking to Joseph, Kemi, and Wale. I met Ope through Koye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-54183883113273564372021-09-19T11:13:00.007+01:002021-09-19T12:49:17.636+01:00Life Lately: The CBN goes after AbokiFx; One way to be more creativeLast week, Nigeria’s Central Bank (CBN) went after AbokiFx for publishing parallel market exchange rates. That is ridiculous – to put it mildly. It’s like going after Live Scores for reporting that Bayern Munich is trashing Barcelona 8-2 or banning Google Maps for showing there’s traffic on the Third Mainland Bridge.Let’s start with a simplistic recap. The Naira has been in free fall for years. Koye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-4564162413480379002021-09-11T08:00:00.035+01:002021-09-11T08:00:00.210+01:00On Turning Thirty...It was a bright and beautiful Sunday ten years ago when I turned 20. It was the last day of Missions, a week-long event organized by OAU’s umbrella association for Christian fellowships, and it was my last Sunday as Secretary of the association. Shortly before noon, the pastor told thousands of gathered worshippers that it was my birthday and asked them to please sing for me. And they sang. I Koye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-25041183345418588012021-09-05T09:58:00.003+01:002021-09-05T10:42:43.310+01:00Life Lately: Tuition scholarships for five OAU final-year students; Show me Your WorkAfter much hemming and hawing and obsessing over minutiae, I am delighted to share www.etkolscholars.org with the world. While the site has been ready for months, I’ve had one reason (read excuse) or the other for postponing its launch. Between gentle reminders from Wale Osideinde and taking my own medicine (see Working on A Dream), we’re finally live!It is most certainly a drop in the ocean, butKoye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-50139033459985601492021-08-29T09:29:00.006+01:002021-08-29T09:35:18.071+01:00Life Lately: The World as it isI’m going to be 30 in two Saturdays. I’m very excited about this milestone and I’m looking forward to that week (yes – it’s an entire birthday week away from work). But what’s a milestone where Koye doesn’t reflect? So I’ve also been reading my old journals and thinking about my journey. I found this entry from 2009 about a simple but political decision I had to make, and thought it was a good Koye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-20784763826969526222021-08-22T10:05:00.010+01:002021-08-22T10:10:12.801+01:00Life Lately: Working on a DreamHanging out with my guy, Shakespeare, on the grounds of the lovely Southwark CathedralI know someone who has been planning to apply to business school for just over six years now. These days, I smile and change the topic when our conversations turn to that dream. I have worked with them over the past few years to identify and address a series of blockers, and we’ve reached the conclusion that Koye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785680790854094896.post-90772243024962444602021-08-15T11:44:00.006+01:002021-08-15T11:44:53.196+01:00Life Lately: Are you getting the learning you need?Taking in the grandeur of the Cathedral of BarcelonaI was discussing this post (Life Lately: Learn & Be Curious from April 25) with someone recently, and they told me how they were struggling to make the time for learning. It got me thinking about yet another post I shared with my Conversations newsletter group but never posted to this blog. I've reproduced it below and edited it to Koye-Ladele Mogbekeloluwahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15587097576491299058noreply@blogger.com2