Year Review 2024

👏🏾 👏🏾 Year Review 👏🏾 👏🏾

I want to thank everyone who reads this yearly spiel, it is not easy to weave seemingly random events from the past 12 months into one meaningful narrative but I’m sure it’s even harder to watch me try :D

I started thinking about this year’s review in July. I knew that I would have a lot of things to say so my mind kept going to it, but I only seriously began writing it last week. Thank God we are seeing the end of the year. I didn’t want this piece to be only about moving to Canada because I spent a whole 7 months in Nigeria, however, most things that have happened have been in the 4 months since starting my Masters. Toh. What happened in those 7 months? Idk, I was preparing to travel. I think this year was about how my expectations are different from reality.

A year in books

I was consistent with my book reading until a month after I traveled. This is my year in books:

January

• “Emperors: The Blood of Gods” by Conn Iggulden

February

• “Sapiens” by Yuval Noah Harari

March

• “Americanah” by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie

April

• “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie

May

• “Command Authority” by Tom Clancy

June

July

• “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell

August

• “War of Worlds” by H.G Wells

September

• “Down and Out in Paris and London” by George Orwell

November

• I started reading a book for my research “Phantasmal Media” by D. Fox Harrell, but not finished

December

Nothing

I enjoyed all the books listed here. Americanah was just alright. My favorite was “Down and Out in Paris and London”, it was a short book but there were gems on every page. It’s a first-person recollection of George Orwell’s time as a struggling writer in Paris and London. I so loved it! He shares interesting details about Paris life in the 1920s. You get to learn a lot. And he digresses into obscure topics that add depth to his story. I will surely read it again. I had read “Emperors…” years ago but didn’t remember the end, so I reread it. It is maybe the second most memorable book of the year. I picked up a few things from “How to win friends…” it is the kind of book to use as a reference. I should flip through the pages occasionally to refresh my memory on proper social etiquette. “War of Worlds” was very exciting, I couldn’t put it down. “Outliers” and “Sapiens” were good books, very interesting.

George Orwell really suffered in Paris, after more suffering in London he eventually made it big. Hope for me?

Grad School

I started a research-based Computer Science Masters program at the University of Manitoba this Fall (September). Since secondary school I didn’t want to do the Masters thing, it was one of those choices I thought people made if they missed it in life. I was still on the Silicon valley subplot, but that didn’t happen (yet). I remember feeling actual fear whenever the thought crossed my mind. I am not sure what I was afraid of, because so far it’s just alright! From my notes, I started thinking seriously of a Masters on or before the 7th of January 2021. I listed the universities I wanted to attend and divided them into US and Canadian schools, you know them nau Stanford, McGill dem dem.

What changed my mind?

Deciding to do a Masters must have happened as part of a New Year’s resolution. By June of that year, I had articulated why I was pursuing a Masters. In my mind there were two feasible ways to achieve my goal of making lots of money through startups to do other things: I either get lucky joining or starting a company after my undergrad and then use the money for other things OR do the Masters and while there join or start a company and use the money for other things.

I got a fulltime job in 2022 and by then I could afford to do my Masters. What happened to the plan of starting a company? Na fear. Anyway, that’s another talk.

Canada

In the first week of August this year, I landed in Winnipeg. Wow. Thank you Jesus! Anytime I thought about travelling it was just “unnecessary”. I keep telling myself, “Emmanuel, you don’t have to do this at all”. But the day came and my family followed me to the airport, my Dad saw me off to the waiting area haha, even the Immigration people were like “sir, don’t worry he will be fine”. * tears * . My flight was from Abuja to Frankfurt then Frankfurt to Montreal and finally, Montreal to Toronto to Winnipeg. I was sooo excited! I had only travelled internationally once when my Mom, little brother and I went to Dubai, I was 8 or 9 at the time. Traveling alone on such a momentous journey with layovers and checkpoints and paperwork seemed like a huge deal to me.

The flights

I didn’t expect the flight to Frankfurt to be that cold. Chai. I was sooo cold. I managed to cover my body with the blanket they gave us. The food was nice. Not bad at all. I really enjoyed the chicken covered in gravy.

Frankfurt

I had to wait in the Frankfurt airport because I had an 8-hour layover. I didn’t have a lot of money and I was tired after the flight from Abuja so I wanted to spend most of the time sleeping. The Frankfurt airport was really comfortable to me sha. I loved that there were public cushions that had charging outlets everywhere. Pleasant.

Montreal

I got to Montreal but the flight to Winnipeg was in less than an hour and our incoming flight was late or something and I missed my way when going to Immigration. I sha missed the flight to Winnipeg. The Air Canada people were so kind to book another connecting flight from Toronto to Winnipeg for me. Wow, completely free!

Winnipeg

I want to start the log of the Winnipeg arrival by thanking a good person named Mathew. My supervisor connected Mathew and me when I got admission to the University. And he has been super helpful to me in settling in. He and his friend picked me up from the airport and it was 18 degrees that night but it felt super cold! Little did I know…

Snow, Ice, Winter and Cold.

WHY IS IT SO COLD. Honestly, I tried to act cool when I first arrived, seeing everyone living their lives in the cold, but no - I shall not be silenced. These are my “raw emotions”. Sidebar, but what is wrong with raw emotions? If we process our emotions and re-package them do they become less true? Anyway, back to the real and raw reality of -20 degrees Celsius every. single. day. Before coming to Winnipeg and Canada, people warned me about the cold. My Mom was worried about the cold because she knows I don’t do well with chilly conditions. Heat? I don’t mind, but cold? No thanks, boss. I knew it was going to be cold but I didn’t fully understand that this wasn’t like being in a room with the AC set at 16 degrees or stepping into a chilled car that you can always step out of. No, the entire world is cold. As if there’s an AC in the sky that is never running out of gas. In fact, it is broken sef; they never take light here so that AC in the sky is always on. It’s only December and locals keep saying it will get worse in January and February. Now, I’m like “whatever” let’s just get it over with.

But isn’t the snow “magical”?

Snow is pretty when it’s falling from the sky, all white and clean. And when it piles up and blocks your front door and buries literally everything it’s only a slight nuisance. I am not going to blame snow for getting mixed up with mud and being the reason all public spaces and buses have brown stains on their floors. That’s just how things are. The government has done a good job to keep roads cleared and sidewalks free, it’s beautiful to see such a considerate government.

When I arrived in the last month of Summer I noticed a snow shovel at the back of the house I was staying. It was an odd sight seeing that thing under the hot sun. Now that I think about it, it’s like seeing a rake in the middle of snowy Antarctica or something. It looked odd. It’s not looking odd anymore no no sir! It blends right nicely. That shovel is an idea whose time has come! I shovel snow after every snowing. It doesn’t snow all the time, but when it does it persists.

Ice

Back in Nigeria, ice always melted. Like, the one thing I knew about ice besides it being made from water was that it melted. ALL THE TIME. Like if you went to a Nigerian shop to buy ice and you put it on your shelf and came the next day and you noticed it didn’t melt, you will complain to NAFDAC that someone sold you fake ice. Ice, always melts. But not here bro. Isn’t it amazing? Ice not melting. It burst my head. I was wrong about the AC analogy. There’s no AC in the sky, ACs back home didn’t freeze things. No, we are on the highest shelf of the Atmospheric freezer.

People’s attitudes towards the weather

I’m going to let out some more raw emotion. Be warned. Anytime I discuss the weather sorry, this is not the weather. The weather I know is rain or sunshine :), but anytime I discuss these Artic conditions to people here it is as if I’m just saying things without getting anything back. Like, my words are bouncing back without any feedback from my listeners. What do I mean? Okay, when I discuss politics, my listeners always offer solutions or at least explanations. If I say “damn, dem leaders do be doing bad shii”, whoever I’m talking to will say something like “yeah man, its globalisation and all. We gotta free the African youth. We bin brainwashed”. That doesn’t happen with the weather. It’s like I’m the only normal person here. I feel like Truman in the Truman show, or the Avatar kids when they got to ba sing se. “There is no problem with the snow”. Walahi, it troubles me that everyone acts like it’s normal. I know it is normal. But stilllllllll. See, I watched a video where Jerry Seinfeld was like he can’t live in a place that doesn’t have 4 seasons. He lives in New York. Winnipeg is not like that o. As a Nigerian immigrant who loves Tropical weather, it’s just odd seeing the weather affect so many aspects of our lives. I spent hundreds ($300 max dw) on winter clothes and accessories. Haba. Why? There’s nothing we can do about it. This is how nature operates around here.

I love the outside. I love feeling the earth and seeing flowers, bugs and animals just doing their thing with water rushing in the background. Plus the sounds that all of these things make. I spent 4 years in Yola, and it was hott. Very hot, but I could still walk outside anytime I chose. This reminds me of my time in Dubai, society there had warped itself to be able to operate in those extreme temperatures. Omo, it is well.

Research

My Masters program is research-based, which means I have to come up with research questions, design a study, do the study, and present my results with conclusions. I am a part of the Human-Computer Interaction research group at the Computer Science department here, we are interested in how to make computers (and related technologies) easier to use and also studying the effects of such use on people. Recently I’ve been more interested in the second part; which is how is computer use changing us. Sometimes I think I am a closet Luddite because, at 25 after just a few years in the Tech industry I’m bored of it all like Winston Churchill. My research is centered on Older adults (people aged 65+) and how interactive stories can be used to fight Ageism.

Older adults research

With Hapy I was focused on bringing tech closer to young children who only understand Hausa so coming here and doing research on Older adults I’ve had to consider people on the other side of the age-spectrum. It wasn’t so easy. Beginning to read about HCI for older adults exposed my own biases. Such as, “lol, why would old people want to use computers”. I was only considering the younger people. Now it all makes sense! Computers are for everybody! You should see how active grandmas and grandpas are here. Wow, they be going shopping themselves without any help. Amazing. I wish our grandparents back in Naij (yes, I’ve started calling Nigeria Naij) were as independent. Well, many of these older adults probably have no choice but to be independent, with all their children living in different cities and all. Eugh.

Virtual Peers

It’s been a slow year for Virtual Peers. We still had meetings, but I stopped writing and sharing notes of the meetings when I got to Canada. Virtual peers starts at 11 am my time right after church on Sundays. We had a physical get-together for the last two years in Abuja, of course, we couldn’t have it this year. I hope we can pick up steam like the first year but idk if that’s possible again. Everyone is much busier. When we started, it was an avenue for us recent graduates to chat and share ideas about getting started in a tech career. Now, basically all of us are doing something. Anytime we have meetings it’s usually 1 or two guests and the conversation is not directed and often goes into tangents but I look forward to it. Michael introduced me to Openguessr it is very fun,let’s play!

ChatGPT et al.

At work, I frequently use ChatGPT and other A.I chatbots to help me write code. However, you’re not encouraged to use these tools when writing academic papers without explicit permission and disclosure on your part. School deadlines had me reaching for ChatGPT every time. It felt like I lost my ability to even construct sentences. The problem is, compared to what I write ChatGPT always writes it better, it’s sad :( . I however don’t like that I am becoming dependent on it, one actual resolution I have for next year is to do most of my writing without the help of AI tools. So help me God.

Feeling disconnected?

I miss Nigeria, a lot. That’s normal, right? I’ve been here for 4 months. I miss Nigeria, but I don’t know what exactly I miss. Do I miss my family? Definitely. But they aren’t necessarily in Nigeria. Do I miss hiking in Abuja? A lot, but I can do that here. Do I miss the hot weather? Yes, but it’s also hot here in the Summer. Maybe I simply miss the “culture”, but what is this culture really? The culture of insecurity? The culture of littering? The culture of loudness? Guy, I don’t know. There is just a combination of things that make me miss that country. But I miss it. I’ve been told that my feelings will change over time, no wahala. Someone said I’m still new here and “when I get comfortable” I won’t miss Nigeria anymore. Like I want to be “comfortable”. Imagine being comfortable in another man’s land. * skull emoji * 💀. Is it fair to be comfortable here when millions of Nigerians are not? Of course, no one knows me or cares about me. If I were back in Naija no one that is Japaing would think “oh, Emmanuel is in Nigeria”. I am 25 and naive. I like to put these thoughts on record to see how much my opinions will change in 5 or 10 years. Someone told me, Nigeria doesn’t know you, it doesn’t care about you, it is not waiting for you. It does not even exist.

But isn’t that an advantage? Nigeria is for the taking! These other places are established, but Nigeria is still fresh. I learned this year that many things we consider as “real” are the fabrication of society. That doesn’t mean they aren’t real, just not real like a rock. Some aspects of Western culture I was exposed to through their media were manifested to me when I got to Winnipeg, and seeing what you used to watch on TV in real life hits different. Somehow, I get why some things are a big deal to White people and not much to us Africans and vice versa. It’s crazy how people in different places act differently. Everything is conditioning; meaning we can make Nigeria (which is Nigerians) whatever we want. That excites me. A self-proclaimed vegetarian at a potluck I attended recently said he would taste all the non-vegetarian food. But how can he do that?? By “making my own rules.” Toh. In 2025, I want to make my own rules.

Remember to do things that matter.

Happy New Year, see you in 2025

─=≡Σ((( つ ◕ل͜◕)つ