Arghh nooo... Not now! I haven't even tried them yet.๐ญ
Five days ago
I had just left church after service when I realised that I had been disconnected from the internet for quite some time, but I didn't know as I wasn't needing it during service. I only thought it was due to the poor reception in the area that I was. But I was wrong. I was out of data and I needed to renew my data subscription.
I had thought that my data would last for about a few days, so I had not made plans for it just yet. But that's okay. I only needed to pay again and reconnect. This was when it all began; my streak of frustration for the week.
At that time, I did not have fiat to run the transaction with my service provider, so I needed to pull some HIVE from my Hive wallet and run the whole process to get fiat through Binance. All was well and good till I met the wrong trader.
But before meeting the wrong trader, I had to sweat to get connected to the internet again. The reception was so poor that I couldn't even run USSD codes. I had to find the right spot to "borrow data." I knew the amount I could borrow wouldn't be enough to run the whole transaction to get fiat. So, I quickly reached out to a friend with the little time I had, and I was able to borrow some money to renew my internet subscription.
...till I met the wrong trader.
He had 100% and about 5000 trades on his profile, and then just 45 minutes of payment window. I felt he was the best person to pick, you know, considering his "reputation." But no, he showed me how pepper tasted in the eyes.
After waiting the whole 45 minutes, he responded with "release crypto." I wondered when the fiat had been deposited, and I missed it. I went on to check first, as usual (you just gotta check), and I found the low balance that I had before the whole transaction. I responded accordingly and had to wait an hour to get another response.
This time he responded with "Check your Opay."
"You knucklehead. What you are seeing on my Binance profile is Palmpay, and not Opay." I echoed in my head. "How did you get 100%, by the way?" I continued my thoughts.
Palmpay is the bank I use and what I put there, while Opay is another bank I didn't know existed.
I didn't get no money that night, and then I had to make an appeal. Apparently, he also did and provided actual proof of his payment. I really thought he was trying to scam me. Apparently, he had paid into Opay, and not Palmpay (no one asked him to).
So I went on to install the application in the hopes that I actually did have an account and that the money had actually been sent. Lo and behold, the money had actually been sent there. But I could not afford to be washed by Binance, so I presented proof of the trader's oversight and my innocence.
Two days after...
How many more knuckleheads can there be?
Having had all that sorted out, I could then travel to Abeokuta to head on to check on my final year project. I had paid a lab in town to help 3D print some parts I needed for the final assembly.
Peyment had been made in August, but somehow, our "contractor" managed to play games with us till this very time, 3 months after. All his points (excuses) were all grammar to make us come back "next Friday" to pick up the project. This time, his story changed.
Rather than showing us what's up so far with our job (a very simple one), he started requesting more money, else no further progress would be made. "Okay, that's understandable." I said. "But can we see what has been said so far?" I followed with a simple question.
His response was "No." And that we needed to pay that money he requested before anything else.
We agreed on that spot, and at that very moment in time, I was boiling hotter than the sun. I was raging within me, but I had to keep my cool. I couldn't make such a fuss. I am a big boy, you know. But I was really vexed.
Fortunately, my partner came the next day, and we all came to an agreement. I wasted my money, time and energy the previous day. That exhausted me so much that I practically fell asleep when I was having my haircut when I got back. I do not fancy arguments.
Today...
Am I a knuclehead myself too?
All was well and good again until I had to now begin to do the things I actually traveled down to Abeokuta to do: I came to Abeokuta to make some videos for Hive Open Mic, Music Festival, and Afritunes, considering that I had everything all set for my videos.
The first thing I needed to do before I could begin was to get a new set of guitar strings, as I had lost one string on my guitar and needed to get a whole new set to replace that one broken string.
The excess strings that needed trimming...
The pack of (six) strings I wanted to get cost about $4 (โฆ3,000) and I did get it. I could have gone for a much cheaper one, maybe $1 (700), but the problem with cheap strings is that they never stay in tune, can easily be broken, never have the right intonation, and their playability is often poor. I have dealt with all those as a beginner guitarist, and I did not need to go through them again. So I just got the D'addario strings. They are durable and much better.
Changing guitar strings isn't something technical to do if you have the right tools. However, I always take the opportunity I get when I am installing new strings to tidy up my guitar and give it a much better look. This is why it would take a little longer for me to install new strings.
...if you have the right tools.
But I didn't have the right tools this time. One thing that was missing was a diagonal cutting plier. Instead, I had a flat plier.
With the right techniques, the flat pliers would do. I needed a diagonal cutting plier specifically for trimming the excess strings to give the guitar a much nicer look.
I wound the strings according to their positions, and then it was time to trim each one of them. I successfully trimmed the first four, but when I got to the second to last, the string broke.
Arghh nooo... Not now! I haven't even tried them yet.๐ญ
...I exclaimed.
I had spent a long time installing, spent money to get new strings and then had videos to make and they depended on this guitar. I have now been set back by a whole lot.
I now need to get a whole new set of strings, as that is the only way to get that string that got broken.
Notice the missing string? Yeah, I really cannot play much like that.
As I realised all that this broken string would cost me, I left everything I had in my hands while working on the strings and then went to lie on my bed. With anger, frustration, and despair, I began to think of what the frigging hell is going on? Why all these?
But I guess that's what life does. Some days are beautiful, while others are not.Either way, we move.
I will see how much I can do with just four strings to play on my guitar. Who knows, it may as well just be fun (it's not going to be, I know)
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โ๐๐ช, ๐๐ ๐ช๐ ๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ช๐๐ ๐ฅ๐๐๐ค ๐ก๐ ๐ค๐ฅ, ๐๐๐๐๐๐ช ๐๐๐๐ง๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฅ, ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ ๐, ๐ ๐ฃ ๐ฆ๐ก๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐. ๐๐ฅ'๐๐ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ก๐ก๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐.
๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐พ๐ ๐๐ฝ๐ ๐๐๐๐ . . .
