Ramblings of My Restless Mind - The Whatsapp Message.

I am that type of person who wants to send a Whatsapp message to an acquaintance but would arch my brows at "Hi Philip" and enlist the help of Google to find out if Philip is indeed spelt with a single or double 'l'. Google says both are fine but I go ahead to find out which is 'finer' based on etymology and people's comments. Etymology says the original Greek word is Filippos or Philippos, first reason why Philip with a single 'l' should be it. I go to the comment section and the comments are in favour of both so I literally count (no kidding) how many comments are for the solo 'l' and how many are for the duplicated 'l' to determine the winner. Single 'l' comments win. "2-0," I say. Then I tell myself to come up with a decision based on my own conviction inspired by some deep thinking instead of relying on a bunch of comments over the internet. So my thoughts go something like "People who are named Phillip (now taking care not to cheat the double 'l' spelling in my post before I reach a final verdict) are also called Phil and not Phill. Must be Philip then. 3-0." I go back to my Whatsapp window and type "Hi Philip", complete the rest of my message to him and come on Facebook to post about how pathetic I am (a really long post as you can see) and while I am on it,because I am an adulterous blogger, blogging about anything and everything, I think of a possible next blog post (now wondering why I can't make 'blog post' a compound without a red wriggly line intruding, because I think it has earned compoundhood based on popular usage) about names like Lily/Lilly, Mathew/Matthew, Michele/Michelle, Eliot/Elliot, Marshal/Marshall, Rusell/Russell, Alison/Allison hopefully identifying which version of each name is gaining popularity and possible reasons why it is. Then I think: "Maybe I should extend the post to include all names with a variant and why one of the variants is more popular. Stephen with a 'ph' and Steven with a 'v' would be the grandfather of such names" Now, I think: "This in itself should be a blog post because it has earned it by length." So I copy and paste on my blog window. I also thought to play some music because the room got too quiet but I quickly decided against it because that would be a major distraction. Phew! Sorry about this annoying post. It is what I get when I go on an indefinite break. I think Steven (with a v) Furtick, whom I have vicariously (I had to confirm that word on Cambridge dictionary online) been on a ride with these past three days did a number on me. My ridiculously long nails gave me a hard time with the typing and I had a lot of mistyped (not misspelt. There's a difference) words.I remember having to delete a mistyped 'k' and insert an omitted 'k' on the same line and how that got me thinking of a new technology where we can transpose letters from words that do not need them to those that need them. It all started with a Whatsapp message and ended in a blog post, with a facebook post somewhere in the middle. That's how my plans for this evening changed, which is typical of Miss Impulsive, Miss Roller-coaster-mind, A.K.A Vina. One last thing, by the time I was done with this, Philip had replied to my messages and I had changed from my sitting posture to a lying one because my back hurt and the A.C was now on because I got hot at some point. My last statement also made me realise that this facebook-post-turned-blog-post started in the present tense and is ending in the past. It also reminded me of how similarly Nigerians pronounce 'hurt' and 'hot'. It is also deliberately 'paragraphless' because I want it to be a run-on stream showing how fast my thoughts sped past as though someone had pressed and held down the fast forward button of my mind as I wrote. At this rate, I will never stop writing because I will include new thoughts as they come. The only way to prevent this is an abrupt stop: Peace! Out!

Phil and I on a boat ride across the River Colne, Colchester, Essex, England. Of course, not the Phil I 'whatsapped'.