The Diary Game | Saturday Football, Online Class & NEPA Wahala(25/04/2026)

praizclassic01 (61)in Steem Cameroon • 23 days ago

Hello hello my wonderful Steemit family!
It's your friend @praizclassic01 back again with another entry into the diary. Today is Saturday and if you know me by now, you already have a rough idea of how my Saturdays usually go. But as always, the day had its own plans. Let's get into it!

I woke up at around 7:12AM but I wasn't ready to leave the bed just yet. I already knew how the day was going to go — or so I thought.

My Saturdays in school almost always begin with football. It's one of those things I genuinely look forward to and honestly one of the reasons I don't mind hostel life as much as I could. So I laid in bed a little longer, and by 8:05AM I was up.

Brushed my teeth, brought out my shorts, jersey, socks and boots — the full setup. I was ready to step out but almost left without something important. Got to the door and remembered — my gum. Went back in, grabbed it, and then I was properly on my way.

Held my boots, strolled down the stairs and headed towards the field. On the way there I noticed something — almost nobody else had boots. That got me thinking. Was I too early? Had the real ballers not resumed yet? Or was I somehow late?

I kept walking. Only one way to find out.

dressed, laced up and ready — Saturday mode activated

Got to the pitch and a match was already going on. Turns out it was an interdepartmental match for an ongoing HODs Cup in the school.

Now I had to pause and think about this. We had barely been back in school three weeks and a tournament was already running? My department clearly had no idea this was happening — so either it was for selected departments, selected levels, or both. Whatever the case, I wasn't going to overthink it. I came to ball and ball I did.

While watching and waiting for my turn on the side pitch, one of the matches produced a moment that had everyone talking.

During an attack, an opposition player played a hard pass from just outside the box — almost from the centre of the field. The pass was so hard it skipped past the intended player entirely and rolled straight towards the goalkeeper. The keeper went down, legs open, palms between his legs to collect it — the standard technique.

But the ball was harder than he expected.

It hit his palms, bent them back and rolled right through his legs and into the net.

The match in progress — this is where the goal drama happened

The reactions were something else. His teammates were furious — murmuring, complaining. A few tried to console him, telling him it was just a mistake and to keep going. The opposition on the other hand? Pure celebration. Laughing, jubilating, the whole thing.

I was watching from outside and I said to someone near me — even the greatest goalkeepers make mistakes. I brought up Donnarumma, Manchester City's goalkeeper, who made a similar error in their recent match against Arsenal that led to an equaliser for the Gunners. And yet City still went on to win 2-1. The difference here though? This keeper's team didn't recover. That one mistake cost them the entire match.

And there's a real lesson in that moment if you look closely:

Always be prepared for what's coming. Things are not always what they seem and people are not always who you expect. That ball looked routine — it wasn't. Never underestimate a situation just because it appears simple or under control. Stay focused, stay ready.

After the first match ended and the second teams were preparing to play, a guy from one of the teams walked up to me and asked to exchange boots.

I know this person. But I wasn't happy about the request at all.

Sharing my boots is not something I do freely or enjoy doing. If you own a proper pair of football boots and play regularly, you already understand exactly what I mean — boots are personal. They're broken in to your feet, your style, your comfort. Giving them out is not small.

But he insisted. Somewhat pleading. Kept at it even after my first hesitation.

And I obliged.

Playing in his boots — not my first choice but we move

Now there's actually something worth noting in how that exchange happened, and it applies to life beyond football:

Manner of approach matters more than most people realize. The way you come to someone with a request already determines a large part of whether you'll get a yes or a no. He didn't demand — he asked, explained why he needed it, and when I hesitated, he didn't get upset or walk away. He stayed respectful and kept trying. That persistence, done the right way, is what moved me.

Don't give up on the first no — especially when your request is genuine and your approach is right. People's first reaction is often resistance, not rejection. Give them a moment. Stay calm. Stay respectful. You'd be surprised how many "no's" become "yes" when you simply don't walk away too quickly.

I took his boots, he took mine, and we both played. He had a more important match to play in anyway so I don't hold it against him.

While playing I had been keeping one eye on the time. The night before, an online class had been announced for 10AM — the first one of the semester. Attendance was going to be taken and this particular lecturer... let me just say I wasn't going to risk being absent.

I kept playing and playing and then checked my phone.

10:02AM.

What??

I immediately called for a replacement, came off, pulled off my boots, slipped into my slides and basically power-walked back to the hostel.

Luckily there was a delay and the class hadn't started at exactly 10. I got to the room, grabbed my earphones, connected and was ready. While waiting for things to begin I grabbed my bucket and headed downstairs to fetch water for a bath.

On my way back up — the class started.

But here's the thing — it was a YouTube live class, so I didn't need to show my face or speak. I just put my phone in my pocket, kept walking, and listened while fetching water. Multitasking at its finest.

Got back to the room, took out my phone and marked my attendance by dropping my matric number in the comments section. Present and accounted for.

Screenshot from the online class — attendance secured!

With the class sorted, I took my bucket of water to the bathroom and had a proper bath. And by proper I mean I washed my hair too.

I don't wash my hair every day — mostly just Saturdays or right after a haircut. I have a particular way I like my hair to look and I treat it a certain way to get that result consistently. So Saturday is usually hair day.

After bathing, I came back, got dressed, took out the clothes I had soaked before going to the bathroom and washed them thoroughly.

Washing the football clothes — they needed it after this morning

Hung them up to dry and moved on to the next thing — food.

By this time I was genuinely hungry. There was light and there was someone in the queue to use the hotplate before me — but he was still picking his beans so I asked nicely if I could quickly make noodles first. He agreed.

Now I'm not a noodles person. I eat them when I need something fast, not because I love them. And this time I kept it very basic — just the seasoning, onions and groundnut oil. No egg, no extra anything. So I was going to need some motivation to finish this plate.

What I didn't account for was the low current. The hotplate wasn't getting hot enough and by the time the noodles were done they had soaked up too much water. Not exactly what I was hoping for.

For motivation I decided to get a small coke. Now before anyone says anything — I'm very careful about how much coke I consume. One of these days I'll do a full post on coke, its benefits and its dangers, so you'll understand why I'm particular about it. But today, a small one felt justified — replace some of the sugar I burned on the field and help me push through these noodles.

I served my noodles, opened the coke, took a sip and set it down on the big container I use as a table.

And then.

It fell.

The coke tipped over and poured all over the floor.

The betrayal. In this economy, see my money on the floor

I just sat there for a moment. Pained. Heartbroken. In this period of no money, this coke had the audacity.

But I knew I wasn't going to be able to finish those noodles without it. So I picked myself up, went painfully back downstairs and bought another one.

Take two — new coke, same noodles. We move.

Ate my food. Finished it. The coke did its job.

The plan after eating was to wait for my proper turn on the hotplate and cook a real meal. But NEPA had completely different plans.

The light went off and simply did not come back. A roommate had food halfway done on the hotplate when it went — left undone. Throughout the entire rest of the day, no light.

I got tired of waiting, climbed into bed and read a PDF on my phone for a while before eventually sleeping off. Woke up later. Still no light.

And as I type this diary right now — there is still no light.

At this rate, garri will be making another appearance for dinner tonight. And this is exactly why I go home and people look at me sideways asking if I'm okay and why I've lost weight. Days like this happen more often than they should.

Remember at the beginning when I said I knew how today was going to go?

Football. Routine. Predictable Saturday.

And then I ended up with an online class emergency, a boot exchange I didn't plan, noodles that got half ruined by low current, a coke that poured on the floor, and NEPA ending the day by taking light and refusing to bring it back.

At the end of the day, we never truly know what a day holds for us — no matter how well we think we know our routines.

I hope your Saturday was better than mine. I hope you ate well, had light, and didn't have to make any painful trips downstairs to replace a spilled drink.

Thank you for reading as always — the support means everything. See you in the next one!

— @praizclassic01

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