Sobs...

As month-end draws close, I become sadder and pre-nostalgic; I’m ending my IT this month. (sobs here). Hold on a minute let me get my hankie. (sniffs).

You won’t understand but these past months have been some of the most eventful for me. I made friends, took risks, engaged in stuff I had never done before, went for months without looking at my school books and its all coming to an end cos my school has resumed.

The first months I spent in Lagos, I spent scouring the streets of VI looking for a place to do my IT. While I wasn’t finding it funny then, I look back on those days and laugh. When I wasn’t getting told off by gatemen at SAPETRO towers or a receptionist at Interswitch, I was working with a cousin on a course for her master’s degree; I had to learn new stuff quickly, it also offered me an opportunity to get to know those my cousins better, offered me relief from the younger nitwits I stay with normally and I got plenty of big crush advice there too. It was then I entered the big crush project which is still ongoing. When an employer finally got to his senses and hired the best thing since guguru & ekpa (me), I joined the flow of things, worked and had fun with the guys there. In between, I visited computer village more times than I can count, got a new computer and phone, visited friends from Ikeja to Ajah and Okokomaiko (that particular trip wasn’t funny o). Saw a movie at a cinema for the first time, got a personal tour of Lagos Business School (Chuks thanks), climbed an escalator for the first time, practised pro-flirting, joined the ushering team at my youth church and helped out at my secondary school fellowship from time to time.

There are definitely a lot of things I’m going to miss:

First and foremost, I’m going to miss blogsville. Don’t start weeping yet; I’m not going away permanently but frequency of reading around and updates will definitely drop cos I’ll have a lot less time and money for internet (free internet go end naa). Moreover, on my browser here, I had a blogroll in my bookmarks so long, it used to take me hours to go through them all; now I’ll be constrained to URLs I can remember and those who have ever dropped comments. You can start weeping now; I already am.

Then I’ll miss my free internet and the privilege of “googling” or “wikipediaring” anything I don’t understand.

I’ll miss all the mama-puts I’ve visited in Lagos island: Madam Benue and her pepper soup that for financial reasons I only got as far as looking at, Mama Bose that I promised myself never to eat at for hygiene reasons and found myself returning to for convenience reasons (abi did she use jazz?) and her husband that looked ready to beat anyone that as much as greeted their not-bad-to-look-at daughter; Mama Ekene and her not-affordable food with great-tasting egusi soup; Iya Koyo which really should be called “iyas” koyo and is a model for the future of inter-company cooperation, it is a dirty, crowded, jointly-owned/managed joint where the heat alone could get yu high, Paul & Paul (Fried Rice & Turkey. Oooh).

I’ll miss the early morning fried yam and evening boli where I was unscrupulously cheated more than a few times.

I’ll miss the odour of Lagos island that manages to stick to the inner walls of your nostrils so you could keep smelling it even in Yaba.

I’ll miss the buses which took the expression “…packed like sardines…” to a whole new level.

I’ll miss the people at my workplace; the dry ones, the ones with attitude problems, the ones who were the cause of attitude problems themselves, the quiet ones, the fine ones (that are too old for me), the ones wey dey form(dem plenty ehnn), the ones wey no send, the rich ones and the not-so-rich ones. I’ll miss them all.

I’ll miss the girl who thought I looked like a teddy bear-she explained that it was a compliment; I don’t believe.

I’ll miss the guy who seemed hostile at first but of recent has been singing a certain Freshly Ground sound that rhymes with my name every time he sees me.

I’ll miss our COO who “takes no prisoners”; he “kills em all”.

I’ll miss the fear of our chairman which seemed to be the beginning of knowledge around here.

I’ll miss sleeping over at the office; the accompanied hustling for the most comfortable chair, the continuous adjustment to the better sleeping position, the technicalities involved with taking a bath, the chatting with my Romanian friend online about boyfriends, family, lingerie and all what not.

I’ll miss my boss’s asking me every other morning how my wife and kids were.

I’ll miss the folks in my office who are always too eager to jump to the conclusion that I now had a girlfriend. I can’t talk with my sister in peace on the phone there.

I’ll miss having to wake up, take a bath and get dressed in 15 mins; I believe I broke some world records here. Where the heck is Guinness book of records?

I’ll miss my barber who was always determined to give me a skin cut even after I must have specified that I didn’t want that. And who would, after barbing, rub the clipper on my chin like there was something (beards) there.

I’ll miss my little cousins who make you dread the time when your own kids would be their age.

I’ll miss NEPA; I’m already missing them, there hasn’t been light for close to 3 weeks now.

I’ll miss Tejuosho market whose traders ensure yu take a bath afterwards, what with all the dragging, pulling, tugging so you can buy stock jeans and bootu cut. One day someone will get slapped in that market.

I’ll miss looking around in public places in the hope that I would bump into big crush by chance. Or, better still, fantasy queen hustling for bread at the palms

I’ll miss hearing all this Yoruba around me that I have been unable to understand despite all my years in lag.

I’ll miss a whole lot of stuff and people… but what must happen must. I look forward to the session being as short as possible. I can only hope that I’ll be missed too.