When You Grow Up

What do you want to be when you grow up?

How many times have we been harassed with that question? From age 6 we are all ‘bullied’ or pressured to decide what parts we will follow for the rest of our lives.

Like seriously! Such pressure.

Little do we know that this question and the answers that follow set off a chain of events that affect the course of our lives. Some never accomplish those dreams and our haunted by the feelings of failure and defeat for most parts of their lives while some of the lucky ones do get to look back at their lives, smile cos they are exactly where they wanted to be. They lived the dream.

I am most definitely not living my dream; the dreams of a little girl who started out wanting to be a teacher, then a lawyer. The harsh realities surrounding being a lawyer opened my eyes and killed any rose tinted delusions I had concerning that. And quite frankly as of right now, I’m coasting.

How many of you are really living your dreams. Whether it was the one you made when you were 10 years old or 16 years old. Can you look back and say I am exactly who I said I would be and still be proud of the decisions that brought you here?

I would really want to know.

2013 Tony Awards: Neil Patrick Harris Opening Number HD

Passenger 47E

So I just got back from a trip and I had the misfortune of seating beside a sleeper and a farter. I have no problems with a sleeping seat partner, but dude; did you have to expose me to the horrible mixes that were your meal earlier in the day? Gosh!

You all know I’m a planner. I don’t like to be taken unawares and as much as possible try to make everything conform to my wishes and desires. The one thing I hate the most after boiled beans is flying. I don’t hate flying because it is the surest way to die as the odds of surviving a plane crash is not good. No, I hate flying because in the words of Forrest Gump “Life is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you’re gonna get”. And in this instance chocolate is code for seat partner.

You hear a lot of experiences from frequent fliers; hits (kindled friendships on board the aircraft) and misses (noisy and irritating passengers with ulterior motives) and the stories in-between. As much as I secretly crave adventure, I try to avoid falling into either category so I bury my head in a book and movies if flight time exceeds 2-hours.

Generally, I haven’t had good experiences when flying. I once had the misfortune of sitting beside a man who smelt like a he-goat. Boy, was that smell foul; I still feel sick in the stomach every time I remember that plane ride (excuse me while I vomit).

I’m back.

Luckily for me, I had an atomizer and sniffed on my perfume for the 3-hour flight. I was high on j’adore when we landed. That experience taught me to always expect the worse when flying.

So there I was in yet another flight seated to a farter with his ass pointed in my direction. Lord have mercy! I was angry, so waited till he was awake, positioned my ass towards him and released a silent bomb, looked at him while smiling sweetly and said ‘I am just returning the favor, hope you enjoy mine as much as I ‘enjoyed’ yours’.

Then I went to sleep.

#Inyourface!

Work

1. What day of the week do you wake up singing ‘boo ya! Its gonna be a great day?”
2. What day of the week do you wish would never end?
3. What day of the week do you go to bed crying and dreading the dawn?

The correct answers would be
a. Friday
b. Saturday
c. Sunday

And then you wake up in the morning saying this …

Trust me it has nothing to do with hating your job, cos I don't, but everything to do with the fact that Mondays are a drag and the fact that you often feel shortchanged in the sleep department come Monday morning.

It also takes a while to reboot and get your head in the game after the weekend lull (that's if your weekend was dull). Mondays are synonymous with reports, lots of meetings and appeasing clients for being deliberately incommunicado for the duration of the weekend.

I can’t help myself. I loathe Mondays.
Do you feel me? Or am I the only one who curses the first work day of the week?

Everything Happens For a Reason

I have not been a happy person.

I am not the type to wake up singing ‘I gat a feeling, that today’s gonna be a great day’. I don’t sing in the rain and don’t see the glass half full. You want sweetness and overflowing delight, move over to the lady in the adjourning cubicle, she’s your woman.

I work with plans and schedules. Everything has its place and must at all cost stick to the schedule I have created. No room for accidents, mishaps or incidentals. Everything must wait its turn.

Yep, I’m a planner.

So it was with great annoyance that my month of September was spent running from pillar to post, putting out fires and dealing with unplanned situations. It all started with the birth of my sister’s baby.

Don’t get me wrong, I adore my sister and her kids but the baby coming disrupted my careful planning. Her birth meant my mum moved out and into her home, taking with her all the luxurious advantages of living with a parent. In simple terms, I became the responsible adult I wasn’t planning to be, at least not yet.

1. I had to run my family home for 2 months. No financial assistance from anywhere which was a major strain on my finances
2. My laptop suddenly packed up and I had to purchase another one cos I had school work to do
3. My leave was shortened and postponed (aaaargh)
4. My car battery died, leaving me stranded in the middle of nowhere. Talk about perfect timing!!!
5. The steering rack of my car began to act up. Money, Money, Money
6. My front tires began leaking arbitrarily so ….
7. And finally, my side mirror was totally annihilated 2 days ago.

Yeah, it’s been a financially tasking month. And I am so glad it’s over.

The month of July gave me a ton of heartache and tears but my September left a major dent in my wallet.

My colleagues and friends say I should look at the bright side, I’m alive, I have the funds to solve all the problems that have arisen thus far and I should be thankful.

Hmmmmmm. Be grateful right? It could have been worse, I know, but what happens to the plans I made prior to the nuisance of this September?
Wake me up when September ends. Wishing October brings back my smile, my mood and my lost joy.

Happy October