The Big Three 'O'

Three days ago, I was chatting with my very good friend a few minutes before her birthday.  I asked how she felt turning twenty-eight to which she replied, “Old! Gosh! Not where I expected to be!” 

Honestly, her feelings were not far from how I felt when I also turned twenty-eight. Life seemed perfect at the time; I was dating the most coolest dude on earth (…after my dad of course!), I had the coolest family and friends and it seemed we were having a ball! With all these ‘supposed’ smooth sailings, my 10% or so melancholic nature wasn’t going to let me be. I was still filled with a lot of uncertainties and questions. I felt I was closing in fast on the big ‘Three 0!” and I had not accomplished a lot of the things on my  ‘To-do-before-I-turn-30’ list! It was panic mode for me but thanks my subconscious, who is most of the time preoccupied in her weird- funny thoughts but never fails to come to the rescue anytime she notice this train of thoughts. She is ever ready at such times to get me back on track (Don Corleone style; accent and all), “You’ll be fine babe. One step at a time.” Life was definitely too short for panic modes.

Fast forward today, It’s the big ‘Three 0!”

Happy birthday to you

You live in a zoo

You look like a monkey…

…and you smell like one too!

That’s the birthday song my sisters and I sing to each other every year! (Most of my friends have suffered this song).

It’s been three crazy and wonderful decades of finding me. Looking back, I stand really far from where I started; the very shy 2 years old girl who wouldn’t (Note I used wouldn’t not couldn’t) recite her ‘ABC’ to get into nursery school, the inquisitive 8 years old girl who would pester her grandfather with questions about the moon and the stars and God, the angry teenager who decided that it was cool to just be angry (for no reason what-so-ever) and listen to rock music, The extremely skinny undergraduate lost in rock music and was clueless as to what she was doing in this world, the young  and determined graduate who swore to become a better person, and of course, me right now trying to find the right balance between my crazy work/personal life schedule! It’s been an incredible journey so far!

To my family and some of my friends, its been three decades of dealing with a weird, quiet, lousy, irritable, selfish, fun, dull, intelligent, dependable (not all occasions though), scary (I heard some of my friends find me scary), overbearing, sometimes distant, independent, free willed, rebellious, sometimes slow-witted, lost in thought, ‘once upon a time’ alcoholic (I swear I have given up!), arrogant, and so many other things girl. Thank you for putting up with my many shades. It’s been good times with you all!

While I am extremely grateful to God for His mercies and most especially His grace (Lets face it! We are nowhere without Him), I am still forced to reflect (No thanks to my >10% melancholic personality!). Most of us young adults of today, find ourselves faced with constant daily struggles; family, marriage, relationships, work etc. some of us are stuck with extremely challenging jobs, some of us are underpaid, some are unemployed, the rest are overpaid lucky ‘B’s!  Somehow life still goes on and has its expectations of us whether we can meet up or not and the need to meet up/exceed our life expectations gets to us more than we often realize. In the process, we most times find ourselves measuring our efforts against our friends’ successes to determine how progressive we are. Its a bloody struggle! Trust me when I say I am caught in this whirlwind. The pressure to succeed overwhelms me sometimes! Right now I feel overwhelmed. However, my subconscious has stepped out of her bedroom with a really sexy party dress shaking her head in disagreement. She breaks into a music video vixen dance while singing ‘Go shorty! Its yo burthday!...’

I am reminded once again; Life is too short for panic modes.

I have not completed my ‘To-do-before-I-turn-30’ list, so what? I made that list after all. I’ll just change 30 to 40 and add some major stuff I feel I have to accomplish. Abeg! The most important thing right now is that I am alive and here! #Celebratingme!

It’s funny how three days ago, my friend and I were discussing how my birthday was going to entail swimming in hydraulic oil, cartwheels and back flips on the rig floor but I guess not! I am on dry land for a few days! I get to be normal on my birthday! Yippee!

Happy birthday to me!

Happy birthday to all September kids!

Live long and prosper!

Xoxo,

HappyChiq

P.S. For those of you wondering what’s on my ‘To-do-before-I-turn-30’ list;

Serious list

·      Improve my relationship with God (Always in progress)

·      Get a job I love (Yay!)

·      Move out of my parents house when I start working (This didn’t work out initially but I guess I got there eventually)

·      Get a really nice car (I was thinking about the Range rovers of this world but I guess I am wiser now)

·      Own a house (xyhenemshye….meaning; not discussing this)

·      Start a business (Hian! We shall get there! Amen!)

·      Start a family (By His Grace…)

Trivial list

·      Beat up barney or teletubby at the back of some random child’s party, steal the costume, wear it and do a funny dance! (Priority on my trivial list!)

·      Get tattoos!

·      Go bungy jumping

·      Skinny swimming

·      Dance on a table in a club (M.I’s Anoti made this happen! Woohoo!)

·      Write my fantasy fiction book (Hehehehe! Dreams of a young girl. Anyways blogging should count I guess)

·      Go to Disney land (Euro Disney definitely has to count!)

·      Travel for fun (Amsterdamy baby! #goodtimes)

·      DJ at a party

·      Attend a Linkin park’s concert

·      Sky diving

·      Learn to play the guitar

·      Play in a band 

·      Improve my origami art (Don't ask me questions about this....I just like origami :P)

BIRTHDAY PLAYLIST

1.     Nirvana – Smells like teen spirit

2.     Jays of Clay- Work

3.     Daugthry – September

4.     Bon Jovi – Living on A prayer

5.     Keane – Again & Again

6.     Madonna – American Pie

7.     U2 – Beautiful day

8.     Depeche Mode – Enjoy the silence

9.     Blink 182 – What’s my age again

10. Tuface – Steady steady

11. P.O.D – Execute the sounds

12. REM – Losing my religion

13. Jays of Clay – Flood

14. MatchBox Twenty – Breakfast At Tiffany

15. DC Talk – What if I stumble

16. The Bostons –More than a feeling

17. Kid Kudi – Pursuit of Happiness

18. Oasis – Wonderwall

19. M.I – Anoti

20. Coldplay –The Scientist

21. Enigma – Return to Innocence

22. The Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood

23. Metro Station – Seventeen forever

24. Linkin Park – In the end

25. Nickelback – This is how you remind me

26. Britney Spears – Toxic

27. Mozart – La flauta magica

28. Rihanna – What’s my name

29. Tina Turner - Private Dancer

30. Sum 41 – The Hell Song