Thursday 2 December 2010

SUNDAY MORNING MUSINGS

Woke up one Sunday morning
First thing, like always every other morning
I looked up at the clock strategically positioned 90 degrees to the bed
Found I had just 15minutes to get ready
But there was something I remembered and one call later
An entirely different thing was confirmed
I had 2 hours extra today; it was the last Sunday of the month
Meaning one of thanksgiving in my present house of worship
In mental acknowledgment of that information
I became relaxed and my mind began to roam

My Hair, it looked so beautiful
Newly oiled and airbrushed in preparations for today from last night
All I’d need was to run my fingers through the locks
My black glitter eye liner though best for night time
Was sure to do the trick this morning on the color I’d choose from my palette
As I stared at the tiny bumps on my forehead
I couldn’t thank the Lord more for one invention
The Foundation-A woman’s best friend
And to lock the look in totally
I’d leave my lips pale but classically glossy

Hours later, seated in church
The congregation was shown a documentary
On a powerful man of God…or once powerful
Who had declared his stand years back on a controversial topic
One our world is unable to disapprove of today for reasons not understood by me
Either by Media and public rationalization or Spiritual-self exploitation
He is being accused today with mind damaging proofs of photos and testaments
For being in favor of the same issues he had once condemned
What was going to be the eventual public verdict?
Would it correspond with the truth known by God Almighty alone?

Some time later I reflected on my early musings
And the happenings hours later
I realized that the love for this world and things of the world
Starts one step at a time and creeps in crawl after crawl
One brick of vanity laid by the mortar of vanity upon another brick of vanity
Was sure to come crumbling down in the vain face of vanity itself
Aware of the fact that nothing was necessarily wrong with self-appreciation
I took a travel within to analyze my thoughts and get to the root of my reflections
I had to admit, the artistry wasn’t also necessarily for the glorification of His name
I just wanted to look my physical best, possibly outstanding in that congregation

My heart began to cry out and yearn more for him
He is the way, the truth and life
All I now asked for was one exceptional fascination for his way
One unadulterated and divine conviction for his truth
One celebrated passion for his life and personality
To know him and sit as his disciple learning at his feet
Oh how drained, lacking and deprived the world is in all areas moral inclusive
Nothing compares to the privilege of knowing him and serving him right
That I might be found blameless on the day my enemies will seek to tear me down
That on that day there will therefore be no condemnation dispensable to my soul

Defective but not detected? The man of God asked…faulty but not yet found?
There is a call upon our lives today for a much kingdom anticipated change
It’s time for all God’s children who are not ashamed to publicly proclaim his name
To rise to the challenges of the world and overcome by his blood
Time for us to stop nailing him back to cross with the intents behind our actions
May heart meditations even more than words of mouth be suitable in his sight
May we never be embarrassed to say it exactly as we know it is
To the justification of our sanctified consciences in the face of false friends
And may this be more than just a write up to you
For much more than your readership does God require…He looks into our hearts

Yourstruly
TRULYAdlyne

TIMES

There are Times when our wills are in a constant battle
With heaps of responsibilities our personalities are saddled
Voices from wrong decisions in the wind, on and on they rattle
And we’re left with nothing but a nettle

Other Times frustrations result from our hustles
Many friends more than ever turn out fickle
But just over one of the many eventful hurdles
To a halt comes whatever boils in the kettle

At Times, instead of oceans we have puddles
Good luck seems to have gone missing in the shuffle
But in the face of the most uncontrollable hassle
You get lifted in an unexpected cuddle

In Times as now, regardless of burns from tattles
Stay right there on your mettle
Fastened to hope like clothes to a line with a toggle
For seasons come when discouragement dwindles

Yourstruly,
TRULYAdlyne

Tuesday 30 November 2010

The School Bus

We've grown over the years
But there are historical highlights:


Buffets at Mumi Adeleye’s boot; Sundays,
Weekends at someone's crib away from school stress, 
The Christening..D12, School bus, e.t.c 
Eyes rolling at us, 12 seats same row at Chapel services
Hot harsh mails to each other in-between work disagreeing on a subject,
How lifted I felt was when through the rigors of the Lagos Friday traffic 
And the inconvenience of being a thousand miles away for some,
Everyone turned up for the Engagement…My Engagement


The School Bus…
My side of the story.         

Met her through a friend who was my room mate at the time.
Saw her in class one day and discovered we were course mates like I’d heard
Isimenmen cracks me up...she’s new school-old school all in one
One of us must have been cutting classes though
for us to have met the way that we did


Every morning, on her way to class,
She’d stand outside the hall and shout out a name
Her friend was my floor mate and that was the cue, it was time to go to class.
Very dedicated of her...I thought
Pretty black chick named Funmi
 
Introduced through a mutual friend and course mate
We’ve talked about almost every issue possible over time
When you hurt, Eko hurts
She’s taught me a new kind of friendship
Loyalty is its name

Layo was the one
I barely knew back then
Who came to check me up in my room one day
And almost chocked when she found I had slept off from being too ill at the time 
Instead of  jacking for my Survey Exams; She read to me.

I think we met at Mrs Adeleye’s boot,
When Atim and I became floor mates we had so much fun
My chubby smiley friend, very pleasant, very giggly
Our friendship has stood the very test of time
And I’m incredibly proud of that
 
Talkative, playful and cheerful even at moments of sadness and sobriety
Used to wonder what exactly it was with her
Until I was given an opportunity to find out myself that she was normal or so
When in Mary hall we became roommates
Yetunde with the 'kinda nice' hyphenated last name, Homer-Williams

We were one floor apart
But she’d come to see me for something or just to say ‘Hi'
Though shy herself; courageous enough to be friendly
Kunbi's always been humble but I like who she’s totally become 
And she carries the new 'geekish beauty' look very well indeed.

I remember Tosin from way back…
100 level dance group called Commissioned
Energetic, outspoken, heady, friendly, hardworking, envisioned
Never thought we’d end up friends,
I’ve come to notice we've got things in common

The owner of the mum whose boot had goodies lying within
She and I became friends after I had partaken of all the benefits
If my house wasn’t available for ‘crashing’, hers absolutely was
It still remained my ultimate escape destination after school till recently
Yemisi ‘cute girl who’s barely got feet’ Tinubu

In first year, a friend of mine had a floor mate
Almost always standing on the corridor in front of her room window
She’d go back in, pair something with another and return to the same spot
Turn, turn…slowly twirl…I just thought “this one must have plenty clothes”.
Anjie..soon to be christened with a new last name


The floor mate who always got the 'time to go to class' cue
My one time Cell group leader or was it Floor representative?
Who later relied fully on grace to come for Chapel services herself.lol
A very confident, friendly and eloquent lady
Lamide's been first to do everything for a while now 


From Folakemi to the School bus...
A toast to friendship in its natural form;
Thick, thin, stressful, annoying, beautiful
We Are, may still be for longer than we all think
Most importantly, We met...still communicate.


Yourstruly,
TRULYAdlyne



Wednesday 17 November 2010

My Home Desk

Have you ever sat at your Home desk,
Your laptop open, fully connected to the net
You’re starring at a piece you just wrote and posted
The public seems to like it
The responses are so hot or so cool;
depending on how you like it
It seemed like that was the best you could ever write…


I did one time, Laptop open, fully connected
Starring at my facebook page and my mail inbox together
Each pipped on either side of the screen
Waiting to catch notifications and alerts as they arrived
My BB in hand as well incase I stood up to go somewhere
…Very pleasant comments; I dint even think anyone could say anything less
Cos I had enjoyed writing that piece and it showed


Then the thought came to mind…
What if someone out there dint like it,
Dint think I was creative enough
Dint think I was a good writer or a good designer
Or a good ‘anything I thought I was good at’
It squeezed my heart so much I seemed to choke at the feeling
I bet you’d feel the same too if it was you…


Lol. I’ve decided to just live
Yes, live Life; Write what I feel like,
Design what I want to
I own my pencil and I’m in control
When people like it, it’ll spur me on
When they don’t, I’ll try to see the sense their making
All in all I hope to maintain my style


Cos What I do is Live, Love, Create, Design and Reflect
Oh and I also Give praise to HE who is greater than us all
HE gives me power to do the things that I do
And that’s just how it is.
So sometimes I still sit at my Home desk
But I won’t choke anymore.
Cos I’ve got more to move on to, more to accomplish


Yourstruly
TRULYAdlyne

Friendship and Cliques

Some of us have always found ourselves in cliques
Defined or not, it’s the same faces you see
each time you close your eyes to take a nap
And each time you pick up the phone...
You’re calling one of them faces you see


I had friends at the Primary level
But we’d run home to mummy at the end of the day anyway
So nothing was formed
Except basic and necessary connections
And almost the same thing happened in Junior School


But then came Senior School…
We’d seen seniors before us hold on to some particular selves all the time
We never really knew if they had names..
But we were 5 friends with Statistics
No special contribution to our set but we had to have a name!


There were 4 of us named ‘Kemi’
Each with distinct Prefixes of course
We had just 1 ‘Ayo’, ‘Tetra’ a Scientific nomenclature for 4, ‘K’ as initial for Kemi
Ayo with the name that stood apart given recognition with the hyphenated A
TetraK-A was born! Lol. Excitement in the air.


I thought we were more serious than others…No no no
There was J-BANK for Jane, Bridget, Abiola, Njideka and another very pretty Kemi
Hmm, HOT for Hilda, Omo and Tola; truly hot. lol. still friends of mine till date
Guys?..KITOD for Kehinde, Irene, Tola, Obinna and Dipo; hope that’s Correct…
Ladies again, KAAS for Kanyisola, Adiat, Asmot and Sile…I’m sure there were a lot more!


It was just fun for 'Us' that belonged to my clique
Cos we still had our personal very good friends
And it was very allowed, no pressure, nothing.
You dint have to be ‘one of Us’ to stand with us or anything
Cos we were just friends with a name, probably same for the other cliques too


Coming to the University same trend was repeated unknowingly
This time my new friends and I were named by different people so many times
Some names we heard, some we’ll never know
One or Two stuck with us thanks to Simplice, Omolade and Dolapo
Lol. ‘SCHOOL BUS’…Imagine!


I have learned that above Cliques, Friendship rules!
I have enjoyed more moments of friendship taking each one as a personality
Than I have thinking of whichever ‘Us’ it was as a Clique
Mindsets should always allow for freedom and growth in other relationships formed
outside of whatever Clique you find yourself in; thus I can say
That I have a bag load of friends that I annoy and those that I make happy
and I hope you belong to one category at least.




Yourstruly
TRULYAdlyne

Tuesday 16 November 2010

15 of Us

In June 2008, 15 Ladies graduated from CU with M.Sc degrees in Architecture and a lot to offer the world. This is written in expression of the relationships they had and still have with Yourstruly.
As you read..please wish you were one of them...


I miss Sonia
I seemed to be able to talk to her about absolutely anything
while listening to her talk about…Bola and... Louisa!
If you know her like I do, by now you know these two


Bimpe’s room was my 2nd first
She was my 5 and I her 6 back in school
Everyone always wanted to have her neat, complete lecture notes


A couple of times I’ve thought about Eko,
 her ‘beautiful moods'
and how they all translate to nothing but love and a desire for equality


I no more have the luxury of walking next two doors to see Lizzy.
Sis Eliz; as I fondly call her, and I had a connection
One based on art, creativity and best of all Christianity


How can I forget about Uzzy
She let me have just 5% of Lizzy’s total friendship;
Yes Uzoezi, the Architect who had a sewing machine in her room
Respects, to the Princess wife of a Lyrical master and mum to a lil' wonder


Thinking of Ololade…we’ve seriously and ernestly waited
I thought we’d have christened Nonso by now
Chukwunonso…Mama Nonsy’s unborn child who knows us all very well by now


Esther loved to sing, still loves to sing
She and I connected a lot on issues pertaining to dance and music
There was almost never a year when she wasn’t next door to me
Cos she was an ‘O’ female on the register much like myself and Isi


Yep, Isimenmen my hundred level friend
We drifted apart some years after we met
Remained together years before we drifted apart
I always say  “she just loves me.." and do I feel thesame?...Well, I ain’t mushy.lols


Lois BM Adeoye, Lou Lou...my senior in so many ways
married to Dee, Tae’s Senior back in school as well
They’re just ahead of us all the time…we need to rectify that


Kunbi, Mamasita Icupresidente
Premiere Madame d’association  Internationalle des femmes Icubic
we’r chilling for her to come join us soon
Uzzy,Lois and I


We haven’t also forgotten that Dara caught the bouquet at the wedding
So anyone of them will be well received
And Yes Dara will have to leave the beautiful last name behind someday
Homer Williams as well
Call it beef? whateverrr!


Yetunde, my Jolly-good-fellow X-200 level-roommate
I see her, I see strength and keen perseverance
Known by my mum, dad and siblings…
she’s  family


Kendo and I share the same name
Cos I’m bone of bone and flesh of flesh with a twin now
But I adopted her sister’s cos it’s my husband’s
I hear Ms Elebiyo’s ‘enjoying’ Abuja a lot and though we haven’t had time to
discuss I can’t help but wonder if it’s for the same reasons Layo escaped to
Lagos


Omosmall, I lyrically almost din’t see her
But yeah she’s taller now with the Festac-Ajah routine
She patriotically flaunts the  Lasgidi flagship cos she’s home now
Or so she says


Did I introduce myself at the start of the piece?
Folakemi Taiye Odesola..Wife of y’all know WHO
Tokunbo’s future mum…lol
Don’t mind me, Im just a smarty-pant!


This is just to say that I miss you all not necessarily on the same days..but from
time to time.


Yourstruly
TRULYAdlyne