Reminisce, Regret, Re-live

My mom works at a Federal Polytechnic in Nigeria, and today I went to work with her.

I graduated from a university in Nigeria, and if you must know, a university is supposed, in all ways and forms, to look better than a polytechnic. I'm talking in the fashion of students and their intellects, methods of teaching, classrooms, and labs.

Buy I tell you, this polytechnic looks far better than the uni I went to.

And I wish that is the purpose of this piece…

At about 2 p.m., my mom and I set off to go home, but she made a stop at one of the Faculty buildings to see an old pal, while I sat in the car waiting for her.

It was at that moment that I got inspired to write this.

Here's the thing, while I think this polytechnic is by far better than my uni, as per outlook, I could be exactly wrong too, because in my judgment there are only 2 people -the polytechnic and me, not my uni.

And while I am a proud graduate of my uni, I can't say boldly that I can be called a symbol or point of reference as to what people who go there look like.

In this polytechnic, I have seen girls and boys in outfits that are so fly, I once said to myself that I would wear one of the girls outfit to a dinner instead of lectures and we're talking a normal long bodycon dress with flowery designs at the sides.

Maybe it's the beautiful full black shoulder-length human hair she wore that made it look too expensive to me.

You see my point? I'm too cheap that a bodycon dress looks too much for school on a Monday morning.

I even saw some girls in slipper heels. While in uni I thought that was too much.

So maybe I'm wrong to judge my school as lesser than the polytechnic…cos I'm the problem.

When all these hit me, I realized that if there was ever an award for the person who has lived wrong, I'd be gracing that stage, lights on, drums roll and all.

I deprived myself of a lot in school; good clothes, outings, experiences, and all that.

You'd think it was because I was too engaged with my studies, or I was too religious for it.

Right now, if I wish for anything, it's to have any of those reasons for an excuse.

Because truth is, I wasn't studying as much, and I wasn't too religious. I was sleeping and have always been cheap.

Cos tell me why else I'd always economize when I have money to buy some good clothes with money I have, instead, I go for cheap stuff so I can have a good portion of that money left, “for other things” I say to myself, but what I really mean is “for food”.

In Nigeria, we have a phrase that expresses the importance of food above all:

“Na person wey don chop dey…(it is only a person that has eaten that)”

Say for instance I want to get an iPhone and I've been saving for it, but there comes a time when I begin to run out of money that feeding becomes a problem.

To encourage myself that breaking into my savings to feed is reasonable, I'll go “na person wey don chop dey buy Iphone”.

It's more like ‘if I perish, I perish’ but more stylish.

What am I saying?

I need to learn, and maybe you too, that man should not live on bread alone literally, and certain times when I get hold of that money, I should spend it on myself.

Invest in myself, buy the expensive clothes, those shoes, worst watches, bangles, earrings, bags, rings, glasses… accessorize and look good because those are long-term investments.

The food I eat now will go down the toilet in a few hours, but those, they'll be there till next year.

And besides, the world is falling apart already and so far I haven't left a mark on it, so should we all die tomorrow my only mark will be a pile of shit.

Well, I'm saying no to that.

I'll be dumping some silver and gold jewelry, some sunglasses, shoes, bags, clothes, and some good works of literature to litter the land after my demise.

I don't know what you're about. I mean, you could be one of the students I envy or you could be just like me, whichever you are….

There's a lot to live for and a lot of ways to do it, just be certain you do it or are doing it in a fun way, so you won't one day find yourself wondering what you've done with your life.

Cheers!