This Is Me

Here are some things about me that I couldn’t fit into the ‘About Me’ box. It was lifted from my Facebook page, where I wrote it a while ago. Some of the statements are now out of date, so I made notes below.

1. I am extremely diplomatic. I will almost always tell you what I think you want to hear, except with very close friends, and even then…

2. I have no time for stuck up, self-important fools. Pride is so unattractive.

3. I adapt to my environment completely, i.e. I can change from a very well mannered lady to a total razz mess, depending on where I am.

4. I have the ability to make myself laugh (hmm where have I heard that before?) and I’m okay at making others laugh too. I really admire funny and quick witted people.

5. (Dedicated to name withheld for privacy) I STILL SUCK my tongue and squash my belly button (gosh). Hence I have a belly button shape that ensures that I will never feel inclined to expose my tummy!!!*

6. Coming to university in the town of Ile-Ife is the best thing that has happened to me yet. I have been changed.

7. I am a reader. Avid does not begin to describe how much I read, I read everything.

8. I have the random ability to keep the most random stuff for the most absurdly random time. Notes, pens, pins, etc. Case in point, my (inherited) old faithful journal is now about 9 years old and counting (Can anyone remember the red furry journal with black spots?!) And I very recently lost a pen my class teacher, Mr Olajide, gave us all in Grade 12 (2003).

9. Did I mention that I write too? I’m convinced I peaked in secondary school though. Since then I have attempted several times and struggle to write a coherent piece of literature (not entirely true). I won’t give up trying though. Honestly, sadly, I think I just might make a great editor.**

10. I think mobile phones in general, and text messages in particular are the worst things to ever happen to written English Language. It bugs me when people write things like ‘gud’ or ‘dem’ or forget to put commas and full stops, and I’ll ONLY do some of it sometimes to save space on a text message and immediately ask for forgiveness from the Fathers of English. However I would never be caught dead writing things like “lyfe”.

11. For more than a decade I was convinced that I was born to be doctor. It took two weeks of trudging around University College Hospital, Ibadan in 2003 to burst that bubble.

12. The glass is half empty.

13. My favourite food? I can’t choose! I love food. I love to try new tastes and foods as long as they smell good (no offence to South Africans who think boiled uncleaned intestines of a cow is a delicacy). I also enjoy cooking, but not as much as I enjoy eating.

14. Hence I have the most fluctuating weight ever. I’m usually on a ‘diet’. My mum has told me that my wedding gift from her would be a treadmill.

15. I love God and He loves me. That’s why I am. I believe that one has to anchor one’s life on something solid or risk insanity.

16. My name is way too long. Imagine having to write Oluwadamilola Odunayo Oyedele on every page in an exam. It slows me down!!! The man I marry would have to have a surname that is just as long as or better still shorter than my father’s.

17. I don’t like my teeth thanks to sucking, and will get braces sometime in the future. My parents have ignored all my pleas, threats, and blackmail over the years. “Your teeth are ok!” Humph. That’s just made me more obsessed.

18. I can be really mean sometimes. I’m working on that.

19. I love music. If I like a song, I will play it over and over again for days till it has engraved itself into me. Everything happens to the music in my head, and the lyrics of the song don’t necessarily correlate to the situation.

20. I ‘stab’ way more lectures than I should. I’ve refused to go to lectures today. I can’t wait to be through with uni and all the accompanying guilt.***

21. I’ve inherited a strange ability from my maternal grandmother. When I’m really happy and we’re conversing, I'll pick up the last thing you said and turn it into a chorus. Random!!!

22. My favourite pet is my baby brother Gbemiro. He’s adorable, intelligent and for now he’s still happy to run errands!

23. My few good friends are like my family. I’m not the friend-y sort of bird. I’d rather fly alone, thank you.

24. My favourite quote at the moment is “I have a Bachelors degree in Business, but a PhD in Common Sense” by Ben Bruce.

25. I’m a romantic.

Hope you’ve learned a thing or two!

Hope you’ve smiled at least once too…

* (#5) I literally woke up one day and decided that I was tired of sucking my tongue. I wrote it down in a notebook, and that was it! From that moment I ceased to uglify my face and destroy my teeth by weirdly folding my tongue backwards and sucking on it. I believe that only those who have sucked (fingers, tongue, and other unmentionable parts) will understand how hard it is to stop. But I have. Praise the Lord! As for the belly button… ahem.

** (#9) Scratch that! I am a writer, period.

*** (#20) I’m now through, thank God.