I woke up this morning and all I felt like doing was to yet again take stock of the ending year, n as I began to recall events of the year, tears never stopped rolling and even as I'm tryin to type this I'm soooooo freaking emotional.

I'm just overwhelmed! Really, it's been a fantastic year.
I recall all my close shaves with what could have led to my death.
I recall all of the stupid things I did.
I recall moments when I had lost hope.
I recall moments when I needed acceptance the most and I was rejected.
I recall moments of fun, of joy and of love.
I recall moments of pain and hardship.
I recall moments of hardwork, commitment and reward.
I recall moments of moments I cant define
I recall toooo may moments.

The conclusion is this, God is real and He is ever ready to help.
I've learnt too much in this ending year, toooooo much. I learnt to learnt to learn and unlearn. I was superanturally blessed this year, God did some things that man couldn't have done.. m talkin about those miracles that come with undeniable divine proofs.

2009! these tears cant stop rolling.

I'm grateful to you God.
Everything was God!!!!

So I go inside this old room(store) today which I believe contains thousands of documents, and I had 2 get my own sturvs outta d room cos I was gettin a new room and actually its more lik dis is d 1st time m havin a room all to myself! Its alwys been me n any1 of my brodas.. so its an interestin adventure ahead.
So speaking about the old documents, I was digging out bookssssss from primary sch, sec sch, early uni days n mehn.. its sweet seeing all of those sturvs mehn. My weakest point was when I stumbled on my gift prizes.
Best Grad Student - Mathematics
Best Grad Student - Yoruba
Best Grad Student - English
Best Grad Student - Geography
n Overall Best Grad Student
n damn! It jst brought memories of the glory days. Those days of pride wen I used to feel like an academic god..lol. University educatn came, I hit first class once, n I'v remained on a so close 2 first class P. chai!
Notebooks wrapped wit dis carton coloured brown sheets
...with Pages of X n O at d back
My Technical drawing sheets!!!.. hours of backpain..lol
Love notes were missing tho.. I possibly cldnt hv bin so careless 2 leave traces :-D
Glory texts like
M.O Odiaka
Ugo C. Ugo... ur no1 passport for common entrance exams
Mastering English.. oops! I 4got 2 search 4 my fav story about dat local boy dat raised false alarm

wat else did I c? I dunno jor.. bed time

Best Boxing day ever... was just the best. I had sub my speaking appointment for a precious reunion gig wit my skye high peeps and an opportunity to relate wit the MD, Skye Bank. At first, I felt bad about freeing church youth camp for a social gathering, but I soon forgot all of that when the fun started
1p.m was dropped of in VI by my bro who was headin to Takwa bay wit his fiance
Ehi comes around to pick me up n we head to Ikoyi to McG's house.
We get to McG's house and first thing was to grab d PS3 pad to play our fav soccer game. I dealt wit Ehi n d 1st game, buh I lost d concluding 2 matches, so he was d winner 4 d day :-( I hate to lose!!
1:30 Obioma came in during the 1st match n while myself n Ehi were playing our match, himself n McG were jst busy plannin the 'no-plan' plan..lol. No one knew wat Mr Fiz had in mind
Obioma's dad wasnt leavin lag 2day again, so no big trips 4 him again.. :-P
2:30 we are off to check out Obioma's house I insisted I wanted to see his house b4 I leave d Ikoyi n we sure did have a wonderful time there. We all left McG's house in d corolla 09 Obioms came wit (al these rich kids sef), n we hookd up wit Deji on our way down, dat made it 3 of us plus Obi.
We had a nice time in his house.. sum fresh self-service apartment. His dad had a guest so we picked up our glasses 4rm d house n sat by d pool side over a bottle of wine.
3:00 I had alrdy called Lulu (my host @ d reunion) 2 check if I cld come around wit frnds.. n she was like yeahhhhh..so my guys were def in on this 1.
3:30 we leave Obi's crib so he cld dress up n al, dropped McG so he cld do same.. Myself, Ehi, n Deji wer alrdy dressed so we cruised down to parkview to go check out d noise they'v bin makin about dat estate. Rubbbbbish jor!! its over-rated VGC is wayyyyy beta
4:00 we all leave Ikoyi
4:30-5:00 ish. We get to Lekki, 1st stop is at d Macaulays. Welcomed wit chocolate. Posh party.. but daddies n mummies all ova. 2 bottles of Moets per table speaks a lot about the host. We jst sat down inside n we cldnt help but eat their foot..d buffet was mad
6:00 we leave d Macaulay's met dis fresh babe dat was jst drivin in wit her fam.. as soon as she said LSE, Deji was lik.. "Must all these fresh kids alwys come from london???" Deji, sowi... hehehehe
6:30 we get to Ehi's crib to go upgrade d 2nd vehicle we had in our convoy n den I rmbr Mariya, my blind date dat I'v bin plannin to meet since May, we stopped by at her crib n Alleluyah!! I wasnt soo blind afterall, she made sense.. n so she hops in, says shez partyin wit us. Bt she refused 2 drive her own ride (extra work 4 Ehi dat wil drop her off)
7:00 we get to the Akinfemiwa's crib
Fun Fun Fun
saw all of the ppl I'd nt seen since summer ended. lots of hugs, greetings, smiles......
Wide range of dishes to pick from
lots of drinks
DJ was on steady classics.. old sch hip-hop mehn
Soon, I switched to where d Daddies were.. had my moment wit Mr Akinfemiwa n one other big man lik dat.
Spent time wit my Boss..told him al my fears as regards finishin sch this July n gettin a job, n he said sumtn dat I mite nt 4get in a long while. He said 'Tolu, it's a lot more fun out here than it is in there, so free ur worries..." n he rly assured me dat if all else fails he'l get me a good job
8:30 soon as I left my boss n i returned 2 venue 4 children.. Wande Coal was alrdy on stage.. straight away, I went up 2 get my shot wit him. He rocked 4 lik 30mins ending wit "You Bad" everyone was excited!!! I asked him 2 sing speechless, he sang d 1st 2 lines of d chorus n was like "MJ is dead jare" ... dat Wande is an Olodo boy! lol
9:00 on d dance floor, jst chattin away...
9:30 checked out mehn!

wat a day!!!
I'm happy I didnt catch al d fun alone, my hommies r more than grateful n my blind date was over-excited!!!

Great day with an early start, went out shoppin with my bro. I needed a brown shoe n in my usual pattern I didnt get what I wanted until d point where I had given up n I was alrdy leavin the market... long n short, I got myself a beffiting Brown Zara flat soles. :-)

Back home now, got big work to do. El Fiz Events owns my evening. Emma's L.A.U.G.H musicomedy concert is coming up next friday n El Fiz Events is the event program manager. This entails the sequencing of performances i.e who sings first, when should they be cracking jokes, when they should be dancing and all those stuffs.

I'm quite confident I would do a great job.

For now, like I've been doing all week long I need to sit down in the imaginary hall and pen down how I want that show to rock!!!

Wish me luck guys!

So I took that walk to confess him yet again as my Lord and Saviour
Hmmnnnnnnnnnnn...
I know He will see me through this one
I can only ask for abundance of grace to play my own part

Was having breakfast with a couple of friends yesterday morning, classmates actually, and in our usual fashion we had a large chunk of random issue to take down, and one of the most captivating topics we brought forward was on the reason why we, as a department, are not united; The main thing I pointed out to was exposure, and well I just feel like sharing a couple of thoughts with u on how I see exposure.

Exposure
Knowledge they say is power
Its reforming
Its life giving

Giving life
That's what exposure is all about
But wait
There's a life that gives life indeed
Yet another that leads to death

Like there are things I discover
And I'm like,
I wish I knew this all this while
Others And I'm like
Why did I ever found out about this
Moments when ignorance indeed is bliss

Exposure
Its forever a plus
To them that embrace it
That embrace the right kind

Exposure
It has caused me to end friendships
Dont blame me
Darkness stinks
When uve found light


Exposure
That al I can c 4 nw
So I drop my pen

One of my most respected young achiever, Toyin Subair, CEO of HiTV delivered a speech at a conference in Lagos Business School a couple

of months back and he made reference to an article Dr David Oyedepo referred him to many years back as one of the best things he has ever

laid his hands on.

The complete article is here: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/10/30/8391794/index.htm

But lemme quickly highlight the key points in case ure unable to read d full article


WHAT IT TAKES TO BE GREAT
Research now shows that the lack of natural talent is irrelevant to great success.
The secret? Painful and demanding practice and hard work.

For one thing, you do not possess a natural gift for a certain job, because targeted natural gifts don't exist. You are not a born CEO or investor or chess grandmaster. You will achieve greatness only through an enormous amount of hard work over many years. And not just any hard work, but work of a particular type that's demanding and painful.

Scientific experts are producing remarkably consistent findings across a wide array of fields. Understand that talent doesn't mean intelligence, motivation or personality traits. It's an innate ability to do some specific activity especially well.

The article goes on to discuss these key points:
1. No substitute for hard work
2. Practice makes perfect
3. The skeptics
4. Real-world examples
5. The business side
6. Adopting a new mindset
7. Be the ball

Why?
If great performance were easy, it wouldn't be rare. Which leads to possibly the deepest question about greatness. While experts understand an enormous amount about the behavior that produces great performance, they understand very little about where that behavior comes from.

The authors of one study conclude, "We still do not know which factors encourage individuals to engage in deliberate practice." Or as University of Michigan business school professor Noel Tichy puts it after 30 years of working with managers, "Some people are much more motivated than others, and that's the existential question I cannot answer - why."

The critical reality is that we are not hostage to some naturally granted level of talent. We can make ourselves what we will.

Maybe we can't expect most people to achieve greatness. It's just too demanding. But the striking, liberating news is that greatness isn't reserved for a preordained few. It is available to you and to everyone.

funny funny week

hmmnn... 500 level.

Tonite is jst one of thoe nites that I feel like I'v got too much in my head, one of those nites dat I feel like pouring it all out.

But where do I start from? I've got a lot to contemplate on cos I've got a lot of things I'm lookin out for.

I still feel d pain of havin to part wit my Skye family, they made 5weeks look like a lifetime, d entire experience was more than worth it!

500level fast approaching. Final lap it is, yet it smells like a fresh beginning.
Ummm.. rly got a lot to work on.
I still have my dreams of havin a 5.0GPA
n I still have my vision of polishin men to excellence compelling me to want to speak in conferences, write articles, n consciously mentor the ones that are coming up;
I have to print my first book "A-Z OF LIFE: experience of a 21yr old" by my 21st which is jst a couple of days 2 grad;
I have a network to build on cos I wanna make sure each cu student is just a friend away;
I still need more time with God to figure out how my post-grad life will be cos I've got loads of assignments but I dont know the ones that will go first.

Overall, in all of these things I can only do 1 thing and this 1 thing is what I know how to do best- commit it into God's hands.

Hauwa.. m chattin wit her rite nw, she wnt let me type this piece in peace
Busola. chattin, bt rubbish fcbk chat = 2lines/min
Chima.. annoyin me rite nw by askin unnecessary questions
Tanga.. hearin 4rm him afta sum 3wks communication break
Dami.. shez gone offline n hopefully by d nxt time she comes online she shld be seein this blog.

A couple of hours back, I was brushing up a old write-up for fresh publication. Title: Networking: How who u knw counts over what u knw

n I rly luv I line I used in dat article:

" Trust me, there is no future for those who do not place value on relationships!"


Lookin at these ppl I mentioned above, I hv loads of things 2 say abt hw wonderful these guys are



.. bt m so lazy 2 finish this. Lord help me!!

cant blv i'v nt been here in a long while!

Quite a lot has changed since the last time I posted anything, but the summary of it all is that I'm gettin bigger n better by d day all cos of God's favour.

I'm not sayin much 2nite... i'l b back some other time.

All I can say now is THANK YOU LORD. I will always love You!!

I was in the waiting room yday n I'm glad to announce to u that I did not wait for nothing. GOD did it!!!!

I'm so grateful to the heavens, but hw did it all start?

Monday: I went for the 1st stage of the 2day screening for a job wit Skye (a 5wks prog aimed at publishing a youth mag for Skye Bank)
1st thing was the traditional "Tell us ur name-tell us about urself" interview, and after which we started the real deal, writing.
14 applicants, 10 to be picked
Monday's main task was to pick out 5 random words out of a basket filled with diff words, and use ur 5words 2 write an article, half a page making sure that ur 5words r swallowed up in the article.

I got the words "intervention, disconfiguration, abundance, imminent, odious" And as u wld xpect, I did sumtin on naija.

Conclusion is, I thot wat I did was mad.. bt wen I heard others, I cld conclude it was crap.


Tuesday followed d same protocol(bt we had increased in numbers to 10) but it was one word this time arnd n I did sumtin on FOOD.

We left there with the instruction that only the "needed" will be called back n dont come again if u dnt get any sms 4rm us.

Wednesday: SMS no show!!!!
Some deep prayer sessions, declaration of rhema, speaking in tongues, no SMS, no call!!
But I was persistent.
I stil had a fun day on wednesday; BIG UPs 2 Ehi 4 d sweet ride n to all of those we were able 2 hang out wit - Asha, Hauwa, Chidinma, Busola, Soko.. wednesday made sense.

Thursday: Prayers were stil on n my hopes were stil very high that my God of "suddenly" can still do it.
U wont blv d call came when I left my phone in my bag... but since dat tuesday I'v bin callin back anytime I see "missed calls" oh.. cos u neva can tel uno. lol
The Boss (Uncle Yinka) called n asked me 2 come around 4 2more days of probation.. and this time it was 5 of us n he needed 2!
I knew God had done it already.

I got there and as the tradition is: u write n read 2 everyone's hearing and they all criticise.
He brought out the article I wrote on tuesday n he was analysing it. But every1 else in d room loved the article n u wont blv we were arguing/discussing/analysing my article 4 the next 30mins!! (against the traditional 5-10mins), and after they all reached d conclusion that this article made sense.

He said "Tolu, if ur article can raise this much argument then ure automatically in!!!!!"

The last time I checked, I saw a God in heaven.

Are you seeing him right now?????

Wow! I cant blv I stil need 2 more days 2 prove myself as an excellent writer
I quote my employer who says "I believe u've got potentials, I can c d potentials, bt I need u 2 express it.. ure nt expressin it well enuf"

Now that I have just 45mins to go join them in that room where stars of the writing world gather to display expertise n unravel unimaginable expressive tendencies, I can only run back to my world here n remnid myself of how "kingly" I am in this territory.

I love it when I write, that joy that thrill, that sudden rush I get when the inspiration comes on dat topic, that gigantic ego that builds up in me when I imagine readers smiling at their screens, doving their hats, in applause to what I've offered n imagine God bragging over me like He did wit Job saying "I knew that clay was special when I picked it up to mould this boy, I knew that breath was special when I released it into him"

At this moment, I dont care if they didnt applaud me when I read my 1st article on monday, but I loved it when they did on tuesday though. I dont care if I've not been voracious enuf in my expressions, rite I see myself ripping thru the gates of honours like an avalanche of fury stopping at nothing to hit the mark.

The El Fiz dream is all about being specially different, its all about functioning at full capacity to maximum performance

God, this is the point where I surrender it all into your hands. You know I need this job to become a better me. Just like you have done all through these years, give unto me this one job I again ask for, In Jesus Name I pray. Amen.

THE FUTURE I CANT WAIT TO STEP INTO
At this moment, I choose to look beyond d frustration of these present times. I choose to look beyond d vanity of rising as early as 5am, spending 5hrs in traffic daily. I look beyond this frustrating routine. I choose not to match d pains wit d gains cos one obviously overshadows d other. I choose to ignore d misplaced challenges cos since d job wont b challenging, situations n circumstances surrounding d job itself hv chosen to be.

For what cause r we running this race? To what end is this journey? How much time have I got? How much time have I expended? How much do I have left?

I console myself with d fact that there is a thing called "tomorrow" I console myself with d reason for my existence, I console myself with that which I was created to do. I console myself with d fact that m born to bring out d best in others; born to see men live to their full potential, born to make men out of babes, born to make giants of men.

As I close my eyes in an attempt to give up, out of that supposed darkness one sees when d eyes r closed, I see a large beam of light, I envision an untouchable 2mrw, I c myself practically transforming lives with words: both written n spoken. Words: d same order of words that served as d molding blocks of existence.

I see myself speaking to millions of people, I see men purchasing volumes of my publications, I see d best coming out of people, I see smiles on faces, I perceive satisfaction in their hearts, I feel d wave of fulfilment.

As I make further attempt to imagine what this life would be like if we all could live up to 50% of our potentials, m moved to tears.. hw much more 100% ?

As I open my eyes n I see d frustration of these present times, I cannot but blame it on purpose. I've never seen a man grow weary doing what he's good at. Show me a frustrated labourer, u will find him toiling in another man's field.

I know of a MD of a bank who wept when he got to the top of his banking career because that still did not give him d desired fulfillment. Purpose will always come back to haunt u if u choose not to live in it.

I shake my head when I meet people who place no real value on their purpose. There is not one thing that u have on ur inside n ure committed to that will not bring u profit.
People gossip for a living
People tell lies for a living
People look for a living
People sit for a living
People sing for a living
People walk for a living: yes, they made trekking a sport in d Olympics!
Some swing a stick for a living.. gosh! I so envy dat guy called "Woods"

Even when there's obviously no money, purpose keeps u goin. Even when there's no reason to be happy, purpose gives u this inner glow. U cant doubt it when u have found it!

If only u can take this journey into self discovery, u will be surprised by d immense wealth of resources u will find within.


It is important I remind u of d divine injunction that says "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all of thy might"

Event planning was like the only thing myself and Jaiye could find doing when El Amin approached us 4 dat cause during TW 09 n by virtue of that, MASK was birthed, El Fiz Events + EVEnts Royale r living proofs today.

Writing was the only thing Aregbe could lay his hands on at a particular point in time n that's how MITRE magazine came to being.

Food was the only thing Funeh could lay his hands on at a particular instance n soon we would have a chain of fast food restaurants as a subsidiary of Funeh Corp.

Fixing faulty electronics was all Ife could lay his hands on then n today, we have FEUS electronics

Papa just loved God n was ready to go any length to spread His word n d vision 4 Living Faith Ministries came out.

I need to be sure something is driving u to ur purpose!


In conclusion, I say it's time we stop d paper chase, it's time we stop running another man's race. Let's all go back to where we belong, shut all of d noise u have around u n take out time to look within. U never know how much ure missing by living outside purpose, go find it n live in it.

U rly dont wanna knw d number of demons of procrastination I had 2 fight b4 dis dream blog finally came alive. I feel so good rite nw n I feel dat sense of fulfillment dat's characteristic of my existence, I mean always fulfill sumtin per time.

Should I be happy 4 u dat u joined my blog? I cant tell, but al I can say is this:

Finally, I can give u an insight into d real me!!!! But I most let u knw that I find it difficult to understand myself most times. I'm jst too "swingy" 4 my liking.
Happy now, sad later;
Proud nw, humble d next second;
friendly nw, snubbish d nxt minute
even my pictures.... fine nw, swagless d next moment
bt all of these things make me trip 4 God d more cos He's invested a lot in packaging this uniqueness into one ME.

U would be makin a big mistake if u visit this page today n u dnt make plans 2 make it an habit.

This is not supposed 2 b my 1st post, d real one is 2 hot... m 2 scared 2 drop it on 1st timers.

I really really appreciate u 4 doing this.. welcome 2 my world!