Monday Blues (Ajuwaya Remix)

My goal has always been to go to school, get a sound education, get a job, get rich, get married, get rich, have kids and get rich. It’s a very simple laid out plan, no complications and no complexities, very straight forward. I’m writing this and even my emotion is writhing in the pain because nobody told me the truth about that one year pause or hitch to my plan.

My life timetable had been mentally drawn out at a young age and thankfully, the forces have been in allegiance to my bidding. With respect to all who had attained the same educational level as I had, I was relatively very young and proud. I had it sail smoothly for me especially because I have very amazing parents who intertwine my needs with what is best for me and also, very amazing friends who are either in need of me and mine or are needed by me. While in college, we would sit and talk extensively about what we would venture in post-graduation. We never missed mouth-watering topics like the sort of enterprises we would establish, the type of women we would marry, the type of cars we would own and the kind of life we would give our children. Some, we laughed hard about; others, we took very seriously and yes, the “woman” aspect fell under the serious category.

A year to graduation, the voices of the National Youth Service Corps became familiar and its tentacles began crawling into our acquaintanceship circle. I had read so many blogs and articles about the pros and cons of this scheme, I had included it in our world domination discussions and we slowly adjusted our calendars to accommodate it- the beginning of a great mistake. In my head, I had figured out the various ways to make this count in making a valuable mark in my life and still harnessing the fun out of it so I was looking forward to the youth service scheme.

Less than twenty four hours to leave for my state of deployment, I was feeling ecstatic but fully aware of my nostalgia. My bags were packed, my very clean whites were neatly folded and my shoe (which I later found out was undersized) was still carrying its “Straight Outta Market” fragrance. Now it is seven months into my service and I’m still trying to remember exactly what elated my sense of happiness. The hustle no be small, who e epp? It’s been six months but I’m sure I’ve been serving this nation for three years.

I had a very long, cold and rainy day that left me annoyed and aroused the writing nerves in my fingers making me conclude I was going to pour out my mind against NYSC. You know how, as an Engineering student, you see an exam question with over four lines of just sentences and no numbers that by the time you get to the options, you’ve forgotten the question?

Exactly… I’ve forgotten the reason I started writing this in the first place.