May 19, 2013 — OlaToxic
May 19, 2013 — OlaToxic
Today has been a very lazy day, entirely unregrettably. I overshot my 8.15am alarm by about three hours and missed church. There was no remorse. I added three or four more hours of sleep during the course of the day. And I am quite fine with that. You see, I am suffering from jetlag…
Ticket.
Passport.
Check In.
Boarding Pass.
Deplane.
Hand Luggage.
Personal Effects.
Overweight.
Flight Attendant.
Baggage Claim.
Layover.
Terminal.
Arrival.
Departure.
Security check.
Turbulence.
Duty Free.
Immigration.
Overhead carriage.
Carry on.
Ground travel.
These are terms that I’ve become much more familiar with in the last three weeks. This has not always been the case. I am not a travelling man.
Between the nature of the career path I have chosen and the kind of upbringing I have had, air travel has never been a real feature in my life. I had never even left these shores before. Ever. And this despite the literal meaning of one of my names, Tokunbo, being “He was brought home from the overseas”. Before the 28th of April, I had only ever intelligibly been on five flights, total. Now, all that is changing.
Within the last three weeks, I managed to board eight flights, international and domestic (including three layovers), take three train rides (first time on a train; intelligibly anyway), navigate my way across five American states and visit places, see people and do things I had only ever imagined… And there’s many more places my imagination has taken me to. Time to make those into reality. I am becoming a well travelled man.
Sadly though, over the last twenty four hours, I have been re-familiarizing myself with the harsh realities that make up life in Naija. NEPA has welcomed me with open arms, the prickly heat has enveloped me warmly, the pot-holes are still there, the dust which has managed to crawl up into every imaginable body crevice has reminded me that I’m indeed home.
They’ve also reminded me that I need to work hard(er) and leave more often and experience better realities till these ones change. Which reminds me, work resumes tomorrow. Another painful reality I need to re-familiarize myself with. *sigh*
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OlaToxic is just a dude with a bold creative streak made up of many, many strokes looking to express himself as diversely as possible. He runs a weekly column called Art Stories over at TheNakedConvos.com, tweets random non-toxic rubbish from @0Toxic and (sometimes) blogs gems at his personal blog, Nostalgic Words of Future Me.