Challenging Myself

06:26am

I’ve come to understand myself over time. I’m one of those people that work best with targets and deadlines and things. Like, if you want something from me, and it’s pretty unspecifically (I know that isn’t a real word) laid out, or there’s no time frame in which I need to do it, the chances that I’ll either forget or procrastinate the hell out of it is pretty high up there. So, to stop myself from carrying this attitude into my #StartWritingAgainProject, I decided to do a 30 Day Blogger Challenge. Last year, 30 Day Blog Challenges became quite the rave around the Nigerian Bloggersphere, and there was a particular challenge everyone decided to go with. However, I decided not to use that one, and went to the site 30DayChallenges to find a different one. And I did.

So, here’s #Day1: Weird Things I’ve Done When I’m Alone

Okay…

This is a pretty odd question. When you ask what weird things I’ve done, this brings up the fact that qualifying a thing as weird is a pretty subjective task. I mean, what I think is weird will probably not be weird to Kat (who I know is probably reading this), or someone else. And the things I find to be normal are probably weird as hell.

But… I like to walk around naked. I’m a proud, card carrying member of the BackToAdam group. Honestly, if not for the sake of decency (and the fact that niggas are way too self conscious about the size of their penises), I would have absolutely no problem going around naked all day, every day. I mean, except in situations when it’s really cold and you need to cover up and all, what is the entire point of having clothes on? I mean, all they really do is make you hot as heck anyways. And while we’re on the topic of clothing, let me just state, that I also think underwear is a complete waste of money (except of course, you’re a really hot girl in Victoria’s Secret underwear sent to lure me into acts of sheer lust). I don’t see the point of wearing boxers. I pretty much have control over the young panda-wan down there, so it’s not like I’m worried that he’s going to make a surprise appearance when I’m walking on the street or anything. I was very glad, a couple of months ago (June 22^nd to be exact), when it was declared No Panty Day. I went complete commando through that entire day, and have not felt so fulfilled, knowing that a lot of other people were just like me that day, ever since. I’ve since made it a personal duty to go complete commando at least once a week (no, I’m not going to tell you which day of the week :-P).

My No Panty Day Picture

I recite poetry to myself. And no, it’s not necessarily my poetry. I sometimes find myself sitting alone and going “… don’t like having to admit that tomorrow’s just a maybe girl, or a famous ‘go ask your mom and see what she say’” (Black Ice), or “We both have issues to address, but with no label on this relationship, where do we mail our complaints to” (J. Wesley), or “There is no place you can scour search or visit except the truth is in it. The truth is hidden in the question, ‘where is the truth hidden?’” (Amir Sulaiman). What’s weird about this for me is that I’m totally unable to memorize my own poetry. Like, I still have to read from my phone or notebook when I go to poetry meets. I have no idea why I’m like this. I also talk to myself when I’m alone. I think I got this habit from my parents. They both do it.

Speaking about poetry, I write poems and posts in my head when I’m alone and almost never put them down on paper. I have no idea why in the hell I do this. There’s so many things I want to write about, that I haven’t even attempted to put down on paper. For instance, I want to write a hara-kiri poem (no, I’m not going to kill myself. When I write it, you’ll understand). I also want to write a post on things I want to say to my future son. I keep thinking them up, but never actually put them down. I think I need someone to be accountable to with writing; someone like my friend Wole. He was really on me all through the False Lives saga, and made sure I wrote. Yes, Wole, take a hint. I need an editor. Show through!

Okay. Need to get dressed for work. That’s about it for now. I’ll probably write something during the course of the day. Let’s see how that pans out.

Peace, love, and Ijebu-garri.

-Panda-