Heyyyy!
Usually, when bloggers stop blogging for a while and then resume, their first statement will be
‘I’m back, who missed me!’
But if I ask such, some will be like,
‘😏Who you epp!?’
So lemme just be sober and humble as I say:
‘Good evening to you all, I hope you’re all fine?’
*looses it!*
I’m back! I’m freaking back! WHO MISSED ME!? 😁😁😁
No one? 😕 Humph! I missed us sha and the Chronicles of a single girl updates too’
Incase you’re wondering where I’ve been all these while?
Honey, I’ve been across the seven great hills and dark valleys and I bring you greetings from the Great one beyond the river. I also bring you the seven sacred messages hidden in the white scroll which I retrieved from the mouth of a fire breathing dragon sitted in the highest pinnacle of the ancient tower of Zuzu😀.
In short: I’ve been about life (or so I think)
School x2
Family
Church
And the last, which is the reason for this blog post, the Art show I organized.
But before I go on, these are the seven sacred messages from the white scroll, which I retrieved from the mouth of the dragon at Zuzu. It reads thus:
Message 1. LIFE IS VANITY
Message 2. LIFE IS VANITY
Message 3. VANITY UPON VANITY
Message 4. LIFE IS VANITY
Message 5. LIFE IS VANITY
Message 6. LIFE IS VANITY
And the last one,
Message 7. LIFE IS VANITY
How did this truth get stamped into my being again, I repeat:
I ORGANIZED AN ART SHOW!
Yeeeah!
It was called ‘Straight from the heart‘
It had to do with spoken word and rap. In fact, I tagged it ‘The best of spoken word and rap’ GhenghenGhenGhen!😀
Did people come for the show? YES
Did I receive support from people, friends and family? YES
Will I organize it a second Time?
NO!
Let me skip the beginning of the whole story where my friend whom I call mentor knocked me back into my dream of having an art show and also the part of asking for sponsorship and the somewhat stress and lonely walks that came with it.
My story will begin from some days to the program. It goes like this:
I’m sitting on the bed, staring at loose sheets of papers and my phone. I’ve been trying to put a spoken word piece together but It was NOT making sense. NOT! NOT! NOT! (People of God, the nonsense it was making is very large) then as that is happening, one of the artist who is supposed to perform at the event messages me via whatsapp.
Prior to this time, I had pleaded that every artist send the words of his/her spoken word piece or rap so I’ll know how to organize all presentations.
The idea was that all performances be arranged so we know after which performance another performance is best to come up, probably based on the theme of the previous performance etc.
So this artist messages me to inform me she has changed the piece she actually planned on performing and worse of all, she is not going to send the words because she doesn’t want it projected.
And I’m like ‘ARE YOU KIDDING ME!’
I had a feeling she actually had not written the piece at all, hence the talk that she didn’t want it projected. I also had a piece I was still trying to put together but that was because I had other pieces already and I really wanted to perform this one.
‘DOES SHE WANT TO RUIN MY SHOW!?’
I cup my face in my hands and sigh:
WHO ASKED ME TO DO THIS!?
WHO SENT ME WORK!?
WHO SENT ME WORK!?
Then I stifle a cry with my hands and want to burst into tears, but I hear a voice say to me:
‘abeg..abeg..pack yourself together, this is not the time to be doing drama’
I was like ‘what?’
He continued, ‘No time for drama of tears and stifled screams’
So I remove my hands from my mouth, sit up and keep writing the spoken word piece, which is already giving me a head ache and also which, I wasn’t even able to present it on the day of the program, after all the ‘wahala’.
Many other ‘fuck ups’ happened; but the interesting part of all these for me was posting online and telling people about the program with just as much enthusiasm, even when the excitement was being sapped out because really, it’s your problem (I mean if you were me)
It was probably a day to the program I actually realized in all my preparations for the show, I had forgotten to think deeply about the spoken word pieces I was going to perform, I was shivering already. I had some performances already but they were attached to a reason, like the first one which was a spoken word piece to welcome the audience and another one on masturbation, but I had not given deep thoughts to the major ones that will be solo.
My head ached as I tried completing the piece I was on so as to try to meet up but poooof! Nothing was forth coming. Mom later came to the rescue as she reminded me since the program was being professionally recorded, I needed to do an old piece of mine too. So I worked a way around it all, at the last minute.
Now, this brings me to the day of the program,
I woke up that day feeling like ‘notinnn do me!’
What could possibly go wrong
Venue – Check
Sound- Check
Spoken word pieces- Check
Refreshment- Check
You know how you feel like you’ve got your life together, igzaily!
I got into my high waist jean trousers, stripped shirt and new cute footwear, looking all hot and sturvs (I actually looked hot, my brother said it…Well, he didn’t really say it but you know? I just knew he felt so, but don’t bother asking him, he won’t agree)
So I went to the venue, feeling like CEO, looking at those decorating and humbly asking questions, making orders, pointing fingers at the chairs and tables like ‘can’t we arrange it this other way? ‘ ‘Oh, no?… well, it’s your job. Do it the way you think it best, Oh…Don’t arrange the drinks there, take it somewhere else, be quick about that etc.’
I had it all planned out in my head. The first spoken word piece to start the program will be
‘WELCOME TO THE MASQUERADE SHOW’
That spoken word piece was LIT (or so it was supposed to be) I was going to put on a mask which looked exactly like cinderalla’s mask (the Cinderella version of Sam and Austin Ames. I hope you watched that version of Cinderella story when you were younger. The guy who acted prince charming is the same who acted Lucas and the cinderalla is the Haley in the movie series One tree hill ) Anyways, that’s it sha.
The plan was to let the Anchors do their job from 5.00 -5.30 p.m. where they break the ice among the audience, make the place lively, take pictures. Meanwhile, The screen of the projector will read
‘YOU ARE WELCOME, PLEASE HAVE YOUR SEAT’
So everyone who comes by 5p.m feels like we have already started when in actual fact, we would start by 5.30.
Another thing which made me so excited was my piece on fear,also a LIT one. It has blessed me in a million ways and I am always glad to share it with people. There was also the piece on masturbation, *stifles a chuckle* (LOL) I love that one! (You can call me a pervert, I’m not, ARGUABLY..LOL)
The last thought that made me so excited aside the piece of the artists who were going to was my duet as a married couple, that piece was filled with sarcasm and fun.
Anyways, this is where it all started.
The people who were to set up the sound system came late. They had given me a deadline of 4.00p.m for everything to be set. But before 3.00 p.m, they had not even arrived. (The time I give in this write up may not be precise ‘cos my head wasn’t settled) I was staring at the laptop and trying my best not to look at my phone so I won’t cry because I knew time was far gone and they were not around. When the young man in charge came at around 3’o clock, he had to wait for others to arrive, he infact had to leave to get them! My people, I had died inside of me! I had gone to hell, was rejected and returned. I was freaking scared.
But hold on, they later arrived and set up quickly before or about 5.00p.m. So now, you think the program should start as planned right? Yes? NO!, the next worse thing happened!
‘THE ENGINE OF THE SOUND SYSTEM BLEW UP…UhnUhn! Blew up! As in, it stopped working! Aren’t my village people just wonderful!? (Lol..just kidding)
My people, this time, I actually died.
So we started, without microphones or any other equipment, just the voices of those anchoring who had to be loud enough for the audience to hear them.
Then after 5.30 p.m, they fixed it again but people, the sound coming out of the microphone was like water that is at its boiling point or the sound inside thermocool flask. Let me imitate the sound for you
‘ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo oooooooo ooooooooooooooooo’
Yourubas will actually say ‘Oun O’
You get it?! LOL
So when I finally did the ‘Welcome to the masquerade show’ performance, the sound was still shaky and unstable as the waters (LOL) and that was personally, the first mess up, because to me, all people really saw was someone in a beautiful mask and another person in a white garment acting as Jesus, they almost couldn’t hear us.
But I had a show to run, so I couldn’t be let down by such. We gotta move on! Right?
So performances started rolling in, it was going fine. I performed an old piece too, Fine.
Then we got to the part where we were discussing masturbation with the resource persons. The piece went great and the session was interesting.
However, those in charge of refreshments decided to start sharing the snacks at that particular time and then, the noise began. I was lost for what to do. I sent a few friends to quiet those at the back because the noise buzzed to the front and was so distracting and painful (Remember all you read here is from my perspective, so ‘painful’ is the word)
I had to stand up at a point to see what was happening. It was this kind of noise where you can’t pin point where it’s coming from exactly because everyone is talking. So I walked up to people I knew, just two because I had to go back to my seat.
Then BOOM LAKA LAKA BOOM!
It happened again!
The sound system stopped working!
This time, I just sat down and stared. I was legit lifeless.
In case you’re wondering if I paid for the sound system, Yes I did.
In their defense however, let me say it happened to be one of those times people actually mean well but things don’t work out the way they want it to. Shit happens yh?
So finally, we came to the end of the show, after all the wahala, walking about, making sure the instrumentalists and sound tracks of artists were ready, having to answer questions here and there from people, some artists not doing as best as I would have wanted them to, me performing just once, cleaning the place up; So we came to the end of the show and this was how I felt:
Wasted and stupid
Stupid and useless
Stupid and foolish
Wasted and Useless
Stupid and Stupid
Specimen ‘Failure’ 12.0 Upgraded version😁
Up till I spoke up, then two friends in particular made me realize, it wasn’t all that terrible and if at all it was, I am one failure away from my goal.
So I’ve learnt some lessons:
Number 1 lesson: When you’re organizing your show, be sure to pay attention to yourself. If you can trust yourself, make sure you perform a reasonable number of times.
Number 2 lesson: (You need to calm down in reading this, so you don’t misunderstand me)
If you want to organize a show or even if not, fear is not good, fear is never good. Do not be afraid people won’t attend your show. This was my first fear. It made me give out tickets to people hoping they pay later which did not allow me to be precise on the exact number of people who will be around. Then it made me have many people in the crowd who came just to catch up on old folks, hence the noise. A friend suggested that registration next time be online, it might reduce the crowd but you really don’t need crowd as much as you need people who will enjoy the art you have prepared.
Number 3 lesson: Remember once again that fear is never good. I was also scared that the time allocated to the program, three hours will be too much and that was made me allow many artists, some even impromptu (Mind you, this was because I had earlier not prepared myself well for presentations)
The thing is on days of events, time flies
much more than you think, shit also happens. Be extra mindful of those you will have on your stage; no sentiments involved and no fear informing your decisions too.
Number 4 lesson: Pay more attention to your sound engineers (LOL)
Finally, remember, I said all is vanity. Its this: The only person worth your sweat and ache is the Lord, listen to him. People will say stuff, LISTEN, LISTEN to God. It is a verified fact that after achieving major feats, like getting a degree, having a successful wedding etc., depression would often kick in. This is what makes you realize even more that the activities and busyness cannot satisfy our deep longings.
This is what made me realize even more that only God has the ability to ever satisfy. Run back to God.
Watch out for this space-
BIG THINGS ARE COMING!
Over and OUT!
For pictures and videos: Follow me on Instagram: @iamsharonpaula
Twitter: @iamsharonpaula
P.S. I have not mentioned names in this post because I musn’t try it. I have people I’m grateful to and these people know themselves. You are my treasures.
YOU ARE THE BEST.
Straight from the heart ♥ 