Year In Review: 2019

Been so long since I’ve been on here, didn’t even recall writing any of the posts though they were literally all travel posts. Last year I said all my years since like 2008 were probably Ws, think that changes this year. Overall probs the worst year in forever but there were a few Ws sprinkled I think. Same drill as  2018, scroll through Google photos to help refresh my memory as to what happened this year, not more than 5 things per month.

January:

• Completed my first investment on Crowdcube, a crowd-funding platform
• Saw Moremi the musical with my parents, remember it being pretty good
• I cooked Efo for the first time and it was sensational
• Saw Davido at the O2
• I got scammed of £140 for Wireless festival tickets but I found her and got my money back. That’s a funny story loool

February:

• Bought tickets for Afronation and tickets for my first solo trip
• I saw Spurs-Dortmund match live, ended 3-0 I believe. Great game
• Went roller-skating with my cousins
• Organised karaoke and a great night out with friends, there was an some unexpected development with someone

March:

• Remember the unexpected development in February? Went to Dorset to see a friend, went hiking. There might have been something special there but we don’t talk anymore.
• My friend lost someone dear to them, felt so sad. Also felt I perhaps didn’t offer enough support to them
• My cousin got engaged and married. I actually need to go to a non-family wedding soonnn
• Finished Physio on my left ankle. Still hurts occasionally but feels much better, they showed me my improved numbers at the last session.
• Bought my first domain name. Haven’t used it at all though

April:

• Saw Drake and Tory Lanez at the O3
• Went to a Sherlock Holmes themed escape room with work. 0-2 at escape rooms
• Went on my first solo trip to Berlin. It was supercool and met the nicest people about my hostel, ask me for my Berlin story
• Finally met my nephew in Dusseldorf. Had the best time with him though he only spoke Russian to me haha
• Went to Belgium: home of French fries, waffles, chocolates and beers. Brugge for a day but a friend joined me for Brussels and I had a swell time. Just realise I didn’t write about it. Also marked a change in said friendship

May:

• Started watching The Wire? Pretty uneventful month
• Met up with friends visiting London
• Finished my side project: creating radar charts of artists based on their Spotify song attributes. The result was a bit underwhelming, most artists are quite similar

June:

• Went for the last day of the Ends Festival. Saw Masego, Nao, J. Balvin, Burna Boy, IAMDDB, Damian Marley. Pretty sick festival
• Finally Planned that trip with my boy. Amsterdam was sick until we missed our flight, first time that’s ever happened to me
• My cousin’s sister-in-law ha a kid
• Parents came visiting

July:

• Broski finished his Masters with a distinction. Was so happy for him! He really deserved it! Lool and few seconds after we got the “when will you marry” talk. That was the first time we’d gotten that one. Grad BBQ was fun too!
• Parents filled me and my bro on the year they’d had and for the first time really, I was reminded of their mortality. Easy to forget
• Saw Travis Scott live. Best concert ever, so much energyyyy. Also went for the Soulection day at the Somerset Summer Concerts and saw DJ Kay, Xavier Omar, Sango, Tay Iwar
• Played a Table Tennis tournament organised by uni friends. Lost to the eventual winner so not mad
• Something seemed off back home

August:

• Went to Lisbon then Afronation then back to Lisbon. Incredible trip, Afronation was amazing
• Started using the Kindle I bought last year. Actually enjoy using it
• Had a birthday date with the former loml, went to see Lion King at the theatre and went to Bletchley a cocktail bar inspired by Bletchley Park with codes to crack etc. Finally confessed how I felt about her. We probably saw like every weekend that month
• I’m pretty decent at Ultimate Frisbee
• My brother had a nightmanre at Notting Hill Carnival. To be honest, we all did

September:

• Cousin was visiting from Munich. He loved my London tour. We saw 1991 by Chibuzo Onuzo, I recommend!
• Started Swimming Lessons
• Like D’Banj said “Don’t get it twisted love is a beautiful thing! It’s Don Jazzy again”
• Went back home. Not many people know this. The reason I told the people was that it was for my mum’s birthday and that was why but that wasn’t really why.
• Had my first Nigerian vendor experience when ordering a birthday cake

Expectation vs Reality

October:

• My cousin had her introduction
• Entered into a relationship with loml, lasted about 12 hours before we decided to pause it. These photos dey pain small but c’est la vie
• Saw Lady of Kibeho and FAME musical with some folks from work. Also helped organise an event for black students at work. Also saw a friend act in Frankenstein (there were VR headsets!)
• My boyyyy was visiting from Toronto was so good to see him. Also earlier in the month my other boy was visiting from Lagos. Think I actually love having guests haha

November:

• Saw my favourite player ever live, Rafa Nadal. He was just coming back from injury so he was actually awful loool kai this year sha.
• Was interviewed as a rising star in a UK magazine. Don’t know why someone from HCM asked me to do it haha but thankful
• Went to an immersive Great Gatsby play. See I didn’t know it was immersive so was severely underdressed loool
• Had to end things with the loml because long story short: our halal-haram ratios were not compatible
• Saw Goldlink (before he started moving mad), went for a rave in my boy’s forest and saw Mahalia

December:

• Outstanding review at work. Started an online course and finished like one bit.
• Read my 17th book. Helped out with the book swap again, made the playlist and people loved it. No better feeling that when someone asks whose playlist it is hhaha. Also took pictures and think they came out great imo
• Saw Little Simz and Ari Lennox! Went Cocktail making with folks from work. Think it might be my hidden talent
• New member of the family, my half-namesake
• Came home again, so a lot of people I hadn’t seen in ages and the regulars as well. Said it would be a quiet one for me and it was but still had to see my people. Another late night out but this time my brother pulled that one out of the bag, about time he fulfilled his elder sibling responsibilities of disappointing parents. Tbh, they were quite chill this time because reasons.

There’ll be some things I’m forgetting but if you didn’t take a photo, did it really happen? Anyways this was probably the most sombre (don’t know if I’ve used that word right here) entrance into a new year I can remember in a long time. Been a rough one for my family, especially my parents. Like 3 of perhaps my top 5 saddest moments ever (idk actually didn’t sit down to rank them) came this year, I mean one day I’ll write in detail about this but that day is not today.

Had like 3 good female friendships altered permanently all for different reasons but the same really. In my experience, once a friendship (and I mean actual friendship) crosses that physical boundary, it’s never ever going to be the same in my experience, there’s only been one exception so far. Could be its own blog post really

Wasn’t all bad though, my parents (my dad especially) and I got closer, did some travelling, got featured in a magazine, saw a lot of my favourite artists, hit my book target, outstanding review at work, started swimming lessons, finished physio, bought crypto 2 years too late (it tanked so probs in the Ls section), started and finished a side project, started an online course and making good progress.

In fact after listing all that, one might think it wasn’t too bad. Donated to the church food bank last year primarily because I felt so blessed last year. Donated even more this year for no personal reason, think I’m just going t make it an annual thing.

But like I said life goes on, just have to hope next year is better.