temmiie's introductory post
Hi everyone.
My name is Akinola Temitope Blessing and I was born on the 14th of January, 2000 in AMAC general hospital, AMAC, Abuja. Both of my grandparents are deceased. My grandfather died at the age of 51 from poisoining, at that time my father was only 11 years old, he was killed by a group of people that envied his progress and success. He was warned against this particular set of friends but he did not listen, he always said they were there for him at times he needed them and boom, he died. My grandmother died when I was 19 years old, at the age of 91 in 2019 from old age, which was sad but also a glorious exit. She lived with us for about a year which was very exciting and stressful at the same time, because she wanted so many things done at a time. My childhood was a wonderful experience for me. My both parents work for the Nigerian government. I had a joyful and normal childhood with my siblings.
I am the third child from six children my parents have. The first is a girl; my big sister has always acted like a mother to the rest of us, helping our mum out with the chores while we were growing up. The second is a boy, my big brother who was always fighting with my big sister when it comes to doing house chores. He always prefers to play football, leave his assignments undone until he’s scolded. And I was next, the second girl, I helped my sister out in doing house chores at the age that I could. Although I wanted things to be done my way but it was never going to work like that because I was still a child. I have three younger sisters after me. These three were always against me while we were growing up. They always gang up against me and make me feel like the bad one. Celebrating birthdays was special for us but we never celebrated them every year. I was just once a while and just with the family. It was not so bad because we understood that in life, we cannot get all that we want due to some circumstance. Not all that we want would come our way but taking all that we have special and appreciating what we have was the keyword.
I finished secondary school at age fifteen and wanted to get into the university so fast. Smallie, is what people call me. It’s a way of addressing people with small stature here in Nigeria. I was the smallest in my whole secondary school; I had juniors who were way bigger than I was. That never made me feel unconfident about myself, I was as bold as ever, even if I was timid, I loved my body very much and did not even want to grow bigger so I started dieting. In class 1 of my senior secondary school, I had so many tall friends that played basketball, I always watched them play and then I became so interested but guess what? They all made fun of me because of my height. That did not stop me either; I made the best moves on the court. And when I got to class 3, lawn tennis was introduced in my school and I joined the team. It was all sports for me in school aside classes; I was not interested in the science club or the press club. I wrote my exams to get into the university; I must say I tried my best. I had good grades that earned me admission into one of the famous schools in Nigeria to study architecture. When I was age 14, I met my dad’s architect. That day he came to the house with the architectural drawings of our new house, and when I saw them I started developing interests in architecture. I would search about new things I could learn from and begin to wonder how they came about because I did not understand any of it. I had just finished secondary school.
I resumed school 15th November, 2015. It was a new place, I had never been away from home all my life, except for the three day camp I attended once in every year which was not even far from home and with my siblings with me. I completed school registration in one week, because I have to finish one to continue the other process. The big female hostel was where late comers like me stayed. It is the third female hostel in school and the largest. Adura, tobiloba and Pricilla were the three people I had to stay with for a year, and it was amazing in the start. Getting to know these people and blend with their kind of person was one great job I did in relating with others. We just need to understand people and their characters and how to deal with such characters. So might be rude at the first meeting but settling down to know them well might just be good enough as they did not even mean to be rude. Most people tend to have fighting characters when you meet them first but to them, they are just trying to protect their identity and image but obviously in a wrong way.
Studying architecture was really expensive and tough, but it was what I wanted so I had to push hard. I got my materials and prepared myself for classes. Most of the time in school was used for majorly practical courses but most of the courses were theory. I wondered how I was going to survive because it was really not easy. It was all work for me in my first year in school and at the end of the semester; I realized it was not going to work that way for me. I decided to spice my academic up with extracurricular activities including music and art. I did all the things I loved without losing concentration in my education. It was just a way of relaxing for me after school each day. And music, it was a part of my study and work life. Listening to music made me work faster especially in the studio. Every type of music was very helpful during work and sports were just a way to relax and take negative vibes off my head.
Studying architecture was fun after all. You can call me an architect now because I’m proud to be one.