Triangled-Nosed Jacks: The Story of Discovering My Talent.
Breathe in and think of all the talents in this world and at one point in my life I thought I had it. I remember thinking I could move a 10 ton car if I pushed hard enough.
Trust me, I tried.
I remember taking classes on how to be an airbender. Now that I look back at it, those guys were just teaching me breathing techniques. But I was ready to give anything to be able to form air balls like Avatar Aang. For someone who is so skeptical, I was really naive as a child.
Growing up was one long experiment. I went through a litany of talents. I remember when I was in primary school, not even old enough to know what primary school meant. I would draw an awful little square that had a triangle as a nose and to my little, feeble mind that was Jack who was going to save the world.
Funny how I was obsessed with names like Jack, James, Luke, and John. Apparently, it never occured to me that Tolu and Sade could save the world too. But then Tolu wasn’t good for the market.
For all my readers cared, Tolu was the boy that brought Amala to school. Ain’t no way my readers wanted him saving the world.
I drew several comic strips of how my “triangled nosed Jack” saves the earth from an asteroid attack. I gave it to my friends and they found it entertaining with bickerings like "tell me, tell me, what happens next?" With a puffed chest, I would smile, thinking one of these days I would become one of the best comic artists forgetting that six years olds would rather do anything than their assignments.
As much as I love to blame Nickelodeon for my misfortune, I believe I was not the only one. There are other people like me out there, right? Please tell me it isn’t just me.
It wasn’t until Ss1 that I finally stuck with a talent inevitably after trying to be a big philanthropist and creator of the HIV virus vaccine. I like to think I settled for writing.
Ah, yes, it was for a girl.
What we do for love, am I right? We read my friend’s poem together. The poem has stuck with me, I still remember the sentence—you are my breath, my life. Such cheesy lines, no wonder 16 years olds found it beautiful. Cuz who has more flair for the impossible than teenagers?
I remember her blushing— red, hot cheeks. This meaty guy was making my crush blush. Just 10 lines and he was at the brink of taking this girl from me. As a human, it is fair to think that I did the same. I made my own 10 lines too. As thus, began my journey as a writer.
Why the story? I like to think I was just like many people. Testing different waters to see what fits, the one that’s just warm enough to leave our legs in. But that’s not the catch. Even when I did find writing, it didn’t look like writing found me. It was a sort of toxic relationship. We had our ups and downs.
Most people like to imagine that talent comes so easy to us. That maybe as a writer you’re the next gen Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie or Brandon Sanderson. Well, that isn’t what talent is. It is not devoid of hard work with the delusion that you would have everything come easy.
I remember in secondary school when I had become a well "acclaimed" writer. I had a big dent in my grammar. Most times, I made blunders. I recall writing "a children" once. Though according to some it made my work interesting cuz what would teenage boys want more than to mock their classmates. It stuck with me.
Although I consider myself a good enough writer, I had my flaws and there weren’t just one. So maybe singing is your talent, but you have to refine it a little bit. Unrefined gold is gold nonetheless. Don’t discard your talent cuz you didn’t do well on two to three projects.
And if you are still on your path to finding a warm enough water to leave your legs in. Remember there is no rush. It is fine to still be drawing triangled nose Jacks. It is part of the whole, big journey.
Ciao.
