When I was much younger, I
believed you only grow older when you mark your birthday. Thus, when my sixth birthday
was not celebrated with a party, I assumed it meant I was still five years old.
It took a little while before I adjusted to the reality of the fact that not
every birthday must be marked in a big way. However, in our part of the world,
certain birthdays are looked upon specially. For instance, your first birthday,
your third, seventh, tenth, twelfth, eighteenth, twenty-first, twenty-fifth,
seventy-fifth and all the
birthday numbers in multiples of ten are usually
celebrated. My brother turned thirty last month and didn’t even throw a party
and I was like . . . Really? Well, maybe
I’m just being sentimental but I strongly believe in setting milestones,
recording achievements and the need to celebrate or at least acknowledging the
crossing of a particular landmark.
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This post is very special to me
because it marks the golden jubilee of ‘The Geebee Chronicles’ series. I consider
it special because it is definitely different from doing fifty random blog
posts. Writing a series based on 70% fact and 30% fiction could be especially
difficult. I can confidently tell you that it takes a lot of courage, caution and
determination to do this. I’m glad we are at this point and I can’t thank you
all enough for being there. Really, what’s the point of doing a series if no
one is going to read it? I really wouldn’t have loved to call names but I have
to acknowledge the bloggers who’ve been a part of this series all this while.
To those who originally began
this journey with me:
Aloted, Bumight, StandTall, Writefreak,
Buttercup, Nefertiti, Kinshar, Solomon Sydelle, Jaguda, Wellsbaba, Rita, Uzezi,
Simeone, Beauty, Original Mgbeke, Femi B, Yewande Atanda, Miss Definitely
Maybe, Doug, Iwalewa, Aloofar etc. They are those I’d like to call ‘veterans’.
They were my idols and made blogging practically become my life back then.
Thanks for the tutelage and the love, uncles and aunties. Lol
To those who joined the series
wagon along the way:
Olufunke, Myne Whitman, Qmoney,
Tisha, Tommeh, Enkay, Chacha, Spicy, Danny Bagucci, Doll, Spesh, Mikey, Eddee (Where are you, bro?), BSNC, Mariaah, MPB
etc. They joined the party and blended even though it was already in full
swing, making me feel all the more determined to continue. You guys are
awesome!
And those who joined the wagon more
recently:
Atilola (my wonderful editor and
close padi now. Lol), Toinlicious,
Rhelow, Ibifiri Kamson, LohiO, Nafisat etc. They came in after I had taken a
long hiatus and my blog was almost deserted. Lol. Still, they’ve been around.
Thanks people. You guys are the best!
The list is far from exhaustive
but those were the names I could recall. Of course a good number of them have
jumped off the wagon and some have even quit blogging and I definitely miss
them. Thanks y’all.
Lifting from Episode 24 which was a recap of the first twenty three episodes, I
would again state that my motivation for starting the series was the fact that
I had always wanted to do an autobiography someday and planned to start when I
turned forty. However, the events that have occurred in my life since my
eighteenth year have totally set me on an unplanned and unexpected course and
while everyone has a story, I see mine as a pretty unique and could not resist
the urge to share it. The original idea of my autobiography was to simply talk
about my life and my previous forty years of existence (of course when I turned
40), achievements in the academic world and writing world among other things.
Sincerely, that was the dream back then. However, life had something totally
different in stock for me with experiences of all kinds – pleasant and
unpleasant. Then I started blogging in 2008 as a twenty-three year old final
year student of Economics in University and a father to a daughter who had just
turned one.
My posts were mostly random and
just straight from my heart and head. I wrote about anything – from football,
family, school experiences etc. The idea of an autobiography was gradually
slipping away because as it were, most of my earlier dreams were looking less
likely to come true. I watched the first two seasons of Chris Rock’s ‘Everybody
Hates Chris’ around that period as well and was impressed with the huge success
of the comic television series where Rock gave an account of his life from 1982
when he was twelve years old. Then I thought, why not begin a literary version
of my own story in the little way on this platform – blogging – and that was
how the series was born. It was dated from 2003 and so far, four years have
passed in the series. The last episode
of the series was Episode 49 set in
April 2007. Of course, like in ‘Everybody Hates Chris’, not everything you’ve
been reading here is entirely true but assuredly, at least 70% of the story is
true.
It has been awesome so far and
sometimes I regret the breaks I had to take. Being a student then, I had
examinations, final year projects and a lot of other distractions that often
took my time. Then, getting out of school, job scouting, family minding and
other issues also took its toll. Notwithstanding, it’s been a most rewarding
experience. In the process of doing this series, I was nominated for blog awards in three
categories in 2009 and one in
2010. Even though I did not win, no thanks to the ‘veterans’ I was nominated
with (lol), it felt great to actually be considered for blog awards. In fact, I
still include that as one of my career milestones in my official resume –
Nominee, Nigeria Bloggers Award 2009 and 2010. Not bad, right? But yes, ‘Winner’
would definitely have sounded better. Well, half bread is better than none
after all.
Sometime after I started, I
decided I would turn the series into a book. Now, I’m thinking it would be a
collection of three books. Work has begun in earnest on the first book anyway
so please buy it when it drops o. Lol. Then, a television series or soap opera would
definitely not be a bad idea too, so if you know anyone at MNet or other top
international producers who might be interested, holla at me o! Seriously!
I have been asked on a number of
occasions when the series would end. As at 2008 when it began, I thought the
duration would be from 2003 till 2007 but truth is, so many events have
unfolded in my life since then that I honestly don’t know when the series would
end. My guess though is, it would stop on or before the year 2015 when I would
turn thirty. However, I wouldn’t be able to say if it would run for that long
on this blog. Lately, I’ve been itching to do some other things on this blog besides
the series but not to worry; the books would tell you all you need to know.
Remember, we still have about eight years (2007 – 2015) to go so you know it’s
definitely far from over.
So that’s the little story behind
‘The Geebee Chronicles’ series. Hope you’ve been well acquainted so far. You
can always update yourself by clicking HERE
or on the ‘Series Episodes’ tab to access the full list of series episodes from
start till date. I actually planned to continue the story from the last episode
on this post but felt led to do something different. Mind me not; I just had to
celebrate this milestone so please bear with me. Episode 51 is ready anyway and
should hit you pretty soon.
SEE YOU IN THE NEXT EPISODE OF
THE GEEBEE CHRONICLES
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