I poured myself yet another glass of Brandy and relaxed on the sofa. Life had been good the past few years. I had acquired lots of property and my bank account smiled daily with figures that carried excess zeros. I smiled as I sipped the Brandy. The drink traced a burning path down my throat and I began to feel a bit lightheaded and well, excited. I knew that I wasn’t supposed to get drunk because I’d need all the stamina I could get for the adventure Samantha Dinka — the wild, pretty, sassy and seductive damsel I met about a week — would be bringing but the date was 17th June, the day which, a year ago, the heavens seemed to have smiled down at me and made some editing to my life’s story. Did I say editing? Haha… Oh, dear! You see, I like to think that if there’s some supreme being out there, this being, would be a writer or something along the line. A huge hand wielding a huge pen and body bent over an equally huge desk, scribbling on a huge book, or perhaps, scroll — something like that, yunno, ancient of days with ancient stuff — and a supernatural brain pumping ideas into a supernatural imagination, hmm. I like to think all about this but it sometimes gets tedious as the stern voice of my Sunday school teacher would reach me from afar — “God’s ways are not our ways!”. Well, I give it to pastor Dotun. I think he knew better about God’s ways than I do even now. However, when I remember the effusive smile and powerful handshake Mr Chukwudi gave me on entering his office that Monday morning, I was sure that God must be a master of comedy, tragedy, tragicomedy — those sorts of things. My meeting with Don, AKA, Chukwudi was my first step in applying what I had learnt so far in the creator space. My journey of learning was, at first, more like an idle scrolling and reading and watching of YouTube videos — anything to distract me from the hurt I felt after my break-up with Sadiya, a ship that split right in the middle after colliding with the iceberg of religious incompatibility — and I could not believe, not in a long shot, that the snippets of knowledge I was gaining here and there would bring about such astronomical progress. You see, I signed that deal with Chukwudi for a paltry sum of money. I never saw Mr Chukwudi smile. He didn’t smile even as he signed the copywriting agreement and I didn’t smile either because I had lesser faith in myself and my abilities than he thought he had in me. I just wanted the distraction of a job. So, you could imagine my consternation when I saw his face, which had always looked like that of an angry ox, transformed with a pleasant wide grin. “Sit down, sit down!” He said, gesticulating with obese arms and then, he explained to me how my writing had brought in more customers and how business had thrived. As I left his office that afternoon, with my paycheck and a huge bonus, I was a completely different person. I began my blog and started a Messidinho series. A series that told a little of my life and my escapades as a young and hot nigga with an insatiable craving for honey-pots, what the Igbos called Otù. (Chuckles). I watched my followers increase across various social media platforms and took note of the corresponding increase in the figures at the bank. I became more adept. I started a series to help men who had low self-esteem and problems approaching women, leveraging my experience and the latest podcasting tools. Soon, I had paid classes that turned in a lot of people who were hungry to learn. For kids, I had a platform where I taught art creation. Having previously perfected my art ability and taken several courses on creative arts and graphics design, I employed people to work remotely from home giving tutorials not just in art and graphics but in many other subjects that a youngster would find interesting and perhaps, daunting. You know kids and adventures. I travelled and made vlogs, hosted conferences from the comfort of my home made use of Google meetings and similar tools. The money kept flowing. As my fans increased, I started getting paid in mega amounts of zeros to appear in shows and conferences within and outside the country. I wrote books, started a publishing company, created visibility online, across platforms and created a community for talented writers to grow. Soon, this community began to accept deals for ghostwriting, copywriting and playwriting from top shots and film houses. The journey has been great and I can only imagine what the future would bring, great, I’m sure! I mean, just look at it this way; the nearest future would bring Samantha Dinka, which isn’t going to be bad at all but ten years or so, wow. I’m already at the zenith of the Creator’s space but then, I doubt I’m ready to step down from the playing field. I know, I know you dread me having ten Samanthas. I don’t think I have the stamina anymore but there should be some wild nights or don’t you think so? Now, don’t look at me like that. I’m Messidinho after all and I don’t plan to stop being Messidinho anytime soon. (Chuckles).
