ESTELLA'S BABY......

Got U there! Didn't I?

She is cute? Ain't she?

I really sometimes wish I have a little girl......If I have a daughter, I am sure I wouldn't even bother to enter that institution called 'marriage'!

Ok, RELAX! I am not blabbering, the title of this post should have been, "ESTELLA AS A BABY" I just typed 'Estella's baby' to get y'all attention. Warraheck! All my mates have 3 0r 4 kids in tow now! (Warreva! Na dem sabi!)

I should have had a baby long ago but for the fear of my very strict parental upbringing! And the catechism and religious teaching etc.... I am glad I didn't in a way though, because a child should grow up under a roof with two parents. Honestly, I thought of being a single mum when I was even as young as 19 years! Don't blame me please! It was all those EBONY, COSMO, JET, SEVENTEEN etc magazines I used to cram my head up with growing up! They sorta made being a single parent a cool thing! As per, one didn't have to take 'orders' from any man (husband), one could travel the whole world, be answerable to no one, etc be an executive in a big multi-million company (I am getting there, Insha Allah) and I was an impressionable kid!

My friends called me the 'Oyibo' in Kano because looking back now, I turned a feminist quiet early in life! Due to the magazines and books and TV shows I indulged in! And I lived in Kano State!! Who says Media does not influence kids? Think again! It influenced me a lot! I kinda think I got my 'stubborn' streak from all the western world infos back then. And you know that was in the eighties when there were so many movements and causes in America! Everyone claiming their 'rights' and standing up for their rights etc! The day I tried to stand up for my own right in my house, as per I was 18, an adult, blah blah blah! My dad showed me he is truly an Igbo man!! Nobody told me to shut, so that my school fees would be paid! Seeing we didnt have to work and school at the same time then. Unlike in the US where kids start working from age 16! In Nigeria, you stayed in your parents house through University for a guy, and for a babe, you were expected to live with your parents till you got married!

I was so influenced by the Media! Dammit! While all my mates in teen-age were sneaking around with freakum little boyfriends stealing kisses and even going all the way sometimes! (YES, I MEAN SEX! Helllooooo!) , me, I was busy watching Elsa Klensch on CNN ('STYLE). Watching Naomi Campbell and being so soooooo tripped by her! I still love Naomi till date and dont care what they say about her! People must always talk! Naomi inspired and impressed me to be what I am today!

The media gave me my love for TV, being why I entered into the TV sector in Nigeria as a TV Presenter and Producer! I had my own TV show in Yobe State Television called "YTV Special" Ha ha ha gud ol' days! It was the only Program where Western Music could be played while requests and greetings were sent out to the viewers. I was the 'local champion' in the state and environs then. I loved it! Channel O and MTV helped out with the music selections. Someday, I will get an old episode and Youtube it for laughs! And I was part of the "NiteShift" Crew of DBN-Television in Lagos. Working with Israel Edjeren, Evelyn, Goddy Omalaiye, Lanre...Those were fun days too! And I am sure that is where I got this habit of working all night! because DBN was a 24-hour TV, one of the first TV stations in Nigeria to go 24-hrs transmission.

I turned into a model at 14 because of Naomi! Some of my friends in Kano State then can remember me strutting my stuff down the runways during our social events, (which I happened to be the Social Prefect of the school, 3 years in a row! I ROCKED!! Lol). Anyhoo, this thing has been in my blood for so long, and I never even knew, I just kept on going to school, pursuing academics, and collecting degrees and and diplomas like they were going out of fashion! If I had not gotten too enthralled with 'ESTELLA COUTURE", I was so ready to finish my Masters in Public Administration (MPA) program at DeVry University in Arlington, Virginia! And even go further to get a PhD! Check is it out. Dr. Estella ******! That would have been cool! Dont ya think? But, I dropped out of school!!! Ehhhhhhh! Yeah, I am a drop out! Infact, I think I am allergic to Master's Degree! I dropped out from my MBA program from the University of Maiduguri with just 2 semesters to go!!! Dammit!!! I tried to continue with the Long-Distance classes from Lagos, but it was so not easy! Because to be flying from Lagos to Maiduguri for tests and exams was so messed up! (The two extremes of Nigeria!) (Those were the days of No Internet in Nigeria! maybe I can finish it from a distance now.....who knows.....if dem designs and styles would give me a break!)

And I don't regret dropping out of my MBA then, I had to choose life or degree, and I chose life! The Islamic riots against Christians were so much those days, and I almost lost my life during one of the classes in Maiduguri then, just because the schools board wanted to introduce the study of CRK (Christian Religious Knowledge) into their Secondary School Curriculum! And they went ballistic! Killing any and every Christian they saw on the street that black Friday!!! I still thank God for the woman who signaled us into her restaurant to hide for safety! Because we were wearing skirts and jeans trousers, so, we stood out as target for execution! We hid in her restaurant for 3 days while the Mobile Police subdued the riotous killers! Imagine me hiding in a restaurant with over 40 other Southern girls with no sleeping room! Just because we were Christians! In our own country!!! After the 3 days, she opened her box of wrappers and gave each one of us a set to wrap around us and cover our heads (in the Islamic style) so as to blend in. Need I say that when I got back to my base in Yobe, (a 2 hours journey, with my heart in my mouth)! I quickly packed my stuff, dressed up as a Muslim in the complete covered attire returned back to Maiduguri, gave the lady her wrappers, thanked her, and took the night bus out of Nothern Nigeria! And that was it! Education abandoned, friends left behind, but to the waiting hands of my family who had been pleading with me for the 3 years I stayed there after my youth service to return back to the South! Hmmmmm...........Religion!

So, I didnt drop out of my MBA because of anything else but to save my life! I lived in Kano state for so many years looking over my shoulder wondering when a religious riot would start and be ready to run, that I was at that point tired and chucked the whole thing and went home to the south! Heck!Ok, I am not a dunce! Common, I was always the first or second positions in my Nursery, elementary, secondary schools and I gave them tough time in University as well! Only girl that gave me a run in University of Jos was Doris Weledji! (Where are you Doris?!!!!)....She is from Cameroun and very very intelligent! Not like those other Igbo girls in class who were more into 'who said'...'she said'......that boy, this girl etc....and forgot why they were on campus!! (Duh!! To study!!) {Yes, if any of them reads this, dont be offended, but truth is bitter! Hee hee hee} I hear they are all married now with kids etc... good for them! Seems I am the only girl in my UNIJOS Psychology Dept (Class of '95) who is still single! Oh blast! I have been engaged couple of times and SIMPLY REFUSED TO MARRY when I had my doubts and saw signs that things would be messed up! Am I picky? Yes!!!!

And I am majorly scared of divorce!!! I believe Marriage should be a lifetime thingy! Which is why I am pissed off that most of the girls in my past are either divorced already, or complain 24/7 about their husbands etc!!!! Who told them marriage would be easy!!!! Eh?! Why dont they sit their big butts in there and make their marriages work? What is with the stupid low-tolerance in marriages these days?! But they tolerated all crap while dating because they wanted to bear "Mrs"!! If your boyfriend or fiance is a playa while you were dating him, what made you think he would change when you marry him!? Pluuuuze! Shine your eyes! like they say in Nigerian pidgin English! And I am shining my eyes very well! So? I am 35! And?............age is passing me by?! Huh? Biological clock is ticking? Shoot! I removed the battery long ago from my biological clock, so I dont hear nothing ticking!! When I eventually get married, the Good Lord will give me a child! Biology and clock et al, not mattering!(sic)

Alright, I got to get to work now! Enuff ramblings from me for one day!!

But, check out the cute baby! That is me at 2 months old! Check out my posing! Yay! I was a model from infancy! ha ha ha....

To me, at 2 months! And to the people that brought me into this world, my daddy (The yardstick I subconsciously use to measure men!) , the best daddy in the world! - His Royal Highness, Eze J.A. Ogbonna, and my lovely mummy, Lolo C. C. Ogbonna. Someday soon, I will post their pictures!

That was just little me.....looking out into the world....