'Diary of a hustling OAP' - Spycy Star [Episode 9]

I’ve been here a couple of weeks now and I needed my friend and mentor to really talk to. I put a call to him the other day and he said he should be in Lagos towards the end of April, 2011. So I guess I’ll have to suck it up and patiently wait.

All the same he advised I go to Channels TV. I pointed out that I didn’t want to do news. I am more entertainment inclined but he insisted that I give it a try. I never know how it could play out. And this is how I got to be standing right in front of Channels office, this morning. They were still situated at their Maryland office. Femi had asked me to tell Sulai he had sent me.

I got to the security post and asked to see Sulai. I was let in but asked to wait a while. I found a seat, sat down and thoughts were already racing in my head. I started debating whether to just get up and leave and save everybody some really precious time. But somehow, I realized I was not making even the slightest move to leave that place despite all that’s going through my head.

Well, you should know this: If there is something I have learnt about myself, I am a fighter. The slightest hint of fear motivates me to do just that which I seem to be scared of. I try not to let fear have its way. That’s the only window via which the enemy creeps in.

Let me let you in on another; my early days at Cool FM Port Harcourt wasn’t all that easy but having the opportunity to do ‘Entertainment’ and to do ‘News’, I have grown to know that ‘Entertainment’ is my thing. Entertainment is my strength. The flexibility. The adrenaline rush. The opportunity to be who I am from the inside and not be judged. The opportunity to be ‘Spycy Star’ and not be questioned.

I fit in better in Entertainment. Not news. Well, I mean; a gun to my head, I can do it. Hell! I would kill it! But it just isn’t a specialty I am willing to pursue. I am more of an Entertainer.

Hence, the question in my head: So, why am I trying to get a sit down that may lead to my getting a job with a strictly-news outfit? I was thinking what if this job comes through? What if I am asked to resume the next day? What if I resume work here and one month into it, I’m not happy on the job? Or what’s that word…what if I don’t get ‘Job satisfaction’ from news casting?

I was seriously tempted at that point to get up and just leave but then I heard FOD’s voice in my head and I started thinking towards another direction; who says I wouldn’t be allowed to develop and have an entertainment show on their platform? They may be a strictly news outfit but one or two entertainment shows on their platform wouldn’t hurt now, would it? Well, who knows? Remember, though, this was sometime in the month of March of 2011.

I was still seated when I noticed someone standing right in front of me and he asked: ‘Are you the lady from Femi Obong Daniels?’ and I replied ‘Yes’ and introduced myself and before he would introduce himself, I said his name and expressed my pleasure meeting him.

Of course he smiled and said the pleasure was his. He seemed like he was really busy but had to make time to take this meeting. Well, Femi had told me they both go way back so I guess I am reaping off that friendship somehow, today. Which also means, I have to try and make this quick.

I even noticed he was going to take me upstairs but we stopped at the staircase and he asked if I had any news casting background. I told him I used to cast the hourly news bulletins within my show at Cool FM, PH. Then he asked if I had any recordings. I gave him a CD copy from my bag. He asked for a copy of my CV which I gave him, too. He told me there were no openings currently but promised he would listen to my recordings and then get back to me, all the same. He asked that I send his regards to Femi and bade me farewell.

I showed myself out, satisfied with the fact that at least I stayed and did what I was here to do. Sulai was nice too. So I guess I have to watch how everything plays out. After all, what else can I do? Oh yea! I called Femi and updated him.

Diary of A Hustling OAP returns here next week *winks*