#50DaysCountDownTo2015 – DAY 42. Written by Omobabapension, He blogs at www.omobabapension.com

About 5-6weeks ago, I applied for GUS and was told would be informed in 24Hrs about my status (qualified or not). While filling the form questions like:

“Are you fit?“,

“Can you swim?”,

“Do you have allergies?“,

“What is the state of your health?“..

I had a glimpse of what the screening would be like. So I said to myself, “Once I’m told I’ve qualified, I’ll start road walk and swimming practices back“. 24hrs then turned to 48hrs then 72hrs, then I felt well, ‘I guess I’m not searching for Gulder then‘, and moved on to other projects.

This morning (September 1) I was in the presence of the lord (church) when I got a text (I’m not the only one that texts in the church o) saying;

“You are one of the QUALIFIED registrants for GUS10 selected for screening in Lagos. Kindly come to Hockey Pitch, National Stadium, Lagos on September1st, Time:8am“.

I double checked the date and double checked with my siblings (home and abroad. Hehe), and hit the road for the NGN 7m (or less) prize money. I could say I was the most confident bloke in Lagos when I got to the screening venue. On getting there, a crown of Gulder was the requirement to enter. I bought Gulder at about 9am on a Sunday morning (I remembered when they thought the apostles were drunk on Penticost), I gave a stranger the drink and went back with my crown. The bloke at the gate was all “Are you sure you want to do this?” And I was like “let me through nicca!“.

On entering there, I saw blokes with chest the size of my head (trust me, my head is plenty), wasn’t really intimidated though ((˘̯˘ ) ( ˘˘̯)), dropped my bag and changed up, signed in and waited for my batch to run. While waiting, I observed the grounds (about 500m) I did my maths and psyched myself I could go 2.5km today. The batch I met whilst entering went 2more laps and they were called in.The next batch started and I started counting the laps. 1,2,3,..7,8, it was then I realized I hadn’t had a road walk for over a year, and the last time I kicked a football was the last Saturday of May (street football during sanitation). My drum of confidence developed a leak and it started to drain out. ..15, 16,… 19, even #ifa couldn’t convince me to do the try-out. Changed, packed my bag and vacated the premises. An onlooker outside was like if people had put these efforts they were putting at the grounds into their education or businesses, they would be millionaires by now. And so I headed home.

Lesson learned was, preparation is the granddaddy of success. Although there are some things you could do ill-prepared e.g Hot seat @ WWTBAM, Jamb exam and other objective question exams, street sports, and of course; make mouth. I’m holding on to things I’m prepared for which include webdesign, MC, online sarcasm, and being the son of Baba Pension. By the off chance that I’m available for the next edition of GUS (which I doubt) I’d be prepared even before filling the application.In other news, for your websites (ridiculously cheap prices), music promotion (free) and consultations, MC, contact me: @omobabapension1 on twitter, gabrielshodunke@yahoo.com.. Thank you and have a blessed 2015 ahead. Merry Christmas and a Happy new year in advance.

www.omobabapension.com, Twitter – @omobabapension

For inquiries, send mails to elsieisy@gmail.com or tweet at @elsieisy