TCS: A Chat With The LOML

So as you all know, I went home in August for a well-desired break and I decided to invite a very special person to the conversation series. He talks about living at home alone and the intricacy of being the last child in a family. 

Note: This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

So this is another episode of TCS and we have a very, very, very unexpected guest here.

Wait, calm down, is that how you always introduce the episode?

No. I don't have an intro for this one because I didn't plan this episode.  This is like a bonus episode for them. I am here today with the LOML, Aburo Sinzu, Oluwasemilore Adelaja and this is like a basic rundown of his title.

Let us just leave it like that for them

So the first question I ask my guest is what was their reaction or response to being with me on TCS.

My initial reaction was like, why? It is going to be fun but I don't like talking to people too much. Since they would not see me talking to them, then it is going to be ok.

Since I brought up the TCS two days ago, I was thinking about what we should discuss, and I am just like let's talk about everything and anything. We are going to start with this: you've been at home alone with your parents, sorry our parents, for how many years now?

Calm down now, like 17 months or so.

How has it been?

Stressful, tiring. I am stressed. This is the longest 17 months of my life. God, it is a pain, 17 months doing what?

How does it feel like being the last child?

Really?

Yes, everyone knows that last borns are just another breed of humanity.

So I hear.

You have your siblings, Korede and I, leaving you twice. First when we went to secondary school and then university, and I guess I am the worse one because I moved far away. What impact does that have on you?

Nothing really, it is already expected at this point. Initially, secondary school time was like, I don't know how to explain it. Y'all left and I was at home and I can't remember how it felt but we move right. But at that time I was really looking forward to leaving too. But the second time, I barely noticed because I was in school and barely home myself.

So what do you do at home, like what is a typical day for you?

I wake up around 9 am or 6 am once in a while, but mostly at 9 am, then I am on my phone for most of the time. Also, I don't watch television.

What do you do on your phone?

 Youtube, sometimes I chat.

Anime, chess?

It is actually funny that anime and chess don't take that much of my time. Anime, chess and books are usually rotated. For some weeks I watch a lot of anime, like three, especially the new-gen that are short, then for like one month, I would not touch anime again. The same thing with books and chess. The Chess world cup ended some days ago, so I spent a lot of time on chess in the past week than I normally would during my off days. So it is just YouTube and chatting but depending on the period, the season I am on, other things can enter. Sometimes I wash my clothes, other times Iya Korede (our mum) would shout at me to sweep the house and I would, and before I know it, it is already 8pm. I go to sleep by 11pm.

Can you tell us a bit about your time at Ibadan? My brother and I went to the same school in Ibadan for A-levels. He came out with very good results and I came out with results no one talks about. So tell us how was your time in Ibadan and how much impact it had on the grand scheme of things.

In the grand scheme of things, right? I had a fairly nice time. To be honest, I really like that I went because if I didn't go, I feel I will be worst off. Let me explain it like this, leaving secondary school, my approach to my life and books was really off.

He had no notes in class.

No, no, no, if I go back to secondary school, I probably still won't have notes.

A for honesty.

EAC was like something just happened, and I don't think it was the school, maybe it was something more personal. I just had this kind of, I just became better. Academically speaking, if it didn't happen, and I skipped that one year, I think I will have had a far more difficult time with the rest of my academics going on than I did. Everything is really easy right now. It was generally fun.

I tell my friends that in my family if there is anyone capable of leading a mafia, it is going to be you.

Really, why?

Because you are more, I mean you keep to yourself quite a lot, you are good with secrets, and you have this loyalty among your friends. You find a way to make your friends loyal to you and I have seen a lot of Among us calls to know you are a perfect imposter.

It is a gift.

Is it a good or a bad thing to be a mafia boss?

It is a bad thing. I don't want to be in a mafia, but it will be fresh. I feel where you are coming from, and you are fairly correct with all the points you made. Yes, but the Mafia is extreme Seyi. Jesus was not in a Mafia.

How easy do you find it to relate with people, apart from family?

For example, your mum, our mum, is very friendly.

Yes, very friendly.

Your older brother is very friendly.

Yeah, yeah.

Me?

Awkward silence. 

I am following you now. Say the word, let me back you up.

Am I friendly?

You have Jesus.

You keep to yourself a lot, so I won't know if you are friendly.

Me too. I wouldn't know.

So how is it relating to people?

Hmmm, it is not the easiest thing in the world. When I got to EAC, the people I met were particularly friendly. I want to say I am not great at it, below average.

The same level with your sister?

Yes. I don't know who is worse between us.

What do you think of the idea of people trying to be quirky?

It is girls na. It is girls that are always doing it, I am not like other girls. You have seen Alex's take on it. Like he stole the words out of my mind. It is like a meme that you would put on your status and everybody will see it and be like yeah, me too. Everyone relates to it. So where is the quirky coming from? Like all of you are quirky together, so who is now the other girls? One of my friends was like is he special as a friend of mine, and I told him that he is not special. He was now like does that mean he is useless, and I am like he is missing the point of what it means to be special. I have some friends that are higher up in the hierarchy but it doesn't mean you're useless or anything like that. Y'all can't be special. Special loses its meaning if everyone is special.

Alex was like the entire point of those movies showing quirky people is to appeal to the broadest spectrum of people and remain quirky at the same time, how? It is really weird.

So would you miss home when you leave?

Miss home? Is that a thing? Did I not go to a boarding house for six years?

Something I want to talk about is this year's JAMB. Like it is in the news that students did poorly in JAMB blah, blah, blah, and they are blaming it on the students. It is just getting on my nerves. Are these people not experts? Don't they know what they are talking about? 

Let me explain because y'all would be like what is this boy talking about. All of you know, maybe some of you don't know or care, but JAMB this year was terrible and they were blaming it on the students with excuses like students are not reading again, blah, blah, blah but no. When did JAMB become a standard exam? Are you trying to tell me that JAMB is really standard and vigorous? No Nah. JAMB is just like... When I wrote JAMB the first time, getting 80 in JAMB was a feat. It was glorious. I wrote JAMB the second time and I got 95 in three of my subjects. Did I get that much better? No, obviously not. People that wrote JAMB in EAC that year was getting 90 something in Mathematics and Physics. JAMB scores fluctuate. How low the scores in English were last year didn't bring down the overall scores. The scores were still off the roof. 

This year, the scores were generally low. Isn't the first impression, the knee-jerk reaction, that maybe there is something wrong with the system. Maybe the questions were more difficult or the marking more rigid, rather than the student? It doesn't even make any sense, if the students were that bad, won't there surely be students that didn't follow the pattern, that didn't follow the trend, students that their results are going to be that good. Like, how does every Nigerian student become unserious? The point of all these exams is that the scores don't mean anything on their own. It is the year you had the scores that make the scores valid. If you got 220, it doesn't matter. It is relative to everyone's score which in turn determine if 220 is a good score or not.

I will say you are right, especially with individual scores being interpreted in contrast to the highest score that year.

What is your best anime so far?

That question is very sensitive because my favourite anime is Naruto, forever and ever, and I am particularly biased towards Naruto. I know it is nostalgia and stuff like that. With that out, my favourite and best is still Death Note. If you talk about new-gen anime, my best is Attack On Titan.

What about Mugen Train?

Demon Slayer is alright, it is OK and the anime is really popular because of the studio that is animating it. Maybe they kidnapped their animator's children because if you see the way they pour their soul into the animations.  Ufotable, the studio that is animating, is so good. Their animation is out of this world, it is top-notch.

Watch anime and be alright. If you want to start, start with Death Note, it has 37 episodes. Watch the first 25, because the last 12 are for God. So have you seen Death Note?

I was unfortunate to see Netflix's adaptation.

The west is always murdering anime live-action for anime. Why?

They are trying to feed off the nostalgia because they know if they put up something with the same name, a lot of people will want to see it.

Anime has suffered under Netflix. Recently, they did For Record Of Ragnarok, one anime adaptation, and everyone hates it. They have the short straw when it comes to anime.

They did Castlevania and I really liked it.

People liked Castlevania.

They did Winx Club and people bashed them for it. Netflix is just like this hot garbage when it comes to adaptation.

What is your favourite chess opening?

Queen's Gambit. Queen's Gambit declined exchange is the only chess opening I actually know really well, the rest I just have an idea. For white, Queen's Gambit is the best and for black, I play Sicilian if the person plays E4.

So when next would you see me?

When will I see you? I will see you when next I see you or when next you video call me.

Oh, I should be doing that more often.

No, I didn't say you should be doing that more often. I said that's when I will see you because inevitably you will video call me.

Alright, this is the end of TCS with the LOML. Thank you for reading to the end. I just wanted to introduce my younger brother to y'all. Hope you enjoyed it. 

Have a beautiful week.

With Love, 

The Estherian.