Skip to main content

My many names

I'm known by different names to different people. In the kitchen, my dad gave me a history lesson on my names. ABIOLA - given to me by my mum, it means wealth be on to her. Which I thought was v typical of my mum to think off. SERIFAT - given to me by my dad and is my Muslim name, even though I'm a born again Christian. My dad is Muslim, although he doesn't really know why and half my family follow Islam as well. I have a vague memory of it being Ramadan and this was my obsession with the Pokemon game phase on Game Boy. My dad came home and was well chuffed that I had fasted with him. In truth I had forgot that I had agreed to but I had been playing Pokemon all day and forgot to eat. I didn't have the heart to tell him the truth. So every Ramadan as a kid, I had to fast. I was named after a girl from my dad's school who helped him financially throughout secondary school because my dad was a poor orphan. TEMI-TOPE - given to me by my Auntie Sade who is my Nan's sister. I'm not sure why my Nan didn't name me. It means Thank God for me or something like that. AYOKA - given to me by my Nan, my dad's mum before she died or disappeared or something. It was her name and means joy surrounds her. I told my mum THAT was a meaningful name from the heart. She turned up the volume to Judge Judy. BELLO - means beautiful in Italian.
Abiola Serifat Temi-Tope Ayoka Bello or Wealth, Dad's mate, Thank God, Joy, Beautiful. V interesting. Then of course there is CARE BEAR, which I gave to myself when I was 14 whilst in my first crew Poison Ivy. Somehow it stuck even though I was meaning to change it and now it's also BEAR, MISS BEAR, BEARY, CARE, CAREY, CB, BEAR BEAR and so on.

A really cool mate of mine called me a catch and that I deserve the best. That honestly made my day. It's interesting that you can go through stuff that really pulls you down and then someone can just say the loveliest thing out of the blue with no knowledge of what's been going on and say the perfect thing. Thank you Santa xxx

Two things I learnt recently about Fergie aka Bengal mad cat,
1. His v vain. He spent 10 min looking at himself in the mirror
2. He likes Skins and Michael Jackson.

Heard a busker at Angel Tube playing Salsa music on the Harp!!! You know, as you do.

Did a memorial show with Myself for a girl called Jessica. She died of sickle cell and was given the wrong blood transfusion. She was ten and she wanted to be a dancer. I love that I can use dance to bring so much joy to others and celebrate someones life. It was a v cool show.

OK so I have 2 weeks to put together a set for my kids. Please someone tell me why I thought I had a month?? All I can say is crap.

Comments

  1. Very interesting post and yes so typical of your mum to call u that lol! well its still good i should start calling you abiola...call those things that are not as though they are and all that!! Until we see manifestation that is..not saying that your poor! Wealth surronds youuuu!! shanda shanda lol!
    Liked this post :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In the words of Carrie Bradshaw and just like that I was a YA author

It feels like the right time but this will be my last entry. I know! I've been writing in this blog for TEN YEARS but this year it just felt off. I couldn't pinpoint why that was but the other day I realised I started this blog because I was a dancer who was trying to understand the publishing world. I also was so scared of anyone reading my work hence why I started a blog. Ten years later I have fulfilled my goals! Back in May I had finished my first YA book, a love story based around a Black owned bookshop in Stoke Newington. How I wrote this book when I was heartbroken I have no idea. I vaguely remember sitting on the couch with headphones on playing O Holy Night on repeat at 3am writing. I made my deadline and I wasn't sure if the book was good. My first round of submission for another book had very conflicting feedback and honestly I didn't have it in me to experience that again. I just wanted a deal. Fast forward to September 21st and my book was sent on submissio...

My meal was £22 and it was so small I ate it in 3 mouthfuls.

Happy World Afro Day! I had no idea this was even a day so yes for us! How gorgeous is this? I can't remember what country it's in but I saw it some weeks ago on Twitter. Getting into the swing of writing these blogs is harder than I thought. I'm not sure why I'm finding it tricky to stay on top of it and I know I'll regret it especially when I read back over it at the end of the year.  I turned another year older and despite it being a year that is turning out to be unpredictable I'm thankful that I'm here to see another birthday. It's always hard planning what to do, something that I know won't cost an arm and a leg. In the end I spent it eating lol. Helen and I went to this amazing Creole restaurant, literally a hidden gem that had the most amazing food and drinks that were even too strong for Helen!  I have no idea why it rained on my birthday! In the middle of summer!! Honestly sometimes I can't deal with this country. Then I got changed for...

Phoebe screaming 'MY EYES' is the best way to describe how I felt seeing that picture.

Did anyone else blink and it's June? I can't even believe 6 months has gone and just so much has happened. Apart from my dad it's been a great year so far and for that I'm grateful. I'll honestly take any good news I can get at this point.  I hit a career highlight. I got to chair a panel for The London Book Fair! Now to do this you usually have to pitch and I'm sure I've pitched before but this time the amazing Bec, who was organising it asked me to do it! It was so much fun and I wish it was longer but it made me look at my LBF journey and honestly wow. I went from no one talking to me, to winning Trailblazers to chairing LBF. What's so funny is I've always wanted to chair Waterstones events cause they look like loads of fun so hopefully now I'll get asked :). I was asked to do another LBF event - who am I even? Lol. I had to do a Q and A with Yomi Adegoke, co-author of Slay In Your Lane. So glad that I'm getting these fun opportunities. Ca...