25 Random things you did not know about me!

Tia Singh of Inspired by Fun coaching tagged me for this one and I will do it because she is awesome. She is in my mastermind group and my fellow coach.

* If I tagged you, it’s because I’d love to know more about you.* And if I didn’t tag you it’s cos I ran out of 25 tags but will do another one soon!

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, ideally, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged, including the person who tagged you.

Only play if it’s fun for you and you want to. That’s my real official rule.

1.  I have never done drugs. I have never even smoked a joint. I love red wine though. I knew better than to start on drugs as I do have some addictive tendencies. Like chocolate, legal shows on tv and my Macbook.

2.  I am married to Mr. Adrian Monk, the character on the TV show Monk. Mr. Monk has obsessive-compulsive disorder. Well, my husband, Femi, is almost Mr. Monk energetically. So each night, we watch Monk before we go to sleep so we can laugh and go to bed. I drive my husband crazy because, um…. Let us just say, I am not quite as organized as he is. I am not a slob but I am not a neat freak either.

3. My father was atheist and my mother was agnostic so, growing up, I never ever went to church except for funerals and weddings. I was born and raised in Nigeria where these terms were unheard of there. Everyone there is either Christian, Muslim or follow an earth religion. My parents said there is no spiritual dimension to life.  So I felt like a very strange duck. When I was about seven or eight, I was watching a tele-evangelist on TV one Sunday afternoon. So I got myself “saved.” I walked down the carpet in my home, down the aisle, to the TV and got salvation. I would try and walk around all perfect and holy, trying to monitor all my thoughts and promising God how good I would be. By Tuesday afternoon, I would be “hell bound on wheels” as I was misbehavin’ and back to my old ways. Well, Sunday, the same thing would happen all over again. This went on until I came to the States when I was sixteen and started attending church regularly. Talk about being confused!

4.  When I came the the US as a teenager, I started going to church and consistently observing my faith at last. Guess what I discovered? I hate churchianity! Hate it! Love Christianity but hate churchianity.

5.  I am a closet LOA and Universal Law follower. There, it is out. O boy! What will happen if my brother and sister read this? O, there is that feeling again that I am “hell bound on wheels.”  When I discovered LOA, I would listen to Abraham-Hicks material and “repent” afterward. Now, I blend it all. The more I study all this stuff, the more I see that most of it is all the same, just a different perspective. I love it. I am in complete harmony with it. I still worry what my pastors and my family would say but it does not stop me from being who I am and expressing it well too. I guess they will get over it.

6.  I bit my nails until I was about 30 years old and started getting weekly manicures. All my life, I had bitten my nails and cuticles but no matter what, I could not stop biting my nails even when I came to this country and found that bitter stuff that you paint on your nails. Someone prayed for me and gave me a gift certificate to get my nails done and that is how I stopped. I still bite my cuticles though.

7.  I have an affinity for languages although I only speak two and various dialects of both. I speak English and Yoruba and pidgin English and broken Yoruba. I cannot read Yoruba. My relationship with words is very different than most people. I taste words on my tongue as they roll off my lips. I sense words. I feel the vibration of words easily. Some words are yummy, some are tasty, some are holy. I am easily seduced by the deliciousness of a word and sometimes it feels as is a particular word resides deep within me. I just enjoy engaging and interacting with words.

9.  My father passed away on my husband’s birthday.

10. My husband was the only one with my mom as he watched her make her transition when she passed away.

11. My husband went all the way to Nigeria to see his mom on a whim. He had not seen her in a few years. She died four days after he got back. What is up with this guy and dead parents? All the death we have experienced together makes us even closer to each other. We understand how fragile life is and how precious an experience it is to love another human being.

12.  I used to be very scared of children. I did not understand them and they made me feel nervous. It took some years, but I worked through it and I love children now. I still cannot handle huge classrooms of them but I love engaging with them one on one. I still want to have kids.

13. I am fascinated with the fact that my mother is half Jewish. Her paternal grandfather was a Jewish Rabbi. I want to know that side of my heritage but I have no way to figure that out.

14.  I am an avid reader. I love discovering young African writers that write about cross cultural experiences. I always have my nose in a book. It is pure escapism for me.

15. I have a problem with clothes. On my “off” days, I cannot match clothes or remember what goes with what. I am not the sharpest dresser and when I feel this way, I put on clashing colors and clashing patterns. This is fine when I am sitting around at home but I will even go to church that way, every now and then. My husband takes it upon himself to be my “appearance inspector.” Thank God for him. I have seen some pictures that make me cringe. I am not sure what this is about. Sometimes I can put myself together very well. But, other times, about 40 percent of the time, you would look at me and wonder what my problem is.

15. I am absolutely fearless about public speaking. I have spoken before a crowd of 5,000 plus people non-nonplussed. I do not have an appreciation for people that fear public speaking because I by passed that one with this gift. Now, is this not an interesting item compared to item number 15. Also as I re-read this I realize that what I do when I have to speak publicly is sink into the vibration of the words which is really easy for me to do and that is my focus and that is why I am not afraid of speaking publicly. Wow! Amazing.

16. I love hand made pottery and hand woven baskets. I love any kind of artistic expression. I feel a connection to the person that made it and make up imaginary stories in my head about the artists.

17. I am a hand lotion freak. I have so many bottles and tubes of lotion and I am constantly “lubing up.” I cannot stand dry hands. I am very obsessive about this. If you want to torture me, take away all my lotion.

19.  I was, and still am, absolutely in love with my father. He was a wonderful and loving father and husband I believe this is why I was able to select a loving husband as well.

20. I collect clivia plants. Clivias are originally from South Africa and they are related to orchids. They bloom only once a year. They are pretty rare and expensive and require very little maintenance. My sister got me hooked.

21. When I was a very young child I ran into my brother carrying a boiling pot of water and the entire contents of the pot fell on my chest. I was rushed to the hospital and they started burn treatments on me. The next day, my father killed a pig and sliced the fat parts thinly and each day he would rub the pork fat on my chest and wrap thin slices on my chest for a few hours. He was the only one I would allow around me at this time and he was the only one that I would allow to treat my burns. This was the local way of healing burns. I do not have a single scar today. Years later, a university here in the US did a study and said that pork fat was an effective burn remedy. I am very grateful that I am not scared by the burns.

22.  I grew up with the musician Sade. Her father and my father were friends and I met her when she was in fashion school and came to Nigeria to visit her father for a few months. I was probably about ten years old.  I kept in touch with her over the years and she was a very popular singer for a couple of years before I even realized it was her. She had a concert in Washington, DC in the late eighties when I was in law school and my best friend, Anita and I went to see her. Anita did not believe that I knew Sade so she dared me to send her a note. I sent her a note and by the end of the show, the security guards came to get me. I spent the evening with her. It was wild. We literally stayed up and talked to dawn about her father who had recently passed away. She is even more lovely as a person than her music. Truly, she is a gem.

23.  I am very passionate about aromatherapy and herbs as healing agents. I always have essential oils diffusing anywhere I am. Drives Mr. Monk crazy! Any smell other than clean air bothers him.

24.  I am very clear that my purpose is in helping others. I am very loving and I always see the broader energy of others. Before, I used to assume that this meant that I should “rescue” them. Now, I am more aware of the value of that gift within me and that is why I went to coaching school. I went to coaching school to find out how to separate my “rescue” inclinations from just being there for others and being supportive. As I got “it,” I discovered my ability to reflecting to others how wonderful they already are. My entire coaching practice is built around that. So really, here is a secret. I do not work. I just play and have fun all day and the  money rolls in.

25.  I am completely tone deaf. I cannot carry a tune or sing yet I am well educated in classical music and even had the gall to take voice classes from a famed voice coach when I first came to this country.  I think I thought I just had to be trained. That teacher almost passed out when she heard my screeches. I still screech and I think that I have finally accepted that I probably will not sing like Aretha Franklin in this lifetime.

Wow, this was a great exercise. I feel like I gathered all my scattered parts and put them together to make a mosaic of my life and who I am. Ahh, mosaic. Can you taste that word – it has smoothness to it. I learned something from this: I like myself. I am glad I know me.

OK, the twenty five other people that I am tagging here are as follows:

1.  Tia Singh.  The Fun and Inspired Coach.

2.  Jeanette Maw. The most amazing Law of Attraction Vibrational Manager Coach. Truly Amazing. My personal guru.

3.  Wendy Y Bailey. The Group Mastery Leader for Coaches. We share the same birthday. How kwel is that?

4.  Tinu Abayomi-Paul.  Her Royal Majesty, the Free Traffic Tips SEO Guru. We bow at your feet.

5.  Trish Jones. The most kind hearted person ever. Web Guru and Major Woman of Influence. Thank you for all. She designs businesses from the heart of her technical skills.

6.  Bassey Ikpi. Poet Extraordinaire. Toured with Def Poetry Jam. Presented at the NAACP Inauguration Ball just a couple of days ago.

7.  Beverly Mahone. Baby Boomer Diva.

8.  Kerrie McElvaine. The most awesome and coolest fish tank creator!

9.   Ron Hudson. Mr. Influence and Mr. Persuasion.

10.  Kim Falconer. World renowned Fantasy Author and Astrologer.

11.  Lola Fayemi. The most amazing Energy healer and coach there is.

12.  Gwen Thibeaux. Our very own motivational speaker and author.

13.  Melody Campbell. The Most Exceptional Small Business Guru and Diva. This lady knows her stuff. My mentor.

14. Demi Langford. This woman attracts money like flies.

15. Karen Swim. She has a romance going on with words and she hires out her words.

16.  Jim Smith. The happiest guy on the planet. The happiness coach.

17.  Latara Ham-Ying. The VA extraordinaire.

18.  Sophie B. President. A real live soap maker.

19.  Rinatta Paries. Amazing Love Coach. Hire her. She is amazing.

20.  Judy Kinney. The Coach for Lesbian and bi-sexual women.

21. Cd Vann. The Sohobiztube.com lady. Social networking connection builder.

22.  Travis Webb. The only musician and body guard on the social networking planet. Awesome musician.

23.  Pam Slim. A great coach and author that gets you out of cubicle nation into your own nation.

24.  Sarah Stuart. The Imagination Dreamer.

25.  Karen McMillian. The Conscious Living Coach.

OK, that is it. This is a lovely exercise. It was so nice getting into me and saying what would I want others to know.

Thanks for joining me.