Am I Jim Iyke? I must be Jim Iyke.

You must be wondering where this write up is going. I am wondering myself in all honesty. My mind works in a very interesting way, it is so fucking random and I am growing to love it. 

My message will land at some point - so just be patient with me okay.

I have been watching a lot of old nollywood movies and it’s been nothing but pure vibes. Growing up it was just something to watch but now as an adult with my frontal lobe better developed - Those movies are hilarious to say the least. I have so much fun watching them. If you have not in a while, I highly recommend! 

Just go on YouTube and have fun. 

You see there are so many good actors from that time but my absolute favorite is Jim Iyke. Jim Iyke played the hell out of the roles he was given.

He woke up before every set with one goal alone and it must have been to EAT. The outfits, the postures, the scripts, the acting - all fantastic in my opinion. 

Some people think they started something but they are still learning work. They have forgotten about Jim Iyke, they need to go for lessons. 

Most times we like to think that the only people acting are the humans we see on TV or in some cases someone who is just been dramatic for no reason. 

I think we are all acting, we stay acting, we wake up and be our original selves in our room and when looking in our bathroom mirror. 

(Actually bold of me to even assume that - some people stay acting to their own selves - I however pray for them to one day see the light)

But once we are out of our little private space or big for some people the acting begins. In our current world with “Remote” being the norm we don’t even have to step out.  You can be in your living room, playing Jim Iyke, Tonto Dikeh, Ini Edo, Kanayo O Kanayo. The list continues. 

This is my write up and I will use my life as a good example. I think it’s only right. I think you would be able to relate, I think everyone would. 

I have a job so I can pay my bills and for other things I don’t care to list out right now. At work, my workday says I am an accountant.

I clock into work or drive into work with a very blank face on most days. I smile at some co workers that I actually like.

I am dressed in black slacks and a white shirt. My loafers are black and my work bag is white. My hair lately has been a wig, with a headband over it, straightened and all black. This is my uniform - I just love to go to work like that, I am comfortable and happy like that. I don’t go around yapping, I sit at my desk, talk when I need to, do my job, clock out and go home. 

Now imagine if you were one of my co workers and this is the Tola you know. This is the Tola you understand. One day your home girl says y’all should go to a bar.

To relax, drink and have fun. You walk in, you survey the area and to your surprise you see someone that looks like Tola. You do a double take because it can’t possibly be Tola. Tola is there dressed in what you could not possible imagine, yapping and yapping. Dancing, singing, looking and acting totally different from what you understand. 

One can say that those are two different settings.

At work you are expected to be composed, formal and the rest of the rules they have made up and at a social gathering you can be more loose. (Or more yourself if we are being honest)

But one thing I want you to think about is the fact that Tola has trained her brain and you have trained your brain to act out different versions of yourself depending on what’s going on, where you are going, who is in the room - The list goes on. (When you really deep it, it’s quite scary - you don’t know who is being real - Its just hard) 

So now - How are you not Jim Iyke? 

The example above is just one random instance. We are acting when we hang out with friends.With family members. Pretending to like them when in fact we would actually sell them for $20. When we go to a store in the mall that we know we can’t afford and pretend to know what the fuck is going on. 

We are acting when we talk to strangers and lie about parts of ourselves because it’s simply not safe to be giving out random information about yourself. 

We are acting when we try to impress people, We are acting, We just stay acting. 

I am guessing at some point, the older you get. You say fuck it and just reduce the acting but I don’t think it ever goes away. The way society is set up is wild.

Some times to get what you want, what you need, you just have to be Jim Iyke. 

It all makes sense at the end of the day because the purpose of acting is to bring characters to life, to tell a story.

When you go for a job interview, you need to fit the description of the kind of person they are looking to hire. 

So therefore you ACT.