TWO THOUSAND AND THEN....

This blog is dedicated to us! Yes, us! All of us who say we are going to make big changes in the new year when this year is not yet over:

"2010 I'll put it right; 2010 I'll change my ways!" otherwise translated as 'two thousand and then I'll put it right and change my ways!'

It's true that the year 2010 marks the start of a new decade as well as a new year and an opportunity to make a fresh start, but why wait until then when we can change right now. Does any of you know for sure that you will make it until then? I'm not trying to be morbid but a lot of the time we take life for granted. Yes we hope to be on earth long enough to see certain things happen in our lives but it's not up to us. We are not on earth because we deserve to be, we are here because God wants to watch us grow into the people He wants us to be.

How are we supposed to grow if we are not prepared to change until a specific time? Do obstacles come against us at a time of our choosing? Do we choose the day we succeed? I DON'T THINK SO.

This means that we need to be ready for change at all times, that includes now. Less talk and more action, more action, more action. You could wait until Two Thousand And Then but why not get a headstart Now!

THINK ABOUT IT!

Well Well Well

Followers of my blog- Sorry I have abandoned it for a bit. Newcomers- Welcome. This is my zone, one of my escapes from the more serious things going on around me. Sometimes I use it to rant about the serious things going on in my life.

Today I don't have anything specific to say but just thought I would occupy this space. Sometimes that is all one needs to do in life- occupy a space... Maybe for yourself or maybe for someone else, just to let people know that the space is occupied. Right now I'm at a job only to gain experience and I'm occupying the space of someone else who needs that experience so while I'm there I better make use of it. In the same way, someone may be occupying the space at my next job but when I get there they can't say they didn't get a chance to enjoy the space- it's too late.

There is space everywhere and it is more important than we think it is. There has to be absence before there can be presence. Think about the creator(s) of Facebook and twitter, they identified a space or a gap in the market for extremely powerful networking tools, not only are they useful for social needs but also create opportunities for exposure to large audiences and consequently opportunities for business, careers, etc.

If you are occupying a space you need to seem like you are doing something or you may lose that space and struggle to find another one you can fit into. Don't take things for granted you will be overthrown. I bet Hi5 creators never thought they would lose that niche at the time but how many of you still use Hi5?

I may have gone off on a mad tangent but the point I'm trying to make is OWN YOUR SPACE, claim your territory and constantly look around to see the best ways to maintain that space or take over a better one. Life is too short to be pedestrian, I'd rather be equestrian (as long as I'm not on a high horse). What are you waiting for? Go and claim that space my friends! Go now!!!

LATELY

Lately I haven't blogged because my mind has been so jumbled. I wouldn't have known what to say and what not to say. All my thoughts would have just spilled onto the page uncensored, unflitered, unchallenged, unwelcome. Now, however, only some of my thoughts will spill out like that.

Lately I've been complaining of boredom although I have a lot to do. There are unfinished paintings laying in my room, there are poem titles in my phone and paperback and online books that I'm only a quarter of the way through.

Lately I've been feeling like my heart's not in anything I do. I've had a few art projects, written and performed a couple poems but it's routine- same with football matches- I'm there but I'm not there. Whatever happened to doing everything as if onto God, whatever happened to passion, competition and sense of achievement.

These things used to be my brothers, but now I feel like I'm on my own just like a modern day version of Joseph. The difference is I've thrown my myself and my dreams into a pit. I've sold myself in return for lies and mediocrity. I've sold joy for temporary happiness and faith for momentary stability. I've been imprisoned by my own small thoughts. Where did it all go wrong? No idea.

All I know is I want my passion back, I want my dreams back, I want it ALL back along with a new sense of pride in myself- not foolish pride but self-worth and belief that my abilities plus God's strength means guaranteed success, even though it may not be instant. I need to start seeing my life through God's eyes because my vision is only peripheral.

Never again do I want to be the destroyer of my own dreams... I'm now waiting on God for renewed dreams, a new outlook, renewed passion for life in general.

Never again do I want to sit on my potential and be subject to banality. Lately I have, lately I've failed myself and my Father, lately I've been ungrateful, lately I've taken life for granted- lately is now in the past!

You may not understand anything I just said right now but one day you'll hear similar words and they'll sound familiar

Sunshine -` O -

It's The BIRTHDAY BLOG

23 years old! Are u serious? That is old!!! But the way I'm gonna get over the age is by claiming my 23rd year on this earth as my year of GREATNESS coz Michael Jordan wore the 23 jersey and he was GREAT hence 23= greatness as well as responsibility.... I would describe 2009 and my 22nd year as the best year of my life so far and my dream is for all the potential that I began to exbihit in that time to materialise this year! I want to thank God for all the good times and bad times I have experienced in my life so far and all the people that contributed, especially to the bad! I feel stronger in every sense! Character building baby!

So many things are looking good for me right now but I just need them to fully manifest (help me out Lord). I'm not gonna make demands really but I'm gonna continue being my biggest critic and see where I end up!

Well anyhoo, the fact that this is my blog and it is practically my birthday gives me a licence to do anything I want so I wrote a poem. The Title is pretty self explanatory. Enjoy!

1. I AM TWENTY THREE // TIME TO GROW

I still can't believe how quickly time flies

A couple years on and I'll be 25
Maturity levels must soon multiply

Time to stop making excuses full stop
Wake with ambition and aim for the top
Eat less fast food and cook more myself
Never buy books just to keep on the shelf
Take more direct approach to my own life
Young I'm not getting so scout for the wife

Think more like Christ and watch myself grow
Honour my family and people I know
Read into nothing I'm tired of assumptions
Ease off the web and attend more live functions
Enter my greatness and accept my unction

Try with my efforts and not with my mind
Inspire generations abusing their time
Master my psyche and maintain composure
Engage in battle with soldiers

Travail as if every day was my last day
Obtain high favour in good way

Grouch no more and value my sleep
Realise which friends I am willing to keep
Open my eyes to all options at hand
Walk on cloud 9 because I'm the man

Art Attack

Hello people!

As I said, I want to give you insight into some artwork. Before I do that I thought it would be nice to give you a little history on my art background. My mum told me that from a very young age I was always trying to draw things, especially dinosaurs as they used to fascinate me when I was younger. Both my parents testify that I was hopeless at drawing but like any parent they told me my drawings were good and didn't discourage me from drawing. So I kept drawing and I guess with practice I got much better. By the age of 8 all of my classmates knew me as "the best drawer in the year". This title came about as we were asked to do a book review but I couldn't be bothered to write so I started with drawing the characters from the book, which according to my teacher were "very accurate". Soon after this revelation I was encouraged to join the Arts and Crafts club after school where I was taught to do other types of art but I was primarily interested in sketching.

In year 6, we started having more regular Art classes where I got a chance to show off my skills.
There was a particular day when we were asked to draw portraits of our classmates while they posed outside in the sun. I remember sketching my classmates Sam, Vivian and Billy; this was in 1998 and I've been informed by kids who still attend the primary school that my portraits are still hanging in the headteacher's office 11 years later.

After Primary school I went to Ghana for three years and did not really have many chances to develop my Art as it wasn't really incorporated into my school curriculum but I would do my little sketches in my spare time.

Even when I came back to London I was still 1 dimensional an didn't like the idea of painting because it used to spoil my sketches and the idea of painting straight onto a canvas was not one that appealed to me.

It wasn't until I was about 18 that I actually started to enjoy painting but even now I prefer to use pencil first, hence my paintings take ages but I get satisfaction from seeing it develop slowly. Below you will find my latest finished painting and pictures of most of the development stages.

This piece was a birthday present for a good friend of mine. This is one of my best paintings to date and as I wanted to meet the deadline of her birthday, had to be done in a record 6 days. Just to put that into perspective the other painting that I regard on a par with this one took roughly 150 hours {batman and joker- I was doing the whole of last summer basically}

The theme I chose was "lions and tigers and bears" which I will explain at the end.



As you can see here, I started with a grid on the collage {left of the canvas} and then had to use a bit of maths to convert those dimensions to the grid on the canvas because I wanted to get the proportions as accurate as I could.


Purple was chosen for the background because it's her favourite colour and I thought it would go well with the browns and oranges of the animals and the lady.

I ended up changing my mind about the shades of purple many times as I wanted to blend about 3 different shades of purple and they didn't look right together. Thats why I came up with the idea of the pink strip to see if it would even it out a bit.

It still didn't impress me because the pink was clashing with the purples and didn't look like it belonged there. So I had this ingenious idea to turn it into a clear colour divider and since she plays the piano why not turn it into keys.

At this point I was still trying to get the right colours and make sure it all made sense. I then had an idea of using the Cadbury's shade of purple because she has chocolate skin and I thought that would really bring it out and also compliment the animals lol.

Below you can just see the progression as the picture finally starts to near completion!

I slowly tried to make the pink piano look more white and tried to capture the detail of both the lady and the animals.

The portion sectioned of at the bottom was initially going to be used to write Happy Birthday but then I thought it would be a bit of a waste as it wouldn't be as timeless as I wanted it to be. This is why instead I chose to write "I'M NOT SCARED OF LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS" and the reason the cross is there is because I actually made a mistake with the spacing but it works out because she is a Christian!

Voila! Here we have the finished product, a lot of mistakes but overall I like it.... I think I've come a long way :) especially as I couldn't stand painting before.

I'm gonna end, as I said, by telling you why I used this theme:

I chose the theme "lions and tigers and bears" because it's a song she likes and I felt like drawing wild animals lol. However, there is more to it than that. If you observe the finished product carefully you'll realise that there are different two different species of all three animals, one species of each animal has jaws wide open {possibly roaring} and the other seems to lay in wait, stalking it's prey while the lady {a central figure in the painting} just smiles in the face of adversity and danger- a typical characteristic of hers.

Hope you managed to read all of that. I know it is a lot to take in but that's how much effort and thought goes into my paintings!

Until next time,

Peace out!

POETRY EMOTION

I know I said this blog would include Art as well but truth is I haven't really had time to finish any of my current art projects or start any new ones. Tomorrow I will post a painting and tell you why I did it and explain all the finer details and hidden metaphors. However, for now I'm gonna leave you with this poem {written last year} as it contains a lot of imagery. Enjoy!

P.S. Lady J is imaginary so don't try and guess who I'm talking about loll

POETRY EMOTION- THE UNFINISED PAINTING

Fine like a pencil tip paintbrush, she adds a crisp edge to the painting
Each stroke of her brush gives me Goosebumps like ‘The Haunted mask’
Tinting my view with her flawless dark skin preserving her diamond personality
And I reserve my writer's license to call her an Artistocrat
But her elegance and class has me flipping like an acrobat
Such finesse leaves me stifled like a smoker's cough
Problem is I'm four years younger, wish I could change the clock
She has no time to burn she's at that courtship stage
But my childish inhibitions will not entertain such thoughts
Though our paths may intersect she's crosses and I'm naught
The link in the chain too hollow to achieve the bonding sought
Lady J's imperial aura like a taizer to my soul
She confused my senses now every other girl looked plain faced
That’s why the only attention to detail in the painting is on Lady J's face
The masterpiece is under construction watch this space.

COME AND SUPPORT THE CAUSE

This coming SUNDAY, THE 4th OF OCTOBER AT 6.30 P.M, There is only ONE PLACE TO BE - NEW LIFE CHRISTIAN CENTRE in CROYDON! There's an event called URBAN LIFE, this is the 3rd installment and the emphasis is on FATHERHOOD as it is ONE OF THE BIGGEST ISSUES FACING THE WORLD right now! ELLE NATURELLE and POETIC SUNSHINE will be sharing the stage with DWAYNE TRYUMF, TUNDAY, LYANNA AUSTIN and the LIFE BAND, and PASTOR EFREM from CALVARY CHAPEL! There will be POETRY, WORSHIP/ SINGING, RAP from a couple of the UK'S FINEST GOSPEL ARTISTS, REAL TALK, TESTIMONIES and FIFA! WOW I can barely contain my EXCITEMENT!!!!!! If you agree that the WORLD NEEDS FATHERING then COME OUT AND SUPPORT THE CAUSE, we ALL HAVE A PART TO PLAY! Oh yeah and it's absolutely FREE, FREE FREE!!!!!!!!
P.S. DID I TELL YOU THAT IT'S FREE? .....WELL ANYWAY IT IS DEFINITELY FREE!!!
ALL INFO ON THE ON THE LINK BELOW!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?profile=1&id=541341240#/event.php?eid=288437760200&ref=ts

THE BEAUTIFUL GAME!

The beautiful game- Sorry boys, I'm not talking about football I'm talking about love.
What's that you say? Love is not a game? Well I disagree.... like a lot of games it usually has more than one player. When I say player I don't mean cheat(er); I mean someone who knows the rules of the game (whether they adhere to them or not) and immerse themselves in wave after wave of verbal and psychological contracts with other players, giving to get and getting to give. In other words people who engage in sentimental relationships with the opposite sex {yes that’s right! I said opposite sex- this is not politics}.

Now don’t get me wrong I’m not pretending to be a pundit or an expert on the game by any stretch of the imagination because I’m more inexperienced than most. However, I’ve had the privilege of watching some of the masterminds at work and the rookies too {no names don’t worry}. All I know is that love is nothing like football! Simplistic statement but let me explain: In football, players can have poor games and still score or gain something from the game, in love it seems to be all or nothing. Similarly in love all mistakes can seem incorrigible as they are magnified by emotion whilst in football the grace period is a little longer. That’s why I love football lol!

Having said all that I was referring to sentiment in relationships which can end up anywhere and although an important part of a relationship, thank God it’s not the only part. Like I said I’ve been watching a lot of people in relationships and although every relationship is different there seems to be a lot of common mistakes I can learn from. Note to self:

1. I’ve learnt not to rely on sentiment to make it work {that is 100% dangerous}, there has to be some kind of spiritual attachment as well, hence why relationships should not be rushed into. For me personally I want to be able to connect with my future partner on many plains, especially spiritually and intellectually.

2. Take your time to build friendships even if you’re already in the relationship, constantly assess how well you know the person, compatibility, etc because unfortunately people can change- after all they’re only human.

3. I am a Christian and as such I believe it is absolutely paramount that Christ is at the centre of the relationship, by that I mean that we both should hold Christian values and exercise them so we can build each other up. A Christian home should be like a spiritual gym and we all know how hard it is to maintain fitness.

4. Do not go into a relationship if you’re not sure if you really like the person because a) You’re probably not going to treat them the way they deserve to be treated and b) You’re more likely to rob yourself of potential happiness too.

5. Lastly play by the rules of the game, nobody says it’s easy but when played right it is so incredibly beautiful.

These are my thoughts today! If you disagree or you want to correct me on anything I have said then I would only be too glad to hear your views so let me know.

Selom Sunu- Life student

Graduate life

Today I randomly saw one of my friends from Kent while I was on my lunchbreak from this temp job I'm doing right now. It seems I'm not the only one who is struggling to get a good permanent job. At first when she told me I was smiling coz I was happy it wasn't just me but this situation is no laughing matter. We were just discussing the different graduate schemes we had applied for and the tests or interviews we had been put through to no great effect. It's a serious matter and honestly it just puts you off looking for a job for a bit coz you're thinking what's the point- The main problem for me is that I am fussy, I don't care what you think of me... I've quit enough times in my life- not this year, i refuse. I want a job that I'll actually like, not just one I show up for every day watching the clock and thinking "7 more hours? are u serious?", "6 and a half more hours? are u sure the clock's working?", "Nah ur taking the mick! I swear an hour ago it was 7 hours left!" I want my job to actually use at least some of my gifts or things that I 've learnt. I know people say a degree just shows that you can work to deadlines and you're disciplined and organised all that jargon (that's why sometimes it doesn't matter what degree you have) but I wanna make use of it or at least use one of my numerous god-given talents.... any clown can do some of the jobs that my fellow peers have taken up just to pay for their Blackberrys (no offence). I'm tired of being any clown I want an arena to use my skills and if no1 is prepared to give me such a job then I'll have to become a freelance something- who's with me?

I'm not just being radical- I'm a strong believer of investing in your passions and putting a lot of effort into them, there are ways to make money out of our passions or jobs that work around our passions we just have to hold out for them! For now I need to stay alive so I'll gather experience where I can but I don't intend to have a long term job that doesn't interest me. Nope, Not Sunu, Never dat!

This is my view, feel free to disagree!

Sunshine signing out -`o -

BACK IN THE DRIVING SEAT OF MY LIFE!

There are options ahead of me, north, east and west
I'm appraching a crossroads do I wanna turn left?
I can't go south that's going back on my word
There's a give way sign but I'm already in third
Need to go back to first so that I can emerge;
victorious at the end of it all
Right hand on the wheel left foot off the floor,
right foot on the gas Lord don't let me stall
As I progress I see curb disappearing
pushing and pulling technique on my steering
How can opposites complement each other? *shrugs*
Its all so confusing, my head is spinning and I'm not even at a roundabout
I'm about to crack but I vowed to myself there's no going back
I need to refill I'm running on empty, I got to a stage I could only do twenty;
nineteen, eighteen.....
Steadily breaking until I'm at the traffic lights waiting....
I wait and I wait...
Is this what it takes?
How many lessons in life and in driving until I get to a stage where I'm cruising or gliding?
It feels like I'm at a Coul-de-sac
Lord give me patience before I start sliding back, down that hill of regret
Take control of the clutch so I don't have to sweat
The light is now green but I can't go yet!

written in summer 08!

Apologies to those of you who have read this before but it's just too relevant to certain people's lives right now including my own. I wrote this for all of the recent graduates and those who feel lost in general and do not know how to approach the next phase of their lives. Hope you enjoy it!


My destiny and I are oceans apart

Decisions, decisions
I keep having visions
They start to make sense then they scatter like pigeons

Choices, choices
I keep hearing voices
But then they tune out like engines of Rolls Royces

Connections, connections
How wide is the spectrum?
Is business my thing or for art am I destined?

Confusion, confusion
Is life an illusion?
It doesn’t make sense not to know what I’m choosing

Potential, Potential
I have some credentials
But life can be rough and in contrast I’m gentle

{God speaking}
Voices, voices
You have many choices
But you don’t have a licence why give you Rolls Royces

Bide your time, Bide your time
Coz you’re gonna be fine
Just stay in the dirt for now, 1 day you’ll shine

Devotion, devotion
Don’t act on emotion
Life doesn’t go swimmingly when in the ocean

Stay afloat, stay afloat
Though you fall from the boat
Coz the shore is not far though it seems so remote

Hold my hand, hold my hand
I’ll take you to dry land
Though your legs may be weary I’ll help you to stand

And the voices you hear they will all become clear
And the visions you missed will again reappear
But the choices are still up to you I’m afraid
I will trigger your instinct but you must be brave
And when you are mature you will then understand
All my wonderful ways and my ultimate plan

Welcome to the World of Sunshine

Come join me in my weird and wonderful sphere
Where water is purple and Supermalt’s clear
And frogs wear spectacles during the summer
Whilst adults ride trolleys and toddlers drive hummers

As strange as it sounds this is my domain
Don’t come with umbrellas coz there is no rain
But yet there are rainbows across the night skies
One more little detail the night sky is white

The night sky is white just like a blank canvas
So we can paint feelings like fear, love and anger
The people are see-through they have no complexion
Like prisms they reflect all hues of the spectrum

In my world there are no stars but the Sun
No big personalities, no heroes unsung
No entry permitted to those with no humour
No gossips allowed in and that is no rumour!

Just ordinary creatures all chasing big dreams
Like playing for orchestras or football teams
So welcome again to my fantasy dome
Please take off your burdens and feel right at home

Hi people I go by the name of Poetic Sunshine those of you who know me will know how random I am so expect more material like this, expect some artwork and from time to time I may vent a bit so I might as well warn you now.

The Sunshine express is now ready to depart, please stand clear of the closing doors. The next station is..... Nobody knows so enjoy the ride.

Hopefully the next entry will be soon

Peace out