This post was initially published on my Medium profile on the 18th of April, 2023.

Hi there, it’s me once again with a year-in-review article. But this time, it’s for the year 2023.

One of the major highlights was that I graduated from AltSchool Africa during one of the most overwhelming periods of the year. A time when I struggled to strike a balance between AltSchool Africa, Architecture school, my full-time role at Famasi Africa, and freelance.

Since I’m here writing this, it’s no surprise that I survived.

Anyway, I’m going to dive into my story by highlighting both the highs and lows that came with each month. So strap up and enjoy the not-so-long read ahead.

January

You could say the year was off to a great start, and you would be right.

My siblings and I threw a surprise birthday + retirement party for both of my parents. There was a lot of planning to be done and we could not have them finding out or the surprise would be ruined. So we sent out “super-secret” invites to their friends, including those they hadn’t seen in a long while.

After my sister lured them out for a spa session in the morning, we got all the arrangements done and guests seated waiting for the celebrants to return. The look of joy and shock on both their faces brought me great joy.

Right afterwards, it was time for the Famasi team offsite. It was the first time I met some of my colleagues in person, so it’s definitely a major highlight.

From going head-to-head in Jenga with some of the most sinister m’fkers you can imagine, to putting my PUBGm skills to good use on a paintball course.

(A picture of the mountain of pure sinistry)

(A hunter after a good hunt)

It was such a fun experience — see for yourself!

I also went hiking for the first time. The trail was the Ado-Awaiye Hills which house one of the only two floating lakes in the entire world. It was a bit of a breeze, tbh because my weekly runs finally paid off.

January featured positive outlooks for the year. It was a pretty good way to start the year.

February

I, along with the Famasi team, got started on some of our grand ideas. The first of which was ideations for the marketing website to give it a new, refreshing direction.

This month reminded me that plans can change within the twinkle of an eye and I should always stay adaptable.

Why? You might ask.

Well, we saw a quick shift in prioritisation overnight, and an initiative slated for Q3 had to be brought to Q1, and that was it.

Before I could say the word “Da-da” like an infant babbling, I already found myself working on the MVP for Dispensary with a 6-week timeline.

This major shift consolidated the fact that I can refocus without any hassle.

March

The month rolled up to my cherished Redmi Android device reading out its dying wishes. And while I had never been an advocate for iPhone devices, I got my first one.

And for the very first time, I made a visit to the beach but the Yoruba in me wouldn’t allow me get closer to the water than comfort would allow. Because I’m yet to finish my swimming lessons, abeg.

On the upside, I recorded some TikTok dances with my sister that you’ll probably never see in your life! I got ‘steezed up’ by FSHRMN.

After the election brouhaha, I went to Oriki (a massage parlour) to press shege out of my body. Little did I know that I was softening the landing for its popsy — a story I’d let you in on later.

April

I went back to school to close out the 300-level second semester to write my exams and whatnot. After spending Q1 solely locked in product design, I had to force my head back to school, bruh.

During the month, I came across a design challenge tailored towards newbies. I felt I was one, so I participated.

Omo, my submission got sidelined 😂

That episode served as a soft tap on the shoulder to remind me while I stayed committed to learning, I could no longer be regarded as a newbie in product design. I actually sabi this thing.

In April, my first freelance client became my first return client because he was impressed with the first project.

Also, I got to meet Ayomide Aregbede and Victor Fa at an event at my school. But the major highlight was that the Dispensary project was coming along nicely, and we had moved on to testing the build.

May

The Untitled Designers Conference happened in May, and boy was I ready to attend. Even though I had been looking forward to it for a while. I wore a two-piece, which I custom-made myself, and got quite a number of compliments. I looked and felt good.

(A quick shot before heading to the conference)

I got back on my fitness train, and it felt good to hit the gym once again. But when school resumed, I had two cartons of Capri-sun from Dami waiting for me. That was the perfect boost to push me through my semester project.

(When in doubt, sip some Capri-Sun)

June

Did you feel the air change? Yeah, that’s the birthday atmosphere. June kicked off with me celebrating my birthday on the 2nd. I got some new sneakers as a birthday gift — possibly a new-found obsession — and went out with friends and family.

I was on “Fit Fam” a lot, mehn. And when I resumed my 400-level first semester at the end of the month, I got back to my Sunday runs — I had to run, I had to run.

Electricity in school environs was bad at the time, so I got my first solar inverter in June, a huge boost to my productivity, ngl.

July

I resumed playing basketball after a long hiatus. The first match back was an intra-departmental cup which saw my team lose by 1 point. In the second game back, I hurt my knee a bit and started wearing knee support every day.

My back thanked me when I finally got my first ergonomic chair (a really good chair, but the Jumia vendor did not think to include an Allen key, seeing as all the nuts need one).

I went to my first school party in July. It was a departmental party, and it was fire, at least until the rain started.

I picked up AfterEffects to complete a task at work — one of my major up-skill pointers.

I also had my minor jury — a semester project defence — and it was a major hustle to prepare all the deliverables, organise the team, and present good work, but we were able to pull it off.

Amidst all of this, my AltSchool final examinations had come up, and I finally admitted I had a lot of commitments to balance.

August

The minor jury went well, and it was now time for the major jury. I did a great job putting together my defence and it went smoothly.

Remember the AltSchool Africa exams I mentioned earlier? I aced that sh*t! I graduated from the 1-year programme in August.

But to every upside, there’s probably a downside lurking in the corner. This downside came to life as I ended the month with my solar inverter getting spoiled for no apparent reason.

September

My interest in illustrations was piqued, and I decided to illustrate Luffy in all his Gear 5 glory. Jummy had missed me so much that she came to see me in school. That human can’t do without me.

Also, Grey.co sent me a merch box that contained thoughtful items.

Then, I got an idea for a project based on a problem I’ve experienced, and that’s how Trade Sentinel came about. I commenced ideation and vectorised a logo for it.

October

The month started in earnest with me travelling down to Lagos for, not two but one reason only, the Famasi sprint. 2 weeks of everyone purely just heads down, working as hard as ever towards our set goal.

The month was for many firsts; I tried drawing on Procreate and got to watch Sporting Lagos play live. Unfortunately, no goals were witnessed in that match. But I did get to learn the catchy chants of the commentator.

I got to see Folami after over 5 years since we last saw, and it was vibes as always.

In March, I promised I was going to let you in on a story. Well, the time has come. I finally got my knee properly examined at NOHI (National Orthopaedic Hospital Igbobi). Guess what? It turns out I tore my ACL in July. I got that career-threatening injury that players like Neymar had.

Whisky Tango Foxtrot (WTF)! I had always felt like I had great mental health (say, a solid 90%), but the realisation of this had me spiralling to a 65–75%. My coping mechanism was to just lock myself into my work and sleep a lot! It took me about a whole week to come to terms with it.

During this period, my second mobile app went live on the Play Store and App Store. I also finally started learning HTML and CSS.

November

We, the students on IT, were instructed to go to the nearest ITF office to submit a form called a SCAF form. Omo, I fess lost inside Lagos.

The closest office address that was shared with us had been abandoned for years, and they never thought to update it on the document. I eventually found another office in VI, and after a couple buses and about 15 solid minutes of trekking, I was there. Only to be met by a notice that they (ITF) had joined a strike and would not be open till later (Chai, waste of trekking).

I took my L and went home for the day. Later that week, I went to the site for my IT (which I had started way before wink). I hit my move goal every single day that I went to that site.

I’ve been a part of Roadtrip — a community of techies that have aided my growth — for over a year now.

The RoadTrip Community hangout took place in Nnamdi Kanu Park in Ikeja, and it was nice to put faces to a lot of names that I had grown accustomed to seeing.

December

I got to personally onboard a pharmacy on Dispensary — an app I designed. I found that moment pretty ecstatic. A few days later, there was a domestic fire incident that I helped put under control — but not without a scar that I still have now.

At work, we ideated and executed a complete website re-design, which I had so much fun working on. Keep an eye on here for when it goes live. I also took this as an avenue to push me to start writing TailwindCSS and worked on a few pages of the build.

Then I ended the year with good vibes at Joeboy’s South social party at Oniru Beach. The Famasi Africa team also put together a recap of the work done in 2023.

Overall, 2023 was a year of consistent growth and trying new things. I’m grateful for the experiences that came along.

Cheers to doing more in 2024.