The Life and Times of Flibbertigibbet
“The Guy is an ‘NFA'”. Have you heard this line before?
In today’s Letter to Jack, Uncle Leke Alder shares about the Life and times of a certain NFA named Flibbertigibbet and explains to him why it is important to stay focused from an early age. Read on. You will learn something.
1. Dear Jack, let me intimate you about the life and times of a young man named Flibbertigibbet. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
2. Quite a mouthful of a name I agree. Trips up your tongue. And you have to study the pronunciation too. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
3. It's not one of those names you can't pronounce in rapid fire succession, unless you're a rapper. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
4. To get round the tongue twisting, his friends simply call him "Fli". I'll oblige you that honour in this letter. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
5. No one really knows what Fli studied in school, but Fli is everyone's friend, knows everyone. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
6. Fli is involved in everyone's project idea. If you want to record an album you call Fli. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
7. If you want to shoot a music video you call Fli. If you want to stage a fashion show you call Fli. Fli's everywhere! #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
8. He seems to have a nebulously defined all encompassing energy and talent for everything. Some say he lacks focus. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
9. It's been three years after graduation and you can't really say what Fli does, or where he's going. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
10. No discernible vision or direction. Gets energised but has no omphalos. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
11. Fli's friends are gainfully employed. They work in banks, law firms, industry, consultancies etc. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
12. They're making progress up the corporate ladder. Some are in business, charting their way up… #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
13. But Fli? He's a popular kind of guy. An avant garde rendition of life. Never wakes up early. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
14. Fli has patent imagination, and diverse gifts of administration of talent. He has all the time in the world too! #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
15. In fact Fli is not conscious of time. He's not in a hurry in life (what's the rush?)- a forever young kinda dude. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
16. It's almost like Fli lives in an "alternative" universe, a place where time moves slow. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
17. You see in Physics time moves slow on a vehicle at high speed. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
18. That means whatever planetary vehicle Fli is on must be moving pretty fast. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
19. [I'm talking relativity now. It's what made Einstein famous]. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
20. Of course Fli doesn't know the laws of Physics. He's just taking it easy, taking it slow. He's young! #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
21. The thing about relativism is that you're unaware of how fast your vehicular transportation is unless you use a side mirror. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
22. I'm simplifying things a bit. Relativity is not so easy to explain. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
23. It says there's no universal time. That there are different times on objects moving relative to one another. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
24. But to the man inside a fast moving vehicle time will seem "constant", until he looks out the window. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
25. It's like driving a car very fast. If you don't look sideways at other cars you won't realise how fast you're going. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
26. It's why people are shocked when they look at the speedometer on a stretch of lonely highway. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
27. To the man in the car time doesn’t seem to be moving. Everything is in a "constant" state. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
28. Again I'm over simplifying things, but you get the idea: there is not one time. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
29. Therefore the time on Fli is different from the time on everybody else. His friends are fast, he's "constant". Relativity! #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
30. Fli obviously doesn't know how fast life is moving. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
31. And since Fli is cool in his life car, he doesn't waste his time watching out for his friends. Can't be bothered. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
32. We're he watching he'll have seen Emeka zoom past him. And Gloria too. And John. And Mo. And Garba. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
33. They were all classmates in secondary school. And some were born disadvantaged. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
34. Indeed Akin's father died when he was young. His mum brought him up; nonetheless he's focused. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
35. He might also have seen Greg getting an apartment of his own, signifying his rite of passage into manhood. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
36. And he might have seen John's relationship with Mary moving into matrimony. The parents are talking. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
37. And at the rate at which Mike is going he's certainly going to attain silk and become a senior advocate. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
38. Of course Tayo is growing her trading business at a clip. She's just secured a major order. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
39. Since Fli lives in an "alternative" universe he's not aware of all these. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
40. He's in a world of his own marching to the rhythm of slow music, blues in broad daylight, in the marketplace! #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
41. He can't understand why Clara is eminently opposed to him dating her sister. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
42. "The guy has no ambition" she keeps shouting. "He's NFA!"* (*No future ambition). He wasn't copacetic. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
43. But Fli is cool. Has so many "projects" going on; in his head though. Most are just ideas. Who knows which will yield millions#Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
44. And when he's rich he'll make it up to his baby! Take her round the world, live in the best hotels! #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
45. It's not unusual to spot Fli at his friends' offices during the day, gisting away. Fli has all the gist, very sociable. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
46. He's an ardent Gunner. And he can tell you a lot about Barca, the strategy of Man U, the prospects of Leeds. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
47. Kind of reminds you of a famous football fan called Radio NEPA, a fan of NEPA FC. (Does the club still exist by the way?) #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
48. He could run nonstop commentary on a match with his back to the pitch! Ask your Dad. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
49. Relativity tells us if you fly into space at a certain speed you'll come back younger than the rest of us. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
50. That probably explains why Fli is so young at heart. He's spaced out. Doesn't realise time is going. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
51. At thirty he thinks he's twenty. Still using college slang. He's beginning to look funny with those dangling trousers. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
52. Fast forward a few years. One day Fli visits our universe. He discovered that his mates are now much more successful. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
53. Many are married, with kids. Some kids are in school. He finds the whole "responsibility" thing strange. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
54. Then James' 2-year old son points at Fli and called him "Uncle". Fli is shocked! He's now "uncle"?! #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
55. By the time Fli became thirty-eight he still hadn't figured things out, or sorted out things. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
56. His girlfriend- a shambolic subscriber to the tenets of Rastafarianism, dope et al- was badly pregnant. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
57. Then Fli turned forty. But he had no apartment of his own. He was "hanging out" in the studio. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
58. If only Fli would look out the window. He might have seen a strange bird flying. It's called Time. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
59. "Ówurö löjà" is an African aphorism that is difficult to translate without resort to long-winded prose. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
60. The poor English variant of that proverb is, Make hay while the sun shines. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
61. And Solomon wrote: Foolish dreamers live in a world of illusion; wise realists plant their feet on the ground. Pro.14.18 MSG #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
62. Solomon goes further- "A life fritted away disgusts God; he loves those who run straight for the finish line." Pro.15.9 MSG. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
63. Focus, my dear Jack. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
64. Turns out Flibbertigibbet wasn't Fli's real name. An angry old woman spat that at him. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
65. You know what "Flibbertigibbet" means? It means a young, frivolous, talkative scatterbrain. #Letr2Jack
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
66. I’ll write you again. Your mentor, LA. #Letr2Jack ©Leke Alder
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
Leke Alder can be reached on talk2me@lekealder.com
— Leke Alder (@LekeAlder) November 30, 2013
Do you know any NFA? Tell us about him/her and if there has been any change for the better. Thanks.
