Reminisce Over Me

  Hey, and welcome to another installment of According to T. I'm your host Tsiambwom Akuchu.

You know, there comes a point in everyone's life, I think, that they begin to feel the urge, or to describe it more properly, a pull to leave home.(how cliched is that intro?)

But you know that moment people talk about, you know, when the baby bird finally learns to fly and leaves the nest? This is what I mean. It's the point where you walk into the house you grew up in and feel like a stranger; the point where you visit your old church and find that everybody has moved on. You come home for summer vacation and you're maybe lucky that you have 2 or 3 friends still in town with whom you can hangout with and talk about how things are changing.

I used to think that becoming an adult meant that you metamorphosed into this rational, independent, free thinking being, completely capable of contributing to society. How wrong am I? It seems to me that becoming an adult is not this beautiful transformation, but a cold and unfeeling realization. You don't necessarily change, but the world around you definitely does. Becoming an adult is just how you are expected to react to this change, or rather, how you choose to react. Hopefully within the 18plus years you've been alive you've learned enough about responsibility and how to be a functioning member of the 'real world' that you react the correct way.

So why is this my topic or discussion today?

Well I just so recently just went back home to Atlanta to spend fourth of July with my family. I came home to familiar sights and sounds, delicious smells and a full house. About three years ago, this was the norm.

My family consists of five children and two parents. Seven in total. Now you can imagine how hectic that gets. Well, here is that change I was talking about. The three oldest kids, including me have all graduated and moved off for college; my older sister in Texas, I at Georgia Southern, and my younger brother at Georgia Tech. This means the house has now gone from a bickering seven, to a disagreeing four. Oh how quiet it must be.

When I came back for fourth of July, everyone was there, and it all seem normal. But then I walked into my room, and change hit me. It hit me with a wave of nostalgia and faded memories. Adulthood hit me. I looked around and realized that room hasn't been used in a year or so. It has become a time capsule of my childhood. Every drawer, every cabinet, every upturned pillow, and sprawled over book was a memory from the past. It is a pensive of random memories and friends from highschool past. I spent part of my weekend my room, just reminiscing. As I flipped through yearbooks and old scripts, I came across my brothers memories. It seems the room has become his pensive as well.

On the drive back to my apartment, I couldn't help but think about this, and all I could think was, where have my childhood friends gone, where did everyone I used to know go? And of course, whenever you're thinking about your past, you always have to bring up old regrets and stupid decisions. It's a general rule.

You know, I realize that, every mile I drove further from home, is another mile between my childhood and adolescent self. I guess this is growing up....

Moving on. But you know, change is not so bad...well, at least not when you've had to grow up with it.

Until next time friends.

A Griot is an African Storyteller

                           

Ladies and Gentlemen, Griot Studios

 Hey everyone. This is Griot Studios. That's our logo up top. I mentioned in the prior post the origins of Griot Stu and it's purpose for the most part. Griot Stu is a collaborative effort with my roommate Tre, the artist. It was born out of the need to do more professional work within our field of interests, and seeing how they were so closely related, we decided to join forces.  The name Griot Stu comes from me and Tre. Griot is the part I came up with. A griot is an african storyteller, and that's basically what we are trying to do, tell a story, our story, someone else's, a fictional character. Anybody. Plus, I'm african. Stu comes from the abbreviated version Tre likes to say studios. Whenever he came back from art class or from doing the project he'd always say, "Just came back from the stu guys." We think it's clever, but what do we know. We're not that cool.

As of right now Griot Stu operates as a name brand of sorts. We sorta kinda just stick the label on whatever work we do, but our main main function is producing videos for youtube. The videos are anything and everything, from short films, to dance videos, to comedic shorts. Our other productions include visual art, blogs, and music, although the art and music will take a little time to set up. Tre is working on his first mixtape now and is almost done with it. He goes by the rap name Tripp Maximus, so be on the lookout for that. Also, this blog is now under the production of Griot Stu. It's post are now promoted by the studios. Which is also why I will be blogging more heavily now. Gotta produce material for the team. 

Right now, there are four main facets to Griot Stu: GriotMusic, GriotArt, GriotFilms, and GriotWorks, which includes blogging and other social media. We launched with our first video about a week ago and will be keeping updates between our main videos with a video blog.

I personally think we have something amazing on our hands. I mean, not many people put in this kind of work for something they love to do, or I guess they do, since they love it. Anyways, I feel like it's a step in the right direction. The videos we make are something that I want to put on my personal portfolios as an actor. It's something I want to leave college saying I did, that will help further my career. 

I don't know, sometimes it feels like a dream, and I am always half a step from waking up and other times it feels like I'm about to fall asleep.....I think that makes sense. I don't speak cryptically often, but I am pretty good with my analogies, haha.

                     Well, time for some selfless promoting. Check out our first production: Mobbin

and subscribe to our youtube channel. It's a dance short film. I know you have one if you're on blogger. And also like our Facebook page: Griot Stu

You know, when boils down down to the core of why we made Griot Stu, it's just that we are just two artist trying to make it in the world. We understand that our road is longer and harder than most, yet, we still persevere to trying and make it. And not just because we seek fame or fortune or the superficial things, but because we can't imagine our lives without doing what we do. So, give us a chance to tell our story, show you our work. We promise you won't be disappointed.

Dream a little dream

          I'm still not exactly sure what to blog about. I mean, I don't know what to say or write about. So for now, I'm just gonna write about what is most on my mind at a given time.


          Well today, I'll like to talk about dreams. You know, the fall asleep and lose track of reality type of dream. I've always wondered if dreams had special qualities. Did they solve some sub-conscious problems, did they tell the future, were they a window into our true self, or are they just something to entertain our mind for eight hours a day when everything goes dark. Recently, I've had some weird dreams and I couldn't help but question them. Most of them were unnervingly realistic and the rest were flat out crazy, though I do think they would make a hell of plot to an action movie. As long as you didn't question it.

So about those dreams I've had, let me share with you a few. First off, after I wake up from a really bizarre or important dream, I do my best to try and remember it in detail. As most people know, it's really hard to remember a dream. We lose 50% of a dream about a minute after we wake up, and forget about 90%  ten minutes after we wake up, but I tried my best to remember.

My most recent dream, was disturbing. I mean it scared me. And not scared me like, oh my god a ghost, no. Scared me as in, I was scared of myself. The me in that dream. It was a very realistic version me me. And he was angry. So very angry. The circumstances to why he was angry were ridiculous, but the emotion I felt was very real. I wanted to destroy everything. I felt pure contempt, and I know I could have gone further. So much...further. When I woke up, it was still there. All that anger and rage. Then slowly it faded into the recesses of my mind. But I know it's there.

I've discovered that a lot of my dreams tell me about myself. It's interesting. I've been going through a physical and emotional change lately, and it's effected the way I think. That's been reflected in my other dreams. this dream I feel reflects the fact that I've been more open, emotionally lately. Letting in happiness and hints of love here and there. But it seems that cracked a door in my mind to let in, the other emotions. Ones I've had problems with. It also didn't help that I had to play some really angry characters in a few scenes lately. I've had..issues expressing anger, because I don't usually bother with it. But having to find anger so I could play it onstage has changed things. But all this is a lot for one post.

There is one thing I believe dreams do occasionally, and that is they answer questions. They most likely won't be the one plus one equals two type questions, but the are important questions about ourselves. Questions that ask who we are, what do we believe in, and what kind of person we want to be. 

Until next time then.

In The Beginning

          They say in the beginning was the word, and the word is knowledge. Now, I don't consider myself  to particularly knowledgeable, but I feel like I know enough. Enough to hopefully leave people with a little more than they had before. Advice and Entertainment are my main goals, so don't hold me to anything, well maybe my advice. Like the title of my blog refers, everything I write will be according to me. Not like "oh hey, here's what wrong with society and how I can make it better and blah, blah, blah." I offer no cure to society. Its simply how I view the world, it's Life, my life for the most part. Anyways,  formal introduction; "Hi, my name is Tsiambwom Mbeh Akuchu. My friends call me T, hence the title of my blog. (Fun Fact: I am the only person in the world...so far...with my name. It's transferred through the bloodline of my family.When a person dies, the next child born gets the name. Its like a...family inheritance.)

      Now for some reasons why my take on Life is bloggable. A little background is in order I suppose. I was born in Yaounde, the capital city of Cameroon. Its a little country off the coast of central west Africa. I moved to the United States when I was about eight and a half years old and since then, Life has had its ups and downs. Living the American dream is much harder than it looks in the movies. You know, when I think about Cameroon, it wasn't too bad there. Actually, sometimes I think Life was a little better. There. Out in the village, my life was simple. I'd wake up with the sun, take the animals out to feed, stop by the farm and did what I could to help, and then spend the day walking the village with my cousins Later, we'd stop by the sugar cane farm for a treat, and walk the lands of my tribe. Sundown, we went home and prepared to do it all over the next day. It wasn't much, but I loved it. Now of course America has its perks, electricity being one of the major ones. But here, I know that I won't ever really have what I had back then. Simplicity and Happiness. It won't be the same. Now I'm being just a little depressing, but this is my home I'm talking about. I'll save the childhood memories for another post. Now as most people reading this know, America has its own brand of happiness, one I'm still trying to figure out. Ok then, moving on.

      Into the now. Here is the other half of my introduction. I'm T. Currently I am a college student at Georgia Southern. A small-ish university in South Georgia. Statesboro to be precise. I am a double major in Journalism and Theatre. I sing, I dance, I act. Not much else to say past that. Most of the time that's what I'll blog about. Like I said earlier, this blog is about...Life. My Life. Life according to T.