We did it, somehow!

"What is one thing you'd change about yourself?", she said.

Over a month earlier, it was a simple idea to hold, in my words, "an all-expense paid bootcamp". It will go on to take so many forms like conference, event, program but it was going to happen.

I fondly remember typing into the Group Name form field on WhatsApp—"AntiSpace".

"Yo, this is not the Day 01. Test away with this. Allow yourself to fuck up".

And fuck up I did. AntiSpace Beta was the perfect blend of fuck up and amazing, and for a perfectionist like me, it was enough to make me run mad. So far, I haven't—and we're now four hours to the end of this rollercoaster of an attempt.

45 hours of pure ecstasy, delight, laughter, chatter, games, events, memories—memories that is etched on the walls of my Grey Matter. I am excited for an event that's ended.

"I could change something about myself", I said, "I think I'm too judge-y".

Walking into the mini hall on Friday night to meet people who came all the way from Akure, Lagos, Osun, Oyo was more emotional than I let on. Oh no! This is going to be a long letter. Pardon me!

As I apologised for the warped rooms I'd invested so much in or as they laughed at my apology—absolving me of whatever ill I thought I'd caused them—it immediately dawned on me, 30+ people are here because I asked them to; more importantly, they wanted to be here.

It wasn't until Saturday that I said my second prayer.

"God! I'm so lucky. Thank you!"

"Good design and blind faith—my reasons for doing design" was how I closed off the first session that talked about How To Know What Designer To Be.

Olarenwaju Damilola is the first person I'll remember that night. He was closing off a call with a certain Microsoft—aka Micro. Camdee wasn't sure she wanted to seat beside Ayanfe.

As I stood up to start, I remembered that Kilani wasn't here. I really wanted him around. He was at Quidax doing Quidax-y things.

Gbenga had a tiny sparkle in his eye and I'd just figured out that Damola was not an hotel staff. JBanj came by just a little late. His chauffeur, my brother whose birthday is today, walked in too. I'd imagine he was proud of his big brother—he told me the next day.

Mats on the floor and everyone seated, "I really did this", I said as I sighed one last time before we went live.

"Don't be nice. Be good and fair" was the core of Theodox's partial session for the premium attendees. Yes! There was a premium class.

Obatoms on my right was feeling a little sleepy and Alamu somehow managed to stay awake the entire time. These guys really are here. We sat round in the very subpar lounge and Theodox walked us through his projects and how he handled them judiciously.

10 AM Saturday was the right time to ask anyone to wake up and we didn't start until some time around 12 PM because Pelumi was late with the packs of water he went to get for the event.

"Would you like some shots?", Solomon mentioned. Solomon is my personal photographer for the event. His job was to take pictures of me only throughout the event. Every other photograph was taken by Akinlawon, another incredible friend to have—in mind and in deed, pun intended.

"How do you spend your money?" was my attempt at stalling everyone till food and water were ready.

And when we actually started, the game of Charades was the best thing to ever happen to me. I laughed the hardest—especially at the group whose word to guess was "jaguar".

I got some cusses for "jet engine", "orchestrate", but some of the most clever descriptions fall to "peacock" and "Michael Jordan". And when the group of Akinlawon, Pelumi, Theodox and Adevikthur won, right after the protest that the house couldn't win, the atmosphere was the most welcome of any event I'd ever been in this year.

It felt like home.

"Thank you", Theodox said, as he climbed down the makeshift podium—it was a staircase seat at Premier Hub. You could seat and stand. I sat—and stood.

Theodox held a session on Invoices, Calls & Presentation with an extended presentation of a project from first call to final delivery. I didn't listen because I was having a conversation with Alamu on Brand Strategy, Product Design & Campaign Design.

But then, I took a glance at the front and I smiled. That's my guy! He's killing it—exactly as I know he would.

Everyone listened with rapt attention. No one wanted to miss a thing. Right there and then, I knew, for sure, without a single doubt in the world, I would do this again, another time.

Do I talk about the session on Adding Value to Your Design Skill? or the premium roundtable on How To Start a Design Agency?

Nah.

I'll jump to the pool race. Michael Phelps could never!

I mean it. Shit swimmers in the pools. They couldn't even swim in straight lines—talk less of actually doing a competition. The PA system we never used eventually had its purpose. Thank you, Emmanuel.

From the pool to the mini hall, we played games that had people winning Adobe Subscriptions and year-long subscriptions to Envato.

There was a Know The Tribbe game where I describe an event with a member of the Tribbe and you have to guess which member did that event. There was Hot Potato, easily my favourite—or the beer pong game.

As if that's not all, in room 210, a private conversation with three turned into an open space for over 8 people.

As we settled in for the night, the spontaneity of Bass and the combined contribution of the rest of the Tribbe got me feeling flustered.

"We did it", I repeated to myself over and over again, "I did it"—ignoring the drunk person who enjoyed one too many. Blue and White is something you should take with extreme caution.

Room 307 had things going on involving smoke and a certain AG Baby song. Room 107 looked deserted. And the ten other rooms where others were lodged were, well, rooms—to say the least.

"Hey man, help me bro, this thing nor really easy, and I don almost broke" was the first prayer I prayed when I got the hotel.

Two nights later, he heard.

I can't wait for the pictures. I can't wait for people's stories. I can't wait to be tagged on tweets. I can't for the next three months for everyone.

And frankly, while I will wait, I can't wait for the next AntiSpace.

To close out this—welcoming new people to the letter fam—this quote comes again:

"For what it's worth; it's never too late or too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things that you've never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life that you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you find the strength to start all over again"

Thank you, Universe, for the people you've given me. But the most I am grateful is giving me to them.

Again, we did it!

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