69 Saba: Bucket List Project

‘Bucket lists’ are forever changing, as we rarely hold the same ambitions for major lengths of time

If you asked me what was on my bucket list five years ago, I would have said I wanted to open my own English school in Xinjiang with the woman I loved. And maybe to quit drinking before it killed me

Unfortunately, drinking did almost kill me before I had a chance to tick that off, and for the next three years my bucket list would have just consisted of wanting to walk again and maybe even potty train myself

After managing to bring both my ambulatory and lavatorial skills up to the level of a two year old, I became perhaps a little too excited over my skills of recovery, and believed that I was also a more than competent writer, and wrote and released two books that were

and my bucket list was filled with dreams of fame and riches that the series would inevitably bring me.

but after the books received the muted reception they deserved, I lost all confidence, not just in the books’ quality, but in my entire justification for surviving my suicide attempt, and the only item on my bucket list was to find some reason to exist

The woman I love was refused a VISA in China to visit me in Britain, and we were forced to admit that our long distance relationship was unsubstainable, and tearfully split up

She married a fellow Muslim that her mother introduced her to shortly after, and now I rarely hear from her

Wow, that song’s amazing. And how handsome is Saba?!

After that though, I noticed the existence of the job of Immigration Advisor, and realised that it was the kind of job that would have ensured that the woman I loved was with me now

I needed an Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner qualification to call myself an Immigration Adviser, it became the only thing on my list, but I soon found the costs involved were massively out of my league. Nonetheless, I volunteered at all the immigration charities I could, figuring that it would at least qualify for the immigration work experience that I’d need before being registered

Recently, after volunteering at Manchester Refugee Support Network for eight months, I was told that the Refugee Action is funding a few highly qualified volunteers to do the OISC Level 1 exam. I was put forward as a potential beneficiary

Even though I don’t yet know whether the application was successful, and even if I end up sitting the exam the pass rate is only around 15%, so it would require me studying 26 hours a day to ensure I was prepared, but it’s close, and it may well be the first item on my bucket list that’s ever been ticked off

Wow, another incredible song, maybe this album should be higher. There are links on these pictures you know??

‘The Bucket List Project’ is absolutely wonderful (oh yeah, I’m supposed to be talking about Saba aren’t I?), sumptuous music and some of the smartest and most incisive lyrics of (cough) this year, with a roll call of guests who manage to compliment the album’s sound rather than impair it

The ‘WAYTNAT’ award is given when a guesting artist’s work is far better than their own release, though ‘Bucket List…’ isn’t chronically better than Noname’s lovely ‘Telefone’, it still wins points corresponding to the difference in list placing

The lyric’s are gorgeous too, with Saba’s poetry and word play never less than fabulously insightful and woke

Hmmm, no score again. Too cool again (or too, ahem, ‘urban’?)

http://www.sabapivot.com/shop/

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