Last night, I met a very interesting guy at work.
He was a European man in his forties, and he told me he was a music manager/former accountant/studies Chinese medicine.
haha I still don't know if he is any of those things, and I'll probably never find out since I don't think I'll ever see him again.
But he was rather intriguing and left a deep impact on me.
Last night, the Annual Global Music Summit was held at my workplace - Galatos, and we had 10 bands perform on two of our floors. I had worked at the event last year, and it had been pretty packed so I was expecting a big turnout again. But maybe because it was raining, there were only around a hundred or so people that came.
Anyways, halfway into the event, this guy comes up to the bar and tells us that it's his birthday so he wants to spoil himself. He ponders for awhile and then orders a double shot Bacardi & Coke. I didn't serve him the first time as I was busy drying glasses, but when I heard it was his birthday, I wished him happy birthday. He said thank you, and that was the end of that.
Half an hour later, my co-worker went on her break so I was by myself at the bar, and he comes again and orders another double shot Bacardi & Coke. As I made his drink, he started telling me about his life stories. At first I thought he was drunk, because he kept repeating the same things; such as it was his birthday, he was a music manager who had just discovered some amazing talent in a young girl and was going to help her launch her career, and that he has an amazing Maori chef who cooks the best food in the world. Of course being the nice bartender I am lol, I listened to all his stories and politely nodded and smiled. Having worked as a bartender for so long, I had gotten used to all the drunk people who come and go.
After that, he came back a third and fourth and fifth time, each time ordering the same drink and repeating the same stories. But the sixth time he came, he asked me where I was from. I told him, and then he started telling me how he studies Chinese medicine and majors in acupuncture, and how he's the only white guy in his class but he's top of the class. Our conversation then went something like this:
Him: "So what do you do?"
Me: "I'm in my final year of uni, I study accounting."
Him: "Oh I used to be an accountant at Price Waterhouse Coopers."
Me: "Oh really.. wow you seem to have done everything."
Him: "Yeah.. alot of people say I'm weird. I've been married twice, once to an Arab girl."
Me: "Oh really.. that's cool."
Him: "So is accounting something you really want to do?"
Me: "Well my parents want me to do it I guess.."
Him: "But what about you? Is that what you really want to do? C'mon tell me what you're truly passionate about."
Me: "Well.. I want to do event management, or maybe have my own business and be a wedding planner or something."
Him: "Then do it.. follow your dreams. I can see into your soul; your soul is locked up inside."
And when he said that, I was suddenly really taken aback. Maybe because nobody has ever said anything like that to me before; especially not a stranger. He then asked me if I had a pen and paper, so I gave him a post-it-note, and then he said to me: "I'm going to draw you a picture."
And this is what he drew:
He said to me: "Follow your dreams. Don't listen to what your parents say; do what you really want to do. I want you to pinky-swear me that in three years time, you won't be doing accounting, but doing what you truly want to do. I'm going to give you my contact details, and in three years time, I'm going to check up on you."
And then he made me 'pinky-swear' him.
Our conversation was alot longer than that, as I told him how I already got a job for next year, and how Asian parents are really strict, but the point is.. he made me realize that somewhere along the way, I had forgotten the importance of chasing your dreams, and following your heart.
When I was a kid, my dream was to become a doctor.
Not because my parents wanted me to, not because my dad was a doctor, not because of the money or prestige (I was like 10 years old), but only because I wanted to help people; I wanted to make a difference in the world. And that dream of mine continued all the way till university, and then I don't really know what happened. I guess I grew up, I stopped being naive, I started understanding the importance of money, and I started to believe that our parents are always right.
And so I listened to them and chose accounting.
Don't get me wrong, I still and always will believe that our parents will always have our best interests at heart, so I will never blame them for anything. Even though I really regret doing accounting now, I don't blame them at all. It was my own choice, and I know they just wanted me to have a stable and secure career.
But yeah.. I just really feel like I've lost all the passion and purpose that I used to have. (lol that sounds rather ominous.. and almost suicidal.. I suck at writing okay leave me alone TT)
But what I'm trying to say is that I don't want to be sitting infront of a computer all day, everyday for the rest of my life. I want to be doing something that I love, something that I enjoy, something that gives me a reason to get up in the morning and look forward to the day.
So thank you Mr-I-didn't-even-get-your-name.
I can't promise that I will definitely have achieved that in three years time, but I will try.
I won't give in to the harsh realities of life.
