The second part happens after work.
It's Friday and several weeks ago, we were invited to attend an event.
A friend of mine whom I have known since we were 16 in high school invited Jessica and I to what he had termed as "my concert".
Just a little background on this person, and let's call him Ron.
Ron has had a passion for singing since I have known him. It is different over here. Singing, and for that matter most other forms of entertainment, is not necessarily seen as a profession for "smart" people. It is not mainstream. As far as music goes, it is really hard to break into that industry due to the size of the population. Also, just like most of the entertainment industry, sometimes, but more likely rarely, one gets discovered. Most of the time, it's about who you know. Since Ron is not on a list of who's who, getting discovered was his only alternative. He did give a shot at it years ago but it didn't work too well. But, like mentioned earlier, it's always been his passion and when he invited us to his concert, I accepted without really finding out more. Shortly after accepting his invitation, I found out that another friend of mine had also been invited. I have known this other friend for even longer. I have known him since first grade... 33 years!! It was through this other friend that I realized this event that we had accepted the invitation to, was actually a multi-level (direct selling, whatever the name for it is now) company's award recognition ceremony. Ron has been part of this American company for about 5-6 years and got even more actively involved when he got laid off during the dot com bubble bust. As much as I don't necessarily agree and understand the workings of a multi-level marketing company, I am happy that he has found success in his choice. BUT, it's a whole different story attending one of their events. I never told Jessica what event we were attending... I don't think it was on purpose, the subject never came up.
Years ago when I first graduated, I was dragged along by a friend to attend one of these events (not the same company, but there are way more of these kinds of companies in the US and many of them don't even come close to the stability (and probably the legitimacy) of this particular one). It was inspirational, motivational as well as very eye opening. After that event, I had vowed that I would never ever (EVER) attend another one of these events again.
This night I broke my vow.
It was for a friend.
I have been advised not to be negative about this event and I will refrain from doing so.
All I got to say is that my experience years ago was eye opening because I had discovered with great speakers and a cult mentality, the magic that will happen. I was reminded that my skepticism and individuality, and the lack of cult mentality leaves me where I am today, for better or worse, it's me. And as much as I did enjoy Ron's mini concert (he got to perform 2 songs), I will NEVER EVER again attend an event like this... or so I think. This might not be a first but it added to the strange day... and by the time the event ended, it was already 10:30pm... time for Part 3...
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