coincidence?

this kind of coincidence gives me goose bumps.

my friend was working for an events management company over the past few years and recently, he needed people to work as an usher for a conference event at marina bay sands for 2 days. since i was not working and my exploring machine at loose, i thought it was no harm to try it out, just for the experience.

the goose bumps came when he called me the day before and told me that the conference event was for my ex audit firm. i was stunned when i heard this! such a coincidence! after leaving the firm for 4 years, i got ‘reunited’ with the firm, but in a different role. for a moment, i started to imagine how i should react if i bumped into one audit partner whom i worked with previously. however, since i agreed to work, would just go with it and see what turned out. i might not even bump into him at all.

when i got there the next day, i realized that it was a partners conference where the audit partners in the area pacific region flew in for the conference. the usher role was to be human arrow to direct the audit partners who were staying at the marina bay sands hotel through the underpass to the convention centre for their conference. 10 of us were allocated different spots to stand with our ‘lollipop’ signage.

it was seriously no joke to keep standing for hours. by the 4^th hour, my legs were seriously aching and i was looking forward to my 15 minutes break. it was a great relief on the legs when i could sat down finally.

after my break, i was assigned to stand at the convention centre level. i was present to the increase in likelihood of bumping into my audit partner. indeed! while i was standing at my spot and turning my head towards the conference rooms, i saw that audit partner approaching my direction with another person. my heart jumped for a second! how should i react??? i kept looking at him but he was not really responding back. maybe, he did not recognize me. after all, my hairstyle was different from the last time he saw me. i tried to act busy and avoid direct eye contact with him. luckily he walked past me just like that. how close could this be! speaking of the devil! such luck!

for the last 1.5 hours of my shift, i was walking around the different spots to relieve some of them who needed to take a break. the first day finally ended. i survived 7 hours of standing!

i reported work at 6.45am on the second day as they were having a breakfast session in the morning. so early! in the middle of my shift, i was called to help out with the microphones in the conference room with 3 other friends. i found myself standing inside the conference room. i thought this was a pretty amazing encounter. even if i stayed on in the firm, i would never had a chance to attend such a conference unless i slogged myself to become an audit partner, which obviously would not be my choice. with the unfolding of events, i saw more overseas audit partners than i ever seen and even got to 'attend' the conference, even though in a different role. more goose pumps…

another amazing thing was i managed to spot my audit partner sitting at the end of the row among more than 1,000 audit partners in the conference room. was this what some people say, “the more you avoid something, the more it appears in front of you.”?

adding on to this, i recalled an incident while i was working with the firm. an audit manager asked me if i were not an auditor, what would i rather do? i told her i would want to work in an events management company, to organize events. after 4 years, i was actually working in an events management company, though in a small way, for the firm when i said that. such creepy coincidence...

it was not easy to stand for a long period but this assignment allowed me to experience many things and fulfilled something i said in the past. still worth it. = )

i am starting to believe that life has its way to let you fulfill the things you want to fulfill. you just need to be ready, patient and sharp enough to see the opportunities when they unfold.

waiting for my next coincidence to happen…