My Place In The Sun

I was debating for a little while on how exactly to begin this entry, but no matter which way I ran it thought in my head it never quite came out right. Thus I gave up and settled on that this was indeed the best way to start it, by explaining how I couldn't.

And for me, the funny thing about writing is that as soon as I start, it just flows out of me, and both the best and the worst thing I can ever do is stop of go back to edit it. On the one hand, editing it allows me to iron out any grammatical mistakes, but on the other it not only stems the flow of new ideas for awhile but it also too often lengthens a perfectly adequate shortened version of the same thing.

However, as my oldest friend gave me the title of "tangent queen" more than a decade ago ( and I'm getting steadily worse with age apparently ), it is sometimes never-the-less required for me to go back and heavily rework something as otherwise, unless you happened to be a gifted mind reader or know me very well, you would not have the foggiest idea of what I am going on about.

The only saving grace is that when it comes to private in jokes or keeping secrets I can be vastly more open than most and still not give the game away. In a way it is as if I have learned to, instead of breaking the truth, to give it back from such an angle that you probably won't even recognise it as what it really is, at least not without a little deeper thought.

And with that out the way, I can now get back to writing what this entry was meant to be all about, to wit ... My Place In The Sun.

Although this may seem very premature, and also possibly very arrogant ( or foolish ), it is with a sort of detached awareness that I am prepared to now announce that I am 99% sure that I am going to own a bar in Malaysia ... eventually.

I can already clearly visualise many of the bars parts, such as the karaoke area, the billiard table and darts board ( that will hardly ever get used ), the small selection of games behind the counter ( like a few decks of cards, dominoes, chess/checkers board as well as a mahjong and a backgammon set ) and a few ex-pats happy to see a fellow Brit while they congratulate themselves on moving out here but at the same time slating the current UK government for all the mistakes its making back home.

And what, I hear you ask, gives me this feeling of complete confident, enough to make such a sweeping claim and risk getting serious egg on my face? Well it comes from many different things that when added up together all seem to blend into a sort of fateful inevitability.

1) It ties in perfectly with me wanting to retire in a country that is warm, English speaking and in the far east.
2) It will be a perfect base for me to try and launch a few of my other business ventures ( like the travel writing, the bar stories novel and the personalised tour guide services ).
3) It's an idea that has been strong enough to repeatedly drift in and out of my mind for over half my life.
4) Because I am from the same line as both my parents and my older siblings, which means I'm capable, determined and stubbornly I-won't-take-no-for-an-answer head-stong when I need to be.
5) Because I am not only a Taurian ( once again head-stong ) but was also born in the year of the Fire Dragon ( could you get any more Asian influenced ).
6) Because high up on the list of my favourite books are the Callahan's Bar stories.
...
( I could go on with many many more of these small reasons which individually are pretty pathetic and don't hold much water, but together all build towards a greater unified reason, but I will save them here in an effort to keep this entry short and readable, but what I will do is just give the last two which for me are clinchers !!!)
...
7) Because thanks to my good friend Bob I have some of the Malaysian DJ equipment needed.

Over a year ago he could already see in my eyes that I meant it and was serious, enough so in fact, that he went online and purchased as a present for me, some lights that can only be used in the far east due to their differing electrical circuitry.

He was waiting for the ideal time to present it to me, but as he and his family are now themselves moving down to the coast they didn't want to risk losing it or having it damaged in transit, so they ended up giving it to me on Friday night after a fireworks party.

Note . If your ever lucky enough, like me, to have friends & family who have that much belief in you and actively encourage you to have a go at succeeding in something you've had your heart set on for more years than you can remember, it's not only a colossal waste not to even try, it's also an insult to them!!

And finally the other major reason is 8) Irony...

When you consider that all my life I have spent far fewer than most adult males free time in bars, rarely like to get drunk and lose control, only twice ever managed to work even a single shift behind a bar ( and BOTH times ended up being complete fiasco's ), don't actually like the taste of most bitters; lagers; whiskys; wines or spirits and my own step-father drank himself to a very early grave ... what could be more ironic that me ending up owning a bar !!!

And before anyone can say that, with that last paragraph alone, I have ample reason to never even set foot inside a bar again let alone attempt to work in one, let me just clarify one thing. I am not saying that I will run, organise and work in a Malaysian bar, only that I will own one.

I'm not saying that it will be a crowning success, I'm not planning to make a killing, I'm not expecting to make a tidy profit and I'm not even preparing to barely break even most weeks.

Not at all.

At the moment all I'm predicting is that one way or another I will end up being the legal owner of a Malaysian Bar, and I'm hoping that it won't make significant losses until such times as I find other ways to balance the books or I decide to give up the dream and offload it before it financially cripples me for the foreseeable future.