The Call Of The Naked Pink Monkey

[SkaiValentine]

     There’s a picture that hangs in the dojo where I practice. It has a crowd of monkeys in black business suits holding black brief cases walking towards the left. Heads down, generally unhappy posture. But then there’s also a bright pink monkey, head held high, whistling, naked, and strutting to the right. The first implication that hit me from the picture was that the happy monkey was willing to be different. Then my instructor pointed out another difference, the nudity. The happy monkey didn’t have any clothes, he wasn’t strutting around in sick kicks while everyone was in boring suits, he was barefoot. To him, the meaning is different. The pink monkey has dared to be different yes but he had to make a sacrifice to get there. He had less material wealth than the working monkeys but he didn’t care because he was actually happy!
      I was asked to apply for a job as an assistant brewer in a local craft brewery here in town, but I turned it down because it’s a minimum wage/part time gig. The thing is, I hate my job, I find myself bawling on my drive to work at least once a week. The people are great and they have been so good to me but the work is deadening to my soul. I’ve even ended up in counseling for depression and anxiety from this job. More importantly, I love brewing. I’m a homebrewer, it’s my hobby, I write my own recipes even.
      So here is the call of the naked pink monkey: Do I give up my financial security at an extremely shaky time in my life (starting PIMA in August and lets not even talk about the economy and unemployment rates) and pursue this once in a lifetime shot to do the job that I thought I would never in the real world get a chance to do? Or do I keep on slacking off and counting down the hours until I get to go home, going home mentally drained every single night, but confident that every bill I have will be paid and on time? I sent in my resume today, I am by no means qualified to brew in a professional setting but if against all odds I get the job, these are the questions I will have to answer.
Am I ready to strip down and run off naked with a crazy pink monkey?

[Luds]

stupid question.. what is PIMA  ?

[SkaiValentine]

@Luds PIMA is a medical college that provides accelerated programs. I'll basically be a licensed Physical Therapy Assistant in 19 months if I get through the program . They are very challenging but the rate of students working in their field within a few months of graduation is very impressive. It is quite possible that working at all may be detrimental to my grade...

@RandMart Yes I've read of the brewery bust but my plan is really only two years before I'll begin working as a Physical Therapist Assistant so I'm seeing this as more of a once in a lifetime shot to be a professional brewer. Not necessarily my future career plan. However If the brewing works out, there are part time jobs in the PTA field so I could technically do both if I choose to.

[Raincloak]

If you've just been offered your dream job, take it.  Do not pass GO, do not collect a degree you don't want.  The degree will always be there later if you change your mind.

[Luds]

just my 2 cents.... if you get the opportunity, do both. Study your behind off in re to PIMA AND the brewery. Not sure if that is actually feasible and it will likely screw up your social live and whatnot, but if it's even remotely doable, do it.  PIMA education sounds like a great safety net.

 

if doing both is not an option... go for the PIMA thing. People like the beer, but at the end of the day it's down to %. (Whatever bollocks is uttered, it's down do %.. believe me ;-) ).

 

 Getting their effing knee caps or tennis elbow sorted... that's another, profitable, kettle of fish altogether

 

[calanthrophy]

Some day you'll be dead and it won't matter how much money you made.

If you can survive on the salary I'd give it a go. However, if you've got a spouse and children to look after that might be a different situation.

[Guzzi]

I'd say that it all depends on how much you stand to lose if it all went wrong.

 

Or, to put it another way, what's the worst that can happen?

 

If you can see ways to cope/survive the "worst", then you don't really stand to lose that much, but it seems that you stand to gain a heck of a lot mentally and emotionally by going for it. You shouldn't ignore your mental health, money is important sure, but not as important as your health. Mental or otherwise.

[SkaiValentine]

Okay sorry I haven't been replying, a lot has been going on. I got my student loans and enrollment settled so I WILL be starting school on August 29th.

 

On the brewery front, well the guy offering me the job was caught STEALING from the company and arrested/fired. This caused a lot of issues for the brewery since he had actually refused to teach any of his assistants anything about brewing and basically forced them to just clean up after him. He wouldn't let them near the equipment while he was working because he was trying to ensure that the brewery could not go on without him. Before he was kicked out of the building, he changed the company facebook password and posted on the official page that the brewery was going out of business. Drama.

 

So as this was going on, I hit my breaking point at work and put in my notice with no plan or job in sight. I have 14 months rent saved up so I figured I have time to figure this out. Well I ran into the brewery owners wife at a baby shower and expressed my condolences over the closure of their business. That's when she tells me everything that happened with the head brewer but she assured me they are still open just struggling to get word out. She then told me that they are relying on a volunteer brewer team to keep the place going until they can afford to get everyone on the payroll after this set back. After hearing this, I contacted the owner and now I'm part of a rag tag team of home-brewers striving to keep this place alive. I could not be happier, If things go well, I will be a full fledged brewer not just an assistant, if things fail, I will have experience which is necessary in this competitive industry and an amazing story I'm sure.

 

TLDR; I quit my soul crushing job and I'm brewing for free for now. Pic related.  

[Guzzi]

Wow! That's a LOT to have happened in such a short time. Sounds like fun!

[SkaiValentine]

Yeah I am super excited, this opportunity showed up right after I quit. I know I would've never had the energy to commit to this if I was still being drained by a job I hated, it seem adventure really does happen right outside our comfort zones.