While I was waiting to be served a seat at the buffet because there was an influx of customers, the receptionist came up to me to ask how old I was ( in case I was going into the poke-machine area- ).

"Finished school today?" he asked

"Oh, my athletics carnival rained out :) "

"Don't worry, I used to miss my carnivals too, hahaha"

Then he asked me a question which I had been asked numerous times in my life, and realized I never really answered properly.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

I looked at him blankly for a few seconds before I muttered a low "uhhhhhh"

"Haha, easier question then, what course do you want to do in university, you're In Year 12 right?"

"Optometry" :)

At that moment, he turns to his colleague and says : "Whoaaa, she's a smart girl aye, gonna ace the HSC"

And he turns back to me and says : 'You gotta do well in the HSC, I'm going to need glasses soon"

The conversation ended there because there were seats. When I sat down, I thought about what he said. It was a light-hearted joke; a boost in a way. A stranger, whom I had never met before could give me this type of encouragement, I think about all the people around me :  family, teachers, grandparents and friends who urge me  to pursue what I want to do. But under all this stress, the encouragement turns into pressure.

But today, I had come to realize that it wasn't pressure.I had made it feel like pressure. What you have to do is place that shiny mirror which once reflected your own goals back onto the wall , and remove the distorted mirror which reflects your goals and the competition around you. But it is unfortunate that many do get pressured to pursue the goals of another. This will be a smudge that can not be wiped from that clean shiny mirror.

LOVE YA LOVE YA LOVE YA yes.

Cee.