Wisdom in a week

This week is bracketed by Harmony's bridal shower last weekend and her wedding this weekend. It was a crazy week both at work and personally. But absolutely wonderful!

Wisdom in bed

The bridal shower was more like a bachelorette party. Katia scheduled a Fantasia party as the main attraction of the party. Harmony blames me for it. Actually, the blame is not necessarily undeserved; I was the one who put the idea in Katia's head. And when we did a game where we went around the room giving advice to Harmony, mine were mostly about sex. Well, I figured nobody else would give her that kind of advice in public. I suppose I earned my "wild woman" moniker that day.

Wisdom in a word

At work, I delivered a couple of marketing documents that German delivered to the clients. My first foray into writing marketing copy, mind you. As Michael said, when I apologized for having no sales experience, "Everybody has done sales."

Then I met the CEO and partners of a would-be client. I found out that the CEO is also a Microsoft alum. He left only last February. I told him I left a year ago and, with German's prompting, described the company I'm starting. I said that current sourcing companies are beginning to get expensive and the CEO replied, "And some of them are plain crooks!" And that word crooks hit me. Well, not personally. But now I'm no longer worried. That seemingly insignificant remark reminded me of what I have to offer. I remembered that my edge is knowing the quality that the customer wants and understanding the language of the customer, because I have been inside. That was my turf!

So, I'm back to my original plan. I'll have to set up my own operations, and use the subcontractor as little as possible. I need to be able to control the quality of the workers and their training.

Wisdom in yoga

I surprised Cathy when I showed up unannounced at her yoga class on Tuesday evening and loved every minute of it. It was like a homecoming. Lots and lots of hugs from her and from Susan. I got to do familiar poses that I haven't done for at least a year. And I kissed my toes in a butterfly forward bend. But, oh, my abs and my quads ached the next day. (Jan complained about his own aches and pains from his badminton session, and I teased him and called him an old man. Of course, I didn't mention my aches and pains. :-) )

I went again on Thursday but I got pulled into a conversation as I was leaving work, so I got there halfway through the class, but it was a very productive class. I got into a headstand on my own and stayed in that pose for at least a minute. Maybe a minute and a half. That was the pose I was working on when I left for school last year. And now, I can do it! Of course, I was doing it against the wall, but that's the first step. I'm getting better.

And then after that, I attempted the Queen of Diamonds pose that I started doing on Tuesday but didn't quite get it. To do the Queen of Diamonds, you kneel on the floor, then lean back until your shoulders hit the floor, then you arch your back as much as you can, pull your arms over your head and back so that your forearms are resting on the floor. On Tuesday, I was able to arch my back high enough, but I couldn't get my forearms on the floor. On Thursday, I arched my back further than I ever had and was able to rest my forearms on the floor. Then I thought of arching a bit more just to see how far my hands could reach, when suddenly my fingertips felt something -- my toes! I reached my toes! When Cathy heard me exclaim, she came over to support my elbows and keep them down. I still had some weight on my head though, so I'll keep working on that.

Yoga with Cathy still amazes me. Each time I get to do something new, I gain even more confidence. Me, who had fallen on her face (literally!) uncountable times as a child. Me, who shunned sports as a teenager because I couldn't control my body. And here I am, enjoying the body I have, exactly as it is, and stretching my perception of what it can do.

Wisdom in love

At Harmony's wedding, she called to me to "get your butt over here" to try to catch the bouquet. I refused. I cannot make the commitment that marriage asks for, so why bother chasing after a bouquet?

I believe in reincarnation. We are attracted to people whose souls have a close affinity with our own souls. So when we truly love someone, we didn't start loving them when we met them. We had that affinity from the start of creation and will continue to have that affinity till the end of creation. So the people I truly love, I have loved from infinity and will continue to love to infinity. I cannot promise to love them; loving them is inseparable from my soul's nature. Promising to love them is like promising to be me.

Falling in love is simply remembering that spiritual love. And falling out of love is forgetting that spiritual love. And there are a lot of distractions in everyday life that make us forget. So when we promise to love someone, we are actually promising to keep remembering that higher love. And that is a promise that has to be renewed everyday, not just in a ceremony. Because tomorrow is not ours to promise. We can only promise today. I promise that I will fully remember and express my soul's love for your soul today. And if tomorrow comes, I will make that promise again.

(It was my sister Sam who recommended the book "Journey of Souls" by Michael Newton, which talks about groups of souls who are reincarnated in groups to help each other learn new lessons in that lifetime.)

Wisdom among friends

I was so happy to see Huaying after more than a year. There was so much to talk about that we hung out together during most of the wedding and the reception. We compared school experiences and talked about career plans after school. After the wedding, Huaying's husband Ling went ahead, so we could keep chatting. Harmony's mom, Huaying, Katia, and I and rode in Katia's car. After dropping off Harmony's mom at her hotel, we headed to Kirkland and decided to stop by Starbucks.

So, there we were, laughing and chatting it up outside Starbucks with lattes in hand. It was just like old times, but with a slight difference. A few years ago, conversations like this were peppered with tech jargon like "build breaks," "BVTs," "test runs," "ZBB," "code complete." This time, it's "Porter's five forces," "return on investment," "COGS," "franchising," "first mover advantage."

We've changed. Each of us. Three insecure nerdy techie women, now confident polished business women. Yet, deep down, we are still essentially the same. Whatever brought us together in friendship almost a decade ago is still there, whatever it is.