Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Status green, we are go!
The past month and a half have been extremely difficult. I've been averaging about 5 hours of sleep every night, I very nearly ended 2 friendships, caused my mom to cry, and caused my fiancee to cry. All of this was due to the impending wedding that is about to take place in the next week and a half.
Before anything can be said, one has to know that the combination of emotional volitility in women and differences in expectations will result in explosions of the emotional kind. In this case, it was the differences in expectations of our wedding.
Now, for anyone who knows me well enough, I don't have any qualms with anyone planning a big event such as this on my behalf. Ultimately, nobody is trying to ruin anything, everyone wants the event to succeed.
So, when I was faced with the crisis of trying to please everyone, I realized that this would be the toughest task I have ever faced because pleasing one side meant hurting the other, and vice-versa.
Thankfully, THANKFULLY, both sides came to a compromise down the middle and the fires were able to put themselves out. Hopefully we can get to that special day without anymore incidents. One can only hope...
Before anything can be said, one has to know that the combination of emotional volitility in women and differences in expectations will result in explosions of the emotional kind. In this case, it was the differences in expectations of our wedding.
Now, for anyone who knows me well enough, I don't have any qualms with anyone planning a big event such as this on my behalf. Ultimately, nobody is trying to ruin anything, everyone wants the event to succeed.
So, when I was faced with the crisis of trying to please everyone, I realized that this would be the toughest task I have ever faced because pleasing one side meant hurting the other, and vice-versa.
Thankfully, THANKFULLY, both sides came to a compromise down the middle and the fires were able to put themselves out. Hopefully we can get to that special day without anymore incidents. One can only hope...
Monday, November 13, 2006
Meeting the parents...
There are so many pressured moments in the world that perhaps it would be good to go over some of the biggest ones in my mind:
-Shooting the final free throws to either win or lose the final game of an NCAA basketball tournament game.
-Making a business decision that could decide the fate of your company. "Should I play it safe? Should I go for broke? Should I sell the friggin' company and run for my life while scores of disgruntled employees go after me?!?!?!?!?!"
-Bluffing at the poker table and putting all your chips in the middle.
-Meeting the parents of your fiancee.
I met with my fiancee's parents this past weekend again. Although this wasn't the first time meeting, we've actually met 3 times before already, this meeting was by far the most challenging. My future brother-in-law, easily the gregarious of the family, couldn't make it to dinner, so I was left to try to make conversations in Japanese with my future in-laws all by my lonesome. It wasn't tough in the beginning, my mother-in-law really likes me and made things go smoothly.
Then, there was the mano-a-mano talk with the father. Nobody else was there, just me and him. THAT'S pressure! On top of that, he speaks nor understands a word of English either. Even more pressure.
Luckily, the theme of our talk was about my work. I have become so engrossed in my work these past few days that I felt comfortable discussing the ins and outs of the financial recruiting industry.
I didn't know how the talk went, but according to my fiancee, he was pleasantly surprised and delighted with my approach to work. His knock on me was that I was a nice guy, but perhaps too passive for the recruiting business. Once we talked, his perception of me changed, which turned out great. Maybe it was the eye of the tiger, but I'm just glad that it went well.
-Shooting the final free throws to either win or lose the final game of an NCAA basketball tournament game.
-Making a business decision that could decide the fate of your company. "Should I play it safe? Should I go for broke? Should I sell the friggin' company and run for my life while scores of disgruntled employees go after me?!?!?!?!?!"
-Bluffing at the poker table and putting all your chips in the middle.
-Meeting the parents of your fiancee.
I met with my fiancee's parents this past weekend again. Although this wasn't the first time meeting, we've actually met 3 times before already, this meeting was by far the most challenging. My future brother-in-law, easily the gregarious of the family, couldn't make it to dinner, so I was left to try to make conversations in Japanese with my future in-laws all by my lonesome. It wasn't tough in the beginning, my mother-in-law really likes me and made things go smoothly.
Then, there was the mano-a-mano talk with the father. Nobody else was there, just me and him. THAT'S pressure! On top of that, he speaks nor understands a word of English either. Even more pressure.
Luckily, the theme of our talk was about my work. I have become so engrossed in my work these past few days that I felt comfortable discussing the ins and outs of the financial recruiting industry.
I didn't know how the talk went, but according to my fiancee, he was pleasantly surprised and delighted with my approach to work. His knock on me was that I was a nice guy, but perhaps too passive for the recruiting business. Once we talked, his perception of me changed, which turned out great. Maybe it was the eye of the tiger, but I'm just glad that it went well.
