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Hey, you are late for 1 on 1 meeting with your boss: Anniversary

January 8, 2015January 8, 2015by have you eaten?Leave a Comment

I thought I disliked surprises. I found out today however that I enjoy them.

Do you love coffee? I sure do. I love everything about coffee, smell, shape, different flavor and taste depending on regions, history, romance of preparing coffee…list goes on. I work for this coffee company and every day and every hour, someone is leading a coffee tasting. Meetings-coffee tasting, birthdays-coffee tasting, welcoming new employees-coffee tasting, we have new crop-of course, coffee tasting, someone leaving the company-coffee tasting, someone getting married-coffee tasting. Anyway, you get a point.

My boss sent me an email yesterday with this message, “Hi, can we please meet at 11 am on Thursday. I’d like to talk a couple of things.” She and I are tight. She knows she can talk to me any time and on anything. This message sounded a little strange to me because we do have regular 1 on 1 meeting every Monday. I started to get nervous and I thought that she was going to leave the company (no!) or I was going to get let go (NO!!).

So today is Thursday. I was having the meeting at 10:30 am with different team member and it was supposed to last only 30 min but the meeting went longer. I sent a text message to my boss letting her know that I was running a little late. She replied to me “you need to come see me now.” Oh crap, I thought “this must be serious” She will let me go.

I ran back to her office and she was waiting for me outside the door. Oh great. We are going to go to HR now to complete the exiting process. She took me to this area where people can hang out, drink coffee, eat lunch, whatever that may be. What I heard was, “SURPRISE!” “CONGRATS!” Oh yeah, Today is my 1st year anniversary at work.

They prepared a big French press pot of Ethiopia coffee, dark chocolate to accompany with,a a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and a thoughtfully written card by my boss.

I will never forget the taste of coffee I had on the day of my 1st year anniversary at work and the day I found out I didn’t get let go.

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jazz

Sweet sound of clarinet: Artie Shaw

January 7, 2015January 7, 2015by have you eaten?Leave a Comment

Artie Shaw…I wish I had been born in 30’s.

When was the last time you felt that you could not even register what’s happening to you?

I must have been 12 or so when I learned about the difference between woodwind instruments and brass instruments in music class. I remembered the difference as knowledge then just to pass the test. In my late teen, this sound hit me like a ton of bricks. In the middle of this vinyl shop in Shinjuku, Tokyo, my body froze and I could not move. It was sweet, warm and lovely sound of clarinet. I remembered about the music class all of a sudden. Clarinet is woodwind instrument and this is why the song sounded so tender to my ears. My heart started pounds fast and my throat tightened up. I was trying very hard not to burst into tears. It was just like love at first sight. After the song ended, I run to the store sales person and asked who it was. He told me it was Artie Shaw. I grabbed a couple of his record and went home. I listened, listened, listened, listened, listened and listened to his record. And listened. As soon as I dropped a phonograph needle on his record, his music would transport me to a jazz club in Chicago or New York (depending on songs). I would be wearing this Gatsby-esque dress, small hat, and smoking a very skinny cigarette. I thought I could hear people chattering, foot taping on the wood floor, cocktail glasses clinking. I wanted to be inside of his records. And I still do.

I started to listen to other clarinetists (what a great word. clarinetist) and enjoyed them all, however to me, no one could replace Artie Shaw (what a wonderful name…Artie Shaw). Tender, beautiful, humorous, quiet, playful, classy, sexy, introverted and romantic sound of clarinet.

Side note. He must have had a great ear because he hired Billie Holiday (my hero) to sing with his band. The world’s tightest pair in the music history. Thanks to my music teacher to make me realize this not-so-flashy woodwind instrument could turn my world upside down.

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What the hell is water? : my introduction to the new world

January 4, 2015January 4, 2015by have you eaten?Leave a Comment

I LOVE books. I am kind of obsessed with books and reading. My favorite place from age 6 to age 16 was the library, then after 17, it got switched to bookstores. I love everything about books. Smell, ink, fonts, covers, the feel of the pages, insights, stories, emotions, feelings, metaphor…and vulnerability. Book is a powerful thing because it can give you all different kind of perspectives. I grew up trying to get inside of authors’ head. I was (am) a book-nerd. I was raised by TONS of books and Billie Holiday.

A few years ago, I learned a little bit about David Foster Wallace. His masterpiece is called “Infinite Jest” and it is a 981-page book. It sounds intimidating. Then, my best friend introduced his commencement speech at Kenyon College in 2005. My ears had never heard greater thing than that. The first time I heard it, my eyes welled up. He did not say to be a go-getter or be a fearless, mindless, unkind leader of corporate America. His entire message was just this. “Awareness.”

So, here is why I decided to start my blog. As being a book-nerd, I have always wanted to write since I was five but I never tried. Writing my own stuff in this space is new to me. This is quite scary and vulnerable. But I want to get out my comfort zone and routine, then I want to be conscious about my life. His speech starts with this one old fish asks two young fish, “how’s the water?” as he passes them by. Then those two young fish look at each other, then say, “What the hell is water?” I am that young fish in the blogging world. I want to see what’s out there. Not only discovering what’s out there, I want to be aware what’s happening in my world by writing in this space. I just want to know what the hell water is.