Ten years ago today, I remember that I was walking past a building on my way to my 8am calculus class when planes crashed into the two proud, glass structures. When I got to class, there was an announcement made and classes were cancelled for the rest of the day. That evening, Tiana and I huddled in blankets as we watched the two towers crash and burn over and over again with tears and disbelief in our eyes.
On this tenth anniversary, I'm just so thankful that it was just another ordinary day. Pacifica Church added a Senior class this school year and I was appointed to be the Lead Teacher for the class. To kick off the class, I figured it would be a good idea to have a meeting with all parents, teachers & students to define the curriculum and structure of the class. So I scheduled a meeting during lunch today.
When I went to the dining hall to grab some lunch first, I met one of the students who just grabbed lunch and was about to go to the library for our meeting. She sheepishly asked me, "Does my Mom have to come, too?" To which I replied, "Of course. All parents should come." She then said, "Well, she says she's not coming." "Uh oh," I thought. "What happened? Why wouldn't she come?" So I approached her in the dining hall and just casually asked, "Are you coming to the meeting?" She then looked at me and was very emotional. She said that she's mad at her daughter and that she cannot come to the meeting. I could tell that she was very emotional and I had to pick my words wisely. I wasn't sure what to say, but words came out of my mouth because I had to say something. I told her that even though she's mad at her daughter, she's not mad at me or at the class. I told her I really need her to be at this meeting so I can get her buy-in and support. it won't be longer than 15 minutes, I promised. To my great relief, she paused and then told me she just needs 5 minutes and she'll join us at the meeting. During the meeting, she told me that she thought I handled the situation very professionally and said the right things to convince her to come to the meeting. However, I'm as surprised as anyone else for having convinced her to come so successfully. I could easily imagine an alternate ending to the conversation. One that ends in self-fulfilling prophecy of her becoming mad at me right after I told her she's not mad at me. So I'm so thankful God put those words in my mouth because He knew she can accept them. I'm just so thankful we were able to have our first Senior Class meeting and everyone can be aligned on the class goals. Okay, I'm a bit desperate for what to be thankful for today so this is all I have. I've been eyeing these urchin test knobs from anthropologie for at least a month since they went on sale for $2.95 each (from $8). It's not cheap, but I've come to realize that even average cabinet knobs are $2-3 each. I teetered back and forth between getting them until one day, they were no longer available! Well somehow, today they are back for sale! So I ordered 6 of them hoping to add some hardware and color to our bathroom. We don't have any hardware for the cabinets there somehow, so these will help.
I was scratching my head about what to make for dinner tonight. David is working late and I peered helplessly into our fridge. Unlike most Asian families, the refrigerator at the Jeng residence is usually on the empty side. At first I was thinking maybe we can just eat out, but then I decided it's better to save money and try to use up whatever is left in the fridge.
I had defrosted some mystery meat from the freezer last night, which I found out happened to be beef! Yay. That one was easy since I can stir fry it with red bell pepper & celery. The problem was I had roasted three beets a few nights ago and I have no clue what pairs well with them. In the past, I'd just cube the beets and serve as is. But from past experience, eating that much beet somehow disturbs our digestive systems. Not in a bad way (i.e. diarrhea). Somehow it just feels different and our stool is a lot more solid and our urine becomes pinkish. Sorry, I'm sure that was more information than you cared for. But I am interested in why so if you happen to know, please do tell! Is it good or harmful? So I was thinking about what to pair with the beets so it can be a substantial veggie dish. I happened to have some avocado and cucumber on hand so I decided to cut everything up in bite-size cubes. I didn't even bother tossing everything together since beets bleed magenta. Then I held my breath and did a taste test of one beet cube + one cucumber cube + one avocado cube. It actually tasted good! It sort of reminds me of avocado + honey (which I love). The crunch from the cucumber was a good contrast from the silky avocado & beet. PHEW. Okay, dinner is served! I've told a few of you that one of the reasons I'm stressed out at work lately is because of a supplier issue we are having. It's really not the suppliers fault, it's ours. And I didn't know it then, but I inherited this problem when I started with the company in February.
This supplier is making an extremely critical component on our device. It's also a really difficult component to make. The component is basically not designed for manufacturability so it currently has 20% yields. Our supplier has been complaining to us about this issue for at least a year, but we've been sort of ignoring them and telling them to march forward. Shame on us! Last week the supplier finally gave us the ultimatum. When our materials manager put in an order for this component as usual, she got a nasty email from them saying that they will no longer supply this component. So she forwarded that whole email string to me and told me to take care of it. Honestly, I wasn't happy to represent our company on this issue. I don't agree with mgmt's approach in the past. But no matter how I blame the problem's origin on them, it's in my hands to fix now. Last week during our weekly Wednesday calls, the engineer I work with once again told me how difficult and unhappy they are with making this component. Trying to be the peacemaker, I told them that I totally understand their position and I will work with them to develop a new component to replace it. However, in the meantime they must supply this part to us. They cannot just pull the plug on us. At the end, they said they understand my position, too, and the conversation ended there. This morning in our call they made a surprising recommendation. We usually receive this component in 12" lengths from them and then immediately cut it into 1.5" strips. Well this morning, the engineer asked me if we could receive this component in 1.5" lengths instead of 12" lengths. He says that it's much easier to keep the tolerance over shorter lengths than over longer lengths. I was elated when I heard him say this! I knew that it means they will continue to supply this part to us after all! The double blessing is that it's also a elimination of a manufacturing step whenever we receive material already cut-to-length from a supplier. So this will make our production supervisor very happy as well! It's really a win-win solution. So I really thank God. He really heard my prayers concerning this difficulty. All praises to His name! After we got home on Monday at around 4pm I felt tired. I was sitting in the cafe and reading some magazines when I realize that I was getting really sleepy. Like I could fall asleep on the chair. I'm not a person who naps (because I don't know how) so it was strange. So I went upstairs and went to sleep. For 14 hours.
Well technically it's not 14 straight hours. David did wake me up once to eat some chicken soup and honey lemon water that he made (thank you, honey!). After that, I was too tired to even take a shower or wash up so I went to bed straight straight away. And I didn't wake up again until 8am this morning. What was amazing was, when I woke up this morning I felt so rejuvenated. The sore throat did not feel stifled -- it was gone! I felt completely recovered and well! Really thank God, because this is going to be a busy two weeks and I need to be 100% well. David and I went to Sacramento Church for the NW District Youth Fellowship this past Labor Day weekend. It was a nice trip overall and I'm thankful for the following things.
I had drafted this long, morbid post about how I hate work but then Weebly decided to die just when I was about done so my post is lost forever. Maybe it's better this way at the end. I really don't feel like re-writing the whole thing so I'll just leave you with the synopsis:
Even though life has its beauty, it doesn't come without pain and cost and troubles. With every dream, there is a burden. With every silver lining, there is a dark cloud. I'm not trying to be pessimistic; life has two sides to it. I'm simply acknowledging that truth. I wish I can just quit my job and be released from the burdens associated with it. Indeed, this thought had crossed my mind every few months or so. Sometimes it becomes insupportable for me to think that I have to labor for 40 more years until I can rest. FORTY years! I envy those in retirement or on the brink of it. However, I know it is irresponsible to ask someone else to carry that burden for me, because we can't live for free. So it's my duty and maybe even an expression of love to keep working. But I'm glad that there is an end to life someday. Forty years sound like forever to me right now, but there is an end. As wonderful as the happy days are, it'll be an impossible and unbearable burden to live forever. Last night, David and I went to the Mountain View Performance Arts Center to watch Sense and Sensibility. It's a Jane Austen novel that I have yet to read (I know!). It's a story about two sisters, Elinor and Marianne, who has their share of love and heartbreak. And of course true to Austen's style, both sisters happily married for love at the end.
Actually, Austen's life can't be more different than the happy characters in her novels. She never married. The rumor is that she had a love affair with Tom Lefroy but I'm not sure if that relationship was as wonderful as she had given to all her leading ladies. Regardless, it's a fact that she never married. I think many sisters today (or maybe women in general) find it difficult enough to find a decent brother to marry. Someone that can truly steal their hearts and someone who is not a burden to come to love. Many sisters lower their expectations and tell themselves to have more faith! In the words of Mrs. Bennet, "It's all very vexing!" Whenever I think about this point I feel extremely grateful that David and I married because we are attracted to each other and love one another. |
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