Past Memories v/s Future Dreams

There were times when I would sit and wonder why my mind doesn't stop. It thinks about tomorrow, day after, week after, month, year, decade later - mostly planning stuff. However, a lot of my time would go in dreaming - and that sometimes made me wonder if Im wasting my time.. or not..

However, just yesterday while I was finishing my second read of Thomas Friedman's World is Flat, second edition, toward the end of the book I saw a wonderful explanation by him. He mentions that if a company sat and thought about its past.. basically focused on memories, rather than their dreams.. then they are in trouble. He argues further that, "in a flat world", countries do the same too..

Just then I realized, that, duh, individuals need to do the same too! I mean think about it, you spend all your day thinking about the good days, and how things were great back then - versus, thinking about the future, planning, dreaming and planning further! Sounds more exiciting to me. I dont think its a bad thing to think about memories. Sure, if you dont have any good memories, whats the point of the life you already lived? Sometimes the past can help you learn more towards avoiding mistakes or people, etc. However, if your focus is your memories, and not your dreams.. yeah.. I'd say you're in trouble.

Man, Im so happy, and kinda relieved after reading that part of the book!

Sick Leave

So its a regular work day.. chop chop chop, satay satay satay... Oops thats not me.. Thats Monica.. (from friends).. So ya.. its a regular work day.. spec spec spec.. check check check.. and my business partner comes in and he's like, "you got a cold.. and ur coughing.. you know if you have such days when ur not well.. you can just let me know, that ur not coming in.. ill take care of stuff... " .. Im thinking.. thats nice on his part.. and.. get back to work..

A bit later i get up to get some coffee and Im thinking.. and I realize that Iv never taken a sick leave since Iv been here in the UK.. Then I look back and think.. Iv never taken a sick leave back in New York (at IBM) either.. Then I think further behind and I realize that ISU, my university or back in Bombay, here in London.. Iv never taken a single day sick leave while Iv been working !

I was quite happy about that, more like proud.. but then felt like a fool too.. because you know, I could take the sick days off and go have fun, instead.. so I tell my mom this story.. and shes like.. serves you right... I'm like.. huh !??! ... Shes like.. while you were in school, you used to fake falling ill all the time... and she burst out laughing.. And Oh My God.. what memories came back to me.. !

But I was a bit offended, coz I remember have won many certificates n awards in school.. so i look into at my suitcase of honour (ofcourse now its just a folder of scanned jpg files on my computer) and I realize that I had several Honorous Causa Certificates.. These were given to students who had a distinction in the avergae of the entire year and have had perfect attendance records.. So I have these certificates all the way from 4th grade (3rd grade I was down with jaundice for a bit).. until I graduate school and in between, in the 7th or 8th grade I have none.. So I call my mom again and ask her..

She tells me that a year before the 9th & 10 grades (when I got my black belt in Taekwondo, was a member of the student council, became troop leader of the school's scouts, etc).. I went through a phase of what my mom called, "mischief madness". Turns out, I did a lot of things to a lot of teachers, and got out of several important things with the best of the excuses in the world.. Mom said.. according to her thats when my mind started "running like the wind.."

Little does she know that I think almost around the clock and that I probably dont have a stop switch.. I have to get tired and fall asleep.. I cant remember now, but Im sure.. I was planning everything I did from the 8th through the 10th grades, while I was in the 7th! LoL!

List of Fixed Things That Will Change

So its a regular day at work. Not slept enough the previous night, came in by ten.. My business partner (Marty) and I are coming up with software specs to hand over to my programmers back in India.. the regular day..

Now the situation is that the system that we were building was getting more and more complicated. On a very busy day, with a hectic schedule - a packed calendar and a very frustrated hour.. we were trying to come up with things that would not change all the time.. So I stopped and thought, that if the number of changing elements did not change arbitrarily (basically had no logical pattern of change), then it may be easier to handle the changing elements.

I told him that we need "a fixed set of things that will change". Marty laughed and said, "Can I quote you on that one". Then, pointing to a calendar that has a picture of George Bush, "He would say something like that". A moment later it cracked me up too. Just realized that once I get out of code, or out of a series of logical loops and an intense planning and thinking routine, I may be able to come up with more time to do creative stuff. There was an article somewhere that said that, we are so busy doing stuff, that we dont give ourselves enough time to be creative. I realized that was so true. We should put time aside to be creative - I'm sure that will help us in every walk of life.

Later on in the day, I was thinking about fixed sets of things that will change, and also the very arbitrarily dynamic sets of things that one may come across in life. Things to which responses cannot be comprehended, in any way what so ever. And, there's no two guesses to what I stumbled upon. Im not going to spell it out, else people will call me sexist. I'm NOT. Just come across some very demanding, non-understanding women, and seen some of their traits in other women in general. Some say Artificial Intelligence will solve problems of men understanding women and vice versa. Firstly Im not sure whats intelligent about emotional responses, and trust me a lot of the drama I'v seen, is artificial for sure!