Newton’s Law – For Every Action There is an Equal and Opposite Reaction (or something like that)

So if the positive action was meeting and having a conversation with Justin Timberlake (combine that with finding not 1 but 3 skirts that actually fit me here) and I was doomed for a HUGE negative reaction. And boy did I get just that! The days following talking to JT were quiet possibly the worst days in my professional career. I can say this with some certainty now that I have been working for 5 years (yikes, I’m getting old!).

There was a series of horrible meetings with my client, fights with my team, and actual tears shed. Under normal circumstances, this series of terrible events would be combated with phone calls to and visits with my “support system” aka friends and family who have been patiently listening to me complain for at least 10 years (if not more) and when all else fails, a flight home. However when you are 6,000 miles away and 13 hours time difference from your cheering section, it becomes very challenging to pick yourself up after a difficult day. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention one evening in particular that I was so frustrated with everything that I left the client site (see above entry for how not a pretty picture the client site is) walked directly to the convenience store, bought 2 bottles of cheap wine and proceeded to down them (through a straw) on the train home. At one point I had tears streaming down my face. Now in many countries this would elicit at least a look of concern from bystanders but in this country void of emotion, my sobs didn’t even get a second glace. I spent the next day in my concrete-clad apartment and decided that I had exactly 8 days until I boarded a flight back to Atlanta so I could go into auto-pilot and make it through the next few days. And at this point I didn’t have a return ticket to Tokyo and I didn’t care!