The Opera Populaire

Looks like most of my frens have been too busy to blog. Used to envy those who were free when I was working, but now that I am bumming, I envy those who are working. Although I do understand that many of us quarter-lifers are struggling in our chosen careers, love or just life in general. So there is some comfort in the fact that we are all in this together.

It's not that I dunno what I want. It's just that I either dunno how to go about getting it, or cannot get it for reasons of competency etc. But at least, it's helping me narrow down options. And I am blessed that, even though biz is slow down here in Indonesia, I can still afford to bum. Even though I am increasingly feeling uncomfortable with it. But hey, there is a price to be paid for not conforming. I still can't help but get very affected when ppl call me immature etc and I do agree that I am a late bloomer by any standards. And my situation is unique, having to always straddle between living in two countries. Can I comfort myself by calling myself cosmopolitan? Heehee.

Saw something which both amused me (in the WOW sense) and oso sobered me on Sun. We went up to the nearby small city of Bogor and had lunch at this simple cafes you find all over Indonesia. Apparently their food attracted ppl from far away.

Anyway, there was a middle-aged pengamen (the equivalent of a busker) there playing guitar. I din take much notice of him at first, pengamens being aplenty here and most of them dun sing particularly well; they are usually just looking for money and will move on once you hand them some loose change. But soon I realised that he sang very, very well. He could sing those nice English country songs like "Take Me Home Country Road" and oso Indonesian songs proficiently! With his skills, he should be on stage, not in that little dilapidated cafe! My parents and I were endlessly fascinated by him. We wondered abt his background but din get the chance to speak to him. It made me think about wasting potential...something I fear and something that is happening to me now. Some circumstances beyond his control had perhaps happened to him to make him have to make his living as an ordinary pengamen instead of performing onstage in some big cities that his skills should have taken him. For me, the saddest thing is that I have the means but I neva fully make use of what I have. That is yet another wake up call. Anyhow I wish him the best in his life's endevour.

On another matter. I do appreciate advice etc, even though I may react in a stubborn way at 1st sometimes. But I just dun understand some so-called academics at times. Sometimes I think being in FASS trained us to think too theoretically, thinking we can understand things without experiencing them ourselves. We think too much like a hedgehog (for details, read the Saturday edition of The Straits Times Review section), rejecting any other information that strike us as not in line with what we see things to be. I dun engage in debates and discussions like many of my former classmates do, but I think I do have valid points of view to contribute and I dislike it when I get dismissed, esp when it's my own matter at stake. And, esp when the person's information is outdated or when he/she doesn't even attempt to see things from another angle, though I've explained it many times. But sigh...I guess that's the way things are and I just gotta react in a Godly way, hard as it may be sometimes. Maybe engineers and scientists are easier to befriend. At least they dun think in such complicated manners heehee :p