The Opera Populaire

Need time alone so made an excuse to stay home today. Re-watched "Emergency Room 24 Hours", one of my favourite Jap dramas.

One underlying theme in Jap dramas is this sense of professionalism in their work. Be serious and responsible in your chosen profession, even in the face of problems, personal or otherwise. I noticed this spirit while in Japan, too. Our tour guide got extremely disappointed whenever we all fell asleep on the bus. He told us that it was his duty to brief us, that his company paid him for it and that he was responsible in reporting what he had done daily. I remember thinking to myself that he could have easily chosen to take it easy; after all he had been in this business for many years, and just not get so hung up as to whether we were awake to hear his never-ending talk. But as my Mom said, both him and the driver took their tasks extremely seriously and never 敷衍 anywhere. Gathering times were kept to the minute, even earlier than we were supposed to.

I admire people who take their jobs seriously. But sometimes I think that we should not be defined by our jobs alone. The people I spoke to in church here feel that one thing that they will never consider working in S'pore because, while it may be a good place to study, it is not a nice place to work in. From my observation, it is indeed true that there appear to be a better work-life balance here in Indonesia than S'pore for most cases.

Of course, individuals to some degree have a part to play in their own work-life balance. Sigh...为什么有些人总是在这方面看不开。。。伤害自己的身体，把气出在别人的身上。

I agree with Uncle Jamie and I can oso never understand why people think that they want an established career before thinking about other things like marriage. I agree that some form of financial stability is necessary before committing to marriage, but this doesn't neccessarily have to equate to establishment with career.

And sometimes Jap dramas depict scenarios whereby the person continued to perform professionally even when they faced crises in their personal lives. For e.g. Matsushima Nanako was applouded when she quietly did her work saving lives when her fiancee was on the verge of dying. On the other hand, ppl were not too happy when this nurse went home to rest and re-charge as well as see her family after working non-stop after the earthquake. While professionally I admire a working attitude like Matsushima's, I dun see why the society must put a pressure on ppl like the nurse either, hard as it is to balance the two viewpoints. What will happen to our loved ones if we persistently put our work above them, in the name of professionalism?

I remember when I was working in the Red Cross FOC. I had a huge responsibility as the Vice-Chairman. My Bro was undergoing a major operation halfway during the camp. It was his 2nd op; I was fully beside him during his 1st. I did what I had to and left the camp for a day to visit my Bro since my Mum was in S'pore this time round so I figured out it would be ok since he would have someone beside him. In the night, the Chairman called me a few times and sourly told me that my god bro was throwing a fit due to some misunderstanding cos he thought I had the right to authorize something. At home, Mom was unhappy and said I din care about my bro. So, on both professional and family fronts, I failed. Or perhaps I should see it another way and say that well, watever ppl said, I have managed to balance both. But I think the most logical thing to conclude from the experience is that it is never easy to choose between work and life and I guess priority should be made on a case-by-case basis, although again this is really subjective.

Sigh....why not make life easy for myself and just find a way to end up as a tai tai hahaha...