I have never liked philharmonic orchestras much.
I hate the volume of the music. It’s like banging in the ears and you wouldn't be able to pick up the subtle pleasing elements, once the music piece is played by such a large group of musical instruments.
But I changed my mind last night.
I have never like philharmonic orchestras because I have never seen a good one.
I went to the Piazza Live Relay of the Berliner Philharmoniker performance last night. We were all sitting on the ground of the square outside of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, in which the concert hall where the actual performance was housed.
Although the quality of the sound was not as good as in the concert hall for sure, the experience I hope was comparable.
“Music is alive” was what I summed up the whole performance. You could really feel that there was life to the music: It was not just a reproduction of the notes on the scores, but a resurrection of the spirit of the music captured in the various notes that made up the pieces.
Obviously the musicians, including the conductor, were top-notched, because they put the breath of life back into the music.
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As a side issue, I was enlightened again by my interaction with the fellow audience. Since we were sitting outside in the open air, and nobody needed to pay, the audience was fundamentally different from those sitting in the concert hall. Basically, people did not necessarily observe the basic etiquette of going to this kind of performance. People coughed, munched on their potato chips and biscuits, made laud gobbling sounds, and talked, during the performance. It’s true that they consciously kept to the minimum level of noise, but if you were in the concert hall, you would simply NOT do them.
I am a person who cares very much about what is right and what is wrong. The behaviours of these people sitting around me simply irritated and distracted me. This was most felt when I realized I missed the first 2 movements of Richard Strass’ Ein Heldenleben because I indulged in staring at the lady sitting next to me munching away happily at her chips and biscuits.
It was such a loss!!
If I had not indulged in such meaningless activities, I could enjoy the concert much more. This, I believe, is equally true if I have not indulged in complaining about the wrongs of myself or others around me, but move on with improving the life ahead of me.
Come to think of it, you only live once, so why waste your energy on such distractions?
Concentrate on meaningful things will be my motto henceforth.
15 November 2005
14 November 2005
To be or not to be, that's the question
What do you do when you don’t have much to do at work?
I think I like this job as much as I hate it.
A project has its life cycle, and hence the peak and low seasons. During the peak seasons, I would not be able to rest too much. Sometimes I even have to stay up till the small hours of the morning to coordinate testing activities. During the low seasons, though, I often need to surf on the net for the whole day. I feel especially useless at these times. And when I get more and more used to the job, I get more and more efficient so the workload is becoming less and less.
Surely I can tell my bosses that I have nothing to do, but that means in the peak seasons I would be much worse off. So, what should I do?
Being a Christian, I believe that I should be diligent and trustworthy. But isn’t there a saying, “promotion is punishment”? The better you are, the more jobs you would take from those not performing. So, you end up doing 2 to 3 persons’ work, while those slack people can just sit there and wait for the next pay day. Worse still, your boss would push the bar higher and higher for you, so that you never reach his expectation and he never needs to award you with promotion or pay rise. That’s the aim for bosses, isn’t it, getting people to be more and more efficient while paying you less and less?
This is a true dilemma for me. I would like to be honest and right in my job, but on the other hand, not be “punished” by more workload that drives me to the limits, and threaten my health.
Lord, please help me in solving this “mystery”!!
I think I like this job as much as I hate it.
A project has its life cycle, and hence the peak and low seasons. During the peak seasons, I would not be able to rest too much. Sometimes I even have to stay up till the small hours of the morning to coordinate testing activities. During the low seasons, though, I often need to surf on the net for the whole day. I feel especially useless at these times. And when I get more and more used to the job, I get more and more efficient so the workload is becoming less and less.
Surely I can tell my bosses that I have nothing to do, but that means in the peak seasons I would be much worse off. So, what should I do?
Being a Christian, I believe that I should be diligent and trustworthy. But isn’t there a saying, “promotion is punishment”? The better you are, the more jobs you would take from those not performing. So, you end up doing 2 to 3 persons’ work, while those slack people can just sit there and wait for the next pay day. Worse still, your boss would push the bar higher and higher for you, so that you never reach his expectation and he never needs to award you with promotion or pay rise. That’s the aim for bosses, isn’t it, getting people to be more and more efficient while paying you less and less?
This is a true dilemma for me. I would like to be honest and right in my job, but on the other hand, not be “punished” by more workload that drives me to the limits, and threaten my health.
Lord, please help me in solving this “mystery”!!
02 November 2005
What a long absence - some miscellaneous thoughts
It has been 3 months since I last posted anything here.
I was extremely busy in August because of projects at work, and then extremely busy with my study in September and October.
Can you imagine that after taking 3 weeks of holiday in the two months of Sep and Oct, I only barely finished my 3 assignments for the one MBA subject?
Gee, that was tough.
Work is now much more quiet. I could fall back to my normal web-surfing-whole-day state. It's good for a change, but definitely not a good sign if it is always like this.
---
I think I really need a holiday away from Hong Kong.
I have not been flying out of Hong Kong since March 2004. This is the longest yet since I got on this Project Management job. Normally I need to fly out once a year at least, so it's a bit hard to adapt to the fact that I am staying in Hong Kong for such a long period. I feel sort of itchy; a strong urge to get out of town for a few days. But flying out alone is a very lonely thing. It's even worse than watching a movie alone. I cannot explain the loneliness. I always envy other people who won't feel it.
---
I had been spending heaps recently. I had been extremely tight financially this year due to a consortium of reasons, e.g. paying for my MBA studies, paying for Mum's hospital and surgery expenses, paying for a live-in maid to take care of Mum, plus my various savings plans. But I found that I could only behave (spend the bare minimum just for maintaining my exsitence) for a certain period of time. I need to spend on "luxuries" (not essential to my existence) once in a while to keep myself sane and balanced.
This is bad, because frankly speaking I do NOT have an absolute need for those things; I just like having them. These are things like my new iPod Nano, which I bought myself as a birthday gift, and my new sets of gold jewelry. (Note that I used setS. That means I bought more than 1 set. Sigh...) On the one hand, I need to do this to release the pressure that was built up by the highly varying workload, but on the other hand, I hate myself for spending on "luxurious" goods which could turn into some people's keeping for probably several years.
But I guess if God gave me the money to spend, I could just spend within the limits. It's true that it might be due to some personality weakness that you may call "sinful nature", that I like to spend money like this, but I guess if God doesn't mind that much, why should I? He does allow me the spare money. Probably He knows that I need this to keep myself sane??
Well, there's no point arguing with myself like this. I shall know when I see Him up there.
---
I know that I live a life that seems to have little trouble, but within this quite stable, and regarded as well off living by some brothers and sisters, I do have my problems and worries. It's true for everyone I guess. Some may be quite poor in terms of money, but rich in terms of their gratitude towards what they have. Some may be filthy rich and yet uncontended. I guess if God grant me this way of life, I should just be grateful and enjoy every second of it, giving thanks to Him for what I have and don't have.
Thank you Lord, my Father in Heaven.
I was extremely busy in August because of projects at work, and then extremely busy with my study in September and October.
Can you imagine that after taking 3 weeks of holiday in the two months of Sep and Oct, I only barely finished my 3 assignments for the one MBA subject?
Gee, that was tough.
Work is now much more quiet. I could fall back to my normal web-surfing-whole-day state. It's good for a change, but definitely not a good sign if it is always like this.
---
I think I really need a holiday away from Hong Kong.
I have not been flying out of Hong Kong since March 2004. This is the longest yet since I got on this Project Management job. Normally I need to fly out once a year at least, so it's a bit hard to adapt to the fact that I am staying in Hong Kong for such a long period. I feel sort of itchy; a strong urge to get out of town for a few days. But flying out alone is a very lonely thing. It's even worse than watching a movie alone. I cannot explain the loneliness. I always envy other people who won't feel it.
---
I had been spending heaps recently. I had been extremely tight financially this year due to a consortium of reasons, e.g. paying for my MBA studies, paying for Mum's hospital and surgery expenses, paying for a live-in maid to take care of Mum, plus my various savings plans. But I found that I could only behave (spend the bare minimum just for maintaining my exsitence) for a certain period of time. I need to spend on "luxuries" (not essential to my existence) once in a while to keep myself sane and balanced.
This is bad, because frankly speaking I do NOT have an absolute need for those things; I just like having them. These are things like my new iPod Nano, which I bought myself as a birthday gift, and my new sets of gold jewelry. (Note that I used setS. That means I bought more than 1 set. Sigh...) On the one hand, I need to do this to release the pressure that was built up by the highly varying workload, but on the other hand, I hate myself for spending on "luxurious" goods which could turn into some people's keeping for probably several years.
But I guess if God gave me the money to spend, I could just spend within the limits. It's true that it might be due to some personality weakness that you may call "sinful nature", that I like to spend money like this, but I guess if God doesn't mind that much, why should I? He does allow me the spare money. Probably He knows that I need this to keep myself sane??
Well, there's no point arguing with myself like this. I shall know when I see Him up there.
---
I know that I live a life that seems to have little trouble, but within this quite stable, and regarded as well off living by some brothers and sisters, I do have my problems and worries. It's true for everyone I guess. Some may be quite poor in terms of money, but rich in terms of their gratitude towards what they have. Some may be filthy rich and yet uncontended. I guess if God grant me this way of life, I should just be grateful and enjoy every second of it, giving thanks to Him for what I have and don't have.
Thank you Lord, my Father in Heaven.
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