VirtuaLife

One thing I don't like about Asian culture is the common boast about how HARD Asians work.

The problem with this is that working 'hard' does nothing to address the issue of efficiency. It has everything to do with the issue of intensity. At lower levels for tasks requiring little thought, working hard meets no barriers. Once the nature of work starts becoming more complex, however, the problems start.

The alternative to working harder is to work smarter. What does it mean to work smarter? Working smarter means to look at the resources (both potential and realised) you have at your disposal; identify, create and consolidate synergies between these resources, and; monitor outputs to establish the relationship of cause-and-effect so that the results can be replicated elsewhere.

Of course, working smart without working hard runs into the same problem. If working smarter amplifies your results, you still need some tangible results to amplify in the first place!

Ironically, the opposite problem seems to affect Aussie folk. They're damn smart workers (motivated to beat/cheat the system?) but lazier than furniture. Just for the record. So you don't think I'm picking on Asians. Also note that these are generalisations; I'm not about to rain on specific people.

Apparently, 80% of physiotherapists suffer thumb pain. Blame that on all the poking and prodding we do, eh? Okay, so we work hard (arguably?). But why don't we start learning to work smart as well? Improve our ergonomics? Adapt treatment techniques? Promote self-management to give ourselves a rest (the answer to this last one is because most patients are so lazy and come in expecting a magic bullet for conditions that they've perpetuated through their inaction for months and years... bah. And no I'm not regurgitating that; I've treated such people first-hand). I find it difficult to understand how many physios are supposedly smart people but lose that reputation once they start work. Nobody ever told me that commencing a career had a dumbing-down effect :(

Let's broaden our horizons just a bit. Spiritually you've learnt to work hard. But have you learnt to work smart?

In Faith, Hope and Love!

I was about to hit the sack last night when I received a pleasant interruption from a dear and distant friend. Summarily, what was going to be an early (if 1am can be counted as early) turned into a 5 hour conversation ending at 6am instead. Waaaaaah

She’s one of the few friends towards whom I’m completely comfortable being ALL aspects of me. She’s seen me at my worst (just woken up with wax-encrusted eyes, tousled hair and the talking capacity of a stone), my best, and just about every other permutation in between. With her, I’m happy to be silly (that’s how we met), serious (that’s why we still talk), a scratching pole (metaphorically) and punching bag if needed. And that’s one of the few reasons why I was happy to shrug off the burden of sleep in exchange for yet another stimulating conversation.

She likes her weekends, which was why she stayed up last night. For her, working affords few opportunities to really kick back and enjoy some precious time to reflect on the insane progression of life. It was amusing to watch her sway back and forth on the webcam looking for the world like she was already tucked cosily into an invisible bed (I felt like tucking her in even then… hahaha paternal instinct :P). And in the midst of this arguably amusing reverie, she sprang a surprising admission upon me. An admission that has its roots all the way back to December 2005, when we first met.

I’m scared of life. I don’t want to grow up. I’ve never had a boyfriend and I don’t think I ever will. My standards are too high. I’ve been hurt and I don’t know if I’m in denial. It all came tumbling out as a gradual explosion and I was, for once, caught with my pants down (metaphorically, please). I offered her a shoulder to lean on as she elaborated, very consciously aware that it was a rather grubby shoulder (I had nothing better to offer at that time of night). But even as I listened, I began to understand something new. I began to understand… fear.

Now it might seem a bit strange that I say that. After all, we are all exposed to fear on a daily basis. But I’m not talking about that sort of clichéd, superficial fear, the kind that makes actors wet their pants in the movies or creates nightmares for little children. I’m talking about a fear the infects each and every one of us insidiously, poisoning our thoughts and limiting our desires. It is a fear, primal if I may say, that wraps itself around the very core of our lives, attacking us as individuals for what we are and what we stand for. It’s the fear of being worthless. It’s the fear of being meaningless.

I won’t go further into that conversation because it is understandably quite an intimate one. But it really showed me something. Human life stripped of its protections is so fragile. And if most of us don’t even understand the life that we live, then what hope in this world do we have of purging our lives of this fear?

She’s beautiful. She’s smart. She could fire off a thousand more retorts back at me than I could to her if only she talked faster (hehehe, to my benefit =)). She has a good head on those shoulders, a wonderful job, a loving family, and a heart that roars (or mews very loudly at least). And she still suffers from the very feminine feeling of… inadequacy.

Where are you at in your life? What fears grip your heart and make waking up every day to embrace the morning a chore rather than a privilege? Do you wake up lonely? Confused? Helpless? In Ecclesiastes 1:2, King Solomon, reputedly the wisest man in the world declared, ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless. ' Despite this dire proclamation he went on to offer hope; he offered an opportunity to transcend the meaningless life. Are you interested in that?

I bet YOU are.

In Faith, Hope and Love!

Just a general update of the holiday happenings thus far.

LAUREN’S 21ST

Went to Lauren’s 21st which was held at Mystique Nightclub in the Valley. The theme was Emergency 911 – so ‘we’ came dressed as anything from doctors and nurses to fighter pilots and (my favourite) Italian policewomen… you know, the kind that fights the law with the pointy end of their 6-inch stilettos. Hah!

I was kind of scared to get of out of the car in my scrubs, the first time that I was rather conscious of how I looked. Not so much that I was ashamed of myself (which I wasn’t, thank YOU) but rather the fact that receiving attention in the Valley is... well, for me, it’s a bad thing. So I bunkered down for 10-15 minutes waiting for the Sunnybank crew to rock up and provide social support for me as we sauntered thorough the public places.

Only to discover that they’d dressed comparatively normally (except nurse Zoe). So much for support. Bah!

Here are some of the pictures taken. For the record, the scrubs were sourced from my American uncle who is a fellow of orthopaedic surgery. He gave it to me for pyjamas while I was in Philippines.

Reflecting on the night, I feel quite sorry for Lauren. If I’m not mistaken, out of the 100+ invites that were RSVPed, only 30 showed on the night. That’s pretty pathetic, you know? I mean, why in the world would you say yes and then have the gross indecency to NOT rock up? The poor gal. And it was her 21st, too. Sometimes the amount of selfishness that people show shits me to tears. This was one of those times.

But speaking for myself, I had a decent night. Met a few new faces, got some contacts, exercised (read: danced) a little bit and managed to fall asleep upon heading home without that incessant ringing in my ears. Snaps for the birthday girl and her boyfriend who were amazingly dressed. And the moment when her stockings got caught on his pants… class act =).

TAMBORINE RETREAT

Man, I’ve been hitting myself over the head with this one. I kept on delaying my preparation for it because of other commitments and in the end got caught out with my own utter stupidity. I was late for departure because I’d misread the email and so at the time that I was supposed to be meeting everybody and going for dinner, I was actually just clambering out of bed and wondering how to START packing. Oops.

Among the list of things I dearly missed during the camp were: a full-sized sleeping bag; dental floss; a shaver; socks and shoes; flashlight; a notepad; my birthday scripts, and; a smile. Boooooo.

Still, God is ever gracious and despite the 1 hour I spent on public transport cursing myself as I dragged my gear to Sunnybank, His plans were already unfolding for me. I left home in an absolutely foul mood due to domestic circumstances but God spent the hour quietening me down and focussing my attention back on MY purpose for the trip – inner rejuvenation. Like the landmark forum, where my motto was to ‘Be Fresh with Life’, I was looking to shelve my pride and retake some lessons in eating humble pie by learning from the recollections of others. Jazzy posed it as a question to us in the car before we arrived and I’m glad that she did – it reminded me that despite the thunderstorm in my head, I was heading for an appointment with a God to whom the seas and skies submit.

I don’t really know how to summarise how Tamborine 08 was for me, really. I enjoyed being able to speak into some of my brothers’ lives more, since they seemed to be more open than they normally are in lifegroup. I enjoyed being able to sit back and see different passions unfold and interact as people got into the business of other people. I enjoyed being able to close my eyes and FEEL the hum and vibe of life whirling around me (do you ever do that? If you don’t you’re missing out). I enjoyed the two 5am sunrises, obscured by rain and clouds as they were. I was thankful for all the people who stepped into responsibility to make the camp happen – their servanthood was not only apparent in the planning, but also throughout the entire camp.

But it’s not like me to simply enjoy and be thankful, is it? Hahaha. I was quite critical of some of the things that were said/preached. People mixing emotions and feelings with relationships, again. I found disagreement over many small areas that I have either heard before or thought could be explained in a clearer way. For every person that may have risen up to the challenge of Tamborine, I saw another who I discerned could go further, yet seemed not to want to. Looking inwards, I blasted through my own barriers of spiritual submission, yet struggled with a previously conquered area of small giving. I saw that the embers in my heart had once again grown into a raging fire, but I struggled to understand how I could control it. Should I even have bothered – was I limiting the work of God in His fullness? That’s right…. it’s not like me to simply enjoy and be thankful. There’s a valuable lesson… always a valuable lesson to be learnt.

I also discovered a concept in Tamborine that for now I wish to call the Complement personality as opposed to Split personality. I will elaborate this in another post.

For now, those are the big updates.

Abby's BD celebration is tomorrow (today, actually?) and I need to go shopping with Sarah, hopefully on Friday. My new job starts this week to, so I'll take it easy and see how things go. This whole fasting fortnight thing is playing rollercoaster with my energy levels.

In Faith, Hope and Love!