To keep my soul sane

Finally for some me time.

It's been slightly more than a month since I started working. Sometimes I tell myself to see work as a new school to learn things in and I do hope I will. I'm not sure if this's the best place to work in, but I'm sure it's not that bad either. Things can get a little mundane when the things I like to do can't be applied in my work. Things can get a little discouraging when people don't see the point in my beliefs. But I'm glad there's still people on the same wavelength as me and that's good enough for me to learn from.

Then came a reply letter from Schmid, a good reminder for my soul to read more and think about things in life, and think about what can I do to share something with him the next time. If it weren't for my fyp and that little surge of courage to write to him, I wouldn't have been more inspired than now. He understood my work and what I was trying to tell him. That alone has made me a very very happy fangirl and will keep me going.

Go!

職人

Today I learnt a new word: "Shokunin" 職人.

“The Japanese word shokunin is defined by both Japanese and Japanese-English dictionaries as ‘craftsman’ or ‘artisan’, but such a literal description does not fully express the deeper meaning. The Japanese apprentice is taught that shokunin means not only having technical skill, but also implies an attitude and social consciousness. These qualities are encompassed in the word shokunin, but are seldom written down ... The shokunin demonstrates knowledge of tools and skills with them, the ability to create beauty and the capacity to work with incredible speed ... The shokunin has a social obligation to work his/her best for the general welfare of the people. This obligation is both spiritual and material, in that no matter what it is, the shokunin’s responsibility is to fulfill the requirement.”

I've finally watched "Jiro dreams of Sushi" today. How do you like whatever you do so much that you devote your whole life to it? Does it require much self-discipline to be able to hold on to your passion for the rest of your life? Leaving no back doors for yourself (because Jiro's parents told him he has no home to return to) so that the only way to survive is to succeed. Not only striving to hone your skills but liking your job and the process too. How? How do these people have so much drive?

It always baffles me how sometimes when your hobby turns into a job, the passion fizzes. Does it mean that you don't really like doing it as much as you thought you did? The shrimp dealer said it true

These days the first thing people want is an easy job. Then, they want lots of free time. And then, they want lots of money. But they aren't thinking of building their skills. When you work at a place like Jiro's, you are committing to a trade for life.

I would like an easy job and lots of free time but I do want to hone my skills. For now I think I do like my job but perhaps with more control of the type of projects I take up and more time given for each, I'd like it more. But how can anyone not like to have free time when there are so many distractions/ fun /interesting things you can do when you are free?