#13 順著時鐘走 Flowing with Time (w/English)

不知道要寫什麼的時候就拿日記交差 When not knowing what to write, just resort to diary.

2:00 手機竟然響了。平常手機是關靜音的，但因為Erik不在，得自立自強靠靠鬧鐘醒來，這幾天睡覺前都會把靜音模式關閉。沒想到今天竟然響了，不知道多久沒有聽到鈴聲。一看竟然是外婆，外婆總是說怕我忙，極少打電話給我，半夜兩點打來想是有急事。接起電話，另一端的外婆元氣十足，只是好像不是在跟我說話。聽了一分鐘多，確定外婆聽不到我的聲音，掛電話睡去。

08:00 出門上班。在路上打給外婆。

「外婆，跟妳說一件好笑的事喔，妳昨天打電話給我。」

『真的喔，我怎麼都不知道？』

「對啊，我接起來妳在跟別人說話，妳說妳禮拜五有空。』

「喔那是我老師啦，她來約我吃飯。』

「這樣喔！」

『妳去之後別人家不要笑那麼大聲喔，妳笑起來很好聽，我聽妳笑都開心起來，但不可以笑那麼大聲，會沒有禮貌。』

「好啦我知道。」

09:30 接二連三的會議。

工作上換了一個新的職位，暫代請育嬰假同事的職位。這一週是同事最後一週，怎麼說呢，交接時間永遠不嫌多，但至少接下來幾個月還算有清楚的方向。

今天也是最後一次和職涯導師的正規會面。慷慨如他，依照規定他一季只需要撥出半小時，但過去一年他願意平均約一個小時會談。到這個年歲，十足能體認到一個人最珍貴的就是時間。另外也體認到許多問題的答案就是時間，沒有捷徑。

18:00 (工作真就是會吃掉人這麼多時間。)

去了HEC Paris來瑞典為了對校友招生而辦的大師課，主題是Permacrisis – The new normal in organizational change。講課教授是德國人Mathis Schulte，口條流暢把主題講得深入淺出，很有前老闆李吉仁的風範。本來不認識課名第一個字，查了才知道是2022年某字典網站選出的英國年度代表字，意思是a long period of great difficulty, confusion, or suffering that seems to have no end。

以前在EMBA課程當助教的時候，十分不能理解經理人們花大把銀子上沒有正確解答的管理課。這次去了才理解到，真的是每天忙於工作跟生活，難以另外再去好好整理新的資訊和研究。在短短一個小時的課內，教授針對主題提供清晰思路和框架來刺激想法，外加討論組織重組這個大部分的人都正在經歷的主題，大家都能有深切共鳴而互相取暖，或許才是其價值所在。

會後也和久違的同齡校友閒聊，他悠悠說去年剛離婚，這已經是這一年來第三對，我心想，也到了這個年紀了是嗎？

18:30 (Grace 搭飛機飛走了。)

23:00 雜事

寫瑞典文作業，清家裏(一邊聽電影原聲帶)，本來還想洗衣服，但最後把剩下的力氣都拿來寫這篇文章了。

(明天Erik終於要回來了。)

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Hundred Days Writing Project #13 Flowing with Time

2:00 The phone unexpectedly rang.

Normally, my phone is on silent mode, but because Erik is not home, I have to rely on my own alarm to wake up. Hence, I've been turning off the silent mode before going to bed these days. I didn't expect it to ring today. It's been a while since I heard the ringtone. It turned out to be my grandma.

Grandma always says she's afraid I'm busy and rarely calls me because she does not want to bother me (which she never does). She called at two in the morning, so I thought it must be something urgent. I answered the phone, but on the other end, Grandma was full of energy, as if she wasn't talking to me. After listening for over a minute, I realized Grandma couldn't hear me, so I hung up and went back to sleep.

08:00 Heading out to work. Called Grandma on the way.

"Grandma, let me tell you something funny. You called me yesterday."

"Really? I didn't even know."

"Yeah, I picked up, and you were talking to someone else. You said you were free on Friday."

"Oh, that was my teacher. She wanted to make plans to have dinner."

"I see!"

"Remember, don't laugh too loudly when you visit. Your laughter sounds lovely to me, and it makes me happy just listening to it, but don't laugh too loudly, it's impolite."

"Okay, I will not."

09:30 Back-to-back meetings.

I've taken on a new position at work, temporarily filling in for a colleague on parental leave. This week is my colleague's last week. Handover time always feels insufficient, but at least we have a somehow clear direction for the next few months.

Today is also the last formal meeting with my mentor. Generous as he is, according to the agreement, he only needs to allocate half an hour each quarter, but over the past year, he's been willing to spend about an hour on average per session. At this age, I understand that time is the most precious thing. After the sessions, I also realized that many answers to questions come with time, no words can solve the issue in seconds; there are no shortcuts.

18:00 (Work really does eat up so much time)

Attended a masterclass organized by HEC Paris in Sweden for alumni. The theme was "Permacrisis – The New Normal in Organizational Change." The lecturer was Professor Mathis Schulte from Germany. He spoke eloquently, delving deep into the topic in an understandable manner, reminiscent of my former boss, Lee JR. I didn't recognize the first word of the course title. I found out it was chosen as the UK's word of the year in 2022 by a dictionary website, meaning "a long period of great difficulty, confusion, or suffering that seems to have no end."

When I was a teaching assistant in the NTU EMBA program, I couldn't understand why managers would spend tons of money on management courses that didn't provide clear answers most of the time. This time, I understood that people are busy with work and life every day, making it difficult to set aside time to digest new information and research properly. In just one hour of class, the professor provided clear insights and a framework to stimulate ideas, along with discussions on organizational restructuring, a topic that most people are currently experiencing. Everyone resonated deeply with each other and found similarities in each other's company and connected. other easily, perhaps that's where the real value lies.

After the meeting, I caught up with a friend who went to the same school but had not met each other for a while. He casually mentioned that he got divorced last year, and it was the third separated couple that I had known in the past year.

18:30 (Grace left Sweden.)

23:00 Miscellaneous tasks

Did homework in Swedish, tidied up the apartment while listening to Ludovico Einaudi, and was planning to do laundry. But I used up the remaining energy to write this piece in the end,

(Erik is finally coming back tomorrow.)