Project for 2012: Happiness!

The last day of 2011.... sad to say, but I kinda liked 2011. It's the year I started this blog and I so happy that I'm still writing continiously 'till the end of year, and that gives me hope that I will have more fun and exiciting adventures in 2012!

My goal for 2012 will be more about happiness. I started to read this book about happiness. It's someone's personal project that I think is very brilliant. Well, I write more about the happiness project after I finished reading the book. This is my last post for 2011! So goodbye year 2011, it's been a great year and see you all in 2012!

Perfect

I love this song so much and just then I saw the video, it's somehow awesome! It's kinda seeing my younger life. For me, growing up was kinda though, and i always feel that no one understand me and I don't fit in anywhere. I still don't know why it was a bigger deal back than. Maybe that's what most teen feel. Then, if you survived and you go out of your parents house and life on your own, you'll face more difficult situations that "fitting in" is not an issue anymore. For me, facing the uncertainty and having too much choices (a.k.a. fredom) are my issues for know. There are no guide line anymore, but if there is, I wouldn't want to follow it anyway.

The funny part is, I still have my childhood Teddy Bear like the girl in the video and the owl wall sticker in her daughter's room. I hope I'll have that happy ending too.

Friends

Finally! I start to watch Friends all episode from today! It's the 20th December 2011. It's gonna be a long journey of 10 seasons. So far, I've watched 5 episodes. It is still so funny! I love Friends so much. What I hate while watching this is that I missed my friends so much. Being working in different places and being married and all of that stuff can make someone so far away from their friends. I still have a good time chatting with some of my friends, but it's not like those good 'ol days. Where are you guys??? I miss you all!

Ruins

I've just watched the first part of Julia Robert's Eat, Pray, Love (Italy part). It's not my first time watching it, yet it still give me the same effect. Why is it like that? Haven't I change? Maybe there's still the same issue that going on and on in my head, something that I don't know how to let it out.

In that part of the movie, Liz talks about the ruins of the city. Who ever build it wouldn't have imaged that it will only be ruins. It was a beautiful architecture before the war came. And did life disappeared? No, people build a new life around that ruin and life goes on. And that ruins is still there as a reminder of the heartbreaks and it is also it's a symbol of a transformation. My question is, am I ready for that transformation? Are you?

Here's the complete quote from Elizabeth Gilbert, the author:

“A friend took me to the most amazing place the other day. It’s called the Augusteum. Octavian Augustus built it to house his remains. When the barbarians came they trashed it a long with everything else. The great Augustus, Rome’s first true great emperor. How could he have imagined that Rome, the whole world as far as he was concerned, would be in ruins. It’s one of the quietest, loneliest places in Rome. The city has grown up around it over the centuries. It feels like a precious wound, a heartbreak you won’t let go of because it hurts too good. We all want things to stay the same. Settle for living in misery because we’re afraid of change, of things crumbling to ruins. Then I looked at around to this place, at the chaos it has endured – the way it has been adapted, burned, pillaged and found a way to build itself back up again. And I was reassured, maybe my life hasn’t been so chaotic, it’s just the world that is, and the real trap is getting attached to any of it. Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation.”

Don't you think is true? I do...

Love...

I've just read an interesting post from Paulo Coelho's blog: give love and seek no reward. That is so true! When I was younger and naive, I thought that love is about give and take. But it just doesn't worked that way. You'll be disappointed if you waited for the other person to give you back when they don't even feel they had take something from you. If you waited, that means you are seeking for a reward. That includes simple things like answering your text message, saying thanks for the little things you do, etc, those are only rewards. What I've learnt for this couple of years is that love is really just about giving. You just give and you're genuinely happy. Is just simple like that! So what's love to you?

posted from Bloggeroid

Quote of the month

I guess this is my last "Quote of the month" for year 2011. I started this year with so much hope and agenda, the one thing I'm proud of is that I kept my commitment on making at least one post every week. There have been moments where I was so busy or go bored or got sick or even had a very bad Internet connection, but I got through every single of it, and I'm proud of myself! I've read somewhere that we need to celebrate the good things in life before it will past us just like that, but I'm waiting just two more weeks to celebrate that. Why am I so proud while I know others have made much much more better blog than I do? Well, first, it because this is the first time I took a long term task and I don't quit! I've had so much issues in quitting long term things. Second, because I found so much wonderful things to share with you and I hope I could share more! And last, I kept some of my thoughts recorded! What a relief! Hahaha...

Winter Song

(click on the picture for a larger version)

Some phrase from a beautiful song called Caledonia... While listening to that song (sang by Ronan Keating), I kinda felt it fits my mood. I guess I'm a bit more melancholic lately... This year is almost over, just days to go... I was never a fan of endings. I always want to make the most of the moment before something really ends. I really hoped that next year everything will be great. I guess it's time to recap what we've done this year, make notes on lesson learned, and make plans for life a year ahead. Well, every ending have a new beginning =) I hope your's will be wonderful!
Here's a wallpaper I made just for you...

Almost Katy...

Just like Katy's new single "The One That Got Away"... This is exactly how I felt!!! I'm so sad I lost Katy's concert tickets just by seconds! Katy Perry is going to have her concert in Jakarta, Indonesia at January 19, 2012. The ticket box was only opened for one day at November 27, 2011 and it's already sold-out (just one day!!!)! Because I don't live in Jakarta, I'm counting on the online ticket system which was starting selling, today at 9 PM. I was so prepared. There were only 25 tickets of the seat that I wanted to buy. I clicked it as fast as I could... Then, after I click the continue button, I got a "Bad Gateway" message!!! I refreshed it in just seconds, and the tickets were sold out already! D*MN! I tried to buy the more expensive tickets, but it only took not more than 5 minutes to be sold out! I am so sad =( I really wanted to see Katy Perry in live because she's so damn good in singing and performing! And partly because I wanted to fulfill my 30B30 list. Katy is so good that her 5000 tickets were sold out only in a matter of minutes! Boy oh boy...

Well, that's all for now, there's nothing I could d0. I guess I just have to find another concert that I like or see Katy in Manila (?) Still deciding which one is better.

What's your favorite Christmas song?

It's time to dig in those Christmas songs =D
My top five favorite of all time are:

• Christmas Through Your Eyes sang by Gloria Estefan
  
  

• Sleigh Ride sang by Billy Gilman and Charlotte Church
  
  

• Another Year Has Gone By sang by Celine Dion
  
  

• Do You Hear What I Hear sang by Elmo and Rossie O'Donelle
  
  

• Last, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.... I love all version of this song! And this is the dreamy Michael Buble version =D
  

So what's yours?

Happy Birthday Dad!

November 27th is my Dad's birthday! We celebrated it by eating veggie food and watching The Adventures of Tintin. Tintin is one of my Dad's favorite comics. And it is so great seeing those comic books turn into live! Through out the whole movie, my Dad seriously thought that the characters where real humans! HAHAHA... Thanks to the wonderful art and computer world that now can make cartoon looked like real!


My Dad loves Tintin, Lucky Luke (his favorite of all), and all of that adventurous stories because he himself is an adventurous guy! Maybe it's because those comics and stories that he read through out his younger days. And I guess that's what he always encourages me to love since I was little: stories. I remembered when I was in the fourth grade and my school was being built, the fourth grades students goes to school at 12 PM, after the other kids got home because there ain't enough class rooms. It was fun for me because I could get up late! Sometimes, my Dad took me to watch the 9 PM theater. I remembered I always feel like a cool kid because I was the only kid in that theater hahaha...


My Dad was small village boy who dreamt to go out to the world. Then at the age of 19, he went to the big city to pursue his dream. After that, he made it by living in various countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hongkong, Australia, Vancouver, Philadelphia, and others that I can't remembered. He lived in each countries for about 3 months to two years. I still don't know how he did that! Actually, a part of me wanted that too... but I haven't find a way to do that. I hope someday I will have a great adventure like my Dad!

Well, this is the Tintin trailer:

Love Actually...

It's almost Christmas! YAY!
Last Wednesday, when I got up at 4 in the morning, rather than 7 a.m. like I usually do, I kinda thought that it would be a good idea to watch my favorite Christmas movie, Love Actually...
I always watch this movie near Christmas... And this is my favorite scene:



What's your favorite Christmas movie?

The day I bake a cake

One more thing on my 30 Before 30 that I did! YAY! I didn't have time to take pictures when I was making the cake because it was a hectic day, but this is how it turned-out after me and my mum decorated it. I'm so proud of what I did. I'm a person who loves handmade things. For special people, I always try to make handmade things for a gift...


Why did I want to bake a cake? Because I was born from a mother who make cakes! This is me somewhere in 1984. This was my mum's cake shop. It's called Nirmala. She sell snacks, drinks, and also make cakes. I remembered when I was little I got my own baking set that looked like real! I also remembered that I somehow had helped my mum making cookies… It's funny, because growing up, I never thought of learning or even wanting to bake cakes. I was busy with computers instead :P


Those happy memories of cakes and cookies made me want to learn how to bake a cake! And it will be a great thing to bake a cake for a special occasion: my cousin's wedding! To even top it, it's the 11-11-11 Wedding! I got this idea 2 weeks before the wedding. I imagined making a beauty white three tier cake with red flowers flowing down.


So on 10th November, I started my first lesson in baking a cake from my fabulous mother (love you Mum!). We only have a small oven, so it took quit a long time, but it's good for a first time learning because I make not only one, but four trays of cake. The first one, my mum help me by showing how it's done. There's some tricks that's not written in the book! Then I made the rest. All of the cakes turned out beautiful and it smelled so good too! I didn't burned or undercooked any… YAY! And it tasted great! Nice going on my first try. I will surely bake more cakes in the future… I loved it! I'm planning to buy my own oven next December =)

Quote of the month

November... getting near to the end of this year makes me totally mellow... And just like this quote says... avoiding things won't bring any peace (trust me!), specially avoiding how you are feeling from yourself... but... that was the exact thing that I do best. The result was, I became so much like Eeyore, so gloomy, gain TOO much weight, and even got a little insomnia. I considered this sad fact when I finally 'really' looked at myself in the mirror and not recognizing the girl in front of me... I've changed so much to the very wrong direction. I did knew it by heart, but never had the courage to do the opposite thing, so I turned to other things just to get through the day, the week, the month, and in the end, the year is almost over. I've come to a wake up call... I know I haven't have the courage yet to change whole thing around, but starting from yesterday, I have change little things. I try to sleep and wake up early and regularly, exercise 30 minutes in the morning, clean my living space bit by bit, start eating healthy food, chat with good ol' friends, and try to search little things that can make me happy. I trying to take things just in the pace that I can bare, and so far it feels good. I want to go back to the right track of being me again.

note: this picture is actually my photo from my very lovely visit to Tidung Island which I think is the right place for the word "peace".

Wedding Cake Preparation

11-11-11 is my cousin's wedding day!
With the help from my lovely mother, we're gonna make a wedding cake! YAY! It's my first time baking a cake and I want to make it special :) This is something I wish the cake would looked like or planned to looked like! Wish me luck! It's gonna be a busy week...

The day I was sick

I was planning to make a post about Halloween, but "something went terribly wrong" (quote from Ted Mosby - The Slutty Pumpkin episode hahaha…). First, my new Internet connection won't connect. It won't even work at all =( So here I am with a week with no connection. How did I get this post in my blog? Well, I have to go to the nearest Internet cafe to post it (note: in a rainy day).

Second thing, I got sick! Getting sick at work was not a good thing at all… but I got a traditional treatment: kerokan. I don’t know what language that is, but I guess it is Javaness. Kerokan is a traditional Indonesian treatment to cure sickness by using coin rubbing. I don’t really get the scientific approach, but after the coin-rubbing thing, our body gets warm, and it increased the blood flow near the skin surface. Look at the mark I go!


Well, I kinda looked like an abused victim LOL… So horrible! But I doesn’t hurt at all. I requested the most gentle rubbing because I’m not used to it. The sicker you are, the marks would be more red and just by a gentle rubbing, it will already leave a red mark. After a few hours, I’m getting better (it’s also because the soup, the medicine, and a little rest). So I guess that was my costume for this year Halloween =P

Jogja Java Carnival 2011

Jogjakarta, one of Indonesia's favorite tourist destination held a yearly festival called Jogja Java Carnival (JJC). This festival is usually being held in mid October, though this year, it was held at 22nd October. This year was the most spectacular one I've ever seen! People from all over Indonesia and even from other countries came to celebrate. The more the merrier! The show started at about 7.30 PM. The crowd was wild. Small people, big people, children, old people, cartoon characters, men, women, and even trans gender came to celebrate the night! Everything was so beautifully colorful! I stayed there until midnight, and one word to described it: AWESOME!

Started with this colorful guy...

Then came the Javaness Princess! She's so beautiful!

Suddenly, this old Wonder Wo"Man" came to cheer the night.

They also have this pretty rainbow car…

Even Spongebob showed up! Nice to meet him =)

The crowd started to get wild! They even climb the tower and roof tops.

People from other countries came too! This lovely couple is from India.

Then there's the famous Jugde Bao from China.

Even an Egyptian creature came!

The people from Arabia's 1001 Night!

And there's this funky golden girl came from nowhere! So amazing!

Not to forget this girl wannabe! Lots of kisses for the guys!

And the music is played by this accordion guy!

A scary Balinese monster started to dance!

And look at this adorable little girl!

They even brought the Trojan Horse in town!

And an AMAZING dragon came to end the night!

It was like a fantasy! What a wonderful experience! I can't wait for next year =)

Book Hunting

Book hunting is one of my favorite things to do. Well, of course I like new books, but buying a "second-handed" book is also fine with me. A few weekend ago, I when to this huge supermarket (kinda like Walmart in USA), and found a section of old books. The books were really really old! But nevertheless, I have lots of time, so I thought, why not try to find "some hidden treasure"!

It was so much fun, I spent almost an hour to find my hidden treasure hahaha... My aim was for the books of my favorite author, Paulo Coleho, but I had no lucky with it. Maybe because the book was still kinda "new". Then I tried to find older books from my other favorite author, Katherine Paterson. I loved reading her books when I was in high school. I have three of her books, and others I only read in the library (my favorite place on earth!). I was hoping to get a copy of "The Great Gilly Hopkins" in English. It was my favorite of them all. But errr... No luck on that too! It's relatively hard to find in my place. I'm hoping someday I will find it =)


After searching and searching and hoping there's a system like Google where I could just type-in what I'm searching for, I finally found these books that I still found it worthy. Those books are:

- The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. I've watched the movie many of times, maybe about 15 times and still can feel the emotion (a.k.a I still cry through the movie hahaha...). I've read the book before, but not the English version, so I was happy I got this one.

- The Mermaid Chair, another book by Sue Monk Kidd. I've consider to read this book a few years ago, but never bought it until now. I hope it will be as touching as the first book I mentioned.

- A Year In Provence, by Peter Mayle. Quite an interesting title and I love the book cover although I know I literally shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but to be honest, this book cover gave me a very good first impression. Lately, I don't know why, but I'm so attracted in books about changing how someone's lives.

- Bridget Jones - The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding. Watched the movie but never read the book. Not a favorite category, but I guess it's just a nice light reading.

So I guess I have a lot of reading to do! HAPPY READING!

The Versatile Blogger Award

Surprise! Surprise! I got The Versatile Blogger award!


Well, it's not often that I got an award, so I'm so happy to get this one. This award is more about friendship and making connections, so I would happily be a part of it. Here's the three things I should do:

First, I would sincerely thank Harinda Bama, a blogger buddy, a great traveler writer & photographer, a wonderful traveling friend, for sharing this wonderful award! And for the description about me, I loved it so much! Never knew someone would thought it like that! THANK YOU, you're awesome!

Second, here comes 7 random facts about me:

1. I'm a girl who loves a song by it's lyric! I'm not good in music but I love it so much! And I could not live without my iPod :)

2. Teddy Bear is my love! LOL… I love Teddy Bears since I can remember! Especially, a very special Teddy Bear I got when I was five. Ssst… I still sleep with him (or her?) HAHAHA…

3. I like watching people and wandering what their life is like. I don't judge, I just WATCH. I think that's what I like to do since I was little. Maybe I'm a watcher rather than a do-er (that's the sad fact). I don't know why, but watching other people's life can amaze me. That's the idea of my blog. I want to be able to captured interesting things about life. And now, I'm trying to come out as a do-er rather than just being a watcher.

4. When I was in the 4th grade, I have this theory that the mind is the most powerful thing a human have. I didn't know that theory like that was something popular because I never heard of it before. I discovered it when I wanted to go to the kitchen at night. Our kitchen was so dark and far from the living room where everyone is, so it was a bit scary. One day, I tried to go there and not thinking that it was scary. It was a success! I didn't even felt scared at all. Then I did another trial, I went there and thought all of the scary stuff that could happened. It worked! My heart pounded so quickly and I was so afraid that I ran out as fast as I could.

5. I secretly wanted to be a model! Why? I love their job: to tell a story with the scenes created and they get to travel the world to do that! I think that not all models are stupid. Some were even so smart and have a good value of life. I sometimes envy girls who have the body of a model but don't want to be a model.

6. My favorite time of the day is sunset! It's like the happy bright day is over and we entered to a mysterious dark night, so exciting! I have captured a lot of sunsets and I wanted to see more in the weariest place of this world (cross my fingers).

7. And last, all I ever wanted in this life is to have a ticket of the world! A phrase I took from Spandau Ballet song "True". I hope in a not long time I would have it!

And last, in no particular order, I would like to dedicate The Versatile Blogger Award to:

colormekatie My idol! Katie can always brings up my best mood. I love her life, her blog, and even her cat.

rob.in.the.blog A dear friend who shares a one year training experiences and now become a fellow blogger, traveler, and photographer.

A Sparrow‘s Flight A very nice blogger friend who shares beautiful stories about life.

aroomsomewhere I've followed this nice blog from a long time ago. She a wife, a mother of two, and a great blogger.

neil slorance Neil has the awesomest doodle ever! I always enjoy his arts.

I would also say thank you so much for those who read my blog. It's so fun being able to share a piece of life...

Quote of the month

It would be appropriate if this month quote is dedicated to Steve Jobs. "Stay hungry. Stay foolish." was the closing of Steve's prepared text of the Commencement on June 12, 2005 in Stanford University. This phrase was actually his favorite phrase from the final edition of the Whole Earth Catalog, entitled Whole Earth Epilog (1974). I loved the idea of it. And it is still something I try to always be.

I won't write much, you just have to see it for yourself. It's inspiring.

Goodbye Steve Jobs...

Today, the world has lost one of the amazing human being ever lived, Mr. Steve Jobs… (1955 - 2011)


Excerpts from President Barack Obama's statement:
Steve was among the greatest of American innovators — brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it. By building one of the planet’s most successful companies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity. By making computers personal and putting the internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only accessible, but intuitive and fun. And by turning his talents to storytelling, he has brought joy to millions of children and grownups alike. Steve was fond of saying that he lived every day like it was his last. Because he did, he transformed our lives, redefined entire industries, and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history: he changed the way each of us sees the world.

Maybe I'm just a Mac user and a fan of his work, but I believed in him. Something amazing about Steve is that he's a person who did followed his dreams and made something great for man kind. What I like from Obama's excerpts is "And by turning his talents to storytelling, he has brought joy to millions of children and grownups alike." It is so true. Maybe Steve Jobs was once a nerd, but what makes him stand out from other nerds is his ability of storytelling. Storytelling is the most basic thing that a human being have. For the first years of childhood, children learnt lots of things from storytelling. And as an adult, don't you think that you're not doing it anymore? Well, I guess that's not true. Everything single song, movie, books, even blogs are about storytelling. Even when you work as a marketing agent, you have to tell a story to get a customer, don't you? So I believed that storytelling is an essential part in human live, and Steve Jobs has done a very great job to help us make storytelling a big part in our lives.

Steve Jobs' live is a live that is so worth to capturing. How he spent his live doing the thing he loved, going through those ups and downs in life and still came out and made something good for man kind. He had big dreams and he did made it to life. I guess that's the kind of spirit I needed to continue living my dreams.


I'm a Apple fan even since I don't have money to buy one. The first Apple that I bought was the first generation of iPod Shuffle. I did some work in my college just to get it. At that time, we didn't have an Apple Store yet, so I bought it with the help of my friend's sister who lives in the US. I love my little shuffle so much! Then after college, I worked for about 6 months to earn my first Macbook! Something that I always wanted to have (and I still use it)! The love of Apple products landed me a job at the first ever Apple store in my city! It was a short 3-unforgettable-months before I left for a job at the bank. I was in a big dilemma at that time; to worked at my favorite store or go on a more serious job. Well, I guess faith had took me somewhere else, because later on, I experienced more life turning adventures.

That's what Apple is for me. I love the products because of the great vision behind it. I planned to buy the last Steve Jobs product, "iPhone 4s" once it's released in my country. A friend of mine wrote on his FB; why the new product was not iPhone 5 like everyone's prediction, maybe it's because iPhone 4s stands for iPhone "for" Steve. Well, whatever that is, Steve Jobs was the a great artist that exist in my time. GOODBYE AND THANK YOU MR. STEVE JOBS…

The Zahir by Paulo Coelho

Have you ever felt like there's something or someone that's always bothering your mind? From the morning that you wake up until the end of the day, there's always something that made you think about that certain thing or person. And it sometimes just consumed your whole mind… Well, that's what this book is about. I found it an amazing reading. Couldn't stop reading and wondered if all of that was real for the author. I believed that the occasion would be different, but the feeling in this book is real. Paulo's have this great ability to captured life in his books.


A Zahir (or sometimes Zaheer) comes from an Islamic folklore about an object that traps everyone who takes a look at it. It made the person obsessed with that thing until the person cannot see reality anymore. In Paulo's case, the zahir was his lost wife (or you may call it ex-wife). After losing his wife mysteriously, I became obsessed to her. The void that his wife made, made him go to a search for her from the beautiful city of Paris to the majestic landscape of Central Asia. At the end, the search has became a search of the truth on his own life and made him understood the nature of love.

I love the story about why the railway tracks is always 143.5 centimeters or 4 feet 8 1/2 inches. It's an absurd measurement, why not make it 150 centimeters or 140 centimeters to be easy? It's funny but it's true and I won't spoiled it here for you.


This is something that Paulo puts it in a way I never thought before but I really agreed:
"The Zahir was a fixation on everything that had been passed from generation to generation; it left no question unanswered, it took up all the space; it never allowed us even to consider the possibility that things could change."
I think I have lived my life that way and I know that others do it too. And I have the feeling that I don't want to be like that, but in the other hand, I feel that I don't have the power to change it. It's a search that I owe myself and I will go for it.

When I read a book that connects me in a certain way, I always wondered if my story will end up the same. To be honest, I don't really like the ending of this story, but the journey itself is a wonderful journey to be followed.

It is always important to know when something has reached its end. Closing circles, shutting doors, finishing chapters, it doesn't matter what we call it; what matters is to leave in the past those moments in life that are over.
~Paulo Coelho, The Zahir

Fly...

Firework

Last Saturday, I got lucky to see a firework party :D

I tried to captured it's beauty... but I was not as easy as I thought. So I got pictures like this...

and with a little imagination could be a glowing flower like this

or even a jellyfish look-a-like? HAHAHA...

But anyway, it was sooooo much fun! The DJ played Katy Perry's Firework... Such a beautiful night =D




I love this song so much... It's all about passion, dream, courage... what a wonderful thing!