Commuting

Commuting is regular travel between one's place of residence and place of work or full time study. -wikipeda

This day is the last day of my-two-years-that-I-have-to-live-in-this-tiny-town! It's not that I'm gonna move anytime soon (which I hope I am!), but I'm being free to leave this job whenever I want to! That feeling made me feel way, way, way much better. Starting from tomorrow, I'm so free to leave the company or I could stay, and that will be MY CHOICE :) I'm free as a bird!

I work in a national company that has lots of branches around the country. I cannot choose which town I will be placed. Before I started to work, the company give us a one year education with the return of two years working. I started the education in 2008 and I've been put to work in this town for at least two years and I cannot resign during the two years.

The town where I worked is two and a half hours drive from my hometown and it can be a three and a half hours by bus. I said that it's a tiny town because the town is only one big main street. The town doesn't have any airport, train station, or even taxies! I miss taxi so much. I never knew how much I would need a taxi before. Specially when I have to go home above 8 PM, there's no public transportation so I have to walk (alone, in the dark, so creepy!).

I live in this tiny town for 5 days in a week (I rent a room) because it's to tiring to go back and forth. I go home every Friday nights and go back to work Monday mornings. This is my big problem working in this town. The transportation is not easy! There's no bus (or any other public transportation) that goes directly to the town. I always have to stop in another town then take another bus. At Monday, I have to wake up at 3.30 AM so I could take the early bus (4.30 AM). That's why sometimes I can still see the moon in the morning. The past year I have been lucky because I got a commuter friend (one of my boss) that gives me a ride back and forth by car (yay! Thank you so much Sir!). Unfortunately, starting from tomorrow, he have moved to another town, so bye bye comfort ride for me! :(


This are some views I captured on Monday mornings.


This is the moon near my house at 4 AM on clear day.


This is the morning view at 6.39 AM that I get if I ride by car (the bus have a different route). It's so lovely because we drive thru small villages, so it's worth waking up so early. I'm gonna miss those days.

Once...

Tonight, I finally got the chance to watch a movie my friend R had recommended to me. It was an 2006 indie movie, so it was not easy to find. At first, I liked the song "Falling Slowing" sang by Kris Allen on American Idol season 8. I didn't know it was from the movie "Once". The story was classic, about guy meets girl, but the rest was different and unexpected. It's about: what does it feel like to be in love. You should see it for yourself. I won't spoil it.


Looking at this movie feels like the real stuff. I guess when you dreamt of something then meet the perfect person to support your dreams, everything will a meaning. I think that if the guy didn't meet the girl, he'll still be singing on the streets and never realize that there were bigger things for him. I don't like the ending, but I guess that's just what is like in reality.

This is Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglove performing "Falling Slowly" live on Letterman.


And here's a clip Once: what does it feel like to be in love? . It is so beautiful.


So, have you ever fall in love? Even though just Once...

New York, New York!

I grew up watching and reading American stories. I watched sitcoms like Full House, Small Wonder (Vicky the robot), The Cosby Show, and even Married With Children. I read Sweet Valley Twins series, The Babysitters Club series, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Ghostbumps and lots more! But what always been my childhood favorite was about the life in New York City! All of my childhood and teenager days, I always dreamt to live there someday. There's something that fascinates me about NYC. Maybe because the huge varieties of the people and cultures. Well, I haven't had the chance yet... but I still hoped someday I'll be there!

Here's a few of my favorites books / movies / sitcoms about the life in New York City (now and then):

Book: Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
Well, the titles tells what's the book about! It's a funny yet lovely story of a true New Yorker.

Book: Ford Supermodels of The World (series) by B B Calhoun
It's about the life of six young girls becoming supermodels and they have to live in New York City. My favorite among the series was "The New Me" because it'a about an awkward small town girl named Paige who was lucky to become one of Ford's supermodel after her grandma sent the application.

Book: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Again, another Judy's book... I guess I just felt in love with her New Yorker theme books! This one is really funny if you are a girl and growing up.

TV series: Friends
My favorite all time! I watched it since I was in elementary. It was the late night sitcoms, but I always find a way to watched it! HAHAHA... I didn't know what I was laughing at when I was a kid, but after watching it again as a 20 something, I thought that the story was more related.

TV series: The Nanny
This is me and my mum's favorite show! We always watched it together and laugh as hard as we can!

TV series: How I Met Your Mother
I watched his series after I moved to this little town and away from all of my friends. When I watched it, I missed my friends so much, and really wanted to live back to the big city :( Anyway, this story is so entertaining, I love the character of Ted.

TV series: Sex and The City
Of course it's Carrie! Such an America Dream. Girl from a little town, moved to NYC and pursuit her dreams. What an ideal life :) Though it's nice to watch!

Movie: Little Manhattan
A lovely New Yorker romance. I love it so much!

I really really want to go there someday! And like ol' Frank said:
If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere.
It's up to you
New York, New York!

The Teddy Bear Story #4

Teddy was strolling by the park.
Teddy past by a little yellow flower and picked it.
Now, where would be the perfect spot to see the sun go down?
Thought Teddy.
Maybe near the coconut tree!
So Teddy when there... but was just not good enough.
Teddy when on to find another spot.
And just before the sun goes down, there it was!
A lovely view by the pond.
What a perfect evening!

Vesak Day = Buddha's Birthday

Vesak Day or Vesākha is a celebration of Buddha's Birthday. Celebrating Vesak also means to bring happiness to others. I'm not a Buddhist, but if it's about bringing happiness, it's worth celebrating!

I got lucky this year, I got the chance to go to a Vesak celebration in Borobudur temple. It's in Central Java, Indonesia if you're wondering. It's the biggest Buddhist temple in the world. I love it because it's so so old or people called it ancient! hahaha… There's always a weird feeling going to historical places. I always wondered what it's like hundreds of years ago. I mean, the temple was so old that it's been generations of human that's been there before. It feels so mysterious!

I went to Borobudur Temple early in the morning, hoping to catch the parade. I got there on time. It was a sun shiny day, so it's perfect! The place was so crowded. The Buddhist priest sprinkled holy water to the crowd. Me and my camera got sprinkled! I guess we'll be blessed.

These are the young novices. They are ordinary people who live as a monk for a month to get spiritual developments.

The Buddhist made altars like this one. It's so lovely!

The celebration was a whole day celebration. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay there 'til night, I got to work the next day :( Yet, I still had some fun after the parade. I even saw elephants while I was sitting in the park near by! The elephants was walking towards where I sit! I got a bit nervous, but can still hold my camera to take some shoots! It was so much fun :)

Got Milk?

Teddy got some :)



Even the one with memories...



So don't you just love milk? :D

Mistakes!

You'll never learn things if you're always afraid to make mistakes! And sometimes, mistakes can be fun too =)

Here Here!

I adore monsters! Especially those cute ones :D
Don't worry, they won't hurt you! They grin :D :D :D


Last weekend I went all over my town to captured these monsters. I found six different locations (it was far away from each other). And even though there are more around town, I thought these are the best ones :D

What really drown me to captured this little guys was their magic smile (they always grin) and they always says "Here Here".
:D :D :D

Quote of the month

When a wise man said that, I sure do believe it! :)

Happiness...

Happiness... Isn't it what we, human, is looking for our whole life? So how far is your search for happiness? Can you count it? And if you found it, can you keep it? It's funny, because when we were a child, it was not hard to find happiness, so why is it getting harder and harder for adults?

When I was questioning those questions to myself (because normally, a lot of adults are often unhappy), I found this lovely book that considers that same things. The book is by Francois Lelord, it's called "Hector and The Search For Happiness". It was written in the simplest way, like a children's book, but yet has a lot of things to be considered. This book his dryly funny, but somehow made me laugh. It's an enjoyable reading though I don't really like the ending. But if the journey is so much fun, I wouldn't complain much about the destination! Hahaha...


This book is about a young psychiatrist who wondered why a lot of his clients were always unhappy and dissatisfied with their lives. The more his clients came back feeling unhappy, the more it made him unhappy too. So when he then decided to have a holiday, he went to the places where he could find the secret truth of happiness. And it was an amazing journey!

A long that journey, Hector made a list of the lessons he discovered. The were 23 lessons. I also write it down a long my reading. I wanted to made my own observation on people around me. I also like to observed people like Hector did! That's why I made this blog in the first place! My lesson so far, happiness had a lot to do with fun! :)

Francois Lelord on Hector and the Search for Happiness