Funny.

Funny how the things that used to be a problem now become totally the opposite.

Funny how criteria still matters after all these times. I do believe we all want the best but don't the best still needs compromise? After all, no one is perfect, are we?

Funny how much your surroundings can affect you. It's good to feel for others but it's also good to stay grounded, just to keep your balance.

Funny how you think these words don't make any sense at all but to me they mean a lot lately.

Life is funny. You think you know but you have no idea, best you can do is keep your faith that He will made everything beautiful in its time.

The Easter Weekend.

Happy Easter everyone!

This year I'm spending my Easter break holiday in Jakarta, successfully combining work, play, and leisure. Wooohooo quite an achievement for a weekend, right?

My weekend started on Thursday night when I gathered with my best girls to host a bachelorette night for one of us, the sweet Anggun. We stayed over at Diza's apartment then went painting the town red (or at least.. Painting Domain red lol). I really really had a great time dancing with the girls, can't even remember the last time we did that! ( I think it was back in early college days which was 5 years ago?!)

Then on Friday.. I became the living proof the statement "age can't lie". Hahahah, I barely couldn't do a thing except sleeping! I felt reaaallly reallly tired and had no energy, so basically it was hibernation day.

Luckily I still had Saturday, in which I started early, went easy jogging, had yummy brunch, watched a couple of DVDs then finished a proposal for Indonesia Mengglobal that I've been working on for the past week. I also managed to do some research for my future school project.. Then went to bed early :D

Then came today, the last day of this veey happy long weekend. Again i woke up early, wanted to run but it was showering. Went swimming instead, then to the hairdresser to get hair treatment and i was lucky to get free foot massage! Woohoo soooo relaxed! I went to Alia Salon at Jeruk Purut and I have to tell you they do the best blow outs! Loving the result :)
I finished my treatments around 12 noon, which was obviously time for lunch. Was about to eat at Pasta Basta near Hero Kemang but it was closed, but I saw a nice florist next to its old location, bought flowers for mommy cause its Easter day.. Then went to Baskin Robbins to grab some ice creams because the day was toooooo hot! Lucky me, my credit card has 50% off promo for today only!
On the road going home I spotted that Kemang Fish and Chips has reopened in new location, in between Circle K and Toscana. Who used to eat them yummy fish and chips back in their old location behind Codefin? Well they're back now, in smaller place though, so it's better to rake away or have it delivered to your house if you live in Kemang area.

Anywaayy.. That's my weekend. How's yours? Planning to spend the last hours pf it by relaxing.. It's been a great weekend so far! :)

You.

Sometimes i wish life is easy.
If it was, i'd be next to you.
We'd sail the sea of uncertainty side by side.

But I,
I just can't afford to dream big this time.
I'll just lay low, cherishing the simplest bit of what today brings.

Have a good day,you.

Soon.

Soon my days will be sunny and warm, filled with laughter and love.
I may not be the best in what i do, but i am a truly wishful thinker, so be it.
What's the world gonna be without people like me? This world is cruel and cold enough, of course we could use some hope and wishful thinking, right?

365x365

Have I told you that this year I'm running an Instagram project called 365x365?

The idea is to post a portrait picture of the people in my surroundings for each day in this year.. And write a short story about that person, using #storyportrait and #365x365 hashtags.

Why am I dong this? Just because! :) I think it'll be fun, right? This way I'll meet people and hear them stories.. Yay!

Anyway here's a scren shot of the instagram account, do give me a shout out if you'll let me post about you :)

The unusual.

I know that this is my first post in 2013. As other first posts in a new year, I know I should write in a more positive tone, reflecting a more positive outlook for this new year.

But I just can't. Today just seems so wrong, the weather is wrong, cause it was raining this morning when I was supposed to do my morning run. It's still raining now, makes the air conditioner at my office exceptionally cold. I'm guessing there will be one hell of traffic going home tonight, cause you know how Jakarta is.. Give it a bit of rain to add on the usual afterhour traffic, boom you got endless jam!

Everyone seems wrong as well. I barely could concentrate on my boss's words during this morning meeting. I managed to get away though, didn't seem to make any trouble. I also barely could digest the words that came out from my friends' mouth during our lunch conversation. I'm sorry, I am a bad listener today.

Then he asked me about my day. I couldn't answer. All I could say was 'not good'. Unlike usual, I did not know what to say to him.

So this is my first post of 2013. So unusual. I don't know. I can't tell. It's just one of those days. One thing I know for sure, life has its way of ups and downs. This kind of day won't stick to my 2013. There will be better days, happier thoughts, more positive me.

As for now, I'm letting myself getting carried away by the emotions... But not for long.

365 x 25

So here I am sitting in Starbucks, Grand Indonesia.. Trying to reflect the past year that will pass by in a couple hours.

Yep, the year of being 25 years old.

I used to think something big would happen to me when I'm 25. The old fairy-tale me used to think I'd be married or having this super shiny career.

Reality, I am still (happilly) single, and no, I don't have that shiny career (yet).. I'm on my way.

The old me might think that I did nothing grand this year. The year just passed, only filled with boring daily routines.

But hey, the (constantly improving) new me will have to disagree with that! This year, I have done and achieved sooo many things!

To name a few, I did:

- create another 'a photo a day' project like back in UK days, this time one photo for every day I'm 25 years old.

- travel Solo to a non English speaking country in which I stayed in a backpacking hostel with a room full of strangers. Not only did i had fun, i managed to be friends with one of my room mates!

- create a '30 before 30' list, and have accomplished some of them already!

- run my first race. It was Adidas' King of The Road 5K that made me fall in love with running. I've been running frequently ever since, building my endurance and milestone on my way to running a full marathon one day :)

- travel more. This year started with Bali, then Ho Chi Minh, Bangkok, Karimun Jawa, and Mt.Bromo :)

See.. Those things are not bad at all, aren't they? Apart from those, I do think I have grown so much the past year.. In ways that are too long to describe.
Of course, there are also some downhills this year. This and that, i take it as lessons of life. A lot to improve next year (and the years after!), as I will do my best to keep growing as a person, to keep expanding my horizons and to live my life to the fullest :)

Obviously it's time to say goodbye to the old me... And welcoming the new, constantly improving self!

Thank You God, for I am blessed and showered with love.

Happy holidays everyone!

30before30 #18 - Get my name published in an article

I've always loved to write. I have been keeping a diary since my childhood days, and have blogged since I have access to the internet. When I was in Elementary School, I sent a writing ( I totally can't remember now whether it's a short story or poem, or just a reader's opinion) to Bobo Magazine and it got published! In return, I remember I got some amount of money (not much - enough to buy another edition of the magazine hahaha), but that's about it. 

I think somewhere along the way I've written some short stories or some novel drafts but it never got finished. Then when I was building my #30before30  list, I decided to put "get my name published in an article" in it. To me, that can mean having someone write about me (in that case, I have to be famous first, or at least succeed in my career.. hohoho), or me, writing a published scholarly article (this can be accomplished together with me going back to school.. hmmm), or me, writing just any article in any forms of publication! (this seems the easiest at the moment, all I had to do is put on some serious effort in writing, and allocate a time slot for this, right?)

I didn't really think much of this particular item of the list though, because I somewhat thought If I crossed it off, it'll be because of the second one.. some sort of scholarly article. But then I came across this Indonesia Mengglobal website when I was browsing for school options. It's a website which provides information for Indonesians who want to study abroad, written by alumnus or current students... and they are currently opening registration for contributors! Aha! :D 

After some careful thinking (To be honest I was a bit shy, never really think I could write), I decided to drop them a note. Luckily I got a good response, and here you gooo... My first published article! I'm sooo honored to have contributed to the website! Not only I managed to crossed off another list in my  #30before30, writing for the website has given me courage to accomplish my dreams and goals, again, if I put my heart in it.

Screen shot from the web, yaaayy!!

Yayyyy so happy! Anyway the website is really good, I wish I had this sort of information when I was applying for my Grad school. I'm honored to have contributed :)

On a lighter note.. In the same week, another article was published as well! This one's travel related.. You know, since I traveled more often, I had this thought to try out travel blogging. Never really had the courage (and the will) to do so, again, I came across Aggy's Dream Explore Wander site. Followed her twitter, and found out that she invites guest writers at her blog. Sent her an email, and voila! My first guest post at DEW! Yayyy! It was a stroll down memory lane, writing the piece, cause I decided to write about my 2009 UK road trip because the Aggy's posts are mostly about European travel. Anyway be sure to check out her blog, it's pretty awesome! Looking forward to another collaboration with her in the future :)

On positive thoughts, Calvin Harris, and the calo.

Yesterday was Djakarta Warehouse Project 2012. If I'm not mistaken this is the event's second year, with line up such as Avicii, Calvin Harris, Angger Dimas, Paul Van Dyk, Knife Party, Late Night Alumni, and others. I'm actually not a big fan of EDM myself, but I really love Calvin Harris, his songs reminds me of my sleepless student nights back in Bournemouth, hahaha at that time, 2009, his second album was just out, so his songs were played everywhere, in radio, nightclubs, and that "Ready for The Weekend" album was my companion when I was up all night doing my assignments. 

Yeah, I was really excited to see Calvin Harris. A big group of my friends were talking about going as well, made it even more exciting. Then comes the day. The plan was to go there with Disty straight from the office, then meet the rest in the event. Both of us haven't got a ticket yet, we planned to buy it from Calo. When we met the others,it turned out there were 8 of us who haven't got the ticket, so the boys helped in finding and negotiating with the Calo. Official ticket price was 500K, but at first we managed to get an offer for 400K. We asked for 8 tickets, the first Calo said "Okay, wait here, I'll be back and give it to you". Then we waited. waited and waited, gone 15 minutes already. A friend of mine suggested for us to just leave and find another Calo. So we left, and found another one. We made "a deal", and the same thing happened, we waited, but the Calo never came back. Then when we realized it, we already wasted around 1 hour, without being able to get a ticket!

At that time, around 10PM, Late Night Alumni was already playing, so we missed it (Boohoo!). One of us suggested that we split up, because he thought it's easier to buy the tickets in small quantity rather than 8 at once. With Disty, I contemplated, whether to buy from the ticket box, or find a Calo. You see we had tight budget and didn't want to spend more than 500K for the ticket.. hahahaha skint mode :p We tried to find the Calo only to found out that the ticket has gone up to 600-700K! ridiculous, isn't it? I guess it's because there were more and more people showed up, and the queue in the ticket box was really long. 

Still trying to enjoy the night and not to over think it, me and Disty jokingly said to each other "keep in mind that we'll get the cheap tickets!" we kept saying "in an hour we'll dance to Calvin Harris, no matter what!" and finally we decided to join the queue at the ticket box, because we couldn't find anymore cheap tickets from the Calo. 

Just as we were walking to the ticket box, Disty overheard a group of boys having a transaction with one of the Calo. It seemed like they had extra ticket which they wanted to sell. Disty then asked one of them if they're willing to sell it to us, and they did! HAHAHAHA YEAAAHH! we got 2 tickets, each for 450K! still cheaper than ticket box hahahaha (apologies for being so cheap hahahaha, we had so many travel plans, that's why we need to save up :p) 

And there, my friends, was the real case of what happens when you keep a positive mind. :D 

It seemed like the universe just worked for us, we got the tickets, we were able to enjoy the night, and danced to Calvin Harris (and others!) 

Our tickets! :D

A great night indeed! YAYY!

The light

Are you happy?

What defines your happiness? 

Those are the few questions that I like to ask myself repeatedly.

I’ve been surrounded by so much happiness lately, friends are engaged, getting married, having kids, promoted, graduated, heard so many happy stories, and seen so much smile. 

What about myself? What’s up in my life?

Am I happy? 

I think I am. Or maybe I’m not. Maybe I’m not completely. But I should be.

Why wouldn’t I be? I have my family, my friends. I have him to talk to. I have my work and my activities. I have my passion of life and my excitements of the future. I have my lists, my plans, and my hopes.

That should make me happy, right?

And when I was just thinking about it while I had a free time at the office, I went to the pantry and saw this amazing view... 

 

Today's almost sunset

Okay I did some editing on it, but when i saw it with my own eyes.. i realized that, 

No matter how dark your days may be, there will still be light, shining through the darkness, as long as you still have your faith with you.

Never lose hope, never lose faith, for His timing can never be wrong. 

It may not be now, may not be what you think it will be, but in the end, you will be....HAPPY! 

time

And so here we are.. middle November. 11th month of the year.

December will come soon, and then we’re gonna have to bid farewell to 2012.

My, how time flies..

It still feels like yesterday when I decided to make another 365shots project. It’s my 25x365 project starting December 25th, 2011, the day I turn 25… and today’s the 331th day.

I don’t think I created a new year resolution this year.. well I created a 30 before 30 list if that counts.. and so far I’ve crossed off 3 items already! Not bad right?

Okay so what else.. hmm my big trip which was planned to happen in September had to get postponed to probably sometime around early next year. I’m trying to make it happen as soon as possible though.. fingers crossed for that.

So next month is my birthday month! As always I’m super excited, kinda have high expectation for this years.. but we’ll see.. still, whatever happens I wish nothing for happiness :)

30before30 #21 - Watch Sunrise from a Mountain

Hello everyone! 

Here’s to update you that another item has been crossed off the #30before30 list! It’s item no.21, watch sunrise from a mountain.

So I recently went to Mt.Bromo over the weekend with a group of friends. There were 10 of us, friends from uni and from the office. It was really nice and I really enjoyed the trip!

We flew to Surabaya from Jakarta on Friday night, then continued our Journey by hired car to the mountains, which took us around 3 hours. We arrived at around 3AM, then went up the hill to see the sunrise.  It was… magical. I’ve seen sunrise from the beach several times.. also sunset. Never before I’ve seen it from up the mountains. Well I always thought that I’m more of a beach person than a mountain one.. that’s because I never really been to a mountain. All this time I’ve only been to Puncak (which isn’t really a mountain.. just hills I suppose) and I didn’t really like it, it makes me gloomy. But Bromo, is different. I was purely amazed by the scenery I saw, a perfect mixture between green hills and dusty crater… really beautiful. 

Sunrise at Mt.Bromo

Group shot after sunrise!

After the sun has set, we went trekking to the crater, which is a volcanic one, and still active. It was quite a tough journey because the last (and first time) I went trekking was went I went to Jurrasic Coast in England back in 2010. This one was different because the crater was active and very dusty.. I think a combination of dust, sand and volcanic ash? (unsure on this one..) but anyway, really dusty it made you hard to breathe. But we made it to the crater anyway! It was also my first time going to a volcanic crater. Following the crater journey, we went to the green hills I mentioned above. Then we went to our hostel and rest. 

Going to the Crater

Group shot at the crater

The hills

The next day, I woke up quite early and took a walk in the village near our hostel. I really enjoyed it, cause it’s quite rare to see such beautiful scenery during your morning walk, isn’t it? :D Then we left Bromo en route to Surabaya, but stopped by at Probolinggo to see Madakaripura Waterfall. Again, it was also my first time going to a waterfall. 

So yeah, I managed to crossed another item off the #30before30 list, and I had a lot of fun.. took a lot of pictures, and just enjoying the nature :)

30before30 #19 – Sing in Pub Karaoke

Apologies for not updating as soon as possible, but I’ve crossed off another item from my
30 before 30 list !

Item number 19, Sing in Pub Karaoke, done! woohoow! Did it last Friday, with the help and support of my friends from the office, Kenny Disty Rissa Mitha Redo and Ucil. 

So I did tell them about this list, and Kenny recently found out about this bar named Marley in SCBD.. turns out that every Wednesday night they have an Open Mic thing, where everyone can jump into the stage and sing with the band. So we went.. and I sang!I am no performer nor a singer at all, but I love to sing. Oddly enough I have this ability to remember song lyrics easily.. but I cant sing it properly. Hahahaha. So I chose to sing Wonderwall by Oasis that night, safe choice isn’t it? :D

Here’s the picture.. more coming as I haven’t collect them from my friends’ phones. 

2 down, 28 to go! :)