Little Ozledim Lily

trading my oldies to the new ones

2012-01-18T20:54:00.002+07:00

i've been trying to renew my thoughts and mind recently. still so much influenced by the new year. so, here i am trading my old habits with the new ones:

1. my lack of confidence to self-confidence
2. cowardice to bravery
3. fear of failure to curiosity
4. shyness to boldness
5. ignorance to caring

i'm trading all of negative attributes to positive ones. it's not easy, in fact it's damn difficult, and people somehow think that i am actually crazy. but what good do negative attributes give me? nothing. so, here i am letting them go.

hello new year!

2012-01-08T18:18:00.003+07:00

i guess it's a bit late for wishing new year :p but again better be late than never. wish everybody a wonderful new year!

i've come up with new resolution related to social media this year. and i wanna put it up so i'll be more motivated and have no excuses or whatsoever.

1. post a photograph of the month throughout a year.

i did till month of august last year. so, i'm confident that i can make for the full year this time.

2. post what i wore this month.

i followed some blogs, which put up what i wore wednesday. it sounds very interesting, and i was dying to try, so i've gathered my gut and would like to join the pack. for a beginner like me, i like to try what i wore this month. instead of every week, i'll just pick one pic per month :p

3. join a photography contest.

so eager if reader's digest or lonely planet or national geography put up my photo in their mags. i know i choose very high targets, but they themselves will give me a delight of satisfation.

4. post at least 4 entries per month.

jia you!

5. read 7 books in a year.

i read 5 books last year. so hopefully i nail this one! gotta start reading though.

made, known, approved...

Lily Susanti

the challenge is up again!

2011-10-18T09:09:00.003+07:00

it's been ages i didn't come to this habit of writing. since i'm super free today, i visited the one minute writer blog. and the title for today is wishing upon a star.

we (indonesians) do not have habit of wishing upon a star. chineses pray upon a moon, moslems look for constellation to date the eid mubarak, hinduists don't particularly fond of star ( i guess, as far as i know), and yes the stars led the christians to baby jesus. we don't really buy the concept of wishing upon a star. is a meteor considered a star? yes, a falling star, huh? ok, then we pray upon a star. it's a urban legend, i guess, more to the effect of watching korean's and taiwanese's movies.

anyway, i wish upon a star that someday i will run my own day care center. it won't be a formal school, just a small intimate day care center will be wonderful for me. when i ponder it now, it seems far away. hopefully, i can practice and have more faith in the power of dream.

Manner, where art thou?

2011-10-17T13:00:00.003+07:00

we have been taught to behave well since we were young. as for I myself as a chinese, manner matters. it shows not only how good i am as a person but also how good my parents raise me. and in chinese culture, "saving the face" is crucial. so we better watch our manners, or our parents will do. and it's not gonna be nice.

i believe i behave well and i keep my manners good enough (yes, it's a self confession). and during my time working with children, teachers are forced to behave well every second, at least in front of children and parents. children can pick up any misbehaviour quickly. so, during my two and half year time, we (teachers) remind and support each other to behave well. we appreciate people who have good manner.

now, the point is that not all people practice good manner. "sorry, please, and thank you" are the basic words that you use to show manners. we remind every kids and ourselves basically every day to keep close with those words. and kids pick them up quite well. but how about adults? they seem to forget those words. the older you are doesn't mean you have better manner. nope! shockingly i found that even directors, with such high position and degree, do not necessarily pratice manner! it's upsetting for me. because when people with low socio-economic background do not practice manner, you can give yourself excuses. but when peope with high socio-economic background do not practice manner, what is your excuse?

moreover, when people are being nice to you, can you be nice too? i'm not a hypocrite, if people do nasty things to you, you can either slap that person or still being nice. but when people are being nice to you, please please please be nice! what privilege do you have to be nasty to other people? humans have same beginning (birth) and same ending (death)-Morris, in what sense you think you are higher than others so that you can be nasty to others? seriously it's ridiculous. stop acting childish and behave, adults!

have a wonderful day

2011-10-09T18:02:00.002+07:00

there's a notice on upgrade thingy in my dashboard today. i'dnormally ignore it, but my finger was kinda "itchy", so i clicked thisblogger update (please be aware that i'm computer idiot), and i wasamazed! my dashboard looked so cool now! and they have this stat, it'swritten that my blog has been viewed 1.516! seriously! there's alwaysno comment in my posts so i thought nobody checked my blog. therefore, i wanna thank to everyone whochecked my blog, accidentally or not :p

another shocking thing happened to me this week was when i read joel osteen's daily reading from your best life now. oh yes, it's been ages since i posted something spiritual. but i just wanna share a bit here:

thescipture says, "be confident of this. he that began a good work in youwill continue to perform it until it's perfectly complete" (seephilippians 1:6). god is never going to quit working on us. he's notgoing to get halfway through and say, "i am tired of dealing with you.""you keep making that same mistake." "you've got so many faults, i'vehad it with you." no, god is going to keep working on us until heshapes us into the people he wants us to be.

pg. 67

ibought this book mid of last year. when i was reading it at first, icouldn't relate myself to any of the topics brought up. for me, it'stoo hypocrite. till recently i reopened the book, and this paragraphshocked me and opened my eyes. the verse is a popular verse, many have quoted it, but i only understand it yesterday. i guess i have to give myself a bit morerespect and a lot of gratitude to god.

have a wonderful day.

photograph of the month: august 2011

2011-10-09T17:12:00.003+07:00

i was so excited to see a bee buzzing around in my garden. and my excitement got bigger when i saw these birds and caught a decent photograph. happy!

photograph of the month: july 2011

2011-10-09T16:59:00.004+07:00

when i opened my agenda, i went through my resolution for this year. barely a quarter have i checked the list. sigh...

trying to catch up with some small resolutions... hwaiting!

urban jazz crossover 2011

2011-10-02T14:52:00.014+07:00

the most awaiting concert was finally here! we'd been wondering around when it'd be held. as soon as yenty heard the news that its' coming, she was so busy informing me and getting the ticket. she had waited this concert for so long. thanks to yenty, she got the tics both of us :)

as expected the concert started late. so we had time hanging around and bought the concert t-shirts! gotta wear it soon.

the atmosphere and the props outside the concert room was almost similar to last year. but this year, they gave us this black bracelet with brown 'urban jazz crossover' words on it. it's kinda cool.

the opening band of the nite. the guitarist is so cool!

finally i got the chance to see this diva sing live. and she is diva.

she is 100% talented and sweet. the next big star.

who said if you are not the winner of indonesian idol, you can't survive in music industry? he can, because he is damn good!he is so wild and sexy!he made the jazz rocky for the nite!

i like the visual effect happening behind him.the master of reggae "ras muhamad" made the crowd danced to his rhythm. the famous ari lasso.his voice vibrated the room.the master mind of the concert this year.artists in action!

the concert was closed pretty wild.

compared to last year, personally i think it's a lil' bit jazzier, a very lil' bit. but the atmosphere was definitely merrier last year. i didn't see the artists performed as solid as last year. but the concert's surely refreshing after a hectic week.

world trip! (day 2 & day 3)

2011-10-01T10:11:00.006+07:00

day 2 and day 3 were mostly spent by shopping and eating time. as my bro's wed party approached, i was assigned to buy bling bling silver party shoes for me and my sis. and they were damned difficult to find. finally we got two pairs! when we almost gave up. thanks chan and pak for your patience accompanying me shopping. i got a unique wallet too from bonita. and that's all for shopping session :p

and here we go for eating session.

day 2: we met choon foong for sing-k! sing-k in m'sia is totally different, as in the atmosphere, food, and definitely song selections. i had no idea that kok is into sing-k too. we got our brunch here and sang our heart out.day 3: we landed at jojo's little kitchen, which specialized in pan mee. and they rock!

mine; the spicy onechan's; the soup onepak's; look at the egg yolk! yum...

then we met sook chin and yee yin (do i spell their names correctly?) for lunch/afternoon tea, catching up with each other's life. it's somehow deliberating to have someone to talk, to rethink our passion (and reality too), and to support each other. it's surely girls' day out @ delicious.

chan's quite disappointed with the mushroom soup. the mushroom was kinda rough, or in another word, it's too mushroomy... :ppak's strawberry short cake. it's very fresh! mine; classic chocolate vanillayee yin's chocolate brownies, so yummy and so choco sook chin's spaghettisoda rose

another highlight of this trip was i finally got the chance to see chan's collection. it's kinda freaky actually (sorry chan!) to see so many mice in one room if you don't get used it. but i think she's definitely passionate of mouse since she collects not only dolls but also books and movies about mouse. and i can say it's costly. salute!

it's just a few from a big collection of herchan's nephew and niece. her niece called me "pheng you". do i look that young? :p

after a very full homey and yummy dinner cooked by chan's family, we still went to have our supper at sweet hut.

mine; a healthy onechan's; the mango loverpak's; almond & chocolong life supper! will surely miss our supper moments...

world trip 2! (day1)

2011-09-29T19:47:00.008+07:00

after crossing out so many exciting destinations, we fell to this option. it fit our time and budget perfectly. our second world trip destination is malaysia! ahha!

it's great that we could meet up again. and it's the real point of making 'world trip', to make a little time just for ourselves, catching up with each other and just have fun. that is not easy to do in today's world.

but, i made a big stupid mistake by not charging my cellphone on my arrival day, which made chan and pak had difficult time finding me. luckily it's only lcct :p chan's parents picked me up and drove us home safely. thanks and sorry aunty and uncle!

our first hit the next morning was bagan lalang. it's a family beach, i guess. we didn't really prepare ourselves coming to the beach. my tips for future reference for anyone who wanna go there are bring your family as many as you can (coz the more, the merrier!), bring food and mat, and don't forget to bring hats or sun block (very important!).

what day is today? it's malaysian's independence day! :)

sort of a 'must' pic on beach a declaration that we've been here :ptugs of war (fun game to play on beach) :)chan was forced to take every shell that pak saw :p

in indonesia, we have this mitos that if we gush our breath toward the shell, it eventually will come out. but when we tried, it didn't work. chan thought that i fooled her. perhaps only indonesia shells do that.

we saw this family (dad, mom and son) was busy looking for shells. but this mom definitely took my attentiontoward afternoon, we saw many stands selling windmills and kites. i didn't have chance to shoot the kites ;(

sepang gold coast we waited for minutes to get visitor pass to enter the resort. it's worth waiting.

my dream pic, yatta! (should practice more though)

toward the lunch time, we headed to a very famous restaurant around the area. and the problem with a very famous restaurant is there are lots of tables and hungry mouths to be served. so it takes lots of time. after waiting for few minutes, we went to another place to eat. we could see several people whom we also met at previous restaurant. the result was the same, we waited so long...

finally the food came! bon appetite :)seafood and a glass of beer, what else could i ask for more?

recharged after taking lunch, we went to the famous love/ couple bridge. what can you see there? of course, couples, lots of them. making me jealous? hmm... a bit. actually i wanted to see some dead fish on the bridge, but couldn't find one :p i think the biggest question is "what's there at the end of the bridge? a pot of love? a magic love wand? love powder? cupid? lover claim station?"

NOPE! the answer was a fisherman! (enjoying his time fishing and ignoring every lovey dovey things going on around him. so proud of him!we reached the love/ coupld bridge! look at our hair! like these :)

throwing all of the lovey dovey behind, we went to this mushroom house. you can see many mushrooms and mushroom products you've never ever imagined. love their drink products.

i love this mushroom. they look like a dorayaki, don't they?

trio lestari's concert

2011-07-30T16:11:00.009+07:00

they came to medan! yahoo! it's truly an honor to have them in medan. we (yenty and i) were cracking our heads to get the tickets. the challenge was to get the official phone number and to get the tickets from the radio station. i honestly confess that i thought of letting it go. not watching their concert would be fine, many of medanese didn't. but thanks God for yenty's perseverance (rather annoying though) pushed me to the end. and in the end, yes, i'd be very dumb to miss it! we went straight to selecta to grab if any ticket left. apparently there were! plantinum tickets only! and we got one for each! :D

the welcoming gate

the platinum 325 thousand rupiah ticket!

the pass to get a seat - stamp on the neck

the door was opened late. we waited outside for almost one and a half hour. then finally the crowds couldn't wait anymore and started a 'strike'. they yelled and pushed the security guards. the guards gave up and let us in. inside the building we have to wait another one and a half hour! the concert finally started at 9pm! it was officially opened by a local acapella group. they performed two songs and the crowds started yelling asking for trio lestari to come out. it was quite disrespectful for the group though.

tompi came out first singing his hits. initially i was not really into him. i found his music rather noisy and annoying. however, he performed great. now i appreciate his talent and music. and he is surely a joker :)

tompi performed fashionably

glenn came second singing with his gorgeous voice! it was amazing to see him and listen to his music live. i was melting while listening to him. love you so much glenn!

glenn ready to take over the stagethe sweet glenn fredlythe sexy voice in action

sandhy came last. dressed in black, he surely looked like a killer, ready to kill everybody with his voice. he was rather rock in this concert. i was totally deceived by his cool appearance. i watched some interviews done with him and his response was rather arrogant and cool, but he is actually very shy and funny person with a funny loud laugh.

sandhy and glenn

sandhy and his guitar ready to kill his fans

the second session of the concert was like a talk show hosted by three of them. they brought up some political issues, music issue, celebrity issues, humanity issues, and religious issues. they also asked the crowds to donate some money for their foundation, for tsunami mentawai victims. it just confirmed me that they have not only big talent but also huge heart.

trio lestari show

the hosts

while all of them were wearing white head to toe, tompi forgot to change his black shoesappreciating the true talent from medan

the concert was closed by singing sm*sh's i heart you song. to the end, they also showed some appreciation to newcomers and their music.

last performance

with one of the saxophonists

yenty and i (with satisfied feeling!)

applause for them for making the night jazzed up and surely romantic

a surprise gift

2011-07-29T16:52:00.003+07:00

i got this picture accidentally. when i just finished taking some pictures with danbo, i heard a sound of buzzing fly (does a fly buzz?). then i thought i was just taking some pictures of a fly. i was quite excited because it's been quite a long time i didn't take insect pictures since the bee pictures. when i zoomed in the result to see how clear the fly looked, i saw the mantis too. it was camouflaged as a leaf. it was eating the fly! and the buzz sound i heard was actually a cry of help from the fly.

my 'break' reflection

2011-07-29T16:25:00.003+07:00

my break will be over soon. i got a new job in a bank and will start next monday. i am enjoying the very last bit moment of my break. reluctantly letting it go, but i must. looking back at my break, i know i didn't really fully used it. there were times when i just bluntly wasted my time for doing nothing. it doesn't mean i did nothing though.

so, i made this 'my break achievements':
1. finished reading a couple of books (should check previous post for the short review)
2. took some pictures (very satisfied!)
3. made some flannel stuffs (very satisfied too!)
4. updated my blog (this month has the most posts compared with other months! :D)
5. took a short trip to bandung :)
6. updated my knowledge on korean drama, movie and reality shows :p (definitely love goguma couple so much!)

conclusion: happy! looking forward to the next break. but for now, hwaiting for the new job! :)

from danbo with love

2011-07-29T16:01:00.003+07:00

i got another chance playing with danbo and camera. the results are just fine. i should look for other fresh ideas! hwaiting! :D

bandung trip

2011-07-25T10:44:00.007+07:00

i find several similarities between bandung and medan. they both don't have many places to go in town. if you want to enjoy serene place, you should go out town. both of them are culiner city. they are famous for the food. both of their road are also filled with cars, which leads to traffic jam. my mom and i went to visit my bro in bandung. though it was short trip, i found it quite refreshing personally.

first day in bandung was about my bro. my mom kinda fed all of his id. she brought him to duck king to feed his hunger id. she cleaned his room to feed his hygiene id. she brought him some clothes to feed his image id. she pampered him through and through. when i smelled the odor of envy, i flashed back to my college time and she did the same to me. so, shame on me!

hang out@rumah mode

second day we used a car rental service. we went out town. first we headed to kampung gajah (lit. elephant's village). on the way there, in my mind i'd prepared myself to touch and feed some elephants and when we arrived, i was totally stunned! there was no elephant! not even a baby elephant! there was only a statue! apparently it is an amusement park! fool me! i should have researched on it first. in the end, we just walked around and took few pics.

the one and only elephant at elephant's village

next, we aimed vipassana temple. it was serene, green, and holy. in this temple, they have a unique way to foresee our future. they filled plastic glasses with coins, which must weigh the same as others, but not necessarily have the same amount of coins in it. i guess they weigh a kg. around the main temple's wall, there are monk bowls (i didn't count how many they are). what we need to do is to fill each bowl with each coin from our glass. the remaining of the coins in our glass predicts our future.

the main templethe bowlthe glass filled with coinsmy future - i need a translator, the words are too deepmy mom and imy bro and i ( i was tiptoeing so i didn't look so short in the pic :p

then we took a detour to kampung daun (lit. leaf's village) to have our lunch. nice view, nice shopping items, standard food.

the cool artificial waterfall

fulled with food in our stomach, we headed tangkuban perahu. we went down to kawah domas (domas crater). it was an-hour-quite-tiring walk. i recommend sandals as the best partners to go down there. it is also recommended that after going down to the crater, dipping feet in the hot spring is best thing to do to avoid foot cramp or muscle tightness!

when my mom was trying some hats, i was busying taking pics with these cool cowboy hats! the guidei found this heart-shaped stone. sweet :)the craterenjoying the hot springoh, n0! my foot is boiling!

the day was ended by shopping at dago. but we were too tired to shop. after going in to two-three shops, we decided to eat dinner and to sleep.

third day is amusement park day! we went to the most anticipating amusement park in indonesia, trans studio bandung! the price is quite expensive because there were few games to play with. shockingly the most entertaining thing in the studio was the theatre. they gave an epic performance. the title was so cliche 'legenda putra mahkota (the legend of a prince)', but the performance was dramatic! i was so proud that indonesia can perform that great! (though there were foreigners performed too - with dangerous acts, of course). overall, two thumbs up! the roller coaster was a blast too, must try!

the epic performanceit has very interesting interior designs too!

fourth day was the last day. we went to istana plaza (lit. plaza kingdom) to have our breakfast and to kill some time before flying back to medan.

overall, it was a nice trip. we didn't have chance to go to green canyon and to try some food in bandung's unique cafes. hopefully there'll be time for that. till then take care :)

the power of words

2011-07-22T15:57:00.003+07:00

my friend, liang sien, told me this words and it struck me while i was in the midst of looking for a job. i wonder whether the job i'm taking can be a real career or just a job.

btw, thanks liang sien for the inspirational words! :)

a hour with scrabble

2011-07-22T15:10:00.004+07:00

an hour experimenting with my scrabble. satisfied enough with the results :)

photograph of the month: june 2011

2011-07-22T15:05:00.002+07:00

it was our last day of school and we allowed students to play with ball. and everybody enjoyed it so much, hmmm... perhaps not everybody :p

ps: dear ms. may, if by any chance you see this photo, then i'd like to ask permission to upload it in my blog :)

outbound@kampoengladang (7th july 2011)

2011-07-22T14:43:00.006+07:00

it was our closing event for the end of academic year 2010/2011, where the teachers could gather and showed their 'true color'. we chose something different by getting closer to the nature, normally we would end up in karaoke box :p

the gang! (most of them couldn't make it because of personal affair or health problem)the owner showed off a vintage bicycle and "electronic bicycle?" in the evening,
then out came our narcisstic nature i played this trampolin and hurt my arm :(

the outbound itself offers few options to play, they have atv, trampolin, high rope, boats, wall climbing, big balloon (not sure what its real name) and flying fox. but it is a nice place to go. it is so evergreen, a great place to gather with family and to take pictures. many couples actually take their pre-wed pictures here.

see ya in next outbound

are you chinese enough?

2011-07-22T14:21:00.004+07:00

i am definitely not. why? because i can't speak my own dialect fluently. i skipped many traditions and cultural events. i've never been to china before. and most of all, i am not fair. the only thing that i can be proud of or to show off that i am indeed a chinese is my small eyes and nowadays they are not enough for others to conclude that i'm a chinese (i know, nobody to blame...) but when reading this book, i realized i am just way too far to be considered as a chinese. i know nothing about my own culture. shame on me!

this book explains to me why the elderly act the way they do, why they are so stiff and strict to their children, why they don't show much affection as the westerners do, their perception on money, health, image; some insights on "prohibitions"/pantangan, our parents expect us to follow whatever "they" want us to do without asking what "we" want; and how secretive we, chinese, are on our sexual lives. it indeed is an interesting book to read.

looking forward to read sky burial, where can i find it, hmmm....

another book by shannon dale

2011-07-02T15:36:00.004+07:00

it's a simple book with simple storyline. it's suitable for school-aged kids (yes, i'm way too far for the age range), but it's fine if you prefer a light book. to be honest, quite plain with a small expected twist at the end. i still prefer goose girl than this, though.

what makes me read to the end though is that shannon always brings something unique into her book. in this case, she has these 'poems?' or 'haikus?' (not sure what they are, i'm bad at literature) to open every new chapter, and i love them.

No wolf falters before the bite
So strike
No hawk wavers before the dive
Just strike

pg. 113

I'll raise the ladle to your lips
Dips water on your fingertips,
And stay although my heart says flee
Will you look up and smile at me?

pg 123

Look no farther than your hand
Make a choice and take a stand

pg 178

Thinking it's impossible makes it so. ~Doter~

pg 254

dilettante's first debut!

2011-06-27T16:45:00.007+07:00

welcome to dilettante!

it means amateur in italian. i always wanted to try this! yatta! i'm quite happy for the first tryout! :) ottokhe?

ps: thxs sis for being my first ever model! :D

kakashi sensei

2011-06-22T08:24:00.004+07:00

it's been years since my bro's friend gave this to him. but he didn't touch it at all. out of patience, i painted it. he got quite upset when i showed the picture to him :P

photograph of the month: may 2011

2011-06-22T07:45:00.003+07:00

oopsy... it's late again! :(

fiore

2011-06-12T19:55:00.005+07:00

my mom's gardener sold her two beautiful flowers. one named batavia, and another is ... (she forgot what her flower's name is). gotta ask the gardener. delighted to take their pictures.

.-.. --- ...- . .. - ! (love it!)

2011-06-02T21:47:00.004+07:00

i bought this book as my own birthday present last couple of months. Not only i bought the book, but also register as a member of a bookstore. i never thought that i'd love times! times definitely heals my yearning for border.

it's a children's book, but there's no restriction it is for kids only. it's surely light for kids to read, yet it's wide and capturing at the same time. normally i strict myself to read thinner books, i'd avoid books which are thicker than my bible. but for this title i'll go for the second and the third books!

highly recommended for everybody who loves adventure, intrigues, riddles, and fun!

a visit of pakcik and makciks from malaysia

2011-05-30T20:17:00.011+07:00

finally the day came! we'd been communicating few weeks. thanks to the technology, everything can be simple and cheap :p although i didn't give what i promised (which is picking them up at the airport, i'm terribly sorry), i'm super duper happy to see them again.

day 1: to straight to parapat
after a lunch at uda sayang, which amazed them a lot with the many side-dish food served on the table, we began a long journey straight to parapat. i admit i'm not a good passenger. i got wasted easily, and thank goodness i didn't throw up.

taking a ferry to the island...

when we reached parapat, it's dark. so we decided to have dinner at the restaurant and enjoyed a star-full night sky. truly gorgeous!

day 2: seriously crazy day
we purposely woke up early to catch these pictures! and fortunately we did!

amazing root huh?

while busily taking pictures, we met these guys who were taking pre-wed pictures. though i didn't see the results, i believe the pictures must be amazing!

their pre-wed picturemy pre-wed picture

a high jump for a beautiful day with a beautiful view

carolina hotel - a recommended stay in parapat

thanks to the man (who came from Spore) for taking us a picture. we seldom have full team picture :)

we found this crazy board which sent us to the deep endless bottom of the lake. edmond, jo, and weiway tried it. i wish i had more gut to try it. i had this crazy imagination that my leg would get trapped by the seaweed. haiks... now, yes i regret it.

it's a long way back to medan...

then we dropped a while to brastagi and we found what jo wanted! tamarillo = terong belanda (= dutch's eggplant, literally translated).

day 3: binjai's rafting

watch out people! here we come!

fill up your bellly before rafting, very crucial coz you gonna spend lotsa energy there...pre-jumpperson 1: edmondperson 2: joperson 3: weiwayperson 4: yentyperson 5: suryantipersons 6: bang gembul and megapersons 7: weiway and metaking a break before the damthe famous damafter the dam, excitedly relieved :)

day 3 was filled with water, water, and water... and saying goodbye! happy to serve you guys here ;) hopefully you did have a great trip here :)

photograph of the month: april 2011

2011-05-30T20:13:00.003+07:00

ps: yes, i know it's a month late. it's been a hectic month.

celebrities alike, p.i

2011-04-24T21:22:00.006+07:00

i really wanted to do this for so long, but didn't find time to do it. Now yatta, i did it!

first: justin bartha vs t.r. knight
i love justin bartha! he's so cute, esp. when he played in national treasure. so geeky but cute!

second: mary elizabeth winstead vs salma blair
i thought salma played as lauren in make it happen movie. but i was wrong!

third: kate perry vs mary elizabeth winstead
when i searched for winstead's picture, i found this pic above, then i just thought that she looked like kate perry too! is it just because of the hairstyle?

note: what do you think they do look alike, rite?

Art Exhibition 2011

2011-04-24T20:26:00.007+07:00

The most happening event in 2011! the art exhibition cum open house!

To introduce our school to new parents and children, our school had its open house in end of March. and to attract all of people to drop by our school, we combined it with art exhibition. we had only a month to figure out the design, what kinds of crafts we wanted to exhibit and who did what! it's crazy! it's not that i showed off i could do all of those things in less than a month, but it's simple outrageous! the coordinator needs to organize in detailed ahead for big events! and yes, i'm complaining in my blog! after all of the suffering and sickness of art (though we, all teachers, loved art and crafts before), we kinda proud of the result. and we're back loving the art and crafts again! :p

Starting from playgroup classes (consist of children age 3-4)

tiger class

TK A classes (consist of children age 4-5)

turtle class

seahorse class
starfish class

TK B classes (consist of children age 5-6)

deer class
leopard class
ladybug class

I wanna apologize that i didn't have coral class and panther class art projects pictures. i thought i'd taken some pictures. but i can't find any of them, thus i can't post any too :(

ps: thank your for thousands of amazing websites which we took ideas from. i can't name them one by one here. but billion thanks for wonderful craft ideas!

sophie's birthday (not a typical birthday, not in medan)

2011-04-24T18:39:00.004+07:00

actually her exact birthday is in the end of december, but they were in England and they had a small family gathering only to celebrate sophie's birthday. Now it's her 51/4-year-old birthday, sophie wanted to celebrate it with her friends. so, here we go...

it's a common thing here in medan (for a middle-to-high-socioeconomic group of people) to celebrate a birthday in a grand way, so everybody (though they are not invited) knows about the party, or at least catch some envy feeling toward the joyful event. but this family celebrated it so humble-westernlike party (though we are very aware they could afford for a super grand party) in the house yard. equipped by trampolin and pinata and lotsa of food, we were ready to have the party!

it's a usual things to celebrate any kind of event with pinata in western context. but it's kinda new here. love i can learn/ experience sth new. and it seemed that the children love it too!

is't he amazing?!? Jhivincent tried to tear the very last bit of the pinata. what a perseverant boy.

the shy and unwell birthday girl blew the candles with mommy's help

the simple yet fabolous birthday cupcakes

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOPHIE :)

dragon nine, penang

2011-04-01T21:31:00.009+07:00

hunting for a nice family restaurant, my mom, my aunt and i landed in this restaurant. it wasn't very homey, both the food and the atmosphere. but being polite, we sat down nicely and ordered some food. the food ordered wasn't very tasty, but they had great interior design.

somehow this reminded me of balinice sharp colors flew all over the room

food trip I

2011-04-01T20:56:00.011+07:00

food trip go go go! we realized it in the end! throwing good food into our belly! :)

participants: lily & yenty
places: warung tekko & bakerzin

place 1: warung tekko
we started this trip kinda late as we planned out. it's past lunchtime. we literally starved. we ordered huge meal for ourselves after a 'long' fasting. people say everything will be delicious when the eater is hungry. though we're hungry, our taste buds still worked well. and we knew that the food we ordered were great!

nasi bakar & iga penyetjamur crispy penyetnasi goreng igaes kelapa cincau

overall, both yenty and i gave 3 stars for this restaurant.

the atmosphere is nice for big groups or families. however, the privacy is limited. the distance between two tables is little, so we easily eavesdrop what people talk next table.
the food is yummy! its famous delicacy is rib. it is soft and DELICIOUS!
the price is affordable. it is considered cheap compare to other restaurants which serve same food.

place 2: bakerzin
after filling our belly full, we were struck by a crazy idea of living the legacy of marie antoinette's afternoon tea. we drove ourselves to bakerzin. it is a house renovated into a semi-modern house, yet leaving some distinctive classic touch. the first floor is accommodated for big groups or families. the second floor is accommodated for people who enjoy more privacy. it has balcony too accommodated for smokers. it has gorgeous stairs to the second floor. we pampered ourselves on the second floor. living as if in the paradise...

gorgeous baked apple tart! must try!beautiful millefeuilleclassical oreo cheeseice mocha & ice cappuccino

both yenty gave 3 stars, but i, as a cake lover, gave 4 stars!

the atmosphere is great! nice soft jazz-pop music is played the whole time giving a serene feeling while looking out to the green park outside. it's an amazing view, considering that it is in the center of the city. though many skyscrapers are crawling to the sky. the trees block them and give a totally different air.
it serves great desserts and cakes. it does not only sell the taste, but they also sell the aesthetic. my brother who had eaten many times here commented that the food is average, but the desserts are great.
the price is costly, of course. but after considering the comments above, i think it's worthy it.

ps: can't wait for the second food trip!

photograph of the month: march 2011

2011-04-01T20:53:00.002+07:00

millefeuille @ Bakerzin, Medan

no-stranger island (31st December 2011)

2011-03-14T22:12:00.001+07:00

here we are on our last day in nias. we are quite free today. we had nothing to do till this afternoon to fly back to medan. but there's a nudge telling us to spend some time in mega beach, but we can't find some guts to go for it. in the end, we give up to the name of boredom and collect some guts and call a becak (local transportation-motor rickshaw) and go to mega beach.

the feeling was great to own life (yes, i know, it sounds arrogant, how can we possibly own life?). but the feeling after so many days of constraints, dummy plans, takabur thoughts; it feels so great to own freedom! yes, freedom! it's yummm.....y!

mega beach offers amazingly green view and friendly welcome

anyway, it's been a great trip. thanks nias for your beauty and all the people who are willing to be bothered by us. can't thank you guys enough.

beaches baby (30th December 2011)

2011-03-14T21:17:00.006+07:00

lahewa here we come! finally we can spend some times soaking ourselves in salt water. lahewa indeed is a beautiful beach. sadly, there's no facilities or services or anything to support the beauty. there's no proper changing room, no proper waste dump, no clean water, and the most important is no act to preserve the beauty. it's such a waste. enough of complaining, we don't wanna let ourselves gloomy all the time s0 we just enjoy it. thanks God, though there's the mighty sun watches us, the heat doesn't sting us. of course we get some tanned, but it isn't burning. fiuh...

then, we head to pantai merah. it is crowned pantai merah because the sand is red. but actually it's brown, for my color perspective. the wave is wild, yet beautiful.

another side of Nias (29 Dec 2011)

2011-03-05T14:41:00.009+07:00

finally we can be free, just three of us. finally... but not long after that, we get some tails again. in the end, we can't just be strangers in this island. we head to the museum (yeah, wen xiang sends us there). but he can't join us to walk around there (did i hear "thanks goodness"?) due to hectic schedule. he explained to us that we come at the wrong time. it's one of the busiest time in whole year. but he kindly drives us around and gives interesting info about nias, which we appreciate it a lot.

the entrance to the restaurant, but it's closed. too bad we can't try the food there

this slide brings us directly to the ocean

while enjoying our time alone at the museum, alvin phones us to say he'll bring us around the beaches. we give up our free will and obligedly follow him. first, we drop at the new hotel national. it is still in the progress, there are many logs, nails, and hammers flying everywhere. and the most amazing thing is that they have this, i don't know what they call it - a bridge?, it is extremely shaky and i still don't know the function of it. but when we try it, it's truly a fear factor thingy. i can't make it to the end, but Irene did. then we go to malaga beach, which is 5 mins drive from the new national hotel.

this beach boy passes the should-be-a-fear-factor bridge cheerfully

mr. crab becomes our fave friend on the beach

photograph of the month: february 2011

2011-03-05T14:17:00.002+07:00

yes, i know i'm late again. and yes, i'm kinda narcissist, am i?

you've got letters!

2011-02-15T16:47:00.003+07:00

when was the last time did you send or get a letter? a long time a go, i guess. i miss to get one too even it's just a greeting card! too desperado, huh?

Indonesia government tries to relive the great legend of letters, to show how important it was in connecting people in old days and to remind how it is still relevant today.

my students had a chance to write a cny greeting card to their parents. they were all excited because they had not done it before. they know what postman and post office are, but they haven't seen one face to face, or have a conversation with one. they pass post offices many times, but i don't think they do realize that it was post office. sadly the postman didn't have time to come, instead a admin staff lady came to explain the procedure of sending letters.

i fully support this program although i will still use emails, blogs, texts or whatever modern way of communication. but i will creatively find a way to write letters, i promise :)

Keeping the Tradition

2011-02-14T19:57:00.005+07:00

it's been almost two weeks since the awaiting Chinese New Year. now the spirit has lowered down. no more red stuffs. no more buying cookies. no more preparing the great dinner. no more cleaning the whole house. the spirit speedily fades away.

as i looked back when i was young, a month before the celebration i would be busy choosing fancy red clothes. i must wear new attires: new clothes, new shoes, new bag, new hair accessories, and most importantly new underwear! i happily followed my mom cramped among people to get the things to "chinesen" (chinese+en= make sb to become Chinese) my look!

this year i didn't get the feeling of busting malls or markets to buy new clothes for the celebration. my mom indeed kept pushing and reminding that i hadn't bought any clothes yet. i told her that i still had a couple of clothes that i hadn't worn before, so i guessed i could wear them then. then she asked what color of clothes i had. i said "white". she was shocked and told me that it's not a good idea to wear white on cny day. she pushed me to go markets and malls to buy one (only one, at least) new clothes. so i agreed. after bumping many markets and malls, i wasn't satisfied with the clothes (yes, i have a weird taste of clothes). she finally gave up. i could wear my not-fresh-from-the-store-but-it's-still-new clothes.

i totally understand how my mom insisted me to buy new clothes. it's to keep and pass on the tradition to me. if she didn't or i didn't pass the tradition, the tradition itself may die and forgotten. younger generations may not know about it. however, one should not push the tradition to hard, otherwise it'll become annoying, hated, illogical and forgotten eventually. one should have respect on the meaning of the tradition at the first place. older generations may loosen up or adjust the strict and stiff tradition; younger generations may respect the history of the tradition.

in the end, i just wanna wish you happy Chinese New Year (isn't it a little bit too late? but we are still in the period of it, rite?).

A temple around my neighborhood had a wishing tree. hundreds people wrote and put up their wishing cards on the tree.

"i want to get the first rank, so my mom will give a present"

1. buy a two-story house 2. my fish grow in number 3. good health 4. get a car 5. own gold bullion
it seems greedy, but in the end, God wants us to be specific!

to get good health and life. to have the most beautiful mate.

Yenty persuaded god of fortune to share a pinch of his fortune

photograph of the month: january 2011

2011-02-13T10:53:00.003+07:00

i make a new resolution in the beginning of the year that i will be more diligent in taking pictures and updating my blog, which leads me to make photograph of the month. taking (hopefully) many pictures daily and pick one (many) best and upload it.

i know it's way too late for january. not a good start, i guess. i apologize. nevertheless i present you an introductory picture of the year 2011. hopefully i'll enjoy more moments of taking pictures and you enjoy more moments of looking at the pictures and giving comments/ positive feedbacks.

PS: hopefully i'll be on time for the following months.

4 funeral ceremonies, 3 bike accidents (28 Dec 2010)

2011-01-28T21:39:00.005+07:00

Today, we will go to the famous Teluk Dalam. It's a long and dangerous drive to reach there. I suggest if anyone wants to go there, one should bring an expert driver unless one feds up with this world already. We ourselves got the bestest driver in the world (truly personal opinion). Not only is he an expert, he is also the best informant. Along the way to Teluk Dalam, whenever we bump a friend of him (basically all of the people are his friends), he will willingly share some information about the person. It amazes us because some information might be personal to the person.

Another experience that truly surprises us is how many funeral ceremonies and bike accidents that we bump into. We learned that Nias people love boars as we can see along the drive. Yenty, specifically, is very excited at how many boars she can see. Despite the pitiness and excitements toward the boars, we love to test one, but we don't have the chance.

When we arrive we visited the traditional houses and the famous stone. Taking some pictures and learning a bit of their culture make our long trip paid off.
Heading to beaches, finally! But we are quite disappointed to see how wasted the beautiful beach is. It has beautiful waves, I'm so sure people will come for surfing IF they provide good accommodations, transportations, facilities and service. We won't waste the time there with complaints, though. Got some beautiful pictures there.

Crabs' finger feet... :)

Talking about accidents, we too experience one. During our late drive back to the city and glorious chat between the driver (Ko Joni, have I mention?) and Alvin, one motorbike from back tries to cut our lane, unfortunately there is a fast motorbike coming towards us from another lane. When three of us reach the same spot, the biker who tries to cut us loses his balance and is thrown in front of us. He is under our van for seconds until Ko Joni presses the brake. We can see the fire sparkles when the biker is under us. Luckily he can go out and stand up when people from nowhere come to see the incident. We are scared to be beaten up by them. Smartly Ko Joni explains shortly, goes back to van and drives away. If he doesn't do it, I don't think I will have this chance to write about the accident. What an experience huh?

Nias (27 Dec 2010)

2011-01-27T18:36:00.004+07:00

Again, it's an emergency plan! I don't know whether it's plan D or plan E. But we got call from Pak Munte saying that there is a jet boat from Sibolga to G. Sitoli at 10. So we rush packing and get ready to the port. So, there you go, another plan!

We meet many people in the boat. There's a family (Australian dad and Chinese Indo mom) with three different outlook children (the eldest with mixed Western and Eastern look, the second with so Western look, the last with so totally Eastern look). I am just amazed by it. Many Pekanbaru people travel to Nias too. It's a 4-hour boat trip!

Arriving at G. Sitoli, we are picked up by Riang and sent to Hotel National. It is the first and the oldest stay in Nias. Old doesn't mean rusty, they definitely offer warm hospitality.

The first sunrise we catch in Nias

2 days down 4 days more to go! Ganbatte!

From Medan to Sibolga with a Puke (26 Dec 2010)

2011-01-26T20:39:00.006+07:00

It's happening! It really is. We are at Sibolga now! After many nights crying and begging to not join the trip, apparently it's worth it!

It's the most insane-10-hour drive I've ever been! From Medan-Perbaungan-Tebing Tinggi-Siantar-Parapat-Porsea-Laguboti-Balige-SiborongBorong-Tiga Balata-Tarutung-Sibolga! And our stay is close to Padang Sidempuan. Isn't it just plainly crazy, or what?!? This is the longest road trip in my life! Thanks God I've made it! :)

Hereby I state that I've tasted the dreadful infamous road from Tarutung to Sibolga! It is indeed a killer! With heavy rain at night, it surely is the craziest road trip ever!

Pandan Carita Hotel "Hotel Sweet Hotel" - literally...

1 day down 5 days more to go! Jia you!

Some Left Behind from 2010

2011-01-23T13:28:00.003+07:00

I know it's old, but it's my blog means I am free to put whatever I want, rite? :)

Danbo in Garden

2010-12-24T12:06:00.004+07:00

My curiosity is finally pampered. I saw billions of super creative danbo photos and I could just be jealous. And now I have some pictures, which I can be a little proud of, though there's still so much I need to learn from other photographers.

Knock knock!!!

2010-12-23T18:45:00.004+07:00

Knock knock!!!

.
.
.
Who's that?
.
.
.
It's Mr. Dragonfly :)
Another wonder that God made. Actually I was taking Danbo pictures, then I found this amazing creature-Mr. Dragonfly.

Happy Mom’s Day

2010-12-23T10:01:00.006+07:00

Yeah, Indonesia has her own Mom’s Day which is on every December 22. I don’t have a special present for my mom. But as usual, I give my quality time and energy for my mom (Yeah, I know it's a lame excuse). My mom was invited by her friend to celebrate birthday party on the night and she still did not have “proper” clothes (so she thought) for the party. So, I offered myself as her chauffeur and fashion stylist.

We went to this famous shopping mall walking around going in and out boutiques many times for a couple of hours with empty handed. Suddenly my mom remembered that our neighbor recommends a boutique, which she thinks it has high fashion style. So we searched for it because we’ve never been there before. We searched for it from the direction board. Many people (can be seen from their faces) were quite puzzled, perhaps because we are one of the so little people who search stores from the board direction. Let me be clear why it is so weird of reading a direction board. First, it is a “not-that-big-mall-which-you-have-to-read-the-direction-so-you-can-find-your-boutique mall. People believe that you just need to wander around for few minutes to find the boutique. But we were fed up and ran out of time to wander around the mall. Second, it’s people’s favorite mall. People go to the mall basically every day (it is obvious that I’m not; my best record 5 times in a month). People know and can point where the store is with their eyes closed (again, not me). SO, it is WEIRD to read a direction board. Thanks God, I am tired of caring other people’s opinion about me.

Back to the point of the story, we finally found the store! And there is NO boutique’s name in front of it. The owner of the boutique is a very-metro-sexual-almost-sissy man recommended some “flashy party” tops. We (my gang members and I) have a nickname for those flashy clothes – “pedangdut”. Pedangdut basically is called for a musician for our proud genre of music–dangdut. Normally the musicians will wear flashy, shiny, tight clothes which reveal the silhouette of the singer’s body. And my mom bought one of those types with AMAZING prize! Ok, it is a Jessica Red’s top (BTW, who/ what is Jessica Red? After I googled it, it is one of the most famous clothing brands in HK) but with the style and material, for me, it is not worthy! It is HKD 1,999; He sold it to us Rp 2,200,000.00! Try to count the zeroes! Haiks… Even my mom confessed that it is her most expensive top she has ever bought in her life. And by reading her face, I know she meant it and decided that it was her last time to buy such expensive clothes.

Eventually, she pulls it off! Wow! Happy Mom’s Day! :)

Uneg-Uneg

2010-12-08T20:09:00.003+07:00

Uneg-uneg is a slang word meaning sth (usu. issue/ problem) that bothers one. And here's mine.

My friends and I are planning to go to Nias this coming holiday. Nias is a small island located beside Sumatra island. She's becoming more infamous because of earthquake and tsunami effects. Nevertheless, She's also a gorgeous island! Amazingly and naturally beautiful!

But...

The tradition is still strong in Nias. Some of the tribes do not welcome outsiders yet. State laws is not as strong as the norms there. So, some people who are attracted by her beauty feel hesitant to visit her. In addition to that, with some recurrent disasters there, government is reluctant to rebuild or beautify or upgrade her. What a waste huh?

And, after all of the fact, Why do I still want to go there?

Good question. I am still thinking about that too. As far as I am an explorer (I wish), I think it's more about ego/ pride. When one says I should not go there, I feel more urge to go. Look how stubborn I am...

My brother is extremely concerned about me (I thank you bro for your concern. I really do. Sorry that I am too stubborn) persuading me NOT to go, when at almost the same time, he is going to Nias too. He stated that it's dangerous for FEMALES to go around, while it's ok for MALE. I'm not a feminist, but when you talk to me about what I can and cannot do, I am just fed up and disappointed and sad.

I really want to go to prove that it's safe for outsiders to visit Nias. And I do not want to go and make all my family members worry about me. But I will still go! People may say I am stubborn, I am too proud, I gamble with my life. But I pray every night for God's protection over us. Amen. I don't know to whom I should trust on this case, except Him.

Teacher's Day = Thanksgiving Day?

2010-11-28T17:55:00.003+07:00

We don't have Thanksgiving day or even Thanksgiving dinner, as I can see many gorgeous pictures captured the moment almost in every blogs, here in Indonesia. However, we have Teacher's Day, which we (teachers) are very grateful of, on the same day. On this specific day, many presents are coming to us, it has many meanings though; such as a bribery so we get loose of their kids or an expression from the bottom of parents' heart because we educate their children or even an apology for their kids' misbehaves. For all of the good reasons, I, on behalf of every teachers who got presents :P, am thankful, especially for the person who had brilliant idea that teachers should have their day!

I have these amazing cards from my boy, which I use them as bookmarks. I love handmade! Thanks!

I love this particularly :)

Will somebody call me 'Gran'?

2010-11-01T20:02:00.005+07:00

Looking at our earth condition now, we can tell that the nature is mad at us. Some floods here, some earthquakes there, some tsunamis down here, some eruptions up there. The heat burns us and the rains drown us. It's a revenge for what humans have done in the past.

I got this chain message informing us that the earth temperature is going to increase four degrees in 10 months. Can you imagine that?

Go green is not a strange word for us again. All of the campaigns has been done to awaken humans. Yet some of us are still ignorant. Take me as a subject. I still use plastic bags! I can't stop using it! The big excuse is, of course, to accommodate house's trashes. I like to take a shower for minutes! I prefer to read a book rather than read online! And many other ignorance.

Moving on, it's also very familiar for us with this "The end of the world is coming" line. Yeah, all of the natural disaster and the moral corruption are signs of the end of the world. It's written clearly on the bible. But, does it make one to be more religious? more caring? more ignorant?

For me, I become both optimistic and pessimistic at the same time. I become more optimistic knowing that the end is coming, so I need to be my best. And pessimistic too doubting that there will be future for me.

The picture is very much influenced by Gran in Double Act by Jacqueline Wilson.

The 100th post: A Bumblebee in My Garden

2010-10-14T21:18:00.008+07:00

To celebrate my 100th post, I present you - A Bumblebee in My Garden.

Sometimes the best place to take picture is around you. You just need to put on new glasses. And enjoy it.

The Source of Life

2010-09-18T11:25:00.002+07:00

A teenager accidentally had tumbled off her bike and fell under a passing tram. In an instant, her leg was severed below the knee. The bloody, broken limb lay beside her, no longer connected to its source of life.

Christian Growth Study Bible, pg. 1244

We live in a busy world. Tightened with all appointments and events. We wake up in the morning, give grace for the breakfast, and emerge in the crowd. Back home, rest and get a sweet sleep. The next day begins, with the same activities, same duties, same responsibilities, same feeling. We exist but do we live? Fully live...

Have you ever felt that you are actually a dead man walking doing the same activities and duties? And at some points, you stop and ask, "why do I do this? Oh, it's because that's what I normally do. This is my life." And you go back to that dead-man-walking mode.

At one point, you finally get the feeling to break all the boredom. You wanna chase after the freshness and sweetness of life. You pack all the things, ready to break out. But there is something missing. The gist. The fuel. The source of your life. What is it?

I know I'm not the one who feel this. There are billions of millions of people who feel the same. When I feel this, I know where to go. I go back to my source of life, to connect my life to Him. Because I know I can't stand away from Him too long, otherwise I'll die. He is my source of life. He is the Ruler of the heaven and earth. He is my God. What about you?

Making Dolls 101

2010-09-16T14:02:00.009+07:00

Here's the result from one of my holiday resolutions.
Interested to make one?

What do I need?
1. Felt/ Flannel fabric
2. Scissors
3. Thread and Needle
4. Beads
5. Cotton: Dacron
6. Glue gun

How to make?
1. Make pattern of the doll that you want to do. Make sure you use thick paper so you can get nice print and it can last long.
2. Copy that pattern on the fabric. Cut it.

3. Put beads as eyes, you may a bead as the nose too. Use "tusuk tikam jejak" to make a big smile (I don't know how to write tusuk tikam jejak in English. When I google translated it, the translation was "stab stab trail"! XD).
4. Connect the fabric by using "tusuk feston". Make sure that the colors of the fabric and the thread are same.

5. When you almost finish connect the fabrics, put in the cotton. Then continue sewing to the end.
6. Connect the head with the body. Using glue gun with be easier rather than the normal glue. However, using glue gun can be very technical. Don't put too much glue though.

7. Enjoy your doll.
I'm quite impressed. They are my first hand-made dolls.

A Bowl of Noodle and A dog

2010-09-15T16:59:00.006+07:00

It's a drizzling day. The weather was nice for anyone to have a nap. But I didn't. It's a weird habit that I develop throughout my holiday. I don't nap.

I finished cleaning my house. The second floor only. And I got so exhausted. I got this silly idea because I hate mopping floor. Mopping uses up all my energy to clean other parts of the house, that's why I dislike it. So, here's the silly idea. After I swept the floor, I poured some water on it. Then I used squeegee (the word I just learned) to clean the floor and remove the water (yeah, that's basically the function of it) and next I gently mopped to make sure that the floor is really dry. But in the end I actually wasted more energy. It's a dumb strategy after I think all over again. But I'm happy that I have one clean floor.

I took a rest for a while after the cleaning session. I watched Marley & Me movie on Star Movie. And I couldn't believe I watched this movie for so many times and I still cry for so many times. Somehow, I don't know why, it triggered me to my family. I miss them. I miss some yelling and teasing and the crazy non-sense noises.

I made myself a bowl of Korean instant noodle for lunch and I ate it at the door until I surrendered to the heat of the bowl. So I went up and enjoyed the noodle with a movie as a garnish.

In the end of a good day, I'm grateful that I have Lucky today. Accompany me through a good lonely day.

Vote for the "amazing" photo?

2010-09-15T10:03:00.002+07:00

Hmm... I got these pictures on the first day of my holiday. I see them quite "impressive"? Hmm... ok, "unique in its own way", to be safe :p

My dog, Lucky, in an afternoon. He always yawns.

I got this butterfly picture in Cemara Asri swimming pool.

My Apology and Condolence

2010-09-12T18:06:00.009+07:00

I've been ignorant these past years (almost a decade!) on September 11 incident. I knew something huge happened, but I didn't give any specific attention on it. Until yesterday I watched this show-My 911, on National Geographic, as memoriam to the victims. And with all my heart, I'd like to say sorry to all the families and friends who died on Sept 11, 2001. May all the souls rest in peace. I think it's better late than never.

I paid huge respect to all passengers on Flight 93 who bravely took control over the plane even though they knew the consequences of their action. It doesn't mean I don't respect other passengers from other planes, no sacrifice is higher than another on that day. All people - police officers, fire fighters, pilots, doctors and all medical workers, reporters, photographers, volunteers - who contributed are heroes to date.

I also particularly paid respect to this dog, Salty. A dog helped a blind man, Omar Rivera, to get out from the tower although his master had sent him free because the emergency stairs were too crowded for him. But Salty came back and sticked to his master until they both got out from the tower.

Salty is awarded as one of animal heroes

Omar Rivera with his new dog after Salty has been put to sleep forever

One of reminders for us to eradicate terrorism.
It is a great video by Jonathan Wong.
Music: The Fray-How to save a life.

Popped-up Resoulution?!?

2010-09-09T20:49:00.004+07:00

I didn't put it in my previous entry as one of my holiday resolutions. But I think I amazed myself today. Irene lent me her novel. I thought I'd put it on my table and let it stay there till the end of holiday and returned it to her without even flipping through the pages. But weird enough I actually opened it, out of boredom, and finished it in three hours! I never ever ever ever finished reading a book in a day! So I give myself a standing ovation.

It's a very light book, telling a simple-predictable story. It's in Indonesian. A very solid point why I can finish it in a day. Nevertheless, it's interesting enough to keep me read it, and giggle at the humors, and "gregetan" at some pages.

I recommend this novel if you have some free time and if you don't wanna sweat or squeeze your brain (No sarcasm here). It's a very chick novel.

Four Seasons in Belgium by Fanny Hartanti

Holiday Resolutions!

2010-09-08T22:00:00.004+07:00

I feel so blank this holiday. No plan. No feeling. No excitement. But I don't wanna waste it. Time flies fast, really fast. And I'm done with looking back and regretting what I've missed. So, I start my holiday by making some resolutions.
Time given: 10 days.
Targets:

Make two crafts: Caterpillar doll and Bunny doll
Take an "amazing" photo from extraordinary world
Write an "amazing" post out of my ordinary life
Finish reading half of Bible (targeting the short books)

*amazing is relative. It is subjective to my satisfaction.

Targets are achievable , I guess. I will update on my achievements! :)
Happy holiday! Happy Eid ul Fitr! :)

2-day Shopping Thoughts

2010-09-05T18:41:00.005+07:00

My sis came back for holiday. She and my parents are going to Spain for holiday. Assessing her wardrobe, we really believe she needs SHOPPING! So, as the only girl who can drive and shop, I was elected to be their chauffeur. I drove them wherever they want to shop and was honoredly asked to be their fashion adviser. My advise was taken seriously, by my surprise, as you can see my own style will be harshly criticized by high-end fashion doers.

Two-day shopping was tiring. I am still young and I love traveling, but if you ask me to go shopping when I have no intend to buy a thing would be a very tiring activity (except for giving advises although it isn't easy). My legs easily got tired while we were adventuring to find good clothes. My thoughts while my sis and mom busy shopping:

1. Females choose short-term-used item (clothes/bag/shoes). We (including me) choose items that too expensive-and-outstanding-and-short-lived goods (if I may use the words) which we will get bored soon and throw both money and item. We are delighted to find cute and unique item so that people will notice we have something new.
Study case: "A" bought a doll-pictured-with-sharp-color shirt which people easily notice and praise how cute she is when she wore it for the first time. The second time she wore it, she is still cute. The third and fourth times, she looked childish. Finally she decided to end the shirt's life.

2. Females are indecisive. We tend to choose a beautiful item which does not match our personality. Confusedly, we still spend a quite time to think whether it's ok to force it to ourselves. For me, it's ok that we have some items which we don't normally wear. It adds surprise to our lives. However, if we force something which way too far from our personality. It's wasting money!
Study case: "B" bought these pairs of studded-gray shoes which cause her to look double her age. She wore them once. And for the rest of those shoes, they spent it inside the box.

Recently I am learning to restrain myself from buying short-lived items. It's hard. But Hopefully in three months, I'm collecting long-lived items. Hopefully.

Time flew fast, betta watch out!

2010-09-04T10:04:00.002+07:00

I think tonight's gonna be Merrier!

It's Saturday again! I realize that I didn't post a single thought this week. But never mind!

My sis is coming back for holiday today. My mom is gonna have one more person to enslave her :P But I think my mom is just ecstatic! I got the feeling that tonight's gonna be a good nite!

1st Saturday huh?

2010-08-29T15:54:00.003+07:00

It started GREAT, it ended BORING!

For few weeks, I finally felt relaxed, away from work. Then "as usual", my independence day was ruined because my mom wanted to beautify her hair. I had planned some "me" activities, but in the end, I had to call them off.

From this experience, actually I don't wanna be a complainer, but sometimes I just wanna have "lazy" time, when I don't need to do or think or feel anything. Just relax. When the day was off, I think I had one. Reading lots magazines in the salon.

Lists

2010-08-22T18:27:00.002+07:00

International travel destinations:
1. Greece
2. Turkey
3. Japan
4. Kenya
5. India
6. Thailand

Domestic travel destinations:
1. Bunaken, Manado
2. Raja Ampat, Papua
4. Nias
5. Halmahera islands
6. Ambon

Youngsters nowadays

2010-08-22T17:22:00.003+07:00

I've tried to get rid of it but I couldn't help to think of it again so I think it'll be healthier if I write it down here.

I think I am sick of teenagers' lifestyle.

#1 is their body. They grow so much! Their age may be little but their body isn't, and their face too! As an illustration, I got this independence day celebration last week when all teachers needed to attend it and some students did too. Teachers had to line up beside senior high school students. They basically outgrown all teachers. And I couldn't help but caught this view of a teenager "boy" who basically looked like a thirty-year-old man. Don't get me wrong here, I don't judge people by their look, but it's way too ridiculous (too bad I didn't take his picture, you may get chest pain if you look at him).

#2 is their attitude. As an illustration again, I met this mother and teenager "girl", who supposedly looks like she's still in her senior high year, in a boutique. Anyhow, she looks like she's a working woman. She dressed up super neatly with a white three-quarter-long-sleeve shirt and white tight shorts and white heels, and, fortunately, a blue handbag. While she looks very mature for her age, her mother, on the other way, looks very young for her age.

What happens to this generation? They think too mature, they behave too mature, and they speak too mature! Call me childish, you may, but I personally feel discomfort. And let me tell you this theory of mine, when teenagers get rushed to be mature at their young age, they will act way too childish at their old age. For me, enjoy your age. You can't repeat to be 24 and fabulous.

quote

2010-08-17T13:27:00.000+07:00

'The tail belongs under the head. That way the dog will be reborn as a man with a ponytail and not an animal with a tail...'

The Cave of the Yellow Dog, pg 8, Byambasuren Davaa & Lisa Reisch

Bali II

2010-07-04T08:05:00.000+07:00

My Bali trip is not as fun as last year's trip. It was so flat and there was no interest or curiosity to explore anymore. It's quite sad as I've paid so much for it. Yet I've paid the bill for last year! I surfed! I could stand thrice on board in an hour practice. Yay! :)

I went to Joger, finally. There was people-flood there. People were taking the items as if they pay for them with leaves! Crazy! I bought a pair of striking-color sandals for myself :)

PS: My memory card got terrible creature named Virus! Help! I lost most of my pictures ;(

bearing the name

2010-07-03T06:01:00.000+07:00

Sometimes I'm ashamed to call myself a Christian with all of the sins which I still continue doing and all of the disobidient acts which I still take.

However, if you ask me whether I can live without God, surely I'll say I can't! Again, in the bible is written: whoever loves God, he lives in God, which is holy. Am I holy enough?

Bearing the name of Lily means pure heart or holy and the name of Christian which also means holy, I feel so burdened, sometimes.

Being humble, giving thanks and praise and filtering my mouth are my challenges today. So I turn my challenge list into a prayer list, asking for strength to tackle them.

Just what do Christians look like?
What sets their lives apart?
They’re ordinary people
Who love God from the heart. —D. De Haan

Bali I

2010-07-02T05:47:00.001+07:00

Today the trip route was almost the same as I took last year. We went to Nusa Dua. Finally I tried parasailing (with instructor) :( They said the wind was furious and my body is quite small so I might have trouble in landing. Still I enjoyed it though not as much as if I could do it alone.

Then we continued the trip to visit five worship places (Pura, Vihara, Churches (Protestant & Catholic), and Mosque) in a row, literally. However, only Protestant church and pura has fully built, the others are still on the progress.

Next spot is Dreamland beach. Wonderful beach with dangerous waves, for me. But I spotted some bules swimming toward the wave and let the wave rolled them. They looked like they enjoyed it so much when I could only shake my head. We passed Padang Padang beach and took pictures on the bridge.

The main course of the day is, of course, Uluwatu Temple. We evidented a very unique incident. We saw a monkey stole a Mizone (isotonic drink) from a visitor after eating so many nuts. He tried to open it! He knew how to open the bottle. After he tore the seal, he tried to turn the cap. Because it's too hard for him, he used his big and sharp teeth to pull the cap away. Less than two minutes, the monkey successfully opened the bottle and drank the Mizone. It was indeed a rare performance so all of the visitors cheerfully gave an applause when the monkey opened the bottle.

Again, I watched the Kecak Dance. Yet it was not exactly the same as like year. I was amazed how they can maintain the culture and keep it funny and creative at the same time. Salute to all of the performers.

Bali Waterboom

2010-07-02T05:42:00.000+07:00

Shout with me: TOP BGT! This place is so cool with crazy games! Try Boomerang and Smashdown surely they'll shorten your life. Crazy!

PS: No picture proves my adrenaline on work ;(

Blessed Bday!

2010-07-02T05:40:00.000+07:00

Blessed B'day Irene!
It's truly a blessing to celebrate a birthday in Lombok!

PS: We got a free cheesecake as the birthday cake :)

I pray...

2010-06-29T06:17:00.001+07:00

I pray for myself:
- I won't have the "holier-than-thou" attitude ever again.
- I know for sure that success is nothing without God.
- I give thanks always in good and bad times.
- I don't take granted of God's every blessings on me

Sengigi here we go!

2010-06-26T19:31:00.000+07:00

We came back to Sengigi, Lombok. Somehow I am so "kebal" with high current now and enjoyed the trip from Gili Trawangan to Bangsal. Still I felt terrible boat lag.

We finally used cidomo, to send us out of the port and found a car to send us to Sengigi.

Here in Sengigi, we stayed at Sonya Homestay. We walked down to Sengigi beach. It is quite dirty at first as many visitors throw rubbish on the beach. But when we walked further, we found clean beach. The weather was cloudy so we couldn't see the sunset.

PS: The photos are driving down from Sengigi.

I'm so dark!

2010-06-26T18:50:00.001+07:00

Today is a snorkling day! We went around three Gilis - Gili Air, Gili Meno, and Gili Trawangan. The tide was high! Mixed with "nekat" and curiosity, I pushed myself into the water. The first stop-Gili Trawangan, I snorkled with fins. It was quite confusing at first as it was the first time I used them. But I figured it out then. I saw many beautiful-striking-color coral reefs. The second stop-Gili Meno, it's the best place to see turtles. But because I used life jackets, it was very hard for me to swim. I couldn't catch up with the others. And I didn't see any of the turtles! Sobs sobs sobs! The third stop-(supposed to be) Gili Air, since the current was high (again), we moved closer to Gili Trawangan. We snorkled around the sinking ship. It was so magical!

It was a very tiring day for us since we are city girls. We rarely do this stuff. But, because we didn't want to waste our time on beautiful island, we rented bikes and caught the sunset. The weather was good and we could see the sunset clearly! It was worthy to bike and almost bumped cidomo and bumped (for real) a bule. This experience gave me lots of things, especially hurt on my ring finger (coz I bumped the bule) and my bottoms! ;)

We closed our last day on Gili Trawangan by having (again) another expensive dinner. My dream came true! I got the chance to try the seafood kebab! Best pick of the day :p

And, of course, the world cup fever also flooded every bars. We stayed at the bar till late to watch the game: Brazil-Portugal. Irene and I could only watch till the first half of the game then we went back to our homestay.

I just wanna reaffirm the information in the books if it is written: "you should bring flashlight", then you should! The lights shine the street. So if there is no restaurant or bar around, there will be no light too!

PS: Our homestay names Getaway Holiday.

Lombok II

2010-06-25T15:53:00.003+07:00

Today we went up to Senaru. It looked so close when we saw it from the map. But it is very far in the reality. We went to Sendang Gila waterfall. We went down to the second waterfall only, which is nearer-around 40m from the post. The first waterfall is around 60m. We didn't have enough stamina to go that far. The water is so cold!

Straight from the waterfall, we went to Bangli port. It was TOTALLY not in the plan. We planned to go Gili Trawangan on the following day. But thanks again to Pak Jupri for his initiative to pump in our gut and, of course, it saved our money a lot! Since we crossed the sea after 4pm, the wave was high. It's a nice welcome to a paradise! Gili Trawangan!

Gili Trawangan is highly recommended by ME! However, if you wanna feel local atmosphere, it is not a good place as you can see more "bule" than local people. Here in Gili Trawangan, there are numerous cool cafes and homestays or hotels, with reasonable price if you are good at bargaining. We stay at ... (I totally have no idea the name of our homestay, wait let me ask the person in charge), it costs Rp 200 rb per nite.

Another grand dinner at Sama Sama bar- Americana Pizza, Greek Salad, and Benoffie Pie! Yummy! And the nite was ended by a reggae band! Fanstastic nite at Gili Trawangan! Bravo :)

PS: The photos just departed from the port :D

Lombok I

2010-06-23T19:42:00.001+07:00

The real adventure finally begun. We started at around 8am. Guided by a very fine driver named Pak Jupri, we explored middle part of Lombok. We went to a beach which is divided into two parts- Pantai Segar and Pantai Kuta (note: Lombok has its own area named Kuta too, however it's so much quieter than Bali Kuta). We swam at Kuta beach coz the waves were so high at Segar beach. Nevertheless, the sky, the sea, the sands and the view are GREAT! The only annoyance is the people who constantly begged us to buy their things-local t-shirts, bracelets, and coconuts! Warning: apply sun block! I got terrible sun burn! Don't tell my mom!

Along the way to Kuta, we dropped at Sukarala to learn to weave cloth. It is learned that local female should be able to weave. It's a basic requirement to get married. And guess what!?! I weaved two rows and the pattern was difficult! I'm proud of myself! :)

Next, we stopped at Sade village. Native people of Lombok-Sasak people live here. Their language is similar to Java language and mostly they are Muslim. When we arrived there, there was a local dance, which I don't know the name of the dance. The dancer was playfully asking the spectators to dance with him. I personally enjoyed it. Then we were brought around the village. The people again kept asking us to buy the items, which are almost the same in every stand. We bought a weaving bracelet for each of us.

The day was closed by consumptous dinner at Lesehan Taliwang Irama. This was the most satisfying dinner since we arrived here, but, of course, we need to spend more money. Still sleeping with full belly is worthy.

PS: Pictures are on the way! :)

Bali-Lombok Trip

2010-06-22T15:06:00.001+07:00

Today, actually, is our third day outside Sumatra Island. The first two days we spent transiting from Medan-Bali-Lombok. We (me, Yenty, Ritho, Irene, and Bintang) just arrived in Lombok, at Oka Homestay to be specific. It's a very green and comfy place to stay after excruciatingly tiring 5-hour journey by ferry from Padangbai to Lembar. I'm happy we can make this far though we haven't started anything yet. The real journey will begin tomorrow. Thanks a lot to Kak Desak and family for the warming home! :)

PS: Pictures will be uploaded when I'm home.

Something to Think

2010-05-21T19:58:00.003+07:00

...
It's as if we are screaming,
Notice me! Remember me!
Yet the notoriety barely lasts.
Names quickly blur and in time are forgotten.

Have a Little Faith-Mitch Albom

World Trip I (2010)

2010-05-12T14:08:00.012+07:00

Yataa! We did it! The first world trip to Medan (Indonesia). It's funny if I looked back to our first plan. We planned to go to Cambodia but we couldn't make it because our family thought that it may not be safe enough for girls to travel around to the unknown land. Then we planned to Thailand. We couldn't make it too. The next destination is Singapore but it's too normal for us. With all respect to Singaporeans and your super clean city and wonderful Sentosa, nothing new excites us since we all have been there before. Then we tried to make it to Sipadan island but it's too difficult for us to get in there. All in all, with all courage and disappointments, we decided our first world trip started from a small city but it gives us huge energy to go on to have more exciting world trip. So, MEDAN here we go!
We, Lily Susanti, Pak Liang Sien, and Chan Pek Har, are ready to take on the world! (Thanks for Yenty being such a great help!)
First day: Brastagi.
Medanese do really suggest outsiders to visit Brastagi, even Medanese themselves should explore this place more (including me). We planned to harvest strawberries yet it's not in season so we went on to a temple. It's a huge temple indeed.
Our footprints in this temple
We behaved well in the temple. Do you know what the punishment is for misbehaved girl? Pretty humiliating right?
What is Brastagi if we don't go to Mikie Holiday? Hmm...

There are lots new games there. I never noticed this before (thanks to Chan) compared to Genting, Mikie has more "theme park" feeling because there is always music kept playing on. Then what did we do after playing? Took lots of pictures of course!
Second day: Medan (town)
We visited Maimoon palace, the place which I only passed but never got in. Shame to be a Medanese! Thanks to our Malaysian friends for bringing me into the palace. I personally feel amazed of the palace. But yeah the owner should preserve the palace more and open more rooms for us to explore. The guide was very considerate too explaining the palace in dual languages which indeed made Liang Sien and Pek Har became center of attention.

Then we went to Pasar Rame, What an unusual place to bring foreigners around Medan. But they were excited finding new things. But the main course was EARTHQUAKE! It was so unexpected. We were busy buying lots of food that Chan and Pak never tried before and we felt the tremor. When the crowd hurriedly went out of building, Chan saw a man pulled a lady's wrist thinking that he was a pimp trying to run away from police officers! Wkwkwk...
Next place to visit was Cong Afi's house. But we were late when we arrived there. It was closed. So, we had dinner at Tip Top Restaurant. Nice food but there were lots of mosquitoes! Erghh...

I was amazed I can see this cash register. Cool stuff!
So, after a successful first world trip where is our next destination?
And our next world trip is:

April Art&Craft Journal

2010-05-02T16:40:00.004+07:00

Lots of drawing and coloring this month.

Actually I wanna make a story based on these characters, but it seems I have to postpone it for a while.

Thanks for the reference Caca!
Finally I can do stone painting! Yay!

Another Episode of Towelholic

2010-05-02T16:11:00.004+07:00

On previous post I wrote my mom bought three towels. Now in this post I clearly declare that my mom is a TOWELHOLIC! She bought AGAIN 10 towels! complete with the name embroidered on each towel!
Best buy! Massage oil! Massage lovers must have this! They really have a very good smell!

Best Listener

2010-04-17T08:21:00.004+07:00

Humans are known as social animals. We enjoy interacting with others, sharing our personal stories to the closest, exchanging valuable experiences. We talked a lot everyday, don't you agree? According to Dr. Louann Brizendine, men talked 7,000 words a day while FEMALE talked 20,000 words a day! Do you think you talk that much? Hmm... As for me teachers, we need to talk A LOT! We explain the materials, share our activities and ideas, and imaginations, and dreams. It's good to talk. Indeed lack of social relationship may give us bad effects, such as stress or even depression.

However, do we really need to talk that much? In Indonesia, there is a famous quote: "Mulutmu adalah harimaumu", meaning mouth can both save and harm you. In bible too, we are told to be able to control our mouth or words. Have we? Have I?

As for me personally, in these couple years, I learn to jot down my thoughts rather than saying it out loud. I enjoy writing. I haven't made a wonderful essay or article (yet). However, I feel ease after writing down all the thoughts, I feel I have lighter brain. Don't you hate feeling stuffy all the time? Extroverts will go hang out or share every deatils to everybody. As for me an introvert, I prefer to keep it to myself and to my book (or blogger). All of us need a companion who can listen to our story without commenting, ya? So do you agree "The art of listening is much more important than the art of talking"? Or both are equal?

Can you resist her?

2010-04-03T11:33:00.002+07:00

Weird?

2010-04-03T11:22:00.001+07:00

Isn't it weird if we can make time for our shopping, watching TV, relaxing, traveling, reading, sleeping, eating, bathing, BLOGGING, but we can't make time for our God? Not even a minute?

March Art Journal

2010-04-01T19:46:00.006+07:00

I followed this inspiring blog named "Moments of Perfect Clarity", which I think you should go check it out too (see my blog list). On the previous blog, she posted some pictures from her art journal, which was very artistic, for me, and it's good to sharpen our artistic and creativity side. So, I followed her lead. I made some drawings and I know they are not 'perfect' or 'original' or whatever, but I think I'm gonna continue doing this. It's fun!

I was inspired by Monk's theme song. Oh yeah, it's jungle outside! Ayuyoooo! (Credit to Nadine!)

Cheetah Graduation Class Picture

2010-03-28T18:35:00.006+07:00

I know I seldom write about my class or my students coz if I am a parent, I won't like my children's teacher write sth about them, either in a good or in a bad story. I really think that consent form is very important to protect one's privacy. But this time, I need to break it. I'd like to show my students proudly to the world.

Cheetah Class
What's wrong with the students? Why did teachers look happy but the students look unhappy? Ok, let me explain. The students, and teachers, showed GREAT interest in taking pictures and basically my students could give you thousands of different poses. But when we got the last turn, which meant we needed to wait for an hour, to take the picture, we felt bored . While waiting for turn, children played, ran, and jumped like what children normally do and teacher (me) was busy taking children's pictures. So when our turn came, we showed no interest to take picture (but you can't see it from teachers' faces coz we are great actresses, or basically just narcissists :P).

Cheetah Girls

Cheetah Boys

My Mom's Tiny Shopaholic Day!

2010-03-21T16:14:00.007+07:00

Today, my mom and I (accidentally) shopped. Our foremost purpose of going out was to have facial treatment which we have once a month. We finished it around lunch time then we decided to have lunch in a shopping mall. After that, we thought that it's a "good" idea to have a peep of some SALE products. Passing some 70% towels, my mom took three towels with bright colors. I remember that she just bought two towels and she hasn't used them yet, then she said they were "spare" towels, so in case we need a towel, we didn't need to buy it again and since it had 70% discount so why not? Somehow, I'm still amazed at my mom though we've been together for more than 20 years.

Meaning to pay the towels, my mom bought a frying pan in few minutes while I was checking some wrapping papers. I bought five, which the end I dropped one while carrying the things to car. It was the nicest paper! It has soft pink pastel color with greyish green butterflies on it.

Do you think we stop there? Nope! My mom bought six packs of 2-litre cooking oil. Why did my mom buy them? Coz normal price is 22 thousands and they are only 16 thousands IF we purchased the items with credit card! The best of all was I needed to carry three packs of 2-litre cooling oil in each hand! There's NO trolley or basket or whatever! And we parked our car outside the mall since it's so difficult to park inside. I had a "wonderful" shopping day. Happy shopping everybody! My First 'SUCCESSFUL" Photoshop Mixing! Yay! :)

Zap! (Sakit...)

2010-03-13T09:44:00.005+07:00

Last week, I was asked to write an article about sport day at my school. Feeling so excited, I straight away wrote about it since I still had fresh memory about that day. I wrote short and simple article. I was quite satisfied and proud that I didn't take much time to write about it. I handed in the soft copy to my principal. Then she said that she needed to edit 'little' of my article. I agreed.

Then I was curious how she edited my article, so I checked the article. Then it's like the sky fell down on me, she changed LOTS! The feeling was totally different, I mean, the idea was still mine, but the choices of words made it LOTS better. Zap! my heart hurt. It made me realize not to be PROUD easily. Keep on learning. Most important, this experience taught me to be HUMBLE.

A Day with Mr. Pancake

2010-02-21T12:07:00.007+07:00

My cousin's girlfriend, Vivi, came down to Medan from Bandung. She stayed a night with my family. The next day I was given a duty to bring her around Medan. Sad to say but there's nothing to explore in Medan, I mean downtown, with an hour spend since she had a date with her cousin, which I've forgotten her name is (I'm terribly sorry). So, basically I just named places along the way to Sun Plaza; such as Durian House, Medan Train Station, Kesawan, Kampung Keling, MW, Aston Hotel, JW Marriot, Lapangan Merdeka. Somehow, I wish I knew my city better so when my friends come down here, I can introduce my city prouder.

So, arrived at Sun, we walked around and met Vivi's cousin. Then we decided to eat at Mr. Pancake! I love this shop coz it has fabulous interior. Am I right?

I especially love this fireplace!

In our conversation, we somehow agreed it's better that this shop named Ms. Pancake rather than Mr. Pancake. Hmm.. Aye?

This shop serves average-taste-but-great-decoration food.
Its name's Butterfly, but I couldn't see where 'the butterfly' was.

Fruity Choco, if I'm not mistaken :p

Durian Pancake, looks yummy rite?

Overall, I like this shop and I love having her around!

Something to think

2010-02-17T16:47:00.002+07:00

"Things, bodies and egos, events, situations, thoughts, emotions, desires, ambitions, fears, drama... they come, pretend to be all-important, and before you know it they are gone, dissolved into the no-thingness out of which they came. Were they real? Were they ever more than a dream?

A New Earth, p. 209, Eckhart Tolle

Answering...

2010-02-05T21:58:00.005+07:00

Q: What item or product (if any) would you risk buying on the black market, if it became illegal to purchase it?

I found this question on one-minute writer. It's a very interesting question. I think the winner is pirated DVDs (though it's not "risky" to buy here)! Yet, it's still ILLEGAL. I know there shouldn't be any excuse, but there are lots of great movies that are still waiting on my list that I can or cannot watch in the cinema. Believe me but I haven't watched: Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, The Blind Side, Slumdog Millionaire, Precious, Up in The Air, Whip It, and I can continue the list on and on. I appreciate those directors and artists, that's the reason I don't want to buy pirated DVDs. It feels like robbing and I hate to dirt my hands. So, I found this tricky trick. I asked my bro to buy DVDs that I wanna watch since both of us are movie freaks. I know it's still wrong (and perhaps with bigger sin :p). Just assume this is my confession. I'm sorry!

Long time no write?

2010-02-05T20:48:00.005+07:00

So, what brings me tonight to write in a room with starving mosquitoes after a long time pause? Of course coz I miss writing, I miss writing out my feeling, my complaints (definitely!). But for sure, I miss thinking and feeling!

These days we get carried away easily by our activities, don't you think? I've been going through these last two weeks like a half-dead body walking. Waking up in the morning and going sleep at night. No feelings, insights, thoughts involved. Boy, can't tell you how easily I am distracted with this whole activities and plans. It is addicted, though, I have to admit. The feeling of numb like nothing really matters, going through days without even noticing it has slipped away. Feeling so empty inside, that's scary.

Trying to guard and waking myself up now and then, focusing on what really matters. Thanks God! :) Ok, let's breathe!

Now, let's talk sth bright here. I watched Julie & Julia this week. There is one recipe that definitely made mouth flooded by my saliva-Bruschetta with Tomatoes and Basil. I've got the recipe! Surely it's worth trying! I want to try Beef Bourguignonne too. But surely I'm gonna burn my house with it too! Berle?

And this is my waiting list book! Dying to read, cook and burn!

bon appetit?

Birthday Boy

2010-01-02T15:41:00.004+07:00

Credit to my mom, who took the pic.

This boy turns 20 today!

Resolution Result

2010-01-01T12:28:00.008+07:00

One of my resolution items is making a photography blog. So I have been working with it, taking pictures everyday and post a pic a day. Hopefully I'll make a time to post a picture daily. Though I am still an amateur photographer and taking pictures with my pocket camera, but hopefully you enjoy it and give suggestions and support! Jia you! Please visit showmeyourpose.blogspot.com

People whom I'm gonna miss the most!

2010-01-01T11:51:00.007+07:00

She's Vanessa, my student. A very cheerful and stubborn girl. I feel something was missing if she didn't attend the class.

Hmm, what can I say about Winsen? I'm sure you can tell from the pic that he's a very cute, smart boy. His class was next to mine, but I liked to visit his class just to tease him.

Doesn't she look like the girl in Candy Candy or Pansy? I called her Little Diana since she resembles the girl version of Princess Diana.
PS: to parents whose children were taken pics w/o permission, I am sorry for not be able holding myself from taking your children's pictures since they are just adorable.

Postponed Christmas Post!

2010-01-01T11:39:00.007+07:00

Ok, I know today is year 2010!!! But I just realized there are so many pictures and stories that I haven't told. So please spare a day to tell some old stories of 2009!
First, it's been awhile since I haven't showed off my art and craft, so here they are:

I found joy when my students like my craft.

Fiuh...

2009-12-28T10:34:00.004+07:00

After all the dazzling merriness of Christmas, finally I got the mood to write. Looking back, again, time flew huh? A year has passed. When I checked my resolution, half of the list hasn't been done yet. Reflecting on it, I've come to conclusion that I actually a lazy person. Hmm... Not really shocked when I heard it. Why? Am I letting myself be too pampered? Guess so.

Don't you ever felt when you wanna go for 'sth', but you don't think the time for 'it' is NOW; and when you are looking for so called 'the best time', you are actually procrastinating it like to forever; and when you realize its existence 'again', you feel like it's 'too' late for doing it?

Fiuh...

Many times we've heard that 'time is precious', but do we really mean it? Sometimes, we watch the same movie twice or thrice, we create our own world in dreamy slumbery world too often, we procrastinate, or we blog... while we have so many 'nature' attractions around us. "Go for nature" we said, but we fond of blogging, 'build real relationship' she proclaim, yet we choose chatting online. "Love your family because they are the most precious people in the world" he preached, but we spend no second with them.

Fiuh...

So many regrets, happiness, laughter, despair, sorrow in this year, do you cherish them?
Wanna make a fabulous 2010? Let the past go and move forward with checking our flaws!

Christmas ma'am?

2009-12-09T15:17:00.003+07:00

A: Would like a box of Christmas magic powder? Since it's Christmas season, It's buy 1 get 1. Isn't it fun?
B: What's that for?
A: It helps you to decide what things to buy for Christmas.
B: And?
A: And, helps you to believe again that what we need for Christmas is Santa Claus comes to your house to fulfill your dreams.
B: Cool! I'd like one. How much is it?
A: $5/ box, ma'am.
B: Here you go.
A: Nice meeting you. Merry X'mas!

When I enter shopping malls, there are lots lots lots of Christmas decorations. Beside the Christmas tree, there will be a big poster "Christmas sale up to 70%". Ok, don't get me wrong. I love Christmas decorations, I love discount, who don't? but when the core idea of Christmas is buried under thousands of presents. I can't feel the peace and warmth of Christmas. Don't intend to be very spiritual, but let us not forget the real meaning of Christmas-the new hope of salvation.

Art and Craft Day

2009-11-15T17:26:00.004+07:00

Yes, I'm not really sure when and why exactly Sunday is art and craft day. But recently I lots of free time on Sunday. I love movies, but I think I waste too much time on movies. I'm too lazy to go out and too cozy to be at home. Suddenly art and craft! popped up. So, ladies and gentlemen, let me show off my art and craft skill for a moment.
This is actually my first piece. I painted it last Sunday.

and ta-da! this is today's masterpiece! Aren't they just cute?

Quote of the Day

2009-11-15T17:23:00.002+07:00

Only emotion plus an unhappy story is unhappiness - Eckhart Tolle 'A New Earth'

life now

2009-11-11T12:12:00.005+07:00

yeah, life still goes on
even when you like it to end

you look around
people are still busy
they are making plan
for better tomorrow

but you are stucked here
nowhere to go
no one to share
no plan for tomorrow

then you just realize
man! time does fly huh?
it's been a year now
and i am still the same me
worse maybe...

what to do now?
what do you want actually?
when others envy what you have
and you are craving for more nonsense things