Another Victoria's Secrets

I heard this from a friend last week. We were talking about a girl in our circle who is too naïve to be true, a little too pure to be in this wild jungle of Jakarta, but is beautiful in the outside. Another friend said, what a girl like her needs to do in this world is just one thing: to keep her body in shape. He didn't have to finish the line; I already knew he meant that it's the only way to make a guy interested on her, and to marry her in the end.

I was laughing at this little joke at first, thanking silently to the friend that he didn't consider me to be in the same category with the girl, and took pity on her. But then few days later, I had a close friend asked for a temporary job she needed to kill her boredom. She isn't thinking of a higher achievement she could actually get because she needs it only until her wedding day.

My guy friend said, the only job she can have is go to the gym, spend hours in spa and salon, and shop at the malls. It was the very same category in which the other girl we were talking about is in. I was a little bit shocked by the fact that all these years my dear girl friend has really been doing all that the boy suggested.

It was like we had been mocking at this category of a girl. For us, young people who are trying to start our own entrepreneurship, getting settled down is like our so latest option. While we are struggling with clients, designs, payrolls, and strategy to get at least known in each our fields, people who get married at young age sounds like surrendering. We thought the category is a weak yet safe option; it is for less ambitious people.

In our world--we young entrepreneurs--such girl can't do anything but to wait to be married. For us, a girl who's all that is one who has broad knowledge and is busily active, has many networks (or to be said "known") and has bright future in career or business (which doesn't has anything to do with the guy with whom she marries.)

In the other hand, waiting-to-be-married category is the one I've always been avoiding: a girl who goes to school just to have a title (and because everybody else are doing it) and lets a rich guy marry her as soon as she gets out from the graduation building, gives birth to a child at the most productive age of human being, and takes care of the "little family" she tries to build for the rest of her life.

Then I just realized, that this kind of girl is the one who will give the nation great next generation. Whoever the kids they are raising will have great childhood, great nurturing and great future ahead than a life from working mothers. So if all girls try to pursue high levels on her career or business like I do, there aren't gonna be happy kids in the future.

And in fact, there are still many guys wanting this kind of girls to be their wife. The girls who are dependent on them, perhaps to prove that manhood are still needed in this era where powerful females start to take over top positions at the offices. These all sound so last generation for me, but now that I start to notice, I have most of my girl friends (specially those in Bandung) are living this kind of life.

So, I was questioning this to myself: which one is better? Is it being a modern, independent career woman--which I've been trying to be--or being just a housewife like all the other women have done for centuries? I think I have to stop mocking at that lifetime profession, cuz they aren't as bad as I thought--they're noble actually. Thanks to all housewives, then!

... I don't really have anything extraordinary to share with you guys. Since my business with the book store is done, all I did was meeting friends, family, and even had a visit to my home in Bandung for two nights. Other than that, basically my activity was waiting for the next project.


We really have a lot to do with the company we start to build, and did many things but I dunno what to share about it all here. I just bought myself a comfy black pillow to accompany me working on my laptop on the floor. The lovely leaf silhouette in graphic really boost up my mood for work.

Oh, yea--I was also having culinary tour around the city. Check the delicious food I had here:

I just wrapped up the first phase of book store project that keeps me staying in Jakarta for the last 6 weeks. The store is now ready to open--of course, after all the books are loaded--and my job here is done--temporarily (because there is still the second phase to be done.) But now I'm inviting you all to preview the project here, and if you're anywhere around, please come to Zmith Book House at Shophouse D-GDF, Mediterania Garden Residences 1, Tanjung Duren, West Jakarta, to find great books.

Anyway, the soft opening is Sept 25, 2010. Don't miss it!!

OK, I admit it that I am stressed out. First, the projects, then the family problem, and my own love life. OK. So I started the day with the wrong foot. Perhaps it was from last night's unfinished problems and the first SMS I received this morning was a spam telling that it was "my dad" using other people's cellphone and asked me to send some amount of money to bail him out of the police office. Some kind of stuff that happened much too often to everyone in the country lately.

What? So they don't know that my dad passed away, like, 9 months ago?? What?? I took this too personal?? Yea, I know. It was all become too personal when you have a bad day, right? Well, I was just kidding. I know it was a spam and I was okay with that. And when the carpenters came and they asked for payroll, client came and tried to chat with me and stuff--I suddenly became all too cranky.

I was talking with Mom the other day, about how you can't lick back what you had spitted. About how a nailed board can't be as new even after the nail is pulled. About how you can't gather all the feathers from a pillow after you blow them all over from the top of your roof. People just need control and the lowest point of your guard is just when you are at your lowest.

A friend just sent me message just about what I needed. When your guard is low, it's the easiest leak where negative thoughts come inside your fortress. That's when the devil come and ruin your whole defense just like that. A single stain can ruin the whole bucket of milk, remember? OK. So I guess it's either to hold my anger a little more--or just find an escape. I think the getaway idea sounds the greatest.. I wish.

I need to reestablish my manner and my goal. I need to learn again to write the other's mistake on the sand and carve the blessing on the rock instead of the other way around. I need to forget the shit other did to me and remember only the kindness. I guess that's the hardest part of all, right? We tend to record the bad things first; to replay them when our bad days are the most reflex thing to do for our brain. Keeping it in the positive lane, in the other hand, needs more effort and isn't easy at all. But at least we can all try.

Today my sister and I made a trip to Central Jakarta. We used to do that almost daily, but at least weekly when we lived in Sudirman Park, but now that we're in West Jakarta, we rarely go there. After all my business done and we had our lunch, we went to St. Theresia church by Bus Damri No. 213 and then Metromini No. 15. When we arrived, we were late. Apparently the mass hour was moved to 15.30 p.m. from 16.00 p.m.

After that we went to eX as usual. We walked around, looking at new places and band performance, and stopped by ak.'sa.ra at Plaza Indonesia to search for interior references for my sister's school task. I walked around and found a CD by Raul Midón. I think he has great voice, nice song and it's jazz. Mom likes jazz recently and I want to give her a music CD for her birthday so, this is the late present :)

We went to Grand Indonesia for a quick trip to Kinokuniya and Forever 21 after quick dinner at MOS Burger. And that was all for the day. Lovely Saturday evening with my lovely little sister, of course.

I was pretty much behind schedule yesterday. My proposal deadline is today and up until last night, I haven't got the perfect layout for my concept. So my sister and I packed up our Macbook, decided to get out from the small walled room and went to Urban Kitchen, Central Park, to work there.


So we chilled out there for, like, four hours, struggled with Google Sketch Up and my own sketch papers, stuck with ideas. So after maghrib we went to Hoka Hoka Bento for dinner, stayed at the atrium for another hour while waiting for rain to stop, and suddenly--an idea struck. So we hurried back to the apartment to develop and polish the idea and worked till 7 a.m. this morning non-stop.

It was tiring, a total rush work, but I think as we see the final design, I think it's worth it :)