Another Victoria's Secrets

I am still adapting on living in my aunt's house. She and Grandma are a real clean freak to me and my siblings. This house is extremely clean and tidy and they are sweeping the floor like every hour! This cleaning stuff annoys us big time, for having lived in a small apartment of our own--which was treated like our own rooms back in home with a housemaid get it clean every morning without us having to clean up anything... only in the apartment there weren't any housemaid so the room remained as how it was left: messy and unclean until we had time to clean it up or until the room was intolerably unclean--unless Mom was coming from Bandung. She is as a clean-freak as her sister and mother. Thank God they're still just clean-freaks, not an OCD.

So having to clean up everything on schedule is quite a big change for us. I need to be able to work or having a pleasure time at home while also doing homework like washing, ironing, and sweeping. I have to share my focus on work and also homework. It's reducing quite some time of my day, but after getting used to it, it feels nice to live in a clean and tidy home after all.

At the office, there is a messy girl who tends to forget things--especially about where did she put stuff, although those are still all around her. It annoys us to see her messy desk and kills us to know that she lost a thing again. So it all started from home. Clean and tidy is never a bad habit, so there is no loss to start making it a habit now.

"your least favorite song"

I skipped a day to make this for I had no time on my Mac yesterday. So here is my day-two stuff:
My least favorite songs are actually all those Indonesian melancholy songs we call them here as 'alay'. But to pick one to be specific, I'll just pick an international-known song: I Know You Want Me by Pitbull. For me the song is pointless and the video clip is somehow like a pervert. LOL. Sorry to Pitbull's fans, but I'm not liking it..


While for the drawing, my favorite animal is owl. Maybe I fell in love with it more since there was Hedwig (thanks to J.K. Rowling). It's the symbol of wisdom and it 'lives' at night time (which is also mostly my time of a day). So I tried drawing an owl here and adding a children nursery rhyme to it. I wish I can be as wise as an old owl ;)

"your favorite song"

Apparently, this challenge is harder to play than it looked. I got plenty of favorite songs, so this needed a serious thinking. But for the past one year, I have been loving this one particular song by God Help The Girl, with self-titled song: God Help The Girl. It's just sooo 'me', especially the first few lines: There is no way I'm looking for a boyfriend... I'm a working girl you know... You have been warned, I'm born to be contrary... Fits me just.

For the very late the other 30 days challenge, I'm making it up today by making an image of me (day 01: yourself). I made the sketch by hand and color them on Photoshop. This is my first time doing it, since I left my visual communication design major after just a year. I also hope the image describes me enough: short haired, fair skin, leather postman bag, a book in the hand. And I still can't decide which I love the most between all of the stuff named in the direction pole. Lol.

I blogwalked thru Oen's blog and found this new challenge about song (the last one was drawing and I hadn't even start it. Lol.) I guess this one is just much easier to follow through, so here's the list and I'm gonna start tomorrow.


day 01 - your favorite song
day 02 - your least favorite song
day 03 - a song that makes you happy 
day 04 - a song that makes you sad
day 05 - a song that reminds you of someone
day 06 - a song that reminds you of somewhere
day 07 - a song that reminds you of a certain event 
day 08 - a song that you know all the words to
day 09 - a song that you can dance to
day 10 - a song that makes you fall asleep 
day 11 - a song from your favorite band 
day 12 - a song from a band you hate 
day 13 - a song that is a guilty pleasure 
day 14 - a song that no one would expect you to love 
day 15 - a song that describes you 
day 16 - a song that you used to love but now hate 
day 17 - a song that you hear often on the radio
day 18 - a song that you wish you heard on the radio
day 19 - a song from your favorite album
day 20 - a song that you listen to when you’re angry 
day 21 - a song that you listen to when you’re happy
day 22 - a song that you listen to when you’re sad
day 23 - a song that you want to play at your wedding
day 24 - a song that you want to play at your funeral
day 25 - a song that makes you laugh
day 26 - a song that you can play on an instrument
day 27 - a song that you wish you could play
day 28 - a song that makes you feel guilty
day 29 - a song from your childhood 
day 30 - your favorite song at this time last year

I've been thinking hard about life and love lately. I've becoming more and more cynical about love and marriage now, seeing how things are turning just as ugly everywhere I turn. All around me, people are experiencing bad luck for love, name it for it is not a good year for love, or it's just it.

Yesterday a friend called me and said she was having an argument with her fiancé so I hurried up coming her way and be the 'trash can' for about 30 minutes. Then this came to me: most of people (maybe especially here in Indonesia) are getting married because they are curious about something.

Some get married because they want to have kids and raise a family, some because they want to experience sex. Some other because they want to have freedom (only to get none) and some to know how it feels like to get out of the house. Others because of any other needs I'm not familiar with: to have money, to gain power, to be accompanied, and so on... These people usually don't really care who they are marrying--as long as they have the same destination.

Not many of the couples I met who get married because of their own will, with the person of their decision and because they decided so, and NOT regretting it for the next 30-40 years of marriage. Most people I met, regretted their vows even in their few first years. That's pathetic. They thought marriage was the key to escape, the answer of all questions... They just got it wrong in the first place.

For myself, given horrible experiences around lately, I hardly can give positive advices to couples who are suffering in pre-marital problems. I would force them, if not too pushy, to rethink about the big plan over and over again because I simply can't deal with stuff I've dealt with years ago. When I saw someone in the same position as I was with my exs, all I wanted to shout was "Run away!"

But that's all the life as I know it. That's how life is happening around me. I'm absorbing things and learnt from them, keeping it in my memory and recalled the trauma when someone was in that situation. Surely I don't know all things already now--to know whether there are more happily married couples than those who aren't--but that's the life as I know it.

I got an invitation to the Esmod Jakarta Graduate Fashion Festival 2011: Ground Zero. It was held in Pacific Place last Thursday, June 23rd, after my second visit to Indo Build Tech 2011 at JCC (and hurt both of my arms for holding bags filled with so many catalogues, brochures, pamphlets, business cards and other bonuses like pens, agenda, and material samples. Even two days weren't enough to collect them all!)




It was my turn to bring car that night, so I dropped everyone home and fetched Oma at Aunt Magda's place before coming home. I was super tired for sure, but also excited for the new things I experienced that day, and also to find at least 10 goodie bags filled with many stuff (of course, only the goodie bag from Esmod contained three bottles of You C-1000, Natur-E tablets, Soyjoy biscuits, magazines and vouchers, while other bags filled with images of materials. Lol.) I sure did enjoyed the day, thank God!

When I went hang out with Lita yesterday, we discussed about life and its philosophy as usual. Then I told her about this guy I thought "I couldn't lose", and I found this quote on tumblr, and we agreed that there are special someone to everyone.

To me, I have more than few special people to myself. One of them is Lita, of course, who had been my best friend for the last decade. I have quite many best friends around me and for me, Lita is someone I always run to when I'm in the middle of a crisis, or when I'm excited about a guy, or when to discuss a serious matter. She's all I can depend on.

When it comes to art, music and design, I have Rachelle to share my ideas with, who is always supportive to whatever I'm doing. We definitely share the same taste in music, fashion, design, style, hobby, and--what seems like too bizarre--love story. It's funny tho, but we enjoy this a lot. Thankfully, we never set eyes upon the same guy. Lol.

Cheryl and I share more or less the same interest and ideology, and quite the same humor and wit, which are also similar to Rachelle's. Maybe that's what unite the three of us together and made our friendship solid with one another.

The other thing that I discussed with Lita was about this friendship. I told her that among all of my friends, the two latter girls are the ones who are fit in the most with me. Lita couldn't understand what I was talking about, remembering how many other girl friends I have all my life, including my old besties Ester, Irma and Livia.

They are still my best friends and I love them all just the same. It just that things changed, and we all have different destinations and paths now. It's not that I forget about them, and tho I love them all still, we have different "world"--the word I found hard to explain to Lita. Maybe it's more about the soul. I found Rachelle and Cheryl have pretty much similar souls with mine. That's why they're my soul mates--in a way.

But the other thing about soul mate is, of course, to find a life partner. Lita and I agreed, that after some trials and errors, we need someone we can talk to, share with, and rely on--more than what meets the eye. Well, I guess in time we need to lower our standards anyway. Looks aren't the most important anymore, tho for me it's still so hard to deal with.

Of course, meeting my standards is one difficult thing, and I need to deal with the consequences. When I rethink about this, well I have to be agree with Lita and the quote above: if I ever meet a guy who can make me feel comfortable and also reliable, I guess I'd lower my standards too, and would never let him go ;)

I'm super excited today, mainly for two reasons: First, Lita asked me to hang out at Gandaria City with her today and we spent hours in Eat & Eat and Roppan, talking about her pre-wedding preparations and other girl's stuff, and it had been months since we had this kind of thing together, so it's pretty much excite me, plus that we met Rian (Lita's brother) and wife, Angely there.


The second thing is that Rachelle and I just officially purchased tickets to Java Rocking Land next month that we had been wanting for weeks since The Cranberries is planned to perform on Saturday. Dolores O'Riordan's illustration above was made by my most talented artistic friend, Met Mangindaan, illustrator and now an interior designer. So to all of Cranberries' fans, see y'all next month then!

P.S. Dolores' image above is for sale in A3 print, limited for 10 prints worldwide. You can ask me about it in comment box or contact the artist here.

I actually dunno what to post here since my days are filled with work, work and work. Even at home and on weekends I'm still doing my work, and--of course--housework stuff. But today my siblings and Auntie Dewi went to MBK church for 11.30 a.m. mass which was served by brothers from St. Paul Seminary, Kentungan, Yogyakarta. It was beautiful.


After the mass we went to Sarang Oci at Jl. Panjang for Manadonese lunch. I just started to like this kind of food recently, and I'm definitely go for it than Padang food. I think it's much healthier than Padang's coconut milk and all high-cholesterol stuff in it. Manadonese food has its unique spicy and hot flavor but still serving many healthy fish and vegetables in the dish. Me likey!

I just can't resist the temptation to buy books, Heaven knows. When I went to ak.'sa.ra the other day with Pompink, I bought Coraline and The Graveyard Book, both by Neil Gaiman. Three days ago I went to Gandaria City with Pompink again, and see what I carried home? Another Gaiman's book, now fully illustrated children book by Gris Grimly: The Dangerous Alphabet.


I just can't not love this book. It's just so brilliant, its whole package: the idea, the rhymes, the illustration and the typography.. Grimly and Gaiman are literature geniuses and their collaboration here is marvelous. This one is just can't be missed and I must have it. That's why I bought it. Lol.


I also found Jonathan Safran Foer's book, Eating Animals, and bought it too. It's about being vegetarian from Foer's point of view, which I believe would be interesting to know about. Let's find out about them later. For now, I'm still finishing The Graveyard Book (and other half-reads stuff I hadn't finished).

Last night, I went to the newest Anomali Coffee outlet in Kemang. It's located near Koi Gallery and Linea, just about the corner of Kemang Raya and Kemang Selatan. The façade is an exposed red brick with red large logo sign on it above the second floor's balcony. It is very New York-ish architectural style, with a lot of wood, black chalkboard and unfinished plaster wall used in it.


Each of the 5 floors hold out different functions and there's no a la carte menu for it's a narrow space. We order drinks (and food) at first floor, then sit and drink at the second floor. I had a dark-choco rum latte and remained awake till 5 hours after my sip. Lol. Anomali, owned by two best friends Muhammad Abgari and Irvan Helmi who started the business 4 years ago in Senopati, is such a great local coffee shop with nice concept and cozy ambience. I highly recommend this!

Gosh. It had been 10 days since the last time I posted something here. Many things had happened, like that we've been moved out of the apartment officially last Thursday and moved into my aunt's house in Taman Alfa Indah, West Jakarta. It is like a nostalgia to my childhood for I've spent 4-5 years living here before moving to Bandung in 1992.

The second change was the new job I got on the very same day when I moved. It's still in the interior world so I'm not crossing any path this time. It's just like the best job offer I've ever got my whole life and I feel like my all of my hard work is getting paid now. It's like what I wrote earlier weeks ago: God gives us the best by His time. We just need to keep and develop our faith for it.


By the way, as work is showing more opportunities and much progression, my social life is doing greater as well. My whole weekend was spent with dearest people I love. Friday night, I went with Rachelle and Herdi to Kemang after work, meeting with Bobby and Reza (from Tryst Living) at Beer Garden Kemang.

Saturday was working day, I met two of my clients in a day and it took all day. I joined my aunt and Clemy having dinner at Munchies, Gandaria City before going home. Then after church on Sunday morning, I went to Plaza Senayan to browse books at Kinokuniya and met Rachelle afterward, having girls day out.

So many blessings that I and my siblings got lately since we moved out from the apartment. Well, our fortune had all been measured by God long before we feel we need it, and God knows just the best time to grant us what we need, how great thou art! My siblings and I are continuously saying our grace to our aunt and lovely people around who had shown us great kindness. We may not able to repay them all now, but we believe, God will be much kinder to them when they need Him. And all I can say is "God is awesomely great!"

I just found this hilarious... and rather true. Lol.

Got this video recommended by Andri, this had been quite an entertaining to my super stressed brain. A very nice and light song and a brilliantly made graphic motion video combined to present us a little treat for the eyes. Thanks Andri for 'brighten' up my night! :)