Useful gif...

...for when someone you hate say anything at all.

Imperator Joe

Me: What should I dress up for Halloween.. Maybe something in Mad Max theme.
Bf: Expectation --Charlize Theron. Reality --Immortan Joe.

THANKS, BOYFRIEND.

Goodbye, Hank Rearden

I thought you're a fighter
I thought you'd fight for what you deserve
Not letting them define you by their standards

But you let the standards go
And you let yourself down

I can't help you
and can't be seen with you
So goodbye, Hank Rearden

Nothing is true

I love Assassin's Creed maybe cos deep down I wish I'm part of a tight-knit brotherhood (not sisterhood cos girls bring too much drama) that I can rely on.

And deep down I want to kill some people.

While doing some awesome parkour.

Me: Do you think I should do a double-eyelid surgery?
Bf: Why?
Me: I look so sinister with single eyelid.. You know, resting bitch face.
Bf: That's not because of the eyelids.

THANKS, BOYFRIEND.

Once a month, girls play the game of life in difficult mode.

A dot in time

Six years.
People always ask how we can stay together for so long. I don't know. Everything we are say that we won't last. He's a Cancer, I'm a Sagittarius. Water and fire. I'm a Rabbit, he's a Snake. Food and predator. He's a realist, I'm a dreamer. But differences works both ways: Destroying each other, or complementing each other.


Two-thousand one-hundred ninety-two days.
Some say it's a really long time. It's really not compared to eternity. But it's enough time to learn and understand a thing or two.

Well, here's three I learned so far:

Silence is good 

Silence can be useful for many things. Many people find silence awkward, that we have to keep filling it. But you know what? It's ok not to talk to each other. Imagine the moment when you just sit there in his embrace. Not talking about anything, just enjoying the moment.

Silence can save you so many heartaches. When you're fighting, hold your tongue. Don't say mean things. Don't say the thing you'll regret later. And don't talk about it with just anyone. Cos the problem will pass, but other people's memory remains and that memory might just come back and bite you from behind.

Small things matter more 

Someone asked me: What's the most romantic thing your bf ever done to you?
I had difficulties answering it. Not because he's never done anything romantic, but because I have different ideas on what's romantic. And it's difficult to make people understand that.

Romance is not about buying gifts. It's easy to go out there and to buy something. Romance it's not about big earth-shattering gesture. Having a flash mob dancing to my favorite song is not really my thing.

Romance it's about what he does for you, not to you.

It's not when he posts in Facebook -or any social media- how much he loves you. It's when he cleans the room when he doesn't feel like it, just because he knows it'll make you happy. It's not when he vouches he'll die for you. It's when he takes a deep breath and listen when all he wants to do is to scream. It's when he learns to love your bizarre quirks even when they drive him crazy.

Love doesn't fade, it just changes

Most women in bitterness like to say, "He changed." "He doesn't love me anymore." "Because I'm not slim/beautiful/cute anymore."
Well, I have bad news for you for cases like this. Nothing's changed. He just never truly loved you in the first place.

A man who loves you, loves you no matter what. That's what love is. He wants you to be happy. Period. No excuses.
Most importantly, he will always treat you with respect; it's something that will never and shouldn't change. If he doesn't treat you as good anymore, it doesn't mean he doesn't love you anymore. It just means he never loved you to begin with.

Love will change, though. At least, that's how it is from my observation. And it's good.
In the early stage, it's all about pounding hearts, sweaty palms, butterfly in your stomach. But as love grows, it's more about steady hands and firm steps. Like a sunshine on a calm day is May. Instead of make your heart beats faster, seeing the person you love will give you peace, no matter what's happened in that day,

There you go, some of the things I learn in 6 years, and still learning.
Nobody knows where the journey ends. But while we're at it, we'll take it in our strides and enjoy the sceneries along the way.

If everything you do today was recorded as a message for future generations, what kind of message will you leave?

Therefore, be careful with what you write in your Facebook/Twitter/Instagram..

The Falling Star

Teringat Ksatria, Putri, dan Bintang Jatuh
Teringat ketika sang Bintang terjatuh, tersandung cinta
Teringat ketika sang ksatria lebih memilih sang putri
Tapi kini sang Bintang tak lagi jatuh, ia telah mencapai tempat tujuannya
Dan siap menjelma menjadi seorang Putri

Falling is just flying with a rough landing.

What family is

"That's what family is —People who hate you but can't kill you 'cause they're the first ones questioned."

- Max Black from 2 Broke Girls

Intro to introverts

"While extroverts tend to get bored easily when they don't have enough to do, introverts have the opposite problem: they get easily distracted and overwhelmed in environments with an excess of stimulation."

-Scott Barry Kaufman

15 Things That Introverts Would Never Tell You

"The good life doesn't always mean the easy life."

-Matt, a good Christian Dad

Colourful friendship

Look at what my cute colleagues brought me! I'm not big on celebrations, but who can resist this awesome cake brought in by a magical unicorn.

So last year I got 8-flavoured cheesecake, and this year I got 7-coloured rainbow cake! Awesome, awesome, awesome!

It's the most colourful cake I've ever seen in my life!

Fork? What fork?
Who needs fork?

White-veiled occasion

Just watched the movie Ceremony (with Lee Pace, ya'll). It's a shitty movie, but I can't get it off my mind. No, not because of Lee Pace (although I can't keep my mind off him too).

And as usual, when I keep thinking about something, I write it down to transfer the thoughts from my mind to the wide world of web. I wanted to insert a spoiler alert here, but there's nothing much to spoil when the movie is as predictable as Michael Bay's next explosion.

The movie is the predictable boy meets girl, girl meets a man, and decides to marry him instead. Then the boy come to the wedding in the hope to change her mind. What's different in this movie is that, the girl stands by her decision.

Her ex-bf asks her, "Why?" Why does she choose a guy who doesn't like what she likes, who doesn't appreciate her passion? She simply answers, "Because he loves me." Long movie story short, it's true that the groom doesn't share her hobbies, but he loves her enough to forgive her pasts and, to certain points, her lies. He might not love her the way the ex-bf loved her, but who's to say he doesn't love her enough?

Not so much of a plot twist, but it's a new lesson.

Sometimes, we care too much about someone that we think we know what's best for them. This is especially true for parents. In my case it's my friends. They might not realize it (which is a good thing) I care/worry too much about them that I like to suggest them the things I think will be good for them.

Now I understand. I can't take care of everybody, and sure as hell shouldn't. Sure, we can make suggestions, but in the end of the day, they are the ones who live their lives. And hopefully, they are mature enough to make their own decisions, and know what's best for them.

But, if you still think that one of your friend or two shouldn't make the decision s/he has made, here's a Taylor Swift's song to get an idea on how to crash a wedding:

"I spend so much time praying, I have awkward silences with God."

- Olive Snook

When your Hermes is not your muse
And your muse is drown in love
Separated by silence

Love is an art, and art is subjective

Partial credit for Mr. Surya

Noah

Just watched the movie Noah yesterday.
If you haven't heard, the movie is banned in a number of countries due to various controversies. And it merely gets 6.4 in IMDB.

I think it's not fair.

Just like any other movie that's created from a book, naturally the book readers will scrutinise it. As a book reader myself, I hate it that Noah doesn't follow the original story. But what original story is there? Just a really short story about a guy that built a ship on a hill and brought a bunch of animals with him to save them from a big flood. Aronofsky tries to tell the story in deeper details, bringing up the characters through emotions we can relate. But people, sadly some of them are the compassionate Christians, do not understand his efforts.

But I understand Darren Aronofsky.

His movies are like onion; each of them has so many layers that we have to peel them step by step.

From Requiem for A Dream, Pi, The Fountain, to Black Swan, people must look past the surface to understand the core of the stories. Every time I watch his movies, I see and feel something new. I understand what he's always trying to say through his movies. Love is not always easy, faith is even more difficult. Life is, most of the time, dark.

While I'm still upset with many details he adds in (um, do we always have to have villains?), I'm at awe with the details he presents that we never saw (or choose to ignore) before in the story.

The struggle of a man acting on faith alone, when noone else -even at time, his family- agree with him. How does it feel to be the only man in the whole world that knows exactly what disaster is coming?
The emotional journey of a wife supporting her husband's questionable decisions. A mother's worry for her children when there's nothing to expect for the future.
Children's frustration when the optimism of their youth is not met with equally bright future.

Regardless of the ridiculous epicness of the movie that is not necessary, I'd still recommend this movie to any one. Regardsless its inconsistency in accordance to the original book, I still respect the movie-making skills and how it captures the essence of the story. And that is all that matters, really, understanding the message behind the story.

From my most favourite ex-couple

Yes Jake, chaos is a ladder!

April's Fool reality

Once upon a bright day in Ollieland...

I was having lunch with a colleague in our pantry. Being a travel-related company, our office pantry is decorated with a huge map on one wall.
My colleague (C) suddenly said, "Is this the real map?"
Me *confused*: What do you mean?

As this is April's Fool, I thought it's a prank question.

C: Is it how the real map is, or they just put the country randomly?
Me *still not sure about the question*: Uh, it's how it is. So yeah, it's the real map.
C: Huh? Then America is on the left?
Me *finally gets the question but now am speechless*: ...

Too bad it's not a prank.

C: ....
Me: Well, usually Asia is in the middle, cos we're in Asia, so they make the maps that way. But this is based on Europe map, so Europe is in the middle.

I look forward to more of such friendly conversations around the office!

The crime scene

“Eating a raw oyster is like french kissing a mermaid.”

- The humour of Tom Robbins

Know

You don't know me, cos you only choose to see a version of me. That's why it surprises you too much when you finally discover who I really am. 

A lot of time, we feel betrayed by the people we "trust" and more often than not, our first reaction would be 'I don't know you're that kind of person'. The second reaction, which is not all that rare, would be the more appropriate 'I don't know who you are!

The second reaction is much truer. This is because -most of the time- when we "get to know" someone, we don't actually see the person as who he really is. As a creature with strong imaginations, we see people the way we want to see them. This gets worse we're "in love" with someone (and so much worse when 'we' are girls). The colours of love sure are more bright and saturated. This is why there are a lot of nice people end up with people who don't deserve them.

It's easier to love an imagination...

It's not always a bad thing though, mistaken someone for who he isn't. There scenarios go both ways. There'll be a time when you think someone is not bad person, but she turns out to be a "tragically misunderstood character". When you thought someone is lazy, but really she's just suffering a ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and turns out to work great when she works alone. When you thought someone is weak and timid, and she's really just being polite and has been feeding your ego. And there'd be time when one day she decides she has enough and shows that she's actually strong and independent (and decides to flip you one).

In either case, it's always good to be honest to yourself, don't lie to yourself. As Syrio Forel wisely said, "See with your eyes." Don't see with your judgement or imagination. See things and people for what they really are. And when you've seen, don't be angry or bitter, just accept it and move on. People are not here to make your life miserable (you're not that important), they simply are.

The day English died

The day English is murdered for the 100th time in Singapore..

Sickening humanity

People earn what they earn.

Many people complain they don't have the life they want. But when asked what exactly they want, they don't know.
When asked to work on what they want, they don't want to.
When shown the great people who actually work for to build a dream, they laugh.
They sneer, they grab a feet, throw fires.

People forget, great things might fall so quick but they weren't built overnight.

011013

A journey of a thousand miles..

Asking my boyfriend any my brother "What do you think if I move to Australia to work?": The difference.

Me:  "What do you think if I move to Australia to work?"
Bf: *shrug* "Ok."

Me: "What do you think if I move to Australia to work?"
Bro: "What's the job? Who told you? Are you sure? What did your bf say? Have you thought it through? Don't you think this is selfish?" *two hours later* "The economy is... The tax in Australia is..." *two more hours later* "You have to know what you want in life. Is this really what you want? If not, then what is it that your really want." *goes on to other irrelevant topics for a few hours more*

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the difference between an optimistic realist and pessimistic idealist.

An optimistic realist sees the world like a little child. Just enjoy what you're doing and life will shape itself around you. No need to worry. Worries only brings unhappiness, and unhappiness brings bad luck.

While a pessimistic idealist is the total opposite --perhaps like a bitter old man. Everything that will go wrong in life, will go wrong. It is life's personal mission to make each individual's life miserable.

I'm not saying that one is better than the other. Any extreme is not good. What we can do is learn from both and find our own balance.

But right now, my journey of a thousand miles is stuck on the first step.

Land of Oz

Every once in a while, I come up with a crazy idea.
One that would make my friends sure I'm a crazy dreamer.

Maybe that's why I don't have many friends.. hmm.. *distracted, thinking about the past*
Well, it's ok, the friends that I still have don't really mind my crazy dreams.

Most of my dreams didn't come true, of course, as I just leave them as they are: a dream. But now I'm dreaming a new dream and I can't sleep at night cos I literally dream it in my sleep. And I just have to do it, no matter what. Especially since my last job interviewer went MIA.

My latest crazy dream is *drum rolls pls* move to Australia and work there.

The first common reaction I got was, "Why so sudden?"
Sudden for other people is because I announce it suddenly. But I've been thinking about it for months, and kept the idea at the back of my head for years.

Bukan hanya cantik yang subjektif. 'Kenapa' dan 'karena' juga.

The second common reaction I got was, "Why?"
That interrogative word again. To that question I always answer "Why not?" But of course that simple rebuttal is never enough to stop people from asking. One 'why' is enough to confuse philosophers. A why answered with a why is like poking a sleeping dragon. So to soothe the dragon back to sleep again, I chant the obvious facts: Australia has higher demand of human resource and offers higher salary (compared to Singapore and Indonesia).

But the real reason to that question, I only told one person so far. This blog is the second place I repeat it: To give my life a purpose.

Hidup itu harus ada yang mau dicapai...

We have to have a goal in life. Only by having something to achieve can we have an achievement.
By staying where I am right now, I can't achieve anything. I don't have a purpose. I've lost interest (and hope) in my previous dream. While just dreaming this new dream, I have the enthusiasm to wake up in the morning.

Now, I have to risk everything I have (which is not much anyway) to keep moving forward. So that even though this dream falls through, at least I tried.

Buying happiness

Yes, you can buy happiness.
You just need to know what to buy: People.

Ok, not exactly. According to this book 'The Geography of Bliss', by Eric Weiner (that's 'e' before 'i', ok) because human is a party, eh, social animal (rawr), happiness is about being with other people. So, one way to be happy is to spend your money on other people. Be it to buy something for a stranger, friends, or family, when your money help to make other people happy, you'll be happier too.

So..um, can I borrow $20?

Keep asking questions

"Another reason why it is important to keep asking questions even thought there are no clear answers, is in order to remind ourselves of our ignorance. Science is built not only on knowledge. It is also built on ignorance. It is very, very important to always remember what we don't know."

- Dr. Yuval Noah Harari,

History Professor in Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Think your country sucks?

Think again.

As if it's not enough listening to heartbreaks from Syria, Egypt, and many other war-torn countries, internet once again show me that sufferings come in many form. This time, in the form of a drug called the Devil's Breath from Locombia, I mean, Colombia.

"Do you know why they call it Devil's Breath? Cos it steals your soul."
- Luis Eduardo, victim.

For those who aren't sure which one is Colombia,
it's the one connected to Panama like a fetus.

The locals call it burundanga. For English speakers who can't pronounce it, it's also called Scopolamine.

Odourless, colourless, and tasteless, it can be blown to victim's face without him even knowing he's been drugged. Worse than that, its effect resemble something that come out of Harry Potter world: Victim will be 100% conscious, but without any willpower nor memory. You know when you remember you have $10 in your wallet, but now can't find it and don't remember that you spent it? Well, it's like that, except it's your whole bank account. One of the victims who thought they're being robbed, and reported to the police, were actually shown a video that he himself withdrew all the money and gave it to some strangers. I shudder at the thought of other things bad people can do with this substance.

Worst of all, the plant Borrachero from which this drug can be produced grow freely everywhere in Colombia. The flower is beautiful and the tree looks like any other tree, but one can actually pick any parts of the plant, dip it into hot water and get high from drinking it. It's not so bad, isn't it? Cos weed does the same thing? Well, except you can't get overdose with weed. One single seed of the plant (which is not bigger than 1 cm) can produce 70 mm of Scopolamine, when 1 gram (that'd be 15 seeds) of it can kill 10 to 15 people.

Colombia by itself is a crazy country. Murder, drugs dealing, and prostitution are merely some of the occupations in the country. But, imagine all that with a sprinkle of Scopolamine.
Flashfloods don't sound so bad anymore, eh, Singapore? We choose expensive fuels anytime over this, eh, Indonesia?

If you're interested to know more, here's a thorough 35-minute documentary about the drug and its victims:

Of course, as it is with everything else, it can be used for good things as well. I hope in the near future the higher minds will use the properties of the drug for medical purposes instead, or for anything else mediocre minds like mine can't think of. No, please not euthanasia. Maybe to tame big cats (cheetah as pet, anyone?), or to cure spacesickness as NASA is planning to do.

Bidadari Pagi / Dewi Malam

Puisi dan lagu dari film 'Jomblo'.
A poem and a song from the Indonesian movie 'Jomblo'.

Bidadari Pagi Engkau bidadari pagi Engkau ratu di hari Rabu Engkau adalah embun yang hendak melahirkan… dan menetes di saat mentari bersemi Engkau adalah sepi yang datang… diantara petir badai menderu Engkau adalah sejuk …. yang angin bawa di februari Engkau adalah sinar yang mentari lahirkan setelah fajar pergi Engkau adalah tangis yang ku bawa ketika membayangkan kita berdua Engkau adalah… Engkau adalah alasan…. mengapa duniaku….ADA

Dewi Malam Dewi malam ku pinta Seorang wanita pada pasir Dengan butirnya Wajahmu terukir Pergi menghamba jawab Pada air di dalamnya Ku rasa hangatmu mengalir Kau datang dengan angin tak terasa Kau datang menghembus membelai muka Kupinta pintamu tuk beri nama Dengar mereka sebut namamu Dewi malamku, Dewi malamku Mengasihimu dan menyayangimu Aku rela pergi jauh tuk itu Aku mencintaimu dan memilikimu Aku rela mati rasakan itu semua Rasakan itu semua

Jared is Jared

Oost Indië

As an Indonesian, I know that many of the Indonesian words came from other languages. Sanskrit, Arabic, and the more modern English. And one that should not come as a surprise: Dutch. We were after all colonised for more than 3 decades by the Netherlanders.

However, it's still surprised me whenever I find out that a word is actually from Dutch.

Here are some of them that I find very interesting that they're actually not originally Indonesian (for the full list, drop by Wikipedia instead):

Word	Meaning	Original word
Baskom	Washbasin	Waskom
Beha	Brassiere	Beha
Bioskop	Cinema	Bioscoop
Dasi	Necktie	Das(je)
Ember	Bucket	Emmer
Handuk	Towel	Handdoek
Kaisar	Emperor	Kaizer
Kamar	Room	Kamer
Kantor	Office	Kantoor
Kulkas	Fridge	Koelkast
Laci	Deskdrawer	Laatje; La(de)
Mantel	Coat	Mantel
Montir	Mechanic	Monteur
Om	Uncle	Oom
Oma	Grandma	Oma
Opa	Grandpa	Opa
Pabrik	Factory	Fabriek
Rekening	Account	Rekening
Resleting	Zipper	Ritssluiting
Rokok	Ciggarette	Roken (to smoke)
Selang	Water hose	Slang
Suster	Nun/nurse	Zuster
Tas	Bag	Tas
Telat	Late	Te laat (too late)
Wastafel	Sink	Wastafel
Wortel	Carrot	Wortel

The one that amuses me specifically is "te laat". But now that I know the original word, it actually makes more sense.