The Sun Always Shines....... (On TV)

2011-12-21T17:42:00.001+07:00

Dear Son,

I love you, I really do, and I know you're only 5, but can you stop talking and acting as if you're an Alien from outer space? You must have been watching "Ben 10 The Alien Force" a little bit too much...

Freezing Friday

2010-06-25T17:18:00.003+07:00

8.17 AM. Seriously. Heading to the office but I so want to crawl back to my bed now. *yawn*

biiiirrrd-daaay

2010-05-08T22:03:00.000+07:00

Here I am. Supposedly this is my turning point in life – the thirty fifth birthday. Wow! So what’s the deal, do I need to feel a little different? Should I write something here about what have I done so far?

It’s definitely nothin’ like what Jennifer Garner experienced in the movie "13 going on 30". I don’t have cabinets full of great clothing and stuff for one. Nor that I have that great look and gorgeous figure. I don't live in a fairy tale where I can jump back to my 13 age when things started twisting around. Amazingly I live in a real world, where I need to keep up my breath with family, friends, work, go back and forth home, the office, schools, pediatricians, and so forth, trying to work my ass off so that my kids can study in a good school, eat nutritious meals and live a decent life.

*sigh*

But hey! In my 35th birthday, I am blessed with a wonderful family, and two adorable-lovable-funny-naughty little creature that I call my children, and I have some very best friends of mine who always be there for me through my joy and sorrow. I have a decent job, surely it’s not the best career in the world, but at least I got a place to sit, with a desk and a computer and a free access to internet, a filing cabinet and pile of papers - enough to make me look like I'm working instead of daydreaming. :)

And I got some chocolate chips to munch on.

So what’s the fuss? I am proud to be thirty five. Damn well I am. I’m truly thankful to God for making me who I am, and to take me to the place where I am now. I couldn’t ask for more…

Happy birthday to me!!

You know your kids are (way) smarter than you are when……

2010-02-01T21:46:00.008+07:00

1. They’re more computer-freak than their mother.
Ok, maybe it’s not a Windows Vista Premium Ready PC or any of its latest updates…. but still.. :)

2. Your 5 year old son is a gadget savvy as he knows exactly how to operate your handphone, particularly in searching for his own photos (ehm kayaknya bakalan lebih narsis dari emaknya)

3. Your 8 year old daughter, as much as adorable she is, could knock you down easily on one fine morning, with this dreadful question:

“Mom, what is sex?”
Gubraks.

“Ehm... where did you hear that word baby?”

“From TV”.

I made an effort to remain calm whilst cursed myself on the same time for having to watch all the sinetrons and other similar bad stuffs on TV when my kids are still awake. Bad, bad mommy.

“Did you get that word from any of my movies?”
“No mom… it’s MY movie. It’s the word Mrs. Goggins said in Postman Pat.”

“Ehhhm… what exactly did she say?” Now she made me extremely curious.

“She said…. “I’ll be there in couple of secs”.

Bwahahahaha...
Have a great evening to all wonderful mommies out there :)

the long and bumpy road

2009-01-12T09:54:00.001+07:00

One of my friends just had her second baby and I really hated to have to go to her place. Don't get me wrong, I love my friend and all, and I sure love babies, but I don't really feel like goin' through the unstable-bumpy narrow road again to finally reach their house. The last time we went there I got a terrible headache. Guess my spoiled little brain just can't take too much of these shaky movements :)..

And the weather was so freakin' HOT! To make it even more challenging, I brought the kids along with me. As much as adorable they are, they can't stand being in the same room together without fighting over anything ; toys, foods, books, their mother....., if one gets cranky the other will follow, if one runs the other will run harder, not to mention that they would scream endlessly if one gets more attention than the other. Oh well.......

As we went through the bumpy road, the kids were naughtier than ever. Marvel did not want to sit and preferred to stand up, viewing the road we just passed through from the rear window. Cenna did not want to sit and preferred to stand up - in the middle of the back seat holding on to the driver's seat. Marvel wanted mommy to sing her current favorite traditional song "Bungong Jempua" while Cenna wanted mommy to sing "Thomas the Tank Engine song", and each singing should be louder than the other. Go figure.

We finally arrived safe and sound, and the kids loved to see the little newborn baby. We then left the friend's house and soon after here we go again in the bumpy road. The kids got pretty exhausted now and they just wanted to sleep.

And yes, I got this headache all over again. But when I looked at my kids who now peacefully fell asleep, so innocent and so adorable, to me they looked like the most beautiful babies in the world, I think the journey fever was finally paid off.....

Poor spoon

2008-12-21T14:00:00.004+07:00

From indonesiamatters.com:
“Agung Setiawan claims he was kidnapped, held for one night, and then taken to Marcella Zalianty’s office, and during this ordeal beaten up, tortured with lit cigarettes, and even sodomised with a spoon by several men…”

Apart from whether Marcella is guilty or innocent, I can only say one thing to you folks: from this day forward, do not ever, never, by all means, dine in or do whatever form of eating in Ibis hotel (the place where Agung was kidnapped) or any of its restaurants.... Otherwise, who knows, you might be unintentionally served with the particular spoon that was used to sodomize Agung.

Eeuuwww!!!

Bukittinggi – a journey to wonderland

2008-12-09T16:45:00.014+07:00

After my recent trip to Kuala Lumpur, I was lucky enough to have another opportunity to travel to Bukittinggi, West Sumatera. We went there for 4 days in early November 2008. It was an exhaustive meeting, thus very tiring, but my God the views were ABSOLUTELY breathtaking….

We went all the way from Padang to Padang Panjang, Pariaman, other villages (I forgot) and finally Bukittinggi. Along the way to Bukittinggi, we visited Lembah Arai, Ngarai Sianok (canyon), Jam Gadang, Danau Maninjau, etc. The scenery was extremely beautiful, the mountains, the valleys, the waterfalls.. it was totally an amazing journey.

I am fortunate that I have visited most parts of Indonesian cities - been to Batam, Medan, Pekanbaru, Padang, Bandung, Bogor, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Bali, Lombok, Manado. I’ve even gone to Bali for numerous times. But I’d dare to say that nothing, nothing compares to this gorgeous, stunning, mind-blowing Bukittinggi.

Its natural beauty of the panoramic landscape, the culture, the food, the historical setting, the religious people… those things just made me totally in love.

Splendid. Marvelous. Magnificent. I'm having a hard time expressing my feeling. I guess no words can accurately define this geological wonder.

It truly was a remarkable experience.

guilty pleasures

2008-10-16T14:55:00.004+07:00

I think one of the world's most unknown top secrets (ok I know I'm exaggerating) is that the term "hobbies" is considered dead and it is now changed to "guilty pleasures". Why, I have no idea. Probably because in the real world, there are no hobbies allowed. For example me, as a working mum, who needs to keep up my breath between the kids, friends, work, go back and forth home, the office, pre-schools, pediatricians, and so forth, try to do what they called "the balancing act" which actually is a softer sentence of "a slave working mom whom the world demands her to perform 1001 things in successful and timely manner without any excuses." *Sigh*

So I don't have hobbies. I don't have time for the "so-called" hobbies. I have "guilty pleasures". Several activities that I secretly do in between my chores. And I enjoy them. Guilty as charged.

Some of my guilty pleasures are:

- Singing. I know this sounds a little bit tacky, and I’m definitely not a good singer (except in my bathroom and in the car), but recently I found karaoke singing and dancing are enjoyable and entertaining.

- Internet surfing. Of course, everyone who lives in the 21st century would consider this as a hobby, oops sorry, guilty pleasure. Who doesn't?

- Reading. Literature fascinates me. I am an avid reader... from the Shopaholic series to Dan Brown's...from Harry Potter to John Grisham's... Give me a book and I will read it. Will read it faster if it has adult content material, hahaha....

So there you go... some of my guilty pleasures. What are yours?

the joy of breastfeeding

2008-04-14T13:19:00.002+07:00

Breastfeeding is one of activities in my life that I enjoy the most. I breastfed both Marvel and Cenna until 2 years, no formula milk whatsoever.

I love every minute of it. It’s so comforting. It’s empowering, to feel that I give my children the best nutrition, that I am doing the right thing by breastfeeding them. I enjoy every second of it. The skin-to-skin contact that I have with my children, the suckling sound that they made, the rhythmic movement of their jaws when i nurse them, the smell of their perfect sweet skin, the touch of their cutie little hands, the closeness that my children and I shared to each other.

Really, it’s an unutterable, unimaginable, indescribable feeling....

It’s beyond words.

Pardon my language

2008-01-13T15:03:00.000+07:00

Some regular readers of this blog often ask me where did I learn English, as they said my English is perfect (halah, ge-er nih gua).

Guys, I thank you for the compliments and all the flattering remarks. But actually, I’m faaar from perfect. I’m also still learning, and yes I too make mistakes every now and then.

Let me share you my little secret. Here are some tips and tricks for you to improve your English.

1. If you want to know whether your sentence is correct, try to google it. For example, you are not sure which one is correct, this sentence: “what do I care” or this: “what does I care”. Try google both words separately. The one that comes up with more results (usually more than 10 pages) is the correct one. Compare this “what do I care” with this “what does I care”. If we compare the 2 results, we can convince ourselves that “what do I care” is the correct one, because it resulted in a lot more references. Also make sure you don’t forget the quotes when doing this.

2. Try to avoid the following common mistakes that often made by Indonesian:
- Is it Congratulations or Congratulation? The correct word is Congratulations (with an “s”), not Congratulation. I often giggle myself when I read a full page newspaper ad saying “Congratulation to PT. Blablabla”. That company has paid million rupiahs for such a large mambo jumbo ad but didn’t want to invest a little bit more to hire an English consultant to review or proofread their advertisement before it was published. Sayang banget kan.
- Write “Thanks”, and not “Thank’s”.
- In Bahasa, it should be “feminin” not “feminim”, since that word was derived from English word “feminine”.

3. Use your Microsoft word thesaurus whenever you want to look for synonyms or antonyms. For instance, you want to know other words that have similar meaning to “happy”. Go to Microsoft Word. Write “happy”, highlight the word, go to Tools – Language – Thesaurus. Here you find some words that have similar meaning to happy, such as: glad, cheerful, joyful, etc.

4. Don’t give up. Don’t feel embarrassed to keep on learning. After all, you’re not a born native English speaker and you don’t live in English speaking country. It’s OK to make mistakes.

Sometimes I also get confused with the language, especially the “Indonesian English”. For example, the way our government officially translates “Nusa Tenggara Barat” with “West Nusa Tenggara”. My opinion is, you don’t need to translate names of people or places. You should keep it the way it is, “Nusa Tenggara Barat”. Or, if you really want to translate it, you should translate the entire part, not partially. Tenggara should also be translated to “Southeast”. And Nusa means “island”. So, if the government wants to translate “Nusa Tenggara Barat”, should it be “West-Southeast-Island”?.

If West Nusa Tenggara is annoyingly translated to “West Southeast Island” (whatever that means, lol), let's try to translate this sentence: “tetangganya ipar temen kakak gw.”. Go figure. :D

I was hit by a truck

2007-12-29T16:52:00.001+07:00

I was on our way to our forever journey, when a "truck" hit me. Big, jumbo, FUSO kind of truck. It was all so sudden, I was not expecting anything, as at that moment, I felt relaxingly happy, content, settled, as if I was back in my mom’s womb. As soothing as if I laid peacefully quiet in warm water. As comforting as if I had seen the bright shiny future in front of me.

And that was when the truck hit me.

At first, I didn’t notice that I was bleeding. I tried to stand up, although excruciatingly hurt. I didn’t even shed some tears. But at some point, gradually, I experienced a sense of emptiness, feelings of bitterness, resentment and disappointment. I also felt the extreme painful feeling, and that was when I realized, and surprised, to notice that my heart was wounded. Severely wounded.

Until the present time, I still carry a lot of emotional attachments emerging from the accident. And I am haunted by fears. Fear of a settled-happy-content life. Fear of another big truck. Fear of another bleeding.

Fear of loving, and losing.

I guess I just have to believe, that time would heal, one way or the other.....

the workplace

2005-03-07T17:02:00.001+07:00

So Peter is my boss. To be frank, I never really like him even though he's not the-psycho-neurotic-overanxious type of boss that most [poor] people have to deal with, but it's just my nature to keep him in a distance. But sometimes I found myself having this little amusement in our daily routine, and, if I'm lucky, get some benefits too.

Take this for an instance:

Peter: [show me my oustanding to-do list which says due in march] Shanty, have you done this?
Me: [quickly looking at the calendar on my desk] oh, it's March already ? Guess I haven't updated it yet...
Peter: You should pay more attention to this task. Can you schedule this on your calendar? Can you do it in your handphone?
Me: I don't think so... my handphone is an old model and didn't come with that sort of feature.

[....and here comes the best part......]

Peter: [looking for something in his drawer] Shanty, here, use my handphone, I gotta buy a new one anyway. This is a newer model than your current one. By using its calendar, you should be able to manage your tasks better. It will help you to organize things. Have fun with it!

[I sat there, stunning. Not only that I didn't get a verbal warning for not getting the job done, but more, I have a new fully-featured handphone in my hand. For free.]

Me: Ah, this is what I need. Thanks....

[and I frantically ran out of his sights before he could even think of changing his mind...]

urrgh... hangover!!

2005-01-17T11:12:00.003+07:00

Hhm, ya know, hangover is a set of symptoms caused by excessive alcohol intake. Well, I don't drink alcohol - so in my case, my hangover caused by sleep deprivation. Marvel occasionally has sleeping problem. And she's been having this problem again for the past three nights.

Last night was the worst. It was already past midnight and she still couldn't sleep. She was fussing and all. And she only wanted me to hold her. I was trying everything to put her to sleep, I cuddle with her, I tucked her in, I sang her fave song.

Nothing worked.

I was upset, frustated, and deadly tired because I was holding her for like 3 hours or so and I still gotta get up early tomorrow morning for work. She finally went to sleep at about 2 AM. And now I'm at the office having this terrible hangover, dizzy, sleepy and extremely fatigue. And it is only Monday, so weekend is still way too far. I'm sorry baby but mommy feel like crying too.... *whoaaaaa*