My prayers are with you.

Today I received a bad news about a dear friend of mine. His father just passed away, and I'm not saying I understand fully how he feels, but I can somewhat relate. And I just feel an overwhelming sense of sadness about what he's going through.

As if the death of a loved one is not devastating enough, I remember after it happened, just like a whirlwind, we still have to deal with a lot of administrative stuffs. That was the worst. From the hospital, we went straight to the funeral home and had everything arranged for the wake sessions. We didn't even have time to stop and feel what's just happened.

Anyway, it's not about me. My thoughts are gonna be with my dear friend. I know I'm not the praying type these days, but I am going to pray for you and your family. Please be strong. I guess we can only take comfort in believing that our dad, our mom who passed away, are in better place right now. That's all we have to believe.

Bintan Revisited

So I haven't really blogged about my family trip to Bintan last weekend, life has been quite a handful. But I've just gotten the pictures from my sis' camera so the good memories are flooding back again!

Anyway, the reason why we went to Bintan in the first place was first of all because Sis won a free stay at Bintan Lagoon Resort from her company as a reward for her excellent work! Yeah, she's been doing a great job there, and unlike other companies (ehem ehem), hers really make sure the employees feel appreciated. So she got a free room for two nights and we thought why not ask our Dad to join too and make this a family vacation? It's been ages since we had that. In fact, I can't remember the last time. Ever since our mom passed away, family vacation has been the least on our thoughts, but I think it's important now that we do it sometimes.

So we booked another room since they wouldn't allow 5 people to stay in only 1 room. And my sister and I took a day of leave on Friday and set out to Bintan until Sunday!

The ferry was super clean, and throughout the journey the television was playing Mickey Mouse cartoon. Not exactly engaging, but it was at least something to look at. The trip by ferry only took an hour or so.

After we arrived at the Bintan Ferry Terminal and got through Immigration, we were taken to a bus which would take us to the resort.

And this was what greeted us there. Some four dancers came out and danced to the local music played by these local musicians. It was quite nice, and we were given welcome drinks also. The check-in was fast, and we settled in our room.

To sleep? Don't you always goof around in the bed everytime you stay in a hotel, though?

We then went for lunch at an Indonesian-Chinese fusion restaurant in the resort. The fried rice was heavenly! That first day Dad wanted to see a friend of his in the city, so we rented a car and drove to Bintan city, which took 3 hours of commuting! I think the main difference was, well, in the resort we pay everything by Singapore Dollars still, and in the city, it was more resembling Indonesia. You'd find local food and small shops at the side of the streets selling corn, satay and meatballs and we use Rupiahs! Home sweet home. ;)

While waiting for Dad talking to his friend, we were outside goofing around and taking pictures.

See? The familiar sight of meatball seller on the street. None you can see in Singapore, but a sight of this, and you know you're home. (Well, if you're Indonesian like me. Duh.)

After we got back, we didn't do much of anything since it was already late! We just relaxed in our hotel room, and oh, we did buy some Padang food in the city so we had that for dinner.

The next day, we woke up early for breakfast and then it was water sport time! We tried out banana boat and also jetski which was such a rush! It was really awesome being outdoor and near the sea!

The restaurant / chilling area from the outside.

Palm trees and blue sky! We couldn't take pictures while we were jet skiing 'cos the camera shouldn't be wet! Quite bummed out that there weren't any pictures, but hey, it's all in here anyway, right? (pointing to the brain) Alright, that was dorky. We spent the entire morning and afternoon playing in the sea and came back to the room feeling energized but exhausted!

At night we had dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant, played footsie at the recreational room, had karaoke and watched telly until we fell asleep. It was a great day!

Food! Food! Glorious food!

On Sunday we had breakfast early and headed to the beach to take some pictures.



The weather was great when we were there. The day we were playing in the water, it wasn't so sunny, it was a little cloudy even, so that was great. On Sunday, it was way too hot outside, you can tell it from the pictures. So we thought, "wow, thank goodness we were doing all the sports yesterday, otherwise I would have been burnt to crisp!"

So at about 11 am, we boarded the bus back to the ferry terminal and headed home to Singapore. I know it was a short trip, but it was great and I'm glad we did it. :) So 'til next time!

Family and Happiness Project - Day 28

1. So it’s been a while since I really update this blog. You think my happiness project is working? Do I seem like a more positive and happy person these days? Sure, right? Right?

Anyway, I don’t really have much to say aside from the things I’ve already mentioned in previous posts. Work has been challenging yet interesting at the same time. There are times when I love what I do; there are other times when I’m completely over it. Overall, am I happy? Can I get back to you on that?

The best thing about working is just the ability to make your own money. I really feel good about it, not depending on my dad to send me money. On the contrary, I can help out by paying the bills around the house, which is lessening my older sister’s burden since she has to settle other things like, the maintenance fee of our apartment and our day-to-day spending as a whole. I mean, if all of us go together for dinner or do grocery shopping, she’s still the one paying. Can I just say how incredibly lucky I am to have this family?

During the first few months of my job, I was stressing over the fact that it took me more than an hour to commute every morning. One time, when one of my colleagues mentioned that he has a vacant room in his HDB, I had a thought that perhaps I could rent out a room to be closer to work. I told my colleagues about it, but every one of them said no. And now, I’m so glad I didn’t.

I mean, there are times when work was so demanding or you’ve had a bad day and the least you want to do is come home to an empty house and feel even more alone. Now, no matter how bad I feel, I always come home to friendly and familiar faces of my sisters who are always there to listen to my whining and offer their most encouraging and uplifting advices. I can’t imagine not having them around. We try to have dinner together every day and talk about our day. In the simplicity of it all, there’s comfort that you would never realize until it’s gone.

I know it sounds a bit cheesy. And you may think, someone my age should be more independent, and probably shouldn’t live with my family anymore. The truth is, yeah, I would want to live alone a few years down the road. Even when I do live alone, I can’t imagine not being close to my sisters. And I realize that not many people can say the same about their siblings.

Alright, enough mushiness. Generally, this week has been nice. And I’m so happy it’s almost weekend! Tomorrow is still work day for me, though. But I’m keeping my spirit high!

2. Met up with Ripple and Jason for dinner at Marche, and I had a really good time! They were incredibly nice and friendly people, even though Ripple and I have just met once before. Girl! So glad we met up!

I’d tell everybody to pursue your passion. Those who have passions, we are the lucky ones. If you like painting, for God’s sake, paint. if you like writing, write.

December 25

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.

Merry Christmas, everyone! Happy holidays! I may not celebrate today with extravagant parties, but I have with me everyone I love, and those who love me unconditionally, and that's what matters. I hope all of you are having a blessed day with your loved ones too.

Let us count our blessings and be grateful for everything we've had until today.

Merry Christmas!

Sisters

They're the people who know all my flaws (believe me, they are more than many), and still love me anyway.

I'm constantly reminded of how blessed I am to call them my sisters.

Pictures

Some random pictures just to keep this page colorful!

So I was telling you about my barbie-like nails...

The attendants at the mani/pedi place kept telling me I had super dry nails. She insisted I put on this special coat for brittle nails + whitening for another extra $3. What a marketing gimmick. Of course I fell right in.

Afterall, I have a solid duty towards my nails to keep it moisturized and healthy. *puke*

They tried to charge it to my sister also, although she had said 'No, I'm not gonna pay another $3.' The fact that the person still applied the special coat to her wasn't her fault, so after we explained, they waived the charge. Sometimes it's frustrating to talk to people who barely speak english!

Since Meli is here, we've been getting even crazier for the camera.

That's because her phone has a front-side camera! Or as my cousin would refer to it as, narcissist camera.

The people who are always there for me. That's because there's no escaping them, I live with them! =)

Anyway, I just wanna share a really good photo website if you're interested in landscape photos: citylines, houses, places, bridges in most US states. As you know, I'm a big fan of this type of photography, so this is a fun site for me to browse around.

http://www.ronsaari.com/stockImages/

On another note, I just changed my dekstop background a while back because I just started watching Fringe, and Joshua Jackson has been my favorite ever since his days in Dawson's Creek! He's maturing so well over the years.

I'm curious what's on YOUR desktop background? My older sister has a picture of Natalie Portman because she's a huge fan, and my baby sister has some game-related cartoon on her computer (naturally....she's such a gamer), and I either have picture of movie posters, actors, or city's skyline.

What's on yours?

December

This is our favourite time of year
We love counting the days 'til Christmas is here!
Wrapping gifts is so much fun
We can't wait to sing out with everyone!

It's December, yo'all! And yes, we better mark our calendar 'cos what could be more fun than ticking the days away to build up the anticipation until Christmas?

My Christmas tradition isn't grand, it isn't even that posh. At home, we would bring out the christmas tree, put up all the ornaments with our own bare hands and our slightly mediocre decorating skill, then carefully adjust the fake snow, and last, circle the lighting bulb all around the tree.

Oh, no, that isn't the last part. The last and best part is to connect the lighting to the powerpoint, press 'on' and then tada! Christmas songs are played and the lights shine and change color according to the beat of the song. From afar, it looks cool as hell, like a 'dancing tree'. Of course, there are only a few selections of the songs, so eventually it ends up repeating the same song over and over again. After about an hour, and the novelty factor has dried up, it can be quite annoying and painful to the ear. And it's not like the 'rudolf the red nose reindeer' or the 'silent night', among many, are played with piano or soft-to-the-ear instruments, instead I think it's by trumpet or something.

We would prefer to sing, to be honest. We have a rather grand organ in our living room back home, so at night the three of us would sit by it, I'm normally the one who plays it although I don't have too good of a multitasking skill [dammit, I want to sing too!] We sing christmas songs and swing our bodies, at times Mom and Dad would also sit in the living room and just listen to our singing. Although most of the times, our only audience is mosquitoes. We don't mind that, because we're self-aware that we are no Mariah Carey.

After we're done with our singing [mostly because we were already sweating at this point - it can be really hot and humid at night in Jakarta], we would then proceed to Mom and Dad's room where it certainly would have been air-conditioned. It never occured to us that maybe our parents needed a bit of privacy after almost wrecking their ears.

We then, between laughters, would put on Disney christmas edition's sing-along-song VCD and again, sing. Knowing there's no escape, our parents would just ignore that we're there, Mom busily cutting fruits, and Dad...well..who knows what's he doing exactly. Sometimes they would look at us, a hopeless look on their faces as if saying, "are they really ours?" and then let out a big loud sigh. At that time we thought they were sighing in admiration, and we thought that desperation was really pride.

It is a low-key tradition, but it's always the same, year after year, and there's a deep comfort in it. And at this time especially, I feel grateful of my family, because who else would keep up with our singing, and who else would share my enthusiasm of being silly in decorating christmas tree and singing our hearts out to Disney VCD?

We're not big on exchanging gifts either. In fact, the only recollection I have regarding christmas present is that one time when Dad hid 'Home Alone' VCD under my pillow. Being a kid, and every kid is guiltily bound to be a fan of Macauley Culkin at some point in his/her life, I was pretty darn happy, and it never crossed my mind that Dad's merely being a cheapskate.

But Dad's never good in the gift department, and that's how he is, someone we've come to love. And Mom? Because my birthday is so near christmas, she would normally just give me a birthday present. Signed by both her and Dad, although I'm sure he had nothing to do with it. I mean, Home Alone VCD? It's so Dad. But beautiful necklace? Um, so not him.

What goes along with Christmas time during my younger years back home is giving away christmas cards to friends at school. This is such a tradition, that come December, people already start stocking and buying christmas cards in dozens. Some just fill them in with their friends' names, and some more creative ones would literally, write an essay for every card, specially customized for the recipients. I'm more to the latter, because I'm a geek that way.

I still keep those christmas cards from my friends because they are priceless, really. I guess I'm sentimentil that way, I keep most of the things I've gotten during my school years, let they be presents, letters, cards, photos, invitations and whatever else.

I was content with what we had. Christmas tradition means a lot to me, but I've been away for a few Christmasses now, and I'll be away again this year. The tree and the singing will have to wait, but come Christmas day, I will imagine myself home, doing exactly this with the people I love; there will not be a single thing forgotten.

Good Saturday

A day at the beach did me good yesterday. There's something very calming about watching the ocean. It was one of those not-so-commercialized beach, one which is not entirely packed by sweaty bodies and bikini babes. The guests were showing up with their wifes and children, their blond hair being swept away by the wind. Waitresses were circling around and handing out drinks, children laughing away throwing balls in the games stands and candy flosses and popcorns were offered at the side.

Despite the heavy rain, people's mood weren't much dampened. We all gathered around in the bar to enjoy lunch and everyone squeezed in to avoid the strong wind. It's funny to see those big-muscles, otherwise-fierce-looking men seemed to mellow greatly when they were holding their children, like they would break if they held them too tightly. People really do change once they have kids, priorities are sorted out, what was important feels frivolous now.

Sushi, fried rice and noodles, teriyaki chicken and chicken wings were on the menu; beer, wine and soft drinks were available all around, of course. Music was blasting through the speaker, enough to get everyone in a light and outgoing mood, and just enough not to get them to move their arses as if this were a dance club.

After lunch, the rain miraculously stopped, and the weather soon became scorching hot. I must have had at least 5 glasses of fruit punch and 2 Ben and Jerry's ice cream at that point. I'm definitely full and in such a state of a happy daze.

I can get used to this.