It's on Our Backyard!

How long I haven't been away? Not that long, almost a year. Usually, I use my time off going back to my home country which is Indonesia. I rarely just stay in Jakarta (my hometown) but I often travel to different places. I used to go overseas (Southeast Asia) but this time I've decided to go local.

As Indonesian, I barely travel around Indonesia, maybe some cities like Bali, Bandung or Palembang (my mom's hometown) but that was all nowhere else. So every time friends ask me where to go in Indonesia, I only can recommend Bali (lame!). That is one of the reason why I went local for my holiday on 2013.

At first I was planning to go to Bunaken, Sulawesi. I love beach and always want to dive (need license unfortunately). But one of my friend said Bunaken is not that great anymore. Wonder why? Typical! We'll get to that along this story. So we decided to go to Kalimantan. Apparently there is one travel (Kakaban Trip) which has been exploring East Indonesia which includes Kalimantan. So then we went with this travel. Our package was hopping islands. We stayed in Maratua Island then we were hopping to Derawan, Sangalaki, Kakaban and Nabucco island.

I haven't heard of these islands before so I didn't have any expectation, all I want was having fun with my friends and enjoying the sun. But beyond all that, I was amazed with what I saw. Crystal clear blue water, fish, coral, turtle and beautiful beach greeted us (that's the best 'red carpet' ever), then we went to our room which was a water villa (imagine Bora-bora). Damn! I don't know Indonesia can be this beautiful. Why would I spend lots of money and make other country rich? While I have it in my own country with cheaper price! It's on our own backyard! Unbelievable! I can see different kind of fish, coral, jellyfish and also turtle. I'm in love with turtle! I saw big and held little turtle. So cool! Like everyone said "Heaven on Earth."

And I was surprised because there were some tourist as well from France. They know this place??! I'm embarrassed. Oh well, at least now I know and I'm proud to tell the world about this place. But dilemma strikes me. I really want to tell everyone about this amazing place but are the people ready to take care of this place while they're having fun? It's kind of sad seeing people traveling to great spots just to ruin them then move on to another spots like what happened to Bali, Bunaken and many more spots in Indonesia. Can't we go to those great spots, take care of them so that other people can enjoy them as well instead of moving on to other spots? These people, I'm talking about here are all people who visit, travel or live around the area. Honestly, I'm not ready to see these beautiful places ruin by crap from irresponsible people. Anyway, I can only wish they could care more about the environment. And specifically for locals, after all these places belong to us, treat them like we're the owner. It's our own backyard!

-vc-

For the First Time

"There will always be first time in everything." I am using one of The Script's song's title as my blog title because of my experience today and this song just popped out in my head, hopefully won't get any copyright problem. What I did today is baking a cake. (standing applause? :p) finally, for the first time, I was baking cake from scratch, with no skill, knowledge in kitchen and limited tools. All I had was courage to bake, the courage knowing that everything I do will turn good, and for first time, I had faith in myself that I can do this! The reason is simply just to show myself that I can try doing something new that I haven't done before, step out of my comfort zone! And the first attempt of baking accomplished and the result is not too bad.

My concern was not really about the result, beautiful cake or tasty cake. Because my cake doesn't look like a cake, it looks like loaf of bread, but the taste is not so bad, it's edible. My main focus was more to just try baking a cake and convince myself that I'm not a disaster in the kitchen after all. As I have bucket list, one of the thing on the list is bake a cake and now I can tick that off and move on to next thing on the list. Basically, to keep myself trying, learning and managing things in life. Result is like a reward and I admire a journey better.

When I was making the cake, I was failed separating the egg white and egg yolk, almost gave up on first step but I tried again, I only needed 6 eggs but I'm pretty sure I've used more than 10 eggs. And with limited tools, no mixer or any equipment for making cake, I used my own hands to do everything. My hand was sore whisking the egg white until it's stiff and got me thinking I have to learn not to take anything for granted. Baking is a long process and step by step I tried mo make things right so the cake comes out good but there will always be something wrong along the way try to spoil it,  no matter how hard I try to make things right, there will always be something try to take me down, in this case was the oven. I started making the cake since 3.30pm and finally got that out from the oven at 7pm, such a long time for baking small cake. I put the cake in the oven at about 5pm and my friend who owns the recipe said it will take around 45 minutes to bake. It turns out that the oven is not working properly, I put it on bake mode but I don't think the bake function was working, I have waited for almost 2 hours and the cake was still soft in the middle, not even cooked! But the top of the cake was already golden brown. Did I throw the cake away? No! I kept waiting and finally when it's done, such a relief. I did it and I didn't give up.

After all, the whole experience is exciting, from shopping, preparing and baking the cake. I now know why people here love cooking so much, being in the kitchen. It's different kind of feeling and excitement, such a joyful feeling be able to feed your loved ones. Food always can brings us together. Simple food is always good, start with what you have first!

with love,

-vc-

Bucket List

I want to learn how to cook.
I want to bake cakes.
I want to take dance course.
I want to run along the beach.
I want to drink from clear river.
I want to camp.
I want to go on hot air balloon.
I want to walk the bridge.
I want to swim with dolphin.
I want to dive.
I want to do sky diving.
I want to travel around the world (including amazing islands).
I want to lay on the prairie starring at the sky.
I want to climb big tree, check out bird's nest.
I want to jump to the water from a bridge.
and so on... (to be continued)

Hopefully I can tick these up one by one. :)

Life is a journey, a long journey. Easy way to keep a long journey enjoyable is by doing something excited.

#let's begin
-vc-

And the Story Goes

A friend's friend once said, "You cannot keep looking for the best, perfect one or whatever you try to find. Because nothing is perfect in this world, all you can do is to love perfectly, not to find perfect one to love." That is true but "We accept the love we think we deserve." People around might wonder how come she ends up with douche like that, it's simply because she accepts the love she thinks she deserves.

Genuine and sincere heart is hard to find. It's rare but you could find it somehow, somewhere. But once you found it, you start to think you can't have it, why did you try to find the best or perfect one before? Don't you want sincere and genuine heart? Isn't it perfect? The best? I mean what is the most beautiful gift people could give? Heart isn't it? It does freak people out because they think they don't deserve it. So why wasting time try to find the best or perfect one if at the end of the day you don't think you deserve it anyway. Why even bother trying?

It's scared people to death because human tends to disappoint others, that is why even when the best is in front of you, you don't have heart to grab it and claim it yours because you're scared going back to the disappointment path, either way of disappointment, you or the other party.

So what is it called? Not moving on? Not letting go? Call it whatever you want, words for heart: "Heart, please fall when you're ready not when you're lonely." Broken heart is painful but more painful is the lonely heart.

Is it fair saying you're still living in the past when you miss someone? Anyone can miss a friend from high school, a friend they met somewhere along the way before they got here, does that mean they live in the past? Does that mean they're not present? Still holding on to the past?

What is past, present and future anyway? What are those all about if you don't have a straight mind? Keep worrying things, keep living under people's spell (judgmental society) -- dictate you who you are, what you do and shouldn't do. Living under someone's rules? And this is what we call free world.

I've experienced "The Perks of Being Wallflower", still a going on process though don't think have reached the ending just yet.

#free your mind

-vc-

Live A Life, Live It Up

Auckland, New Zealand for me is place of exploration, indeed! I've experienced great things here, after all my time here is not too bad at all.

New Zealand as country is place where I experience crazy stuff, be adrenalin junkie and explorer. I visit place to place, enjoy the beautiful scenery everywhere I go and just constantly spoil my eyes with awesome panoramic view. Road trip is a must here!

Auckland as city is place where I try something for first time. I'm looking forward to unfold another first time thing I will do here. But while I'm experiencing that, I might tell one of things I've done for first time here which is watching concert. I cannot believe that I didn't write any blog of any concert I've gone, watched and enjoyed, ridiculously unbelievable!

I've seen some concert here but first one was COLDPLAY. It was brilliant! I love the whole thing, the idea, the creativity, the detail and it is definitely world class concert. The second one was alright, pretty small concert and it was OWL CITY. It was cozy, homey, small stage and not too many people. I'm not a big fan of OWL CITY but I enjoyed it. Third one was LINKIN PARK. That was huge! It might be as big as COLDPLAY but LINKIN PARK was indoor with smaller space but packed. It was rocking. Last but not least was THE SCRIPT! It was a simple concert but the connection is felt so deep. All experiences behind creating the songs make those songs so meaningful and you feel bonding with the songs.

Danny said "Thank you for not embarrassed singing hard time songs." It doesn't mean you're melancholic, weak, soft or whatever. It means you value hard times and not afraid to sing soundtracks of your life. I love all THE SCRIPT songs, for me THE SCRIPT is one in a million band who has great album, by album I mean all songs in the album are just amazing, not just couple singles. Again, musician with great experiences in sorrow will produce great music too! Poor them, if it bleeds, it leads, reminding me of news in journalism.

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Coldplay

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Owl City

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Linkin Park

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The Script

Another first in Auckland is studying overseas. It is a hard time being student again but all I can do it make the most of it and give my best, no regret.

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AUT Postgraduate Student

I also have some things haunting me from Australia. Those things pretty much follow me here. First one is my ring. I have seen this ring in Australia but didn't buy it there although I love it so much but I've been given second chance as I found the exact same ring here so I bought it.

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Black Diamond

Another second chance is part of watching concert. I wanted to see The Script when I was in Brisbane but I couldn't make it and when I found out The Script is having concert in Auckland, I was thrilled and couldn't miss the opportunity to watch it, I cannot blow second chance, can I? After all, I've been given second chance and I make it right.

I can experience great things here because I have great friends. Thanks for all my friends who make things happened. Much appreciate and looking forward for new adventure. Love you all!

#YOLO

-vc-

Almost Insane

The most important thing I've learned (in rough way) is to let go. If it comes back to me then it's mine but if it is not then it's never mine in the first place. I let go in order to move on. But am I moving on? Like a friend of mine said "we're stuck, not going anywhere." Is it a sign we've been holding on to something?

Life is a cycle. Everyone knows that, of course. It's about doing the same thing over and over again until you get sick doing it or doing something new to keep you excited. One thing for sure, losing enthusiasm causes damage. It's not about breaking the cycle because there is no point of doing that but how to keep you going, running in the cycle with the spirit.

My thought is that the cycle is about spending money. No doubt, everything is about money. Nothing is free in this world. You think oxygen is free? Think again. It's like another retribution to spend more money, when you live, is all about paying things to keep you living. Oxygen keeps you alive, but then you need to drink, eat and do all those things in life, and are they free? Don't think so.

So the cycle will be there forever, to let go is to start brand new day with new spirit even you lose your enthusiasm, find new excitement to keep you going then even you think you're not moving on, you are bit by bit, inch by inch, collect them all then one day you'll realize you've finally moved on. Moving forward isn't always achieving something literally in concrete object but how you grow, forward in mind, mentality and character. Let go to spend while you can spend, not worrying to lose anything or running out of something. At last, one shot, that's all we have in life. Got nothing to hide and nothing to lose. The more you protect something, the more it will hurt you in the long run.

Does it make sense? Don't think it does but well, what makes sense anyway? Everything is blur, kind of lost somewhere along the way. So what matters?

"I'm about to lose my mind 

You've been gone for so long, I'm running out of time 

I need a doctor, call me a doctor 

I need a doctor, doctor to bring me back to life."

(Eminem featuring Dr. Dre - I Need a Doctor)

#reflection

-vc-

Judge Me!

Meeting interesting people is attached as part of your job if you work in hospitality, including me. I just experienced something tonight that got me thinking. Who am I to judge people? And who are you to judge someone?

I was serving TWO customers, not only one, who proudly said "I work at Showgirls." First time, I was shocked, couldn't make eye contact as usual and speechless. I didn't know how to start a conversation without offending them. Because you know how hospitality, somehow you need to be friendly, start a regular conversation like "Been busy today?", "How's your day?" or anything you can come up with basically. But these two girls got me lost in ideas to have a little conversation while they were waiting. They're really friendly but I have no idea what to ask them!

I hope they didn't realize my shocking face when they told me that facts. Because I never had anyone so proud and open saying it out load. Another culture shock? I guess so. Apparently in my country, we can tell if someone is an 'escort', 'whore' or whatever they do in that business. They have different level and way of showing it but they won't tell other people out loud what they do, people just ASSUME, and assumption can be wrong, most of the time.

Different culture, different way of doing and saying things. In here, people can say and do anything they want without worrying what people might think. Their principle is "mind your own business!" People can be judgmental nowadays but I feel here is less than my own country, of course! People here can be whatever they want for living. Garbage man, cleaner, security, baby sitter, name it, they make money and they live from it, while in my country if your work as those jobs I've just mentioned, you're basically nothing. Let us look at ourselves and ask once again:

"Who are we to judge other people?"

#impressed

-vc-

Hot Water Beach

Road trip can be one alternative to enjoy holiday. It’s always good to visit small town, interact with local community through the local market, just to look around and see what is happening around us. On this Easter holiday, we decided to go to Coromandel, Whitianga. It wasn’t a perfect weather to go but it wasn’t too bad either so it’s alright, we still can go around and enjoy that beautiful little town.

Typical New Zealand’s town and scenery is spread evenly throughout the country. If you have big budget, South Island can be an option but if you only have small budget, there are plenty places to visit around. In Coromandel itself, there are lots of look up point, beaches and sites for walking/hiking.

Lonely Bay, Cooks Beach, Buffalo Beach and so on are some of many options in Coromandel, Whitianga. One of the greatest beaches is Hot Water Beach. When we arrived, there were lots of people in this beach, might be the favorite amongst all. There were lots of holes in the beach; people have spades on their hands. Old and young, local and tourist gathered to enjoy the excitement of hot water beach in the chill weather.

The water from the sea is cold! But there is some spots where you can have warm or even hot water coming out through the sand but then you need to dig in to be able to enjoy the warm water. It’s kind of building your own pool, spa pool. It’s cool, first time, first experience and was doing it alone. But then met a group that tried to build their pool then helped and joined them, pretty good experience indeed. After digging in, building the sand into a pool, it’s a great feeling, hard work is paid off. It’s good to fight and enjoy the sweet fruit after that. Teamwork worked out well, won’t be able to o it with one self.

One question came up when we were walking around: “Do you want to live here?” It got me imagining having a simple life on the countryside, have little yard with not many just couple sheep, cows, horses and dogs, a vineyard, business maybe café or accommodation centre and just live along the way. That is going to be a plan. Let us start dreaming and making it come true. I don’t mind leaving in a small town, really. I always want to live in the city, hustle, noisy, fast and instant environment but one day I know for sure, I will give up the city life and live peacefully somewhere, where I can call home.

#more adventure to come

-vc-

Gentlemen

Men might think that women is a demanding creature but from women's perspective, it's common sense. Looks like these two creatures don't really get along, do they? Well, if women think what they ask is a common thing then indirectly saying men are brainless a.k.a have no common sense?

Is it hard to be a gentlemen? Well, if men demand their partner to be lady-like, why can't they be gentlemen in return? There is no certain steps 'how to be a gentlemen', but sure people have pattern, standard and expectation. But why is it normal for men to be douchebag while it's outrageous for women to do so? Such an excuse not to be gentlemen.

It's not about how to get gentlemen's look. You can have the look but more important is what's coming out of you. It can be manners, attitudes, behaviours, the most important above all is your words. If man cannot keep his words, he absolutely needs a hit in the head. It's about being confident, consistent and persistent. Confident means know what you're doing, consistent means stick to what you're saying, persistent means keep fighting for it. Say what you want and mean it, if you don't mean it then don't say it. One principle of communication is that communication is irreversible. You can have thousands reasons to take back what you've said but once you've delivered your message clearly in the first place then basically it's out there, cannot take it back no matter how hard you try.

"Sometimes we're scared of reality that's why we put it into a joke hoping for different answer." Joke is joke, you can joke around like crazy but that principle of communication applies every time you communicate. Words cut deeper than sword, gentlemen. And keep in mind, no one remember when you're right and no one forget when you're wrong.

Rated: (M) for mature audience

-vc-

Line Them Up!

Sebastian Stan


Ed Westwick




Olly Murs



Jai Courtney


TOO HOT!!!

-vc-

What is Real?

The condition of post-modernity is losing identity, blurring boundaries, in other word: no one fixed 'self'. I wasn't sure about this paper before but week after week I get more sense of it and it's interesting and exciting. Half brain thinks it's insane because doesn't make any sense but half brain is sinking in to the concept. And it got me thinking indeed it's a crazy world.

People could be anything they want. I can make a profile page saying that I'm a President of Bikini Republic, some people might think "she's crazy, that's not true, that isn't real". Well, it's real enough for me. That's the concept I've created and we've been living in a concept created by society, we accept that, that's why we think it's real.

Come to that sense, I start to realize, what is real when you can see and think that everything is real? Really? When people say "reality is too painful, let's imagine something beautiful and great", which one is real and which one it isn't? 'What's in mind' is not always not real, it can be actual and real or it is actually real.

One time, I watched Dr. Phil (excuse me but I couldn't find anything else on TV), the case was about this one girl faking her pregnancy to her family. From the family point of view, she can't be pregnant and she made the story up. She said that she's been raped, got pregnant then had miscarriage. From the girl's side, that's the story, it's real. She made continuous action through social media, creating her own 'friend', talking back and forth with 'her friend'. The family try to make her realize that she's now sinking in her own reality. The family thinks that she cannot differentiate between the real life and her 'real life'. The family thinks, she creates all this stuff to make her life more excited and that she creates this 'friend' as the person she wants to be. A girl with two kids, great family life and good living. But she insists that that's her 'friend' and she's real.

From that story, we might see and think that she's basically crazy but when someone has diluted that one self and starts living their 'reality', that's the real life they have. It might not real for the society but it's real enough for the person.

 

One of the movie that reminds me of the condition of post-modernity is Black Swan. Lots of movies picture greatly on post-modernity life, such as Total Recall, Mulholland Drive, Being John Malkovich, Scanner Darkly and so on. And unfortunately, believe it or not, that's the world we live in now.

#fascinated

-vc-

What Friends are for?

Some people say I'm selfish but on the other hand I'm a giver. Those are contradictive things. How can I be selfish when all I want to do is giving?

I thought what people say about me is right that I am the most selfish person in this planet but interaction with other people makes me realize that I'm not too bad. We have personal reason to be what we are right now. We have experiences that shape us to be who we are now. Maybe bad experiences that make us protect ourselves even more and tend to be selfish. Does protecting self mean selfish? We also won't sacrifice ourselves to do some good things for other people. But what if that other people are your friends? We have our own intrepetation of friends, some might be close to you that you'll do anything for them, some might not be that close so you wouldn't do anything for them. Doesn't matter what people do to you what does matter is what you do to other people, that is you, yourself, your character. It shows who you are and quality within you.

I tend to stop giving when I realize that other people take advantage of me. But that doesn't show who I am. I cannot keep giving for sure, I'll be 'hungry baker'. I can stop giving but I'll start back to do what I do best: giving, eventually. Whether people take me for granted or not, all I do is keep the character strong. Because like a great man said:

"Character is like a tree and reputation its shadow. The shadow is what we think it is and the tree is the real thing.” 

― Abraham Lincoln

So you can take all I have, all that you want from me but you cannot change my character and take my character either. You can be as selfish as you want and you can and it's enough for me to know what you're like as a person. We can still be friends, of course. But I hope we have the same perception of friendship.

#support-help for better

M (mature audience)

-vc-

Social Media

We caught up in digital era where everything is fast and mobile. This era is so demanding. Time is precious thing and distance is not a big deal anymore. When one social media is never enough, I am rushing up with time to be able to keep my self in the running of fast paced social life. Somehow people in the other side of the world seem to be closer than people around me. Why? Because when we are apart, we make effort to talk, communicate and contact each other through nothing but social media, yet while doing it, we're dragging ourselves out of social life in the real life. We're used to social media and spend more time on it rather than actual real conversation with others. We might see people face to face but the quality relationship is not there anymore since we're so used to social media. It reminds me of one quote "Social media close up far distance but far up close distance."

Good and bad in one. I admit I might be one of the social media freak. To list all the social media I have now, I'm amazed. I know I need some of those social media to help me in certain things but I don't know that my life will be consumed by these things so much. Go with it and deal with it. I need it and I don't need it. I can live without it but for now, to finish my uni, I need to be familiar with all of these. Just to answer this demanding major.

#hello facebook, whatsapp, instagram, twitter, line, skype, viber, blog sites

-vc-