Blessing And Burden

If you have a big house, it is a Blessing. 
But you have to clean it up, it becomes a Burden.

If you have a baby, it is a Blessing.
But you have to wake up in the middle of the night to feed the baby, it becomes a Burden.

If you earn degree in higher education, it is a Blessing.
But you have to work hard to earn it, it becomes a Burden.

If you are healthy, it is a Blessing.
But you have to maintain your health carefully, it becomes a Burden.

Blessing & Burden comes in a package.
We cannot just ask for a Blessing without a Burden.

If we only focus on Burden, we will never feel His Blessings.
But if we focus on the Blessings, we will feel at ease to carry the Burden.

Always remember that the Burden we carry will not exceed our power.

Therefore, enjoy your life everyday because each day is a Blessing.

-- Found the text circulating via Whatsapp, I thought I'd keep it here as a self-reminder note

Jakarta Fashion Week 2016

I haven't posted about fashion in a long time, and since Jakarta Fashion Week 2016 has just concluded, let's bring it on. Here are some of the runway photos with the kind of silhouettes/details I'm loving.

Dian Pelangi

Abineri Ang feat Canisseri

Rani Hatta

S.O.E

Ria Miranda

Eridani

Najua Yanti

All photos are taken from here.

The Child-Friendly Office Environment

Back in the 1980s-1990s, day care was an alien idea to most Indonesians (even in the capital city) and I was still a kid, so there were times M&D took me to their office. D worked at a family-owned publishing company and M worked at a foreign bank.

Of course, I would prefer D's office to M's office everytime opportunity arised. I could sit next to D, talk or ask him any questions read books on the floor, and have a long intimate lunch date with him at the nearby food stall. Sometimes D would ask me to edit a draft of a book, that was how I developed the love of letters and all things bookish. Things would not be the same at M's office: I had to sit in the praying room or the kitchen and be as quiet as a mice. It was so boring and I kept glancing on the clock.

When I worked in the media, the colleagues who had babies and toddlers sometimes brought their little ones to the office. The parents would put the babies on a mattress, or gave coloring books the toddlers. While things would get quite tense approaching the deadline, the little ones could still enjoy moments with their parents.

Now that I work in a non-profit organization, the office environment is even more child-friendly and family-oriented. We have 20 days of annual leave, and we can use it one full day at a time or even take a half day. Most colleagues' kids are already in primary school, so the kids can be told to sit still. Nevertheless, kids are kids, they would eventually run around and make noise. Fortunately, the big boss in this office is a gentle elderly Briton and a family man.

Not all boss are like my boss, but at least the nature of a non-profit organization is more relaxed than that of private companies. The pay and benefits may be not as much as the latter does, but I prefer the child-friendly office environment. And I'm not even a mother (yet), hahaha. 

Putting On A Little Color

So I have a new interest: make up! I know, I'm such a late bloomer :D. I caught up the make-up bug when I quit journalism and started the normal work hour. During the commute to Jakarta, I realize that almost all woman put on some color to freshen up their looks.

I know it's not a must to put on make up, but I feel compelled to appreciate myself. Hey, I manage to get myself onboard of a crowded commuter train, it deserves an applause. Putting on some color on my face feels like putting on a war paint. I am Amazon!

When I worked in the media, the only color I wore was on my lips, and only in the morning. After three times of ablution, eating and drinking, the lipstick had faded and I never touched up. Things has gone a bit different since then.

Boarding the ever-crowded morning commuter line, I usually wear a face mask that covers my nose and mouth. That would leave only my eyes to be seen. So I started to wear eyeliner, a very thin line on my chinky eyes, just to give a bit statement.

No one seemed to notice (due to the very thin eyeliners), so I upped the ante by filling in my short and thin eyebrows. It was hard to draw a  pair of symmetrical eyebrows, as mine are definitely asymmetric. But even after I mastered the eyebrow thingy, no one at the office commented. Either my eye make up looks natural, or my colleagues are just too polite to comment.

Mascara does not do much help to boost my weak eyelashes and eyeshadow is just too complicated for application, so I only apply them once in a while.

Then the eyeglasses era dawned upon me. The beautiful eye make up went behind the eyeglasses. The only thing left for coloring is my lips. So yeah, it's lipstick revisited. During the journo days, I would prefer the nude-colored lipstick. But now, it's all about go bold or go home (ha!).

After I put on bold-colored lipstick, colleagues began commenting, and the conversation would go like this:
Colleague: There is something different about you today.
Me: Well, I wear eyeglasses now.
Colleague: Oh yeah, that too. But it's something else, you look prettier.
Me: Oh, it must be my lipstick
Colleague: *slowly fading out*

One surprising comment came from a female colleague who saw me wearing brown lipstick. She said,"Please don't wear brown color again, it makes you look so fierce." To that I replied,"But dear, I want to look fierce."

How about you? Why do you wear color on your face?

On Wearing The Eyeglasses

A few months ago, the guy from the HR division insisted that everyone at the office went to ophthalmologist to get our eyes checked. I've been hoping that I could be eyeglasses-free until the day I died, but then the test and result showed I needed cylindrical correction lenses for both eyes. 

It's only 0.5 (OD) and 0.25 (OS), and no nearsightedness/farsightedness. I can still see quite clearly, but after a few hours in front of the LCD monitor, the letters would blur and the eyeglasses help a lot. Ahh, age doesn't lie, indeed. Eyeglasses prescription is covered by the office, so I bought a pair and started wearing them a few weeks after Idul Fitri this year. I only put them on when typing on the laptop (like right now), and when driving (which is like, once in a blue moon, hahaha). 

I brought along two brutally honest colleagues to comment on which eyeglasses frame fit my face shape at the optician. I've been wanting to buy a cat-eye shaped eyeglasses, but the optician had none that met the budget, so following my colleagues' suggestions, I settled for a wayfarer-modified design.

I'm wearing something similar to this design. From here

After I started wearing the eyeglasses, several colleagues said I looked different. Good different, they said. One of them even said I looked like the elegant female boss from the headquarter office. Even if they mean to say I look old with the eyeglasses, I wouldn't mind to age gracefully like the said female boss.

DAP, who previously worked at an NGO that helps visually-impaired children, gave some tips on wearing eyeglasses: 

(1) don't wear them 24-hour straight in the first place, but start with short period of time and then add up the period daily. For example, wear them for two hours on the first day, then three hours on second day, and it goes on until you wear them regularly.

(2) when I first put them on, I'd feel dizzy because my eye-level view and feet-level view seemed detached. DAP told me to move my head instead of my eyes. He added that it was normal to feel that way on the first week because my eyes were still adapting. But if it continues, he suggests that I go back to the optician.

(3) clean them regularly.

The funny thing is DAP also has cylindrical eyes with higher prescription, but he refuses to wear eyeglasses, because it would make him less cool (oh boy, little did he know there are girls who thinks guys with eyeglasses are hot).

Do you or your significant other wear eyeglasses? 

[Movie] Athirah

Indonesian | 2016 | 81 minutes | Director: Riri Riza

I must admit that it was the movie's tagline "Inspired by the life of Jusuf Kalla's mother" that tugged my attention to see the movie. Jusuf Kalla, also known as JK, is a man of many facets: a successful entrepreneur, Minister of Trade and Industry (1999-2000), Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare (2001-2004), a politician, and has become Vice President of this country twice (for two different presidents)! He must have had one amazing mother, I thought. 

I also missed the beautiful scenery of South Sulawesi and I thought the movie could transport me there even for a brief period of time.

So on a lovely Wednesday night, I took myself to a date night and watched this movie. There was only six people watching the movie, including me. 

The movie starts with a Bone-style wedding procession of Athirah and Ajji Kalla, and then follows the Kalla family as they move to Makassar, the capital city of South Sulawesi province.

While the family begins to settle, with children going to school, Puang Ajji's business taking off and Athirah is pregnant with the fourth child, news on Puang Ajji's taking another wife is spreading. Puang Ajji is often absent in the family's house, and this affects Athirah and the children. 

As a proud Bone woman, Athirah keeps her emotion to herself and channels her energy to her family. She starts a business on South Sulawesi-style silk sarong, purchases gold jewelry for investment and dreams of opening a school in Makassar. She stays kind even though her husband ignores her efforts to keep the family intact.

One touching scene is when Ucu (JK's nickname) accompanies Athirah to a wedding reception, and then they see Puang Ajji also attending the event with his other wife. The rickshaw ride back to their home is tear-inducing as Ucu and Athirah stare blankly on the road.     

When the economy situation was going down in the 1960s, Athirah gives the golden jewelry box to her husband to save the company and Puang Ajji just breaks down in tears. I think of this particular scene as the best revenge :).

A beautiful quote in this movie that I remember most is: "You should keep carefully what you believe as the most important thing in your life." Athirah could keep the sadness and the heartbreak, but she chose to be happy and be the driving force to her family.

Although the movie has all the recipe for a good tear, I barely cry my heart out because the bridging between scenes is not smooth. I'm not sure whether it's due to the script or the editing process. But I guess there must be a lot of pressures to complete a movie that features the second man in this country.

Athirah is also screened at Vancouver International Film Festival, Busan International Film Festival and Tokyo International Film Festival.

Conversation With DAP

Sometimes I forgot how childish adult men can be. Here's several conversation samples with one of the specimens.

On Weight Gain And The Intention Of Diet

DAP: Oh my God, I've gained weight ever since I came to this office

Me: I don't mind 

DAP: I do mind, all my jeans are getting tight on the waist area

Me: Go on a diet then

DAP: Yeah

(a few hours later, I saw him eating snacks)

Me: How's the diet plan going?

DAP: Tomorrow (grinning)

Slim...Not

Situation: there's a distribution of T-shirts and everyone gave their size.

DAP: I'm XL size

Me: Sorry, Pak Jeffry took the last XL size, you may want to take the XXL size

DAP: It would be too big for me!

Me: You've gained weight since working in this office. Why don't you try it first?

DAP: (grumbling while putting on the T-shirt) It's too big.. see...

(the T-shirt fits him just fine)

DAP: Err...

Me: Too big, yeah right...(leaving him speechless)

That's Not Dinner Yet

Situation: During the meeting in Surabaya. It's 7 p.m. and everyone is going out for dinner.

DAP: I'm famished, let's have dinner

Me: But we just had dinner! Your supervisor took us to that eatery at 5 p.m.

DAP: That's not dinner yet, it's a pre-dinner meal

Me: Ok, you just go on your own then, I'm still full

Feeling So Young
Situation: we're discussing our age. He was 2 years younger
DAP: This year I'll be 34 years old
Me: We're only two years apart. You're already 34 years old now, you'll be 35 years old this year
DAP: No, I'm 33 years old.
Me: You're born in 1981, right? This year is 2016. You're being delusional
DAP: Oh yeah, right


Auntie Knows Best

Situation: DAP is quite popular among the girls. I suspect this is because he's quite tall compared to other guys in the vicinity. So one of the girls (let's call her Rose) has shown genuine interest towards him, but the feeling is not mutual...

Me: Rose sent us email to ask our help for a backdrop of an event
DAP: But the information is not clear
Me: Ask her via email then, but don't forget to cc me
DAP: Can you do that? And cc me
Me: You're a big man, and yet you're afraid of her? This is ridiculous
DAP: I'm not afraid. It's just...I'm sure you handle the situation better than me
Me: *rolling my eyes*

Cute Girls On The Horizon!

Sometimes I caught him glancing at cute girls passing by, and then he blushed when he knew that I knew.

DAP: What?

Me: (smiling)

Female Colleague #1: It's good that he's glancing at girls. If he's checking out men, then we have a stiff competition here

Me: Good point

DAP: Hey!

Other times, I pointed out the cute girls for him

Me: Hey, the girl over there is pretty

DAP: I know (smiling sheepishly)

Me: Hmmhh

When Cute Guys Are Around

Sometimes the situation is reversed, in which there is a cute guy around and the girls will gawk at said guy

Female Colleague #1: Check out 11 hours, cute guy alert (whispers)

Female Colleague #2: Ohhhh

Me: Yesss

(Our eyes were following said guy, and then DAP walked in front of us and obscured our view)

The Girls: Hey!