2 years after mexican food, here we go Italianos! Nice tea time & laughs with Ecky, Mrs Ambassador of Micronesia and Munying Miss Mall Ambassador. Hihihi.

See you later, dear Ecky. We miss you already *untung lo udah beli BB* Hahahaha.

Memulai minggu terakhir Ramadhan dengan perasaan yang campur aduk. Senang, excited, terharu, sedih, bingung. Campur aduk, nggak jelas rasanya.

Keluar dari kebiasaan, memulai sesuatu yang baru dan mengalami lagi saat-saat pertama in some biggest part of my life will be a tough-full-package-deal for me in 2 weeks ahead.  I guess there'll be another roller coaster weeks.

Many thing changes and happen at the same time. Some for new life for better journey, some others just leaving because the time is not on our side anymore. It's not all about losing, but growing that requires changing. Changing sometimes hurt.

Orang bijak bilang lihatlah hidup dari yang kita punya, jangan dari yang kita nggak punya. It is true, totally correct and 100% agree. But however, we're only human. Take process and efforts to get back on the track. Deal with it, face it, even it requires confusion, pain and tears.

Been in a deep conversation with Miund last saturday morning. In the end, for whatever reason, we need to be ready to stand and walking in our own feet. We have family and friends to hold on to, period. Kalau ada yang menemani perjalanan along the way, that would be beautiful. In the very end in the long-long deal of life package - we're actually alone. Bitter truth.

Ya ALLAH, please hold my hand and my heart. I need a big hugs.

Yang tabah ya bacanya, print screen-an nih. Hihihi...

Copy from this link.

"He might not be the one making you smile these days, but he keeps you sane."

Well noted. Love is for giving, not for begging :-)

One doesn't love in order to do what is good or to help or to protect someone. If we act that way, we are perceiving the other as simple object, and we seeing ourselves as wise and generous persons. This has nothing to do with love. To love is to be in communion with the other and to discover in that other the spark of God.

You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen.

Every day, God gives us the sun – and also one moment in which we have the ability to change everything that makes us unhappy. Every day, we try to pretend that we haven't perceived the moment, that it doesn't exist – that today is the same as yesterday and will be the same as tomorrow. But if people really pay attention in their everyday lives, they will discover that magic moment. It may arrive in the instant when we are doing something mundane, like putting our front-door key in the lock; it may lie hidden in the quiet that follows the lunch hour or in the thousand and one things that all seems the same to us. But that moment exists – a moment when all the power of the stars becomes a part of us and enables us to perform miracles.

Joy is sometimes a blessing, but it is often a conquest. Our magic moment help us to change and sends us off in search of our dreams. Yes, we are going to suffer, we will have difficult times, and we will experience many disappointments – but all of this is transitory it leaves no permanent mark. And one day we will look back with pride and faith at the journey we have taken.

I could have. What does this phrase mean? At any given moment in our lives, there are certain things that could have happened but didn't. The magic moments go unrecognized, and then suddenly, the hand of destiny changes everything.
But love is much like a dam: if you allow a tiny crack to form through which only a trickle of water can pass, that trickle will quickly bring down the whole structure, and soon no one will be able to control the force of the current.
Love is a trap. When it appears, we see only its light, not its shadows.

I'm going to fight for your love. There are some things in life that are worth fighting for to the end. You are worth it.

Quotes from one of my fave book "By the river Piedra I sat down and wept" . Best gratitude to @paulocoelho for this early morning reminder.

Basia will come to town - Oct 7th!

What a month: David Foster, Smashing Pumpkins (Rockin' Land), The Temper Trap, Simply Red (SoulNation). Ini lagi nambah Basia. Mungkinkah melewatkan Tante Basia nyanyiin lagu ini? harus check repertoir-nya nih. Hahaha.

Miskin deh. Derita lo, kenapa suka nonton konser musik. Bikin kere aja :-D

GOD creatures who will bring their parents to heaven. Human can abandon us, never with ALLAH SWT. Thank you kids, your happy smile warm my heart :-)

Hari ini malas pakai iPod play list. Random aja. Jadinya lucu dan mengaduk-aduk memory.

OST One Fine Day, inget nontonin Mas Clooney tengah malem dengan keributan mehe-mehe-nya si Miund di Tubagus Ismail VI/21.

OST The Bartman, Ahahaaaaay SMA abiiiiiiis! Ngerap bareng anak-anak sekelas. Ih jijay!

OST Dowson Creek, jaman kuliah jadi soundtrack perjalanan kereta malam Bandung - Yogyakarta. Ngapain sih ke Yogya mulu :-p

Follow You Follow Me (Genesis). End of 2001, jaman radio baru kenal sama Funey, Eds, Ronal, Wita, Fatka, Wildan, Nimo, Rian. Ow ow ow....hwaaaaaaa!

100 Years (Five For Fighting). 2003 waktu baru join Mobile-8, waktu anggota Gang 3 masih Sisil, Tria, Dian, Alm Rizi, Lani & Yogi! Hiyaaaaaa!

Funny Feeling (New Kids On The Block), Tahun 1989 duo maut Wenni Wahlberg & Mira McIntyre manggung gantian di kamar gw atau di kamar Mira. Wakakakakakak...

Jadi senyum-senyum sendiri. Pengen loncat-loncat juga. Pengen karaoke! Hihihihihi...

Pernyataan “Mau Sabbatical Leave ah!” menuai reaksi dari pihak-pihak yang dirasa cukup penting untuk dimintai pertimbangan. Response cukup ekstrim, nggak ada yang lempeng-lempeng aja. Nggak setuju dan mendukung.

“ Ngapain? Kayak orang tua aja! Belum saatnya beristirahat!”
“ Bosen? Bullshit! You enjoy your job so far.”

“ Good, take some time break to fine-tuning your passion.”
“ Sudah saatnya, bekerja 9 tahun tanpa long-break dari kebiasaan tuh gak sehat, go get your time kerjain yang selama ini pengen lo kerjain tapi gak ada waktu.

6 tahun lalu, gw terkagum-kagum sama seorang technical advisor sebuah creative agency international yang ujug-ujug pamitan mau sabbatical leave selama 5 bulan. Sebagai orang Indonesia yang nggak terbiasa dengan hal tersebut, spekulasi kita saat itu mengira dia sedang ada masalah sehingga perlu kabur dulu. Ternyata 5 bulan kemudian dia datang lagi bekerja seperti biasa dengan segar dan semangat, he spent his sabbatical dengan pergi ke Amerika, berkelana berkendara menyusuri Road 66. Wooow!

Menurut gw, sabbatical leave ini penting. Sabbatical bukan berarti beristirahat a.k.a cuti, karena cuti mah udah ada jatahnya sendiri, dengan kepentingan yang berbeda juga. Mengerjakan hal lain yang menarik selain dari rutinitas, atau mengerjakan hal-hal yang tidak sempat dikerjakan untuk mengembangkan kreatifitas dan self-improvement.

Bosan bukan berarti sudah tidak suka, tapi perlu keluar sebentar dari kebiasaan. Kalau kata Yoris, hal kecil yang bisa di lakukan sehari-hati seperti biasanya pakai jam tangan di kanan, cobalah sekali-kali pakai di kiri, atau biasanya ke kantor lewat jalan Sudirman, coba lewat Kuningan. Hal kecil yang membuat kita keluar sebentar dari kebiasaan, akan memberi perspektif baru, yang otomatis membuat otak berpikir dengan cara berbeda. Asal usul kreatif.

In recent times, "sabbatical" has come to mean any extended absence in the career of an individual in order to achieve something. In the modern sense, one takes sabbatical typically to fulfill some goal, e.g., writing a book or traveling extensively for research. Some universities and other institutional employers of scientists, physicians, and/or academics offer the opportunity to qualify for paid sabbatical as an employee benefit, called sabbatical leave. Some companies offer unpaid sabbatical for people wanting to take career breaks; this is a growing trend in the United Kingdom, with 20% of companies having a career break policy, and a further 10% considering introducing one. Wikipedia

Untuk karyawan yang bekerja di perusahaan lokal Indonesia, rasanya ide sabbatical leave ini terdengar terlalu berlebihan. Lupakan dan kubur dalam-dalam keinginan tersebut. Gak usah ambil sabbatical, ambil unpaid leave aja belum tentu pas balik meja dan posisi masih ada. Hahahaha.

Eh wait! Wait! Di peraturan ketenangakerjaan Indonesia kalau tidak salah ada peraturan dalam 5 tahun masa kerja, kita berhak atas cuti 30 hari kerja. Mungkin ini ide-nya dari memberi kesempatan pada karyawan untuk mengambil break sebangsa sabbatical leave ya. Kenapa dibuat 5 tahun sekali ya? Itungannya dari mana?

Menurut gw sih, sudah saatnya juga peraturan ketenagakerjaan di Indonesia di review ulang, karena aturan-aturan tersebut dibuat berdasarkan jam kerja 9-5 untuk pegawai swasta, 7-3 untuk pegawai negeri. Jam normal, tanpa macet, tanpa BlackBerry.

When you committed bekerja di Jakarta dan set up e-mail kantor di BlackBerry artinya Selamat datang di dunia bekerja 24 jam nonstop. Ketika ada e-mail pekerjaan masuk di jam 2 malam dan nggak sengaja “keliatan”, pasti kepikiran! Karena otak kita nggak ada setting ada inbox khusus yang ditandain “buat diliat & dipikirin besok”. Dikit-dikit mah pasti kelintas di pikiran. Hehehe.

Kalau niiih, kalau nanti saatnya si sabbatical leave ini tiba, gw sih mau ke Ubud belajar melukis, memasak dan hiking. Keliling Indonesia, dari desa ke desa, dari kota ke kota, pantai ke pantai. Ke Vietnam jalan-jalan ke site-site sejarah, duduk manis di kafe pinggir jalan sambil menulis dan baca buku. Ke Bangkok, menghabiskan waktu seharian di kafe knitting. Ke Vienna, belajar fotografi dan bellajar arsitektur bersejarah. Kemana lagi ya?

Ahahahaha, ngayal-nya aja seneng, gimana kalau kejadian ya? Ahahahahahaha Amiiiiiin :-D

Done for some important things today, tomorrow will be another big one. Pray, hope everything will be running well till the time comes. Bismillahirahmanirahim.

Lesson learned today: We might not know what do we mean to each other TODAY, buat SOMEDAY we'll know.

Nyet, our "someday" is now, years after we met. And there will be another "some days" ahead. True, you're indeed the sister I never had as well. I love our sisterhood brings us to happiness.

So happy to see you both happy, love you Miund & Yodee :-)