A place where I can live, breathe, talk and see

Finally!! An answer for my prayer!! :D
Mika is going to have a concert in Singapore !!!! Hoorayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D




pic's original link

I've never watched a proper pop-star kind of concert before in my life. So this is a big deal for me. :P

Anyway, the ticket price almost makes me lose my nerves. But when I listened to Mika's latest single, Kick-Ass; I have my courage back and decided to just go for it! :D

But then.. Another problem.
Who should I go with? None of my friends shares my excitement over this concert. And my dear hubby.. definitely not a fan! :P

More problems..
Where should I sit? Or stand? Should I buy the free standing ticket? Or the sitting ones? Arrghhh...

In Singapore, the position of foreign workers amongst the Singaporean society are a bit enigmatic, if not difficult. Singapore needs them, definitely. Since there's no Singaporean who'd like to trim the lovely 3318 hectares expanse of grass of this Garden City, nor laid brick by brick in a construction projects, or take the leaves & garbage out of the water reservoir's canal trap-gate soon after a heavy downpour rain.


It may seems like they were doing a measly job, but without them Singapore wouldn't look as effortlessly squeaky clean and well maintained as it is now. It's the small details that creates vast differences.

And on one sunny and windy day, on my way to the city, I saw a group of dark skinned man wearing red shirt & a safety vest crouching at a vast expanse of a well trimmed grass. That patch of land, was in the middle of nowhere. In Indonesia it would be just an unkempt government land, grow wildly and occupied with God knows what. But here, even the most remote piece of land is apparently, very well kept, thanks to the ever hard working and diligent foreign workers.


And it strikes me, that those guys looked very much like the Oompa Loompa. Physically & philosophically.


Oompa Loompas are the most devoted caretakers of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory (from Charlie and the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory, written by Roald Dahl, my favorite writer :) ).

They're the factory worker, the entertainer, the cleaner, the guard, the gardener, the taster; everything! However invisible they are (because of their petite size) there's no doubt that they're the life and blood of Willy Wonka's factory.

And Willy Wonka pays them with nothing but chocolate. Because apparently, the Oompa Loompa worshiped chocolate.

Compared to the situation in our world, where as the only thing that these 'Oompa Loompa' (and the rest of the human kind) ever worshiped, is of course, the greatest God of all - money :)

The other day I went to see Shigeru Ban's ContainArt at Marina Bay. It's interesting, how he use paper as a building material (he's been using it since 1986, can you imagine that?). And how he use building materials as part of the structure. In this case, he use the container as the wall, the structure and for creating space for the exhibition.

And then I read an article about him on Business Times Saturday. The most interesting part is when he say that building today is not as good as building 500 years ago. And his opinion about technology in architecture, design wise, technology (computer) can only make the design process faster, but not subsequently better.

In his opinion, we can create better architecture if only we spend a little more time designing, and a little more time building it.

:)

It's been almost 6 months since I've been living here. And I kinda liked it here. I may not have my family and boyfriend w/ me, but I always talked to him via messenger, and he come to visit me and I called him often. As for my family, they also visit me.. As for friends, I make new friends, meet new people, and always in touch w/ my friends through messenger also. In short, I'm happy enough w/ this arrangement.

And here, now, I feel like I'm changing. Turning into a better person, hopefully.

I feel like, I've become more sensitive to life's beauties. I've become more in touch w/ my inner self, more contemplative, mentally nourished and fulfilled.

I do still have my own problem at work, but who doesn't? There's no such thing as the perfect life, but its up to you to make it perfect for you.

In here, I don't feel so clueless and marginalized as in Jakarta. In here I learn a lot. I read, I listen to classical music, I went to museums, I watch art performances, and with all those I relaxed, and feel nourished.

In Jakarta I don't have an easy access to all those. My life rotates around work, going to the mall, and I have very limited access to information, and going places will be hell, or expensive, or both.

In short, like a plant, this city is like a well treated and fertilized soil which will allows me to grew big and bloom w/ lots of beautiful flowers and delicious fruits and lush leaves.

And I want to live here.

A few days ago I show my online portfolio to a friend. And he saw my little flickr photos slide show attached, at the top right corner.

xx : Are you into photography now?
me : ...
me : Nope. I just love capturing precious moments
xx : wow, your photos are very colorful
me : yeah, well that's how I see the world

This short conversation shows that :

1. I'm afraid of the word photography. Strange as it may seem, but in my head, that word correlates with highly expensive gadgets and whatever special techniques and buttons to press and knobs to turn which obviously I don't have any interest to buy or study. So, no, I'm not into photography. I just love capturing the moments, precious moments, my precious moments. And with my handy dandy pocket camera, I'm trying my best to freeze those moments the way I see it, and put it in my treasure box. And with the fact that I'm a sucker for composition, beauty, colors and photoshop, it makes my pictures has a few nice compositions and angles and colors and whatever. But no techniques, obviously.

2. I definitely love colors. :)) You can see it right away from my streams of pictures. That's why I became so fascinated by Bangkok. It's a damn colorful city and I'm loving every corner of it.

And today, I once again brought my faithful hand dandy pocket camera to the Waterfools show. A French water acrobatic show at Boat Quay, as an opening to the Singapore Art Festival for the whole month. I brought my camera, to capture the moments. The show starts at 8. It was a fascinating show and I enjoy it very very much. Then I took my camera and starts clicking away to capture the moments. But none of the clicks came out good. Maybe because of the lack of light and tripod. :( And then I thought why don't I just record the show on video? So then, I finally am capturing the moments, in videos. Which I think is a better media to capture the moments than photos, as you can see all the movements, and even listen to the music and fireworks play.

But you know what, none of the recording tools can really capture the essence of the show, with all its beauties. Nothing. Honestly!

What we capture on videos, and what we've seen on tv, is only 10% of the actual excitement and beauty. I just realize that fact when I replay the videos and comparing it with the memory of the show in my mind.

It's nothing compared to the real thing.

And on the contrary, a good photographs, can capture the moments really well. Sometimes even better than the actual condition. Which explains how often are we get fooled by jaw-dropping pictures of tourist destinations.

No, the title isn't some figure of speech. The title clearly telling you that I am dreaming about Soeharto, last night. It's a weird dream, and I woke up instantly, because of the heat and the mosquito bites, of course.

After all it's not a bad dream, definitely not a nightmare, just a weird dream. Why would on earth I dreamt of Soeharto? I could've just dreamt of my late Grandmother, it's far better, and I miss her too.

In my dream, I was his grand daughter. He's sitting on a bench wearing black shirt, and I asked him how is he doing? He looked healthy and younger than he is now, and he told me he's fine. That's all I can remember. But maybe that's all. No more, no less.

Anyway, I looked up at dreamdoctor, and I checked on the dictionary under C, for Celebrity. Yep, Soeharto is a celebrity of his kind, whatever that is. And it said that it's a sign, that I'm going to be elevated into a celebrity level. Or a higher level than I am now. Woww.. I never even thought of it.. It sounds like a good idea though. Let's just hope so, and also hope for the best, that this is going to be a good sign for my new Singapore adventure.. :-D

First of all, I want to thank Allah for making me write again. it's been too long and now I feel very much relieved and.. Honestly it feels so much like home. So relaxing and peaceful. :-D But that's not what I wanted to talk about.

I wanted to talk abt this conversation I had with Andy, while we're discussing a possibility for him to work in Kalimantan. I told him I'd love to go with him, and just find another work there. And he responded, 'So you'll throw away your career in Jakarta?'. And I instantly laughed and said, 'What career? I don't have any career in Jakarta!'.

And here I am, re-playing that conversation in my head and think, damn.. I REALLY don't have any career in Jakarta.. :-P It struck me, because, well, I get paid pretty well, but for my talents, for what I can do, but it doesn't promise me any career advancement, yet. Not in this company I currently work for. So anyway, to get on with my so-called 'career', I need to get out of this useless company I am now and find another place to work.

I know I've been having this pattern since I graduated from university, and it doesn't give me any advantages besides being a real generalist instead of a specialist. And when I told Andy I wanted a career change, he's sort of freaked out.. :-))

Of course I wouldn't actually do that.. I'm not that reckless and naive, no matter how much I wanted to :-D

Maybe I just enjoy the creative world too much..

Anyway, now, honestly, I feel lost. I wanted to go to Singapore; I wanted to find a new job; I wanted to move to another city; my parents wants me to work for PU; I wanted to live peacefully in Jogja and learn how to make batik; I wanted to learn to sculpt, shape, cut, tore, paint, and just create and think with my hands; I wanted to be a successful and rich freelancer; I wanted to be a travel writer; I wanted to open my own store; I wanted to get married and have wonderful babies; I wanted to be a successful career woman but will always have time for family..

I just hope and pray to God that He will guide me to the best path.

:ameen..: