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

Back in the days, people sang songs not just about love; but about a city, or a flower, or an autumn leaves, or a piano, or an amusing bridge, or even about a very funny clown.

Nowadays people don’t write that kind of songs anymore. Most of the contemporary songs are all about hatred, frustration, depression, love, sex, body parts related to sex, or a broken heart. It's nice at times, but now it's getting boring. Does contemporary people really that self-minded and so unhappy they can't appreciate all the beautiful little things in life?

In that note I’ve made myself sound so ancient. Which I probably am. :D But I’m just too tired hearing songs about sex or anger or some sexual frustrations or body parts; or some songs with no clear meaning on the lyrics too.

What made me realize this is when I listen to Edith Piaf. I don’t understand a word she said, but I love her voice and I love the tunes, and that is all that matters to me. :D And the I look for lyrics of her songs, and it's a nice surprise to see that in fact most of her songs are about life, and whatever that touches her feelings at that time maybe, but definitely NOTHING on depression or hatred or body parts (CMIIW).

And then there's Owl City with their hit single Fireflies. That song really made my day. It's the most beautiful lyrics, beautiful tunes, and a beautiful video. And it makes me feel so happy just to listen to it. Link of the video is here, too bad I couldn't embed it to this post. :-S

Let's sing along then! :D

You would not believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep

'Cause they'd fill the open air
And leave teardrops everywhere
You'd think me rude
But I would just stand and stare

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems

'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs
From ten thousand lightning bugs
As they tried to teach me how to dance

A foxtrot above my head
A sock hop beneath my bed
A disco ball is just hanging by a thread

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
When I fall asleep

Leave my door open just a crack
(Please take me away from here)
'Cause I feel like such an insomniac
(Please take me away from here)
Why do I tire of counting sheep
(Please take me away from here)
When I'm far too tired to fall asleep

To ten million fireflies
I'm weird 'cause I hate goodbyes
I got misty eyes as they said farewell

But I'll know where several are
If my dreams get real bizarre
'Cause I saved a few and I keep them in a jar

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
When I fall asleep

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
When I fall asleep

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
Because my dreams are bursting at the seams

And this is the cute guy who wrote the song :D

I woke up this morning with a gripping fear that I can easily die today if God wanted me to. Well I know that we can die anytime, but when I woke up this morning, the thought just came to me. And it scares me so much I couldn`t go back to sleep. :( I still feel so sleepy, but couldn`t go back to sleep.

I feel so anxious. And scared. That simply ANYTHING can happen to me today. While I`m here, alone. My husband is far away, and my family is even further. :(

I don`t want to die just yet. :( I want to have kids first, and to be able to watch them grow up to be great person. I want to build a decent family life first. With my husband right by my side. And I want to set my life right first. To be a good, kind and generous person. And hopefully to be able to help as many people as
I possibly can.

While sitting by the window, watching the rain and sipping a cup of delicious lemongrass tea; I`m thinking of beauty. A woman`s physical beauty. A beauty that would last only for 40 years, the most. But most physical beauties would only last for 20 to 30 years.

On my last trip home I went to see my Grandmother, and had an annual family gathering. My Aunt told me that she once saw a picture of my Grandmother when she was young, so very pretty, and none of her descendants are nearly as pretty as she used to. My Grandmother just smiled sheepishly at the remarks.

And I was just thinking, having lived with such beauty for, say, 40 years. And getting guys` attention in a full span of, say, 25 years. It`s more than half of your life (I meant the 40 years part). And gradually have to part with all of those privileges.. Seeing the beauty and the attention wears off day by day, each time you
look at the mirror, and each time a single line of wrinkles adorns your pretty face.

It must have been very hard.

It`s a good thing that I`m not THAT pretty :P At least I wouldn`t have such a hard time parting with I don`t have in the first place. :) But anyway, it reminds me, that`s why we need to invest more of our time, money and energy on something that can last much longer. Like intelligence, a good personality, or health. Or
our state of mental peace; or raising kids with intelligence and a good personality. :)

Here I am, sitting at the bus stop and just watch the falling leaves. I didn't know that the movement can be so relaxing to look at. And having the chance to just dissolve myself in that simple movement, without thinking about anything at all, feels like a real luxury.

Or maybe I already too tense, at the edge of breaking out? I don't know.

Say, 50 years ago, people who thinks that watching fallen leaves to be a luxury, may be deemed as lunatics. But then, 50 years ago they know nothing of internet, or mobile phones, or budget airlines, or laptops, or facebook, or wikipedia; and the earth is still a large scary unknown universe.

But now, the world has shrunk, into whatever size depends on how big is your monitor screen. Mostly would be 17 inch then.

And the faraway countries, is no longer a twilight zone, but merely a universal playground where everybody can just hop in anytime they want.

Sometimes it amazes and scares me to see how fast the world has changed, even during my short 28 years of life. Everything is moving so fast, whirling, twisting, twirling, sucking, grinding, dragging everything and everyone into God knows what. But from the pace I see now, it doesn't seems like a good thing.

So it's nice to be able to just stop for a while, just to watch leaves falling, or lay at the beach and stare blankly at the horizon, or just sit by your window and looking the blue skies ..

And nothing would be better than Macy Gray to put everything in one lovely tune called Slowly.

Would it be so bad, if we just stopped for a while ..
And enjoyed the thrills we could all be still let the world just pass us by
But it's all hurry hurry run run there's no time for this
We want more and more got to win got to score so afraid of what we'll miss
And it moves so fast; nothing lasts
This too here will come to pass
Wanna spend my days away from all the fuss
Wanna spend them with you baby but you're in a rush

Slowly
Why can't we just take our time
Slowly
I wish that we could take our time ..

A beautiful short movie that I'd definitely have to share with everyone. :) Remember to love your parents people! :)



via http://goodlorax.blogspot.com/

Most of my friends knows that I'm a sucker for romance stories, and a bigger sucker for happy endings. Therefore, Harlequin is the best source for the combination.

And there's one time, when I really gets so excited by reading these novels, and I honestly CANNOT stop reading! My "best" record is to read 10 novels within 2 weeks. So I feel a bit worried about my well-being, and posted a question on Yahoo! Answers.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Does reading too much romance novels can be bad for your mental health?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

And here's the best answer :

if you keep a good sense of balance between reality and fantasy, you don't have to worry about your mental health. Romance novels can get your expectations very high when it comes to REAL relationships, and at the end all you'll end up with is mere disappointment.

It's like this thing with a friend of mine, she is a HUGE romance novel junkie. Her latest obsession was the twilight series. the novels have gotten her head way up in the sky. She's got freakishly high expectations from guys she dates. her relationships never last for 2 weeks. She's always dumping guys because they don't measure up to her standards and expectations. the last guy she dumped didn't "have enough Edward in him" (edward is this illogically romantic/great looking vampire from Twilight)

The reality is, what happens in the books stays in the books. Keep urself grounded and u'll be just fine.

Ah, good to know that. :)

And here are some other interesting answers :

Missy-E :
after reading twilight i expected the guy who liked me to be as beautiful confronting and mind blowing !!! but i was so sad when i realized he wasn't.

then i was reading lovely bones (where a girl my age dies) and now i am petrified o dieing. i even wrote out a thin to say what song i wanted at my funeral and stuff.

lol. books mess with your mind. they can either make you very happy or very sad
but they are inspiration ...

veronica_marvellous :
I doubt it, but it certainly doesn't seem to do much for your grammar. LOL! :D * blush * what can I say? :D

Chthonian :
I don't think it hasn't any impact, whatsoever, on your mental health. At the MOST, all I've noticed is women who read romance books have higher standards. But I think it's good that women expect a man to sweep them off their feet, it makes them hold out for Mr. Right.

P.S. Trust me Hun, you're not the only one with that guilty pleasure.

Ever wonder how to actually understand the sophisticated coffee titles in your favourite coffee house's menu? Well worry not.
Here we have a very good graphic explanation on what's in each of your cup of coffee you ordered. ;)

Enjoy!



via http://blog.nest-living.com

I found this video a few days after Indonesia's Independence Day celebration. My latest inspirational video.

Too bad for those of you who cannot understand Indonesian, because this speech is truly a great inspiration (which I'm too lazy to translate :D). The strong and determined voice of a great hero, burned the spirit and stirred the blood of all Indonesians, calling them to fight till they die, for it's better to die rather than being a mere puppet for another country.

Ah, so I guess they all died for nothing then ..?
:-S

Today, once again, I was being reminded that human is thoroughly helpless. We can only pray, and hope, and keep a good strong faith on whatever it is that you want.

And let God do the rest.

A few days ago I was so worried, about him, about his father, and how it will affect him, me, us, and it makes me even more sad and worried when I saw him so sad, restless and seems to be holding such a huge burden, but there`s nothing I can do to relieve his agony. I feel so helpless and I keep on wondering when does all this will end and how it will affect our future plans, for it will.

But then, when I already lose faith and prepare for the worst, suddenly everything is getting better.

Rapidly!!

I just can`t believe it, and all I can do is whispering my thanks and gratitude to God.

Really, all you need is a strong faith and a great deal of positivity and everything is going to be alright. :D

But even that simple task is pretty heavy for my insolent soul. Because we humans never know what`s good for us even if it was slapped into our faces. It shames me in seeing how impatient and narrow minded I can be some (most of the) time. :-S

But now that things are looking good, I`ll just keep on praying that it will stay like this for quite a long time.

Thank you God. :)

I don't have time to do this!

Jeez, that's the lamest excuse I have ever heard. And I hate hearing people keep saying that. You always have time for everything if you really wanted to, and if you at least try.

I don't do excuses and nonsense. I just try to do the best that I can. No excuses. No tai-chi's. But apparently everyone here is so good at it. I've never work in a place like this in Indonesia. But in my pre-Singapore experience for 5 years, I've never seen office tai-chi's being practised almost shamelessly. :-S

This morning at the bus on my way to the office I was reading "How Jane Won" by Sylvia Rimm. And I'm so inspired by those fabulous women and how determined are they to reach for whatever they wanted no matter the obstacles. The book is a compilation of 55 short stories on how they can achieve their current position. My favorite quote is from Shelley Berkley,

"Life is based on faith, but if you believe in youself, and you know what is important to you, you're going to be okay".

Awesomeee .. :D
I read only up to the 5th story, but when I get off the bus, already I feel so determined to do the best that I can do, and to work really hard to achieve what I want.

But then, when I get there, and reality hits me like a ton of bricks ... I've to admit that I do feel disappointed.

So, the question is, between tai-chi practitioners and hard workers; who will most likely to succeed?

So here is my list of the things that made me happy. Actually this list should went further down, but I limit it to the things that made me INSTANTLY happy. :D

1. The tinkling sound of children laughter
2. A cub (puppy, kitten, hamster, bunnies; anything!)
3. A dark rainy morning on my day off, so I'd have more reason to go back to sleep
4. Start reading a new book
5. Cold wind blowing on a warm day, and I just gaze at the trees and the skies, dangling my feet :)
6. The sight of trees
7. Smell of rain
8. The smell of my husband; his embraces and his loving words
9. View of the horizon, when the ocean met the sky :)
10. An unexpected sincere helping hands when I really need it
11. The smell of the ocean

A very beautiful song. :)

and sing along with the lyrics here

Don't' you just LOVE this picture? I know I do.

It evokes so many of my childhood and current dreams. I'd definitely buy this if I am as rich as Warren Buffet. :D
Anyway, this is a winning entry for Seastead’s first design contest.

Click here for the complete article.

Having lived away from my family for 14 years, still it doesn't turn me into a goodbye expert.

I still hate goodbyes, I still have and hate the empty feeling deep inside at the corner of my heart, and I still feel all teary-eyed.

And now, having to go through with it every month, is even more painful than usual. I thought I'll get used to it. But I was wrong. *sigh* It makes me want to stay with him even more. And misses him even more. And I seriously wondering how can my sister & my best friend manage to go through this for years .. :-S


*Or maybe this is it just my hormones talking .. *

Last night Poker Faced singer Lady GaGa picked Mika up

I never thought I would bitch over some celebrity, but apparently I'm doing it right now.

Today I read some annoying news at the blogosphere. Lady Gaga was spotted hanging out with Mika !! Gosh.. Can't he find somebody much cooler than Lady Gaga?

I really can't put my finger on it, but it's just feels wrong. Maybe not personally, bcs obviously I didn't know both of them. But musically.

I think Gaga should just hanging out with Paris Hilton and the likes of her. Or with some other blonde glamorous singer. Or with some rock band guy for all I care.

But not Mika.

Mika hanging out with Gaga, it feels like the Little Prince is hanging out with Bart Simpson. It sticks out like a sore thumb.

It's just not right.

You see, the Little Prince should hang out with ... Mm.. Charlie? (from Roald Dahl's Charlie & the Willy Wonka Choc Factory), or Huckleberry Finn? And Bart should just hang out with Ren n Stimpy.

Just my 2cents. :P *love you Mika!!!* *blows kisses*

:D

But I do wonder about that little plastic green pouch he's carrying.. What's in there?

I know this is just the beginning for me & him. The beginning of our life together. Whatever the future has in store for us, we will hold hands, be strong for each other, grow, and we will fight together.





As one.





Facing whatever life's challenges ahead of us.

I have a dream. For me. For him. For us.

My dream is so big sometimes it scares me. What if I can't fulfill that dream> What if I failed? What if I ended up having to run ther course of this rat race, until the day I die?

I have a dream. And I will try my hardest to make it come true. And if I failed, I won't regret it, because I already tried my best.

See the background? A lovely hill. Perfect!





Again, pay attention to the background.. :)





Imagine having this blissful view outside your window everyday in your life?



I love the cabbage planter. I might want to make a bigger planter box though ..



Water catchment area and a fireplace. Perfect!



Amazing view! And you could just roll your way to the lake!! *sigh* I'm in love.. :P



A long and winding road to the house, a chimney, and a perfect hillside location .. :) I couldn't ask for more. :)

Or course you can take a peek at the original posting here (http://www.studiohousedesign.com/landscape-room-lid-architecture/), after reading my obsession about the house.. :D

Since I woke up this morning, the news of Michael Jackson's death has been blaring from every media I tune in to. And it's the major topic of every conversation I made with people today. And then I heard about Farah Fawcett's death too.

I don't really feel sad at first, because I don't really liked both. But after being bombarded by the news all day, and people saying how sad they are, and how they have lost their life-long idol and a music genius and stuff like that, I kind of getting carried away and feel a bit sad also.

Or maybe it's because of my PMS. :P

Climate change hurts China's poor from Greenpeace China on Vimeo.

Please take your time and see this video. Just a little reminder of that every irresponsible action you take, it will affect others in every corner of the world, maybe even these people in the video.

See the complete article here http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/06/climate-change-development-hurting-china-poor-video.php

This is a very valuable and easy to follow 7 precepts to live a green life by http://www.dothegreenthing.com/

1. Walk The Walk; You get from A to B without any C. Walk as often as you can. Or if it's really unbearably far, take public transport.

2. Easy On The Meat; It’s delicious but it causes more CO2 than cars.

3. Stick With What You Got; Resist the urge to buy the latest trends/ products and only buy what you REALLY need.

4. Turn down the central heating and turn up the Human Heat; or if you live in the tropics like me, try to manage to live with a fan and reduce your AC usage as minimal as you can bear.

5. All-Consuming; The art of wasting nothing and using up everything

6. Stay Grounded; Instead of jetting your way around the world

7. Plug Out; Don’t leave it on or even put it on