Batik Fiesta

I don't know who starts the Batik Fiesta first, but I have to admit that it really works. Perhaps since Malaysia proclaims that Batik belongs to them, we as the legal owner of Batik get furious and show it by wearing it. Great ideas, indeed.

I remember, in the old days, we only wore Batik for attending wedding party (usually for men) or special for civil servants, they're obliged to wear it on Friday. But, recently, Batik is everywhere. Everybody comfortably wears it. Go and check it, from ITC Kuningan (Mal Ambasador) until Metro Plaza Senayan, they all sell Batik in various models. Just choose, you want a babydoll model or an elegant one, all provided. Beautiful patterns, colors and models. Even myself, who never felt interested to buy Batik dress, got over excited and bought some Batik blouses and wear them as office outfits.

Actually, it's all started when I visited the latest Inacraft, where I saw so many Batik seller and also there were crowds everywhere, people (mostly women) got overwhelmed with a lot of Batik collection to purchase.

Well, I am so happy to see this Batik trends. Wish it's not going to be a temporary trends. Let's support Batik to be an everlasting trends in Indonesia, our beloved country.

Mrs Doubtfire

Couple days a go, Zea's (my 2nd daughter) babysitter informed me that she had to go to her hometown for 3 days since she had an urgent personal matters. As usual, when I heard this kind of proposal I always feel a bit distressed. Imagining at home with my two very active little girls (3 yrs & 16 months), compared with tons of works at the office. Moreover, I took many leaves during my mom hospitalized which cause many pending jobs at the office.

Last night, I talked to my hubby:
me: "Ayah, mbak Yoyoh (our nanny) will take a-three-day leaves. I'm afraid I won't be able to take more leaves at the office."
ayah: (answer in a calm tone) "Okay, you may go to the office. I'll take care of the little girls."
me: (speechless) "Really? Thanks a lot. You really are a great hubby (and daddy)."

Lord, I'm grateful for having a husband with a big heart. It's so.....BIG that makes me feel so..... comfortable to share life together till the rest of our life. Amiiiin.

dedicated to Ayah, Thanks for being Mrs. Doubtfire today. It really means a lot to me.

The Widower - Ray Kluun

Honestly, the reason why I bought this book was its cover. Yes, look at it, it really attracts people's attention, it's so beautiful, so feminine, so red, all in all is so eye-catching.

The story is about Dan Van Diepen and his three-year-old daughter, Luna. Dan lost his wife, Carmen to cancer. After the death of Carmen, Dan stop working and drown himself in the party scenes of Amsterdam. He doesn't spend a single night alone and allows no time for grieving. His friends worry for him and Luna.

But after the 9/11 tragedy , all of sudden, he think s of Luna. He remembers his promise to Carmen that however difficult it might sometimes be, he'll take good care of their daughter.

Then, Dan visited Nora, his spiritual therapist, who said that Dan has to re-arrange his life, stay away from drink, women, drugs and last but not least Amsterdam. He must stop the grief avoidance. Nora continues that Dan must go traveling, take along Luna, she'll teach him how wonderful it is to love someone again.

Dan follows the advices, they starts their journey in Thailand, then continues to Australia, where they stay in a camper van. They get exciting experiences together.

Some parts of the story make me laughing, while others truly touch me indeed.

Check some excerpts here, smart conversation between Dan and Luna (page 196):
'You're nice, Papa,' Luna said.
'That's why I'm Papa,' Dan replied.

'I have to be extra nice to you because Mama's dead,' she said. 'Because you cry even more often than I do,' she added.

I (Dan) resolve to keep my tears hidden from her more often from now on. I don't think it's good that she feels responsible for her father's well-being.
See, it's so touching!

Another conversation really makes me weeping (page 223):
'Luna, we're going to eat now,'
Luna, we're going. Come on.'

She starts stamping harder. And crying. I start feeling like a fool.
'Luna, I'm going to count to three.'
She starts crying even harder.


The crying turns into screaming.
She shakes her head like one possessed.
Three...' I furiously pull her with me. She screams hysterically as I drag her behind me along the grass like a doll.
I take her face between my fingers, 'Are you going to bloody well behave yourself now?!' I scream into her face.
She screams back.
I turn her over roughly and slap her on the bum.
'I-I-I-wa-aa-ant to-hoo go-ho- to Mama.'
'You can't go to Mama. Mama is completely fucking dead!'
I slump on the ground next to Luna ands start crying along with her. sad!!!!!

The author, Ray Kluun was a marketing man in a previous life. In 2001, he lost his thirty-six-year-old wife to cancer. Kluun took his daughter, Eva (then three years old) to Australia and wrote his first novel, Love Life, which became a bestseller in Europe. I'm just curious since this novel and Kluun's real life story almost similar, would it be possible that some parts of this novel are based on true story???


Another new book from the master story teller and my favorite author, Paulo Coelho. This is a story of Brida, a beautiful young Irish girl and her quest for knowledge. On her journey, she meets a wise man, Magus, who teaches her about overcoming her fears, and a woman, Wicca, who teaches her how to dance to the hidden music of the world. They see in her a gift, but must let her make her own voyage of discovery.

As usual Coelho's story always tells about somebody's journey related to his spiritual search. Just like Brida who seeks her destiny, she struggles to find a balance between her relationship and her desire to transform herself.

I love Wicca's answer (Brida's teacher) when Brida asked about her soulmate:
"But, how will I know who my soulmate is?"
"By taking risks. By risking failure, disappointment, disillusion, but never ceasing in your search for love. As long as you keep looking, you will triumph in the end."

Other touching statement comes from Brida's boy friend, Lorens, when he's confused to see Brida 's acting so weird the whole night.
"Tell me everything, I'll listen and respect whatever decision you make, even if you've met someone else, even if this is goodbye. We've been together for a while now. I may not know you that well, I mean I don't know exactly who you are, but I know who you're not. And you haven't been yourself all night." sweet (I'm melting...*exaggerating*).

Compared with Coelho's latest book that I've read, "Eleven Minutes", I think Brida is a bit 'hard' to enjoy. The story tell a lot about the rituals as those have been practiced over the century, such as the Tradition of the Sun and the Tradition of the Moon. Sometimes I fell kind of bored to read them since I'm not familiar with those rituals. Still...I find many touching quotes in this book and they definitely inspiring.

The 8th Day at the Hospital

After almost a month my mom kept complaining about her stomachache and went back and forth to her internist, swallowed many kinds of medicines and ended up for no changes. Finally, we forced her to go to RSPI and did the endoscopy in order to find out what exactly the causes of her stomachache and we were really in big shock after finding out that there was a tumor in my mom's colon and it had to be operated very soon.

Dear God, we never thought that this scary things could happen. After got this shocking news, we still had to inform mom about her sickness. We agreed not to tell mom to whole truth, we were afraid she would get stressed and it would effect to her health. We just informed her that she had a small tumor and to avoid its spreading to the other organs of her body, mom had to go through the operation. At first, she felt a bit awkward, but after persuading her, finally (thank God) she agreed to have the surgery.

Finally, last Friday, at 08.30 a.m, mom had her surgery to take its tumor out of her colon. The surgery took almost 2 hours and it run good enough. My mom stayed in ICU for a day, thank God, the next day, her condition got better and she could return to her room.

Today is the 8th day of my mom being hospitalized, she is getting better, still a bit weak but as a whole her progress is very good for a-64-year-old-mother. We are really grateful for all, wishing good health for my mom, hope she could go home and get together with all the family members very soon, amiiiiiiin....... We miss you, mom!!!!!