Rain, rain! Run, run, run!
Umbrella left behind! Ruined
All the bag and clothes and shoes....
Been soaked alone ‘coz rain stopped
Right when reaching gate. They laughed.
Don’t forget to bring umbrella when going out in rainy season. Don’t heroically run to reach home in a hurry under the rain. Chin up even when you are soaked in rain water on the way home, while the rain stops right when you reach the gate….
Today’s life is a cartoon. If not liking it, draw it as 3D cartoon tomorrow to make it more fun!
Respect should be earned
Not through masks on the back but....
Genuine face on.
If you think I’ve ignored you, Beloved; perhaps you might want to turn around. You’ve had your back to me all this time…. Face the mirror and see who you really are. 💞
Gotcha!!! 😁😘
rose is beautiful even from the back…. but beautiful mask turns ugly coz fake fades away….
Name is a short spell.
Not yours, Beloved. It’s mine
Hanging in Heaven,
Echoing after yours called.
You can have it all.
How many names have you spelled in prayers? Are they the bold or the beautiful ones?
I call your name, Beloved ‘coz I know it infuses power into prayers like smoke of burnt incense billowing into the sky escorting dreams to meet the doors….
Loyalty: old-aged,
Mined, Rubbed, faceted carbon—
4C through life time.
Many women love diamond with different reasons. Some do because of its beauty. Some do because of its prestige. Some do because of following the trend. Some do just because of spending money on anything seen and wanted. Some do because of what it symbolises…. In fact its value has a wide spectrum like why we love someone.
Diamond is just a type of carbon. Carbon is what’s burnt to cook steak. Carbon is what’s chosen for media to grow orchids. Carbon is activated to be a medication for food poisoning. Or simply think of other things containing carbon!
Diamond though is a certain level of carbon which has been buried between layers of earth for millions of years, tested by the pressure, temperature. It’s hardened, purified, strengthened, crystalised.
4C is a familiar acronym for diamond lovers. These 4 C’s show diamond’s quality.
Cut: Quality of the angles, proportions, facets, and finishing details ~ level of craftsmanship and precision play important role
Color: How colorless the diamond is ~ less colour is the best but colour is at times defined by preference
Clarity: How clean the diamond is of inclusions and blemishes ~ the more flawless, the more valuable; but who is flawless, Beloved? The Death is flawless….
Carat: The weight of the diamond ~ small carat of diamond can look big; also determined by how the craftsman cuts it
Imagine a human being is a carbon processing one’s self to be a diamond. Stay regardless the pressure and temperature exposed to you, Self. Once you find you, you’re diamond in the making.
Lammie, Khanyisa,
It is the least I can do.
Friends are forever
When no discrimination.
Can I do? Need a try, sure!
Animals have taught me a lot about many things. One of those is unconditional friendship. Lammie and Khanyisa are a sheep and an albino elephant calf who have been friends without asking why their tails are differently shaped and attached, why their hairs are of different colours, why their teeth are of different length…. Language, religion, nationalities, and so on are never problems. They just grass, rest, play together. What a beautiful world!
If you wanna support Lammie and Khanyisa’s unconditional friendship, you can buy a mug with picture of them printed on it. Mine arrived today through DHL, welcoming me at the front door. Happy yay!
Thanks, Lammie and Khanyisa and HERD! You’ve been much smarter than many of my human kind. I’m sending love to you and your family….. 😘😘😘
Boneless tongue can lie
And taste, too. Leading the mood
To where you have been.
I miss Ubud…. Spending time alone or with some friends in a place where mind can freely digest what’s been hoarded through daily interactions at times bringing negativity and pessimism against life, is one of life’s great blessings.
Missing a place and can’t visit it? Cook the specialty!
Missing someone and can’t even contact him? Me? Hmm…. Just whisper his name….! 🥰
sate lilit ayam, urap kacang + sambel matahguess what – ground spices and herbs for the chickenall are finely sliced for sambel matahminced chicken + grated coconut + ground spices and herbs skewered around lemongrass
Foraging culture
Taking from nature for free.
She should gratify.
When biking, I see many kinds of flowers at the side of the roads and most of them just dry and fall off. Falling in love with them, I stopped and plucked some. Did I regret….? A bit of regret, yes but then I whispered to the reservoirs that I thank them for all the freshness and beauty they lend me every time I pass by…..
Showers of colours
Splash cheery hello to time.
I wish you warm heart.
Colours can bring certain vibes to a home. And so different colours of flowers create different atmosphere. Although not taking all for granted, I mostly check the meaning of flowers and wish that the supportive qualities symbolised by the flowers will be the energy filling the air.
Seeing morning’s sun,
Warmed by noon’s, serene through moon.
Only where I am.
Ever thought that where you are is not the best place on earth? Change your mind soon!
I’ve always loved Asia especially South East Asia. People might think it’s because I’m now living in that place and never go anywhere else. Yes, that’s a primary reason but there are other reasons.
Long story short, I tried short stays in different places with different climates and culture and I conclude that where I am now is the best place: enough sun everyday, relatively same length between night and day the whole year. What’s more we can find friendly neighbours —in big cities people are less warm but relatively quite friendly, access to more vegetables and fruit, food is tastier with touch of herbs, more affordable living cost, and so on and so forth.
Last but not least in where I live spirituality is a daily life blended with nature— no I’m not talking about religion, institutional religion isn’t an interest of mine anymore. People don’t have to wait until certain days to pray, God or god is just a daily reality, sacred in the heart normal topic in public. People don’t have to organise registered charities to help others; not all people are trustworthy but I love in a circle where integrity is topmost criteria to survive. People don’t have to be certified to teach spirituality class; when I was young I simply knocked on neighbours’ doors and asked them about cultural and spiritual wisdom and we didn’t have to pay a cent.
Not ideal to all, but that’s a perfect life to this person
I’ve always dreamed to have a home base in culturally-integrated-not-so-crowded city like Bali, Yogyakarta or Ayutthaya when not traveling. It’s gonna be a sweet, warm landed property that once in a while welcomes family and friends to share ideas about this fun life and their great mind. Oh, don’t forget with lots of plants and at least two cats around! Dog? Maybe, the lazy one so that we don’t have to walk it everyday 😘
Dream on, dear Self. Hug the imagination while weekend is around. 😁
Breakfast is ready:
One recipe, two kitchens;
One smile, one grimace—
If we start with wrong breakfast, we’ll treat the whole day wrongly? Luckily I’m not a breakfast person. But when my lunch goes wrong, the next half day will be a disaster! 😛
Lines of working ants
Build meaning through voice and tones.
Hiragana drill—
once per day!
When learning foreign languages with totally different alphabets, no choice but investing time to drill yourself! Up to now I’m still spending some time everyday to write Hiragana and Katakana characters to improve handwriting. My Sensei has shown or told me about the handwritings of one young learner which according to her is consistent and cute. Alamak….! The elementary schooler has pulled my confidence down 😂 To me, mine is more beautiful but yes my handwriting is bigger and not so cute especially at Friday class after my work. Feeling excited to learn at the same time wanting to put this head on the thick dictionary 🤯
While Hiragana look damn cute and elegant like marching ants, it’s a constant test as the ratio among the curves, line and dots are not precise after months of exercise. Katakana characters looking more rigid and alike with just straight lines and stripes have misled me – I thought it’s easier but NO! Baby step, baby step! Drill writing, drill reading, drill speaking, drill listening.
頑張って to myself! 😁
For those liking to learn art of Japanese handwriting there is a very good content creator in YouTube that I also like to refer to for “golden ratio” of Japanese characters.
Gear change in the rain
Between slippery road and
Raincoat left behind—
With years of biking experience I’m supposed to have no problem speeding with bike in Singapore, that’s what my siblings think. But that’s totally misleading. I feel high alert when biking in the rain here. In slope pavement or road I will constantly put hands quite pressure on both brakes, put the easiest gear combination making me look like a beginner biker — slow, doubtful, awkward. While in home country I would go to alternative routes which are many to get to the destination with the same speed enough to bulldoze a wall.
In the rain with blurred goggles because of water and wet body because of no raincoat, it makes it even more awkward coz this mind is swinging between “wanna be careful and go slow” and “race to get home quickly”. What’s more, the big vehicles in the road would either splash water with no mercy when traffic is good or floor the gas pedal not to rev but to let the steam off from the driver’s head in heavy traffic.
Yet there is always good side: I can sing as loudly as I want or curse the drivers with no mercy too ‘coz no one will hear me….
Eh? Human beings are confusing – wanna go safely but taking high risks, wanna curse at people but don’t wanna get heard, wanna be dry but forget raincoat at home…. 🤪
Life is such a paradox, like biking in a heavy rain with no rain coat.
No, Beloved.
You are not red
You are not yellow
You are not blue
Only.
You are all gradationally spread from one point to another,
Occupying Space,
Led by Time.
Time makes all matter.
It becomes every milestone of journey.
It gives chances to clarify the direction of journey.
It sets free what should be said and what should be held back. Enjoy.
Space is a secondary supporting detail.
It doesn’t talk about the essence of journey.
It shows what’s been hoarded by a traveler.
It neglects what’s importance.
It helps slow down when break is needed
But at times it obscures the signs and messages. Beware!
Stay where you are, Beloved with no nerves
Knowing that space won’t corrupt you.
It is a lining of colours in different levels of degree that beautifies your existence.
Don’t quit, Beloved whichever the speed is
Knowing that time sharpens your perceptive.
It is what will be weighed and presented as a gift.
You see that, Beloved?
Or not?
Oh, I know you’re tipsy!
😁
—
A free verse about time and space between the Lover and the Beloved.
Bored to death! Thanks God it’s Monday tomorrow!
Singapore - Jan. 17, 2021 / 22:00
gradation can make things either bright, dull, intriguing, boring — focused or bokeh, both are beautiful
Raining cats and dogs
Leaves laundry damped and undone
But plants glorious.
When a mountain of clothes after two weeks of undone laundry is waiting to iron and the cleaning lady isn’t available to help this weekend, it feels like…. 🤮
Better playing with some of the happy plants in between the work, moving them to a place where they can enjoy the sun while they can
Shower room windows give them chance to sunbathe after days of rain in another corner.
Hidden trough of Soul,
A home where letter and voice
Are silent. Where’s that?
Walk your orbit, Beloved.
They know the way to that realm.
You are not lost, Self. You are tracing back a journey home of trillions years of light and so you might have forgotten what, who and when but you won’t forget how to walk on it. What you need to do is just don’t quit. Don’t ask why, the answer is too clear. How ugly it is now, know that wings are grown.
There’s not much to tell,
Beloved. Let’s play it jazz
‘Coz we know the tunes.
You’d sing the rhymes, Beloved?
Or would you please read the rhythms?
No day will be 100% as expected. No one will be 100% as expected, either. And with those expected, we know that only with jazzy mood days and people can be handled without too much stress.
Nothing beats inner peace. And whether you know it or not, I wish you, Beloved a great time, too.
She sings a love song
With Wind through the door whistling
Melodiously....
Eight of ten days in January are rainy. Two days only are with sun shines warmly greeting the window.
On those eight days there has been wind pushing cold air and at times water into the living room or kitchen through the windows opening ajar. While it is cooling, it though wets the floor and curtain. While it is a bit scary at night, it though turns to whistles adding sound effect to the radio that’s on 24 hours this weekend.
Hope the water won’t be too much as I heard there has been flood in some places because of heavy rain. Hope everything will be fine for all creatures in this rainy season: all animals and homeless get sufficient food and shelter everyday.
Some people laugh at their life stories: childhood, poverty, unrequited love, school….
Comedians professionally make it full of laughter and lessons learnt.
God bless you all comedians who have entertained others with smart or stupid self mockery! What a hard work and dedication for others this job is! わざわざ！
Scents of the unknown
Lingers in the air. Muguet:
Earthy, green, floral—
You’ve turned spark to fire burning
Dreams to fuel a sweet journey.
All people love fragrance; not necessarily perfume but yes I’m talking about it. Let’s agree that fragrance is one of the best gifts in life – I mean…. I am not naturally smelling like flowers, but I love nice air coming into my nostrils and celebrating the beauty of nature through one of the human’s senses. Don’t you?
At times when we are wearing perfumes, we’ll subconsciously reminisce moments featuring individuals that we might or might not clearly remember.
Lemongrass mostly reminds me to Ayutthaya. Jasmine connects to a place in Erawan, Bangkok. Frangipani brings Ubud back to memory. Rose to one factory in Vietnam. Lemon brings me to my humble abode in Greater Jakarta. Sandalwood to my mother who loves sandalwood. Lavender to my father whose pomade was lavender-based. And so on, and so forth.
Recently there came unknown scents that reminded me to some people. I was browsing perfumes, and trying certain fragrances, particular moments and faces struck me stealthily. Goodness! Now I captured them through various fragrances! Moments, faces and nuances intertwined in the liquid. The memories might have been traced and downloaded by our brain! Unknown scents have empirically proved to represent impression caught about someone.
I’m now liking lily of the valley or muguet scent because it reminds this person to a most beloved. I don’t think that person splashed muguet when meeting with me but he suits that attar. What an overestimation it is! It’s ok, he doesn’t know 😂
Recommended: Go for a new experience in perfumery and investigate what scents connect you to what moments or which individuals. You might find a way to get rid of bitter past and/or revive good spirits to be happy.
Guess I know why I can’t relate well to some people that’s why they are connected to certain aroma that I’m not fond of. Probably…. Or just my superstition….
One person’s favourite scents might not be others’ ones.
rike jokanan 
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