Author: rike jokanan

Me, now here

Think, Thank

Learning, love

“think” compared to “thank”
Exactly the same consonants and one shift of vowel, an inner activity (think) is changed into reciprocal activity.

Thinking is the process of communication inside of the human’s Self. Human beings think, animals don’t. And, what after thinking? Human should thank for…
– being able to think
– being able to understand
– being able to discover
– being able to do many things…

To thank is communication with the Universe, to tell that we’re able to think, to understand, discover, do many things because of being able to think. And after thank?

You’ll be granted whatever you’d like to receive.

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Home – Friday 3, 2015 – 1:57pm

Pizza Mania

Learning, love

Yesterday I joined a team building and one of the activities was pizza-making. One 7-inch pizza by one person. So, we were dressed up like a chef and shown how to make pizza – then we did make the pizza…. Oh my, some quizzes before making the pizza:

  1. Where did pizza originate?
  2. Why were tomatoes just added long after pizza was eaten without topping?
  3. Who ate the first pizza with topping?
  4. What colours are there in Italy’s flag?

Just to share with you how we were dressed and the pizza before and after…..

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Temasek – March 28, 2015 – 3:15

Lily

Learning, love, Map It!

While waiting for flight, I went for a stroll in the garden of Changi airport as always, never think of boredom enjoying the sounds of forest and splash of water in the middle of greenery and flowers. Sometimes I envy how the “small red dot” can radiate such beauty’ while my beloved huge archipelago Indonesia is still craving for what’s called fairness (you can call it justice) for all….

Long story short, the giant bouquet was full of lilies and sunflowers and I was tempted to take some close-up pictures of them. The lilies are stunning, the sunflowers are just magnificent. But lilies drew my attention more strongly.

The pink and some stripes and dots show me details of pretty colors. And, I remembered lily symbolizes lots of quality of soul. Hope, transitioning, purity, renewal, passion, soul itself, motherhood, wedding, innocence and others…. Such a thorough symbol she is indeed.

All pictures are such clear message to me that those qualities above are existing that they are “patented” in the presence of lily by the ancient generations.

Let’s enjoy the beauty of lilies…

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When colors do not attract eyes anymore,
Maybe it’s time for soul to go home.

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But soul need no home to go,
She is the home for the life.

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The door stands still, and we’re never outside.

Penang – March 17, 2015 – 7:57am – ready to cross Penang bridge

Baby Lennon – Happy Baby

Learning, love, Those People

Lennon, the baby I met in Singapore Botanical Garden seemed to be a happy boy. He didn’t look afraid when I approached him. He just curiously stared at me without any voice produced. His eyes were moving along with my waving hands and facial gestures.

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All he did without smiling.

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But when I touched his hands, he started feeling my warmth and trusting me. Then he smiled constantly until I said goodbye….

What a bright day!

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Temasek – March 15, 2015 – 12:43am

Wall

Bob, Learning, love

In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Wall.”

Walls are massive construction that will keep you separated from the other side of them. Once you can penetrate the walls, you can discover what’s the secret….. But, why so curious? You are in the inside: whichever side you are in, that’s where the other siders want to know. Be there, the walls don’t mean anything.  🙂

Of my collections, I have some wall pictures: inn ancient buildings that have shown sustainability. Artistic, precise and long-lasting….. in new buildings that shown simplicity. Simple, short-timed but still beautiful…..

IMG_0102 A cement wall with oblong portholes, decorated with cat’s butt

IMG_0758A wooden wall with glasses, as background of grooming cat – small praying house

_DSC0879 A stone wall with relief, Borobudur

_DSC0977 Granite walls of Nagoya castle – Japanese precision

_DSC1005 A stone wall – precision composed in roughness front gate of nagoya Castle

Temasek – March 14, 2015 – 6:21am

Samurai’s Warrior’s Creed

Learning, love

I have no parents:
I make the heaven and earth my parents.

I have no home:
I make awareness my home.

I have no life and death:
I make the tides of breathing my life and death.

I have no divine powers:
I make honesty my divine power.

I have no means:
I make understanding my means.

I have no secrets:
I make character my secret.

I have no body:
I make endurance my body.

I have no eyes:
I make the flash of lightening my eyes.

I have no ears:
I make sensibility my ears.

I have no limbs:
I make promptness my limbs.

I have no strategy:
I make “unshadowed by thought” my strategy.

I have no design:
I make “seizing opportunity by the forelock” my design.

I have no miracles:
I make right action my miracle.

I have no principles:
I make adaptability to all circumstances my principle.

I have no tactics:
I make emptiness and fullness my tactics.

I have no talent:
I make ready wit my talent.

I have no friends:
I make my mind my friend.

I have no enemy:
I make carelessness my enemy.

I have no armour:
I make benevolence and righteousness my armor.

I have no castle:
I make immovable mind my castle.

I have no sword:
I make absence of self my sword.

a warrior’s creed – anonymous samurai song – 14th century

Quoted from http://www.esotericonline.net/profiles/blogs/a-warrior-s-creed

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Temasek – March 12, 2015 – 7:23am

Mother – haiku

Learning, love, Poetic, Those People

Morning wind’s
Breezing through open window
Opened by mom.

Thanks to all of mothers in the world for being valuable for their children….

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Temasek – March 9, 2015 – 6:25am

Letter Is Power

Learning, Those People

Omit first S,
From the real intention then
You can only have elect.

Some people are very proud of being able to elect the winning team – they never know that their right is not to elect but to select.

Congratulations, winning team…. Have you really won the game?

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Temasek – March 8, 2015 – 09:52am

Orange

Learning, love

In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Orange you glad it’s photo challenge time?.”

I don’t particularly love color orange but it’s proven to be pretty indeed.

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Temasek – March 7, 2015 – 12:08pm

Some Think, Some Keep

Learning, Those People

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Some nations think they’re superior,
Some people think they’re superior —
Just because they think they are.

A few nations keep humble yet firm,
A few people keep humble yet firm —
Because they know being boastful doesn’t make superiority.

  • My conclusion after watching YouTube video of interviews with some world leaders

Temasek – March 6, 2015 – 12:00am

Picture borrowed from http://www.un.org/en/events/pastevents/worldsummit_2005.shtml

Manusia – poem (bilingual)

Bob, Learning, love, Poetic

Pilihlah jalan
Yang termudah
Untuk jadi manusia:
Rasakan….
Indahnya tarikan nafas dan hirupan udara.

Rasakan….
Kicauan burung lewat kupingmu.
Rasakan….
Pijakan pada bumi di setiap langkah
Perlahan.

Jika mata masih berguna,
Rasakan warna dengan matamu —
Yang muda cerlang
Atau yang tua merabun.
Rasakan saja.

Dan, kala rasa nyeri masih melingkar di hati
Demi melihat makhluk-makhluk terlunta-lunta
Tersiksa oleh yang berkuasa;
Rasakan dan lepaskan derita itu,
Bungkus dengan cinta dan pengampunan.
Dan, engkau manusia….

Mudah jadi manusia,
Kan?
Mencintai.
Welas asih.

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Human

Choose a path:
The easiest way
To become a human.
Feel it….
The beauty of breath with every inhaled air.

Feel it….
The chirps of birds through your ears.
Feel it….
The steps you hit on earth
Slowly.

If the eyes are still open,
Feel the colours with your eyes
Either young bright eyes
Or far/near-sighted ones;
Just feel.

And, if the pain is still there in the heart
To see the underprivileged creatures
Tortured by the privileged rankers;
Feel the pain and release it,
Wrapped in love and forgiveness.
And, you are human….

Easy ways
To be human, huh?
Love.
Compassion.

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My human kind friends…. (Karel, Riduan, Sapto, Eko, Dinah) – Bravo, buddies!

Temasek – March 5, 2015 – 10:58pm

Borrowed ID? (with a haiku)

Learning, love, Poetic, This Person

A sheet of paper:
Name, sex, birthdate, religion is —
Borrowed ID.

Above haiku is a reminder for this self.

Have you ever thought of why you are called with your name? That nhe name was given by parents. Ok, borrowed name from parents? Or, the nickname that your friends & you agreed to use….

Have you ever thought of why you become a female rather than male? From the Creator, you could not even choose – or you bargained before your birth to be one? How…ever, yours is a borrowed sex.

Birthdate wasn’t chosen by you. You might have negotiated – but not 100% your take. It is lent by this life to you. Birthdate is the opening of current life; there should be the closing, fellas….

Religion? Attached since your family want you to be? Or, your spouse wants you to be? Or, the society want you to be? Or, any other external party wants you to be? Another borrowed…..

Borrowed…. You’ll have to return them someday. Please take good care of them before the D-day.

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Temasek – March 1, 2015 – 11:15pm

Silence

Bob, Learning, love

There is a time,
When you know something
And you have no choice but blank in silence….

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I hugged Scooby, Skipper saw from behind…. Lovely besties 🙂
Thanks to Miles for taking the pic.

Makati SRL – February 27, 2015 – 11:35pm

One Afternoon Of A Tortoise

Bob, Learning, love, Map It!

In the pond of one botanical garden, Ms. Tortoise was enjoying a warm day – oops warm enough to call it hot and she so much wanted to emerge to the surface. Swam, swam and swam…. Diving to see if she could see other fellow swimmers  coming around. Oh, no one!

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Ok, far ahead huge saucers are clustering. Maybe I can just perch for a while on one of them, thought Ms. Tortoise.

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Swam, swam and swam…. Circling around some saucers which are actually leaves of water lily celebrating the sun ray.

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Hop! Hop! Not easy for a tortoise to hop to something. Not easy, but doable. Yups!

Hmmm…. Ms. Tortoise saw on the leave wasn’t better than beneath the water. Ms. Tortoise decided to swim, swim, and swim away…. Enjoy the day!  🙂

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Singapore – February 24, 2015 – 6:54pm

Truth – Real?

Learning, love, Those People

Through photography I learn a lot of things: how to focus – giving priority to either colour or shape, detail or wholeness, to be confident when taking pictures for often time the object is so weird people think photographer is crazy taking not so important things as interesting objects, how to take care of the camera and lenses and to review which photos should be saved or discarded….

In fact just this month I learned about one thing amazing through photography. Not found the lesson by myself but by listening to a young artist from Yogyakarta (Noe Sabrang of Letto). He talked about truth using photograph analogy. Won’t be accurately articulated but won’t deviate from his words:

“When someone takes picture of a flower and the pic is blurred, is it a flower when s/he claims it’s a flower? Yes, it is but it is vague and some people will probably deny its being a flower.

When someone takes picture of a flower and the pic is just ok, is it a flower pic? Yes, it is and people might recognise it is a flower.

When someone takes picture of a flower and the pic is naturally looking like the real flower, is it a flower pic? Yes, it is and people recognise it and even get amazed with the beauty of the flower that might have not been realized before.”

I think it is smart of his stating the truth through what has not been used as analogy of truth before.

Then I took the analogy home…. I thought and reckoned and recounted and pondered then come to an awareness…

Even if the flower pic is so naturally taken and amazed the eyes of the spectators…. It is still not the real flower.

It is reflection of the real flower. Reflection of truth…. Why do people like claiming they’re true? 🙂

Another lesson for me: truth discloses itself by time, piece by piece until it is crystal clear in the real shape and undeniable, human beings should just be patient.

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Temasek – February 23, 2015 – 7:28pm

Bee – haiku

Bob, Learning, love, Poetic

1
A small dot
Is buzzing among petals —
Oh one bee!

2
Gold nectar’s
Running through the tongue of —
Working bee.

3
One finger
Is swollen: bruised and fat  —
A bee stung.

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Temasek – February 21, 2015 – 9:33pm

Loss

Bob, Learning, love

Certain loss should make you happy

Seriously.

Do you know that….

…. sometimes I think of a great loss of my hair that is not balanced with my weight loss. And, I think I am happier if the loss is the other way around.   🙂

balance

Singapore – February 19, 2015 – 7:00pm

Picture borrowed from http://themoderndayspartan.com/the-secret-to-balance/

Silent Chinese New Year – 2015

Bob, Learning, love, This Person

I’ve got a long weekend for Chinese New Year will fall on Friday and Saturday. And, ’ve got an even longer weekend since my company grant us two more days off on Monday and Tuesday so that Chinese colleagues can enjoy more time with their family. Six days! Thanks, Tim!   🙂

Just going back to Jakarta last week to enjoy the Kenduri Cinta in Taman Ismail Marizuki so I decided not to go home to Indonesia this time with some reasons: expensive ticket, short period of holiday (inconsistent with my earlier statement that this weekend is long even very long weekend), time to contemplate….

Expensive ticket is a kind of trend. In holiday season many Singaporeans fly out. The bigger the demand, the higher the price. So be it. It might not be a problem because we can buy economy seat or use frequent flyer points to get a ticket but it won’t worth the time enjoyed…. It is a long weekend indeed but my home is not around Jakarta anymore and so it takes longer travel time. Now I like going back to my mom’s home where family reside including those cats that – I believe – miss me so much 🙂

So, long weekend short…. And I want it to be a silent year start – Chinese year….

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Need a stationary time. Noble silence. No work, no chat, no talk, just me. Won’t call it “me time” because it is not for me, it is for…. I don’t know whom it is for – I just wanna do it. 🙂

Noble silence and creative contemplation will be the proper terminology. Will be enjoying the long weekend in this city country. Known already it’s gonna be short in feeling….

Equipped with a sketch book, a box of color pencils, photography tools and an EZ-link card I’ll wander around this island…. And, see what I can generate at the end.

Assalamu’alaikum….

Singapore – February 18, 2015 – 3:51pm

Picture borrowed from http://www.therufus.com/product/rumi-on-silence-poster/

The Need of Grounding

Bob, Learning, love, This Person

When it feels like levitate, unrooted from the foundation…. This body invites to realize that these broken pieces need to be collected for the thousandth time….

Keeping the matrix composed.

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Temasek – February 16, 2015 0 4:51am

Exchanging Blessings With The Gentle Giants

Bob, Learning, love, Map It!

I went to Oslob, Cebu, Philippines — for whale shark watching last week. Butanding is the local language for whale shark (Rhincodon Typus). I wanted to exchange blessings with them.

With Michelle and Jerry – a tour guide and a driver – I left Mactan at 5am.

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Deciding not to plunge in to the water, I didn’t bring any swimsuit. Ok, a boat was rented….

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The boatman is part of the conservation team…. See the T-shirt worn.

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Many people already swam around something…. A group of butanding enjoying their breakfast

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The gentle giant was peeping below my boat. Please let me offer you my love, dear butanding….

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Look at the spots on the body….

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…. on the tail

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He is deeply, seriously giving his blessings…. Or her blessings….

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Blessings to the feeder on the boat….

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To the onlookers on and beneath the water…..

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And, to me….

Before I finally left the site, I put both my feet into the water and prayed in my heart, telling huge blessings then leaving them into the sea. Thank you, butanding…. For the blessings we exchange.

Singapore – February 15, 2015 – 4:48am

For more information about whale shark, please go to:

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/whale-shark/

Maya, Anjing Yang Hepi

Bob, Learning, love

Lagi di Mactan Island, Cebu, Philippines.

Seperti biasa ada asyiknya dan nggak asyiknya tiap travel. Enaknya ya jelas deh ketemu binatang-binatang yang tak kalah ramahnya dengan para manusia yang kutemui di Philippines. Filipino punya bakat ramah-tamah yang nggak kalah sama orang Indonesia, jadi nyaman-nyaman saja travel ke kepulauan ini. Kutegaskan kembali Filipino di Philippines itu ramah , anjing-anjingnya hepi walau nggak semua bersih, banyak stray dogs berkeliaran dan tidak ada tukang makan  anjing seperti di daerah-daerah di Indonesia. Semoga para pemakan dan pemburu anjing  diberi kesadaran oleh Semesta, berhenti memburu anjing dan kembali ke jalan yang manusiawi.

Tuan rumah dengan keramahan sempurna tentunya bikin kerjaan lancar. Dan ketemu dengan Maya, anjing yang ditugaskan di gate area hotel, bikin perjalanan di Cebu lebih enteng di batin…. Ini anjing gede dan nature-nya gembira – aku panel “Maya….” langsung lompat mau ngerangkul…. Waduh rek, bukannya takut najis…. Takut digigit doang.

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lompat mau hugging

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I love you, Maya but please don’t hug me. I’m afraid…. Then she behave 🙂

Maya ini matanya katarak dua-duanya – curiga gw sih penyebabnya makanan karena Lorent di Makati juga matanya sakit karena makanan. So, tolong ya para pemelihara anjing beliin makanan yang nggak ada efek samping buruk untuk anjingnya. Teliti sebelum membeli.

Ada satu lagi anjing jantan namanya Bruce. Warnanya krem kayaknya sih herder juga. Cuma ketemu waktu tiba di hotel Minggu siang jadi nggak sempat moto….

Jadi mereka ini berjaga di gate bergantian tiap 6 jam. Tugasnya mengendus trunk mobil yang masuk ke lingkungan hotel.

Aku tahu alangkah membosankannya pekerjaan itu makanya Maya melonjak gembira saat ada yang menyapa.

Semoga Maya, Bruce dan 5 anjing patrol lainnya sehat, kenyang dan hepi selalu… Lebih dari itu semoga banyak yang melimpahkan rasa sayangnya pada mereka. Amin….

Ayo sayangi anjing dan binatang lainnya…..

SRL Mactan, Cebu – 11 February, 2015 – 6:22 petang

About Morning Sun – Bromo

Learning, love, Map It!

I took these pictures in Mount Bromo, East Java, Indonesia – my beloved country – in August 2010. What a lovely morning it was. Hundreds of people were waiting for the the sun to rise. They came from all corners of the earth: different colours of skin and hair (and teeth I guess). But it didn’t matter; they all shared the same expectations and expressions. When the sun showed its face timidly yet gracefully, those folks burst into happy laughter. Then they cheered, they clapped hands, they prayed, they cried, they smiled, they got amazed, they praised, they all emitted positive energy. Radiance is reflected through the eyes – either naked or behind glasses.

The next mornings in other places, we saw another sun rise but none of us laughed or cheered or clapped hands or prayed or cried or smiled or got amazed or praised…. Is it because we were not in Mount Bromo anymore? Probably. But most probably, we don’t always see the sun from the right angle. We see sun as just an object, a routine, just something but never a something….

People don’t really wait for the sun every morning for enjoyment. They wait for times to pass, just to kill it…. Second, minute, hour, day, week, month, year…. until the end is approaching and slowing down the time is possible no more.

Do I wait for time to pass? Or, to enjoy every hi from the morning sun? Hard to confess — because now I close my eyes when the sun is greeting.

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Singapore – February 3, 2015 – 12:34am