Weekend is a cleaning and packing day accompanied by comedians in YouTube.
π
Category: Learning
9 (ranting)
Why 9? Itβs just 9.
When counting 9, it brings 9.
9 is 9. Be 9.
β
Why 9?
Back to uni days I was very keen of learning numerology, slightly superstitious to certain level but it was very entertaining and encouraging. It doesnβt give me a lot of benefits in career but a little knowledge about numerology sometimes gives me unique perspective of problem solving; or hmmm at least good distraction. Based on numerology each number has meaning and energy. Different number, different meaning, different vibe, different luck.
Among all numbers my favourite is 1, 7, 9. Very personal. Yet I like to make it look reasonable and logical. π
What about those numbers?
1 – One is loyalty, dedication, unity, singularity. We are loyal when we βworshipβ one – the God, the love. Dedication is focusing on one – one company, one citizenship, one goal. Unity is multiple agreeing on one – unity in diversity. Singularity is uniqueness of one, no comparison – feel it when weβre alone, thatβs who you are. My definition as individual being rules the game.
7 – Seven is pitu in Javanese, an abbreviation of pitulungan that means help, support. No one can live alone as social beings so helping and supporting each other is the only way to survive in society. Cultural definition rules the game.
9 – September the 9th month is my birth month. I was categorised to have a character of group 9 in one numerology class. Almost dead at 9. 9 is the only number that I adore because of its logical and scientific function. 9 is my lucky number! Both empirical and logical experiences rule the game.
Dear, my favourite numbers. When will my company stock price go up back to 179 again? That is the point of my favourite numbers ranting today!
Happy weekend!
Now Here
Now here is a point
Where start and finish collide.
A shadow of yoursβ
β
Love Is
Two love birds singing
In a cage full of good food.
A choice to a loveβ
β
Love isβ¦. ?
Love isβ¦. ?
Love isβ¦. ?
Damn! I canβt define it except that it is sometimes misunderstood with lust.
That it is often symbolised with a heart shape. Maybe most human beings believe love comes from the heart. Hey! Is that really the shape of a heart? Or just how we agree that it is a shape of the heart?
That it is discussed everywhere but also wasted everywhere.
What I believe love is a verb not a noun so without action, it is muted sooner or later. At the same time love is an energy that cannot be created or destroyed so it is there and will be there, yet it can transform and/or transfer between subjects. Compatibility (chemistry), heat (intensity), motion (intension), what else can change the form of love? (oops forgetting all the physics learnt when younger)β¦. Anyway, it transforms and transfers (circulates can be another word) between (or among if circulated) human beings. So, accept it.
I believe love is about interest that human being cannot select voluntarily. It is a blessing at the same time a curse. it can be love between two love birds inseparable, or Tom and Jerry entertainingly cruel for either of two, or as cold as Antarctica.
I believe love is the core power generator of life that if removed, life will disappear. Never give up love. Broken heart is just a milestone that brings a human being to deeper and deeper understanding about him/herself. Broken because of a crush? Broken because of family? Broken because of friendship? Broken because of work? Broken because of world reality? A human being can always fix it gradually with anger, disappointment then acceptance. Just donβt be broken because of yourself – you are the most precious for yourself.
I believe that the way someone loves evolves through time, and it will suit the personβs intention never not. There should not be regret of what has happened because of love. Yet it is a regret that some people still choose to constantly send covert or overt humiliation and torture to hurt intentionally and/or to disrespect further to those they donβt love, while the best way should be forgiving or clearly declaring clear disagreement. War is one of them. Yet liked or not, that is the evolution of loving.
This weekend comes with a basket full of lessons learnt, a heap of ideas to pour as blessings in writings that I can re-read someday in the future.
Thank you, Love. You are never wasted.
Alfatihah to all whom I love.
Life Is
Life is a mystery. Human to solve it. Not always successful, yet it is worth doing.
Life is a gift. Human to thank for it. Not always easy, yet it is worth doing.
Life is a journey. Human to travel it. Not always smooth, yet it is worth doing.
Life is love. Human is to accept it. Not always sweet, yet it is worth doing.
Life is of this or that to be experienced. Human is to keep living within the given time, a line between two points. There is so much to take and give and I thank for everything β that I know when I know, that I know when I donβt know.
Will not ignore how precious this life is. Will always be patient with this self in experiencing it.
ππΌ
β
Luck Vibes
Yellow lucky leaves
Pop up unexpectedly.
Answers to wishes.
β
Dream come true is not always with work only. It might be with some enchanted wishes, self encouragement, ranting when upset, sleeping when tired and beloved onesβ prayer β all acting as the x factor. In a package those can be summed up as human being determination.
Ignore those demotivating and/or disrespecting. They try to distract, but let them be out of the equation for a while. Just blow them a kiss. π
Weekend is a bridge between two islands. Walk on it slowly with a smile. Donβt forget to hum love songs. π
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Copyright
Is copyright right?
It was not needed until
The rich rob the poor.
β
Time To Pray (ranting)
While writing this, I am spending some time in Erawan Shrine before going to Svarnabhum Airport. I am now witnessing the power of storytelling. Soon I will be back to the hotel just next to it to pick up my luggage then go home.
My head is now ranting:
You can make religion and spirituality good commodity through story telling. Tell people that through your piousity and spirituality you will help them solve their problems or be close to gods or be happy or get their wishes come true; they will come to you with or without believing whether you are true or not. Donβt tell them they should pay as it is contra productive. Just tell them there will be energy exchange so logistics should be co-financed.
It is great and amazing that tourism is designed that way.
When will mosques ask visitors to pay? If they do, theyβd better have a good storytelling more than cleaning cost. If not, that is great.
Donβt get me wrong, I am one of those believing with the power of religiosity and spirituality that solve life mystery. With one condition: if told in a wise and sweet way and told by a reliable person. Otherwise, theyβd better eat their own sh*t (sh*t can be a lot of money from those being fooled around by them); donβt expect karma as they believe what they do is all right.
God bless gods. God bless all shrines, temples, churches, mosques, etc where people are praying. God bless storytelling.
God bless Erawan Shrine to where I will be back until I stop visiting Bangkok heaven knows when.
β€οΈ
A Fruit Thatβs Bitten
A fruit thatβs bitten
Sends a sailor with a map
To harvest white pearls.
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Feel Good No Matter What
The room becomes bright
With two smiles under dim light.
Feel good with good sight.
β-
I met a good friend and he could not stop talking about how hard it has been for him to feel good behind his (nice) smile. He said that he is constantly in stress of silent competition at work or in loneliness far away from family. He said that people around him seem unhappy to see others happy.
Me: Normal! It happened to me when I was young. Getting older, it is easier to accept what is.
GF: You did compete? Unbelievable! You seem to have neither ambition to excel nor spirit to live. Low profile, high product yuck! Your motto sucks!
Me: I did lightly. Youβre still young so just enjoy your competitiveness and being away from family. Make more friends and only one girlfriend. Some day you will be where I am now when nothing is worth chasing except cockroach to kill.
GF: So you feel good all the time?
Me: Most of the time only, not all the time lah⦠I am not a Barbie doll.
GF: Meaning you never have problem?
Me: Do I look like not having problem?
GF: I know you have problems and are sometimes upset about people.
Me: Ya, I do have problems. People confront me. I confront people. But I minimise blaming others. Most thing if not everything is about me making incorrect decisions. I am sometimes very very unhappy about others, too. I act boldly occasionally to show boundary.
GF: And you still can feel good when you are not happy?
Me: Yes, I have a lot of distractions ready: work, books, orchids, painting, people although mostly not them, biking, cooking. End the unhappy time fast.
GF: How?
Me: Distract yourself. Flip the coin to the other side. And remember feel good is contagious. At least you donβt look gloomy when you feel good.
GF: So how do you think I should feel good when my colleague stabs me in the back?
Me: Feel good that it is not you stabbing people in their back. Thank God for showing the real friends to you.
GF: Argh! I want to punch his face!
Me: Ouch! Will it make you feel good?
GF: Maybe, but makes me look not good, then makes me feel not good.
Me: Wow! You master it already!
GF: But donβt you realise some people will get offended even when we feel good and do things as we are? They think we are insensitive. They think we are ridiculing them.
Me: Why care? You only need your approval to do something that makes you feel good, with one condition: that you do it without intension of offending or hurting others.
GF: If they get offended?
Me: Iβ¦. Donβtβ¦. Careβ¦.
GF: Okaaaaaay! Hey! How is the food?
Me: Not so good π© The worst tom yum on earth!
GF: Agree. So is it because you are not able to appreciate the food? And how do you minimise blaming others in this case?
Me: Of course I blame the chef! You think I am his mother? Letβs not be back to this restaurant again.
GF: πππ
Lessons learnt: stay away from chatty friends when hungry, be relaxed when talking to young men as they explode easily, find a good restaurant or cook your own tom yum, get older without grudge, avoid those disrespecting you, laugh joyfully
Flood Lesson
Floods come with big rain,
Worsened by the blocked drainage.
Leaving mud story
β
A big flood happened in Jakarta in Feb 2007. It trapped many people in the buildings for almost the whole day (even longer in some area) or inside cars for at least 6 hours (even more in some location). Those in the office just stayed in the office. We on the road moved inch by inch as only narrow part of the road was βsafeβ from water β no, no, not dry at all; it was standing water almost like ripply shallow ocean.
The cause of flood in Jakarta is the extremely heavy rain plus bad drainage system in Greater Jakarta.
I was on the road back in 2007 flood day for 8 hours feeling stuck: no food or drink, no toilet (the worst of all the experiences), with random collection of songs played in a music player low bat before even I reached half of a normal journey home.
It was only one day or two of misery; the next year we all laughed at each otherβs story. A friend who peed in to a bottle in the car. A friend who decided to leave his car on the road and went home on foot finding the car moving far away from where it was left the next day. Some friends who cried afraid of losing chance to meet the family but the family especially children thought that flood was fun time. Many friends whose floors and walls were messily coated with mud mixed with rubbish and creepy crawly after the flood and they found stuff that were lost for years through cleaning the mud.
Weβve learnt the lessons yet it takes time to fix such a systemic issue. Jakarta, you can!
Iβve learnt my lesson too that tragedy + time = comedy. A simple equation without unknown factor except how much time is stretched. God speed!
Salaam.
Desperate Lovers
Midnight is calling
With blaring sound in the aisle.
Desperate loversβ
β
Suddenly very loud voice of (maybe) two lovers walking down the aisle outside the hotel room laughing interrupted my sleep, and so interrupted my nightmare. Thank you and at the same time damn you!
Beloved, please send me back to slumberland again. π
β€οΈβπ©Ή
Travel
Blessing is a swan
Walking, swimming and flying
Around garden lake.
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A Name
The ripples on this heart
After a touch from a falling feather
Wrapped in a trivial memory
Of a name
Loaded with wisdom
Whispered silently
Forever.
Is this your name, Beloved?
Or mine?
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Daydream
Water, air and hair:
She draws figures and colours
To a sweet daydream.
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Prancing in A Tunnel
A line of this heart remembers
Whatβs not even in memories.
Flowing clean river hidden in the skyβ
The other line of this heart remembers
Only whatβs imprinted through relations.
Murky pool standing around the earthβ
Donβt have the right to be missed
With these limited memories.
This sky is hidden by the cloudβ
Donβt have the right to be remembered
With absence of relations.
This earth is full of locked doors.
Can only miss whatβs not imprinted.
Can only remember whatβs hidden.
Still beautiful
Still amazing
Yet hidden
Yet secretive
Circled around between hearts
That read whatβs not inky written.
Thereβs an end
To a dream.
Itβs when coming true
Or coming dead.
And thatβs the light at the end of a tunnel
Of light
Of wide spectrum
In which weβre prancing.
Choose your colour.
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Too Good To Be True
Too good to be true,
Yet too long to be untrue;
A dangling long dreamβ
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Banksy
One of my dreams that might never come true is meeting Banksy. It doesnβt matter, not all dreams come true; some are dangling in my hair beautifully visiting me every night.
God bless Banksy for his inspiration on love and peace.
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Iβve printed many of Banksyβs works and here are some of my favourite.
Weekend
Another productive week in Singapore be like: watching Iwet and Dian while treating my batik collection then more videos to keep the vibe positive
FYI, batik should be exposed to sun and air once in a while to keep it dry and of original colours. While treating them, the collectors will usually recollect the meaning pinned on the batik patterns. Batik is beautiful friend like those people giving me inspiration without their knowing it.
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Ocean Welcomes
Ocean welcomes all,
River flown and rain fallen.
Friends in a friendshipβ
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A meet up with my first mentor training me in my current profession almost 20 years ago. He and his wife are in Singapore to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary and spend this whole day to meet up with me: shopping in Orchard Road Apple Store, browsing around looking for my favourite Japanese restaurant that was found closed down since 2021, having lunch (Indonesian food in Singaporeβ¦.? Oh my) walking around Orchard Road, taking MRT for fun, enjoying evening coffee in Starbucks Bugis Junction before our farewell.
This wise couple gave me a bunch of advices to be this and to be thatβ¦. How lovely this life is to have friends who are willing to share their (personal) experiences for precious lesson learning.
Thank you, Pak Donny and Mbak Maya. See you in Jakarta! πππ½
Alfatihah to my dear friends.
Weekend
Productive weekend in Singapore be likeβ¦.
Walk Back Not
Thereβs only one way to leave a forest: its edge. Throw away the doubt.
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Cold Breeze
Cold breeze blows softly
On weekends, and on the leaves
Rustling about me.
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Almost
There is a moment
Called almost. Itβs smile or sigh
Unexpectedlyβ
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Picture borrowed from a good reading: http://thegctv.com/the-power-of-almost/
Us, Layered
Youβre layers of light
Disclosed by layers of dark
To an open heart.
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What Is Money
Not answered questions:
Those to be pinned with meanings
By them questioningβ
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Surabaya did sum up my medium-length end-of-year holiday of mine. Hosted by one best friend, this 32-hour visit meant much to me: a lot of chat and enough food.
With this best friend open discussion is a routine. Last nightβs discussion while driving around the city was everything about money. We both treat money differently. She is a better financial planner, I am a learner.
We used to be curious about what money truly was. Money discussion had always been a hot topic before and last night we both finally agreed that money can be defined as anything according to the one managing it.
We know different types of friends and their behaviour towards money. There are friends who meticulously count money (stingy), friends who think money is a symbol of welfare (social status), friends who consider money is everything (arrogant), friends who consider money is treasure (stupid), friends who consider money is nothing (careless), friends who donβt believe that money is a thing (maybe almost dead), friends who have little money (poor), friends who constantly borrow money (lazy). Complete experience. π
What is money to us? We both donβt have special place for money at the same time we have special space for money. It is a tool. It is the replaceable at times, the irreplaceable at others. It is what it is with given context. We both agree that a question of βwhat is moneyβ doesnβt need an accurate answer; it just needs honest response. Answer is too rigid and feels like a reaction; response is more flexible and almost a wisdom. Example? If having money makes us think we are more respectable than others, that is an accurate answer. If having no money makes us think we are less than others, that is an accurate answer. If having money makes us more functional as human beings in some situation, that is an honest response. If having no money makes us less complaining and harder working, that is an honest response.
We both donβt expect to be in forever comfort by having so much money yet donβt want to live uncomfortably because of having not enough money. We simply want to have sufficient amount as what is needed in life.
This visit puts me back on track that βlife is just like thatβ at the same time βlife is worth fighting for and beautifully livingβ with good will and a small touch of power from money.
Before driving me to the airport, she commented on my eyes.
BF: Have you put eyeliner?
Me: No
BF: Told you to always put eyeliner. You have one?
Me: Ya
BF: What colour?
Me: Brown
BF: No, no. Try blue.
Me: (frown on my forehead). I donβt have blue one.
BF: Try this. (handing a blue eyeliner to me)
Me: (reluctantly putting blue eyeliner on both eyes)
BF: Look at that! Brighter eyes! Ok, take it. Wear blue eyeliner more.
Me: Ok, as long as not green that turns me to a green-eyed. How much is it?
BF: I am not selling it to you. A tiny token of friendship. Not everything should be paid with money. Thanks for the birthday gift, too.
Thank you. Happy birthday, Madam Scorpio.
See you again.
Salaam.
Manusia
Manusia mengembarai langit
Manusia menyusuri cakrawala
Tidak untuk menguasainya
Melainkan untuk menguji dirinya
Apakah dia bertahan menjadi manusia,
Tidak untuk hebat kuasa atau perkasa
Melainkan untuk setia sebagai manusia.
(Emha Ainun Nadjib)
β
Good morning, Surabaya. You did a lot of moulding to this human being. Thank you!!! π
On The Move
Off days on the move
Between cities, finding me
Missing one cityβ
β
This evening we sat down in a cafe which is never my favourite to do. A new friend said βSingapore is the least favourite city of mine.β and I didnβt mind. Yet suddenly something knocked on my heart; it triggered me to miss a home.
The orchids that greet me with no complaint. The books that wait for me patiently. The laundry that stand by until I let them sit nicely in the cupboard. The floor that shines after some mopping. The air that hugs me through rain and shine. The warm feeling of safety and security.
How I miss myself in a home which I officially call a home. A weird feeling about Singapore that is truly now to me a home.
See you soon, my humble abode. π
Salaam.
Visit
Garden of the death
Where pray and wish are whispered
To eternityβ
β
Friendship
Hello, dear friendship.
This ship is sailing smoothly,
Storms donβt ruin our cruise.
β
Four are (fake) backpackers. One is (true) camper. We all sail together in a ship called friendship.
Alfatihah.
π
rike jokanan 
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