graphs of my Universe
You're so brilliant,
Flickering rays dancing bright.
You hide the love behind curtains of light,
Unveiled.
It was my fatherβs birthday yesterday. He is to be 85 years old physical being this year and is a happy united soul in heaven.
Happy birthday, Bapak. You are loved. You are remembered.
You’ve been a northern lights or southern lights π to us, rare and beautiful — shining in the dark.
aurora borealis….
if time allows….
About aurora
Weekend, Beloved
Perfect with noisy kitchen
And finished laundry--
—
today’s healthful brunchβ£οΈ we call it urap in Javanese cuisine — the raw leaves are “kencur” from the pot in the balcony β₯οΈ
About kencur
wanted to eat raw veggies but i didn’t trust the source so boiled it was — missing my home in Yogyakarta where greeneries grow organically
the grated coconut
i still haven’t bought a new food processor after the old one was spoiled so today i had to do it with my favourite pestel and mortar — now my hands feel burnt of the chili heat π
In this life of hues
How can I note whatβs given?
To work and study--
had breakfast sometimes dinner at this table for 9 days was an experience
it is a table under an artificial tree, the light is not too bright, not so obvious from too many angles so I chose it and when I saw the number, it became my table
next time might be other numbers π
44 means foundation, hard work, growth, achievements and if it is what is communicated to me, thank you.
44 is also country code of United Kingdom; I miss Chisholme House where time flows calmly while this body works and mind studies life with true devotion engaging with fellow human beings and nature. Dear God, please carry me there again.
About Chisholme House
Spirituality--
What is it, Dearest?
She talks to all sides of walls, ceilings and floors.
They talk no word, just a long hum enticing her to stop thinking;
Leaving her no choice but a weekend laundry.
Spirituality, Dearest
Is her life with
Its ups and downs,
Its ins and outs.
Her strong wills and deteriorating muscles--
—
a short spiritual interview in my laundry weekend — thank you!
enjoy your weekend!
Pose as you love to.
Life gives one chance for one name.
Breathe in and breathe out.
my friend in his funny pose π
I can’t thank enough to him for informing me about the “Da Vinci Alive Bangkok”
he said “Rike, I’ll go with you if my boyfriend goes to his class”
Thank you, Bank!
Best local delight's
Bangkok's 7-Eleven's.
Fresh presentation--
—
this is what’s fabulous about Thailand, not pictured are grilled banana, etc, etc, done for dinner!!! πππ
There are twins in life
Where mirror is concluded,
Balance is guarded.
—
my most worn twins — one pair is 6 years old, the other is 4; wait until both are uncomfortable to retire π
this time a room with twin bed is chosen, not because i stay with someone but i want to experience a different type of room — the same design, just the bed is different ππ½
the Twin Towers across the 38th floor
It's a preferred life,
Not a perfect one. Not much,
And she's fine.
—
45R is one of my preferred brands (doesn’t mean i buy a lot of its products though) – its good material is preferred, its most designs are not as they are to me “very foreign” βΊοΈ
She's navigated
By stars that cluster in shapes.
They're glowing maps.
—
remarkable aspect of manta ray behavior is their ability to navigate across vast distances
a friend who didn’t meet for quite some time met me again in Hanoi and brought me this manta ray for my bag
she said she will invite me soon to her wedding π
thank youβ£οΈ
About manta ray
I've opened curtains,
Layers of curtains
Curtains of light;
Lifting layer by layer of the dark,
Distinguishing hues in stacked of spectrums
Then
Here
You are
Converting this believing
To this knowing.
It's been
Light upon light.
—
His light is like a niche in which there is a lamp, the lamp is in a crystal, the crystal is like a shining star, lit from the oil of a blessed olive tree, located neither to the east nor the west, whose oil would almost glow, even without being touched by fire. Light upon light!….
(The Light, 35)
Nothing's right or wrong
To experience this life.
Hey! Judgement applies.
—
fish with veggies and rice paper (paper rice?) — green is always the best part in Vietnamese cuisine
not suitable for one, should invite a friend next time
not professionally, very slowly for satisfactory experience
I wish you a fresh air
That brings coolness in a hot day,
And lullabies me in a cold night.
I wish you a unique vibe
That loves me romantically,
And beautifies yourself naively.
—
banana flower salad — fresh and beautiful
young rice ice cream only in autumn βΊοΈ — unique and cool
CαΊ£m Ζ‘n, Hanoi ππΌ
This dream doesn't end
Until cherry blossom falls
On a black forest
—
black forest
This fool
Is learning
Through
Humming and
Walking with a friend and
Greeting fun adventures and
Kissing the flowers and the air.
Hello,
Fool.
Be sweet life!
—
one of my best friends is a prominent tarot master in Ubud, whose reading always reminds me that I am The Fool — thank you, De Nov β£οΈ
Losing is a sign,
A sign to either find,
Or let it go off the mind.
All is fine.
—
i lost my Airpod case with one earset in it; not panicky as losing or forgetting small things is my middle name — not in the bag, sure not at taxi as bag was never unzipped in the ride — i sent email to the hotel saying that my Airpod with one earset left was in the room — yes! it was found and safe kept — see you next month! π
A little frog leaps
Across ocean in a pail.
Clean water splashes.
—
ranunculus, the little frogs βΊοΈ
It doesn't matter
Wherever I am.
I can find all
The air breathed,
The water flowing,
The fire flickering,
The wind swirling,
The earth stepped on,
The night falling,
The morning rising,
The day counting
The breathing towards
What's here and now.
No destination matters
As all is about this.
—
the best is now and here
Failure seems ordinary
As I am tested every day
And pass
With or without flying colours.
I just need
A faith to cling that
I am not alone battling.
There is you.
There is
You.
—
very much welcome – tested by beauty; i could not stop wowing in silence π
i am fasting and getting tested with these sweets and freshness π not difficult to pass this easy test though
I can see beauty
Through silhouette in the dark
With thin shed of light.
—
Light brings bright to rose.
Light brings image to her eyes.
Bright in and bright out--
—
Stepping in
To the wood
Under the sun,
The moon,
The stars,
Swarmed by the wild;
Ahead she prances
Along a composition
Orchestrated by the air.
—
be a fool in the ocean of falsehood
realizing that being a fool is an enjoyable journey in life to earn meanings without burden
When clock slows down its intensity,
Bring me a cup of tea
With which imagination
Grows wild silently
And another cup
With which the Twin Towers
Are swallowed by dark night.
This cup of tea
Has freed me.
—
one more won’t harm me β£οΈ
Dear
Young heart,
Fly to the moon and back
To the green meadow, humming.
Dear
Old body,
Bury me where banyan seeds sprout
Reaching out to sky, breathing.
Dear
Ancient soul,
Free me from any shape
So I can be alive anywhere you sow me.
—
I went to a small civilized** farewell party for a friend in KL, Malaysia, taking selfie before crazily singing in Red Box karaoke.
Life is short, be kind….
Or….. Just take a selfie.
β£οΈ
Salam.
** civilized to me means NO FREE SEX, NO DRUGS, NO ALCOHOL β₯οΈ
just take selfie when you’re feeling good
take selfie when you’re not in the mood
take selfie although people think it’s weird yet you’re nartistically free and freely glee
Anger, Beloved
Swirling stream drawning what flow,
Demolishing luck--
—
Anger can bring unluck, now I believe that.
I was furious because some people made unnecessary mistakes. Although mistake is mistake that can be fixed but covering up is another level of mistake making a mistake not just a mistake. I can never accept when people are not well treated, not well protected, ignored, disrespected.
anger is maelstrom
I still could not get rid of the patches of anger even after some hours. No sleep cured it. No food did. No nothing. I felt my body tremble whenever thinking of how those mistakes were made and so on and so forth.
This very morning I realised that my anger didn’t bring good things. It brought me heat in head, unclear thought and unlucky events. And the unlucky events were the worst as I’ve always been feeling lucky in my life.
Look what happened to me….
I queued behind a lady who failed scanning her fingerprints and facial recognition in the immigration autogate that made the waiting too long for such a sophisticated system. My Malaysia Digital Arrival Card submission failed 4 times today. My passport identification page got folded. My automatic bagagge check-in failed, with a bonus of bitter sour unfriendly female airline assistant treating my passport like a trash.
Please forgive me, dear self. Those mistakes do not belong to you and you are not responsible to bear any cost; they are those people’s, let them deal with any consequences possible.
I feel lucky.
Feel lucky.
Lucky!
I bring souvenirs
Wrapped in a pouch made with love
For you who's waited.
This pouch might be forgotten,
The fragrance's always missed.
—
a batik pouch to wrap an oleh-oleh for a friend — all is handmade by me, done in about 4 hours; no sewing machine, only a pair of sciccors, a ruler, thread and needle
tell me what makes us meditate better than doing things with love
the body part is cut from printed batik “Truntum”
the round base is cut from printed batik “Wahyu Tumurun” using a stainless-steel bowl as the pattern
the waste including some Hansaplast to close some small cut on my finger
About oleh-oleh
You sell some wisdom
That unwraps with mere breathing
Dimensions and faith.
β
6 sheets of handmade batik are currently flying to my home; they are wisdom scribed on white cotton by some humble Javanese women who are willingly dedicating life as tradition protectors
matur nuwun π
Thereβs much ado
About whatβs not done.
Shakespeare said thatβs nothing.
Thereβs much ado
About whatβs promised.
I said thatβs nothing.
β
4th day of Ramadhan π nothing but so much smile at my own cookings
I'm foraging beauty
On my way to work,
To shop,
To travel,
To eat out;
And
On my way to kitchen,
To balcony,
To a room,
To the loo.
Beauty is just scattered by
You.
—
white, yellow, fragrant, pretty, soon to dry then to produce seed for another orchid to bloom π
blooming time for the pigeon orchids along the Yio Chu Kang Road next to my office – this appearance can be seen in almost all of the big trees around this road
How full are you, Love?
Leave a space where air can move
And water can flow.
—
It is Ramadhan 1, I started my 30-day fasting.
Fasting is not a new or foreign to my family. My parents consider it a sacred practice in their life. My oldest sister does fast every two days. Intermitten fasting is never a new thing for us. We are Javanese, we fast both as a spiritual sanctuary and mental exercise.
When we talk about fasting in Javanese tradition, it is not always like the Islamic fasting (not eating, not drinking, not smoking, not having sex on the daylight). Fasting or pasa or poso in Javanese is managing what is in and out through all doors of senses in our body. It can be simply by choosing what to eat, when to eat, how to eat.
In old days Javanese did many different types of fasting and so they name those types of fasting differently.
Mutih (derived from the word putih or white in Javanese) is when they only eat rice and drink water. They won’t be consuming anything with tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, gurih, etc.
Ngidang (derived from the word kidang or deer in Javanese) is when they only consume leafy vegetables and water, and no other things.
Ngrowot (derived from the word krowot that means “no rice” in Javanese) in when they will not consume rice and any product of any kind of rice).
Etc….
For this Ramadhan I decided to do ngrowot. It means I will not consume any rice and any product of rice crom dawn to dusk, from day 1 until end of Ramadhan. I want to know how good I am pushing myself through “hunger”.
Bismillah!
Yes, I can.
π
my first day of “Ramadhan Ngrowot” breakfast
π
There is pain
And patience
In endurance,
A chemical compound
That swims in blue skies,
Gets sprinkled down to a pool
Where Superman
Is endured.
—
i met Sam who swam for 20 laps of 50-meter long pool today – she swam without stopping at all, while i stopped in the middle just because a leaf poked my goggles
Sam was 65 and she said she also started like me (not consistently moving, she even said she preferred the small pool of 25-meter long near my block) – sixtyfiiivvveee!!!
she said she pushed herself past several years before finally enjoying the 50-meter long lap with no stop back and forth for one hour
see you in two days, Sam! thanks for inspiring me with your humbleness and endurance π
rike jokanan 
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