Tag: 5-7-5

Clarity

Learning, Poetic, This Person
Clarity, my love
Is silence that loudly says
About who you are.

some people talk about honesty as if honesty is falling hair of theirs – nothing but waste….

…. not because honesty doesn’t mean anything; yet because they claim being honest but actually lying.

once I thought you were this, and your signs said you were this until all birds then messengers coming saying that you are that….

honesty saves everyone’s time….

1) when honesty is about dishonesty

2) when it is the talking of the walk

3) when it is the walking of the talk

🙃

so clear to me, after meeting a friend yesterday

☺️

Start The Day

Learning, Poetic
Start the day, my love
With bright eyes and dancing tongue.
A day to excite--

a bowl of “pempek from Palembang & “sambal ijo” from Padang with a piece of boiled duck leg starting my day

time to clean the house & packing for tomorrow’s exciting trip 😍

A Gift

Learning, Poetic, This Person
A gift, Beloved
Breeze bringing a good fragrance
Keeping me with you.

I bought a box of gift for myself – perfume 💗

patchouli is one of my favourite fragrances, it is mostly harvested in Indonesia — there’s a documentary about how patchouli farmers are ‘exploited” for perfume industry

I’m cruelly aware that my liking to scent is making me part of the exploitation. What should I do?

….thinking in awareness & with compassion

Locked

Learning, Poetic, This Person
It's locked, Beloved.
Hiding from those not wanted,
Enjoying close doors.

I put my Instagram account back to private from being public. I am not a public figure and not selling anything so why should it be in public mode?

Actually when being public, the account started getting random people following me (although I removed them right away). Not those I wish to follow me 😁

WordPress is still the best platform where I can rant about the public policy and service in my country without being questioned “why are you talking about thing you don’t know?” and whisper about my silent journey within.

Needing some time to stay submerged–

wanting my back garden door in this colour 😍 the one between Japanese garden and the back yard

Me Married? (cheerful)

Learning, Poetic, This Person
it's where two sweet hearts
meeting in a quiet meadow
to sing together

(haiku about an ideal marriage of mine)

When I was a high schooler I wanted to get married at 25. At 35 broken-hearted decided to be single forever; at 45 re-opened myself to any possibility–

While in my culture talking about romance or wishing to get married at my age is considered a shame, I proceed. I’m a human being— if they do, why not me? I’m so comfortable to say this even thinking it out loud in front of family and friends; and they were the one sometimes would feel less comfortable and tell me to be calm.

I’m calm and not in a hurry chasing anyone. I”m just so relaxed. I’m accepting the fact that wanting something will not affect my state of being thankful-to-be-me if what’s wanted doesn’t happen. At this point my thought is if I’m getting married, I’m happy getting married. If I’m not, I am happy not getting married.

Last Monday I watched a podcast in which Raline Shah was interviewed by Dave Hendrik & Iwet Ramadhan (my favourite duo the DVET) in YouTube. She highlighted what I’ve thought about for so long in life (maybe also what’s been thought about by many female single around me). 

And these are some loved statements of hers shareable to you all:

“I want us to still get married but I want to have faith that even if I have this job also be with you. So sometimes this independence creates insecurity in the man I date…”

It was about her stance on her own dream and the man she dated who wanted her to be just a wife instead of a woman with career.

“I would love to compromise my life. I would love to compromise my dreams because getting married is also another dream but I just don’t feel that in your natural state, does that person love you? …. They don’t really like you, they’re just in love with you.”

It was when she was asked if she would compromise her dream for marriage. This is truly a beautiful statement.

“Just be yourself para jomblo. Do what you like, …. And see who likes you for that version of you.”

Yes, being one’s self is a must. Oscar Wilde said “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken“.

I hope all single people especially ladies in my culture (or other culture resembling mine) decide to get married or not because of their own choice, not because of no choice. It sounds utopic but it is what it is.

Cheerio, dear me!

Note: jomblo: single (not married) person

Iwet Ramadhan, Raline Shah, Dave Hendrik

Dewdrops

Learning, Poetic, This Person, Those People
Dewdrops, Beloved
Reflect her face glistening
Welcoming morning.

reflection, mirroring, reciprocity – without it, nothing should proceed as only with two the tango will go, the dance of universe

Duality, Unity, O

Learning, life, love, Map It!, Poetic, This Person
One, two, Beloved,
Numbers to start a journey
To the zero point.

With ageing I am able to feel the surge of high energy I experienced before. With broken heart I’m so thankful that I’ve got love in this heart. With thirst I appreciate how freshness of water cures me. With the stuck in the head I become more and more familiar that flowing is the only way to love. With scarcity I can grow sense of gratitude with even just a little hope in life.

It’s you. Yes, it’s you. None other but you that makes me. None other but you that puts meaning on the word me. None other but you that moves all this life within me.

How can I be feeling so detached….

If you are the one attaching in all my senses?

If you are the one behaving with this corpse?

If you are the one drawing a circle for me to circumambulate until the two dots meet?

If you are the one?

I surrender. I retreat.

To

You.

Lessons Learnt

Learning, life, This Person
Lessons, Beloved
Learnt! She feels tired and dumb
And just wants to sleep.

I experienced an intense fun last Friday evening. I was about to check in and the machine said it could not find my name and so redirect me to the check-in counter.

Airline staff (AS): Ma’am, you are not at this flight.

Me: But I booked it.

AS: You booked it for another date?

Me: What date?

AS: October 23, 2025

Me: Oh Lord…. How would it be?

AS: (smiling, shrugging)

Me: Are there still seats for the flight?

AS: Please go to that counter and get further info, Ma’am.

Me: (heading to the ticketing counter)

Long story short, I had to buy a new ticket because I had 2 gifts to deliver to 2 people in Jakarta. I had promise to keep.

I bought a new ticket for a much more expensive price than the original one wrongly booked. Lesson learnt? Check, recheck, check, recheck….. Maybe I shouldn’t have had to book a new one. I should have decided to deliver the gifts through my friend; in fact finally I had to deliver the gifts through that friend.

It’s not easy to meet with famous people; it’s either I’m too cheap to meet them, or they are playing hard to get.

Stupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupid………..stupid enough to call myself a stupid!

Lesson learnt again? I’ve got one round ticket for October to Jakarta. Still stupid!

The Psychology of Stupidity

Learning, This Person
She's stupid, my Love
Following honest heart, then
She needs huge to cure.

Lucky to find this book in Periplus of Soetta Airport T3 – time to get cured from wound of falling by my own stupidity

Thanks for obviously showing my stupidity this weekend. I’ll write the word stupid (tolol in Bahasa Indonesia) 1000 times to ensure I remember I am.

💕

Heart Journey

Learning, life, Poetic, This Person
Your plodding footsteps
Call me to keep this journey
To where sunrise is.

Wherever I go as long as I’m following my honesty, I’m meeting with you.

I’ve tried denying that life is just a matter of birth to death & struggling between those two, but no life is not that indeed — pain is inevitable but suffering is optional so I prefer put always lightheartedness and useful meaning to steps of life.

One day which is today I plant my believe more deeply as I also believe that this tree of life is not only one growing for a while; this tree of life needs strong & stubborn roots to support itself to the end of universe life.

Thank you for this beautiful life, Beloved. Whatever I’ve gone through is beauty that leads me to the reality of life:

You

Scent of This Hair

Learning, Poetic, This Person
The scent that is spread
Is that that I've missed so long.
It's in my own hair.

I was in Sydney and finally found this that I’d wanted so long. Once I thought I would love the Jasmine but this attracted me more strongly.

Saturday Night

Learning, Poetic
Saturday night, Love
Keeps her radiant and calm
In a place called heart.

I became hungry and decided to slice carrot, beet root and chayote for salad.

For this Saturday night’s calm vibe, I sliced shallot, chili, lemon grass and kefir lime leaves then sauté them in coconut oil added with shrimp block.

Alhamdulillah yum yum❣️

Refreshed

Learning, Poetic
Redreshed, Beloved
By love sprouting from within
A mother called Earth--

I often freshen and refresh my body by drinking “jamu”, the Javanese herbal medicine or herbal drink that I mostly concoct with my own hands.

The Life List (movie)

Learning, life, Poetic, This Person
Life list, Beloved,
Not about glory or lost.
It's what truly costs.

I used to list what I wanted to do. Every year I made the list longer until I stopped as I’ve found primary list that I won’t forget to make come true.

One of them is writing my own book (I’ve written with friends in anthology books) so I’m working on it.

Another one is having a home where family and friends feel the true selves in them. My first house was but as it is located not in a preferred place, I decided to make a new one. Working on it–

Many more and I’m working on all of them.

They might come true or not as age is not predictable yet at least I’m working on all of them.

Sooner or later

Amen

Head Piece

Learning, Poetic, This Person
Head piece, Beloved
What I've kept in head and heart.
Always about you--

Bulang Mandailing – a head piece for woman of Mandailing ethnic group

Suntiang Gadang – a head piece for woman of Minang ethnic group

Blue on Green

Learning, Poetic
Blue on green, my love
Is where air is thick as blood.
Peacefully given--

when visiting my mom’s place, I’ll at least go once to where rice field spreads from road to river

how about having a painting of this view?

Lucky

Learning, Poetic
Lucky, Beloved
I'm walking the path to you.
You're waiting for me?

🍀

Just a while ago I realised that luck is not solely given, it can be requested with terms and conditions applied. I feel lucky when these conditions are met: believing on what’s not sensible, connected to and loyal with the conscience and not reluctant to share what I’ve got. What about the terms? I leave it to you; you’re the determiner.

I’m the bearer of conditions; you’re the bearer of decision. We both are interchangeable pre-condition.

So I’m lucky to have you, your luck won’t matter without me.

☘️

Sweetness

Learning, Poetic
Sweetness, Beloved
Shows on the plates, wok and wrap
In one sweet dinner.

veggies, rendang and deep fried (sweet potato balls & banana) — sweet

rendang I prepare for Eva next Thursday’s ifthar in a Japanese restaurant — what a sweet mix 😁

today’s sweet herbal chocolate

Look

Learning, Poetic, This Person
How do I look, Love
Before the mirror of heart
Talking honesty.

Who doesn’t want to look young or beautiful at the longest time? Looking young and beautiful is one of the best feelings in life. But how far can human beings stretch themselves to stay young?

Today I bumped into a movie in the flight from Hanoi to Singapore: The Substance in which a woman (played by Demi Moore) is struggling of being not wanted in the industry because of not looking as young anymore. The horror of doing so much to stay young gave me a wake-up call that liking it or not, I who looks younger than her age will definitely age and weaken through time.

How long can I stay young naturally?

I won’t look young all the time especially as I decided to not do expensive facial and body treatment. Factually that’s very not necessary (for me).

Truly at 65 this body is weak and can’t work as now. By then I hope that I can appropriately function as a wise soul staying in a relatively healthy body that does light works everyday until time kindly escorts me to the next gate of life.

Dear, Life.

Thank you for taking care of me.

Please always guide me to stay in the path of human being in the making as long as time allows. I might not get everything grandiose but I don’t want to lose anything precious.

Please give me big heart enough to always experience joy through all senses and to share it everyday.

Happy weekend❣️

Sun Quickly Sets

Learning, Map It!, Poetic
Who doesn't love it?
Sun that quickly sets with joy
To rise tomorrow.

sunset in the West Lake

sunset in the West Lake

sunset in the West Lake

sunset in the West Lake

after a long week, with the team enjoying sunset, the ladies always like to take photo ☺️ (near the West Lake)

closing the day around Hoan Kiem Lake

the music that sweetly hurt the heart

How Clear? (Language #1)

Learning
How clear, Beloved
Do messages show to you?
As clear as clear glass--

About language that is claimed to make things clarified. My ranting just now…..

Language is a tool in the form of spoken, signed/gestured or written symbols structured and agreed by a group of human beings and used by them to communicate and express opinions, emotions, experiences. In the growth language is also to reflect cultural and social identity.

Once I wrote that language is logic of a nation. The way a nation structures the language proves the way one positions itself before nature or other human beings. That’s why the first person is using a capital letter (I) in English in which individuality is prioritised, while formal form of second person is Anda (with a capital letter A) in Bahasa Indonesia in which individuality is second prioritised in a group. It also explains why some language categorise their nouns into genders (male, female), while other language don’t. Do you know why Subject is less important than Predicate that the doer won’t be mentioned in a sentence? Why do some languages have level of honorific (Javanese has 3 levels), while others don’t? Logic of a nation is introduced as early as how the nationals speak the idea: through language. How interestingly do Eskimo have many words for “snow” of different form, time, size; as the Arab have many words for “horse” of different type, movement, emotion, sound of gallops, etc?

The logic of a nation aka language is indeed born through the interaction of nature, culture, nurture!

I wonder though how well a language can convey a message. Which language can convey the message the most clearly? Is it the one with the best grammar? Is it the one with the most vocabulary? Is it the one with the most beautiful intonation? Is it the oldest one? Is it the simplest one like binary code? Which one?

Maybe each language excel in one subject. English and German excel for science. Arabic and Javanese excel for literature. Language with script like Sanskrit, Japanese and Chinese excel in developing  strong cognitive with their intricate writing. And so on. Please don’t quote my limited knowledge and analysis that is based on my limited education.

As much as I admire those who master many languages, I still doubt if they can convey their emotion clearly and honestly through the logic of their nations. Maybe scientifically and logically they can speak or write about something. Yet there is one deep emotion that will fail all languages in many occasions.

What can fail any language? LOVE.

Look at Rumi. Do you think Rumi talks about his wife? No. He talks about divine love. But can Rumi stop others to use his poems and quotes to admire other human beings. No. Freedom of expression. Unclear boundary, failure of accuracy. Dishonesty. Honesty.

How would you trust the sentence “I love you” even if someone truly loves you with no reason? How would love be conveyed with language if “I admire you” can’t even convince the other?

Yes. In general language is a tool to convey messages; but in some cases language is a blocker of a true message.

Some message won’t be strong enough articulated in any language but silence.

Silence is truly the highest level of communication.

Again please don’t quote me because I didn’t review my writing before uploading: typo and immature thought is everywhere.

❣️

Knot

Learning, Poetic
A knot is a safe
For love to bind a promise
Until time is up.

I bought the gold knot stud earrings in Madrid, a place making me realise that a most stunning place can be the least safe one

when buying it, I didn’t know the meaning of knot: they just looked stunning

only when ending the 20-day solo travel in some EU countries, I know the knot stud earring means love and unity

beautiful!

Sunday, Fun Day

Learning

Weekend in Hanoi means walking around a lake, this time the West Lake. It was fun especially when closed with facial treatment in one local spa, May Spa.

Hanoi has a lot of spas named May but my friend said this is the “original” May Spa. Ok, I took the chance to relax there with facial treatment.

Hoa, the one doing the treatment was a polite woman who did her job very gently and thoroughly. Thank you, Hoa.

Let’s face the next week with the vibe!

with the daughter of the spa owner, cute!