Curtains of Light

You're so brilliant,
Flickering rays dancing bright.
You hide the love behind curtains of light,
Unveiled.

It was my father’s 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 😁 to us, rare and beautiful — shining in the dark.

aurora borealis….

if time allows….

About aurora

Perfect Weekend

Weekend, Beloved
Perfect with noisy kitchen
And finished laundry--

today’s healthful brunch❣️ we call it urap in Javanese cuisine — the raw leaves are “kencur” from the pot in the balcony ♥️

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 😎

Work & Study

In this life of hues
How can I note what’s 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 🍀

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

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!

Pose as you love to.
Life gives one chance for one name.
Breathe in and breathe out.

my friend in his funny pose 😂

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!

Epic Dinner

Today's dinner of a dreamer
Looks like a dream
Tastes like a dream
Smells like a dream
Sounds like a dream
But feels real
At a table for one
Of epic dinner.

Today’s dinner was way beyond my expectation especially the size. The taste was still as predicted as Thai food to be yet the vibe where I enjoyed my dinner was so relaxing that everything became good!

Let me show you today’s epic dinner.

In fact I surpassed the word gluttony. Please forgive me for being so greedy yet not finishing the order.

Next time better (better means eat more???) 🙃

💕

namprikapik muang kung: mackerel, deep fried eggplant, omelett cubes plus all the raw vegetable (some leaves like coriander leaves and others i know not, long bean, cucumber, small eggplant) and the shrimp paste sauce

❣️❣️❣️

fabulous💕

miang krob bai mara: deep fried bitter gourd leaves❣️❣️❣️

kaeng leang: spicy herb vegetable soup with prawns

butterfly pea leaves tea❣️❣️❣️

this… is… the pinnacle! i thought it was a warm drink as a gift — lucky i asked: it was to wash my hand 😂😂😂

and so i did

it smelled good yet my hand is coloured now 😂😂😂

Fresh

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!!! 💋💋💋

Twins

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 😍

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 👍🏽

the Twin Towers across the 38th floor

Preference

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” ☺️

Navigated

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 😍

thank you❣️

About manta ray

Experience

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

Fresh and Unique

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 ☺️ — unique and cool

Cảm ơn, Hanoi 🙏🏼

The Fool

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 ❣️

Lost? Found!

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! 😂

A Little Frog

A little frog leaps
Across ocean in a pail.
Clean water splashes.

ranunculus, the little frogs ☺️

Chair

Some people choose flowers,
Some ice cream,
Some either as the chair is the glazed pleasure,
Not what's before.

there is a chair behind flowers, there is a chair behind ice cream — which chair do you want to sit on?

In Javanese culture chair symbolizes status, authority, power.

The chair can also be compared with someone who gives one’s lap for sitting that symbolizes comfort, indulgence.

Seems like those two are different but both can give the same quality of life either positively or negatively.

When someone gives you comfort as if you are everything, yes you might be everything but that person at the same time is controling your status, your authority, control your power — making you a puppet graciously. Graciously at least, you said.

There is a Javanese adage “wong yen wis dipangku mesthi mati” that can mean “put someone on your lap and s/he will die”.

Pangku or pangkon is one device in Javanese script to “close”, to “kill” a “root consonant” at the end of a word. When an alphabet is followed by a pangkon device, it will turn to a closed consonant, a “dead” end.

pangkon: the Javanese alphabet that provides lap to a root consonant and closes or kills it 😍

e.g.: how “harusa”, “makana”, “minuma”, “bapaka”, “rudala” and “kusuta” are turned to “harus”, “makan”, “minum”, “bapak”, “rudal” and “kusut” by a indulging pangkon

Congratulations. You’ve got a chair. You’ve sat on a comfortable lap. You are the master of a universe. Yet remember, the chair can topple down, the lap is just a part of an individual who has mind– the master mind that governs you. You lose without truthfully winning. 💕

I see just a chair. With flowers. Or with ice cream. Or with both. Or without any. Both sweet through different senses, enticing for comfort. For just a glance. For just a sniff. For just a lick. For just a second. And then blended with a familiar taste name “just now”, a dead end before now.

A chair is a past tense adorned by a hope.

Dear, Life. Thanks much for the endless love. I need no chair except the mountain under the white cloud. I need no lap but breathing this fresh air. And how much ever I want someone or something, I will never take them from their chairs or their laps. Let them be empowered or expelled there — it is their best place. Be peaceful❣️

Let me be with those sitting on no chair but the lap of a naked soul. ❣️

Thank you, dear mother tongue. Even your Phonetics and Phonology bear insight and wisdom.

Thank you, my twisted-cum-twisting mind.

Never Matters, No More

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

The Right Things

If you want to climb through me,
Step on my shoulders,
Not on my head.
These shoulders are strong enough
To bear and push you up.
This head is only to decide if what you do is right.

hard-boiled egg is my preference; you can prefer medium or soft or even raw to consume but all of us peel the egg before eating because that’s what we call eating it right 🤪 and don’t forget to eat it with mouth, not your eyes

Tested Every Day

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 😍

i am fasting and getting tested with these sweets and freshness 😍 not difficult to pass this easy test though

The Fool

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

Dear, You

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.

❣️

Salam.

** civilized to me means NO FREE SEX, NO DRUGS, NO ALCOHOL ♥️

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

Luck

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!

Why

None ever knows why,
All happen through unknown plan
Swarming around light
Celebrating unknown-ness
Night after night with no end.

kind of amazed that Daniel Goleman is into meditation 🤯

Souvenirs

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