CHRISTMAS 2016

Christmas is not about the christmas tree, decorations or Santa Clause. They're only products for commercial in this materialistic world. 

Christmas is all about Jesus. HE was born, sent to the sinful world so that we can be saved. HE was born for you and me. That's the greatest love of all. Christmas is about love declaration of God to human being. Love which enables us to love, respect, care and support others

In HIS steadfast love, HE sent me this beautiful angel, Kiki, as the special gift to accompany me along the journey on this sometimes bumpy road called life. 

May the love, Joy and Peace poured abundantly upon you and your family

From us to you, Merry Christmas!

ANOTHER YEAR TO GRATEFUL FOR

A birthday is always special to me. Its a day to celebrate ME and my entrance into the world. I always make sure to remember peoples' birthdays and to say something or give them a card. I like people to feel special and loved on their birthday. Wishing them some happiness and love today, on their special day.

When I was a child that event's special because I received lot of gifts but after and as an adult because I am around people that care about me and love me

On the top of that, I use it as a day to reflect on all of my many blessings and be grateful that I can celebrate.

My dear friends, I Thank you so much for the kind birthday wishes. You helped making it a very happy birthday. I don’t think of it as being another year older. I think of it as another year of having enjoyed friends like all of you. I deeply appreciate it . Thank you.... much much love!!

Thanks very much for the wonderful feelings you gave me on this special day and made it the most memorable birthday of my life. God bless you!!

Special notes to : Anung : thanks for lending me your vintage Vespa. It brings my memory back to the time when I was in Junior High School. Severin : thanks for the beautiful birthday cake, you know how to make me feel special. Lintang : thanks for taking me around the hotel with Vespa. Roberto : thanks for  making that cute overload pose. You never fails to crack me up 

My best wishes go to you as well!!

I KNOW WHAT TO DO BUT I DON'T DO IT (II)

I was talking about knowing things to do but do not really want to do it in fact. I kind of promise that I will continue to talk about it, and  It’s a bit sad knowing that I posted that on March 3 2016, and I am now just typing to continue my writes

Ups! So long, in fact that’s too long for a write up. Sorry, I was just too busy on the work and (again. Sorry!) I was just too lazy. Aha!!

COMFORT, was one topic that I brought up as a cause why people don’t really do what they already knew they have to do. We are too afraid or too comfortable to leave our comfort zone. Change is good, but frankly speaking, its scary as well, too much worries

The second thing is GOAL. What about it?

I took a Mandarin class couple years back, it was just because in the city like Surabaya with huge Chinese community, ability of speaking Mandarin is a plus in person qualification. Its interesting , while in my daily work, speaking Mandarin is not needed at all, Mandarin proficiency is not much needed in the field I am into. So, long story short, I went through the course in full spirit in the first week, but when dealing with the difficulty of writing Mandarin letters (Chinese Pin Yin), I gave up.

Why? Because I do not have a clear goal of doing this thing. Clear goal or target is an energy we need to fight when dealing with struggles / barrier or obstacles. I could not find the important points of speaking Mandarin incorporated it to my daily work. I can only speak little bit in Mandarin just because of growing up in Chinese family. Well, to some people to sacrifice their time to learn something new is good, but to me in this kind of thing, especially in learning Mandarin, aaah, I just don’t like it. AHA! 

It leads me to the third thing I’m gonna talk about, PREFERENCE

I love to read and sing. Reading and singing are never boring to me, its always bring joy and cheerfulness. Find things you like, and get into it. By having it we can go on and on joyfully. I do not have to think whether or not they will be useful in work or daily life, I just like it, I love it.

We know we have to do things but do not want to do it well. Check those three items : COMFORT, GOAL, PREFERENCE

What about living a healthy life, go on a diet, do exercise? Those are all must do things. Get out of our comfort zone? Aaaah, big NO, fighting a battle of laziness, aaah no no no (Hey, this has already been my constant battle hahaaaa). We don’t want to loose the battle (of course), but how many time we fail, we know how the guilty feeling will ruin us. But the show must go on, life must be lived healthy and well

I make a peace of myself. I accept my self the way I am and forever thankful of this curvy body GOD has entrusted to me. I do what I like to do in align that with a healthy living style. I do walking, I eat what I like but I limit it, I sing and never stop practicing to strengthen my diaphragm muscle. I do it in a pleasant way, and I go on

I KNOW WHAT TO DO BUT I DON'T DO IT

“Why don’t I do what I know I should do?” - Ever asked yourself that question?

Most of the time, we all know what we need to do things in order to attain our goals. That’s not the issue. We know what needs to be done. We just don’t do it. Why is it so hard to do what we must do to succeed, if we really want to succeed?

Perhaps we don’t want it THAT BAD?

That’s probably the case. We may tell ourselves we want to succeed, but if we cannot do whatever it may be to get there, then we don’t really desire it. We are not “hungry” enough. We want it, just not bad enough.

So what causes this?

COMFORT 

My mother always said, “Don’t be TOO comfortable, otherwise, you stop advancing”. It’s true. When we are in a position where we are comfortable & safe, it is extremely hard to get ourselves to move out of this “zone”. After all, it is human nature to seek comfort. Even if we may be looking at even more comfort with the added success, we are just not willing to give some of that current comfort to get there.

I have a friend who was looking into starting her own business. She had a great idea, good plans, and was pretty much ready to go. However, she needed to go at it full time. Therefore, she had to leave her current job, and she didn’t have a problem with that. The problem was, with the lack of money she would find herself with for the next year or so. You see, for her, she couldn’t give up her shopping, her nights out, her fancy suppers, etc. to fund her business. She was not willing to give part of her comfort to ultimately gain more later on. Yes, she wanted to do this business. She understood that in the long run, owning your own business is more beneficial than her current situation. However, she obviously did not want it bad enough. Because if she would have, she wouldn’t have a problem giving up some of her current perks to eventually gain much bigger ones.

Also, the fear of change & being stuck in a routine can destroy our motivation to move ahead. It’s like stepping into the unknown, and yes, we naturally do not like this. However, the quicker we understand that evolving is necessary for success, the easier it will be for us to get ourselves to do what we need to get done. Just know that we can adapt to any new situation. Humans are made to be this way. This is why we can live in very hot or very cold weather for example. We have a tremendous ability to adapt, so keeping that in mind eases the perception of change.

------to be continued-----

HIGH SCHOOL SILVER REUNION 2015

25 years after my high school graduation, we are all invited to REUNI PERAK - SMAGA batch 1990 in Kediri, my hometown, last December. I and Kiki flew to Kediri and spent our Christmas and year end holidays, while I attended my high school reunion

We stayed at one of the hotels in the city, and I didn't visit my childhood house this time, just paid a visit to my parents grave

Well, whether we like it or not, we are all like to be connected to our teenage years in some way. High school friends bring that connection. When you reconnect with a high school friend it is like nothing has ever changed. It could be the “group” you belonged to, or that you saw each other literally for seven times a day, or the sports you played. With your high school friends you get back into the swing of things in a millisecond.

OUR FLOWERY WEEKEND ESCAPADE

I wanna share our (what I called) flowery weekend escapade on the first week of December last year. It's a bit late post though but its too bad for not sharing the beauty of those flowers, or the beauty of us in these pictures, ha ha haaa just saying

It was happen when Kiki had her year end holiday and spent her time in Bandung and of course that this flower garden is so well known and become the hot topics of one of the sceneric photo spots, we have planned to go there

If life is a flower, then love is the beauty of that flower. Enjoy viewing and happy weekend!