Social Individualist

Grateful for Having Finished Editing Max' Photos

2012-01-14T15:56:00.017+07:00

Day 72 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful to have finished editing Max' photos that I took last month."

Actually it was already done almost instantly after the photo session. But I only focused on the few chosen ones now since the files were saved in the PC (not the laptop) and we hadn't fixed a place for the PC until just before Vincent left for Thailand. :P

But I'm happy it's done. I posted some on Facebook and some others in my photoblog.

Here's some for this blog. :)

Grateful for the Song "Sexy and I Know It"

2012-01-13T16:13:00.000+07:00

Day 71 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that I found this funny song."

You've gotta love this song!!! Not only that finally men seem to be subjected to skin-revealing sexy objects (or subjects) instead of women, but the way it is expressed really appeals to my humour. It makes me smile every single time I watch it.

Grateful that the Manager is Very Helpful

2012-01-12T12:53:00.000+07:00

Day 70 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that the manager of the villa is very accommodating and helpful."

I suppose it's already his job description to be accommodating and helpful, but I've lived in Bali long enough to have met the so-called managers who simply can't care less.

But Wayan is nothing like that. He's young, polite, helpful and he can do many things, too. As a manager, he's not as diplomatic - as in giving much selling value of this very villa - because he's too honest to the clients (us). But that makes me respect him, despite the so many daily problems we encounter in this new place. Instead of defending the villa for its other good qualities, he admits its shortcomings and tries to fix the problems.

If only the other Balinese/Indonesians were like that. :P

Grateful that Annerie and Laura Already Left When There Was Water Problem

2012-01-11T22:01:00.010+07:00

Day 69 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that Annerie and Laura already left the house when the water problem struck."

Every new place has its own problem, no matter how comfortable it looked the first time you saw it. So does my house. After the leaks in both bedrooms were temporarily closed, now the water was not coming out. We'd find that in the middle of doing dishes, taking a shower and doing some private toilet stuff. Alas, for the latter business since we couldn't help not having it, we'd have to take a pail - sometimes two or three - of water from the jacuzzi. Hah! If someone ever asked me again what the jacuzzi was for, I'd happily provide them with this fact that it supplied emergency toilet water if your only water source wasn't coming out.

Anyway, it happened in the evening and I was already tired from entertaining my guests this morning and working on my articles afterwards. I just SMS-ed the manager about it and I'll just see what he's going to do about it tomorrow. But it was good that it only happened after the girls left. It would have been so embarrassing if it happened before.

Grateful to Have Annerie Staying Over

2012-01-10T23:05:00.019+07:00

Day 68 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful to have Annerie staying over for a night with her friend, Laura."

It's time for a girl's day (and night) again!!! Annerie pays a visit today bringing over Laura, one of her close friends to the south. They're staying the night at my place today and leaving tomorrow back to Candidasa. With the sad windy, rainy, stormy weather the past three days, I thought it would be nice to be surrounded with nice people (Annerie, Laura and my sister Ita).

So we dined, we shopped (this one allocated waaaaay much more than the other activities), we gossiped, we karaoked (can never escape from this as long as you're with Annerie) and we drank champagne! Yes, Annerie brought a bottle of champagne and the three of us (my sister not joining) toasted for 3 different celebrations - based on what each of us was grateful of at the moment. Swell!

As if Mother Earth knew that these girls wanted to go out too, she stopped the rain and the scary wind and brought a bit of sun back to us. The view at our parking place was so gorgeous today I just had to stop and photographed it.

It's a beautiful day.

Grateful that I Haven't Made a Ceremony for Mouche's Ashes

2012-01-09T14:55:00.001+07:00

Day 67 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that I haven't done the ceremony I wanted to do for Mouche."

Not sure why. But Vincent's absence makes me keep thinking about Mouche. How I wanted her to move with us here. How she would be happy to finally have her real garden to play. There is another stray cat here that seems to be comfortable staying in our place. The thing is, it's a stray cat. It steals food and it poops everywhere. I wish it was Mouche.

We were planning to make a little ceremony for Mouche, keeping half of her ashes at home and the other half spread onto the sea. But we haven't got around to do it, due to the so many things we had to do. Travelling and moving taking place in the same month is a real work, I tell you. So, this is what I do every morning and afternoon: burning an incense with lavender smell next to Mouche's ash pot. I never really got it what was the importance of burning incense. But it calms me down and hopefully her too, wherever she is.

I still miss her heaps. Even more when my only distraction - Vincent - is not here.

Grateful that Food Photography is More Easily Done Now

2012-01-08T08:02:00.001+07:00

Day 66 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that I have an open kitchen and living room now, that making food photographs with natural light is not an issue anymore."

I'm not a sweet tooth. But today I wanted brownies so bad. And guess what, my new place is strategically located near Bali Buddha, which allows me to buy some baking stuffs or ready-made fresh baguettes! So I gave it the first visit today and found some cashew nuts offered in very reasonable price. I took a pack and went back home to make my most-savoured brownies.

I found it really fun to cook in this house! The kitchen is freaking small, but since it's in the same room with the living room/dining room, overlooking the garden, it didn't feel that small. What's great too is that I can make nice photographs with the abundance of light coming in from the garden. Look at some of the photos below I made on the making of the brownies.

Not bad, right? In my other houses, I would be very, very lucky if I could get photos that weren't blurred. The other way to do it was by using flash, but I personally don't like it. It'd just make the photos go bleh...

Anyhoo, if you're interested in trying out this brownies a la Carla, check out the recipe here.

Grateful for Having Ita at My Place while Vincent's Gone

2012-01-07T15:14:00.022+07:00

Day 65 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful for having Ita at my place while Vincent's gone."

So, because of the grateful project, I had to put the positive side of something even when I was so negative. :P

I was negative because:
Not even a week after Vincent was back from France, he has to go again for 2.5 weeks to Thailand and Vietnam for work. We haven't even enjoyed the garden together. We haven't even enjoyed the jacuzzi together. He hasn't even contributed in the unpacking task - though perhaps he never would if he stayed. :P But it was really annoying. I haven't been able to sleep well in the new house. Yes, it's nice and all, but it's a new bedroom, a new smell, a new space, new everything... Vincent was as annoyed because he was really tired from everything and he wanted to bond with the new house, too.

There was another negativity that didn't concern us. My sister, Ita, was kicked out of her boarding house (kos). THAT was familiar and rude. I had that too once with my first kos. They just kicked me out just like that because they had another tenant that was willing to pay higher for the room. And just the day before they were still smiling wide to me as if nothing was wrong. MONEY IS EVIL, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! And greed is consuming Bali and its people. SHAME!

However, that event forced her to find whatever kos she could find within days upon her arrival from her Christmas/New Year holiday in Surabaya so that she could dump her things there and I'd offered her to stay at mine instead while Vincent's gone. Win-win solution: she's got a place to stay and I'm not alone in a house I don't feel attached to yet.

So yeah, we're looking forward to fighting again. :D Well, that's what she and I do more than anything else. But better that than be lonely.

Here's Ita at the Jacuzzi.

Grateful that Vincent was Staying Another Day

2012-01-06T15:30:00.001+07:00

Day 64 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that Vincent was Staying Another Day."

Why would he have to leave, right? He was just back not even a week ago.

Well, he has too. Work calls! Pffff...

The company he works for is sending him to Thailand and Vietnam for 2.5 weeks. Sigh. Anyway, nothing I can do about it. But I was just annoyed that it had to be now. If it had been next week, it would have been better.

The good news is: he's supposed to leave today, but it's postponed to tomorrow morning. YAY! Such a good timing because this evening it rained so very, very hard that we found leaks in both bedrooms! He made a call to the owner and insisted that it would be fixed tomorrow before he left for Thailand. And I can enjoy the snuggle for another few hours. ^^

Grateful to Have My Retractable Clothesline Installed

2012-01-05T07:05:00.001+07:00

Day 63 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful to have my retractable clothesline installed."

Even before moving, this retractable clothesline I found at Ace Hardware already attracted me. I thought it was such a good way to hang clothes under the sun without having the big physical look of the clothes dryer. The new house is small and we hardly have any space for storage. I had to give away some big furnitures, paintings and printed canvas photos when we moved. To buy a new clothes dryer that I couldn't store anywhere but at the garden was silly. I mean, the biggest attraction of the house is the garden, why would I want to disgrace it by placing a clothes dryer, right?

So I bought this retractable clothesline. It's simple to use and you can hide it when unused - which is most of the time. I think this is one of the best inventions this decade!

The Retractable Clothesline from Ace Hardware

The nice, helpful manager of the villa helped me install the clothesline. Now I can dry the clothes easily and enjoy the smell of the fresh drying clothes mixed with the freshness of the garden smell. How nice and convenient.

Grateful for My Appreciation to Tea

2012-01-04T08:32:00.007+07:00

Day 62 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that I've come to appreciate tea as one of the greatest things in life that give me comfort."

I used to hardly notice the existence of tea. I always grew up with it, though drinking tea had always been optional instead of compulsory. But since I spent slightly over a year in Tegal, a sleepy town in Central Java whose biggest produce is tea, I put more appreciation to it.

It's clearly that town that changed my mind. It's definitely the strong fresh smell of the tea that attracted me to it. It was probably because I had no better option, since buying water cost me money while plain warm tea was free in any restaurant. I didn't realise it back then I was already hooked to tea.

It was only after I left Tegal that I came to miss tea. And the widely-sold, super practical teabags were no longer enough. So I've ventured every shop and supermarket for the real tea leaves to brew. Fortunately in Bali you can get almost everything.

This morning, I'm enjoying my solitary with a warm cup of plain tea. No sugar.

Life is good.

Grateful to Be Waking Up to the Sounds of Birds

2012-01-03T08:19:00.000+07:00

Day 61 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful to be waking up to the sounds of birds and to the magnificent view of rice fields and mountains as I open the bedroom window."

After over 4 years living in Bali, I finally feel like I'm living in Bali. :)

Grateful for My Beautiful Garden

2012-01-02T17:33:00.007+07:00

Day 60 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful for my first-ever, most beautiful little garden."

The new house has some nice features that I love... such as the wooden second floor, the thatched-roof style, the smart dining table and the spacious bathroom. But the centre of the attraction is really the garden. I've seen huge gardens with swimming pool, etc. and my garden is far from huge. But then big doesn't always mean beautiful. Big gardens that feel empty suck a lot. But small gardens with careful planning and care make the perfect ones. I'll say no more and just let the pictures speak.

Yeah, I'm that one lucky girl.

Grateful to Have Moved to the New House Despite the Hangover

2012-01-01T23:12:00.006+07:00

Day 59 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that we've managed to move to the new house today, despite the terrible, terrible hangover."

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope the year 2012 brings you lots of happiness and success in whatever you do. :)

Second of all, who in their right mind thinks that moving to a new house right on the first day of the year is a good idea?

US. Vincent, especially, but also me for agreeing to it. And of course, we were so damn wrong.

But the timing couldn't have been worse. We just arrived from our travel just a few days before we had to move. And if we'd have stayed longer in the previous house, we'd have been charged daily rate. So for the New Year's eve this year, we planned not to party. We planned not to go home early in the morning like we usually did. We planned not to drink too much to celebrate it. We wanted to be sober and excited as we entered our new beautiful house. After all, we were all tired - Vincent from the jetlag and me from packing things into the so many boxes.

But none of the plans worked out. Naturally. Greg called to invite us to have a small celebration at his place with one other couple. Vincent said we would just go there, have one drink and go to celebrate New Year's eve on our own, just the two of us. That never happened. :P

Don't get me wrong, it was a nice gathering with nice people. I enjoyed it very much. However, when we went home at 3 (still earlier than usual), we were absolutely drunk. And dead. And nobody heard the moving guys ringing the bell at 11 AM. They tried to call me three times and I only answered the last ring. Then it rained.really.really.hard.

It must have been a sign.

Vincent was so sick he couldn't get up. So we asked the guys to come back later when the rain stopped.
They did go, except that when I felt better at around 2, they refused to come back because they were out enjoying the New Year's holiday. Perfect. Perfect, perfect, perfect.

My maid called another moving company, and we were lucky to get one that worked on 1 January. We agreed on a price, which was a lot more expensive than our previous guys, but we just couldn't wait until we could be in the new place.

It was drizzling during the move, Vincent and I were both sick, we arrived at the new house and the manager wasn't around to open the door and give us the key to the gate. We couldn't even get into our own new house! Yes, you can laugh now.

So.... we were stranded outside of the villa for at least half an hour, or maybe it was an hour, until someone handed in the key. Alas, the loading and unloading process only finished at around 8 PM.

We thought we were dying. And starving. So Vincent wanted to order some pizza. I was ready with my phone to order it until...

"What's our address?" I asked him.
"Shit. I don't know," he said.

And after half an hour waiting for the SMS reply from the owner of the villa about the address, Vincent gave up and said, "I'll find something to take away."

Dinner was at 10.

Grateful that We Will Be Moving to a Better Place Tomorrow

2011-12-31T18:32:00.002+07:00

Day 58 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that we will be moving to a better place TOMORROW."

It's a busy day today. We're preparing for our big moving day tomorrow to a new better place in Umalas. It's only 10 minutes ride from our present house and the building itself is smaller than the one we are living at the moment, but it's got a beautiful, beautiful garden. And jacuzzi. In the garden. Yay!

We decided to rent this house - or villa, as it claims to be - long time ago after our trip to Sidemen (remember my birthday and diving trip?) We compared the house we were staying in Sidemen with the one we were living in Seminyak. The Sidemen house was also a much smaller house, but all around it was so green and peaceful and lovely - not very surprising since it's located at a very strategic spot by the foot of the moutain. Of course it would have been too much to expect that there would be many places in Kerobokan that had such an excellent view. But really, a garden would have been enough. Also we thought it would have been a better place for Mouche the cat. She never really had a chance to explore outdoor world. And she will never now. :(

Anyway, it's still exciting to be moving out of this house. There had been more pain than laughter taking place in here, and both Vincent and I could use a little more spark in life. The new place is expensive for our budget but I hope and think it'll be worth every penny.

Here's a YouTube video Vincent found on the house we will be moving to tomorrow.

Grateful that Vincent is Back

2011-12-30T08:12:00.007+07:00

Day 57 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that Vincent is back."

These past two weeks felt like two months. Time went by sooooo slowly. But nothing matters anymore. He's here.

Grateful for My New Haircut

2011-12-29T19:02:00.024+07:00

Day 56 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful to have such a nice new haircut today."

Do you remember when I had my hair dyed RED 2 months ago? I looked like this.

I knew I should have had a new haircut to go with the fashion red colour, but I was already too excited to even make that attempt. The hairdresser told me that it would stay red for 2 months, then it would turn copper. He was correct. Starting from early this month it changed to copper, and still looked good on me. I was planning to have a haircut to match it.

Today, I thought it was the right time to do it. Vincent is coming back from France tomorrow and I want to look different. So I went to my favourite hair salon and had my hair changed to this.

Nice, eh? You can't really see my highlight there because I was using one of instagram's filters but you have an idea of the new hairstyle.

Now I'm definitely ready to welcome Mr Boyfriend back! Yay!

Grateful that I Get My Fast Internet Back

2011-12-28T07:30:00.004+07:00

Day 55 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that I get my fast internet back!"

You simply don't know what you miss before it's gone. I was working while I was in Surabaya for Christmas and my brother nicely lent me his modem and internet line. But oh how slow it was! Apparently he didn't have the same internet connection as he did in July. This time, browsing for one single web page took forever. Very frustrating when you had deadlines waiting.

Anyway, back in Bali and at home, back to fast internet. Life is awesome again.

Grateful to be Back in Bali

2011-12-27T23:33:00.038+07:00

Day 54 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful to be back in Bali after the Borneo and Christmas trip to Surabaya."

I had great time during the Borneo trip and the short Christmas one to my mom's in Surabaya. I spent the whole time coughing madly and no matter how many cough syrup bottles and other meds that I took, I never seemed to get better. And for the first time in life, I threw up every time the cough attacked. Yet, every moment of this holiday mattered. Borneo took my mind away a little bit of the unfortunate event we had with our kitty and my family kept me busy with their incredibly idiotic jokes and rude Surabayan-style madness. Kabuki, the only pet left in my family after Zwartje and Mouche passed away, looked healthy though his fur was falling off. Note to self: get a vet check him for any skin disease.

Kabuki, Zwartje's son

A giant fly digging into the ground for, I don't know, lying its eggs?
This is not a macro picture. The photo is sharp as it is because it was.simply.the.biggest.fly. I've ever seen in life.

The holiday would have been perfect if Vincent had been with me. But it wasn't bad at all, either. Anyway, it still feels nice to be back home.

Grateful that the Year is Almost Over

2011-12-26T17:24:00.000+07:00

Day 53 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that the year is almost over."

It would actually have been a very good year if Mouche hadn't died. It crushed me to pieces as my baby got diagnosed for Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) at the very late stage of her sudden intestinal infection. I never even knew before that AIDS attacked cats, too. Or any other animals for that matter. It would sound like another excuse for stopping the blog for a while... but I wouldn't joke about death.

However, I'm back blogging. Hopefully to write the things that I can be grateful of these past weeks when I didn't blog.

Grateful to Have Found Out a Better Way to Turn Down Requests for Free Photo Publication or Work

2011-10-17T17:09:00.008+07:00

Day 52 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful to have found out this link that lines out why photographers can't work for free."

I'm not a big time photographer. The business started at a very slow pace and although I got tons of requests for photography quotes in the beginning of it, not many were actually meaning to spend much money (or even little) for their event/business or whatsoever. Some even got the guts to ask me to do work for free because we were "friends." And suddenly I've got more people whom I'd never spoken to more than three years claimed to be my "friends" for the free shots. I appreciate clients who try to negotiate my price, but not those who want free work. How could a photographer make a living if everyone wants services for free? Do you go to a dentist, ask him to fix your teeth, thank him for doing it for free then walk away?

This was one of the causes that made me struggle to build a photography business, despite the fact that there are abundant so-called photographers who perhaps have better photography equipments than mine but use merely Auto function most of the time and spend more post work on the computer. This was one of the causes that sadly put me down and forced me to find another way to make money - writing and graphic designing - to actually make a living. Not that I don't like doing those two, but I just much prefer photography.

And if you go to Indonesian photography online groups and forums like fotografer.net, you'll see why this trend emerges. Many, many beginners are willing to shoot for free, which is naturally fine, I guess, for their learning process. But you get what you pay for. And clients should stick with them if they don't want to spend money. The thing is when you ask someone who earns their living solely on photography to work for nothing for you, that's just mean selfish.

Anyway, people can only try, right? If you can get things for free, why not just try? But you see, the problem I was having as the person asked to donate my photos was how I could turn down these requests without sounding rude and ruining my reputation? Well, the link I provided above puts all my thoughts perfectly without trying to overwhelm a potential client. The author, Tony Wu, makes it available for free to use for photographers and also for other creative workers like graphic designers, programmers, musicians, writers (did I tell you that my articles were stolen too?), painters, etc. after they make their own adjustment.

If you find this useful, you can take it too and provide a link back to it as the original source.

Grateful for Having Finally Won against My Fear of Deep Water

2011-10-16T13:37:00.003+07:00

Day 51 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that I had finally won against my fear of deep water."

We dived!!!

Because of my inconsistency in blogging my 356 grateful days project, I missed to state one of the most awesome highlights of the year: my lovely birthday trip in Amed and Sidemen.

After my devastating 31st birthday last year - not how I spent the day, but this referred to my feelings back then - I decided that I didn't want any party this year. Vincent actually didn't either for his birthday, but his family was here in August and they threw him a nice birthday party in their villa. He couldn't escape his own birthday party, could he? But before anybody was thinking to throw me any party, I told Vincent that I didn't want to have one. Instead, I wanted to travel. He said, "Great idea, we can do that."

So we packed our bags and went to Amed for our first diving experience. Especially for me, this was a big thing. I was once that little girl who was running about in my grandparents' house and fell into the big underground water tanks whose lid was open and had water phobia ever since. I remember before I was twelve years old, I had to get my mother to wash my hair every.single.time. She'd get me to face the ceiling as she shampooed and rinsed my hair. If any drop of water was slipping through my forehead and reaching my eyelids, I'd immediately panicked, screamed and gasped for air. Only in 2007 I managed to beat my water phobia and learn to swim. And 28 August 2011 marked the day when I finally dived. Something that was out of the question with me before. But I did it anyway!!!

I was proud of myself.

Yes, indeed in the second dive I was choked at the bottom of the sea, most possibly because the fried squid I ate for lunch half an hour before wanted to escape my throat. I coughed it out, lost my primary regulator, managed to get it back but couldn't clear the water at all! I signalled the dive instructor that I had problem with it, he tried to fix it, but water still came in. I couldn't breathe for a period that I thought the longest time I held my breath in my life, and when finally I realised I had nothing but salty water for the next forever, I grabbed, scratched and chocked the dive instructor. He took us to the surface after he managed to get away from my violent strangling action, and let me tell you, my friends.... I've never felt so RELIEVED in my life EVER. I'd never been so grateful for the oxygen; the cheapest, most important yet often taken-for-grated thing in life, until then! I spent the next two minutes crying out loud while floating, throwing up tons of sea water out of my stomach and taking as much as air as I could into my lungs. But then a question was posed by the instructor. Did I want to go back to the beach or did I want to go back down the sea?

Although my first thought was that it was so mean to ask this kind of question when I hadn't even finished puking, I knew that I had to answer that anyway. And after like 5 minutes thinking - that was long by the way if you were floating in the middle of the sea - I decided to go back down the sea.

I was proud of myself again.

My throat fucking hurt and I couldn't stop coughing even when diving, but I tried to distract my attention to the beautiful fishes, the ruins of a small ship and the feeling that I was safe with these two guys. It wasn't a very long journey, but the satisfaction that I actually chose to go back to the sea after I thought that I was gonna die was incredible. For a water coward, I felt very brave.

Anyway, we went back to the hotel very, very tired that day, but we definitely got such unforgettable memories.

Practising at the pool before diving in real.

Just before our first dive

Finding Nemo

That was me, during the few seconds when I let go the hand of my dive instructor. Hehe

Vincent, a natural first time diver

holding seastar

Grateful for Having Decided to Travel to Borneo in December

2011-10-15T06:41:00.007+07:00

Day 50 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful for having decided to travel to Borneo this December."

After sulking for a few days because again, this year I'm not going to spend Christmas with Vincent, I came up with a positive side of the whole thing: that at least I didn't know it last minute. One of my last year's resolution was to travel more this year, with or without Vincent. And I have completed that by going to Menjangan Island in the north west of Bali and diving in Amed for my birthday. They were super nice and each was a new experience. But there's nothing that could beat the thrill to get out of the paradise island and explore a whole new place with totally different views. So Garuda Indonesia was on promo on all domestic flights and I spent the whole evening to find a cheap ticket somewhere....

That's right. I had no idea where I should go. I wanted to go to the eastern parts of Indonesia but the flying cost was still way more expensive than if I take a flight to Singapore, for example. Leave alone the accommodation and the living costs. :P So when I saw that flights to Balikpapan were discounted like crazy cheap, I booked a return ticket there in December. Yay!

I'll be alone traveling there and that's fine with me (though perhaps not with Vincent). But that really can't bother my excitement for December.

Now, I need to work hard to save for my trip. Yahooo!!!

Grateful that I'm Finally Done with APPMI Postediting

2011-10-14T16:57:00.002+07:00

Day 49 of 365 Grateful Days Project:

"I'm grateful that I'm finally done post-editing the photos of APPMI annual meeting."

There were like about 1000+ photographs and after the first sorting, I'd be delivering approximately 900 photos to APPMI (Asosiasi Perancang Pengusaha Mode Indonesia) or Indonesian Fashion Designers Association. That was a lot and exhausting. But as usual, working with visual things, including photography, pump me up. Especially this event... every time I opened a photo file on Photoshop, I'd have to giggle. We have seriously funny fashion designers in this country!!! Check out some of the photos below. I'll post more on my FB page.

Gotta love their styles

Looks like candid, right? But it was not. They staged this pose. Hehe..

And they brought sexy male magazines, which both male and female designers alike loved.
The photographer loved it, too.

As usual, I tried to get at least one photo of myself. This one was inside the elevator with Anastasia Hoeng,
a designer from Jakarta.

This is Eny Ming, inside the hotel room.
She owns a boutique on Jalan Legian, Bali.

The second night was the most fun time during the gathering. These designers went mad on the dancing floor
as well as the stage of G-Terraz restaurant and how my stomach cramped from non-stop laugh!

So... it was tiring, but the post production was more tiring. But then all in all, it was such an awesome experience and I made so many friends in such a short time. Good luck, Indonesian Fashion Designers!!!

Grateful that I'm Fine after the Bali Earthquake

2011-10-13T15:43:00.002+07:00

Day 48 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that I'm fine after the earthquake."

A 6.2 richter scale earthquake shook Bali at 11.30 today and I was scared to death! As usual I was working alone from home and without any subtle warning, the ground shook hard. I quickly realised that it was an earthquake and started calling Mouche the cat. I spent about 2 seconds looking for her before realising that she might be in a better hiding place than I was. So I just rushed outside on my own. I was about to step out of the porch when broken roof tiles flew off over my head and I knew instantly that I wouldn't be safer from the falling debris this way. I heard my neighbours scream as more roof tiles broke and I was really not sure if I should be inside the house with chances of the ceiling fell over me or outside with the violent flying debris.

Fortunately it was over before anything chunky fell over my head. It was reported that at least 50 people were injured from the earthquake, most of who were highschool students.

I decided that outside was better than inside, since repeat quakes were most likely to happen for this scale. So I quickly took a shower and went to Inga's place in Sanur. On the way there, I had to stop in front of Carrefour on Sunset Road because of this:

God has a funny way to show us how little our problems (that we think are big) are.