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2011-12-30T22:53:00.000-08:00

Where have you been?
I've always been here. I've been trying to write but lots of things are happening I haven't gotten a time to sit like always.

I'm doing a food photography assignment for a client and it has taken lots of my free time. This assignment is particularly challenging because I have not cooked this type of dish before. The sheer size of the dish is enormous, but twice already it went to family friends who helped us finished it. That's the thing with shooting a cooked dish, the leftover is quite a bit and for the most part, edible. I don't feel like complaining because when it's said and done, I'd like to get a new lens for my camera :) But at times, I felt downhearted because I didn't feel like I did it correctly. Of course, this can be viewed as an exercise for me to get better and getting paid while experimenting.

There's an agony in the beginning when I was contacted to do the job. I wasn't a professional photographer, but I've longed to take on another challenge in food photography and this opportunity was simply couldn't be passed on. I spent some nights fretting about the terms of contract I had to write with lots of terminology that I've to learned quickly. So many things to learn, so little time to digest it all. Fortunately, the people whose I'm doing business are very warm and easy-going that it wasn't as scary as I thought. By being a local company, they're readily accessible for me and very helpful. Plus, the project goes on in a slow pace so I don't have to hurry; that's one thing that I like. I'm just praying that after this one, they'll have more projects for me to do.

Sigh...above paragraphs were written before Christmas and now it's after Christmas and I haven't even published it yet.

Christmas went well but I didn't get a chance to do anything relaxing!! Why do I always stay busy even though I'm not working? We had dinner with a family friend on Christmas Eve and we enjoyed my mom's cooking as well as mine. Made salmon Wellington with cold cucumber-dill sauce. It was okay, but I think I need to work on it more. My mom made Indonesian fried noodles and Kalasan chicken; I got to be her line cook and dishwasher person. She got to be the chef, she cooked, I cleaned. This Christmas I got to make stollen and panettone. The stollen was great, it was beautiful as well as delicious. The panettone on the other hand was okay in shape. I was thinking of dividing it into 2 so my parents would get one, but the recipe wasn't suitable to be divided into 2. The result was that the panettone was small even though it baked successfully. The taste was nice, a little dry, but still nice. These 2 breads are gonna be a tradition to make every Christmas.

And the project? I finally did it again on Thursday. The day was bright enough to get good light. The client was happy but she hasn't decided which one to choose from yet. I breathed a sigh of relief.

For the antidote of stressful week, I'm gonna have a little party tomorrow with one of N's friend's family. It'd be just a dessert party since we'd be able to sit and chat freely without having to prepare elaborate dinner, plus the kids will have time to play together. I just baked a lemon souffle cheesecake and am planning to make biscotti tomorrow if I've enough time. And speaking of relaxing, I also had a massage today. Perfect for ending the week! Happy New Year, see you again next year.

Discussion

2011-08-26T23:21:00.000-07:00

It started this way:

Someone is highly offended as being perceived as a different race than what one's originally from. From there one made comments that racism was involved, one was being treated differently, people make stereotypical comments because of one's facial features and name. One concluded that American people is dumb for not knowing how to differentiate a person's ethnic origin. Too lazy to learn, too bold to ask stupid and direct question.

This leads to a discussion that in the Portland area there are still lots of racism going on, especially when almost 90% of the people are whites. This someone feels that the gap between the have and the have-nots is too great. People in the US is getting too materialistic, all they think is about money and capitalism.

Then it leads to that the US doesn't really have a culture at all. What is the US culture? Is it by being a couch potato, watching football, drinking beers, etc. There seems no positive thing to follow.

And it's on to why the US is meddling into other country's business. Why is it that the US seems want to be recognized as the biggest and better country in the world?

In the end, after trying exhaustively to let her see the positive aspects of being an American, of the US as a country; I forgot to ask her the reason why did she come to the US in the first place. She's only been here for four years. Why did she want to go to a university here, why did she want to learn what is being taught in the classrooms if she doesn't agree with what the US believes. And why did she marry an American?

For someone who's very angry with America in general, she should see America outside of Portland. Travel around the country and see the people of America. Learn to appreciate what this country is all about. I have a feeling she's comparing America to her homeland, which has completely different culture than here. It's a little sad that one can be so hostile and yet at the same time makes a living here.

Hurry up, write some more, post the notes

2011-08-21T00:11:00.000-07:00

I though of sneak in some notes to post while I can. These next three weeks I've to do an assignment of eight recipes with photos to turn in by the second week of September. I'm in a hurry!

Let's go back to the last week of July. I went to Eastern Oregon with my family and my parents for five-day vacation. The timing was perfect, though the weather was awful in Portland area, once we past Hood River it turned out to be so nice. Eastern part of Oregon can be quite dry and hot during the summer unless it is around the mountainous areas. We're going to visit Pendleton, Enterprise, Joseph, and Wallowa Lake. I've been wanting to go to Wallowa Lake for a long time; a desire fueled by one of my son's preschool moms' story of growing up there and after reading a book by Ann Rule (it's a morbid decision!). The other factor deciding why we went there was that there's Chief Joseph the last weekend of July. I've always wanted to know what's it all about.

We stopped overnight at Pendleton and we visited the place where the Pendleton Round-Up will take place on September 14-17. We also visited Pendleton Woolen Mills and went on a tour of the mills. We drove on to Enterprise where it's going to be our base for three nights. The motel we picked was situated on the outskirt of Enterprise. The location was actually very beautiful, with sweeping valley and open landscape bordered by Wallowa mountains. It was very picturesque, almost like the Alps. The motel's neighbor was a ranch, though we couldn't see the house/barn, there were always horses on the other side of the fences. A sighting that we'd appreciate later on.

With a population of 96% whites, we stood out as tourists. Sometimes it's disconcerting, but we plowed on. Not that we experienced bad incidents, it's just pretty plain we're different. The next day we went to Wallowa Lake, a good decision because the weather couldn't be perfect. We wanted to go the tram to the top of Mt Howard, but it was closed in the morning due to maintenance. We went to the lake first because of that, and me, my son and my hubby rented a paddle boat. We had a good time in the lake, but I found out many days later that I got sunburned in the lake. For lunch, there's nothing like a picnic by the lake; my son also braved himself playing in the icy lake water. Each night was finished with a jump in the motel's pool for an hour, and not too mention sunbathing.

We woke up early the next day to go to Chief Joseph Days Grand Parade on Main Street. After parking our car, we chose one sidewalk and plopped down on the ground waiting until the parade started. Chief Joseph was the last head of Nez Perce tribe in Oregon and his remnant people were apparent in the parade. It was a short parade, people were in good spirit and the population of Joseph must have swelled twice than its normal size. Afterwards people wandered in town looking for food and entertainment. There's not much going on anymore other than the rodeo and traditional Indian dance that day. We waited for the longest time to get lunch at one restaurant and it was getting very hot so we decided to go back to the motel. For two nights in a row, we visited the horses. They're gentle animals, and were eager to meet us, hoping that we had treats for them.

The nighttimes there were surreal, there's almost this stillness that settled in the town and it got dark completely. At the same time, the sunset was always spectacular, I loved how the sun spread its rays and how the color of the sky changed. That's what I cherished the most while I was there. It's so much different than the city life, there's a peacefulness.

I'm only posting several pictures, for more please visit my Eastern Oregon album in Flickr.

An assumption

2011-08-19T22:30:00.000-07:00

It's shocking when people made an assesment about my age. It's like, really? Not in condescending way actually, it's actually a compliment. Maybe if younger people stop wearing so much make-up on their faces, then they'll look younger. Or is it maybe that I've to wear more make-up to reveal my true age?

Somebody mentioned to me that I looked around late 20's to early 30's. Life is so much happier when one made that assumption :)

I reached the milestone

2011-08-09T23:10:00.000-07:00

Sunset at Enterprise, Oregon

My hands are touching it, but my body doesn't need to do the same
Teach it to be forever young
A reflection of forty years ago, images flashing, past
They're behind
It's time to live the life to the fullest
Since I still have time

Far away

2011-07-26T23:17:00.000-07:00

There's an excitement in the air; it's always palpable before an adventure begins. I'm taking a 2-week vacation from my work, I can finally take a breather from hustle and bustle of work. There's work left behind though, I still need to do 2 more recipes and photo shoot then continue with writing them all down. Yes, all 10 of them needs to be done before August 12. When I was told about the deadline, it seemed so far away; now, it's only 2 weeks away. I'm confident I'll be done before that, it's just that my husband hinted that he might take another week off which meant I might also do the same. It's so tempting to not working, but I don't know yet.

So the road trip begins tomorrow. What's good about it is that I don't have to wake up way early to start though it'll take about 4 hours to drive to the destination ;) I'm ready to soak in more sunshine, it'll do good for my spirit. Bags are packed. Between ours and my parents, the car is surely full of stuff by the time we're ready to go. It's all good.

I was thinking about one thing several days ago; there's something that I was waiting in the mail. Today I got the answer. It's still quite unexpected, my heart leaped for joy when I read the mail. It's like a confirmation of what I've been doing so far is worthy of their opinion. For my photos to be licensed by them is like joining an elite group of people. I'm so humbled by the experience. This day couldn't be better. Thank you God for your abundant blessings.

Due dates

2011-07-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

Waking up to a drizzly and grey sky, wondering why all of sudden my summer is full of due dates? Where is that sigh of relief?

I'm working thinking that my assignment is only one that's due in August, but suddenly I'm flooded with another assignment that looks like will start soon after I'm done writing, cooking, and photographing. Hey, if this sounds like I'm whining, honestly, I'm for a moment. I have a bad habit of having two opposite point of views looking into my life this summer. In one view, I want my summer to be slow and lazy, sort of not doing serious things, more to empty calendar. But in the other view, I wish I'm working, producing more dough so I can maybe fulfill my wish list, i.e. things related to photography. Isn't anyone else looking into the glass like me?

Check me back when I get my paychecks then maybe I'm happier.

New name, same face

2011-07-13T21:39:00.000-07:00

He walked into the room, hair slightly disheveled but with a fresh face. I raised my head, fixed my gaze at him for a minute, and was a bit startled. He reminded me of someone. He had same boyish face and mouth profile. I found it hard not to stare at him, I don't want him to think I was a creep. He and I might have to work together or at least be in the same place. A few minutes into the meeting, I knew where I saw that face. I couldn't put the name of the movie, but I knew I had to look it up at home.

Today, he was in the same place as I was and again, I was startled to see him. He actually threw a glance at me; I hope he's not thinking, here's this creepy Asian lady :) He cut his hair a little short though, but otherwise he looked the same. To look at his face is like looking at the movie star's face albeit a younger one.

Now I have the name, and it's Jason Segel. That's the actor, not that guy. That guy's name is Adam. I solved my own puzzle!

Succumbed

2011-07-09T15:00:00.000-07:00

It's not even over the weekend before I'm finally succumbed to buying the album via iTunes. I think it's actually quite dangerous to have iTunes in my computer as any unplanned key pressing would develop into titillating experience and horrible cash-draining habit. I have to keep reminding myself that even though it's there for convenience, it's not to be used to purchase anything for another year. So, yeah...I've the album now.

Speaking of money, it's sometimes depressing to see that how fast the sum of a paycheck will be almost gone by the end of the second week. The salary of a government employee can't match the increased absurdity of living expense in today's situation. That's why I decided to work during the summer months. This year we don't have plan to go abroad; the only travel we'll have during the summer is somewhere local. Traveling locally is actually not so bad, I can enjoy it better since I don't have to fly to reach it. And besides, after living in Oregon for so long, we really do have to know its Eastern-side landscape better.

The work that I'm doing is still relating to food, it's not much different than what I'm doing for the rest of the year. The pay isn't spectacular but somehow I like the interaction with other people. It's always unnerving in the beginning, but as I'm getting to know my co-workers, it's not so bad anymore. The only thing that's keeping me feeling a little bit guilty is that my son will be home for half a day with his grandparents. I don't want him to miss out the fun of summer, especially now the weather has turned into a great summer weather. My consolation--the one that I make myself believe--is that at least by only working for certain time, I'll still have time to plan some activities in the afternoon. And the perk of working during the day? I get to stay thin even though I don't have the energy to do my usual walk/jog after work; I tend not to eat that much when I'm busy working and since I pack my salad & fruits for lunch, I manage to eat pretty healthy. Love it.

Last Friday I got my first paycheck from this new workplace and when I got home I was surprised to see that the check from my April photo shoot came in the mail as well. Usually they're late because they only write the check at a certain period of time in the month. Only a day before I sent the corrected invoice to the accountant. Frankly, I'm quite happy. Maybe this is why I bought the album--thinking I've extra cash to spend :)

Any extra cash I've usually goes to whatever my son needs to have. One of the splurges we give him this year is by sending him to all-week camp at Big Lake. He's been asking when to go there pretty persistently for over a year; when my friend tells me she's sending her girls over there I proposed to my son that he goes as well, a lot of his school friends are going this year. He decided he's brave enough to do it by himself, and that's where he goes tomorrow until next Friday. We'll drive him there but he'll come home with my friend or the camp bus next week. I'm almost done packing his stuff though not his clothing. Looks like the weather up there will be nice as well. I'm praying that he'll be safe, healthy, and have an awesome time meeting up old and new friends.

Well, my songs just ended. I'm signing off for today.

I'm this close to buying it

2011-07-07T15:15:00.000-07:00

Ever since I discovered this band, I've been constantly listening to their music in my computer. It'll be nice to have it in a CD so I can listen it while I'm driving that's why I'm this close to buying it. But...I think I'm going to think it over this weekend.

This song is over 11 minutes long, but I'm never tired of listening to it :)

It's not you, it's just it

2011-06-25T23:47:00.000-07:00

This afternoon was my "apes" (read: æ-pĕ-s) day. "Apes" translates to unlucky in English. What happened was that I drove for half an hour to a destination, with my parents & son in tow, only to find that it was closed right after we went to the restroom. When we arrived it was still going on, so I could only blame the restroom for preventing us to do the right thing first. What this thing was a u-pick farm, where I was going to pick Hood strawberries. Closed for ripening was the first sign that has a bad taste, pun intended.

The sun was so glorious today, though it was actually still quite chilly. I guess people flocked to whatever they could do under the sun, be it lazying in the park, hiking to the gorge, or picking strawberries in drove. Hood strawberries have such a short season, some farms are open this weekend, some will open next week. I was also trying to find only the organic strawberry farm, which is not as many in the Portland area. Guess I'm going to try again tomorrow.

The farm that I drove to was gorgeous, it's called Smith Berry Barn in Hillsboro area. The front store is cute; they sell vegetable starts, flowering plants, a little produce, and gifts. The strawberry patches were actually not very big yet they have several varieties in all. In the end, I ended up taking some photos of the flowering plants they're selling. I was attracted to the textures in sedum plants, they're so lovely. And I'm amazed to see how well my Sony pocket camera is in taking pictures.

re-charging

2011-06-11T21:07:00.000-07:00

Spent a week in an exhaustive mode, body so weak in the beginning.
Now it's on the mend.
Taking it slowly, one day at a time.

Rockin' world go round

2011-05-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

"Are you gonna take me home tonight?
Oh, down beside that red firelight;
Are you gonna let it all hang out?
Fat bottomed girls,
You make the rockin' world go round" -- Queen

You know, when I don't have time or don't want to have time to write in my personal blog, it tells that I'm extremely busy or extremely lazy. Take your pick.

The world still goes round in spite of my laziness. May is almost gone, summer is just on the horizon, though by looking out of my window, I don't see why June is called the start of summer. A lot has happened since I penned my thoughts back in March. Yeah, like getting a speeding ticket really highlighted my May. The cursing, tossing at night, indecision about what had happened and what to do with the ticket had finished. I wasn't proud but then again I was quick to say, why me? Plenty of people do the same, but why me when I was enjoying the music in the car before the flash of guilt appeared at the corner of my eye. Sigh, I guess when one makes mistake, one must learn from it, pay the dues, and move on.

April was a birthday month for my mom, so we celebrated with a family friend at my parents' house. The usual suspects was there, birthday fried-noodle, along with rujak pengantin, sate babi manis, nasi uduk, and ayam goreng. I made the birthday cake which was tiramisu cake and my mom made puding agar-agar. That was some feast.

After not hearing from my editor for some time and I was actually beginning to fret that they don't need me to write or photograph anymore, I finally heard from her in April. She didn't share why there was no spring issue or summer issue, but it seemed that the company was postponing its editorial magazine till October of this year. I suspect that was because they are building a new store in Lake Grove and they want to wait until it is done so they can unveil the new format of the magazine. That's just my guess. So she assigned a new photo shoot for me to make in April--that was done, phew--and she needed me to do recipes + photos for the October issue. I'm hoping I get to do chocolate! For a long time I don't give much time to my food blog because I still sincerely believes that it's only a means to write what I like to eat; sometimes I don't give much thought to the world of food blogging and its news. I'm not very up-to-date to anything, I don't blogwalk anymore, I'm a nobody. Yet, I'm suprised that I got noticed by this and that.

My to-do list is long, but my time is so short. I haven't written to my only penpal for so long I'm afraid she'd forget me. But, she did write again, telling me that she just got back from a trip. I promised to write, nevertheless, that ain't happen yet. I gotta pick up my pace, but I'm sometimes lulled by the attraction of a comfy sofa at night that I simply refuse to be in front of the computer anymore. I think the older I get, the slower pace I'd like to have in life.

Today marks the 16th year to the day my husband and I exchanged vows. There's some bad moments, but there's more good moments. The challenge is still there as the years passed, but having the right attitudes really make the life easier and happier for both of us. For a change, I'm not making any cake but my mom promises to buy a cake as a gift today.

I can't wait for the summer. There's a lot going on for 3 months.

You look different yet you are still the same

2011-03-05T22:41:00.000-08:00

One look at you
How good it is to see you're doing great
I noticed something different
You decided to, I guess

You're looking good
So good that my heart ache

Surabaya in a flash

2011-01-30T21:38:00.000-08:00

When I said that I visited Surabaya in a flash, I really meant it. In a short period of three days, this part of the vacation was actually the most relaxing of all. It started as my husband, my son, and I flew to Surabaya from Jogjakarta on Saturday. The flight was slightly delayed, and it was raining hard. In Indonesian airplane traveling, one hour wait was short. I heard horror stories that the plane was delayed anywhere from three hours to half a day. When we landed in Surabaya, my cousin was already anxious from waiting for us. She texted me the minute I landed and tried to find us in the sea of people. We were very happy to see her again since it has been more than four years ago that we have seen each other. She whisked us no time to her house, and then we were off to eat shabu-shabu dinner in Surabaya Town Center. This time her husband and their son accompanied us. Nathaniel picked up the conversation with her son in no time; it was as if they were never separated before. When they still lived in Vancouver, B.C., we saw each other almost every year, so naturally our sons were no stranger to each other. My cousin ended up having a daughter just before she left Vancouver, B.C. for good, and my niece turned out to be the cutest niece ever and she followed along the older kids in this trip.

The next day we were off to Batu, Malang, a resort town southwest of Surabaya. It is nestled in a mountainous range and since it sits in a higher elevation, the weather was naturally cooler than Surabaya. The drive from Surabaya to Batu took longer than usual because we passed the town of Porong, where it was flooded by hot mud because of a natural gas blowout caused by drilling by an Indonesian oil company. It was sad to see the town was destroyed by the mud, the road was completely wrecked by it. Once we passed it, the traffic eased up and we stopped by for lunch at a restaurant on the side of the road. I couldn't remember the name of it anymore, but it served goat herb soup which was quite famous among the people in the area. It was quite good, but the appetizer was even better; fried tofu eaten with fermented shrimp paste and sweet soy sauce and bird's eye chili.

When we arrived at Batu, we went straight to the resort, Klub Bunga Butik Resort. My cousin, bless her heart, had arranged all the accommodation for us. In this trip her parents came with us, so our rooms were close to each other; the children were delighted that they could visit each other without having us to worry where they were going. I went around the resort with my cousin and the kids, reminiscing the old and contemplating the new future :) Hubby was sleeping in the hotel room since he had a really bad stomach cramps & diarrhea since we left Jogja. It must have been some bugs in his system but he was getting a little better each day. In fact, my son and I were also started to feel the bugs in our systems; there was really nothing to escape this because that would mean we had to stay at home & cooked our own food. The kids had swimming at nighttime since the pool water was warm, and we had dinner at the resort. Later that night we had grilled corns for snack and continued chatted until the kids started to grow very tired. It was quite a day!

In the morning we left Batu and went to Museum Satwa, or the museum of dead stuffed animals :) We didn't expect it to be anything great, but were surprised that inside they actually had a extensive collection of animals. Of course the two boys were just wild with amazement and in no time wandered around the museum by themselves. Lucky for us there was only one way in and one way out. They were the most talkative boys ever and we could hear them a mile away. After we were done with the museum, we grabbed a quick lunch and then went straight home. Later that night we went to eat dinner with my cousin's friends and had some interesting chat with them. To say the least, we were glad to know them.

Of course a visit to my cousin's house would not be complete until we toured the compound :) The house has not changed much since I visited a long time ago when I was small. Except for the front and back yard which my cousin completely transformed to a lust garden, it was still interesting to see what was going on. Yes, my cousin's parents own a funeral home complete with a workshop where they make caskets. From a simple one to an elaborate one, they can make it. They are a successful business family and are proud of what they are doing.

There was a half day left to be in Surabaya and in the morning we went to see the House of Sampoerna. It is a cigarette museum chronicling the founder's life and the making of cigarette. We were there until the time came for us to leave to the airport. Now, the interesting part happened. We were fine up until the time my cousin's hubby had to drive us to the airport. Him being a native Taiwan and had to rely on GPS for driving, he managed to get us lost! As a result we were so late for our flight that we had to buy another set of tickets for the next flight! My cousin was on the verge of losing her mind, I managed to stay calm despite of unceasing prayers I said in my heart because the notorious delays of Indonesian airline systems. In the end we got seats for the next flight and we said good-byes to cousin and her family, there's almost no tears because we were still in shock! :D As predicted, the flight was delayed more than an hour so we arrived in Jakarta late at night. And worse still, we had to go to my husband's relative where a small bed had to be shared with all of us three. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind sleeping in a less than ideal condition, but let's just say that I really really missed my old bed at that time!

The next time I write another post it will be the last week and a half we had in Jakarta. Until then...

P.S. Yo, it was sad to leave Surabaya and we wish that you guys are here with us today! Here are the photos I promised you, enjoy them in my blog!

A little bit of Solo

2011-01-11T22:17:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to catch up with my vacation story and photos from last year here and I feel so behind. The year 2010 has gone and left me breathless at the end. These few months of 2011 will prove to be busy ones for me, but I'll try to write more often, especially since I want to finish up my vacation story. This one will be short and will highlight a few hours my husband, son, and I spent in Solo, a small town in Central Java. The photos will talk more than the words. I have a little bit more photos in my Flickr album too.

We basically went to Solo to see House of Danar Hadi, an informative batik museum, because my husband's friend who's our tour guide at that time wanted to go there. We only had a day, so most of the time were spent in the museum, looking and trying to understand the history of batik. We also had a chance to see the making of batik in the workshop, where the air was suffocating with the smoke of hot wax. We also had our lunch in the museum's restaurant which the food was pretty good and surprisingly very cheap. I still can't believe that one entrée only cost around $2 at that time. We had a great time in Solo though it's too short.

The first three pictures are the way batik is made with hot wax. Women dominate this method of batik making. The next three pictures show the making of stamped batik, and peculiarly, this was done by men.

The menu at Soga restaurant, which is situated next to the museum. My lunch was nasi bakar or grilled rice in banana leaves. It was delicious!

Best time of the year

2010-12-25T20:30:00.000-08:00

Truly one of the best days in the year. Gathering with my parents and beautiful celebration at church, no hustle bustle of shopping or anything like that. This is the reason Christmas is here for us!

Long time no write?

2010-12-09T23:17:00.000-08:00

It seems like it. I've been away for too long from this blog, though in my heart there're lots to write. I've been busy; yeah, it sounds like same ol' excuse, eh? But, it's true. When there's work to do, then housework, then errands, the time is running short for any writing. Forgive me, not any writing, a mindless one actually. For I've done my writing assignment in the last 2 months. Words, foods, photos; those occupied my time.
The writing was tedious, the cooking and baking were repetitious, the photo session was hectic at times. I was ready to tear my hair out because sometimes I had to work alone. But when everything is said and done, when the time comes to write up the invoices, I secretly rejoice that I've got to work my dream job. Even if it's not on a national level, I get a satisfaction to work artistically on my assignments. My editor started to give me more responsibility of doing photography work, it's been keeping me busy and I feel I'm ready to go further in the field.

As summer became fall and fall became winter, the days seemed to go very fast this year. My son survived another round of syllabus test, which was basically piano theory and skill tests. He skipped level 2 and directly passed level 3; we're quite proud of his achievement. There're lots of theory and songs to memorize for him and the practices were imaginably quite boring at times. He had an informal recital with other students of his teacher's music association group back in October and he didn't do quite well. His teacher, my husband, and I were feeling a little panicky at that time since we wondered whether he'd do well for his test in November. He confided to us that he disliked having to perform in front of a lot people; it made him quite nervous so understandably he'd never play effortless in recital. But all's well ends well. His academic progress was also strong even though getting him to practice his spelling at home was sometimes met with resistance. A video game to play, a TV show to watch, a note to write, a book to read; those are his common excuses :)

This year is also the year of changing. My parents have finally decided that it's time for them to uproot from California and to move up north to be closer to us. I've given my dad an ultimatum that I wouldn't want to wait any longer; this year or never. Moving was never an easy feat to overcome especially when you are an old couple, but it has to be done. My stress level was very high even though I stayed calm during the process of helping them to decide which step to take first. My dad has resisted moving for a long time, he didn't want to be bothered with the moving process, which for him was a hassle. My mom, in the other hand, was ready to move here for quite some time. But put myself in their shoes and I can see that living for 20 years at the same place has made them quite sad to leave. It's where their roots started to grow again after leaving Indonesia, and frankly, my dad likes living in California. The cultural events and everythingness about California has made it a nice place to live. If it weren't for health problems that start to plague them, they probably wouldn't think of moving.

So yeah, I'm truly glad he's finally relented to do this. My part was to make sure their house here was ready. Remodeling took place in October, it was done when the weather was dry and warm. After that was done, I had the responsibility to make sure their possessions were shipped with the most economical and easy way and to move all of those boxes in their house in time. I was working like a mad woman, in 3 days I moved boxes and boxes. Luckily I had a helper, a good friend and a strong woman, who worked as fast as me. In the days after the frenzied activities, I suddenly realized that at some part of my thighs, where those boxes rested while being lifted and carried, bore bruise marks as big as silver dollars. One hurdle was done. I immediately went on to have a full one hour massage to release the stress in my body. I think I sleep better this week too.

Since my parents' house becomes a place to where some of my old furniture will be, my husband and I are looking forward to shop for new ones. My goal is to have long enough desk to fit computers for all three of us and even some space for my son to have his art activities. For some time, a coffee table has been my computer table, and it's far from ideal. Floor is where we sit in the family room. The printer sits on a small chair. It's a little chaos we've created here :) But as long as there's something to look forward to, I think we could wait for another few weeks before everything's settled again.

There's one more week to go before school and work are done. At the end of next week, I'm going to fly to California to meet with my parents before going back north the day after. It's a long journey to be back together again, my parents and I, and it's something that's been a long-awaited event.

Like the wind

2010-11-04T14:40:00.000-07:00

And then you were gone, from my life, again
I can still smell your lingering scent
There's a lump in my throat
But life goes on

Candi Borobudur and Prambanan

2010-10-31T22:37:00.000-07:00

I will let this post speaks for itself. In the w ake of the eruption of Mt Merapi that created havoc to areas around it, and the city of Yogyakarta is very close to it. Now I am glad that I get a chance to go back there with my husband and family to see the world wonders before anything happen to them. FYI, candi means temple in Bahasa Indonesia. Borobudur temple is a Buddhist temple and Prambanan temple is a Hindus temple.

Of course, I encountered everyday life which I was fascinated and curious. The last time I visited Borobudur and Prambanan was when I was in my teens; naturally I was interested in what has changed in the area. Yogyakarta stays small, but seems a bit crowded. We stayed in Hotel Phoenix in Yogya, and I truly recommend this hotel to everyone. It is an oasis in the cacophony of people and cars. My son was very excited to see the pool in the hotel. Though he could only swim for a few hours, he enjoyed every minute of it. We would love to come back to Yogya!

An invitation

2010-10-30T23:02:00.000-07:00

His wife was a plain-looking woman with lots of curly hair around her head, that sometimes reminded her of a certain animal. He was always friendly every time he saw her, he could hug her tight enough that it felt like he was an old boyfriend to her. Once in a while, he would drop a note in her email, mostly to talk about the hobby that they were both interested. She was trying to brush this off as normal, but she could not help being a little seduced by his attention. She felt guilty knowing that her ring was still on her finger. Her heart said he was initiating a little fling; it was no wonder, just look at his wife.

Then one day, he asked something that got her attention. He and she had just finished talking about the day, he was going to the other way when suddenly he turned back and asked her if she wanted to explore the town with him. It was for their hobbies, he explained. She was curious, where would they go in rainy days like this? He mentioned it could be anywhere, plus his wife was going out of town on that day. She did not want to say no or yes at that time, so she replied that she would think about it. He went on his way.

Later that day, when she was alone, she played back that scene over and over. She was trying to analyze things, was there subdued message in the question that he asked, or was it just her imagination? She really did not know what to do with this.

Revelation

2010-10-30T13:52:00.000-07:00

Then I found his other half (more like his ex). OMG. She's like an actress/model. I feel devastated and, absurdly enough, envious (!) Now, note to myself, can you put this all behind? Uhm...maybe.

Gundah gulana

2010-10-29T22:24:00.000-07:00

Yep, the title says it in Bahasa Indonesia, but I can't say what I want to say here in Bahasa Indonesia.

When life gets comfortable, I get restless. When I get restless, my mind goes on dreaming things that is impossible to happen. And when that thing that I think about involves another breathing flesh and blood. Then I feel guilty. But life is a bore at times. I want to be freer but responsibility and common sense put a stop to my dreams. Like a morning fog seeping in through the damp woods, that is what I get when you pass by in my life. Why do I have to think about you, why this moment, why do I get this obsession?

I am hopeless.

It's almost over

2010-10-12T22:36:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday, sayang. Just want to say it before the day is over. You're the light of my life. Forever and ever.

Love,

Mom

Jogjakarta-Losari-Ambarawa

2010-10-06T14:50:00.002-07:00

Continuing my vacation story in summer:

When my husband and I planned our vacation, we agreed on going to Borobudur and Prambanan temples so Nathaniel would get to see the glory of Indonesian culture. We chose to stay in Jogjakarta because it's the gateway city to go to the temples, plus we could go sightseeing to Losari and Solo. We also agreed to visit my cousin and her family in Surabaya which I would elaborate in another post.

We flew to Jogjakarta on Wednesday, July 7 and stayed in the area until Saturday, July 10. I'm going to divide the story to a few posts since it's quite a long story :)

The weather was very nice when we arrived in Jogja, but the prediction was going to be a rainy few days, on and off. We were escorted by my husband's friend from Jakarta, she's graciously accepted the offer to be our tour guide. We were happy to chose Phoenix Hotel as our accommodation for several days since the hotel was such a gem in downtown Jogja. It was a colonial building, totally renovated and fully decorated in Javanese tradition. On the first day we actually went to Losari coffee plantation right after we dropped our luggages in the hotel. Losari is located in the east side outside Jogja which took about 2 hours of driving. The weather had turned warm in the afternoon and we came for the afternoon tour of the plantation. The plantation main lodge and the area was very beautiful, a peaceful retreat from busy Jogja. We learned quite a bit about coffee that was grown in the plantation and we had a break with coffee, local bananas, and traditional drinks or jamu being served. It was very nice!

Later that day, we caught late lunch in the lodge restaurant. Not bad food but quite expensive, though the presentation was superb. All this time I kept taking photos of the food and there's a couple Japanese women sitting not far from us, taking pictures of their foods as well with their Nikon D3X that we eyed surreptitiously :)

We stopped by at Ambarawa to see an old train museum. There wasn't much too see but the tickets to see the museum were very cheap, so we decided to take a look. There's a band of young men playing music with angklung and electrical instruments that we enjoyed very much.

So far we enjoyed our traveling in Jogja and surrounding area, the traffic wasn't so bad, the food was cheap, plentiful, and the people was warm for most of the time. More photos are in my Flickr album. Next time, I'll share some photos from Borobudur and Prambanan.