Big Chunk of Life

Yesterday we debated in car about bad traffic in Jakarta. I was the only one who enjoyed macet while driving (only when time is not a constraint). PEN said that a big chunk of life is gone in Jakarta macet. That’s very true! But for me, there must be a 'reward' in the other end waiting for us to discover. Unless we won’t be in the macet, right?

Whatever. I let a big chunk of my life slipped away today. It started in the morning when I drove to PEN’s. The usual 10 minutes drive turned into 45 minutes. I was early, I enjoyed motorist zig-zaging my car. CEN was nervous yesterday. She thought I was too brave to let motorist riding to close to car. That’s how I enjoy my ‘well-beaten’ car. It stands the test of driving in Jakarta. It has been kissed by bajaj, motor, taxi, bus,…

I was in time still. Sitting in PEN’s car I thought.. It’s so nice to be with good girlfriend. We have understanding.. PEN read newspaper, I browsed fashion magz I grabbed from her restroom. We both sat in silence almost the whole trip. I also enjoyed being under sun but cool in aircon-ed car. I was not like that long time ago. I would be busy covering self to keep my skin fair. Now I enjoy my color more. Not tan, but nicely ‘baked’. It looks healthy.

PEN sighed. Secretary of Irwan called and said that we better came at 11:30. We were way too early then. We agreed to have bites at Pizza Hut near Irwan’s. It’s nice. Both of us were hungry like wolves. We growled grabbing salad in salad bar. So nice to be the firsts to dig. 10:40 still!!

We were off ten minutes before 11:30. Traffic was still manageable. I asked PEN to ask for direction. We were on and on and on till we found a bridge near a market. It was getting macet. Very bad traffic because of damaged road. I asked her to call again.. This time I talked. Wrong direction. We had to U-turn and plunged into heavy macet on the way back.

PEN was furious at the girl who gave her wrong direction. I smiled and continued browsing the nice magz. Nothing was better than having something to do in macet. I enjoyed more sunshine (volume 8 by then). PEN dozed helplessly.

We ended up arriving late, almost 12. Irwan had waited for us. We talked in his office cum museum. Irwan Williams is a jewelry designer who has lived in Indonesia long time. He reminded me of Symon of Campuhan. His uniqueness, his knowledge, his passion for gemstones,.. So energizing.

By the way, we met him to make appointment for summer study group trip PEN and I arrange. We talked about what we expected him to share and show. He was excited to squeeze our group in his busy schedule having exhibition in the US.

On the way back we realized. We spent 3.5 hours in traffic and waiting -- for half an hour ‘reward’. PEN is right. How Jakarta wastes our time.. We were kaput. Sun was shining at volume 9.5 by then. I pushed myself to do more after PEN’s house. Collecting laundry.

I’m happy tho.. Today I did a lot of small errands without putting off. I still have uglier frogs to swallow, but cute frogs have gradually disappeared. Also, I finished my latest artwork Different Eyes this morning.

Photo was taken at S.A.M.

Do Your Thing!

What a morning… My routine really started. I had to rush to meet the ladies in time. RIT and PEN texted me when I was away asking me to go to this Malay lady tailor (I mixed up with the other Vietnamese lady) together. It is fun to go to tailor together.

I didn’t plan to tailor but I had skirt for PIN, the tailor lady. She fell for one I wore the other day and asked whether I could buy one for her. So today we swapped. She got the skirt, I got her black spandex sexy sarong. This sarong is my style! I fitted the sample before and it perfectly hugged my hips. I got RIT and PEN bought for themselves too..

Five of us kept PIN’s staffs busy. We were chatty while fitting and commenting on each other’s look. An hour and half passed. Everybody was dead hungry but hard to detach self from clothing hangers. We almost finished PIN’s candy – waiting for each other to finish business.

Five of us squeezed in RIT’s car. Fun. Warm. We preferred Vietnamese again (we had once before). This nice resto is homy and next to a nice shop of stuff from Srilanka. Colorful.

I gave CEN her belated birthday present, the Islam pendant from Irwan Williams. It’s perfect gift for her 50th birthday (last January!!) and her plan to go for Haj end of this year. She was happy with the gift. I gave RIT and AMA placemat for two I bought in Little India. Motif matched. Color was perfect for each; white for RIT and dark blue for AMA. PEN got some suede strings for pendant. I enjoyed sharing gifts before long holiday.

We had the longest lunch. We stayed almost three hours, from busy resto to empty but staffs waiting for us to leave. Same topic, same focus – CEN’s searching for a company (read: permanent partner or.. husband). I liked the controversy which arose. Most of the time, I didn’t have a say. I enjoyed listening and learning more.

We all learned from CEN’s story that it was CEN who made her ex took her for granted (we said she created a monster). She was so nice and serving, and always be there to serve. Not realizing that she got nothing in return for twenty years!! We thought she was too much while she was amazed learning how the other ladies are able to say NO while still caring their partners. Stand firm. Love self a lot. And.. have no expectation.

I observed the three ladies’ messages which they repeated many times in the discussion. PEN is almost 50, the other two are above. PEN always said go for a younger man (with good looking and body is the best), RIT said go for fun (find a date for temporary), and AMA thought about go for bule (foreigner). Discussion went hotter after they started talking about Islam men and non. How culture influences the way men treat their partners.. Never ending topic.

I got home tired. I always enjoyed my time with girlfriends but I also missed my time alone with my art. This morning I posted an artwork I created last night for Artwords look out! stay in. And when I got home, I posted the one I created in Singapore about blogg. Enjoy!

Photo of an advertisement in Orchard.

r e s e t r e c h a r g e r e f r e s h

Holiday ends this morning. Nothing is worse then end of a holiday. I come to think that holiday actually starts from the time we have the idea or plan. The chaos, the worries, the uncertainty,… that’s the reaaal holiday!

After the phase of packing, going to airport, arriving; holiday can be considered half way finished. First day of holiday? It is fun but.. holiday is running to end. Like hourglass, full on the first day and suddenly sand runs to empty.

I had long day again yesterday. What I liked is.. I had long morning to spend. Just lazy easy.. That’s true holiday. Not rushing to next agenda like Japanese touring the world. Ten destinations in eight days.

I spent time after lunch in Little India. I always liked to visit this part of Singapore. Always had chance to discover something new. One time I found a Chinese shop selling old ‘modern’ artifact (toys from 70s, cup and saucers from 60s, sign-board from 50s)… I could not find the shop again this time but found one nice shop selling brass knick-knack for temple and nice spiritual book shop (not ‘spiritual’ spiritual).

I walked thru famous Muhammad mall and alleys close-by. Really nice when seeing things with ‘eyes open’, accept all uglies and beauties. Day was not as hot as the day before but it’s quite tiring. Resting while having naan, dhal and salted lassi was not bad at all.

Taking shower before going out at night was also helpful to recharge the depleted energy. I did Orchard again the last time before home. I checked some of my favorite shops and could not resist one pale skirt and a photo album with black pages (again). I had ideas in mind what that's for.

Now I’m sitting in Changi airport waiting for my gate to open. I was way too early to arrive airport but I was happy to do it. I think they got me nice seat in emergency exit (aisle) which means… more space for legs. I was soo sleepy that I don’t dare to put computer in lap. I felt like dozing sometimes. I don’t want to drop it, better sitting odd but safe (as shown in picture).

As usual, end of holiday urges me to make new resolutions. I will be nicer, I will visit FRA more often, I will create more art, I will blog regularly, I will bond with my cousins better, I will visit mama,.. on on on. Any idea how long usually the resolutions last? Not more than one week..

Whatever. I have pushed my reset button. I have decharged and recharged. Refresh now.


Photo: Gate D38, my seat and part of my artwork.

Art Adventure

I didn’t have time to write yesterday. I was out all day and in the evening I was totally out of the world. Tired and happy with my day.

I did significant work in the morning tho. I posted two weekly challenges. One art in blucolage and one writing. I didn’t want to miss submitting so I hoped the topic was in line with what I had done here. And it was! So good, I didn’t have to skip the week.

I visited Singapore Art Museum (SAM) yesterday. Like ritual. I know by heart where everything is in permanent collection galleries but still.. I liked to make first round in the two rooms. The exhibition was interesting. Pop art of Japanese artists. Very modern and ‘brave’ in idea and technique. I really enjoyed looking at the arts and learning how they come to the ideas. Outside wall was interestingly painted too.. like street art (shown in photo above).

Going to Holland Village was an adventure. I never went by train. It took 30 minutes passing seven stations and it took ages to walk under sun to get the area. Ugh! I just forgot the ‘map’. I thought it would be fun riding train and did a ”short” walk. Walking was fine, it’s the sun that baked me..

One good thing. I lost appetite to look around in the art mall.. too sticky tired. It’s an old style mall like cheap market but for me.. it’s forest for treasure hunting. I fell for a red low Chinese table. Old wood with texture and perfect lacquer, not shiny new. I mental measured the size and weight to fit checked-in-item size allowed. I was not sure. I needed another head to assure me that it fits.

I found some nice old Chinese coins. I didn’t buy many. I just need a few for my first artwork I have in mind. Then I bought small square plate made of mango wood. It’s just cute. And my big discovery was… Tibetan singing bowl. I had eyed them for years (yea.. it was not a discovery, it’s a decision). Every time I went to this shop, I touched and admired them. This time I surrendered.. I saw one nice old and thick singing bowl with… patina! It is made of seven metals: silver, gold, tin, copper, lead, mercury, and iron. The sound is superb! I still need to learn how to make the vibration lasts longer. I love my singing bowl.

It was already dark when I got Borders again. I was too tired to browse the shelves. I just fetched an album with black pages for my other scrap book. It would be nice to have black pages. Effect must be different.

Soup for dinner was fine. But nothing was finer than be back in bed.. Tired.

Photo: Front of Singapore Art Museum.

Lost Weight??

Today I did better. I got up right after I woke up at 5:35. I knew it’s still dark outside but that’s the only way to maximize a day. I’m happy that I’d decided to get up.

I checked email and worked on scrap page.. again! Singapore has a lot of leaflets and brochures wherever. Paper with info are everywhere from airport to hotel room. Plenty. It tickled me to cut them ha ha.. I cut what I had in room and from airport. Just about Singapore great sale 2006. I like the result, simple and green! I put Singapore coin from my first shopping at Paragon. I haven’t done with the page tho.. I want to draw the map but I didn’t take my gold pen with me. I will do later when I’m back.

It was raining so hard since morning, no sun rays on my bed. I decided to stay in room till noon. But this time I really had to have breakfast. No more skip meals. My bad habit when I don’t have company, I skip meal(s). No one to push me so I take it easy. And too easy..

When I came on Friday, I ate one time: late lunch cum dinner. Yesterday was the same. A bit different. I had pasta for lunch and mushroom soup for dinner before went back hotel.

I don’t enjoy the ritual if I have breakfast in hotel. Shower and all! Although I enjoy the feeling after shower he he. This morning was funny. I was insisted to take two eggs instead of one egg I asked. He said that it charged me the same. The problem is I could not finish it. He went and was back a minute later to push me again to take two. Whatever.

When the eggs came, I knew what he meant by two eggs. I got the eggs in a bowl, not with its eggshell. No wonder they ‘need’ two because it would look ‘ugly’ if they only served one ha ha.. I didn’t expect that.

Finished my meal, I observed what I had had. I had half of everything. Toasted bread, fruit plate, tea, orange juice, and of course the egg (bare, without bacon / sausage). Ehm.. last night I got ‘reprimand’ from the waiter because I didn’t finish my soup. Of the big bowl, it only went down 1.5 centimeter. I ate almost all of the two buns tho. So hard to explain people why I eat so little.

I don’t know how to push myself to eat more. I prefer to use the time for something else, especially in the morning. I’m not the one who rushes quiet morning to have good breakfast. I prefer my lazy morning. Then prefer the busy noon, and the relaxed afternoon, and the calm evening. So when I have time to eat??

Lost in Time

Singapore and Bali are in the same time zone, one hour ahead of Jakarta. But here, sun shines late. In Jakarta, sun shines around 6:00. Also in Bali (‘same hour’ with Jakarta). But here, sun only shines around 7:00 or in the same hour as Jakarta (6:00) although they are in different time zone.

When my bio clock wakes me up at 5:30, I feel like I wake up in the middle of the night and am not ready to start the day. When I continue sleeping and wake up close to 7:00, I feel like I wake up late. So awkward. Well, I can just ignore the clock but I have rooster clock in my body.

Funny I remember one time I stayed in this hotel. This hotel has unique room category (among other ‘normal’ categories like deluxe / suite, smoking / non-smoking): with window or without window. I didn’t know that until I was given a room WITHOUT window last January. I didn’t complain so I just took it. I felt okay (a bit uncomfortable but okay) in my waking hours, but in the morning? Ooh. My rooster clock was just off. Not functioning. I felt claustrophobic when I woke up. I saw no natural light! I could not take it. I asked them to move me.. Now I always remember to ask for a room with window! And this time I got the most luxurious windows I ever got; windows are in both L-sides. Room is full of light all day from different directions. Perfect.

This morning I woke up just before 5:00. I knew, I could just get up and start the day but I was lazy. I slept quite late last night so I thought I deserved longer sleep. Later I regretted ha ha.. I got up around 6:45 and sun shines in full force around 7:30. Glad I could feel sun rays on my bed. I turned off the aircon and will do exercise in a moment.

Singaporean bio clock is ‘late’ too, I think. Many shops open at 10:30, some at 11:00. That’s not Indonesian clock especially for the shopping-hungers. Here we are pushed to have longer breakfast, or longer morning to spend. Fair enough. 7:50

I got out noon time. I did one scrap page and read in the morning. I didn’t want to waste the sun shining in my room. Sooo nice, cool sunbathing. I didn’t have the chance to exercise tho. Too occupied with scraping..

I went to Plaza Singapura (PS) for Spotlight -- the big handicraft tools shop. I like PS anyway, other shops are interesting too. Many unique clothing and interior shops. I browsed some shops and had lunch before Spotlight. I spent hours there; browsing section per section, went thru each item thoroughly working out ideas,.. I knew I could buy some materials in Bali but I need a kick to start soon so I just bought. I have several unrealized-yet ideas in mind.

It was raining outside. Taxi queuing was very long and depressing but I had no choice. I could walk back but not with three quite heavy and big plastic bags. Yea.. I bought a lot from small canvas, some nice stones from China, papers of course, fabric,… many.

Got in the room I realized, I was tired. But I still had energy to pack! Ya.. I needed to pack the soonest possible to check the size of space left in the baggage ha ha. I bought some silly toiletries in the morning. My sis used to bring it from the US and I missed that… shower gel!! One liter size!!

I shopped toiletries in the nearest Watson’s (so I could leave in hotel before started the day). The cashier name was Kumalasari (Javanese name). She was not a Javanese but… a Balinese! I thought she was a Malaysian and she thought the same about me. We shared a good loud laugh. We both had lost the accent. It showed when we started talking Indonesian. So funny..

Slideshow: My bedroom in Singapore and the bar I went yesterday.

Home is..

I started my holiday today. It is a ‘reward’ after ‘small punishment’ I did (by choice) last night. I did household chores to prepare my holiday today. My lumbar felt broken when I went to bed last night. My. Six hours of standing: ironing, tidying, and finally mopping just before midnight :-) I just loved to make house, particularly bedroom, looks neat when I’m away. Returning home after holiday should not ‘cut’ the holiday feeling. I would like to keep the feeling as long as could be. I don’t want to return to routine the minute I enter house.

To cut long story short, I’m in Singapore now. I’m staying in a nice home-hotel as shown in picture. I know this hotel by coincidence about two years ago. I was with my auntie tried to get hotel thru reservation desk in airport and nothing was available but this one. And it turned out to be a nice hotel (I stayed here a couple times). Small (40 rooms) and homy. It’s a colonial three-storey building turned into hotel. I like the location too, just off Orchard – the shopping belt. Five minutes walk (my walk… faaast!).

This hotel has small rooms. Enough for my size, not for bigger size – claustrophobic. Wooden floor, old-look knick-knack, but the most important are.. it has nice bed with nice white sheet and fluffy towels. I don’t need more.

Flight was okay. Only delayed 40 minutes in low-airconed cabin, waiting for crew unloading baggage!! Strange and scary. Five passengers (with boarding pass) didn’t show up so they had to take out their luggage. Very rational!

I got hotel right after noon. Like I had all day. I started slowly, it was humid hot outside. That’s one character of this city; outside is humid hot, inside is chilly cold. That keeps me off building most of the time (that’s good!! less shopping), even I like to dine outside although it’s hot but my body adjusts better.

I don’t have big and tight agenda how to spend my days here. I keep it open and take it easy. First day is for checking ‘home’ (read: shops where I usually shopped). Skirts, papers, sandals, supermarket, stationery,.. Silly stuffs. I loved paper shop in Paragon the most. Really love it. I could spend long time trying to make project out of their things. I have eyed some albums with black / red pages, but haven’t decided on which. Later…

Good I didn’t see any clothing I wanted. Hey I don’t come for shopping but have a look is not a sin, right? I ‘managed’ not to buy anything tho. Just a few cute things.. (like black thong sandal ha ha..)

MT texted me later. She asked me to meet her in a pub by the famous Singapore river. Great! I was so happy that here is different than in Jakarta. Here we can make last minute appointment and make it in time. In Jakarta? Forget it..

So I met MT and her lovely girlfriend, AR. It was a very nice atmosphere, sitting in open air by water. I enjoyed it! So the yakking! AR is a writer. She teaches in the same institute where MT teaches. Very interesting life they shared!

Later MT left to have dinner with her students!! I stayed with AR – more talking about writing. I’m happy to have met her. She’s very into writing, very inspiring. I told her to start a blog to make professional profile of her work. And as writing is easy for her, where she could just pick up stories from cab drivers, she could also share her daily life experience thru blog too. She looked bubbly with the idea tho! Am glad and could not wait to read her posts. Go AR!!!

I’m happy with how I ended my day. I got more ideas to work on. Still junk art plus.. writing!!

It goes BLU

Nice to have slow morning. I got up fresh and ready to start the day although I slept at almost 2:00 last night. What did I do? Uh.. I forgot. I got home late from cousin’s house and was in computer I guess. But why was so late? Never mind.

Ah yaa.. now I remember, I fiddled around with Blogger photo uploading again. There’s no way I could upload a photo. And just now I found out that I could upload from my other blog, not under Himavant. Grr.. What a waste of time.. Internet connection was surprisingly lower than usual too. There are times..

I took my time in the morning doing what I wanted to do. I went to PI mall before noon. I needed to do errands. I spent sometime in stationery shop to find tools for making collage. I needed a ‘handy set’. My collage book has become part of me. I’m going to take it with me when I travel. Like journal, I could not live without it. Online and ‘offline’. Now I have ‘alternative entertainment’ while traveling -- apart from reading and watching DVD in computer (I don’t like it but as last alternative..).

I have made progress with FRA pages for the book. I’m still working with the page designer thru email but it has been close to what I want. Blucolage has started to have own audience. My other art blog got two nice comments. Sooo nice to know..

I’m happy at home now and ready to iron piles of laundry he he..

Photo: My iron collection.

Frog vs. Reward

I was in full spirit but didn’t know what to do.. Strange. It took long time for me to decide what to do today. No Wednesday bazaar. Everybody is tired after yesterday. Mm like I have an extra day this week…

When I go out, I need to do two or more things. I checked with RAD whether she wanted to have lunch. Unavailable. I checked my stuff whether I needed to go to bank. No need. But I have long shopping list. Not enough. I stayed at home. I do my errands tomorrow.

Now it’s time to eat the ugliest frog. I focused on the frog. I had high spirit to finish it before holiday. It would be nice to take holiday as reward. Reward is already there, so I have to take the punishment now.

I swallow the ugliest frog in an hour!! See, if I do, I can finish it in no time. It took months to swallow. Grr. I still have second ugliest frog which I put off intentionally because I also need to clear the links. Hm. Excuse #1.

I also ate some less ugly ones. Now work area is neater and junk snail mails gone. I had to bear a consequence tho.. I missed a relative’s wedding reception last Saturday because the invitation was buried under the pile. Ugh.. shame! Now I have to call the bride’s mother and think about belated gift.

I also created a new blog for my artwork. The creation is pouring now, I don’t want to clutter up Ubudblu. And I have proved that I would be able to continue creating artwork. It would be nice to have separate interest in separate blog. I’m happy. Please enjoy blucolage (from the word bricolage).

Creating artwork is quite contagious. PEN texted me. She planned to make necklace using beads she got in YK’s house on Monday. She knew that I was going to string mine myself. Hm. Now she thinks to start one too..

I’m planning to make five necklaces for four girlfriends I’m going to have lunch with next week (one necklace is for me, so we wear similar). It’s just nice to share gift before a long holiday. I consider summer and year end are long holidays.

Beautiful sunny day today! I’m happy to see my artwork posted in an art blog -- Artwords -- meaning: I have made significant progress. I look forward to have a nice rejuvenating holiday soon..

Photo: My favorite frog, the only, among my geckos..

Paper Collage: To A Tee

Artwords: Transformation


Artwords has challenging challenge this week. Transformation. It took time for me to ‘grab’ the gist of transformation (to be expressed in an artwork). I know about “going beyond your form”
but how…? I tried to make series of my pictures into a digital artwork but… I could not see significant ‘transformation’ on it. Ugh. I was going to give up..

I went back to art I like – collage. I made collage using Newsweek recently and I had squeezed the magazine to dry.. Only few left. I changed to Swedish interior magazine a friend gave me. Mm.. flipping flipping..

Then I found this. No.. not tea advertisement, it’s glass-ware. Typical Swedish, advertisement looked modern and neat. It became perfect after I found ‘the background’ from car advertisement – it has arrow. Arrow associates with transformation, right?

I cut the pictures the Swedish way, clean and straight (I left the right edge naturally furry so it won't look too boxy). I played with the lines. Mm.. I enjoyed composing. A tea bag into a glass of hot water, then two tea bags getting red after infusing below a flying glass of tea. I fixed a real tea bag of my favorite legendary local brand, Tong Tji, to make the total artwork alive.

Toast!

Clip Art: Harsh News

The idea came just before I heard about my uncle. I was idle waiting for mood to shower. I opened the already torn Newsweek again. This magazine was particularly unique, I found a lot of hard expression. I’m not sure whether in this edition only, or any Newsweek is similar. I’m not the reader.

So I cut cut cut.. Then I got the bad news. I continued cutting and shaping while thinking about what to do because it was almost midnight. In less than 25 minutes I had started to layout. I closed the book and continued to do this afternoon.

I applied a new method. I glued the clipping on a colored sheet. It went curly after I finished gluing all. Ugh. I pressed it under a stack of paper for awhile to straighten. It worked fine. Then I attached it to the notebook using wide double-tape instead of glue. I’m happy with the result. It stays straight flat and stiff. That’s perfect. Now I learned a new way to get better result when using glue. Combine with double-tape.

Enjoy!!

Sad News

It was different morning today. I got home around 3:00 this morning. My late Papa’s little brother passed away before midnight in hospital. He had heart attack last week. He died at 69.

It’s his mother who just celebrated 88th birthday the other week. It was a tough situation when family had to wake her up from sleep to tell the news. They decided not to let her get up in the morning and find out..

But she was as tough as ever. She said in loud and clear that it’s good son did not suffer anymore. Half an hour later she walked out her room and sat next to the body. She just looked and didn’t say a thing. But she was conscious, she could point where son’s grave ground would be. It’s in family graveyard complex.

I was not quite well last night. I felt like flying. My low blood pressure again, I guess, because I felt better after I took medicine. Ehm.. I rushed home to sleep so could start early today.

I got up well but I didn’t want to rush. Family has arranged everything last night. In many cities, there’s a ‘club’ to help family in such situation. It’s good that the club do not just help its member who passes away, but also the family. They will do everything from hospital to burial. Family just follows their ‘instructions’. They ‘open’ the service 24 hours.

Now I better get ready and offer my hands in the house. 9:14

They didn’t need my hands. All was done by the club. Short and efficient service. Some cousins were still there since last night. They didn’t sleep. Ehm.. That was time when relatives got together. I met some relatives I hardly met the last two-three years.. or more. We were busy catching up. Some looked smaller, some looked bigger. Some tried to recall the family trees. Some looked for others..

An auntie tapped my shoulder, asked me to visit her and reminded me to be together in happy time as well. So sad that we only met in sad time like today. True. Sad time brings us together but we should also do in happy time.

I didn’t stay long. I left after crowd dispersed, many went to the graveyard. It was a hot day!

Bead n Beat

I had nice long morning because I got up early. So nice to feel fresh although I slept quite late last night. I did a blog post and emails, and had slow preparation. So luxury to have ample of time before starting the day. It lifted up my mood. Even inconsiderate motor-cyclists didn’t annoy me. Like bee, they were all over sides. Like they were riding in an empty road (photo 1/6).

Mm nice ladies day. Today the Indonesian jewelry summer study group had a meeting in one member’s house, YK. It’s her turn to make presentation (photo 2/6 and 3/6). She is a jeweler, specialized in glass beads. She also has workshop at home making glass beads.

It’s a very nice Javanese house where we could enjoy her large collection of beads (photo 4/6). Ladies could not resist the temptation. I grabbed one string of colorful beads (photo 5/6) even before the presentation started. The only string available that made some ladies envious. Ha ha..

YK talked about Javanese courts jewelry, nice talk with show of large collection of ordinary and semi-precious belt collection (photo 6/6). So sad she told us that she lost all her precious (read: diamond) collection after one talk to a French group. The new maid took it. Ugh!

We had a nice time after the talk. Everybody was busy browsing the display and went thru lots of thin drawer that store beads. I admire her seriousness in the biz. I chatted about the kick to be serious to do things with the leader, MA. She is the youngest in the group and quite new in the Heritage.

We have a lot in common. We talked a lot since we were introduced to each other by RIT in one bazaar some weeks ago. We face same problems, a lot of ideas and plans that stay the same for years. We haven’t eaten our frogs!

She is now doing an artwork for NGO in other country. She said the only way to get things done is by having a boss that gives her deadline. That’s very true! I also function well if I have to report. And last minute is the most productive time to produce something. Isn’t it bad? We can’t be boss to ourselves then.

On the way to lunch, I was in another new girlfriend’s car. KAT, an American, I knew her from a few group meetings before. Our talk led to biz we have. She does mass art for export-import and I do small unique art. Totally different things but same art. She is new in Indonesia and looks for biz alternatives.

Later she told me about her project with National Museum of Women in the Arts in DC. They want to promote women in arts in other countries by bringing the arts to attention in museum level. She has started to form a committee in Jakarta to promote Indonesian women artists. She needs more Indonesian who’s interested to commit to be in the committee. She asked me whether I’m interested to join before handed me thick brochure from the Museum to get the idea of what they have done in DC. That sounds interesting!

We had hilarious lunch. Five ladies, five ethnic groups. They were talking about their boys (they all have boys), language and accent, culture, everything about different aspects we have.. So nice and hilarious!

I was drained in the end of long lunch. A day full of enrichment.
It raised my beat!

Scrap Art: Photo in Frame

Inspire Me Thursday: In Good Time



I was excited to do this week’s challenge “in good time”. At first I was thinking about creating art in ‘good time’ (= good mood) but hey… it’s about ‘reasonable amount of time’.

That’s perfect! I had delayed homework. I want to give my staff’s girl, Lita, a 1st-birthday gift. I have a nice photo of her that I made about a month after she was born. She was a beautiful baby. Very peaceful. I like the photo very much that I liked to show to everybody.

I already had the frame and plan in mind. And 30 minutes was just the right amount of time I needed to finish the project. But collecting scrap to use in project needed longer time.. I guess we could not create a project from zero in 30 minutes. I believed I spent some 20 minutes to dig my drawers to find small pieces. Digging needs creativity too!

I opened my torn Newsweek again to find nice words for the frame. Again I chose Newsweek for its paper characteristic, thin but strong. I decided to put Inaugural 2005 (from Bush reportage) on left top; then I found peace which is perfect for her expression (left bottom); then Jesus for she was born in good Catholic family (right bottom); and finally photo of a line of laundry to ‘remind’ her of her womanhood and for fun (right top). Just before I closed the Bush pages, I read has big dreams in nice right-size font and color (center bottom). And of course, as my signature, the “kidnapper’s font” of her name.

Frame done. I sewed four colorful paper clips to remind her of education (I left the last one dangling). Then a Rupiah coin launched in 2005 (the year she was born) and a Hongkong coin (I didn’t have time to find Yuan, but Hongkong is China now.. anyway). Why is China coin? It says “learn as far as China” to ensure her to spread her wings. Then on the right bottom I fixed a game token -- I found in my pocket years ago -- to remind her to play. So I hope I have covered all ‘messages’ about life as a woman.

Finally, I wrote a short birthday note in the back. I timed my project, less than 30 minutes. Yay!

o n l y

Today I experienced a state of do-not-know-what-to-do. Or, too many plans in mind and not been able to focus. Been two days at home, my old habit is back. Too lazy to go out of cocoon.

So I stayed inside cocoon again. I chatted with AS about Land Rover and paintings, then with a uni cousin about blogging. I rarely talked to both so it was good to have exchange once in awhile.

I was not in touch with art today. I read all newspapers, talked longer on phone with RIN, then sat in balcony listening to… nothing. I’m lucky to live in this housing. It’s in the center but very quiet, no sound, especially at night. Except renovating neighbor and staff’s kid who’s constantly nagging, I could hear nothing (except the hum of electric devices, black out is total silence). What a luxury after 14:00 when staff goes home and after 17:00 when workers stop working. Still I bless their lunch time too!

I decided to put ad for FRA in newspaper. I missed to submit the material yesterday, so I did this morning for tomorrow edition. That was my weeks ago commitment which took less than 20 minutes to accomplish from designing, faxing, and remitting payment. I believe so many things can be done in minutes if we want to do. If not, it will stay the same for ever. I haven’t really eaten my frog. I still have lots of ugly frog to be eaten. That’s from my good friend’s book, my book says “The Tomorrow Trap”. Common problem.

I enjoyed my stupidity today. Or, ignorance? I put three cookies from fridge in microwave and just punched the auto button. Ha ha.. It started to smell in no time and when the timer was off, smoke was all over house. The pineapple jam inside the cookies was bursting out. Thick smoke came out the microwave. Good no stain inside the microwave. I should have put them inside a container. So ignorant..

But my ignorance is better than planning to have a get-together inviting ONE THOUSAND guests from outside city. And the city is near Yogya where people are still struggling with Merapi volcano and earthquake aftermath. I happen to know someone will hold such event next two months. Sad.

Now prepare to go out of cocoon. I planned to meet RAD this afternoon. So easy with RAD, we will set place to meet before we go out of our cocoons. We need to check our mood to the last minute. Let time shows us where we want to be in the next few hours.. 13:32

Apparently, we both were too lazy to go out of cocoon. I let things distracting me while I prepared myself. Good to know that RAD was going to be late too.. And she was pretty late because she gave me time to unintentionally shop. Grr.

We were yakking over coffee and potato wedges. RAD told me story about how she organized help for Yogya two weeks ago with some friends from Jakarta. I was amazed by the story of how fund and other aid stuffs like pouring in since she announced her intention to make a trip to Yogya. She felt selfish tho.. which didn’t surprise me. She felt good doing it and she felt ‘bad’ at the same time because she felt good. I believe anything is enjoyable if we do with sincerity..

Almost two hours passed. RAD had an idea to watch movie. Hm.. Like dating. Why not? We checked out the cinema and the only movie we would like to watch is The Omen, but still two hours away. Early dinner then. RAD chose her favorite Italian resto near the cinema. Pizza was good but yakking was the best. We had to set alarm to remind us the time ha ha..

It's fun to watch movie with RAD (my first time). She was quite jumpy. I giggled everytime she jumped or covered face from scary scene. We were off near 22:00. I was sleepy, so RAD. It was nice to spend six hours together, not lONeLY.

Art Journal: The Buyer

I didn’t intend to do an artwork today, although I intended. ??!???!? This way, I planned to make an artwork but I had no idea. I got the idea when I cleaned up bedroom. It started when I found a name-badge given at the craft fair last week when I went with three ladies. We had to register under a company name, so everybody was FRA’s employee ha ha.

What’s so special about the name-badge? It said BUYER. I just liked the idea. I collected more papers that could go with the ‘buyer’. Again from cleaning, I found recycled paper ex gift wrap from a good friend. Then I tore my favorite dark choco wrap which I found half bar inside one handbag (yes, I have treasure inside handbags).

Started with three materials, I dug my magazine-to-go pile. I chose Newsweek for I liked the characteristic of its paper. Thin but strong. I had other reason too. Then I browsed the pages, thinking about making ‘kidnapper font’ out of the pages.

I chose “Signal Lost” because of its big font but I liked the words too. Nice wording for ‘base’. Then “meet the voice”. Mm ya, I also cut out four letters to form “ONLY”. The word goes well with the notion of “buyer”. Base done: name-badge, choco wrap, and kidnapper’s font.

And just before I started to lay out, I found a little message I got from inside a fortune cookie at Marriott’s sidewalk coffeeshop in Singapore in December 2004. I kept it for so long unintentionally and.. intentionally. It’s interesting because it says “The root of your true love will spring from a friendship.” With smiley too.. I put small golden cotter pin on it.. to secure its existence. Smile.

This time I glued all surface to get thin flat artwork. I like recycled paper’s furry edge so I rarely glued it. Notebook’s paper is good, not thick but thick enough for scrapping. I made one mistake tho, I didn’t smear enough glue in the center of the yellow paper on top. Uh.. It bubbles now. I left center space empty for future material. Ongoing artwork..

But I have decided on the title .t.h.e.b.u.y.e.r. And what a nice date today 16.6.06.

reSETting

In my Bahasa Indonesia post yesterday I wrote about how fast time flies. Also, how fast things change: my ritual, my activities, my rhythm, my way of thinking,… No process anymore, just change!

I missed a post or two in friend’s blog because I didn’t check regularly. Not that I forgot to check, but time confused me. I thought I had checked but time already ran..

Last week, for the second time since I owned O2 for two years, the battery drained. It drained all my not-yet-sync data too!! Fabulous! This is one example of how fast time runs. I didn’t use O2 actively so I didn’t keep track of time when the battery needed to be charged. I thought it was just yesterday, but four days had passed. Great!

The concept came to me this morning. “Reset” is an important feature we can find in almost any electronic device. The main function is to solve troubles.. although shortcut!!

Like it or not, we need to live with reset feature. Abandoned the drained O2 for a few days, I enjoyed resetting last night. I synced it with computer, hoping most data recovered. I found out one nice thing about unintentionally resetting the device... you don’t know what you lose.

I browsed the Inbox, Notes, Pictures,… I went blank. Only few I could recall I had in those folders. Therefore I could say, I hardly lose anything. I have all in my memories anyway.

I used to use the O2 actively 24/7. As my activities run high, I gradually left it at home. I wore smaller handbags, I brought less stuff, I didn’t have enough time to use, I’m back to ‘traditional’ method of writing,.. So many reasons.. But I got the lesson, resetting O2 has reconnected me with the device. I felt the need to use it again. So I typed in my future schedule and... be ready to lose my memory.

Photo: Artwork by Awan Simatupang.

i R i

Beberapa hari yang lalu aku menyadari kalau aku sudah lama tidak menulis dalam Bahasa Indonesia. Aku tidak tahu kenapa tiba-tiba keinginan yang pernah aku canangkan bulan lalu menghilang begitu saja dari rutinitasku.

Sejalan dengan cepatnya waktu berlalu, aku menyadari kalau aku juga berubah dengan cepat. Kebiasaanku, kegiatanku, ritmeku, cara berpikirku,… seperti tanpa ada proses lagi. Semuanya berlari seperti menjentikan foto slide di pemutarnya.

Pembacaku juga berubah. Komentator bahasa Indonesia-ku menghilang. RAD menghilang ditelan kesibukan mengurus Yogya, aku sudah lama tidak mendengar kabar dari AMI,..

Aku juga sering kaget menyadari kalau aku ketinggalan satu–dua pos di blog temanku. Seperti mimpi, baru membaca kemarin, tiba-tiba empat hari sudah berlalu dan aku terlewat membaca beberapa pos. Oh.

Beberapa waktu yang lalu aku mengatakan pada seorang teman baik kalau aku ‘tidak sanggup’ membaca beberapa blog karena alasan sentimental. Seperti juga teman, blog mempunyai karakteristik yang berbeda-beda. Ada yang membangkitkan semangat dan ada yang mengingatkan pada hal-hal yang sedih.

Salah satu blog yang jarang aku cek meskipun aku sangat menyukainya adalah blog Paredes. Aku tak suka mengatakannya tapi aku harus mengakuinya.. aku iri dengan kehidupannya yang nampak begitu indah. Keluarga yang bahagia, istri dan anak-anak yang cantik dan baik, kegiatannya di musik dan kesenian lain,.. Aku senang melihat kehidupannya seperti aku melihat kisah di film-film Hollywood dimana semua nampak indah. Yang membuatku iri bukan karena keindahan hidupnya, tapi karena keyakinanku kalau hidup Paredes seindah yang dia gambarkan di blog-nya. Nah!

Kalau sudah begini, sulit rasanya untuk menghitung keuntungan dan kelebihan yang aku punya. Cermin yang aku pakai untuk memantulkan diriku terlalu indah, seperti cermin yang membuatku nampak lebih tinggi dan langsing. Penuh ilusi. Karena itu, di saat-saat seperti ini, aku lebih suka tidak bercermin (pada cermin apapun). Kadang-kadang tidak tahu apa kelebihan dan kekurangan kita lebih baik daripada mengetahui semuanya dan berusaha mengubahnya.

Seperti yang aku lakukan dengan menimbang badan hari ini. Oprah membahas tentang penderita anorexia yang kerasukan timbangan badan. Mereka bisa mengecek berat badan dua belas kali dalam sehari. Aku teringat kalau aku sudah lama tidak mengecek berat badan yang biasanya aku lakukan sebelum mandi. Sesudah berbulan-bulan tidak tahu berapa berat badanku (yang relatif stabil ini), aku berharap ada kejutan dengan menimbangnya hari ini.

Kejutan!! Tetap 44!!

Foto: ES di dalam instalasi di Rumah Seni Cemeti di Yogya.

30 Second Attack

Oh good.. I don’t have plan to go out today. I had severe headache since woke up. Getting up was hard, so heavy. I decided not to have coffee or tea, I squeezed oranges. It worked quite well. Opening my system. But it didn’t last long. My neck is stiff now. Uuh.. My low blood pressure?

I got home late last night. No time to write. I just checked email and slept. I tried to write in the morning but nothing came out. It’s Thursday. I checked Inspire Me Thursday and realized that my last artwork fit the theme for this week. No need to delay to start participating till next week. I submitted my work. I felt like I made a new commitment to create an artwork every week. That’s great tho!

Yesterday was strange. I felt like everything went slow. Traffic was surprisingly good from noon till midnight. That’s bonus. But.. many cars drove slowly, very slow, in empty streets. Some drivers talked on cellphone. Bus took time to get more passengers. Grr.

I had one last lunch with German RIT. She also invited PEN, Israeli RIT, and BIR. It was nice lunch as usual. We shared dish, dessert, laugh,.. But ending was different. It took 30 seconds for RIT to kiss goodbye everybody except me. She had tears in her eyes.

I walked with her to her transit apartment’s basement to take electric-whisk for NIE from her car. Handed me the thing; she stopped talking, kissed me and left me in the basement. All in less than 30 seconds. Realizing that I would not see her again in near future, I felt @)#$!&* I shouted I love you! Ugh!

I drove to Citos mall in silence. I recalled the first day I met RIT, how we spent time together, how time flew,.. Again, traffic was good but slow. Everybody had just said goodbye?

Mall was not too busy. Funny too.. In the mall I felt everybody also walked slowly. So hard to pass thru the crowd. I slowed my pace and took the time to enjoy stalls on the way to UB stall. I bought paper frame for collage. Nice last minute gift.

I only stayed for a few hours. I went to NIE’s house around 18:20. With JEA, we went to watch Attack Theatre (more about it below) as part of Jakarta Art Festival. Another unique show of dance, live music, and video. Hall was full. We met many friends. A nice closing of the day!

Attack Theatre

Attack Theatre creates and performs dance within the context of the human experience. Choices they make within this context drive their work. Site specific, related and determined works explore the landscape of choice. Blending multi-media, live music and traditional forms the artists search for unique presentation. At times funny and silly, at times poignant and heartbreaking, Attack Theatre's performers are not afraid to embrace the beautiful or the ugly. To fully experience a vast array of choices, Attack Theatre must interact with a diverse population. Therefore we seek to insert ourselves into as many diverse, intriguing or beautifully normal populations as possible.

(Photo and text from attacktheatre.com)

Art Journal: Kaki Topangku

Inspire Me Thursday: Show and Tell Art



The SHOW is shown in slideshow. Below is the TELL:

1/10 The blank first page: I bought this spiral notebook at Borders Singapore just after I had PLV. I planned to make art-journal of PLV visitors. I just made six lay-outs but never finished the work. I stopped tracking down PLV’s visitors either.

2/10 Lay outing papers: I printed Ubudblu header on orange paper and tore the edge, then print my feet Photoshop-picture I made two weeks ago. Chose more recycled papers for background. Placed the lay-out draft.

3/10 Lay outing things: I checked my sewing kit drawer and was mesmerized by stuffs I collected from many travels. Bags of stone for necklace. Strings of beads in my colors. Lots of strings (many sizes and colors), wire in colors, elastic, and more materials. Tools! (at least four types of pliers). Oh. Where was I?

4/10 Smiley pin: I found this pin among the rubble in the drawer. I decided to fix it on band that ties the notebook. To remind me to always smile.

5/10 Book cover: Yes, the cover looks the same as the inside pages. It should be nice to have decorated cover but I save it for later. Long term project.

6/10 Close up header: That’s the final look of the header. I put stitched badge in the shape of universe with a little alien (me) on top. I had it for torn jeans but never had time to fix (better bought new jeans he he). Universe symbolizes “my world”, Ubudblu. I also drew a blue star. I am the star.

7/10 Sewn sand-beads: I sewn four tiny beads in four corners of my feet picture to look like nails. I chose four prime colors: blue, orange, red, and green.

8/10 Sewn (hook-n-)eye: I found an eye (without its hook) in thread box. I decided to sew it in the header as my “eye”. I fixed one side only so it dangles; meaning my eye should be free to see.

9/10 Title “Kaki Topangku”: I wrote “kaki topangku” using fluorescent oil pastel I bought at Spotlight Singapore. First time I saw fluorescent pastel. It does well in artwork because the color comes out. I also scribbled on the picture side to give effect to the whole composition (if I did right). Finally, I wrote the title of the artwork (same “Kaki Topangku”) using 2B pencil on left down corner. I put dates too! Like an artwork he he.

10/10 Finished page: That’s how it looks from distance. I was not happy when I saw the picture but after four hours now.. I like it more! It took me about 50 minutes to create: from lay-out to finish. Not bad for first page eh?

By the way, why Kaki Topangku? Literal meaning: (My) feet my support. I respect this part of body which supports the rest of the body and maintains balance when standing and walking. Keywords: self support and balance.

Art Progress

Today I attended first meeting of summer study group at the chairwoman’s apartment. She took the first turn to talk (so she could relax the rest of summer, she said). The not-so-big apartment was full of ladies and a gentleman (the host thought he is “brave”). In total, this study group has attracted 27 ladies and one gentleman to sign up.

We were required to introduce self before the talk started. Many from the US, UK and Holland. Rest were from Germany, Australia, Japan, Indonesia (3!), Israel, Honduras (the leader), and Zimbabwe (the gentleman). The other two Indo ladies are much older than me. One lady is a professional jeweler. She has workshop to make glass beads at home. She also designs and sells in the bazaar sometimes. We are going to visit her workshop next week. I’m excited.

RK talked about Torajan (an area in Sulawesi / Celebes) jewelry. She had a superb talk. Above standard! Very alive and lots of information plus real jewelry to show. I looked at NIE. Can you talk that much? She grinned. Half an hour passed quickly. Very interesting talk.

More talk with ladies over lunch. The usual lunch mates; two Israelis RIT and AMA, PEN and myself. Interesting ‘heavy’ talk about being number one in a relationship (read: first wife). Three ladies with three opinions. I better stayed quiet as observer ha ha.

I got home tired. Jakarta was hot and humid the past few weeks. It’s hard to concentrate well after a few hours in-n-out air-conditioned 'space'. I drove home directly while thinking about my undone artwork and the deadline of Treasures of Jakarta book. I still owe the publisher suggestions on lay-out and text. Uh..

Well, finally before dark, I managed to finish the first page of my becoming-art-journal. I decided to use the first page for my personal page (not 'experience' page). I’m not really satisfied with the result.. but it’s natural. First work, haven’t explored all materials available. I haven’t created my work space either. Should be understandable!

I wish..

Yesterday, a good friend asked me What’s your wish? Ehm.. it was not my birthday and new year is still out of sight. It took awhile before I answered I don’t dare to have a wish! Yaa.. I don’t remember I made a wish on my birthdays, I didn’t even make new year resolution for years now.

Perhaps it’s part of my “life surprises program” where I apply ‘delete-all system’ and ‘don’t-look-back’ which followed by ‘don’t-look-at-future’. Hey.. I live in NOW!

I made a long list months ago, not a wish list, I’d rather call it ‘make happen’ list. To some, the list is also a wish list. True, but I focused the list on myself. Only about what I want to do. No second or third party involved so that I can control “my wish”.

I thought about “my wish” in cab on the way to the hall where I watched a circus art from France. BB is the only cab in town whose driver asks their customers which route they prefer. In easy day, I just let the driver choose, no preference. In busy hours, I discussed the route with driver.

And last night, it was after office hour -- busy. Just before the intersection I suggested him to take my route (when I drive). Of course I know the route very well. He argued, he said that his route was better. I didn’t answer. I laughed inside. Where’s my ‘wish’? Even cab driver didn’t grant me my wish. I gave in.

Many close persons told me that I should be more pushy and demanding. Oooh.. not my cup of tea. I’m too old to argue. Let people take the glory! Whatever.

Show was super good. One man show, very creative, contemporary. They called it cirque but nothing as common circus. It was more acrobatic (without rope). This man moved around L-shape wooden walls with one little hole and two little holes with dimmed lamps.

In some parts a projector projected his movement on one side of the wall. Like mirror image but horizontal and vertical, we watched both movement and got lost which image was ‘true image’. After awhile we lost whether he moved vertical or horizontal.

Movement was slow, exploring all muscles. The techno music was perfect. I could see myself in the movement. I think it’s all about us. Restless, hopeless, wanted to go out of the cubicle, reconsidered, played with self, played with surroundings, tried new movement, tried to beat gravity (or reality?),… Many aspects of life in movement performed in limited space (more description from the organizer below).

One hour felt like looong although show was good. It was because of the slow movement perhaps. We had a good laugh on the way out. Everybody, except me, dozed when the movement was too slow. Glad I did not. I stayed awake all show long. Ha ha.. It was a good show. I felt peaceful on the way out and forgot all about my should-have-wish.

My good friend seemed to be still unhappy with me having no wish. I may grant him with one wish then.. I wish I had a wish.

Interieur Nuit

Circus art, dance and theater in collaboration with digital picture technology and electronic music conduct a research on human body based on metamorphose forms. Interieur Nuit (night interior) offers space with geometric variety, it can be a room, a jail or game station … The frame takes place in a kind of empty room at night, a moment favourable to sweet dreams as well as whimsical frenzies. From the darkness, Jean-Baptiste Andre show up and surprise others by his resistance to gravity. He keeps his equilibrium on his hands, raises his body, climbs the wall and performs his malleability. He makes the audience question the relationship of space and time, interior and exterior, real and imaginary.

A young but powerful new voice in the French contemporary scene, Jean-Baptiste André unlock the art limitation in a solo acrobatic performance. This is a meditation about loneliness and emptiness, a night contemplation that bring us to a new perception about the world. Jean-Baptiste Andre is an artist from new generation, which easily flows between scientific disciplines without burden.

Plan D

I was thinking while driving in bad traffic on the way to gym this morning. Why do I do this? Going this far from home (20 minutes drive in normal traffic), waiting for the 3-in-1 traffic regulation that chopped my day, being in all day macet route,.. all just to go to same gym I went since about ten years.

I chose the gym because of the location that was near my office, then later also near my post-grad campus,.. I have been thru three managements, seen three different nameboards, experienced two major renovations,.. And I’m still their patron!

But now? There are at least two nice gyms in my neighborhood, six minutes drive and no traffic,.. What happen with my system? I keep all the same because of the gym feels like home to me? Ya! Management changed but trainers and equipments are all the same! Also the other patrons.. I met same Bapak exercising in same equipment, same guys in same weight-lifting department, same fat sweaty boy with trainer,… I know their time as they know my time.. We hardly greeted each other but we silently observed each other. We were nice when we met in hotel lobby. Same people share an activity for so long! That is home!

I thought more about my boring same ritual for years. Treadmilling using same machine for 30 minutes (to hit exactly 3 kilometers), pushing 4 kgs metal with both legs (then 2 kgs with each leg), stretching backbone with 7 kgs metal to exercise its strength, and finally pushing shoulders with 5 kgs metal to expand my lungs (at least that’s what I felt). Cooling down is lying down on the wooden floor on my own towel, barefooted with two 2 kgs dumbbells. Stretching, doing acrobat, a bit yoga,… all torturing poses possible. Gym done. All the same. No surprises.

SIM told me the other day that PEN liked to plan everything way ahead – which I very agreed with him – and she could be upset if things didn’t go as she planned. She could text me four days before D-day whether she needed to send her driver to pick me up – which I was grateful with her attention. But planning such details, four days before, is a bit out of radar to me. Too far, no signal.

I was like her when I was younger. Held tickets for year-end holiday three months before, paid concert tickets at least two weeks before the show, and many. I stop doing it. Too many disappointment if thing pops unplanned.

SIM said it’s fun to allow some space for life surprises. I don’t allow some, now I allow ALL my space for life surprises. So many things in life go unplanned. Why don’t we give all space for surprise then?

I have trick to cushion my disappointment hit tho. Like everyone else, I also have Plan B. But I would rather call it Plan D(isappointment).


Photo: Slow traffic today gave me life surprise. It showed me street art under bridge where I passed.. I loved my surprise!

Starwifes Coffee:
Nothing as good as coffee prepared by wife!

Break the Eggshell

Last night I searched for spiral notebook I remembered I had. I was inspired by a challenge in Inspire Me Thursday (IMT) to do Art Journaling. I checked out some artworks submitted. Superb! Yaa.. Why wait till a birthday party or a travel trip to make a scrapbook. Illustrated journal is interesting to do once or twice a week. Do not have to be complicated, any material can do. By the way, I found the notebook. Perfect size for ‘light’ scrapbook. I was happy sleeping.

I carried the art bubble till I got up in the morning. My art bubble led me to more art challenge links. It all started from Arv’s blog. I observed his weekly artwork submitted to Illustration Friday (IF). I was not ready to create an artwork so I hadn't had checked the link.

But nice to discover the previous art challenge link, IMT, thru IF participant’s blog. I’m interested in IMT more than IF because I cannot do well in illustrating. Also there are more variety in IMT challenges such as Monochromatic Art, Functional Art, Find the Art in the Everyday, and many more. I will observe further then participate later.. soon.

Also thru a participant’s blog I found Poetry Thursday. This one also attracts me. It’s easier because I have started writing any form of poetry almost everyday. I may start to answer the challenge in this web soon. Very interesting.

So I am bubbly with many kinds of art challenge. This morning I took out my ‘collection’ of card (expired credit card, membership card, service card, hotel keys, and many). I planned to make a lampshade ha ha. AW has inspired me with her gas-lighters chandelier. I haven’t planned the lay-out but soon I will design and ask my staff to make the frame. I am excited.

My art plan today was interrupted by the inspiration to write About Me. I was often speechless when one asked me About Me. I was lucky sometimes, my art group friends helped me describing my About Me. I called them my promoter. Yaa! This morning the outline was flowing and transforming into my About Me. Yay!

In the afternoon I decided to watch Inside Man, PEN recommended. I checked the schedule and this time I had to go to cinema in a mall. It’s where the youngsters hangout. I was fascinated by the luxury feeling in the lobby (shown in slideshow). The ticket price was also WOW.. almost three times of the regular USD 3. I could not believe how much pocket money those youngsters have.

Inside Man was my third movie in three weeks -- after five years of not watching movie in cinema. That’s how I believe to start to create my first artwork soon. Here there's a saying Break the eggshell meaning “once you break the eggshell, inside will burst out”

Enjoy Ubudblu??

It’s strange I know that I just write my “About Me” profile today. I have tried many times since I started Ubudblu but nothing came into realization. I don’t like short description because I have ‘long description’. I don’t want long boring description either. So how?

So I never made one to this morning when the outline just came to mind. I have been blogging almost five months now. I know better about myself thru my posts. What I often wrote, what’s my passion, what’s my dream, what I have,… and many more. Now after more than 130 posts, I could come to what I call ‘short description’ About Me!

Which was still LONG! Yea.. My writing didn’t fit the 1200 characters prescribed. I was just writing on and on and on.. Not counting the characters. Come to reality that I had to slash half of my writing, I didn’t want to junk the rest.

Please enjoy the complete piece About Me. The version in the Profile is just the ‘excerpt’ of this one below:

I have passion for art of any form. I run my own time while I run art business that gives me opportunity to explore more arts especially in Indonesia.

My two art shops – in Jakarta and Ubud, Bali – sell art objects from Indonesia. It’s not craft that is mass produced, but objects produced by arty skillfully hands of Indonesian craftsmen. I hand-pick them myself and have workshop to make the objects ready to display as art decoration.

I opened FRA in Jakarta in November 1998 – in the early of Indonesian economy crisis. FRA went thru the first three golden years. Business was surprisingly good as many foreigners moving out and in. Yes, 99% of both shops’ customer is foreigner.

PLV in Ubud opened in April 2004. PLV is my reason to visit Bali more often as part of building my dream to spend old days in Ubud. PLV has not been yet in boom time, but it has given me experience to run business in different atmosphere and culture.

My latest venture is UB – accessories shop – opened in May 2005. It occupies small cute space next to FRA in Jakarta. The space served as station because UB sells the stuff thru bazaars more. I wrote many Wednesday posts about the Ladies Wednesday Bazaar in Citos Mall. This ‘small scale’ business has taught me many aspects of business life.

I run UB with three cousins who share same passion for creating ‘art-to-wear’. They are creative and productive; I act more as manager and purchaser – both the material and the product :-) This business is a ‘by-product’ of my frequent travel to Bali where the material for making accessories is available in huge range and reasonable price.

To kill the idle time, I join the IHS (Heritage) since 2001. It‘s a big organization to accommodate interests on Indonesian culture. Majority member is foreigners who live in Indonesia (simplified description about the organization).

I belong to Contemporary Art Study Group (art group) since I joined Heritage. I meet many nice girlfriends of various ethnic origins who share same interest in art especially painting and sculpture. Joining the art group has enriched my art knowledge and life itself thru friendship. I share a lot of my experience with the art group in Ubudblu.

I used to be productive creating artwork when I was kid, now I create artwork only sometimes but more for gift; simple artwork like personal collage, simple beading, greeting cards,.. I got many kicks to create more artwork which I have not started yet. I keep measuring my capability, although I can JUST DO IT!

Finally, in my solitude I like to read (any material) and just recently I start to write. I started my first blog in February 2006. Ubudblu is my second blog. Business blogs came later. I have commitment to self to write everyday – whatever shape, whatever quality, whatever length, whatever… – Just write! I found ‘myself’ thru my own writing. I thank my good friend who has kicked me to write more by feeding me with many good books on anything.

Starting June 2006, I decided to mingle more with blogger friends to extend my art life, to pull out my creativity inside, to have discipline to create artwork or art-writing, and to make happen of many others.

Enjoy Ubudblu!

And problem arose when I put the excerpt version. Because it shows in front page, then it kicks the sidebar down. Grr. I will try to fix it later. I may create excerpt of the excerpt then. Huh.

“What is MY holiday?!”

“Ibu, can I take holiday tomorrow?”
“What holiday?”
“MY holiday!”
“What is MY holiday?!”
“Just off. I want to stay at home.”
“Ehm.. Ya.”

That was LIN who asked me for permission two days ago. I was shocked at first but then I gave in. I know the feeling. Away from routine, even for one day. I also badly need holiday.

She must have boring routine. Go to work in the morning, sit in quiet shop for seven hours, not much have physical activity, hardly have more than one person to talk to (exclude walk-in custos), listen to same music, do same job,.. For almost seven years now.

Shame on me who feel bored of my daily. Like I do not have flexy time, not do many, not have options, not have variety of friends, not listen to various music, not do different things,.. All the time.

I almost fix my holiday dates. I need to be away for a few days before end of the month. Or, I will live with the dream to be away. End the dream and start summer with fresher energy, spirit, and ideas.

My routine today: go to FRA (general check up), have lunch at favorite warung and grocery shopping afterward.

My new today: meet AD’s baby at FRA and attend German RIT’s farewell party at her former-now-empty house.

Slideshow: all photos are taken today.

Socialize!

Yesterday I realized that blogging is another form of socializing. It is best to not only concentrate on our blog. We have to go out… socialize! How? Checking out friends’ blog, visiting new blogs, clicking favorite blogs,..

I tried to limit spending time in front of computer because I need more physical activities like writing, reading, sporting and socializing! Checking out other blogs reminded me of the need to extend my interest and to find more mirrors to see myself. Reading two or three blogs a night will not rob my time. I should take that as night ritual.

But haven’t I routinely checked other blogs? Ya.. but randomly – which can be wasting time. Friends’, favorites, and recommended blogs are more ‘straight to the goal’. Use same amount of time, only effectively. Yea..

This morning I checked out all in my favorite list. One posted a beautiful painting again, one wrote about his progress in new life, one wrote more about his wonderful thought about life, and one updates her daily journal as taxi driver in NY. Short list but well selected. Of different sides of life.

I feel like sandbag these days. Not making time to have serious exercise. The other day RIT reminded me of the importance to have cardio exercise. I could not agree more. That’s what I need! Stretching and yoga everyday are not enough. I need stronger heart. Can I say I start treadmilling on Monday? Why not? 8:35

Another girls' day out today. PEN, RIT, AMA and I went to a craft fair in the same place. It was not as big and as good as one last month. We were not so disappointed tho, only we didn’t know what to buy. PEN stopped at any stall that sold food. She bought many keripik snacks for son who comes home next week. She was so excited buying various snacks.

The only food I bought was jenang and dodol from West Java. My three non-Indo girls were amazed by the shapes and colors so I bought sampler for them to taste. Later RIT also bought for herself. I still keep the rest which I hope I can finish (shown in photo).

I bought four pieces of batik. Two are like paintings. I will use them for throw, nice and cozy. I love the smell of batik wax, it puts me to sleep. The other two are material for clothing. Nice cotton. Soft.

I could not restrain myself from buying batik and.. recycled paper. I bought ten sheets of different motifs. So cute. Again, like painting. I like to stock nice paper for gift wrapping. And before I left the stall, I bought some nice notes made of same paper. Very creative art.

And finally, I found nice small chair with back support. The red color attracted me more. I will ask my staffs to retouch the paint to make it less red by mixing it with black to match my interior. I was so excited to have this chair. I am chair mania. I am more and more like Symon. Smile.

RIT was going to pick up her son in airport so we had to rush to have lunch. We went to nearby mall, PS. We had Thai fusion food and long chat about racism. I went to restroom and left them in the middle of hot discussion. On the way back I ran into my dermatologist, she was in charge in derma-cosmetic shop near the resto.

I ran to meet her in the consultation room. I still have problem with acne. She gave me new prescription for cream and medicine. I was supposed to have the cream first for one week, if acne persists, then the medicine. I could not wait that long. I asked the pharmacy to give me all. Yea.. I want to have spot-free face soon!

I grinned when my three over-48-girlfriends told me that.. that’s about AGE!!

Giggly Girls

I showered twice in six hours. I slept over midnight last night and woke up at 6:00 this morning. I felt like dreaming while showering with cold water (solar heater had not yet warmed the water). I missed my ironing and mopping morning. I realized that not having activity out is luxury.

Again, I only went with ATO attending British ladies bazaar which started at 10:00. We had to have our table ready at 9:30. But it’s strange when we got there 8:30, the loading lift was deserted. Where’s everybody?

When we got the ballroom, most tables were already ready! A friend asked Are you late? Ha ha.. how could we be late? An hour away still! Later I found out that many had come around 6:00-7:00. So lucky to live around the corner.

We set up our table quickly then walked around checking out other tables. There were many silver jewelry vendors. I restrained. I just bought cheese bread I like and aromatherapy oil from a lady I know. Not many vendors. Nice to have spacious space behind table. We could have little party.

Just after 10:00 PEN came. Her happy nature is always like sunshine to me. I felt spirited to have her around. She tried many necklaces and decided on two similar one. RIT and AMA came later. We laughed a lot. AMA cut her hair really short and RIT only had slightly shorter hair with same old model. We tried to get her out of her old style but she is not easy to convince. She keeps everything the same over years we know her. White or black outfit plus jeans. Never in colors!

So nice to have them around. More of their friends stopped by and chatted. Later NEL and CAR joined and together with PEN they used UB table as station. They kept their shopping bags under table and went to shop more and stored again and went…

Time went slow because the bazaar was quiet. Soo quiet, so hard to spot crowd (shown in photos I made from where I sat). I heard people said that they picked wrong date – it was the last day of school.

I was just happy to have PEN, NEL, and CAR till the end of five chilly hours. They stayed till last minute. PEN and I were starved waiting for the other ladies to end their never end shopping. We ate whatever we had; choco, sandwich, rendang, roti,..

It was not a good sales day but I had very nice time with girl friends. I also had a chance to meet the leader of summer study group. She turned out to be an interesting girl with lots of art interest. We giggled just minutes after introduced ourselves to each other. I liked to know more about her specialty -- digital art.

Do-Nuts

It’s Wednesday bazaar again. Today UB had no crowd, only me and ATO attending the table. RIN is in Bandung waiting to be grandma and YAN was busy with son doing exam.

I could not leave ATO attending the table by herself then, unlike other days when I had time to sit in café doing my stuff or meeting friends. It’s okay tho. I took pictures of new UB products and prepared it for UB slideshow. I also prepared slideshow for PLV. Too bad I could not work more than three hours, battery ran out and no electricity outlet near the table.

I already had lunch when PEN and SIM came over. It was so nice to see them. They killed time before son’s graduation in school near the mall. We had hilarious lunch. SIM is a happy person, no matter what, he is always happy. I enjoyed them told about each other’s like-n-dislike. Like school kids quarrelling.

Afternoon didn’t pass too fast. Sometimes I walked around checking other tables to kill time. I bought nice jute choker and got lots of idea as usual. I restrained myself from checking out clothes and shoes.

Mall was busy all day – which was good! People were streaming in all day (shown in photo). We made a very good sales. It’s good and it’s sad. We looked at our table.. almost empty! What makes it worse is that RIN and YAN are taking 'leave' till we never know when – can be a week or two or more. Now we have to think about what to sell tomorrow at British ladies bazaar. Ugh.

Time was crawling. We kept checking time. We decided to wrap up early, around 21:00. Yea.. we managed to pack up by 22:30. Not bad. An hour earlier than usual.

I challenged myself before home. I queued in short queue at J.Co Donuts & Coffee. A new outlet opened two months ago and never seen empty. People were queuing like crazy. I never had one and always hid behind the reason that I don’t like the fabricated smell; bitter and artificial. Today I decided to be more open and fair, not to judge before I tasted one.

Interesting outlet with see-thru kitchen. It employed more than thirty to handle.. donuts!! Soo many people busily working behind the glass for small round thing glazed with choco, sugar, nuts, and many flavors. Amazing!

Before home I even asked vendor neighbor's comment about the donuts. She said that J.Co is the best yum yum donut because of its softness which melt in mouth. Hm.. sounded good and promising! I could not wait till I tasted my first J.Co donut to justify my judgment of why I do not like.

At home, I took bread-n-butter plate and prepared my ceremony. My grand tasting of the most sought donut in town. First bite, second,… Ehm.. To me? It’s just ANOTHER donut!!

Art to Anticipate

Today is the first meeting of Heritage summer study group. Many of my friends from art group joined because.. it studies the Jewelry of Indonesia! Another form of art! The theme is interesting but the disclaimer is more inviting (You don’t need to attend all meetings. You can join when you are around.)

We laughed out loud after reading the disclaimer. So perfect for non-committal ladies like us ha ha.. We are all afraid of commitment especially commitment to study in summer!

Four of us arrived a bit late. Looking at the other members, we sank, most were older and.. they looked serious! It was a serious study group. There will be twelve meetings every Tuesday morning starting next week and each week a or a-pair-of member is required to make presentation.

It was repeated many times by the leader that the presentation is not a doctorate thesis (but still required ten to twelve pages, fits doctorate thesis proposal ha ha). We are allowed to clip from any source available as long as we cite the sources. And it’s best if we can hold show-n-tell session.

It was also emphasized that non-English speaker can organize a trip instead of making presentation. Heritage tried so hard not to scare people away, of language limitation or heavy homework. Hm fair enough.

I made quick count heads. More than 15 members attending (one man!!). Hm.. I have a chance to pair up then. I squeezed my memory what I have in my collection to do the show-n-tell. I have some nice metal pendants from Timor. I can find the information about those. Hm.. Plan A.

What’s my Plan B? I wrote a little note to PEN, asked her to pair up with me organizing trip to visit IW – an American jeweler lives in Jakarta who adopts Indonesian motifs into his exquisite designs. That counts! At least we have something to write in ‘commitment sheet’. PEN preferred to hold it near the end of the season, in August. Perfect! They accepted our proposal.

Piece of cake then. I like IW for his work. He is nice and knowledgeable person too. PEN and I will visit him before she is off to Oz one month. A simple write up about him and done is our task in summer study group. We can relaaax in other meetings held by other members. Smiiile.

Yaa members of our art group are spoiled members. We liked to learn new art, but no writing please.. No report please.. We shared details of our visit but that’s just it. So it’s good to join other study groups which really study, for a change.

I didn’t know that PEN and RIT planned to go to a Malaysian lady who tailors clothes. Oh okay.. would love to join them. I have told myself not to buy anything. I tailored some nice silk blouses to go with batik in the past. I have enough of it. But after an hour, I decided to order a nice spandex wrap-round long skirt. Very elegant and sexy. Great design to fit any size of body and allow many styles! Brilliant!

I dropped by FRA a minute on the way back to pick up gift from YUG's boy, went to Body Shop, and had coffee with PEN. I’m going to a get-together at cousins’ house this evening. Their 88th grandmother’s birthday. I bought nice rose scent of lotion and soap bar to match at Body Shop. What else can I give to a lady of the age? PEN suggested me to buy ticket of a cruise in Malaysia. What PEN? Or a set of old movie DVDs, or CD of singers from her time,.. I only had a few hours left. No way. And those fancies would just be suitable for PEN's and my 88th birthday. If we are lucky to keep the… spirit!! Ha ha..

Enough talking about old age and where to spend the rest of our life. We discussed it along the way in the middle of frustrating traffic. So hilarious! Now being at home, I feel a bit tired but nice feeling. Nice to know that I have something to anticipate in the coming three months. New art, new friends, new knowledge, new… many.

Shown in photo is the gift from MIMO – 4-year old son of YUG. Very nice! I haven’t interviewed the mommy about the art. Apparently mommy ‘touched’ the art with computer. But it’s so nice to have someone shares their kid’s art. I will display it among my funky collection. It’s a POP ART!

Count on Communication

Chiko sounded so noisy today. He was meow-ing loudly and could not be calmed. We used to have better communication, but not today. He likes to greet us when entering room, meow-ing so loudly till someone shouts back. I talk to him. I use human word and he understands! Cousins often laughed at the way we communicated because he reacted the way I wanted. Yaa, it depends on how we treat someone or some-cat. Smile.

IJ sister, ER, came this morning. She’s tall and mature, looked bright. She’s two years younger than IJ. I welcomed her to work for me with one-month probation. I always asked new staff to go thru 1-3 months probation. Fair for us.

Later in the afternoon I found that she is naturally more communicative than IJ. She asked me about Chiko. Wow! IJ too became more open recently. She initiated a talk. So nice. She discussed tape ketan hijau (fermented sticky rice) -- ER brought from kampong -- with me. How long it takes to be ready, what temperature, what leaves (guava / banana) they use to wrap,.. It’s nice that they make it in small size – almost bite size. For oleh-oleh, they carry it in a bucket -- literally bucket! -- and can take buckets of it! It’s watery. Practical idea.

I had two packets after late lunch. Ooh so sweet! No alcohol taste, sometimes the alcohol tastes stronger. This is perfect for dessert. Ehm..

Today I’m not so productive; only domestic chores and preparing photos for RM to be sent tomorrow. I will have a busy week starts tomorrow so I take my time today.

I still owe a lot to many. CEN, GOP, YUG (she called the other day, she has gift for me from her 4-year old son),.. I owe a lot of reaching out while I’m thinking about my nephew graduation two days ago (I got the picture just this evening), MT in Singapore who goes thru life change, AT in KL who inspired me to stretch my communication. Below is AT’s email to her art friends in Yogya. She is fantastic with her language limitation. It's the thought that counts. Salute!

Hi Semuoanya,

Saya sangat terkejut lihat dan dengar berita dari gumpa bumi di Yogya.
Saya mau tahu atau anda masih bisa terima email saya dan semoanya
Sembuh?

Kalau bisah, kasih tahu saya,

Saya sedih sekali, saya lihat masalahnya ini di T.V.

Salam, dan saya simbayang untuk anda, keluarganya dan rakyat dari Yoga dan daerah estimewa ini. Saya simbaying untuk tak ada "disaster" lagi, dan saya kirim anda "healing" untuk apa terjadi dengan anda...

A