You never let me have the last line.

I told my neighbor friend who never let me had the last line when we exchanged text messages. He always had something to text to close our exchange… even the short Ha! He booked me for Wednesday. We’re going to see bonsai exhibition in Ubud soccer field. It’s a mega event it seems. I never saw an exhibition with such a serious display. It took days to build; like building a Bali house with alang-alang roof and rows of pedestals with white standing background of each. Two thumbs up for the organizer. Hope they get their money back. Really. I wonder a lot about doing business these days. How people make money in this tough situation.

This morning I decided on giving a soft loan to a girl, now a young woman, whom Mama sponsored about 15 years ago. She is now on her feet and doing well. I offered her a new laptop she can pay in installments last year but she only accepted my offer last week. She works as teacher in an international school in Jakarta, writes a lot, and does online business that I'm not sure how it works. Another smart girl under Mama’s wings. I’m proud of her that I really don’t mind to share. And she’s lucky, she could use first the money from selling necklaces the past weeks. I’m happy to see the fund has a good flow.

Having a loud neighbor allows me to unintentionally observe other people’s life like watching a soap opera. She’s been my neighbor three months. About. I haven't heard she talked in happy manner, let alone laugh out loud. Her life is a drama, for me. I learned from her staffs the other day that she is hired to teach Balinese to cook 'raw food' for a soon-to-open café. I followed the busyness in her kitchen almost every day where they cook together using some appliances. It’s interesting.

Only lately I unintentionally learned she’s a bit worried about her last days in Bali. This morning I heard she cried on the phone when talked about how she didn’t want to be a cook but wanted to have her own café in Bali. But she needed to return to California soon. I really couldn’t help eavesdropping since she liked to sit on her bedroom’s window frame that allows me an easy access to hear every word from my desk. Last night she had a mild debate with her boss that I had to have loud jazz music to distract my ears. I'm not interested to know more.

My body is aching. This is the result of working intensively on low table with little physical movement. I can’t imagine silversmiths who work on bench for hours. Any work has its own physical challenge. I guess. And my new creativity challenge is to create bracelets from leftover stones. It’s so addictive. I couldn’t stop. The variety is more, the work time is shorter. It’s really fun! Simple fun that makes me not ready to work on a mega project an acquaintance offered me to do together. The idea is pure and great but it’s just too big for me. I offered him my network though.

My mini project these days.