Cerita Sita

   Christmas is in the town. I am not Christian hence not celebrating Christmas. But I love when it comes because there will be more lighting decoration pretty much everywhere. I am in love with lights. Lights englighten. It brings a whole different atmosphere when you lit it up. Whether it is indoor or outdoor. It brightens the surrounding and to me,  it brightens up life and warm the heart.   By the way, Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! May peace be upon us forever and always :) Picture: http://www.christmasships.org/images/out-of-focus-christmas-lights.jpg

One of my big dream is to wake up in a bedroom that has big and tall windows. I love the type of windows in Paris' apartments. Those classy old type of windows. It has to be tall and big so I can see the view outside. Whether it is a green backyard or the lights of cities. Tall and big so I can see the wonderful life outside the home and feel blessed every single day :) Source: room-ideas.com www.asopusitemus.com

So I watched this on the flight to Padang. Managed to watch this until the end due to a 2 hours delay, by the way. Tema filmnya sebenarnya sederhana. Tentang sepasang suami istri yang baru mempunyai anak satu dan merintis karir di ibukota. Dua-duanya memiliki pekerjaan yang cukup menuntut waktu dan tenaga mereka, seperti kebanyakan pasangan muda di Jakarta, yang berusaha mengejar karir dan menyeimbangkannya dengan kehidupan rumah tangga di tengah kemacetan yang tidak bersahabat. Kesibukan mereka yang begitu padat akhirnya menyebabkan kondisi fisik mereka satu demi satu ambruk dan harus menginap di rumah sakit. Uniknya, karena mereka adalah pasangan yang telah menikah, mereka ditempatkan di ruang perawatan yang sama. Berada di tempat yang sama dengan orang yang sama selama 7 hari 24 jam berturut-turut ternyata bukanlah hal yang mudah. Termasuk suami atau istri sendiri. Di luar perkiraan, walaupun sudah lima tahun menikah, ternyata banyak hal-hal yang belum diketahui oleh masing-masi...

Mentawai has been great. Many stories and dramas. But now.... Literally don't want to do anything except hibernating and hugging my kids.

Hari ini mendarat dengan selamat di Padang setelah di pesawat agak tegang karena beberapa kali mengalami turbulensi. Yes, we are off again one more time to Mentawai. While everybody else are having their holiday, here we are doing research :) But the fun part is that on this trip we are full team meaning that there are 12 people on board while before we were divided into smaller groups. Tomorrow in a very early morning we will go to Mentawai using the fast boat. Wish us luck, hope everything will be fine. Aamiin...

Funny. Funny how we can share our life stories to a total stranger and feel much closer to that person compared to our own family or friends. At first I thought that will only happen in movies. But I stand corrected. It was yesterday when I have to work a bit late than my usual working hours. I took the train which was unsurprisingly very crowded. When the train approached Bojong Gede Station I was finally able to sit. I sat between two older women which I guess were in their mid-50s. Not long after I sat, a woman with two toddlers passed us, carrying both of her children in the front and at the back of her body. We were astonished yet furious on how she carried her children very irresponsibly. I said irresponsible because it was late, the train was crowded, and she let the children hung up to her while her hands busy carrying other things. To me it is very dangerous. And from that scene, I started to talk with the woman on my left-side. How she also disapproved the way that wom...

Ever since I entered my new job, I faced a totally different atmosphere, which is actually make sense. New job brings new vibes. Normal. But these vibes are not always positive. Some of the unpleasant and uncontrolled vibes are gossips. People like to gossip. Easily distracted by gossip. Especially when it comes to those who are close to them. We are talking about our colleagues and friends occasionally, or to some people, more frequently than that, and most of the time it is NOT positive. It is not filled with praises of other people achievement but it is more into what the other people do wrong at work. And I am among those people who like to talk about my colleagues behind their back. I feel bad since the beginning. But I cannot help it. If you are in a group of colleagues and all of them especially at lunch time just talk about other people downside, it is really difficult for me not to get along and give comments. It is impossible for me to stay silent. Otherwise perhaps t...

Last week I had a bit of free time after teaching. So I decided to take my son to the cinema. It was the first time for him to watch in a big screen so he was pretty excited. The movie we watched was " The Good Dinosaur ". It was an amazing movie as always done by Disney Pixar. My favorite moment was when Arlo and his father went in the middle of the night to a grass field and suddenly thousands of fireflies appeared. I know it is kind of a fairy tale. But what do you expect from a children movie? Don't think about the evolution theory and human history otherwise you will not enjoy the movie :) Two hours long and in many scenes I cried especially the scene where Spot met his new family and Arlo felt like he has to let Spot go. Family and children have always been my soft spot. So I recommend this movie so much for all families and children. It is a good break from television news that present mostly violence and other unpleasant things in the world. Let yourself ...

Now that deadline for reports are starting to decrease a little bit, I think I need to clear some space in my head for some good reads. Some of the few that I am curious to read are: 1. Sabtu bersama Bapak by Adhitya Mulya 2. Negeri van Oranje 3. Supernova - 1 package from the beginning if at all possible 4. Buku Biografi Alm. Bung Hatta written by his three daughters 4. one book in English which I haven't browsed yet... any suggestions? :) Happy Weekend!!

Finally had a chance to watch movie again with husband @omjambul. Had a twisted moment between watching Spectre or Hunger Games. But looking at the long queue of teenagers I had a bet that they want to watch the latter, since the movie was just released earlier this week. So we switched to Spectre . And it was a very good decision! I enjoyed the movie from the very beginning. Bond theme song written and sung by Sam Smith was just phenomenal. His voice is stunning and the music really fits the whole image of a James Bond. The movie is definitely centered the attention to Bond, not only on his work as 00 agent but also as a personal human being, where more of his family background was revealed. A high appraisal for Daniel Craig who I personally think played James Bond really well. He might be different from the previous Bond and not a few were criticizing his physical appearance as Bond. Overall, I love the movie. Maybe because I haven't watched an action movie for ages in the ...

Time flies. Yet so fast. I dont know how many times I have stated that in my blog. Like weekend. Maybe.... it flies because we are occupied by many different things. And the most enjoyable occupied moments for me is when I am around my kids. I love being occupied by them. And really looking forward for the next weekend. To be occupied again by them :) Have a good rest!

I am currently reading Amba, written by Laksmi Pamuntjak. I was curious with the author. My early judgment was that the author would look like an elder woman with a serious face and glasses. I was proven wrong. Laksmi Pamuntjak, in the other way around, looks very beautiful and fashionable, with her long hair and make ups, far away from the impression of an old-fashioned woman because maybe when I read her name it sounds so traditional. But apart from her "socialita" look, I am surprised to know that she has a rich knowledge of Indonesian food. I visited her website: http://laksmipamuntjak.com/books/aruna-dan-lidahnya-2 and read that her book "Aruna dan Lidahnya" is a book that stories about Indonesian culinary (I haven't read the book though but it will be in my bucket list). I watched her interviews with Peter F. Gontha in YouTube and she definitely knows a lot about food and beyond food. So I am looking forward to finish her novel, Amba, and then read the...

I just watched this movie with my husband as part of our movie date (at home of course). It is a film adaptation from a relationship between a journalist, Mike Finkel, and Christian Longo who has murdered his wife and their three children. They started to connect because Chris Longo has used Finkel's name as his alias. It turned out that Longo has followed Finkel's career since the beginning and wanted Finkel to write about Longo's story and how he initially wanted to plea as "not guilty". Early scenes of the movie are very interesting and successfully caught my concentration. But then I lost it somewhere in the middle of the story. Perhaps because suddenly the story was too plain or too long. However, I still feel this is a nice movie to watch. It doesn't drain your brain because I can still follow and understand the story  (I am a good example of people who always throw questions to their partners when the movie is still playing). :) ALSO James Franco ...

I want this. My husband and I discovered a "rough diamond" at our home. It is located at the rooftop. Our house doesn't have a second storey but there is a small stairs that leads us to a flat squared area upstairs that are used to hang our washed clothes. Not large, but enough to gather some of our close friends for an outdoor dinner or to have a small garden with colorful plants on pots. Many ideas are still swirling in my mind and one of them is to first, decorate it with this lovely simple hanging lights. I don't know where I can find this but these lights will definitely add up the warm ambience of our home. :) Picture: http://brightjuly.blogspot.com/2012/09/diy-outdoor-string-lights.html

I am currently preparing myself to take English academic test, both IELTS and TOEFL. It just came out of the blue. I suddenly wanted to try myself to take the test, no matter if it is urgently needed or not. The last time I took this kind of test was more than two years ago and given that preparing the application for your scholarship is something that cannot be done in a short term, I feel that the sooner I do the test, the better. So here I am in my new office, typing myself away while listening to an example of IELTS speaking test. I need to "doctrine" myself with English all the time I guess :) by the way, the new office gives a very nice ambience. Although I need to do a long trip but now it is worthed. I am trying to think of more ways to make my room more convenient. Perhaps a beanbag and a mini carpet would make it. For me who are easily get bored, an alternative place to seat perhaps can inspire me more. I am also planning to buy some indoor plants to place it on t...