early resolution plan (1)

Next year I'll turn quarter a century, which is huge, I guess. Meanwhile accomplishment so far is so so great. career seems on track. relationship, a bit questionable.

As usual at this time of the year I'm compiling my resolution(s) for the following year and I realise I have discipline lacking life which is sad. Instance: my blog which I plan to have 120 entries only has 60 entries in 2009. (Glass half full, glass half empty)

Anyhoo, I'm planning a LOT of things in 2010, serious things like, better budgeting, improving my public speaking skill, investing plan, read Bible, relationship and when will I get married (if I ever).. and escapism things like this blog, my old project with DN, reading the books that I haven't read, meeting new people, burning calories etc. I'll come up with target because wise men said that without proper vision your mission has already failed before you even started (is this even a quote? haha)

But always, always dream big. It doesn't matter how many we have in our hand now, what matter is the limit we set for our dreams.

Pearl Before Breakfast, 2007, Weingarten

Maybe there are millions before me linking their blog to this beautifully written piece, Pearl Before Breakfast by Gene Weingarten (published by Washington Post Staff Writer in 2007).

Anyway, I just read the article this afternoon when a friend emailed me the article. It read “Slow down in 2009” in the subject line so I thought it must have been the one of many articles that encourages you to slow down, look around and appreciate the beauty that life has to offer rather than focusing on work and recession and global turmoil. Yadda yadda..

But then I read the preface and got hooked.

For those who hasn’t read the article, it is about the experiment made by the WP and Joshua Bell, a young virtuoso, who the latter played as a street musician, dressed down like one and took a stand in the busy Metro in Washington. It is far cry from his typical performance where people pay a minimum of US$100 per seat and a standing ovation thereafter.

Well, aside from the good article (won Pulitzer, hey?), it really does remind me, to breath (because I usually hold my breath while working), to smile, to talk, to hug, to look at someone in the eyes and say that I care, to prioritize...

because routines could have its way swaying me from what really is important: my life.

To end this, quotes below are ones that I really really really like and take to heart:

The poet Billy Collins once laughingly observed that all babies are born with knowledge of poetry, because the lub-dub of the mother's heart is in iambic meter. Then, Collins said, life slowly starts to choke the poetry out of us.

And then there was Calvin Myint, he had no memory that there had been a musician anywhere in sight. There's nothing wrong with Myint's hearing. He had buds in his ear. He was listening to his iPod.

For many of us, the explosion in technology has perversely limited, not expanded, our exposure to new experiences. ...And with iPods, we hear what we already know; we program our own playlists.

It's about failing to see the beauty of what's plainly in front of your eyes.

We're busy. Americans have been busy, as a people, since at least 1831, when a young French sociologist named Alexis de Tocqueville visited the States and found himself impressed, bemused and slightly dismayed at the degree to which people were driven, to the exclusion of everything else, by hard work and the accumulation of wealth.

When Picarello was growing up in New York, he studied violin seriously, intending to be a concert musician. But he gave it up at 18, when he decided he'd never be good enough to make it pay. Life does that to you sometimes. Sometimes, you have to do the prudent thing. So he went into another line of work. He's a supervisor at the U.S. Postal Service. Doesn't play the violin much, anymore.

status ridden relationship

When I was first announced my relationship with my current boyfriend back in high school, a couple of my best friends told me that they think I was only in it [relationship] to have the status. You know, girlfriend status.

I was upset surely (although I love them for it.. eventually), but not all of the statement is untrue. Looking back, I jumped into the ‘relationship’ fast enough before knowing all of his character and quality. Of course it triggered suspicion from my closest friends. At the very least, they show me how they really care about me.

My reason for declaring the relationship? I don’t know. I just fell hard in love (pardon me, I was only 18! Haha as if age was the reason.. I guess I’m a hopeless romantic and he swept me off my feet.) Although to be honest, I never thought I would be staying in this relationship for so long.

In my defense, it wasn’t 100% status ridden relationship. I wasn’t looking for status since I was considered traitor by several girl in my 12th grade class for having a boyfriend. Back then, jomblo was the way. Haha. And I wasn’t looking for a boyfriend five years ago. I was satisfied with my life and my achievement and my best girl friends.. it is not that I need anyone to fill the void in my life.

Honestly, in the beginning I didn’t think highly of him. I only expect him to be funny and get me laughing all day. After a while, he began earning my respect and nowadays I could say great things about him, not only for making my days but also for pushing me toward my goals and taught me to be more a committed and discipline person.

Anyway, today is my 75th month knowing him and he’s been a great, great company. We had our moments; stupid (mostly), crazy, endearing and sad.

But in the end all is sweet. Let's just pray and hope that there are more months to come.


PS: Anyway, when I told him the fact that it is our 75th month he said.. "Oh, sebentar lagi 100 dong yah.." "Stupido, it's going to be another 2 years to reach that point!" He's sort of slow in math considering he's a businessman heehee..

vintage surveys

I bet few of my closest high-school friends would remember how I usually asked them to answer my 'silly' questions on a paper. Guess what, I found one of those vintage surveys! This are so funny but I'm going to write it up in Bahasa so it won't loose its originality (I'm not going to put in the names- but only the initials, but I bet you know who you are..). I promise I'm not changing an iota on it.

This one reads: "Our Futures... what do you want to be, OK!"

:p H: Gw mau jd diplomat sukses!! Harus tinggal diluar negri punya green card dan euro card!

E: ROCK STAR!!

T: Gue tentunya pingin banget jadi "newscaster", pinginnya sih CNN/BBC. Live in NY/DC/London. Huaaaa.. tinggi banget impian gue.

DN: Tentunya domisili di luar negri dhunksh!! paling sedikit di S'pore... gue bekereja sebagai fashion editor di majalah VOGUE dan jadi fashion merchandiser di dep store Bloomingdales atau Harrods... dan punya butik namanya Harajukumanic... punya greencard, terus punya pacar si cowok gebetan di gereja gua itu (ouwgh.. i'm so in love with him)

D: gua mo kerja di IBM int. jadi general manager.... asoy... trus side job gua jadi hackernya FBI... jadi gua yang memprotect site-nya FBI and buat film sbg cinematografi... cowok gua jadi business man... yang terkenal seantero dunia.

R: gue mau jadi PR di SM entertainment tempat shinhwa kerja... jadi kalo ada masalah, gue yang turun.. hehe

V: jadi anak angkatnya Bill Gates trus dpt smua warisannya... AMEEN!!

AA: mau jadi dokter (tae.. ah) di rumah sakit mahalan!! ato jadi akuntan di luar negri.. anak dua

AD: Business women, anak dua, suami business man, tajir..

F: kepala designer perusahaan floo.com. gue bikin ndiri perush-nya sampai t'kenal ke uj (ung) dunia 7 turunan. Co(wok) setipe dan ga jauh-jauh amat dr perbidangan gue, arsitek ke'.. (gue ga ksampean kan jd arsitek). Co(wok) gue sejati sehati sejiwa yang takuly.. (Zie: Sumpah gw nggak ngerti ini apaan).. anak gue juga kaya gue dalam bidang art-art gitu.. hehe (maksa) oia, gue jg pengen nerusin di bidang perdebatan.. jadi chief adjudicator.. hehe (tay ah)

IS: business women.. haha ato business girl.. yah geto lah.. jadi pemilik perusahaan komputer terkenal.. seluruh dunia, nyaingin IBM bikin prgram baru ngalahin windows.. trus tajir abesss (tentunya.. haha) tp suami gw jg ga kalah ma gua.. tajir *7-12 turunan* pemilih peursahaan sama terkenalnya ma gua.. tinggal di luar: Amrik, Ing, Prancis ato se engga2nya Spore, anak 2: ce&co.. pokoknya jadi orang yang SUPER SIBUK.. tp bisa bagi waktu

FR: apa ya.. kayaknya sih banyak anak.. yah mungkin 1 anak/tahun.. huahahaha!! apa ya kerja gw.. paling memajukan Purbasari sampe go international.. sampingan mengembangkan toko emasnya si ****.. suami gue = mafia hongkong :) under cover sebagai orang jual emas.. rumah tesebar dimana2, hidup penuh tantangan (apa sih!!).. ga tau ah! masa dpn gw ga jelas!!

I had blast laughing while writing this up. Goodness, how far have we been from that point? I miss you girls so much.

new year/new york

one of my dream trip: to the inner part of manhattan's finest park.

good thing we are lucky that the weather were nice and the crowd wasn't really that claustrophobic.

I get my dad to walk up 20 blocks before he decided that he fed up being my photographer (and froze his hand up)

We ended up in Times Square before going back to Long Island at 7PM (crazy.. crazy night. lalaland)




~ it was the best new year starter
soooo exceeding my expectation
as I hope it will be this year

resolution?
really, should we go down that list again??!

well, what about trying to be less sarcastic?
ha!

xo L