My Current Mantra

Anicca anicca anicca
अनिच्चा


*Pali for impermanence

How to Travel After a Fracture

One rainy night toward the end of October I slipped when I tried getting into the bus. It started to swell pretty quickly, as soon as I arrived home I put on Thrombopop (a salve against swelling) and param kocok (traditional concoction for bruising) and wrapped it tightly.

The next day I went to the hospital, got an xray, and yes, another hairline fracture. This time on my left cuboid bone. The doctor said I didnt need any cast, just properly wrapped it and no high heels.

Two days later I was at the airport, checking in. I asked the person in charged if I was allowed to board along with family with kids. She asked why, and I told the story. 'ok, you'll be in a wheelchair' she said.
'My gosh, I dont need a wheelchair, I can walk slowly and it is still 3 hours prior to departure' I rejected her command. But she wont take no, so I had to be wheeled in after checking in.

I felt embarrassed, yet grateful. I was healthy enough bar that one bone, people didnt see that I had swollen foot. And I'd been walking around in the last two days, for crying out loud.

As we transited, I was glad she put me in a wheelchair, it was quite a walk, up and down 2 flight of stairs. It was quite funny when we were about to board, there were 12 (yes, twelve) people in a wheelchair! Each has their own person who pushed it. It felt like a race. I was probably the youngest.

When we landed in SFO, they didnt have any wheelchair for me. I was about to walk, when they said I should get one. So, I did, except this time there were only 3 people pushing all the wheelchairs! Poor them. They had to do a relay pushing us. And, they also helped us getting our luggage. The good thing about being in a wheelchair was we didnt have to wait for long for immigration.

On my way back I didnt ask for a wheelchair. My foot was more stable and I had been walking (slowly) every where for a week anyway. Granted travelling with broken bone disturbed some of my plans and I have to walk slowly and rest often.  But it was a fab trip none the less.

Foodilicious

Things that I miss are usually food

The Exploratorium

Amsterdam has Nemo, Singapore has Science Center, and San Francisco has The Exploratorium at Pier 15, just minutes away between Fisherman's Wharf and the Ferry Building.

It is a museum which mission is to change the way the world leans. It set up by Frank Oppenheimer, brother of J. Robert Oppenheimer of Manhattan Project, in 1969.

As he was blacklisted from academia due to his involvement in his brother's project, he helped out Science projects of local high school students which led him later on to set up a public museum to supplement science curricula at all levels.

There are over 600 exhibits, not as much as its Singaporean counterpart which has over 1000, divided into 6 galleries. The exhibits cover subjects: human perception, life sciences, physical phenomena, local environment and human behavior.

If it wasn't for the screaming kids, I would have stayed there all day long as it was fascinating trying out all the exhibits. Actually, the exploratorium has an adult only opening every first Thursday evening of the month, which I couldnt make it.

Apparently, for each exhibit they try it out with several teachers first, should they respond positively, the exhibit then will be put on display, if not then they re-adjust or start again.

I wish we have something like this in Indonesia, so we can entice kids into science.

Making a Point

I dont know much about American politics. I just know that when a President from the Democratic party is in power, the Republican do their best to make his/her life misserable. Take Clinton and his Monica affair. So, he had an affair and lied about it. It's a big deal for Hillary but I think not enough for a country to impeach him. Yet, when Bush junior lied about weapon of mass destruction and spending gawd knows how much on the stupid illegal war and killing thousands of people from several countries, no one even bother to impeach him.

Now, the government of USA shuts down.

It hasn't affect me directly until today. To be fair, had not been for the shut down, Indonesian Rupiah might've dropped even further in the past wo weeks. It helps Indonesian economy slightly. That being said, I dont know how things are after tomorrow if there's no agreement on the debt ceiling and the USA is defaulting. By then it's not only an American problem but a problem of the whole world in this connected  economy.

While I try to follow the shut down's timeline, I cant help but wonder about House speaker J.A. Boehner stubborness on this matter. Apparently there are 20 Republican House members who are willing to vote for the budget to end the shut down but was not allowed by Boehner.

Seriously?

While he was making his point about Obama care, he takes the whole country and might also take the whole world hostage. How bad is spending money on health care for all of your citizen compares to spending money on financing wars?

Blablabla

If you can't explain it simple, you don't understand it well enough - Einstein

I've had my share of dealing with some form of legal writing. In Bahasa Indonesia, English or Dutch. Most of the time, the Anglo Saxon writes the most direct in their legal writing. I've been trying to translate this notarial deed from Dutch which is the worst I've seen so far.

I feel like I do more research than translating. 

Seriously, legal lingo is hard enough as it is, and the guy has managed to upped it several notch. Ouwehoeren to the max. 

Why do they do that? Why legal people need to use archaic very long sentence in their writing? Is it a form of showing off? Covering you clients behinds doesnt have to be this complicated, people!

Gosh!

I needed two things done today, the first is getting this logo print out as cheap possible for templates and getting this file translated by today.

The file I have to translate is about 50 pages in Dutch and located in Sumatra. They need it ASAP. Or so they say back on Thursday. I cleared up Friday through Sunday last week to do it. Guess what? I still haven't received the original file until this tonight!!  I texted my friend about it every work day, and kept getting reply that his staff is going to send it. This afternoon he said the said staff just finished scanning them and will send them. Seriously? It took Thursday, Friday and Monday (I have no idea if they work on Saturday) to scan only 50 pages? Might as well you send the original by mail and our office boy could do it in less than one day. If scanning 50 pages takes 3 days, how long do you expect me to translate the whole thing ASAP? 

Next, the logo thing. Back in December we lost our shipment of two custom-made tablecloths to KL using a well-known shipping company. After a back and forth emails, they agreed to refund everything. Now I have to make two other custom-made tablecloths again. To do that I need to blow up this logo into 18cmx90cm in several A4s format before I could take it to the maker. Simple, right? Thinking I still need to finish my report, I asked our office boy to print them at a well-known, overpriced printing shop in Jakarta which located next door. He came back saying that they couldn't do that, and we need to do it at their HQ! What?? Again, seriously? It's a simple print job using photoshop or any DTP program. I ended up doing it myself in the office in less than 30 minutes.

What's up with these people? Those are simple things, why do you make it so difficult? 

Bohemian Gravity

I love the geekiness of this video. the sound is not bad either.

Uh Oh

I go to the office wearing a t-shirt most days. When I arrive, I change to 'office wear', whatever that is.
Except for today. I arrived straight to the empty office, bar the office boy. So, I was working in my tees. Jakartan offices are notoriously cold. After awhile, I thought I was going to put on my 'office blouse' on top of my tee as I started to get cold.

Holes and another holes.

That's what I saw on both upper arms of my blouse. Huge gapping holes. Didn't see them this morning when I put it in my bag. There goes my plan swinging by a government office this afternoon.

oh well..

How Old Are Your Ears?

When it comes to our body, what is stated on our birth certificate could means nothing much. You were born in such and such day, but your body could be older or younger than that number.

Back in NL my Chinese doctor jokingly told me that my face looked 25, while my body was 50. There's some truth in what she said, as I was coming to her office on weekly basis (sometimes twice a week) for acupuncture and tui na massage to heal some nerves damage & fibromyalgia which took toll on my body.

That being said, my ears are younger than I am, as I could still hear some high pitch sound which normally someone my age won't be able to hear, such as 17,000Hz. I even took the medical hearing test to prove it.

Below is a free simple test to check your hearing, all you need is to set it to 1080p and use a headset in a quiet room on a normal sound setting.

Judging from the comments, there are plenty youngsters who are not able to hear according their age level. I assume they are using a lot of headset to hear very loud music on daily basis which ruins their hair cells. I hope they change their habit and preserve their hair cells longer.


 

Turn It Off!

I always turn my geotagging off on my mobile device. And I'm glad I do that after watching this warning on the web:

Ok, it's an old video, but most people never heard of it.  How to disable the geotagging? You can see it here.

Learning from the Pro

Today I hung around one of Indonesia biggest publishers. Chatting with my friends and learning from them how to do food photography. Not only learning the composition but I also learnt how to style it. Their results are going to be publish in a new book. I'm already happy I could steal some pictures and tasting the food after they shot them.

Shooting with Phase One is still a dream..

Start Again

I went to another vipassana retreat the other day. There were only 4 other women and 7 guys with 3 volunteers (1 guy, 2 ladies) and a Kiwi teacher. 

This time I felt a lot of energy that I felt like doing somersault every now and then. The food was great, much improved than the first session I had in Indonesia. 

To be honest, I went because I blew up at work about a week before. Not. Good. At. All. A client was pressuring this urgent thing and the guy who supposed to handle it didn't do much. That day he came and did nothing on the matter even though I told him it's urgent every day for a week. I had a report to write so I couldn't go and take care of it myself, plus at the end of that day I had to go out of town for several days. I asked him to do go nicely twice during the day, so it would be done by the end of the day. Until I lost it. Yes, I know: terrible. I'm ashamed of it. 

The aftermath of that episode was: he finally took care of it the next day and an hour before he finalized it, we lost that account. Oh, well.

I thought I would've felt more rage in my meditation, but I didn't. However, between meditation I wasn't at peace. I was scared, actually. Normally, while waiting for the nightly Indonesian discourse to finish (because the English discourse is shorter) I normally just walk around the yard and watch the city light from above. This time I just waited in front of the hall. I felt something is lurking in the dark. 

I know no meditation is the same, but this is the first time I was scared in that place. Even when I was trapped in the bathroom with a snake years ago I wasn't as scared like this time. 

Perhaps I need to confront my fear in the eye. Well, that and anger. Yupe, got a lot to do. 

Start again.. Work diligently. Work patiently and persistently.    

Eavesdropping: Boots, Magic Jar, Trip

I had a meeting at one of ministerial buildings this morning and had my lunch in their canteen. Not long came two ladies from a neighbouring office and shared my table.

I was just eating my lunch while checking my cell every now and then and listening to their conversation:

+ just bought my boots with the help of X in Bandung.. very cheap only IDR 300K. 

- I'm just going to wear my sneakers

+ you should get a pair of boots, too. It'll look good on pictures

- Oh, right.. boots'll look good on pictures... we are there when it's almost cold, right? we could go to Bandung for a shopping trip

(I was wondering where they are going and when)

+ Yes, you could also check out Ambassador mall, they also have jackets

(I wanted to give them tips where to get winter clothing but felt rude to eavesdrop)

- Ambassador mall is a bit expensive

(they talked about small stuff and I was more interested in my cell at this time)

- I have a small magic jar that I'm going to take with us, we could cook 1 liter rice in it

+ Great, bring it

- Not sure if it was enough for the 6 of us, maybe we could cook twice

+ Yes, it's expensive over there

(By then I was curious where they are going that they need to bring a rice cooker I slowed down my eating)

....

+ I heard that food is not that great in Hongkong, unlike in Mainland China

Ok, after finding out they are going to HK, I finished my meal and left. 

Why would you bring a rice cooker to HK? I could understand if you are going to, say, Alaska where there might not be that many chinese/japanese restaurant. Hongkong! 

Mala Educación a.k.a Grandma's Sex Education

I learnt how my maternal grandmother taught her kids about sex today. I was laughing until I cried of all the stories my aunts (who are all older than 70 year old) told me. Mind you the first 8 (eight!) out of 10 kids in the family are female, so they had never seen penis for years.

Aunt #1:
When she was about 12 year old her friend told her that baby came out of the body via vagina.
Aunt: No, it's from the belly button
Friend: No, silly girl, it's from down there
A: No, that is for peeing...baby comes out from the belly button, my mother told me so, she wouldn't lie

Aunt #1 said that her mother said that to have a baby you wrap a carrot with gauze and put it on your belly, then you cover them in some sort corset for a while until it disappeared in the belly.

She was already in the last year of high school at the time this story took place at a dance event.
When this guy she was dancing with began to pant, this conversation took place:
Aunt: Are you tired? Because we could stop now.
Boy: Np, no,, not tired
A: Then why are you panting?
Dancing again
A: Hey, what is that? Do you have a battery in your pocket?
B: ....

Aunt #2:
Staying over at her aunt's who had several sons. One day the sons were taking a bath (mandi) and somehow she saw penis for the first time
A: Ibu (mother), ibu... what's wrong with him... he has a worm!

Years later after she was kissed she said she thought she's not virgin anymore and she washed it 3 days in a row. This is because her mother said that you could get pregnant from a kiss (mom also had been taught this story)

Gosh, so glad my dad taught me well :)

On Food For Thought

Last night it all became real, my internist said that I have Colitis, an inflammation of the colon. Great. At least now we have a name for it so people can't say that I'm acting up. I've been suffering from cramps every now and then since the beginning of last week. My stomach doesn't feel right. I lost my appetite, I've been shunning my veggies.

I think my body told me what I need, if I listen to it closely. About two weeks ago, I was looking for vitamin B12, but my pharmacy didn't have any stock, so I settled with some vitamin B for kids. I was also looking for some iron supplement.

On Saturday when we were at the mall near our place I was thinking if I need to get Enzyplex for my stomach. I was also thinking about asking my internist some for Librax, which needs a prescription because Chlordiazepoxide can be addictive.    Guess what internist gave me? Librax and Enzyplex along with Mucosta because I'm alergic to all sulfa-medication, which actually works for colitis.

So, now I'm faced to even more limited dietary in take.  I have to avoid all the things that I love such as chocolate, dairy products, brocolli, mushroom, raisin, and god knows what else. The safest bet is eating Japanese food, which is not very budget friendly.

It's a wake up call to listen more to my body.
Who would have guess, high fiber is not good for your body?

On Our Birthday Party Conversation

The other Sunday my family gathered at one of my aunts' home for her birthday lunch. This conversation was between two uncles, a bio-ethicist doctor and a dentist, and me in Bahasa Indonesia, except for the figuurzaag which is a jigsaw.

Bio-ethicist (B): do you know where to get a figuurzaag?
me: yupe, ace hardware
Dentist (D): yes, or Depo Bangunan (home depo-red)
B: do you know what a figuurzaag is?
me: it's the circle one, no?
B: no, it's the one you pull and push *did the movement*
me: oh, I bought that one for mom in NL
D: what do you need it for?
B: Oh, we have this 3 year old cadaver at the faculty and it's already rock solid. So, I want to cut it into pieces for class.
D: Topographical anatomy?
B: yes
me: why dont you use figuurzaagmachine?
B: the cadaver wont be fit on it
m: yes it will, I think Von Hagen use it with his plastination
B: I need to ask the anatomy guy how to cut it cleanly.
D: yes, ask the guy, he knows which saw you'll need.

The next thing I knew, while I was trying to find one on the the internet Uncle B went to Ace Hardware to look for it with a cousin of mine.

Just another family gathering, huh?

My Life Is..

I found the picture on the right on Pinterest and showed it to an old buddy

His comment was: 

more like laughing at my expense to be precise hahaha

To that I replied:

hahahahahahahaha but it wont fit the t shirt

It's true.. I've been entertained by his antics lately, which is more entertaining than any romcom on telly

Here's to The New Year

So, the world didnt end on Dec 21,2012, let's begin our new adventure!