Break

Sunday night
I ordered a hot chocolate, sat on a pretty comfy couch and listened to a live indie music band performance. Both the chocolate and the music got me relaxed. I was there with friends who threw good conversations. In the middle of listening to music, talking to friends while sipping a cup of chocolate, I thought about God. It was weird.

Monday morning
I flashed my way out of the building in need of a fresh air. I walked toward the jungle and started mumbling and thinking. I was shocked, felt like there were bullets shot right on my head. I exploded but I couldn’t cry. I was mad. I finally stopped walking and talked to God. In the conversation, He laughed at me. I was even more shocked. I asked why He would do that. Then He showed me this picture. 

Sunday night

There were only some of us when the band began to play. I felt like we were in the VIP room entertained by a live music performance. It wasn’t long though that more people came in filled this little café with their existence and their cigarettes. I was talking to friends about random stuff when suddenly a silly, inappropriate thought slipped into my mind. I think it was because of the chocolate. I was excited but some other thought came in to my mind.  

Monday morning

The door closed and they started talking about it. They explained about what happened and that they knew who it might be. They showed me the thing and told me to calm down. I was numb to know that it happened again and it even worse. I shared and we prayed. 

Sunday night
Life is fragile, that’s what God said. I knew it, I said as I listened to the band playing some slow songs. I took another sip before I sat quietly. 

Tuesday afternoon
“Look at that little beautiful blue planet,” He said. I am above it, I am watching over it. Then, right there, there was a sudden peace filling in my heart. The God above the little blue planet comes up in my mind as I try to recollect the scenes from yesterday. I am thinking through over and over again, to see if there is anything I can do or if there is anything I need to worry about. Yet that peace has brought me to a haven. 

Pictures of October 2008

This month's pictures feature the work of the photographer that I like best after Annie Leibovitz. His job is not really a professional photographer, he is actually my boss. But Sid Thornton is a very talented one. He loves nature and his sense of adventure has enabled him to travel to different parts of Salatiga, inside out. When adventuring, he never forgot to take pictures of any kinds of sceneries. I've put his works in my office and my room, and some pictures that I put on this blog were his. 

When checking out of this blog, some colleagues who lived in Salatiga and now live off Java expressed that these pictures have been the remedy for their hearts. “Tombo Ati”, as we Javanese people said. 

I’ve selected some of his works which I think are the best. I also hope that these pictures will serve as the tombo ati for my dear friends around the world who misses Salatiga. 

Thank you Sid!

Watching the Sunset from Andong

On the first day of the break I was able to join a small group of people from the school to hike Mount Andong. Though it wasn't the first time to hike in the afternoon but it definitely was the first for me to hike this mountain to watch the sunset. This was my third hiked to Mount Andong. As always, the first 10 minutes was the most painful one because of the elevation. But after this part, the hiking was quite easy with clear trail all the way up to the top. It took less than 2 hours to hike up.

When I got there, the cloud came all around the mountaintop that I couldn't even see a thing. But when everybody got there, the cloud suddenly walked off and the view was clear and stunning as ever. We were able to watch the sunset, it was beautiful but I never thought the sun would went down very quickly. 

Right after the sun dissapeared from the blue sky, the temperature went down drastically. I could adjust this drastic change but it wasn't long that I had to run around to keep my body warm. A few minutes later I decided to hike down in order to keep my sanity from the deep freezing temperature. Sid told me later that after I hiked down, the sky was beautiful.

That was a bummer! I had to blame my grown-up years in the freakin' hot Semarang for missing the experience.

F.A.I.T.H.

Just this morning, I received an e-mail from a friend who shared her story about faith. I don't know where she came up with it but FAITH according to her is Fantastic Adventures In Trusting Him. That's cool. 

It is indeed an adventures when it comes to trusting God. Who can really know for sure to believe something that we can't see?? The essence of faith in God is so thin that sometimes I can't see the difference between trusting Him or trusting me. This can be frustrated.

But the great thing is, He never given up on me or somebody else who is learning to take a leap of faith in Him. I don't think there's ever a word FAIL in His dictionary. Even if there is, it might just mean Fantastic Adventures In Learning. 

Pictures of September 2008

These pictures are taken from Abbie's website. I found out that she is a talented photographer. I asked her if it's okay to put her works in my blog and she said yes. So, her pictures are the pictures of September 2008. 

The girrafe and the grass. It's not a groundbreaking picture but i like how simple it turned out. 

I was on the picture but that's not the reason why I picked it. :) I like the mixture of the colors and the lights. In real, that pink flowery tree on the background looked so cheap and lame. But I was surprised that it looks great on the picture. The picture was taken when Peco and I sang a song for the girl who celebrated her 19th birthday. 

Thanks Abbie, and great job!

Random Stuff

The electricity was off earlier. Most of my current tasks are dealing with computer. I could always file and clean my desk but I’ve done that last week. During the non-tasks period which I was happy about, the slight thought of writing came to my mind. Not sure what to write but I’d like to write something. 

I remembered my conversation with Shane few nights ago about random things of life like future, fears, etc. It was a good conversation and I learnt a lot out of it. 

I checked out Abbie’s Flickr website yesterday and found that she is a talented photographer. I like her works and decided to put some of her works as the picture of this month. 

Two days ago was Peco’s birthday. He didn’t want anybody to sing him birthday song, I thought it was weird. It wasn’t a real birthday without birthday song. Though it’s a day late, we finally sang him the song. He said he didn’t like it but I knew from his face that he loved it. 

I haven’t been talking to Mega this week. I think there was some point where I just fed up talking to her. We’ve been friends for 11 years and this isn’t the first time. So, I guess we’re okay with it. It made my life so much easier and peaceful. But I made a truce this morning so we’ll see how it goes. 

Oh, me and some other friends from work went to a cello and piano recital. It was great though there was no air con and the power went off for 5 minutes. We really enjoyed the performance. At one point, the cellist played solo and performed a piece composed by an Indonesian artist. It was refreshing to hear something new, something modern which I really like. The piece was very unusual and made some people giggled. 

Counting the countless blessings

To work constantly with computer and paperwork can be frustrating. I have piles of paper lying on my desk waiting for me to work on and I need to keep up with a good reason of why in the world am I doing this job. I am out of focus and not sure how to find the excitement out of my job. I finally have the gut to talk to Bill about how I feel. I was nervous at the beginning, unlike the other conversations we have had before, I felt like this time’s conversation was me being a whiner. But I am glad I did it. Not only that I felt my burden was lifted, it helped me put my focus back. 

I remember one time when a dear friend of mine reminded to treasure every blessing that I receive. I’d like to do it again this time to remind me how blessed I am for:

God’s faithfulness

Having a job

Having a boss like Bill who is the man of God, wise and full of compassion

Remembering that today is my sister’s birthday

Constantly arguing with Mega and Sani, I feel like it’s the way to release my frustrations

Discussing with Peco whether we should name his motorbike Tommy. I am glad we did!

Talking about some weird stuff with Abbie at school 

Talking to Mona about how wonderful her artwork is and how her life reminds me a lot of Carrie Bradshaw

Talking to Jay about life in the other side of the world

Always having a free donnut at Donutboyz, thanks to Yudha

Being part of Solafide

Writing crazy wall-to-wall with Eln

Having Sharon & Casey constantly disturbing my peaceful life

Not worrying about what I should eat, drink or wear every day

Knowing that God is in control

The excitement of the future and not to worry about it 

Being able to grow through the hardship

Knowing that there are people out there praying for me!!!!