Menjelang 30: Anna | Going on 30: Anna

Di minggu terakhir Februari ini, seseorang berulang tahun ke 30. Selamat berumur 30, Anna!

Beberapa hari sebelum meninggalkan kejayaan hidup dua puluhan, saya memotret dia untuk merayakan hari-hari terakhirnya di usia 29.

Anna adalah seorang istri, mamak pekerja, tukang roti handal, dan juga teman baik saya.

Selamat menikmati dekade kejayaan berikutnya, Anna ;)

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At this last week of February, someone turns 30. Happy 30, Anna!

A few days before saying goodbye to her glorious twenties, I captured several pictures of her to celebrate her late 29.

Anna is a wife, a working mother, an expert baker, and also a good friend of mine.

Wishing you another glorius decade, Anna ;) 

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Mamak | A Proud Mother

Merenung | A Meditative Morning

Khusus Pria | Boys Only

"Mak, tolong!" | "Mom, help!"

Mamak Bikin Sarapan | Baking for Breakfast

"Gw ga serem sih mau 30, mungkin nanti kalo 40," Anna (29) | "I am not worried of being 30, maybe 40," Anna (29)

"Hati saya untuk kedua lelaki ini," Anna (29) | "My heart belongs to these men," Anna (29)

"Halo!" | "Hello!"

Roti Penggoda Iman. Akan Anna hidangkan untuk Anda ;) | Mouth-watering Bread. She'd be happy to bake it for you ;)

Hampir 5 Tahun. Lanjutkan! | Almost 5 Years and Counting!

Merah-Putih | Red-White

Kemarin (17 Agustus 2012) adalah peringatan hari kemerdekaan kita yang ke-68. Ide paling awal yang muncul di pagi harinya adalah "Saya harus mengambil foto-foto bendera." Tetapi ketika saya menjejakkan kaki di luar rumah saya, saya berpikir "Mengapa saya harus membatasi diri saya dengan hanya mengambil foto-foto bendera?" Jadi saya mengganti rencana saya dan pergi untuk berburu foto-foto dengan tema Merah-Putih.

Dan perburuan pun dimulai.

Dengan keterbatasan waktu yang singkat (karena saya mempunyai tugas kecil dan penting), saya mengendari sepeda motor dengan perlahan dan mengambil rute sedikit memutar. Insting menuntun saya ke daerah Braga, tempat banyak bangunan tua masih berdiri di samping jalanan, dan saya melihat bangunan ini sudah dihiasi dengan banyak ornamen dan bendera Merah-Putih. Saya hentikan sepeda motor di samping jalan dan melihat keadaan sekitar, waspada jika ada polisi di sekitar saya. Dengan cepat kamera saya ambil dan mengambil foto-foto gedung Bank Indonesia.

Kemudian saya langsung meninggalkan gedung tersebut dengan senyuman tergurat di wajah :)

Selamat hari kemerdekaan untuk Indonesia tercinta!

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Yesterday (August 17th, 2012) was our 68th independence day. My very first thought in the morning was "I have to capture some flag photos." But when I set my foot outside my home, I thought "Why should I limit myself to capture only flag photos?" So I changed my plan and went to hunt some Red-White theme photos.

And thus my hunt began.

With a short time constraint (because I had an important errand to do), I rode my motorcycle slowly and took a little detour. My instinct led me to Braga area where a lot of old buildings stood still beside the road and suddenly I saw this building already covered in Red-White theme ornaments and flags. I stopped my motorcycle beside the road and took a look around myself, wary if there was any police around. Quickly I grabbed my camera and took some photos of the Central Bank of Indonesia building.

Then I left immediately with smile on my face :)

Happy Independence Day for our beloved Indonesia!

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Nila's Birthday

Two days ago was our friend, Nila, birthday. And it was Ira's idea to say our birthday wishes in special tumblr pages, just for her.

Here here is what I have done from digging pictures from my archive and editing the pictures. It took me around 1 hour to make the concept and around 4 hours to edit the pictures and write the words. And for my personal achievement, I believe I have pushed myself to do more from my usual picture editing work. Well, I still only do very little and simple editing, but this time I have tried some more things.

Anyway here is my birthday wishes for Nila.

My dear friend Nila, I know you usually cringe to “cheesy” words. But please just hang on a little while, because there are for you :)


I wonder how many years we have know each other. I believe it’s short but sometime I feel I’ve known you for years.

And for your special day, I wish you will aim and reach high.

But I hope you keep your feet on the ground.

And no matter how much darkness around you, I hope you will always find the light. The light is always there.

And sing to your heart content till the end of time.

And may you shine.. always.

And don’t forget to make some wishes now

Have the happiest birthday my dear friend Nila!


Last but not least, Yin-Yin wants to thank you for your gifts to her. Unfortunately her hair is short now, but as soon as her hair gets longer, I will put the ribbon on her, and definitely she’ll give her “queen” smile for you.

Almost forget to this lady attraction to alcohol :D

So, have a toast Nila!

 

Side note:

My original post are here and here.

A Serendipity

Couple of weeks ago, I finished reading Paulo Coelho's Aleph. Based on the synopsis on the back cover, this book is "his most personal novel to date". Anyway, every piece of writing is always personal to the writer and in my opinion we will never know how much personal this book to Paulo Coelho. In this novel, Paulo met Hilal who was "the woman Paulo loved five hundred years before". The story told us about how both of them knew some unexplainable things between them from the very short time they knew each other and then they were attracted to each other throughout the story. While I was reading this in Aleph, I thought I experienced the same thing too.

More than two years ago I met this person. It was a serendipity to the fullest. I did things outside my habit and character, then I met and talked to this person, and eventually we became friends, even we regarded ourselves as siblings, connected via souls rather than mere blood or genetic materials. We talked and had such long discussions on various things. We had our differences but we surprised ourselves, provided we only had met for a little while but we understood each other well and easily. I had a theory (and I still believe in it) that language and geographical barrier helped us to be slower in our friendship and these would lead us to misunderstand each other less.

It's not that we didn't have any fights at all. We had disagreements but we always tried to talk them through and never left any problems untouched. But still we did mistakes and hurt each other. Then afterwards we made up and made ourselves and our relationship better. It was a kind of perfect relationship.

The last time we talked to each other, it was me who hurt my soul-sibling.

I can say now that I really miss my soul-sibling.

I believe that a fight is necessary to make progress in our life. But I've been pondering from time to time whether this fight was necessary, whether I could avoid it if I was wiser, whether it happened for the best. Have I been wiser now??  Well, I don't know. I'm learning my way and I hope I'm on the right way to become better.

Here is our favorite quote from Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet":

"For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill?
Seek him always with hours to live.
For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.
And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed."

Love you.. always.


Side note:

• "Aleph" is the fourth of Paulo Coelho's books I've ever read after "The Alchemist", "Manual of the Warrior of Light", and "The Winner Stands Alone". While I really love "The Alchemist" and "Manual of the Warrior of Light", I feel that he lost his magic in "The Winner Stands Alone" and "Aleph". 
• Many thanks to Ira and Wulan who helped me in writing this post :)

27th on 27th and Should I Change Things to be Greenish

It's 27th on 27th if you know what I mean.

And thanks to Cuco, Nila, and Ira, I'm considering to change my orange-theme things to be greenish :D

Oh yeah.. the pink ribbons are for my beloved dog, Yin-Yin. I bet she'll like them but they will end up inside her mouth ;))

One of The Perfect Days

Spends a lazy day, sitting side by side and humming along to old songs.
Talking to each other heart’s content.
Seeing each other’s eyes and listening to each other’s heart.
Laughing to silly things, crying on sad things, and holding hands in silent.

Smile..

because I know you’re there.

Dedicated to the other part of my soul.
May you keep shining.

Where Bandung will go??

That question sometime lingers on my mind which I think it's only natural given I am Bandung citizen who was born and grew up in Bandung. It is not a secret that Bandung is now a tourism destination for both domestic and foreign tourists. And it is also not a secret that the government pushing Bandung tourism sector to go forward. But this constantly makes me ask that question worriedly.

Where Bandung will go??

In my heart, I'm truly proud of Bandung become an increasingly popular tourism destination. Then why are you worried?? Because, in my personal opinion, behind the huge tourism potential, Bandung still has many shortcomings. For example, inadequate and not-well managed public transportation, no tourist information center, incredible traffic jams which always occur on weekends and holidays, and so forth.

Why so pessimistic??

I still have hope for this nation and country and also for Bandung. I am not pessimistic, I just feel that the government and all authorities are not sensitive to the negative impact of the encouraging of tourism sector.

Is this writing related to the Trans Studio Bandung newly opened last weekend??

Indirectly, yes. Actually I've been wanting to write about tourism in Bandung but the opening of Trans Studio Bandung has become my biggest motivation to make this writing. Behind all the positive news about the benefits and economic potential for Bandung (read: money), I am in a position between agreeing and disagreeing with this construction of this Trans Studio. I disagree with the construction of Trans Studio because Bandung is not ready yet. Yes.. in my opinion, Bandung is not ready yet. Wouldn't the citizens of Bandung upset to read this tweet from @infobdg?? Although the tweet was only an opinion, but many of Bandung residents are already complained about the power outage this weekend. What are the added value from Trans Studio for Bandung other than economic growth, traffic jams and power outages??

Then agree because of what?

Looking from the other side, this could force the government and authorities for the immediate response and action to overcome (seriously) all Bandung weaknesses in facing the increasingly large number of tourists that will visit Bandung.

Have any hopes for Bandung??

I look forward for Bandung that is convenient for the citizens life and activity.

Hmm.. I just remember the words of my friend some time ago when we talked about the corruption that increasingly happened in this beloved country. He said, more or less, "Do not wait for the attitudes and behavior of the government to become good, just continue to improving ourselves"

Side note:
I made this post in Indonesian here.

Bandung akan ke mana??

Pertanyaan di atas terkadang terlintas di benak saya yang saya kira wajar saja karena saya warga Bandung yang lahir dan tumbuh besar di Bandung. Bukanlah rahasia kalau Bandung sekarang menjadi tujuan pariwisata baik bagi turis domestik maupun asing. Dan bukan rahasia juga kalau pemerintah pun mendorong sektor pariwisata Bandung untuk terus maju. Tapi hal ini terus-menerus membuat saya melontarkan pertanyaan di atas dengan nada khawatir.

Bandung akan ke mana??

Dalam hati, saya sebenarnya bangga Bandung menjadi tujuan pariwisata yang semakin terkenal. Lalu mengapa khawatir?? Karena, menurut pendapat pribadi saya, di balik potensi pariwisata yang besar, Bandung masih memiliki banyak kekurangan. Misalnya sarana transportasi umum yang tidak memadai dan tidak terkelola dengan baik, tidak ada pusat informasi pariwisata, kemacetan luar biasa yang selalu terjadi di setiap akhir pekan dan liburan, dan lain sebagainya.

Mengapa nadanya pesimis sekali??

Saya masih punya harapan akan bangsa dan negara ini dan juga untuk Bandung. Saya tidak pesimis. Saya hanya merasa pemerintah dan segala pihak yang berwenang tidak peka terhadap dampak negatif penggenjotan sektor pariwisata ini.

Tulisan ini berhubungan dengan Trans Studio Bandung yang baru dibuka akhir pekan yang lalu??

Secara tidak langsung, ya. Sebenarnya saya sudah sejak lama ingin menulis tentang pariwisata di Bandung tetapi pembukaan Trans Studio Bandung memang menjadi motivasi terbesar saya untuk membuat tulisan ini. Di balik segala pemberitaan positif mengenai keuntungan dan potensi ekonomi untuk Bandung (baca: uang), saya berada dalam posisi setuju dan tidak setuju dengan pembangunan Trans Studio ini. Saya tidak setuju dengan pembangunan Trans Studio karena Bandung belum siap. Ya.. dalam opini saya, Bandung belum siap. Apa warga Bandung tidak akan kesal membaca tweet @infobdg ini?? Walaupun tweet tersebut hanya sebuah pendapat, tapi sudah banyak juga warga Bandung yang mengeluh tentang pemadaman listrik akhir pekan ini. Apa nilai lebih Trans Studio bagi Bandung selain pertumbuhan ekonomi, macet, dan pemadaman listrik??

Lalu setuju karena apa??

Dilihat dari sisi lain, hal ini bisa memaksa pemerintah dan pihak berwenang untuk segera tanggap dan beraksi mengatasi (secara serius) segala kelemahan Bandung dalam menghadapi jumlah besar wisatawan yang akan semakin banyak berkunjung ke Bandung.

Punya harapan untuk Bandung??

Saya berharap untuk Bandung yang nyaman bagi warganya untuk tinggal dan beraktivitas.

Hmm.. saya jadi teringat dengan perkataan teman saya beberapa saat lalu saat kami berbicara tentang korupsi yang semakin menjadi-jadi di negara tercinta ini. Dia berkata, lebih-kurang, "Jangan tunggu sikap dan tingkah laku pemerintah menjadi baik, lebih baik perbaiki terus diri kita masing-masing."

Catatan samping:
Saya membuat tulisan ini dalam bahasa Inggris di sini.