Progress Report

Mark was upset with me because I always listened to his family story but I never told him my family story. Not that I planned to hide anything. Some people are just like him, while some others like me: we have our own ways to share stories. But I’m not here to justify myself because basically I got what he wanted. I’m here not to tell him and you about my family (well, probably a little bit, just to make him happy…. and probably to make my parents happy to have them mentioned online where people all over the world can read it – as if). I’m here to give you my progress report.

1. my family. nothing interesting. no progress whatsoever in terms of bank account, broken ceiling, car going to the garage everytime my dad has surprise money (next time don’t discuss money matter in front of the car!). on the other side, we’re a happy family. for example, my dad is so happy catching animal program on tv, seeing his new grand daughter smile at him, helping mom tending the garden, buying me sandwich, etc. my mom is so happy giving bath to my niece every morning and afternoon, feeding her til finish (no one else has her patience), getting money from me every month, tending her garden, watching them grow half a milimeter at a time and the changes of colors, getting her new dress sewed, laughing at dad’s joke (cos it means he is in good mood and her life is easier), etc. my cousin who stays at home with her 2-year-old son is happy when….(i don’t really know when, i’ll take a mental note to start observing). My nephew is happy about almost anything and be sad and angry about few things (being a 2-year-old). Me? I’m happy because I go home to a comfortable place, nice antique bed, having mom as my best friend, being able to lend ears to her everytime she needs someone to listen. Seeing them smile and laugh is the first and foremost reason I ever wanted to come back home instead of just stayed in India and continued my own life’s adventure. So, we’re happy. Everyone’s happy?

Of course, there’s my big brother whom I don’t get to see a lot because he lives 50 meters away from me and works 500 lightyears away from me. HE’s doing fine, I guess. One of the best employees. So best (haha) that the company gave him and his wife a free trip to go umrah. I’m so damn proud!

My younger brother is a whiz kid. He was the only student in his class who didn’t have computer until recently because he has to do his thesis and all of his friends are busy using their own computers. For your information, he’s doing a degree in software engineering and he is the best student in the whole faculty. Beat that! Super proud.

2. about my work. i try to inspire myself to work by buying a cheap netbook (sorry, oreo) cheap and hip! so i can work from any other place that doesn’t smell like an office (just being me, an artist). but the netbook is also for communicating cheaply. the bad thing is that this HP mini 1013 of mine (which has cool casing design) has a useless camera and i have to scream in order to make the voice chat. i’m in the progress of downloading a software that can help the retarded camera (sorry, oreo… i dont blame you for having that kind of camera) work better, but the thing is it works in linux. so i’m on the way to install linux, but there’s something that’s blocking me to do that (maybe firewall), so I’m working on it and will give you further report on that.

3. (is it three? i’m too lazy to scroll up again to check which number was before) I’m working on this story. It’s supposed to be a novel cos I think it’s going to be long. the story is damn awesome, and complicated that now I’m entangled in the research. Like, for example (thinking of Mark saying ‘like, for example’… he has his own cool way of saying it, i might record it one day and attach it here), the main character is a dancer who wants photographers to make good stage photos out of her so she ends up being a stage photographer herself (of course it doesn’t solve the problem, but). and the other character is an artist. It would be easier to write about dancers, but I insist. so the research is fat. while my brain cells were fine-tuning with each other and external vibration (dont mind this), lightning struck me (or a squirrel slap my back and say…): “Duh! You do have a friend who is a stage photographer!!!” which is good, cos that means i can interview him. then the other day i went to cover an opening of a painting exhibition and, okay, my mind squeaked like this:

second 1: hey, that’s my friend over there! Mbak Lina. What’s she doing here? Oh, she’s also an artist, no wonder she’s here.

second 1.25: wait, (mentally check back the invitation) the name of the artist is Lina…

second 2: holy sushi! this is HER exhibition!!!

Mind me, the last time i met her was almost five years ago and many people can be Lina and I never knew her last name. So. Good thing that I have her to help me with my research. I have yet to ask her about that, though, because I’m going to wait til she finishes her one-week exhibition.

4. (i can’t see the previous number cos im too lazy to scroll up but i remember it was 3 cos i remember the dilemma of figuring out whether it was really number 3)

mira and i went to try out the red mango which i think tastes good but not better than sweet mimi of hotel mulia. from there we went to kopi luwak. i wanted to try the celebrated kopi luwak but they sold one with 2% of it and 98% arabica (or was it 20-80?), so i declined and ordered avocado coffee instead (which was ammaaaayyzing i can still feel the taste on my taste bud RIGHT NOW). mira ordered the 2% kopi luwak anyway. and actually they do have the 100% kopi luwak thing, which they sell for Rp 85,000. So, I’m planning to go back there again with mira (chandni, my colleague also offered herself to accompany me. apparently she’s a coffee person,too!) and order a cup to share. Yay!

Oh, then what’s so progressy about it is that it’s part of our culinary adventure. i was supposed to write a review about the frozen yoghurt (red mango), but my mood has directed me some place else.

5. another article i’m supposed to write for this blog is about the result of my mini survey to prove again one theory developed in 1975 about something (i know… ). the survey got boring as i already knew it’s going to the same old direction, but actually the theory itself is damn interesting. how would it not be interesting when around 90% of people (in 1975 and 2009) have chosen the wrong answers?? No, actually it’s not wrong. cos it’s human instinct. but as far as the trading is concerned, it’s super wrong. it’s like: ‘hello? it’s that way, sir.’ (pointing to the other side where rabbits are, instead of the way the man’s going where scorpions are). i know i sound absurd. i will come back later with the report.

see you later, pooh… that if you will manage to find your way back to my tumbling down house, that if i will manage to protect this tumbling down house from missing in action again when the wind comes before you do, which probably unlikely… that is: unlikely to protect and likely to come, if you just understand what i’m saying, but never mind. so long pooh…

Leda on Magdala (2)

No one had ever asked me about Magdala before that last exhibition in Venice took place. Who is Magdala? or even, What is Magdala? Usually I love explaining people about the inspiration, the story, the people, or simply my feeling behind each of my framed painting.But not about this one. Magdala, is a painting I leave people to judge, to guess, to have fun figuring out. It’s like lying on a bed of green grass on top of a hill with your best friend, or husband, or dog, and looking at clouds floating above you. You use your wildest imagination to give each shape a label. I spotted a broken bowl that spilled fruit loops out of its crack, once. Or two holding hands with one butterfly in one of the hands. Most of the times I make out all sort of transportations (from bicycle to jet plane) that could bring me far away from here, back to where clouds only shape Magdala.

 

Leda on Magdala

it wasn’t just another winter eve. i stepped  my feet on the auditorium that has witnessed hundreds of my concerts. this time, though, i sat among the audience. the vip row. the one with the best view.

i came to see and support one of my good friends, Lola Rodriguez, presenting her latest choreography. that evening, the old concert hall looked and felt different, in many ways. it must be the lighting. the bailaores and the dances. the flamenco musicians and the music. the souls in the heat of the fire. instead of one singer and an orchestra.

how can you stand out among so many dancers. the same heights. the same steps. the same tempo?

how can i listen to you when others also speak the exact same words. at the same time?

how can i catch your red skirt among other red skirts?

i did not choose her. i was chosen.

she was one of too many foreigners that fell in love too late to flamenco dance, yet still dreamt of becoming flamenco dancers. there were more people sneering at her than the total number of hours  she had been taking to practice the complex skill since the first day she came to Malaga.

She was only in Lola’s intermediate level class, with her even lower level of spanish language. She had all of her lifetime to master half of what she needed in order to become an accomplished flamenco dancer. But on stage, she simply danced.

it’s not the technique that makes a dancer, apparently.

i think, you need to be a dancer, before you begin learning the steps.

Magdala, felt. long before lola told her how.

Why Does God Let Bad Things Happen?

It’s the question some of us are still asking ourselves. The reason why I bring this up is because yesterday I just saw one of Rachel Ray’s old shows being rerun on Metro TV. Jo Frost the SuperNanny was the guest and she got this very question from an 11-year-old girl.

Jo says when tackling questions like this, body language is very important to reassure a child. Sit next to them and remind them everything is going to be OK. Rachael agrees and adds, “There is an instant emotional reaction when she does that, being next to someone rather than looking at someone breaks down those barriers and gets that person to relax.” (www.rachelrayshow.com)

I have my own version of answer, but I figured it would have been fun to gather different answers from different people, so I texted this question to 46 people in my phonebook list randomly and waited for their answers. They are friends, colleagues, teachers and even my boyfriend. They come from different cultural and nationality background and belief systems and most of them live in Indonesia. Some of them probably didn’t get my text for many reasons (network problem, their phones being disactivated, the numbers being changed, etc), some of them probably did answer non-verbally (rising one eyebrow, pouting lips, shrugging, mentally saying ‘WTF’, etc), and 22 of them did get back to me. The exact question, by the way, is: What would you answer a child who asks you Why God Let Bad Things Happen? Here they are from the first to last texts I received:

1. Ask god
2. :-0 ? Means ?
3. To make us more grateful when the good things happen
4. Exercise to make you stronger at heart, naik level
5. So you can be grateful for the good things that have happened
6. There’s no bad things in this life… even (if) it exists, it’s just a preparation for all good things that will come
7. so we’re constantly learning and continually appreciate what we have in life.. [ that's a start ]
8. So when you grow up you have something to play with, to fix the bad things
9. because people have to learn from mistakes / bad things..
10. Damn.. that was tough question. God leaves things to human beings to do whatever they wanna do, good or bad. He will be the judge later, whether to punish or give reward. But He will surely not let bad things happen to those who ask for His help. Hmm.. I wonder if it’s too hard for a child to understand
11. Hmm. So we can appreciate the good things in life?
12. God let bad things happen such that we can embrace and feel blessed (whenever) any single good thing arise
13. Waduuuuuuh bingung
14. God loves us soo much… He let us face the bad things so that we become a better person, stronger… more independent and wiser
15. I would answer, God doesn’t let bad things happen…. To illicit more details
16. I’d answer because God would let bad things happen cos God wants us to remember that we are nothing without Him… So… Everyday we need to surrender and (be) thankful to Him….
17. God is busy right now.. Please talk to Him later
18. (person #9 again) Bad things will lead to good end
19. 1) Kita harus yakin bahwa Tuhan bermaksud baik atas apapun yang terjadi. 2) Hal yang buruk terjadi dimaksudkan untuk dua kemungkinan, 1> untuk menjadi ujian / cobaan bagi yang mendapat cobaan, untuk naik ke tingkatan yang lebih tinggi, lebih tinggi atas segala hal, seperti keimanan, rezeki, dll. 2> sebagai hukuman atas perilaku yang telah dilakukan. Mudah-mudahan jawaban gue tepat.
20. Tuhan ingin lihat seberapa besar kita akan mengandalkan Dia apabila terjadi sesuatu yang buruk.. dan sesuatu yang buruk itu tidak selalu buruk… ada rencana Tuhan di balik itu
21. Orang dewasa atau anak-anak perlu diberi ilmu yang sama bahwa manusia diberi Allah kesenangan dan kesusahan. Setelah tanjakan pasti ada turunan. Dan setelah kesusahan pasti ada kesenangan asalkan kita bersabar. Susah amat ih pertanyaannya.
22. I think we all know the answer to that! The best you can do is that God puts us here and one of the gifts He gives us is of free will… when we act this way and that we are judged later….. if you mean about why good people get sick and die then i have no answer…. perhaps you can blame it on the SIN of man or some other nonsense.
23. I’d ask her to question the pre supposition in her question

Geology of Iraq

me: susah banget nelpon ke kabul

my friend: oooo

my friend: kabul itu diiii Irak?

me: afghanistan

me: thanks for making me laugh

me: you’re a really good friend

my friend: thanks for giving me geology lesson

me: it’s geography actually

me: but you’re welcome

my friend: oh iyaaaaaaaaaaa

my friend: ancur yak