All the Answers to My Questions, I Have to Find

So, last weekend was probably one of my favourites which did not involve him. Rarely ever happened, actually. Most of the days, weekends without him were passed through around me getting glued to my bed and not taking showers, or some friends' weddings where I stayed to meet some friends and survived without any appetite whatsoever.

All started on Saturday when I had to pick up a race pack and fortunately bumped into my brother and sis-in-law who were just about to enter their car to shop for some baby supplies (my sis-in-law is entering her 32^nd week of pregnancy, and my mom has been busy knitting baby shoes for a few weeks now). Since we were heading to the same direction, I decided to hop on their car instead of driving myself, and so we went together.

Our destinations were: race pack collection - baby supplies shops - lunch. Those tiny toothbrushes made it to my Saturday's highlight. They were too cuuuuuute!

Then, we went home and I went straight to prepare myself for a college best friend's wedding that night. After an hour of caking myself up and surviving the boredom of blowdrying my own hair (it has grown to a certain annoying length where it is too short for a bun but also too long for a simple finger-tossed do), my dates showed up one by one: Diani and Sheby.

Me-Diani-Sheby
Diani's phone captured this one, I took it from her Facebook :p

Giffa, the beautiful bride!

Giffa was always such a cheerful, funny, and honest person. Too honest, most of the times, actually. She always brought the child-like spirit into our friendship, especially at the beginning of our college year. It's really hard to believe that she is now a wife and might have one little version of herself in some time near. Man!

Nevertheless, I'm so happy for you, Giffa! :*

Oh, me-Diani-Sheby made our way to the wedding and back home full with tears of joys and laughs and screams. Sorry for putting the two of you a little bit too near to a deadly car crash, though, Ladies. *grins*

Then came Sunday where I had a 10K to run. Did not have much to say about the run itself, but hey it had a nice feature on the booths area: photobooth!

The happy-for-surviving-almost-one-hour-of-photobooth-queuing. Seriously I was much happier about bringing the photo home, much more than bringing a finisher medal home. The queue was that long.

A date with my bro and his wife, a date with two of my favourite best friends to attend our other best friend's wedding, and a race. That should sum up my good mood already.

In the Middle of A Morning

Apparently, I am

Try this if you're constantly wondering who you are and what role have you played throughout your life. Hahaha. I sound so 'quarter life crisis'-ey don't I? ;D

Here's the link to my complete result: https://whoami.visualdna.com/?sc=us&c=us#feedback/b6322492-d107-419c-9fb9-24936c72289d

My Birthday

On my birthday two days ago, I decided to stay up after sahoor and did a morning run. One very nervous 10 K, I was so afraid that it would ruin my fasting for the rest of the day.

My birthday run recap. Yes, I was going so slow, indeed. Hha!

But it turned out that running after sahoor was actually kind of nice, because you still had that high amount of energy that was supplied through the meals. And I was lucky because the weather was so windy and the clouds were covering the whole sky. So yeah, it was nice. superbly nice.

On the other hand, being 25 year old...

Well, it kinda felt like just another birthday, actually. I mean, the age doesn't feel so haunting or whatever (at least until now). Or maybe I'm just still feeling so guilty of all the wedding to-do list I have been neglecting that I have no more space in my sane mind to worry about getting older anymore.

Anyway, the birthday dinner with my family and my fiancé went wonderful and... rather too supersized. We all went home feeling much too full, but the food was really really worth every kg we gained that night.

The highlight that evening happened when he and I were waiting for my family to arrive at the reserved dining place. He randomly told me that he could do a magic trick and he asked me to close my eyes. Then he popped something that nearly made me cry. Not anything I could easily define with words here, because however I put it in words, nobody would ever get how sentimental that was for me. That moment brought a complicated mixed up feeling in me. Let's just say I have never thought that it was possible for anyone to care about me that much. And that was SO much. Maybe even a little too much.

The funny thing is, I kept remembering how some years ago, I did have another birthday meal with him. And it was nothing close to what I had this year.

Thank you.

Illustrating Björk for #PaintOnSneakers Competition by Centro & Lee Cooper Indonesia

One day I was leisurely checking my Path when Mima tagged me on a thought about the competition. Since I was kind of had my mind somewhere else, I didn't carefully read about the rules & regulation of the competition and just signed myself on rather spontaneously. Few days after, I got a phone call telling me that I passed the first selection and was welcomed to take the sneaker I was supposed to paint on. After the phone call, I started reading the rules carefully, but it was, of course, a little late :p

The surprising parts were:

1. All the finalists had about 3 days to complete the painting;
2. The judging event, on which the finalists were highly suggested to attend, was scheduled on April 7th, which was exactly the day of my boyfriend's graduation ceremony. Hahaha.

Those were the major surprises aside from the minor ones which included a high stack of deadlines that was lying right in front of my eyes during the days that I should be focusing onto that sneaker. But well, I had to be strong and not complaining on doing the things I actually chose to participate under my own will, right?

So, I get them (the painting and the queueing deadlines) done one by one. The week felt like it was moving so-o-o-o-o-o-o-o s-l-o-o-o-o-o-w-l-y....

And here's how the painting went:

Sketching, based on reference

Adding first & second layers of background

:) nearly there

Adding details

A little more to spice it up

Done

Side view

Overall, it was a pleasant experience, although I wish I had more time and a little less distracting deadlines along with it. But I am always glad for being given a reason to draw :D

Picture from the exhibition, taken from Centro's Facebook Page

Movie Poster Remake, "Made In Indonesia"

This is a little late, actually.

I submitted this piece to an open submission by Kopi Keliling called "Made In Indonesia". Didn't make the cut, but they told me they were gonna put this into the slide show along with other poster remakes anyway. I personally didn't get the chance to attend the exhibition because I had to attend a wedding in Bandung that day, so that was as much as I could explain.

Remake of Petualangan Sherina movie poster. A childhood memory :D

Anyway, I was trying a new media, ballpoint pen. Still a long way to get myself used to it, but I love the finished look it gives :D

And I got my first mention on Twitter regarding my illustration work :D :D :D

I feel flattered, +sixtwo. No, really. Seriously. :D

Lucky Luck

Whoa.

It's been pretty hectic lately. In a pleasing way, fortunately. :D

So, last Tuesday my boyfriend finally did his final thesis presentation, and he's now proudly a Master of Science in Management. Woo-hoo! I went to Bandung to be there and witness his long-awaited relieved expression and stayed for a couple of nights to get some things done. Anyway, I did not know any other ways to express how hard I was praying on Monday night, so I just scribbled this (with lots of complains and revision from him, though):

And my artwork is being opened for vote on Talenthouse. It's a Secret 7" project, fyi. So there are lots of artworks for you to vote there. But I sure do hope you'll vote for mine, which looks like this:

You can help voting this (if you want to) by entering your FB/Twitter account at this link.

Well, I don't dare to have high hopes of winning, actually. Because there're so many great pieces on Jessie Ware category on which I submitted my artwork to. But yeah, please do pray for me. :)

And don't forget to vote. :D

Oh Zebra Print

My first concert in 2013 was AMAZING! YYYs was one of those bands that can easily set my mind back to my early college years. And Ra Ra Riot's 'Too Too Too Fast' was one of the songs that reminds me of the early months of my relationship when everything was still too sweet and wonderful and everything :p Too bad Ra Ra Riot's overall performance wasn't really working on me, two songs before that song, I gave up standing and moved out of the crowd because my feet felt so sore. That kind of soreness you get from boring concerts, you know.

Best part of that night?
This:

(not my personal documentation, though. I don't really like recording or snapping photos at concerts)

Them Petals

Diani on sunflower petals

Tadya on cosmos flower petals

Sheby on rose petals

It's finally done!

Pretty happy on how they turned out to be, too :D You know, the thing about drawing such familiar faces was how I kept remembering silly things I did with each of them. I was practically living all the old days. Sometimes I'm amazed by how we have been so patience in handling each one of us.

Oh, and hey, I'm on Behance now :)

Another Year In Paradise, I Hope

OMG it's 2013 already.

Well, actually today's the third day of it, so I shouldn't be that shocked anymore. And well, as usual, I don't have any resolution for a certain 2013. I do have to be responsible for what I've started at the end of 2012, but those will last for the rest of my life. So... I don't know. Maybe instead of having 2013 resolutions, I will have the list of 'Things I Should Keep Doing: Started from 2013'.

Ahem,

For one thing, I'd quit my job on December 2012. So started from 2013, I am officially a freelancer. 'In what?' Well, actually in any possible field I could do, design-related. But of course I'm not stopping here. But I guess anyone will always be able to see what's going to happen because I will keep sharing my stories here.

Another thing, I failed in keeping myself motivated to follow a half marathon training program :)). Could only stay for 5/12 weeks. I know it's such a shame, I have been feeling sorry for myself, too. But well, I hope this kind of thing will not repeat anymore in the future. I will try my best to keep myself motivated for more than 5 weeks from now on. And I'm not just talking about marathon-related program.

...I'm bad at making lists, now I can't think of anything to be put as my third point.

But anyway,

Happy New Year Everyone!

PS: I hate the shirt I'm wearing now. It won't stop tickling my nipples.

Unfolding

My favorite bike commercial. Most probably because it's a folding bike commercial :p

It has been a pretty while since the last time I spent some hours with Madam, my tangerine Dahon Roo D7. I was pretty forgetful and for some months earlier I was a little bit more into running than biking. Last Sunday, while accompanying him rehearsing with his band, Aryo and Echa mentioned that they just spent the morning biking through an exceptionally challenging route. I guess it was much because of the way Echa shared the story (full of eagerness, just as how he had always been), I was successfully brought into deep nostalgia with Madam. I missed her, like a lot. 

So yesterday, when Saugan and Kak Pepi told that they wanted to spend some time at Arkadia (an office building located near my house, actually the office building where I had spent my last couple of years working on, but not anymore, but more on this later :p) because Kak Pepi needed to have her treadmill exercise, I decided to pull Madam out of her cage and bike all the way to Arkadia. Felt so much liberating it's amazing. :D

Later that day, after finishing our lunch, my brother who also joined us asked me to accompany him to watch Silent Hill: Revelation. I have actually watched the first hour of this movie with him last week, but unfortunately, the cinema we went to was kinda fucked up so they failed to play the rest of the movie. I have, anyway, Wikipedia-ed the ending but I still felt the curiosity creeping when my brother mentioned this idea, so I decided to join him.

After watching the movie, I went home and have my legs rested. Then all of the sudden, Galih iMessaged me, telling that he had a new cellphone number. After mocking him for a while, he asked me to join him biking to Ragunan the next morning (which was today). I said OK, and he said he'd contact some other of our biking fellas.

So yeah, this morning I biked again. This time with Dara, Agam, and Galih, to see some caged animals acting funny. It felt even more lovely being with Madam.

Anyway, since today is 25^th of December, I was reminded again about a video I watched last year. Still an amazing idea up until today, with even more amazing background song (it's set as one of my personal ringtones):

Anyway, it's the last week of 2012, I hope everyone will make the most of it. Especially me, of course :D

Sooner or Later You'll Be Screwing Around

Jakarta is entering the rainy season, I supposed, because I got home soaked from head to toe last Monday. And yesterday I ran on treadmill instead of out on the road because I thought the sky was telling me that it was going to weep anytime soon (but it didn't, anyway, which made me felt like I've been cheated on). And just to make everyone agrees, I heard that some other parts of Indonesia had already began flooded in overflowing water. Ah, it's still devastating to hear.

Anyway, there are two things I've proudly finished last week:

• Jakarta Heart Run 5K, and
• the reading of Paulo Coelho's 'The Pilgrimage'

It was rrrreally surprising for me that few hours before the race started, Panji txted me, telling that he was also going to run the 5K. And I was thrilled to read that! It was always a pleasure for anyone to have him around :D

Apparently, he got the news that I registered for the race from Sheby, whom I spent my entire Saturday with. Well, I have this habit of not telling other people about me going to go to any events. I kinda have this huge fear of jinxing anything. But anyway, I'm glad Sheby did tell Panji, so I could meet him at the starting line and had a really really nice laugh.

Apart from how it ended, that was one of the most exciting weekends I've ever had. And now I can't stop repeating Meatloaf's 'I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)' for no particular reason :))

I realized I should run (or any other kinds of sports, actually) and read more. Because having been done doing them always makes me happy. I even felt ecstatic while doing it.

Anyway, my boyfriend just created himself a WordPress :p

Another Heart Fell for Another Shorty Sexy

It has been such a while since the last time I shared a YouTube playlist, hasn't it?

Accompanied me night and day, throughout stacks of works, bunch of e-mails, ...until the second I fell asleep on my heavenly bed.

I have always always loved girls with short hair. Much edgier than those with the feminine looks. Much more 'one-of-a-kind'. Much sexier. Okay, I think I'm going to have another haircut in sometime near.

Tattoo Illustration

About a week ago, one of the owners of the agency where I work came to my desk and asked me to do him a favor. His wedding anniversary is coming close and he had a secret surprise plan to get his body inked with the names of his son, daughter, and of course, loved wife.

Of course I didn't have the guts to say 'No'. Not only because he's the boss of my bosses, but mostly because I, myself, thought that it was a very sweet idea for a gift to the loved ones. I would really want someone to get his body inked with my name on. ...But let's just get back to the story because that one is not going to happen in this lifetime.

It was unlucky that just after he told me the request, came a tall stack of creative briefs to my desk, which had got to be done 'immediately' (well yeah, just like every other brief), so the tattoo project had to be postponed until they're done.

So me and the team had successfully gotten through the deadlines alive. The answer to the briefs are already delivered and received by the client yesterday. And since it was a long tiring week full of hardworks, the team actually decided to take a day off unofficially. So I got to an empty office today when I arrived, which got me into just the right mood to get the tattoo thing started :D

Will they really turn into real tattoos? Well, I'm crossing my fingers here, praying hard. I hope you will pray along with me, too :p

First Race

I just did my first 5K yesterday on Adidas King Of The Road 2012! It was fun fun fun! I found out few weeks before the race that some of my friends were also joining it, so at the race I met some friendly faces, which made me less nervous. And I joined Ipit's group, which consisted of her, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend's friends, who had joined the race last year. I felt like I picked the right group because there was no sense of competition there, so the race was fully entertaining and enjoyable throughout the distance. I was SO HAPPY!:D

The race was the answer to my bragging about wanting to run properly again. After the 'Running' post, my fire for running was actually burning too hot to be tamed. So I followed through. Turned out that a few changes on my running routines could actually boost back my excitement for running. To name a few: programmed training, programmed variation of running, and.. not sleeping late at night :p

I was so blessed to have people around me who truly supported me getting back to running regularly. Especially my boyfriend, who had to give up some minutes of our late night phonecalls so that I could wake up early for my morning jogs :D And he gladly accompanied me when I was in Bandung and the day was scheduled for my long run session. He ran with me all along :D My parents were also not complaining when seeing me choosing to spend an hour on their treadmill machine in Bontang, a few hours before my dad's farewell party (which I usually used to get showered and prepared). And my brother was actually thinking about joining the race with me, but he clicked the 'Register Here' link a little too late, it was already full.

But they were all lovely!:D

And of course, the chosen running buddy: Ipit. She was the athletic type of girl. Ever since I knew her (on college) she was always sporty, unlike me. We had this Sport subject on our freshman year where we had to run 6 laps around the 400 m running track, and I could remember seeing her running throughout the laps with her iPod on, while I... walked and chatted cheerfully with some friends, ended up only doing 4 or 5 laps in 25++ minutes. That was how dramatically me and Ipit differed from each other :))

So being able to now being a running buddy for each other is actually a compliment for me (well, but maybe a slap in the face for her :p). But we shared the identical excitement when we finished the 5K. She was about a minute ahead of me, which was of course, predictable. And we are thinking about joining another race in some time near :D

Running

Happy holiday, Indonesians!
Eid Mubarok, fellow Moslems!
And 'Maaf lahir & batin' to all of you :D

So,
As how it usually went on Lebaran holidays for Indonesian people, I--too--went on to visit my hometown. Although it's a little complicated for my case here. You see, the place I called 'hometown' was actually the city where my father currently works (for the recent 27-ish years), which means, it wasn't the 'hometown' for either him or my mother. And aside from having a huge family reunion, the only family members I reunited with around here were not more than: my mom & dad, and my brother. So no, we did not have the usual Lebaran that most Indonesian people have. And no, I'm not a local here, either. Neither are my mom and my dad. Even though I was born and raised here until I was about 13 years old.

Anyway,

Yesterday I joined a Fun Run. It was a weekly running event arranged by my father's co-workers and--here's the special part--the route was mainly set through local forests. Yes, there are more than a few forests around this neighborhood (because it is set in Kalimantan Timur, that's why). And running inside them felt different, for sure.

I personally haven't been properly running in weeks.. well, couple of months, actually. My last run was done at Sabuga Running Track with my boyfriend, in which I realized that my pace had really, really slowed down. Well, not that I have been so fast, anyway :p

The problems I had in order to keep running regularly were:

1. I ran on treadmills. And treadmills only. For outdoor sports, I much prefer cycling because it was more fun, and less dangerous to be done in the middle of Jakarta's street condition. Like seriously, the traffic in Jakarta is insane and not pedestrian-friendly at all. Now what seems to turn out to be my problem here is that.. Treadmills had bored me out. ...I know;
2. I used to run early in the morning and recently, it was hard for me to do--waking up early.

So, having done that Fun Run yesterday actually boosted my mood for running again. Especially here, where the road is far from being a killer, much safer, and much emptier from wild motorcycles.

I want to run again!

I should re-evaluate my running habit again, re-develop it into a whole new one that wouldn't bore me out (at least for some months ahead).

PS: I'm not--really, really am not--a fast runner. I run like a turtle, literally. I just did it because I loved to be in motion :D

PPS: I would love to meet fellow Jakarta runners :D But of course, please don't expect to find a pace-fighter for you because I am not a fast runner :p

PPPS: Feel free to add me as friend on Endomondo :D Although I'm actually considering to update my workouts on Nike+ from now on, actually :|

Act Like Your Age

Good morning, everyone :D

Today is the first day of my 10 days holiday boo-yah!

And I have booked my flight to Bontang, a ridiculously early one, for tomorrow. But there's no time for feeling uneasy because today he's coming to Jakarta and we'll have another break-the-fast date!:D

Oh, anyway.
I am currently addicted to reading teenlits. Ha-ha! I know!

What A Lovely Day

Got my hands full with things to do. Revised this. Re-did that. Rewarded myself with a thing I actually needed (not just buying impulsively). Took off early from office. Smooth public transportation ride. Met him. Dinner with him. Goodbye kisses on the forehead, twice. A phone call with long-lost best friend. Txt message for hanging out en route home when I was actually still not feeling like going home yet. Free chocolate filling sample. Good laugh with good friends under no substance. Future talk. Nice ride back home.

Skin & Teeth

Anyway, have you heard some of my current personal updates about my appearance?

Okay, first, I would have to tell you that my office had been hilariously freezing cold these past weeks. And apparently, aside from daily pashmina parade from the females while the males busy stuffing jackets/sweatshirts on the office desks, one thing on me got affected most terribly. And it was: my skin :(

It was almost identical to having a sun burn. One day I came to suddenly noticed that the area around my cheeks turned rough and felt extremely tight. I immediately grabbed a mirror and checked, and it had turned reddish, although it was still a little hard to notice. I was heart-broken and disappointed.

For a female with one rather extreme haircut (which makes people often see me kinda boyish or such), I can say I take care of my skin seriously. I have been wearing moisturizers and body lotion religiously since I was on the sixth grade (approx. one year after I got my first period). Even those girls who looked pretty weren't always able to compete with me on this (but, of course, I'm not saying that you can't).

And don't make me start yapping about the relationship between living in Jakarta and the awful needs of aircon anywhere, anytime. I was left feeling hopeless for a couple of days. Even my night cream failed to get it anywhere better.

Anyway, long story shorts, because I had tried to negotiate about the office's aircon but it turned out to be useless, I remembered the last time my mother prepared a skin-moist protecting set for each of us before we went to do umrah some years ago. I remembered a powerful item in it:

My Ultimate Saviour

Vaseline Pure Petroleum Jelly.

I know how unusual it is to imagine, it's almost like smearing lipbalm all over your cheeks. Oh wait. I gotta say.. it is smearing lipbalm all over your cheeks, actually.

However, the thing worked like magic. But of course it would still take some time to get my skin totally cured from the burns. And I'm not even actually sure that the thing is properly called 'burn', but it does feel like one :(

On a lighter note,

This also happened:

*grins*

Goodbye braces!:D

Under the Sun

Good morning!

As a result of having a romantically silly phone conversation with him last night, listening through a mixtape called 'Aku Cinta Kamu Selamanya' (by Kak Yayi) right now, and having set this blog to be visually tidier, I currently feel ecstatically happy.

Anyway,

Pictures are from some little reunions I had last weekend. Ramadhan is always full of this. It's clearly a good thing, of course. Seeing how each of us have reached different points in life, spinned through separate ways, but in the end still possesses identical vibes that can make us laugh together until now, it's a thing worth being celebrated.

Not Seventeen

I officially turned 24 yesterday!

Now, looking back at the life I've lived for 24 years generally, I can only say that I regret nothing. Sure, there were more than few things that made me frowned or even cried. There were falls and getting-back-ups. And yeah, that was what actually counts for me: the getting-back-ups.

I had a birthday date with him yesterday, we watched The Dark Knight Rises, which brought me into wanting to be reminded of the prequels. So I searched and downloaded them after having sahur this early morning. And here's the thing, maybe you also had forgotten this line (I had), but it was quite adequate with me trying to give a clearer example for what I was talking about:

"Why do we fall, Sir? So that we might learn to pick ourselves up." - Alfred Pennyworth

So yeah,
I have turned 24, I have tasted the bitter and the sweet, I have also chosen to be one and I have also tried to become another. I will experience more of them, of course, because I will stay living my my life alive, and that means not stopping myself from experiencing things. And it's not that I want to sound cocky, but all the things that had happened made me do believe in pay-off. There's always a price to pay, and there's always a gain for every pain.

So no, I'm not scared. Well, my knees are, of course, a little shaking, but I can't tell if it was for feeling excited or terrified. There will be more to my life, I believe. It could be challenging or lighter, but they will not bring me anywhere but somewhere better. Somewhere I deserve.

Why do I sound a lot too optimistic?

Anyway,

As I mentioned before, yesterday I had a birthday date and of course he brought me birthday gifts :D They were cook books and figures of my favorite cartoon characters, but my favorite one was the one he sent to my e-mail earlier on the midnight. I'm still repeating it until now. I still can't believe someone actually made something like that for me, because it never happened before.

Clue?

:3

So now...

I am 24. You will not hear/read this coming out from me often, because I keep mistaking my actual age all the time. I stay 21 in my sane mind. Seriously.