A Trophy...for getting married

When my parents found out that I received a scholarship, they were ecstatic. I don't see it as my accomplishment alone as the whole family has always helped and encouraged me even when I was at the bottom.
However, that's not the point of this whole post. My parents told some of their close friends at church. The response of one them is still stuck in my head. Why? Maybe it's because I hated how uncreatively he responded to the news. I will call him Mr. B

Mr. B : When are you going?
Me : (answered the man)
Mr. B : You should get married first! (excitedly)
Me : (WHAT?!?!?!!) *smiles*
Mr. B : ...and give your father grandchildren
Me : Well, let's find out if my dad wants grandchildren shall we? (turns to my dad) Dad, is grandchildren your priority?
Dad : Nope!

I love my dad! He is the best in the world for having the most genius answer.
Another reaction to this news was a friend. I will call him Y.

Y : So what's your plan in the next few years?
Me : Get a Masters degree.
(then we had a little chat and he finally found out about my scholarship)
Y : hmmm....don't forget your age. You're gonna be 24 this year.
Me : (so?!)
Y : Remember you're a girl and you need to get married soon!
Me : *smiles*

This is why I am blessed to have my parents as my parents! They don't think like these people. No offence, they can have their opinion but to me their response is utterly weird. Why must I (a girl) should think about marriage and giving my parents grandchildren when I have just received a scholarship?

This is the problem with the society in which I live in. They have this stereotype that when girls come to a certain age, like mid 20s, they should be fixing a wedding gown and not be off in some strange land getting their masters degree. My parents however, have never taught me this stereotype nonsense. This is why I am always left confused by people who make such comments.

My parents have never taught me something just for the reason "because you're a girl" like for example:
You need to be able to cook : not because I'm a girl but because someday I might live by myself and have to cook for myself
You need to learn how to wash your clothes : not because I'm a girl but because someday I'm gonna leave my parents and have to do my own washing
You need to tidy up your room : not because I'm a girl but because neat room = nice room = more comfortabe to live in

Their reasons were logic and not simply because I'm a girl.

An Inspiring Chat

Last Saturday I went to an orphanage in Tanjung Barat. There I met a girl called Hela. She told me she was in year 10. I introduced myself and then got myself into what turned out to be a very inspiring chit chat.

Me: What year are you in Hela?
Hela: I'm in year 10.
Me: Have you finished all your exams?
Hela: No, it's in 2 weeks, please pray for me so that I can get good grades.
Me: Of course I will! What do you wanna do when you grow up?
Hela: Umm..a doctor, actually I just wanna be a useful person. Doctor is a useful person right?
Me: Yes! Absolutely!

Then we stopped for a bit. She then continued for some shocking questions!

Hela: Do you have a family? Like your own family?
Me: Not yet.
Hela: But you already know who your soulmate (she used the Indonesian word "jodoh") is right?
Me: Nope (totally unexpected question!)
Hela: Well, I hope you find him soon.

I'm in love with this witty little girl!
The conversation continues. I was told to pray for the person sitting next to me (which was Hela of course).

Me: What do you want me to pray you for?
Hela: Exams, so that I could get good grades, to have more friends and be a useful person to others.
Me: OK, anything else?
Hela: umm....I want to pray for you, so you can find your soulmate soon!
Me: *speehless*

She is just the sweetest girl! Not only does she care for herself, but for others too. Her conversation with me was also like a slap for me, as I barely ever pray for myself about the "soulmate" topic.

Thanks Hela, you are an angel.

First post in 2011!

Hello all!!

Wow what a month! This has definitely been a hectic January in 2011! But I have been L O V I N G it!
A lot has happened last year and I am being thankful and have taken all the lessons from 2010. This year is gonna be fantastic. I have no idea why but I can just feel it!

A Call for Help: WE SEE, WE CARE, WE ACT

Saat ini Indonesia sedang bersedih. Bencana datang bertubi-tubi ke negara kita baik di Wasior, Mentawai maupun di Yogyakarta dan sekitarnya. Bencana-bencana tersebut sudah memakan banyak sekali korban. Banyak orang yang telah kehilangan rumah, sahabat, orang tua, saudara dan kehidupan mereka.

Sekarang adalah saatnya untuk kita bertindak. Saya bersama dengan teman-teman dari kampus UKDW di Jogja sangat ingin membantu. Untuk itu teman-teman saya yang sangat talented sudah membuat 5 desain baju. Kami menjual baju dengan harga 75rb dan kami tidak akan mengambil profit sama sekali dari penjualan ini. Untuk 150 produksi kaos pertama kami tidak akan memotong biaya produksi karena sudah ada donatur yang membiayainya. Kami akan sangat menghargai sumbangan anda.

Berikut ini kami sampaikan keterangan-keterangan tentang donasi ini:

FAQ
-------
Cara Pemesanan:
Kirimkan email ke a.filiana87@gmail.com atau seoulaja@gmail.com dengan keterangan berikut ini:

SUBJECT : untukmuindonesia
ISI : kode desain, nama, didedikasikan untuk (merapi, mentawai, wassior), alamat, no telp, id messenger salah satu saja(ym,hotmail,skype,google talk), tanggal pembayaran.
CONTOH: WA05, Agata, utk Merapi, Jl. Wahidin, 08561111, aaa, 6 Nov 2010

Temen-temen bebas milih desain nya yang mana :
bisa di lihat di
FB :
Album Facebook

Kaskus :
Album Kaskus 1
Album Kaskus 2


Apabila barang ready stock akan SEGERA DIKIRIM
Barang ready stock akan kami posting pada FB, Kaskus, dan Blog-blog terkait., pengiriman kloter terakhir akan dilaksanakan pada tanggal 20 November 2010

Bagaimana bila barang ready stock habis?
Saya akan memberitahukan apabila barang ready stock sudah habis, Apabila barang ready stock sudah habis maka produksi kaos akan dibuat pada tanggal 5, 12, dan 18 November 2010

Kapan waktu pemesanan kaos?
Pemesanan kaos hanya dilayani dari tanggal 30 Oktober 2010 - 17 November 2010

Kapan kaos akan Produksi?
Produksi kaos akan dibagi dalam beberapa tahap, yaitu :
5 November 2010 = untuk pemesanan 1 November 2010 - 4 November 2010
12 November 2010 = untuk pemesanan 5 November 2010 - 11 November 2010
18 November 2010 = untuk pemesanan 12 November 2010 - 17 November 2010

Kapan kaos akan dikirim?
6 November 2010 = untuk pemesanan barang-barang ready stock
13 November 2010 = untuk pemesanan 1 November - 4 November 2010
19 November 2010 = untuk pemesanan 5 November - 11 November 2010
26 November 2010 = untuk pemesanan 12 - 17 November 2010

*Ini merupakan gambaran kasar waktu produksi dan pengiriman, walau kenyataannya kami akan selalu menyediakan barang ready stock, sehingga kaos yang sesuai pesanan bisa langsung dikirim secepatnya.

Kenapa Harga Rp 75.000? Kemahalan!
Disini sama sekali tidak mencari untung!
Apabila anda benar-benar ingin membantu kegiatan amal ini, silahkan.
Apabila anda merasa keberatan dengan biaya diatas pun, silahkan. Ini tidak sama sekali tidak memaksa.
Saya pribadi berpendapat : Apabila anda membeli hanya karena anda ingin terlihat keren karena memakai kaos amal ini, hmmm... saya sarankan anda tidak perlu membeli, karena tujuan kegiatan dana ini bukan untuk tampak keren.Tapi WE SEE, WE CARE, WE ACT.

Kapan penyaluran dana akan dilaksanakan?
Sumbangan Merapi :
Seluruh hasil penjualan kaos yang didedikasikan untuk merapi akan di salurkan pada tanggal 17 November 2010 - 20 November 2010. (Hasil penjualan 150 kaos pertama tidak akan dipotong biaya produksi, karena sudah ada donatur yang menanggung biaya produksi ini)
Saya dan teman-teman di Yogya akan berangkat langsung ke lokasi pada tanggal 17-20 November 2010.
Sumbangan Mentawai dan Wassior :
Karena kami tidak punya akses langsung ke mentawai dan wassior, seluruh penggalangan dana untuk mentawai dan wassior akan kami salurkan melalui TVOne. Kami akan menyalurkan tanggal 21 November 2010, langsung datang ke posko TVOne. (akan ada tanda bukti bahwa kami benar-benar kesana dan menyerahkan dana tersebut, paling mungkin adalah foto saat pemberian sumbangan)

Apa bentuk sumbangan yang akan diberikan ?
Sumbangan Merapi :
Saya akan melakukan observasi dengan teman2 relawan dan NGO yang ada disana, kebutuhan apa yang benar-benar sangat dibutuhkan disana, minimal 1 minggu sebelum keberangkatan saya akan menginformasikan ke teman-teman.
Tanggal 17 November 2010 saya akan memberitahukan pada teman-teman berapa total nominal yang didapatkan.
Sumbangan Mentawai dan Wassior :
Karena kami menyalurkan melalui TVOne, maka bentuk sumbangan adalah berupa uang.

Apa bukti bahwa kegiatan ini benar-benar dilaksanakan?
Sebagai bukti bahwa saya menyerahkan dana itu, hanya berupa foto2 (mungkin video) saat saya disana, dan akan di informasikan juga pada teman2 hasil penyerahan dana tersebut.

Bagaimana bila kantor/perusahaan mau ikut serta dalam kegiatan ini?
Silahkan. Hubungi saya lebih lanjut.

Bolehkah saya memperbanyak desain kaos ini?
Apabila untuk kepentingan amal DAN orang yang mendesain kaos ini tidak keberatan DAN diproduksi setelah bulan November 2010, maka dipersilahkan, asal hak cipta (nama desainer) tetap disertakan (kecuali ada kesepakatan tersendiri)

Apakah memesan langsung dan kepada orang lain, yang menawarkan desain yang sama adalah sama tujuan nya?
Hati-hati terhadap bentuk penipuan dan orang-orang yang tidak bertanggung jawab untuk mencari keuntungan dari kegiatan amal ini. untuk memastikan adalah :
#1. Cross Chek informasi kegiatan amal ini kepada saya dan orang tersebut
#2. Harga seluruh kaos sama, Rp 75.000, lebih dari itu, maka anda berpotensi kena tipu.

Saya ingin ikut berkontribusi, bagaimana caranya?
1. Membeli Kaos, sudah bisa dibilang berkontribusi
2. Membantu menjual kaos, sudah bisa dibilang berkontribusi
3. Ikut menyebarkan informasi ini, sudah bisa dibilang berkontribusi
4. Mendoakan supaya niat baik kita ini berjalan lancar, sudah bisa dibilang berkontribusi
Silahkan teman-teman menentukan sendiri jenis kontribusi apa yang ingin dilakukan

Saya ingin bantu jual kaos, bagaimana caranya?
Teman-teman dipersilahkan untuk membantu menjual kaos ini, teman-teman kumpulkan orang-orang yang mau membeli, kemudian direkap berapa jumlahnya, jenis desainnya, ukurannya, alamat pengiriman. selanjutnya info kan kepada saya.

Bagaimana dengan ongkos kirim?
ongkos kirim diambil dari biaya pembelian kaos, kami akan menggunakan Tiki JNE sebagai pengiriman, apabila teman-teman mau menambahkan ongkos kirim, silahkan. jangan lupa menginfokan pada kami.
kami juga akan mengusahakan untuk mencari donatur untuk mendanai pengiriman ini.

Pray for Indonesia

This post is dedicated to the victims all disasters in Indonesia.

The mountain of Merapi in Jogja, my hometown, erupted on the 26th of October. Not only did it erupt once but it erupted several times. The latest eruption was 31st of October at about 2pm. The vulcanic clouds wrecked many homes and killed a lot of people. The eruption also resulted in rain of vulcanic ashes leaving nearby towns like Jogja and Magelang filled with ashes and dusts.
Many people are still living in tents provided by volunteers.

On th 26th of October, an earthquake and a great tsunami hit the island of Mentawai. Homes are flat to the ground, people are missing, many are injured and countless are killed. Volunteers are giving their best efforts to help but it has been quite a challenge because of the extreme weather.

It has been a few days that Jakarta, the town where I currently live, is drained by heavy rain. Many areas are flooded leaving Jakarta more crowded with its heavy traffic.

I hope this country will find a way to soothe its pain. I hope many people will find their ways to reach out to those in troubles. I hope that the sadness will be wiped away soon.

In the meantime, let us spare our time to pray and most of all let us ACT.

My friends and I are having a fundraising which you can see here: Fundraising for Merapi
All profits from this t-shirts will go to the victims of Merapi.
Let's Pray for Indonesia.

Express Yourself

Vicki’s 7th challenge is all about clustering. This challenge is hosted by Marif and it’s a tough one. 12 elements (what?!) and 3 papers – 1 used as a background and the other 2 as part of the elements. Clustering is not exactly my speciality so I had to think very hard and finally manage to design this:



Kit is by AWP called Citrus Zing

Font by Miss Tiina

Alpha is by AWP in Through my Window kit.

The photos are of me and one of my best friends called Regina. It was on our hols in Bandung. Just thought the photos are great, with different expressions (me anyway LOL) and I have been meaning to scrap it for a while but just didn’t have the time.
Enjoy!


Loves, A

Mangan, Dungo, Tresno

Bet you’re wondering what the heck is that title about! I understand. That would be the Javanese version of Eat, Pray, Love. Don’t ask me who translate it, somewhere between me and my crazy friends I guess.

Just got back from seeing that movie last night. It was a really tough night so I thought I could use a little Eat, Pray and Love. And I was right! I’m no movie critic, I can probably say great to anything I watch that doesn’t involve too much blood and Arnold Schwarzenegger, but it was really entertaining (I laughed a lot). I read the book so it was only right that I watched the movie too.

The movie was a lot more than I expected, though missing a few bits and bobs. I know that there are some people who doesn’t approve of Gilbert’s action (I’m sure it’s just envy) but I don’t care, like her anyway. I think she’s very brave to go to three foreign countries, though with a very strange reason me think: to find herself. Like I wouldn’t like to go around the world to “find” myself. Anyhoo, the woman has money so we can’t blame her really for travelling around the world, after all it’s HER money and so what if her not-so-extraordinary life AND love life became a hit. I still like her anyway.

My favourite part is Ketut, the medicine man with no teeth. He is just the most hilarious man on earth. Quoting him “Smile with your liver”. I crack up everytime I hear that. I definitely envy the margarita pizza. It looks so good. Crazy that they have the whole plate all by themselves! It could’ve fed probably 3 people. That girl is one lucky gal.

Anyways, I think the point of the film to me is: it’s OK to feel good about yourself. Do you sometimes have that feeling of guilty, where you don’t think you’ve done enough and don’t deserve anything? Well ladies (and gentlemen), give yourself a break! You’re doing JUST fine and you are more than welcome to take a one year pilgrimage to 3 countries of your choice. Wow, I really am learning a lot from me.
One more thing, wondering why I’m blogging again? Well, it’s my new kind of commitment, we shall see if I keep it.



Loves, A


(I feel like Allison in Pretty Little Liars! Oooo so mysterious ain’t it?!)