Cyberworld incessantly marvel us with its new alternatives, brings us to the new state of comfort and scales down the world of impossibilities. Many would admit that living in a 24-hour-access to internet somewhat becomes essential and consequently leaving it off our routine has impacts upon the quality of life. A notification is only made in one-time action by jotting down all recipients’ email addresses in one single email. Living far away from homeland? The internet has somewhat drawn near the line between friends and family members living far apart. Each can still keep updated about others’ walks of life, by email.

My life relies a lot on the existence of internet connection. In fact, with thousands miles apart between Japan and US, Yahoo Messenger made it possible for us (me and Reza) to know each other first time, skype took part in keeping us inseparable later on. Latest news I’ve heard through emails somehow alleviates my yearning for homecountry. Messenger chatting has now even enabled us to see our remote chat partner using web camera; and to talk using microphones. A live conversation takes after talking face to face where you can actually view your partner’s expression during a chat session. Distance has become less significant nowadays.

And now, here comes YouTube, the biggest video-sharing site,that allows its users to watch videos other users have uploaded. Even with restrictions applied for uploading, we can always find absurd and weird and strange things here; and amazing things as well. This is really something that makes my life brighter. Because…. all those Korean/Japanese drama are no longer inaccessible now (I won’t get lost in conversation anymore hehe), I can WATCH and HEAR those music videos from Hirai Ken that when I wasn’t able to do so when I was in Japan. Paris Hilton sobs video or Miss USA falls down during Miss Universe pageant are viewable. When everything is available ‘on demand’, Who would needsTV nowadays?

But this thing has downsides too. I spend more and more time in front of my notebook. You know those more-than-16-episode series, before you finished watching them until the last episode, you just couldn’t direct your mind to something else. This can cause too long a delay for everything I should do in the first place (cooking, cleaning up, reading, sleeping, crafting, going to the meeting, etc. etc.). And when the series is finally over, you’re soon gonna start searching for another. In the end, I can only say ‘Nana males masak, say… can we order take-out tonight :D’.

This is just about the season for garage sale in East Lansing. This is just about time for people to do spring cleaning, about when people find out that they have to many things in their house they no longer need or use,  and it is also a perfect timing to move out from the neighborhood before the winter comes  again.

So, I wouldn’t want to miss out the event.  Early in the Saturday morning, a call from mba Ririn reminded me of being prepared in 30 minutes. I had a quick shower and breakfast, changed to outwear and left the house promptly. When it comes to shopping, I can be very agile.

As I recalled, I visited  9  garages in total. It was really interesting. Not every place offered things that I like. But I see many goods are still in good conditions, in very good prices (meaning cheap :D) and best part is… we can always bargain for lower prices. I visited one place with lots of quilting material, I assumed that the owner had just passed away and her grandchildren were the one who arrange the sale. If only I hadn’t had many unfinished projects (that I had always delayed and postponed), I would have bought them. I saw one that sold a solid mountain bike for 40 bucks. Almost everything can be put in sale, clothes, home decor, tables,  childen toys, electronics, everything!! Some owners even put some free stuff for everyone who might want.

I myself got a food jar thermos in pink(I thought this would be perfect for traveling), a pair of very cute shoes (with colorful beads all over the surface) and a foldable grill (this is also just about the season for BBQ). Take a guess for how much I spent for these all??

2 bucks!!

Given some convincing facts, statistical charts and experiment results, a statement can be construed as credible information. That’s why I love Oprah Magazine. They give information along with the supporting evidences and experimental facts. That’s how I was hooked when I read the article in bodywise part from The Oprah Magazine April 2007 edition.
I’ve been living carefree in terms of food intake and physical exercise. I never think seriously on both. I take almost everything my hands can take on, and what my stomach craves for. I do concern about environment and human actions’ effects on it, but never do otherwise. They can be harmful for us although somewhere down the line, it’s just another result of human greediness of consuming our natural enviornmental for the sake of lavish dinner on table.

‘Organophosphate are among the most worrisome pesticides, and one of teh most widely utilized. They can harm the nervous system. The developing brains of fetuses and young children are particularly at risk. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has found that the following produce consistently carries the highest levels of pesticides after typical home preparation (such as washing and peeling): peaches, apples, bell pepper, celery, nectarines strwberries, cherries, pears, improted grapes, spinach, lettuce and potatoes. You can reduce the exposure by purchasing 100 percent organic versions of them.’

Isn’t that scary? It is for me. That was only little part of the whole story presented in the article and do trust me, I began to reconsider about my future food intake afterward. No worries, though. The main key in food consumption is moderation. Try to always buy healthy produce and follow proper cleaning advice, eat a variety of produce (to avoid overexposure to any one type of pesticide), and you and your family should be fine.

And the paradise is under the feet of your mothers. - Prophet Muhammad (saw)

As soon as a woman is declared pregnant, a sense of motherhood grows along with the passing months and eventually when the baby is delivered, she ‘officially’ becomes a mother. There is invisible bond arising between the mother and the offspring even when the umbilical cord connecting them during the pregnancy no longer exists. This particularly is stronger in the side of the mother.

I always admire my mom (ibu). Not because of her beauty that remains youthful for years that went by, but more for everything she has given me which I know I can never give back equally. I remember those days in high school and my mom was always waiting for me everyday after school to pick me up. Instead of saying thank you, I felt ashamed and scowled and thought that I was the most unfortunate kid in high school. For all prohibitions she put me on, I couldn’t reason and adamantly believed they were all ridiculous. First time being away from home, I felt ultimate freedom and excitements, unaware about the fact that at the same time my mother were so worried about her daughter, she couldn’t sleep a wink for weeks. How I regret for those lack of maturity behaviors, which I still do sometimes now.

It is a greatest gift to be a mother for she is blessed with new responsibility to nurture and to bring up the child, she is a fountain of life. At the risk of recurrent adverse returns from the beloved child during his/her childhood, adolescence and even adulthood, mother’s love interminably and unconditionally yet overflows to the child. Now that I am grownup, (not yet a mother though), I understand how big the role of mother is to the life of a child. And my gratitude is never decent for her invaluable gift, life with her love in it. I love you, Ibu and I miss you soooo very much.

*For my bestfriends, who soon become mothers, all hopes for you to embrace motherhood delightfully.

Potluck party is ubiquitous in US as one part of social ‘obligations’ in the community. I don’t know for sure if this custom is actually also done in some other parts of the world but I know sure enough that this is not common in Asia. So what is a ‘potluck party’ anyway? It is a type of party to which everyone who joins the party should bring whatever they want to bring (food, primarily), and share them with others. Why is it so popular here? In a community which is part of or adjacent to university and is actually served academically or socially by university, there would also grow some impermanent fractions of society under the university that share closeness for some period of time. Simply put, they enjoy togetherness until the program which is held by university comes to an end. Here, potluck party serves the purpose as the final social bridge and as a facility to mark the separation in a civilized way.

It has some benefits in practicality, as it relatively is easy to throw a potluck party in which the burden of preparing the food is shared with other attendees. We also have a chance to taste other food (from other country, if the party is a multinational one) and in turn exchange some recipes. Other times, potluck party comes in less favorable moments. Since every program is dependent on season, the start and the end of the program fall into relatively same time, so we get busy in weeks of program termination, not for preparing some material/exams but for preparing the food!

As the end of spring semester drew near, I’ve got to get myself ready with potluck parties. In fact, today I had a wonderful potluck party with my group, all the food were terrific, everyone is fantastic, I had a great time but also had sad feeling. Two of our friends are leaving to French and Chicago, and we’ve been wonderful together, how fast time really passes by.
I also come to a realization today that I’ll be spending my summer here without my bestfriends. They’re all gonna spend their summer in their homecountry. I’ll miss you all! I guess I’ll just go get my summer scheduled now…

Thinking about the future can be distressing especially when we anticipate something bad happen. I have been worried myself to death about my PhD admission. I was not that motivated to be a PhD student in the first place. I have some friends studying PhD programs here and believe me, they always look unwell, as if the sky would fall on them right on the moment I see them. Reza is an exception, for some reason I always consider that he is somewhat occupied with his other zealous dreams, that spirits him up.

But… being back in school again might be ‘nice’. Doing some research again could be ‘fun’, dealing with those complicated and mystifying formula and theories,… for 5 years, at minimum.
But then again, I got a reply email from the admission committee announcing that they are not in position to give me funding at the very moment. Unless I have other sources of financial support.
So, here I am again back again to my comfort zone, after being dispirited about the response email, I blamed Reza, I grew hatred to everything, I refused to think of anything. There is always state of denial after moment of rejection, I bet every guy who has ever confessed their love to a girl but then got rejected knows exactly how it feels. Now that I can relate their experience to mine, I become more empathic. Although that understanding is not important now, hehehehe.

I just want to live in the moment in every passing single day. Being grateful and liven up those moments.

Being able to cook is one of perks for us living abroad. Far from relatives, we hardly have no one to help us providing home cooking meal everyday, let alone having a servant to help us with housework. Good thing is, I can find wide range of food ingredient here, there’s absolutely no reason for not cooking. The thing is, I have an acceptably good Korean market near Spartan Village Apartments, and I’ve been wandering around with good Korean friends this past months. One thing leads to another, I got invited to their houses, got in touch with their lives, and learned some Korean food. I haven’t gotten the chance to eat many varieties of this food but I can say that I like it.

Actually I hate eating alone, and I hate preparing food for myself. I used to cook instant food before married, but I am now trying to practice healthy lifestyle. Also, this semester Reza’s been busy at campus almost everyday. I’ve been false busy myself, but at most lunch hours I had been always eating by myself at home. My friend, Jin Sun told me about a Korean food recipe, Ddukbokki. How to prepare it is piece of cake so long as you’ve got all the ingredients. No grinding whatsoever. And.. my husband doesn’t really like it (probably because I always make the super hot version of it, he just can’t tolerate it). So lunch is the perfect time for me to make it.
So, do allow me to share the Indonesian version of Ddukbokki. I kind of changed it a tidbit to match my taste.

Ingredients:

We’re facing choices in every single day of our life. Between a cup of tea and a mug of hot chocolate for morning delight, which flour brand to pick up in grocery aisle, what clothes to wear to match the weather and mood for the day. Choices are not necessarily something grand or big as a problems, in fact if these are what we can call problems, cause when I think it over again, I am so in the habit of doing everything without even thinking. Funny that I almost cry out ‘I hate it because I don’t have choices’ everytime I feel depressed and confused of not knowing what to do best.

Sometimes, I think it would be far a lot easier if I dont need to choose one over others. Especially when we feel like we are coerced to give up something good. If this is for even better something, fine then. But how if it is not? And then suddenly the thought about ‘Sliding Doors’ movie rushes into my mind. How small thing can really affect your entire next life. One seemingly insignificant thing leads to 2 different life conclusion. Often times, though, there is of course the satisfying freedom to know what excite our mind most after realizing the options we have, like when we have the money and freedom to choose whatever thing we would like to have (I wish!). Human is such a greedy creature on the face of the earth.

I thought I wont be dealing with big decision after I got married with someone I barely knew of (but whom I love so much). Well I thought wrong, aside from million things new decisions everyday, I still again and again have to choose what best thing for me to do next in my life. Pursuing PhD, for instance. Sometimes, I am so not interested in continuing the study. I feel like I am done with studying what I studied before. I want something different, something rewarding for my soul, something of which I am still in search. I want to be contented with my life that when the twilight came I would be able to say ‘I’ve done everything I am passionate of’.

Still, there are other times I realize that PhD is the best possible way I am able to do here in US. I will be able to acquire something of great significance and value which in time hopefully will be a great contribution for my country. Also, this is the best time in my life when I still can concentrate on only study and have everything fresh in my brain.

Well I guess this time I’ll let the time answer my confusion. Both are good things that may ever come in my life. I just have to have faith, that everything that comes and will come to me is for the best. Besides, how gratifying it is to still have the ability to choose, when some people in different sides of the world don’t even know that they actually have the possibleness to have a decent life.

At long last.. my first post in wordpress. After trying almost helplessly to fix things up in the css code here, I finally am able to present it out to the public.

Nothing much happened in the last two months. I finally made it to the Detroit, the motor city, where we and Reza got a little lost in the outskirt of the city during our adventurous journey. Even driving along the resdiential area could give us chills and shudders (what with the stories about this ‘dead city area of Detroit’ we’ve heard of many times also the car we rode were not in a proper condition for long distance journey). I should be glad nothing happened to us.

Still, we did have fun during the holiday, journey to Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, shopping journey to Birch Run, and supposed to be all night long new year party at a friend’s apartment. We did intend to stay awake all night long but Billy managed to be the first leaving the crowd. The rest just lost the surviving spirit afterwards and only manage to outlive others shortly.

What is more fun is THE SNOW. I would certainly miss the snow if I have to leave East Lansing. The temperature is beyond question super cold! But the snow is amazing. I just realized that the snowflakes really is that beautiful, and when the sun is shining over the layers of snow, the light reflects it like diamonds scattering above the ground. Some people choose to ’snowbird’ to Florida, but I just love it to see the beauty of white snow here. I am just a ‘tropican’after all.

It’s the first of December and it’s marked with snow falling down heavily from the sky. Temperature drop down to under 0 degree of Celcius. It’s freezing cold yet the white of the fresh snow covering the surface seen from inside the house looks so amazing.

All the programs I was taking during the fall semester has ended. MSU Tesol’ ESL Classes was the first to end. I was feeling sad since I enjoyed the class so much, I like the people and the teachers, and there wouldn’t be another class with the same members next semester. Few people will surely take the class again but most people would concentrate further in their study.

Every Tuesday program has ended too, with a great potluck party at the end. But we’re gonna meet again in the beginning of year 2007, and I’m looking forward to doing more great programs next year.

My Beginner Spanish Class has come to an end, too. I would go on to the next level in spring semester. Can’t wait….

I took the GRE Test again. I am quite satisfied with the result, I already did my best, even if the score is not over-the-top, but that’s the best I could do. If the department I am aspiring to go considers the score is not good enough, well… maybe that’s not the way I am supposed to take.

Meanwhile… I am just waiting for Reza’s winter break to come so that we can arrange what place to go in our holiday. Maybe we’re just gonna go around Michigan considering that travelling in this very cold season is just not comfortable. Still, I am so excited.

I have many plans to take many classes in the next semester. Now that I have adpated to my surrounding,i feel it far more exciting. I also hope that I can write more in this blog, more regularly, so that this online life journal can keep the track of my life, every single day of it.

I hope all of you enjoy the holiday too Happy holiday everyone!