FF : Free Food

Earlier this week , March 18th 2013,  McDonald’s Indonesia along with other  McDonald’s in Asia, Middle East and South Africa celebrate the first national breakfast day by giving away free Egg McMuffin. Yaaaay!

Each restaurant were only giving away Egg McMuffin during breakfast hours (5 to 10 in the morning), ands it’s limited to 1000pcs /store. It was very exciting offer, yet if I want to get it, I have to go to the store as early as possible.

The news about the giveaway was broadcasted on the TVs and also published in newspapers, plus some friend of mine broadcasted a message about the giveaway through Blackberry Messenger. That’s why I thought there will be even more competition on my free food hunting at McDonald’s.

So, the night before I sent a message about the event to my free food hunting partner, Mr H, and then decided to go for it on 7 in the morning.  Not too early not too late we decided to go to the nearest and the most desolate Mc Donald’s store in town.

Free food 1
By the time we arrived at the store there was already considerable amount of people waiting in line. Luckily, after few minutes filling form, getting coupon, waiting in line, Voila! I get my free food!

Free food 2
I assume that the actual purpose of this giveaway  is for promotion. However, in the store that I’ve visited that day, most of the people who came is actually the one that cannot afford McDonald’s in regular basis. So the giveaway actually transform from promotion into social action.  Which is really beneficial for people who needs. Thanks, McDonald’s!

Remembering Valentine

Two days ago was 22nd valentine day in my life (23rd if you count the one when I’m still inside the womb). However, I have very few memories about them. Mostly, I can’t remember my early valentines because I was only a small kid at the time, plus its not considered as really important days in my home country. Some that I remember probably from recent years.

My most recent valentine was two days ago, February ,14th 2013. Our house-keeper wake me up in the morning and change my pillowcase*. After that, I give her a pack of chocolate that I bought the day before. Later that day, I spent the evening with my best friend Mr H, discussing about stuff that we should prepare for a competition that we’re going to enter as a team.

My Valentine Pillowcase

*this was a valentine presents from my parents. I cant remember the exact year but maybe y during High school year.

My 21st valentine was a year ago, February 14th 2012. I was in the middle of final semester, therefore I’m working on my final project together with my partner Miss E. Just like usual days, me and my classmate goes to our studio to do our work or for meeting our professors to discuss our final project’s progress. However, that day my friend Mr G ask us, all the singles, to do some unusual valentine celebration. We bought some beers and Korean ramyon and eat it together in our studio. Since I used to drink occasionally with my classmate and professor while staying in Korea the year before, I was able to drink a can of beer without being drunk or dizzy (my Korean friends tell me the tricks). But my friend Mr G, feeling dizzy after only a half can of beer. The bad news is, he’s the one who drive us home, and he still feeling a bit dizzy even in the evening. Therefore, since that day neither my friends nor I drink any alcoholic drinks for the rest of the year.  We concluded that it was unnecessary and quite dangerous for us in Indonesia.

My 20th Valentine was during my stay in Korea, February 14th 2011. It was winter. Although South Korea is a four season country, Busan normally have very mild winter. The wind were harsh, but the temperature is only few degrees below or slightly above. But that day, during valentine 2011, we got very heavy snowfall, and it was even piled up until around 70 cm. Although we cannot go anywhere that day because the road is too slippery, My friend Miss I and I do take a short walk to the sport field nearby. We decided to commemorate our first (and eventually the only) heavy snowy day in Busan by making snowman. However, since we came from tropical country, which never have any snow (except at the top of Jaya Wijaya Mountain in Papua Island which is very far from my place), we have no idea how to make those big snowballs for Mr Snowman’s body. Therefore after some trial and errors (plus peeping on some European students), we finally be able to finish Mr Snowman. Yaaaayyyy!

White Valentine @ Busan

Miss I and I with our Mr Snowman (we give chocolate to Mr Snowman, he need something to eat on this chilly day)

Other than those three occasion, I remember that I got pillowcase from my parents at some point during high school year, and buying my grandpa a set of chocolate, or probably saying “Happy Valentine” a few times in my life, but I cant remember any specific year or details about that day.

However, from those occasions that I can remember, I have each valentine really unique. I feel like I simply do normal things on valentine days, instead of lovey-dovey thingy that other people do. Maybe, that’s made me want to remember my valentine, to commemorate usual things on (what most people think as) unusual date.

What I Want to Do in 2013

Earlier this year my cousin A asked me what is my new year resolutions. But I can’t really answer that question. Of course as a normal human being, I want to have a better year compared to previous year. In fact I want an awesome year!

But, what kind of awesome year?

It took me almost a month to figure out some concrete things I want to achieve this year. Here’s the list.

 

I want and I have to:

  1. Read Bible everyday.
  2. Drive an hour a day, at least 4 days a week.
  3. Write in my blog at least once a week.
  4. Wake up and sleep early, and avoid naps during afternoon. Try my best to expand my ‘effective hours’.
  5. Enroll myself into international competitions (and hopefully win some).
  6. Publish my educational games
  7. Start going out to do adventure once again, at least around my hometown.
  8. Write and publish books. I hope I can publish 2 (or 3 or more) books this year.

 

Well, so far I’ve fulfilled 2 out of 8 things on above list. But still, I have to work really hard if I want to achieve all things by the end of this year. There are many things on that list that needs persistence and consistency. I can fail anytime if I get careless.

Other than that, this year I need to pay attention to my emotion, my attitude. My body is getting older, but my emotion is somewhat behind. Although I kind of sad when realizing that my emotional problem has become obstacle for me to achieve greater things in the past. I glad that realizing this problem now has giving me opportunity to catch up and improve myself into a better person.

Hopefully I can direct my thoughts into more positive ways and focus on achieving my goals, and finally have an awesome year!

 

Cheers,

Winnie Tjahjana

FF : Fish Funeral

When I was a little kid, probably around 2 years old, my first pet was a fish. Our family named it Alendut after an Indonesian word gendut, shortened as ndut, which is simply means fat or chubby.

Unfortunately, while I was living in Melbourne due to my father master studies, Alendut misteriously died. So, my grandmother buy another fish which looks really similar to the previous one, therefore begins the life of Alendut II (read : Alendut the Second), which the little me thought it was my Alendut, not a new one.

As I grow older, moved town , go to school, and have more friends, I started to lose interest on my pet fishes, or simply any other pet animals. Until recently my cousin A come to stay with us, and she started to pay attention to our fishes in the backyard pond. Therefore, here I am, two decades after, started to notice my pet fishes once again because my cousin A do so.

However, recently  started from around 2 months ago, some mysterious disease struck our pond, and some of our fishes get severely sick. They started to swim upside down and stop moving for quite a long time, they seems have some trouble with breathing as well, because the gills open wider than normal.

Eventualy, one of the fish died last year , on November 24th, 2012, and we decided to hold some funeral for this fish. Shortly before it’s death my cousin A named the fish Esmer Victoria Secret Tjahjana. Esmer after one of her friend, Victoria Secret after her bra which became crumpled after some wrong washing procedure.

Fish 02

We hold some procession before burying the fish, giving some last words while some specially chosen music playing  in the background.

Fish 03

Afterwards, we bury the dead body in a flower pot, planted some leaves and adding tomb-signage.

Fish 01

 

After burying Esmer Victoria Secret, we thought that all other fishes will be okay, since they were healthy for a full month. Until just recently, we found that two other fishes start showing similar symptoms. In order to save other healthy fishes, we put both of them on quarantine, one bucket each.

My cousin A tried to find some diagnosis for these fishes through Google, she suspects that these fishes got some problems on their swimming / floating organs which is probably caused by constipation. Clueless about how to cure constipation on fishes, my mom try some traditional method on curing the fish, by sprinkling some salt into the water. On the other hand my father took more experimental attempt by giving them few drops of betadine.

Regardless of our attempt, two days ago,  my cousin A found that one of the sick fishes were no longer moving nor breathing. Then she named the dead one Turuncu Benekli Kocaman Tjahjana, which is in Turkish means big orange spotted. Meanwhile, I named the one that still struggling  Seger Waras Tjahjana, which in Javanese means fresh and healthy, based on a traditional Javanese belief that a good name may help it survived.

In the end, the next morning Seger Waras Tjahjana finally joined its two other pond-mate to swim in the big pond in the sky. Rest in peace my fishes, my friend, hope you enjoy your next swim.

List of Events 2012

During the last few hours of 2012, I decided to write a quick list of events that happen in my life during this year.

January

  • Spent my first minutes in 2012 sitting at Kuta Beach, Bali Island while watching fireworks with my parents and Aunty U.

 February

  • Start my last semester as undergraduate student.
  • Continue working on my final project together with my partner miss E.
  • Spent valentine day together with all single friends, drinking a can of beer and a cup of korean ramyeon. This beer was the first and the last alcoholic drink that i have this year.

March

  • Early formation of LunchClub, our circle of friends that eats lunch together during the final project studio time.
  • Helping my friends shoot RunningNut our adaptation of popular korean variety show RunningMan

April

  • Helping my friends shoot some sitcom for their final project. We use my grandparent’s house as the shooting location. We all (6 person in total) stayed in my house for approximately 3 days 2 night.
  • One of my aunt got married at Solo, Central Java.
  • My father got retinal detachment on his right eye.

May 

  • My parents went to Singapore for the first time because my father need some eye surgery.
  • Final presentation of my final project. This is my last presentation as undergraduate student of Universitas Ciputra.

June  

  • Submitting the revised final report of my final project.
  • Went to Madura Island for the first time. We got there through Suramadu Bridge to eat fried duck at “Bebek Sinjay” and  visiting some beach.

July

  • Aunty U got some major surgery, and it went really well, she recover really well and even been able to back to work in less than a week.
  • Aunty D came from US. During her stay, I accompanied her to Madura Island, hence my second visit to the island.

August

  • Aunty D went back to US, while Aunty L visit us in Malang.
  • My first trip to Singapore in order to accompanied my dad on his second eye surgery.

September

  • My dad need another surgery on his eye so we have to lengthen our stay for around 3 weeks.
  • During my stay in Singapore, I visited Toys fair, Science Center, various museum and shopping street,  local libraries, and even got called for my first work interview ever, but at the end I didn’t pass.
  • My graduation ceremony finally took place at the end of this month. I wore orange kebaya under my robe.

October

  • I turn 22 y.o.
  • My friend Mr A gave me this web domain as my birthday presents, while my father also bought me another web domain for my other project, and my LunchClub friends gave me a handbag.
  • My cousin A came to Indonesia with her friend Miss R. They embark a month journey together, visiting some exotic places including Komodo Island, and then Miss R went back to Istanbul, while cousin A  stayed in Indonesia

November 

  • Aunty U,cousin A and me went to Toba Lake, North Sumatra. This was my first visit to Sumatra Island.
  • Me and cousin A held  our first Fish Funeral for Esmer Victoria Secret.

December

  • I found some lizzard’s remains that shown on my article FF : Fossil Findings
  • My parents, Aunty U, and cousin A went to Pasir Putih to cast off our grandpa’s ashes. We sunk his urn into the sea.
  • My parents, Aunty U, and cousin A spent our christmas together.
  • Aunty U and cousin A went to Thailand until new year, while Aunty L visit us again in Malang.

For me, this year was rather unique, I have so many first and last experience, and throughout the year our friends and families come and stayed with us for  a while.

I experiencing a lot more than what I can write in this post, and I believe it will help me grow and be prepared for the next year.

Although I have few regrets for much things that I can’t do during this year, I was thankful because this year I was able to start new things, including this blog.

Thanks for reading, see you next post!

FF : Fossil Findings

Fossil 01

I wonder how long has it been there? And why nobody ever notice it? Or they did notice it, but let it stay there, waiting for me to find its remains…

Fossil 02

Two days ago, I went to the house next door which is under renovation since middle of this year. The renovation process is around 90% done, and our new neighbor is planning to move in within few months.

However, at the front steps, I found this dry corpse of some kind of lizard who has very looooooong tail. Some of the skins and internal organ were gone, all we can see now is the bones and the sharp teeth.

a Gift for Myself

Normally, on their birthday people receive presents from others. They expect other to think about them, do or buy something for them, while they doing nothing but enjoy themselves. As a normal human being I also have those thoughts. Having my friends to buy me something for my birthday was an easy thing, since I’ve been doing it for the most of my life.

However, this year  I feel the urge to give myself a birthday presents. Something that really coming from myself, and others can’t do it for me. This year, I decide to start writing once again. I want to re-establish my writing habit that I’ve abandoned for around 4 years. I want to force myself to think and share regularly in order to practice self-discipline.

Yet, knowing that I need some space to do those things, one of my friend, “Mr. A” gives me an empty site as birthday presents. Ready to be filled with my everyday thoughts, my everyday artwork and my everyday journey.

Thanks to him, tonight, 2 months after my 22nd birthday, I’ve been able to delivering the first gift for myself. This messy post in the middle of the night will mark my initial attempt on constantly embrace all good things that happen in my life.

Through this post I sincerely welcome you to enjoy the gifts with me. Wish me luck and strength to deliver more gifts in the future .

 

Cheers,

Winnie Tjahjana