Project 365

Finally, decorating is almost done. I still want to fill one wall with all the postcards I got, but I’m still not sure how to do it — without damaging the wall and the postcard itself. I also bought an IKEA lamp so that I can read some pages of a book before sleep each night, but the lamp didn’t work 🙁 . I was so disappointed!

Oh well… I can feel myself at home now. Sunday is spent here in my room, enjoying myself with a cup of hot chocolate, a book, James Blunt’s music, and some candles that light up the room. It feels so good and fulfilling. I don’t feel like going anywhere. Alhamdulillah for everything.

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.

–  St. Augustine

When you marry
And you look around
I’ll be somewhere in that crowd
Torn up, that it isn’t me

When you’re older
The memories fade
But I know I’ll still feel the same
For as long as I live

But if time is all I have
I’ll waste it all on you

Damn, this is one of the saddest songs ever! His performance was so beautiful! His voice was amazing. He could really relate to the song. He sang the song so emotionally. I never realized that he’s a great singer until recently. I’ve been listening to his songs ever since.

We always have a lot of things to share. Or to joke about. From serious stuff to some stupidest things that you could ever imagine. We love to talk in broken Arabic, just to make fun of those foreigners (Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and even Indonesians) whose Arabic is unbelievably funny! If I’m in Jeddah, I spend most of my time in his room. Every single day. We laugh until our stomach hurts, listen to music (AND sing & dance as crazy as we can!), watch movies, and talk (it’s bloody hard to shut his mouth, seriously).

I miss him sooo much!

A few days ago, a friend posted a link on Facebook. It’s from CNN titled: A portrait of a modern Muslim woman in Indonesia. The title of the news seemed to be interesting to me. What kind of woman did CNN pick this time?

I was not happy with the CNN’s choice, to be honest. This woman, Alia Wahid, was described as "a modern woman who also happens to be a devout Muslim" by the CNN. In the video, she’s seen socializing and drinking (alcohol) with her friends, a very typical Jakarta woman I have to say. I wish CNN could pick a smart "real devout" Muslim woman who has made contributions to the society.

At some point in the video, she was asked why she drank alcohol, when Islam prohibited her to do so. And she answered it by saying, "I’m a Muslim, but I’m not practicing it fanatically." OH MY GOD! Come again?!?!

First of all, Islam that I believe prohibits me to drink alcohol. Maybe she believes in different thing. I don’t care about what she believes in. Her relationship with God is entirely her business. But her reason was so lame. So she labeled me as fanatic. She labeled other Muslims who don’t drink as fanatics. How about those Christians, Jews, Catholics, or even atheists who choose not to drink? Does she label those people as fanatics too? Why can’t she just say that she’s a Muslim but she doesn’t practice the religion perfectly?!

I was not happy with her answer AT ALL. And I quickly commented on my friend’s post, criticizing about her ability to answer that simple question. I was so surprised that when I opened Facebook the next day, the same Alia Wahid who was on that news, replied my writing! Hahaha! What did she say?

never rely on what is implied…. good to see a bigger picture. you can’t only see the edited version and make assumptions. i have my reason, you have your reason.

So, she blamed CNN for editing the video. But the part where she answered the question wasn’t edited at all. I was kinda puzzled and I think she just didn’t know what to response to my criticism. CNN, please, next time… pick a smarter woman, okay?

I went to a friend’s thesis presentation today and was invited to a dinner afterwards. It was really nice. Catching up with many people I haven’t seen for ages AND promoting the concert! Hahaha. What can I say? I have a marketing blood, I guess.

It’s nice to "go away" from the Indonesian community for awhile. It’s refreshing. I just need a balance, that’s all.

A lot of things happened today! I planned to go to IKEA by bike (around 40 minutes to 1 hour long) as I wanted to have a time for myself… just want to be alone so that I could reflect about the things that had been happening and I could refresh my mind! But minutes before I left the house, I checked the radar and I could see a HUGE cloud was coming. It was so huge that it could cover the whole Netherlands! Yes, it’s going to be raining again and most probably STORMS!

So I decided to bike to the nearest bus stop and take a bus from there to IKEA. On the way back, it was a disaster! I cycled with my umbrella and it went all over the place! The wind was so strong and caused my umbrella to break. It was SO bad. I was so wet. It was freezing too! The journey from the bus stop which usually took 5 minutes, turned to be 15 minutes. It was just unbelievable. The weather was crazy!

My day ended with a nice dinner with my former housemates, Mei and Paul at Usine. It was really nice. I had a really great time. We had a talk ranging from cultural issues (Mei is from Taiwan and Paul is a French with a British mother and a Vietnamese father), history, travel, wedding, to a life in general. Awesome evening, indeed!

The best way to be great, is to not try to be great. Do something good for someone, without seeking their thanks or their praise and you will be rewarded with a feeling from within. Which is a thousand times better than a feeling from without.

— Iain Thomas @ I Wrote This For You

Indeed, the feeling from within. That’s something powerful that can’t be replaced by anything else.

Sometimes I wish you would understand how I view and stir my life… then everything would be easy.

But then, if everything was easy, it wouldn’t be called life, would it?

Eindhoven is the city of light, just because Philips was founded here. Although the headquarter of Philips is no longer in Eindhoven, the city keeps on promoting itself as the city of light. The ‘title’ doesn’t make this small city ‘brighter’ than other Dutch cities in terms of numbers of light scattering throughout the city center. It’s just something that Eindhoveners are proud of.

From 6 to 13 November, the city hosts the annual event, Glow Eindhoven, which showcases art and architecture by means of light. I haven’t really explore it yet as the weather hasn’t been a friend this week. It’s been raining cats and dogs. It’s really cold too! I only went to the centrum (city center) this evening to see some of the shows and they were quite beautiful.

I’ll probably be going to explore it tomorrow. Or this weekend. Can’t wait.