Project 365

Another heart is broken. Another victim arrives. While you hide inside your cage covered by all your lies, unable to be found.

Uncover your mask, that’s all I ask from you. How hard could that be?! But you choose to wear it. You sacrifice the friendship we had with the mask you cannot lose. Has it been a good protector to you? I wonder.

Just remember that, you can make the world beautiful just by refusing to lie about it*.

Choice is in your hand, my friend. I am not here to interfere.

And don’t ever blame me when I make my own choice. Time is up. Another ship is coming to pick me up. I have to give up on you. Completely.

* Iain Thomas, I Wrote This For You

Now be silent. Let the One who creates words speak. He made the door, He made the lock, He also made the key.

— Jalal ad-Din Rumi

All we have to do is to find ways to reach for the key, right? 🙂

Today’s reflection before going to bed…

If you want to go back to Indonesia for good, make sure you don’t find a job. You create a job.

— Mas Oki

This quote by a friend has stick to my mind ever since. And I’m still figuring it out how I’m going to do it. Too many things I want to do. Too little resources.

After such a tiring day, I found myself looking through the pictures taken when I was in Brisbane, Australia. It was almost three years ago that I finally said farewell. Now I miss it again… I’ll come back, one day! 🙂

This is the apartment I shared with Jenn and Mayu, where we lived for 2 years. It was in this living/dining room that we constantly played poker and Big Two until late at night, watched a Korean drama series for two days non-stop, and had dinner with friends. A lot of memories here!

And of course… having a barbie (which is an Aussie slang for BBQ) at our apartment 🙂

Will and Jenn were posing, just before we watched Miss Saigon. It was the first time for the three of us to watch a musical theater! I love this picture! 😀 Awesome time, great musical 🙂

Exploring museums and having an afternoon walk on the banks of Brisbane River in South Bank with my housemates and Mayu’s mom. It was such a great weather!

This was taken at my farewell dinner in South Bank. I remember I had this farewell a week BEFORE exams, when I didn’t even know whether I would be graduating or not! Hahaha! I had no choice! Good thing that a lot of people showed up. It was one of the best nights!

One of the foods that I really miss? Definitely Nando’s! Well, true, it’s not an Aussie food, but I can’t find it in the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, or even in Indonesia!!! How sad! I have to go all the way to Singapore or Malaysia to eat this! Somebody needs to open a Nando’s branch in Jakarta!!! I’m sure we’ll love it! and… oh… they really should make an EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA HOT Peri-Peri sauce! Hehehe.

One of my favorite pictures. Singapore, Indonesia, India, Taiwan 🙂

Not to miss, the colorful trees (including the purple Jacaranda) around Brisbane during spring. It’s beauuuuuuutifuuuuul! 🙂

 

Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.

— Kevin Arnold

Moving out is my least favorite activity. Ever. Be it across continents, countries, cities, or suburbs. There’s nothing fun about it. You pack your stuff in boxes or plastic bags. Move them to a destination. Unpack and reorganize them again. It’s just annoying! Not to mention the cleaning! 😮

I’ve only lived here for 2 years, but this is the third time that I move out to a new place. Yep, I do that every year and in those years I thought I would never move out again! Kapok!!! But, look at me — unable to settle. Seriously, I really hope this would be my last time to move. It’s tiring.

The good thing about moving out? I get to sort out the things I don’t need anymore. It amazes me how much JUNKS I keep in my room, under my bed. From lecture notes, files, unread letters, to financial statements. It also amazes me how much stuff I have! It keeps on accumulating  every single year! When I go back home every year, I bring those things I don’t need, but at the same time I come back with MORE things! LOL. What’s the point, right?

Hmm, at least, by sorting those things out, I’m able to gather a big box of papers and a bag of plastic materials, ready to be recycled! Great :).

Adjusting to a new place is also not easy. Especially when you live with many other people in one house. I haven’t met the three new housemates yet, so I don’t actually know what to expect. But most of them are working, so it’s good that I’m gonna have the whole house by myself during the day! Hehehe.

I really hope my new place will be homey. I hope I’ll like it. That’s the most important thing. A busy day is awaiting me!

The Friend comes into my body
looking for the center,
unable to find it, draws a blade,
strikes anywhere.

— Jalal ad-Din Rumi

I’ve reached the point where I don’t care about you anymore. Just let me know when you’re done. So I can remind you to fix the mess. Then you can leave.

Breaking Benjamin is one of the best rock bands out there! 🙂

My new room is unfurnished. So I have to buy most of the furniture, like a bed, desk, chair, and wardrobe. I bought the second-hand desk and chair for a cheap price today and it’d be delivered next week (yay!). I’ll get the wardrobe and bed from Jessie. So I thought I didn’t need to buy anything else… (coz I worried about getting it transported!).

But then I realized, where was the FRIDGE!?! There was no fridge in the kitchen!!!! Arrrrgh.

That was one of the most important things! How could I not realize that?! So, yeah I was a bit panic. I only had a week! Fridge was not an easy thing to get.

I quickly checked Marktplaats.nl. I found the one I liked and affordable, but I needed to bid it! Damn! I went over the student mailing list, but no one sold a small fridge. So I sent an ads to the mailing list, WANTED: SMALL FRIDGE. I also put it as my status on Yahoo Messenger and Facebook. I even asked my friends if they knew somebody selling a fridge. See how desperate I was?!?!

Just after a minute I put my status on Facebook, a friend commented it and said that she had a fridge and I could just take it. OMG! This was too easy!!! Hahaha! I couldn’t believe it when she said it! So I could just have it for free!! Yippy!!!! I was so happy… Now, no need to be panic 😉

Alhamdulillah… Thank you for saving me ya Allah…

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

— Jalal ad-Din Rumi

I was told that my new house was very near to Eindhoven’s Red Light District. Actually, I didn’t realize it until I signed the contract. People had been telling me not to go out really late as the area was quite dangerous. You know… the drunk people, drug dealers, and so on… But I didn’t actually know where the Red Light District was?! So, for the sake of curiosity, I googled it.

It turned out that the Red Light District was only 500 meters away from my house.

Oh, bugger! 😀 Is that the reason why it’s so cheap? LOL.