The Random Truths

August 23,2005

I'm spending this weekend (and the following Monday as well) in Jogja. Erni is inviting the whole team here to attend Citra's Grand Launching, so as usual the whole gang showed up :)

We arrived just about lunch time, hence once we got to the hotel (which was at 1.15pm), all of us are eager to have lunch. Ibu Irma (one of Citra's beauty councelors,who by the way is also the first EVER Miss Indonesia) suggested us to have lunch at "Waroeng Tempo Doeloe", a place nearby Hyatt (the hotel we're all staying in). Naning said that it was not within walking distance, so we all went there by the only means of transportation, a 40ish seater bus, while there were only 9 of us ^^;; it turned out that the place was SO near it took longer to park the bus than the travel time, haha.

The place was really nice, it has that traditional old-fashioned javanese feel.. and all the menu looked delicious! I had trouble deciding what I wanted because all were so tempting.. I finally decided to have "garangasem quarter chicken" (I think you can say it's a kind of "pepes"?) ,fried duck egg, and "soda gembira" (soda + condensed milk + syrup).

When the food arrived, I was shocked. The "garangasem chicken " was HUUUGE! And it's not even broiler chicken (is that how you say it in English?)! Fiona had doubts whether the waitress was telling the truth, considering the size of the chicken. Seriously,it was even bigger than Kenny Rogers' quarter!

But then I remembered that the chicken in Pekalongan (for those who don't know, I'm originally from Pekalongan) are also always that huge. Everytime we had fried chicken for any meal, I'd always gasped first in shock. The chickens in Jakarta are definitely a lot smaller (except for the broilers).

So what is it with Javanese Chickens? Why are they so huge? Are they fed better? Do they move less? Are they less stressful than Jak-Chicks? Are they from better heritage? What?

Unimportant topic to bring up, yes I know. But who ever said this blog was about anything important? ;p







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August 20, 2008

I just got back from a 1.5 day workshop at Mega Mendung today. The workshop was about trying to find the very essence of my division at the office. The one thing that describes who we are, and differentiates us from other divisions, things like that. During the workshop we identified values and behaviours that really describe us as an individual working in the category,and in the division. I'm not gonna bore you by elaborating more,but let's just say I'm amazed how Kung Fu Panda's philosophies can be taken to so many different aspects of life,including this workshop ;p

Anw.

At the end of the session, the facilitators handed out a piece of paper. The paper is divided to three coloumns: Stop, Start, and Continue. They asked us to write in each coloumn,based on all the values and behaviour we've listed down, what is it that we want to stop doing,start doing, and continue doing. He said this was a "contract" that we (and two other people sitting next to us) have to sign, and we have to do all in our power to abide to this "contract".

In my "Stop" coloumn, I wrote that I want to stop having pre-judgment. Honestly speaking, I do think that I can be quite judgmental sometimes. A part of it has something to do about being a good judge of character (I judge right most of the time :p), but the other part is strongly connected to my bitchy side ( Yes,this writer is a bitch inside, people!). I know it's not a good thing, that's why I want to try to keep an open mind about everyone, and everything.

Of course, it's never easy to walk the talk. Just now I've been bitching about a certain someone who will be a part of my life in the near future. I just heard the news.. and boy, am I unhappy to hear it! I've had some not so good experience with this person,which is why I'm not too excited about the thought of days to come with that person in the picture. But then I remembered about that "contract" that I made.. And I made another promise: today will be the only day I'll be bitching about this. Tomorrow I'm gonna start clean,no prejudice. Because I have to deal with it anyway, right? Might as well be positive about it, don't you think?

Let's just see if I manage to pull it off :)

In my "Start" coloumn, one of the things I wrote is that I want to start making every day count. There was this short speech by Robin Sharma (author of "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari) played in the workshop, and it intrigued me. The essence that I captured was a little something like these quotes:

"Days will just go by, and they will turn into years, and they will be gone before you know it."

"The little things are really the big things, and extraordinary things happen as a result of evolution, not revolution. A result of small things done consistently"

You see, I am that kind of person who always want to do something BIG. I love doing something that is apparent, visible, tangible, for everyone to see. I can't fight it, I do love that lime light :) but lately I've been feeling like I haven't been doing anything major, and it's a feeling I'm not really fond of, I tell you..

I want to make every day count,in every aspect of my life. I want to do something every day,knowing that it will accumulate to something big in the future. And I want to start acknowledging that my daily routines do matter, that they are a part of the "evolution". Or else the days will just gone by, turn into years, and I will feel like I've lived those days without any significant outcome.

"Little things are the big things"
I gotta keep reminding myself of that quote, so I don't exhaust myself feeling under achieving, that I don't do BIG things often enough.

Stop pre-judging.
Start making every day count.
Now.


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To my driver,

Thanks to you, I didn't get to say a proper goodbye to Farina.

Thanks to your wrong choice of route, I wasted 15 minutes trying to find another way

Thanks to your temper, I wasted 5 minutes waiting for your unnecessary fight with the taxi driver that you hit, while all it took was IDR50K (the only money I had in my wallet!) to solve the situation

Thanks to your wrong turn at the airport, I wasted yet another 7 minutes in the car going all the way around back to the entrance gate to get to the right terminal.

Thanks to all those approximately 22 minutes wasted, I only got to see Farina from a distance. I was at the gate, she had just passed security check I just missed her by a minute. All I got to do was just wave instead of a real hug like I had planned.

Yeah, thanks a lot!

Dear Farina,

I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to say a proper goodbye to you today :( but hey, maybe it's God's way of telling me I'm not allowed to shed that much tear today,for I'm sure that's bound to happen had I bid you a proper farewell..

I agree with what was written in your farewell card (forgot who wrote it though), you don't need luck, you have all it takes to make it there!

Have fun there darling!




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