The Random Truths

Meet my new best friend, Kwan Loong Medicated Oil.

You see, as much as I hate to admit it, I guess I am turning into a jompo.. With a few evidence to prove it:

1. I've always been prone to masuk angin, but lately I think I'm getting more and more easily these days.. Just a bit of a wind at night time, or a night spent with not enough sleep will lead me straight to SMAS (Severe Masuk Angin State)

2. I used to be bothered by the scent of medicated oil. Whenever I'm at a public place and someone is using medicated oil, like cap kapak, or tiger balm, I'd be all cranky and cursing.. But now?? Not only do I find the scent soothing, I am now turning into one of those people that I used to hate, because now I also use medicated oil in public! ^^;;

3. My MAFAK (Masuk Angin First Aid Kit) usually only comprises of Tolak Angin. But for the past year it has gone advanced, as I now use Tolak Angin, hot stamp (AKA Salonpas), and medicated oil. I remember Pak HERB was amazed when I (together with Hira) bought all those things after we watched Ramayana Sendratari in Jogja (which was held in open air and involved a lot of wind).. I guess he didn't think us metropolitan women would use any of the MAFAK hehe ;p

Anw, back to my new best friend: Kwan Loong Medicated Oil (KLMO). I was first introduced to it by my mother in law a couple of months ago. It seemed that I slept at the wrong side of the bed and ended up not able to turn my head because my neck hurt like hell. She gave me a bottle of KLMO and said that it's the best medicated oil.. It smells nice, it's warm but not too hot, and the best part is that after the effect wears off, it won't leave you feeling cold.. You know like how you sometimes feel after the effect of hot stamps wear off..?

So I gave it a try, and being the masuk angin prone person that I am, I fell in love instantly. It was everything my mom in law said it would be. A few weeks later I went to singapore, and I bought 4 bottles of KLMO, just in case.

Then I spread the news to MAC (Masuk Angin Club) members at the office: Pak Hamdan, Mbak Indri, and Hira. I brought a bottle to work and had them try it for themselves. Of course, they loved it as well. Mbak Indri,who took possession of that bottle because she wss sick, even almost finished it in less than a week! Hahaha.. They like it so much that when I'm off to Japan via Singapore next month, all of them asked for a bottle of KLMO as a souvenir hihihi :)

So that's the story of my new best friend ;) If any of you are heading towards jompo era, or feel that you are prone to masuk angin and should be a member of MAC, you should definitely give KLMO a try! I bet it'll turn to be your new best friend as well ;p

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A while ago my status update was all about how upset I was with BCA, Bank Mandiri, and Citibank. The incidents with the first and the last were too complicated to write here, but the incident in Bank Mandiri should be easy, as I honestly think it was a stupid mistake

Last Saturday, I went to Bank Mandiri PIM 1 to close my dad's saving account. I waited in line for a while, and then I was called to go to one of the counters. The CSO was a young lady, she looked nice, as all CSO should be

Here's how the conversation went:

Young Lady (YL) : morning, how may I help you?

Me (D) : Yes, I'm here to close my late father's bank account

YL : Ah yes, you will need several documents

D : Yes, what will those be? (I've been to BCA the day before so I kinda know what the majority
of the docs will be, I just want to check whether Mandiri has different regulation)

YL : You will need a copy of death certificate,family certificate (is that english for kartu keluarga?), and also copy of the heirs and heiress' ID

D: will you need me to bring a statement from notary stating who the rightful heirs/heiress are?

YL : ah yes you will need that too

D: and will I need to sign any special form from Bank Mandiri?

YL: oh yes, you will need to do that, we do have a special form that you need to sign

D: (starting to think the CSO is unreliable), OK.. Then can I have the forms please?

YL: I'm sorry ma'am..

D: (thinking she must've ran out of copies of the form)

YL: .. But this is my first day here and I don't know where they usually put the forms.


I so didn't see that coming. I was shocked she gave that answer! I mean, can't she ask somebody? Her superior maybe??? Her other CSO friend whose desk was just beside her? Or maybe the security guard who looked like he knew where all sorts of documents were?? Nooo.. She just went the easy way, telling me she didn't know where the form was as it was her first day..


The regular me would turn all cynical and b*tchy, but.. since I was fasting, and I remembered Bayu told me not to get irritated so easily, plus I don't think it would've made any difference if I complained-as the CSO looked quite hopeless to me, so I let it go. I just smiled and said

D: Oh.. So you don't know where they put the documents.. (Not even continued with a cynical, " can't you ask someone else?)

YL: well, maybe you can go to our branch at PIM 2, they might have better information on how to a close the account of a deceased customer


I admire that CSO.. Not only did she gave me such a lame excuse at first, but she also told me to to another branch to get better information. I thought the training for CSO is supposed to be standardized accross branches!

After she said that, I gave another smile, and then I left, not even bothered to ask anymore questions as I believe it would've risked my emotional conditions.

If you're reading this, and you are a part of Bank Mandiri, or a part of the company that conducts trainings for their CSO, or you know somebody in Bank Mandiri or their training partner.. Please pass over my suggestions.. Please do train Bank Mandiri CS officers better. Invest more in their training programmes.. They need it, trust me.


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As a writer wannabe, I always try to look for inspirations on how to improve my writing. That's why I love reading various books by various writers, to copy with pride, if you like.
But sometimes those books gives me more than just inspiration to write, but also inspiration for life.

For instance, In this book I just finished reading, "eat pray love" by Elizabeth Gilbert (Thank you Tanya for recommending the book), there's this one part about prayers, a topic really relevant for me now. She wrote about how prayers should be specific as possible, because if you're too lazy to be descriptive about what you want, why should God bother to make it happen? In a way.. I think I can second that opinion..

However, I'm not that good in finding the words for a prayer.. You'd think it'd be easy,to just say what you want.. But I think it's one of human's nature, to not know what he/she really wants.. So just like I read various books for inspirations, I too look for inspirations for beautiful prayers..

In relation to my grieving situation.. I've got 2 beautiful prayers from 2 of my friends, which I will sure copy with pride, with a little modification to fit my own condition.. One is from Mirna, these words were in the poem she wrote when her mom passed away.. I already used it in my previous post.. But I will write it again here, so if you're reading this you can say "Amin" to the prayer

"Ya Allah, please give my father the best space in the house, please love him, and keep him away from any misery, until it's time for all of us to be reunited again with him in heaven.. Amin"

The second one is from mbak Lici.. She texted me yesterday, and in that text she included a simple prayer, something that I've been praying for, but in such beautiful words that really capture the essence of what I really want to pray for.. I will write it here exactly as her text, in Bahasa.. Because I don't think I can translate it in English and still keep the meaning..

"Semoga pelan2 keikhlasan dlm hati makin menguat, dan sedikit demi sedikit terbiasa dg kehilangan besar ini"

I say this prayer not just for me, but for everyone in my family.. My mother, my sister, my brother, my husband, my uncles, my aunts, and all others who were close to my dad.. Because I know we can't overcome this overnight, and probably won't in just a week or two, but we have to be stronger bit by bit, one step at a time.. Because I'm sure that's what he would've wanted us to do, since he was always telling us to move forward, to become "somebody" .. We have to get on with our lives, with him in memory, to become better people, so when we see him again, we'll be able to say, "Thank you, you have made us better people"

So I guess the modified prayer will be.. Ya Allah, semoga pelan2 keikhlasan dlm hati makin menguat, dan sedikit demi sedikit terbiasa dg kehilangan besar ini.. Dan semoga kita bisa terus melihat ke depan, dan menjadi orang yang lebih baik, sesuai dengan keinginan beliau..

Amin..

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My father passed away last night, Sept 3rd, 2008, at 22.45

None of us saw it coming. He was admitted to a hospital near my house on Sept 1st and was diagnosed with DBD, which he did have. He was still all cheerful and making jokes and conversation at that time. A day later my mother got suspicious of the blood test and asked her doctor friends and they said it might be a case of leukemia. The day after, which was yesterday morning,he was transferred to another hospital, where it was confirmed he had leukemia. We were thinking of getting him abroad for treatment, but we never had the chance. Shortly after maghrib, he began to lose conscious, and passed away at 22.45

My good friends would know that I'm not often in good terms with my dad. My mom used to say we fought a lot because we were so alike. And me being me, it's never easy for me to express my feelings to my immediate family members.

So here are a few things that I'd like to say to my dad.. I won't regret never telling him in person, because in my defense, he knows that's just not that kind of person I am and that would make it really awkward.. Hehe :p

Thank you, for making me who I am. For still thinking about me on your last days, being the foreman yourself during the renovation of the house you and mom bought for me to live in.. For everything.

I'm sorry, for all the hard time I caused you, for all the debate, starting from what time I come home until the choice of high school that I should go to.. For everything

I love you.
Like I said during my "siraman", even though I never say it, I hope you know that I love you so much, and I will be forever grateful, forever in debt, for all those things you've done for me, for everything.

Allahuma firlahu warhamhu wa'afihi wa'fuanhu..

Ya Allah, please forgive all the wrong doings my dad might've done, please accept all his good deeds, and please save him the best space in the house, together with my grandmothers, his brother,and all others who have "come home" before him.. Until it's time for all of us to be reunited with him in heaven.. Amin..

PS: Thank you for your condolences and support,everyone.. It really means a lot to me and my family,knowing that we're not alone in this.. Again, thank you so much..



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Those who know me well know for sure that I am an absolute cry baby. I cry like, all the time because of simple things. I'm always the one to cry at farewells, at anniversaries, while reading sad books, while watching movies that has touching heartfelt scenes in it.. Once I even cried watching an episode of Pokemon, when one of Ash's pokemon healed and returned to its habitat (Egi, remember when this happened? During our trip to Bandung.. hihihi)

As a cry baby, one thing I noticed is that I cry in 3 different ways.
1. Light cry, like when I watch movies and read books, or sometimes hear songs that touch me

2. Out loud/hysterical cry, this usually happens when I'm really upset, like when my driver made me late to come to the airport to set Farina off.

3. Silent Cry, this is when I cry silently without a sound, and just have tears falling down heavily from my eyes. This is the worst kind of cry, the kind of cry that makes me feel like there is a hole in my heart. The kind of cry where the cause is something so painful it makes you want to cry everytime something/someone reminds you of it.

The last time I cried silently was when my grandmother died. Didn't think that would happen again soon, but as always, God has His secrets...

And so last night I silently cried, without any sound, without saying any words to my husband who patiently held me and supported me throughout the whole time. Maybe that was what made me got up on my feet faster, as I usually reserve these silent cries for when I am all alone.

Thank you for the support, I knew I married you for a reason! (quoted from Monica's words to Chandler =P). Now I just need to convince myself that everything will be just fine, and I definitely need to be stronger, so traces of tears don't come back to my eyes everytime.

Tears, go away please. I've got plenty of work to do, and you're not exactly helping.