stories of some bad ass girl

l blah l theGirl l rants l oldStuff l linkies l

Welcome to my blog.
If you have this url, you're prolly one of the chosen ones.

By reading my blog, you agree to:
Have fun reading it.
Comment only if you must.
Bear with my randomness.
Not be judgemental. Not towards me at least.

• Greece: Athens and Santorini

Greece has been fun, full of warm people, very welcoming and tourists oriented.

From the Acropolis, the historic ruin and the tram/bus/metro rides in Athens (ya I like taking public transportation when in foreign countries, just my thing) then the zigzag stairs up and down, passing through the amazing sunset/sunrise, the white houses with blue door, the motorcycle ride all over Santorini island, the souvlaki, chicken gyro, the crisp air, the poor donkeys and their smelly poops (ugh!).. everything was an experience.

I will come back and visit other islands one day -InshaAllah- But for now, it's checked off of the bucket list. ❤️️💙

• In London with you..

It started wrong, and I hated it.

Not the trip itself as London is always fun for me to visit. But that 3 calls I received from UK Immigration officer, while I am at work mind you, and his tone. His judging and demeaning tone asking me all those questions related to your arrival to meet me in London.

Strike #2 - I will never forget that feeling.

• 2 Years Ago Today

It’s exactly 2 years ago since you're gone. I miss you. I really, really miss you. I miss your hugs. I really wish I could hug you right now. I miss your words of wisdom, your sense of humor and I miss the sound of your laughter.

Not a day goes by when I don’t imagine what life would be like had you still been around. Ooh! you would've been so curious and would've asked me many questions and we would've discussed this political change in US. I would imagine you and I sitting down and had a long chat about that! Then you would've asked me to tell you about my work, my trips, my course, my life. You see, every situation that I find myself in, I would imagine you’re there and I got to share in the happy moments.

But you're not here anymore.

The only thing I can do now is make duah for you, hold on to the memories, look at your pictures, and miss you even more. Sometimes I see you in my dreams, and you always smiled but never said anything. Just smiled. As lovingly as I always remember.

I wished I had told you enough how much I love you and how proud I am to be one of your daughters. You’ve left people with a lot of good memories of you. To this very day, people still talk about what a wonderful man you were. You were always there for people when they needed help and you never expected anything back. Your generosity and selflessness is inspiring and unmatched.

Thank you, Bapak. Thank you for your love, for the memories. I'm thinking about you and praying for you. I love you. ❤️️

Al Fatihah. 🙏

• Happy Birthday Ibu.

To someone who has taught me the value of living and of being happy no matter what our status in life is; Happy Birthday Ibu.
Thank you for all your love, strength and advice that have helped me become the person I am today.
The one very thing I want to wish for you would be good health and more years to spend with your children and grandchildren. You may look frail and weak but you are the strongest person I know especially when it comes to protecting your children and your family.
I hope you have a grand time during your birthday. I love you

-trias-
-los angeles-

I've always been different growing up. My being the 3rd (middle) child might have added to it too, maybe. You know the old saying about being the middle child often has the sense of not belonging, the feeling of invisibility, which makes them try harder to get the attention from the parents to make them stand out more than the first and last child. They (read: experts and/or old people) even have it called a 'middle child syndrome'. I don't know... But yea, I grew up trying my best to annoy my parents, well, in my defense, I don't think I did it consciously. Compared to my other siblings, I wasn't the most polite child (my oldest sister was), nor the cutest (my youngest sister), and not even the worst (my brother haha!). Well, maybe I'm the second worst, which wasn't anything I should be proud of.

I grew up thinking I could do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. The sky was (and is) my limit. I was a tomboy and a bad kid too (I skipped school a lot during my junior high and finally got caught by my dad and boy did I pay much for it). I always love boys too. I know how to get them just by talking to them. I was (hopefully still is) a Miss Personality. I dated a lot. From one boy to another. I was obnoxiously flirty. My mom had (still has) problems with this "habit" of mine for liking boys so much. I always love English language. I wanted to travel overseas and spoke the universal language to anyone and everyone. I grew up knowing that if I speak English, everyone in this world would understand what I say. Make sense, right? Then I also always wanted to work in an office. I wanted to be a career woman, an independent woman who can afford anything on her own. I wanted to be bigger than the biggest.

Which isn't normal in any Indonesian culture guidebook.

By standards, an Indonesian woman is expected to be a good wife. Period. Oh yes, she can work, she can drive a car, she can play basketball, but at the end of the day, she MUST learn how to and become a good wife. Hey, first off, I'm not saying it's bad, I think it's great that a woman can be a good wife, but COME ON!! We, women, can become much more than that. We can be something bigger than that. Again, it's great to be a good wife, but when it's expected by the society, I think it's ridiculously silly. Human is human, regardless of its gender. We, women, should be allowed to have the same choices and opportunities as men, in any part of the world. Unfortunately, not in my part of the world. So yea, I'm fucked.

Before you punch me in the face for saying so, let me say this.

I tried.
No. Not just tried. I did what was expected of me as an Indonesian woman. Yes yes, I was married and did my best to be a good wife. Actually, I was a great wife. I did my best living my life by Indonesian standards. I was happy, but I turned into a different person who lived under a shadow of the person I was with. Yet, in my head, there's always this big question mark: Now what? Why do I feel lost being in this "happy" marriage? So, when the marriage fell apart, aside from feeling like the biggest failure in the face of the earth, I also felt..... relieved. Not happy, but relieved. For a few who knew me from/before the day I failed my marriage should know how devastated I was . I was broken, pathetic, lost, and pushed to the weakest point of my life. I lived in my own lonely little pathetic world (celibacy was part of it too) for a good one year.

But then I snapped out of it. HUGE thanks to my family and few of my friends who stood by me, helping me going through the worse time of my life. Kar who bought me a TV soon as I moved in to my own studio apartment. Sus who forced me to go get a vibrator to get through the celibacy time. Mel who gave me this silly book, sort of a guide, on how to be a BAD girl. Before I knew it, there I was having a buck fuddy, OK, two. ^-^

I learned my lesson the day I failed my marriage. Following the standard of a society is a good thing, but doesn't necessarily make one happy. Since then, I learned to live my life by whatever makes me happy. Sound selfish? Yes and No. It is a simple way of a person who wants to be happy. It is also my choice to make everyday a good day. To have a great time during miserable time. To be half full instead of half empty. It's my choice to laugh and not cry. To let go of hate and stop worrying so much. I learn to know that nothing, I repeat, NOTHING is a big deal. Because it doesn't matter how big of a problem I have, there's always someone else out there with a bigger problem. That's, my friend, when I know the exact meaning of "count your blessings".

Fast forward: Entering the 4th year of divorce anniversary *grinning*. Here I am. Stronger than ever. Bad ass for life. ^o^
[Monday, April 21, 2008]

Her mom and siblings and niece and nephew, movies, movies, movies, hats, unicorns, to smile and laugh, her friends, a Vinci Code, Mashimaro, manggo, black shirts, Gym, vodka-holic, tom Welling, dark chocolatte cuz its bitter, Korean language, Retro necklaces, Jeong ji-hoon, iPhones, Venice Beach, Nordstrom rack, hot guys with british accents, web design, Ebay, blogging (duh)

Pretentiousness, running (be in on a treadmill or outside), humidity, her left thumb, hypocrites, dangdut, hung-over, white shirts, tight pants, sandwich and salads, cowboy hats, black coffee, slow wifi