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Dec 31, 2013

CORAM DEO - I welcome 2014


Emmanuel. God with us.
Question is...... are we with God?

That would be the best question for a self-reflection while welcoming 2014. God has been with us all the time. I'm sure many of us, most of us.. know that God is with us, through all the 2013. But are we aware of it? Most importantly, are we really sure that we are with Him? Have we lived like we were supposed to live in the presence of God? Do we really understand how to live in the presence of God?

CORAM DEO
To live Coram Deo is to live one's entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God











Do we stay away from all evil things because we know that God with us?
Do we live in holiness because we know that the Holy God is with us?
Do we fear God because we know that He, the Mighty God is with us?
Do we give Him respect and honor because He is God and he is there with us?
Do we reflect His glory because He is near us?
Do we let Him in charge because He is there for us?

God is always with us, all the time... everyday in the whole 2013.
And God will also be there, with us in the coming year of 2014.
Let's live just like God is with us, near us.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014 !!




Dec 22, 2013

KL - Business Trip


Okay... so what is so special about Malaysia? Negara tetangga paling deket, tapi gue malah baru sekarang ini punya kesempatan berkunjung. Oh well, kayaknya memang gak ada yang terlalu special untuk sekedar liburan ke KL, misalnya. Jadi, berhubung ini tugas, business trip.. aku berangkatlah ke Malaysia.

Awalnya semua team SMB akan berangkat (pasti bakalan seru n heboh tuh), tapi last minutes sales team batal, travel freeze. hihhi.. emang enak :P. So, tinggallah aku, Amanda dan Eva saja. Kita dapat travel approval karena.. boss kita bukan di country.

Meeting kita di DoubleTree by Hilton, Kuala Lumpur. Jadi, nginepnya disitu juga. Hotel nya berada di satu gedung yang lantai bawahnya terdapat beberapa cafe, restaurants. Kita harus pakai escalator 1 lantai ke atas untuk mencapai reception desk. Setelah simpan koper di kamar Amanda (karena kamar Eva dan kamar gue belum ready), kita segera cap cus. Cari makan.

wuiiih.... kayaknya terdengar rada basi nih trip ku kali ini. But apa boleh buat, memang tidak banyak yg seru-seru untuk di ceritain. But.. let's give some shots.

Sephora
It's Amanda & Eva's no 1 destination. They've been talking about it even before leaving Soeta. Karena aku tidak merasa terlalu berkepentingan belanja make up, aku ngikut aja. But.. look what I got... aku bahkan kesana lagi, belanja lagi dan lagi. hihihii...


































Twin Towers
Kita tidak naik ke bridge nya, kita tidak mendekat.. kita cuma foto2 dari jauuuuuh saja. Tapi ya lumayan lah... terlihat keren di malam hari. Wondering apakah MoNas juga keren kalau malam?



















Having fun
Perlu konsentrasi 100% untuk menyimak semua materi dan actively involve di workshop/exercise. So, supaya gak ngantuk.. these what we did..
















Reunion
There's nothing as good as meeting new friends and also seeing old beloved friends .. again.
















Shopping
ooyeaaa.... aku berhasil mengumpulkan banyak karet rambut, jepit konde, sepatu/sandar Vinci, coklat2 bergambar Santa dan Sephora, termasuk beli perfum Channel untuk ibu Mertua karena susah bener cari di Jkt. Aku malah gak beli kaos bertuliskan Malaysia or Kuala Lumpur or TwinTower... karena mahal banget. Masak 55 ringgit.. sekitar Rp 200.000 untuk kaos oblong biasa... ogah banget.

Christmas in KL
Walaupun negara Moeslim, tapi suasana Natal di KL lumayan berasa. That's great, brothers and sisters :)


















New Trend
Sudah lama kan kita lihat cowok pake sepatu ala cewek.. ber-high heels, even jaman Raja Prancis Louis XIV, juga banyak cewek pakai sepatu boot ala cowok. Tapi, cewek dengan rok sepan memakai sepatu pantofel model cowok tanpa kaos kaki dan melenggang di jalan raya yang crowded dan panas .. kayaknya baru kali ini aku lihat. And it happened in KL
























And.. guest who I met in KL?
Karena team dinner di hotel kurang greget, aku dan Phenpuk, temen dari KL memutuskan untuk mencari selingan makanan. Dan kita sepakat membeli TomYam cup noodle. haha.. Waktu sampai di depan mall, kita sempet bingung kenapa banyak orang berkerumun.. lalu pede tanya ke mereka. "what's going on?" Kata mereka, "Jackie Chan is coming".... And I was like... what?????


















Next time... Penang maybe?




Nov 17, 2013

Brain Fog


Sudah lama aku mencari tahu "what's wrong with me" dan berbagai key-words aku ketikkan di google, termasuk yang aneh2 seperti: why do I have to write down things to remember... why do I have to write down in order to make my brain works... LOL!,  dan setelah berbagai key words aneh tersebut (termasuk yang menyedihkan seperti: why do I feel that I dont belong to anything, I feel disconnected, I always feel confused...) recently aku ketemu satu istilah baru yang.. mungkin bisa jadi jawabannya.









source: sheknows.com
WHAT IS BRAIN FOG?
Brain fog is defined as a feeling of being somewhat disconnected or spaced out, mentally confused and lacking clarity, focus and concentration. Other symptoms may include a decrease in short-term memory, reduced attention span and the onset of forgetfulness. The condition can present itself slowly over a short period of time or progress very quickly.
Individuals who suffer from brain fog will describe the feeling of being zoned out, detached, and "stuck inside their head." Some sufferers also report that they feel a tingling on top of their head, a sensation of cotton balls being in their head, and an impairment in their vision.
Wikipedia menyebutnya Clouding of consciousness

Dan today, aku bahkan ketemu penjelasan yang bener2 "aku banget".

Source: about.com

Word use & recall
Difficulty recalling known words, use of incorrect words, slow recall of names.
Hal ini sudah biasa terjadi sehari-hari. Aku sering kesulitan menyelesaikan sebuah kalimat hanya karena tidak bisa ingat satu buah kata yang semula aku ingin ucapkan. Butuh waktu bbrp detik untuk bisa recall.. tapi sering juga itu kata sama sekali enggak muncul. Padahal.. as simple as misalnya: "Susi (my mbak), nanti tolong sepatu ibu yg coklat tinggi di turunin trus..**sambil setengah mati inget2 mau kasih instruksi apa*.. bbrp detik kemudian keluar kalimat.... "ke mobil." Aku gak bisa ucapin kata "bawa, or masukin, or simpan or whatever yang maksudnya sama spt itu. Yepp.. sounds ridiculous but it really happens. a lot.

Short-term memory problems
Forgetfulness, inability to remember what's read or heard.
Banyak banget contohnya. Misal, untuk ngingetin boss soal tanggal sekian ada event disini, jam sekian sampai sekian... aku harus bawa contekan. Tanpa dicatat, aku gak akan bisa ingat. Atau setiap melangkah ninggalin mobil, aku selalu harus balik lagi karena aku tidak pernah bisa ingat apakah aku sudah mengunci nya. Selalu, even at home. Contoh lain, 10min yang lalu aku baca Flip, tapi apa saja yang aku baca.. I cant remember. Aku hanya ingat bbrp hal saja, tapi butuh usaha keras dan konsentrasi untuk mengingat lebih banyak. Well, 10 min mungkin cukup waktu untuk melupakan bbrp hal, apalagi kalau banyak distraction. But how about this. Aku buka jpg yang ada 4 digit angka di screen laptop, dan harus mengetikannya ke email, misalnya. Begitu jpg aku tutup, I can't remember those 4 digits! Yuup, I'm not kidding.

Directional disorientation
Not recognizing familiar surrounding, easily becoming lost, having trouble recalling where things are.
Mungkin banyak yang ga inget tadi parkir dimana, or dompet disimpen dimana etc. Itu mungkin karena mereka memang tidak pay too much attention kode area parkir nya. Kalau aku. Begitu turun mobil, menatap kode parkir berdetik2 dan menghapalkannya bermenit2, berusaha menancapkannya di otak sambil berjalan ke arah pintu masuk mall dan... dalam sekejap tidak ingat lagi. Atau, setelah 2 minggu di kantor baru (Kota Kasablanka), aku masih belum hapal receptionis gedung prudential itu lantai berapa. Pernah karena parkir di tempat biasa penuh, aku parkir di tempat lain dan... nyasar. Naik turun lift bbrp kali hanya untuk mencari toko Crabtree and Evelyn (bahkan... waktu menulis Crabtree & Evelyn pun, aku barusan mengetik nya "crab & tree" doang. I can't remember it correctly, padahal hampir tiap hari aku lihat toko itu, dan padahal itu adalah satu2nya patokan aku supaya menemukan pintu masuk ke kantor. Banyak banget contoh ke-anehan ku soal directional disorientation ini. Bahkan dari Senayan ke Benhil pun aku harus telp temen, karena aku cuma ingat lewat jalan 3-in-1 yang saat itu tidak bisa dilewati karena belum jam 10:00am. Waktu temen kasih tahu lewat Mulia lurus aja, slipi nanti masuk terowongan, ketemu jalan kereta trus .... aha! I know that route. Cuma kenapa yaaa.. serasa ada awan gelap menghalangi otak ku?

Multitasking difficulties
Inability to pay attention to more than one thing, forgetfulness of original task when distracted
Menurutku ini yang paling ringan kasusnya. Rasanya sih, aku bisa mengerjakan at least 2 hal bersamaan. Nonton sambil gigit kuku, nyupir sambil ngemil, atau nyupir sambil ngemil dan telponan. ahhaha! Yang sebenarnya, aku memang harus full concentrate pada saat mengerjakan sesuatu. That's why aku lebih suka kerja dari rumah, less distraction. Aku jauh lebih productive dan efektive pada saat sendiri di depan laptop.

Confusing & trouble concentrating
Trouble processing information, easily distracted.
Agak mirip dengan di atas. Contoh deh... barusan lagi ngetik blog ini, aku buka tab baru cari satu kata di google karena aku kuatir salah spell, dan aku membutuhkan bbrp detik dan bbrp klik sampai akhirnya aku kembali page ini. Aku gak bisa "ngawang2" semua harus tervisualisasi. Kalau diskusi atau menjelaskan sesuatu harus sambil ditulis, atau terbaca depan mata. Susah banget buatku untuk ngomongin sesuatu yang hanya ada diingatanku saja. Contoh lain.. kalau ketemu rekan kerja, atau business partner di luar kantor, mereka biasanya nanyain ini itu dari bbrp exchanged email communications between us, tapi jawabanku seringkali... nanti deh, gue buka laptop dulu, sorean yah gue reply. Padahal... aku gak 100% fully understand yang dia omongin dan sama sekali enggak tahu harus jawab apa. Waktu akhirnya beneran buka laptop, seringkali nyesel... ya ampun, malu2in banget, segampang ini bukan langsung di jawab aja tadi.

Math/number difficulties
Difficulty performing simple math, remembering sequences, transposing numbers, trouble remembering numbers.
Aduh... yang ini super duper parah banget. Awalnya aku mengira karena aku memang tidak bisa, I repeat sama sekali tidak bisa ... math. Tapi pasti bukan karena itu. Aku bisa menghapal bbrp nomor telp, aku bisa menghafal penjumlahan, perkalian (sedikit lah heheeh), tapi seperti contoh di atas. Seringnya, begitu di tutup aku tidak ingat lagi angkanya. Aku punya cara menyiasatinya. Kalau aku harus cek ulang quarterly budget campaign aku, misalnya 20 campaigns dari berbagai source of buckets, aku harus tulis ulang semua di buku, trus aku cocokin dengan screen sambil mencoret yang sudah klop. Waktu sudah klop sampai campaign ke-5, i got distracted, aku harus mengulang dari satu dengan cara melingkari yang sudah dicoret, kalau ada disctraction lagi.. aku kotakin yang sudah dicoret dan dilingkari tadi.. sampai aku bingung sendiri dengan catatan itu dan... menulis ulang semua nya lagi. Sueer!! Ga bohong. Boleh deh lihat buku catatanku.

Contoh sengaja blur soalnya banyak informasi rahasia hahaha... itu kerjaan semua, tapi bisa lihat kan banyak coretan, banyak lingkaran or tanda checked disana.












Tentang feeling disconnected, detached... 
Aku punya banyak temen, orang bilang aku sangat mudah berteman... tapi somehow, aku tidak pernah merasa benar2 punya temen dekat, atau sahabat karena aku merasa I dont belong with them. Walaupun berteman deket, sahabat sekalipun... aku sering merasa terasing sendiri. ugh!! susah banget menjelaskannya.
Kadang dibilang sombong karena gak ingat masa lalu, orang nya aja aku lupa gimana untuk ingat kejadian2 dengan orang itu? Dibilang belagu karena kadang mereka merasa aku ini tidak menganggap mereka teman.. well.. justru aku yang kadang merasa terasing tidak ada ikatan dengan mereka...

Jangankan sama temen, sama keluarga sendiri pun aku kadang bisa tiba-tiba bingung dan berpikir seperti ini dalam hati, "gue kok disini yaa... dengan mereka?? " padahal saat itu aku sedang heboh bercandaan, ketawa ngakak2 bersama dengan ..... keluargaku sendiri! I know they are my family. and I love them so very much. I hold them dearest in my heart... tapi perasaan itu kok ya bisa tiba2 menyerang yaa..........

Well, aku tidak membaca banyak sumber ataupun mencari tahu lebih detail lagi, dan juga semoga saja ini bukan hal yang serius dan menghawatirkan. Aku pikir dulu hal ini ada hubungan nya dengan hormonal, gejala meno dini misalnya hahaha.. but memang it's getting worse these days. Belum terlalu menganggu pekerjaan sih, karena aku selalu menyimpan rapi semua record, files. Aku spend banyak waktu membuat sistem filing supaya memudahkan aku mencari sesuatu yang penting.

tapi... maybe it's just about the time to find some help....

Aug 13, 2013

Faith or Fear?


If you died at young age, will you let your husband re-marry other woman with your ... insurance money? Well, the first part of letting him re-married is way beyond our control. We can't say no, we can haunt him as ghost and scare the hell out of him... but he will still re-marry, if that what he wants. On the second part, the insurance money... let's think about it...

Yesterday I attended a friend's funeral who died at age 47, leaving a husband and 3 boys. My friends and I were all sure that the husband will soon re-marry other woman. There're only 2 possibilities if the women go first. It's either the man join the spouse to heaven or .. find another woman real soon. Compare to us women; when our man left us, be it to the other world or to the other woman... we will stand strong and raise kids on our own. We are so much better than them. For sure.

At the funeral, my friend asked me if I have "valuable belongings" that I kept from my husband. I said, no I don't have. She said, pointing to the dead with her eyes: "she has many gold which I'm not sure the husband is aware of it." And she added that unfortunately she was also not close to any relatives from both sides (her own and her husband's). She has not spoken to her sister for almost 3 years already. Then she finished the sentence with a firm warning: "you better tell me if you have something that you're hiding and tell me what to do with it when you die." I gave her a sour smile, "what if you die first?"

Then she continued, "you do have a life insurance, don't you?" I nodded.
"And who is the beneficiary? Your husband?" I nodded

She quickly turned to the other friend and said.. "her husband will re-marry other woman with her insurance money"

In the next few minutes, the two of my best friends lecturing me that I should revise the insurance benefit and split it 95% for the kids and 5% for the husband or yet, 100% to the kids.

I admit, it shocked me a great deal. I have never thought of such a thing. Although it looks to be an OK thing to do, but I think to do such thing is like a huge betrayal and will hurt the people I leave behind. My friends told me, it is not a betrayal. It's just a smart and wise way to save your children's future.

Really? Well, on a further thought, it does seem true. People change. Sometimes they change to be a better person, but many of them change to be bad. We never know what's coming.

I guess, what I have is only my faith to God, that Jesus has the best plan for my family... with or without me.




Aug 10, 2013

Holiday without a picture


Bandung, 6-9 Aug 2013

Betapa basi-nya liburan kali ini sampai tidak satupun dari kami yang ingin mengabadikannya dalam sebuah foto. Padahal kami yang berempat ini punya lebih dari 4 camera. Bukan bermaksud pamer, tapi mari kita hitung... :

  • Aku punya 3 camera (BB, Note-II, Samsung Galaxy Camera) 
  • Erryck juga ada 3 camera (BB, Samsung S4 dan camera nikon guedee nya yg harus pake ransel terpisah)
  • Reza punya 2 camera (BB dan Samsung tab 7.0). Kalau Nikon pocket nya enggak ketinggalan di Shanghai, berarti dia punya 3 juga.
  • Monita juga ada 2 (BB dan Camera Panasonic pocket)

So, 10 cameras and not a single shot. How ironic. But why? how did it happen?

Day-1
Sampai di hotel jam 6pm, setelah beres-beres kita langsung cari makan keluar, nyasar-nyasar dan terpaksa putar balik ke arah hotel untuk terdampar hanya di PHD deket hotel. Balik hotel jam 11PM

Day-2
PVJ for the whole 15 hours. Masuk jam 10AM dan keluar mall jam 1AM. Ngapain aja, you ask? Keliling mall termasuk nonton "the Conjuring" dan "the Wolverine"

Day-3
Keluar masuk FO di jalan Riau dan sore sampai malem balik lagi ke PVJ. LOL!!

Day-4
Tidur sampai siang dan... check out jam 12 pas.


So yeaaa.. that's the full itinerary.
Now you can figure it out why we didn't even bother to pose.

But were we happy? Were we all having fun? oh yeaah! Shopping, new clothes, new shoes, new watch, new earrings, etc etc.... I guess, a photo was not so important after all.



Jul 21, 2013

Sweet or Annoying? You decide.


There may be a thin transparent line between being sweet and annoying, I think. Because what my husband did was sort of in between and it's hard for me to decide whether he's trying to be sweet or just want to annoy me all the time.

Feet Tickles
Who wants to be tickled on the palm of their feet? Every time I lied on my back watching TV or reading a book or maybe playing some games in my phone and stretching my feet in bed, he would never miss even one time to tickle the palm of my feet while he's walking near me. It's a small gesture, tapping his fingers while walking, but gosh... I feel so annoyed. Now I have to depend on a pair of socks all the time while relaxing my legs in bed.

Under Arms Torture
Oh well, it's a little bit private to share but ... I'll share it anyway. Haha. Look at the picture, that's the sleeping position before we both doze off most of the time. So he will lift up my arm and put his hand on my armpit. He said it's tender and fatty. Wonder what he would say if I got hairy arms there.. LOL. And I mostly had to stay in that position until he doze off. So yeaa .. go figure whether it's sweet or annoying.

Under Arms Torture Continued...
I worked from home most of the time. Read here why. And every time.. yes every time .. umm.. let me say it one more time.. every single time I was sitting in front of my laptop, and working (FGS).. he again.. would never miss a chance to swipe his finger into my under arm. Unfortunately, I have to deal with this habit because I love working from home wearing comfortable homey sleeveless clothes.



Rough Kisses
Haha. No photo. I love to  leave everyone with their imagination when reading the title. But, no no don't let your imagination get too wild. It's not what you think it is .. a little bit private, but I'm gonna share it anyway. You know women.. we apply many lotions that in the end made our skin very thin and sensitive. And I'm pretty sure that men do not, or do not want to understand why we have to do that. My husband is one of them. At many times his chin got fresh beard, he loves to rub it lightly and playfully to my cheeks. I'm sure he didn't know that I got sensitive skin but when I told him it's hurt.. he just wouldn't stop. And he did it again and again and again... ggrrrhhhhh.......

Silly Pose
For me, he's one handsome guy.. of course! haha. But he did this silly pose ALL OF THE TIME. So annoying...........






even this morning when he's going to do jogging... *sigh..



















Many of my friends said that I have the sweetest romantic husband in the world. I said, I have the sweetest romantic but annoying husband that I love so much.


Jul 6, 2013

How to Mix Business and Pleasure


When my boss told me, SEA Marketing is going to go Bali for an F2F training and workshop. I was like.. yaaaay!! Exotic place, beautiful island, cheap shopping, and all the sexy beach clothes with fashionable sunglasses, big hat to protect your face and ... spicy food! But wait! Honestly... those were not the things I most cheered about. Meeting my SEA team was the most exciting news of all. And to see them in Bali, was a great bonus.

And since it's Bali .. my boss and I had to play duet to be the hosts. So yeaa... I was  the one to prepare the logistic plan and she was the one to approve it. LOL! oops, I'm not complaining, boss, You know I really love doing it. She said: you plan and arrange everything for us, but on the D-day, Melly (her secretary) will be in charge and you will be just a participant. I like that :)

So, the plan was to mix between business and pleasure, and based on our experience, here are few tips for a successful mix.

#1 - REST
No matter how pack your agenda looks like, better make sure everyone gets a decent rest before starting the fun. Especially when your guests are from overseas.. long hours of flight, rush connecting flights, delays, sucks foods at the plane .. airsick, maybe :p

For team arriving from Jakarta, agenda Day One looked easy, too easy.. but maybe not for some of our overseas guests. Arrival batch 2 was supposed to leave the airport to GWK at around 3:30 pm.. but, we missed Vietnam team. I still don't get it, why they're missing for more than 1 hour while the Thailand team who were on the same connecting flight were easily found and safely sent to the meeting point. Anyway, they said, we couldn't find the person with HP signboard, and we have waited for almost 15min near the HP banner, but noone was there. So we decided to go to Burger King. Hehe .. while the others were tired and waiting at the meeting points, our Vietnam team were having Burger King. Lol! I was like almost going nut trying to get to their phone. None of both phone was switch on. How can I found them? were they also trying to get in touch with us? So I decided to sms one of them. And I got a reply 5 min later: this is Xuan Dong's wife. He's with other phone number xxxxx.

But honestly, do you actually believe that we were all tired?







#2 - HOST
Try to do the mix at your boss's home country so that everyone wouldn't dare to say how lousy the event was. LOL!!

We had our lunches at the hotel due to packed meeting schedules but there's no way we would want our dinners there too. So we arranged local exotic foods for dinner. Day One went well, since we all went together from GWK to Warung Made. But Day Two and Day Three were somehow not as planned.

Day Two: we had a heavy rain while having group tour to Tanah Lot. While the team from the other bus had arrived and had their dinner, the bus I was in ...somehow stuck in bad traffic. By the time we got there, I was 100% sure that I didnt know what I was eating and how it tasted. Haha!

Day Three: it was supposed to be a surprise party for my boss, but instead.. I was the one who's in shock. Dinner was scheduled at 7:00 PM with all the group  Baliness dance performances and a little bit of  valentine's surprise party, but we started the dinner at around 9:00PM. Even at 8:00 PM some were still taping for the Coffee Coaching, some were still busy with their kebaya and sarung, and some were still practicing their Baliness dance.

I cant believe everyone said the event was very good, scored 10 out of 10 and Melly and I even got presents to organize such a messy schedule. Haha!




#3 - SHOP EARLY
I arranged the group to do shopping on the arrival day for one simple reason which was to make them stayed focus during the business meetings. This worked perfectly well not only for normal people knowing that the souvenirs were safely kept inside their luggage.. but also for some shopping-freaks because they knew they could shop again on the following day on a spare time.

Surprisingly, my SEA team didn't seem to enjoy shopping that much. We finished shopping in an hour and... only few were back to the store on the last day of our trip. So, now we know who's the shopping-freaks.







#4 - DRINK & GET DRUNK
oh yeaaa... it's legal in a business trip, haha. But do it only on the last day/night of the trip. Doesn't matter how silly you will look in the morning or how bad your headache is, the business meeting are over. Hurray!!









#5 - SPOIL YOUR EYES
We all know how would it be to be in a packed meetings schedule, even when it's done in a nice place such as Bali. Cold meeting room, uncomfortable chairs, heavy discussion, and... sleepy eyes. You need to look at something pretty to keep your eyes open, right? RIGHT!. So here's the trick. Get a handsome or pretty speaker!







If you tried those tips but it's somehow not working... my last tips is: 

GET AN AWESOME TEAM LIKE MY SEA MARKETING TEAM!!! 
I LOVE YOU ALL, GUYS...