a place you call ... what?

ada tempat-tempat dalam hidup seseorang, di mana ia selalu merasa ingin kembali. Regardless berbagai kepahitan, luka, amarah, benci, jenuh, muak, ups and downs, pernah terjadi di tempat itu, you just simply forgive. What's left is just the sweetest memories. the bad ones would eventually be remembered as endearing moments.
A place where you're always ready to love again.
A place you call 'home'.
Tapiiii....
ada juga nih, tempat yang mirip seperti itu, hanya saja you will never want to return. You miss it dearly, always want to visit and talk to the people and feel the atmosphere again, but that's it.
What do you call that kind of place?
One of the place like that for me is Ciptamaya
A couple of weeks ago, i visited Ciptamaya for a not-so-urgent business. Kebetulan aja gue lagi in the neighbourhood, terus sekalian aja ke sana, mau ngambil newsletter Wyeth Gold Club terbitan pasca-Riana. The moment I stepped my foot in to the parking lot, i felt this overwhelming feeling: kangen, seneng, just excited. i miss the people i used to work with, i miss the workplace, the atmosphere, everything.
gue keliling said hi sama semua orang,
ngeliat meja gue dulu,
terus duduk di ruang depan feeling sooo happy and at home.
abis itu gue makan malem sama Maya dan Satya di Simpur, cerita-cerita current conditionnya Ciptamaya.
Regardless semua kejelekan kantor ini, management yang bodoh dan segala hal yang dikerjakan serba tanggung, i gotta admit that i was so happy working with my friends there, especially team MTG.

...
I love suasana kantornya yang selalu informal,
i love my job (copywriter),

...





...
dan rute perjalanan gue ngelewatin 'musim gugur' di kalibata setiap hari.
...



Ciptamaya adalah kantor yang penuh orang-orang muda berbakat. Sayangnya budaya kroni dan perkoncoan lebih kuat meraja, sehingga sang COO gak lebih bagaikan kaisar boneka yang super gampang dipengaruhi sama temen-temen deketnya, yang notabene mendominir jabatan-jabatan artifisial, langsung di bawah COO. Selama gue di situ, setiap bulan pasti ada yang resign.
Fortunately, beberapa orang yang amat sangat berpotensi, kayak sang web designer yang selalu menang award dan sang programmer yang sangat inovatif, juga seorang project manager yang selalu punya ide gila, dan beberapa 'tangkapan bagus' lainnya, setia berbakti dan, kayaknya sih, cukup bahagia di situ. Beruntunglah Ciptamaya memiliki mereka.
All in all, itulah eks kantor gue yang selalu gue kangenin, dan selalu gue kenang dengan sejuta cinta di hati. But that's it :) i never want to return.
Back to the earlier question, what do you call such place?

American Idol Prophecy

Aye, all my people.. Here is my prophecy..
now in full details of who shall go,
and who shall stay in every single week..


First week,
Lindsey Cardinale will be eliminated.



Second week,
Mikalah Gordon will wave us goodbye.




Third week,
Jessica Sierra will be out of the picture.




Fourth week,
Nikko Smith will finally be gone.




Fifth week,
Nadia Turner will end his journey.




Sixth week,
Scott Savol will lose the competition.




Seventh week,
Anthony Fedorov will have the lowest vote.




Eighth week,
Vonzell Solomon will be going home.




Ninth week,
it will be the time for Carrie Underwood, the last girl standing, to say bye-bye will lose the competition.




Tenth week,
the lovable Constantine Maroulis will be back to his band.

and finally eleventh week,
Bo Bice and Anwar Robinson will be head-to-head.

and that is all, my people, my latest American Idol prophecy, based on the very small teeny-tiny cocky human logic.

with that said, may the best singer wins.

Sushi & Sashimi

woke up at 13.00 today :D

the guys from MyNet were supposed to install broadband internet connection on my compie around 13.00-16.00. but then i found hubby's note on the whiteboard:

babe, MyNet guys called. they re-scheduled installation to tomorrow.

ok then. been so eager to have that unlimited connection, but i guess i can wait a day.

i missed the Oprah's 12 o'clock show.
So, here i went on my begin-the-day routine. [it used to be 'morning routine', but since my biological clock was successfully ruined, i've got to change it to 'begin-the-day' routine.]

Five minutes on my Chi Machine, brushed my teeth, took
a shower, prayed Dzuhur and checked my mails.

71 new emails :)

i just finished sending my last email when my stomach began to sing. gotta eat real food today! started playing around with ideas of ordering that good pizzas at Pizza Kemang (you call that real food? lol). but looking at the bright afternoon sky just inflicted the idea that today, is just a pefect day for that girl's shopping-alone-without-no-plan-whatsoever!

put on my boot cut jeans, t-shirt, favorite white sandals, grabbed my crazy-color bag, and off i went to Citos!

in the cab, I already pictured myself having a very nice afternoon-alone time at Baker's Inn, having Caesar's Salad and the famous Baker's Inn's Warm Chocolate Cake. Mmmm...

But not until I finished grocery shopping at Matahari Supermarket.

My oh my, did I change my mind right away when I passed the sushi and sashimi bar! I will have sushi and salmon sashimi today! that's the decision!

it came to my surprise though, that the supermarket is now way much better than the last time i visited. so so complete, they even have Toffieco rhum, ranging from butter cream rhum, spray rhum to black forest rhum, and supper mocca paste. at reasonable price. Wow! i would never go grocery shopping at any other places anymore.. :D

anyway, i bought the super paste.

plus, the bakery section was also so much better than Carrefour. i took everything that looked nice:

capuccino polo bread (my favorite),

chicken floss,

beef floss donut,

some bun with something crackin' on top,

and another one with custard-like and chocolate garnish on top.

Added to that, i also bought 1 box of Lisboa's Cheese 'N Cheese and Original egg tarts.

sweet sweet afternoon for the sweet tooth... :)

back to sushi and sashimi. I ended up having them at the store cafe in front of the supermarket, by myself, while watching people passing by minding their own business.

[by the way, do not order tempura from this cafe, it's yuck!]

went home when it's getting dark, hubby was waiting for me with a gift: a web cam :)

love you, babe, you know that.

The Next American Idol

his name is : Anwar Robinson


wanna bet? wanna bet? wanna bet?

I bet, Anwar Robinson will be the next American Idol.

flying kite

I wrote this one almost three years ago. Still, for me, it's worth reading.

My on-air duty was finished since 3, but this inhuman sunny day kept me from going home directly. I turned on the computer instead, prepared tomorrow’s paper, and then surfed the net.

Anyway, it was 5 o’clock in the afternoon when I finally decided to go home. Took the back gate, I walked down the silent path between the grassy fields.

At the end of the path, near the security post, we have this medium size football grass court that was always full of people in every afternoon like this. What people? No, they’re not the office people, although sometimes some of us joined the crowd for an impulsive no-scores-required game. They’re local people.

In working days, they’re usually children and teenagers. But in weekends like this, the crowd members expand to parents, maybe even aunties and uncles, and an es-doger man with his cart. What were they doing?

They were simply just hanging out and having a good time. Playing footballs, walking around, and laying around on the grass, talking, running, riding their bikes, enjoying the afternoon wind, spooning their es-doger, and.… flying kites!!

Now, THIS I wanted to play too!!

Suddenly I remember those good old days when I was a little girl flying a kite with my big sister and brother. We did it on the rooftop of our house. I always got the job to hold the kite high up above my head, as high as my hand could stretch. Then at the right time, when the wind blew hard enough, my big sis or bro would shout for me to release the kite. Then they would draw the thread a little bit, let the wind work by itself, and the kite was flying!! I would be very happy, and they would allow me to hold the thread a little while.

“Ulur, dek, ulur terus, biar tinggi..!!”

My head’s thrown back; face toward the sky, big grin, the sun burned my skin, my hair. Often times it burned so bad that it smelled like frying oil.
Those were some of the very best times in my life.

Now I promise myself, next time I go on afternoon on-air duty again, I will bring a kite with me. But I wished I could bring along my brothers and sisters, too. To fly kites with me again. And we will be children again. Happy and free.
Just like the old times..

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Sunday, June 02, 2002
Warm afternoon, walking along side football grass court, back gate of RCTI area

stupid American habit

"Where will you be in ten years?"

"I don't think like that. I don't believe in calendars and schedules and lists of things to do. Setting goals is such a stupid American habit. Not for me. I try to get through today, maybe give a thought or two to tomorrow, and that's it. Plotting the future is damned ridiculous."

"Sorry I asked."

"Live for the moment, Clay. Tomorrow will take care of itself..."

The King of Torts - John Grisham. chapter 23. a piece of conversation between Clay Carter and his father, Jarret Carter.

this sucks!

i have a meeting tomorrow with a client, which i really hate to do.

i don't hate the client. it's just that this website project was supposed to be a simple project. a standard 5 pages website that i can set up fast and easy.

but the client wanted to have a meeting to add some interactive elements, etc.

i didn't have a chance to explain that i don't do interactive elements anymore.

this is just because i respect my former boss, who recommended me to him, i tried to push my patience to the limit.

i hate meetings, and i hate corporate websites!

let me tell you. i will just meet him, listen to what he'll say, let him know that i don't do programming, reject all tasks i don't like, and give him an outrageous price :)

yes i will, yes i will, yes i will.

American Idol Rejects

These are the very successful singers and musicians who definitely would not make it to the American Idol:

Dave Matthews
Eddie Vedder
Rod Stewart
Brian May
Bjork
Jewel
Tina Turner
Steve Tyler
Alanis Morisette
Macy Gray
Sammy Hagar
Bono
Madonna
Phil Collins

the list could go on and on..

so why people cried when they didn't make it is beyond me.