Partnership Village

I always try to feel grateful for the gifts that Allah has presented to me throughout my whole eighteen years of living, and I feel like being blessed by my surroundings.

Again, I got another great chance to be able to visit a different community within my American life. The church where my host parents goes to has a Partnership Village that they assist for years. The term "Partnership" means that the church tries to help fund the development of the community and sometimes help sponsoring some family by loaning them place to stay with low pay while they're searching for a new home.

I had a great experience in the Partnership Village. Both me and Aizada went there for the first time and met wonderful little kids around seven or six that being dropped by their parents there, since their parents have to work night shift or else.

If I were to tell you about what I saw that day... I wouldn't. Everything is hard to explain, because you can see from all of the kids' faces about how hard their life is and how they appreciate the fun times they spent with the church. Finding the children with church.

Anyway,
I felt being blessed more by Allah through the opportunity of visiting three and knowing them through their story.

We were playing a short play about Lazarus that's being brought back from death, and the lady from the church then discussed about it with the children. What so sad was when a little kid said,
"My father died but he didn't come back to life..."

I was startled and quiet for a moment. How sometimes those simple honest words from a little kid can hurt you so bad...

To me, nothing is more saddening than seeing somebody suffer yet they don't mind sharing it.

Like seeing those little kids sharing their loves without knowing how people feel pity about it.

America is not that fully prosper country, if anyone out there is interested to know. There are some people in here that have hard time with their life, and yes, we--Indonesians--do have too.

Grateful. The simplest thing on Earth you can do to make your life better. And stop thinking about it, believe me.

Birthdays or Whatsoever of my Indonesia

Birthdays or Whatsoever

Tomorrow will be my country’s Independence Day.
And I am away from it for this year.
Nothing really special happens in here, America.
Because They do not celebrate it. Nothing happens.
No national flags, no people gathering around and have some competitions.
No ceremony.

The bloody red and pure, naive white for the flag of Indonesia.

Nothing.
Just the usual day for here.

Tomorrow will be the day my country got her Independence 67 years ago.
The day that had been waited by my ancestors, 67 years ago.
The sacral day they kept talking about.
And I am not there.
Around my Indonesians.

Sixty seven years ago,
My country was being reborn. She finally got the formal birthday.
She was finally being reckoned by the world, although she needed to get through things after it.
Even now.

You know, they say that you know you love someone when you’re losing them.
When you’re away from them.

I once got a personality crisis, and yes, I know I’m proud for being an Indonesian.

Yes, birthdays or whatsoever you call it, I’m congratulating you, Indonesia.
Happy Birthday!

—-

Dina Puspita Sari
Written on Thursday, 16th August 2012 local time
17th August 2012 Indonesia time

What Makes Me Beautiful

I’m Insecure,

Don’t know what for,

I'm turning heads when I walk through the door,

Don’t need make-up,

To cover up,

Being the way that I am is enough,

Everyone else in the room can see it.

Everyone else but me,

Baby I light up your world like nobody else,

The way that I flip my hair gets you overwhelmed

But when I smile at the ground it ain’t hard to tell,

 I don’t know,

Oh oh,

I don’t know I'm beautiful,

If only I saw what you can see,

I’ll understand why you want me so desperately,

Right now you’re looking at me and you can't believe,

I don’t know,

Oh oh,

That’s what makes me beautiful

So c-come on,

I got it wrong,

To prove you’re right,

You it in a song,

You don’t know why,

I'm being shy,

And turn away when you look into my eye eye eyes,

Baby I light up your world like nobody else,

The way that I flip my hair gets you overwhelmed

But when I smile at the ground it ain’t hard to tell,

 I don’t know,

Oh oh,

I don’t know I'm beautiful,

If only I saw what you can see,

I’ll understand why you want me so desperately,

Right now you’re looking at me and you can't believe,

I don’t know,

Oh oh,

That’s what makes me beautiful

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na

Na Na Na Na Na Na x2

Baby I light up your world like nobody else,

The way that I flip my hair gets you overwhelmed

But when I smile at the ground it ain’t hard to tell,

 I don’t know,

Oh oh,

I don’t know I'm beautiful,

If only I saw what you can see,

I’ll understand why you want me so desperately,

Right now you’re looking at me and you can't believe,

I don’t know,

Oh oh,

That’s what makes me beautiful

That’s my Narcissistic version of One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful”. No offense, but somehow, I love singing this narcissistic version better… when I’m alone.

And somehow it still matches the rhythm. Go give a try.

Anyway this is the real version of this narcissistic song:

Another Reunion, Batu Putih!

Last year, 13^th December 2011, we met up on a Christmas and New Year’s Eve Holiday, rewinding some fun memories we ever had before in our most beloved hometown, Sangatta, East Kalimantan.

Yes, that place was a beautiful home for me to come back. The great nature and fresh breeze along with the mining. Despite it’s a coal corporations, I sometimes reflect this company’s existence as a huge trampoline for young great leaders who were born to be bonded with Mother Nature. I knew this would come, someday.

Many great dreams were made in that place, that home. Many great stories had been made there. And many great families had also been made. I made myself there. I was always bonded with the nature, and I knew my life would have something to do with it.

Which was not the main idea of this post.

We had another reunion in 2012, 25^th June 2012. It was such a sunny day in Jakarta, we (me, Joop, Vina, Aga, Bella, and Dhani) decided to meet up in Gandaria City, and it turned out to be quite a nice place to hang out, except for the emptiness we felt since it was a work day.

I wore an Earth-colored clothes, mostly brown. Brown nude shirt, short, shoes, and brown leather bag. Brown glasses as well.

A nice lunch—first session meal—at Iga Iga, and I just watched. Yep, I was fasting that day. We sat there for around two hours or more, just chatted about simple stuff like school, college, but mostly horror movies. Had several snapshots as well. At least I looked quite nice.

Then it was 4 o’clock, and we moved to have a second session. The mothers went around the mall since they didn’t want to join any food-related session. We had our second session in Nanny’s Pavilion. Turned out to be quite a nice place. Shabrina ordered Chocolate Waffles and she didn’t finish it, yet I was still fasting. Everybody had a good time.

And it came to a goodbye. And a promise for another reunion, perhaps with larger mass of people. Adios, and be well!

Photo credit to Joop.

The Adventure of Dancing Men and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories

I bought this book over a year ago yet I never finished it, despite it’s so light and thin and it gives that “You can finish this book even less than an hour” impression, I still didn’t have that willingness to finish the book since the first I found out that (at that time), the English terms Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used in his book is quite heavy. I was a pretty normal English reader back then, and so am I nowadays. But, when I overlooked it again, I came to a conclusion which that hard English terms impression I got was simply a one-sided judgment, since the more I got into the short stories, the more I got excited with the plot.

Let me give a brief preview. Mr. Doyle had written these series quite long ago (before I was born) and surely, he lived in such a different era with mine. However, thanks to those hard terms he used in the stories, it actually gave those “I’m in this old era of England” feelings that you (particularly myself) shimmer when he tried to describe the story of the magnificent Sherlock Holmes and his friend, Dr. Watson.

This book revolves around Sir Sherlock Holmes cases, which are popular back in the era of this series. Surely some people know about The Adventure of the Dancing Men, The Musgrave Ritual, etc. I have known ‘The Adventure of the Dancing Men’ from a manga called “Detective Conan”, thus it wasn’t that unfamiliar.

But a story that quite attached my attention on it is The Adventure of the Dying Detective, on how this marvelous gentleman has nailed his job to seek the truth with a tactical, sophisticated way that even expertise can be fooled. Although all of the stories are fast-read and for some people (particularly myself) who might be more interested to a more detailed book, this book has successfully given the first good impression for those who want to (finally) follow the stories of Sherlock Holmes.

Like the synopsis has stated, “In this inexpensive collection, these stories represent a wonderful introduction to the larger body of Holmes stories, as well as a delightful pocket-size treat for any mystery lover,” I get to agree with that. It did give me another reason to buy a complete series of Sherlock Holmes, and even though it is not a “pocket-size treat”, it’s more like a light and brief treat for mystery lover who needs a getaway from all of the heavy books.

Additional, even if the book doesn’t have that quality of paper that I always prioritize while buying a book, but the papers were thick and textural enough to make me bought it anyway. And the font was tolerable and has the perfect size that matches my sight.

Thus, it is wise for me to recommend this book, for those who want to have a good preview of Sherlock Holmes’ serial, or those who simply want to read another light-reading but fascinating book.

d.

Sentiment Issue

Most people think I already have my ideal condition of physical appearances. I am proud of my own body, that is true. Though I think it’s pretty common for a normal human to feel unsatisfied with their own physical appearances. In this case, I’d use those unsatisfied feelings as a motivation. Yes, I’m bragging about this on my blog. 

You see, for most Indonesian people, having more than 1.6 meter height has been considered as tall enough. But, another fact came up, the percentage of petite women using wedges and high heels —any related kind of shoes I never be able to stand against— and how those killer and seems to be pretty yet horrified me terribly shoes have gained height up until 20cm has scared me so much. 

I never like using high heels. And the only type I know is wedges and high heels, yet both of them are HIGH heels. Yes, the image of me wearing them always horrified me, and they’re such a pain. My family history never has good relation with those type of shoes, as my Mum never takes the liking on them. Thus, it’s pretty normal if I wished to wear normal shoes (not that I was trying to imply that high heels is abnormal). 

But another problem raised up. The fact that people around me started to get taller —thanks to the killer shoes— yet I’m stuck in my height, miserably trying to get a look when I’m in the middle of a concert —yet everyone was THAT tall, and somehow, I looked like I am indeed petite. 

Height has always been my sentiment issue. Most. Top of the list, even before my thigh. 

And then I googled some clothing website, and they categorized women into two groups: PETITE (5’4” and Under) and TALL (5’10” and Up). I googled an online feet to meter converter and guess what, I was included in PETITE group. 

Nice, dude, seriously. Whoever made that website, I’ll prove it to you. At least I might get into NORMAL size. I still have several years to raise some inches. I’LL GAIN MY HEIGHT SO I WON’T USE HIGH HEELS! 

ps. the fact that I actually wrote this down on blog is indeed crazy. And random.

Phrase of A Day #3

"Sometimes falling in love is important. So that you’ll be able to describe every crumbles of feelings you get every second when you’re on hold of yourself. You’ll be able to give such exaggerated emphasizes to such a simple poem. You’ll be able to let your soul reconciles with the feelings. And gives reciprocity. It’s as simple as a need to add essence in a long-written history. As simple as falling in love."

-DPS

Phrase of A Day #2

"Until the last snow leopard fall down, until the last iceberg being melted away, until the last rhinoceros getting extinct, and until the last tree being cut down, I will still be the first one to stand up, fight back. And even after those."

Phrase of A Day #1

"Brace yourself. So you’ll be longing to be braced emotionally by someone better. To be deeply healed by someone. To get embraced by. Or not."

-Quiet night, after a late bath.