HANZKY

Jehan is currently into reading. As in learning to read. Well, she has actually shown interest for quite a while but I have never invested my time in showing her how to read :(.



As far as I remember, she always loves book and has huge interest in language. Her Bahasa Indonesia is impressive for her age, "Daripada, Mommy..bukan dari" when I wrongly use the word dari to compare one thing to another. One time I said ban sepeda and then she asked me, "roda sepeda, maksudnya?". She picked up English really well too and always eager to learn more. There's not a day gone by without her asking me a vocab question. Last time, she stunned me with question, "Yang bener goody bag atau goody bags sih, mommy?".

Last night, Oki was telling Jib that Mommy might have to go to KL next week.

And then Jib asked me..
Jib: What for, Mommy?
Me: I'm invited to see a fashion show.
Jib: Do you have to go there?
Me: Yes, it would be good if I come
Jib: Do you NEED to?
Me: Yes....(not a firm OF COURSE as I'm thinking that maybe I can be replaced)
Jib: Do you WANT to?
Me: yes...*I couldn't help but laugh...I really didn't see that coming! My son is trying to help me set my priorities straight :D*
JIb: It's either you need to or you want to
Me: Well Jib, I guess I'm lucky that everything that I need to do is something that I want to do too...:)

Terharu anakku sudah besar. Kalo Jehan komentarnya.."TOLONG ya Mommy nanti di sana beliin aku scooter" :-)

This was what I found yesterday when I reorganized a small book case in my mom's house :)

A newspaper clipping of my dad's writing. Dated all the way back to 1980s.

My dad owned an Intellectual Property law firm. He handled all things related to copyright, patent, trademarks and other things I don't understand :-). Discovering these clippings kind of put a big slap on my face. They remind me again to never touch my hands on the pirated dvds ever again!

At first, I limited myself to buy only foreign movies, but then I was being good and stopped buying altogether when I realized there were so many unopened dvds lying around in the house.Trying to #livewithless.

• Solutions should never come at the expense of your reputation
• Being demanding of yourself is a must. Focusing on the quality, on the speed, on the clarity of whatever tasks you're asked to do. 
• A can do attitude doesn't mean you don't see there's an obstacle. It's about realizing there are obstacles to getting things accomplished but figuring out how to overcome them as opposed to saying "here is a wall I cannot climb over"
• Effective leaders often exhibit high expectations, strong resilience and perseverance and an affirmative attitude.
• You should intentionally spend time with people who are different from you
• The most important perspective in life is to have the long-range view over the short term expediency.
• If you're hiring, you should take your time to recruit. You must get the best possible person for the job, even if it take longer than you'd ideally like.
• You should always question your first choice for the role. Are you taking her on because it is the easy option or because she is the perfect person for the job?
• By making time to purse your interests, you broaden the range of future opportunities. This way you can optimize every opportunity in your current role. 
• Successful leaders envision where they want to go, and map out the process for getting there.

We went to Waterbom last Saturday. It was a fun day. A day at a waterpark will always be fun. It was especially special to me because Jehan could swim by herself with her little life saver jacket :).




  At first, she was too scared and would hang on to my life for dear life when we were at the deep side of the pool. I've kept reassuring her that she wouldn't be drown because the life safer would help her float. She still didn't believe me so I had no choice but to step away from her :D. She looked scared for a second but then I convinced her that she can do it. She just needed to be calm and keep on stroking her hand. Then she smiled and looked amazed. After that, she didn't want me to hold her anymore as long as I was within reach. But then she went farther and farther until she told me she was going to the other side of the pool by herself. She didn't want me to follow her and instructed me to stay where I was :D. So I just sit there by the pool looking proud of my little girl.

The one part from Life of Pi that leaves a deeper meaning for me is the part when Pi said Richard Parker actually kept him alive. Because of Richard Parker, Pi had to find away to feed him so he didn't become Richard Parker's dinner. He needed to think and try hard to fish. He needed to make sure the Bengal Tiger was always full. The whole ordeal stimulated him.

Being busy taking care of Richard Parker kept him from thinking too much about his family and the tragic incidents. Tending to his needs kept him going because he didn't want Richard Parker to die. He needed him, he needed the companionship, the thing that kept him alive.

It reminds me again on how helping others, putting others first and thinking less of ourselves help us find meaning and purpose in life. I'm sure every one of us have our own version of Richard Parker in our life.

Today, while waiting for all kind of handymen to come to the office, Nopai and I was somehow engaged in a discussion about religion. I forgot how it ended up there but it did. Long story short, we came to a conclusion that whatever your religion is, it guides you on many fundamental things in life. It shapes your perspective. It builds your character. It gives you pointer on how to navigate things. It helps you through many stages of life. 

From my own experience, I can see how mine forces me to learn about self-discipline and time management through the five mandatory prayers. I learn about the power of delay gratification through the fasting moments. I discover the beauty of sharing through the obligatory zakat. I developed self control through avoiding things that are not allowed. And of course, acknowledging there's the master up there who help brought me and designed my existence led me to a state of true humility.

And those are just some of the general ideas. There are also things that I learn not through religion but in the end realized that it's been suggested all along, such as the importance of reading, the beauty of being modest, the benefit of being grateful and so many other things. If you look further, the teaching also goes into a very detailed suggestions from raising kids to managing money.

Of course, there are times when I fail, but it's nice to have something to bounce back to. True that we can learn all of those from other factors too; family, friends, books, movie, anything. Some have figured it all out effortlessly. Some took quite a while to grasp the idea. Some learned about it the hard way. And some unfortunately are still clueless.

Thanks to Syita, who had been relentlessly begging us to go on an outing trip, we finally took two days off to Bandung for the company's first outing. It was super fun, two days full of laugh with the whole team. I couldn't be happier :).


During the trip:

Seminggu yang lalu ketika bangun tidur Jehan langsung bilang..

"Mommmyyyy aku mau ke Mekah lagi"

....sambil matanya masih kriyep-kriyep. Langsung doong ibunya mengharu biru anaknya pengen ke Mekah lagi. Bukan ke Universal Studio, Sydney, Paris atau London lagi tapi Mekah!. Saya jawab "Iya nanti ya Je kita ke sana lagi". Yang langsung disambut dengan "Kapan mommy? Hari apa???" :D



Beberapa hari kemudian ternyata Jehan masih tetap menagih kapan akan ke Mekah lagi. Daaan....dia langsung packing dong :). Satu backpack Hello Kitty-nya yang berukuran lumayan besar sudah terisi dengan baju-baju yang katanya untuk umrah.

Lalu dua hari lalu sempet ngobrol sama Oki pas lagi berangkat pagi bareng, "Taun depan kita bisa jalan-jalan ke mana yaa", kata saya. Jawabannya..."Pengen Umrah lagi sih". Whoaa ini ternyata sekeluarga lagi kangen sama tanah suci.

I have a special notebook to write all the things that I'm thankful for everyday. Why don't I write it on my blog? Well some of them are very personal. Plus, I like the idea of closing the day, reflecting and writing it old style; with pen and paper (with my Hermes Ulysse notebook to be precise, LOL).

Last Friday was an exception though, it was indeed a happy Friday like I projected in the beginning of the day. I remember I tweeted something like 'Jumat ceria' :D. Here are the things that happened last Friday.

1. I woke up relatively early. I always like it when I wake up early and not have to pray, take a shower and get ready in a flash. When I can take my time like that, I feel like I'm setting a good foundation for the rest of the day.

2. I drove Jehan to school. Since we left early, we had time to stop by at Starbucks. We always love to share our love for Starbucks Iced Grande Latte :).

3. Bouncy hair! I went to Haircode after dropping Jehan to school. There's nothing that can make you feel good instantly as a good bouncy hair.

4. Interviewed a candidate for Fashionese Daily Editor. Hiring means we're growing, right? :)

5. Meeting with a Japanese company. Lately, we found ourselves meeting with people from all over the world, even as far as Silicon Valley :-).  It's good that even people outside of Indonesia notice us.

6. Tumpengan. I have decided that I'm now ready for that fancy CEO title :D. This deserves a separate post that I'll do one of these days. Nopai announced this last Wednesday and there's the 'Makan-makan!' request for every congratulation email I received from everyone in the office. So I guess I had no choice :). Plus, Vanya said it's customary to celebrate it with tumpeng when we have just been promoted. So I ordered one from Koko Bogana. Before the lunch, we had a quick doa/wishes for the company. And the food is goood!

7. Pretty candid picture taken by Kila :D. My candid picture usually result in me looking jutek or lagi melongo!. Thank you Kila!

Me? Travel light? I'm actually not sure if I can categorize myself as one. But I was pretty proud of myself when I opened the suitcase as soon as we arrived in our hotel room in KL last week, because I just realized that I actually do travel light.

4 days 3 nights for 2 adults and 2 kids and we didn't even fill all the space. Granted the suitcase is a large one but it's a hard case so that means the opening is in the middle and we can still stack more items even higher.

Not bad, right?



We did bring a carry on, but there was nothing in it but my ipad. Oh and we also bring a foldable duffel bag. Just in case :P
 

Went to Bandung on October 20 with the kids by train! Oki was already there for work since the day before. So he picked us up at the train station, we dropped the bags at the hotel, went swimming for a little bit, then he had to go back to Gedung Sate and we came along. Decided to go to PVJ with Angkot from Gedung Sate. Mesti naik dua kali pula. Tapi nggak papa, the mission is to give the kids the thrill of riding angkot. So off we went. Naik angkot di Bandung pas lagi mendung, jadi terasa banget angin sepoi-sepoi sampe Jehan pun ketiduran :D
Mulai nguap