It’s Sunday. It feels like Sunday. I got up very early, feeling sore from yoga yesterday but unexpectedly happy without reason. So I cruised the day between both feelings: sore and happy. It’s sunny and that adds to my happiness. I still love my house, like yesterday. I move a few things in the house to make it more comfortable. Sometimes we need to change after hosting because then we know what should not or should be there. The tall pedestal behind the seater is often hit by hands. I rarely sat there so didn’t realize.

I also managed a row of shoes near the front door. It dawned on me the other day that the color might change because of the morning sun that shines through the front door. I got the idea to put them in black string-bags. I have them made and this morning I put them in the bag. It looks neat but at the same time it may stay there forever since I won’t take time to check out the bag before leave house. Forever flip-flop then.

I spent the rest of the day cleaning backlog of emails that close ones might not believe I have. I have, not just backlog but also emails I need to compose. I have some minors issues that need my ‘touch’ otherwise it bogs my mind constantly. It’s almost done, one more that needs a nice writing.

And, I spent the rest of the rest of the day waiting for friends who planned to visit at 15:00. I made myself ready an hour before like often. She rescheduled to 1.5 hours later, and three hours later I still didn’t have idea. It’s part of learning about people’s rhythm. It’s my first time making appointment at home with her after numerous successful lunch or dinner dates. Now I know. I still have Jakarta attitude in many ways. I often show up way too early because I miscalculate time I spend on the way. Or, I simply thought we have to be on time. Some Jakartan refugees told me they also suffered from time-mismanagement the first few years living in Bali. People are more casual here, not just the Asian, but also the foreigners. We all blend into the culture. Dali rubber-time.

I went to party with poi playing tonight. It was nice but the crowd didn’t mix well, I feel. There were young and senior groups, and I was in… between! I felt a bit out not knowing how to start a conversation. My young friend was so funny. She said… Why don’t you say Hi, I’m a p*rn star! ? She guaranteed crowd of all ages would be interested to know more. We had a hilarious exchange after that! My two friends. Without them, I would have escaped the party.

In the sad part of the day, my favorite jewelry designer passed away on the 24th of April and I just knew this evening. I talked with his wife that still cried when talking about him. For years I feel like I have lived with him because I wear his creation every single day. I have quite a range of his works. My thought is with his wife and staffs, they are lovely people. And of course with his soul, I’m glad I had crossed his path. That I had the chance to meet him several times and spend time with him in his workshop last year. I will keep wearing his jewelry for the memory of a nice person.

The garden in the back of a well-known yoga studio.

I love my house, I love my house, I love my house. I mumbled while moving around the house this morning. That’s my ‘status’ I wrote in my heart. I just love my house! Maybe because it’s still tidy from Wednesday when I had two good friends coming over and I don’t let it spoiled again by disciplining self to tidy up after doing something. I could do it actually but I also know it might not stay long since I like to do many things in a day, keep changing, keep moving, plus chores I postpone to do. Anyway,…

I had really nice morning. I joined yoga at a well-known yoga studio. My friend recommended this forrest yoga, a class every Saturday, that I found it cool! I loved it, not just because of the yoga but because of meeting friends and new friends. We had really nice hilarious chat over brunch after yoga. It’s an interesting discussion. I always admire young persons who travel the world to find what they want to do in life. My new friend wants to take yoga teacher training but had to postpone it till August because she injured her shoulder. NZ origin, she stays in Ubud doing many things to fill her time. But I liked to hear she feels she hasn’t done enough in using her time. It sounds familiar! I told her that I am in the same stage now. The same feeling of not doing enough.

And, writing journal has become topic of discussion with my friends this week. I found out many like the idea of journaling and sharing it via blog but not many have the… (can I say?) discipline to do. I once told a girlfriend that I will not care about my online journal if I’m not around anymore. She disagreed. She believed whatever experiences I had must have touched people I met in any walk of life so archiving is a good idea. But true, we never know to where life will take us. I’m finishing a well-known porn star’s biography the past days. She wrote the biography (together with a writer) based on her narration also her diary when she was a kid. The book is so interesting because then we know why somebody chooses a profession later in life, especially special profession like she has. So yes, the discussion has confirmed me that I have been in the right track. Write, write, write…

It’s Hari Raya Kuningan today. Ubud looked so quiet yet merry. Rich decoration with dominant yellow. I enjoyed seeing people in baju adat walking to pura carrying tall offerings on dulang or in baskets. Vehicles were also decorated with janur and even some were still with offerings with smoky incense on its hoods. My car underwent such blessing last year. Now I only had my house and merajan in the garden blessed. I feel blessed enough on this blessed day!

Offering on my car's hood on Hari Raya Kuningan last year.

Ubud kembali lengang karena besok adalah hari penutupan perayaan Hari Raya Galungan. Hari kesepuluh yang disebut Hari Raya Kuningan. Aku kembali mendengar kesibukan diluar biasa dari tetangga belakang yang orang Bali. Sejak pagi aku mendengar mereka mencacah daging atau yang disebut nglawar (kata kerja). Kalau aku tidak salah, nglawar biasanya dilakukan oleh pria dalam keluarga. Yang pasti kegiatan ini tidak hanya dilakukan oleh perempuan.

Beberapa tempat usaha sudah mulai tutup hari ini. Toko kue pun sudah tidak menerima pesanan. Aku terlambat memesan kue untuk hantaran hari raya. Tidak banyak yang bisa aku lakukan karena kegiatan bisnis sudah mulai berhenti dan baru dimulai lagi hari Minggu. Aku pun hanya mengisi bensin dan berbelanja di pasar swalayan sekalian mengambil buku pesananku di toko buku di kompleks pasar swalayan tersebut. Buku mengenai kiat menghidupkan jiwa wirausaha dalam diri. Aduh! Seorang kawan merekomendasikan.

Aku berbelanja lumayan banyak kali ini jadi waktu menyadari kalau komputer di kasir sedang mengalami gangguan, aku hanya bisa tersenyum. Antrean mulai panjang karena mereka melakukan transaksi secara manual alias mempekerjakan runner (terjemahannya kira-kira ‘orang yang disuruh lari-lari menyampaikan pesan’). Jadi karena setiap barang ditera oleh alat pembaca kode bar maka kode dan harga tidak kelihatan tanpa mesin infrared itu. Disini runner berfungsi untuk mencari barangnya di rak lalu membacakan kode dan harganya untuk kasir. Kasir lalu mencatatnya di sehelai kertas dan menghitung secara manual berapa total belanjaan dan kembalian bila ada.

Aku memilih untuk tidak kesal karena tidak ada yang bisa aku lakukan, aku harus membeli buah-buahan. Aku tersenyum-senyum sendiri melihat wajah malu dan paniknya petugas kasir dan betapa sibuknya runner lari kesana-kemari. Sambil menunggu, aku mulai mengecek keranjang belanjaanku yang nampak agak sarat. Aku tidak mau menunggu runner berlarian mencari kode barangku yang jenisnya bisa mencapai lebih dari sepuluh. Aku berencana hanya mengambil buah-buahan dan air minum saja; dan menunda pembelian sisanya. Aku tidak tega pada antrean di belakangku yang sudah mulai memanjang, juga di tiga kasir lainnya. Ini bukan yang pertama kalinya di pasar swalayan ini dalam seminggu terakhir. Konon mereka baru saja mengganti sistem komputernya sehingga masih tersedak kadang-kadang.

Aku masih menunggak beberapa pekerjaan rumah. Banyak kawan tidak percaya kalau akhir pekan juga mempunyai pengaruh terhadap ritme kegiatanku. Mereka pikir karena aku tidak mempunyai atasan maka setiap hari adalah akhir pekan. Salah! Lingkunganku yang membuat aku ‘sadar akhir pekan’ seperti kawan mengobrolku di dunia maya yang mengobrol dari kantor. Akhir pekan menjadi sunyi karena berkurangnya kegiatan ini. Selebihnya benar, kurang lebih sama karena aku masih bisa berolahraga dan berbelanja dengan ritme yang sama. Meskipun kelihatannya hari biasa dan akhir pekan sama bagiku tetapi aku tetap tak sabar menanti datangnya akhir pekan.

Penjor di Jalan Kajeng, Ubud.

I had short morning at home, I left house at 8. After tough negotiation over a week, my good friend and I finally found time to meet today at our favorite breakfast-stop in the middle of rice field. We have experienced out-of-sync after not seeing each other so long. That I understand it can happen. I observed friends that come and go in my life lately. The rotation is getting faster because of my regular change of rhythm.

I was pondering while walking. My sister told me the other day about how boring to be less occupied in office. She said she becomes less creative because has so much time. It rings true to me. That’s what I feel lately. I am not well occupied that I don’t feel creative. I don’t need to be bossed around but I appreciate deadlines. Deadlines give me pressure that then it makes me more creative in using time.

It was a nice catch up with my girlfriend. She just bought a treadmill to boost her energy in the morning. I’m happy for her as now she walks in the sun less and only joins yoga class once a week that I haven’t gone since I got back. She will leave for her hometown in two weeks while I haven’t planned my next travel yet. There are some proposals to travel but I haven’t bitten the bait yet. I have started enjoying my new rhythm in Ubud. My days are already occupied till end of month which is only next week.

I enjoyed walking. After the long breakfast, I continued walking downtown to buy more DVDs (just because I exchanged one) and cakes for my afternoon break. Then see my accounting staff in the shop where she works formally. We talked about business in general then I let her share what’s in her mind. Been married ten years, she hasn’t got child yet. I understand her feeling as children is so important for Balinese family. I advised her to go with the flow (uh who am I giving an advice?) that often when I share a wisdom I can hear I'm giving myself the same advice. Before I left, she insisted on buying me drink (that came with two cupcakes). She is so sincere as always.

I walked briskly another ten minutes to go further downtown to meet my good friend for lunch in a warung our friend owns. It’s sunny but the breeze was cool so walking felt so pleasant. I was not perspiring as bad as the other day. It was great, I enjoyed stretching while walking! Been living in Ubud three years this month, I feel Ubud is 'getting smaller.' Walking downtown is not a big deal for me (anymore). I could decide it so easily. I’m happy with the feeling. I made a silent pact with myself, I have to walk downtown at least once a week.

Miraculously, I still have energy when I got home. I opened my new toy, the netbook, and explored it. It’s been two days I didn’t touch it. I don’t want to let this waiting so I got an idea to use it at… my low table. I’m writing this post on netbook. I took time to relearn how Windows work. After long hours exploring Help, I can only say, now I understand what people mean with Why make things simple when you can make things complicated. Viva Mac!

The new gigantic Balinese gate in the main road of Ubud.

Sometimes your power resides not in what you do
but in what you don't do.
Paulo CoelhoWhat a nice quote from a very well-known person, I can use it as an excuse! Yay!

I was cleaning house in and out this morning when I thought about how real life is actually like life on… Facebook. There’s a short funny movie depicting Facebook in real life and it’s so true! We shut off what we don’t want to hear (Hide button on Facebook) by not responding or flat responding of hm and ya. We share what we thought our friends would like to experience (Share button). We hesitate accepting ‘a reconnection’ because we are not sure if we still want to stay in touch. Or, we simply disconnect from people because it’s not the same anymore after being connected for a while (Remove from Friends button). Those feelings feel so familiar to me. And to many others, I believe. By the way, here’s the link.

The past days I have a new set of friends chat with me online. I rarely had the same set from time to time. Like in real life, friends come and go. Warm today, cool tomorrow. Hot tomorrow, didn’t exist yesterday. When we like to befriend with someone, it does not necessarily mean we like all facets of her/his life. We like to know about what (s)he reads but who cares about the development of her/his Farmville? Or, her/his score in this-n-that game? That’s when in life we also use Hide button. And I’m getting better to sense signs of what my friends like or not-so. Facebook has helped me to sharpen my intuition.

Got confirmation that a good friend will visit me lunch time, I was busy since got up. Not much to do, just tidying up house. Hosting is really the fastest way to tidy up house. Not that I have such a messy house but things like a mask without string had needed attention for weeks now. Packages arrived two days ago hadn’t been opened. Boxes for necklaces sat on my way in my bedroom. Some little things that were not supposed to be there. It’s all done in an hour!! It can be done if I’m willing to…

So I got two best friends came over to have a look at my house. They loved it! I know. It looks more a house now than when I moved in. My architect friend wondered if I’m going to stay in this house forever. I told him that I will keep my eyes and mind open but I don’t look for other place at the moment. Life is too good to start the hassle of building a house. Is this what you call a comfort zone? I guess so.

A corner in my house.

Everyday is adventure. One of the speakers at the Rotary meeting I attended yesterday said. The first group of speakers talked about the new concept of traveling the world. They introduced traveling and exploring cultures in the most affordable way by staying with the local to create deeper bond with the community the traveler visit. It’s called CouchSurfing (CS). I had heard about it but hadn’t explored until I listened to the speakers yesterday.

A good friend of mine became a new couchsurfer the past weeks we didn’t see each other. That’s how she learned about the network, then introduced the concept of the network to her circle of friends. And yesterday’s meeting was one. There were some ten attendees that were wow-ed by the new concept of connecting travelers and the local communities they visit. That through the network we can enjoy free accommodation in ‘couches’ CS members offer that spread in 72,347 cities in 237 countries (statistics taken from the website)!

Become a member, we offer our ‘couch’ to totally strangers that members of CS. Couch here has broad meaning, it doesn’t have to mean we provide bed/place to sleep for other members; but we can also offer arranging programs or many ways of introducing our community to the traveler visiting our city. On our member page, we can set limit or boundary for receiving couchsurfers (that’s noun for the 'traveling members') such as only F/M, certain age group, no/yes smoking, certain liking, etc. I like the idea they mentioned If you don’t have time to travel, travel comes to you (by providing ‘couch’ for people from other culture). That is a brilliant idea!

Realizing that offering ‘couch’ means exposing self to total strangers, some attendees in the meeting had questions about how to verify the couchsurfers applying. The guys from CS (they stay for a few weeks in Ubud developing CS, from what I understand) explained that they do lots of verifying new members like if their credit card pays annual fee matches address they share, and things like that. I personally don’t have idea how they execute the verification because in my case my credit card address is Jakarta but I live in Ubud and am a good person. I believe many have similar issues. I don’t know. Just hats off!

One guy asked the same question I had in mind, how they earn from working almost voluntarily for the organization. The member fee is $ 25/year. Sure CS got hundreds to millions members but it’s in their spirit they don’t advertise so the multiplier might not be as fast. They rely on word-of-mouth effect. I admire what they do for literally other people's 'fun.' I guess they can afford to do it since they are still young and they looked adventurous – in and out. I often thought there must be something develop out of budget-airline trend. One of those could be this. I believe. Because of the new way of exploring the world; people travel more, share more, then understand other culture better, in the end we all create a better community with better understanding. And just today, an attendee sent us email sharing that she's going to host several couchsurfers soon already.

The couchsurfers delivered the first presentation in the meeting. The second group of speakers was also interesting. They are fellows of Rotary World Peace Fellowship who got scholarship to get Master degree on human rights via Rotary district in their place. The girl is from Australia studying law, the guy from the Philippines studying Asian Studies. He is documentary film maker back home. They are both studying in California now. They are attending a two-week conference in Tuban, Bali, before they are off for their three-month internship of their choice. The girl will go to Solomon Islands and the guy to New York City. They describe what they do as ‘study and contribute.’ What a nice way to put it.

We ended the nice meeting with nice hilarious dinner where I heard more wow stories from a lady who’s been living in Ubud over twenty years and has 250 Balinese employees. Glad I still have hats for hats off! We had good laugh when she shared how she reduced the cost of medical in her office. Since last year, she required all employees to salsa dance together every Friday. Miraculously, after a few months some of the employees are capable of becoming salsa teachers! Even a guy earns sevenfold the amount he gets from her company by teaching salsa in the evening. It was hilarious! Happy lady!

That was my evening, my day was fabulous too! I decided to roam Denpasar by myself, without my cousin in the passenger seat like he used to. Denpasar map is not easy to comprehend and many roads are one-way that I realized later it’s good actually since it's like guiding you to a certain destination rather than making you lost even further. Anyway, I managed to go places with my not-so-skillful way to read map. I’m quite disoriented but I can do if I don’t have choice. And I did not!

I had some errands to run but actually the main purpose of the trip was buying myself a toy! A netbook that I had considered buying a year. The timing is good since the technology of netbook is already ‘there’ now unlike a year ago. I bought my netbook in the first shop I entered merely because the shopkeepers were smart and honest (I felt). I only read a few review about some brands the day before. I’m not a review-type person. I just bought what I feel ‘enough’ (specification and price wise). One and half hour later I drove back with my new toy. I was so excited but I could only play the toy this morning. Yes, I had busy evening learning about the fun way to enrich life.

My morning view some mornings ago.

Kadang-kadang aku merasa lucu. Di Ubud, aku menunggu hujan berhenti untuk mandi karena pancuran mandiku beratap langit. Sebetulnya ada juga pancuran di bawah atap tetapi aku kurang suka karena curah airnya kurang kuat, lagipula karena lokasinya, pengalaman mandi beratapkan langit sungguh luar biasa rasanya. Mengapa aku harus menunggu hujan untuk mandi? Sepele, karena hujan, terutama kalau lumayan lebat akan membuat rambutku basah padahal aku hanya mencuci rambut sebelum tidur malam. Jadi kalau terpaksa, aku pun mandi dengan tutup kepala plastik seperti yang sering kita jumpai di hotel.

Karena alasan itu, jadual harianku tergantung pada curah hujan. Meskipun tutup kepala plastik bisa menjadi jalan keluar tetapi aku tidak selalu siap untuk mandi dibawah hujan. Sering aku menggigil kedinginan meskipun aku mandi dengan air hangat. Kalau ada waktu dan sedang santai, aku sangat menikmati mandi dibawah hujan karena rasanya luar biasa, campuran air hangat dan dingin pada saat yang sama.

Jadilah beberapa hari ini aku menghadapi tantangan untuk mengatur hari seputar jadual mandi. Aku beruntung mempunyai jadual yang bisa aku tentukan sendiri jadi urusan sepele ini tidak menjadi isu besar. Seperti pagi ini. Sudah pukul 6:30 tetapi diluar masih gelap seperti waktu terlambat satu jam lebih. Ritme tubuhku pun mengikuti ritme alam. Aku tidak bersemangat memulai hari dan tidak bisa merencanakan apa-apa, apalagi hari ini hari Minggu. Hujan turun sejak pagi, meskipun kadang berhenti. Aku mondar-mandir antara menyeterika pakaian dan bercakap-cakap di dunia maya dengan seorang kawan di Yogya tetapi tidak memutuskan untuk melakukan kegiatan diluar rumah.

Singkat cerita, akhirnya pagiku berakhir dengan kesibukan luar biasa karena aku memutuskan untuk mencoba mesin cuci yang baru diperbaiki sebulan yang lalu. Alat penstabil voltase jebol karena itu aku tidak menyadari mesin cuci tersebut watt-nya melebihi kapasitas alat. Tidak ada seninya kalau urusan kecil ini tidak bermasalah. Aku tersenyum sendiri setelah melewati pagi yang tidak kuduga menjadi pagi yang sibuk. Hidup sendiri memang penuh seni!

Daun basah di jembatan Campuhan.

Kegiatan sehari2 ngapain aja mbak? What do you do usually, Mbak? A friend in LA asking me over online chat this morning. It’s not easy to answer such question. Unlike people who work from nine-to-five, I don't have better answer. Again, I found myself creating a fiction about what I’m doing at home when I’m not traveling. Really, listing my activities is not as easy as Facebook automatically lists our activities on the Wall. As hard as answering question like How do you feel? when morning is still dark. I don’t have idea how I’m supposed to feel when even my day hasn’t started yet, my soul hasn’t gathered become one yet, my realization is still far from complete.

Not that I didn’t think about the list of my activities, I thought about it while walking in the drizzle at 8:15 this morning. It was raining all morning but I decided to just go see nature I had longed for so long. My thighs got quite a workout as I balanced my steps on slippery sidewalk along the way. I don’t have professional shoes to walk in the wet and my favorite plastic Crocs can be slippery in hard surface and later in the mud! I am prone to slip and fall the past days, or since I fell exactly last week. I fell again in my porch the other day, same pattern, wet floor. My good friend fell from stairs for the second time after rain in her house. That’s even worse. We are not getting younger it seems.

Anyway, I had really nice long breakfast in an organic resto and farm in the middle of rice field twenty minutes from home. Yes, I was surprised too that it took me that short to get the place that is not so close to home actually. I met no traveler on the way and in the place. In better days with sun, I might have breakfast with at least two other tables occupied. It gave me quiet time to observe some men fixing nice Balinese cloth on ceiling of the new deck. They apologized for the not-so-nice view but I didn’t see it that way.

There’s something exotic about being among people speaking language that sounds foreign to me. Well, Balinese sounds not so foreign to me actually because many of the words have similar sound and meaning as in Javanese, that I also found in Tagalog. But still, I might lost in translation after quite a full conversation. But listening to people talking in a language that I hardly comprehend lulls me. It makes my mind wandering.

I really wanted to write but I’m not a good block note writer who can jot down ideas then develop the writing later. Many people can do but not my cup of tea at all. So I dreamed about something new. Something that I once considered but then gone after further thinking. Not this morning, the idea was so strong that I had to think about other things I can do with the device if I buy. There’s no way I will buy BlackBerry despite the constant mock of my friends and relatives that I still enjoy a 4-year old cell phone. Or iPad? Wish I had quite an idle money to spend. No. I found netbook is more economical considering its price and usefulness.

I picture myself writing in a quiet place like this morning resto. Or, while waiting for friends in a bigger resto with wireless connection. Or, to unintentionally compete with friends with BlackBerry that constantly check out emails and people’s status on Facebook, or upload their own status. I’m kind of sick of those but this is 2010. I cannot complain! That’s when I need a better deal.

I got home all wet of sweat. I bought focaccia and banana bread from my favorite resto-cum-cakery on the way home. I also bought six rrr pirated DVDs from a shop next to the resto. I feel ashamed that I enjoy pirated discs because the rest of stuff in my life are original only. A friend shared a reasonable justification about such habit, said the film industry has made a lot of money enough from the movie so it’s good that they share the 'profit' with the pirates in the market so some other people can also earn. I buy it with a soft pang of shame.

I showered after, strangely, a few stretching. Yes, I took the 2-hour walking as warm up. It was a nice short stretching before shower in the drizzle. A bit over noon, I felt I have completed my day. I had focaccia with instant chicken soup, and an apple, for lunch. I plan to stay home the rest of the day learning about netbook reviews in the net, do some more reading, and watch movie(s)! What a perfect activities in a rainy day!

The view from where I sat at breakfast in Subak Sok Wayah this morning.