Been two days sitting at home creating a website, I don’t mind to see the sun today. It was already hot when I stood by the road waving to taxis. I am picky, they are pickier. I have become master of quick selecting passing taxis because the majority taxis around are… not so good. And many of the good ones are taken! Like many things else in life.

Some did not show interest, maybe they had other appointment. One refused knowing where I was heading to. Diliman is about an hour from Makati. I got in one finally and I could not be pickier, it’s getting hot outside. I sipped carton milk while observing the cabin. The driver was nice to help me lock all doors manually. I checked the handle for winding the windows. It looked work! Being a Jakartan and now in other metropolitan, I’m alert to signs.

Taxis in Manila are generally clean. Only busy inside! Today I sat next to a thin pillow with Winnie-the-Pooh cover. Rosario and other religious beads are usually hung on the rear-view mirror like a shrine itself. On top of that, the furry-like dashboard cover often makes me feel sweaty. And today I enjoyed the bright red dashboard frame! Apart from the usual water bottle, today I also spotted a razor. There’s always something to observe.

I observe, the taxi driver observes (me). The first 10 minutes at least, often I can feel the driver observing me discreetly from the rear-view mirror. Familiar look, unfamiliar accent. Where's she from? Chatty drivers may ask quite instantly. Aloof drivers wait till I start a conversation, if ever, or give direction. Drivers with little English will keep observing and hardly ever ask. It becomes part of my game. I ask them to guess if they ask rather than give them a direct answer. Today, the driver’s first guess was… China. Rarely I came from China! But okay, it’s still better than the usual Thailand. For a change…

My friend I knew at the museology training last April took me to the Open University office in the campus of an old university in the Philippines. I was interested to know about the program since I could not access it on their website. We stopped by the lobby where the office is to enjoy artworks made from recycled computers. Recycled stuff always have a place in my heart so I took my time to do the art tour.

Gathered all the information from the office, we walked the campus. My friend asked if I’m interested to try riding the famous jeepney. More than happy! I’d been trying to do but hardly had a chance! It’s a really nice long car with low ceiling that walking inside bending is quite an art. We were off at a museum inside the campus. An important museum named after a major of Manila, the university graduate, who donated his collection to the university. The painting collection is interesting, many are from the 18th century. Realism to postmodern. We were lucky to have an official guide took us around. I enjoyed the mix in the collection. It has inspired me!

We ended our meeting in the museum café outside the building. It’s non-aircon but popular among the students because of the wireless connection is good and free. I realized not many places in this city have free wifi. We need voucher. In the university, the signal is weak, my friend who teaches in the university told me. So this simple and modern café turns into a get-together place. I enjoyed sitting in the heat because the view is green. So green that the color covers the whole screen when I took picture of benches under the trees.

I shall visit the campus again next time! As student already, maybe?

The green.

You invest a lot of your time online, Blogger warns.

Yes, yes, I have invested two days to work on my now website! I just got the idea to create a blog for my creation last week then I thought about other artists who have been ‘working’ with me the past decade. I want to give them a special place in my business. I set aside artifacts! I want to focus on creative people who are already there waiting to be exposed.

Set up a new blog, I got the idea to claim back a four-year-old blog to revamp. Blogger has developed its feature tremendously since I used first time four years ago. I’m happy to see and follow. I remember the days I wanted to have a sophisticated blog under other popular service among journalists but I just didn’t have the patience to go through unfamiliar settings. But look at me these two days, I just went through all the settings and new features that in the end of the day my eyes felt full of HTML code. I had fun!

The blog frame looks really nice like website created by a professional. Blogger is great too since we can convert the free service with little pay to get a real web address with… dot com! Now I waste the web-designing program I installed the other month. Nothing is wasted though, I can still use for the sake of curiosity later.

Like working in office, I sat quietly at home from 8 to 7 at least. Uninterrupted! Photoshop and HTML have eaten me! I’m so proud of Blogger and myself. Now a big amount of work has been waiting that is uploading the content into each tab. I have quite a lot of material on Facebook page that I haven’t figured out how to incorporate them in the web. This is when they talk about static and dynamic website. Now I understand.

Not just that, I also understand why we have to pay a lot for a web designer to work on our project. We buy their time! I work on my own idea and still need at least two full days to make it happen. I cannot imagine the amount of communication we have to make with a web-designer to work on our project. Let alone the time they spend to actually make the web pages ready and later to maintain. Ayayayayy…

So I have put my feet on the shoes! Now I know! I also found out that this trip to Manila is kind of retreat to me. I’m able to see my daily life in Ubud with helicopter view. To see what I need and want to do back home. I look forward to many now… I have a new toy! La la la…

Share you a bit of the web page.

It’s Father’s Day. It’s so different than last week when Saturday was the Independence Day. The weekend was quiet as many were out of town for the long weekend. Today was special. Mall parking spaces were full and sea of people could be seen inside the malls and restaurants. I never celebrated Father’s Day because it’s not a tradition in Indonesia and also Indonesian does not have local Hari Bapak to appreciate all the fathers in Indonesia, let alone the world.

So it’s quite new to me that I happened to be here on Father’s Day. Maybe it’s my imagination but I saw many happy men (must be fathers?) with gifts on their hands walking in the mall with the family. People also gathered to listen to music played by elders in a mall. It was fun, they all looked happy together. On the way back, I was mesmerized by the running text in huge size in the intersection of Makati that flashed good wishes for Fathers in the world. It’s totally new to me!

I have finalized a part of my new project with my shop. I created a total presentation of my artwork as model for other artists I’m going to feature. I plan to focus on other artists from tomorrow on. I still have two weeks before I get back in Ubud. I so look forward to being in Ubud again but I’m just happy wherever I am. Limited option is nice some time as it opens up other opportunities if we dare to look for them.

"Juggling," my gift for a father.

Sitting in Starbucks now, I’m reminiscing. My art juice is flowing very well since the past days. I created four fabulous assemblages as a start of a new concept of my shop. It doesn’t come easy to realize that I have some talents if I want to explore. I have let it buried deep for so long. Some friends have tried to convince me that I can do something with my art, or, I can share it with other art-fans with pay. In other words… my art is sell-able. How can I see that?

Anyway, the new concept of my shop would be… featuring talented artists in and out Ubud I know well. I will create a corner for each artist to display her/his work including mine. I have held some artists’ work since long time but hardly had I featured them as individual. I have sort of treated their work as merchandise although I also provide the background of the work including about the artist. I want to do more for their arts and at the same time for mine. Put them all in foreground!

I’m quite excited about my new idea. I realized this morning it’s so nice to have something to look forward every day. In Ubud, I look forward to having retreat in Manila. In Manila, I look forward to materializing ideas I got from the retreat. My friend said the other day that it seems I need more than one home to live that I showed strong disagreement. I thought I enjoy living in one post only. I thought. Now I agree with his statement. I really enjoy changing place and scenery, not just for traveling but more… to have enough time to be in a retreat.

I still have some eight days before my retreat ends. I have told myself to finish off my new idea so that I will be really ready when I get in Ubud. I don’t have much time when I’m back. Summer has started and my staff will start her maternity-leave soon. I will be fully in charge at the shop for at least two months. It excites me somehow.

My third artwork “What We Forget”

I’m satisfied with artworks I finished today. I worked on the two frames I bought yesterday that again I canceled my plan to buy stones for necklaces. I was so into it that I only showered in the afternoon. In average, it took about 5-6 hours per artwork. But the last one I’m still working now may take longer. It’s a box-frame and I’m going to work on the 3-dimensional part.

Creating artwork is like writing. It takes time to start because I need ‘the first sentence’ that can kick the rest of the work. For others, I might look empty when figuring out what theme I’m going to work on. Most of the time I didn’t have concept at all. I take time to browse a magazine then a theme will be formed bit by bit. The actual work is not long, only some alterations on the way need extra time.

I also took time during an artwork to browse the net. I’m curious to know what other artists have done. My collage or assemblage work apparently has its own style. Mine doesn’t remind people of other well-known work before. I really like the idea of incorporating found objects in the artwork. I got both passions in an artwork: for curios and for collage/assemblage.

The other day I went to see a friend’s art exhibition. He’s been creating assemblage for so long. His work is fresh, I like it. I kept thinking after I got back from the exhibition that actually if I want I can also create such. Like many have thought apparently, what it looks so simple needs aeon to create. Like I said, forming the theme is the backbone of the work and that takes the longest part in the process. So things are not just put together and I can call it an artwork. I’m planning to make a brief background of each artwork to make the soul more visible.

Before the day ends, I set up a blog for the works. This time I want to sell my creation. My old works are well hidden in the cabinet in the house in Jakarta. I’m not going to do the same anymore. I need a good measure of what I have done. By the way, a week has passed since I put my necklaces on sale in Jakarta, heard I had sold at least 18 pieces. I am so happy! My shop also made a good sale the other day. This has been happening for several times now that my business made better sales without me around. Yay!

My second artwork, “Travel Bug.”

Now I believe that creating an artwork needs a good hands-on, not just working on the ideas. The frame I bought for my idea yesterday sat in the plastic bag all night. I didn’t know what to do. This morning I took it out and started to work on my idea. The idea developed as I started to cut and stick things. I had wanted to develop my collage work into more 2-dimension. For years I made it on a piece of paper, I want to have it more finished this time.

Been long I didn’t work on such, I forgot tips and trick to make a collage neat. It didn’t matter since lack of material had made me more creative. I made paper tole effect on the collage by leaving some parts loose. I was so happy to see my first creation that I canceled my plan to shop for stones. I sold quite some necklaces in Jakarta the past week. And just two days ago I got invitation to display my work in a shop in Seminyak! In time I want to renew my collection!

I could not help shopping for more unique frames! I found out here there’s quite selection for frames and at reasonable price too! Many are specially made for keeping 2-dimensional object like medallion so it has thick passé partout and ‘depth.’ It’s perfect for 2-dimensional collage. Today I was not that lucky though. The big bookshops I visited didn’t have wide selection. I bought two frames that have unique feature so I can play with it. I have some ideas! It keeps burning inside.

The trip to the bookshops has brought me to the most luxurious part of the big mall. I often watched the display-windows from outside but never been inside. It’s interesting, it reminded me of malls in Jakarta with high-end goods. I treated my eyes window-shopping. Walking aimlessly in malls makes me tired. After lunch, I hurried home.

Second artwork is waiting to be produced!

"The Children of War," my first artwork here.

I decided to go shopping today. The weather actually stopped me but no… I needed to buy a new pair of glasses. I lost it two days ago on a walking trip to cinema. I had it hung on my top when left apartment and it just disappeared after walking in the crowd and running in the rain. My titanium glasses I prefer not to buy again. I’d rather buy other fun things. But the glasses, yes I need! I’d like to see the world in colors. Without glasses, all look blurry.

I forgot that shops in Manila are like shops in Singapore, open at 11:00! It’s confirmed that I’m an early person. I want to get things done early but that’s not the case here. I waited about 15 minutes. There were four shops I needed to check out located on the same floor but none was kind enough to open sooner than 11:00. Of course.

I tried some frames on before decided on a funky one. Glasses for kids (!) in light blue, yellow, and green frame! It’s not among the lower prices but well enough to be under the titanium one. I save it for later. I only need the glasses for airports and cinemas. Driving also, but yea…

I got stuff I needed in two hours. I had a big bowl of salad for lunch before heading home. It’s time for me to own that branded flip-flop it seems. The shop stood right before the taxi stands. I’ve been thinking to own one for neater look but still flip-flop in Ubud. I got out the shop with really nice black-grey sling-back flip-flop for… kids! I don’t feel small (in fact I feel bigger these days) but most of my body frames still fit kids’ size it seems. So… I’m happy still!

I didn’t do much today. I got home mid afternoon melting. It numbed me for a while before shower. I have again quite a long backlog emails I need to respond. I don’t like to procrastinate but some emails need a really good attention. Meaning… my time and energy!

That’s okay!

One of the alfresco malls in Manila.

The streets of Makati are so so quiet. Today is public holiday since the Independence Day fell on last Saturday. I’m a bit confused since some offices took the holiday on Friday! That then I do not know how public holiday works here. To safe energy in this temperature, I prefer to stay home since I’m not sure if businesses are open and if my friends are available to meet. In the neighborhood, at least, I didn’t see any life.

I could say because I made a walk anyway. I needed some kits for making artwork so I walked to the direction of an office-stuff warehouse that literally like a warehouse where it stocks stuff related to paper and craft for office and fun. Of course, only big fast food restaurant chains are open. I was a bit disappointed but glad I had a look myself.

My plan to try food at food stalls by the sidewalk did not materialize as well. Here we do not see gerobak (two-wheeler wooden-stalls pushed by food vendors) but more like moko (mobil-toko or car-cum-stall) in Jakarta. The stalls, that are bigger than the standard pickup, sit by the sidewalk and it has an opening on one side to arrange the food. The cover of the opening serves as long table where people can put their plates and eat while standing. From the look, my guess is the range of food is like food in warteg (warung Tegal or Javanese style food-stop) that serves homemade cooking. Heard that Pinoy cuisine is fatty and greasy therefore I haven’t taken the chance to taste further (Bangus fish is my favorite though). My observation, any good food is usually less healthy anyway so I do not mind tasting sometime.

These sidewalk food stalls cater office staffs around Makati, the business district. Similar to the idea of gerobak in narrow streets behind the office buildings in Jakarta, only these stalls look neater. Maybe because Makati does not have jalan tikus (literally rats way means narrow alleys) to hide not so nice view of the supporting life of the office buildings? Apart from big international and local restaurant chains and these food stalls, I also spotted openings in the wall of buildings that apparently are kitchens that serve take-out lunch, or whatever food is since I did not see any menu on the wall. People are standing in line waiting to be served. This kind of service I do not see in Jakarta is quite popular here!

It was hot outside. Roamed the neighborhood half hour, I melted. I plan to start making collage again with a whole new idea. But things do not move forward as I had wanted that reminds me of what Mama used to say. She observed, literate people declutter papers slower because they take time to read. I agree. I fire up my spirit by checking out art websites that link one to another. And when I start dealing with the real used magazines, I’m totally stuck! I’m reading!!

Now how to combine inquisitiveness and productivity?

Mangan has the same meaning as Javanese’s dining.