essentially living

I'm probably the last person anyone would ask for beauty tips or fashion tips or anything in that department. I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a bit behind when it comes to the newest trend in fashion. But I'm not trying to be a smartass, I just want to share some of the things that are essential for me and sometimes they (some of them) create little joyous moments to my tiny life.

I must also warn you that I'm not endorsing any certain brands. So if I did mention some brands, I'm not selling them or anything like that (yeah, like they'd pay me! HAHA). I just want to point how I enjoy certain things in life. Talking about brand, the truth is I don't even believe in brand, but I believe in being comfort, being decent and sometimes being my unique self. 

One minute oatmeal

Okay, I'm not being philosophic here. I just want to point out the first essential in my life is that one minute fix of breakfast I've been having for the last two weeks. Yes, that tasteless plain not pretty meal we all call Oatmeal. I know, at some point I complained about my weight, but the truth is I believe it's a healthy meal and I owe it to myself to at least have one healthy one out of three. 

Water and ice water

This one is classic. We have heard so much about the advantages of water and how one must drink at least 8 glasses of water. They're all true and there are times when I suffer from dehydration, my body becomes unbalanced, weak and my skin becomes irritably dry. 

I also have this new ritual every morning and night. After I brush my teeth and wash my face with soap, I usually take a bottle of icy water (which was stored in the fridge) and sprinkle my face with the cold water. Although it's not scientifically proved, but I believe it can decrease our facial pores. HAHAHA. Yes, I too can have silly ritual!  

Coffee, coffee and coffee

Like Lorelai Gilmore, I am too a coffee drinker. I usually limit myself to not more than 2 cups a day. But there are days that I could have at least 3 cups. Mad mad day, I say.

Eau de toilette 

Let me tell you that I'm a big fan of L'Occitane, although there's a big fat chance I might have pronounced it wrong. I love the smell of their products. This L'Occitan has been my latest favorite. It has that edgy smell of pepper or some spices mixed with some grass or flowers. I know it sounds so stupid, but I love them. 

I have a few friends who think that using products of L'Occitane does not make you look classy. The truth is I prefer to go for L'Occitane or Bodyshop product than those fake Bvlgari or CK perfumes. At least, I got them from an official store. #JustSaying. HAHAHA.

Hair shaver - Being bald

I have shaved my head for more than a year now and it will continue be my style until I die probably. This has been a dilemma and some of my friends have been so openly against it. All I can say that it's a commitment and I shall not back off now. To all of you who think I look horrible, it's not that bad, really.

E-paper

I LOVE e-PAPER! I read my Kompas either at work or at home with my PC or my tablet. I never bought printed newspaper since Kompas introduced the electronic version. Beside Kompas, there are Media Indonesia who also uses the same format. I enjoy reading HuffingtonPost online as well. 

They're flat, aren't they shoes?

I don't know exactly what they're called, but they're extremely comfortable. I love these flat shoes. I can walk tens of blocks wearing this shoes. I probably can run marathon in these shoes, well, maybe not. 

The monstore in my closet

Because of my petite figure, it's not easy for me to find the exactly fit tees. But I have found this cool local brand (I think they're actually from Bandung) who produced shirts in my size. I love, love monstore. Not only they're very comfortable, they're quite artsy. 

Hats for my head

At first, I wore hat because I found out that no everyone can cope with me being bald. So I thought hat might tone down their reaction a bit. Yes, it's probably only in my head. But then, that prejudice (if you want it call it that) has turned into a fetish. I love buying and wearing hat. I love my bowler, my fedora and my beret. The only head piece that I might not wear in public is those mickey ears probably. 

oh #residentevil, how far you've gone

RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Stars: Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez
Year released: 2012

Before I start, let me tell you that I'm a big fan of Milla Jovovich. I always think that she's one of the most beautiful women in the world. I like some of her movies. I even like the first Resident Evil. It has a stable story-line, it might not be the best movie in this zombie genre, but it's quite entertaining.

Resident Evil has evolved since the first movie released 10 years ago. Alice is no longer just the security staff of Umbrella. She has turned into this fashionista heroine in tight black spandex with killer boots. The umbrella cooperation is no longer one big cooperation, apparently it has turned into something that might cause the extinction to human being. Even the zombies evolved. They're not just the living dead who consume human flesh, they has turned into these zombies with flowery mouth who look like a carnivorous plant. In short, it got weird.

So Retribution begins where the last installment left us (which I totally forget, but seriously I didn't miss much. HEHEHE). Gun shooting, planes crashing, people dying, endless supplies of ammunition and somehow Alice was captured and tortured for I don't know why. I'm not even going to ask why, what or how. It's simply useless. 

At times, I felt frustration watching this movie. I felt that Anderson has ran out of tricks, since the last installment, the big kahuna was that James Cameron's 3D camera technology. And for this one, probably sitting in his uncomfortable desk, he thought maybe he could bring back all the old characters from the first RE could fool us all. Seriously, it didn't work and actually it made it even weirder.

Come from the man who watched the whole series of Resident Evil movies and despite so many disappointment, every time a new Resident Evil movie comes out, I always have this hope that it might actually be good or at least better, but unfortunately it has happened yet.

A friend tweeted a couple of nights ago saying that might be another installment to this Resident Evil movies and it might be its last one. I sighed, but then I thought, for the beautiful Ms. Jovovich, I should keep being hopeful, maybe it requires 5 bad ones to make one masterpiece. Fingercrossed, Milla! 

ni hao, xie xie

I have no idea how many of my previous posts started with how long I have not posted any posts due to being busy at work. Disregard the fact that it might bore you, my friends, the way I started each post for the last 3 months, I actually have been quite busy. 

Recently I just moved to a new house (I told you, didn't I?). There are at least a box or two that I haven't unpacked yet. And at work, we just have this new management which I'm still adjusting to. I just feel bad to not be able to check on my friends, to not meet them as often as I wish I could.

Anyway, for almost a couple of weeks now, there are two very important family friends who stay with us, a man and his wife. I'm absolutely fine with it since mostly I was alone at home. Although sometimes I feel some portion of my privacy has been taken away. 

They're actually from mainland China and they barely speak Bahasa. And since I hardly speak Mandarin (don't let my Chinese eyes fool you!), our conversations always involve miming. I once literally was sounding Moo and Oink to ask / answer questions regarding what a dish made of. Even after my two weeks vacation in Hong Kong, the only mandarin I know is: xie xie and ni hao. As for them, the only Bahasa words they seem to know are bir and mabuk. So you can only imagine how the dinner time went for the last two weeks. HAHAHAHA.

Beside the free dinner for the last two weeks, I also enjoy learning new habits from them. Our dining utensils include chopsticks and bowl instead of spoon, fork and plate. I have been remastering my skill using chopstick. Not bad, I must say. From the blog I found online, I learned that chopstick has been used for at least five thousands years ago. There was an idea that they used chopstick to avoid burning their hands when they tried to get the food out of a pot.

There's even a belief from Confucius, that men should avoid using sharp and pointed utensils (such as knives and fork), which represent violence. One should be in a happy and good mood when they're at the dining table. This is a very interesting, isn't it?

I personally also believe, using a tiny bowl and chopstick also teach us to only take the food in a moderate way due to limited space. A few years back, my brother started this diet, eating only using a tiny bowl and chopstick so he only dined in small portions. Too bad, it didn't go for long.

Although I couldn't find it anywhere, but somehow I believe to take a piece of dish from our dinner companions reflects honoring the recipient. 

bowler hat's new home

Finally, I settled in to a new home. Well, I don't want to say much about it since I don't actually have to change my zip code. So pretty much I still live here in the north side. We of course, hired this cool mover company (not sure how if that's what they are), which helped a lot during the process.

But to get things going, to reorganize and rearrange the whole house is simply not an easy task. Not only that it's not easy, but it's also time-consuming. Let me be very honest, I'm not a fan of moving, or change for that matter. I'm the kind of person that needs time to adjust, although I must admit I enjoy exploring new things, I also want to be secured. To plan is the keyword here, people.

So Yesterday, at around 3pm, where everything's pretty much at where they should be, a friend texted me and asked how the moving's gone. I simply replied, "My wi-fi is working, so I'm pretty much home." HAHAHA. Yes, I'm the victim of the vicious cyber world.

Anyway, that's a joke. I'm just glad that everything's going to be okay (soon). This is my first post from the new headquarter, and (fingers-crossed) many more to come.

Happy Sunday!