Khatam (again)

Khatam (Persian, Urdu) means final. I’m not an expert in those languages but I often hear it used when one finish reading a book, such as the Quran. In my case, I just finished reading the Bible, second round. Yay! Even better than last time (I think it was 3 years ago), I’m 5 days earlier. Not bad, eh?

I don’t have certain purpose on doing it, other than I think it’s something that needs to be done. A Christian has to finish read the entire Bible at least once in his/her life time. To dedicate an amount of time everyday to read a passage or two and finish them within a certain amount of time (in my case one year). It’s good to read a lot of portion of the Bible that don’t get read from the pulpit, even on the daily readings. Even on second round I felt surprised to read some parts as if I’ve never read them before. So it was good.

To be able to do this one needs to commit. One can find guides (plenty online) on how to do this. There are plenty of reading program provided. Last time I read from Genesis to Revelation, but this year I followed Bible Tool chronologically. It was interesting to see how some authors recorded a certain event with slightly different detail.

No plan for repeating this program on 2012, as I got piles of books to finish, it’s embarrassing to start something and not finish them. I think I got at least a dozen of unfinished books. So that’s one of my resolution for next year (already start now actually), to finish more books. Then I might take up the Bible again in 2013 (God willing).

earth calling peanut butter....

Like many other modern human beings I have a long list of relationship with cellphones, started when I first became a junior secretary in an environmental company. It took me quite some time to get one, mainly because I don't see the ultimate need to be reached all the time. People can reach me easily, 8-5 at the office, after that at home. But pretty soon it became a necessity.

The past few years I changed cellphones several times, from the ghetto look like this image (taking from the shape of a water bottle with straw, that you have to shake well before use), bought one smart phone, and after some time got a smarter phone. The phone got smarter and smarter that I wonder if it'll outsmart me one day.

During those years I could carry up to 3 phones everywhere. I felt it was just ridiculous. One is personal, one for work, another is a backup that I sometimes would just want to throw in the bin. 2 of them are latest styles of smart phone where you practically can do everything from managing your schedule, browsing, updating your fb status, twit, etc. And like every gadget these days they're not manufactured to last a life time, eventually it fails on you. This time it was my HTC Touch that can slide. I like it so much, I put a lot of data there, and seeing it failing on me I lost interest in updating myself to the latest model. What for? To be dying after a couple of years? Such a waste. I paid good money on that! :(

I still got my BB from work, I can go online with that, and I was ready to just go with 1 smart phone. For the sake of keeping my personal number alive so on my birthday I bought myself one of those crapberry phones where you can only make calls and text. But for now it's sufficient. It was cheap (only 300k) and only limited people know that number that my latest phone bill was only 70k. Not bad!

Patience is a struggle

Point me the most patient person in the world, I shall learn from him/her how to have this virtue in my life. I believe even the most patient person had their moments, that would be impatient moments.

My moments, to be honest, had increased the past few months due to moving to a new job. It’s mainly because I’ve to drive more and it’s notorious that driving in Bali can give one a heart attack. You have daredevils, you have people you don’t have street manner, basically you come across a lot of fellow drivers that actually don’t deserve to have a driving license let alone driving on the streets. The impatience increase also in dealing with people. It’s so hard when you have to deal with things that don’t go the way you want, and deal with people who don’t act the way you expected them to be.

Then I come across this story from Max Lucado called A Picture of Patience. And the last sentence just opened up my eyes… God is patient with me, He is patient with those reckless drivers on the street, He is patient with my friends, He is patient with my family.. Imagine the load of patience He has to pour out for each of us, day in day out

I was floored. The story really touched me, but that quote is the thing that moved me. So allow me to quote it here, which is a good reminder for me mostly.

“God is being patient with you” (2 Pet. 3:9). And if God is being patient with you, can’t you pass on some patience to others? Of course you can. Because before love is anything else: Love is patient.

Splurge

Well the tiny black car is now 5 years old. Still strong, fast enough, but is in need for more pampering and maintenance. It’s even more high maintenance than I am! Last month I had to extend the yearly license, at the same time I was supposed to extend the insurance, but they refused because they said it’s 5 years old. That is the silliest excuse I’ve ever had. They should check my record, I didn’t even claim for insurance last year! Rrrrrrrrr…..

Just this month 3 items need maintenance. Big items, namely aircon, audio and window. Aircon is totally the first thing I’ve to fix. I’m in Bali and you can’t survive driving around on a hot day without aircon. Audio can wait, although it’s really not fun driving in silence. Window tinting is also a big must, I should get tinting that will keep the car cool but not too dark that make it look like a mob car.

Splurge, and on a car? How to justify that? More important, how to finance them?

Sneaky business

There’s just a lot of way to make money by being sneaky to your customer(s), but it sure isn’t classy if you’re doing it in the most obvious way.

So my watch needed battery replacement. I took it to a place which seemed professional. I wasn’t sure to take it there because I went there once for same purpose and within 2 weeks the battery was dead again. I let my watch died for months, the thought of having it done in Jakarta was ridiculous. But if it has to be done that way, no choice.

In the spirit of giving them a 2nd chance I went again. I asked how much. 60 k (quite expensive). I asked if there is any warranty. No. I asked if they could do it in front of me. No, the tool is inside, we take a new battery here, and bring it in. Pretty sneaky considering they could swap it with an old battery that will be dead in 2 weeks like they did before. What really annoyed me was her attitude when she said, “well if you don’t want it you can take your watch.” And that was exactly what I did. I’m not going to burn another 60k for an old battery!

After sharing with a friend of this sneaky way of doing business she recommended me a place. It wasn’t even a store, just a small corner in front of a mall. The guy was totally professional, the battery was only 30k, he give 3 month warranty (marked a date inside the watch’s lid), took a new battery, tested the power and replaced the old one in front of me.

It’s been 3 weeks and the watch is still working perfectly, so if you’re looking for a good watch guy, I would definitely vouch for him.

Back to reality

I spent the past 6 weeks in US, strictly for holiday (tho I still work online). I had a really nice time. The timing was perfect to celebrate my birthday and thanks giving which was close to my birthday. It was simply a nice cozy family time, a chance to reconnect with my sis, get to know her hubby better and met their friendly dog.

Going back to my reality I felt like I was floating. I didn’t really want to come back, I preferred to be on holiday for a lot longer. It wasn’t as if I went from places to places frantically. We did went places, but we weren’t being busy bodies. Most of my time was spent with my sis’ fam, cooking, helping her doing mundane things, but during those insignificant time something important was built, which is that sister bond. I learned how she lives, how she adapt to the completely new surrounding, how she learned to embrace her new country.

Being away for 6 weeks, learning new things, living a new set of life and ‘boom’ I’m sent back to where I came from, sure isn’t the best feeling. Had to drag myself to go back to work, and though there’s a lot of resistance in me I had to live my own reality again. Good thing (miraculously) I didn’t suffer any jet lag, so that didn’t add the problem.

A cup of souffle with the gals

We have planned on getting together to try out this new fancy resto in Seminyak area for some time, but never get down to it because one reason or another. Mine was mainly because the place is very fancy, it just doesn’t feel right to just casually go there. If there’s something to celebrate, that would justify it.

So we finally agreed to go this weekend. M sure was nice, typical resort hang out place, laid back setting but still hip on the selection of interior that create nice ambiance, add with a view of paddy field, which was surely peaceful.

We each ordered soufflé, for myself it was pistachoco soufflé. We were warned that it would take at least 25 mins for them to make but lo and behold, when they finally brought it the presentation itself was certainly worth the wait. Pretty plumpy soufflé covered with what I suspected to be choco powder, next to a tiny cup of pistachio sauce, then whip cream sprayed with more choco powder and shorbet of vanilla sitting on a slice of marmalade.

On one side it made my mouth water, but on the other hand it’s just so pretty I didn’t have the heart to puncture the soufflé so I can pour pistachio and start enjoying the taste in my mouth. But the inevitable happened, and my the first bite was exhilarating. A perfect dessert for a nice cozy afternoon, accompanied by two fabulous friends.

Who said one should have something special to celebrate to go to a fancy place for dining or simply enjoy dessert? No, I’m not implying that I would have this as a new tradition, because it’s too darn expensive to do on a regular basis. So even though we didn’t have anything in particular to celebrate, it was some sort of celebrating something we’re grateful to have, which is a good life. With that in mind, I immerse myself in the delight of a soufflé, grateful that in this life I’m blessed.