One More Weekend In Raissa

Today, 22-Oct-11, it's going to be more than two months since the last time I visited my hometown, BDG. I remember that day, 09-Aug-11, I just finished with my night shift in JKT and I drove back home. It was the last time I drove RS-1, whom I missed so much now.

More than that, I really miss my family out there in BDG. This is the longest time I don't come to Bandung since I got transferred to my new assignment in BPN. Before, I was satisfied enough to come back home once a year,  meeting my dearest ones for only couple days in a year.

It's been more than two months also I haven't seen RS-2 since the first time I saw her. My sister always sent me some pictures of her, she looks very nice now. I wish I can see it with my own eyes.

The things I miss so much right now are:

1. RS-1 - miss the sound, miss the leather!! :)

Miss all my song collections inside. Miss my sleeping bag on the trunk.

2. My lovely Ibanez(es) - need to take care of them, been a while I don't play them.

3. RS-2 - last time I saw, she was still dirty. Now she is going to be a very nice one :) Going to be launched soon enough! .

4. Lake House - visit this page for more info http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100002018154815 it's been ages since the last time I went there. The ducks were just got rid. Next gear to bring over there is a boat #wishlist. We'll see if I can get one when I get home :)

One more weekend in Raissa, then hopefully I can jump on to a flight to JKT by the end of October. And will have my time off in BDG while celebrating my special day

Thank GOD for everything that has happened, He knows better about the future, He holds the future.

We can only plan, but always His will be done.

Man's Pray

I got this from my friend. I figured the words are nice. Enjoy!

"Lord, I pray for a woman that will be a part of my life. A woman that really loves You more than everything. A woman that lives not for herself but for You. She must know for whom and what she lives, so her life isn't useless. Someone that has a wise heart not only a smart brain. A woman that not only adores me, but can warn me when I'm wrong. A woman that can be my best friend. A woman that makes me feel like a man when I'm beside her. I don't ask for a perfect woman but I ask for an imperfect woman. A woman that needs my support, my love, my prayer for her life. Give me Your hands so I always be able to pray for her. Give me Your eyes, so I can see good things in her and not the bad one. Give me Your mouth that is filled with Your words of wisdom so I can support her. And I want that finally both of us can say "How Great Thou Art". Amen"

Lesson in life

A wise man sat in the audience and cracked a joke.
Everybody laughs like crazy.
After a moment, he cracked the same joke again.
This time, less people laughed.
He cracked the same joke again and again.
When there is no laughter in the crowd,
he smiled and said:
"you can't laugh at the same joke again and again,
but why do you keep crying over the same thing
over and over again?"

What Is A Relationship Actually?

Lately, I've been involved in some discussion about relationship. Relationship between parents and sons/daughters, brothers and sisters, friends, co-workers, etc.

Keeping up a good relationship is not as easy as flipping hands. We need to give it some efforts.

For me, being a neutral person is actually the best position we can have. That way we can actually be friends to everyone. But, being on this position also will give us disadvantage, such as it will feel that we do not have a strong decision. Anyway, being neutral is also a decision. In the other hand, we cannot make everyone happy :)

For me, the most important relationship in the world is the relationship between us and God. This is a really private relationship that no one else can disturb. Having a good relationship with God is the role key to keep up  our relationship with others, to appreciate others, to appreciate what we had, to appreciate what we have, to appreciate what we don't have. I'm actually not in the best position to say this, because I'm currently pretty far away from my God :) I need to rebuild it and recover it.

Then it comes to family. They are the very first people that had met us in the world. They are the one who makes us like we are now. Never ever sacrifice family matters for any other matters, they are our main priority.

Interesting relationship that I still need to figure out is the relationship between man and woman. Most of people wants to have girlfriend/boyfriend as soon as possible, so do I actually. But when I think about it further, I don't think having girlfriend is more beneficial. If something bad happens, I believe it will generate more disadvantages. Bad experiences I had before make me a better now, hopefully :) I feel that having lots of friends is soooo much better. No heartache, no anger, no worries, and many others. Better to propose the person you love directly, and be friends before.

The other relationship that is interesting is one between us and co-workers. In the place I work for, I don't have any issues with my co-workers. Actually we are a bunch of young people that work together since the first we're out of college. That's why I really feel the teamwork right here. I enjoy working with my friends. We had good and bad times together, faced troubles together.

Focus not on yourself. God gives you life to be light among others.
Build your relationship with God, be loyal to your family, be good to your friends.

That's what a relationship for me. What's yours?

How Will I Know If I Met The Person I Should Marry

This article was taken from an email my friend sent me.

Enjoy :)

The choice of a marriage partner should not be based on "I get a warm,wonderful feeling whenever we're together and I want to have that warmwonderful feeling forever, so let's go get married". Feelings, as we have discussed, have no logic on their own.

They need to be acknowledged, ofcourse, but they need considerable assistance from your brain. Marriage means choosing the person you will spend the rest of your life with.This person will live with you, eat meals with you, sleep with you, and go on vacation with you. More important yet, this person will share your children. You need to choose wisely.

The decision should not be made based on feelings alone. You need to ask yourself some tough questions. The decisions have to be made on solid considerations. Will this person be a good partner? Is she/he mature enough to put her/his ownselfish desires aside to look out for what is best for the family? Is heprepared to be a good provider? What is his track record? Is heresponsible enough to get a good job and keep it? Will this person be a good parent? Can you stand the thought of yourchildren turning out exactly like this person? They will, you know.

Children spend a lot of time with their parents and consequently pick up many ormost of their parents' character traits. You had better like your spouse'straits a lot because you will be seeing them again in your children. If something were to happen to you, would you completely trust thisperson, alone, with the ask of raising and forming your children? This is not apleasant thought, but it is an important consideration. Not everyone dies ata ripe old age with great grandchildren gathered around the bed.

Sometimes a parent dies and leaves young children! In the care of the other parent. If you feel that you would need to be around to correct or lessen this person'sinfluence on your children, Then you are considering the wrong person. Does this person share your faith in God? God does not give us children sothat we can mold them into the coolest, most popular people in school.

Our job is to get them to heaven. To do that, we need to raise them believingin God. It is tough to do that if only one parent believes. Saying "this is right and this is wrong, and I want you to ignore Mommyuntil you are thirty-five" does not work. Small children ask about eightskillion questions in a single day.

The answers to those questions go alongway toward forming the kind of adults they will become. Who will be answering those? Questions for your children? Does this person you are marrying have sexual self-control? Single peoplesometimes have this idea that marriage is just some kind of lifelong sexfestival and that as long as they have each other, they will never betempted by other people. Wrong! There are many times in every marriagewhen one partner or the other is sexually unavailable - illness, the lastmonths of pregnancy, travel. There are also times when spouses, just get on eachothers' nerves. At times like this, other people can seem very appealing. That can bedangerous, because there are plenty of very attractive people out therewho are willing to make them available to married men and women. Do you wantsomeone who has never said "no" to sex? If he is not good at saying "no"at eighteen, it won't be different at forty. Do you want to worry aboutwhether or not your spouse is being faithful?

These are very important questions, and if you are not comfortable withall of the answers, you should definitely not marry this person. None if this is to say that feelings play no role at all in a marriage decision.

You don't have to, "Well, I suppose that you would make a goodspouse and parent, so even though I don't particularly like you I guessI'll marry you'. You need to be happy and excited about the prospect ofspending your life with someone. Your brain however, must acknowledge that thisperson as a good catch.

Don't listen to your heart alone or your head alone. Wait until yourheart and head agree.

Smell the fresh air!

I might be sitting in the lowest state I've ever experinced in my life now. Hard to focus, silenced over sorrow, unacceptance of what happened, angry over curiousity, etc. Light chat with friends helped me, but it's not the best way to do. To be honest, the problem was about my past "horizontal relationship". I still cannot accept that it was suddenly over. Now it really feels hard for me to get up again. Until today I realize that I waste my life if I focus only on this silly thing, which is definitely not more important than my life itself. I know it will be still hard, but as long as I can accept my current condition and what already happened, I should be just fine. How to accept something that you don't really want is really hard, I know. Don't regret, don't expect, accept whatever it is. I read these statements from @TracyTrinita twitter: "Don't focus on relationship, life is sooo much more than just dating.. Enjoy your life, semua indah pada waktuNya." Simple, but slapped me! A lot of things out there to do, lots of people need your attention, lots of people care about you! Why do I have to stand here, stuck with this silly feeling.. NO! I have to get up! As long as we believe in Our Mighty God, then we'll be just fine. Enjoy the feeling, we'll be okay. It takes time, but definitely do-able :) So, smell the fresh air and be thankful and cheerful for what you are now!

RS - April 16, 2011

"What's the price of two or three pet canaries? Some loose change, right? But God never overlooks a single one. And he pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail, even numbering the hairs on your head! So don't be intimidated by all this bully talk. You're worth more than a million canaries."

Friend or Foe?

Sometimes you think that you already have a forever friend..until you realized that she/he treated you so bad and you don't want to meet her/him anymore? Or maybe it's gonna be the opposite, that you did something wrong and she/he doesn't want to meet you anymore. The thing about true friends, they never leave you under any circumstances. They will stand beside you in good or bad, sunny or rainy days. It doesn't matter how good the condition is, true friends always take care of each other's back.

Once, I might make a very bad mistake to someone, without knowing what exactly the mistake was. She/he was just gone and never come back. No explanations, nor communication after. It was a truly sad moment in my life. Losing a very best friend of mine without any good reason. The only thing that I could do was to pray that she/he will be alright and will find some more good friends to replace my presence. "Whenever you are, wherever you are, whatever you do, I will always pray the best for you", that's what I said to myself.

If you are a person who wants to be a good friend, then start to be one.

- Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow.Don't walk behind me, I may not lead.Just walk beside me and be my friend. -

Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDMNoLS8lQo