A Home For My Thoughts

It is one of the books that blown my mind. It's very well written and would probably relate with a lot of people who are in their journey to find themselves.  So many people are talking about it but I did not buy it until a few months ago where I read the preview on the first pages. Easy for me to see if I want to buy the book or not. When the first pages hook me right away, I don't need to think twice. This book is one of them.  This contains spoiler of course.  Nora, the main character, like many of us, fall into depression and decided to kill herself. But she's not dead right away. She went into a kind of limbo between life and death. In that library she met a librarian, this librarian is a kind of a guide. Our guide that probably tasked when we were born.    The librarian shows her lives that she could have had if she wants to. She is so depressed and thinks that no life will makes her happy enough to live it. I can totally understand her state. I was there....

Lembongan dan Ceningan Few days ago I picked up my husband from the airport. It was raining a lot so I had to go by taxi. We went through airport toll which I paid with my card. Then when we arrived, I gave him 20K for parking that cost actually 12k. Doesn't matter I give it with tip. So I didnt ask for change.  A few mins later I noticed a notification that said I got charged for 14K, the price for toll. I usually never notice any notification but that day was different. So I chatted him asking why am I being charged for toll that I paid myself. He said, and I quote, “oh that is automatically done by the app.” I checked on the app website it said that the app will automatically charge you toll price when the route it takes show that you’re going through a toll. Then I thought, “ah yea maybe he couldn’t change it.” So I told him, “alright sir then I will report it to the app so they can easily help me to refund the money.” You know what he said, “no please don’t mam. I will refund ...

Is it a place? Or a feeling?  Let's dive in.  I told a friend of mine that I am feeling close to home since I live in Bali. I have never felt of feeling home anywhere. Every after 2 years of living in a city, I had the itch to move. I definitely never felt home in my parents place. It's their place, not mine.  I did not know that until I left the town to study in another city. There was some sense of relieve that I was out of that town. Yea sure people thought it's weird. "It is your home, you were born there." Yes, that's the definition of having a house while growing up. I think. Not the sense of belonging.  I dared to explore that feeling.  I told myself, "Let's get out of this town and be free." I still visit my parents of course, but I never stay longer than a week. I don't belong there.  Moving cities a few times, for work, school, and ended up living in Bali. I even told myself that I would never move to Bali for living, with several l...

I am grateful with my life. Doesn't really matter how annoying some parts of it, but I am content with the life that I am living. I had a lot of anger that I couldn't explain back then. I have been trying to untangle it one by one, and coming to a conclusion that I had become an emotional punching bag of my mother. My sister felt the impact even more.  Now don't get me wrong, I was raised right by my parents. I become a person that is not criminal, not a junkie either, a fearless one I might say, ready to take whatever hard steps in front of her. I value things differently. While, like any other Asian parents, societal approval is the most important thing. Happiness is a number XX, but showing off your wealth you have is a must. You know, like choosing the "safe" job like civil servant, married a fine guy, living together, having babies as soon as you get married, buy a house, buy a car (two if you can), the more the better. All of that.  And here's what many ...

Balinese is a lot of thing, but one thing for sure that they work efficiently when it is related to the documents.  Gw selalu kasih tepuk tangan meriah kalau urus-urus dokumen di Bali tuh serba cepet banget. Di Denpasar ya terutama karena gw tinggal di sini. Nggak tau lagi kalau di daerah lain. Ini testimoni gw yang tiap tahun harus urus dokumen visa suami, tiap tahun harus ke Dukcapil, Polres, wira-wiri di desa urus printilan.  Akhirnya tahun ini gw putuskan untuk pindah domisili ke Bali. Yeay.   Bukan tanpa alasan, tapi karena untuk menjamin KITAP, gw harus domisili Bali. Suami gw udah terdaftar di Imigrasi Bali. Jadi daripada gw harus pindahin dia ke domisili asal gw, yang mana gw udah nggak tinggal di sana hampir 20 tahun, ya lebih baik gw yang pindah.  Ternyata, pindah KTP tuh gampang banget ya. Gw kira gw harus pulang dulu ke domisili untuk cabut berkas. Setelah tanya langsung ke domisili asal gw (Pake WA dan jawabnya nunggu lama banget), mereka bilang untuk ur...

kotak sumbangan Beberapa hari lalu ada twit yang menyebutkan kalau semuanya sudah serba cashless dan banyak tempat yang nggak menerima uang tunai sebagai pembayaran. Twitnya rame.  Hal ini sudah beberapa kali gw amati, pernah waktu makan di kafe dekat rumah niat hati pengen bayar pakai tunai eh harus pakai QRIS atau cashless. Bikin gw agak heran karena kok gw pengen bayar tunai tapi malah gak bisa.   Iya memang gw sering banget cashless untuk sehari-hari. Tapi bukan berarti kita nggak boleh atau nggak bisa bayar pakai tunai juga kan? Kenapa ya kesannya sekarang kita udah perlahan menghilangkan uang tunai untuk pembayaran? Bukannya uang tunai adalah alat pembayaran yang sah juga ya? Iya tau, praktis banget kalau cashless tuh, terutama untuk pembayaran yang berjuta-juta. Di beberapa kasus, suami gw cuma bawa duit cash tapi di beberapa tempat cuma bisa QRIS tanpa punya mesin EDC buat swipe. Akhirnya nggak jadi beli. Tapi di sisi lain, uang tunai tuh masih sama berharganya. Gw ...

Moscow Bukan jadi negara yang ada di daftar kunjungan impian, but I did it anyway.  Jujur waktu pertama kali dapat info ke Rusia, agak deg-degan banget. Kayaknya gara-gara gw terlalu banyak nonton film yang ada hubungan Rusia-nya. Tapi ya dijalani aja karena ke sana buat ketemu suami.  Perjalanan gw mulai dari apply e-visa yang gampang banget itu, tentunya juga dengan tiket yang sudah di tangan. Di konter check in bandara Bali, pertanyaan yang gw dapatkan sedikit agak panjang. Gw bisa lihat di muka mbaknya, "Ngapain ke Rusia lu?" Kira-kira begitu, tapi tentu saja pertanyaan formal yang gw dapetin ya semacam apakah visanya udah pernah dipakai apa belum, ngapain ke Rusia, trus visanya minta difoto (ini nggak pernah terjadi di gw), krosceknya agak lama dikit.  Masuk ke custom check, kita nggak bisa pakai autogate karena di Rusia akan diminta stempel keluar negara kita. Jadi harus manual minta stempel. Seperti biasa, perjalanan interaksi gw dengan orang imigrasi di bandara s...

Red square Jadi, WNI diberi kemudahan untuk ke Rusia. Cukup dengan apply e-visa yang bisa didapatkan dalam hitungan hari saja. Meskipun sudah sering apply e-visa, tapi e-visa Rusia ini agak unik formulirnya. Jadi sebelum apply, gw baca gimana caranya di sini yang amat sangat runtut dan mudah dipahami. Sebelum isi formulir online, ada baiknya siapkan foto 3.5 x 4.5 dengan background putih dulu. Setelah itu jangan lupa untuk beli asuransi. Karena agak kepikiran, gw putuskan untuk beli asuransi dari perusahan yang ada di sana. Asuransi yang gw beli dari sini . Tadinya setelah beli kok nggak ada info apapun, bahkan bukti bayar pun nggak ada. Tapi petugasnya cukup tangkas setelah gw email, gw langsung dapat asuransinya. Nomer asuransi diperlukan untuk mengisi formulir, jadi harus beli asuransi sebelum apply visa.  Nah, bagi gw, ini formulir baru kali ini dapat pertanyaan yang unik-unik semacam apakah pernah pelatihan militer, wajib militer, pernah pegang / punya senjata, bahkan sampai ...

Amsterdam Ini pertama kalinya beli eSIM. eSIM ini nggak semua ponsel bisa, kebetulan aja gw beli karena ya ponsel gw bisa dipake eSIM. Sebelumnya sih gw jarang banget beli kuota internet kalau ke luar Indonesia. Kalau dibilang mahal buanget sih tergantung negaranya ya, cuma kadang males. Jadi kalau lagi di luar dan nggak ada internet gw bisa bilang "Wah lagi nggak ada internet gw di luar" 😅 Nah, gw pilih eSIM karena mikir kalau pake alat   macem mifi begitu pasti harus pick up alatnya, kalau beli SIMCARD ribet harus kasih paspor, harus ganti kartunya juga. Lalu terbesitlah eSIM. Gw cari beberapa eSIM yang banyak beredar buat di Eropa. Tadinya mau milih Simyo tapi harus abonemen bulanan. Ah nggak dulu deh. Kalau lamaan di sana aja baru okelah.  Tiap kali ke luar negeri, gw nggak pernah pakai roaming dari kartu gw sendiri karena menakutkan harganya. Tidak  worth it.  Akhirnya gw nemu eSIM dari  Maya . Menurut gw, kartu ini termasuk bersaing harganya. Gw beli yang...

Bakso I have to admit that my love for cooking is growing. It's growing and I can't believe it myself. This feeling has been like this since probably two years ago. Before, cooking felt like a hard work that I had to fulfill. It still is, but the difference is I enjoy it now. So it does not feel like I am forcing myself.  Back then whenever I cooked, it's either wrong recipe or incorrect measurement. It never tasted right. So I gave up cooking just because I never found the right one. And then I started to feel that I wanna eat better. I don't want to just eat whatever, I want to know what goes into my body. If I prepare it myself, then I know it's good one.  I don't eat too much sugar, sometimes it is hard to buy one thing outside and has a lot of sugar in it. So cooking it myself will allow me to control the amount of sugar. So I found recipes and I tried to make them. As to my surprise, they taste right! Exactly how they should have tasted. That made me happy...