Butt kicking 'n Arse-whopping

When it comes to workplace dynamics, I am often lost as to why people bother to work within my industry at all. This industry is only one step away from slavery, with its irregular working hours and a must for super high dedication. One must have at least an interest, if not passion for the profession. So, if you're not cut out for it,... Just don't be here at all!!!

Yesterday was the first day in the year 2005 where I have to launch a full fledge pre-production for a job. The job is exciting, but on that very first day I felt like I was farting against thunder. My team comprises of half a dozen freelancers with a will of their own, and little sense of team playing. Every time I looked for a person, I had to spend 10 minutes trying to find them. A lot of time was wasted in bitching, scolding, and other unecessary emotional outburst. When the day ended at 9 pm, I was exhausted...with very little done...

Why is it that I have to kick people's butt to get something moving? Why do I have to be a bitch that swing whips around to get things done? I don't like it. Unfortunately, that's what it takes. I'm the job official bitch. Definitely not going to win a popularity contest around here.

THE FAMILY

A newly wed friend of mine brought her foreign husband into town. It was his first foray into the wilderness of an Indonesian family. Little did he know that when he married this girl, he got himself a bonus of a dozen new family members who love you and adore you, even only in a sense of duty. The Indonesian family is a very interesting concept to begin with. We pride ourselves in being a country of friendliness, hospitable, and warmth. What we call family reaches far and wide - all the way across many miles, many generations, many cousins, many second and third degrees adoptable members. It is easy to be overwhelmed by it all. Just like what happened to my newlywed friends. They have to come to terms with 'The Indonesian Family', where children will always be loved as children no matter what... Where parents generally have 'post power syndrome' when dealing with their adult children. The concept of a nuclear family exist but never practised. It is quite depressing knowing everyone shares common knowledge of your problems, talked about your family, meddled in it, because they care. We are all one big happy family.

On the upside of it all, it is the universal 'Indonesian Family' solidarity that raised help and care immediately for the Tsunami victims. As everyone is related to everyone, the catastrophe is seen to be affecting everyone in the country. Many parents open their homes for the orphaned children. Many strangers helped names without faces through donations, a box of instant noddle, blankets and medicine.

That's my family. There are times I hated my family for being judgemental and nosy, but deep down I know it's because they love me. Despite my longing to be left alone, someone will always be there for me. That's my one big happy family.

A good support is all we need...

A friend's birthday forced me to go down the roots if ingenuity in finding the perfect birthday present for her. I think long and hard about this girl, and thought that as she always find it too troublesome to find a perfect bra, I would relieve her of this duty and buy her a nice bra. How hard would it be?

It turned out that as a girl with average size of 'equipment' and no particular fetish for anything lacey or racy, the act of bra shopping was quite simple. But when you're a 36D cup, one has to pause and think for a moment. Firstly, I never realised the variety of style a bra comes in. Alright, I know the lacey stuff, the t-shirt ones, the special sporty but to go down one level and find out about push up, demi bra, 3/4 cup, half cup, full coverage, racerback, second skin, wireless (and I'm not talking tech-lingo here), bralette, triangle???? And then decide the level of comfort against the different level of aesthetics? Oh, this is nice and sexy but doesn't look comfy... Well, this is one is definitely a little matronly but it's smooth and holds them nice.

Aaaaaargh!!! This is too much. When was the last time I had to bra-shop again??

In the modern era of pain strikingly thin super models and the constant bombardment of slimming facilities, a girl has to be strong in handling her own bodily pressures. Not literally, of course. The media does not make it easy for a woman to be appreciated as an individual. We are often reduced to either a set of numbers, or an imagery that's not true to the real woman. We are challenged to 'look' beautiful; with the emphasis on the 'look' rather than the notion of beauty. Who's looking? Why is that person looking? What is she/he looks for? These questions are hardly asked, therefore 'looking beautiful' never goes beneath the surface. It lingers on to the careful styling of an art director and more often not, the amazing works of Photoshop.

So, when a girl goes bra shopping, how does she decide? Something that will make her look beautiful? Or something that will make her feel beautiful? An hour and half later, my grumbling stomach became the deciding factor. As I've always been an advocate of comfort, I stuck to my beliefs and chose a girlie pink half cup. Being philosophical when buying a bra doesn't help much. A girl to its own demise.

For my girlfriend, I'm her demise... Hope you like the bra.
I was too hungry to worry.

Viva Victoria's Secret!

Paranoia

The Indonesian government released a statement recently that foreign military presence in Indonesian soil is to be limited for three months. Foreign voluteers can stay up to one year, but they still need to report themselves to local authorities for safe monitoring. Isn't it funny that even when Aceh is under such distress the government worries about foreign military presence, even if their sole purpose is to give aid to those in need? What kind of nation are we to be stuck in a paranoia against the military and foreign-ess?

Is it a case of the military? Or is it because they are foreign? Or a combo that poses such a threat that needs to be addressed as soon as possible?

We often fall on the trap of categorising and boxing people according to our set of values. In the midst of our narrow mindedness we forget that not everything needs to be understood within a certain classification. What happened in Aceh, Srilanka, India, Maldives, and many other places was something beyond those bounded limits. The world's reaction was impossible to be categorised. Help was coming in so fast, it was nearly impossible to detect where they're coming from.

Let's for a moment forget that we belong to a particular country, or born in a certain place. In the new era of advanced technology, let's unite and feel that we are citizens of the world; getting rid of suspicions and prejudice; fear of one another and work to rebuild what was once lost.

Courage

Nancy
Originally uploaded by Spunkycynth.

We call her Nancy Fancy back in uni. She used to have a super thick, beautiful, wavy dark hair that took her an hour to dry everytime she washes them. We graduated together. She moved to London a couple of years ago. Since then the sparse emails were always about the fun she had; the shopping, the partying, the boys. Until, "Gotta go back to Melbourne. I've just been diagnosed with leukemia."

Off she went, and I didn't get a chance to see her in London. A few months ago, this photo came. Her leukemia relapsed. Her only chance of survival is to have a bone-marrow transplant. They found her a donor and she had to go into operation on the next 20 days.

I haven't heard from her again.

My uncle was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago. They said it's gone to his lungs now. He's still fighting it.

I haven't seen him since July.

They are my heroes. I am too chicken shit to see them and offer them my love and support by visiting them. I'm scared that I'd see them in a way that would upset me. I'm scared to see them suffer.

I started wearing a yellow rubber bracelet . It's my own silent support for them. My way of saying that I love them and I'm fighting with them. That their will to live will always be my constant inspiration.

Tsunami

No one has ever seen an international disaster of this magnitude. The quake in the Indian Ocean and the tsunami that came with it wiped out more than 150,000 lives in many countries. People from different nationalities and all parts of the world suffered losses. Many have dead relatives or experience sever physchological trauma. There is also the gigantic task of rebuilding and recovering. Burying the dead and cleaning up the cities from the rubble is only the beginning of the numerous effort of an unknown scale.

However, it is amazing how easy people get distracted from what is important. In Aceh, where the casualities are highest, relief efforts are met by unecessary comments, scorn and criticism from people who mostly did it from the comfort of their own homes. There is talk of lack of coordination, of political suspicion, of security concerns in the province which housed the Free Aceh Movement separatists. The Americans presence on the ground was seen, by some people, to be a disguise for intelligence work to find out about human rights abuses. It is a claim which is ridiculous, irrelevant and totally out of place.

What is important at the moment is helping those who survived the ordeal; helping those who are working on the ground by all means possible. Most of us are incapable to physically be there, but many can be done from the comfort of our homes. Help and support can come in all kinds of form. Money donation matters. Food matters. Shelter matters. Services matters. But never under estimate the power of care, love, and prayers. There is a limit to how much material things we can donate, but prayers are never ending and by keeping them in our memory, we help in maintaining the long efforts of healing.

You can have a look on various events and ways to help on Tsunami Help.