One More Friend had Gone

Monday, 30 June 08, 3.29pm

Diary..
One more friend had gone back to Indo. She's my good friend not only at church, but she's also my cooking mate, and my curhat mate. Well, she had gone back for good so there's no reason I should be sad. Last Saturday we had a BBQ party at Musashi Urawa with our Indo friends. And, yesterday was the last time I met her at church. I upload some of the pics here to remember these great moments forever.




-Abbie-

Morphthing

Monday, 30 June 08, 3.07pm at home

Hi Diary,
Guess what? I was utak-utik'ing something just now and see what I got here! :)

It's from http://www.morphthing.com. You can combine 2 faces and see what you get. Well, I was just trying to combine my face with my hubby's face. Does our combined face look good? You don't need to tell me what you think, diary. I upload this picture here just for fun.

-Abbie-

Definitely Something is Wrong

Sunday, 29 June 08, 11.54pm at home

Diary..
Now is almost midnight. Definitely something is wrong with me. Recently, I feel like something very hot is inside my heart, not only for few hours, but it's been days! I know that I must control my emotion, but I feel helpless. My emotion takes control of me! I don't know if it's because I ate too much chicken's liver lately so my blood pressure increases? Or it's just because of my bad-hair-day or bad-tummy-day? Or because some evils are in me now? Only God can help me to cool me down. Only God can help me to get rid of the evils. May God help me before anymore victim is down in my hand.. For those who are already down, I really do want to apologize. I support "World Peace", for your information. Please forgive me..

-Abbie-

Next One in My Life?

Friday, 27 June 08, 11.16am at home

Hi again diary,
Yesterday night I had a very bad mood. I didn't have mood to talk and to do anything. Well, this is actually what I'm feeling recently. I don't know when it was started, but last night was the climax. I felt so empty, so useless, so weak till my whole body was so sick. Fortunately my hubby comforted me and I felt better now.

I didn't know how to describe my feeling when my hubby asked me last nite. This is what I told him:
One day, my youngest brother complained to his babysitter
Brother: "Why not everyday is Sunday so that I don't need to go to school, I can sleep till afternoon, and I can watch Doraemon every morning?"
Babysitter: "It's because during weekdays you feel tired and not happy, then you can feel happy and excited when Sunday comes. Without experiencing the painful weekdays, you won't value the feeling of having great Sunday."
I understood fully what she meant when she said this to my brother. But, now I really really understand it very well.

I admit that I have very good life now. I don't have any problem with my part-time job, my hubby, my family, my friends, or money. I have no life pressure at all. My life is about holiday, eh no, holiday is all about in my life. You might ask "So, what's your problem now?" I also don't know. It's not that I'm not grateful with what I have now. This is a new feeling for me. I just read a quote from my cousin "Happiness is a place between too little and too much". I absolutely agree with this quote. Everything that is too much or too little is not good. Perhaps now I'm having too great life till I feel so tired of it, till I can't feel what the real 'great life' is anymore, till I can't get excited about holiday. Being a full-time housewife at a young age is really not recommended, especially if there are no family, no relatives, and no children yet. I'm not sure if my mothership-sense is starting to be on the on-mode now. What I'm sure is, I need something more exciting in my life and I'm now finding out what it is.

-Abbie-

Planning for My 1st Wedding Anniversary

Thursday, 26 June 08, 4.08pm at home

Hi my cute little diary,
It's already almost one year since I moved to Japan. It's also already almost one year since I got married. Recently I've been busy thinking about what I'm gonna do in my first wedding anniversary later. Well, it's still 12 days to go but I must start planning it, rite?
- Should I go for a trip? If yes, the next question is; should my hubby take one day leave since the D day is on Monday? Or immediate sick leave?
- Or just having dinner together? If yes, the next question is; should we have special dinner at home? Or normal dinner at restaurant?
- Or just do nothing like nothing happens? If yes, the next question is, should I take the calming pill on that day? Otherwise, I'll be very mad not-too-calm.

Actually I'm planning to have a short trip to somewhere in Japan, somewhere that we haven't visited yet. It's just my planning. Not our planning. I really feel guilty now for having holiday all the year, haiz.. what can I do? I had already asked my hubby to postpone that fishing trip so that we could go there on our wedding anniversary but he just couldn't wait till then.

I browsed through the Internet to find a romantic chic modern hotel. And you know what, great hotels mostly are located in Tokyo or other big cities which are too far for us to go. So, our good option is Tokyo. You know, we stay in Tokyo now, and it sounds not-too-smart if we are staying in a hotel whose building is just side by side with my apartment. Well, the words "side by side" is just the extreme illustration, what I mean is, we have to go out from our city if we want to stay in a hotel, the farer the better, rite? Maybe we'll end up having picnic on the park in front of my apartment. Let's see what we can do on that day.

This morning I had a meeting with my boss. Last week he gave me an assignment to analyse about how I feel before showering and to write it down as detail as possible. Since I don't like showering so much I need to gather feedbacks from other people, I asked help from my dearest cousin to describe how it exactly feels. Of course some of them I also experience it myself, for example:
Me: "......and it stinks, you know, especially comes from the armpits."
Boss: "What is armpits?"
Me: "It's 'Waki'."
Boss: "Is this what usually Indonesian people experience or just your personal experience?"
Me: "Eh?"
Boss: [Seeing the title "MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE" at the top of the page] "Ohh I see. Thank you for your honest feedback. I really appreciate it"

At that time, I felt better since I was wearing long sleeves shirt. Still, I felt like going to hide in a hole (of course I'll bring my two waki when hiding). Now, I am trying to think positive "In whatever situation, honesty will always be highly appreciated", agree? You must agree with me this time, otherwise, I'll not bring my two waki when I'm hiding in a hole next time.

-Abbie-

Macha and Mocha Ice Cream

Wednesday, 18 June 08, 3.04pm at home

Hi diary!
Few days ago I tried to make ice cream! I wanted to make macha (green tea) and mocha ice cream. Two flavors of ice cream. One cup for each flavor. I got the recipe from my cooking class. I prepared the required-but-not-available-so-I-replace-them-with-the-available-ones ingredients:
- Non-fat milk (it should be full cream milk actually)
- 36% Cream (it should be 100% cream actually)
- Green tea bags(it should be green tea powder actually)
- Raw mocha (it should be mocha powder actually)
- Sugar that's melted with hot water (it should be honey actually)

I followed the instructions, did it step by step, slowly but sure, surely but slow, surely but wrong, wrong but still very sure. I encountered many obstacles; I had to use quite a lot of hot water to get the green tea scent out from 3 tea bags of green tea as well as for the raw mocha as well as for the sugar. Well, it's not only about the scent, I needed green and brown colors too so I had to really squeeze the tea bags and the mocha. After I finished mixing everything, it was so liquid! It should be quite solid. Slowly I was losing my confidence, but I didn't want to give up. I switched my stove on, I boiled it! I felt like Albert Einstein who did the experiments 1000x in his laboratory before he invented...nuclear or ...lamp? Was nuclear invented by Mr Einstein? Anyway, after boiling it for about 10 mins, nothing changed. It's still as liquid as before. Well, this time I gave up. I put the green tea one in plastic container, and the mocha one in another plastic container, and put them in freezer.

On Day 1, I opened my freezer and yes! I was quite happy with the result, it was not exactly like ice cream but at least it didn't look like ice cube. I tasted it, and.. hmm, it was not bad actually. I put them back in the freezer.

On Day 2, I realized that space wasn't enough for those 2 containers to be in my cute freezer. So, I put them in the same container. They were already frozen so they wouldn't disturb each other, rite? I was right and I felt smart, now my freezer had more space since one container had gone.

On Day 3, my freezer was getting more packed. I needed some more space. So, I took that ice cream container out from the top freezer and put it in the bottom part of my fridge. I thought, I would move it back to the top after I took some items out from the top. But, you know.. I watched Tukul 4 Mata and I laughed.. and laughed.. and I was happy.. and I slept happily.. and yes.. I forgot to move it back!

On Day 4, I opened my fridge and I was shocked!! The green tea and the mocha were all melted and mixed! I quickly put it in freezer again. But it was too late. Can you tell if the color is green or brown? Just now I tried to eat it, surprisingly it was very nice!! But, I can't tell if it has green tea or mocha flavor. The first second I tasted green tea, the next second I tasted mocha, the next second I shook my head, the next second I was blur, and the next second I didn't bother to think about the flavor, I just ate it. This macha-mocha ice cream is my new invention, you know! Human must think and do differently, rite?

-Abbie-

Fishing in Shishidome

Tuesday, 17 June 08, 9.42am at home

Hi my lil diary,

This is my picture when we were fishing in Shishidome, somewhere near Kawaguchi Lake, somewhere near Mt Fuji. You must be wondering who took this candid picture.
- Is it someone who just accidentally passed by, found our pose was great, took our picture, and gave it to us?
- Or someone that we nagged to take our picture then we quickly posed like this?
- Or we hanged the camera on the tree and set the timer on for 30 mins then we were not moving for 30 mins to get this pose?
- Or it's our smart tripod that's able to take our candid photo?
You know which one, rite? Yes, it's our smart tripod that's able to take our great pose! For your information, Ron's pose was natural, ok?!! *How about your pose?*

My pose? You wanna see my natural pose? How is it, diary? Look great? Professional? Full of charms? Or look like fake photo?? Can you see the fish that I caught?

Anyway, I've put our full photos in Trip in Japan: @ Kawaguchi

This time, my hubby's dream on fishing had come true! :D
- We caught 16 fish..
- We let 4 badly-injured-fish go and die in the next morning themselves..
- We let 2 lightly-injured-fish go and let other people fish them..
- We put 10 fish in a plastic bag with no water..
- We didn't kill the 10 fish, they died themselves in peace..
- We put the 10 fish in a fridge, wondered they had really died or not..
- We took a nap for 2 hours..
- We brought the 10 fish to the kitchen..
- We cut the heads of the 10 fish..
- We opened the tummies of the 10 fish..
- We cleaned the 10 fish..
- We barbecued 4 fish..
- We ate 4 fish..
- We left 6 no-head-and-opened-tummy-raw-fish on BBQ area..
- Perhaps the wild cats ate the 6 no-head-and-opened-tummy raw fish..
- Perhaps the lodge officer brought the 6 no-head-and-opened-tummy raw fish home and cooked..
- Perhaps the lodge officer threw the 6 no-head-and-opened-tummy raw fish away..
- We went back to the lodge and had a tight and sound night sleep..
- We decided not to pick up any call nor open the door after the BBQ time till the next morning..
- Because we were afraid if the lodge officer called us, brought the 6 no-head-and-opened-tummy raw fish, and said "Excuse me, you left your belonging"!

-Abbie-

It's Just About This & That...

Wednesday, 11 June 08, 1.19pm at home

Hi diary,
It's been one week since my last post. Last Saturday we had Pizza Party in one of my friends' house, me and my friends were the ones who made the pizzas! We made 25 pizzas all together! You know what, I enjoy making pizza, we can put everything we want to eat on it so I don't need to worry to remove the pickles and pineapples and any other unwanted items.

The first thing came into my mind when I started to put the pepperoni and cheese was my youngest brother. Suddenly I missed him a lot! He loves pizza as much as I love Nasi Goreng, it's been so great if my brother and I make the pizza together. Diary, please remind me, the first thing I wanna do when I go back to Indo is: making pizza with my youngest brother, ok? And the second thing is: making lasagna with my elder sis! And the third thing is: making bibimbap with my Mom. And the forth thing is: having "Kuiz Rahasia Keluarga" with my whole family! Yea, every year we have this kind of quiz, this will be our third time this year. Believe me, your relationship among your family members will be closer once you play this game. Ohh, I miss my family now! I've been planning to do this and that, but honestly, I dunno when I'll go back to Indo, hopefully in December this year. Otherwise, I'll be sooo sad! Hiks.. Hoaaaaa..!! *Your family will be coming here this autumn, rite?* Eh? Ohh yessss!! I forgot! Yipeee.. they'll be here again in October! :D

This weekend, me and my husband will have another trip again. This is what we call enjoying life. God has sent us here, so it must be His purpose for us to enjoy Japan, agree? What's the use of working hard and earning money? Money is for us to wisely spend. Money is not for us to save and save and save until dunno-how-much and put in the bank until dunno-when and at the end we have lots of money and dunno-for-what. *Good excuse!* Yes, thank you. Honestly, I feel so guilty of spending money for holiday again, you know, holiday in Japan is not cheap. I'm now quite relieved that I found this excuse.

We're going to fish this time in Kawaguchi (around 2 hours from Tokyo) by staying over night in a lodge near rivers and BBQ-ing our fish in that lodge. Hopefully this time can make my hubby's dream comes true! You remember about his dream, rite diary?

Ok, I need to go back to my homework again. Oh yes, forgot to tell you; I'm doing 6-week bible study now so there's homework everyday that I have to do. See you when I see you again, diary..

-Abbie-

A Piece of Cake

Wednesday, 4 June 08, 10.49am at home

Dear my little diary,
I received a forwarded email from my friend yesterday. The message of that email is very meaningful. I was about to write the contents of the email here but I was lazy to write it since the email is in pps format so I can't just copy and paste it here easily. And, this morning, I was reminded again to write it here. I couldn't help it for not doing what the reminder kept asking me to do. So, here it is:

Sometimes we ask ourselves:
What did I do to deserve this?
Why does God let these things happen to me?

Here is the explanation..
A daughter tells her mom how everything is going wrong with her.
Probably she failed her math exam..
And her boyfriend.. dumped her.. for her best friend.

In times so sad, a good mother knows just the thing to cheer her daughter up.. "I make a delicious cake".
In that moment the mother hugged her daughter and walked her to the kitchen, while her daughter attempted to smile.

While her mother prepared the utencils and ingredients, her daughter sat across from her at the counter.
Her mother asks, "Sweetheart, would you like a piece of cake?"
Her daughter replies, "Sure, Mom, you know how I love cake."
"Alright" the mother says, "Drink some of this cooking oil."
Shocked, the daughter responses, "What??!! No way!!"
"How about a couple of raw eggs?"
To this the daughter responses, "Are you kidding?"
"How about a little flour?"
"No Mom, I'll be sick."

The mother responses, "All of these things are uncooked and taste bad, but if you put them together.. they make a delicious cake!"

God works the same way. When we ask ourselves why does He make us go through these difficult things, we don't realize the what/where these events may bring us. Only He knows and He will not let us fall. We don't need to settle for the raw ingredients, trust in Him.. and see something fantastic come about!

God loves us so much.. He sends us flowers every spring. He makes the sun rises every morning. And anytime we need to talk, He is there to listen! He can live anywhere in the universe.. but He chooses to live in our hearts!

When everything seems falling apart, remember, He is God and He knows better what's best. So whatever stage we are in any area of our lives, it is all a concoction of the Lord. It's a great promise.. "He makes all things beautiful in His time!"

I hope your day is a piece of cake!
I hope you can see your problem as simple as a piece of cake!

-Abbie-