Last Day in 2010

Friday, 31 December 2010, 8.55am at home

Hi my dear diary,
Today is the last day of this year, it's morning in HK. I always feel sad on the last day of the year. The year 2010 is the year that I am already familiar with, the year that has revealed my life's mystery box. This year almost ends in hours, leaving me alone with another year; the year 2011. For me, the year 2011 is a brand new year that is still like a stranger, the year that forces me to face my unpredictable future, the year that challenges me to learn more and do more. I know, I should think positive, year 2011 has been waiting for me to give me a better life, right?

I will turn to 30 years old after the new year. I will no longer be in 20-something. What have I achieved? Not too much. Well, I have a husband, an expected baby that will be born in less than 2 months, an expected nanny for my baby (Does this count?), a finally-newly-bought-apartment in HK that we will be living in, in 6 months time, and a job. Excuse me, can I call it 'a job'? As you know, I have been working at home, doing some import-export business but not in a big scale. Sometimes I just don't feel it like a job since I do it at home.

Year 2010 is like preparation year for me, I will start to have a real family life in year 2011. There are lots of things I need to do after the new year; new baby and new home. I really hope I can do better in 2011, especially in that 'job' thing.

Happy New Year, diary!

-Abbie-

My First DSLR Camera

Monday, 25 Oct 10, 2.17pm at home

Hello diary..
I just bought a new camera few days ago. It's my first DSLR camera! My old pocket Sony camera was broken last year so it's a good chance to upgrade my camera to a better one. I love my new camera so much now! However, I had an unpleasant experience when buying this camera.

I bought it in a shop where I used to buy electronics stuff. I know one person there very well and he always gave me very good price. On Saturday, me and my hubby went there to buy other things and suddenly we wanted to buy a camera. The person whom I know was not there, the other salesman who said that he knows me serving us. This salesman talked so much till we fell in love with this camera. He also kept pushing us to buy accessories for camera. Me and my hubby were like hypnotized by this salesman. We just bought all that he recommended. We swiped the card, signed on the receipt, and we did not check on the stuffs we bought at all! We said thank you and left the shop.

Soon after we left the shop, I had a bad feeling. I told my hubby that I wanted to ask other shops about the price of the product we bought. Some of the shops gave us cheaper price. We already felt cheated but we were still fine. On the way home, we kept saying that this was our first time buying expensive camera so we deserved to enjoy some luxurious, to console our guilt. It worked, we were happily carrying our new camera home.

At home, I quickly checked on Canon website to learn more about the real price and I was happy since I bought it around US$100 cheaper than the suggested retail price. I opened the box and saw the camera, this was when I felt there was something wrong. The box and the camera show different product series. I quickly googled it and found out that actually both are the same product, one is the international product name and the other one is the Japan's one. Mine is the Japan version. I felt relieved. Then I inserted the battery into the camera and saw the language was all Japanese! The manual book and the warranty card were all in Japanese too! The worst part is, the warranty card says 'This warranty is only valid in Japan'. The shop indeed said that it has 1 year warranty with the shop, but not with Canon! We just suddenly remembered it after we were home. This is really not funny at all! I know some Japanese words but it literally means that I only know SOME words. We are very stupid in operating camera so we desperately need the Manual book. We also bought the camera bag for US$50, the bag with no brand name, the bag with awful appearance, and the bag that we did not even look at before buying!

At that night, we were so pissed off and we decided to come to the shop again for a product exchange. We wanted the international version with English language and with authorized warranty from Canon. However, we slowly changed our mind. My hubby ate one bowl of kuaci (Sun flower seeds) to gain his patience. I carefully checked on websites on how to get the English instruction book. I got the English manual book when my hubby finished half bowl of the kuaci, one problem was solved! On the manual book, I also found how to change the language in camera to English, and I managed to change it! Two problems were solved, my hubby just finished his whole bowl of kuaci. The kuaci-method worked well. He was really in a much more patient mood. About the warranty issue, we decided not to bother, we just pray and hope that my camera will be fine. We knew that we can't argue with that salesman, we already agreed and signed the receipt which actually showed the product name of the camera that we bought. The shop also told us about the shop warranty and we unconsciously agreed with that (The salesman said 'For any problem with the camera, come back to this shop, we will solve the problem for you, 1 year warranty, no need to worry'). Perhaps we paid US$100 cheaper for this reason. We take our lesson, this is HK, we should be more careful about everything, don't trust people easily.

Yesterday I spent half day to learn how to use the camera. I followed the step-by-step instruction on the manual book but I could not move forward from section 'Take picture with Auto Mode' which is the very very most basic step! You know why? Even with auto-mode, the pictures that I took were always blurred!! I kept changing the setting but I still couldn't fix this blurry problem for 4 hours. I fixed and cleaned my short-sighted glasses many times to check if my eye-vision was already worsen now. I was wondering if my new camera had short-sighted vision like me because the pictures turned out good when I used it to take picture of an object which was nearby. Does my camera also need my thick glasses? Soon after thinking about this, I tried to fixed the lens of the camera and suddenly I heard a sound *click!* when fixing the lens. Yes! I can take clear pictures now! :D I am happy enough to take pictures without blur, the next step is learning how and when to use the other modes. Phew! Long way to go..

Bye, diary..

-Abbie-

20 Weeks on 20.10.2010

Wednesday, 20 Oct 10, 11.38am at home

Hi little diary!
Today is a special day since it's October 20th. People write it 20.10.2010, cute isn't it? Yea, it is also a special day for me since today is exactly 20 weeks of my pregnancy. I am half way through, everything is doing fine so far. I was just back from my 10-day Indo trip. I got to eat the Indonesian food that I craved but the feeling is different. As soon as I reached Indo, I did not feel like eating anything. It is also weird that I couldn't sleep more than 5 hours in a day in Indo, I woke up very early every morning. I feel so exhausted easily although I practically did nothing in Indo. After I came back to HK, I slept a lot for days like having a serious jetlag. Is it because of my age? Or because of my pregnancy? Or because of the development of my laziness? Or my baby likes HK more than Indo?

My belly started to show, my weight started to increase, my body started to grow. When I was younger, I was always wondering how the pregnant women wear pants. Do they wear pants below their big tummy? Do they wear pants at big size so they can put the pants up on their super big tummy? Now I have started experiencing this feeling and I still can't make up my mind on wearing my pants below my tummy or on my big tummy so I keep pushing it up and down whenever I feel like it.

My pregnancy is so far so good, I can feel the baby's movements now! This is the highlight of today. This is an amazing experience to know that there is something alive inside me! I have become crazy since then, I keep talking to my baby whenever I want to eat, shower, or go somewhere. I feel like having an invisible secret friend that only me can see! I love this feeling so much, I think I am gonna miss this feeling after my baby is out of my womb. What the book says is right, second trimester is the time when a woman feels the best. I am enjoying the moments now. I have actually created a new blog to write letters to my baby since his world began. I don't want to miss one of the precious moments of my life.

During the pregnancy, I am quite a strong woman beside the fact that I fainted several times due to no reason. I still can do normal activities like usual. And, for now, I have decided to look for a job after the delivery later, I really want to work and earn money! *What???* I wanna write it here so that I won't pretend to forget in the future. Well, this plin-plan-me is acting up again.

Diary, next month me and hubby will have our last 'honeymoon' to Bali, Solo (my home town), Singapore, and Thailand. Yea, only these kind of countries will accept pregnant lady. I have been rejected when I applied for a visa to a certain country. It has been my dream to go to a country with initial 'NZ'. Too bad, this chance was missed. Sad? Yes. Disappointed? Very! But I am sure there must be a good purpose for me why I was rejected, right? Anyway, there will be 7 flights all together during this 15-day trip, please pray for me and especially my baby that we will be fine. Yea yea, 7 is my lucky number. But I am really scared of getting on the plane now. I like living with my feet standing on the ground. Since this will be our last 'honeymoon' before the baby time, I wanna go to this trip and make the fullest out of it. Every moment in life is precious!

-Abbie-

Today is 9-9-10

Thursday, 9 Sep 2010, 9.34pm at home

Hello diary..
Long time no see! Well, at least I still keep my promise, I told you that I don't like skipping month so I still write at least 1 post in a month. The title has nothing to do with the contents. Now I am alone at home, my hubby is having dinner with his colleagues. I did not plan to write diary today actually since I have nothing to tell you but I am sort of missing my little diary recently. I am now wondering why I feel like I have nothing to write, few years ago I always had 'something' to say. I know that 'something' does not always mean something important but at least I always had a topic to write about. Many things happen in my life but I always classify an event as 'unimportant' or 'private & confidential' to write about. I think those are the two main reasons.

Anyway, my pregnancy is now 3,5 months old, I have passed the first trimester safely, thanks God! But recently I am still struggling with the last bit of nausea. Before this, I really really hated vomit so much, I never experienced vomiting in my life. I didn't like the idea of my mouth to be both entrance and exit door for the food. I treasured food as much as I treasured my life. I loved eating! So, I wanted my mouth to be the entrance door only for my food. There is another proper exit door, right? I was thinking, how could I continue eating my food with my mouth after I throw up? But now, after I experience the turbulence and the storm that happen in my stomach, I am kind of addicted to itI like it if I can vomit. Today I ate a big bowl of ramen in Ajisen and a big glass of bubble tea right after the ramen. I wanted to pamper myself. On my 30 mins way home on the bus, the turbulence in my stomach started. My ramen was all out! My stomach was feeling so good after that. My tongue enjoyed the ramen but it did not have chance to be fats in my body, isn't that cool? Ok ok, I know that I should not think that way, but I can't help not to think of my soon-to-be-fat body.

In the next 2 weeks, I will hopefully know the gender of my baby. I am really looking forward to that day. *What is your preference?* Hmmm.. honestly I preferred baby girl initially but now I prefer to have baby boy, but sometimes I still like to have baby girl too whenever I see cute pretty small girl. The feeling is like when I have to choose to have ramen or crispy chicken curry rice for lunch, I want both but I can't finish both. *Was this your experience this afternoon before you had your big bowl of ramen?* Yea yea, you're right. Luckily, having girl or boy is decided by God so I don't need to choose myself, you know I am a 'plin plan' girl.

Finally I have a confirmed booking of the hospital, diary. HK is crazy, expectant women need to reserve a bed in a hospital as soon as they are 9 weeks pregnant and put HKD 20,000 deposit because the bed is always full. The private hospitals for maternity in HK are now already fully booked till April 2011. The late comers will not be entertained. Crazy, right? The crazier thing is, we can't even choose the room category now, we are just guaranteed a bed, the room category will be known on the admission day like a Christmas gift surprise, Tadaa! If the available room category is lower than our expectation, then we just need to endure it. If the available room category is higher than our expectation, then we need to pay more according to room's price!

Diary, next month I will be going back to Indonesia, yoohooo! This is an occasion that I have been waiting for since many many 3 months ago. I don't know why I am still attached to my home country so much.

It's getting late at night now, diary.. see you again!
*Hmm.. you indeed have so many things to talk but you said you had nothing to tell?*

-Abbie-

Craving for Food

Wed, 4 Aug 10, 9.37am at home

Morning, my dear diary..
My days have been upside down recently. My morning sickness is quite bad these last few weeks. My nausea is very bad although I don't throw up because I really hate throwing up. I feel that there is always 'emping' in my mouth, it tastes so bitter! If you want to know, the food that I hate the most in this world from the day I was born till the day I will die is Emping!! Emping is an Indonesian cracker, I don't understand why people created this kind of snack to be eaten. Even when my dad was trying me to do a barter for 1 small pack of emping with 1 car, I rejected him in 1 second without any regret! And now, that emping is always in my mouth 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for the last 3 weeks. Can you imagine how many cars I will get? No, I mean, can you imagine how torturing is that? My head is spinning all the time. I still force myself to do my usual activities. I force myself to cook sometimes but at the end I really can't eat my own food. Amazingly, I can eat well when I eat out.

Now I am really craving for Nasi Gudeg. I keep searching for a restaurant that sells Nasi Gudeng in Hong Kong but I can't find it. :(

Then I found one video in youtube about how to make Nasi Gudeng at home. It looks quite interesting, it just needs some efforts and practice, and I think I can do it. I can make the krecek and the opor ayam, the only challenge is the jackfruit but I learned from youtube that I can replace 'daun jati' with the teabag to make the jackfruit and and egg red. But, I am not sure if I will still want to eat later after I finish cooking because I can't eat my own food now.

Three nights ago, I had a very sad dream till I woke up crying out loud. In my dream, I saw my little sister eating this 'Cabuk Rambak' with banana leaves. She offered me hers, but only 2 pieces left so I asked her to buy a new portion for me. After 10 mins, she came back with different food, not Cabuk Rambak. I asked her to go and buy again. After another 10 mins, she came back with another different food again! I was sooooo angry. Then I decided to go and buy myself. I saw a 'simbok' (old lady) with her Cabuk Rambak sitting in the corner, I quickly ordered 1 portion. This simbok slowly served my order with her hands while talking to the other simbok who was sitting beside her. And the more they talked, the conversation was getting hotter, her hands stopped moving, she completely forgot my order. My other brain realized that I was about to wake up from my dream since I could feel my hubby's movement on the bed beside me. I didn't want to go back to reality without tasting the Cabuk Rambak. I was angry with the simbok and I screamed while crying "Cepatannnnnnnnnnn Mbokk!! (Quickkkk!!)" and... I was left laying down on my bed crying and kicking my blanket. I heard my hubby said "Hey, wake up, it's just a dream, it's ok, it's ok" And I replied "I knowww, that's why I don't want to wake up!" Yes, back to reality, no Cabuk Rambak, no simbok, although my nose could smell the aroma of Cabuk Rambak but the emping flavour was back in my mouth again. I should have just eaten the 2 pieces left from my sister's, I regretted so much. I never know that craving for food can be this bad.

People say after 3 months, the emping flavour morning sickness is gone. So, it's another 3-4 weeks to go. Aja aja, Abbie!

-Abbie-

My 3rd Wedding Anniversary

Thursday, 8 July 10, 9.25am at home

Dear diary,
Yesterday was my wedding anniversary. Time flies so fast, it has been 3 years since we got married on 7 July 2007. I want to write it here because yesterday was an unforgettable day for me.

I got a special present yesterday. It is so special till my tears fell down on my cheeks. I am sure that the gift is prepared by God to be given to us on that special day. Yes, it is our wedding anniversary's gift! I was so touched and amazed how God is so sweet to me. HIS touch is so personal. HE pays attention to every detail of my life till HE even remembers my wedding anniversary. Well, for me, my wedding anniversary is such a big event. But for HIM, HE must have lots and lots and lots of other couple's wedding anniversary that HE needs to remember. But in fact, HE remembers mine! You know what, I am now crying when I am writing this. I am so touched on how HE treasures my life although I often think that I am just 'another human being' that HE happened to create. I was wrong! HE takes care of our lives more than we take care of our own!

So many ups and downs in life, I always think that everything happens for a good reason. You know that I am a person who always think positive. But, yesterday I learned something deeper: We are very precious in God's eyes! HE is watching everyone of us from above. Yes, EVERYONE of us, NO EXCEPTION!

Anyway, I had a great day yesterday. My hubby wanted to give me surprise by knocking off from office earlier but office work kept him till late. It is really ok, I am more than satisfied with his intention only. We had Japanese dinner and we watched 3D Shrek movie. Yes, it was just a simple outing that a couple should do but I did treasure the moments, because I know that every beautiful moment in my life is what God has specially prepared for me.

Usually every morning before my hubby goes to work, he always gives me 3 kisses; one at the left cheek, one at the right cheek, and one on the lips. This morning he gave me 3 kisses as usual then he opened the front door to leave. When he was about to close the door, he came in again to give me one more kiss. He said "One additional kiss for the one inside", he smiled and left. This is very simple but I want to remember this sweet moment forever too.

Thank You for Yesterday, Thank You for Today, and Thank You for Tomorrow! ^.^

-Blessed Abbie-

Oh I am still as clumsy as before...

Saturday, 26 June 10, 1.18pm

Hi Diary!
Today is Saturday. Today is such a cloudy day, the clouds are very low and dark. It's the best time to just sleep and relax at home. Suddenly I miss those moments when I write diary and express my feeling in it. So, I opened my little diary and started writing again.

I had a bad experience yesterday. I planned to go to China embassy to apply China visa for my husband yesterday around 4pm but I failed. I prepared all the documents, passport, etc the night before. Everything was all ready. Yes, I had no problem with the documentation. Around 3pm I took shower and got myself dressed up and ready to go. I took one of my favorite handbags from my cabinet, opened the dustbag, put the China visa application form, my hubby's pasport and his ID card in the bag. Then I grabbed my mascara, eye-lash curler, hair comb, and powder and put all of these in my bag. I didn't have time to do full make-up at home so I planned to do the eye-lash part on the bus. I thought that everything was all in then I opened the front door and closed it carefully. My front door is same like the door in hotel's room, once it's closed, it's locked!

After I heard the 'click' sound from the door meaning that it was properly locked, I opened my bag again to check if I have brought my wallet and my mobile phone. And at that time, thunder was in my head! *Dank!* I didn't bring my wallet and my phone! The worst is, my door key is always inside my wallet! So, I was like in between of nowhere. I couldn't go in, I couldn't go out. I couldn't take bus to ask for help since I didn't have bus card and money. I couldn't call somebody to help me too because I didn't bring my mobile and there was no public phone around my area *even there was, you had no money to call* yea, right! Key, mobile, and wallet are my traveling package and I forgot to bring all of them! Good job, Abbie!

I went downstairs, went out to the street, looked at how everyone was doing. People were busy doing their own activities. I was jealous. Me, I was like in invisible cage. I had my mascara and hair comb in my bag, but they couldn't help me. Then I went in again to my apartment lobby. I gave signal talked to the receptionist that I needed to borrow phone. My hubby's China application form really saved my life! I did fill in the form the night before including his phone number. Can you believe that I don't even remember my hubby's phone number? Even after that incident, even until now, I still have not managed to memorize his number. Anyway, I called my hubby finally and asked for his help. There were options that he gave me:
1. Borrow money from the receptionist to take bus to his office
2. Take taxi to his office and he would wait for me there to pay for the taxi fare
3, Wait for him to come home
I crossed option #3, I rejected option #1 since I don't like borrowing money from people that I don't know. Only left with option #2. But, there was a risk for option #2, how if I arrived earlier while my hubby was still not there? The taxi driver would be !"#$%&'() at me. And I would be ~.~# at the taxi driver.

Finally I still took option #2 and luckily my hubby was there before me. Fyi, this incident is not my first time. Exactly the same incident happened when my hubby was in Korea for 2 weeks and I was soooo nervous since I had none to call to. Fortunately the security guard was so nice for calling Key Repairman to come to open my door. Phew! Since then, that key repairman's name card is always in my wallet because I knew there would be a second time, and I was right! *But you also left your wallet so how can you contact that repairman??*

-Clumsy Abbie-

Aya-chan is a history...?

Monday, 7 June 10, 8am at home

Dear diary..
It has been so long time since I last wrote my diary. I just cleaned my apartment, I am feeling much better now with a neat and clean apartment. The last 2 days were my turbulence days. I felt like my life was a total mess. You know, I have been doing online selling using facebook this last 1 year, I named my online shop Aya-chan. I was so attached with Aya-chan till she has become part of my life, my habit, my job, my hobby, and my baby. But last weekend, I arranged 3 shipments as the last shipments for Aya-chan. Yes, something bad happened to Aya-chan last Saturday, suddenly Aya-chan's account on facebook is gone, yes it's GONE. I can't login to the account anymore and when I searched the page using the search function... the page is just not anywhere to be found. It's gone. Disappeared. Untraceable. Unsearchable. Like never existed before. I did contact facebook admin, but still no response.

I know that I can't keep my online shop forever since more and more competitors are going in now, the market will be saturated soon. And I know that one day I must leave Aya-chan. That's why these last few months I did search for other business opportunities and I have been working on that while I still tried to find time to keep Aya-chan running. But it is still so sad when it is time to say good-bye, especially when it is done forcefully.

Many people say that I still can start Aya-chan again anytime on facebook. No, not now perhaps. I wanna use this as a sign that I need to move on. I have been struggling if I had to leave Aya-chan these last 3 months but everytime I just couldn't do it due to many reasons. Now the time has come. Aya-chan is not dead. I'm doing another project now which I call Aya-chan Baby. Aya-chan was gone on the same day, when I was creating a new page for Aya-chan Baby Wholesale. Can you believe it? Is it really a sign that I should just focus on one thing at a time? I just want to think positive now, I just want to believe that everything happens for a good reason, God's reason. So, I need to go on and on and on. Aja! Aja!!

Anyway, a short history about Aya, Aya-chan was created by my elder sister. She is good in drawing. She is good in design. She is good in art. My sis first drew Aya-chan as a picture of me. She called her creature as Yaya-chan initially. Yaya is my childhood name, only my closest people call me with that name. But I changed it to Aya-chan because I don't want many people know that this Japanese girl in pink kimono and with hair bun is a picture of me. I really thank my dear sis for her great creation. Aya-chan will never perish so long as I shall live, because I am the Aya-chan! *Wow, it sounds like "I am the Iron Man!" at the end of Iron Man 1 movie*

-Abbie-

Jumpy Abbie

Tuesday, 27 Apr 10, 7.33pm at home

Diary,
I just fell sick again, two times falling sick in two consecutive months, and both happened on the third week of the month. I really hope it will not happen again next month. I suffered a lot when I was sick, the whole body ached, my head was spinning, my throat was so painful, my nose was completely blocked. I went to see doctor 2 times last week because of my "kyasu-ness". As a result, both doctors gave me 2 sets of medication. I think I overdosed myself. My illness is gone now, but the post-effect is: my heart beats so fast since yesterday and I easily got shocked over small little things. What I mean by "small little things" is not only small noise.

My mobile phone is now set to vibrate. Even my heart can't take the noise/movement of the vibration. My laptop is also now set to mute all the time, but I am still jumped whenever there is an alert popping up on my screen from MSN/YM that somebody is online or when somebody says 'hello' to me in MSN/YM. My heart can't take the blinking windows at the bottom of my screen too. One of the things that makes my heart beats fastest is when I wash dishes and my slippery hands can't really catch the bowl properly. And the funniest thing that make my heart jumped is when I check my inbox and I see there are new emails in the list and those new emails are in bold. The bold fonts make me shocked! Haizz.. I am tired of riding on roller coaster these two days. I stopped the medication yesterday but I still have this jumpy feeling. How to completely remove this feeling? I am really feeling not alright.

Now you know how my condition is, if you write a comment on this post, that means I will receive new notifications in my email, and that means..... I will be in a condition of placing my left hand on my chest while my right hand is trying to click on the word "Inbox".

My hubby is on the way home now, he will be opening the door in the next 15mins but I don't know the exact time. This is very frightening! I should finish this diary soon and prepare my heart before he suddenly "krrkkk!!" puts the key inside the keyhole and 'grrkkk!!' opens that big dark brown door.

Bye diary...

-Jumpy Abbie-

Sleepless...

Thursday, 24 March 10, 6.35am at home

Morning diary..
I guess this the earliest diary I have ever wrote so far. I used to be a sleepy head. So it should be written down on my diary that I woke up very early this morning, around 4.30am. I forced myself to go back to sleep but I couldn't, so I was just out from my bedroom and started playing with my iPhone.

These last few days I have not been feeling so well. My head is so heavy, my back bones are so painfull, I also have a fever. I usually sleep a lot when I am sick. And I did sleep a lot on my first day of falling sick. But it's weird that I couldn't sleep today, it feels like my head keeps thinking, my brain keeps working, till it hurts so much. Yes, since I do my own business, I can't sleep as soundly as before. If I can have a very good sleep, I will be really happy.

I'm not sure if it's insomnia? Or does it have something to do with my aging? Or is there really so much thing in my brain?

While I am writing this diary, I get sleepy again... It's true that thinking makes me awake and sleepless... But thinking also makes me tired and sleepy...

Let me have a short rest again, diary.
*You are still a sleepy head*

-Abbie-

On a Cab

Thursday, 18 Mar 10, 9.12am at home

On the cab that I took last time:
Taxi driver: "Where are you going?"
Me: "Take me to this place" [showing an address on a paper]
Taxi driver: "Ok!"
............[on highway, silent]...........
..............[still silent]...............
Taxi driver: "Are you Japanese? Ohayo?"
Me: "I am Indonesian"
Taxi driver: "Ooww Korea? Annyonghaseyo!"
Me: "No, INDONESIAN"
Taxi driver: "Ahh, ok ok. India!"
Me: "I-N-D-O-N-........."
Taxi driver: "Yes yes I know, INDIAN! Good morning!!"
Me: "Yea, morning.."

Sometimes we need to learn when the right time is to give up.

-Abbie-

Cupcakes for Dad

Friday, 5 Mar 10, 2.27pm at home

Hello diary!
Yesterday was my father's birthday. I sent these cute cupcakes to him. This is my first time giving a cake to my dad. I always thought that my dad didn't like sweet cake and he didn't like childish gift too. But I was wrong! He liked it so much! He still can't eat sweet cakes so much, but he liked the fact that I gave a surprise cake to him on his special day.

Happy Birthday, Daddy! ^^

-Abbie-

The Power of Bleach!

Wednesday, 3 Mar 10, 6.33pm at home

Dear my little diary,
I am really glad that I still can see you, diary. You know what, I almost died just now. In the bathroom. Yes, stupid me almost died in my bathroom. Alone. Naked. While cleaning the bathtub using bleach. Not funny. Not so elegant. I never know bleach had that kind of strong effect. I know that bleach can remove stains, bleach can whiten white clothes, and I know bleach can kill germs. If I didn't know that bleach can kill germs, I would not have used bleach to clean my bathtub.

It was started when I had to clean my bath curtain this morning. I put the curtain in my white toilet sink, put some drops of bleach in the water, and left it for few hours. After few hours, my curtain was perfectly clean, and so was my toilet sink! I was amazed how my toilet sink could shine so brightly. Then, a brilliant idea came into my mind. I wanted to use bleach to clean my bathtub too. Initially I used the same method, I filled up the bathtub with water and put almost half bottle of bleach in it. But I failed! The bathtub was slowly emptied, yes, the lock button did not work well.

This evening, when I was about to take shower, I still wanted to try another method to clean my bathtub. This is where the accident began. I closed my toilet door and toilet window (of course I closed all the door and window, I was having shower!), then I started to pour some drops of the bleach on my dry bathtub, mixed it with detergent, and started to clean it using brush! Woohoo..!! Brush! Brush! Brush! I was happily brushing my bathtub till suddenly my head was dizzy, my stomach was so hot, my nose and my eyes were so painful, my chest was heavy, and I started to have difficulty in breathing. I stopped brushing. I hardly could move my hands and my feet. I didn't have energy to walk out from my bathroom, so I just turned the water on, let the water clean up all the bleach by itself while I was sitting inside my bathtub in panic. Then I slowly could breath again.

I am fine now, here I am writing diary. I still am alive! Ha Ha Ha!

-Abbie

*The bathtub is now half-white. There will be another attempt, I guess.*

My 29th Birthday

Friday, 19 Feb 10, 11.49am at home

Dear my little diary..
Today is my birthday, my 29th birthday! Old, huh? After my 29 times of birthday, I forget about my own birthday sometimes. I was touched by what happened last night. I got a surprise from my hubby at midnight. I know it is so cheesy to write it here, but I really don't want to forget that moment. A beautiful moment that I thought would never happen again after 2.5 years of my stagnant marriage life.

Last night we went to bed around 11.30pm. As usual we had a chat on the bed for a while before going to sleep. Usually my hubby falls asleep few minutes after he hits the bed. But this time was a little different. He kept talking till at one moment he checked his mobile phone checking the time. It was 12.04am. He said 'Happy Birthday! I was waiting till 12 to say happy birthday to you' then he kissed me 3 times (this has nothing to do with magic or superstitious thing like what you imagine). Then he said 'Let's sleep'. Yes, he is that type of person, a very realistic guy. It was 12 midnight, he needed to wake up early for work the day after, so he needed enough sleep no matter what happened.

His back was on my face. I said 'let's hold hand'. You may think this is funny but it has become our habit to sleep with our hands together. He said 'No need, I need to sleep now'. I insisted 'please.. just for few minutes'. Finally he gave up, he gave his right hand to me. It's really for 3 minutes then he released my hand and he was back to his sleeping pose with his back in front of my face. I was sad. He didn't even give his hand on that special night. But I was too tired to complain.

When I was about to fall asleep, suddenly there was a loud noise. My hubby said something that I really forget now. What I remember is, he gave me something.. something inside a paper bag, wrapped with ribbons. Inside my dark bedroom, I couldn't see what it was. But I really recognized the paper bag and the ribbons especially. I didn't want to turn on the light initially. I wanted to enjoy that surprise and that excitement moment. Finally, one word was out from my mouth 'Dior!'. Yes, I really fall in love with Dior till I can recognize the paper bag by just touching it. *Do you fall in love with Dior products or with Dior paper bag?* I turned the light on finally, yes it was Dior! Dior Clutch!

We had a short chat again after that. He is not the type of person who will just sleep no matter what happen on that night. Although I have married him long enough, sometimes I just can't guess what's inside his mind and his heart. He gave me his right hand again for me to hold, then he fell asleep. I forgot of being 29 years old, I was so so happy till I had a hard time sleeping again after that.

Have a nice day, diary! ^0^

-Abbie-

'Colorful' Indonesia

Friday, 5 Feb 10, 8.58am at home

Hi again, diary..
Just want to drop some photos about how 'colorful' our Indonesia is. ^^



-Abbie-

Being a Wanted?

Friday, 5 Feb 10, 8.04am at home

Good morning, my dear diary..
It's Friday again! I woke up this morning, brushed my teeth, said bye bye to my husband who's going to work (I mean, he was the one who said bye bye), turned on my laptop, checked my emails, and opened this diary. It's all because I received some emails from my friends who dropped comments in my previous posts. I feel touched that they still care reading my little diary in the middle of their busy schedule. Some of them also kept asking me to write again. I am not sure if they really like reading what I write, or they just need to know what I am doing, or they like reading my posts to kill time before going to bed? Anyway, whatever their reasons are, they are my motivators. And here I am, writing diary again.

I had a dream last night. Quite scary dream. In my dream, I was a wanted. No, I was not sure if I was a wanted. I just knew that I was chased around by some people who wanted to kill me. I kept running. I kept running. The building where I was running around in suddenly was bumped by a big ship and started to go down. *Now thinking about a big ship... how can a big ship bump a building which stands strong in the middle of the city?* That was just a dream! Anyway, I kept running, trying to escape from the building, and from the killers, and suddenly... a hand was on my mouth, there was a guy who wanted me to shut up before I made noise. I was so shocked! This guy whispered on my ear 'Why are you breathing so loud?? Your noise is disturbing my sleep!' Yes, it was my husband's hand and my husband's voice in real life. Then I woke up. End of my dream. I should have explained to him that I was running, that's why I was breathing so loud. I am not some kinds of Piglet or Porky Pig.

Time to go to work now. I mean, time to close this diary and open my other site *facebook??* I really work, ok? Not play-play, ok?

-Abbie-

New Year Brings New Life

Thursday, 4 Feb 10, 12.01pm at home

Hi Diary!
How are you doing? There must be something happening to you too recently? Yes? No? Well, it's because there are many things happening to the people around me, my friends and my relatives. Many of them are getting new bf/gf, getting engaged, getting married, getting pregnant, getting bonus, getting salary increase, getting new jobs, getting new home, etc. Life is so happening! This new year really brings good life to many people around me. I am really happy for them, really, deeply.

But now I started to wonder what I am doing now? *You are writing diary*. Oh yea, thanks for reminding me. I mean, I need a breakthrough! *Yes you had one! You just quit your job!* Yea, right, that's my major accomplishment of my life in 2009! *That's what you wanted!* Yes, I wanted it so much. But I need to dress up and put some make-up sometimes. *What???* You know, working at home doesn't encourage me to dress up at all, not to mention having shower. My everyday uniform is pajamas and white socks. My everyday accessory is my thick glasses. If I have a maid at home, probably I will be more encouraged to dress up. Now I feel ugly, I feel fat, I feel stinky, I feel stupid, I feel like a stupid fat ugly stinky auntie, clear enough with my description?

You know what, I started looking for job again now. Yea yea, you can laugh now. I know I am very plin-plan (indecisive). Don't blame me for being plin-plan, it's because I was born as Aquarius! Aqua is water, my mood swings like how the water flows. Seriously, it's because I'm still looking for my true identity! I really admire people who have clear occupations as doctor, or pilot, or even soldier. They don't need to think who they wanna be anymore. As for me, it's too late to be a doctor now. I can't be a pilot too as pilots can't wear thick glasses. Soldier? I easily collapse when I have to run chasing the bus for even 5mins. Anyway, I feel that I can do my own business as part time job now, that's why I wanna use my spare time to do other useful thing (I mean, beside cooking and cleaning).

Diary, there are so many things that I can't tell you right now. But when the time comes, I will tell you, I promise. Hopefully this new year brings me new life too! *What new life for you? It's been more than 1 year in HK, are you addicted to moving country again??* And it will bring new life to you too, whoever reads my diary! ^.^


-Abbie-

Random Things in January 2010

Friday, 29 Jan 10, 7.50am at home

Dear my little diary,
Today is my first day writing diary in the year 2010. Today is January 29th. I know, it's almost end of January and here I am writing my first post of this year now. I am not sure whether I am not in the mood of writing or I have nothing to talk about or I don't want to reveal my personal life now, I just don't feel like writing anymore, at least, recently. Today, I wanna force myself to write.

As you know, I have been working at home since December 2009. It's officially more than 1 month since I quit my office work. I spend most of my time on managing my online shop. Hey, have I told you about my online shop? Yes, I sell fashion and anything pretty and cute on facebook and on website. If you have spare time, you can have a look at my cute shops; www.facebook.com/ayachan.store and www.aya-chan.net. I started selling on facebook since July last year. Since the number of transactions are getting more and more, I couldn't manage it manually. So, I created this www.aya-chan.net website!

Well, the purpose of this website was actually to automatize the ordering process. I wanted to encourage my buyers on facebook to go to my website to put the items on the shopping cart themselves so I can just process the orders accordingly. However, my products are getting more and more too, I can't update the products on facebook and on website at the same time. So, stupid me is doing double works now! When there is order from facebook, I update the product on the website first, then create a user from my admin system, then buy it online from the website myself using that new user account, then I can process the order. *Wow, so busy!* Yea yea.. but hey, the website is now getting more traffic now since I advertise it on some online forums. Ok then, I admit, the real purpose is to help me managing the post-ordering since I can check and change the order status one by one from the admin page; who has paid, who has not paid, item is delivered, item is not delivered, etc. Otherwise, I will be so confused if suddenly somebody is asking me the status of her order. Yes, I am selling to Indonesia market and this is how it turns out. They like to be served like kings, suddenly they appear and ask me if the goods have been shipped without mentioning any order number. And I can't ask them 'Who are you?' or 'What did you order?' since it doesn't sound so professional. Aya-chan is my first project. Now I am trying to work on another project. I really hope it can take off soon.

About my feeling of working at home? Errr.. honestly, sometimes I need a break to go out and see another God's creatures, I mean, I need friends/colleagues to talk to. My home is my office now, so every time I go back home, I feel like going to office. People are usually tired of working, they really miss home and their beds so much. But for me, if I am tired of working at home, I really wanna get out of my home, even if I just go out to minimarket near my home to buy eggs or tofu for 10mins, I will feel fresher when I am back.

Diary, tomorrow is my husband's birthday. I don't know what I should prepare for him. This will be his 7th birthday with me, we have gone through so many ups and downs. I really wanna do something for him. Do you have any suggestion, diary?

-Abbie-

p.s I don't know what title I should put for this post. The contents are so random. Hmm.. Ok, I got it!