No More Regrets

All my life I have never regretted a thing (except buying that Eminem’s CD) until this morning. I woke up, enjoying my milk and saw DW-TV doing a short scene with Florian Zimmer. He is now one of Europe’s youngest magicians. But what hit me is that he said he was always fascinated by magic and followed that dream ---to learn it, to practice it, and to perform it on stage.

Today is my realisations. I regretted not to follow my dream. I too, had always been awed by coins and cards. Even I know that is just an illusion. For my 11^th birthday I asked my parents for a set of magic equipments I saw in a department store, but they said it is useless. What can I do? It was nowhere near my pocket money. So, instead I bought a trick book in my school’s book bazaar quietly. I studied it through but it was not enough and I kept breaking things, so my parents always tried to discourage me. After a while, I left magic behind. All and all, I am still fascinated by it.

It is not the magic itself, but the world where everything is possible. Look at David Copperfield, Lance Burton, Keelan Leyser, and now Florian Zimmer! They are some of my favourites (Is Criss Angel considered as a magician? He’s cool!). Yes…Try, even with your simple card tricks, you still amazed me.

The real world we live in, there are limitations. I liked to push things to the end of my limit and continue it in another world. I cannot really describe it, but it is amazing by what your imagination does. And those people (illusionist and so) who made those imaginations a reality is truly remarkable!

From this day onwards, I promised myself to do whatever it is I want to do. I do not want to be 50 and said, “I should have done it when I am younger!”

It sounds selfish, but as we all know you don’t know what you’ve got, ‘til it’s gone and regrets always come later.

So, I bow out on this super short entry with some of my principles:

• Live your life wild while you are young
• Always be a kid at heart
• It is the effort that counts
• And dreams go on forever!

Thank You

First, I would have to say that my friends helped me shaped the way I am today. Without them, I will still be the timid shy girl who sits in the back corner of the class. I owed them everything, and could not thank them enough. Well, due to my ‘shyness’ of saying this out loud, I choose to write them this.

Throughout my childhood, I was happened to be somewhat the top 10 in my class, and they used me ---fake friends. Then, my family (excluding dad) and I moved to Singapore because the Jakarta’s situation worsens after the May 1998 riots. There, I met a friend who is in the same shoe, Yuliana. She was my first true friend I have. Things get on and finally I was back in Jakarta after a year.

I moved school once before I am in Bina Bangsa School, where I met so many people along the way that ended up being my friends, which I hope will last for a lifetime. It was not easy at first, I still have trouble to start the first conversation. It is no better now (I’m still shy), but I am trying. They knew and helped me out; pulled me out from my comfort zone. Before long, I am a whole new person.

I had told you that I moved once, yeah? It was SD/SMP Kristen Ketapang II. I do not hate the school, I hate some people there. They are the typical asian aristocracy, snob and all. Fortunate enough, I met a few great friends ---Natalia, Linda, Dona, etc. I had lost contact for most of them, but I still keep conversation with Linda and Dona.

Next, I moved to Bina Bangsa School. The school was okay at the first time, but it is deteorating over time. The system sucks, but you will meet some of the best teachers and friends that you could ever find.

Ms. Vanda, Mr. Thomas, Mr. Yupie, Ms, Yanti, Ms. Ine, etc. The list goes on.

Friends? *whew* I could not even list all of them here. The Newton class of 2003-2005, and Pre-U Sun Tzu class of 2005-2006. They are the best classmates you could ever find! In Newton class, since there were about 26 people of us, a larger crowd is still a bit too much to handle. When it comes to the ‘famous’ Sun Tzu class, we are a solid 12. By then some of us had been together since the school started. We grew up together, problems, the laugh and the tears, and don’t forget all those detentions!

Some of us bonded even more; there are some other people from the class next door too. Irene, Try, Robert, Sing Young, Ryandi, I have been classmates with them since I was in secondary 2 until I graduated last year. Of course there are others too, the 5 girls gang of Newton, (Erica, Stacey, Lily, Irene, and me), Deddy, Levin, Julian, Febie, and Socrates gang! They are all wonderful people that are irreplaceable. I owed them and could not thank them enough, I said that once again. We supported each other, I mean like mobsters. If you insult one of us, it means you insult the whole gang. In a way, it is a wicked feeling!

They are a craziest nutters rebellions bunch, but they are the best! I always look up to them and they are what I want to be!

• To Newton class of 2003-2005: remember the trip we took to Michael’s villa? thanks for making me a part of it

• To Irene: thanks for putting up with my nonsense everyday for the last 5 years and I suppose it will continue :P

• To Yuliana: I know we only meet once a year, but thanks for taking the time to always try to catch up with me. It means a lot. And we’ve been friends for 8 years. ^_^

• To Pre-U Sun Tzu of 2005-2006 and Socrates of 2006-2007: You guys are the best, and the only reason why I keep coming to school in my pre-u year!!

• To Mr. Thomas: You are more than a teacher, you are a mentor. Thanks for supporting me in everything I do when my parents don’t. You taught me all those life lessons. Thanks a lot!

Now that we have to go on separate ways and you too, I hope we will never lose contact of each other. That is why MSN are for. Remember those nights we spent in Lembang, those stunts we done in the pre-u lounge, those hang outs, all the actions and talks! You guys rock my world!!!! Cheers!

15 minutes

I was in the salon the other day and of course, if you want to get a good hair cut, you need a good lighting. So there I was, sitting alone with my thoughts and lamps were blazing to me from all directions and suddenly, “Ah! This must be how the celebrities feel like.” They were in constant exposure by the media, common people be their judges ---letting no single aspect in their life hidden in the shadow. For a moment, I felt really sorry for them.

Any living things need privacy, even animals. Let’s see if any of you can go near a lion while he is eating. I guess it is one of the most fundamental things in life to have a bit of space. To be alone with your thoughts, to ponder what have you had done today, to think what should be done, and to go on putting in action. Just to stop whatever it is that we were doing and to sit/lie down and enjoy 15 minutes of motionless world.

My 15 minutes is different everyday, but there is always the same thought. Do all people in the world do what I do? Can’t they stop whatever it is their doing and smell the flowers? Life will never wait, ‘tis true! But if you stick by the rules and never have fun, then what is life? For example, my mum is a super mum, she had a job, pick us from school, then take us to courses, and do groceries. And if we want to go hang out, she will give us a ride. In one day, imagine that! Got home, did a bit of cooking, and then went straight back to work. I do not know if she is a workaholic or not, but I know that the fast pace and no pauses is her high. She won’t even wait for our maid to open the gates when she got home. What the hell, she has no patience!!! How the “no pauses” could become her high?

I just could not think of such a life, barely a sense of fun in there. So do not blame me for blaming anybody who enjoys working 24-7.

My headmaster caught my friends and I playing computer while we were supposed to be studying for our exams in school, he asked “Are you guys opening ‘good’ websites or ‘fun’ websites?” What he meant ‘good’ is that the educational stuffs, and ‘fun’……oh well you know (at that time we were playing tribal wars). We knew it is awful to lie, so we tell him the truth. Unexpectedly, he said “Good!”

Therefore, moral of the story is studying is important, but playing is essential too. Give your brain some rest after being used all day in class. That is if ever USED in class….just kidding.

Another 15 minutes topic to ponder about is how much you have changed from the past, which could be useful for the future. How else could you changed to be less annoying? For me, how to be more prankish? (ROFLMAO) No, really, you will be surprised. Just remember what mistakes you have done, what things you regret, it will somehow affect your future doings.

So why not taking 15 minutes to ponder, or maybe 15 minutes to do nonsense? After all, it will keep us young at heart. Do not regret in the old days of what you can do in your youth. Growing old is inevitable, but growing up is optional!

I LOVE YOU

Aloha! Do you know that it also mean love, affection, etc beside just a ‘Hi’? and do you know that tomato is once called love apple?

Well, now you know.

Love is abstract just as beauty is relative to every individual. But how do we know that we are in ‘love’? Or……what is love itself? It is easy to say ‘I love you’ but to be able to look someone in the eye and actually means it while saying it is tough. A13-years-old I knew told me this, “A relationship is like a rose. You get the thorn first then the beauty of the flower.” Meaning love is just a gorgeous thing!

But I have a different concept, “Love looks good but tastes bad.”

No, I am not being cynical or anything. From all the relationship I observed around me, some of it is based on the kind of love that hurts both people involved (scary!!!). I prefer to refer it as ‘teenage love’, and I do not mean as if it is a bad thing. I knew how hard it is and I believed everyone who has been caught in this teenage love knew how much it influences our daily life. Only the adult (some) that did not realising it. Why? Some adults will literally laugh on it ---“Heartbreak and gossips are not problems. Taxes and insurance ARE problems.” Sometimes I think adults forgot how it is to be a teen.

And oh! Don’t forget about crush! It is got to be that first time you try to talk to your crush ---terrifying! But, it is cute, isn’t it? Okay okay, back to my main story. How does love evolved between human beings? Is it because of hormones? Is it philosophical? What is it? What is love?

One thing for sure, appearance does play a part. That first 7 seconds will leave a lasting impression, so you just have to look good all the time, eh? Although, I did not mean just about clothes, makeup, and accessories, behaviour and characters also contributed to your appearance. I have a friend who is just an average looking kind of girl, but she is so likeable, good natured and has a pleasant attitude. Somehow, she just ‘shines’ through. THAT made her real pretty! Any guy would definitely be attracted. If the guys are spelled, then comes the flirting. Some are so damn obvious like, smiling suggestively (stupidly I reckon), winking, sweet talking, teasing, and etc. While some are not so, like an eye contact across the room. Still, it is about body language all the same.

Don’t you love it to see how two human beings just fall in love? They can either be deeply in love or madly in love. As I say, there is a different between the two. Deeply in love means they are ready for any consequences and there should not be any jealousy---consummate love. For example, the girl was talking to a guy and her partner saw it and stampedes the poor guy. That is plain stupid. THAT is madly in love, the sort of relationship when the couples are still unstable in terms of minds and hormones. You know, immature. But, DON’T try to separate them; they have the right to like each other. All they need is proper guidance.

Classroom is where the magic happens. So here I will list down some things that happen in the classroom. Woohoo! Love is in the air. The sort of chemistry I like!

Okay here we go!

1. Why boys are nasty/mean to girls?

Because boys will be boys, they will only grow up when they are 22. In some cases, if he provoked only one particular girl, there is a good chance that he fancies her. It is because he did not have the guts to show his feeling or it is just a guy thing you know; don’t ever look weak.

2. I know he fancies me, but why he won’t admit it?

Well, I told you, it is a guy thing! If a girl managed to make a boy madly in love with her, it means she had beaten him. Am I right? And is there any boy would admit he lose to a girl? No way! It took a MAN to admit that!

3. I like him and hate him at the same time. How is that possible?

It is quite possible. Even I experienced it. It is difficult to explain but it is like Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul type, the cat and dog’s bond. You like him well enough, but there are always his annoying act.

4. Why girls always playing hard to get?

No one wants to look desperate, right? It is just the nature. Males are the hunters and females are the prey. If the preys get caught to easily, where is the fun?

Ah since I’m a girl, I cannot put too much boys view, because I have no idea really what is it on the guys mind. Any guy read this and wants to add some, tell me then.

Also, there is that secret admirer who put notes on your table or dropping some chocolates secretly on bags. Oh yeah, high school is fun! Not only fun for the lovebirds, but also for the one who watch them. They could be so awkward at times.

And when the other is missing, they’ll say “I’m lovesick” ROFLMAO

This is fun! When they say that, do they even know the symptoms? Only when they are experiencing

· mania – abnormally elevated mood, inflated self esteem, extravagant gift giving

· depression – tearfulness, insomnia, loss of concentration

· OCD – preoccupation, checking (e.g. text messages/emails, etc.), and hoarding valueless but superstitiously resonant items

· Psychologically created physical symptoms, such as upset stomach, change in appetite, insomnia, dizziness, and confusion.

Then they can be diagnosed with lovesick disease. Congratulations!

(Symptoms are taken from Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_sickness)

But beware! Never clings onto your partner (obsessive love), no ones want that. Plus, don’t forget your friends. Set aside some time to go hang out with them; do catching up. And when things get bored in the relationship, do not cheat on you partner. Just talked about it and figured out a way to spice things up.

One last word from me before I end, we should be wooed and were not made to woo, quoted from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Act 2 Scene i. With we in terms of female. Cheers!

Further reading could be obtained from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love)

My Life Choice

We are going for a ride through dimensions where I, your lovely host throughout the entire journey will take you all exploring every dimension about the whole family of plant eating family. The vegetarians, its sister, the vegans, and the whole family tree.

First stop, I would like to clear the cloud about vegetarians and vegans. Most of the time we mixed up those two terms just because of the first three words ---veg--- in which we automatically think “Oh, they eat vegetables, so vegans are the shorter form of saying vegetarians.” Yes and no. We DO eat vegetable, it is obvious! Yet, those two words are not derived from ‘vegetable’ but from vegetus (Latin), which means lively. Vegetarian are people who choose not to eat meat or food products that are obtained by killing animals in the process. Therefore, a vegetarian could eat free-range eggs, milk (dairy products) and honey. But still no mink coat, genuine leather shoes/bags. Listen to me you Hollywood stars!!! Well, not all of them. While, vegans are pretty much the same but they do not even eat animal derived products as I mentioned above, and of course still no usage of animal products.

The different types of vegetarianism

DIET NAME	MEAT (incl. fish)	EGGS	DAIRY
Lacto-ovo vegetarianism	No	Yes	Yes
Lacto vegetarianism	No	No	Yes
Ovo vegetarianism	No	Yes	No
Vegan	No	No	No

There are some other type of no-meat eating practices, one of them being fruitarians, which eats only gathered fruit, seeds, and nuts. It obviously did not harm any ‘living’ organism at all. However, there is the far cousin of vegetarians family named flexitarianism (an occasional meat-eater, but still generally eats their greens). There are still so many far cousins in the family which if I were to write here, I would get bored myself. Please refer to wikipedia for this one, just type in vegetarian.

The point here is pretty much about not killing animal to satisfy our needs.

Humans are actually vegetarians by nature. Look at our teeth; we have molars to chew vegetable. But then you might say about canine, it is for self-defence. Just like the gorillas, they do not eat meat but the have these large canines. We do not have claws unlike tiger. Unless for some women who went to a manicure salon to get those ‘claws’ and consider themselves as ‘tigers’ or ‘cats’. Ok, I’ll stop, this is getting cheeky!

Moreover, our intestines are long (6-10 metres) unlike those carnivores (2-3 metres). So those carnivores do not have to worry about how much meat they eat, it gets out quickly! In contrast to humans, the meat will decompose in the body. Yuck! Those of you who have smelly fart now you know why.

Vegetarianism is mostly practiced by the Buddhist monks and Hindu because of their spirituality and cultural beliefs; also by some new-age followers. Christians seldom talk about vegetarianism, but if we were to remember way beyond until the time of the first human still live on Eden, there is no way Adam and Eve ever said to eat meat. Their job is to name them and not to savour them. Well……until they committed their first sin that is. From the economical point of view, it is those who do not have enough money. More, those who have ethical issues with animals being killed and environmental concerns (like me) also choose to be a vegetarian ---usually, this starts on teenage years.

Some health factors also taken a role for people being vegetarians. In some light case of breast cancer, the patient was told to change her omnivore diet to a vegetarian diet. After a while, POOF!! The annoying little bugger disappear forever, still need to maintain the healthy diet after that though. The change in diet to a non-meat diet could prolong life expectancy, less risk in heart diseases, renal problems (that is kidney to you who does not take science! Just jokingJ), and Alzheimer. Yes! I am talking about the terrifying disease that attacks the elderly.

I hope by now some of you are thinking “Hmm…..I could get away with all those health problems by eating vegetarian diets. But it is so hard to give up meat!”

Yeah, I do agree! When I first started out, I was overwhelmed as the fact since I was a kid all I eat is chicken. But after seeing that cow forced to drink gallons after gallons of water and slaughtered on TV and other brutal animal killings, I was soooooo disgusted that I do not ever ever ever want to eat meat again. I feel sorry for them. Those animals have a dream! (A friend of mine is miffed every time I said it.)

My tips for beginner are that to try that no-meat diet three times a week, then four times a week and so on until it you became so used to it everyday. Food substituting are not that hard really, nuts and beans provide you with daily protein.

-Eggs supplied you with the essential amino acids (just don’t it too much, two to three eggs are quite enough for a day. It is high in cholesterol).

-Leafy green veggies are high in vit C, calcium, iron, and etc.

-Mushroom gives the sort of like meat texture (ex. Portobello).

-Brown rice, grains, pasta, potatoes are good sources for vit B and other minerals as well. These means, you do not have to give up that delicious spaghetti you have every weekend. I, many times succeeded cooking up tasty and yummy spaghetti and carbonara without any meat, it means you can too!

If you have no idea what to cook, try the net ---they have all these ideas. More importantly, be creative!

Food consumption will be doubled tripled in the next few years thanks to the booming population. Although in the present, look at Ethiopia and a few other third world countries. Millions of people are starving every minute. It is only right that we should not be happy and feel full while they can hardly get a drink. Well, this is my choice and how about you?

I am so sorry if there's any grammar mistake (as usual....my grammar sucked!). And also if there are any of the info that are not to your liking. Please let me know, and I'll clarify it to you or let meknow if I post something that is not accurate.

Individuality Beliefs

READ MY STUFF BELOW FIRST BEFORE OPENING THIS LINK

http://youtube.com/watch?v=PFrufPxjwX0 >>> this is just for fun, copy paste it to your browser.

plz don't be offended
cheers

Before I begin writing these thoughts of mine, I know there will be people who disagree with me. In any case, if you are not a flexible open-minded kind of person, I suggest that you better stop here. But as a human myself, I know that the more people forbid me from reading something, the more intrigued and curious I’ll become. So, to the narrow-minded people who are still reading, CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK! I only hoped that this write-up could open up some minds.

Allow me to begin with the incident that the Pope created by quoting Manuel II, thus he iterated, “Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you’ll find things only evil and inhuman…” The minute after, Moslems all over the world were and are still enraged. What was the Pope thinking? How can such influential man say such a thing? He could have started another war, adding one to the many we have now.

Although, in my humble opinion, I reckon that he meant the terrorists. It might be true that, all (maybe) of the terrorist are all Moslems. The truth is that, the terrorists whom created these entire catastrophes and killing lots of innocent people, really does use God’s name to say that they are doing something good. I have to say that this is a religious statement gone wrong.

As we all know, in the beginning, there are only five admitted religions: Christian, Catholic, Islam, Buddhism, and Hindu. But is it really five? How about the Egyptians? I do not think they have such complex mind yet, and it is known that they are one of the earliest complex minded human recorded in history. They contributed to all of the things we now have: numbering system, navigation system, timing device, and beliefs. Back then, the Egyptian took full account of their failure in harvests was because of the wrath of Gods/Goddesses. But really, wasn’t it just because of the weather or some plant diseases? They cannot explain what was happening to their crops and so it goes that it was because the Gods/Goddesses were mad at them. This proves that human created God in their mind ---like Michelangelo's painting. And also proves that in every man, God is needed. Even if it is only for etiquette; everybody must have said “OH MY GOD!” on some point in their life. I know I had.

God existed because people wanted Him to exist. Like Jesus, He is not a God. He was merely a divine man, he died okay! Why sanctify someone who already died?

I, myself am an agnostic ---I believe what I believe. And believe me, life is easier that way. First, there are no obligations to go to the church on Sabbath day, or go to the mosque every Friday, etc. Then, have to confess my sins to the priest, or fasting for a month. It is silly, when the ones who do such things answered why they are doing it, “To cleanse the sins we had made during the year.” So does that mean you can do harm all year long and only by one time confession or one month fasting, you can erase all of your sins? No, my dear friend! Life is not that easy! It is better not to do it rather than you have to do it because you have to! There’s no point!

I might be young, but I am old enough to understand the silent war that had been going on between religions, and such that the Vatican has towards science too. All of the fanatic followers of the five main religions have helped ---in a way that they do not realise--- to create other religions, rather beliefs. Some people feel that attitudes of the five main religions are too demanding for them and so there might be other solutions. There are paganism, Zen, Judaism, Shinto, Kabbalah, Scientology, and etc. But what does religion means? There is no good in creating new beliefs, if in the end they all have this holier-than-thou attitude. Shouldn’t those religions unite people? But what do we see today? It divides people.

So, why not let people believe what they believe and do not criticise them. After all in every religion, none of the teachings taught that. And I believe at some point in every person, they ought to believe on something; let it be God, nature, science or even music. It is just a core to hold on to, for the mind needs to have a higher form of abstraction point.