The Psychology of Money - Book Summary and Review

 I completed reading the book early this year and post the summary in my Instagram account, but I think it's worth to post the summary as a blog post.

My summary:

• In Investing, it's not whether you're right or wrong that's important but how much money you make when you're right and how much money you lose when you're wrong. You can be wrong half time and still make a fortune.
• Luck and risk are doppelgangers. You are one person in a game with seven billion other people and infinite moving parts.
• A good definition of an investing genius is the man/woman who can do average thing when all those around them are going crazy.
• Financial success is not hard science, it's soft skill where how you behave is more important than what you know.
• Every decision people make with money is justified by taking information they have at the moment and plugging it into their unique mental model of how the world works.
• Had a sense of enough. There are many things never worth risking, no matter the potential gain.
• Good investing isn't necessary about earning the highest return, it's about earning pretty good returns that can stick with and which can be repeated for the longest period of time.
• Good investing is not necessarily about making good decisions, it's about consistency not screwing up.
• Freedom and flexibility which is what financial assets not yet spent can give you.
• The only way to be wealthy is not to spend the money that you do have.
• The world is filled with people who look modest but actually wealthy and people who look rich who live at the razor's edge of insolvency.
• One of the most powerful ways to increase your savings isn't to raise your income, it's to raise your humility.
• Investment return can make you rich, but whether an investment strategy will work and how long it will work and whether markets will cooperate is always in doubt.
• Do no aim to be coldly rational when making financial decision. Aim to just pretty reasonable. It works better.
• The most important part of every plan is planning on your plan not going according to plan. Give yourself a room of error.
• Endurance is the key. The trick is to accept the reality of change and move on as soon as possible.
• History when thinking about the money, the further back in history you look, the more general your take aways should be and remember the world is surprising.
• Nothing free, everything has a price, but not all prices appear on labels.
• With investing volatility is almost always a fee, not a fine. Market returns are never free and never will be, Find the price then pay it.
• Beware of taking financial cues from people playing a different game than you are.
• Pessimism just sound smarter and more plausible than optimism. Expecting things to be bad is the best way to be pleasantly surprised when they're not.
• The more you want something to be true, the more likely you are to believe story that overestimates the odds of it being true.
• Forecast may do more harm than good, giving the illusion of the predictability in the world where unforeseen events control most outcomes.
• Less ego, more wealth.
• Manage your money in a way that helps you sleep at night.
• If you want to do better as an investor, the single most powerful thing you can do is increase your time horizon.
• Save, just save, you don't need a specific reason to save.
• Avoid the extreme ends of financial decision.
• You should like risk because it pays off over time.

For me it's a good book to read, reminds you simple things on how to manage your money and as it mentioned in the book, financial success is not hard science it's soft skill.  Perfect book for your weekend. Happy Reading!

Tax Refund in Europe

 I would like to share my experience on tax refund in Europe especially in Frankfurt airport.

1. Don't forget to ask for tax refund form when you buy the goods or inform to store that you would like to have tax refund.
2. Sometimes the store will ask you whether you will get the tax refund in cash or via credit card. It's your choice. I chose credit card and apparently the exchange rate was not good. If you chose cash, it said that there will be a 3% fee. Then it's really up to you to decide which option is more convenient for you.
3. Keep your tax refund form until you are going back to your country.
4. Separate the tax refund form for goods that will be on your luggage and your hand carry. Ensure that all goods look new and never been used before. The rule is you should be able to show all the goods in the tax refund form to the custom officer to get the stamp.
5. Please do check where is custom office in the airport before going the airport on the day you're going back to your country.
6. You have to check-in first and inform to the counter officer if you have tax refund goods in your luggage because you're going to bring the luggage to the custom office and after you show the goods and get stamps from customs, you will give the luggage to the officer next the customs and the luggage will go straight to your plane.
7. For goods in the luggage, you will get the stamps after check-in before immigration. For goods in hand carry bag, you will go the customs office after immigration.
8. After you get stamp in your tax refund form, for precaution you can take picture of all tax refund form in case the tax refund process has any issue.
9. You need to give the tax refund form to the tax refund kiosk (after immigration). There are some companies who issued the form, in my case it was Global Blue and Planet tax free.
10. The officer in the tax refund kiosks will validate your form and confirm how much tax refund that you will get. Officer will once again ask you whether you will get the refund in cash or via credit card. If you change your mind, you can inform the officer.
11. Officer will give a piece of paper for summary of your tax refund and inform how many days that you will get your refund into your credit card account.
12. Keep the paper for your reference.
13. That's it. Good luck.
14. Remember that tax refund for Switzerland, you need to get stamp in Switzerland custom office only.

It was my first time doing the tax refund and thanks God I have no issues. I received my tax refund in my credit card account less than 5 working days for Global Blue and around 10 working days for Planet Tax Free. So far, I had good experience shopping in Europe including the tax refund. 

Hope this information helps. Happy shopping.

Beautiful Day

Beautiful Day - Coldiac 

It’s such a beautiful day why are you so blue

Hey it’s been too long that you shut your heart out
Well i know it’s true sometimes love can hurt
So give it some time one day you’ll be fine

It’s such a beautiful day why you’re still frownin'
Hey it’s been too long to contemplate about on how to deal with your broken heart all over again
Till you can’t feel the love

Oh when the sun comes after rain
You will live again
Feeling love again
Love sometimes goes unseen
What you see on the screen
Are not always what it seems

It’s such a beautiful day let’s celеbrate it
Hey it’s been so long since thе last time you let the birds sing
And fly around you to make you believe that you can also fly

Cause when the sun comes after rain
You will live again
Feeling love again
Love sometimes goes unseen
What you see on the screen
Are not always what it seems

Cause ha
It’s such a beautiful day let’s celebrate it
You will live again feeling love again
It’s such a beautiful day let’s celebrate it
Not always what it seems
To make you believe that you can also fly

Book Summary and Review: Ikigai - The Japanese Secret to Long ad Happy Life

It's been a while since my last post and it's already approaching the end of the yar of 2022. Many things happened on the past 2 years including the covid pandemic and how it changed the way we live. Yet we lived and thrived.  "What doesn't kill you make you stronger", it proved right in current circumstances.  We adopt and adapt as we continue to maintain our existence in this world.  It's been a long journey for human being to find the secret of long life or even how to become immortal.  We see so many movies and fantasy books about it. Now let's look at it by the example for those who lived until 100 years or even more. 

If you want to become a centenarian, then this is the right book for you.  The book starts what is ikigai meaning for the people born on Okinawa (the island with the most centenarians in the world), for them ikigai is the reason we get up in the morning. I find it interesting to look at the characters behind ikigai word in Japanese as mentioned in the book.  It means life to be worthwhile. For Okinawans some of their secret to have long life are fill your belly to 80% and connected to life by having community where you can talk and share with others. 

Active mind, youthful body. It's important to give your brain a workout to keep the neurons and neural connections. You begin exercising your brain by doing a certain task for the first time. As the book said, your neurons start to age while we are still in our twenties and this process slowed by intellectual activity, curiosity and desire to learn. Control your stress by having mindfulness. We have to learn to turn off the autopilot that's steering us in an endless loop. However, a little stress is good for you as it tends to develop healthier habits. A lot of sitting will age you and enough sleep will help you to live longer.  Positive attitudes, a high degree of emotional awareness, stoic attitudes (serenity in the face of setback) are the antiaging attitudes.

The book is looking at logotherapy as one way to find the purpose of life (compare it with psychoanalysis) and Morita therapy. In logotherapy one of the questions is "why do you not commit suicide?". This question help you find the reasons to live. One of the basic for Morita therapy is discover your life's purpose. We should have a clear sense of our purpose and the key to achieving this is having dared to look inside yourself to find your ikigai.

There is no magic recipe for finding happiness, for living according to your ikigai, but one key ingredient is the ability to reach this state of flow and through this state to have an "optimal experience".  Flow is the state in which people are so involved in activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it event at the great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it. Flow is mysterious. It is like muscle: the more you train it, the more you will flow, and the closer you will be to your ikigai.

The book layout some words of wisdom from the longest-living people in the world are "eat and sleep, and you'll live a long time. You have to learn to relax", "I've never eaten meat in my life", "everything's fine", "if you keep your mind and body busy, you'll be around a long time" and "I just haven't died yet". Based on the interview done by the author with people in Ogimi-Okinawa, they summarize the secret to longevity, the secrets are don't worry, cultivate good habits, nurture your friendship every day, live an unhurried life, be optimistic. 

The book review Okinawas miracle diets, they are eat wide variety of foods especially vegetables, eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables every day, grains are the foundation of diet and rarely eat sugar. The book covered some exercise to promote health and longevity such as taiso, yoga, tai chi, qigong, and shiatsu. You can find the philosophy behind the exercise including the movement (with picture) in the book. 

Resilience is our ability to deal with setbacks.  the more resilience we are, the easier it will pick ourselves up and get back to what gives meaning to our lives. Beyond resilience it's called antifragility. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better.  We can be antifragile by create more options, bet conservatively in certain areas and take many small risks in others, get rid of the things that make you fragile. To build resilience into our lives, we shouldn't fear adversity, because each setback is an opportunity for growth.

There is no perfect strategy to connecting with our ikigai. But what we learned from Okinawans is that we should not worry too much about finding it. Life is not a problem to be solved. Just remember to have something that keeps you busy doing what you love while being surrounded by the people who love you.  The ten rules of ikigai from the wisdom of the long-living residents of Ogimi-Okinawa are stay active; don't retire, take it slow, don't fill your stomach, surround yourself with good friends, get in shape for your next birthday, smile, reconnect with natur, give thanks, live in the moment, follow your ikigai.

My take outs from the book:

- Find your reason to get up in the morning.  For me the reason doesn't to be fancy and those like words of wisdom, as simple as I want to be a better me from yesterday is enough. And it can change every day. Live now and live full.

- Keep your mind and body busy.  Keep your brain active by doing something new and move your body. Stay active!

- You are what you eat. Healthy food is not always taste good but it's good for your body. Eat with your mind and not with your tongue.

Happy Holiday Everyone, enjoy your holiday with your loved ones.

Happy New Year 2021

Happy New Year 2021

May this year bring health, happiness and success for all of us.

And as usual, happy birthday for me 😘. Starting to look things differently, feel more grateful for everything that I had right now. It will never be perfect but I consider my self lucky and full of grace from Allah SWT. Alhamdulillah.

Embrace 2021 with Bismillah.

Happy Online Shopping

Sebagai seorang wanita sejati, pastinya mimi suka shopping dan pasti dong sering shopping online juga.  Kalo ditanya pernah online shopping dimana aja, jawabannya banyak, walaupun nggak coba semua marketplace ya. Berikut listnya:

•  Baju - biasanya di Zalora, Instagram, Facebook and website langsung brand, tergantung mana yang ada diskonnya. Sebagai ibu-ibu sejati pastinya senang yang ada diskonnya 😎
• Kosmetik - biasanya beli di sociolla atau marketplace shopee or lazada tapi yg authorized. Takut beli dengan yang palsu, jadi mendingan pilih yang aman.
• Sepatu - nggak pernah beli online, karena nggak bisa dicoba.... kalo mimi beli sepatu wajib dicoba dulu. Kalo baju udah tahu ukurannya.
• Tanaman - beli di shopee tapi ya gitu, tergantung penjualnya. Mimi sarankan kalo beli tanaman sebaiknya beli langsung or yang deket jadi bisa kirim by gojek or grab.  Karena tanaman kalo sakit butuh waktu untuk healing dan extra care. Kasian tanamannya menempuh jarak jauh dan nggak nyaman juga. Suka beli di Instagram juga dan lagi mau coba beli di Facebook. Tanaman ini hobi baru mimi. Kalo sempet nanti diupdate juga ya mengenai hobby tanaman ini yang lagi hits gemihits bangets.
• Grocery - belanja bulanan paling pas pake Happy Fresh, udah langganan banget. Sekarang tiap bulan pasti belanja bulanan pake Happy Fresh, so far so good no complaint.
  
• Others - untuk yang lain-lain biasanya cari di market place. Shopee, tokped, lazada or bli bli. Kalo ditanya lebih seneng mana, buat mimi sih sama aja. Semua ada plus dan minusnya masing-masing, ini kembali ke selera masing-masing. Pertanyaannya mungkin sama seperti, lebih suka mana bubur diaduk atau tidak diaduk. Btw, mimi penganut bubur tidak diaduk 😊.

Untuk shopping di IG or Facebook harus lebih hati-hati pastikan penjualnya amanah ya.  Dilihat-lihat komennya, harga barangnya, fotonya, plus profil yang punya. Pake feeling juga ini kira-kira penipu atau bukan.  Kalo masih ragu, pura-pura mau transaksi sampai dapat nomor rekening untuk transfer trus nomor rekeningnya bisa kamu cek di rekening.id. Membantu banget lho, mimi terhindar dari penipuan karena udah merasa kalo kayaknya jualannya nggak bener deh trus cek ke rekening.id dan benar ternyata dia penipu. 

Waspada ya teman-teman, apalagi kalo barang yang ditawarkan terlalu murah, too good to be true. Atau kalo harga normal tapi IG-nya nggak pernah ada yang komen, kayaknya fotonya comot punya orang lain atau foto bebas yang banyak beredar di internet. Paling aman memang belanja di market place. Tapi tetap harus hati-hati juga dan lihat komen or rekomendasi yang sudah pernah beli. Minusnya belanja online kita tidak lihat barang secara langsung jadi kemungkinan barang tidak sesuai harapan selalu ada.  Dan sebagai pembeli yang baik, jadi lupa kasih komen juga kalo kita sudah membeli, yang pasti komennya harus sesuai kenyataan ya, jadi bisa membantu pembeli-pembeli yang lain juga. 

Last but not least, Happy Shopping Girls, for me shopping is one of my stress relieve and can made or ruined my day 😎, maafkan jika lebay 😁.

Happy Watching

Ceritanya mau narsis nih 😎. After one of my training session, the training organizer asked me for interview and later on they posted the interview in youtube. Happy watching 😊.

Strategi menjalankan performance appraisal di perusahaan - Yanuarisa Kariani

Pelukku Untuk Pelikmu

Fiersa Besari

Sandarkan lelahmu dan ceritakan
Tentang apapun aku mendengarkan
Jangan pernah kau merasa sendiri
Tengoklah aku yang tak pernah pergi

Bagiku kau tetap yang terbaik
Entah beratmu turun atau naik

Kadang kala tak mengapa
Untuk tak baik baik saja
Kita hanyalah manusia
Wajar jika tak sempurna
Saat kau merasa gundah
Lihat hatimu percayalah
Segala sesuatu yang pelik
Bisa diringankan dengan peluk

Kau berkata dunia sedang tak ramah
Ya bukan berarti kau mesti berubah
Jadi seseorang yang tak kau ingin
Yang menatapmu asing dari cermin

Bagiku kau tetap yang terbaik
Entah beratmu turun atau naik

Kadang kala tak mengapa
Untuk tak baik baik saja
Kita hanyalah manusia
Wajar jika tak sempurna

Saat kau merasa gundah
Lihat hatimu percayalah
Segala sesuatu yang pelik
Bisa diringankan dengan peluk

Kita perlu kecewa untuk tahu bahagia
Bukankah luka menjadikan kita saling menguatkan

Kadang kala tak mengapa
Untuk tak baik baik saja
Kita hanyalah manusia
Wajar jika tak sempurna

Saat kau merasa gundah
Lihat hatimu percayalah
Segala sesuatu yang pelik
Bisa diringankan dengan peluk
Segala sesuatu yang pelik
Bisa diringankan dengan peluk

Special Ramadhan

Selamat Menjalankan Ibadah Puasa semuanya, sudah hari kelima nih, mudah-mudahan semua puasanya lancar, ngajinya juga lancar, tarawehnya juga lancar dan semoga amal ibadah kita semua diterima Allah SWT. Aamiin......

Ramadhan kali special karena nggak ada taraweh di masjid, sedih banget deh. Nggak ada taraweh di masjid kok special? Kan kita harus tetap positif walaupun ditengah-tengah corona. Salah satunya adalah dengan WFH karena corona kesempatan kita untuk memaksimalkan waktu ibadah jadi lebih besar. Harus tetap semangat dan beribadah maksimal mal mal.

Huss huss semoga corona cepat berlalu. Waktu Ramadhan waktu yang paling tepat untuk berdoa dan meminta kepada Allah SWT agar corona segera pergi.

Happy Ramadhan semuanya, tetap positif, tetap menjaga kesehatan dan waktunya memaksimalkan ibadah.

Perlahan Menghilang

"Perlahan Menghilang" (Ardhito Pramono feat. Joan Elizabeth)

Semalam datang sosok pangeran sendiri seorangan
Tak kuasa ku hanya diam
Diam pergi perlahan
Mimpikan pelukan

Esoknya ku ciptakan lagu
Lagu hanya untukmu
Ingatan kau terus mengganggu
Ternyata kau si masa lalu
Indah si putri salju
Doaku untukmu

Biarlah daku simpan sejuta rasa yang engkau buang
Ku tak akan pernah lupakan
Kau yang pernah ku sayang
Perlahan menghilang

Ingatanku terbang berlalu
Kembali tahun baru
Saat kau duduk di sampingku
Kau bilang ku sayang padamu

Tak hentiku terharu
Rindukan pelukan
Untuk apa ku kenang sayang
Kau pun sudah bertuan

Bagai pungguk rindukan bulan
Harapanku putus melayang
Putus si layang-layang
Perlahan menghilang

Biarlah daku simpan sejuta rasa yang engkau buang
Ku tak akan pernah lupakan
Kau yang pernah ku sayang
Perlahan menghilang

Ku tak akan pernah lupakan
Kau yang pernah ku sayang
Perlahan menghilang
Ku bujuk sejuta harapan

Namun tak kunjung datang
Perlahan menghilang

Learning Journey in Imperfectness

For me the word perfect is belong to Allah SWT, everything in this world is imperfect. Life is a journey in imperfectness, a learning journey in everything.  Learning to become a good moslem, a good daughter, a good sister, a good wife, a good mother, a good friend, a good employee, a good leader, a good neighbor and many other roles that I have in this world.

My lovely imperfect but yet wonderful family.
Picture taken on December 2019 during our year end holiday.

Bulb

Bulb

Ardhito Pramono

Oo. what should I decide then.
Oo. your eyes' stuck inside my head
I see a rainbow in your heart
Then when you left me the sun behind u sets

You light up my empty heart
Then I will be glad to see your sights
You gave me diamond in the clouds

Though I can't be the one you love
Ooh. been struggling with all your sense
Ooh. a true love is hard to find
I see a rainbow in your heart
Then when you left me the sun behind u sets

Well is alright to try
The alternative way
Well have your self a good night sleep
Don't forget the memories we keep

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Ardhito Pramono

What Coaching is & The Reasons You Need a Coach

3 minutes read

When we hear the word ‘coach’, the first thing that comes to mind is probably a sport coach - someone who guides or teaches a person or a team at a particular sport. Very occasionally, coaching may mean the act of providing guidance or giving special classes in sports, a school subject, or a work-related activity. It’s the most common definition of coaching term being used and widely accepted. However, this time, in defining coaching, I would like to refer to International Coach Federation (ICF), a US based coach certification body.  ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.

You may be wondering whether there is any other coaching certification body other than ICF, that I mentioned earlier. As a matter of fact, there are four International Coach Certification Bodies that are well-known these days, which include:

- Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC) based in Canada

- International Coach Federation (ICF) based in the US

- International Association of Coaching (IAC) based in the US

- European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) based in Belgium

People often get mixed up between the term ‘coaching’ and ‘mentoring’.  Hence, I think it’s necessary to revisit the difference between coaching and mentoring.  From ICF website, a mentor is an expert who provides wisdom and guidance based on his or her own experience. Thus, mentoring may include advising, counseling and coaching. On the other hand, coaching process does not include advising or counseling. Instead, it focuses on individuals or groups setting and reaching their own objectives.  Based on the above statement mentoring session can include coaching but not the other way around. 

On coaching session, a coach should not give any advice or guidance. Any action should come from coachee.  No one will feel happy when they are told what to do. Thus, actions that come from coachee himself is likely to create higher ownership and commitment. If there is a behavior change, the change will sustain longer. To support coachee to come up with action, coach roles are to actively listen and ask powerful questions to seek for clarity, insight, possibility, blind spot that eventually results in action and commitment from coachee.

The foundation of good coaching relationship is trust that leads to openness.  Professional certified coach is bound to Ethics Code, one of which is confidentiality. Hence, it’s important to ensure that your coach is a certified coach.  The certification could come from any of the above certification bodies that I mentioned earlier.  There are also independent coaching training providers who provide certification but in general, certificates issued by international coach certification bodies have better credibility.

What are the benefits a coachee can get from coaching sessions? If you search on google, the search result will come up with a long list of benefits. Coupled with my experience as a coach and coachee, below are condensed list of the benefits that you will get from a coaching session:

●       Heightened self-awareness and self-regulation

Before starting the session, coach usually will ask coachee to fill in a series of question about him/herself.  The idea is for coach to know coachee better and subsequently helps coachee to know about him/herself better.  At a later stage through coaching session, coachee will be able to identify his/her emotion and be responsible of his/her action.  Impacts of self-awareness and self-regulation are confidence, openness to changes and gain trustworthiness.

●       Increased levels of motivation and happiness

In coaching session, coach will help you to find your true motivation, an internal motivation that linked to self-improvement rather than only external motivation that other people will see. Motivation will give you strength when things get tough and give you perseverance in the face of adversity. Knowing your internal motivation will lead you to find your happiness and feeling of fulfillment in your life.

●       Establish and act towards achieving goals

Through thought-provoking process during the coaching session, coachee will come up with series of action to achieve his/her goals.  Before ending the coaching session, coach will ensure that coachee has the commitment to make action into reality.  During the series of coaching session, coach will follow up on the action plan, to check on the progress before continuing to others topic.  It’s helpful to have someone to remind you on things that you should do in the midst of your busy mind and help you to keep track of your action towards your goals.

●       Improved performance

When people look for a coach, they look for solution to their problem. On the process of finding the solution, coach will help you have clearer vision of what you want, keep on your priority, challenge you and hold you accountable for your actions.  All of these will improve your performance as you walk the path to your success to become a better person.

●       Safe Place to Gain Perspective

Do you ever feel afraid to look bad or someone else will find the fault in you? Sometimes it is hard for us to admit our fear and weakness because most of us would like to appear near perfect or have less weakness.  A coach will help us to acknowledge our fear and our weakness. A coach will also help us to overcome it.  A coach will help us to look at things from a different perspective that we may feel afraid to look at or different angle that we miss. As a human being, we have our blind spot, to have someone helping us with no judgement and self-interest will give us a safe place to gain perspective.

After finishing coaching session, I always ask feedback from my coachee. It is for me to improve myself and also to understand how they feel about the coaching session, whether they get the benefits, whether they gain something, whether they feel the change.

Below are some of the feedbacks I got from my coachee:

“Coach helped me to achieve my goals and gave questions that pushed me to find the answer on my own. Now I am able to manage my time better and define my priority.”

“Coach is able to help me see myself clearly, now I’m more confident to make my own decision.”

“Coach helps me to explore and expand myself.  I come up with my own ideas to improve myself.” 

Having seen the benefits of coaching, I view it as an investment for life.  Many successful people claim that the most important investment is the investment made on yourself. Thus, ask yourself this question: how do you want to improve your life? If the answer is one of the benefits mentioned above, then it’s time for you to start your journey with coaching. Happy coaching.

---YK---

Fine Today

We will find a way
To be honest make no mistake
Sometimes I pray
Tell me how to make you stay
And you always going to be the one for me

Though we'll be fine today
Have a drink for the ol' time
Perfect time to say
"You are my happiness"
And you always going to be the one for me

There were times when it rains
Just the thing kept me sane
It's too much for a little time of fame

But you saved the day
Yes, you saved the day

You always going to be the one for me

Where to find you again?
There's no one seems to care
It's too much for the average man to stay
But you saved the day
Yes you saved the day

And you always going to be the one for me

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Ardhito Pramono

Happy 2020

Welcome 2020 and tomorrow is a mark for a year older of me 😊. I have a lot to do in my list for 2020, need to take it easy but ensure everything will be done. Ganbatte, see you in the next post.

Ada Apa dengan Airport/Bandara

Kali ini mau nulis pakai bahasa Indonesia aja, biar lebih afdol.  Temanya airport aka bandara.

Karena sering baca novel (novel yang nggak pakai mikir ya, lha wong kerja udah mikir masa mau refreshing mikir juga, ha ha ha ha tanda-tanda orang nggak mau susah pas santai), beberapa penulis senang menggunakan airport sebagai setting tempat atau pun kejadian-kejadian yang berpengaruh di novelnya.  Awalnya sih nggak ngerti, apa sih istimewanya airport/bandara, mungkin karena sebelumnya (cieeehh sebelumnya) jarang-jarang ke airport.  Palingan setahun 2x atau 3x maksimal. Tapi dengan kerjaan baru yang sekarang karena kita lagi mau tumbuh dan berkembang (ceritanya mau konsisten dengan pemakaian bahasa Indonesia nih), jadilah mimi harus pergi ke beberapa kota di Indonesia. Dan karena dikejar tenggat waktu yang mepet akhirnya seminggu bisa pergi 2x, kalo seminggu 3x bisa pingsan eykehhh.

Biasanya mimi pergi dengan pesawat paling pagi dan langsung pulang dihari yang sama dengan pesawat yang malam, tidak harus dengan pesawat yang terakhir sih.  Selalunya naik Garuda jadi menikmati terminal 3 baru yang sudah ciamik walaupun jalannya agak jauh ya.  Anggaplah sebagai olahraga biar senantiasa tetap langsing dan singset.

Mimi memilih berangkat dari rumah pagi dan duduk manis di bandara sambil minum-minum teh cantik dan buka laptop cek-cek email daripada harus terburu-buru ke bandara dan khawatir macet di jalan.  Selalunya sudah onlince check in melalui website, karena dengan online check in bisa milih tempat duduk.  Mimi sukanya milih duduk di jendela, karena bisa lihat pemandangan dan biasanya jarang pipis di pesawat jadinya nggak masalah lah ya.  Online check in juga membantu menghindari dapat duduk di tengah, karena menurut mimi paling nggak enak duduk di tengah dan in case tetiba macet banget nggak terlalu khawatir ditinggal pesawat karena sudah check in.

Abis duduk-duduk cantik, barulah ke ruang tunggu pesawat.  Biasanya sambil bawa coklat panas, minuman favorit di pagi hari di bandara karena mimi nggak suka kopi sama sekali.  Kopi adalah minuman pahit yang disukai banyak orang.  Masih tak mengerti kenapa orang-orang suka minuman yang pahit, kalo mau yang pahit ya minum aja obat. Ha ha ha, ditimpuk ini sama pecinta kopi.  Yah namanya juga selera, pastinya beda orang beda selera.  Ada yang cinta mati kopi ada juga yang nggak suka kopi seperti mimi.  Sambil duduk sambil minum coklat sambil memperhatikan orang yang lalu lalang sambil mengira-ngira mereka mau kemana, sedang apa urusan apa, tadi pagi bangun jam berapa, kira-kira punya masalah apa, dan sebagainya dan sebagainya.  Nggak heran bandara bisa membuat banyak penulis mendapatkan inspirasi mereka.

Di pesawat, biasanya mimi nggak bisa tidur.  Jadilah menikmati film-film yang ada.  Lumayan filmnya bagus-bagus juga.  Tapi karena udah keseringan naik pesawat (ciehh yang sering naik pesawat), lama-lama semua film yang dirasa bagus udah ditonton semua.  Akhirnya dengerin lagu-lagu, walaupun lagu-lagu yang sesuai dengan selera mimi nggak banyak juga.  Akhirnya begong-begong nggak jelas, karena paling males buka handphone or laptop di pesawat. Dan hasil bengong-bengong ngga jelas itu adalah ide untuk membuat cerita or novel. Ha ha ha ha ha ha, cita-cita ingin menulis sebuah buku selalu ada di hati.

Bandara saat ini akrab di hati, sampai selalu pergi ke kafe yang sama dengan pesanan yang mirip-mirip.  Berharap punya waktu untuk menyelesaikan ide-ide yang muncul sewaktu di pesawat or bandara.  Siap-siap untuk online check in, pesan taksi dan besok bangun lebih pagi untuk pergi ke airport. See you in the morning airport.

Happy New Year

Welcoming 2017........

And as always Happy Birthday to me.

Looking forward for a great year ahead. 

Woohooo keep the spirit in the air.

Some pictures from our year end holiday.

Book Review : Wonder by R.J. Palacio

I would say that Wonder is a heartwarming book. Really loves the theme of the book and the story flows from different point view.  I would recommend parents to read this book and also ask their child to read the book.

It's a story about an extraordinary child named August Pullman (Auggie).

I love the way Via (Auggie's big sister Olivia Pullman) describes Auggie as the sun and the rest of family members are planet orbiting the sun. But there is a shift in the cosmos. The galaxy is changing, planets are falling out of alignment. Via conflicts with her friend (Miranda), her relationship with her boyfriend (Justin) and her conflicts with herself. It makes us realize as a parents we need to pay attention to all of our children even though maybe one child has special needs. A child is a child, they needs us as their parent to be there for them and help them to survive in the galaxy.

Every character is so human.  Summer, Jack, Julian, Charlotte, some of Auggie's friend, their character complete the story.  They teach us how to forgive and forget.  Auggie's parents teach us to never give up, teach our children to be independent and give them trust but yet also considering how they feel about the process.

Beautiful book and well written.  Recommended book to spend your weekend. *****