Love letter to my future other half :)

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim...
Maybe it sounds weird. A love letter should be written for the people we've already known. I haven't known you, the one whom this love letter should be addressed to. Whoever you are my future other half, this love letter is special for you :)
May i guess who you are? Don't worry, i won't compare you with my imagination. I think it is normal when a girl has an imagination of her future other half. Once again, i wanna make sure that I love you just the way you are :)

Hmmm probably you're a pious man who does shalat on time and recites Qur'an after maghrib time, maybe you're a man who treats your mother like a queen, you're a man who visits bookshop every month, you're a man who spends the day at coffeshop while reading a book after having a hard day at work. Are you joining John Green's series? How do you liking it so far?
Are you a type of man who wears glasses? Are you a smart guy? Are you a globetrotter? Are you a brave man who impresses other people with your awesome speech? Are you a type of man who loves booktalking? Are you a man who dies to expert on Japanese and French languages?
I know you're not perfect, so DON'T TAKE IT SERIOUSLY okay? haha.

I don't know how Allah arranges His way for us, i mean how and when we're going to meet. Maybe we've met before or we haven't met but we've known each other. I don't know. I'm a bit tired yet excited of wondering who you are. I have been expecting to meet you soon. Dear my future other half, I'm not busy dating with men while waiting for your coming. I'm busy pursuing my dreams and busy preparing myself to be a great partner for you. Some men tried to attract my attention, but you know I'm not the type of girl who wastes my time in a "trash relationship" anymore. Many people often questioning why I have been being single for a long time. I used to be known as a girl who is very busy pursuing my dreams and future career. I don't want to be a "brainless trophy wife" for you. Whatever your profession is, I wanna be your best discussion partner. I enjoy and love deep discussion, that's why you may ask me whenever you need a discussion partner. I wanna be smart, bright, beautiful, talented and everything you can hope for in a girl. But don't worry, I will step back and support your dreams and career as well because I deeply understand that your dreams are mine too.

When we meet later, i'll ask you to have a midnight booktalk with me and we build our own library at home. I'm not that sweet in expressing my feeling, but laying down on your arm while we're reading in silence is very romantic for me. It feels good to finally be able to meet you in the future. My life has found it's missing piece. I love you because of Allah...

Love,
your future other half :)

Oh Tokyo, how i miss thee!!

Tokyo must be so wonderful this month! The streets get brightly lit with beautiful winter illuminations. Oh Tokyo, how i miss thee!

Another day, another dream comes true

I'm invited as one of the speakers in this program. Jika ada waktu luang silakan datang besok pukul 15.30 WIB, talkshow ini GRATIS! :)
Semoga sharing pengalaman yang saya berikan besok bisa banyak menginspirasi anak-anak muda supaya berani bermimpi dan action. Untuk saya sendiri, semoga pengalaman yang saya share ke audience bisa membuat saya bisa lebih rendah hati karena semua dari Allah, atas ijin Allah.
Saya pernah menulis "ingin jadi pembicara yang menginspirasi anak-anak muda" di list mimpi saya tahun 2013 ini. Alhamdulillah another day, another dream comes true. God is good :)

That's what friends are for

 Assalamu'alaykum...
Lama banget rasanya ga nulis di blog *tiup-tiup debu di blog*
What is the newest? I already finished my undergraduate study yay! Sudah beberapa bulan yang lalu sebenarnya, i'm just too lazy to write it on blog. Sorry :)) and my graduation ceremony will be on March.
As a fresh graduate, semuanya pasti pernah merasakan "galau". Untuk studi lanjut atau kerja. Sebuah pilihan yang sulit (untuk saya). Mungkin untuk beberapa orang bukan pilihan yang sulit karena sudah mempunyai kemantapan pilihan jauh-jauh hari.
Bulan lalu saya dipanggil test salah satu multinational company besar di Indonesia, but i didn't make it. Test kerja  di multinational company itu yang pertama bagi saya. Well, i was killed by GMAT test LOL :) tapi mungkin belum rejeki untuk kerja disana.
Bukan kegagalan test itu yang ingin saya share disini. Saya ingin share kalo saya beruntung. Saya beruntung punya banyak teman yang care dan ada di saat saya ada di atas atau di bawah.
Akhir-akhir ini kegalauan mau studi lanjut atau kerja datang lagi, but i'm so happy to have Fika as one of my best friends. Kita pertama ketemu di Bangkok, Thailand tahun lalu sebagai delegasi Indonesia di Asean Student Forum. Setelah kita balik ke Indonesia, kita jadi temen deket. Kita punya kesamaan, sama-sama suka kopi dan buku, perbedaannya Fika suka pak Gita Wirjawan dan saya suka pak Marty Natalegawa :p
Semalam saya bbm Fika, "Fik, tell me one strong reason why you take that path", and her answer warmed my heart

"Life and Love. Life is too precious to be usual and too short to be ordinary. Will you stand on zero ground while enormous opportunities are waiting for you?. Love is the way you praise God for gracious life. The more you know the world the more you love you have, to God and His blessing life. Learning is about knowing and knowing is never ending process. The knowing is upper hand than the not, as God says. So, don't you want to be the knowing? God indeed encourages us to learn as much as possible no matter how far, how hard, and how long to know each other better for better future"

Seketika saya langsung buka dream book yang saya punya dan membaca lagi mimpi-mimpi yang saya ingin raih. Saya lupa jika saya pernah menulis mimpi besar itu dengan semangat. Saya senang ketika punya teman dengan visi yang sama, kita bisa saling mengingatkan tentang mimpi-mimpi yang kita punya. That's what friends are for, for good times and bad times. And there's so much more i see, and so by the way i thank you. Thanks Fika! :)

Saya semakin yakin setelah ini saya akan kemana. Tugas saya adalah terus bekerja keras supaya mimpi-mimpi itu menjadi nyata suatu hari nanti. Jika ketentuan Allah berbeda dari keputusan yang saya ambil, saya akan biarkan Allah bekerja, karena Dia yang punya kendali pada hidup saya. Saya bahagia karena saya berusaha "menghidupkan" mimpi-mimpi saya :)

Date a Girl Who Reads

Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find  a girl who reads. You'll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She's the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That's the reader. They can never resist smelling the page, especially when they are yellow.

She's the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a pick of her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she's kind of engrossed already. Lost in world of the author's making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interupted.

Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee. Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce's Ulysses she's just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It's easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday or for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Sexton, Cummings, Pound. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by God, she's going to try to make her life a little like her favourite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand who understand all things will come to end. That you always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you're not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series. If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her of a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She'll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or a very casually next time she's sick  Over skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn't burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you're better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads

-Rosemary Urquico

Mommy Cammy

Hello dear readers...
Wish u all doing great there. I'm doing great here as well. Lil bit busy with my thesis since i have a date with thesis everyday till midnight. But i believe, hard work will be paid off. Wish me luck :)
Today, i want to write one of my room-mates in Tokyo. She is Camilla Itokszii Garuai (Cami). She comes from Papua New Guinea. Finally i have a friend from that country hihi. I really want to have many friends in another country and i wish from all over the world.

She is very nice room-mate, pretty, humble, and smart. I talked many things with her, had a public bathing together, had a gossiping till midnight about the boy in the forum-whose-name-shall-not-be-spoken hihi, and many more. We worked in the same group, governance group. We shared many things, about the politic condition and the governance in our own country. I call her mommy since she is older than me and she is wise. When i shared my stories with her, she gave a very nice advice. That's one things that i love from Cami.
I really love to have many friends, so that's why i keep in touch with everyone, Cami as well.
I remember her nice advice "Shelia, do not ever give up on your dreams, if something is meant to be no matter how impossible it is, God will make a way"

Though we have many friends from many different countries, i think distance is not the matter. Trying to keep in touch despite the distance. Meeting many friends is such kind of blessing for me. Thanks God!

Cami and I

I'm on Japan Web Magazine

Hello...
I just found out that my photo and my group's photo in IDYF Japan appeared on Japan web magazine. Yay! :)
Unfortunately, the article was written in Japanese language. Thanks to Google translate, i could understand around 50% of the article. LOL
Here is the link for the full version http://dev-media.blogspot.jp/2013/03/mdgs.html?m=1

My group in IDYF - Governance group

cross-cultural-(love)???

I don't want to be with you forever, you know. I just want to sit next to you on that bench for a little long while. Wait, i lied! I do want to be with you forever. I'm sick of being obsessed with you. I want to be obsessed with less complicated things, like books-or cooking. Maybe that's why I decided to stick with not telling the truth. It hurts less. So good bye and take care

Spring in Japan. This picture was taken around Asakusa ^^