Monday, January 24, 2005

SAILING

Due to technical ease, I decided to move my blog to this one. I hope you don't stop your visit. Thank you verymuch.

posted by leyla @ 1/24/2005 01:56:00 PM

|

Friday, January 14, 2005

THE DAMN LOVELY WEATHER

I had no idea - up until now - what hot weather can do to your eyelids. Having an ex-prison as an office; where there are no air conditioners, hardly any windows; doesn't help. And this extra large helicopter fans in the room c-a-n m-a-k-e y-o-u-r e-y-e-s v-e-r-y H-E-A-V-Y... ZZZZzzzz

[I do hope they are not still using the isolation chamber to punish employees who fall asleep in their jobs]

posted by leyla @ 1/14/2005 11:41:00 AM

|

Thursday, January 13, 2005

DISTRACTED

So here I am. In the foreign beautiful land. Where everything's so simple, I cannot remember the last time I have it this way. Where people are expressing their emotions animatedly; I often smile about them. This country, where there's a - supposedly enigmatic - 27 meters high statue of Jesus [why 27? Anyone?]. This island, where the beaches are still beautiful; goats, birds, hogs and pigs roam around hand-in-hand [can you picture that?]. This place where you go to small restaurant to have dinner, and you could walk home while listening to the waves of the oceans just on your left; while walking you could look up and see the stars very clearly. I could even pinpoint the one and only constellation I know and can find, Orion. I should have something else in my mind right now. But why all I can think of is you? How I'm physically in pain of missing you. Please come to me soon.

posted by leyla @ 1/13/2005 08:13:00 AM

|

Saturday, January 08, 2005

STICKLERS UNITE!

Have you ever deliberately bitten your lips when one of your friends doesn't put any a's or an's or s's before or after his/her nouns? Are you 'stark raving' annoyed when your friends put 'your' in their emails when what they really mean is 'you're'? Have you ever shouted out loud out of disgust when you spot mistakes in spelling or plain Ignoramus English in magazines?

If the answer is yes, boy, do I have THE right book for you!

Eats, Shoots and Leaves is not exactly a grammar book. But a book dedicated to punctuation? What a mini orgasm! At least I wasn't expecting a punctuation book that made me laugh that hard. I can totally relate to the author, Lynne Truss, for I am a stickler at heart, but sometimes I don't have a heart or even shameful to lash out my much needed criticisms. So sticklers unite! I am optimistic to make this world a better place for apostrophes, commas, colons, semicolons and periods.

posted by leyla @ 1/08/2005 09:11:00 PM

|

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

GO EAST

If this isn't the right time, I don't know when. Mother earth has given us a warning. Take only what we use. Where can we go if we've damaged the earth permanently? [freely quoted from one-earth].

I'd love to go west to help, alas I have given my word to go east instead. Maybe some other time. IF I still have time.

So I'll see you when I got there. Hopefully with some interesting stories about the place. In the East [Timor].

posted by leyla @ 1/05/2005 10:57:00 PM

|

Friday, December 24, 2004

SPIRITED AWAY

I wish I could do something more productive these days, but I couldn't or wouldn't [to be more precise] so I tried to kill time by watching as many DVD as I can.

About two days ago, me, Dear Hubby and Ich our friend went to the DVD place, and we found a box set of Studio Ghibli movies. Dear Hubby was ecstatic and wanted to buy it. It was quite a bargain, 8 movies for 200 rupiah [right?]. So we did buy it.

Last night, I saw the ones titled 'Only Yesterday' and 'Whisper of the Heart'. I can say, it was wonderful! As probably most of you know that, in the case of the animation, Studio Ghibli is, by far the best there is. The movement is so realistic, and they took care of the smallest thing that most animators don't think of. And then the story. Mind you, Ghibli never underestimate the power of the story, that is why their movies run for as long as two hours [like Spirited Away]. The two movies I saw also have the duration for almost 2 hours.

Simple things like, your memories in 4th and 5th grade, could come back and stay with you while you're on day to day life. The crushes we had on high school. And how we thought it would change our lives forever, and it did, in a smallish wonderful way. The movies touched me in so many different ways, I cried a bit last night [maybe I was just in a somber mood, he he].

I remembered when a lot of my friends recommended me to see 'Ada Apa dengan Cinta' and told me how the movie reminded them so of the highschool time. I saw it and it didn't do anything to me. But these animations did. Highly recommended. *sniff*

posted by leyla @ 12/24/2004 02:24:00 PM

|

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

SUNRISE AND SUNSET

If you're anything like me, you would watch and love 'Before Sunrise'. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy are both beautiful, the dialogue was meaningful, and their chemistry is sooo... yummy [couldn't find better words]. I really liked the ending. The movie is romantic without being pretentiously kissy wissy and hopeful. But it was.

So few days ago I was surprised to find the sequel titled[obviously] 'Before Sunset' and rented it immediately. I saw it and smiled, laughed, touched with Ethan [Jessie] and Julie [Celine]. The setting was Paris, rather than Vienna, the movie was in real time, and 9 years later after the first. The character grew older, become wiser, more bitter in their own wonderful ways. The conversation flowed effortlessly, and again, the chemistry! Wow! I thought that, guys probably would find the movie as a bit 'talky'. But I was wrong. I saw it again yesterday, with dear hubby, and two of our guy friends. I saw them smiling with every smile of Jessie and Celine's. I saw them laughing for every dry joke and funny gesture the characters made. I was delighted.

The movie reminds me that, with everything that I have been through, I am not bitter at all. Bitterness is for hopeful souls, who still find at times the reality doesn't match the expectation. I am not bitter. I cannot be. I take my life as it is. I live for the moment. If I find something funny I would laugh, if I find something beautiful I would be in awe, if I find something to be mad at, I would be. But that is it. This is life. This is the journey. Take it as it is. Our happiness is not about getting what we want, but how we get it.

Oh, I love the movie.

posted by leyla @ 12/22/2004 02:15:00 PM

|

RAT[S] UPDATE

The back door being permanently shut, the so called clever creature HAS to find other entry. I was peacefully watching my DVD when on the corner of my eyes something with snout and whiskers tried to enter my door. I screamed as loud as I can [like something out of horror movie] thus, making the rodent turned around and changed his mind about entering the lot of lady dragon.

Dear hubby probably jumped up his chair due to the screaming, thinking I was caught on fire, but later found out, somebody let the front door open, so the rat felt welcomed.

So we gambled with Nyot-Nyot, our dear cat. We let Nyot-Nyot stayed in for the night, last night, hoping, he would catch [euphimism of kill] the damn rat.

So we woke up this morning, with the delight of two [not one] former rats on the table and on the floor, successfully killed by Nyot-Nyot. BRAVO! BRAVO! Have any idea what kind of treat I should get for Nyot-Nyot?

posted by leyla @ 12/22/2004 01:59:00 PM

|