I'm not lucky, I'm blessed: a tale of a new diver.

Well, last weekend was one of the highlights in my life. as you might have read on my previous post, I was enrolled in a diving course with a certification to be a PADI open water diver *yeah baby!* - and last weekend was our real dive in the open sea, no more pool sessions! woohoo! :D

We went to Pramuka Island for the dive trip. there were 12 of us going on the trip, our PADI instructor, Ko Ronald (he's like the coolest guy on earth, seriously! - no matter how hard we joked around, he seemed able to always maintain his self-control, it's so hard to make him crack XD), Priska (the dive master wannabe and also, a friend of mine who has successfully dragged me into the diving course - in which I never regret it a bit), Otto (our underwater photographer and also the advanced open water diver wannabe - he did his courses with us there in the open sea), Suresh (a diver from Malaysia who is also a dive instructor and currently works in an advertising company in Jakarta, he shared lots of his experience and knowledge with us the newbies), Tommy (a diver who works for Jakarta Globe - woot! woot! he's like the funniest american i've ever met :)), Mas Arip (also a diver who works in the lab at RS. Pertamina Cempaka Putih, in which i thought was cool!), Mas Zam (another diver who happens to work at salingsilang.com, this guy is definitely a historian, i totally enjoyed talking with him about Indonesian history and museums), and of course, there were us, the open water divers wannabe (Ais - the sweet girl who's always craving for a cold soda after every dive and gladly share her shampoo to prevent our masks from fogging, Hendra - the college guy from Bandung, the youngest among us all, Andry - the most hilarious one! he just won't stop making us laughing with his presence, such a joy bringer :), Nagarajan - who seemed to be always on the phone every time we looked for him, he's a very nice guy though :D and of course there was me :D)

we set off from the Marina Bay, Ancol around 8 am in the morning using a speedboat. we arrived at Pramuka Island around 10 am something (not quite sure of the time) because we should drop off some people at Tidung Island. once we're arrived at Pramuka Island, we went straight to the house where we would spend the night there. we unpacked our bags, changed our clothes and got our diving gears ready for the first dive trip. 

We took off to the open sea around 11am and stopped at our first diving spot, the fun divers set off first with our local guide while all the open water divers were having the review session (where we had to do all that we had learned in the pool sessions in the sea). we did get a little difficulty in maintaining the buoyancy since it's our first time being in the sea and it's so much different from being in the pool (d'oh, of course lah) but after a while we could finish the first review nicely :D, weeoooo! after our first dive session of the day we then stopped by the Semak Daun Island to have lunch. we rest there for a while before going to the second diving spot of the day. 

On the second spot called Ella's Reef, we had a bit of difficulties. Andry needed to come up faster because his mask was too tight, Ais got her nose bleeding and the current was too strong that finally we had to give up and came up to the surface. I felt so tired when I needed to swim over to the boat, glad that Ko Ronald gave me his help to find the boat's rope so I could I swim over to the boat by holding on the rope then the boat's crew helped me by pulling the rope closer to the boat and helped me got up. IT WAS SUPER TIRING. - after everyone was on the boat, we got back to Pramuka Island. 

Ella's Reef was actually quite fascinating, I finally saw the clown fish for real and other cute and colourful fish (which i don't really know the name - haha) - I also saw the dolphins swimming on our way to Ella's Reef. The only unfortunate thing was the strong current.

Once we're back at the house where we're staying and got cleaned up, we're relaxing, some went to the mosque to pray, some were chit-chatting while drinking beers and eating chips (and whatever food we could find to eat). Priska then asked me to go with her to wait on Ko Ronald and Otto while they're doing the night dive, it's one of the course that Otto would need to complete to get his advanced open water diver certification. While the boys were in the water with their flash lights and did their night dive, I sat with Priska at the pier, looking at the stars and listening to "galau" songs :D. It was so awesome to see the stars on the night sky, very clear and very bright. Definitely something you won't find in Jakarta. 

After the boys were done with the night dive, we're heading back to the house to have some dinner. It was nice to know that when we're back, the food was just delivered to our house. Then after dinner, we were all caught in interesting conversations with each other. My second favourite time after the diving sessions, getting to know new people. It was totally a good time of laughing, exchanging stories and friendship bonding before all of us went to sleep.

On the second day, everyone was already awake at 6.30am, breakfast was served at 7am and then we started to get ready to for the second day dive trip. On this second day, we had a new friend from the free diving community (those who dive without the oxygen tank) called Jason (it was pretty cool to meet people who would hold their breath for 2 to 3 minutes and went to the deep). When we set off to the diving spot, there was drizzling rain and .... THERE WAS A RAINBOW! a beautiful 7 colours bow :') - and everyone was sure that it would be a good day. 

AND IT WAS A GOOD DAY :D

Our first dive session was nicely done, I saw a purple sea slug (or nudibranch - as Priska told me later on :))), some sea urchins and other sea creatures (I still can't name them XD). We even managed to get a better buoyancy than day one, we could even joked around underwater, making silly signs and poses. It was a happy diving session :D - on this first dive, we went off with Priska while Ko Ronald was doing a deep dive with Otto (it's another thing that he required to do for his certification). Our second dive was about 30 to 40 minutes after our first dive, this time, we would do another review from the pool session we've had earlier. We got to dive around and had some sight seeing. I got stung by jellyfish for several times and every time I tried to look around to find the culprit I just couldn't find it! Otto dived in with a camera this time and we got to spoil our narcissistic side a bit, posing in front of his camera. Then around 15 minutes before we went up, we had to kneel down on the sand in which a bit hard because the bottom was slope with corals all around and I scraped my knees. We did the last two techniques review and officially passed as open water divers! YAAAY!

After a the second dive session we went back home to have lunch, got cleaned up and packed our stuffs to get home. We had some time took some pictures, laughing and playing around while waiting for the boat to come. The trip back home was bumpy and rough (will tell you about the detail in the next post), glad that we safely arrived at the Marina. After bidding farewell to some of our friends and packing up all the diving gears that would need to be taken home by Ko Ronald, Otto and Priska, I went to church with Priska straight from the Marina after dropping Hendra off at the DayTrans spot in Mangga Dua Square. It was totally a good day, the worship and the message were totally awesome and I couldn't thank God enough for the weekend trip. When people said that I'm lucky, I know for sure that I'm not just lucky....I am BLESSED ;)

It's always exciting to try new things and especially meeting new people and get some new friends :) - hopefully we would all see each other in the next trip and people, I'm officially a diver now, oh yeah! XD

Dear Future Valentine.

I know that it's wayyyy past the date and season, but I've just looked at some old posts on my facebook notes and found this note that I wrote on Valentine's day about a year ago, it reminded me of my prayers for my future husband that I haven't been praying for, for quite a long time :')

** just for the sake of the season lemme be cheesy for a while :p

Dear Future Valentine,

well, i have no idea yet who are you or where are you now. yet, one thing i'm sure of is that God has His perfect moment for us. i fancy no idea of finding you actually because i would love to be found instead, i want you to fight for me and love me in the way i deserve to be loved. thus, turn on your gps darling and find me through Him :)

i pray that God will make you strong through every time of your life, when storm comes and things are heavy to bear. i pray that you will never trade your vision and dream from God in your life, i pray that you will never lose the passion and keep on going even when things get tough. hang in there, i'll be there beside you soon and we will walk the tough times together. you, me and of course God. 

i pray that i might become the right woman for you. may God help me to become a stronger and better person so i can always support you, love you and cherish you. 

i pray that within the time, we will never stop growing in God, we will love Him deeper each day and we will have the strength and will to be a blessing for other people as well. i pray that we would learn how to love and also be loved. i pray that when the time comes, we would love God even more for He has brought us into the moment.  

i pray for your family and mine, i pray that God will also work on both our families so when the time comes, everything will collide into a beautiful moment as our families give us their blessings. 

i don't ask for perfection, but i ask for character and by all means, i pray that God will get me into process to be the right woman for you as He is going to get you into process to be the right man for me. i pray that both of us will only be satisfied by God's love alone and that what we will have would be a bonus to that :)

i pray that within the time, we would both living the life to the fullest, chasing our calling in God and focus in what we need to do in life. that we would make our lives as singles to the max until we're ready to enter the next season together. 

i pray that both of us will have the grace to accept each other with all the past, scars and weaknesses as strong as we accept each other's strengths. i pray that we won't have a future determined by what has happened in the past but by what we have in the present. i pray for healing for our past wounds so nothing will haunt our future.

i pray that God will always take care of you and guide you in every step that you take including finding the way for you to find me :)

until then, my dear future valentine, whoever and wherever you are, i will try to guard my heart well and keep myself only for you. happy valentine's day!

The Yoke.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”- (Matthew 11:28-30)

Tonight, I had the privilege to learn from Dr. AR Bernard during the Sunday Night Service at my church. There were a lot of insights and wisdom. One of those enlightenments that I got was about the above verse.

It was a common verse. A verse that I have heard for so many times but tonight was the night where I can finally fully grab the meaning of it and I just so excited to share it to you. Okay, let's start.

What is a yoke? A yoke is a wooden beam, normally used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animal. (taken from wikipedia.com) - which means the use of yoke is always intended to be used for a pair of animals in order for them to move together.

The verse in Matthew 11:28-29 was actually an invitation from Jesus to be yoked together with Him. That is why in the next verse it was said that His yoke is easy and the burden is light. WHY? because when we are yoked together with Jesus, every time we feel tired and weary, Jesus would be there with us too and with His strength He will help to sustain us. Just like when one of the yoked animals feel tired of the work, it's pair would feel it too and would sustain and help the tired one to keep on moving to the right direction and carry the burden. 

When we are yoked with Jesus, our business, our care, our needs and our problems...all will become His as well, just like when two animals being yoked together they would carry the same burden. What concerns us would also concerns Jesus.

A yoke is also made in a way that would fit the animals who will carry it. It is made in a way that would not harm the animals while they are using the yoke. It is designed specifically for the animals. It's also applies in the spiritual yoke that we're talking about. Jesus' yoke is specifically designed for us in a way that would fit us well. Jesus knows about our past experiences, about how we feel and what we've been through, thus He fashioned the yoke to fit us in a way that would not harm us but enabling us to carry the burden together with Him because Jesus longs to have a relationship, fellowship and do service with us. 

When we are yoked with Jesus, we are ready to work together with Him because it's impossible to be yoked while each has their own direction to go. 

The idea of being yoked together is applicable the most in the marriage life, a husband and a wife need to be yoked in a marriage to work on it together. Now, I understand even more why the Bible told us not to unequally yoked with unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14) because it would be very difficult for someone to be yoked together with someone else who has a different subset of values in life. I thought it was more about being with someone who's not a Christian, but more, it still applies even when your partner is already a Christian -- you need to know if your partner values the same values in life as you. It's more than just about a different belief but it's about the compatibility that you have as partners so that you will be able to move together.

It's so impossible to be yoked with someone who doesn't have the same direction because we would then fight along the way, moving nowhere and eventually get tired. Thus, we need really pay attention during our relationship stages. We need to see and to know if there is any burden that our partner is carrying because we would carry it too in the future, so we can measure ourselves if we would able and willing to carry the burden together with our partner.

This yoke concept also applies in the area of business because in business partnership we would also need to work together. It is important to know our business partners that well to see if he/she has an issue or burden that he/she needs to take care of and thus, will help us to give sound judgment if we should trust he/she to become our partner or not. 

It was so awesome to get that new insight. To know that being yoked with Jesus is the ultimate thing that we can enjoy during our journey back home, He will help us get through everything. When we feel that He's away, just remember that when we are yoked with Jesus, He will always be there beside us, walking the steps together with us and all our business will become His business too :)

All The New Things.

Latelty has been a super awesome time for me. I got to experience a lot of new things


First, I got to learn Aikido, the japanese martial art , a very beautiful and artistic martial art (although I would love to learn Muay Thai but Aikido works well for me) XD

Second, after waiting for almost 15 years, my favourite Japanese rock band, L’Arc~En~Ciel had their first concert ever in Jakarta and I got to see them LIVE before my eyes only 6 meters away from the stage. That was AWESOME. It was my first outdoor concert experience, I’m super happy that everyone felt like a big family and no chaos at all :’)

Third, I got to learn HOW TO DIVE! Woohooo! and not only that, in the end of the course I would get a certificate as an open water diver from PADI plus I’ll get to dive in the open sea – super yaaay! :D

Fourth, I am happy to inform that one of my writings might be on it’s way to get published (this is sooo exciting and I hope everything would go well)

Fifth, I am given a chance to help a friend to desain something for tshirt/bag to support a save the ocean campaign, superrrrr glad for the chance so I can make my design known :)

Sixth, the office photography club will be having a gun fire and photo shooting event next month, with real guns! can you believe it?!

I’m super excited to experience all those new things and there’s nothing that I can say except that everything is because of God’s favor. He’s given me so much unexpected things and all of them are super awesome. I DO LIVE AN EXCITING LIFE! Weeeeoooooo! :D – can’t wait for what’s coming next!

Fear.

Earlier this morning I was thinking about fear. The trigger was because I was listening to some random conversation in the radio about ghosts and other mystical beings. They mentioned that the form of the ghosts are varies depending on their origins. For example, in Indonesia we have ghosts called Pocong (a ghost that looks like a bolster and travelling by hopping), Kuntilanak (a ghost in form of a beautiful woman with long hair and creppy laughter), and many more, we also have other traditional mystical being like Leak from Bali, Bagaspati from Java and so on. In the western countries the ghosts usually come in form of the existence of a paranormal activity like poltergeist or an appearance of unknown image of someone that repeatedly visiting a certain place or doing a certain activity, they also have mystical beings like vampire or werewolf and many more.

It’s very intriguing for me to know that each country has different ghost from other countries. It made me think that FEAR is actually the product of our own assumptions and perceptions towards a certain thing / condition, thus, it can be varies, because each person has their own fear. How can ghost stories lead me to this Fear theory? Well, a ghost or any other mystical being is somehow scary for us, the idea of something that comes from the dark place or from the dead (the unknown factor of life and the mystery we are yet to experience) somehow gives us the fear. Then how can the form of ghosts varies? Because the local people have a different idea of what is scary for them. The local tales encourage the perception that a certain image or certain creature is scary although the people might have not encountered with the mystical being.

It reminded me of an episode from BBC’s Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of The Baskerville. In the episode Sherlock and Watson dealt with an experiment of a chemical weapon using a gas that will trigger certain paranoia. In this episode, a big hound with red eyes was the image that’s been haunting the client and then Sherlock. To prove his theory that it was only an imagination, Sherlock played a trick on Watson, he told Watson certain criteria of the hound that he made up and then when Watson was exposed to the gas and triggered by a certain condition, he immediately saw the image of the hound exactly as Sherlock wanted him to see. So, basically, Watson’s fear was obviously based on what he expected to see, because in reality, there’s no hound at all.

That concludes that FEAR is the result of our assumptions about something, we “see” what
we “expect to see” from something in a negative way when in reality it might not be like that at all.

We see what we want to see, that’s the thing that people fail to understand. I understand that sometimes, fear makes us be a little more careful and aware but fear should not paralyzed us. I read somewhere in an article that 90% of our fears never really happen that should explain that fear is just a product of our feeling towards something that is uncommon and uncertain for us because we have no idea yet how should we respond to that thing or how should we deal with it. Mostly, once we have dealt with our fears, we will then see that in the end, it's just nothing and we can actually overcome it :)

L'Arc~En~Ciel World Tour 2012: Jakarta.

After a long 15 years of waiting for their concert in Indonesia. Finally, L’Arc~en~ciel or Laruku (Raruku in Japanese spelling) had their first concert ever in Jakarta, Indonesia. It was a dream come true for me.

The ticket sales was opened since January 2012 and instantly sold out to the die hard fans of Laruku. Even the VIP ticket that cost 1.2 million rupiahs were sold out in two days. It’s been a long wait for the Laruku fans in Indonesia to be able to watch their beloved Japanese rock band performing live, so it wasn’t a big surprise.

I’ve been a fan of Laruku since junior high, Blurry Eyes was the first song that captured my heart and made me fall in love with Laruku (unfortunately they didn't put this song in the list :')). Their epic video clip of Stay Away has always been my lifetime favourite and I’ve been following their journey ever since, including each of their solo projects.

Although a fan, I don’t join any fansclub or forum. It’s just not my thing :p

Anyway, back to the concert. It was a super fantastic one. Around 10.000 people gathered around and sang along with Laruku in every song. It was such a heartwarming moment. There was no chaos, everything was in order and everyone felt like family.

The weather was a bit cloudy and there was drizzle right when the song Anata was sang by the fans as a prelude to the encore part of the concert. It was such an emotional moment after hyde shed his tears when he sang Forbidden Lovers earlier, several people even shed a tear while singing Anata.

During the concert, Laruku was trying hard to communicate with the fans in Indonesian. Sometimes, hyde, ken or tetsu laughed at their own effort in saying the words but they continued to do it. Ken even said several lines in Indonesia with a help of a note, joking with hyde by giving him Wayang (Indonesian traditional puppet) and a traditional flute. Hyde tried to blow the flute but he couldn’t figure out the way and finally giving up trying.

Before the last song, Hyde asked the fans if they felt happy, the crowd replied with a loud yes and Hyde then said that he also felt happy and promised that they would come again to Jakarta which then responded with a loud cheering from the crowd. 

Then they played the last song, NIJI and ended the concert. Hyde, Ken, Tetsu and Yukihiro took some time to thank the crowd and listened to the cheering crowd. After that, they went backstage and Tetsu suddenly got back to the stage with a basket of bananas and lollipops. As he often did in their other concert, he would throw the bananas and lollipops to the crowd after kissing it first.

That act, officially ended the concert.They had accomplished their 19 songs set brilliantly.

It was one of the historical moments in my life and I never regretted being a Laruku fans. It was a lifetime experience and would always be remembered. 

Thank you Laruku, hope to see you again in the future.