On the bright side ...

On the bright side...my brother received Microscopy Society of America Presidential Student Award for 2012. So proud of his past, present, and future achievements!

We may somewhat still live out of our suitcases. But, on the bright side ... Lucky seems to be settling in just fine. Note: do you notice that she puts her paws underneath her head when sleeping?

We may have very warm weather this summer and our plants are not as fruitful, but on the bright side... we are able to work our magic and make our homemade salsa. Ingredients include varieties of peppers, tomatoes, red onion, lemon juice, and cilantro. That's it. Oh! and lots of love ;)

Life can be full of surprises. But at the end of the day, I know he (and my family too) will be there for me. I don't want to dwell in the hardships, but I want to look at the bright side...

the bright back side of our new tree fort 

Much much love goes to Rebecca G. who is currently in Uganda. If you read this, I'd like to tell you that I keep my calendar open, just in case...You know what I mean ;p

On keeping the chandelier

The chandelier was there the first time we took a look at the house. It might be the prettiest thing that came originally with the place (except for the lake, of course). I can't afford to throw it out just like that. So, we keep the chandelier. I will refinish it with new coat of paint and hang it in the new office room. That way, I still have a piece of memory from when the first period we lived in the house. I am that kind of person who is always trying to preserve memories* 

Even better, if we get a sofa sleeper for that room, I can get this cute chandelier-ish pillow!!

*Hopefully it does not turn into compulsive hoarding.

**I created this post yesterday morning. Previously, Mr. informed me that the tree will not be removed yet during the first phase of demolition. So, I was super excited to find this side table idea. I could not wait to tell him and maaaaayybe I could convince him to keep the tree trunk. But, yesterday evening when we visited the house for the first day of demolition, the tree was gone :'( I just can't get the tree side table idea out of my mind, though.

On harvesting the pepa!

Every summer, we grow peppers and tomatoes. This summer, the tomatoes are not doing good due to the excessive heat that we've been experiencing. But, the peppers are doing ok. We grow them 2 ways; in a hanging planter (L) and in the ground (R). We are testing which way grows more peppers. So far, we have concluded that growing them in the ground will produce more peppers. I don't know if this is the case for everybody, but we plan on growing them just in the ground next summer.

We grow more varieties this year and we have picked some of them. From left to right: Garden Salsa, Sweet Banana, Giant Marconi, Hot Banana, and UFO (Unidentified Familiar Object - We know it's pepper (and hence 'Familiar') but the name tag was missing, so we could not tell what it was (and hence 'Unidentified').  We haven't picked the jalapeño, habanero, and fajita bells yet.

We used the Sweet Banana and the UFO as topping on frozen pizza (sometimes too tired to cook and to eat outside). They were delicious. We can't wait to make salsa with this. I'm guessing we want to buy some tomatoes from Farmer's Market or somewhere since our home grown tomatoes are not growing.

Happy Harvest Day!

On winning that Olympic medal

Thus far, Indonesia has won 1 silver and 1 bronze in London 2012. The silver medal is contributed by Triyatno in Men’s 69kg Weightlifting. The bronze is from Eko Yuli Irawan in Men’s 62kg Weightlifting. I’m proud. These events may not gain too much attention (if any), but I remember Weightlifting always contributes something to Indonesia’s medal counts in Olympics. Congratulations again J

Triyatno's story (L) on The Jakarta Post
Eko Yuli Irawan's story (R) on The Jakarta Post

Now, the real disappointment for me must come from Badminton. This has been the sport other than football (soccer) that my family follows religiously (I guess my dad also likes Boxing on a late Sunday morning). My dad, brother, uncles, and cousins used to play for hours on Sundays (or table tennis which is very Asian I realize). It was a good time.

Badminton was first introduced as an official Olympic sport in 1992. That year, Indonesia won Gold and Bronze medals in Men’s Singles (Alan Budikusuma), Gold in Women’s Singles (Susi Susanti), and Silver in Men’s Doubles (Eddy Hartono and Rudy Gunawan). The Olympics after that (1996 – 2008), we won 4 Gold, 4 Silver, and 4 Bronze Medals. I think it’s pretty awesome. But I know our achievement has been slowly declining. (Total medal count is 30 for China and 18 for Indonesia)

I’m also aware that the competition is FIERCE. Players from China (i.e. Lin Dan) and Malaysia (i.e. Chong Wei Lee) have been really great (They won Gold and Silver in Men’s Singles – Beijing ‘08). In London 2012, they beat Taufik Hidayat (Gold – Athens ’04) and Simon Santoso, respectively.  Prior to their matches, my dad and I already felt that they are going to be tough matches and we would most likely lose. I think it’s great to be the other position, to be feared or to be the favorite. But, time after time after time in any competitions, there have been moments where the least favorite one, the “weaker” one, comes through and becomes the champion. It’s not this year for Indonesia.

I feel that we don’t have that regeneration where talented young men and women should be properly trained. Well, I’m not even sure how they train for tournament nowadays. I won’t say much, especially with the disqualification of our Women’s Doubles (here from NPR). It’s embarrassing, but then again I have never represented Indonesia in the Olympics, so no place to judge. There is still one more game though, Mixed Doubles, for Bronze. We just have to wait and see.

Taufik Hidayat (L) and Simon Santoso (R)
London 2012 - Badminton

I don't want to look at things pessimistically (one thing from the book that I'm currently reading: Abundace - The Future is Better Than You Think, but it's for another post) and I still do believe that we have the potential and the urge to be #1 again (if we ever did?). So let’s go! Let’s get better!

“Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” - Samuel Beckett