June 23

The day started with a dark sky. Not much heat, not a bigger chance of rain either. Main Street is not dead, yet. I am still loving it. The thought of leaving is just make me sad. But there's no chance to be sad today. Not a chance. I continue to read Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller. Several pages while I was eating breakfast. A couple of phone calls, so many messages on the phone, mostly old friends and relatives. Lia called. My dear Lia ten thousand miles away. I am so touched with that. I dreamed about her the last two weeks. Our friendship is just priceless. It's the connection and acceptance to be just who each of us are that connect us throughout the years. We've been friends for more seven years, now. My lotus grew by two inches. I finish the assignment in two minutes. Why suddenly I have so much free time after I finished the article? The article on Citybeat is just doesn't make sense. Why won't art attract people? If no one is not attracted to art anymore, then it's not just the neighborhood that died. The city is. But I don't believe that this city is dying. I thank God for everything. For being who I am now. For being able to just breathe and have a place to sleep. For being able to enjoy all the plants and all the things I have. For being able to have relationships with people around me; I am so blessed with many friends. For being able to love again. For being able to be thankful.

Comment on $26,327

I applaud Jason Illian for the recent writing, The Price of Love. I am not a nazy either, but I've also been disturbed by the cost of wedding. I am one of those girls who didn't dream about my wedding dress since they were teenagers. I called it "wasting" money to just throwing out a party. The fact that it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience is not good enough to spend the money "just" for a party. There are too many things that happened only once in our lives. Even every second we have is once in a lifetime. Time never came back to us.

The fact that wedding is a once in a lifetime experience is not justifyable enough to throw out money to the garbage can, literally, when there are so many better things we could use it for.

I am currently tracking wedding cost of my friends and friends of friends, just to know. And surprisingly, my friend, who are now happily married for eight years, only spent $4,000 for a beautiful wedding. She arranged her own bouquet and centerpieces; found an inexpensive cake from a lady who run business from her home; buy a cheap dress and spend a little more in altering; rent a carriage instead of limousine. Her only expensive cost is photography (which is important) and food. I think she is so smart!!!!

Post Earthquake: the Future of a Batik Crafters' Village

Imogiri is the location of the Sultan cemetery, is also part of Bantul District, in Yogyakarta (Google Earth Yogyakarta and you'll know how far is the district from the City). Imogiri is also the center of Bantulan batik, which was the folk-batik genre, that has distinct characteristics compare to the royal Batik in Jogjakarta or the pesisir (coastline) areas in Northern Central Java. Batik crafters have been living in this area for years. Batik painting is a skill inherited from their parents, and parents of parents.There were about 900 groups of batik crafters in Imogiri, consist of both old and young people organized in groups of crafters; overall there were 4,500 crafters in Imogiri. Photo: courtesy of Jogjaheritage.org. The May 27 earthquake had shaken Bantul district as well as Bantulan batik crafters’ life. Imogiri was among the hardest hit region where the city literally lost its capacity to function. Most of the residents are still mourning from losing their family members, or their house, and their life. But Jogja Heritage Society, with “Sekar Jagad”, Friends of Indonesian Batik, Yayasan Losari (Losari Foundation), Mayasari Indonesia, LPM, Yogyakarta Agricultural Institute, and individual donators, are preparing “Revitalization of Imogiri Batik Craft” program to help rebuild the city and the residents based on their most potential intangible heritage. This activity is part of the program called “Give Back Jogja Heritage”, an integrated conservation effort of tangible and intangible heritage by rebuilding the economy through utilizing their potential assets. This program is aimed to assist the crafters to be independent in the future. Several programs are: batik training and workshop to employ local crafters, daily batik market, and forming group batik painting. The overall Imogiri batik craft revitalization activities will be held in Pajimatan village, Girirejo, Imogiri District in Bantul, Yogyakarta. The key of these activities are to get the local community as involved as possible by utilizing “what they can do” or their most potential assets to help them to get back on their feet while simultaneously revitalizing the culture and the economy. This story is taken from Jogja Heritage Society, a coalition of friends of Jogja Heritage. If interested in helping, please contact Jogja Heritage Society: www.jogjaheritage.org

Jogja Update

Prawirotaman tourist village turned into a helping hand for earthquake victims...

On CandaceBushnell

No, I didn't subscribe to the Women Smart Talk series. It's another thing that I won't do! But a friend of mine had a free ticket to offer and my Thursday night was gonna be just about writing, so I took a chance of listening to another writer, who happened to have only one common thing with me: we both love New York City. Other than that, nothing else popped up that I could think off.

She came in late, with a very cute suit and a pair of shiny shoes. I thought she was drunk and she did have a glass of chardonay on ice (she announced it out loud). CandaceBushnell is the writer of Sex and the City, a show that became a huge draw, both critic and attention, run about six seasons in prime time television, and is on re-run. She talked about nothing but her life and how she ended up writing Sex and the City. Being a writer is not easy, and it takes awhile until she got the script to her "success". She moved to NYC when she was 19 years old and was on her way when she was about 32.

Out of the context of Christianity (sex before marriage and the whole "single life" thing), I agree that how you finish the small task determine how you will finish the big one. I also agree that persistence is important. But I do believe, that motivation is a fundamental thing in life, which, in my case, I had found one.

Her definition of single life is completely different than mine. And her definition of "feminism" is out of my radar. I grew up with a working mother, very dominant in our family. Although I knew that I had enough attention growing up, I knew something was missing. My mother did the best she could, and as long as I remember, there was no single time when she was thinking about herself. She always puts the children as a priority in her life. But, I don't think I could handle that if God give me children. Being a feminist to me is being a woman God wants me to be; serving the purpose that He had set from the beginning of creation. It's not to take over the world, or to conquer the world of male, or to "prove" that I am strong, because there is nothing to prove when you're a woman.

That whole thing about feminism sounds like insecurities to me. I don't need approval from men that we are equal. We're simply equal. The bible said so. There were many judges in the old testament who were women. Ruth, was an example of a strong woman character that God used to prepare for the birth of Jesus; David was her descendent. And, man and woman are supposed to work together, not to compete with each other.

Sex and the City, she said, was a new concept of feminism that shows how women lived in the 1990s. So sad (in my opinion). If women are all only thinking about shoes today, I knew that the whole world will fall apart!! Thank God they're not. Thank God not all women hold a standard of CarrieBradshaw!

Did I watch the show? Yes. For a glance of New York, hoping to see more and more of its life. Remember What is Man, by Mark Twain? The essay reminded me that what we saw, what we read, influence our mind and determine who we are. But I saw SATC because I want to be able to hold a conversation and relate with other girls, while at the same time, not to mix up my mind about what is right and what we're supposed to do in life. We knew what the world is, and we (obviously) knew what is better for us.