Usus Buntu

Lama sekali tidak menulis, terakhir nulis yang Bon Jovi!
Baiklah.
Kali ini gue akan memberitahukan bahwa gue akan operasi usus buntu, insha Allah besok tanggal 30 Desember 2015, jadi akan tahun baruan di rumah sakit.

Kalau gue bilang usus buntu, komen orang adalah "perut kanannya sakit ya?"  atau "kakinya nekuk sakit?" dan jawabannya adalah "tidak".

Dari mau gue tau itu usus buntu?
Ya ke dokter lah.

Lebih tepatnya, gue sakit maag yang lumayan parah dan berulang. Bulan November 2015 kemarin, gue sakit maag dan seminggu gak bisa ngantor. Rasanya? Mual dan pusing plus lemas (ini yang bikin gak bisa ngantor). Terlepas memang gue sekarang berada di unit yang lebih sibuk, tapi kan gue gak punya tanggung jawab besar, mosok gitu aja stress? Berobatlah gue ke internist dengan bill 1,2 juta. *Gubrak*

Kemudian, di awal bulan Desember, gue sakit maag lagi. Ke dokter yang sama, dan dia bilang "kamu kayanya harus apendikogram deh, saya curiga kamu usus buntu".
Karena gue 'pegel' sakit terus, akhirnya gue apendikogram. Gimana prosesnya?

Pertama tentu bikin janji dengan radiologi. Kebetulan gue di MMC dan gak perlu janji2 lagi, langsung datang dan foto pertama. Ohya, apendikogram ini adalah foto (kaya rontgen), bukan scan, dan bukan masuk2in selang ke dalam tubuh. Malamnya gue disuruh minum kontras, zat putih bernama Barium yang rasanya sebenernya gapapa (kaya tepung) tapi kalau seplastik gede, huek juga. Dua belas jam kemudian gue foto kedua. Biaya 500 ribu.

Singkat cerita gue balik ke internis dan terlihat kalau dari hasil foto, gue radang(?) usus buntu kronis. Dokter bilang gak perlu operasi asal jaga makan, tapi gue malah pengen operasi.

Aneh ya, orang banyak yang takut operasi, gue malah komen "saya operasi aja dok. Capek sakit terus", karena melelahkan sekali kena sakit maag akibat stres ringan!. Gue merasa hidup gue udah gak fungsional lagi karena:

• Mosok orang hidup gak boleh kena stres? Gak boleh capek??? Susah banget kan menghindarinya? 
• Males diet tanpa pedas tanpa kopi seumur hidup. Hidup macam apa itu...(jika sesudah operasi gue masih sakit maag, itu mah apes).
• Udah gak bisa olahraga karena jalan cepat pun gue langsung bersendawa2 dengan dashyat, apalagi lari dan aerobik?? Terakhir2 aerobik sebelum sakit maag yang parah, gue udah gak bisa menyelesaikan 1 sesi dan harus keluar duluan karena mual banget. Gue coba atur makan sebelum (atau sesudah) olahraga, hasilnya sama2 mual. 
• Gak bisa diet. Tiap perut krubuk, ya gue makan. Padahal yang namanya diet ya harus laper. Gue takut kalau gue membiarkan perut gue kosong, malah sakit maag dan gak ngantor seminggu lagi...dan jika kalian mau komen "kan bisa makan buah" maka jawabannya "gak nendang tauk!!!" Hahah. Kemaruk dot com. 

So wish me luck. 

Mungkin kalau memungkinkan dan mood-nya ada, gue akan sharing pengalaman operasi dan rumah sakit premium tempat gue tahun baruan. 

Bon Jovi Live in Concert Jakarta, Sept 11, 2015

When we first heard that Bon Jovi would go to Indonesia, I made arrangement with some high school friends to watch the concert. We bought the Festival Left. Not cheap. It was 1.5 million Rupiah after tax. 

Then, finally. The day comes. I go early from office and heading to Gelora Bung Karno Stadium. 

Selfie while waiting for my friends

I don't think she wants her face in this blog :)

I'm not going to write details about the concert event itself, but I want to comment about their performance:

1. Jon already can't sing high notes. He makes us, the audience to sing all the high notes. Or he improvise with acoustic guitar and sings lower notes. Well, he's 53. I understand that. 
2. I'm pretty disappointed because he doesn't interact much with us, other than 'hello how are you'. I expect more for a frontman who sings for 30 years. Sam Tsui (the opening act) is better in this department. 
3. The song lists are very disappointing. Most of us are 90s teenager, we don't know their newer album. I know Have A Nice Day but can't recall the lyrics. I don't make scientific statistics, but I think it's 50:50 of newer and old songs. Check Youtube. Have a Nice Day 'only' had 30 million hits. Not a HITS for his standard, IMO.   
4. because he doesn't talk much, the concert only last for 2 hours. Oh my. I was expecting 2.5 hours duration.

Well, that's all I can say. I'm still happy because I have the opportunity to be in the front. 

I can see him clearly! One and a half million is not for nothing :)

White Water Rafting with "Bali Adventures" (written by someone who's not into outdoor activities)

Last Saturday (August 22nd) I went to Ayung River to do something I never thought I'd done: outdoor activity!
Usually I'm so vain, afraid of the Sun, but not this time. This year I want to do something different.

Actually it was my mom's idea when she knew I'd be in Bali and didn't have anything in my mind. "You should do rafting" and I, without hesitation, nodded.

My aunt recommended Bali Adventure (a company). They offer transportation from your hotel to the site, but I had my own (rental) car. So we went at 7.30 and got there at 9 (around 1.5 hour from Nusa Dua to Ayung River).
The reason I had my own car because I didn't want any package they had: riding bicycle and went to elephant park. I just wanted the rafting then went to Ubud to buy some natural skincare.

I'm no expert in travel-blogging, but probably it will useful for you because I'm not an expert. After some browsing, I got some preparation:

1. I wore swim suit (well, not that Sports Illustrated kind ones, but the one with sleeves. Technically it's a wet suit) and shorts, the one I bought in Bali years years ago. 
2. Don't expect to be dry. I saw some participant wearing raincoat. Trust me, it won't work. I was wet from the waist down. 
3. Because it won't work, you need to have clean clothes (and underwear). 
4. A mountain sandal..Of course you can use your sneaker, but it will get wet (IT WILL) and a flip flop can get lost in the water so you need something with ankle strap. Don't be barefoot-ed either, We had a time when the current was too hard to handle (for us non-pro), we had to walk in steep and moist cement/concrete.
5. Sunblock  (optional, but a must for a vain person like me). 
6. I didn't get my face wet, but I wore waterproof eyeliner (The Body Shop gel liner). 
7. I don't recommend wearing bikini or shirtless for men, because I don't want to have direct-contact with the vest. 
8. and for glasses wearer like me, I bought contact lens and a 'glasses sport strap' and ended up wearing the strap (didn't use the lens). If you don't have one, they'll provide it for you, using cheap rubber band. 

I wore a wet suit and shorts

this is my mountain sandal

Bali Adventure provided:

1. Transport to hotel (I didn't use that)
2. Rafting guide.
3. Safety helmet and vest, also a dry bag. I didn't use their car, but probably you'd be in the finish point first and put your dry and clean clothes (and shoes) inside a locker before you headed to the start point. 
4. For wallet and cell phones, they'll provide a dry bag that you can carry during the trip. You had time to take pictures in one waterfall. 
5. Locker, clean towel, shower gel. I brought my own body lotion and sacheted shampoo and conditioner. 
6. Lunch at the finish point. 

It cost me IDR 550K, but probably it would be cheaper if you're in a group of 4 or 6. 

And last but not least, this is what I didn't read in the internet. PREPARE FOR TIRED FEET!!!

I exercise regularly, so the rafting itself was not too tiring for the arms....but......but..........you need to climb up and down the stairs....

It had SIX HUNDRED steps down to the river and almost FOUR HUNDRED steps up to the main street!!!

I wish I knew that! I took the stair machine the day before! What a stupid mistake!!

So here I am, with super-sore calf...Then I found out that climbing down the stair was more hurtful than climbing up. 

I don't think people that are not gym freak could walk after that...

While I'm not adventurer and outdoor loving, if I have the chance, I'd do rafting again, this time in more challenging river and resting my feet the day before!

Vlog

Last February, in one online store, I saw a very good deal of hair styler/straightener. So I google-ed it and found a review in youtube, by a girl named Bunny the Grav3yardgirl. The video at that time had 4 million hits.

Guess what? I'm hooked. I love the way she talks. I love the way she reviews the products, both cosmetics or As Seen In TV thing...I also enjoy her Follow Me Around video or 'tea vlog' where she talks for 20 minutes about things like salon experience.

She has tween, teen fans and I'm 37!!! WHOAA!! But I don't care, I love her videos.

I'm writing this because she inspires me to do my own makeup tutorial. I'm not makeup artist, but in my world (yeah), at least among my friends, I'm the guru of makeup. I've been wearing makeup since collage, just because in Indonesia it's forbidden for high school girls to wear makeup. Other wise I'd wear them.

Screenshot of Bunny The Grav3yardgirl on Youtube

First, I post a Facebook status "if I make a makeup tutorial, would anyone watch it?" and I got tens positive replies.

So, I did it. Bought a cell phone tripod and filming with my Samsung S3 Mini. The result? Not bad, but still FAAAAAAR from perfection (if Bunny the standard is 10, probably I gain 2-3 points). No, I don't have the ambition to have 5 million followers because the more people watch the video, the more bullying we'd get. Poor Bunny, people call her 'ugly' 'lazy' 'horse teeth'. That's horrible. I don't think I can handle cyber-bullying. I just post in on my Facebook page and only selected friends can view it.

Screen capture of my 'tutorial'

I did self-evaluation:

• I know I'm not Bunny, I'm not hilarious and funny. I want to be like her, but it would be fake if I try to act like her. 
• I know I don't sound bad. It's not good to hear high-pitched vlogger, right?
• Sometimes I speak too fast.
• It's hard to stay focused while doing monologue with the camera. I don't know how Bunny does that. I have tons on my mind, like product description, but I just don't say them right. It sounds very good on my head but sounds terrible on camera. 
• I don't know where to look. I know I should look at the lens while filming, but I did makeup tutorial and it's impossible not to look at the screen (and create weird eye angle on film).
• Sometimes I didn't prepare the makeup and tools properly so I was busy looking around and looked stupid. 
• I think I should name it 'The Way Indira Apply Her Makeup' because Tutorial seems too bossy and guru-y.

I also got some feedback:

• I should put before-after pics.
• I should not talk while fast-forwarding. 
• More on description: if I do a contouring, I should explain about contouring little bit.

I edited some part using Movie Maker in Windows8, I fast forward and add subtitle. For example, when I applied foundation, I fast-forward because it would be boring seeing myself with makeup brush for 2 minutes. Then I put some subtitle because I wasn't good with product EXACT name and spent too many times turning the packaging and reading the description. Not attractive. 

Then I realized that I like the editing more than filming!!

How Do You Describe Yourself in One Word?

In my business trip in the Philippines, the facilitator asked us (participants) to describe him/herself in ONE word.

Turned out, the one with same description or same hobby would be seated together.
No one came close to how I describe myself. So the person I seated with, actually we had nothing in common!!

So, how did I describe myself?
I'm 37 and I still don't know how to explain myself in one word.

Here's what crossed in my mind:

• I can't describe myself physically like "tall" "pretty" or "sexy". Yeah right, I got compliments years ago, by female and male, but I think I'm too old for that. And it was a professional meeting, I can't write that! (Anyway, I'm not THAT pretty. I realized that LOL).
• "singer"? I love to sing and I can sing very well, but I'm not a performer. So I won't describe myself as a singer.
• I was thinking about "material girl" but that would be not appropriate :)
• I don't like to read, don't like to study and love to browsing about unimportant things, I should write "shallow" probably. 
• I should write "environmentalist" but to be honest I still don't ride public transportation and don't compost my organic waste, so I think I'm still far from that title. 
• I can't write "two cancer survivor" because people would be sorry for me. No way. And that would be 3 words instead of one. 
• Too bad "makeup freak" is 2 words. Otherwise I'd write that.

So...I describe myself as a 'catlady' and nobody there liked cats. I ended up sit with one nice lady who described herself as 'civil servant'. I'm a civil servant. That's close :)

Some Makeup Tips

Note: I'm not a pro, just want to share what I've done in years

I was little bit late weeks ago, didn’t have much time to apply makeup and only wore makeup base, little eyeliner and eyebrow pencil. (Yesterday I was late too, didn’t apply any makeup accept makeup base, it was disaster I looked like a sick person). When I was heading to my desk, a friend from another unit commented on my lipstick and we talked on makeup, and because I didn’t wear much I told them “please come to my unit’s meeting room and play with some makeup”

I left 2 blushes, many lipstick colors, 1 eyeshadow (4 colors), 2 lip liners, 1 liquid eyeliner and 2 pencil eyeliners in my office drawer –hey I’m a makeup freak- and brought 1 Mustika Ratu blush, 2 eyeliner (liquid and pencil), 1 eyelash curler, 1 Maybelline The Rocket Volum Express.

Then the ladies came to the meeting room and I tought them some tricks.

I’m not saying I’m an expert, but I’ve been wearing makeup regularly since I was collage girl, so I have 18 years of experience.

I’m old huh

While everyone’s skin tone, facial shape and taste are different, there are some universal things I guess.

FACE:

• Some people has warm, some has cold skin tone. Warm skin tone looks good with gold, brown, green colors and cold tone looks good with purple, blue, pink shades. Mine is cold tone. How do I know that? Easy. I got compliments every time I wear pink. Well, most of the time.
• You can wear bright, unnatural color to your face, but keep your FACE color and EYEBROW shape (and color) natural.
• Makeup base is important if you want flawless and fresh look. Everyone’s taste on foundation and powder might be different: some like it light, some like it heavy and full covered, but always test it on YOUR FACE, not on the back of your hand. And look for one or half shade lighter than your natural skin tone.
• Some loose powder, like MAC, can turn darker after worn, so choose a shade lighter.
• I believe in expensive makeup base. Most of the time they don’t cake and has variants of colors.

LIPS

•  I still don’t get the ultraexpensive-lipstick thing. It’s the lips not the lipstick. (I wrote this because I can't afford them LOL)
•  If you want to experiment with crazy vivid bright color, try sample size lipsticks from Sophie Martin. They offer cute supersmall 3 finishes sample lip colors (shiny, matte, and pearly).
• I rarely wear lipgloss, I don’t know why I don’t like them. It’s just a matter of personal preference.

EYES/EYEBROW

• For those who need eyebrow coloring, I love Etude Drawing Eyebrow in dark brown or Revlon dark brown eyebrow pencil.
•  Unless you’re red-headed, don’t use reddish-brown eyebrow pencil. One famous cosmetic brand (V1va) is known for its eyebrow pencil, but I don’t like it because its reddish shade.
• Keep the shape as natural as possible.
•  It’s easier to apply liquid eyeliner on upper eye and pencil on bottom eye. Probably for most people it’s easier to have only 1 pencil eyeliner, so it’s not applicable for everyone. Right now my favorite is PAC pencil eyeliner in black.
• Everyone with glasses can wear dark smoky eyes every day. Or probably it’s just me :D

Last(s) but not least:

• If you do dark eyes, wear neutral lipstick. If you wear red lipstick, don’t wear smoky eyes. Errr…I do dark eye and bright lips actually, but I’m wearing glasses J (please refer to previous sentences)
•  Look at the mirror and always trust your judgment. If it looks ugly, probably you’re doing it wrong.
•    …or ask a honest friend for honest –but gentle- opinion. I told my coworkers “please tell me if I look terrible”.

So the key is experiment. Keep trying (and watch youtube tutorials) until you achieve your desired look!

Holiday Activity

I took eight(!) days off during the end of the year and what did I do on holiday?
Practically nothing, other than doing household work, playing with my animals and went grocery shopping.

First I wanted to learn how to cook. I cooked sweet-sour chicken (my mother taught me how to) and it was the last meal I cooked because after that my assistant got sick.

sour-sweet chicken

So I did the cat-cage cleaning, helped my mom with the household work. Then slept. Watched TV. Went to nearby mall/plaza and did little shopping. Then ate. What a life.

We also had cute (cat) babies because Beti and Congek gave birth around the same time, babies were supercute and mix (half long haired) we just loved to play with them.

This is older kitten: Mino (male) and Moni (F), Neri's kits. They're mix too.

Mino (male)

Mino (front) and Moni playing on cemetary roof

Beti's kits are special because they're so expensive, the mother can't give birth naturally we had to send her to the vet and paid expensive medical bills :D

Beti and 3 kits (with sister Jeli)

 And this one is our bundle of joy. Shelly, Beti's baby.

Shelly with mother Beti

our favorite, Shelly (female)

This is just ordinary day, Bodas my fixed male cat (who stays in Cat Room most of the time) with Petril, Panjat's adopted black kitten.

Bodas (white) and Petril

 Congek with her 2 babies. This female cat is one of the trouble maker, she stole Beti's babies all the time, so we sometimes gave her 1 of Beti's baby. Hers are mixed: one is short hair, one is long haired.

Congek and babies (with Mr. Kendul, a baby lover)

 Then some picture of cats from Depok Train Station, 2 of 4.

Depok Tidak Lucu (male)

Desi (female)

 This is Panjat, who gave birth in neighbor's place and brought her kits when they're bigger. Named Lighty and Darky  because one has lighter coat than the other. Both female

Panjat with daughters

Another activity was learning how to drive manual transmission. My father is a matic-freak, we didn't have many MT cars so I never knew how to shift gears. I took driving course and went there by motorcycle and didn't have any helmet. People here in Kranggan don't use helmet at all, it was terrifying. They just use hats. so first I used bicycle helmet, then decided to buy a REAL helmet. Here's the selfie

After 4 course I think I don't need to continue (I still have 5 lessons).

All the holiday activities included eat, eat, eat, eat. I bought lot of snacks, ate ice cream everyday and of course that leads to weight gain. Here's some wardrobe tips to conceal 2 kilos: use black.

black tunic on black jeans

 On last day of the holiday, I went to Ayang-ayang Shelter, a cat shelter located in Cinere. Around 100 cats there but I didn't meet all of them. The most impressive cat was Sparta, a blind cat who looooved human attention. Somehow he knew my presence and gave me a rub. That's cool.

posing with one of the members

some of the members

Not every cat is in the cage. Some were inside of the house, some were in cages because they loved to travel to neighbors (and neighbors hated cats. Ewww). They're not in perfect condition, but they're OK. Please donate if you can because the owner can't afford by herself.
(and if you comment "if she cant afford 100 cats, why keep those cats?" the answer is "could you leave small kitten, abandoned left to die in street, starving and crying for help??" And people are cruel, they just left the cats around the Shelter and left no food with them. Not cool.)

Last but not least, I have 3 new handbags

Aigner

Elle

It was just cleaning the house, shopping and playing with my cats. Not cool huh?!