The world of Ovie

Thank you, Steve Jobs!

ovie — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 22:30:19 +0000

I am one of the millions of people that write about you now you’ve passed away. I have been a big fan of you, Apple and your products for a long time. I have posted your speech at Stanford University back in 2008 on my blog and you can find the video on Youtube too.

I just wanna thank you for being such an inspiring man with your speech and your creations too. I am a Mac user and I can’t thank you enough for making it possible to do so many things with Apple products. Your products are so enjoyable and beautiful. It really enables me to be as close as I possibly can be with all the professionals in the world, from making a short movie for my in-laws to creating a photo album for my parents in Indonesia. My iPhone really helps me to get through the hectic and disastrous days at the office and also makes it possible to share the joy and laughter with my friends and family.

In times like this when i feel i am not what i want to be in my career, one part of your speech really inspires me:

“ You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers.Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it.

Don’t settle.”

I will keep on looking and working to find the true love in my work. I won’t settle.

Now you’re not here anymore, I believe you’ll be remembered and in every corner of the world have your legacy in many different shapes of your inventions and products. One thing for sure is that you’ll always be inspiring a lot of people with your products, vision, management, charisma.. so many things. So many messages, candles and mourners on the day you passed away is a proof that you make a better world.

T.H.A.N.K. Y.O.U

I typed this on my iMac.

Again, cancer has taken a life of someone that i care for. I hope one day we can find the cure.

time to move on..

ovie — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 14:14:12 +0000

when you found there’s no passion…
when you thought it’s hopeless…
when you feel you’re stuck…

it’s time to move on…
don’t just sit there and expect a miracle…

so now i do what i should do…
make a plan and do it…
i don’t know what future can bring…
but i know what i want to do…

be the best that i believe i can be, and ignore the voices behind.
i know i can be great, i know i am good.

sigh

ovie — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 20:36:22 +0000

I was thinking to start my no complaint week today because I really thought it’s really good to build my character. But what i get today makes me wanna scream. It’s just like unfunny joke, a curse with no cure, feel so wasted…

When you think you stretched yourself beyond your imagination and working so damn hard, wasted your experiences… and it’s not enough.

I’m so fucking tired with this game. They ask for more, they take my soul, they take my confidence…

I made big mistake, when I signed that paper 4 years ago….

2nd day my nocomplaintweek

ovie — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 10:38:20 +0000

Well, i didn’t write any blog yesterday as I get high fever. I slept since I was home and this morning I manage to go to the office for an hour to do some necessary things. My first day of no complain week is not that bad. I do one or two “soft complain” but didn’t bitch as what I usually do. Being aware that I don’t want to complain or moaning means that I can manage my emotion. It also makes me try to find a solution faster instead of bitching first and thinking later.

But one thing that I am concern, because I don’t wanna complain makes me feel that I am defeated on some situation. I really should work on this.

I really think that Hubby is really good example of people who didn’t do a lot of complain…

It’s short blog today, I will stay in bed, so on that case, my 2nd day will be sooo smoootttthhhhh

No complaint week-another project

ovie — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 20:38:00 +0000

It started when i read my timeline of my twitter, from my friend Henry, He said that he won’t complain for a week. It’s his project, inspired by Will Bowen who is the Lead Minister of One Community Spiritual Center in Kansas City, MO.

Me and my Hubby are just done watching Julie & Julia on this sunday evening when i read the tweets. I have a resolution for this year to learn something new. So as a conclusion I really think that I will put No complaint Week as one of the projects that I wanna do this year. Well, the other things are sewing and knitting, if you are interested.

I really think a week without complaint is a part of “something new in 2011″ as I love to complain. I really wonder how come Hubby never complains when on the way from the office i will bitch and moan all the way home and then at home I will continue with complaining about the messy house, piled up laundry, etc., etc. I am really really good to spot the mistakes but of course it’s not my mistake, it should be somebody else’s mistake. The rule is I am always right

I am never afraid of practising to master some new skill, but mastering to not complain, is gonna be different. Before i start it, i already think about all the things in the world that can go wrong and will make me complain about it. Gonna be challenging at the office, at home gonna be easier, as i love my little family to bits. I love Chris, Kirana and our dog, Nala. They are far from perfect but they are perfect for me.

It’s gonna be tough and thank God, it’ll only be a week. I want to do this for the sake of my goodness and my happiness. Positive attitude always brings happiness. So i really hope that i can do this and can be my own (new) attitude.

It will start tomorrow,very nice… Valentine Day

that hurts….

ovie — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 13:49:37 +0000

I thought it won’t hurt…

I already knew it coz I can feel it…

I thought I will overcome all the feelings…

But why it makes me cry….

It even didn’t have a heartbeat yet…

I wish I can blame something, I wish I can blame me…

But I don’t know why it happens…

Why it hurts so bad….

It even didn’t have a heartbeat yet…

… and I am pregnant (again)….and loose it…

ovie — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 13:46:44 +0000

I knew that I am pregnant when I feel so tired and so hungry since last week. So when I missed my period I did some home test and the result is positive. I did it twice just to make sure the result is reliable. It’s a good news as we plan to have another baby in our happy family. It seems Kirana is mature enough to have a younger sister/brother.

Monday, 8 November

But now I am worried, since I get some blood spot for the last 2 days. Maybe because I was too tired. On friday night, I couldn’t sleep so i decided to clean the house and only back to sleep at 4 in the morning and woke up at 8 AM.

May everything is alright and I can have a healthy pregnancy.

Went to GP today and he said the bleeding might be OK, just the way the baby develop the womb or it’s an early sign of miscarriage. He only said that I should take easy and relax.

Wednesday,10 November 2010

Today, still found blood spots every time I check it after I pee. Gosh, I hope everything is OK. If I have miscarriage, I hope I will pass it soon. Miscarriage is a way of our body to deal with unhealthy pregnancy. Hubby comforts me, makes me feel better.

Wednesday, 17 November 2010

Yesterday we went to GP because I still have blood spot. This morning is kinda getting worse

GP said the blood test is fine and it’s confirmed that I am pregnant and nothing serious. But since I still have blood spot, he asked me to have a check up at Cork University Maternity Hospital tomorrow.

I hope everything is OK.

Dear Baby, don’t you wanna meet with your sister, Kirana? She is amazing girl, she will be great sister….

In the evening I had a very bad bleeding… It broke my tears, I just know that i loose it…

Thursday,18 November

We went to Cork University Maternity Hospital, got the USG… and there’s no more sign of pregnancy in my womb.

They asked us to came on Saturday to compare to hormone level from today and Saturday, if it went down, we really loose it.

Friday, 19 November

Got a letter about the check up appointment for antenatal…. I am afraid i should cancel all the hospital check up

Sunday, 21 November

Got a call from hospital, it’s officially confirmed that we loose the baby. I already knew it from couple day ago, but still it hits me badly. That’s what we called destiny???

A reminder for myself…

ovie — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 01:46:27 +0000

It’s a nice article taken from NY Times. As a parent, I always want to give the best for Kirana but I hope I will remember that she has her own passion.

Help Them, Teach Them, but Don’t Live Through Them

By DAVE MARCUS

Published: October 23, 2010

THE woman corners me after I give a speech about college admissions.

“My son isn’t the best student,” she begins, “but we think he has a good chance of getting into. …”

I can guess: Stanford or Duke, Yale or Northwestern. I’m sure I already know the story. The boy has a B-plus average and disappointing SAT scores, but Dad went there, and a family friend used to work in the admissions office.

For seven years, I’ve crisscrossed the country, discussing what I learned while writing two books about teenagers. Help your children find their hidden talents, I advise parents. Teach your children to be independent. Don’t live your dreams through your son or daughter.

As this mother shares her application strategies, I want to recommend that she let her son find his path. I stay quiet, though, because I’m struggling to follow my own advice.

Somewhere in my files, I have a photo of my son, Benjie, and me on the steps of the admissions office of my alma mater, Brown University. We were framed by glowing yellow forsythia, and I was beaming.

Benjie was 2 weeks old.

At the time, I was a fellow at Harvard. Soon after, I did a brief teaching stint at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business. I secretly hoped my son would go to one of those Ivy campuses. Maybe I saw that as the seal of approval for my parenting — my boy in Cambridge, Mass., or Hanover, N.H., or Providence, R.I.

Benjie demonstrated, by his nature, that he had other plans. In kindergarten, he was the restless one who preferred exploring to listening to directions. When a private school turned him down for first grade, I felt I’d been gut-punched.

The homework wars erupted in fourth grade — a 20-minute assignment stretched on for three hours, punctuated by cries of “I hate writing!” Later, while I tried to explain long division, he stormed out of the house. He stayed in the yard till dark, digging holes and watching birds.

I pushed enrichment; he refused to try “stupid” scouting. He dropped soccer. Basketball lasted long enough for me to buy a uniform.

Experts analyzed Benjie with standardized tests, and I fretted over his percentiles and hired tutors. At the same time, it seemed most of my friends’ preteens were doing genome research.

Benjie is 14 now. At that age, I pestered teachers for extra-credit assignments. Benjie is satisfied with a C; he doesn’t understand why anyone cares about spelling words correctly; the notion of revising an essay is foreign to him.

At 14, I knew I wanted to be a writer. When I ask Benjie what he sees himself doing in 10 years, he answers vaguely about working with animals. But he most likely won’t be a vet — too much chemistry and biology, he says.

And yet Benjie has so much that I lack. As a teenager, I was a shy, awkward outsider. The other day, walking through Benjie’s school for a meeting, I saw him regaling a group of kids in the hallway with some fascinating tale.

More important, he’s developed empathy. When he and six other students saw a classmate accused of shoplifting on a school trip, Benjie persuaded the others to avoid gossiping.

Last summer, I envisioned Benjie toiling in a lab at science camp, but I lost the will to fight another battle. Instead, I sent him to stay with my brother and sister-in-law, who breed dogs. At their house, work begins at 5:30 a.m., seven days a week. Benjie would have to follow orders without excuses.

Three hundred miles away, I waited for the call begging to come home. Instead, I got one-word texts like “awsomme” — misspelled every time, in true Benjie fashion.

When the visit ended, my sister-in-law sent a note saying that Benjie had pitched in tirelessly with chores and even cleaned the yard after 17 spaniels dirtied it. He groomed dogs for two hours straight without getting antsy.

“Benjie is an amazing kid and human being,” she wrote. “He is smart, funny, curious, caring.”

Twelfth grade is a few years away, but I’m already imagining Benjie’s application essay: “My name is Benjamin but no one calls me that. I’m an animal-loving, cello-playing, cross-country-running nomad who has gone to six school districts in three states because of my dad’s stupid career.”

I spend a lot of time in high-pressure communities, speaking to anxious mothers and fathers like me. We want our children to go to great colleges and prepare for a brutal job market.

Still, I tell families to stop obsessing about campuses with marquee names. I’ve visited dozens of little-known schools where professors are far more engaged in teaching than members of Ivy League faculties. Also, in this economy, I can make a strong case for going to community college, mastering a trade or taking a gap year to earn money.

Above all, I urge parents of high school juniors and seniors not to see their kids as SAT and ACT scores and G.P.A.’s, but as creative, unpredictable, unprogrammable teenagers with their own gifts.

Like my son, Benjie.

David L. Marcus is the author of “Acceptance: A Legendary Guidance Counselor Helps Seven Kids Find the Right Colleges — and Find Themselves” (Penguin Press).

when kirana is sick

ovie — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 17:48:31 +0000

Since last weekend Kirana is sick, she gets chickenpox. She should stay at home, so I take a week off to take care of her. I never know it will be a frustrating and tiring experience on the first couple days. I remember I get chickenpox when I was in high school and I thought I was not that bad.

On Saturday, 6 February, we take her to the park and met with Ima, Affan and Aziz to play together. She enjoys the slide and the see saw.

On Sunday night, I found some “acne” on her back and ask Chris if it’s a chickenpox. Since there’s no announcement on the crèche about the chickenpox so we were not really worried about chickenpox. On Monday morning we found more “acne” so at that time we are sure that Kirana get chickenpox. Chris decide to stay at home and I went to the office since I have some project should be done on that day. After a long working hour finally I can go home and we get the confirmation from our GP that Kirana has chickenpox.

On the next days I stay at home and it’s just like hell. Kirana is so sick, cranky and her temperature is 40 degrees. She can’t speak so what she can do is only crying and the medicine seems can’t lower her temperature. I hardly can drink or eat, don’t ask me about take a shower, because Kirana want me to carry her all the time.

For an inexperienced mom like me it’s so frustrating and tiring. It’s a mixed feeling because I feel so sorry for her, so sorry to see her little body is so weak and frustrating because I don’t know what should I do to comfort her and also tired to keep carry her all the time. Taking a bath is the only thing that she enjoys at this time.

When Chris at home it’s a relief because I can ask him to carry kirana for a while and I have time to take some rest. But it won’t take a long time because Kirana wanna be with me again.

Breastfeeding is really the wonderful thing that helps me to cope with the situation. I am lucky that I still can breastfeed kirana. Because she refuses to either eat and drink, breastfeeding is the only source for food. I am so worried if she’s dehydrated because nothing going to her mouth. But I guess she has enough milk from breastfeeding.

After 4 days, her fever is gone and she’s back to normal.

I can’t imagine that I can be strong enough if something worse happen to Kirana. I hope this chickenpox is the only serious illness that happened to Kirana.

a career woman is a worse mom?

ovie — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 17:20:03 +0000

I read some comment on my friend’s FB status that said “good mom” and the next comment “… sometime as a career woman, they ask the nanny to do everything for the baby ..” it’s a fee translation from Bahasa. I really wanna laugh because of that comment. I don’t know the guy who gives the comments so no offence and maybe I am just missed interpretation of what he really means. Why I wanna laugh, it’s because the label that he gave to a career woman (well, career woman mostly refer to woman who’s working instead of stay at home), that a career woman will ask the nanny to take care the baby (just like feeding, taking a bath, changing the nappy etc). Does it mean that career woman is worse than a full time mother? Are you a better mom if you always take care a baby by yourself instead of the other who can get help from a nanny? Did he watch 24 hours 7 days a week what did the career woman do so he has statement that sound like a career woman is a worse mother. I know in Indonesia most of the couple will have nanny to take care the baby and a maid to take care the house. So what??? I would love to have that if I can afford that luxury. Having the nanny to help you doesn’t mean you didn’t care with the baby. Everybody has their own reason to do what they do and don’t, don’t judge others! It just the same likes the statement that a mother who breastfeed the baby is better than the they who didn’t.. Or mother giving birth by caesarean section is worse than they who giving birth naturally. Every mother has their own journey in raising her child.

I know i choose to work at the office because so many reasons, it’s because i love to work and express my self and also because of the money that i can get. does it means i didn’t love Kirana that much? I love her with my all my heart and soul and i know that Kirana has a good time at the day care. She likes her friends and enjoys all the activities. i think she really has a good experience in socializing and expressing herself. She still enjoys our companion.

We don’t mind to take days off when we need to, just like when she’s sick… We’re lucky that it’s so flexible to get the day off…

Am i a worse Mom because i am working? i guess only kirana can answer it…