Quella destinata per te, nessuno la prenderà

World Just Needs a Little Space

2008-07-24T14:57:00.002+07:00

I've been having SocialVibe thingies up on my site for months now, and I am glad to do so because if a little space on my blog can help others in need, then it is something worth to do.

Of course I don't donate my money directly to the cause that I chose, instead advertisers do that.
I don't get money either from embedding those SocialVibe sponsored ads of course.
So what is so cool to have widgets that don't make money to the blogger? We can do our donations anywhere, don't we?

Well, here are my reasons:
1. I think the ads there are eye-catching, and I like 'handsome' things :-D
2. My blog can do something for the world, not just money sucker :-D
3. Sometimes there are sponsors who give perks, and the giveaways are cool and hip products, though I never win so far :-P

I chose Poverty and Hunger as my first cause, then when the earthquake and nature disaster hit Myanmar and China, I changed my cause into Disaster Relief. I am back now with hunger issue by joining the cause World Food Programme. I think hunger and poverty are two interconnected problem of the World, and if you come to www.poverty.com, you can see the real-time counter of hunger deaths. As I am writing now the number at this second has reached 983. I know it's sad.

If you like to help the World, you can join SocialVibe through their site or under my referral. Either way, choose to join, there are a lot people, especially children all over the World need your helps.

Photo by Unhindered by Talent and angela7dreams

Pure Happiness

2008-07-21T23:42:00.005+07:00

Mich asked how am I today.
I told him I am very happy that a problem has gone.
Mich asked me what was the problem.
I told him "I can't tell you".
He said there's a psychological fact about saying "I can't tell you on the net"
But he's in hurry to go home, he'll tell me later.

Ali asked me what actually made me so happy today.
I told her actually I don't know exactly.
I am very happy that my problem is solved, but I slightly feel that it's not really the cause of my happiness.

Is this pure happiness?
A happiness without any cause but happiness?
This is a so lovely feeling.

I also thank God, that He answered my prayer.
My life is already a big miracle, so I cannot really claim that this time is miracle too. No?

Ok, I'm very very sleepy in happiness now.
Nighty night...sogni d'oro tutti!
Tonight I blog this so I will remember that once in the blue moon, I feel what is called by me as pure happiness.

Photo by reebs*

First Bids

2008-07-15T11:15:00.005+07:00

I was never interested in ebay, but finally yesterday I went there because I really wanted to find a certain rare book. I found it there, but it's very expensive, total with the shipping fee, it would cost around $75 USD. The shipping fee itself would be $US 31. I almost proceeded to bid for that book, because it looked like a great book and it's still in mint condition.
I am glad I didn't rush, because I found exactly the same book but in a slightly scratched here and there but no torn paper according to the seller. The total price with the shipping fee is only $US 35.99. I bid it late at night cause I just felt it was the right time, and I was also praying that no one would bid it except I :-P.

The next morning the first thing that I did was to check ebay, I was the only bidder and of course I won.
I made another bid too for a pair of earrings. I joined the bid just in the last minutes, there were already around 7 bids made before I joined. I was and am glad I won that bid too. Now all that I need is starting to pray that no culprits will take my parcels. Please God, I really love those two items.

Photo by liewcf

Quando Ero Piccola

2008-07-14T20:32:00.001+07:00

Mi ricordo che quando ero piccola, credevo nei folletti.
Avevo un posto preferito dove cercarli; era all'interno di mia complessa scuola, in uno dei suoi vicoli, perchè là di solito crescevano i grandi funghi.
Si diceva che ai folletti piaceva sedere sui funghi grandi.
Di solito andavo là con la mia amica Shirley, una bambina molto bella.
Sua madre era tedesca e suo padre era indonesiano, ma non sembrava affatto semi-tedesca.
Shirley e Io non vedevamo mai un folletto. Inoltre si diceva che ai folletti non piacesse essere visti, e noi poi eravamo sempre troppo rumorose.
Quindi tutto ciò che facevamo era distruggere quei funghi per punire i folletti.

Grazie Lidia e Paolo per i tuoi aiuti.
Photo by Steve Weaver

This is a Smile, a Big One

2008-06-17T22:00:00.000+07:00

I kept thinking about the apple of my eyes.
I talked to Him
I visualised my precious one.
I chose to believe positive things and chant only love.

Two days had since passed when it happened finally.
I know I cannot thank You only because of this, but I want to say so...Big Thanks Lord!! and I'm gonna keep doing so.

In a desert land He found him,
in a barren and howling waste.
He shielded him and cared for him;
He guarded him as the apple of His eye,

Deuteronomy 32:10

I knew I was Right

2008-06-10T23:17:00.001+07:00

Finally, that cute blogspot template featured on "See no Evil Here" is corrected. Finally that blog co-author "listened" to the input from that template users. I knew there were something wrong with that template, and though I was not listened, I am glad someone else could make the co-author see the problems even though for that he had to reprimand a bit :-D. Seems it's necessary to be that way sometimes.

It would be a pity if no one care. I'm not a perfectionist, but seeing my blog goes awry really annoys me especially because I'm an html and css illiterate. That template actually doesn't matter anymore for me now, cause I've changed my blog template with a beautiful and fault-free template from Blogger Buster since some weeks ago and it seemed not only me who changed the template, but the guy who made it happened also changed his template into a good-looking one too.
I'm just glad that I was right and glad to be able to make contribution.

For the Love of Batik

2008-05-28T23:25:00.005+07:00

I am a bit swayed by the current Batik enthusiasm movement in -at least Jakarta- my country. Everywhere I see people wear the products of Batik. Batik is really in fashion. So I think it would be nice to adorn this beautiful template with a look-a-like Batik print. I can't say it a Batik pattern though, cause Batik is not actually a pattern but it is the process.

Let me talk a bit of what I heard about it. The word Batik is derived from Ambatik and also tritik. Both words are originated in Javanese language. Amba means "to write" or "to do", while the word 'tritik' which means a dying process where the patterns are done after tying and sewing the areas. It was similar to tie dye techniques. So I think that's why it's said it's not a pattern but the process of making the pattern.

Having said those, I want to point out that Batik is the pride of Indonesia and the most beautiful Batiks are from Java Island in Indonesia.

Interested in reading more about Batik? A site that's mainly addressed for expatriates in my country features an educative and concise article about Batik.
Want to make some groovy pattern like mine for your own template background? Do it easily on www.colourlovers.com or just click the above pattern.
The more complicated and exotic process of making the product of Batik by Batik artists, however, can be seen here.

Scrumptious Choco Template

2008-05-20T23:29:00.007+07:00

I changed my blog template again because I can't resist to see the beautiful magazine style Blue Steel template from Blogger Buster. The template is so far hassle-free and easy to install.
What I especially like about this template is this template looks good on firefox and IE, my previous templates have slightly problems on IE.

Amanda, the creator of this beautiful template, made the template available with:

An optional magazine style layout for the home page
Optional customized recent posts widget for the sidebar
Themed icons for sidebar widgets, post features and post options
Custom made favicon to match the blog theme
Integrated search function
Tabbed navigation with easy customization of links
Related articles beneath each post on post pages
Integrated (optional) post summary hack

There's also bookmark tabs such as del.icio.us, stumble it and digg included underneath each post. One more important thing -for me, cause I've been searching for something like this- I like the comment thing!! I don't know how to explain it exactly, but unlike normally blogspot templates which will go to default blogspot comment template whenever its comment is clicked, the comment on this template is integrated with the template design.

This template is also very versatile, see the difference on my two blogs that use this template, this Origena and Faithship. I just made a small change, but the difference is visible. I am sure those who are an advance at html or css code will be glad to experiment with this template, for instance like Buzz Nutter.

I wonder why Mashable misses to include Blue Steel - Blogger Buster into its
70 Fresh And Modern Blogger Templates list, because many of those in the list have already been around for a long time already, and are converted from wordpress theme. This Blue Steel, I think has its originality and it's really fresh.

3GB Communities Exoticism

2008-05-13T12:11:00.012+07:00

Meet 3GB Communities, a new player in Social networking world. There have been many community sites already on the net these days, so what makes 3GB different?
The exterior shows that 3GB Communities is still a fresh new site since it has only less than 800 members. There's not much to see on the front page, the Help page contains FAQ, Contact Us, and a still empty Term of Service.
The welcome message says that the site allows users to meet new and old friends, and to do other similar activities like in any other social network sites. However, it also states users are able to hear the latest mp3 hits. I love music, and as long as the music on the site is controllable -not an auto play music, that's cool.

I need to sign up to use this mp3 feature. After signing in, I found only Radio feature. The radio is actually a compilation of 12 albums from seemingly famous Arabic singers. Before wondering why only Arabic singers, from the copyright on this radio page I then understand that www.3gb.biz Community is the 1st Arabic community network. The radio streaming quality is quite clear.
But why only on its radio? Why doesn't it also show some exoticism from Arab rich culture on its site design?
That would be able to distinguish 3GB Communities from the rest of available social networks otherwise, while still maintaining it as an international melting pot site.

UPDATE!!
Now 3gb.biz also serves as web and blog directory that will give free link from its PR3 and high traffic site. Go and add yours here.

See No Evil Here

2008-05-11T23:45:00.013+07:00

As I thought already, we can't expect more for free things. I should just be glad to have this beautiful template available for free and accept it as it is.

Sometime ago, I made queries twice on eblogtemplates -the provider of this template- about a little problem I'm having with this template, ie. the post on 29/4 is overlapping with the post on 22/4, and all the images cannot be centered. I also found that it's not only me that have that problem, actually some other users too. Unfortunately my queries aren't qualified to be answered. I don't know why, maybe because of its free status, that makes my queries considered too much :-D

There was another user that asked about similar issue too previously -Cat- and she got a response but not an answer.

I had also wondered, why no one else was aware about the issue. Until some days ago a blogger named RicardoUK brought the issue back -I feel somehow relieved. He has been waiting for provider to answer my question because he has similar problem. He finally couldn't wait anymore to post the query himself and he also points out that my question is being ignored.
This time it strikes :))
He gets a response, and yet it's still not an answer to that problem, and no mention about my questions either on the provider's response.

Well, anyway, this template is truly beautiful, probably I just have to pretend there's no problem at all. After all, the provider has been kind enough to tweak it for free, so I have to keep my mouth shout now :-P

Yay I got Fire Eagle Invite

2008-05-07T20:32:00.004+07:00

Seriously, I think this beta invite web2.0 things have somehow spurred some razzle dazzle. People are in rush to try those alpha or beta version service when they're labeled with by invite only, and that can be seen from some jaiku or twitter messages.

I found out about Fire Eagle on Jaiku invitation channel, some people are looking for Fire Eagle invite there and it seems it's hard to get it. I went to Fire Eagle site to see what is it about. I'm not that informed person, so mind that :-P.
I requested an invite there though I know it usually takes a longer time to get from the main source, so I didn't really count on that. It was one Twitter message that is floating somewhere on this virtual world that guided me to another source, and the next day within less than 24 hours, my invite arrived.

The person who sent me the invite is Giuseppe from Plazes, another web2.0 locator service that I already joined. Plazes developed integration with Fire Eagle that's way Plazes have some Fire Eagle invites to share -I think. The system integration between Plazes and Fire Eagle is done only with one click.

To learn about what Fire Eagle is, go here and here (this has some invites links, don't know if any of them still works)
To integrate it with Twitter, go here.
If you are still confused, ask me not :-P
Happy hunting your invite!

Idan Raichel..Boi..O Boi...

2008-05-04T20:24:00.007+07:00

This is the third times in a day I mention about Idan Raichel on the net.
Idan Raichel is an Israeli musician whose songs currently hold spellbound on me.
I love mostly Bo'i, it's really mesmerising me to the bone.
The tunes, the language, especially that Amharic language...magical...and Idan Raichel...I'm unashamedly saying this, sei molto bellissimo.
I would love to see his concert but I think Idan Raichel will never be able to perform in my country. Sigh.

Here, the lyrics and video of Boi from Idan Raichel and friends.

Come, give me your hand and we will go
Don't ask me where
Don't ask me about happiness

Maybe it will come too
When it will come
it'll fall upon us like rain.

Come, let us embrace and go
Don't ask me when
Don't ask me about home
Don't ask me for time
Time does not wait, nor stop or remain.*

Here's the translation of Amrahic language used in the song, the part that's uttered by a female member of Idan's group.

Do you remember back then, when you used to always bring me flowers
You'd entertain me, I'd entertain you,
You'd talk to me, I'd talk to you
We'd hold each other
We'd spend every day with joy

When evening came, we'd ask when a new day would begin
When we'd separate, I would feel sad
When we'd meet, I would feel immense joy
And now all that has passed and here we are now.**

Official Idan Raichel Project
*Bo'i
**Lucio Garcia

Green Love

2008-04-29T23:31:00.022+07:00

I adopted Green Love three days ago
I was told to feed it once every three days
and this morning I did it for the first time.
I hope it'll survive

When your Thoughts count

2008-04-22T00:10:00.014+07:00

Love or Happiness, what do you prefer?
Have you made true friends on the internet? do you believe it is possible?

Those are just two questions that I found on http://www.thoughts.com/ survey feature. Interesting. I thought www.thoughts.com was just another free blog, but it's apparently more than that.
This free blog has a strong community bond, at least that's an impression that I got from browsing some blog postings there. The members are generous enough to give their opinions and supports to other members in needs, and it's done either by leaving comments on blog postings or on the Community Forum.

The mainpage of www.thoughts.com looks clean, simple yet populated with sufficient information. The interface really provides an easy navigation, especially for new visitor to browse and learn the system. Clicking "take a tour" will take visitor to have a quick look about features from www.thoughts.com such as photo, video, podcast, feedback and of course its unlimited bandwidth blog with its ability to make posts private, public or available only for friends.

Thoughts also has language filter feature. Since the topics and blog users are assorted, everyone who don't want to come across explicit words can enable Language filter feature. You gotta love this feature, this filter is even working without login first.

The coolest feature amongst all is of course its yearly writing contest that gives very desirable
prize. Last year, http://www.thoughts.com/ sent the winner to Las Vegas, and this year the contest that will end on Wednesday April 30th, 2008 would like "to treat you and a guest to a little weekend getaway not too far from your home" for 2 nights and 3 days.

So if you live near a gorgeous resort or you want a free vacation, then be prepared to write an original essay with 300-500 words starting with the words..."Hey, I just had a crazy thought, what if..." on www.thoughts.com. If you think there's no enough time for this year, then there's always next year. Good luck.

Colourful Update

2008-04-20T23:05:00.012+07:00

The mystery has revealed, I remember now how I got that 100 ec. That amount is a prize that I won from 500,000 Free Entrecard Credits Giveaway, a competition made by PopularWealth. So thank you PopularWealth for making that giveaway, though recently I'm not so active in Entrecard.

For my blog-hopping I currently prefer Blogupp for its simplicity and hassle-less, and, wow I think the sites on my blogupp widgets are mostly Italian blogs :-P, it's good for me catching up some Italian words though. I like the humble appearance of Blogupp widget too, it blends easily with any blog template, I mean it won't crash template look.

Speaking about template, I use a this professional look template now. This template can accommodate a lot of things that I want to put on my blog without really making it cluttered.
Thanks to Eblogtemplates for making available this template for blogger use. Definitely must check out the site for good looking and reliable template.

Photo by Gaetan Lee

Mysterious 100 ec

2008-04-10T22:45:00.006+07:00

Why is it mysterious?
Because I don't know what have I done to deserve it? :))
I just got notification that 100 ec is waiting to be claimed by me.
I don't think Entrcard gives free ec, cos it's not sent to the email that I use on Entrecard.
Perhaps I actually did something out of my awareness that made me receive the gift?
If someone sent it to me, let me say thank you and thank you.
Sorry, I don't really remember how and why.
Any hint?

Oh, since I'm writing about Entrecard, let me continue.
I think anyone who've already advertised on Origena were probably aware that my advert approval stats are clean, means I have never yet declined any ad. It's true, because I don't mind any ads, I like to give choice to my readers -if any, eheh- I believe in diversity.
I receive any ads as long as they don't contain pornography.

Orgoo newbie

2008-04-08T22:16:00.003+07:00

Today is my beautiful best friend's birthday but I received a surprise in my inbox today. Orgoo invite finally arrived in my inbox after a long wait and invite search. I think I had searched Orgoo invite many times to no avail since a year ago, until on Saturday one of my Jaiku sms was telling about orgoo invite and I replied it asap. One reason why I love Jaiku community!! People like to share there.
Today I'm starting tasting Orgoo, not much to tell yet cause I'm still exploring my personal communication cockpit there :))

Some better reviews about Orgoo can be found here.

Evernote: an ameniac's friend

2008-04-04T23:35:00.007+07:00

I love Evernote. I've known it since 2 years ago I think. I wished at that time that Evernote would have its online version, and I was so excited to find out that it does have an online version and even mobile phone version, but it's still in Beta.

I'm quite lucky I got the invitation likely in a week after applying it on Evernote site, and it even spares me 10 invites to share.

Now it is even easier than it was already!
Apart from its desktop already handy features, this new version of Evernote allows users to access their collection of information anytime anywhere, so information is really close at hand.

If you haven't had it, get green in envy to see Evernote features on this video. Love it!

You Got Rickrolled

2008-04-03T22:15:00.005+07:00

Did you visit Youtube on recent April Fool?
Well I did, and I just knew that Youtube is secretly very in love with Rick Astley because all the videos on that day were his "Never Gonna Give You Up."
At that time I didn't know the term Rickroll yet.
Until today I got notification that YouGotRickRolled is following me on twitter, and when I click the url on its Bio, voila....there he is again Rick Astley is shaking his hips and singing that Never Gonna Give You Up :))

So what is this Rickroll about?

Rickrolling is an Internet meme involving Rick Astley's music video for his song "Never Gonna Give You Up". In a Rickroll, a person provides a link they claim is relevant to the topic at hand which actually takes the user to the Astley video. It can also mean playing the song loudly in public in order to be disruptive.

The practice began as a variant of an earlier prank called duckrolling, in which a link to a popular celebrity or news item would instead lead to a photoshopped picture of a duck with wheels. By May 2007[2], the practice had become widespread, and it eventually began to receive some coverage in the mainstream media.
cited from wiki Rickrolling

If you have not been Rickrolled, then watch Rick Astley singing in Hindi language.

When you want billions friends

2008-03-26T22:23:00.011+07:00

Friendster, Hi5, Facebook alike won't give you easily, but this one will.
This one is very easy to join.
No need to write long profile, you get it just by answering more or less 4 questions and the site will create you a profile based on that.
Instant billions friends at one click :))
Read the FAQ first if you need to be convinced.

I'm talking about nclüdr.
Oh, and it has superb un-clickable ads :-)))

This is my first profile:

Great eh :))

Being blessed

2008-03-21T23:02:00.007+07:00

That's what Holy Friday makes me think.
What if I were not born Christian?
It would be harder for me to understand about Jesus.
Even I was born and am Christian, His lifestyle and His life story is still hard for me to follow and understand.
If not because of His Love, I would have lost my faith.
He died for our sins so we who believe in Him can live, He didn't come for Christian, He came for those who believe in Him.

I'm happy, I managed to push myself to attend Holy Friday congregation this afternoon though I was a bit late and didn't get a nice seat. There were at least 3000 people who attended our Church congregation this afternoon and it was not held in Church building but in one of a big national sport centers in Jakarta.
This evening one of our TV stations broadcast "The Passion of The Christ" and again with no ads at all. That movies affirms me that I'm blessed already.

I'm already blessed, and I still want moreeeee!! :-P
Well....human...
Anyhow, hope you can feel the Love of Christ too in your life.

Photo by midiman

Blog Marketing Tool

2008-03-17T00:02:00.011+07:00

It seems that blogsphere has become busy and busier with monetization. The old personal blogs style do still exist, but realise it or not many of them too have tasted the euphory of ads on blog. Some take it seriously and some just want to test the water or just want to get easy money while doing something that they like.
Those who are doing monetization of their blog seriously maybe have already been familiar with iContact, an email marketing plus tool that help blogger or webmaster to present and tract their post, rss feed, survey, and all the marketing needs. The tool acts just like an adept yet affordable assistant, it starts as cheap as $9.95 per month, but it's also available free for 15 day trial.

The following screenshot shows how easily to manage all sort of marketing stuffs from its user friendly interface.

The tabs on the interface looks like are designated as guidelines of things to do in managing a website or blog and at the same time also act as reminder.
Its Mycontact tab has the ability to segment contacts based on the available subscribers' data to make easier doing targeted email marketing, while the Create tab is for creating contents for blog, email newsletter and feeds.

A complete overview of iContact feature is available on this following video on http://icontact.com/www/video/introduction_video.html.

Bule

2008-03-16T13:50:00.009+07:00

The word 'bule' for some caucasian people who have been living or are now living in Indonesia is considered derogatory word.
I didn't know the meaning of bule at first, but since ten years ago I've become aware that it means albino, white person. Well, being native doesn't mean someone is expert or have better understanding at her/ his language of course.
As far as I know, most Indonesian people never intend that as derogatory remark.

Some of my siblings and I were lighter than average Indonesian when we were kids, and thanks to Mom, we all have pointed nose - though mine is the less pointed one amongst my siblings. That made village people in our neighborhood called us bule, they thought we had western blood and they said we're good-looking. Now, only my brother retains that look.

One very famous Chinese-Indonesian young actress -Agnes Monica- once on an interview were very proud of her newborn niece or nephew who she said very beautiful and '....just like bule.'

Well, I'm not really going to discuss whether it's a derogatory word or not, I'm writing this because of what Filo -my teacher said.

My friends, Filo and I were waiting for an elevator at one apartment, and there were some expats around, and suddenly Filo -who is also an expat and a caucasian- said '...banyak bule ya di sini' (= there are many bule here). She said that quite loud and there were a Caucasian couple right behind us.
Yes, she's quite fluent in Indonesian and she doesn't like to use English at all, we either have to speak Indonesian or her language.

We of course laughed because it's very funny, considering that she's also entitled that word.
She didn't think that other expats might also speak Indonesian language as fluent as her.

I also remember once my other expat friend was proudly telling me a story how he could manage to get tickets for Jakarta International Film Festival although he and his friend were late because the person in charge there let them in. He told me '.....that's the advantage of being bule.' And this somehow makes me annoyed, what a racist Indonesian!

Maybe it depends on the person whether it's considered bad word or not, just like the word 'black people' maybe?
For sure I think some Indonesian people -native or non-native- don't mind to be referred bule cause for them it means good-looking, again showing how racist are Indonesian people :-P

Pull me up

2008-03-12T23:30:00.003+07:00

Ho avuto questa ricetta di sabato scorso dal mio professore, mi piace molto tiramisù!!

Ingredienti per due persone:
200gr Mascarpone
100gr ca biscotti "Savolardi"
2 uovo
Caffe/ Alcool
Cacao in polvere
200gr zucchero

Dividere il tuorlo dell'uovo dal bianco
Montare il bianco dell'uovo con una frusta
Unire il tuorlo allo zucchero e al mascarpone
Mescolare, poi aggiungere il bianco montato e creare un impasto omogeneo
In una teglia mettere un primo strato di impasto
Immergere un po' di biscotti nel caffe e metterli sopra allo strato d'impasto
Ripetere l'operazione fine alla fine, l'utimo strato deve essere d'impasto
Infine coprire la superfice con il cacao in polvere
Mettere in frigo per circa 1 ora.

Hhmmm...gusto celestiale nella bocca, c'e Tiramisu.
Ma attento del' influenza aviaria!! :-P

Photo by UncleVinny

Lucky Oliver Color Lovers Contest

2008-03-11T20:25:00.001+07:00

Everyone who love colours should join this contest because it's really fun.
First of all of course we have to be a member of Colorlovers in order to join it, but you don't have to join LuckyOliver.
As colorlovers, you don't have to pay anything but a big love of colours, cos you're going to see or discover all shades of colours there.

Ok, back to the contest.
In brief, contestants have to pick inspirational photo from LuckyOliver, then extract five colours from that photo, creates new colors palette on your colorlovers, post it and leave comment to Colorlovers blog.

Browse LuckyOliver great photo collections now, I'm having fun already with some of photos there and this palette is one of my entries which is inspired by this photo.

Contest will end on March 17th, and the winners will be selected based on the best palettes that captured the spirit/mood of the inspiration photo.

Here are the prizes:
1st prize: 8GB iPod Touch or $300 + 50 LuckyOliver tokens
2nd prize: 1 x iPod Shuffle or $79 + 50 LuckyOliver tokens
3rd prize: 1 x iTunes Gift Card or $25 + 25 LuckyOliver tokens