Situ Gintung Tragedy, Earth Hour 2009 & Award

I have been sick since yesterday, but I would like to post some short messages. They are really important to me.

First, my deepest condolences and heartfelt sympathy to the victims of Situ Gintung (situ means lake in Sundanese) tragedy. On Friday morning, 27 March 2009, the dam of this artificial lake near Cirendeu, Tangerang, Indonesia, failed and resulted in a flood killing at least 67 people and the sum keeps on raising. Many homes and businesses got drowned in this tragic incident. Hundreds of people are injured and missing until now. The search for more victims is still continuing at this very moment. It is a very aweful situation :(.

Second, join Earth Hour 2009 at 8:30 pm, local time, today to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. But, please don't forget that it's not only about today, we need to care about earth in our daily life.

Third, last but not least Music of My Life has received another Sisterhood Award from JonJon. Thank you so much, dear friend.

I will write longer posts when I'm feeling better.

Purple Day: Raising Awareness About Epilepsy

I visited Valkyriens blog and found out about Purple Day, an event founded in 2008, by nine-year-old Cassidy Megan of Nova Scotia, Canada. Purple Day is an international grassroots effort dedicated to increasing awareness about epilepsy worldwide. On March 26, people from around the globe are asked to wear purple and spread the word about epilepsy.

I hadn't the chance to wear purple today, but I'm following the steps of many others by posting a purple flower from my photo archives to show my support for this event.

PS. I'm not feeling so well these few days, but it's getting better. Since this orchid here stays for a good cause, I thought that I would share the flower on Today's Flowers as well. I hope you don't mind. Thank you.

Thank you for creating this great blog carnival Luiz

This Way Thurs-Way 1: About Double Parking

This is my first entry to This Way Thurs-Way. It is a new Thursday weekly meme of roads & its signs, signages, paths, passages, street scenes & the likes. You can read some interesting footnotes about the origin of this meme at Today's Blah.

Some of my friends might already have seen these photos here, but I thought that they matched today's host theme. I think this meme is a great idea, because sometimes we can see the weirdest things on the streets.

This incident here happened one day before new year. My family went to the mall and had a splendid afternoon. But returning to our parking spot, we were about to find out something very inconvenient. A driver had been double parking right in front of us, simultaneously blocking in 2 cars. This actually wouldn’t be so bad on rush hours like that, if only the hand brake was left off. That way other drivers could push the car a little forward or backward to leave the parking spot. But no, this driver had to be so ignorant about it and moreover put a lock on the control stick. We were trapped! My father in law reported this situation to the mall’s parking security. Public announcements as well as pushing the car together turned out as useless attempts… and all that we could do was hoping this person appeared as soon as possible.

It took almost one hour for him to show up and no apology at all! Can you imagine waiting for so long with three children, two of them still toddlers. My nephew had just celebrated his first birthday a few days before. After around 20 minutes waiting, he began to become impatient and was whining for his bottle. It was a good thing that his mom was well prepared. We were thinking about taking a cab to get home. Please, don't be so careless when you park! Thank you.

J Is For...

I have missed the letter I, but now I'm in for some J's. You can see my photos displayed below most of the words, except Joyride. Happy ABC Wednesday, everybody :)!

Java An island in Indonesia and my current residence.

Join Earth Hour 2009

Juice Do you wanna have some?

My Juniors

Joyride, A Roxette Song

Thank you for this great blog carnival Denise Nesbitt

Watery Wednesday 28: Protect our Earth

Dreamland Bali Beach, Indonesia 2007

On today's Watery Wednesday, I would like to share a photo taken by my dear friend Erwin Hendrawijaya (We go way back into our senior high school years). He was so kind to give me permission for uploading it on my blog. I have added little effects using Picasa to bring out the colors of the already beautiful photo. Thank you, Erwin! (We go way back into our senior high school years)

There is a reason behind my photo choice here. I wanted to highlight again about Earth Hour on this upcoming Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 8:30 pm, local time. Please, click the link for further information about this important event to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. The huge umbrella symbol of protection for mother earth while the clean and serene blue ocean her pure beauty without human interference. There is enough damage we have caused so far, let's take a hold and make it stop! in the background displays appeared to me as

Be part of the Earth Hour - tell your friends, tell your story.
Make a difference!

Thanks to T. Bruce.

PS. I have sent Erwin a link to this post, so that he can see your wonderful comments. I hope that it will add even more pleasure to his day :).

Ruby Tuesday: Craft and Wedding Snippets

Yesterday, my son was a special host for my Mellow Yellow Monday. So I thought that now would be his sister's turn to present you Ruby Tuesday. She is in a ruby dress at one of our relative's wedding reception. In the background, you can see a lot of gold and ruby decorations. 

This following photo displays one of my daughter's pieces of art, made out of a lot of ruby beads. I hope it also counts as a flower, so Happy Spring & Ruby Tuesday, everyone!

Thanks to Mary

Music Monday: Earth Song (Michael Jackson)

Uploaded by 94huan

Since we are approaching Earth Hour 2009 in a couple of days on Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 8:30 pm, local time, I have been thinking about a relevant song to honor our beloved mother earth for this Music Monday. Let's start preserve her beauty for our own sake! Thank you :).

Be part of the Earth Hour - tell your friends, tell your story.
Make a difference!

PS. My connection is at very slowly speed right now, so I will be doing my rounds when it gets better. It is very difficult to play the video files at this current state.

Mellow Yellow Monday 11: Swim Equipments

This Mellow Yellow Monday is presented to you by my son, with a special grin to wish you a great week :). Last Saturday was the first time he went on swimming lessons in the big pool. You can see a lot of yellow swim equipments here: a swim board, a pair of hand paddles and a cup of sweet corn added up with some cheese and milky cream (Please, pretend you didn't see the last one or we could get into some trouble with the pool's lifeguard. It is not allowed to eat near the pool. Nah, just kiddin'! The man was a good sport knowing this was only intended for a photo.). Happy week, everybody!

Thanks to Drowsey Monkey

An Appreciation Quote For You

“Appreciation is a wonderful thing.
It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well”

~ Quote by Voltaire

I have been inspired through my friend Jackie's blog Simply Shinade to give some appreciation for my first post commentators by adding a button to their blog or profile with this featured flower from my photo archives. Jackie is a member of the First Commenters Club created by Mariuca and I really think that this is a wonderful idea to show some love through the Blogosphere, even though I am very grateful for every inspiring comment on my blog. Thank you.

Update 1: I no longer use this link love appreciation for a faster upload speed. Unfortunately, my analytics showed that this blog is slower than most other sites on the Web. I hope you can understand the reason behind my decision.

Telling you a bit about the photo shot. It belongs to the series of flowers at the pool on my three previous Today's Flowers posts 29-31. Thanks to Marie-Louise and Vicky, I have learned about their names. I really appreciate it, if someone could help me on this flower's name too.

Update 2: Jama said that this is a Pseuderanthemum reticulatum, or commonly known as the Yellow-vein Eranthemum. I think she is right according to the googled images I found. Thank you.

Thanks to
Denise, Laerte Pupo and Luiz

Camera Critters 50: "Wildcat"

This is our beloved "wildcat". What I mean by wildcat is that she enjoys living outdoors than indoors. Strolling around our yard, looking for some perfect spots. Well, there are a couple of places which I also would consider as more cozy, if I was a cat. My son loves to play around with her every day. But it seems that she doesn't like the thought of publicity (To be truth, I think it was the black camera). It took me a while before getting a photo. To think about it again, life in the spotlights would be too complicated. I guess, she is right about that ;).

Thanks to Misty

SkyWatch Friday 36: Pointing at The Sky

Statue at Dunia Fantasi, Indonesia

This photo belongs to one of our archives from a trip to Dunia Fantasi, Indonesia, on my daughter's school holiday. I know it would be nicer to see the statue in full grace, but school holidays are one of the most crowded seasons at recreation places like this. Believe me, seeing all those people standing there would make you quite dizzy (at least I thought so). We are focusing at the sky here. See he's pointing at it :)

Starting Point to Hearts of Men

the sky is a sacred place
where the mind of god
rests upon that of humanity

it is the place where
good poems are created
line by line, verse by verse

a storm never brews here
because of the sky
but the clouds, winds and sun

to know the workings
of the clouds, winds and sun
is to know the sky of intelligence

the place where every verse
is strewn to the steps of nature,
written to the laws of reason
and the desires of hearts

the sky is a sacred place
the meeting point of god and humanity
the starting point to the hearts of men

John Tiong Chunghoo
(Source: PoemHunter.com)

Enjoy skies and views from around the world

PS. Answering Mojo's question, yes dunia also means world. So, dunia fantasi could be translated into fantasy world.

Be Part of Earth Hour 2009

I have read my friend's post on Today's Blah, Earth Hour and thought that I would join to spread this important message. Please, take your time to read this post. Earth needs our help! Thank you :).

Earth Hour is an annual international event created by the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature/World Wildlife Fund), held on the last Saturday of March, that asks households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. It was pioneered by WWF Australia and the Sydney Morning Herald in 2007, and achieved worldwide participation in 2008. Earth Hour will next take place on Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 8:30 pm, local time.

(Source: Wikipedia)

You can read more about this world wide event on the official website here and find out what's happening in your local area in their latest news. Below you can see the official Earth Hour 2009 video.

Be part of the Earth Hour - tell your friends, tell your story.
Make a difference!

Sepia Scenes 22 & Unique Photo Challenge: Wooden Craft Clock

Wooden Craft Clock Made In Central Java, Indonesia

Dost thou love life?
Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.

Quote by Benjamin Franklin (Source: About.com Quotations)

This week's Unique's Photo Challenge is wood. So I thought to submit these photos here from my Sepia Scenes 22 post entry. Hope that's okay. Click the link to see more photos on this theme.

The wooden craft clock belongs to my sister. It was given to her by a friend who brought it back from Central Java, Indonesia. I always admire people's talent to create these amazing crafts with their own hands. It takes a lot of effort and patience to work on. I tried to follow the steps in Mary's posted link to add this sepia effect. Thank you for sharing them :).

PS. I already thought that the first photo seemed a little bit more b/w like ewok1993 said in the comment section. The photo in Mary's posted link had definitely a warmer sepia color. I don't know where I went wrong? Maybe someone could tell me. I'm still in the learning process and appreciate any advice. Meanwhile, I decided to upload another photo of the Photoshop-ed photo (Sometimes I really get confused with my words. LOL) tuned with a warmer color temperature from Picasa.

Happy Sepia Scenes, everyone!

Thanks to Mary

Watery Wednesday 27: Save Our Environment

This would be a lovely little stream without all of the trash in it.
Please, stop these irresponsible acts!
We have to preserve mother earth for our own sake.

Thanks to T. Bruce

I've Been Tagged: Film's I've Seen

This tag is from my dear friend Alex at Banana Talk 2.0.

Mark the ones you've seen. There are 240 films on this list.

Alex's remark: One thing about this list, it's fairly 'old' as it doesn't have the latest sequel to the complete trilogy/series (I have to agree on that, but thanks to the creator for putting up the list to add some fun).

( ) Rocky Horror Picture Show

(X) Grease

(X) Pirates of the Caribbean

(X) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest

( ) Boondock Saints

(X) Fight Club

(X) Starsky and Hutch

( ) Neverending Story

( ) Blazing Saddles

( ) Airplane!

Total: 5

Alex's remark: They missed out Pirates of the Caribbean 3 at World's End, +1 if it's in the list (Me, too. - Rosidah).

( ) The Princess Bride

( ) AnchorMan

( ) Napoleon Dynamite

( ) Saw

( ) Saw II

( ) White Noise

( ) White Oleander

(X) Anger Management

(X) 50 First Dates

(X) The Princess Diaries

(X) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement

Total so far: 9

Alex's remark: Saw has already reached its 5th sequel as of 2008, and I doubt that they are going to stop there. +3 if SAW I-V is counted (Not me! I couldn't sleep at night - Rosidah).

(X) Scream

(X) Scream 2

(X) Scream 3

(X) Scary Movie

( ) Scary Movie 2

( ) Scary Movie 3

( ) Scary Movie 4

(X) American Pie

(X) American Pie 2

(X) American Wedding

( ) American Pie Band Camp

Total so far: 16

(X) Harry Potter 1
(X) Harry Potter 2
(X) Harry Potter 3
(X) Harry Potter 4
(X) Harry Potter 5

( ) Resident Evil 1

( ) Resident Evil 2

(X) The Wedding Singer

( ) Little Black Book

(X) The Village

(X) Lilo & Stitch

Total so far: 24

(X) Finding Nemo

(X) Finding Neverland

(X) Signs

( ) The Grinch

( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre

( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

(X) White Chicks

(X) Butterfly Effect

( ) Suddenly 30

(X) I, Robot

(X) Robots

Total so far: 31

(X) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

(X) Universal Soldier

(X) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events

(X) Along Came Polly

(X) Deep Impact

( ) KingPin

(X) Never Been Kissed

(X) Meet The Parents

(X) Meet the Fockers

( ) Eight Crazy Nights

( ) Joe Dirt

(X) King Kong

Total so far: 40

(X) A Cinderella Story

(X) The Terminal

( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie

( ) Passport to Paris

(X) Dumb & Dumber

( ) Dumber & Dumberer

(X) Final Destination

( ) Final Destination 2

( ) Final Destination 3

( ) Halloween

( ) The Ring

( ) The Ring 2

( ) Surviving X-MAS

(X) Flubber

Total so far: 45

( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle

( ) Practical Magic

(X) Chicago

(X) Ghost Ship

( ) From Hell

(X) Hellboy

(X) Secret Window

(X) I Am Sam

( ) The Whole Nine Yards

( ) The Whole Ten Yards

Total so far: 50

Alex's remark: Did not watch Harold and Kumar go to white castle, but I did watch the sequel, go to guantanamo bay (Me, too - Rosidah).

(X) The Day After Tomorrow

( ) Child's Play

( ) Seed of Chucky

( ) Bride of Chucky

(X) Ten Things I Hate About You

(X) Just Married

(X) Gothika

( ) Nightmare on Elm Street

( ) Sixteen Candles

( ) Remember the Titans

(X) Coach Carter

( ) The Grudge

( ) The Grudge 2

(X) The Mask

( ) Son Of The Mask

Total so far: 56

(X) Bad Boys

(X) Bad Boys 2

( ) Joy Ride

(X) Lucky Number Slevin

(X) Ocean's Eleven

(X) Ocean's Twelve

(X) Bourne Identity

(X) Bourne Supremecy

(X) Bourne Ultimatum

( ) Lone Star

(X) Bedazzled

( ) Predator I

( ) Predator II

( ) The Fog

(X) Ice Age

(X) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown

( ) Curious George

Total so far: 67

(X) Independence Day

( ) Cujo

( ) A Bronx Tale

( ) Darkness Falls

( ) Christine

( ) ET

( ) Children of the Corn

(X) My Boss's Daughter

(X) Maid in Manhattan

(X) War of the Worlds

(X) Rush Hour

(X) Rush Hour 2

Total so far: 73

Remark: +1 if there's Rush Hour 3 in the list (Me, too - Rosidah).

( ) Best Bet

(X) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

(X) She's All That

(X) Calendar Girls

( ) Sideways

( ) Mars Attacks

( ) Event Horizon

(X) Ever After

( ) Wizard of Oz

(X) Forrest Gump

( ) Big Trouble in Little China

(X) The Terminator

(X) The Terminator 2

(X) The Terminator 3

Total so far: 81

Remark: I remember watching wizard of Oz when I was in standard 4. it was sooooo long ago (I would like to see this movie - Rosidah).

(X) X-Men

(X) X-2

(X) X-3

(X) Spider-Man

(X) Spider-Man 2

(X) Sky High

( ) Jeepers Creepers

( ) Jeepers Creepers 2

(X) Catch Me If You Can

( ) The Little Mermaid

(X) Freaky Friday

( ) Reign of Fire

(X) The Skulls

(X) Cruel Intentions

( ) Cruel Intentions 2

(X) The Hot Chick

(X) Shrek

(X) Shrek 2

(X) Shrek the Third

Total so far: 94

Remark: +1 if there's Spiderman 3, of all spiderman movies, I like Spiderman 3 the best (+1 too. It is great, but so sad with Harry's death. - Rosidah)

( ) Swimfan

( ) Miracle on 34th street

( ) Old School

(X) The Notebook

( ) K-Pax

( ) Krippendorf's Tribe

(X) A Walk to Remember

( ) Ice Castles

( ) Boogeyman

(X) The 40-year-old Virgin

Total so far: 97

(X) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring

(X) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers

(X) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King

(X) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

(X) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

(X) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Total so far: 103

( ) Basketball

( ) Hostel

( ) Waiting for Guffman

( ) House of 1000 Corpses

( ) Devils Rejects

( ) Elf

( ) Highlander

( ) Mothman Prophecies

( ) American History X

( ) Three

Total so Far: 103

( ) The Jacket

(X) Kung Fu Hustle

(X) Shaolin Soccer

( ) Night Watch

(X) Monsters Inc.

(X) Titanic

( ) Monty Python and the Holy Grail

( ) Shaun Of the Dead

( ) Willard

Total so far: 107

( ) High Tension

( ) Club Dread

(X) Hulk

( ) Dawn Of the Dead

( ) Hook

(X) Chronicles Of Narnia The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

( ) 28 days later

( ) Orgazmo

( ) Phantasm

(X) Waterworld

Total so far: 110

(X) Kill Bill vol 1

(X) Kill Bill vol 2

( ) Mortal Kombat

( ) Wolf Creek

(X) Kingdom of Heaven

( ) The Hills Have Eyes

( ) I Spit on Your Grave

( ) The Last House on the Left

( ) Re-Animator

( ) Army of Darkness

Total so far: 113

(X) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace

(X) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones

(X) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith

(X) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope

(X) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back

(X) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi

( ) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage

( ) Ewoks The Battle For Endor

Total so far: 119

(X) The Matrix

(X) The Matrix Reloaded

(X) The Matrix Revolutions

( ) Animatrix

( ) Evil Dead

( ) Evil Dead 2

( ) Team America: World Police

( ) Red Dragon

( ) Silence of the Lambs

( ) Hannibal

TOTAL : 120

My remark: Exact 50% of the total sum... I was about to think that we were Movie Freaks ;p (in a nice way).

Ruby Tuesday: A Paper Soap Flower Craft

My Scented Paper Soap Flower Craft

On this special Ruby Tuesday, we are adding something green to the red. I thought that I would share my scented paper soap flower craft because it is one of my favorites. You can find a whole post on my blog with some simple steps to make this flower by yourself. Hopefully, you like it. If you have a hard time to read the quote from an unknown author at the upper part of the photo, here is what it says:

Love is inscribed in my heart and there it shall remain forever

Thanks to Mary

The Story Behind The Sisterhood Award

On March 10th I started up my day with a lovely surprise from Candlemamma. She gave me my first award for my first blog, Common Sense Ain't Common,

The Sisterhood Award!

And today I received this same thoughtful award for Music of My Life from Ann-Marie at Heart's Desire Jewelry.

Thank you so much to both of you, I really appreciate this :)

Looking at this award button and name I was reminded of the The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and when I searched the Web I found out that this was indeed the intention of Diana, the creator.

This is a special award that should be given to your best bloggy girlfriend(s). Give them the award to thank them for their special friendship.

Basically, I'm thankful to all of my online friends who inspire me through life and I also appreciate all remarkable commentators on my blogs (Common Sense Ain't Common and Music of My Life). It is one of the things that makes my day. I'M THANKFUL AND GRATEFUL TO ALL OF YOU. Let me quote Kim, the first Sisterhood Award nominee:

On this award I can give it out to as many ladies as I would like... And there are soooo many of you who fall into this category...So if you would like I TAG YOU ALL... Take the award and place it on your sidebar...

My Special Notes Go To

Highly Fragranced Candles with Candlemamma
An inspiring and caring friend who's lifting up my spirits.
She is a devoted candle maker with a great heart.

Heart's Desire Jewelry

Ann Marie Hodrick, award winning jewelry designer, who amazes me with her thoughts and passions, especially in the creative process behind handcrafted jewelry designs.

My Life is Not A Textbook
Waileng, my first sister in Bloggyland who stood by me from the start.
Without her (and Alex's) inspiration & support, I would not be blogging like today.

The Womens Blogger Directory
Alana, my dear friend behind the remarkable place where women write & unite.

TO ALL AMAZING WOMEN WHO INSPIRE ME DAY BY DAY
THANK YOU FOR BEING THERE :)

PS. Would you be so kind to visit the blog links and leave a nice comment? That would be very awesome and highly appreciated. Thanks.

Fried Noodles & Beef Oxtail Soup

This weeks menu comes from a cozy little hotel called Cihampelas Hotel 2. You can see fried noodles and beef oxtail soup that we have ordered through their room delivery service. Yummy! It was a tasty meal to warm up the body in a cool weather.

I have posted before that we went on a long weekend in Bandung. Since it was a last minute decision almost all hotels were booked on this national holiday and we searched for another alternative on the Web. I call it lucky that we finally stumbled upon this hotel's site and were settled for the family room. It might be a small hotel, but after our arrival everything turned out like promoted. The fried noodles and beef oxtail soup were yummy. Nice staff, hotspot, TV cable, AC, hot & cold water and a highly accessible location to Cihampelas Bandung, one of the most popular shopping centers in this city. Nothing for a long stay according to me, because of a slight humidity in the room. Nevertheless, cozy enough for a short stay.

Thanks to Janet

Camera Critters 49: Do You Need A Hand?

Orang Utan at Taman Safari Garden, Indonesia

These photos were taken at our family vacation to Taman Safari Indonesia. It is Indonesia’s center for reproduction of endangered wildlife. While browsing my family photo archives, I saw these two guy's hand gestures and thought that they would fit for this collage. I'm sorry if you have trouble to read the captions, because I resized my collage for the blog page. It says:

Every now and then we get confused...
...and need a lending hand!

Happy Camera Critters

Thanks to Misty

How To Add LinkWithIn Widget

I visited my friend Marie Reed @ Vintage Postcards, when I came on LinkWithIn for the first time. The site says it is "a widget that links to related stories from your archive under each story on your blog". So, I decided to give it a try. Here are the steps on how to add the LinkWithin widget to your site:

1. Type in your email address, blog URL and choose platform from the scroll down menu.
2. Checklist "The body text on my blog has a dark background", if it is so.
3. Choose Get Widget.
4. Follow all the simple steps.

That's all!

Even though I think this widget is fabulous, I will see if it slows down the upload of my blog or not. So far, I really like the advantage of displaying links to other posts on this blog. But I'm still not used to see the widget appear in my posts. Anyhow, it looked great on Marie's blog with the white background. I also would prefer if the widget could be aligned center, not left. Trying to insert a div html code for align didn't work. Any help on this matter will be highly appreciated :).

Thanks to the LinkWithIn Team for their great widget job! Do you want to try?

PS. If the widget doesn't appear right away in your posts wait for a while, I have experienced that it uploads a little bit slower than the other contents. May be because it takes time to search for other post data to link within.

Skywatch Friday 35: Angel In The Clouds

To be an angel, one need not have wings.

In giving love there is an equal grace.
Nor need one seek the aura in the face,
As love unveils the beauty of all things.

© Nicholas Gordon
http://www.poemsforfree.com/tobean.html

Unique Photo Challenge: Splash

My Daughter Splashes in A Student Swimming Competition

This is my first entry to the Unique Photo Challenge. Visit the site to see more of this week's theme: splash. You can see my 8-year-old daughter participating in a student swimming competition. She got lucky number 7. It was a great improvement compared to last year when she didn't make it into the top ten. I'm very proud of her hard work and effort. Have a great day, everyone.

A Note about Plagiarism

My husband forwarded me a chain email with photos from zibabin.com (PS. I have removed this hyperlink, because it seems to be unreliable). I wanted to share these photos with you and began to work on a collage for saving space without deleting the watermarks. Some of you might already have seen them on the Web, but I still wanted to know what went on in your mind. You can read what I thought in the comment section. Thank you.

[Here was the collage]

PS. I have permanently removed the collage, because I'm not sure of the original photo sources. The photo of the lion belongs to Darrell Ybarrondo who mentioned about this in my comment section.

I never support plagiarism and always try to put original source links on my posts, if there are any contents which not belong to me. You can browse my blog and see for yourself. Most of the time I use my own photos or some of my close friends (and even these are related to the proper source). I hope that viewing my work throughout this blog will also show that I wouldn't have any intentions to become engaged in a copyright infringement.

My husband received this photo through a chain email called "Who Is The Better Mother?" and I also have seen other blogs and forums with these same photos, when I tried to Google the original source link by the email title. I'm sorry for my unawareness about Darrell. I truly respect his creative rights, because I am a passionate craftier and photographer myself. But I had linked to a source that I thought was the original one. Please, don't give misleads by adding your watermarks on other people's work. Hopefully something like this will not happen again. I'm kind of shocked about this situation and also feel like another victim here. Still, I'm aware that plagiarism is a hardly to avoid issue on this world wide web and we should be more careful. Thank you.

Related Readings:
Copyright Issues (Alex Wong)
Linking Rights (Brad Templeton)

Wayang Golek

Wayang Golek, Indonesia

This is a traditional wood puppet called wayang golek, used to perform popular stories about Indonesian legends or history.

Like you can see, the puppet is placed into a glass frame to cover it from dust. I'm sorry about the cluttered items behind. I took this photo with my mobile camera at my husband's office which was in renovation, but I didn't dare to move anything...

Happy Sepia Scenes

Thanks, Mary

H is for Heartbreak & Happiness

I just experienced one of the most heartbreaking moments in my life. The loss of a beloved one (especially by death) is never easy to face... But in the end, you must get up and find your way to happiness again.

When love is lost, do not bow your head in sadness;
instead keep your head up high and gaze into heaven
for that is where your broken heart has been sent to heal.
~Author Unknown

Thanks for the meme, Denise

Ruby Tuesday 29 & Watery Wednesday 26

Water Fountain at Cihampelas Walk, Bandung

This long weekend (Monday was a national holiday), we decided to visit some of my mother's relatives in Bandung and take a little time out after the terrible loss of my aunt. The city is one of the most favorite travel destinations here in Indonesia, also known as Paris van Java or Flower City.

I used my mobile camera to shot the water fountain at Cihampelas Walk, a popular site full of shops and restaurants. It was really relaxing to stroll around and taking photos.

Since there are also some nice red decorations in this photo, I thought that I could join Ruby Tuesday #29 with Watery Wednesday #26. Have a great day, everyone!

Ehm, I couldn't resist to upload another photo for Ruby Tuesday. Meet the additional member of Power Ranger SPD posing in his new suit right after purchased in Cihampelas. After trying several costumes, like Batman, Spiderman and Superman... he finally made up his mind. I am preparing myself for the motorbike ride to his sister's school. People tend to stare, if you escort superheros. But, I think I'm getting used to it. So far I already went on a mission with Power Ranger Override and Iron Man. Does anyone know how to get a child out of his hero suit?

White Flower at The Pool

I'm sorry about this late entry. We went to Bandung on Sunday morning and I forgot to pack my modem to get online. Thanks to Marie Louise the mystery flower on Today's Flowers last week has been identified as heliconia psittacorum. I wonder if someone could help me to find out about the name of this white flower at the pool here? The photo was taken at the same place. Thank you before.

PS. I'm sorry for submitting this flower again, but I think that a lot of you haven't seen it yet, because of my very late entry last week. I'm also still curious about the species of the flower and thought that someone might know about it like last time. My friend Vicky said that it is a Spider Lily. What do you think?

Japanese Food Restaurant in Indonesia

Lunch at Hoka-Hoka Bento, 8 March 2009

Today we went to Hoka-Hoka Bento for lunch. It is a popular Japanese food restaurant here in Indonesia without sake ingredient. I ordered their Special Package D consisting of chicken teriyaki and salad, 1 ebi furai and 2 egg chicken rolls, plus rice. I don't know about you, but added up with a glass of orange juice it was a yummy sunday japanese food choice for me.

Hoka Hoka Bento was first established on April 18, 1985 at the Garden Bean, Jakarta. It is a Japanese food restaurant in Indonesia that serves various fast food with affordable prices in a good atmosphere. The business was expanded to Bandung by opening 12 new stores throughout the city in 1990. Hoka Hoka Bento decided to open their first store in Surabaya, 2005. Followed by another expansion to Malang with their first store opening on July 18, 2008. Until today, you can find even more Japanese food restaurants like this scattered in all over Indonesia.

Thanks to Janet