senyumpagi

What do you need?

tons of money?
an A-to-Z-almost-perfect plan?
generous-born-rich parents? (along with an ironic laugh)
bank loans? (the one with the less-burdened interest rate, please)
a professional-yet-don’t-mind-with-little-payment architect, who really knows what i want, what i need (hehehehe, i think i got that one already in fact with free-of-charge-service…okay, okay i’ll give you 1,000 kisses, isn’t enough?:))
never-give up spirit?
optimism?
courage?

But you know what? We have started it…along with those little steps.

Aku bisa. Kamu bisa. Kita PASTI bisa.

pssst, jangan deg-degan lagi deh…

Indonesians still prefer wet markets, survey shows                                                 
               
               Thursday, April 19, 2007
               

Ika Krismantari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Living
the life as a devoted mother/wife and a full-time career woman,
52-year-old Sri Widyawati refuses to be categorized as one of today’s
modern working moms — when it comes to shopping, she always prefers to
do it the traditional way!

"I insist on buying fresh food every day from the itinerant grocery
vendors in my neighborhood, and I shop at the mom-and-pop grocery
stores near my house to buy personal-care goods. I rarely go to a
hypermarket or supermarket because of the distance and higher prices
involved," Sri confided to The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. 

Inheriting household management skills from their mothers, Sri and
other so-called conventional moms would appear to be on the increase in
Indonesia, at least according to a newly released survey by Nielsen.

The survey on the outlets that people most frequently visited to do
their shopping between 2005 and 2006 (interestingly, how much money
they spent in each type of outlet was not covered) reveals the
surprising result that the majority of urban Indonesians still prefer
to do their shopping in traditional outlets.

According to the survey results, despite the rapid spread of
hypermarkets and other modern retail outlets around the country, people
still prefer traditional grocery stores to hypermarkets. The
respondents said that they visited traditional outlets 25 times on
average per month, while they only visited modern outlets two times per
month.

The survey also revealed that people tended to visit wet markets on
average 12 times per month, while the frequency of visits to
supermarkets and minimarkets only averaged three times and five times
per month, respectively.

The 2006 survey, which covered a sample of 1,385 respondents in four
major cities — Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung and Makassar — also
revealed an increasing tendency to purchase groceries from itinerant
vendors, who supply fresh food directly to the consumers right in front
of their doors.

According to the survey, people purchased groceries from such vendors
19 times a month on average, an increase from 13 times a month in 2005.

"The
reasons are quite logical as these traditional outlets offer lower and
negotiable prices, and are also close to home. Besides that, these
kinds of outlets also provide a greater choice of fresh produce.
Remember, Asians, including Indonesian people, love fresh produce and
food. That’s why hypermarkets have failed in China," Nielsen director
for retailer services Yongky Surya Susilo said during the presentation
of the survey results.

   Yongki’s statement is supported by the fact that almost half of Indonesian monthly household spending goes on fresh foods. 

In 2005, the average household spent Rp 459,000 (US$50.40) on fresh
foods, or 52 percent of the average monthly expenditure of Rp 891,000,
an increase over the 50 percent and 47 percent recorded in 2004 and
2003, respectively.

At present, traditional outlets still dominate the Indonesian retail
market, with the total number of such outlets standing at 1.78 million
in 2005, up 2 percent compared to the previous year, while the number
of modern outlets stood at some 8,000 in 2005, and 6,700 in 2004.

In value terms, Indonesia’s retail market is one of the biggest in
Asia, and maintained double-digit growth for three consecutive years up
to and including 2006.

Indonesia’s retail market increased by 14.3 percent in value to Rp 63
trillion in 2006 from Rp 57 trillion in 2005. Meanwhile in 2005, it
increased 17.7 percent from Rp 48.6 trillion in 2004.

   Indonesia forms part of the growing Asian retail market, which accounts for 32 percent of global retail sales.

Seneeeeeeeeng banget, akhirnya menulis (lagi) dengan hati setelah tumpukan artikel yang membosankan itu…

Semangat, semangat, semangat…Ka!

I’m 25 and I spend most of my time at work. Is this job my
destiny?

fate: the development of events outside a
person’s control, regarded as predetermined by a supernatural power.

destiny: the events that will necessarily happen to a particular person in the
future. (

Oxford

dictionary)

I believe none of those two concepts above because they negate the existence of
human as a creature that have been blessed (by God) to have a power to do
almost anything, including the ultimate power to choose, to determine his/her
own path of life.
 
Not  until recently, I reread what I
categorize as one of must-have book in ones’ library: The alchemist. (I am so
excited because I just got its english version:)

The book gives me a new definition of what destiny is. It is what people always
WANT to accomplish, the book suggests that everyone when they are young, knows
what their destiny is.

The book tells a story of a young boy who wants to be a shepherd,
because he is longing to see the world out there. He refuses to be a priest just
like his parents would want him to become. So, he leaves his seminary and takes
his destiny.

I remembered when I was 17 years old; I said to my self that
I want to take Communication as my major, a plan that had been accepted
half-hearted by my parents, who at that time preferred to see his first daughter
to take medical or economic school.

“I guess it is time for me to make the choice as you have
determined these past of years all the choices I must take in my life, including
the one when you force me to take the science class instead of social,” I told
my father bravely.

As I recalled, this idea of taking Communication major is
not so heroic at all, as at that time with my teenage brain was inspired by
SCTV newscasters Arif Suditomo and Ira Koesno, who at that time were the media
idols.

I remembered a time when Arif visited the Attorney General’s
Office, which is located right beside my high school in Bulungan. Those were
the time when people became very courageous in criticizing the then Soeharto. I
remembered he waived his hands toward us, who were standing at the third floor
of our school building.

Yeah…those are the times.

I don’t know if this job is my destiny, is this the calling
to fulfill my destiny? I don’t know yet but I love this job very and I see
there are a lot of chances opened for me to found out what my destiny is –or what
I really want in this life—

And I don’t want to be in the world’s greatest lie –like the
book says—in which people lose control of what’s happening and the lives become
controlled by fate.

And the most favorite quote: When you want something, all
the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.

 To
friends who have not found what they are looking for

I used to afraid of mariage, I alawys painted in my mind as my doomdays.. a day when you lost yourself, the end of the future of you as individual, because marriage obliges you to share all the things with the one you marry with, and tells you to lower your ego and put aside your interests for the sake of the so-called holy relationship…

I was afraid of marriage because it would threaten my dreams, my obsession to have a better life, because in the marriage there were possibility it would be not only MY dreams and MY obsessions but also HIS dreams and HIS obsessions or instead OUR dreams and OUR goals that became priorities.

But I was wrong, I figured out later on that marriage is about finding the right partner in the next step of your life.

I agree with one of the phrases which had been coined by a friend of mine, saying marriage is a stat of "Naik Kelas", its an episode, which takes you into a higher level in your life.

And what you will be needed is just a perfect partner to enter that new phase of your life. The one that understands your dreams, accepts your past and take it as life lessons, which can transform you to be a better person, a person that knows who you really are, and love all the good and bad things from you, a person who is always be there, right besides you. the one who knows the darkest side of your life and the one who guides you to seize the light. The perfect one, who is willing to fight for you and your dreams.

Marriage then is a partnership to me, it is not about a holy relationship that has been underlined under the name of religion, it is not about legitimizing an intercourse relationship, or it is a way to avoid you to become sinners, or a concept that must be taken by us as a devoted member of the society, who mystifies the concept and tends to condemn unmarried people, or simply just a nature solution to answer the human’s regeneration.

What makes me more excited about this partnership things is that it will make an everyone’ dream of becoming a better person in this life turned to be just a simply you-and-me-as-partner goal, which make those dreams are not impossible to achieve.

It is easier to accomplish the mission of getting a better life if you have the right partner..better in terms of materials and also spirituals..

I guess it is not so difficult to have a car and a house anymore if you together arms in arms with your partner will share the burdens. It is not impossible for you to become "a good guy" because there will be a partner, who will warn you if you make mistakes, critizise your wrongdoings and put you again in the right track…

It will be easier to face all the life challanges or any obstacle that will hinder you in having all the things you want in this life…

Because you are not alone in the marriage. You and your lifetime partner in a mission of getting a better life and making my dreams, your dreams, and our dreams become reality.

—an enlightment after having dinner in Omah Dhuwur, thanks partner—