Moving to Wordpress

After more than two years blogging with blogger, I’m moving to wordpress. This is prompted by my office’s sharing session last Friday, and also because I was quite impressed by my colleague’s blog, that is so nicely laid-out in wordpress.

I wrote my first entry in my wordpress, while starbucks-ing in Mal Taman Anggrek. What? Why MTA and not PIM as what I usually do? Well, these past few weeks, you were so into ice skating, and this is the only place where they have the skating rink.

And so, while, you were happily skating, I experimented with wordpress. I heard it could do so many things in a much simpler way. That is so good news. You know how confused I often become when it comes to information technology. But I guess I wasn’t doing too bad, at least I never mistakenly deleted a whole blog like what some people did… ;)

The Museum Tour

Yesterday, I decided to take you for a museum tour. You were reluctant to go, because none of your friends or cousins could join us. I was a bit sad, because that means you didn’t think that you would have fun, just going with me. But I knew that you would, like always.

The first museum that we went to was the Textile Museum at Jalan SK Tubun, Tanah Abang. The textile collection was actually a bit pathetic. I wonder how can a textile museum display only such a limited collection, especially when we all know how rich our country is when it comes to textile and clothes. But then, that was expected.

My intention coming to this museum was not to look at the textile, but to let you learn how to make a hand made batik (batik tulis). At the back of the museum, at a pendopo, kids and adults were busy making batik in a traditional way. You began with copying the desired design onto a cloth, put on the hot wax according to the design, color it with any colors that you wish, dry it, and voila, you have created a beautiful hand-made batik handkerchief.


After a quick lunch, we went to the second museum, the armed forces museum, Satria Mandala, at Jalan Gatot Subroto. Needless to say, you were very excited, walking briskly from one room to another.

I like this museum, Apart from the National Museum, I think this is the best museum I have visited in Jakarta. It was quite big, with spacious open air area where they displayed old aircrafts, tanks and other war vehicles. The collection was quite many and well taken care of. Most importantly, when you were inside, the air-con worked very well. The only downside was, there was no tour guide available to take us through the collections. What a pity.

At the end of the day, you enjoyed the day very much. So, going just with mom can be as much fun, right honey?
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Holiday Program 2008

As always, when you are having a long mid year holiday, I enroll you to a holiday program. Last three years, you joined DoctoRabbit in Lebak Bulus. The year after, it was KidSport in Pondok Indah. And then, last year you went to DoctoRabbit again, but the one in Pondok Indah. This year, I signed you up to FastracKids.

They had three different themes for three weeks. The first one was Broadway Superstars, where kids learned to become actors and actresses, make-up artists, fashion designers and performance directors. The second one was Hi-Tech Whizkids, where kids were asked to make their own invention, and challenged to throw their ideas on new discoveries that would help them in their daily life. The third one was Millionaire Kids, where you learned the basic of economics, entrepreneurship, marketing and promotion.

I signed you up for the second and third theme.

On the last day of the program, parents were invited to attend a bazaar. I took a day off for this. When I came to the school, I was greeted by a little girl selling kids-made choco cookie. And as I went up the stairs, I saw some posters made by the kids, inviting people to come to the bazaar with their own words. I smiled, it was so amusing….. I saw other kids selling choco cookie and some artworks in the class, but I couldn’t find you. After waiting for about 15 minutes, you showed up all sweaty, with a jug of lemonade and plastic glasses on your hands. Apparently, you were selling the lemonade to the neighboring people!

At the end of the class, the money was distributed evenly to all the kids. Everybody received Rp14.000,-! I guess you can say that this is the first amount of money that you ever earned in your life. And you earned it by selling lemonade. I’m so proud of you…
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Dinosaurs Walk Again

We went to this “Dinosaurs Walk Again” in Plaza Tenggara Senayan last Wednesday. I took a day off for this, and was quite excited for what we might enjoy. In fact, I bought the early bird tickets, because I was so sure that it must be something worthy to see.

But then, I was disappointed. The dino simulator ride, which I expected to be thrilling, turned out to be a small machine that can accommodate four kids only, so you can imagine the long queue. The dino train ride was so pathetic, with a similar quality that you can find in a kampong’s fair. The fossil dig was quite okay. The so called ‘3D Dino Movie’ was also no different from a ‘layar tancep’, and no 3D glasses were provided!

The only thing worth to see was the robotic dinosaurs with its sounds and lighting effects. But then again, it was a small area. We can see it all within just a 15 minutes walk.

Well, that was all from me, from my point of view, an adult who always expect something out of what she has spent. What about you? As always, you enjoyed the day, you did not care about the pavilions that offer things that do not go with the dinosaur theme, you did not complain about the poor quality of the entertainment and the un-organized lay-out. On the contrary, you asked if we can go there again one more time! Oh well, so much for my expectation….

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Garfield

This is Garfield, an alley cat that has become a regular visitor to our house since you gave him some leftovers food.

So I told you:

Me: Maybe Chico is his kid

You: No way…..

Me: Why not?

You: Because Garfield is a male cat

Me: So?

You: Well, male don’t get pregnant, so there’s no way Chico is his kid

Hmmm, that is so cute…..
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Your Workbench

This is your workbench. With this, you will be busy for hours making your ‘inventions’ out of used stuff. Then sometimes, you name your inventions with some cool names, like “the ten thousand megatron”, “the nine thousand time machine” or “the dorkatron”.

And what can those interesting inventions do? Apparently, the Dorkatron can change people! So if there is somebody who is lazy and crazy, we just have to point the Dorkatron to this person. Zap it, and after awhile this person will become a cool person.

Yupz…., that is what the Dorkatron can do….

A New Pet

After hamster and fish, you now have a more ‘serious’ pet, a kitten! We found her yesterday morning, just sitting miserably alone, cuddling herself, at our doorsteps. It’s just like somebody dropped her to our home. She has white fur, with three colors tails. And I thought, well, this is it. You were asking for a pet, so this might work for you.

So we brought her in. First, we gave her milk –which she refused – and then we feed her with smoke beef rice, which she loved. After that, we discussed about the most important thing when we have a new pet, what we are going to name her!

First, I suggested Kitty, then you changed it to Katty, then we tried Speedy (sounds like that internet provider, no?) And then, this morning, it seemed that you would settle for Chico. Hmm, let’s see how long you will stick to that name.

I think having pet is great for kids like you. In fact, not just for kids, grown ups too. Yesterday, when you were away for your English class, I found myself talking to the kitten, gosh, can’t remember the last time I talked to a pet. The good thing about talking to a pet is that they listen. They don’t try to give solutions or arguments. They just listen, which sometimes is just what you need when there’s so much on your head.

I hope Chico will stay with us for long and that we can grow her to a healthy cat. With Chico around, I believe you can learn to take more responsibility and of course, enjoy her company when I cannot be there with you.
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