Nov 02 - Late Night Arguments

I started watching The Blacklist almost a month ago and tonight I finished watching S03E18. I'm so obsessed. Blame it on Luis. Yes, cause the man has nothing better to do than getting me addicted to all the TV shows he recommends! Breaking Bad, Arrow, Homeland, and now this. Just as you thought it was a good idea to let your significant other know yourself very well. (Kidding, I'm so lucky, Baby.)

Towards the end of the long phone call just now, we were joking around and, bearing the Most Random Person crown I am wearing 24/7, I asked him, "Can we name our son Tom?" It wasn't that random actually. I was filling him in with everything happening at work and he was comforting me because he's literally the best person to vent to which is old news since he's literally great at everything, but that's beside the point. He was so sweet, so I said, "Do you know whom you reminded me of? Tom Keen."

"Tom Keen!? Why?"

"Yeah, like I'm the girl with the crazy job and long working hours like Lizzie and you're like the perfect guy with a simple life and a simple job who's always there to support her. Exactly like Tom. I just hope when I'm doing something with our house later and I need to rip the wooden floor open, I won't find multiple passports with all your different aliases on them."

"Maybe. Maybe you'll find one that shows my name as 'Batu'."

"Let me guess. Nationality, Papua?"

"No, it will be Indonesian because Papua is in Indonesia. Unless you are from Papua New Guinea, then it would say Papua not Indonesia. But to be honest they're the fake Papua, you know? They're not the real Papua who...." I wish I could contain my laughter to really get what he was saying.

"Can we name our son Tom? Thomas?" This is what I was referring to earlier.

"NO."

"Why not? Thomas is a good name. I'm so in love with Tom's character in the series."

"Thomas is too English."

"Everything's too English for you. You don't want Tom, you don't want Oliver--"

"Oliver is too English. And it's too French too because it's from Olivier."

"OMG! So what name should we go for? We have never agreed on a boy's name!"

"We will see."

"That's what you say each time. I ain't naming our son 'We Will See'."

"Why not? We Will See Lutgens."

The things I'd do to that silly, gorgeous human being who happens to be the love of my life.

Oh and to Tom Keen.

Aug 24 - Third Time's a Charm

What a lie. It's been three years and every time is a charm with him.

Jun 25 - Chirpy Birdie

On most days, I would send him regular text messages overnight (in his timezone) but there are days, that I would opt for a voice note instead. And I wouldn't know when to stop, um, chirping.

Oops! :P

Jun 21 - Fear Annihilation

One day I'll tell myself that I'm strong enough to make it through.

And one day I'll believe it.

Jun 20 - The KonMari Method

It's the 34th month of being with Lu and all I can say is, I intend to keep things the way it is cause whichever way we keep things, it sure is working so well. We've grown as individuals and we've grown as a couple, and it's the clear line between the two that I believe contributes heavily to how we survive despite the painful distance and long time not seeing each other.

Since YouTube has killed the TV for me, I love discovering new channels on various topics everyday. About 6 months ago, I found this decluttering video of Jessica Murphy (she went by JAMbeauty89 back then) and was introduced to KonMari's method. After a few digging back to the original idea (official page here), apparently there's only one big question to ask during the whole decluttering process, which is, "Does it spark joy?" (steps summarized here). Even so, I like Jessica's second question, which is, "If this item was gone one day, would I go out and get it back immediately?" It's only when an item receives two yes-es that you get to keep it.

I'll happily apply this technique to my relationship any day of the week. Does he bring me joy? Absolutely. If he was gone one day, would I go out and get him back immediately? Absolutely. There are no yes-es, but in my book, 'absolutely' ranks significantly higher than a boring 'yes'. :P

Seriously, where will I ever find another man who would order the tiniest, cutest, baby-monkey-shaped nail dryer straight from China for his nail-polish-obsessed girlfriend? As a just-because gift, I must add. 

Exactly, he (and his every single random, super thoughtful gift) isn't going anyway. Not even using the infamous KonMari method. Especially (!) using that.