Apr 30 - His and Her Corners

It's been sooooo long since I last wrote here! Crazy. April has been mental indeed, I feel like it's just passing by so, very quickly that I have been having a hard time keeping up with it, especially mid-month towards the end --now--. One big milestone is when I helped organize a national law seminar/training; it familiarized me more with my idea of the perfect job for me and reassured me that it really is what I want to do with my life. Apart from that event, I have just been catching up with people I hadn't seen for a long time; although time consuming, I know it was necessary.

As far as our relationship goes, we hit the 20th month this month! Yay! First month to ever start with the number 2, and an inch closer to two years where he'll be here to celebrate it with me. I have already started a few lists regarding his next visit, from outfit plans, date ideas, and the massive "Things to Bring". Hahaha, the last one is getting kraykray every day since he just can't stop buying me stuffs! From snacks to chocolates to home ware stuffs to dolls to other presents. I'm positive I will cringe the moment I take a look at what's inside his suitcase: at least 70% of what he carries must have been for me! Hahahahaha..

Here's a reminder of how his suitcase looked like when he first arrived in Jakarta last summer:

It's excessive! I know!

For the stuffs waiting to be given to me in the summer, he stores them in an area in his bedroom that he calls my corner. Remembering he has a handbag, two hand fans his mom brought for me and my mom from Spain, three normal-sized dolls, and a whopping TWELVE-piece set of little dolls, two mugs, a candy jar, and a set of coasters for me, I bet you it looks like a steep mount. Please note that the stack hasn't included the edible presents I classified as snacks and chocolates before. Nuts!

But to be fair, well, in that sense, I'm not too different, I guess. I also keep buying stuffs for him in addition to making DIY's for him. Apparel-wise, I've accumulated a long sleeve shirt, a plaid flannel shirt, a long sleeve Batik, a 3/4 sleeve raglan tee, two t-shirts, a sweatshirt, a pair of chino pants, and a pair of football shoes. I store them together with his t-shirt and basketball shorts he left for me, so yes, he can basically board his plane to Jakarta bringing nothing at all (besides boxers cause it'd be weird in so many levels if I got him them as well, hahahaha). Oh and hair gel cause the man is practically married to it.

Recently I moved the mounted stack of things I bought him into an old bookshelf which I've emptied beforehand. It looks much neater and more organized now. The only drawback is, I'm running out of space already! *sweats* The initial idea of storing them into the bookshelf is to not have them occupy such large space in my room (that I call his corner). But if I can no longer fit the stuffs inside the bookshelf, looks like we're going to get back to having such unattractive hoarding-look in my bedroom! Hehehe.

Here's how the new storage system looks like (minus the football shoes):

Since he's coming, you'd think I can give everything to him so the space is free again right? No. That's where I'll store his gifts he's been keeping in my corner in his bedroom, hahaha, it's only going to be a mutual exchange. Plus, who says I've grown tired of buying him more stuffs the second he flies back to The Netherlands? ;)

Apr 02 - I Wrote This For You (Part 1)

For a long, long time now, I have been addicted to the writing style (and the work) of a South African blogger named Iain Thomas. He's been posting on I Wrote This For You (IWTFY) since 2007 and some of his posts have been compiled into a published book which goes by the same title as the blog. It's... surreal to think that I've been following him for actually 8 years of my life!

On my previous blog that I stopped writing on the moment I started to get serious with Luis, I once list a few of my favorite posts of his, dated on December 5, 2010. Today, the favorite number has gone to a much, much longer list, but I just thought it'd be lovely to repost my old favorites (till 2007) here as well.

“There is no need to escape. To break the chains. To storm the gates. You are already free. You just need to realise it.”

“I’d leave the memory of you at the station, if it didn’t already know the way home.”

“Wish you were here. Wish I was there. Wish it was different. Wish wishes came true. I’d wish you back.”

“To wake up next to you. And confirm that the images I saw on the back of my eyelids seconds before, have all been made real.”

“We’re going to build a fort. And it’s only going to be big enough, for just me and you.”

“You tell me that everything is rented. That even my time, is borrowed. Well, sir, at least my thoughts are my own.”

“Your ability to stop and think, about what you think, is the most important gift you possess.”

“You are the distance between the way things are and the way I want them to be.“

“It feels like you or the world will never change. But I’ve seen you change. Both of you.”

“Making love was never about you and me in a bed. We made love whenever we held hands.”

He used to post almost everyday before his blog got super famous and he's ventured out to other side projects. To each post, there is a photo taken by his virtual penpal, a Japanese-based photographer with code name Jon, whom he sends his drafts to and would capture just anything that inspires him about those drafts. Very, very interesting concept of a teamwork (that obviously works wonders). But the main thing I love about his writing is how vulnerable, sensitive, and raw it is, that you just can't help but relate them to yourself, although you know he doesn't write about/for you, for sure. The honesty in his writing makes it hard to believe what he said that these posts are actually fictional: there has never been a single human being who triggers them. Simply un.... believable.

You can find him here (he's replied to my tweets before) and see him speaking at TedX Johannesburg here.

Luis' comments on the blog, "He has great one-liners. I get why you love it so much." Of course he does, he always does. :)

Mar 31 - Future Battles/Wars

I was doing my usual round on my laptop to check documents I no longer need when I found a set of pictures in a folder I apparently had always missed before.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. :) It reminds me a lot of this and this posts about similar football interest. It turns out we were playing same games growing up, as well as watching Dragonball films.

Next years are going to be even more interesting! #TeamVictoria #VictoriaMeansVictory

Mar 30 - Twin Couple: OMG ALERT

Option 1 (If you have time): Watch these videos.

1. Hey Zuri Hall - Our Interracial Relationship Tag

2. Mettin Copier - The Girlfriend Tag

3. Mettin Copier - My Girlfriend Does My Hair

Option 2 (If "Ain't Nobody Got Time for That"): I'll sum it up for you.

1. They are in a relationship where the guy's race is superior to the girl's which guarantees a dirty look from ignorant people in her home country but not his.

2. She talks so loud and he's on a more reserved side (she calls family members in the house by yelling whereas his Dutch family is "quiet as heck").

3. His favorite food is fruit, which she isn't a fan of; at all.

4. She loves dish with strong taste and he tries to control his sodium intake.

5. He makes more sense in arguments but she wins every time cause she's equipped with richer vocabulary (and he still mistakens words sometimes).

6. She hates that he puts so much gel on his hair and he hates that she takes forever to do her make up.

7. He plays football all his life and she is a singer at heart.

8. She absolutely loves the "chicken satay in peanut butter sauce" that he makes.

9. His favorite sports team in general is Real Madrid and NL one is Ajax.

10. "If your boyfriend could be married to a celebrity, who would it be?" Adriana Lima.

11. His foot size is EU 44.

To be continued. (I haven't watched too many of their videos.)

Zuri Hall from Toledo, Ohio met Mettin Copier from Amsterdam when he was in town for a football match. They were in a long distance relationship for sometime afterwards before closing the distance the day Mett relocated to NYC to live with Zuri. The things I mentioned above are what I can conclude from their videos.

I. Can't. I. Just. Can't! How do we look ALMOST THE SAME!? Luis watched it too and he couldn't believe it either! The more similarities our relationships have, the creepier it gets for us! OMG! :')

Mar 29 - My Boyfriend is A Beauty Guru!?

Let me tell you something right off the bat: I take selfies for him all the time....... and this entry has a point. Just thought I'd lay it upfront before you think I'm a narcissistic bitch who loves posting her photos on her blog for the world to see. Haha! Plus, this blog is intended for personal use only, hence this ridiculous disclaimer. :P

Sometime in January this year, I went shopping with my family to Senayan City Mall and I took this photo below whilst waiting for my mom and sister for their restroom break. I am completely aware that it's indicating a serious color mismatch between my face and my neck but I promise it's only caused by the weird lighting in public toilets.

I sent that to Luis with a caption of something like, "Left home looking like a hot mess but now it's not so bad anymore!" which refered to how I got into the car with damp, freshly-washed hair; completely non make up related. His response blew me away, "Pretty lipstick, Sayang.." I stopped walking when the message came through. I wear bold lipsticks ALL the time, from red to pink to purple to brown, but how come he realized I was indeed wearing my favorite lippie of all time, Estee Lauder's Rebel Raspberry!!!?

It was mind-blowing for the moment it took place, but there was always a chance of him just pinpoint-ing something which turned out to be, well, a bullseye to me. Plus, it happened during my blog-fasting period, thus I didn't write about it. Between that time and today, he had some spot-on guesses in a form of general comments as mentioned before, but the lippie thingy was still a champ.

Until I spent time with Ega in her apartment last Wednesday.

She recently got Naked on the Run's palette from Urban Decay, which I'd been wanting to play with for a few months now. When she told me she keeps it in her room, I knew I just gotta try it, so I did. Of all things the palette comes with, I was particularly interested in the rose gold eyeshadow and the mauve pink blush. The moment I started doing my face, I found her Clinique green eyeshadow stick. I tried it on and was so surprised of how sheer it was! I kept on building and building it up to the point that I realized it was actually a shadow tint! Hahaha, Ega had no idea herself! "I picked it up on sale." That makes sense. Anyway, since I'd done a serious product build up on my eye (that apparently so easy to sheer out as I was blending, duh), I decided to keep it on and used the grey shades on the palette for transition, crease, and smokey colors (that apparently isn't picked up very well by the camera, duh again).

The eyeliner is in dark brown which I am not a fan of, so I skipped it and opted for her Mac black gel liner instead. Same thing with the bronzer that I know won't be pigmented enough for my skin tone, therefore I grabbed my usual bronzer/contouring kit. On to the blush! I was on defense about the blush although I immediately was attracted to it eversince I opened the palette, afraid it would clash with my skintone but argh, it's just so pretty! I gave it a try by buffing the product a little at a time and my first instinct for an umpteeth time proves to be something I should listen to: it's beauuuuutiful on my skin! I would venture out to buying blushes in that color, I think. The lipgloss is too light and too pink to my liking, plus nude lips have been my go-to lately, that's why I decided not to use it either. Finally, Ega told me that the mascara is practically rubbish (either the sample size of Perversion is not anywhere as good as the full-sized one or she just got the bad one), and I ended up using a combo of her Lash Stilleto and Falsies from Maybelline. She's recommended the first mascara to me for the longest time now, but I haven't gotten around to trying it, since at home I still have a few back up mascaras, including an unopened Falsies. But after trying the Stilleto one, I've made up my mind: it's going to be my next purchase!! I'm in love.

OH MY GOODNESS THIS ALMOST LOOKS LIKE A MAKE UP BLOG! (Hahaha, I deeply apologize if you are getting annoyed, Bub.)

I hijacked Ega's phone for picture-taking (hehehehehe) and sent those to Luis. I'm 100% positive I only said something like, "We decided to try on some makeups after a successful online hunt for her thesis journal!" Which was literally what I did, considering the reason I came to her apartment was to help her do that and succeeded. Any guess what he said in reply? "Are you wearing different mascaras, Baby? Your eyelashes are looking longer and more curly! Kamu look pretty banget ya.. *flowers*" WHAT!!!!!!!!!? He has always been a mascara guy, but come on, guys aren't able to tell a difference, are they?!

Ega couldn't believe it when I told her what happened. Heck, I couldn't even believe it happened! Hihihihi.. All the while, I was going to send Luis the last photo I made using Ega's phone, so I typed him, "I think you might be getting a mini heart attack after this.." I planned on writing, "Look at my hair!" after that message, but I never got around to do it cause Ega already had snatched my phone off my hand, haha.. She was so curious what and how he said the things he did about the mascara. Before she got over her shock, his reply came through, "That hair though......... *covering mouth monkey*" SHUT THE FRONT DOOR! I think it was Ega who might be getting a heart attack, hahahaha.. She literally rolled on the bed saying, "I give up. How can a guy notice those things!? I cut my hair and even my boyfriend doesn't notice it!" Hahahaha..

And after tonight, I knew I just had to write this post.

Meet my best guy friend in the entire world, Araz. His birthday was actually in November, but since his last birthday, we had never had time or the right moment to celebrate it. Tonight, he was taking me to an amazing Chinese restaurant and an Italian place for refreshments. Even before he picked me up, I was already having a non-stop cringe looking at his recent profile picture on LINE. He cut his hair and looks sooooo darn ugly (uglier? Haha). You've guessed it, right from the moment I got into his car all through the moment he dropped me home, his hair was pissing me off so much! He was so annoyed that I kept on voicing out my irritation, haha, but honestly it was bugging me like nobody's business.

I arrived home around 11 and sent this collage to Luis plus a picture of Araz looking oh so psyched setting up his new watch (we picked it up before we headed to dinner) like a kid on Christmas day with the captions "The collage aku made" and "Araz so happy with his latest purchase! Hihihihi aku chose that watch *flower* *happy girl* *flower*". I'm looking at my phone as I'm typing these captions to make sure they are as accurate as they can be.

Wanna guess what Luis' reply was? "Uhmmmmmm, did he cut his hair?! *panicked face*" Hahahahahahahahaha I'm sooooo done! I quickly made a screenshot of the conversation and sent it to Araz cause he needs to know even without me trying to brainwash Luis to say his new haircut is horrible, he already thinks the same way! Hahahahaha..

Now, is my boyfriend a beauty guru for noticing these things???????? No, he's not. He's just the most attentive, caring, and understanding man I've met in my life. And I'm so, so, so very lucky to have him.

PS: I told him these things on the phone. When it reached to me retelling Ega's comment, he casually said, "No girl can mention every Chelsea player in 2007 like you either, Sayang." A hundred thousands brownie points are cruising the oceans now, making their way to where he lives.