Day 01: favorite song(s)

Dalam rangka memulai hari-hari dengan MEME, maka inilah posting pertama saya, yaitu mengenai lagu-lagu favorit (karena memilih satu sangat susah, dan memilih beberapa pun harus dibantu dengan seleksi lewat iTunes) :)

1. One and Only - Teitur


Lagu wedding proposal yang sangat.. unik. Saking inspiratifnya lagu ini, saya membuatnya menjadi judul sekaligus isi utama song fiction saya dari seri Saya, Kamu dan Dia episode ketiga, di mana Laura memberikan lagu ini sebagai kado cintanya yang terbesar untuk si lelaki, yang akan melamar teman baik Laura.

Laura adalah seorang karakter yang merupakan hopeless romantic, sekaligus penyendiri. Dia kontradiktif - pembenci keramaian, namun rela berdesakan demi konser Coldplay. Tidak suka boyband, namun gembira alang kepalang saat melihat CD Kings of Convenience satu dolaran dari pasar loak. Dan lagu inilah yang dipilihnya, di antara ratusan lagu love confessions lain yang romantis.

I've been wishing on a star but I never could have imagined
I would land just where you are after all this lonesome travelling
Took one look in your eye, reached out to hold your hand
This is when I realized what I could never understand

Do you want to be my one and only love?

2. Shape of My Heart - Backstreet Boys


Mengalahkan puluhan lagu favorit saya dari band yang sama. Entah mengapa. Dan liriknya terasa begitu honest, begitu real, dan disandingkan dengan video klip serba biru, rasanya pas banget.

I'm here with my confession
Got nothing to hide no more
I don't know where to start
But to show you the shape of my heart

3. Hazy - Rosi Golan

Saking cintanya dengan duet Rosi Golan dan William Fitzsimmons dengan suara mellow keduanya yang saling melengkapi dengan sempurna, saya membuat satu playlist khusus di iPod yang hanya memuat satu lagu ini saja, sehingga lagunya berputar berulang kali sampai saya bosan. Dan saya jadi ingin belajar gitar demi memainkan lagu ini.

Liriknya pun sederhana. Seperti pertanyaan-pertanyaan inosen yang diajukan kepada sang kekasih, yang bersumber dari ketakutan terdalam dari diri sang penanya.

What if I fall and hurt myself?
Would you know how to fix me
What if I went and lost myself?
Would you know where to find me
If I forgot who I am,
Would you please remind me oh?
Cause without you things go hazy

4. She's My Kind of Rain - Ryan Cabrera


Versi favorit adalah saat seseorang menyanyikannya secara akustik, dengan gitar, sehari sebelum saya berangkat ke luar negeri. Katanya ini adalah lagu yang dinyanyikan Tim McGraw dan ditulis untuk istrinya, Faith Hill.

She's the sun set shadows
She's like Rembrandt's light
She's the history that's made at night
She's my lost companion
She's my dreaming tree
Together in this brief eternity
Summer days, winter snows
She's all things to behold

5. I Will Be Here - Steven Curtis Chapman

The kind of song played on weddings. Liriknya sederhana saja.. I will be here, no matter what. Itu intinya :)

Masih ada ratusan lagu favorit saya, sesuai dengan mood.. so I'm categorizing based on genre:

oldies and mushy songs: Have I Told You Lately that I Love You, (Rod Stewart), It Might Be You (Steven Bishop), Fallen

pops and mellows: Iris (Goo Goo Dolls), John Mayer, James Morrisson, William Fitzsimmons, James Blunt

lagu-lagu penyemangat: It's My Life/My Confessions (Glee OST), Imitation of Life (REM), Save Tonight (Save Ferris), I'll Be Alright (Anggun)

songs that remind me of you: When you say nothing at all (Ronan Keating), Don't know much (Aaron Neville and Linda Ronstadt), You're Beautiful (James Blunt), Vanilla Twilight (Owl City) and loads more

-dan inilah akhir dari posting pertama saya, untuk MEME-

30 days of MEME

Berawal dari blognya Marie Olive yang menganjurkan saya untuk ikutan 30 days of MEME.. idenya adalah menuliskan satu topik yang berbeda setiap harinya di blog, kurang lebih seperti 30 hari menulis blog *iya, secara rutin, nggak pakai lompat sehari atau lupa hehehe*

MEME sendiri adalah ide yang ditularkan. Dengar-dengar 30 days of MEME sedang booming di MP, dan saya tertarik untuk mencobanya karena:

1. Saya sudah terlampau sering menelantarkan blog.
2. Saya butuh alasan untuk menulis lagi, apa pun jenisnya.
3. Idenya menarik.
4. It's gonna be fun *and errrr, hard, too*
5. I'd like to be part of it.

Jadi, berikut adalah list MEME:

Day 01- Your favourite song
Day 02 - Your favourite movie
Day 03 - Your favourite television programme
Day 04 - Your favourite book
Day 05 - Your favourite quote
Day 06 - Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 07 - A photo that makes you happy
Day 08 - A photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 09 - A photo you took
Day 10 - A photo of you taken over ten years ago
Day 11 - A photo of you taken recently
Day 12 - Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 13 - A fictional book
Day 14 - A non-fictional book
Day 15 - A fanfic
Day 16 - A song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 - An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
Day 18 - Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 19 - A talent of yours
Day 20 - A hobby of yours
Day 21 - A recipe
Day 22 - A website
Day 23 - A YouTube video
Day 24 - Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 25 - Your day, in great detail
Day 26 - Your week, in great detail
Day 27 - This month, in great detail
Day 28 - This year, in great detail
Day 29 - Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 - Whatever tickles your fancy

Sounds fun? Ikutan, yuk.

News Flash

Ookay I have not updated this blog for ages, it seems. I apologize. Do miss writing dearly.
Some news flashes:

I was on TV One on July 11, talking about my books and writing.

Was on Pesta Buku Jakarta the week before that, also talking about inspirations and writing. Met a couple of readers there, and got to meet my writing partner for Pink and Black, Layla. I wasn't expecting it, so I was ecstatic.

Was on an interview with Cosmo Girl last month, talking about writing, writers' block, etc with Arlin, one of their journalists. It was fun. Plus, I was wearing Vilici design by Vilia, it was a wonderful creation of a necklace :) thank you, Vilia.

Am going to be a judge in Gagas Media Romance Writing Competition :) have you joined yet?

Without you things go hazy

what if I fall and hurt myself,
would you know how to fix me
what if I went and lost myself,
would you know where to find me
if I forgot who I am
would you please remind me
oh cause without you things go hazy

:happy couple secrets:

Happy Couples: What It Takes to Be One
Love alone won’t see you through, say the experts
By Elizabeth Heubeck
WebMD Feature
Reviewed by Cynthia Dennison Haines, MD

The sight of a couple sharing a joke and walking hand in hand, their faces lined with wrinkles, and their hair gray, begs the question: How did they remain a happy couple for so many years? Given that about half of all first marriages for men and women under 45 end in divorce, it's a legitimate question. So at WebMD, we asked the experts to reveal the secrets of happy couples. Their revelations may surprise you.

"It's not about how much you love each other, or how much money you have, or even if your personalities mesh," says Howard Markman, PhD, leading marriage researcher, co-director of the Center for Marital and Family Studies at the University of Denver, and author of Fighting for Your Marriage: Positive Steps for Preventing Divorce and Preserving a Lasting Love.

Far more significant than these factors -- yes, even more important than heart-pounding lust, which, let's face it, often fades over time -- is communication, says Markman. How well you and your spouse communicate with another? The second most significant factor that happy couples share, he says, is a strong friendship.

While you can't necessarily teach a couple how to be friends, you can teach good friends how to communicate better. Markman regularly tackles this task, using a research-based method derived from data that he and his colleagues at the University of Denver have collected over decades of systematically observing unhappy and happy couples.
Happy Couples: Developing Healthy Habits

Markman offers three important ingredients of happy couples:

* Avoid blowouts.

"The first is to learn to talk without fighting about inevitable conflicts," Markman says. Making a concerted effort to see the other person's perspective, and avoiding the blame game of "she said" or "he did," goes a long way.

When things appear to be hedging toward a blowout, Markman urges couples to do what parents often tell young children: Take a "time out." It's a tactic he calls "exiting out of destructive fighting."

* Recall the positive.

As parents often ask a child stewing in the time-out corner what she could have done differently, Markman suggests that couples in conflict take time to consider what brought them together in the first place. Then, he says, make room for those factors in your life again. "You've got to protect and preserve those positive connections -- the friendship, the fun," Markman tells WebMD. These are aspects of marriage that happy couples keep intact.

* Look to the future.

While turning the clock back can help couples rekindle lost connections, Markman urges couples to simultaneously look forward. "You've got to have a long-term vision of the future, shared dreams, and plans that represent a commitment to one another and your family," he says.


just wants to share this article.

:scents:

I have developed a new obsession.

Scents.

I've always been curious about scents - the smell of newly published books and glossy magazine covers, the scent of clothes, food, nature in general.
But my curiosity with fragrances is rather new. And late, I should say.

I'm always on the lookout for a fragrance that could describe me perfectly. Roughly, the perfect scent would be one in which there is no headache when I (or other people) sniff it, sheer, slightly floral, the slightest bit powdery, and not overwhelming. Something simple, perhaps. Not one that exuberates power, or feistiness, or masculine, woody or overly musky scents, because I'm not either of those adjectives. Not too fruity or too sweet either.

The thing is, I'm easily bored. I used to have a bottle of DKNY Apple that my friend adored so much, only to pass it on before I emptied the whole bottle. I used to wear Mark and Spencer's waterlily fragrances, the Body Shop white musk and cassis rose and lotus petal, Burberry London (much too strong, to my dismay), Lacoste, Elizabeth Arden Green Tea, and a couple forgettable others.. but I haven't found the one, yet.

I fall in love with Bvlgari Voile de Jasmin though, during a short trip to the department store, accompanied by this highly skilled salesman aka perfumista. I hope I'm not getting bored of the whole 100ml soon :) so far I have never restocked a perfume just because I love it too much.

Others I'm happy about: JLo Glow
The ones boyfriend loves: Clinique Happy and Bath and Body Works Sweet Pea

:man:

” I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naive or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman.”

- Anais Nin -

:at the crossroads:

My life has always been at crossroads. It is extremely rare that I know exactly what I want in life. I'm almost always consumed by emotions such as anger, curiosity, confusion - all of which contribute nothing and are powered by my insecurity and uncertainty about my choices.

I've had chances and choices, most of which I neglect because of my risk aversion tendencies. I always fear getting hurt, getting blistered, losing (trust, love, people, things, money, freedom) that I position myself as having no choice. Perhaps that is why I never learn. People who learn are those who have been through difficult things, not those who thwart problems in the other direction or ducking, evading, barely making it possible for them to learn something from their problems.


I'm that person that ducks. I'm too busy ducking to realize why.

He just makes me realize that.

I'm now at another crossroad - I'm not sure what I am doing. And instead of running away, I think I'm going to stick around now. Just in case.

I should be the one who's in control of my own life, and every condition involved in it.
Another mission - if I don't know what I want, I should be on a journey to find it.

It's going to be a long and tough journey, but it should be worth it.
I have someone by my side, anyways :)

2009: Lost and Found

2009 is a year when:

- I don't update my blogs as much as I'd like.
- I publish three novels in a row and get sick just as much because of the deadlines (and cheer three times louder when they hit the shelves).
- I go through an emotional turmoil.
- I grow a back bone and then some.
- I make adult decisions.
- I decide to go in search of myself and discover a lot of things in the process.
- I try to figure out what it is I want in life, relationships, career, and myself.
- I let other people know that what we expect is sometimes unexpected.
- I break hearts and get my heart broken over and over again.
but then trying to love like I've never been hurt before.
- I finally decide deadlines aren't worth it and that I need to create my own pace. Thus, the long absence and the break.
- I gain weight
and take up tennis lessons. and stop.
- I don't meet a lot of new people but maintain relationships with old friends.
- a year of change, both good and bad.
- I meet someone and fall in love hard.
- I say goodbyes.
but also hellos.
- I change.
and grow up.

It is time I say goodbye to 2009. Bittersweet moments - they will forever be memories.

Glam Girls Unbelievable - coming soon this December!

Buku keempatku akan segera terbit di awal Desember 2009 :) judulnya Glam Girls Unbelievable, instalasi ketiga serial Glam Girls, versi Maybella.

Ini sinopsisnya:

In the world of popularity, being perfect is everything. Kamu adalah pusat perhatian, jadi pastikan kamu memang layak mendapatkannya.

Kamu juga harus mengerti, tujuan tampil sempurna adalah demi dibenci. Di dunia kami, dibenci dan dicemburui adalah sebuah pujian. So true, Dahling! Orang-orang seperti tak bosan bergosip tentang Paris Hilton, tetapi apa yang dia dapat di kemudian hari? Kontrak reality show sendiri dan signature perfume yang dijual di seluruh dunia.

Cantik itu wajib hukumnya dan kesempurnaan adalah segalanya. Pastikan kau selalu tampil memesona dan bungkam mereka dengan senyuman terbaikmu. Satu kesalahan kecil saja - voila! - bibir-bibir ber-lipgloss itu pasti ramai menghabisimu...

**

:D