..my battle stance..

'the guy with the most freedom in this whole ocean is the Pirate King !' - Monkey D Luffy, One Piece This manga is about one thing. Race to the Grand Line, where the ultimate treasure called 'One Piece' is hidden.  All pirates understand 'Pirate King' as the one pirate who manages to get to the treasure first. Well.. almost all. Because there is Luffy who seems to care nothing about the treasure's content. For him.. the man with the most freedom in this whole ocean is the King. How true it is. I think the happiest man in this world is indeed the man with the most freedom. And such a man is truly a king. In another manga, Naruto, there is an excellent character named Itachi. A smart, kindhearted boy with an immense burden he was destined to carry. Well.. he could have chosen to be selfish and follow his heart desire. And no one would have blamed him probably. He chose to carry the burden though. And with that, he compromised his own freedom.

cute is always always better than pretty. just saying. “Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.” ― Louis L'Amour so yeah.. even a random statement is good for a start. speaking of L'Amour, I never knew this guy before. Turn out he is quite a good writer! “The Apache don't have a word for love," he said. "Know what they both say at the marriage? The squaw-taking ceremony?" "Tell me." "Varlebena. It means forever. That's all they say.” ― Louis L'Amour , Hondo     How about that? I do think that 'at the marriage' is probably the first time we should attempt that word.. forever, that is.

'Christmas song? Like now?' 'Yeah.. it's October now.' 'Oh.. yeah...' 'Fast huh?' 'Extremely.' 'So what do you say?' 'about what?' 'shall we end this year with a bang?' 'it deserves nothing less..'

in life, in games, in wars... sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. we go from battle to battle in life. and at any given time, the only battle that matters is the one ahead of us. i once read a gem titled 'the present', written by the author of 'who moved my cheese'. which is another gem everyone should read I think. the message of the book is simple. the importance of being 'in the present', no matter what season of life you are at. no matter how bad or great your yesterday was, or how exciting or frightening your tomorrow seem to be. nothing matters more than to be in the present. that kind of discipline takes years and years to master. still learning.. keep failing.. but it does help when you are sitting in front of your laptop, inside a cosy and spacious JW Marriott hotel room. feels like staycation. though I am here only for a friend's wedding. in less than a week, attended two weddings in JW Marriott hotels.. One in Jakarta an

So today is the first day I try Batik Air. The full fledged flight version of Lion Air. After finding myself stranded at Changi Airport last week for four hours (initial departure 9.20pm, eventual departure 01.40am) I vow to always avoid budget airlines to the best of my ability. Well.. sometimes u just have no choice. I end up booking Jetstar for my upcoming flight to Surabaya from Singapore. What can I do? The non budget flight are not feasible either due to the timing or the price (twice Jetstar's price). Back to batik air. Few things that matter when it comes to flight experience 1) seat comfort and leg space the seat is so much more human than Lion's. I always end up with neck pain every time I take Lion Air (and that's for a less than 2 hour journey from Sg to Jkt). As for Batik Air, the angle for the head rest part is comfortable enough. leg space is also good enough. 2) food! sadly, you can give their food a miss. they had choice of nasi goreng o