To-Do List Before I Die

I have bought myself several empty journals in this month.
First because I was reading Eat, Pray, Love and I thought to myself, I should have a book just like the author where I can write to God, and have conversations with Him. Especially when I'm feeling sad, or confused or in need of a friend that no mere mortals can console.
So I went and came back with a journal.
I have started writing in it. Yeah, already I did. Apparently I have dormant worries, confusion, concerns in life. I also have some friends I wanted to mention in my journal. I call this book as my Prayer Journal.
Another book I bought yesterday. Now this one I call as my Thoughts and Inspiration Journal. This is where I think I would write about my goals, where I want to be in life, focus in life, anything... basically to keep my perceptions in check as a third person.
The first entry I wrote was: Things I Want To Do Before I Die...
Luckily I did not put some number, like, the 10 things I want to do before I die. I found out that I am so boring, I can't even reached 10. I stopped at number 7 and I stared blankly at it, unable to dig in within me, what I want to do for number 8.
But anyway, maybe it was the hunger (I'm trying to eat less, yes... doctor's order... gosh darn it), maybe I need some sleep.
So... here we go,... The Things I Want To Do Before I Die...
1. Sky Diving (I know... I know... I keep on thinking about it and do nothing about it).
2. Go to Japan and explore their culture (Been there, never really go to the rural traditional parts of it).
3. Have kids and teach them well in life (I think this would be my biggest legacy in life, the hardest yet, I would imagine, the most rewarding). And I would underline the teach them well in life part. The having kids part, I think would be piece of cake. :)
4. Paint an oil painting and proudly hang it in my house.
5. Go to Alaska
6. Learn pottery and make some pottery objects that I can call my creations.
7. Have a series of professionally-taken self portraits before having a baby so I can cherish them later when I am old and toothless (hopefully not toothless... but you never know)That's it!
I know I want to travel, but I have yet to dig in more.

And No, I don't want to try bungee jumping, I think when I die, instead, I would be glad I duck out of it. And I don't know why it's so different (in my mind) than sky diving. I guess, I'm afraid that the rope would snap.

Anyway... enough about me. Anyone wants to share your to-do list before you die?

The Size Of His Nostrils

You know...
When my best friend at work exclaimed while reading Yahoo! news, "Whoa,... Michael Jackson was found not breathing and was rushed to the hospital!"
All I said was, "Well, who can breathe anyway with that size of nostrils."
But then he actually died and today I felt bad that my last comment about a person before his death was a mockery on his facial weirdness.

A Day In The Life

Today I worked remotely from home.
I set my cellphone alarm at 6 AM, thinking that I would still be pretty much in a comma for the next half hour.
Then I forced myself up. Then I ran with Bandit around the block, then feed him.
Then I showered.
After that, I ate a couple slices of cinnamon raisin bread (I don't know why I like it while I'm never really a bread person, I think it's a seasonal thing, it'll be over in a week and I'll be back in disliking bread and worshiping potatoes and noodles).
Then I logged on to the office's network.
People from work, mostly the India team, started to call me through the IM one by one with their problems/questions/requests.
I'm their big mama at work, whether I like it or not.
Then some even called.
Then I did some conference calls.
Then we had some issues which needed immediate resolutions.
Solved.
I took Bandit out so that he can do his business.
Then I called my mortgage broker to talk about my refinancing.
Today ChicagoDimCorner and I refinanced our house.
We put 20 thousands more so that we can pay our house sooner.
We're broke and poor now. Broke broke broke.
But, it's all good.
I went to the Bank and got a money order for the refinancing.
The lady from the title company came and we settled the refinancing.

We are then twenty something thousands poorer now than this morning.

I worked some more.

Then we went to the post office and walked the dog, then we cooked dinner, which was supposed to resembled some Cuban meal we had when we were in New York.
It was good. I love the mango salsa part.

Watched some TV.

And here I am.
Tired.
I feel like an adult and I'm tired.

All I think about is to be able to not exercise but still feel good about myself, not having to work, not having to think about mortgage, refinancing, balancing my checkbook, cook my own meal.

And now I have to go to bed, so that tomorrow morning I can do it all over again.

Encounter with Marni

I called my mom earlier today in the evening (which means their morning time the next day), but I was a little bit too late because they had already gone for their 'out-of-town' weekend with their friends and some of my aunts.
I knew that my mom has a new maid at home, and it was her who answered the phone.
She picked up and said hello as if she's actually screaming it from my house in Jakarta, through the sound wave, traveling the pacific ocean, directly to my ear, here, in Bolingbrook, IL, USA.
So I asked for my mom and she said, oh they have left for the weekend already. She asked me who I am, and I answered, I'm the daughter.
And then enthusiastically, she said " OH!!! YES! MISS LINA!!!! RIGHT?"
And I said, no, I'm Miss Lina's younger sister (while thinking, this was all moot. I didn't really need to explain the family tree to her, while I knew that my mom wasn't there anyway).
And she said, "OOOHH... YES... YES..."
And I don't know why, I continued by saying "The one in the America."
And, gee... did she get excited. She said, "OHHH... SO THIS IS FROM AMERICA??!!!! OOOH... HELLO MISS!!! MISS, MY NAME IS MARNI, I'M NEW HERE, I JUST STARTED HERE FROM LAST WEEK!!! MADAM MENTIONED THAT SHE IS GOING THERE TO AMERICA NEXT WEEK, RIGHT??!!"
Whoa... wait a second...
Now... Marni absolutely threw the bomb there so I said, "Huh? Really? I don't know...."
"YES!!"
"Well, Marni, alright then, I will call them on their cell-phone"
"YES... YES..."
And so I hung up.

I texted my dad, I said: I heard from Marni, the new maid, that you are coming here next week (Like Marni is my new BFF, and like coming here meaning like from Jakarta going to Puncak).

So he called me and we talked a little, and he told me that they might.
But definitely not next week.
Maybe sometime this year.

Huh... that Marni is a riot. Though I have to fact-checked her statements and I think she needs to use her indoor voice, I think she's amusing.