Thursday, January 22, 2015
New Business and Overwhelmingly Amazed
Last November K and I went to my hometown to visit my parents and to celebrate my sister's birthday. There we went to a fabric store to buy some batik for K. It wasn't our first time. Since it was hard for us to find batik shirt that fit our bodies, we always have our batik tailored.
A couple days later, when K was taking a shower in the morning as he shouted, "Hey, why don't we sell batik?"
The idea of having our own business had been there all along, but it had never come to realization until that day. I called my mom soon after we discussed the idea. Long story short, we decided to start our business, selling batik for modern young men.
It was practically 2 months of stressed, there were some trouble with the tailor, misplaced label and so on. But finally we managed to launched @krishanbatik as we promised, yesterday on January 21st 2015, a month before our second anniversary. It was only 4 sets of Batik, but at least we kept our promised.
What made me happier yesterday was the responses we got from our fellows. They put love on our "commercial", wished us success and even more re-path/re-gram/re-tweet it. They visited our website, they shared our facebook page, they followed our instagram. Some of them really put an effort to give us suggestion and advice. It really meant a lot for us, for me.
More over, a friend of mine, on his status said that he fell in love with our batik, though he never touched our product. He promoted our batik on his path and later he was like a spoke-person of ours. He said, "I believe the good things should be shared and recognized by others, not just for the sake of commercial purpose alone, but it is also meaningful work for them." WOW! I honestly never thought of that.
Another friend said that he was happy when he visited our website. Happy? Isn't that such a strong word? I would expect "like", but "happy"?
I am amazed. I feel appreciated. It is our business yet I feel like everyone owns it, in a tremendous way. The stars align for us. This, again, means a lot for us, as this is our first business, our first stepping stone, it is indeed a meaningful work for us. I can't say nothing but "thank you" to all of you, to all of our friends and fellows. I do hope I can fulfill your expectation by selling good and fine batik with affordable price.
Again, thank you and have good days ahead.
In the end, please follow our instagram @krishanbatik. We have more surprises soon. Cheers!
Monday, January 12, 2015
My Time Has (Not) Come
This afternoon I had a chit-chat with a friend. I asked how his love life and he shared almost everything. He said that he met several persons. He was connected with some of them, but not physically attracted. The rest had good shapes, but were not good enough in conversation.
At the end of the conversation he thought that maybe his time (to have a relationship) hadn't come yet.
Telling the truth, how many of us do face the same reality?
Another friend of mine had ever blogged about his preference in choosing his partner. He said he met someone who was totally good in conversation, who was smart and so on, but when he saw his picture, it was such a turn off and he went away saying maybe it wasn't his time.
Is it only me to find it funny?
Isn't it funny how we believe that our time hasn't come, when we shut it out? How do we expect someone come to our lives when we never take the chances with anyone who is kind to us but doesn't meet our standard?
We often are blinded by looks, by packaging, by what meets the eye.
I am not saying that it is wrong to have preferences, but why don't we give it a shot? Not to have a relationship just yet, but to know more, to dig deeper, to give them chances before decide that we won't be happy with someone who is not in your so-called league?
My love story didn't begin with a perfect guy came to my life. It began with two opened hearts. It began with taking a leap of faith, for both of us.
At the end of the conversation he thought that maybe his time (to have a relationship) hadn't come yet.
Telling the truth, how many of us do face the same reality?
Another friend of mine had ever blogged about his preference in choosing his partner. He said he met someone who was totally good in conversation, who was smart and so on, but when he saw his picture, it was such a turn off and he went away saying maybe it wasn't his time.
Is it only me to find it funny?
Isn't it funny how we believe that our time hasn't come, when we shut it out? How do we expect someone come to our lives when we never take the chances with anyone who is kind to us but doesn't meet our standard?
We often are blinded by looks, by packaging, by what meets the eye.
I am not saying that it is wrong to have preferences, but why don't we give it a shot? Not to have a relationship just yet, but to know more, to dig deeper, to give them chances before decide that we won't be happy with someone who is not in your so-called league?
My love story didn't begin with a perfect guy came to my life. It began with two opened hearts. It began with taking a leap of faith, for both of us.
Alive
Couple days ago a very best friend of mine told me a bad news. He said he was dumped by his boyfriend. It wasn't a long relationship, I didn't even know that he was in relationship, but it was heartbreaking. I hate break-ups.
I was surprised, not because of the break-up, but because he was in a relationship. This long friend of mine, just call him Andrew, he had this strong stance about gay relationship. Being raised in a traditionally Chinese culture and living in a town far from hustle and bustle like Jakarta for his whole life, he was indeed a family guy, and he would set aside his ego (and maybe love life) for the sake of his parents' happiness. He stated over and over that he would marry a girl, that he would try his best to do so. He had a girlfriend once but they didn't make it and became friends ever since. He had never been in any relationship with men whatsoever, because he didn't want it, until last October.
Long story short, he fell for this guy, a guy next door, who had his education abroad and just came home for couple months. He was resistant at the beginning for what he believed and he was trying hard not to fall. But this guy, Darren, was persistent. And finally, he fell in love. Hard. It was maybe the best two months he ever had until this young guy, decided to go to Jakarta for some business. This was when all the problems started to follow.
Darren was getting afar. "Miss" and "love" were never there like they used to. Until one day, Darren broke Andrew up. Andrew tried his best to respect Darren's decision. Broken-hearted, Andrew let Darren go.
In our midnight talk, I remember Andrew asking me this:
"Beb (he called me bebeb), what would you prefer for me, marrying a girl or having a relationship with man?"
After long pause I answered, "I would prefer you to be happy."
He said, "You didn't answer my question. Answer me, please."
Then I said, "With a man..."
"I knew it, I knew it." he said.
I laughed and continued, "In my eyes, you are happier that way. You can say that you haven't met the right girl yet. But from your stories about Darren, I can feel that you are alive. It's like Darren brought moments of happiness that you never felt before. These times you may find that it is devastating, being dumped and everything, but look at the bright side, you have found who you really are. You know what makes you happy. You know how vulnerable you are when you are in love. You can fool anyone, but you can't fool yourself (and me by all means, Lol)."
The conversation continued,
Me : "And yet you said you didn't regret any of them."
Andrew : "Ahh, you got me. I don't."
Note. I wrote this post with Andrew's approval.
I was surprised, not because of the break-up, but because he was in a relationship. This long friend of mine, just call him Andrew, he had this strong stance about gay relationship. Being raised in a traditionally Chinese culture and living in a town far from hustle and bustle like Jakarta for his whole life, he was indeed a family guy, and he would set aside his ego (and maybe love life) for the sake of his parents' happiness. He stated over and over that he would marry a girl, that he would try his best to do so. He had a girlfriend once but they didn't make it and became friends ever since. He had never been in any relationship with men whatsoever, because he didn't want it, until last October.
Long story short, he fell for this guy, a guy next door, who had his education abroad and just came home for couple months. He was resistant at the beginning for what he believed and he was trying hard not to fall. But this guy, Darren, was persistent. And finally, he fell in love. Hard. It was maybe the best two months he ever had until this young guy, decided to go to Jakarta for some business. This was when all the problems started to follow.
Darren was getting afar. "Miss" and "love" were never there like they used to. Until one day, Darren broke Andrew up. Andrew tried his best to respect Darren's decision. Broken-hearted, Andrew let Darren go.
In our midnight talk, I remember Andrew asking me this:
"Beb (he called me bebeb), what would you prefer for me, marrying a girl or having a relationship with man?"
After long pause I answered, "I would prefer you to be happy."
He said, "You didn't answer my question. Answer me, please."
Then I said, "With a man..."
"I knew it, I knew it." he said.
I laughed and continued, "In my eyes, you are happier that way. You can say that you haven't met the right girl yet. But from your stories about Darren, I can feel that you are alive. It's like Darren brought moments of happiness that you never felt before. These times you may find that it is devastating, being dumped and everything, but look at the bright side, you have found who you really are. You know what makes you happy. You know how vulnerable you are when you are in love. You can fool anyone, but you can't fool yourself (and me by all means, Lol)."
The conversation continued,
Me : "And yet you said you didn't regret any of them."
Andrew : "Ahh, you got me. I don't."
Note. I wrote this post with Andrew's approval.
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Plan B
One evening on the last days of December 2014, a friend asked me what I would have on New Year's Eve. I simply told him that I had no plan (though I thought it would be great if I and K could have dinner at Ninety-Nine Pesanggrahan). He said he would like to celebrate New Year's Eve together along with K. I asked him if it was okay if we had it at Ninety-Nine, but he didn't want to, so we planned to have dinner at Sarinah instead.
On December, 31st 2014, I was on leave and stayed home for whole day. Too bad for K, his office spared him no holiday. Lol. I talked to K on Whatsapp, asking him whether I should contact our friend to ensure our appointment. K said that I didn't need to do that. So I just waited at my home, I didn't have anything to do after all.
K was back around 6 p.m then we decided to watch TV. It was just relaxing laying on our bed and we didn't realize we spent almost 5 hours watching TV. The thing was our friend didn't show up, let alone let us know his whereabouts.
I took my phone, and browsed Path. And I found our friend posted a picture of him with his friends celebrating New Year's Eve. I was like "Oh Okay".
---
Couple days after New Year, another friend asked us if we had time to have dinner. Since we have K's mom cook for us for dinner, we told her that it would be great if we had dinner at our apartment. She said okay.
And you can guess, it was no-show and no-news. We got another stood-up.
Again I took my phone, and browsed Path. And I found our friend posted a status of her with her friends having dinner at someplace that I couldn't remember. It was another "oh okay" for me.
---
I wasn't mad, I was just disappointed on how they treated us. They weren't our first but believe me, it didn't get any easier to be stood-up. Maybe I was wrong that I didn't talk to him/her to ensure our appointment. But I thought would it kill him/her to at least let us know if he/she had another plan?
It came to our consideration, had we done the same thing to other people?
We make plan with anyone, but when we get a better plan (or at least it sounds better), we take it. We make them a back-up plan, they get stood-up, they are our Plan B.
It's human I think, to go for a better option in every aspect of life. But still, we owe someone, the one we make plan with, to at least let him/her know if we cancel our plan. We owe them that much.
In my friend's word : plan or appointment creates expectation, and in the process we sacrifice something, such as time. I second that, when we let people provide their time for us in an appointment, it becomes our courtesy to let them know should we cancel it.
Let's learn to cherish people, to appreciate their time. Happy New Year!!!
On December, 31st 2014, I was on leave and stayed home for whole day. Too bad for K, his office spared him no holiday. Lol. I talked to K on Whatsapp, asking him whether I should contact our friend to ensure our appointment. K said that I didn't need to do that. So I just waited at my home, I didn't have anything to do after all.
K was back around 6 p.m then we decided to watch TV. It was just relaxing laying on our bed and we didn't realize we spent almost 5 hours watching TV. The thing was our friend didn't show up, let alone let us know his whereabouts.
I took my phone, and browsed Path. And I found our friend posted a picture of him with his friends celebrating New Year's Eve. I was like "Oh Okay".
---
Couple days after New Year, another friend asked us if we had time to have dinner. Since we have K's mom cook for us for dinner, we told her that it would be great if we had dinner at our apartment. She said okay.
And you can guess, it was no-show and no-news. We got another stood-up.
Again I took my phone, and browsed Path. And I found our friend posted a status of her with her friends having dinner at someplace that I couldn't remember. It was another "oh okay" for me.
---
I wasn't mad, I was just disappointed on how they treated us. They weren't our first but believe me, it didn't get any easier to be stood-up. Maybe I was wrong that I didn't talk to him/her to ensure our appointment. But I thought would it kill him/her to at least let us know if he/she had another plan?
It came to our consideration, had we done the same thing to other people?
We make plan with anyone, but when we get a better plan (or at least it sounds better), we take it. We make them a back-up plan, they get stood-up, they are our Plan B.
It's human I think, to go for a better option in every aspect of life. But still, we owe someone, the one we make plan with, to at least let him/her know if we cancel our plan. We owe them that much.
In my friend's word : plan or appointment creates expectation, and in the process we sacrifice something, such as time. I second that, when we let people provide their time for us in an appointment, it becomes our courtesy to let them know should we cancel it.
Let's learn to cherish people, to appreciate their time. Happy New Year!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)