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A week later

Well its been a week and a long tiring stressful depressing stressful week, full of fake smiles and can do optimism.

Everything has been upside down and then the right way up and then back to the start. But I guess that is the grieving process, a time of healing and reflection, complete shock and terrible isolation.
For me I have been up and down like a yo-yo personally but this is not the time for self reflection or pity as the family and dearest friends are the ones that need more support and care and that again has not left my mind. I am comforted by the fact Roisin will be home tomorrow (Wednesday), her best friend hopefully hope by Thursday which will allow her to attend the funeral and of course that finally the family can grieve and hopefully start the healing process.

The rest of the week has been a blur, I found myself actually wandering around the basement car park when I was going to get my bike, I guess I was a million miles away, that was weird. Saturday after work was a trip to the local mall where there was a comic exhibition and the locals dressed up as comic characters or Cos Play as it is otherwise known. There is another type of cos-play but that is illegal here and the one I am talking about involves people being there cartoon heroes, although saying that there was some poor misguided soul who was dressed up as Mr Bean. The Naruto manga costumes were impressive though. Sadly I never took any pictures, I wish I had.
With the return of my DVD player and dire dire TV at the moment, I fired it up and had a Star Wars Sunday although not in the right order but still it was good to chill out, switch off the brain and watch the movies.
I also got my hair cut and enjoyed the ride for a change to Puri as there was no traffic in the road. Riding is normally just stuck in traffic or at night so a ride out on a Sunday was a good thing.

As for this week, well there is no public holiday in it, which is a shame and today I was totally cheered up not only by my fiancee and by teaching no one over the age 9 and also in vast numbers so that was really good and so helpful.

I will try and do something extra this weekend although as yet I am not sure what, but I will think of something

For Roisin

For a dear colleague and friend who died yesterday while on holiday in Lombok

“You can shed tears that she is gone,
or you can smile because she has lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that she'll come back,
or you can open your eyes and see all she's left.
Your heart can be empty because you can't see her,
or you can be full of the love you shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,
or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember her only that she is gone,
or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.
You can cry and close your mind,
be empty and turn your back.
Or you can do what she'd want:
smile, open your eyes, love and go on.”




I will miss you.


I would like to extend my deepest and most heartfelt sympathy and condolences to her family and friends in Ireland and to all those she touched through the world. She was a person with an exceptional gift. She just made people happy. 


If you would like to either leave a comment or contact me directly, then please feel free. 


Thank you


Luke

Some Lists

Some lists regarding Indonesia / Jakarta and things currently at the moment

Things annoying me

1. Not being able to go to the movies to watch the latest blockbuster as Indonesia has banned Hollywood movies currently due to some taxation rule changes
2. People trying to kill themselves on the roads through terrible driving and trying to involve me in their   plans
3. Getting hit by cars as the drivers are careless
4. People using the elevator who just continue to use their BB and seem to have lost any social skills they once might have had
5. Ignorant people smoking in my local Giant
6. Carrefour
7. My cutlery as it is going rusty
8. Trying to combat the smell of stagnant water in my bathroom
9. The Permata ATM installed in the apartment block which is still not working after a month 
10. My Carrefour BCA credit card finishing and being issued with a Bank Mega card instead and lack of instruction about bills etc
11. Traffic which seems to be getting worse in quantity and behaviour
12. Road closures in the city
13. The amount of dust in the air, it cant be healthy
14. The rubbish on my free cable TV
15. The Jakarta Globe (always doom and gloom)
16. Google analytics 

Things I am enjoying

1. Air Asia sales - another set of cheap tickets to fly away from Jakarta for the price of one
2. My BlackBerry torch
3. Planning for the future
4. Work and all that it can throw at me
5. Days off in the week due to holidays or other
6. The silence at the apartments generally now nearly all the building work has finished
7. Travelling in and around the city when I get the chance
8. Going to Kota Tua  for things
9. Looking forward to more holidays
10. Having my DVD player back
11. Watch the space shuttles take off and land for the last time
12. Any movie with Alan Rickman in on TV
13. An ant free and mosquito free apartment
14. Relatively fast free internet at the apartment
15. My level of Bahasa which as gone from really really really poor to really really poor
16. Getting more qualifications for work
17. Friends everywhere
18. Even more so Friends from home that are talking
19. Google earth
20. Sleeping through the night (this might be temporary but its good while it lasts)
21. Sending and receiving post cards
22. The Premiership finishing
23. Not having AC in the apartment
24. yowindow.com 
25. Post from England

An update

My medicine to get past my Tonsillitis lasted 4 days, my sore throat, cough etc lasted until at least now but overall things are almost back the normal level of health ( whatever level that is) and actually that feels pretty good.
I did take Tuesday off as I needed to finally rest up and so I did, I never felt guilty and spent the morning in Starbucks playing silly games on my netbook and relaxing and the afternoon, snoozing and eating and it did ultimately do the trick. I was back at it on Wednesday and despite trying to free my lungs through coughing I have been getting better and better.
The weather also I think has helped with rain and some cooler days and long may that continue. I cant really drink carbonated drinks yet as my throat flares after them but everything else seems normal.

So thats the end of that I hope, next medical emergency will be a trip to a dentist in the near future for a check up, its been a while.

The weekend was pretty slow paced, working Saturday a long leisurely lunch and some fantastic Blackberry milkshakes in the Hong Kong cafe/resto in Central Park followed by coffee and lots of browsing in Taman Anggrek for things I might buy shortly. Which for me makes a change to actually want to buy anything other than electronics.

Sunday was sleeping, cleaning and shopping and all done in the slowest possible way, although I am not quite sure how I slept slowly but I guess you can work that out.

Today I went on a little trip into the city to visit the lovely people and offices of immigrasi (immigration) in Kota Tua. This is an annual trip often preceeded by a trip out of the country to Singapore to get a visa.
The offices are next to the post office and lasted all of 30 minutes which was nice.

Just a quick photo, then finger prints, 5 signatures and its all done and my official paperwork will be completed in the next week and thats that. So thats good. Mind I have no idea what happened as the agent that accompanies us just ushers us around and then tells us to go once it is all over.

Good stuff.

Holiday this week as well and then the weekend so thats great. For the past 4 weeks there has been a reason or 2 to have a day off in the week and the weekend. Sadly though I am not a civil servant so I can't take the government approved holiday on Friday to make a long weekend. So those that can, enjoy. Those on holiday today (Bank holiday Monday in England), I hope no rain just a lovely warm early summer day, ripe for BBQ and lounging on beaches or patios with a few beer).

Tired

Its been a while since I have written up anything as for the majority of the past week and a bit I have been under the weather resulting in a trip to a doctor, a bag load of pills and the diagnoses of tonsillitis which was all a bit random but there we go.

I suppose the ruinous sleeping pattern,  long days and weather has finally caught up with me and so over time I have allowed myself to be run down and  not as fit as normal. I say this despite eating more fruit and veg than ever before, cutting right down on alcohol and fanta and eating 3 meals a day none of them really unhealthy.

Surprisingly I have not really been anywhere either in the city or outside it, just been at work or home or wandering around the apartments shopping or eating.
The Waisak holiday in the week was a welcome break to the normal routine but since then its been fever, cough,   aches and pains, the flu, sore throat and headaches.

I finally saw a dr on Saturday afternoon (there is one at the apartments) who not only spoke English rather well but also told me exactly how to take the medication, when to take it and ensure I finish the course of anti-biotics and also to make sure that I keep eating and stay hydrated so that was rather useful.

The drugs make me feel sleepy and drowsy but they are working slowly. I hate feeling like this.

Oh I should note that I received an email telling me that I had broken copyright rules by having Gary Larson The Far Side cartoons included in a blog and not to remove them could see some sort of legal action or having my blog taken down, that was nice and friendly.  So I removed them, however the blog is still in the public domain and so people can still access the pictures for now, I guess that will change.