coriander in pho

flowers on thin plant

  • Flickr Commons

    🎵 "Always, I'll Care" — Jeremy Zucker

    🌤️ Sunny with a chance of cloudy

    A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across this blog post: Why are the Artemis II photos on Flickr? (OOT: I miss StumbleUpon), and in my usual FOMO fashion, I mused on the idea of subscribing to Flickr Pro. I have been using Flickr for quite some time, but it stopped a couple of years ago since I found the navigation and auto-upload features were unreliable and pretty clunky. It is still clunky now, though. It feels like the UX/IX stays in the 2000s. Also, I was still on the free plan at that time, so seeing a lot of my pictures “went missing” was far from ideal.

    That said, that blog post made me rethink things. Alhamdulillah, as of now, I have the means to subscribe to the paid-type of subscriptions, and I have been reviewing my online subscriptions to see which one I could keep and which one I could stop.

    /intermezzo_starts

    While we are talking about this: Anyone here using Canva, specifically: Canva Pro? Do you use it? If yes, how? I mean, I have a Canva Pro subscription, but it has always been Rey who is using Canva for fun and school projects, and I’m not sure if a Pro subscription is needed, honestly. If I’m keeping the subscription, I feel that I need to look out for ways to maximize its usage. It doesn’t have to be a monetization effort, but I want to make sure that this subscription is worth it, perhaps on upskill and creative aspect, making life more fun or improving quality of life. Also, right now I’m using a monthly subscription, which… Can be pretty high in price point compared to the annual subscription. However, I admit that it’s “kinder” on my monthly cashflows, hahah!

    /intermezzo_ends

    I finally decided to upgrade my Flickr account to Flickr Pro, and I got myself the biyearly (2-years) subscription. The price itself is not that outrageous, especially considering how Flickr is retaining the pictures’ quality, and this: https://commons.flickr.org

    I honestly feel Flickr Commons is so cool (fun fact, I just found out about it when browsing my profile page menu after upgrading), and I have been having fun looking at the pictures. I mean, I should’ve known from the start because the blog post that I mentioned above talked about it in length.

    The Flickr team at SmugMug did something special with their responsibility about these public works, due to their cultural significance to the world. They made the Flickr Commons, and brought in a team with expertise in digital archiving and community. This is a project of The Flickr Foundation, designed to preserve digital legacies, and begun in collaboration with no less than the U.S. Library of Congress (back before that was an institution under siege.) They are developing a hundred year plan for how to care for these works, which is virtually unheard-of in the digital world. (You should absolutely donate to support the Flickr Foundation in their mission to preserve these vital public resources for many years in the future.)

    — Why are the Artemis II photos on Flickr?

    I still have 3-4 years to catch up on my Flickr account and upload some pictures there. In case you want to connect with me on Flickr, I would be happy to! You can find me here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kapkapchan/

    Categories: ,
    Tags: , ,
    No comments on Flickr Commons

  • Journaling slump

    🎵 "Midnight Love" — Tennishero

    🌤️ Hazy

    Another post, mostly because it got so great of an itch and I really need to jot this down here.

    I have been dabbling in journaling for quite some time (Journaling: How to?), but for the life of me, I can’t seem to find a method that sticks with me. I tried bullet journaling, buying myself Hobonichi Techo, and the likes, and somehow, it feels like things are adding up instead of helping. I wonder if I have been approaching things with a wrong mindset.

    You know how things usually are: It’s the end of the year, and folks got so excited. Prepare for new notebook(s)! Get the shiniest pen! Get those washi tapes! I have so many plans for next year and I am so gonna crush it! Watch all Tiktok videos!

    It’s the same with me. I was so excited at first, too. Heck, I even drew on it. Then, just in a matter of weeks, things fizzled out. I would blame it on my health that suddenly dropped at the beginning of the year, but you know, excuses excuses.

    Honestly, it hurts. Not only because Hobonichi is quite pricey and I hate if it goes to waste, but more so on me looking at myself and asking, “why aren’t you able to keep things up? Isn’t this supposed to be easy as this is essentially a part of self-care, too?”

    I finally took a step back and did some brainstorming with myself on what I actually need to manage my life better, especially as a housewife. So, yeah, with my usual dramatic flair, I hereby announce that I decided to stop using Hobonichi and journaling in general. However, I am keeping myself on track by:

    • This blog for record-keeping including TILs, bookmarks, Good-To-Knows, and the likes. I’m planning to use this blog for my book-reading tracking, too.
    • A notebook for weekly menu at home (cooking and grocery list).
    • A notebook for notetaking of any Islamic lessons/courses (I’m subscribing to BayyinahTV).
    • I already have my Garmin for tracking my exercise.
    • Google Calendar for events and appointments.
    • MoneyLover app for financial tracking and bill payment.

    This might seem overwhelming for some, considering how things seemed “spread out”, but I found that this is the best method for me right now. I don’t think I could ever have a One for All notebook, as it ended up making me feel overwhelmed. Having things scattered in different places with different purposes did help me, though. Let’s see how it goes. I’m planning to revisit this post after 3 months.

    Categories:
    Tags: ,
    No comments on Journaling slump

  • Mother’s Day brunch

    🎵 "Ethereal" — Amethystium

    🌤️ Sunny

    With the risk of being called a “pick me”: I am not one who usually is celebrating Mother’s Day. Without dwelling on details, Mother’s Day has not been an integral part of my life growing up. The whole thing has been… Complicated.

    That said, I am now a mother of two, and Rey, the youngest, has always been the champion of Everything Sweet, Nice, and Beautiful in our life. She’s the whimsy in the family, even more so than I do. If you think I’m whimsy, she brings it tenfold (to be fair, we are bad influencers to each other because whenever we go shopping, we always go, “OMG ADEEEEEK, LOOK AT THIS CUTE MUG!” “IBUUUU, THIS DUCK LAMP IS SO CUTE!”) Rey then set her mind that she’s representing all of us and decided that a brunch is an absolute event for Mother’s Day. Hence, the brunch at Kenny Hills Kuala Lumpur.

    I had an excellent watermelon lychee salad and a spinach with feta cheese quiche (my favorite.) I always appreciate Kenny Hills’ kitchen team skills in combining and balancing the taste and flavors. I have been increasing my salad game, and I found that watermelon, leafy veggies, lychee, and (air-fried) tempe are actually a good combo!

    Ari and the kids tucked in on their delicious meals, too! Wira ordered a Big Breakfast, Ari asked for a plate of Reuben Sandwich, and Rey wanted a plate of pancakes with berry compote and honey.

    Also, since we are at Kenny Hills Bakery, there is no chance we would miss their excellent selection of pastries! Ari and the kids settled down on a slice of butter cake, fruit tart, and jalapeno bagel.

    Here’s to all the mothers out there. Those who choose to be one, those who had to, those with furbabies, those who actually had the opportunity to step away but then decided to step up and take the role, even though they might be too young or too inexperienced for motherhood. Those who are still waiting to be one. Those who experienced loss and grief. Those who are hopeful. Those who healed, those who are still healing, those who are yet to ask for help. You all are our sisters, our aunties, our dear mothers.

    Categories: ,
    Tags: , ,
    No comments on Mother’s Day brunch

  • Warung Soto Lamongan, Kuala Lumpur

    🎵 "Sunset Lover" — Petit Biscuit

    🌤️ Cloudy

    We had soto ayam Lamongan for dinner yesterday at a place that Ari has been eyeing for quite some time. His bike buddies have been raving about this place for quite some time, and even though Ari and I usually go to the area for breakfast at Restoran Rose, it was always early in the morning when this place is still closed. Yesterday was a “perfect time” for a bowl of hot soto, as Indonesians usually say: “Soto weather.”

    The place is kiiiinda tucked in from the main road. It’s located on the ground floor of a housing complex (People’s Housing Program/PPR) next to some local businesses and laundry.

    Lamongan is a regency in East Java province in Indonesia, and one of their championed dish is, yes, soto ayam. Do note that there are different types of soto in Indonesia, from Jakarta’s thick and savory soto Betawi to Lamongan’s light and refreshing soto ayam. When eating soto ayam Lamongan, give it a good squeeze of lime juice to bring out all the flavors.

    The kids ordered sate; sate kambing for Rey and sate ayam for Wira, which they polished off in no time.

    The rain persisted well into the late evening.

    Categories:
    Tags: , ,
    No comments on Warung Soto Lamongan, Kuala Lumpur

  • Some short updates

    🎵 "Schoolgrounds" — Sleepy Fish

    🌤️ Humid and rainy

    Earlier today, I saw this news on my Threads timeline: Guy finds Google Chrome is quietly installing a 4GB AI model on our devices. I must confess, I am still using Google (Chrome and the likes; especially Chrome) on my laptop and my phone, mostly due to the convenience. That said, I’m already sick of Google shoving its AI to my face every single time I open my phone to check my email and do some web search. Again, I’m all about AI assisting humans in doing their work, especially the dangerous or tedious ones. Stealing, creating stupid deepfakes, cybercrimes, and robbing humans’ creativity? No thanks. In terms of usage, I would use AI only in my own terms, not being shoved and choked every second.

    I then decided to look for alternatives. Some folks on the discussion part of the Threads mentioned the Vivaldi browser, so here we are. I installed Vivaldi, put it on my laptop’s dock, and removed Chrome. I am yet to uninstall Chrome, in case there are some things I need (although I kinda doubt it…) but I have imported most of my stuffs from Chrome to Vivaldi. So far, I’m enjoying this browser, mostly because no AI is in sight whenever I’m using their search engine (https://www.startpage.com). Things feel more peaceful and quieter. I’m also thinking of switching my phone’s browser to Vivaldi.

    I also did a round of check-ins with some of my posts, and I found that some videos went “missing” on some of my Peachtober posts. It was weird; for some reasons, the Video Block switched to VideoPress Block, and even after the usual deleted-then-added-it-back, it is still using the VideoPress Block. I ended up copy-pasted the correct code and used the Gutenberg’s Code Editor to re-added the video. This one:

    <!-- wp:video -->
<figure class="wp-block-video"><video controls src="VIDEO_LINK_FROM_MEDIA_PLAYER"></video></figure>
<!-- /wp:video -->

    I’m not sure how the video got automatically set as VideoPress’ though. The video link is on my site (the /wp-content area) and I don’t have any active subscriptions with VideoPress.

    Editing and updating the Peachtober posts made me feel nostalgic. I haven’t drawn anything for the past 2-3 years. My son, Wira, even asked me, “Why aren’t you drawing anymore?” I told him that drawing has been quite a traumatic experience for me. While the activity and the process itself are fun, I can’t stand having people looking over my shoulder whenever I’m drawing, “which, unfortunately, is what you, your sister, and your dad have always been doing whenever you all see me drawing or doing things,” I told him. I have been loving drawing since I was a little kid, and when I drew things, adults around me always had something to say, and mostly the words were… far from encouraging. Even if they did say something remotely neutral, it was always laced with critiques, be it of anatomy, color combinations, or fantastical creatures. I was 6 years old, for fucks sake.

    I know that Ari and the kids never commented on anything — they have been really, really supportive, even! — but it is still quite hard to shake the habit of drawing things quietly and secretly. Perhaps I can restart it now.

    Another update: I have been musing on the idea of having some kind of “updates section” on this blog, so I can keep track of things that I have done on this blog; you know, like a documentation section. However, it would mean another weird type of short posts on this blog after “Aside” and “Bookmarks” categories. I wanted to use status.cafe, but it seems like they are having an issue with their email deliverability. Unfortunately, a similar bug report is yet to be replied/attended to, which means that I’m still looking for a microblogging/status update service out there. The last resort would be using one of my WordPress.com sites and displaying the feed on this site, hahah.

    I also added custom fields on posts. I’m using the plugin “Advanced Custom Fields” to add custom fields and “Blocks for ACF Fields” to display them in block format so I can add them to the blog templates. I really want to make this blog as personal and customized as possible, hence the custom fields.

    Anyway! I am now on episode 8-9 of “Pursuit of Jade”, and finally, we have a micro-expression on Zhang Linghe! 🎉

    At least we have Tian Xiwei (I love her so much!) to balance things up. I love this shot of them.

    And this ambush scene? The way the scene incorporated Chinese’s shadow puppet shows? YES.

    Categories: , , ,
    Tags: , , , ,
    2 comments on Some short updates

Quick blurbs

  • Next project: Intermediate Theme Developer

    I want to develop themes that sing praises for the 2000s. I always feel we could have a bit more 2000s-era whimsy.

the blogger

Nindya. Kapkap. she/her. Indonesian in Malaysia. Millennial. Lo-fi. Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Murder mystery genre.

Currently feeling:

The current mood of retnonindya at www.imood.com

Part of blogroll.org, bubbles.town, and personalsit.es

latest comments

bookmarks

_captain’s log
Status Cafe Profile

photoblog

  • April in pictures
  • Red onions
  • Urban rainbow

reading

  • “Abdijiwo” by Retno Widya
  • “The Maid” by Nita Prose
  • The Liebermann Papers on BBCPlayer

current tunes

readme.txt

This is my personal blog, so anything goes. Everything written here came from me, and is not a reflection of my family or the place where I work (although, to be fair, I’m a housewife now, so the things written here are not reflections of my throw pillows on the sofa.) While things here are generally PG-13, I must remind you that I’m an adult, which means some topics might be too heavy for younger readers.

88x31 - Visitor counter