I found a couple of red onions, tucked under regular onions, sprouting in my kitchen. I did realized them have been sprouting for quite some time, but just now I found the time (and the will) to plant them, in case there will be green onions later on.
I also took the time to tidy things up in the balcony. We are moving into a much hotter, and much much more humid, weather recently, which means some placement rotations are in due time.
She handed me the comic book, “finally! It’s a shame that the publisher didn’t make it available outside Indonesia, hahah!”
This is a comic book, Indonesian comic book, titled “Abdijiwo” by my sister.
I honestly don’t have any words to write here, other than an immense pride of having my own little sister publishing a work, her own original characters (OCs), under one of the biggest — if not, THE biggest — publishers in Indonesia. “Abdijiwo” is a fantasy comedy comic, telling a story of a boy named Surya and his soul servant (abdijiwa) named Raden, and Raden’s adventures in finding other soul servants that were scattered all over Indonesia so he could go to the afterlife. The story is peppered with Indonesia’s local lore, ghosts, and ghouls in such an entertaining way. I particularly love how her drawings follow Indonesia’s traditional designs. This work initially started as an online comic under LINE Webtoon Indonesia, which I once wrote about here: ‘Abdijiwo’ by Retno Widya
Unfortunately, the publisher didn’t continue the contract, so there is only one edition of the comic. That said, if you would like to get this comic, you can look for it on online marketplace or indie bookstores.
Also, in case you want to check the initial version of “Abdijiwo”, you can check it on LINE Webtoon Indonesia here.
I love how this song is filled with pantun (Melayu poetic form).
Berbolak balik berdolak dalik, lidah bercabang
Always twisting your words, making excuses, speaking with a forked tongue.
…
Kau memang suka jaga tepi kain orang
You really love to meddle in other people’s business.
Translation:
“Who likes to romanticise living in the colonialism era?
You might want to learn the story of Pinah; a 10-year-old native Indonesian girl, taken away to the Netherlands to be a slave and treated cruelly” — Source
This reminds me of a Threads post, saying something along the lines of “a lot of us thinking that we would be part of the upper class whenever we are watching period pieces (“Bridgerton” series and the likes). In reality, most of us would be the lower class, peasants, or even worse. The servants? They were actually lucky and doing good in life.”
… and that stuck with me ever since. Especially with Indonesia’s history.
“We are standing on the top of our ancestors’ bones, blood, and graves”-indeed.
The featured image is a painting by Nicolaas Pieneman, depicting the arrest of Prince Diponegoro, a Javanese prince, by the Dutch. Please note that Nicolaas was a Dutchman and this painting was commissioned by De Kock/De Kock’s family, hence the painting depicted a victorious colonizer and how De Kock, the general who arrested Diponegoro, portrayed as “a loving father who has to send his misguided son (Diponegoro) away”, despite the Dutch was the one who betrayed Diponegoro by luring the prince to a “peace treaty meeting” and arrested him instead.
Do you want to see the one that made by an Indonesian? Here it is: “The Arrest of Pangeran Diponegoro” by Raden Saleh.
He appears to be struggling to control his anger – as would be expected from Javanese gentry – while the Europeans’ eyes are static and avoid the eyes of others
My son, a teen, has been doing the “night-time tidying up” task; that is, tidying up, cleaning up, fluffing the pillow, all those stuffs, in the night time before bedtime.
That said, with a teen handling house chores, it also comes with some “rizzed up friends”.
“Mom, Mr. Ducky is falling asleep in front of the TV after a party, alongside with The Ball.”
Or, “mom, Mr. Ducky is really cool.”
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.
Nindya. Kapkap. she/her. Indonesian in Malaysia. Millennial. Lo-fi. Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Murder mystery genre.
Currently feeling:
Part of blogroll.org, bubbles.town, and personalsit.es
i’ve given my soul to google and their product so let it be 😀
Aaaaa, thank you, Nat! Nostalgia blog dekade 2000-an 😀
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.
:)))) Samaaaa. Sekarang ga pake browsernya dulu, hahah