ROSY RENES

As promised, finally I can introduce my old comrades to you! These past weeks had been hectic because I was busy preparing for my graduation day. Looking for a place to stay, making accessories for my "kebaya", make-up trials with my cousin, buying contact lens and practicing to put them on, yada, yada, etc. Putting contacts is A LOT of effort, I'm telling you. It took me several tries to be able to put them onto both of my eyes in under 15 minutes. Afterwards, I was overly exhausted from going out so much under the cold & rainy weather, which resulted in me catching a cold (still am). [ My journals over the years ] This agenda/journal thingy actually started back in elementary. My school was a private one, they provide each student with an agenda and all students are obligated to write each homework given in the book, after we finished writing it, our homeroom teacher would sign it. When we got home, we have to show the agenda to our parents and they were

It's good to be writing again. Last Saturday, somehow I managed to hurt my right back. Yes, my back and let me tell you, backache hurts like a biatch. I couldn't even sleep. It's gotten better now, still a bit sprained(?) if that's the correct word, so I'm trying to be more careful about my own body positions when moving around or placing myself before doing anything. This week I also tried mirror writing for the first time. The idea popped into my head when I was in bed some nights ago. All of the sudden I just remembered the story of Leonardo da Vinci, who was a leftie and whose notes were all mirror-written. I tried tracing the letter 'G' that night and that's when the idea came to me, to try mirror writing. My first attempt was on Thursday, I was an emotional wreck so I tried to untangled some of my emotions by writing. I thought, "Well, might as well try the mirror writing," and I did. Somehow it cheered me up a bit. Here's my

Last Wednesday, my Mom found some old photos of my grandparents. FYI, they were both chemistry major in their university, and grandma was actually my grandpa's senior at that time. Not just any senior, she was the teaching assistant! Long story short, ever since they fell in love and decided to be in a relationship, they were inseparable. Like, when there's grandma, there's grandpa. [ Grandpa's graduation ] [ Blue arrow: grandpa (left) & grandma (right) in front one of the dorms ] [ At the party ] See? They're always side by side, wherever, whenever. Mom read one of grandma's entry in her diary, she said it's like reading a novel, one in which the couple is dreamy and incredibly romantic. She showed me, and yeah, it's not even a full page entry, only a couple of lines, but I felt like I had read the whole book. It's such a coincidence that these photos were discovered when I'm currently waiting for my own gradua

October always, always hold a special place in my heart. Not because it's fall, no, but because it is the beginning of the rainy season in Bandung! It starts to get cold and I just want to get cozy at home, watching/reading/or doing whatever while having my windows open when it rains, enjoying the fresh, freezing breeze and sipping hot chocolate or matcha latte (yes, I prefer cold weather). I don't drink coffee. Well, I used to, but for the past 3 years I never drink it anymore because I always get a headache afterwards. [ Rainy days are the best ] [ Hot drinks to warm the cold days ] I plan to post regularly once a week, every Saturday. Last week my laptop decided to betray me by suddenly asking for a new password when I tried to login. So, I had to reinstall Windows along with every application that I needed. Thankfully (almost) all of my data are safe and sound. I'm currently trying to finish my friend's book order (she loves Tinkerbell so much) and

I remembered reading this quote several years ago and I also remembered thinking that this quote is beautiful. After doing some research, I found that the quote belongs to Jac Vanek, a designer. It goes like this. You are the books you read, the films you watch, the music you listen to, the people you meet, the dreams you have, the conversations you engage in. You are what you take from these. You are the sound of the ocean, the breath of fresh air, the brightest light and the darkest corner. You are a collective of every experience you have had in your life. You are every single day. So drown yourself in a sea of knowledge and existence. Let the words run through your veins and let the colors fill your mind. Reading those words now, I still find them beautiful. It's amazing how such small things, compiled or not, can define us as a person. Maybe it isn't fair to define a person solely on the small things they do, since the person's past and present is also somet

Hi. If you've been reading my blog for a long time, you would know that I just recently changed everything about my blog. I would like to explain the reasons behind these changes. Previously my blog name was ranarenerenga.blogspot.com and titled renesje. Well, ranarenerenga is actually my full name, but I took a letter out for the last two words (or names?) because I ran out of ideas for blog names. Renesje is actually a combination of all of my nicknames that my friends and families use to call me: Nes, Ren, Rene, Nene, Nesje, Renes, etc. I used my name because I like it, it's unique and it has a very good meaning. The tagline was, "what I see, what I think about the world" because I wrote my thoughts on the things I see in my life at that time. I was very, very idealistic (still am, but more toned down and realistic). Life happens, I went MIA for 2 years and I've changed. I felt that my blog name, title and tagline doesn't resonate with me anymore.

Look here in the mirror A girl, long gone forgotten With lips that quiver and a heart that shivers Alone pondering, wondering Is it, love or is it loathe? The answer lies somewhere in the depths of her own reflection Buried underneath the scars,  and ghosts of the past.

A while ago, I read a post with pictures talking about a woman's life post-graduate. I forgot who created it, but I saw it on my timeline. With a fairytale-like storyline, it explains what we as girls/women will face after we graduated from college. In that story, we are the princess holding a balloon of dreams, trapped in a castle of responsibilities (if I'm not mistaken) with our insecurities as a dragon who guards the castle preventing us from escaping. Eventually, we let go of the balloons. We got so desperate that we hoped a prince charming comes along to rescue us. But we forgot one thing, we are crowned with education. We forgot that we are strong and smart enough to be our own saviour. We forgot that we are not a damsel in distress. Long story short, all we have to do post-grad, are  overcome our responsibilities, conquer our insecurities and chase our dreams . Super true and it's an awesome mantra to get me through some rough days. BUT, I admit, it&#

Let me begin with a quote by Diana Vreeland. I found this on Cosmopolitan's Snapchat several years ago. "You do not have to be pretty. You do not owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don't owe it to your mother, you don't owe it to your children, you don't owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked 'female' . " To me, those words feel super empowering. I don't know why, but each time I read it, I feel liberated, as if I have the power to do anything, to be anything and to look like anything I wanted to. I feel like I can say "screw you all" aloud to the whole world. And I think, self-love, should actually be like that. Liberating, because we accept what we are. I know because it took 19 years of my life to discover what self-love is (and I'm still learning). Y

Hi. Yes I'm a bad blogger and I've been away for 2 years and yes I promise I'll try to be better. Here is a list of what had happened while I've been away: I've been busy with college (obviously) and AIESEC I've got some family stuff to deal with, and it's still not done yet at the very moment I'm writing this post. In 2017 until last January I'm doing my job as a VP in Outgoing Global Volunteer in AIESEC in Bandung, doing some tutoring at school, and going crazy for a course I impulsively took: Formal Methods. In the end, I got a C. Well, yeah I can't say anything about it. Currently, I'm doing my undergraduate thesis which is due in two months.  Even though I'm done with AIESEC last January, my last experience as a VP is filled with, (ahem) lots of drama (no joke) and I'm still recovering from some self-issues. And I think, to recover, I can take all the time I need. Ramadhan is coming, so let me apologize for any mistakes