The Kitchen Project: Chapter 1 – The Beginning

As a society, in general, we believe that the purpose of life is to gain well-being in the states of physical, mental, and spiritual. Well, if that’s the best definition that you could come with, stop hang out too much with psychologists.

The thing is… if we scrutinize into details, you’ll see that it’s just the universal language they use to avoid anyone feeling offended because honestly… life is brutally ironic. Gain is more than just a verb word reflecting a state of increase – in reality, gain is what all these eventually mean:

(1) Graduate from school to obtain intellectual credentials + (2) Eat less and burn calories to keep health + (3) Stay lean and dress up to cope with social anxiety = (4) Find one or more jobs to maintain occupational wellness + (5) Marry with someone and have some kids… so after all, = (6) we can rest in peace (and dignity).

Don’t, just don’t argue with me this time, because Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill, yeah I am not talking about my imaginary friends but those experts from Brookings Institution, will back me up. As cited in their 2009 book called “Creating an Opportunity Society”, they proudly declared that one’s chance to ever be in poverty is only two percent as long as all three vital social norms are fulfilled: graduate, work, and wait until 21 to get married and have children. Incompliance will bring nothing, but 38 times bigger chance to end up poor.

Let’s take a break for a while to celebrate if you’re part of 98%.

Well, apparently I am not because I am 3 years older than the minimum age and still unmarried.

But, hey, let’s put a plot twist, I hold all those three: degree from the most reputable university in the world, career from the top-paying company and hand that belongs to the most beautiful woman ever on earth. With all those, am I making everyone here happy? Am I making you there happy? Am I making myself happy?

I am still unsure. It sounds pretty logic for the standard of well-being, and perfect for an imagination. But, it all what exactly hurts me. The time I have my first bite of my dreamy food, the moment I realize there will be the last bite and nothing left on the plate. I’ll be anxious, stressful, devastated and then desperate when I find out that everything I do couldn’t bring back the food I ate.

I will never feel enough.

I will always want more.

And that’s natural as human being.

We all feel that. Feel that it’s injustice if we suffer more than other people but call it just a matter of ‘luck’ if we are simply in reverse. We’ve gone too far with ego and omit the fact that our plate stands on other people. We take the grace without showing appreciation to whom it comes from and without paying it forward to let the cycle keep going.

Being alone in the middle of the crowd brought me to this reflection that I’ve seen enough and I’ve done nothing yet.

I am a tiny part of this whole system of universe, and of course I know anything I do won’t change it dramatically, but at least I perk myself up and it’s more than enough for me. I make my life more worth living, not just being out of the 2% poverty probability, but a more impactful life.

Hence, lately, I have pledged of a new commitment to myself that I must not overlook things that seem trivial yet contribute goodness to life, both others’ and my own. I must find a perfect slogan for this, at least whenever I am in doubt, I could simply go back to this and be reminded.

I didn’t know how this happens, but the next second I realized that I was trapped reading an essay I made 2 years ago. It’s less than an A4 page long and tells about the reasons why I choose to land my aspirations in the company I am now working at.

 I laughed for the most parts because it came very funny to read the way it’s all composed. Naive and traditional.

But there’s a passage that skipped my heart a beat where I elaborated my arguments with my future (now current) company’s vision. A sentence long which was first intended for political reason: impressing recruiters, a sentence which then I couldn’t care less because I no longer needed to impress the recruiters as my ass already occupied a seat in the 3rd floor, a sentence which is now changing the game. The game of my life.

 “To help people feel good, look good, and get more out of life” – Unilever’s vision. 

I wasn’t being naive at all, it’s all brutality I wrote there. I have spent months and months to think what I want to do in life? What’s my life aspiration? It’s exactly what I have known 2 years ago. Damn it! Did it really need 2 years to finally understand what it’s all about?

Well, fine, you better deal with it and move the fuck on, David. 

So, here I am, writing you this post and drafting all the activities that I will commit to do to change the game. It’s not going to be radical like how Elizabeth Gilbert demonstrated in “Eat, Pray, and Love”, so you will not find me touring to some random places in long time or also making out to stranger. Well, the last part does change the game.

Okay, so back to my case. My concept is pure simple. I wish to cook from all leftovers in the refrigerator at one different yet life-changing way. I’ll use whatever I have in the kitchen, in-shape or broken tools, and not going to change anything there. I’ll call this: “The Kitchen Project”.

So, this is the way I’ll begin. Making difference in life with both strengths and weaknesses. This post is just a beginning. I’ll post some more to you. Next post will go after.

PS: Anyway, I worked out of the office with a Cornetto Classic in hand for the whole day. So much fun! #agileworkingisthebest

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Going out to McDonalds is surprisingly not always a bad decision

Nobody, I guess, will nod and say “fair enough” that places such as McDonalds are exactly where to go to discover new friend. People stay as fast as their orders are served, then go. Or, maybe, those who stay longer normally hang out with friends, so obviously they are not in the intention of looking for some new friends. Neither I was, although I went alone. Sounds so depressing, huh? But, wait, what’s more depressing is.. to McDonalds. And, alone.

Why McDonalds? I bet you’re gonna ask this, and if you’re not, let’s just pretend that it’s an issue. Working at home is never a viable option for me, I always negotiate myself to lay down in the bed for 10 seconds, but usually it ends up 360,000 seconds and the next thing happen is quite obvious: I come late to office and wish I am half witch like Harry Potter so by only pronouncing some random Greek words, I could turn a blank page into a deep, robust, impressive 9,999 page word file. So, home is a no.

I need a public place that stays busy 24 hours/day. For people who live in Jakarta, perhaps places like McDonalds come to mind first when it comes to choosing a decent location to work overnight. They provide coffee with ample price and tolerable taste, also people keep coming every hour nonstop, I could stay awake all night long. Plus, they also provide complimentary internet connection – so I am in good condition.

So there you go, I went upstairs to the cafe area, ordered an iced coffee latte, and sat at my favorite spot – corner side in front of the cashier table. It has the closest proximity to an outlet switch, so I am totally secure and electrically stable.

I know my table is designated for at least two persons or a couple, but hey.. where do you think I should put my bag on? On the floor? No, no, no, no. I treat my bag with full of respect because he never complains eventough I put so much pain aka work load and social pressure (body cologne and tooh brush and paste) inside. So yeah, basically this table’s totally meant for me, and my bag.  

So I marked my territory with all the supplies I brought from home and put my bag on the other chair. Now, it even looks more like my cubicle in the office rather than a for-a-couple dining table. I wasn’t aware that soon after I sat, the place was getting more crowded until no longer table available and there was a guy standing nearby with a pair of eye searching for empty seat.

“Hi!” he addressed to me, “Mind if I seat here?”

I was thinking for the first second – how should I react? Saying “YAAAAASS!!” hysterically and jumping off the chair like finally someone talk to me in this very lonely planet, or calming my tits down and saying “Yes.” without a sound. 

I know he will throw his cheeseburger to me in response to my abnormality, so I chose to response normally.

So he sat, and I continued to work. But, I was too bored for this and for some odd reasons, I wanted to talk. He used English, he must be either a tourist or another Cinta Laura clone. I must know which one he is, so a smile might start a conversation. Surprisingly, he placed a question first to the table. I didn’t really remember what it was – but we all ended up chatting for long time.

So, he is Sean Xiaoji Chu, a Chinese descendant Australian who was travelling to Jakarta for 3 day vacation before he returns to Sydney. He told me that he’s on his way to visit her grand mother who still lives in Beijing before, and then on his way back to home, he decided to avoid Singapore for transit this time as he’s been there everytime he pays a visit to Beijing, so he flied with Garuda Indonesia instead. 

He’s at my age and a math/GMAT teacher. I was not surprised. I mean Chinese must be really good at either math or sport, don’t they? Unless he said that he’s a… um.. wait, what Chinese isn’t really good at?

Okay, leave it behind, so he left a compliment – he said my English is quite good as he barely finds any Indonesians so far who could speak English at his level. Due to lack of English-speaking ability in here, he encountered a funny story with this. He reached for a taxi and asked the driver to bring him to a place he knew from a map of Jakarta, however it’s written in English and the driver seemed so confused about it. It’s actually not really hard to understand, he meant “Museum Nasional”, however in English, it says “National Museum” and the driver had no clue about it. 

I guess if he even ask the driver to drop him at “Bekasi Mall”, he’ll say, “Nggak tahu Pak, tahunya Mall Bekasi,”

So, we remained chatting for almost 2.5 hours long. He explained about accent things (I didn’t know British accent is called Posh accent) and some popular slang words in Australia, such as:

– “mate” instead of friend or buddy

– “no worries” instead of “it’s okay”

– “how’s it going?” instead of “how are you?”

– “fair enough” instead of “kudos”

– “G day” instead of “good morning!”

and some more that I don’t remember. 

He also shared a little bit about his life pre-migration to Australia when he was 15 years old and unable to speak English at all. He struggled much when he studied in a public school since Australians speak fast and have unique accent, in fact he’s more familiar with English American rather than Australian.

He also shared some tips of living in Australia. Living there is notably expensive – even more than Singapore. Eating a cheese burger in Maccas (McDonalds) will cost you 8 AUS dollar, while Japanese food in food court such as Teriyaki chicken rice will cost more – as much as Chinese food, 10 AUS dollar. In Singapore, it may 2-3 AUS dollar less. Don’t eat western food there if you don’t want to be broke instantly, as it could cost twice higher than a medium burger in fast food chain. 

However, Australia has many part time job offers and you may get 15 – 22 AUS dollar per hour as a waiter or cleaner.  Imagine how much you’ll get if you work at least 20 hours a week, it helps much, right? It even tops most of the monthly income of full time employees in Indonesia.

Also if you consider to stay in Australia, rent a room of someone’s house, twice lower than renting an apartment. Buy also thong rather than underwear as it’s triple lower, even it’s given for free from government in response to the increasing global temperature. Okay, I made up the latter and you need to check your mental health if you believe it.

Discussion rotates between two of us, flies from China to Taiwan to Hongkong to Jakarta to Bali to Papua and Papua New Guinea (he was there once!) and then return to Australia. We weren’t aware that we have chatted like two old friends haven’t met up for years. Oh, ya, he also shared me some useful videos to learn Australian accent from his hard disk! 

So, tonight is of course a thing to remember. I surely didn’t expect tonight I meet a new friend. A real good friend. I still leave my work unfinished at the time I compose this post, but who cares? Finding a nemo (NEw Mate-Oship) has always been more exciting. But yeah, now I am visualizing the face of my boss tomorrow if I leave this work undone, not cool.

I better go back to my task and leave you here. Thanks for reading peeps! Well, I mean mates!

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