26June2008
Posted by paramita under: Uncategorized.
I have small feet. I’m 163 cm tall but my shoe size is 36 and tiny. By tiny I mean my foot a bit on the narrow side so sometimes I have to go down to 35.5, especially for high heels.
Usually though, for the flat shoes, 36 always fits. That’s why I ordered these pretty Pretty Ballerinas, especially irresistible since it’s half the price 
!
I wait for them come, seemed forever although it’s only 4 days 
, and then they finally came. I impatiently tried them on and they are too big for my feet 
. Damn.
What do I do? What do I do? Return them? It’s not impossible. Pretty Ballerinas does have a return policy and I can have it exchanged as well, but there’s no smaller size for this one. Besides, they are so pretty!
I have to make it work. I looked for some hints in teh interwebs. Interestingly enough, when I came across a men’s forum on this topic, most of them said: RETURN IT! Ohhhh… Maybe the hubby will think the same? Nooooo…. But luckily he understood that I need to try first.
I went out to the shoe store and bought these:
When I got home, I tried different things, some works and some don’t. I think it is also depending on your shoe situation. Mine has gaps in the front part and top, and the back kept slipping off.
- Front gap: I add cotton balls in front of the shoes until the length fits perfect.
- Top gap, first I add the half soles (a) but it’s not enough so I add the party feet half soles (b) as well.
- Back part: the footbed soles (d) just didn’t fit and it feels weird for me. Fortunately, the anti slip (c) is brilliant! It kept my feet from slipping off and protected it from blisters because it is made of soft nubuck.
On the weekend, I tested the shoes and it was still a bit uncomfortable. It actually became too tight. So I decided to remove the party feet half soles. I walked a bit more and…. it works! I don’t have problems with the shoe anymore. It looks great and it feels great! Yay!!!
So in the end, I could make the size works. That being said, I would still prefer buying shoes that fits. But sometimes, just sometimes, I would just work it out. And now we live happily ever after… until the next season 
9March2008
Posted by paramita under: movies.
A Roberto Benigni’s film, 2005. Starring Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, and Jean Reno.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419198/
The story is about a Attilio de Giovanni’s journey (Roberto Benigni) to save Vittoria (Nicoletta Braschi), the woman he loves, and his quest to win her heart. Its main setting is at the beginning of the war in Iraq, with the perfect combination of sadness, comedy, and lots of hope.
It is wonderfully told; reminds me of the fact that when love combined with persistence and hope, it could change everything. In this case, it could truly save the love of his life.
I would recommend the movie. It might start a bit slow, but believe me, it is worth staying through the end. And for those who is skeptical about war-themed movies, this is definitely not the depressing war movies. Yes of course there are sad moments, but as in life, sadness and happiness always joins hand in hand.
Rating: 7/10
21January2008
Posted by paramita under: health.
As someone who was born and raised in a tropical area, I never thought that such things really exists when my friends told me so. That is, until this year. It’s my 3rd winter in Bremen, and I’m feeling down. Am I suffering from winter depression?
I’m obviously in denial. I don’t want to believe in such things and I believe that happiness comes from within. It is not what the weather tells me but it is what I want to feel about myself.
So, luckily today I came across this two articles about staying healthy, and both mentioned the attitude change : smiling and positive change. I especially like this part from the article:
- If there is no sun in the mornings, make your own. Try upbeat music, brightly colored dishes, anything that will help put you in a “sunny” mood.
- Wear bright colors. Fighting off Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is partly about doing whatever you can to bring happy sunny color into your life. The clothes you wear are a great way to do that.
Cheers to smiling and happy colored clothes!!
17January2008
Posted by paramita under: movies; books.
Hari ini gw terbaca sinopsis film “Perempuan Punya Cerita” di kompas online. Sayangnya kompas nggak bisa di-link, tapi sinopsis film dan trailernya juga bisa dilihat di http://www.kalyanashira.com/perempuanpunyacerita/.
4 cerita pendek. 4 sutradara perempuan bercerita tentang 4 perempuan biasa yang punya pengalaman luar biasa. Tapi kenapa dari 4 cerita ini, kok semuanya cerita penderitaan perempuan ya?
Please don’t let it be another depressing movie…
Gw memang belum bisa nonton filmnya karena gw lg nggak berada di Indonesia, jadinya gw nggak bisa tau ending cerita film ini dan opini gw cuma bisa berdasarkan sinopsisnya aja.
Tapi, gw percaya kalau memberi mimpi itu lebih baik dari sekedar menangis bersama.
“A Thousand Splendid Suns” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Thousand_Splendid_Suns) adalah sebuah novel karya Khaleed Hosseini (pengarang buku The Kite Runner). Novel ini juga berkisah tentang dua perempuan yang diatarbelakangi situasi politik dan kultur di Afghanistan yang menyudutkan perempuan.
Yang gw salut banget dengan “A Thousand Splendid Suns”, fokus ceritanya bukan ke arah penderitaan dua tokoh utamanya, tapi perjuangan perempuan untuk mencapai kebahagiaan dan kedamaian.
Gw nggak percaya kalau perempuan dilahirkan untuk menderita. Perempuan dilahirkan untuk membawa kebahagiaan, dan penderitaan seringkali hanyalah rintangan sementara untuk mencapai kebahagiaan.
6July2007
Posted by paramita under: love.
of me, my hubby, and our friends in our first year of university. That was in 1997. 10 years ago… Wohoo I feel kinda old now 0.0.
It’s funny to remember that at that time he was just “someone from the same class as I”. Mind you, there were 78 of us (although only 60 are in the picture), so to get to know everyone personally was not a really simple task. We became good friends only 3 years after we met, half a year or so later we dated, and finally we got married.
So yes, I believe that love can grow. Or perhaps love was there all the time, but it will only reveal itself when we are ready.
2July2007
Posted by paramita under: Script Frenzy.
I made it!!!!
What an experience…
30 days, 20.000 words, around 120 pages of movie script. I honestly thought it is going to be easy. Well, actually it is. All I have to do is write 667 words a day on the month of June. Simple. Everyone can do it.
Did I do it like that? Of course. HA! I lied. I can only manage to write on a daily basis for 4 days. After that, everything else was my top priority. My master thesis, work, grocery shopping, and of course on the free time I have, I procrastinate. So I ended up doing the last 14000 words in a week and the last 6000 words in the last 1.5 days. Typical ol’ me.
Here’s some of the lessons I learned during Script Frenzy month:
- Should have tried writing a script before, just a little bit to test the water. I followed the advice of reading a script and watching the movie, but since I didn’t know how script writing really worked, I took notice at not so important things. For example, I note that the description in the script and how it is on the movie is the same but I didn’t notice how it is described.
- Having a scriptwriting book on my side is good for confidence boost because at least I know I’m doing something right (at least the formatting).
- Using a screen writing software like Celtx definitely helps a lot.
- Should have plan a little bit more ahead. A day before the deadline, I still don’t know how the story would end, that’s really frustrating. Maybe it’s a mistake on my part for not being so talented in storytelling, which is exactly why I should do more planning.
- The most important thing: DON’T GIVE UP. Even if you have tons of other deadline, even if your personal problems seemed to grow worse, even if your story is not as cool as you would think it is. Just stay there and keep writing. As long as it’s not yet 24:00 on June 30th, there’s still time . Believe me on this one. I’ve done it twice (on NaNoWriMo and Script Frenzy).
I hope that the Office of Letters and Light will do the Script Frenzy again next year. It has been a really great experience. I’m crossing my fingers that they will get enough money to cover the costs this year.
8June2007
Posted by paramita under: Script Frenzy.
Another challenge on my Script Frenzy.
Is it really because the weather or is it just me being lazy and try to find an excuse? Well, I found out that the best working temperature for summer time is around 23 – 26 degree Celsius and it’s 32 degrees Celsius in my working place (/bedroom/flat).
Sounds weird because I’m from tropical country where the weather is supposed to be warm and all, yet I can’t manage to work in this heat. I tried drinking lots of water which should work to keep my body hydrated. It was (I think) but my brain still didn’t work so well especially with the creative stuff (like script writing!). I still feel like butter melting in the heat…
I just have to hang in there… word count is bad (only 1600 words so far). My body should adjust to the heat and then I will be all geared up to go again. In the meantime, I should probably take it easy… it’s my birthday tomorrow!
6June2007
Posted by paramita under: Script Frenzy.
I understand that just like happiness, sadness is also a part of life. That’s the bigger picture. But in the details, I still can’t seem to manage it affecting my work.
Bad days could happen. As I see it, there are two ways I handle it.
The ideal way is to put my feelings aside and keep working. That being said, didn’t work very well for me, especially when the work requires creativity (as in writing or graphic design). I noticed that in this period of time, my work tends to go to the dark side. My character had depressing moments, my color choice tends to aim towards darker hues.
The other way to handle this is to improve my mood for the day and then come the next day with a stronger spirit. Of course this had down moments too. The next day usually come faster than I think and the deadline now chasing after me with a light speed. Ouch!
In the end, I would just try my best. When I look inside myself honestly, I know when I actually need the break or am I just being lazy. I just have to make sure that I do my best and feel good about it. There are no really right and wrong. There are only choices with consequences.
As my friend Dhany said, “Take a chance, and live with the consequences!”
2June2007
Posted by paramita under: Script Frenzy.
I love romantic comedy movies. Especially the ones with the adorable actors like Hugh Grant or Orlando Bloom. It just came naturally to me. Maybe like guys with their action kung-fu movie (at least in Indonesia they are crazy about it).
I used to watch every single one of them. Even dragged my husband as well (poor him). As expected, some of them are good, some of them are really so-so, yet I enjoyed it anyways.
Now the question that haunts me is whether I am a Chicklit addict or not? Can I write other genre? Should I? I want to try it… Write some action comedy – Jacky Chan movie maybe?
I tried with my storyline for Script Frenzy. It started out as an action comedy, but somehow, during the story refining, I turned it back to a chicklit movie. I pitched it to my husband and he said “it’s really a chicklit movie”. Aaarrrghh!!
Well, in the end I decided to stay with this genre. I love it, I believe in the story, and I want to watch the movie. All of the fun reasons are there. More than enough to get me through the frenzy month .
Yes, I am a Chicklit addict. But my story is more than that.
1June2007
Posted by paramita under: Script Frenzy.
The first day of the Frenzy! I am a bit worried when I realized that other people actually made the mock up trailers, some already know for sure how their characters looked like and all that. Me? I feel utterly underachieved. For a second. When I woke up this morning.
It took me a while to get started, getting the motivation going, characters brimming lively in my head. It was not until Roger Federer won the 3rd round of the French Open I managed to pull myself together to get my script writing bible, and my laptop ready for writing.
I had a story in mind already and some not-so-pictured-perfectly characters in my mind. Even the real simple preparations I had were very helpful. Next time I would definitely make the trailer! (Or in a short while when I procrastinate more )
But I have to say, the first day is super fun! I managed to finish within the daily deadline (670 words), which for me is already quite something since my previous NaNoWriMo start was not even close to that.
On the big note today, Celtx saved my day. My Vaio screwed up a bit when I asked it to standby… and it decides to shut down instead. So lucky that I remember to save before (or Celtx saves the file automatically). I know I should always save and backup my work regularly. It’s just when I did, nothing bad really happens . Well no, seriously people, remember to SAVE and BACKUP your work regularly. It’s not funny when you suddenly lost your 19976 words script due to some hard drive problem! Do it! NOW!
I have small feet. I’m 163 cm tall but my shoe size is 36 and tiny. By tiny I mean my foot a bit on the narrow side so sometimes I have to go down to 35.5, especially for high heels. 
When I got home, I tried different things, some works and some don’t. I think it is also depending on your shoe situation. Mine has gaps in the front part and top, and the back kept slipping off. 
Astrid Paramita Mochtarram lives in Bremen, Germany. She loves reading, travelling, and (shoe) shopping, although she is trying to control the addiction ;-).