Dad, you would have turned 71 today and we [your kids and grandkids] would have planned a little surprise celebration with a candle-lit cake like we did last year and the years before. You would have acted to be surprised but genuinely showed appreciation.

Making you happy was easy. All you wished to have was us around you on your special day or any given day. I just wish that I had spent more times with you. I just wish I could make you happier and prouder of me.

Today, with tears running down my cheeks, I sent you a long prayer wishing you not to be so lonely there. I know you can hear me, Dad. You are not physically here, but I sense your presence. So I want you to know that I love you more than you had ever known. I love you 'til the end of time. Just wait for me there, Dad. Until then, I send you my love through prayers. Happy Birthday to you in heaven.

***

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THE HISTORY

On July 4, 1776, the thirteen colonies claimed their independence from England, an event which eventually led to the formation of the United States. Each year on July 4^th, also known as Independence Day, Americans celebrate this historic event.

Conflict between the colonies and England was already a year old when the colonies convened a Continental Congress in Philadelphia in the summer of 1776. In a June 7 session in the Pennsylvania State House (later Independence Hall), Richard Henry Lee of Virginia presented a resolution with the famous words: "Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."

Lee's words were the impetus for the drafting of a formal Declaration of Independence, although the resolution was not followed up on immediately. On June 11, consideration of the resolution was postponed by a vote of seven colonies to five, with New York abstaining. However, a Committee of Five was appointed to draft a statement presenting to the world the colonies' case for independence. Members of the Committee included John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Robert R. Livingston of New York and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. The task of drafting the actual document fell on Jefferson. On July 1, 1776, the Continental Congress reconvened, and on the following day, the Lee Resolution for independence was adopted by 12 of the 13 colonies, New York not voting.

Discussions of Jefferson's Declaration of Independence resulted in some minor changes, but the spirit of the document was unchanged. The process of revision continued through all of July 3 and into the late afternoon of July 4, when the Declaration was officially adopted. Of the 13 colonies, nine voted in favor of the Declaration, two -- Pennsylvania and South Carolina -- voted No, Delaware was undecided and New York abstained. John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, signed the Declaration of Independence. It is said that John Hancock's signed his name "with a great flourish" so England's "King George can read that without spectacles!"

Today, the original copy of the Declaration is housed in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and July 4 has been designated a national holiday to commemorate the day the United States laid down its claim to be a free and independent nation.

***

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I love getting lost in the woods where there is no cellular signal detected, only me, my husband, trees and creek around me. The hell with civilization out there.

*****

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During the late 1800s, labor leaders decided that hardworking Americans deserved a holiday of their own. After 1894’s monumental Pullman Railroad strike, Congress decided to federalize this holiday.

The Pullman strike had such wide-ranging implications that less than a week after it ended, then-President Grover Cleveland signed Labor Day into law. Considering that both U.S. soldiers and federal law enforcement officers killed a number of strikers, this was the least that he could do.


Prior to the organization of labor unions, blue collar workers were subject to gruesome employment. Their jobs in the mines, in the factories, or under the burning sun left them exposed to considerable danger. Minimum wage laws were a long way off, and health insurance was non existent then.


Then there is the Gilded Age’s near-total lack of workplace sanitation and fair pay standards. Scores of long-pressed laborers eventually got together and formed unions. As individuals, they were all but powerless to bring about positive change. In large groups, though, they managed to secure the American Dream not only for themselves, but generations to come.

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There is peace, even in the storm ~ Vincent Van Gogh

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      I might not have everything, but I have a loving husband for over 12 years who stands by me no matter what, a loving understanding family and crazy friends whom I love hanging out with, and that - to me - is EVERYTHING. I know I am LOVED. And for that, I am very thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!

** The above photo was taken on my last thanksgiving celebrated in the U.S.

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Happy United States Marine Corps Birthday!!! I am proud to be a Marine's Wife!!!Semper Fi!!!

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There are still thousands of slides we keep from those days when digital has not yet been invented. These slides I used to use to learn my first photography lesson. Love them.

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We wanderers, ever seeking the lonelier way, begin no day where we have ended another day; and no sunrise finds us where sunset left us ~ Khalil Gibran ~

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It's July... but Jakarta is wet most of time, which is very unusual for July. Where did that blue sky go?

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Wishing you all a very happy valentine's day!!
If you missed telling your loved ones how much you love them in daily basis,
then today is the special day to tell them so.
If you can't tell them everyday,
at least tell them once a year.
So, today is the day.


Lucky for me, my husband of 12 years always tell me how much he loves me a thousand times a day making valentine's day no more special than any other days. But what's so wrong about celebrating love?

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Looks like Jakarta is going to get wet yet again!

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Flood engulfed Jakarta... again. I remember the last flood I had back in 2002, just before I left for California. We had like a week off work because all access roads were covered by flood, the water was so high that we couldn't even spot the traffic light poles anymore. From the air (I just happened to fly to Singapore at that time), Jakarta looked like a gigantic brown-colored lake. No one could imagine that there were actually houses on the bottom of that 'lake'. It saddened me that I had tears flowing down my cheeks without me realizing it.

This year, I experienced the same thing: big flood. It was NOT as bad as what happened in 2002 and, fortunately, I was NOT the victim (I never had been actually), but it still saddened me to see those people affected by this tragedy.

Since all access roads were covered by flood, our office was shut down for like about a week or so. And due to power outage, we stayed at the hotel downtown. During this stay-at-home (or hotel) time, husband and I went to visit the flood victims at the nearest reachable location to lend our hands. We brought them food, clothes and most importantly: vitamins and medicines.

My husband examining a kid affected by the flood

Since the doctors and/or paramedics had not visited this location yet, my husband gave them first aids. We visited them several times until it was safe for them to return to their homes.

The flood victims at the evacuation center

* * *

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Honestly, I am one of those persons who don’t make a big deal out of New Year nor New Year’s Eve. I spent Most of New Year’s Eves getting my beauty sleep despite the deafening sounds of fireworks thrown into the air.

But this New Year’s Eve, I couldn’t get my eyes shut [thanks to Caffeinated Tylenol I took earlier this afternoon] and all these bursting fireworks clearly visible from the porch of my 22nd floor apartment were too beautiful to pass. So I set up my tripod and began taking pictures of them.



I actually had a hard time aiming the focus because those fireworks came from all directions. The shows lasted hours but the most amazing ones came around 12:00AM to 12:15AM on the first day of January 2013.



After that: nearly silence. Only the city lights remained. And I asked myself: what have I accomplished in 2012? What’s my resolution in 2013?

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Whoaaaa.... a lot of lightning strikes tonight. Rain is coming in town!

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Check out this cute little fella enjoying the treat from us. More pics coming right up. Stay tune!!

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A ray of sunshine, a balmy breeze are gift from God above, and He also gives us faithful friends to warm our hearts with love.

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Self abandoned, relaxed and effortless;
I seemed to have laid me down in the dried-up bed of a great river;
I heard a flood loosened in remote mountains, I felt the torrent come;
to rise I had no will, to flee I had no strength.
~ Charlotte Bronte ~

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“A flower cannot blossom without sunshine, and man cannot live without love.” ~ Max Muller ~

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Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. ~ Lao Tzu ~

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