Cikelin Chronicle

Aussie celebrates Boxing Day every December, 26th. But it has nothing to do with what Mike Tyson does for living. Boxing here means put something in a box, as a gift. Traditionally, they give charity in boxes to the poor, one day after Christmas. Similar as giving zakat in Islam, perhaps. Nowadays, they celebrate Boxing Day with... SHOPPING!!! No wonder because there were biggest sale of the year. Almost every shop made clearance sale and offered 50% discount. People rushed in to city. Even, they stayed in line from 6 am before the shop was opened. The situation was similar to one day before lebaran in Indonesia, when everybody gets crazy. Like there will be no other day. Nino, Nindi and I also joined the crowd. We headed into Myer, the famous departement store in the city. But, then, it was too crowded to shop around. Maybe, I should leave my child - and my husband - at home next boxing day. A.K.  

Rating: ★★★★ Category: Books Genre: Biographies & Memoirs Author: Mitch Albom A beautifully written book about the class that met every Tuesday. The subject was the meaning of life.

Rating: ★★ Category: Books Genre: Teens Author: Nick Earl Nick Earl is an Aussie author. He's already published several books, inc. the award winning one. Monica Bloom is his latest book. I dont think I can enjoy this book. Maybe because I'm not familiar with his writing style. He wrote about a teenage boy that crushs on his misterious neighbour's cousin, which is Monica Bloom. Perhaps I should start reading his previous book, the award winning one.

  Who is not happy with a surprise? A good one, I mean. Of course not me. I always dream that somebody will give me a (nice) surprise, especially at my birthday. Nino is different. I mean, he doesn't care about his birthday(that he often forget), he doesn't care when nobody sms him a birthday message. And he doesn't expect a single birthday present. But I, duh, I couldn't pass my birthday without a gift. Two weeks before the day, I reminded him to think about my birthday present. And please, no more book as my birthday gift (fyi, I always get a book from him, on my B'day). Not that I don't like a book. I, I mean we, love it so much that we consider a book as our daily meal. Beside, it's so predictable. I will get (another) book at my B'day. Helo? Where is the surprise? Unfortunately, a week before my day, he asked me, "What do you want for your B'day gift?" Oh, no! Couldn't he just guest what I want? Didn't he get the clue from our...

Happy birthday to you... You were born at the zoo... You look like a monkey... And smell like one too... Hehehe... I love this song, from Madagascar Cartoon. Huah, 27 now. get ready to: 1. publish my fourth book 2. get a job here 3. have my second child (not a second husband, hehehe) insyaallah, this year. A.K.

I have never heard the word ROXY until my witty and lovely sister asked me to buy a roxy something for her aussie souvenir. Not a koala nor kangaroo. Not even a boomerang or aboriginal art. I thought, what the h**l Roxy is? Is it an aussie thing? How come I've never heard it before? "Whua, kamu tuh gak gaul banget," my sister said. Maybe I am. I'm not in to fashion. I know nothing about style. It turned out that Roxy is the second brand for Quicksilver, especially designed for ladies. It's not about the surf gear actually, it's more about fashion.  I went to Roxy store at city last week. I was almost mistaken entering a fabulous hotel with a doorman because it's in the same building in my address. I was really scared entering that glam place since I was only in my jeans and sneaker. Then I walked down to the other side of the building, and Voila! I could see the Roxy sign. Huff! The store was realy warm and cozy, full of cute and nice things, ma...

Rating: ★★ Category: Books Genre: Literature & Fiction Author: Lauren Weisberger Don't judge the book by its movie! and vice versa. I'm interested reading this book because of Meryl Streep's acting in the movie as the boss from hell. It turned out that the book is not as good as I thought. Not the one that I can read straight to the end. The surprise and the tense is not well mixed. Something it's so boring that I put it down and read another book. But, yes, the theme and the whole idea is interesting.

The latest news about our beloved Indonesian Da’i shocked me. You-know-who got married again, practicing polygamy. “What’s wrong with that, Dear? Which part does bother you?” a friend of mine asked me. Well, it is a sensitive matter. I believe that polygamy is halal in Islam and maybe suits for some cases, and a way out (the best from the worst). But I don’t think every capable man MUST do that. I strongly disagree if someone said it is a ‘sunnah’, better to do it. If it is advised, why did Mohammed (peace upon him) said ‘over my dead body’ (not literally like that, but similar) when Ali asked him to marry another girl than Fatimeh?   This matter really annoyed me and brought me into a loooooong discussion with Nino. “I just wondered what his reason is? Just give me one good reason that satisfied me.” “There is no good reason,” Nino said. “For nowadays practice, there is no other reason than sex.” We both read Karen Amstrong’s Mohammad Biography and knew that his marriages after Kh...