Why #Pink Blogs

Hi peeps :D.

Today I want to get a bit *cough* serious. Not very serious lah, I don’t think I am capable of being too serious *LOL*. I just want to elaborate a little bit about why I’ve always wanted to be a blogger ever since I found out what a blog is and also to reveal a bit of my writing habits and history. 

Let's start (it's going to be very long) *cracks hands*

Ever since we’ve started this blog I kinda make myself write regularly, I think writing is a skill that gets better with practice. That's also because I am a very consistent person, I never stop halfway. Writing is a like long lost love affair for me. I’ve started writing since I was in elementary school, I’ve kept a diary for many many years. I remember stopping just after finding out I was pregnant with Baby Boy. Then during Friendsters days I’ve written some blog-style entries and got positive feed backs from my friends, telling me I should keep on writing because I am *ahem* good at this.  I also always got good grades in lessons where I had to do essays because errr…  I am good at making up stories and intertwining words to make them sound good and sophisticated, like I actually knew what the hell I was talking about (99% of the time I didn’t) LOL. But then Facebook came and I *again* stopped writing, for many years.

I told you before, i was inspired by other bloggers like Xia Xue to start my own blog, but for me starting something is always harder than maintaining it. I just have this laziness and kept on procrastinating :p. But once we get started I couldn’t stop. #Undecided said it was years of pent up writing all pouring out of me, and she’s 100% correct. I love writing and I guess it’s one of the not so many passions I have (my Chinese Zodiac is pig, i believe it contributes to it :p, I am one of the least ambitious person ever), and so far by making myself write daily it keeps the sparks alive (fingers crossed it’ll lasts, but it's been more than a year and i've never been more in love with blogging!). 

I am motivated to keep on writing, and I am a creature of habit. Now I feel like my day isn’t complete without writing a blog entry (but I’ve not been writing the past two days because I caught my hunny’s obsession with Running Man. Haih. If you’re one of not so many people who haven’t heard of it, you should try watching it. It’s a Korean reality game show, and it’s hilarious, I promise. #Undecided’s one of those who persisted on not watching it because she’s not into Korean thingy *LOL*. I am actually also not into Korean thingy and doesn’t really get all the K-Pop, K-Drama etc, but this Running Man I must admit I really love even though I was skeptical at first. Oh and I also love Korean cosmetics LOL).

I must admit, I am not completely the same as the other bloggers who started their blogs simply because they want to record their lives. I do have other agendas. Being a slight (slight lah, no?) narcissist I want people to read my writings. I want to make a mark in this world, however slight. I am never one to think too big or having an i-need–to-conquer-the-world mindset, but sometimes I do think, if tomorrow I am no longer in this earth is there anything in this world that would make people know I was here? I am just one person in the sea of billions of people (past and present), and with this blog somehow I feel like I am heard at last (hey, I am okay, we got so many hits already in such a short time, totally exceeded our expectations!). If I do not wake up tomorrow, this blog will *hopefully* live on. At least until Blogger shuts down LOL. 

As I said, having this blog gave me a voice. And not to just Indonesians, because our blog actually got many hits internationally as well (number two biggest hits for us came from USA and third’s Germany, super surprised because we thought we’re gonna have more Asian readers but I guess writing in English helps getting our voices, or writings, across). And  this means I can show the world what Indonesia (told you I am very passionate about this) is like, from someone on the inside. Because it pissed me off when I heard so many misconceptions about Indonesian and our style of living.

Oh yeah, and that too :P

One of those is the news. I heard from my foreign friends that TV news usually highlights all the bad things that’s happening in Indonesia (bomb! Bomb everywhere! Terrorist! Backward. Third world country) and they’d just throw the word “Indonesia” without pin pointing where exactly in Indonesia those things were happening. Indonesia’s a huge country okay, just because we are having a problem in one of our cities doesn’t mean it’s dangerous to come to all parts of Indonesia. I’ve been living in Surabaya for (give and take) twenty years and so far I’ve never encounter any super major crisis whatsoever. That’s why it puzzles me whenever my foreign friends said the news told them not to visit Indonesia because it’s dangerous.

And Indonesia’s a developing country. I bristled whenever I heard misinformed people says that we’re a third world country with its people living in a complete poverty. Yes, we do have poverty problems, but which country doesn’t? Where there are poor people, there are rich people as well. And it’s simply ignorant to just call a country “third world” in a derogatory manner. If you want to know how Indonesian lives you should read this article  : http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/blogs/is-indonesia-a-first-world-or-third-world-country/501391 . It does explains how there are two very different ways of living here. Like every country, we are struggling to overcome poverty and it is a hard task for the government to handle. And I am fortunate enough to be on the other side of the coin (as in the “first world” life) but this is not the case I am going to stress here, I’m seriously not into all the political craps.

And I also know many people never even head of Indonesia yet *LOL* (but seriously, whenever I am reading an English book or watching Hollywood movies the words Indonesia, Bali, Jakarta are thrown casually a lot nowadays so I think more people are getting to know Indonesia!) so I am hoping I can introduce you to our lovely country (remember, love the country, hate the government *LOL*) and give you a more accurate picture on how Indonesian lives. Of course I am not going to be able to show you how ALL  Indonesian live lah, just the kind of life that me and my family and  friends are living. 

Why? The same answer. Too many misconceptions about Indonesia and its people. I heard that last year (or was it 2011? I don’t really remember), one of the most iconic younger generation of Indonesian movie Ada Apa Dengan Cinta was showing in Japan and Japanese actually was very surprised because Indonesian teenagers drove nice cars and Indonesia has nice malls -____-. Seriously I was like…

What were they expecting? Us living in a hut, barely dressed? Haih… Yes, there still are some tribes that are living that kind of life style, but you could say that they are a rarety and in need to be preserved. You might even say those tribes are a little like Amish people or Indian in conservations. That’s how rare it is. And it only applied on very little parts of Indonesia. People like me, we live in a big city not all that different from other big cities that has already made a name for themselves, Hong Kong, New York, London. What do we do on weekends? We go to the mall. We watch the same Hollywood movies you watch, probably around the same time that you got to watch them. Middle and upper class people in Indonesia drives nice cars everywhere,  they tote a designer bags around (yes, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Chanel types) and they go to other countries for holidays.

"I went shopping yesterday" "Where?" "Singapore of course!" LOL

Again, I must stress that I am representing middle and upper class of Indonesian here, I’ve no other intention but to show the world the kind of life we are living. No intention whatsoever to brag okay. I just want to paint a clearer and more accurate picture of Indonesia from our perspective. I read from Elrica’s blog about how Singaporean seems to look down on Indonesian who are working and living there, and that’s super strange for me because most of mid to upper class of Indonesian goes to Singapore to shop on a long weekend. How is that made us inferior to them? (no offense to Singaporean reading this, I am half Singaporean after all, why would I insult my own mum’s  family side?)

It also pains me whenever I talk to foreigners, especially Caucasians, and they’d ask me “How come your English is so good?” (sometimes they’d insert “for an Indonesian” in which I was very tempted to answer “my English is just good, period. I think I speak much better English than you"). Younger generations of Indonesian speaks English, okay. The educated, worldly ones of course. It doesn’t help when TV shows like Amazing Race came to Indonesia and they aired the clips in which Indonesian featured seemed to not understand a single word of English. Especially the latest one, Amazing Race 21, which was shot at Surabaya (the city I am living in, the second biggest city in Indonesia) so it was much closer to home. 

They chose a fish market and ice block factory to shoot and honestly, those parts of Surabaya is almost like another world to me *LOL* (who would never step foot into a fish market willingly and have no business ever to go to an ice block factory) and of course the people there doesn’t speak a word of English, not that there’s anything wrong with that, they are too busy working and making a living to ever have any time or reason to learn English.

These kind of things show me how the world views Indonesian. And I am an Indonesian through and through even though I may not look like how Indonesian people perceived to be. I am of Chinese descent but I am Indonesian. Trust me, if you met any Chinese Indonesian and you ask them “what’s your nationality?” they would, in a heartbeat, answer “Indonesian”. Just because we are Chinese by race doesn’t mean we are any less Indonesian, right? It’s like asking an African American (or Asian American, or whatever) the same question, and they’d surely answer “American” right? 

I stated that because I found out that there were some confusion about Miss Indonesia in Miss Universe 2012 Pageant. I Googled her out of curiosity and was lead to forums debating why she doesn’t look Indonesian but looks more Chinese. ROFL. Well, that’s because she IS Chinese, dummy. I just don’t understand all the hype. I mean, what does a typical Indonesian looks like anyway??? There are so many different ethnic groups in Indonesia , more than 300 of them, and one ethnic looks distinctly different than the others (except maybe for Westerner who sometimes says Asian all looks the same to them, I’m so sorry to burst your bubble but most Westerner also looks the same to us hehehehe, seriously. We’d never be able to tell one Western ethnic from the other), so why all the confusion when it comes to Chinese Indonesian?

Not only that but whenever I travel people would  kept on guessing where we came from. Korea? No. Japan? No. And the latest one was when we were in Vietnam and our tour leader kept on insisting that we were Singaporean. LOL. And they’d be sooo confused when we told them we’re Indonesian. They’d go “but you look like a Chinese!!” I’d go -____- are you talking about my race or my nationality??? So confused. Because for us our identity’s our nationality, not race. (on an unrelated note, Chinese people would often go “You’re Chinese but you don’t speak Chinese??? What a disgrace!!” OMG, I’m Indonesian lahhh so I speak INDONESIAN, plus I speak English, fluently, do you aunty?).

Now, those are some of the reasons (that stands out and that I can think of at the moment, if I remember anything else that prompted me to start blogging then I’d write a second installment on this entry okay hahahahah) why I am so keen on blogging. To keep on practicing and doing what I love (writing) and to show the world how mid-upper class of Indonesian really live (I must be honest it annoys me so bad whenever foreigners say something they deemed as a typical Indonesian life LOL, or when other nationality make fun or look down on Indonesian, or worse, pity us. Eh hellow, we don’t need your pity leh, we’re living a good life here).

 

So the next time I show you my purchases or the places I go, parties I attend, food I eat, know that I am in no way bragging *LOL*, I just want to show you MY life (plus record my life as well like the other bloggers).

Period

I actually wrote this entry like, a year ago but never got to post it yet (dunno why), and suddenly there's this great competition called B Blog's I Am A Blogger that correlates perfectly with this entry so i decided to finally post it! I bet it comes as a bit of a surprise to those of you who knew me as a beauty blogger *LOL*, so no... I didn't even start writing about beauty seriously until a few months after we started this blog (which says a lot since this blog is not even 1.5 years old), so my reasons to start this blog had nothing to do with beauty.

In relation to the competition, let me refresh your memory why this blog is called #Pink and #Undecided (you can read the full story here). The reason is because i LOVE pink and decided to call my virtual alter ego #Pink, while #Undecided... Well, she can't even decide on her favorite color, so we gave her the moniker "Undecided" (trust me, she is the epitome of the word "undecided" LOL. And the theme of this blog? There's no theme! It's like our online diary, so everything goes! That's why i always itch to correct people who call me a beauty blogger that i am actually a lifestyle blogger (but i'm not gonna deny, the beauty part is where the fun is in and it does bring in the benefits!).

I sure feel a LOT of benefits as a blogger, naming a few :

1. Getting new friends. Blogging world is a beautiful, supportive community. I admit i only circulate in the beauty blogger area, but beauty IS a huge part of my life. None of my friends are as crazy as me when it comes to beauty, so it's nice to actually have friends who understand my passion. And doesn't think i'm crazy when i buy 10 lipsticks in one go.

2. Got invitations, sponsorships and collaboration offers. Basically it opens up a whole new world that i would never know if i don't blog. It also gave me opportunities that wasn't available before and i'm loving every second of it.

3. Refer to the second meme i posted up there, i get to rant and pour my heart out whenever i'm stressed out (or happy) and actually got people to respond to it. It's like a therapy to me, whenever i'm stressed out or sad, i start blogging and become engrossed in my post that i stop focusing on my worries. I always feel better after i put everything that's been bothering me in writings, no matter how trivial.

And that's just a few, i can go on and on but i still got a few other things to talk about so i better cut it short! 

Now, if you're thinking of starting a blog yourself, allow me (this kinda-rookie-blogger) to give you a little tips and trick :

1. Get the right mindset. Blog because you want to blog, blog because you love to blog. Don't blog because you want to get freebies, for instant (the latest fad in beauty blogging world)! Readers would never connect with you if you start just for freebies! And guess what, getting freebies is not as easy as it might seem, there are responsibilities and burdens that come with them.

2. Be yourself. I am who i am, and i'm not gonna change or alter my personality so i would look better online. I am very open, opinionated and frankly, very sassy (i would say another word in any other time, but i don't think it's appropriate to use it here *LOL*). I say what i want to say and i don't really filter myself. Maybe this is not such a good tip if you have a similar personality as me (LOL) and you want to start a business oriented blog (you know, where you can get paid to blog). But i blog because i love blogging, all the freebies and invites are very welcomed bonus but not my main goal. 

I believe there's a place for everyone in this virtual world, and me and my loud mouth definitely has a place too (judging the amount of love declarations we get in our posts *LOL*. No, not romantically, i mean with our writing style). After all, a really good product and company should have nothing to fear from someone as honest as me. I don't sugarcoat things, but i also won't say bad things if it's not true. Having say that, when doing a sponsored review/event report refrain from using harsh words. Be honest but do not be rude. Unless you're really really angry and have a reason to back up your anger. Still it's a no no for directly company/brand related posts.

3. Interact with your fellow bloggers, don't be a stuck up B. It's a small world, the blogging community. Interacting and being friendly (without being fake) with other bloggers would only bring good things, like they'd remember you next time there's an event or something and tip the planner to your blog (winking at Shasha). If you're stuck up and thinks you're better than everyone, people would ignore you or worse, stop any good thing that comes your way.

4. Don't be an annoyance. Read other blogs, leave nice comments, and maybe leave your link so they can check out your blog if they want to. DO NOT pressurize other bloggers to "follow back, please", or "Let's follow each other". Some bloggers might not mind, but most that i know (myself firmly included in this category) find it to be very annoying and rude. Blogs as not social medias, you can show support by following blogs you like, but don't force the blog owners to follow you back. It should be their choice to follow you, not because you make them feel like they HAVE to do it.

5. Enjoy yourself. Blog about whatever you want, don't put pressures on yourself about the page views or followers. It often confuses me a bit whenever i see a blogger asking their readers if they should continue writing about this topic or that. Unless you blog strictly for advertising and not your own pleasure, nobody should have the power to dictate what you write. Take the lead, this is YOUR blog after all.

Now, a little bit about B Blog :  it's a wonderful blogger venue where the members (so if you have a blog, it'll only bring you nothing but good things to join this community!) gets to try out new products, get invited to events, join blogging competitions, etc. They have different projects each time, and there's a place for every blogger (whatever it is that you do. Lifestyle, beauty, fashion, travel... There's lots of different projects brewing here), and it's super fun and convenient for us to be a member. We've joined their competition in the past (read our entry here) and even though we didn't win, we actually got sent an MAP voucher! How great is that? So, if you are a blogger and not a member already, what are you waiting for??? Get started HERE!

Then if you're already a member, hurry and join this awesome competition! It's obviously organized by B Blog and sponsored by some wonderful companies : @princess_butik, @japansoftlens, @keziashop, @kissindonesia, @lumiere_corner and @galerikuku.

  berpartisipasi dalam B Blog’s, I A.M a Blogger [3]

#Pink