Regrets in Life

I won’t ask you “if you had a time machine” question. The answers would be too complicated, too much scenario, it would alter the present too much. Haha.

I was just thinking the other day, how much I’m grateful of my present life. It’s not perfect, yet. One day when we have a child crying in this quiet house, that would be perfect. But, in spite of that, I’m happy with how my life rolls out. I have made many mistakes–no doubt about it–but not one of them still lingers in my head. If I have to name some of them, it would take a while to trace them back.

I always believe that everything happens for a reason. Yes, it’s cliche. But that doesn’t make that statement any less true. I know that whatever err I made in the past, it has made me learn a thing or two, and contributed in actions I’ve taken afterwards. Hence, happy present life.

Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret?  There are better things ahead than any we leave behind. –C.S. Lewis

Regret. Yes, I have my regrets. Do I want to go back in time and make a change, sometimes? Yes. But I’m lucky. I don’t have that sort of regret that haunting, that one think would lead a better life had it done differently.

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting. –Buddha

I used to play piano. Well, I  used to practice to play piano. I don’t think I can play one anymore. I never laid a finger on it again for about ten years now! If I have to name one regret. That would be it. My mistake was not going all the way with it. I had all the chances, and I blew them all. Started on a keyboard lesson before I was ten, but couldn’t stand it. Then I was taught by a neighbour–a middle-aged lady–to play piano, I think in junior highschool. Couldn’t managed it long enough, also didn’t have a piano back then. Last chance when I was a freshment in Architecture college. I already owned a piano by then. But struggling between piano lessons and the never-ending drawing assignments was hard. Out of 12 levels, I finished only six.

I didn’t pour my heart out for piano. Very sad. Part of the regret is because my mom was always encourage and persuade me to practice piano. I know she’s disappointed when I quit the lesson. And I know how proud she would be if I had succeeded. Who knows, I might have been famous by now!

Oh, well. Life goes on. You’ll never know what’s coming next. If I have had mastered piano, maybe I wouldn’t have the passions for things like I do now. Maybe I wouldn’t be an interior designer. Maybe I wouldn’t eager to write that much. It’s not bad, then. Because, I’m happy with what I am now.

We all have regrets. But we don’t ask for a time machine. We deal with what we have today and strive for a better tomorrow.

Unplanned Decorating

Since we moved in to this homey one-bedroom apartment, I’ve never dreamed (too much) about decorating it in such way that an interior designer would do his or her house.

Why, you ask? Because first and foremost, it’s a rental unit. We’re not allowed to make any hole on the walls, let alone mount a set of shelves or cover it up with a retro-pattern wallcovering. *Picturing it all in my mind and weeping*

And secondly, because we don’t want to get in the rush of buying (pricey) things that we will regret later. Afterall, we won’t be able to carry the furnitures we buy here to Indonesia anyway.

So what we did was listing the essential furniture and purchasing few of them at a time. I picked them out at the store, my husband swiped his card, we hauled them home and we assembled them together (yes, they’re Ikea’s).

So far, our apartment is already livable. We have bedroom filled with most of what should be there.

The kitchen is pretty much all set from the beginning. The supposedly-dining area (which is a tiny hallway to the kitchen) is still an empty spot. It will take a dining set with perfect proportion to make this spot neat and uncluttered.

In the meantime, we dine in the living room. This particular space is less planned than the others, if I can say those are planned at all. At first, we just wanted a TV and TV bench. The carpet floor is our hassle-free seating area. But then, I spotted this small beanbag at a department store, thought it was cute for the TV set. So we went ahead and bought one–it was quite pricey for us–and ended up bought an expensive big cushion to make it a couple. *Doh*

Few weeks and  several backache later, my husband finally decided to buy a sofa! At last! We spent half of the day browsing for the perfect model and price, and went to store still with an undecided-feeling.

Fortunately for us–not for a particular sofa–there was a sale on some occasional chair that day. So, instead, we bought one armchair and one occasional sofa. Haha. And just this morning, we purchased a simple sidetable with very low price. Yey.

So this is what the seating group look like right now.

the unplanned seating group

Yup, that cushion was the first batch of our living room seating. Now, that cushion and the beanbag are placed in front of the chair, on the spot that I think would make a nice reading niche. Well, in future perhaps. My husband thinks our books here are not that many yet to deserve a book rack.

Well, this is the reading niche-wannabe. My oh-so-ugly-doodle explains the design-sketch I have in mind. And, yes, the ghostly-dwarf creature is supposed to be me.

my reading niche in doodle

If that reading niche never becomes reality, great then, because that means we had a children play area instead.

And that’s a wrap. Our home in the making ends here, for now.