A New Home for an Ungrateful Bastard

Dontcha wish your mansion is HOT like dis? Yeah me too... Hehe...

A part of me still lingered in the old house. It was home to me even if I was only there for three years. Another part of me however, rejoiced the change that all of us had anxiously wait for the last 24 months. Just like an overdue delivery of a baby elephant, finally mon petit chateau was done -though not totally completed internally- and there mi famiglia moved exactly in the middle of May, of course according to the calculations of our dependable Feng-Shui consultant.

The second quarter of this year maybe one of the most hectic seasons that I’d encounter in my life. The detail works on finishing a project, all the final touches -that would leave my personal marks here and there- are apparently exhausting and time consuming to the extreme. No dates, manhunt, holiday, or even any resting period was evident in any of my recent schedules. Imagine that, times three of different projects running at the same time. Oh yea, I forgot, on top of that, don’t I still have to work and wiggle my ass for the future vault of ingots and bullions I would like to build one day?

There was the move and the reopening of an office-branch that I had to handle in City Tang (a.k.a Tangerang). You’d expect problems would arrive complete with en suit fiascos in full swing right there. Life was just great I guess, and I was being cynical. Yet we did it, thanks to our wonderful team in City Tang, we had a chance to reopen (with an all white and pale green Christening event) in late April.

And then came the never-ending completion of le petit chateau. Orders of parts and big pieces of furniture that hadn’t arrived yet, miscalculations of fabrics and window dressings, switches that didn’t turn on, faulty faucets, water leaks here and there, wrong cable installations, and so on. I wonder where is Martha Stewart when I need her the most. Altogether, juggling and being accountable for so many little details almost got the best of me –i.e. declared insanity-. At this point even assistance from Katie Brown is acceptable lah.

While packing only took me one day and one night to crate and box my personal belongings (due to 10% busy schedule, 20% lack of will, and 70% plain laziness), unpacking will be another story. Half of my belongings are now fitted beautifully in their right places, and the other half are still waiting for their right places to arrive from the workshop.

Almost three weeks now. No personalities are showing yet. No photos, decorative items or paintings yet to be hung. Even with all the glam-rock that le petit chateau could offer, I miss the ugly old rented-house. As a final insult, one of my dogs successfully strayed only to be found squirming haplessly two days later in the corner garden of the old house.

What’s wrong with me? Everything seems to be in order, and more so, according to how I wanted them to be. Hope I didn’t make any major mistake as my entire credibility could hang in an inquest by the entire family. For now I can rest a little, except for Rico, the “you were lost and now found again” pet –dog of mine (ahh tres bon, so Amazing Grace, non?), the rest of the gang seemed to be content with everything.

Can one ask, how long did it take for a bluebird to settle and wholly accept the imperfections of his nest?

I didn’t have to wait for long. The next morning, the bluebird chirped on the balcony railings, “Shouldn’t matter as long as you’re with your loving family”.

While perfection is an acquired taste -and it could take some more Cararra marbles, Austrian crystals, Venetian tiles, wallcoverings from Scalamandre, also a huge amount of time, plus a degree of self-assurance and arrogance to develop- humility on the other hand, only required a certain amount of maturity in a new level of holistic gratitude.

Therefore, I would like to use this opportunity to thank You personally for everything.

And this time I really meant it.