Enthusiasm: A Novel Based on the Author's Own True Story

By Fida R. Abbott

ENTHUSIASM is a captivating and inspiring novel that will take readers to the authors own true story. The author narrates the journey of her life and shares how enthusiasm played a vital role in pursuing her dream in the writing worldwith English as her second languagein her new country. Here, she exemplifies her experiences, her family and relationship, her inspirations, and her passage towards her remarkable goals. This novel is a reflection of her own life, how she faced obstacles, how she handled life, how she inspired and touched other peoples lives through her works, and how she achieved the amazing successes of her life and endeavorsa perfect blend of lifes spices.

Through Enthusiasm, readers will be affected by the authors wonderful story. Filled with hope and inspiration, strength and enthusiasm, this novel will draw out the best within its readers hearts and minds.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 24, 2010
• ISBN: 9781450045513

Fida R. Abbott

Fida R. Abbott was born and raised in Indonesia, married with an American, has a daughter from her marriage and lives in Pennsylvania. Her interest in writing has brought her becomes Managing Editor at a daily online Indonesia news, based on the citizen reporter, www.kabarindonesia.com and as a Director of the Online Writing Course there. She is the Author of What Prayers does Mommy Teach Me?, Dancing in My World, and Amerindo Kitchen in Series. Her websites are www.abbottsbooks.com and .. www.xlibris.com

Book preview

Contents

PREFACE

1 — Unexpected Special Birthday Gift

2 — Desire

3 — Ready for the Next Step

4 — Decision

5 — Preparation

6 — Beginning

7 — One Hundred Postcards

8 — Husband’s Birthday

9 — Special Visitors

10 — Nightmare

11 — Good Days

12 — Other Good Days

13 — Colorful Life

14 — Time to Garden

15 — Relief

16 — Battle

17 — New Days

18 — The End of the Battle

19 — After the Battle

20 — When Writing the Fourth Chapter

21 — A Surprise E-mail

22 — Interesting Offer

23 — Passion

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

For my husband for his great support, my children,

my hope, especially my little daughter, my inspiration.

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find;

knock, and it will be opened to you.

 – Matthew 7:7

PREFACE

I BELIEVE THAT it is stupid not to follow through and at least make some effort to pursue our goals in life. Even if nothing comes of it, we will have no regrets. At least we have tried.

Writing was in my past, simply a hobby. I never thought it would lead to a published book. After I moved to another country, this desire grew. Though English is not my mother language, my abilities are improving with the Internet and support from my husband.

Being published in the United States is new to me. This challenge increased my enthusiasm to write more. After I married and moved to this powerful country, I experienced many new things, especially in blogging and in the literary world. I had a great desire to become part of the long list of American writers who come from another country, Indonesia. English not being my mother language has increased my determination to accomplish my goals. I am starting at the proverbial bottom. I feel there is no place for me to go but up. Because of all the opportunities I have in my new country, I will pursue my goals with the greatest enthusiasm and effort I can master.

 1 

Unexpected Special Birthday Gift

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

IT WAS FIFTEEN past ten. My husband had left for work around fifteen minutes ago. In the living room, my little daughter, Wanda, still watched her favorite channel, Noggin, and sometimes played jump rope at the same time. I heard her cheering loudly, sometimes following and imitating her favorite characters, Kai-lan, the Powerpuff Girls, or others. Meanwhile, I was still relaxing and enjoying strawberry ice cream on the sofa after coming back from work thirty minutes ago and putting away all my groceries in the kitchen.

The next day, Wednesday, would be my special day. I would be thirty-nine years old. There was no special preparation in celebrating my birthday, but I had gotten the confirmation from my husband that the children would visit on Sunday for dinner and celebrate my birthday. It had become the family tradition; every family member came. Bubby, Sissy, and Mimi – the children from my husband’s first marriage – would come over to celebrate my birthday together, and it was either just a simple lunch or a big dinner without forgetting the event of blowing the candles and opening the birthday gifts.

It was a pleasure if in each special day all family members would come. Our togetherness was very important in building our family relationship, especially since they didn’t live with us. I love them as my own children. I was blessed to have them. They weren’t like other American children I used to see. They were so sweet, soft, polite, kind, and respectful to their parents – including me. They were in no doubt of their love and attention to Wanda, their little sister from our marriage.

A week before, I told him not to worry over buying my birthday gift although I was sure it would be a useless effort to tell it. Whatever the reasons, he would buy something for my birthday.

That night on the sofa, I was so quiet, reflecting on how I was born. From several information I got from my father’s and my mother’s family, I was born with a very small size and weight. They told me my weight was 2.2 kilograms or around 4.18 pounds. As they told me, at that time in my country, Indonesia didn’t have special equipment like the incubator for protecting the premature babies or the babies who were born under the normal weight, so they just rubbed me with a certain oil to make me warm.

While I sat on the sofa watching Wanda moving her hands, dancing, following her favorites characters on the Noggin channel, I was still reflecting on my condition when I was a baby. They even told me that the size of the baby clothes they had prepared was too big for my body. Now in my age, my body is still petite. My obstetrician also even told me that I was his most petite patient he ever had in many years. He was glad I would deliver my first baby through C-section because of the diagonal position my baby had with her head on my right side. He worried if I delivered my baby without C-section process. He was sure my baby wasn’t a small baby; moreover, my husband was tall and big like the average American man.

He was right; my baby was born 7.13 pounds in weight and 19.5 inches in length. Her head diameter was big too, so that’s why my husband called her Coconut Head Girl. It was right. Her head was really round like a coconut. We thought it was a sign of how big her brain volume would be, so that we realized why Wanda was very smart, or it might be also from the genetic heritage from both of us. My husband is a very smart man, and I am not a stupid woman either. I am so proud having her, a beautiful, cute, and smart little girl.

Eventually, I realized it was almost eleven, the time I had to bring her to go to sleep. I knew it was too late for her age. I still had to drive her to school the next morning. I asked her to go upstairs soon to change into her pajamas and brush her teeth.

Come on! It is almost eleven. It’s time to go to bed. You have to go to school tomorrow.

Okay, Mamma. She went upstairs and knew what she had to do next – change into her pajamas and brush her teeth. I turned off the television, checked the front and back doors one more time to make sure they both had been locked already. I turned the lights off and followed her upstairs. Knowing she had worn her pajamas already and brushed her teeth, I went to the master bedroom to change my clothes, then to the master bathroom to clean my face and brush my teeth.

I won! I won! she shouted and came to the master bathroom, then showed her clean and good-smelling teeth. Smell me, smell me, Mamma! she asked by moving her body, showing that she had also changed into her pajamas.

Mmmuah! I kissed her left cheek after smelling her open mouth. It made her so happy.

Do I have good smell?

Yep.

Say no or yes!

Yes.

Okay.

Then she ran to the other bedroom. She never liked to sleep in her bedroom and told me her reasons, but I thought it might be her bed was a smaller size than the one the other bedroom had.

I came near to her, bringing several children’s storybooks, and asked her which book she would like me to read before sleeping, but she refused it. I am tired. I want to go to sleep soon.

So do you want me to read a story tomorrow night?

Yes, she answered without any doubt.

Okay. It relieved me to know she did not want me to read a storybook that night. The tiredness made me lazy to do it. I really wanted to sleep soon when I was on the bed with her. Before sleeping, I asked her to pray. Although I used to ask her to close her eyes when praying, she never did it. Her eyes blinked without crossing her hands, but she said her prayer by whispering and changed it into the song tones she created herself. She looked very cute when doing it.

Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray dear Lord, my soul to keep. Keep me saved all through the night and wake me in the morning light. I love you . . . she prayed.

That was a beautiful prayer song. Thank you. It was my compliment to her. Of course, that was what she was waiting for, getting such a nice compliment from me.

I gave several kisses on her cheeks and said, "Selamat malam. It means good night."

She responded, "Selamat tidur. It means have a good sleep." I was glad she used to say it almost every night. It was one of my tricks to teach her Indonesian.

"Mimpi indah, I replied in Indonesian too. It means have a wonderful dream."

Have nice dream, she responded.

Good night, honey! I kissed her cheek one more time and hugged her tightly. I put a blanket on her and lay next to her. I felt lucky and blessed having her and thanked God for giving her in my life.

On the bed, I still wanted to reflect on my upcoming birthday, although I was very sleepy. My age would increase one year; it meant that my life would decrease one year too. I was thinking what good and useful things I had done to my family, the others, and myself. It seemed very serious what I was thinking about, but really, I could not escape it. It came in my mind without invitation, so how could I escape it?

That night, my mind suddenly went to my family in Indonesia. Celebrating birthdays was not my family’s custom. Nothing happened as the special sign of birthdays except birthday greetings. At least my friends at work or my close friends wanted me to have a small treat from them, like have a simple lunch or dinner outside. Sometimes they also gave me birthday gifts or birthday cards. All those were special for me. I appreciated every single attention they gave.

After my marriage in the United States, I realized that celebrating birthdays for every family member was a tradition of my husband’s family; although it was just a cake and a simple birthday gift in celebrating it, I thought that by telling him not to buy a birthday gift for me was useless. I was sure he would try to know what were the things I needed at that time and would buy them as my birthday gift.

I saw Wanda had been sleeping well. I was sure the time had passed midnight. I said Happy Birthday to myself. My eyes were still awake, but I thought my body could not stand anymore. Lying on the bed was its solution. I prayed in my heart; I hoped my life could be a great blessing for my family, friends, and the others. Eventually, I fell asleep.

When my eyes opened in the morning, I was so lazy to wake up. I saw Wanda was still sleeping very well. Not long after that, my husband’s car arrived, then I heard the sound of the front door opening and his steps going upstairs. He opened the door, came to me, and gave three red roses and a birthday card. I smiled at him and gave a warm response by trying to wake up smoothly so it would not wake Wanda up, but she finally woke up right away, seeing me getting those gifts from her dad.

Happy birthday, honey! he wished. A warm kiss landed on my lips.

Thank you, I said to him.

Is it Mommy’s birthday? she asked us. I let him answer her question.

Yes. Today is Mommy’s birthday.

"Happy Birthday, Ibu!" she wished too. Sometimes she calls me Mamma, Mommy, or Ibu – it means mother. She jumped from the bed, wanting to go downstairs.

Wait! You haven’t given me a kiss for my birthday, I reminded her.

She smiled and came to me. Okay. She pouted her lips and kissed my forehead.

Thank you.

She turned back, chasing her dad downstairs.

I went to the master bedroom and opened the purple envelope. There was a sweet white birthday card with poems written on it and a piece of fifty dollars. I smiled to myself. That money was my first birthday gift he ever gave to me after almost seven years of marriage. It had been many times I asked him not to be confused to give me a birthday gift, just money; that was all I needed so I could buy other things for my hobbies and activities, but he never did it. I was so glad that eventually he had done it. I slipped the money in my waist bag, the card in its envelope after I read it, and put it on the corner table beside the bed, then came to him in the living room, with three red roses in my right hand.

Thank you for the flowers, a card, and fifty dollars money, I thanked him.

Buy a very nice thing for yourself! he commanded.

I will. I went to the kitchen and was going to make their favorite breakfast, waffles.

In the afternoon at work, it was three fourty-five. I had just arrived. It meant I had been late for fifteen minutes.

Happy birthday! I heard two associates greet me after I clocked in, turned my back, and headed to go to the personnel office.

I was surprised. How do you know that today is my birthday? I asked them, full of strange feelings.

It showed up on the machine after you clocked in, one of them explained.

Oh, I didn’t know it. Thank you. Then I went to the personnel office.

Before I opened the door, I met my assistant manager, Karen, who would like to go to the same place and had heard our short conversation. She greeted me too. Happy birthday!

Oh, thank you.

It looked so busy at the personnel office. I met my personnel manager and took a white envelope from my lunch bag. Hello, I greeted her.

Hi, how are you doing?

Good. Thanks. Then I showed a white envelope to her. I got this letter yesterday and it mentions there is a birthday pin for me.

She stood up and brought me several kinds of birthday pins in two boxes from one of the cupboards. You can pick one of them. Happy birthday! She smiled nicely.

Thank you.

After choosing the best one, I clipped it on my badge. On the floor, an associate greeted me. She knew my birthday because of the new pin I had. Then other associates from the same department greeted me happy birthday because of the same reason: they saw my new birthday pin. I felt special on that day. The pin I got for the first time in my third year working at Wal-Mart had taken their attention.

After work, I did a little grocery shopping and bought a sweet, simple silvery gown without sleeves because I never had that color before. That gown had a discount of 50 percent off. I picked the small size without thinking to try it. I was sure it would fit me. I also bought an elegant black top dress with long sleeves that I wanted before.

At the cashier counter, I saw there were no long lines. It was good, so I didn’t need to spend more time waiting for them pay their shopping stuff there.

Wow, this is beautiful, said the cashier, giving me a compliment after seeing the black top dress.

Yes, it is.

Do they still have more of it? she asked me hopefully.

I don’t think so. I saw this was the only one. I saw her face looked disappointed.

Yeah, that looks beautiful, another customer who stood behind me commented.

Oh, thank you, I said to her.

Have a good night, said the cashier after giving me the change.

Have a good night too, I replied to her, and then I pushed my shopping cart to the exit door.

It was very cold that night. I predicted it was between thirty to thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit. I should be home soon before ten, before my husband leaves for work. I checked the time from my handphone. It was twenty to nine. There was still plenty of time for me to drive home. I just needed around twelve to fifteen minutes to drive home.

I drove my car with the speed at around forty-five to fifty miles per hour. I turned my favorite radio station on, B101 FM. Almost every night when I was driving home, I heard and enjoyed their program. The listeners were able to call, share their stories, and give greetings or send a song to someone else.

In front of the house, I parked my car and carried all of my shopping stuff in at one time. In the living room, I saw Wanda sitting on the sofa and watching television.

Hello! I greeted her gladly.

Hello, Mamma.

I put all of those stuff in the kitchen, took off my jacket, and met her. I miss you. Do you miss me? I hugged her.

Yes. She wound both hands around my shoulders.

Where is Daddy? I asked her although I knew he might be taking a shower.

Upstairs.

Is he sleeping? I asked, testing her.

No, he is taking a shower.

I heard my husband’s steps on the stairs.

Hi, honey! I greeted him.

Hi! How was the work? he asked.

It was good.

Then I went to the kitchen to take my new clothes. In the bathroom, I changed my clothes and tried the silvery gown on. It looked great on me in the mirror. The silvery color was not too pale on my skin. I went to the living room to show them.

Look! Surprise. I said a little bit loudly.

Wow, that looks great, honey! my husband said, stunned.

Wanda came to me, stunned, then touched my new gown, and gave her comment. Wow, Mamma, it’s very beautiful.

Thank you.

And you look beautiful too. She gave a comment again.

Thank you.

I also bought one more, honey. I showed my new top dress to him. He looked happy seeing it. Isn’t it beautiful? I asked him, who was in a hurry to leave soon.

It is beautiful, he said.

I really need it, so I can use it for my formal clothes in many different colors for my long pants and skirts.

Good, he commented shortly.

I was so glad buying them, as he had said that I had to use the money for buying the nice things for myself.

Then I was planning to ask him not to buy any birthday gift again on Sunday when we would celebrate my birthday. He had planned to celebrate my birthday with a simple party, and the children would attend it.

Honey, I have spent my fifty dollars, a gift from you to buy very nice things for myself. No more birthday gift for me on Sunday, okay?

I can do whatever I want. Don’t push me! he protested and made an angry face.

Huh, I just don’t want you to spend more money for the things that I don’t need.

Did I ever buy something for you as a gift that you didn’t need?

Sometimes, I answered unconfidently when seeing his reaction.

Okay . . . Now let me go to work. He seemed to give up after getting my answer. I smiled, hearing his response. He stood up, kissed my lips and Wanda’s forehead.

Be good! Go to sleep soon! he said to Wanda.

Watch out for motorcycle, Daddy! she said.

Okay, I will. Bye-bye!

"Bye, Daddy!

I followed him to the front door. Be careful, honey!

I will. He kissed me again.

I closed and locked the front door after he left. Soon, I put all my grocery stuff in their places and asked Wanda to go upstairs and get ready to sleep.

It is time to go to bed, I said to her. There was no comment from her. I turned the television off. Go upstairs, honey! She did not say anything and ran upstairs. I followed her, getting ready for bed.

A day before Sunday, I was so very busy preparing several foods for Sunday’s dinner. Bubby, Sissy, and Mimi would come. That time, I wanted a different menu. Tumpeng was my choice. It was a Java-Indonesian food, cooked colored rice with turmeric, shaped into a cone, served along with other varieties of foods, carved foods as decoration, and often presented during celebrations. I would make it. I also had a certain purpose; it was part of my cookbook-writing projects. It would be my second cookbook in the series. All the foods that I wrote were from my own modified recipes. I cooked, took the photographs, wrote, arranged, and published them myself. I knew it was a very busy project, but I was very interested and enjoyed doing them. Actually, I had prepared all the ingredients for the last several days. After work, I did shopping. Wal-Mart had many kinds of grocery stuff like Acme and GIANT. Other big supermarkets in the United States did as well, so I did not need to worry. I also got 10 percent discount off as the associate for the certain foods, so I could save my time and a little bit of money.

On Saturday night after coming back from work, I cooked several Indonesian foods and saved them in the refrigerator to be prepared for Sunday’s dinner. Sometimes I took some pictures and wrote in my notebook for my project needs.

Suddenly, Wanda came to the kitchen and asked, "Can I help you, Ibu?"

Not right now.

Are you cooking for your birthday tomorrow?

Yes. Are you excited?

Ehem. Wanda nodded and left me alone in the kitchen.

It was fifteen minutes before one; I had finished all my cooking. Wanda was still accompanying me by watching the children’s show in the living room, drawing, and playing by herself with her toys. Actually, I felt bad that I did not bring her to bed soon. I tried to excuse myself by remembering she woke up around ten thirty in the morning; that was why she looked okay that night, although I knew it was not right. The church would start at ten thirty, so she could still have around nine hours of sleep.

Mamma, I’m sleepy, she said.

Okay, I am done. Go to brush your teeth and change your clothes! I will clean this and go upstairs, I explained to her when I was cleaning the kitchen counter.

Okay, Mamma, she went upstairs. I was glad I had done my first step for making Tumpeng although I was very tired.

I woke up in the morning at five. I went online to do my duties for the online writing course that would begin on Monday, wrote an e-newsletter, checked the e-mails, and prepared the two blogs for the lesson and the student-mentor’s room, a blog where the students sent their homework and would be reviewed by their mentors. I hoped Wanda would not wake up, so I decided not to turn the light on and keep the fan on. There was no other way because the computer was in the bedroom where Wanda was sleeping. I just did my work around one hour and a couple of minutes, then I came back to sleep again. I was very sleepy.

I woke up several hours later. The sunlight had come into the room. It should be the time to get ready to go to church, but I really wanted to close my eyes and sleep again, but I could not. Wanda was still sleeping nicely. Several minutes later, I heard a car stop in the driveway. I knew it was my husband’s car. It could be around nine, the time when he came home. It meant Wanda and I should get ready to go to church.

I still stayed on the bed, hoping he would come to see us. The door opened several minutes later. I saw him coming to me, bringing a white box without wrapping paper on it. He put it on the corner of the bed and said, Happy birthday! One more birthday present for you. Then he walked to the master bedroom to change his clothes.

I didn’t answer it. I did not want to wake Wanda up, but it was late. His sound made her wake up right away. We both finally woke up at the same time and went to the white box. It was really a big surprise birthday gift.

"What is this, Ibu? What is this, Dad?" she asked us impatiently.

"Birthday present for Ibu." He answered her question.

"For Ibu? It’s for you, Ibu. Open, open!"

Be patient! Let me see what this is.

"Okay, Ibu."

I read what was written on the middle of the package. "Gateway! Oh my god!" I shouted.

What is this, Mamma?

Notebook. I mean computer. I tried to explain it to her. She would understand if I said computer than notebook.

"Oh, more computer? For you, Ibu?"

Yes.

"Daddy, Ibu gets new computer!" She said aloud and left me to meet her dad.

I never thought he would give me that notebook that I was planning to buy soon with my own money as my birthday gift. It was really the greatest gift I ever got because I really needed it badly; moreover, I could not use the computer upstairs quickly to write my projects – my cookbooks in series – at a self-publishing Web site. Every fifteen minutes, it would show up running out of time.

I stood up, went to the master bedroom to see him and hug him.

Thank you, honey. It’s the greatest birthday gift I ever got. I really need it.

You’re welcome. He hugged me back. After several seconds, we were still hugging each other.

Then I am ready to start continuing to write my projects.

There you go. Now you can also accompany her downstairs while you’re online, so she won’t be alone anymore.

Okay, I said softly.

Yes, he really wanted me to accompany her when she was playing, drawing, or watching television downstairs, especially when she was playing in the front and backyard, making me leave my online activities. Honestly, I really needed it; besides those reasons – my projects and accompanying her – I also wanted to focus on my writing projects in one place and not mix them with the computer we already had that was full with her games. The most important thing was the capacity of the hard disk was limited. I was sure it would not be able to save more of my hundreds of photographs, with at least six hundred kilobytes for every photograph, I had for my cookbook project. There would be two alternatives: adding a new hard disk or buying a notebook. I thought the second alternative was the best one, so I told him my plan to buy a notebook several months before my birthday. I also did the survey of the price comparison and their different features at Wal-Mart. I was very glad a notebook was finally in front of me. He looked happy seeing me happy. Then he went downstairs after I kissed both his cheeks.

I still stayed in the master bedroom, and at that time, I saw the purple envelope on the corner table with a white birthday card I got from him several days before. I opened it and read it again, every line of the poem. Although he did not write it, at least he had chosen it to show his appreciation and love to me.

With Love to My Wife

It’s an uncertain world

that we live in

where so much keeps changing

so fast,

and things that we thought

we could count on

too soon become things

of the past.

So with all of my heart,

I feel grateful

for the one precious part of my life

that’s there for me,

always, no question

my wonderful,

beautiful wife.

I’m taking this moment to tell you

how much I appreciate

the understanding and support you always give,

the way you put up with

my faults and still love me

in spite of them.

You bring so much joy to my life

just by being the beautiful,

caring person, you are.

I am very lucky man to have you

for my wife.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Love,

Gregory

 2 

Desire

ON THE WAY home from church, Wanda asked me while I was driving and she was sitting in her car seat, right in my back, Mamma, will Mimi, Sissy, and Bubby come today?

Yep.

Say no or yes! She would protest if I didn’t answer her question with one of those two words.

Yes.

"Yeeea!" She looked so happy knowing her brother and sisters would come in the evening to have dinner to celebrate my birthday.

Are you excited?

Uh-huh.

Say no or yes! I teased her.

Yes.

Good. We’re almost home. Don’t forget to take off your clothes and wash your hands before lunch, okay?

Okay, Mommy, she answered by calling me Mommy besides Mamma and Ibu.

I parked my car in the driveway. That time my husband didn’t go to church because he worked overnight, so he needed to rest when at home. He got a new job at a hospital in Lititz, Pennsylvania, in December of last year. He loved it although he had to work overnight.

Come on, honey! I asked her to come out from the car. Would you tell Daddy what you did and got from Sunday school after he wakes up?

Yes. She ran to the front door and knocked on it.

Don’t do that, honey. Daddy is taking a nap. It will make him awake, I said while I was walking to the front door.

I want him to open the door.

I have the key.

She stopped knocking and said, Yeah, but I want Daddy to open the door.

It is not different. Come on. Let me open it! It is cold outside.

I saw him lying on the sofa, his favorite place to have a rest after returning from work. He ever said it was more comfortable than our bed in the master bedroom. He woke up and still looked very sleepy.

Hi, girls! How was church?

It was good. Did you sleep well? I asked him back.

Yes.

Hi, Daddy! She came to him and showed her colorful drawing that she did at her Sunday school.

Wow, this is the best picture I’ve ever seen. He gave a compliment to her.

Thank you, Daddy.

Directly, I went to the kitchen to prepare lunch. I saved my energy and time for the evening celebration by making a simple lunch: three ready biscuits with ham and cheese slices. I just needed to put them in the microwave before we ate. I also gave some navel orange slices on each plate without any vegetables before I served them.

We have very simple lunch today, I said to them, bringing two plates of their lunch.

Thank you, he answered.

Do you want milk or juice, honey? I asked him.

Milk, please!

I gave him a glass of milk and a glass of juice for Wanda that I had mixed with water to minimize the sugar content. I preferred giving her multivitamin and multimineral supplements instead of giving juice. Thank you, honey, he said.

Thank you, Mamma, Wanda said.

You’re welcome.

After lunch, I went online for a couple of minutes to do my duty as managing editor of www.kabarindonesia.com, an online Indonesia news Web site based on citizen journalism. There were not many articles to be edited and activated at that