Review 2016

These are my favorite posts this year:

1. "Valak!!"
http://astaripahlevisdiary.blogspot.co.id/2016/07/valak.html

2. "Jealous"
http://astaripahlevisdiary.blogspot.co.id/2016/01/jealous.html

3. "Potong Rambut"
http://astaripahlevisdiary.blogspot.co.id/2016/01/potong-rambut.html

4. "Pasien Nyebelin"
http://astaripahlevisdiary.blogspot.co.id/2016/06/pasien-nyebelin.html

5. "Penyayang Binatang"
http://astaripahlevisdiary.blogspot.co.id/2016/01/penyayang-binatang.html

6. "Kisah Baju Ronaldo dan Abang-abang"
http://astaripahlevisdiary.blogspot.co.id/2016/06/kisah-baju-ronaldo-dan-abang-abang.html

7. "And Here I Write about Love Again"
http://astaripahlevisdiary.blogspot.co.id/2016/02/and-here-i-write-about-love-again.html

8. "Renungan 10,000 Jam"
http://astaripahlevisdiary.blogspot.co.id/2016/09/renungan-10000-jam.html

9. "LGBT"
http://astaripahlevisdiary.blogspot.co.id/2016/04/lgbt.html

Overall, thank you for everything. Good bye 2016. Welcome, 2017!

For Me, 2016 is about Languages

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Eleven days before the first day of 2017, and I think it is the perfect time to write a little review and new goals and resolutions.

I seem to have more objectives to reach than most people. It seems like I'm greedy and I've got too many goals so every year I couldn't focus on those goals because they're too many. But, actually, most people goals are including career, family/love, health, and religious stuff. I only change family/love, health, traveling, and religious stuff to writing books, making artworks, and learning languages. So, yeah, those are my goals. I failed to reach all of those goals, not because they are too many, but because I have no discipline.

As much as people with body goals go to the gym, I'm supposed to be in front of my computer more. Well, yeah I've been in front of my computer enough, but not doing what I was supposed to be doing.

So, how's 2016 going for me?

I haven't reached my goals in career, writing, and arts. I traveled, and my trips were lovely for sure, but they weren't my traveling goals.

But... this year I've learned languages a lot. I started learning French and Dutch. And I can say I speak five languages so far: Indonesian, English, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. Well, I don't speak well. Not yet. I really need more practice. I'm still used to Indonesian and English because everything around me is either in Indonesian or English. But the only thing written in Italian around me is 'Pane del Giorno'. Oh, and 'I Gusti', but it's actually a Balinese name.

A real polyglot wouldn't say that I speak Italian, Spanish, or Portuguese, but yeah, if you speak those languages around me, InshaAllah I would understand you. I am able to have conversation in those languages. I also understand French and Dutch, but I can't say I speak those languages. Not yet.

But overall, I'm satisfied with my language goals.

And besides my goals, 2016 has been very nice and full of beautiful moments for me. But I'll tell you in another post. For now, I just wanna make some new resolutions.

Next year I'm gonna learn German, Greek, and Japanese. Yeah I'm gonna take some classes. German and Japanese classes would be easy, but Greek..  where should I take Greek class? Greece? Yeah maybe I should. I f'ing love that country and I'd be happy to live there with those extremely nice people (I'm a big fan of Italy, Greece, and Brazil and been to two of them).

And of course I still have my career, writing, art, and traveling goals. I'm just gonna tell you about my traveling goal.

I have this dream of visiting every single province in Italy. Why? Because Italy is freaking awesome and I freaking love that country, almost like I love myself. Yes, I wrote it right, myself, you don't need to correct me.

So Italy have Torino (Turin) in Piemonte (Piedmont), Como and Milano (Milan) in Lombardia (Lombardy), Venezia (Venice), Padova (Padua), and Verona in Veneto, Trieste in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, La Spezia in Liguria, Bologna, Parma, and Modena in Emilia Romagna, Perugia and Assisi in Umbria, Roma (Rome) in Lazio, Napoli (Naples) in Campania, Matera in Basilicata, Sicilia (Sicily), Sardegna (Sardinia), and of course... Toscana (Tuscany)! Firenze (Florence), Pisa, Siena, and Pistoia are both in Toscana region. There are lots of interesting provinces in Italy and I really need to visit all of them. They have 115 provinces and all of them are awesome! But you can Google why I should mention those provinces and regions above. That's why I wrote their names in Italian and English.

Yeah, I know my new year resolution sounds more like Italian tourism advertising.

I would say visit Indonesia too, but lately I feel like this country has been so much like a f***ing khilaf**. Sorry for being so bitter. Many bitter things have been happening in my lovely country.

Happy new year!

Just a Death Note or whatever you're supposed to call it

I hate to make a death note. Not that kinda death note, where you put the name of people you hate and the next day they'd be dead. No, I would love to make that one.

But here I'm talking about the note that you make before you die. Is it even called death note? Anyway, I hate that because usually, not long after someone makes a dead note, he/she dies. It's like they already know or something.

Of course I really wish I'm not gonna die soon, but, some people, people around me, people that I know, people that are around my age, celebrities, they just died.
Some of them died of illness, mostly cancer. It took months before they died. But some just died in a blink of an eye. Some because of accidents, sometimes even silly, weird, very unlikely accidents, and the other because of some quick-death-related illness, like heart attack. Well, mostly heart attack.

That's horrible. One night you slept and you just didn't wake up the next morning.
It made me think how lucky we are to be able to wake up every morning. To see one more sunrise everyday, one more morning. Okay, I didn't mean this article to be so dramatic, so I'll just stop with the waking up thing.

All the death of people I know, whether because I know them or just because they're famous, or because they're Game of Thrones characters, those death scared me.
For me, death is the saddest thing in the world. Either it's the death of the people you love or your own, they're just as sad. Thing is, you have to say goodbye. Forever.

I'm not really a fan of the after life, any theories of it, whatsoever. No, I don't believe any version of the after life. They're all just as silly.

So, when someone (including you) die, that's it. You won't meet your loved ones anymore. Then, if you're the one who lives, you'd start regretting all the things you've done or even worst, never done to or with your loved ones. You wish you'd spend more time with them, you wish you'd treat them better, you wish you've done better. You wish you had never done nor said anything that make them sad.

Maybe the most ideal death is like the one in the cancer movies. You know almost 100% you're gonna die before your loved ones, so you prepare everything, you make your note, telling anybody anything you wanna say.

Thing is, you don't know how, where, and when you're gonna die. So, make your death note now. Yeah or whatever you're supposed to call it.

There are still so many things I wanna do before I die. First, I wanna make sure that my life insurance payment is still paid.

Then the other things.
I wanna visit all 115 provinces in all 20 regions in Italy. I wanna visit all regions in Greece, all countries in Europe, and all continents in the world. Living beyond that dream would be freaking awesome!

I wanna watch Game of Thrones season 7. Let's hope that I would cross this from my list next year.

I wanna speak at least 30 languages. Or at least these specific languages: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Greek, Japanese, German, and Dutch. Or at least the first 6 of them. Right now I'm learning them and I can already communicate with Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and a little bit French.

I wanna study philosophy, I wanna study anthropology, history, astronomy, mathematics, I wanna go back to college over and over again. I wish I live as long as the earth so I can learn everything.

I still have plenty on my wish list.

And of course, if I have to die first, I would say to my family how much I love them. How much they mean to me. How blessed I am to be born in such a lovely family. I aways wish to make them happy. The only thing on my priority list that I put higher than their happiness is...my own happiness.

Well, don't judge me. The only reason you wanna see your family happy is because it makes you happy. What else? So it's always about you anyway.
Which makes me think, is it actually selfish to wish to die before your loved ones? Maybe it is.

This is a bit out of the topic (since I probably have ADD, my thoughts always jumping), but if you have to choose, if you really have to choose, if the Joker or JigSaw put you in a game where you had to choose between killing your family and save everyone in the world, or kill yourself and killing everyone in the world, what would you choose?

But then again, why would being alive be that much of a big deal, anyway? I mean, most people believe that this life isn't permanent anyway. So, would it really matter to give your life to save many other lives?

Has anyone really found the true meaning of life?
Okay, so I failed to make a death note. It turned out to be the question of life and death all over again.

Pertemuan ke Dua

Senin, 21 November, 2016

Lo inget nggak sih, beberapa kali lo ditolong orang asing di saat lo sedang mengalami kesulitan di tempat umum, entah di jalan, di mal, di kendaraan umum, dsb? Mungkin orang itu dorongin mobil lo yang lagi mogok. Mungkin orang itu bayarin ongkos lo naik angkutan umum saat lo lupa bawa uang kecil dan supir/keneknya ngga punya kembalian. Mungkin orang itu minjemin e-toll-nya saat lo masuk GTO tapi lo lupa kalo lo ngga bawa e-toll.

Bantuan dari orang2 asing itu bisa kecil, bisa gede. Tapi yang jelas pada saat itu lo ngerasa sangat bersyukur dan berterimakasih. Lo berharap bisa bales kebaikan mereka. Tapi lo ngga bisa. Karena kalian ngga saling kenal, dan setelah kejadian itu mungkin lo udah ngga pernah ketemu lagi sama orang2 itu. Lo cuman bisa berdoa, semoga Tuhan membalas kebaikan mereka berkali lipat.

Tapi lo inget nggak sih tampang mereka kaya apa? Di antara sekian banyaknya orang asing yang pernah nolongin lo dengan ikhlasnya, ada nggak sih, satuuu aja yang bisa lo inget tampangnya kaya apa?

Saat lo ditolong, lo berharap suatu hari nanti lo bisa ketemu mereka lagi dan gantian nolongin mereka. Tapi masalahnya, lo inget muka mereka aja agak mustahil kan?

Mungkin sebenernya lo ketemu lagi sama mereka. Kalo pas kebetulan mereka butuh pertolongan lo sih, walaupun di pertemuan ke dua itu kalian sama2 lupa kalo pernah ketemu sebelumnya, pasti lo akan otomatis nolongin. Bukan karena lo inget itu siapa, tapi karena pada dasarnya manusia akan refleks menolong orang yang butuh pertolongan.

Masalahnya adalah, di pertemuan ke dua lo dengan orang yang pernah nolongin lo, mungkin kondisinya ngga seperti itu. Mungkin di pertemuan ke dua, dia adalah orang yang nyerobot antrian lo, atau nyalip mobil lo, atau motornya nyenggol mobil lo, atau ngerokok di deket lo, atau ngga ngasi lo jalan saat lo mau nyebrang di zebra cross, atau hal2 menyebalkan lainnya.

Mereka emang pernah nolongin lo, dan saat itu lo amat sangat berterimakasih. Tapi gimanapun juga, bukan salah lo dan bukan salah mereka, kalo kalian saling lupa muka satu sama lain. Saat lo ketemu lagi, orang itu udah bukan siapa2 buat lo. Saat dia melanggar hak lo, ya lo pasti marah.

Mungkin orang2 lain udah punya pemikiran seperti ini, atau mereka pada dasarnya udah baik aja ya, ngga kaya gue, cuma tiba2 gue punya ide untuk ngga marah sama orang asing.

Pas masi SD gue suka dibully sama anak2 lainnya. Orangtua gue selalu bilang, "Kamu jangan mau dong digituin. Kamu harus berani ngelawan mereka."

Akhirnya, sampe sekarang gue masih suka mikir, bahwa kalo hak gue dilanggar, gue harus marah, gue harus bales. Karena kalo ngga gitu, berarti gue pengecut. Gue jadi temperamental dan model2 senggol dikit bacok.

Tapi mulai sekarang, semoga gue bisa ngga pernah marah lagi sama orang2 asing yang ngerokok di deket gue, ngga ngasi jalan di zebra cross, atau bahkan mas2 pinggir jalan yang suka iseng godain.

Salah satu alasan gue adalah, mungkin di masa lalu mereka pernah nolongin gue, atau di masa depan bisa aja mereka akan nolongin gue. Gue cuma lupa aja muka mereka. Gue kan bukan binatang, yang ngga pernah lupa sama orang yang pernah nolongin. (Sekali2 lah binatang dikonotasikan dengan sesuatu yang positif)

Emang orang yang ngelanggar zebra cross, ngerokok sembarangan, nyerobot antrian itu salah, merugikan, dan ngeselin. Dan belom tentu juga mereka salah satu dari orang yang pernah nolongin lo. Tapi secara lo juga ngga inget muka penolong2 lo itu kaya apa, ya pukul rata aja lah, baik aja sama semua orang. Ngga ada ruginya ini.

Just Exploring Some of My Features

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Hi there! How are you guys? Yeah right! Like anyone would read this.

Anyway, lately I’ve been busy learning new languages. I know, I’ve been learning some languages since like… forever, but this time I’m doing this really seriously. Yeah I’m still using the Duolingo apps. Some would say it’s not really effective, but that’s not the only way I learn.

I have my own program. So, for me, so far Duolingo is still the best and most effective free apps to learn languages. But of course it’s not enough to really be able to communicate with those languages. So, I’ve made my own program.

First, I have a specific schedule for my Duolingo practice. For each language I’m learning at time, I have to practice 18 to 22 lessons a day. And I always have to make a note for each new lesson. Then, I have to practice reading articles and stories in the languages I’m learning. I would search articles and stories from google and try to translate it to English. Then I have to practice listening too. Usually I listen to the songs in the languages I’m learning, or watch Game of Thrones, Modern Family, or news in those languages.

I also have to write in those languages. That’s why, lately I always write in Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese in my blog. I haven’t write anything in Indonesian or English. And I only write simple things like introduction, food, animals, sports, hobbies. Because I’m practicing. Anyway, my life has been great. I just got back from a nice trip to Belitung. I’ve posted some photos on my instagram @astaripahleviofficial .

So, I’ve finished three languages in Duolingo: Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. It doesn’t make me automatically fluent in those languages. I still need lots of practice, especially in Spanish and Portuguese. Everyday I read, watch, listen, and write anything in Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. But I still need one more thing. I really need native speakers to really practice my oral. Hmm, that sounds wrong, doesn’t it?

And for now I just started learning French. It gives me a whole lot of new challenges. Yeah, French turns out to be very challenging compared to the other three languages from the same root. I still have to find the pattern. There are so many differences from the other three. I also need to work harder on the spelling and pronunciation.

But so far, it all went really well. Not just achieving my target everyday, I even have gone further than my target. On my schedule, I was supposed to finish Portuguese lesson by the end of October, and start learning French on the beginning of November. But I’ve finished my Portuguese lesson so much sooner than I was planning, and already been able to start my French lesson so much sooner than the schedule. I was supposed to start learning French four days from now, but these last three or four days I have already finished about 20 – 25 % of the lessons. If I could keep it that way, I might have finished my French lesson by the 10^th of November. So I’m gonna have a long break before my Dutch and German lessons.

And why so obsessed? What’s with all this obsession and ambition to speak all those languages?

Actually I’ve been thinking. Just like a smartphone, we were created with lots of features. Some smartphones can do lots of things, from making your own music videos to tracking airplanes, yet some people just use their smartphones to take perfect selfies. I mean… wtf?

Well, it’s actually the same with us humans. We were created with so many features. Some people can run really fast, some people can dive very deep under the sea, some people can climb the highest mountains, some people can play so many musical instruments, some people can speak more than 50 languages! No, seriously, there are at least three men that I know of, that can speak 60 something languages. Seriously! It’s really awesome!

Yeah, we have so many features! Yet we only do what? Go to school, graduate, get a boring job, get married, have children, and die? Seriously? That’s sad.

So, me, learning these languages, is just one of my ways to use my features. After these languages, I might learn something else, like music, art, philosophy, cooking, anything more interesting than making a family. Well, I’m not saying that making family is bad. It is not bad. In fact, it is very good. For those busy making family out there, you’re all the nicest and most selfless people. Thank you.

It’s just not interesting for someone like me. I don’t think I have it on my list of features.

Anyway, that’s it for today. See you later guys!

Oh this jealousy!

My mood and focus was (and probably still is) swinging very...hard? Yeah the swing is very hard core! Like I probably have some symptoms of bipolar disorder. But which woman doesn't?

It all started with me trying to learn how to play flute. Is it even flute? I don't think so, but let's just call it flute to make it simple.

So at first I was thinking, "Wow I suck at this!" (Cheerfully and curiously). And it motivated me to learn seriously. Many times I heard, to master something, we need to practice it at least 1 hour a day. So, if I practice flute 1 hour a day, I'll master it.

But, another theory I've heard said, to master some skill perfectly, you need to practice it for 10,000 hours in total. So, if I only played the flute for one hour a day, I'd need about 27 years to master it! What??

And it's not even in my top priority list! On my very long list, I still have many other skills to master. So, it turned me from motivated to demotivated. Then I did the math instead, literally. How many hours a day do I have to practice a skill to master it in 5 years? And, with that calculation, how many skills at max, can I master in 5 years?

And so I wrote this:

http://astaripahlevisdiary.blogspot.co.id/2016/09/renungan-10000-jam.html?m=1

Yeah it was my previous post.

And I was kinda satisfied with the post, and I became motivated again, not to play flute, but to write, realizing that I've been writing for more than 10,000 hours in my whole life. I was motivated and proud.

And then I posted the link on my social media time line and was hoping that he'd see it. And suddenly I remember that he never paid attention to any of my works that I am proud of. He's always focused on the bad things I did or wrote. So, suddenly I became angry. And wrote this:

"Oh! This jealousy!
I've once wrote about jealousy,
how I wonder how that be.
That it doesn't make sense, I agree.

Yet here I am now, blinded by jealousy,
burned and drowned by jealousy,
That he won't see me!
He follows those accounts with lots of selfie!
Bitches are not even his own blood, unlike me!
Look at me!
I don't do selfie!
I write. Say something about me!

Oh this jealousy burns me."

:

But... ah fuck I gotta go now. Continue this later.

Renungan 10,000 Jam

Kalau ingin menguasai sesuatu dengan sempurna dibutuhkan 10,000 jam terbang, maka untuk menguasai dalam 5 tahun, dibutuhkan latihan 2,000 jam per tahun. Berarti harus konsisten latihan 5.5 jam per hari selama 5 tahun.

Sementara, dalam satu hari ada 24 jam. Dengan asumsi waktu tidur yang sehat minimal 6 jam, waktu yang tersisa tinggal 18 jam. Jadi, maksimal bidang keahlian yang bisa dikuasai dalam 5 tahun adalah 3 bidang. Dan 1 atau 2 di antaranya harus bisa dilatih sambil melakukan kegiatan sehari-hari.

Contohnya, belajar bahasa asing, bisa dilakukan sambil makan, jalan, dll. Kalau bahasa asingnya Arab, mungkin bisa dilatih sambil solat juga.

Tapi itu tidak mudah. Idealnya, kita hanya bisa fokus pada 1 atau 2 keahlian.

Mengingat dalam 10 tahun ke depan hanya bisa menguasai dengan sempurna maksimal 6 kemampuan (kalau benar2 tekun), rasanya jadi sayang kalau harus mengorbankan waktu untuk hal-hal yang tidak menambah skill.

Pertanyaan berikut, kalau kegiatan bersosialisasi sudah dilakukan selama 10,000 jam, apakah kita masih perlu mengasah keahlian itu?

Ya tetap harus sih. Keahlian yang sudah dikuasai kan harus dilatih terus agar tidak hilang begitu saja.

Abaikan. Hanya pergolakan batin seorang wanita 30 tahun yang belum menguasai keahlian apapun, dan masih harus banyak belajar. Tapi sempat-sempatnya menulis status panjang lebar.

:

Keahlian apa saja yang sudah saya latih selama ini? Adakah yang sudah melampaui atau hampir mencapai 10,000 jam?

Keahlian dasar, seperti bicara bahasa Indonesia, sudah pasti lewat 10,000 jam. Bahasa Inggris, mungkin seharusnya sudah 10,000 jam, hanya latihannya pasti kurang efektif.

Menyanyi juga saya lakukan setiap mandi. Masalahnya, pertama, saya mandi paling lama 30 menit. Ke dua, saya tidak setiap hari mandi. Eh...

Keahlian menulis sudah dimulai sejak usia 5 tahun. Saya ingat, pertama kali mulai hobi menulis cerita adalah di TK, berarti paling tua usia 5 tahun. Saya tidak ingat berapa jam sehari rata-rata saya menulis saat itu. Tapi kalau mau dihitung efektif, mungkin saya menulis cerita (fiksi/non-fiksi) sekitar setengah jam per hari selama masa SD (6 tahun), yang berarti sudah 1,095 jam.

Lalu di SMP dan SMA, sedang trend menulis cerita di kalangan murid-murid, terutama wanita. Di masa itu, per tahun saya menulis hampir dua buah buku cerita dan satu cerita berseri. Selain hobi menulis cerita, saya juga menulis buku harian dan berita sepakbola. Jadi perkiraan saya, pada masa itu mungkin saya menulis 3-4 jam per hari. SMP dan SMA selama 6 tahun, menulis rata-rata 3 jam per hari, maka jam terbang saya sudah tambah 6,570 jam lagi, menjadi 7,665 jam.

Di masa kuliah, bukan saja saya masih rajin menulis cerita, tapi juga sedang begitu rajinnya menulis catatan harian. Maka di masa kuliah, yaitu...hehehe... 6 tahun, saya telah menulis rata-rata 5 jam sehari. Yang artinya, 10,000 jam terbang tanpa sadar telah saya capai pada bulan ke-4 di tahun ke dua saya kuliah. Dan tentunya keahlian menulis ini sudah saya latih terus secara alami setiap hari.

VALAK!!!!!!

Minggu pahing, 31 Juli, 2016, tengah malem

So guys, lagi-lagiii gue posting isinya topic yang udah basi.

Boelaahh… orang udah pada valak-valakan dari kapan? Gue baru ngomongin valak sekarang.

Maklum, pas valak lagi hits gue lagi asik-asiknya nonton bola.

Tapi tadi itu gue lagi ngumpul sama salah satu temen lama gue. Terus gue ngapain gitu ya, sampe salah satu temen gue, sebut saja oknum G, ngatain gue mirip si Val. Terus temen gue lainnya, sebut saja oknum N, bilang, “Eh, hati-hati loh kalo nyebut-nyebut gituan! Nanti didatengin! Itu kan katanya kisah nyata, setannya ada beneran.”

Ya, gue sering denger sih, orang ngomong gitu. Misalnya si poci dan si kunti. Kalo ada yang nyebut nama mereka, kan pasti ada aja tuh yang bilang “Hush! Jangan sebut-sebut ah! Ntar didatengin loh!”

(So, mulai sekarang, let’s just call her Miss V)

Terus gue mikir, lah, kemaren kapan itu, pas doi lagi ngehits, buset! Tiap jam ada berapa orang posting isinya doi lagi, doi lagi. Gue aja, yang sampe sekarang ini belom nonton ‘Conjuring 2’ juga (karena underestimate, paling nggak serem), sampe jadi tau setan yang namanya Valak… eh Miss V, sampe bentuknya gimana, sampe sejarahnya gimana, gara-gara apa? Ya gara-gara doi ngehits banget lah di social media. Nongol mulu doi di timeline gue! Mau didatengin satu-satu itu orang yang pada posting? Udah kaya silaturahmi lebaran.

Pantesan ajee lebaran kemaren jalur mudik macetnya lebih dari biasanya. Yang silaturahmi bukan manusia doang, setan aja ikutan silaturahmi!

Lah gue nge-like atau komen di orang yang followers instagramnya kisaran puluhan rebu aja belom tentu dibales. Follbek kakak, follbek kakak, follbek kakak, berapa kali mention-mention juga ngga difollbek-follbek. Lah ini, Miss V, yang ditonton dan diplesetin jutaan orang di seluruh dunia, sempet kali datengin satu-satu.

Lagian, kalo misalnya nih ya, anggeplah lo didatengin beneran sama Miss V, terus lo kira dia bakal ngapain? Paling baru muncul bentar, “Dor!” lo kaget, terus udah doi pamit, “Udah ya neng, saya masih banyak appointment lain.” Iya lah, dalam satu hari aja bisa berapa orang mention nama doi di social media? Padet lah jadwalnya!

Kecuali doi bisa buka cabang kaya si kunti sama si poci. Kan di mana-mana mungkin aja ya ada kejadian kaya si kunti dan si poci. Nah kalo Miss V?

Nah terus kalo macem si poci sama si kunti, lo bisa bayangin nggak tuh, gimana sibuknya mereka saat film “*o*ong vs K*nt*l anak” lagi diputer di bioskop? Antrian penonton segitu panjangnya, semuanya pada mau nonton “*o*ong vs K*nt*l anak”! Tiap kali mbak-mbak penjual tiketnya nanya, “Mau nonton apa?” si poci sama si kunti udah pegel aja denger jawabannya. Kata si poci, “Jiaah, ti…, banyak PR deh kita malem ini!”

Bayangin, satu nama. Tadinya ngga papah nyebut-nyebut satu nama itu. Tapi gara-gara tuh satu nama itu dipake buat nama setan di film horror, jadi nggak boleh disebut-sebut lagi, kalo nggak lo didatengin! Lah, lo tau nggak, siapa nama k*nt*l anak di film terowongan cassablanca? Coba googling deh.

Oke, next time ada yang ketemu gue, sampe nggak mau manggil, gue akan langsung asumsikan lo udah googling.

Yang lebih kasian sih guru gue dulu, namanya Bu (lima huruf, dua suku kata, depannya ‘kun’ belakangnya ‘ti’). Setelah si itu populer, gue bingung murid-muridnya yang sekarang mau manggil beliau gimana.

Eh, gini-gini gue nulisnya tengah malem, juga sambil celingak-celinguk, kali si V lagi cekikikan di belakang sambil baca tulisan gue. Tadi aja pas komputer gue ngehang bentar, gue sempet mikir, “Anjrit! Kenapa nih? Jangan-jangan abis ngehang, terus ntar tiba-tiba si Miss V nongol di layar komputer gue!”

Menjadi Seorang Penulis

Masih mengenai catatan harian, alias diary.

Selain untuk dinikmati kenangannya, sebenarnya catatan harian di masa lalu juga bisa dijadikan ukuran, apakah aku yang sekarang lebih baik dari aku yang dulu. Apakah aku bertumbuh? Apakah aku berkembang?

Aku membaca catatan pada suatu hari di tahun 2006 saat aku baru saja menyelesaikan seri ke lima dalam serialku! Serial yang kutulis memasuki episode ke lima? Itu tidak pernah lagi terjadi saat ini.

Memang tidak ada satupun tulisan fiksiku yang kupublikasikan. Tapi setidaknya, di SMP dan SMA dulu, serial yang kutulis manual di buku sudah menjadi bacaan wajib di antara teman-teman sekelas dan seangkatan. Oke, mungkin aku berlebihan.

Dulu memang sedang trend menulis serial di buku tulis. Buku tulis itu kemudian dibaca oleh teman-teman atau siapapun yang tertarik membacanya. Aku menulis beberapa serial. Semuanya tentang kehidupan remaja, karena itu memang tema yang populer.

Mengapa itu populer?

Ini bukan sesuatu yang kudapatkan melalui penelitian ilmiah maupun riset selama puluhan tahun.

Tapi aku mencoba mengamati para penggemar serial drama, termasuk diriku sendiri. Aku juga mengamati teman-temanku yang suka menulis serial.

Sebenarnya, menulis dan menikmati sebuah serial, adalah cara kita berkomunikasi dengan diri sendiri dan dengan lingkungan sekitar. Ada satu karakter yang mengingatkan kita pada orang-orang tertentu di sekitar kita, dan bahkan kita sendiri. Juga kejadian-kejadian yang mirip-mirip dengan apa yang pernah kita alami, atau kita bayangkan terjadi pada kita.

Lalu apa yang akan kita lakukan pada situasi tersebut? Apa yang akan orang lakukan pada situasi tersebut. Cowok atau cewek mana yang akan kita pilih sebagai pacar kita? Setelah itu, apakah si penulis serial setuju dengan pilihan-pilihan kita?

Seorang tokoh yang sangat dihormati masyarakat dunia, menyebut penulis fiksi tidak berguna karena mereka hanya bisa menuliskan ide mereka mengenai bagaimana seharusnya dunia ini berjalan. Aku tidak akan menyebutkan namanya karena kalimatnya tersebut membuatku kehilangan respek padanya.

Menurutku, penulis cerita fiksi, termasuk aku sendiri, justru ingin menginspirasi dunia. Kami ingin menyampaikan ide, yang tidak harus disetujui semua orang, tapi mungkin saja bisa membuat dunia lebih baik bila diterapkan.

Ide itu tidak harus besar, seperti bagaimana cara si penulis menyelamatkan umat manusia dari kiamat. Ide itu bisa saja mengenai sudut pandang yang baru, yang bisa membuat orang yang tidak bahagia menjadi lebih bahagia. Sesederhana itu, namun efeknya bisa lebih besar dari yang dipikirkan orang-orang berpikiran sempit dan monoton, seperti si tokoh itu.

Mesin Waktu

Selasa, 12 Juli, 2016

Memori, atau ingatan, adalah hidup, adalah identitas, adalah apa yang membentuk suatu individu.

Bagiku yang mudah lupa, ingatan adalah segalanya. Setiap detail dari masa lalu begitu berarti, bukan untuk diungkit-ungkit, hanya untuk dinikmati.

Karena itu aku begitu senang membaca catatan-catatan lama di diary-ku.

Sudah sejak kecil aku suka menulis. Sepakbola pun pernah membuatku jenuh. Tapi menulis dan menggambar adalah kegiatan yang selalu aku nikmati, kapanpun, di manapun.

Sejauh yang bisa diraih ingatanku, pertama kalinya aku mulai menulis diary adalah kelas 4 SD, di sebuah buku diary kecil untuk anak SD. Saat itu aku hanya menulis diary saat ada kejadian penting saja. Semakin lama frekuensiku menulis semakin tinggi, dan tulisanku semakin detail. Sejak SMA kelas 2, aku sudah bercita-cita ingin mengabadikan setiap detail dalam setiap hariku dalam diary. Berawal dari hari pertama di kelas 3 SMA, sampai kuliah, aku terus berusaha menulis diary setiap hari, sedetail mungkin. Sampai akhirnya, di tahun 2007 – 2009, aku berhasil menulis diary setiap hari. Saat tidak ada kejadian penting pun, pasti ada pikiran atau perasaan yang kutuangkan dalam diary.

Kebiasaan itu semakin menghilang di akhir tahun 2009. Begitu banyak yang terjadi pada masa itu. Aku mengerjakan Tugas Akhir yang sangat menyita waktu, ditambah pindahan dari kos ke rumah lama, lalu dari rumah lama ke rumah baru. Setelah itu asisten rumah tangga yang sudah bertahun-tahun mengabdi, berhenti kerja, dan aku harus menyesuaikan diri dengan mengerjakan semuanya sendirian, termasuk merawat anjing-anjing.

Akhirnya, kebiasaan itu hilang sama sekali. Sampai saat ini, aku terus berusaha untuk mengembalikannya. Mengapa itu begitu penting?

Apa yang sudah kutulis dengan detail dari tahun 2004 – 2009, telah menjadi sebuah mesin waktu. Kapanpun aku ingin mengunjungi masa laluku, aku hanya perlu membuka kembali lembaran-lembaran virtual yang telah kutulis.

Aku teringat bagaimana kehidupan pada saat itu. Aku teringat pada aku yang dulu, caraku bicara, caraku menulis, siapa teman dekatku, bagaimana caraku berinteraksi dengan orang lain, apa yang sedang kupikirkan pada hari itu, semuanya.

Aku teringat pada masa di saat internet belum menjadi bagian terpenting dalam hidupku.

Aku bukan orang yang paling mutakhir dalam mengikuti perkembangan zaman. Di saat orang lainnya sudah begitu aktif dengan sosial media, aku masih cukup puas dengan keterkucilanku di sebuah kamar kos yang nyaman dengan TV kabel.

Aku tidak banyak berkomunikasi dengan dunia. Komunikasi pada saat itu baru telefon dan pesan tertulis yang disebut SMS, yang keduanya kubenci. Teman-temanku adalah siapapun yang wujud konkretnya ada di sekitarku.

Aku tidak banyak menghabiskan waktu dengan teman ataupun keluarga. Mungkin hanya 20 – 30 % dari keseluruhan waktu hidupku. Sisanya banyak kuhabiskan sendirian, dengan laptopku, diary digitalku. Aku menceritakan semuanya pada diary-ku. Semua kejadian dalam hidupku, semua perasaan, bahkan hasil pertandingan sepakbola dan jalan cerita opera sabun yang kuikuti, buku yang kubaca, semuanya tidak kuceritakan pada manusia, tapi pada sebuah komputer.

Keahlian sosialku tidak lebih buruk atau lebih baik dari sekarang. Saat berhadapan dengan manusia, aku tetap bisa berkomunikasi dan membaur. Sama seperti masa sebelum dan setelahnya, aku senang membuat orang tertawa, dan menikmati saat-saat berkumpul dengan teman dan keluarga. Hanya saja, memang sebagian besar waktuku kuhabiskan di depan komputer, untuk menulis, curhat, entah itu senang, marah, sedih.

Apakah pandanganku pada saat itu lebih sempit dan hanya terfokus pada aku dan komputerku? Sama sekali tidak. Aku tetap membaca buku dan berkomunikasi dengan orang lain. Aku bahkan lebih sering duduk dan bertukar pikiran selama berjam-jam dengan teman dekat ataupun saudara. Sesuatu yang justru sulit kudapatkan sekarang ini, saat aku lebih banyak bergaul baik melalui media sosial maupun pertemuan fisik.

Dulu aku cukup puas mengemukakan pendapatku mengenai suatu hal pada komputer, yang menyimpannya untukku pribadi, untuk kubuka di kemudian hari, kapanpun itu. Kini, rasanya kurang puas kalau belum menyampaikan pendapatku di media sosial, dan mendapat tanggapan dari orang-orang lainnya.

Aku tidak menganggap masa itu ataupun ini lebih baik atau lebih buruk. Saat ini aku hanya sedang merindukan masa-masa itu.

Riddle

Thursday, June 30, 2016

I made this quite a while ago. This may seem random, but it is not. There's pattern, but can you see it?

Can you?

Kisah Baju Ronaldo dan Abang-abang

Sabtu, 25 Juni, 2016

Udah lama banget ngga nulis di sini. Padahal, biasanya gue justru paling cerewet di bulan Juni sampe awal Juli di tahun genap. Ya kenapa lagi kalo bukan karena Piala Eropa dan Piala Dunia. Tahun ini juga gue masih heboh kok sama Piala Eropa. Cuma gue udah nggak nulis di sini lagi.

Gue baru bikin blog baru, khusus ngebahas bola, namanya "Si Komentator".

http://sikomentator.blogspot.co.id/?m=1

Jadinya sekarang kalo gue nulis bola di situ.

Gara-gara sebulan-dua bulan lalu gue reuni, terus ada temen SMA gue yg protes, "Bikin tulisan bola kok judulnya diary?"

Ya gimana? Emang ini diary gue, isinya bukan cuma bola.

Terus dia nyaranin gue bikin blog khusus bola. Gue pikir, idenya bagus juga ya. Jadi, gue bikin lah blog baru dengan link yang gue tulis di atas itu.

Jadi gue udah nggak nulis bola lagi di sini. Kecuali curhat bola. Gue takut banget! Italia lawan Spanyol, terus nanti Jerman, terus Prancis!!! Astaga...

Jadi, kalo biasanya blog ini paling banyak posting di bulan Juni tahun genap, mulai tahun ini justru bakal sepi banget, karena gue bakal terlalu sibuk sama blog sebelah.

Tapi hari ini gue mau cerita yang masi ada hubungannya sama bola, dikit.

Jadi dari SMP itu gue punya nama panggilan 'Ronaldo' dari guru dan temen-temen gue. Bukaan! Bukan karena gue jago main bola! Tapi karena gue ngefans berat sama Ronaldo Brazil! Jadi kalo ada yang manggil gue 'Ronaldo', udah pasti orang itu berasal dari SMP atau SMA yang sama kaya gue.

Nah, satu hari, gue pernah lagi nyebrang jalan, tiba-tiba ada yang manggil, "Ronaldo!"

Pas gue nengok, sebenernya sih gue nggak kenal. Tapi gue udah terlalu akrab sama panggilan Ronaldo itu, sehingga gue refleks membalas panggilan orang itu dengan keceriaan seperti ketemu temen lama gue. "Hei!"

Asli muka gue sumringah abis, bener-bener kaya gue kenal sama orang itu. Setelah lewat beberapa menit, gue baru nyadar, itu cuma abang-abang yang lagi godain gue, karena ternyata saat itu gue lagi pake jersey Inter Milan yang ada tulisan 'Ronaldo' di punggungnya.

Bingung kali ya tuh abang-abang, ada orang digodain, malah sok kenal.

Tapi gue jadi mikir, kenapa kita harus marah ya kalo digodain abang-abang? (Kita? Gue aja kaliii)

Selama ini gue gampang banget marah kalo ada abang-abang godain. Yah, sebenernya bukan cuma abang-abang godain aja sih. Gue emang gampang marah, that's it. Hahaha.

Jadi kalo di jalan ada abang-abang yang siul-siul, manggil-manggil, biasanya gue ladenin. Gue kasi jari tengah, gue lempar batu atau pecahan beling, kalo pas lagi jalan sama anjing, gue lempar tai anjing, atau minimal gue teriakin, "Woi! Sini lo kalo berani!"

Sok jagoan amat gue! Kaya bisa berantem aja! Maklum, sindrom anjing, makin cemen makin sok jago.

Salah satu sahabat nabi pernah bersabda.. halah! Mentang-mentang Ramadhan. Nggak lah. Maksud gue salah satu sahabat gue sering banget nasehatin gue, "Lo tuh reaktif. Lo marah-marah kaya gitu tuh nggak ada gunanya. Kemungkinannya cuma dua: mereka malah makin seneng, atau mereka marah terus lo malah dikeroyok. Lagian mereka kan nggak berpendidikan, jadi maklum lah, mereka nggak tau kalo itu salah. Mereka cuma pingin bersenang-senang."

Sahabat gue itu ada benernya. Bener banget malah. Cuma gue bebal aja.

Tapi hari ini tiba-tiba gue jadi inget kejadian 'Ronaldo' ini gara-gara disuruh meeting pake jersey, dan gue nemu jersey Ronaldo ini di lemari.

Intinya, ya udah lah. Bawa asik aja. Dulu ada seorang cewek hot dan cerdas banget yang sangat gue idolakan, yang selalu ambil segi positif dari digodain abang-abang. Setidaknya itu artinya kita masih menarik atau setidaknya masih keliatan cewek dan masih muda lah. Iya dong! Pernah liat nggak ada abang-abang berani godain ibu-ibu?

Happy Birthday Me!

June 11, 2016

So, it's my birthday again. Guess what the world gave to my birthday! Yep! Euro Cup 2016!
Well, it is officially started on June 10 there. But it's already June 11 here, and I'm getting ready to watch the first match!

Pasien Nyebelin

Senin, 6 Juni, 2016

Akhirnya udah bulan puasa lagi. Selamat menunaikan ibadah puasa ya, bagi yang menjalankan. Gue sendiri nggak puasa nih.

Jadi gue tuh sakit dari hari Jumat kemaren ini. Jumat malem itu gue demam, panas tinggi banget sampe bener-bener nggak bisa tidur. Gila! Gue lupa kapan terakhir kalinya gue pernah sakit separah itu! Gue emang bukan manusia paling sehat sih. Bisa dibilang, gue cukup sensitif dan penyakitan. Tapi biasanya, kalo gue sakit, gue masih bisa makan, masih bisa bercanda. Malah biasanya kalo gue sakit, gue makin banyak makan. Tapi kemaren ini gue sampe nggak bisa makan men! Semua makanan rasanya jadi kaya sendal dikecapin! Jadi, bagi teman-teman gue yang suka berteori "Tari mah, sendal dikecapin juga doyan," anda salah, teman. Ternyata gue nggak doyan rasa sendal dikecapin!

So, kemaren ini gue sakit parah banget sampe udah nggak bisa makan, udah nggak bisa bercanda! Yang gue masih bisa apa? Ngamuk! Semua orang kena semprot. Aduh, maaf banget yah guys!! Jadi selama ini kalo sakit, nggak enak badan, pusing, sakit apapun, biasanya gue diem-diem aja. Gue justru paling males kalo ada yang tau kalo gue sakit, terutama keluarga gue. Tapi baru kali ini gue saking sakitnya sampe jadi manja. Tapi karena gue sebenernya terlalu gengsi buat manja, jatoh-jatohnya gue marah-marah ke semua orang. Aseli yah, kelakuan gue udah kaya kakek-kakek di panti jompo.

Jadi, pagi-pagi gue udah maksain diri jalan ke circle K depan komplek rumah, nyari madu sama obat penurun panas. Gue jalan udah kaya zombie, bodo amat. Terus gue nanya, "Mas, ada madu?" Entah gue yang lagi sakit sehingga pronounciation gue nggak jelas, atau mas-masnya goblok plus budeg, dengan muka dongonya "Hah? Baru?" Gue ulang lagi "Madu." Terus mas-masnya masih bingung. Wah! Gue langsung naik pitam! "MADU! HONEY! Itu loh, cairan lengket yang dihasilkan sama LEBAH! M-A-D-U!"
Maaf ya mas-mas circle K.

Yah gitu deh, mas-mas circle K bukan satu-satunya korban. Sahabat gue aja baru pulang dari Jepang, udah gue resein, gara-gara gue sensi, pas gue izin absen, WA gue di-read doang. Bilang "Get well soon" kek gitu, sok-sok perhatian dikit kenapa sih! Terus gue ngambekin satu keluarga gue, bilang kalo mereka semua nggak ada yang peduli. Pokoknya drama abis! Lo tau Modern Family? Nah, gue pas sakit kemaren tuh kaya Cam udah tua di panti jompo. Rese, ngeselin, super drama!

Mungkin gue satu-satunya orang sakit yang nggak bikin simpati kali ya. Harusnya sih pada kesel tuh sama gue. Apa jangan-jangan makanan yang disuguhin ke gue kemaren-kemaren ini bener-bener sendal dikecapin?

Happy Birthday Geminis All Around the World!

Gemini (May 23 - June 20)

All the Top 3 Best, Coolest, Most Legendary, Most Popular Bands in the World have at least one Gemini personal!

LGBT

Selasa, 5 April, 2016

Orang-orang udah pada heboh LGBT dari kapan, gue ke mane aje? Hari gini masi ngomongin LGBT?

But believe it or not, isu ini ternyata masih hot aja di antara teman-teman gue.

Gue sedih, malu, dan kecewa sama banyak orang di Indonesia, bahkan sebagian besar orang-orang di lingkungan terdekat gue.

Beberapa bulan yang lalu masyarakat sempet dihebohkan dengan berita pelecehan sesama jenis yang dilakukan salah seorang selebriti Indonesia. Gue sendiri baru denger beritanya, mungkin sekitar sebulan-dua bulan setelah kejadian. Tiba-tiba gue sadar, kok di mana-mana jadi banyak yang ngomongin isu LGBT? Tiba-tiba kata LGBT seolah jadi kata paling populer, topic pembicaraan paling hot di mana-mana.

Gue sendiri kaget dan jijik sama si oknum pelaku pelecehan. Oke, mungkin gue nggak lebih baik dari dia. Tapi gue benci dengan apa yang dia lakukan. Dia pantas dapat hukuman berat.

Tapi yang bikin gue kecewa, kenapa terus kejadian itu jadi dihubung-hubungkan sama LGBT?

Ya, emang sih, kebetulan aja pelecehannya terjadi antara sesama jenis. Tapi kan nggak cuma cowok gay yang melakukan pelecehan. Banyak banget kali, cowok heterosexual yang melakukan pelecehan sexual, bahkan pemerkosaan ke cewek-cewek. Tapi nggak ada tuh yang mengangkat isu ‘Melarang Hubungan Heterosexual’, atau mengucilkan semua cowok heterosexual.

Kasus itu sendiri sudah terjadi entah berapa bulan yang lalu. Tapi sampe sekarang, orang-orang di sekitar gue masih aja terus-terusan ngomongin isu LGBT. Dan ngomonginnya tuh bukan dalam konteks yang positif dan membangun, tapi malah negatif, penuh ketidaktahuan, ketidakpedulian, dan salah kaprah.

Banyak banget cewek-cewek yang ketakutan sama cewek lesbian, maupun cowok-cowok yang ketakutan sama cowok gay.

Wah… pede banget lo pada…. Emangnya cowok gay bakal suka sama semua cowok? Emangnya cewek lesbian bakal suka sama semua cewek?

Walaupun misalnya emang pernah ada satu-dua cowok gay atau cewek lesbian yang deketin lo, terus kenapa?

Gue pernah dideketin, ditembak, bahkan tiba-tiba dicium sama cowok yang gue nggak suka. Terus cowok-cowok ini harus gue apain? Gue harus takut sama mereka? Gue harus jauhin mereka, cerita ke semua orang kalo mereka ini pernah deketin gue, pernah nembak gue, pernah mau nyium gue, terus gue jadiin bahan bercandaan? Lebih parahnya lagi, apa gue harus takut sama semua cowok heterosexual, hanya karena mereka penyuka wanita? Belom tentu juga kan semua cowok suka sama gue?

Buat cewek-cewek di luar sana, apa lo takut sama semua cowok yang pernah suka sama lo tapi lo nggak punya perasaan yang sama? Ya, kalo orangnya freak atau terlalu agresif, emang malesin sih. Tapi lo nggak jadi takut atau geli sama semua cowok kan?

Cowok-cowok pun gitu. Kalo lo ditaksir sama cewek yang lo nggak tertarik, apa lo bakal langsung ketakutan sama semua cewek? Ada satu-dua cewek naksir lo, bukan berarti semua cewek bakal naksir sama lo.

Soal pelecehan, pemerkosaan antar sesama jenis, emang itu nggak terjadi di antara para heterosexual? Berapa banyak perempuan korban pemerkosaan di dunia? Pelakunya bahkan bisa kakak laki-laki atau bapaknya sendiri! Jadi, perempuan harus takut sama semua laki-laki? Semua laki-laki harus dimusuhin?

Gue kenal beberapa lesbian, gay, bisexual, dan transgender, bahkan di lingkungan kerja gue ada cukup banyak gay, dan sejauh ini, mereka semua sopan dan nggak pernah mengganggu atau merugikan gue maupun orang lain di sekitar mereka. Seperti orang yang dilahirkan sebagai ras minoritas, memeluk agama minoritas, orang-orang ini hanya kebetulan saja punya orientasi sexual minoritas. Selebihnya mereka nggak ada bedanya sama lo semua. So, who are you to judge them?

Yah, gue nggak berharap tulisan ini bisa bener-bener ngebuka pikiran orang sih. Paling orang-orang bakal menghindari ngomongin atau bercandain LGBT di sekitar gue.

Midnight Rant to Georgia

2am

It's amazing how my brain could keep blabbering and blabbering, telling stories in all possible ways, when I'm far away from my computer. It's like my brain telling me over and over again to reach my computer right away, and write this and that, but right after I finally decide to make such an effort to reach my computer.......poof!

It's gone!

The inspiration has gone, the stories gone, the words are gone. Well, good bye guys! Call me maybe?

And then I always end up playing minesweeper for hours, waiting for my inspiration to come back, or at least gimme a call.

I was trying too hard to sleep. And I couldn't, because my brain kept telling me stories. It's two o'clock in the morning and I just couldn't sleep! I woke up very early yesterday, haven't got any other sleep for the rest of the day, I worked, I thought a lot, I ate a lot, didn't drink any coffee...so.. Shouldn't I be sleepy right now??


I tried to read a book, but it didn't make me sleepy. It made me bored instead. As much as I'm a talker not a listener, I'm a writer not a reader. I'm too snob to appreciate other people's work. No, Puzo, Pram, and GRR Martin, of course I'm kidding. I love you guys!
What I meant was, as someone who likes to talk and write, I don't listen and read as much as I'm supposed to.

I really need to sleep! I gotta get up really early tomorrow. If I couldn't sleep until three, I wouldn't sleep at all.

You know what? Let's tell a bedtime story.

Once upon a time...
No, not that kinda bedtime stories. Let's just tell one of stories of my life.

When I was little, I used to think that, when a girl turned into a woman, she'd automatically give birth to a baby or more. That scares the s*** outta me. I was afraid because I already knew there were some women die giving birth. So, when I was little, I thought I was going to die giving birth to babies by the time I turned into a woman.

But then I found out that, to be able to have a baby, a woman need to f**k a man. Problem solved. Don't f**k.

No, kidding again. I wasn't that bright. I was a kid. I didn't know anything about f**king. All I know was man and woman get married and they'd automatically have babies. And that was the time I decided not to ever get married.

And now I'm finally sleepy. Good night fellas!

And here I write about Love again

I wrote this on V-day but just got chance to post it on my blog because I finally got the internet connection. Happy belated valentine's day guys!

Sunday, February 14, 2016

So today started with the most hilarious birthday surprise I’ve ever been involved in. (If you’re here to read about the love, just skip to the 6^th paragraph)

Today is one of my best friends’ birthday. He was my friend from internship program from campus, and now also a friend in my team at the office. He’s like the best boy friend any girl can ever imagine. Well, I have two other very close boy friends that I love very much, and I’m not saying that this birthday boy is better than them. It’s just that, the other boys don’t have good girl friends as much as the birthday boy. Seriously, this guy has lots of girl bestfriends and he treats all of us like his girlfriend. And he’s not gay. And not a player. And never complained anything about being in the friend zone. I have proofs for all of those statements.

Yeah bro, if you read this blog, you’re the nicest person ever! You deserve all the best things in life. And happy birthday again.

Anyway, the surprise didn’t go as planned… at all. We, the surprise team were at McDonald and was going to surprise him at his house. But, we didn’t, and still don’t have phone numbers of any of other people in the birthday boy’s house. So, we had to contact the birthday boy himself. One of us, one of my best boy friends, texted birthday boy, saying that his car got a flat tire and he needed to borrow some tools. We were supposed to wait outside his house, but he already walked to McDonald instead. We were panicking. Well, funny kinda panic, not panic panic.

At the end, he caught us hiding, red-handed, and I got to bring the cake to him with all the candle still off. We had to light the candle in front of him! OMG! It was a total failure, but it was funny and memorable. I imagine if the surprise was successful, it would’ve be just like some birthday surprise SOP. You know, cake, candles, those things.

(Yeah you can skip to this part)

And it’s valentine’s day. So my friends were talking about valentine, dating, love, and that kinda stuffs.

I was kinda offended when one of the men said “It’s a problem for a woman to be single.”

Yeah, as a proud feminazi, of course I’m offended. How come is that a problem? Does he think that women need men more than men need women? Men need women more than women need men! Hell! Women need women more than women need men! I do.

Well, ignore my feminazi biased opinion. But seriously, how many single daddies can raise their children without getting next wives?

Okay, feminazi biased opinion again. But point is, is that why men and women get married? Because they need each other? Because they can’t live alone? Because human can’t live alone?

The whole who-need-who-more idea kinda scares me. It doesn’t always feel good being needed too much. I’m already afraid of needy partner. But lately I started to feel scared of needy friends too. I was scared that one day my friends need me more than I need them. I’m needy myself. I’m needy to my brother and sister, and I know it’s not a good thing.

I once wrote about relationships and advantages. It’s easy to call someone ‘taking advantage’ from you when they want your money. But if they want you for your funny jokes, for the joy of your companion, for the happiness of having your presence, aren’t those ‘taking advantage’ too?

I just realized something. Most of our relationships are based on needing each other. We wanna stay with our family, our friends, lovers, children, because we need them and they need us. Because human can't live alone, because we don't wanna grow old alone, and stuff.

At some point, one of us needs the other more than the other one does, and sometimes people just leave. And some people can’t live without their certain people, and get depressed when being left alone. It’s scary for me.

As John Lennon once said, “I can be alone without Yoko, but I just have no wish to be. There’s no reason on earth why I should be alone without Yoko.”

There.

I want to spend my life with someone that I don’t need and doesn’t need me. We would spend the rest of our life together, not because we need each other, not because we can’t live without each other, not because human can't live alone, not because we're afraid of being old and alone, but simply because we want to be with each other.

Now that’s my idea of perfect true love. Well, that, and a couple of rings with “My Sun and Stars” written inside his and “Moon of My Life” inside mine. What? That’s not cheesy! That’s ‘Game of Thrones’!

Short Notes: Me and Puberty

February 7, 2016

In my puberty years, I was 14 or something, the first time I found oil on my head. I thought I was gonna be rich. Nah, of course I'm joking. I freaked out, I thought I was gonna die. Yeah, I wasn't that bright afterall. Wait, nobody said I was? Yeah, whatever. Point is, my mom already told me about the bleeding and all the sexual-related puberty stuffs. But nobody ever told me that my hair's gonna start producing oil. The kinda oil that isn't gonna make you rich.

Potong Rambut

Minggu, 10 Januari, 2016

Akhirnya, setelah sekian lama, gue potong rambut juga.

Yah sebenernya sih udah agak lama, beberapa hari ada lah. Cuma nggak mau spoiler aja sebelum potongan rambut baru gue ini diliat sama orang-orang yang gue temuin secara rutin. Ya kalo mereka baca blog gue sih.

Udah lama banget gue nggak potong rambut. Kenapa? Karena menurut gue potong rambut itu agak ngeselin. Ngeselinnya itu, kita kehilangan sesuatu, dalam hal ini rambut, tapi kita harus bayar. Padahal, tuh rambut nggak lama udah numbuh lagi, dan kita mesti ke salon lagi buat potong rambut.

Nggak lah, gue nggak kesel beneran.

Tapi serius deh, gue tuh emang paling males ke salon. Nggak tau ya, suasananya malesin aja. Ibu-ibu, mbak-mbak, banci salon bergabung dalam satu ruangan, ketawa-ketawa, ngegosip nggak jelas, terus kalo ngajak ngobrol omongannya nggak pernah bermutu. Maaf ya gue blak-blakan aja ngomong apa yang gue pikirin. Bukan berarti itu bener, tapi itu pendapat gue.

Gue paling suka kalo yang motong rambut gue orangnya pendiem, nggak ngajak ngobrol sama sekali, tapi kerjanya bagus. Kaya yang motong rambut gue kemaren ini. Orangnya diem, tapi tetep ramah dan sopan, terus perfeksionis banget. Top deh pokoknya!

Jadi, gue jarang banget ke salon. Mungkin rata-rata setahun cuma tiga atau empat kali, kecuali nemenin seseorang yang gue kenal.

Gue jarang potong rambut. Tapi, sekalinya potong, harus ekstrim. Biasanya gue nunggu sampe rambut gue udah panjang, baru potong jadi cepak. Iya dong, udah bayar, ngapain kalo nggak ketauan abis potong rambut? Masa potong rambutnya dikit-dikit? Sekalian ekstrim lah!

Rambut gue sih nggak pernah yang panjang-panjang banget kaya Rapunzel gitu. Jangankan Rapunzel, sepanjang Pocahontas aja nggak pernah. Rambut gue tuh sepanjang-panjangnya, paling sepanjang itu loh, cewek-cewek yang suka selfie dengan caption “short hair don’t care” padahal rambutnya nggak pendek sama sekali, bob aja nggak. Ya, kali aja cewek-cewek “short hair don’t care” itu tadinya rambutnya sepanjang Rapunzel kali ya. Jadi dipotong se-Pocahontas aja kayanya udah pendek abis.

Jadi, emang rambut gue nggak pernah panjang-panjang banget, tapi setidaknya cukup lah untuk bikin orang kaget pas ngeliat rambut gue tiba-tiba udah cepak.

Tapi sebenernya rambut gue begitu-begitu aja sih modelnya dari dulu. Kalo nggak cepak, seleher terus pake poni, kalo nggak gondrong gimbal ngembang.

Jadi kemaren ini gue sempet kepikiran pingin model rambut pendek yang beda dari sebelumnya. Gue pingin kaya cewek-cewek jaman sekarang, yang pinggir-pinggirnya cepak abis, tapi atasnya masih agak panjang, model Rihanna gitu. Tau nggak rambut Rihanna kaya apa? Lo liat deh banci-banci salon sekarang rambutnya kaya gimana. Nah, kaya gitu.

Tapi kalo gue pikir-pikir lagi, males ah. Rambut-rambut gitu kan mesti pake gel. Kalo rambutnya gampang diatur sih jatohnya bagus. Nah rambut gue gimana? Rambut gue kan suka berdiri di saat harusnya tidur, dan suka tidur di saat harusnya berdiri. Nanti gue potong rambut model Rihanna, malah jadi Hitler, kan nggak lucu. Apalagi kalo sampe jadi Gogon.

So, buntut-buntutnya gue bondol biasa aja kaya sebelum-sebelumnya.

Self Portrait by me, posted in @alavishpirate Instagram.

Sebenernya sih gue emang paling nyaman sama rambut pendek. Kenapa?

Pertama, jelas, praktis banget, nggak ribet. Nyucinya gampang, nyisirnya gampang, nggak perlu diiket-iket, digulung-gulung. Duuh! Gile bener! Sebelum gue potong rambut ini, gue udah gerah banget karena rambut gue udah bener-bener awut-awutan, diiket lepas-lepas melulu, mana Jakarta semakin hari semakin panas! Udah gitu, tiap cuci rambut, pasti rontokan rambutnya nyumbat saluran pembuangan! Males banget dot com lah pokoknya!

Ke dua, gue nggak perlu bingung rambut gue mau diapain biar rapi. Yah, masih masuk ke alasan praktis juga sih. Rambut gue itu kalo panjang nyusahin banget. Udah kering, keriting, ngembang, pake ada yang berdiri-berdiri pula! Liar banget deh! Kalo orang-orang suka punya bad hair day, gue nggak pernah punya bad hair day. Gue punyanya good hair day. Dan itu jarang banget. Setahun cuma tiga-empat kali, tiap gue abis dari salon. Nah, kalo rambut gue pendek, lumayan lah, setidaknya sampe beberapa minggu ke depan, rambut gue masih beradab.

Ke tiga, banyak yang bilang kalo muka gue emang lebih cocok rambut pendek. Banyak orang bilang gue emang lebih cocok punya rambut pendek, keliatan lebih cantik, muda, seger, dan lain-lain lah. Pokoknya gue rambut pendek tuh kaya cewek-cewek lain pake jilbab: otomatis dipuji “jadi lebih cantik”.

Tapi, ya, seperti hal-hal lainnya di dunia ini, punya rambut pendek juga ada kekurangannya.

Pertama, maintenance-nya harus lebih sering. Kalo rambut udah panjang, Mau nggak dipotong berbulan-bulan pun begitu-begitu aja keliatannya. Tapi kalo rambut pendek, panjangan dikit pasti udah keliatan banget berantakan. Nah, masa-masa numbuhin rambut dari pendek ke panjang itu lah, masa-masa yang jahiliyah banget!

Ke dua, gue takut dikira jago main bola! Gue kan suka main bola ya. Tapi masalahnya, gue nggak jago. Nah, kalo gue lagi pake rok sih, rambut cepak gue bisa keliatan feminine. Kalo gue pake celana, baju bola pula, udah kaya mas-mas banget! Nah, biasanya, orang kalo ngeliat ada cewek bentuknya kaya cowok, otomatis ekspetasinya tomboy, sporty, jago olahraga. Kalo tampilan gue udah laki banget, terus main bolanya cemen, kan malu cyin!

Ke tiga, kalo biasanya gue jarang pake make-up, jalan seenaknya, suka pake celana, kelakuan nggak dijaga, dengan rambut cepak, mau nggak mau gue mesti pake make-up, pake rok, jaga kelakuan, dan jalan dengan gaya secewek mungkin. Kalo nggak ntar gue dikira mas-mas.

Iya, gue emang suka sok pede. Tapi sebenernya gue sering insecure juga sama tampilan gue. Padahal sih, kalo gue ketawa atau tereak juga jelas banget lah kalo gue cewek. Tapi kan nggak mungkin tiap ketemu orang gue ketawain, apalagi gue teriakin.

Dan gue bukannya nggak suka pake make up ya. Cuma emang gaya make up gue itu 'no-makeup' makeup, alias natural, alias “I woke up like this”. Tau kan, cewek-cewek yang suka sok-sok “I woke up like this” padahal dandan abis gitu. Tapi kalo gue “I woke up like this” beneran, “I woke up like this” yang semalemnya abis party-party sampe hangover gitu.

Masih soal potong rambut, gue punya pengalaman yang nggak akan gue lupain seumur hidup.

Jadi, ceritanya, gue itu dari lahir rambutnya udah lebat banget. Aseli, kasian nyokap gue. Ibu-ibu hamil biasa aja udah menderitanya setengah mati kan. Nah ini bayinya berambut. Bayangin nggak tuh? Di perut ada rambut! Gatel men!

Tapi kedua orangtua gue bangga banget sama si bayi berambut ini. Saking bangganya, gue nggak pernah dibotakin dari gue lahir sampe gue SMA! Iya, sampe gue kelas dua SMA, sampe gue akhirnya penasaran. Semua orang pernah botak pas masih bayi. Masa gue seumur hidup belom pernah botak?

Maka, di kelas dua SMA, gue memutuskan, “Botak ah!”

Gue nggak ke tukang cukur. Apalagi ke salon. Gue ke kamar mandi, pintunya dikunci, terus gue potong rambut sendiri pake gunting kertas. Ngaco ya? Alhasil, keluar-keluar, bukannya botak, rambut gue malah nggak karuan bentuknya. Pitak di sana-sini. Dan bokap, nyokap, dan adek-adek gue langsung heboh. Apalagi, sebelum gue potong itu, rambut gue pas lagi panjang-panjangnya.

Bokap nyokap gue shock banget, kaget, agak-agak marah tapi mau ketawa. Akhirnya gue dipakein kupluk, dibawa ke salon yang inisialnya RH, yang logonya huruf R, di Pondok Indah Mal 1, gue inget banget! Gue udah ngotot minta digundulin sendiri di rumah pake cukuran listrik. Bokap gue nggak mau. Bokap ngotot kalo rambut gue masih bisa diselamatkan, dibentuk jadi apa kek gitu. Di salon R itu, bokap minta tolong sama hairdresser nomor 1, yang terbaik di salon mahal itu. Tapi bahkan hairdresser terbaik pun udah nggak bisa nyelametin rambut gue. Karena di beberapa bagian, rambut gue udah bener-bener gue abisin!

Akhirnya, gue dibotakin juga, seperti saran gue pada awalnya. Bedanya, kalo saran gue dibotakin sendiri biar gratis, kalo ini, karena dibotakinnya sama hairdresser nomor 1 di salon bergengsi, maka harganya 104 rebu! Gue sampe nggak pernah lupa harganya! Waktu itu tahun 2003. Untuk ukuran tahun segitu, 104 rebu untuk potong rambut itu udah termasuk mahal loh! Ini botakin!

Bokap nyesel, plus masih kaget juga karena gue nekad. Tapi begitu sampe rumah, bokap foto-fotoin gue. Yah, gitu lah orangtua. Mau marah karena anaknya senakal apapun, buntut-buntutnya kenakalan anaknya diabadikan juga, dan diceritain ke semua orang dengan bangganya. Yah, karena kenakalan gue cuma ngebotakin rambut sih. Kalo gue make narkoba, gue nggak yakin gue lagi sakaw dipotret-potret sama bokap gue terus dipamerin ke temen-temennya.

Besoknya, gue bikin heboh satu sekolah. Dan sampe sekarang temen-temen SMA gue manggil gue Abot, alias Astari Botak. Yang pertama ngasi nama adalah sahabat gue, yang sering gue tebengin ke kawinan itu loh, yang dulu gue sering numpang makan di rumahnya. Jadi kangen gue.

Inget-inget bro en sis, sekali lo pernah botak, nggak peduli sepanjang apapun rambut lo, predikat botak akan lo bawa seumur hidup lo! Tapi gue nggak nyesel sih. Lumayan lah setidaknya ada sesuatu dalam hidup gue yang bisa gue ceritain, dan jadi cerita juga buat orang-orang yang kenal gue.

Yang parah, kepala sekolah gue marah-marah. Marahnya ke wali kelas gue. Di depan gue dia cuma senyam-senyum sambil ngelus-ngelus pala botak gue. Katanya, dia khawatir kelakuan nyeleneh gue bakal ditiru sama adik-adik kelas gue. Waktu itu gue kelas dua. Gue pikir, nggak mungkin lah Pak, ada-ada aja deh! Eh, tau-tau bener, nggak lama setelah gue botak, ada adek kelas gue yang botakin pala juga. Waduh! Ya udah sih, Pak. Emang ada hukum yang ngelarang botakin kepala?

Balik lagi ke potong rambut kemaren ini, yang sempet bikin gue deg-degan kemaren adalah reaksi nyokap gue. Beberapa kali gue mangkas rambut ekstrim dari gondrong ke bondol, reaksi nyokap ganti-ganti. Pertama, pas gue SMA itu tadi, reaksi nyokap kaget dan ngomel-ngomel. Kedua kalinya pas gue kuliah semester 3, reaksi nyokap malah seneng. Terus berikutnya nyokap kaget en ngomel lagi, terus seneng lagi, pokoknya gitu aja ganti-ganti. Kalo sebelumnya ngomel, berarti berikutnya hepi. Kalo sebelumnya hepi, berarti berikutnya ngomel. Nah, masalahnya, gue lupa pas terakhir kali gue potong rambut nyokap hepi apa ngomel. Ternyata terakhir hepi. Karena kemaren pas gue pulang dengan rambut bondol, nyokap kaget. Nggak ngomel sih, kaget aja. Masa dikira gue potong sendiri. Ya kali!

Jealous

Kamis, 7 Januari, 2016

Lo pernah jealous nggak sih?

Kalo jealous sama pacar sih gue nggak pernah. Jealous sama adek, bokap, nyokap, sahabat, sering. Kenapa? Karena kalo pacar kita naksir orang lain, tinggal ganti pacar. Kalo bokap gue lebih sayang sama adek gue, nyokap gue lebih sayang sama adek gue, adek gue lebih sayang sama temennya, masa gue mau ganti keluarga? Gimana caranya? Mau minta diadopsi sama Angelina Jolie juga kayaknya gue udah ketuaan.

Anyway, gue itu nggak pernah jealous sama pacar gue. Bukan karena gue nggak sayang. Tapi logika aja. Kalo emang ada yang lebih baik dari gue, ya kenapa dipaksakan? Toh kalo gue nemu yang lebih baik juga gue pasti pilih yang lebih baik. Semua orang juga pasti gitu! Beneran! Lo nggak? Halah! Jujur! Buktinya setelah ada gojek, lo udah males kan naik ojek pangkalan?

Kalo lo bilang lo udah nyaman, dan nggak tertarik nyari yang lebih baik, ya berarti lo udah dapetin yang terbaik. Yakin, kalo dia bukan yang terbaik buat lo, lo nggak mungkin nyaman sama dia! Bukan berarti dia sempurna dan nggak punya kekurangan. Tapi kekurangan-kekurangannya dia itu udah jadi pelengkap yang justru jadi salah satu faktor kenapa dia tetap yang terbaik buat lo. Asek!

Oke, tapi sebenernya gue bisa ngomong gitu karena selama ini gue belom pernah ngalamin diselingkuhin, atau pacar gue naksir cewek lain, atau pacar gue ditaksir atau dideketin sama cewek lain. Jadi kalo ada temen gue yang jealous sama sahabat pacarnya yang lawan jenis, atau curiga pacarnya naksir orang lain, atau marah-marah karena pacarnya selingkuh, pacarnya direbut, dan sebagainya, gue selalu bilang ke mereka, ngapain dipikirin? Sederhananya, kalo sampe pacar lo masih bisa naksir orang lain, berarti lo belum yang terbaik buat dia, dia pun belum yang terbaik buat lo. Mungkin ada sesuatu yang masih bisa lo perbaiki. Mungkin lo kurang perhatian sama pacar lo. Mungkin kalian kurang komunikasi. Coba aja diomongin dulu, dicari solusinya. Kalo emang udah nggak bisa diselesaikan, cari yang lain aja. Gampang kan? Drama banget sih lo?

Anjir. Nggak sensitive banget ya gue?

Nah, tapi baru-baru ini gue akhirnya ngerasain di posisi seorang pacar yang jealous. Gue bukan sebagai pacar, dan gue juga nggak lagi berurusan sama dunia perpacaran. Gue lagi jomblo men! Eh, promosi?

Jealous gue ini emang nggak ada hubungannya sama sekali sama pacar-pacaran. Tapi posisinya sama persis. Seolah gue punya pacar, dan gue curiga banget kalo pacar gue ini lagi dideketin sama orang ke tiga, dan gue jealous banget sama si orang ke tiga ini, dan gue sangat curiga kalo pacar gue ini nanggepin si orang ke tiga. Posisinya mirip kaya gitu. Bukan, gue bukan jadi ojek pangkalan, dan orang ke tiga ini bukan abang gojek. Tapi posisinya mirip-mirip lah.

Wah! Ternyata rasanya emosi banget men! Kesel! Asli! Ngata-ngatain orang drama! Makan tuh logika!

Iya asli gue kesel banget. Gue mau ditikung men! ‘Pacar’ gue ini positive banget nanggepin si orang ke tiga. Gue udah kesel banget, merasa dikhianati, kecewa, mau marah-marah, mau konfrontasi, mau ngambek seumur hidup. Tiap denger nama dia disebut-sebut tuh gue langsung panas! Telinga gue kaya kebakar rasanya! Mana gue ketemu dia pula! Ih! Males! Mau basa-basi juga males banget, bete, kesel deh pokoknya!

Tapi terus gue inget lagi sama logika gue sendiri. Men, ngaca deh lo! Coba intropeksi diri, apa kira-kira yang bikin ‘pacar’ gue ini bisa direbut? Gue inget, emang gue nggak memberikan yang terbaik buat dia. Gue pernah bikin dia kecewa. Jadi wajar kalo begitu ada orang ke tiga yang dikira lebih baik dari gue, dia berpindah ke lain hati. Terima aja, jadiin pelajaran. Dan kalo emang lo sayang sama pacar lo, ya lo relain lah dia dapet yang lebih baik dari lo. Kalo lo nggak rela, berarti lo nggak sesayang itu sama dia. Yang artinya lo nggak pantes dapetin dia anyway.

So, akhirnya gue temenin lah si ‘pacar’ gue ini bersama si orang ke tiga. Gue ngobrol-ngobrol, tetap bersikap baik dan ramah, dan untunglah gue memutuskan untuk tetap bersikap baik. Ternyata gue udah suzon saudara-saudara! Gue salah faham. Orang ke tiga ini sama sekali nggak mau nikung gue. Kebetulan aja mereka ada kepentingan bersama, jadi janjian ketemuan. Dan gue tau lah, sekecewa-kecewanya ‘pacar’ gue, dia bakal ngasi kesempatan bagi gue untuk benerin kesalahan gue.

Penyayang Binatang

Rabu, 6 Januari, 2016

Baru-baru ini gue dikirimin link sama sepupu gue, tentang penyiksaan manusia terhadap beruang kutub. Aduh, kasian banget! Padahal beruangnya udah jinak dan percaya sama manusia. Beneran sadis! Kalo bisa lo jangan baca deh. Kalo ada yang ngirimin link-nya, langsung sign petition aja. Terlalu sadis!

Gue itu penyayang binatang. Saking sayangnya sama binatang, nyamuk aja gue ajak tos. Nyamuk, kecoa, lalet, suka gue ajak tos. Kadang-kadang pake raket listrik, biar lebih cetar.

Nggak lah, gue bukan penyayang binatang sama sekali. Gue cuma suka sama binatang yang bentuknya bagus.

Sebenernya, kalo lo mau dibilang penyayang binatang, lo nggak boleh pilih-pilih. Gampang buat sayang sama anjing, kucing, marmut, kelinci. Tapi lo bisa nggak sayang sama kecoa? Pernah nggak lo bantuin kecoa melahirkan, terus lo gendong-gendong anaknya?

Nggak usah seekstrim itu juga sih. Tapi contoh yang paling sering gue liat itu orang yang suka anjing, tapi nggak suka kucing. Atau sebaliknya, suka kucing, tapi nggak suka anjing. Atau suka binatang tertentu, tapi sama binatang lain bisa sadis.

Tapi gue paling terganggu sih sama orang yang suka kucing dan benci anjing dengan alasan agama.

Lo suka kucing, karena ceritanya binatang kesayangan nabi, tapi lo benci anjing, karena miara anjing dosa. Heh! Apanya sih yang dosa? Liur anjing najis? Cuci! Kelar! Mau tau yang dosa apa, kalo lo mau bener-bener ngikutin agama lo, yang dosa tuh pacaran! Pegangan tangan aja udah dosa itungannya. Nah ini…

Gue bingung banget tiap ada cowok pedekate, terus tiba-tiba nanya, “Kamu kok miara anjing sih? Kan orang islam nggak boleh miara anjing?”

Lah lo ngapain pedekate sama gue? Ta’aruf sana!

Eh gue bukan mau ngehina agama apapun ya. Nggak ada ajaran yang gue salahin. Tapi lo jangan double standard lah jadi orang. Kalo lo berani nasehatin orang buat nggak miara anjing atas ‘dalil agama’ (yang gue nggak pernah denger ada ayatnya), setidaknya lo liat lah diri lo sendiri udah bener apa belom? Ngajakin anak orang jalan berduaan, tapi sok-sok suci ngomongin soal agama. Please deh!

Lagian, anjing kan mahluk ciptaan Tuhan juga. Masa iya, Tuhan ngelarang manusia untuk berbuat baik sama sesama ciptaan-Nya? Bunuh anjing, nyiksa anjing, nimpuk anjing, nelantarin anjing, dapet pahala gitu? Yakin lo? Belajar agama lagi deh.

Masih soal pecinta binatang, dulu gue pernah mau dicomblangin sama cowok. Temen gue ini promosiin temennya. “Lo kan pecinta binatang. Lo pasti cocok deh sama dia! Dia tuh juga pecinta binatang. Di rumahnya tuh isinya binatang-binatang langka yang diawetin.”

What?

Oke. Gue speechless.

Bingung kan lo? Sama, gue juga.

Happy New Year 2016!!

Saturday, January 2, 2016

Happy new year 2016!!

Yeah I just got a chance to finally write my blog. I was supposed to write this yesterday, obviously. But damn! Everything didn’t go as planned. I started the new year unproductively.

Okay, before being all complaining, I think I should have mentioned my new year resolution first. Or maybe some little review of my 2015 before that.

How was 2015 for me?

Well, it’s quite satisfying. There was a very big change in the very beginning of the year, and it costs me some loss. But that’s just because I haven’t done things effectively. And there was some big, bad, awful incident with that Karina bitch. Yeah she stole my money. Big amount of money. And you know, I have a group of girlfriends. Something happened. I think it was because of me. And we didn’t hang out as much as the previous years. Also because each of us is getting busier with our own life. My boyfriend in 2014, I broke up with him in 2015. We’re still friends tho’, and we both agreed that it was best for us, no drama.

But, overall, 2015 was my best year so far. And to remind that before 2015 happened, 2014 was my best year, I can say, it’s a success already, because it means the year is always better than the previous year. In 2015, I’ve spent more times with people I love the most. It started with a little adventure in the very first day of 2015. I remember on January 1, 2015, I took the commuter line to the very end of the line, together with my parents and siblings. The trip wasn’t going well as we planned, but it was fun because we were together, and it was a very new thing for us. Yeah, a lot of new things happened to me last year.

A lot of new things happened in my business community. We had a new, so much better vendor, we moved to the new, so much better office, and we have a new, so much better system. There are some new things in the business and all were very good. I also made more than I did in 2014. Thank God!

And also, my business community introduced me to this so called ‘Escape Room’ thingy. Wow! It was really, really fun! I love it! It’s one of the best new things I’ve tried, not just last year, but for my whole life. Seriously! I love it! I played it 3 times last year. First on early May with my community, second with my lovely siblings and their lovers, and the last time was with my community again.

Another new thing is a visit to Greece! OMG! It was like a dream! Greece was the second country I want to visit the most after Italy. I’ve visited Italy twice and I haven’t been satisfied. I mean, I was very happy every time I visited Italy, but there are still so many place in Italy that I still need to visit. But I’ve visited Italy as I’ve always wanted. And in 2015, finally I’ve visited Greece as I’ve always wanted! The goals were visiting Japan and Greece. But well, of course I wanted to go to Greece more than Japan. No offense. It’s just personal taste. I love anything European more than anything American or Asian.

I went there with my family. I haven’t been to Europe in 2 years. So I was very happy when after all the dramas and the nightmare, we still went to Greece anyway. I went there with my parents and my sister. We went to Delphi, Athens, and Santorini. Both are very different places, both are great! The view in Delphi and Santorini were awesome! The temples and museums in Athens were awesome! The foods were great! The people were very, very nice, friendly, and helpful! The language… oh! Lovely! But, the best part is seeing my family happy. They look very, very happy. It was the best family trip I’ve ever had so far. I wish my brother was there tho’.

About my brother, and also my sister, great new things also happened to them in 2015. Finally my sister got a better job with better income, environment, and new experience in the job. So proud of you, sister! And my brother, finally he finished his own house! He started to live there in June or July 2015 I think. And the second great thing for him is, finally my parents gave him their permission to get married with his lovely girlfriend! We are all very happy! I mean, my brother really has a great taste in women. His girlfriend is totally a perfect wife-material! And we are already like a family. So I’m happy with them that finally they can get married. I don’t wanna talk too much about it tho’. I just wish everything goes well.

Speaking of getting married, one of my closest cousin also got married last year! OMG I’m so happy! They live in their own house, so, with their house and my brother’s house, we are now able to hang out till really, really drop! Yeah, before there were houses, we always hang out in café, and it’s either too far from our home town or in our home town but closed before 11 pm. Sucks, I know. With the houses, yeay! We could party all night!

Seriously! Last year was full of celebrations and happy moments with my family and friends! We had a perfect little Halloween party at my brother’s house, sleep over at my cousin’s house, BBQ party at my cousin’s house, Christmas party at my brother’s house, lots of birthday surprises and birthday celebrations, lots of sweet escapes, new places to visit, and the last one was the new year’s eve! I was very upset because I thought I wouldn’t celebrate with my family. My parents were still in Jogja since before Christmas. But it turned out that we celebrated together! My parents weren’t there, but I was with the Halloween team minus my BFF. Damn! 2015 was crazy! Especially with my family and my business community.

Now, what I want to achieve in 2016 are:

1) Finish writing a book and at least 5 short stories. I meant to make a short stories collection with the Great War as the setting. I was obsessed with the Great War because it has became very underrated since the Second World War started. Look at all those movie about world war. Almost all of them are about the Second World War. There are even more movies about the third world war than the Great War. So, yeah, gonna need lots and lots of Rudyard Kipling’s. And the book I wanna write, it’s still secret. I’ve told the big idea to some people since two years ago, but haven’t really start to write it.

2) I wanna paint something: something that means a lot to me, something that will make me feel totally satisfied when I finish it. I already have some ideas in mind.

3) I wanna have income 12 times higher than what I have now. I wanna pay for everything in the house, be the backbone of my family, taking care of my family.

4) I wanna visit Italy again. This time I wanna go to La Spezia, Firenze, Siena, Roma, and… that incredibly awesome Matera!! Oh God! Just to write this down my heart already pounding! I also wanna visit some other cities in other countries. But the main agenda is visiting Italy again after all these years. I friggin’ miss Italy, my favorite country ever! I speak better Italian then I did on my last visit, so…, yeah, it will be great! And hopefully, I could go with my family again. Actually, I just wanna go together, full team: me, Mom, Dad, my sister, her boyfriend, my brother, and his soon-to-be fiancé. It doesn’t have to be Italy, but I still have to go to Italy, with or without my family.

5) And…, still I wanna speak Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, and Dutch fluently! Is it possible? Yes it is! Come on! Be optimistic!

There! Those are my new year’s resolutions. Now let’s ride!