Wheels and Shows

I see myself as a half-spoiled person when it comes to traveling these days. I prefer taking taxi than bus to go somewhere. Yeah, Jakarta with its overcrowded, overnoisy, and overpoluted traffic give you bigger vein on your forehead, makes comfortable journey such a delicious dream. Of course I am not always that rich to have taxi all the time (civil servant, what do you expect?), so I take the bus and the angkot.

You really experience being a very common person (read "rakyat jelatah") when you are in the crappy old bus, full of people in super various smell. Full has a new meaning for people in sardines' world. When it's so overpopulated, you wouldn't need any bar to grab on. Just like sardines.
But, some really interesting shows often happen in the bus. Things that paint a smile on your face, even a giggle. Always find good things to enjoy, man.

Here is one of the moments. It happened couple years back when I was still in Jogja, at the time I was learning to play guitar. Learning to play guitar means that your ears are getting more sensitive with tunes, whether you realize it or not. Somehow you know when something is wrong with your opening tune (when you're singing).
So, my friend and I sat on the chair...or bench?...right after the bus door. When we arrived at four junction near Gramedia store, the bus stopped for a while, waiting for passengers. Soon after that, three men got into the bus, the street musician - pengamen. They played in front of me. It seemed okay when the music was on. It was not okay when the vocalist started to sing. His tune was a bit high, which I assumed he wouldn't make it with the chorus. And he didn't. As an emergency procedur, he lowered his tune to fit the music. I couldn't help it, I giggled. The vocalist then giggled too and that ruined their song. Hahahaha... He said "Mbak e ki ngguyu barang, aku dadi melu ngguyu" and we laughed again.
Beside common street musician (solo or band, with guitar plus other isntruments: violin, harmonica, [home made] drum) other types of street musicians are:
Karaoke on Box Artist - man or woman, sometimes alone, sometimes with partner, holding a box of tape recorder, playing dangdut or pop songs, mostly (sad, miserable, gloomy) dangdut songs - with a bit echo sound, then they sing without expression, or maybe a little sad, miserable, gloomy expression like the song itself. "Masak masak sendiri...nyuci baju sendiri..."
Traditional Instrumentalist - Whether you are in group or just solo. The instrument might be a flute, a rebab (don't know the English word), kecapi or harpsichord, kendang, or maybe combination of some of those. Since the instrument is traditional instrument, you might wear traditional outfit too to perform totally. "Yen ing tawang ono lintang cah ayu..."
Then we have Bottle Caps Shaker -you just need a stick about twenty centimeters, put two or three nails on it filled with some bottle caps. Shake it and clap it, then you hear "ecrek ecrek" or "icrik icrik", a suitable music for all kind of song. Want a happy song? Shake it fast. Want a sad song? Shake it slow. Want a rhythm? Shake it with some combinations. "Aku tak mau kalau aku dimadu..."
Hands Clapper - you don't really anything to jazz up the tune, just use your hands as your instrument. The cheapest way to go. And if you can't sing, you can read poetry.

Musician is not the only "show" we have on the bus. You will also have a menu of traders, selling things from food, drinks, clothes, books, hair accessories, kitchen stuffs, even home alarm with live manual. Some of the traders advertise their goods while offering them to the customers and others gives the goods to customers first to be examined, then advertise the products. Either first kind or second, the price of the products are usually not more than ten thousand rupiahs. A reasonable price of common people like us.
Anyway, I always wonder about the spirit and the strength of those traders. They get in and get off the buses maybe more than seventy two times everyday (I assume they work 6 hours a day and five minutes for each bus) or even more, saying and offering the same thing, over and over again... Dude, that' tough for me (that's why I couldn't imagine myself as direct salesman/woman. I ever tried once - offering service to be English tutor for kids. Knocking every door in the neighborhood, with many kind of responses...most of them full of dissapointment... It killed me!).
Hey, you know, I kind of notice the way the traders/musicians talk. One specific word I hear lately is the using of -nya in the end of the sentence. "Assalamu 'alaikum, selamat pagi Bapak sopir-nya dan para penumpang-nya sekalian. Sebelum-nya, mohon perhatian-nya dan maaf bila mengganggu perjalan-nya. Perkenankan-nya kami memperkenalkan-nya sebuah produk-nya yang darimana-nya banyak guna-nya. Bapak ibu-nya, adik kakak-nya, silahkan-nya dilihat dulu, harga-nya cuma lima ribu-nya..."
What a grammar!

Baby Dayu's Out

On 9 August 2008, my niece was born. It was the same time I took IELTS test for applying DAAD scholarship. All that morning I felt my stomach felt horrible, combination of being nervous, digestion problem and weird feeling. Maybe my weird feeling was a soul-contact between sisters when she was laboring.

I was so happy when I received a photo of a very beautiful baby - Malfa Dahayuna, right after she was born. She's just so gorgeous, with prefect chubby cheeks as her family - Chubby Cheeks Clan (Suku Pipi Tembem). Here, I proudly share her pictures with you..

Took a bath - a week old

Dancing with grandpa - 40 days

Ready to rock - 40 days

Snow White - 4 months

Fire-cranker

I saw something unusual yesterday morning. Some men wore certain shirts and hats; and they seemed having coordination in the Block I lobby. I had never seen such uniform, so I guessed there was a special occasion. When we were having routine job in the office, at about 10.00 a.m suddenly one of the men - on special shirt - came and checked things out. Something was about to happen. I knew that. Then I remembered that my friend told me there would be a fire simulation, so I confirmed. "Will it be fire simulation?" I asked. "Just wait and see". Okay, that meant yes.
"When you heard the smoke bomb, run!" Mr. BS said that when I asked what time would it be. He clearly knew when the simulation began and didn't want to tell. But seeing the inspection I guess it wouldn't be long. I started to put my notebook in my bag and be ready to scram anytime. Just couple seconds after putting my notebook into my bag, my boss asked to borrowed it. I had told him that we would have "fire" soon, but he insisted. So I reluctantly gave it to him. I didn't know how the simulation would be, who knew there would be water spray that could damage my notebook. It's still a precious thing for me, man, since it took me a year to pay it (psstt...) and just got it finished couple months ago.
Not more than five minutes later, I heard something exploded, the alarm rang, and men - on special shirt - gave instruction for us to get out froum our rooms and went through the stairs. I also heard a taped voice in the speaker, telling us to go out quickly through the stairs and not taking the elevator.
My boss, who sat still and worked didn't seem to take it seriously about the situation, untill I came to him, a little uneasy. "Sir, come on, there's fire! Let's ruuuun!" Though I sounded that I cared about his being, actually I only cared about my notebook. Hehehehe. Maybe it's just a simulation, but hey, we couldn't be that careless to leave that expensive and important stuff (once again, for me) in the room. Perhaps if there was really a fire, then I wouldn't that mind leave everything and just run. Safety is the first. But since it's still doable to gather my things, then I would do it.
So I took my notebook from his desk, still with his two flash discs on it and ran. "My notebook's softcase!" I said before leaving the room. "Okay, okay, I'll bring it," My boss replied. He might be very annoyed with my attitude at that time, I could see it on his face. "I still need your notebook. You get back here as soon as this thing over," he added. Hehe..
People had already left their offices when I came out. Silly thing I forgot to take my cellphone in my drawer and I had to go back. When I was out for the second time, the hall was already full with orange smoke, a thick smelly smoke. It's worse than mosquito's smoke attack, man. But I think real fire would be a lot worse.
The alarm sound and smoke covered Block I and Block IV building. We were walking to the yard for evacuation. If this was real, I don't think we would be that calm. The canteens wouldn't be that crowded. And those ladies wouldn't speed off to Tanah Abang for brief shopping.
I went to parking lot in front of Block IV where peole had already been there. I saw something pretty different view. There were many young man and woman, looking fresh and chic outside. Well, that's something. So that's how those people looked. You see, Block IV was the place for private company and offices, so the employees somehow had different look-type with us, civil servants. Hahahaha... I was just kidding... no, it's true. We're a little bit different indeed. Just like "Metropolis" versus "Margipolis" (comes from the word 'marginal') - Hey, I do make new words here. Well, it's my blog, I can say anything I want..tehehehe. I don't mean to generalize. Young civil servants are fashionable too now, but still most of us are just ordinary.
All right, back to the fire. People were taking pictures, even taped it on video when a strong spray of water from a hose came out of one of the window, along with the orange smoke. Maybe it was supposed to be the "fire". I sensed something was missing there. But what?
Then the sirene wailed and came a fire truck. That's it! When there was fire, there should be fire truck coming in short time. But at that time, it was not that short. If it was a real one, there would be dead people already. Where the heck have you been, dude?
Those firemen pulled off the hose from its place and dragged it to the hydrant. After filled with water, they aimed it at the fake fire. Some people cheered like seeing a mortal combat show between good water and bad water - the fake fire. Some others just made comment "They sure help the cleaning service to clean that unreachable wall" and "Hey, look at that, some people are lucky to have their cars washed for free. Wish I put my car there this morning" when the water hit some cars in the parking lot.
Yeah, adults enjoyed this occasion as two hours free time from work, but I did see a kid cried. He asked to his father to take him home. He was really scared. Eventhough his dad and somebody told him that it was fake, he didn't buy it. If I were him, I would be afraid too. Not with the smoke on bad water, but with Godzilla.
No coherence with previous line, huh? I don't care.
I heard this simulation is regular - once in a year maybe, but in a few years back there was also a simulation to safe people from higher floor, using a special equipment for people to glide from windows to the yard. That would be really fun...

My "Great" Great Granny

There's never a wish, better than this, if you only had a hundred years to live (Five For Fighting - 100 years)



I believe that I'm one of the lucky people regarding family. I still have a great granny. Until yesterday...

At around 08.30 a.m, my great granny from my dad passed away (Tuesday, 7 October 2008) after almost a hundred years living in this world. I don't know exactly how old she was, but my dad is 51 years old, so Mbah Dok (my great granny's nickname) would possibly be more than 90 years old.

She was a very tough woman. She still recognized us in the last days of her life. I visited her this lebaran day. She had already been in bed for about 40 days after she fell down in the bathroom. She didn't eat at all, only took water. My dad, my sister, my brother and I held her hand when we greeted her. She said to us that it was the time for her to go and she asked us to let her go. And we said we did.


I was sad hearing that, but I thought that she had had her journey well. She did a great job nurturing all of us. You see, she had been through a lot, more than most people could bear. She had nine children but only two survived. They died when they were little. She experienced pains, losses, disaster, problems, any kind of things for ages and yet she still got up and fought. Even for her age, she was still taking care of her grandchildren and great grandchildren when they were in trouble. She's just a hard bedrock, man. Like no bullet would make her get shot, no bomb would make her explode, no nuclear weapon would make her surrender. Remember the battery rabbit? I guess my great granny is like that one.

Yeah, when you have been through so much in your life, anything that happens to you is just another day. Just bring it on!

Mbah Dok, thank you so much for what you have done for all of us.
I will keep you in my heart always.
LOVE YOU...

Deadliner

Afternoon, dude. How's your fasting day? Keep the spirit high.

Today (September 3rd) I am so thrilled. Finally I manage to send my scholarship application after getting through a long winding road. Such a journey, man, I tell you. Yeah. Tomorrow is the deadline and the last document was signed this morning.
To tell you the truth, I'm kind of a deadliner (I don't know if this term is common, coz I make it myself. You know what I mean.), but it doesn't mean that I prepare those requirements the last days. Though somehow some problems always occur to test my patience and my emotion that I have to run here and there like crazy dealing with them.
It is hillarious how pieces of papers could make you go beyond reason. Just one of the example: I had non-stop journey just to get letter of recommendation from my academic supervisor and copies of certificates & academic transcript in English. I was in Gorontalo for work till Wednesday. The flight was at 11.20 a.m from Gorontalo, reached Soekarno-Hatta at about 4.30 p.m. I came home at 5.30 p.m and went to Gambir railway station at 7.00 p.m. I took Argo Lawu train, started from Gambir at 8.45 p.m and reached Tugu station in Jogja at 5.30 a.m. My friend picked me up to her house (to take a bath and had breakfast) then she took me to my campus at about 9.00 a.m. I stayed in campus till 2.30 p.m to get the documents. A little bit anxious because my English version certificate was not copied yet and you know, sometimes we couldn't get signature in one day. If I didn't get it that day, I didn't think I had enough time to submit my application. But, luckily I got them. Yaay, alhamdulillah.
So, after spending almost a whole day in campus, I went to LBA to meet my friend (and to take a bath). My cousin picked me up at 7.00 p.m to take me to Tugu station. I went back to Jakarta at the same day I arrived in Jogja, at 8.00 p.m. Two nights in row I slept on the train, which I couldn't. Friday morning, 5.30 a.m, I reached Gambir and an hour later arrived at boardinghouse. Did some cleaning and then I went to work. Yeah.
Hectic day has been my favorite eventhough I go crazy passing it. It always means something. That we really could go beyond.

E-Jacked!

Yesterday I got email from myself (through milist), entitled "I NEED HELP URGENTLY", saying that I am in London and having trouble...blah..blah..blah...then finally asking for money.
Riiiiiiiiiggghhht.....!
It is such a rubbish, dude. First of all, I don't write in English that well. Second of all, if I were in London... Oh, who am I kidding. It could be a possibility, but not at this moment.
Anyway, this e-jacking is annoying. Like someone breaks in to your house and mess up with your stuffs. Good thing I had cleared things up with some friends who got my "fake e-mail" and renew my password.

Intermezzo.
Last Saturday, August 9, 2008, I took IELTS test in Raffles International Christian School, Pondok Indah. It began at 09.30 a.m and ended at 12.00 p.m for the written test (listening, reading and writing), then continued by speaking test conducted by native speaker. My turn was at 04.00 p.m. Yeah, I waited pretty long for fiveteen minutes of speaking test. I haven't known the result yet. Hopefully I don't get a lousy score coz it cost me $ 150. Yeah, for that amount of money, you don't want to have low score, right? Hehe.
You know, it was my first time taking IELTS and also first to know the kind of questions. Man, it drove me nuts coz it's different with TOEFL, which I was familiar with, so in the first of five minutes each part I was just staring at the question sheets and went like "Okay...what am I doing here?" Then when the timer said "You've got twenty minutes more", I yelled in my heart "What, are you kidding me?! I havent' finished reading the the first text yet!" Waaarrrrggghhh...!"
A little thing I remember about IELTS (I took academic IELTS).
Listening. Usually in TOEFL, for all sections, it's multiple choices, whether you choose A, B, C or D. In IELTS, there are multiple choices and filling the blank with words. So if your ears are off for a while, you'll be lost.
Reading. There are some types: matching main idea to the paragraphs, matching statement to character or items, filling the blank with words. The first two using set alphabet.
Writing. Therea are two sections. First section is analyzing chart/graphic/picture. Second one is giving opinion about something.
Speaking. There are three sections. First one is introducing yourself. Second one, talking about a topic the native speaker gives you. Third one is giving opinion of further questions given by the native speaker.
The IELTS score, if I am not mistaken, range from 1.0 to 9.0. Or does it start from 0? Well... I guess I have to check that out first.

Only talking about it gives me a little headache (I am kidding. I have headache coz I had luch quite late so my brain hurt).

Okay, I have to go now.
Oh, almost forget. In that very day, Si Cantik was born at about 09.00 a.m. Yaaaay!
Now, I'll see you again, dude.

The Reunion

Hi, Dude. How's life going?
Yesterday, July 30th 2008, I went to Cafe Pisa, Setia Budi Building, to meet my high school friends. It's my first time to go there. As usual, I took a cab to take me coz I had no idea where the place was. Though I've been living in Jakarta for a couple years...still I am blind as a mole if you ask me the way. So, when you say "You should take the bus number T from Y, then take bus number W until you reach Z, get on to angkot number Q to get into X", then I will say "Can I just take a cab?"
I don't know, maybe my brain is not ready yet for the mapping. Or I'm too lazy to memorize. Or perhaps I'm just slow.
Anyway, we met. When I got there, it was already merry. I was glad seeing them. New looks, new styles, new way of talking. People do grow..hehehe. I was so amazed.
You know what's funny. My junior in college, whom I went there with, was a bit surprised seeing "The Bloranians". She thought that all Bloranians are old-fashioned (ndesit) people like me..hahahaha...then she noticed that it was so wrong. Bloranians in Jakarta have transformed into "shopiscticated" people. That's normal coz big city is, indeed, influencing people to get better (looks, styles, ways). The conclusion is, maybe I am the one who's not normal, coz I'm still trapped in vintage world. Wakakakakak....!
Well, everyone has their own color. I like mine, so I enjoy.
Yesterday's reunion is another open door. New agendas are waiting to be done. And most important thing, old friendship will blossom again. Nice seeing you, guys. Keep in touch!

Let it out

There are times in work where I meet my enemy, dead end. Actually, there's no dead end as literally said, but the situation that feels like one. You know, two jobs in one bottle where the output comes from the same neck. Which one should be out first while the deadline only knows one line.

I had one just recently and it drove me nuts for a few days. Like you wanted to scream to your heart's content. You raced with yourself. It's hectic, but fun. It's overwhelming, but challenging.
I knew that I would eventually finish them. That's one of small lights that kept me going. I had to make decision, though, to have priority.

Now, I need a vacation (n_n)

Bluffer Muffler

I dont' get why some boys put that super freaky noisy muffler on their bikes. I really don't. What are they, tone deaf? I have a friend whose bike has that kind of muffler, and everytime he starts the engine it roars like horrible screaming contest. Not to mention the smoke that comes out of it. So, the muffler is basically a chimney with that loud lousy sound. He says it's cool. I say it's stupid. But then again, everyone has their own opinions....and ears.

Every night, on the street - in front of my boarding house - once or twice... or more.. in every hour I hear that sound from the dark world. I wonder if they are in competition coz they speed up. You see that, horrible sound in high speed? Makes me think what a creepy dough if they crash. It's public highway, man, not racing circuit.

Talking about motorbikers in Jakarta is talking about daredevils. Often when we raise our hands - crossing street - they're speeding up instead of slowing down. Like NO means YES. And they're making the sidewalk becomes red carpet where they can ride along in style. Like PEDESTRIAN means third class citizen. Hello......??? Maybe we should build fence along the sidewalk... or hedgerow. Hey, dude, this is my territory and that's yours. Keep it that way!

Dear old friends # 2

"I will love you, baby, always. And I'll be there forever and a day...always. I'll be there till the stars don't shine, till the heavens burst, and the words don't rhyme. And I know when I die, you'll be on my mind and I'll love you...always (Bon Jovi).

Yeah. My friend, Wiwin, is a big fan of Bon Jovi. She has a nickname "Wiwingiovi". She knows all about Bon Jovi's songs and perhaps she memorizes all of them. And her signature even has Bon Jovi element in it. Wow.

We were in the same class in the whole three years of Senior Highschool. In the second and the third class we were deskmate (Is there such word?? Well, you know what I mean). Some people thought we were sisters, even some considered that we were twin. Ha ha ha. Maybe we looked alike. Almost same height, same weight, same long hair, same style, but of course she's prettier and smarter, especially in math, physics and chemistry. I was the dumb one, I admit...hehehe. I remember when our Biology teacher asked us whether we were sisters and we said no, then he asked again "Are you sure?". Once we ever came to the library in different time and the librarian said "Hey, you were just from here". "That's not me."

It's amazing when we find someone who has the same "unique" hobby. I used to write down the films and the casts I saw in a book. I had already got more than a thousand names when I knew that Wiwin did the same thing. So it became a challenging hobby, list as many as films and casts. Whenever I saw films I always brought a note and wrote down really fast when the casts were shown. My parents thought I was nuts. Their faces were wondering with the look "Why are you doing that stupid thing?". I didn't care. I just loved to do it. And funny thing was, my siblings and parents sometimes helped me to remember the names eventually...hehehe (The last number of casts reached more than two thousand names).
Right now I don't write that anymore because most of the actors and actresses have been already in the list. But, I'm still interested remembering the casts of the movies. So whenever I recognize some actors/actresses but couldn't remember the names, I get really itchy. "I know that dude! But where? What's the name?". Then I think hard until I remember coz curiousity might keep me awake all night and I don't like that. I have to find the answer.

Anyway, Wiwin and I had some rituals. Every Monday after school we went to newspaper agency "Bintang" near the school to check the tabloid. If we found interesting films/pictures we bought it. We were at the phase of collecting pictures like any other teenager. It was fun.

I also bought Donald Duck magazine every Monday in that agency. It's one of my dream since I was little. In High School, everyday I got allowance (500 rupiahs). I saved it to buy the magazine and just few for snacks. My mom was angry when she found out that I spent the money for Donald Duck instead of food (I was very skinny in High School, lack of nutrition..hehehe), but when I explained that it was something that I really liked and it developed my knowledge (It really was. I remember things better- places in the world, some histories - when it's on Donald Duck hahahaha), my mom finally understood or at least accepted.

We rode bike to school. In the morning we came in different time, but when we went home we rode together. Before separating in one of junction in the market, we always did the special handshake. The order was hammer hitting, fist punching, gun shooting, nose rubbing and two fingers shaking. It was silly...but again, it was really fun!

What I admired about Wiwin was that she was smart and neat. She had beautiful hand writing. I liked it when she wrote numbers, really sharp and confident. Her hand writing was always good in any situation, even when she wrote fast, so it probably expressed that she had steady personality. On the other hand, my hand writing changed by my mood, so in one book you would see good one and horrible one, most of the the horrible one, especially when I needed to write fast. I still have that until now.
She handled things with grace and had polite languange to say. I didn't recall if she ever got mad. She was just a very nice person and great friend. I'm honoured to be her friend.

Now we are still best friend though we live in the different place. I like to keep it that way for good. Best bud's forever fella. We'll be staying in unity.

Dear old friends # 1

Yesterday, I had contact with my two dearest old friends, Etha and Wiwin, whom I haven't seen for a long time. They perhaps don't really know each other that well since Etha went to School for Nurse after graduated from Junior High (SMP I Blora) and Wiwin went to the same school as I did, SMA I Blora. But they have one thing in common, that they had colored my days and they were the special member of SHLMPJJ, an imaginary squad I made...hehehe...



I knew Etha when I was in the second year of Junior High, we were classmate. We both liked watching films on TV and somehow we bonded. We became closer when we were as one group in a competition in the class, drama/comedy competition.

It was Mrs. Indah (Bahasa Indonesia teacher) who made the competition for all of the classes in that second year. We were free to make script and choose the casts. We would perform in front of the class and she would be the judge. There would be "Best Actor", "Best Actress", and "Best Story" award (the award was just a certificate, but it was such a great recognition).



The group I had was called "Plencing" (we named it in the last second before performing), consisted of Etha, Dewi, Ulfa, Nanang, (late) Mifron and I. We had been already good friends since we mingled and played together, so it was easy to be a group. When most of the groups presented drama, we made comedy. Actually, I had made the script before the competition, so it was an advantage. With the help of the group, we recreated the acts and dialogues, to make it perfect.

I remembered doing the rehearsal in Nanang's house, how we couldn't stop laughing when we tried to record an opening of casts introduction and title, using dangdut song as the intro (I don't know the title of the song, but it said "Dua..dua..duaaa..." later on). We had prepared the wardrobe (I even borrowed my grandma's kebaya - I was the maid...typical hehe) and the properties. We made the fake newspaper and family photos too.

The title of the performance was "Hilang Ketemu Lagi" (Hahahaha... what a weird one) and it had the element of surprise, at least for one of us. We were so ready to perform that day, until something happened. Mrs. Indah wanted to have the competition in one day, but we ran out of time when we were about to perform, so she decided to have us the next day. It was a bit sad since my friends and I were ready to rock the world with acting and costumes. Mifron even put many stickers on his shirt to look more ridiculous (he was indeed). But, actually it was a good day afterall coz we would get full attention.
And the D day came. My friends gathered around the set. People from other classes also joined them to see. The introduction was disaster. Remember the recorded introduction for opening? It stuck. No sound of us (the casts) only dangdut song was heard. Everybody laughed. Finally we introduced ourselves without the tape. Shaking, man.
I didn't know what happened in detail, what I knew our performance made the class full of laughter, applause and interaction. I observed (in the middle of the play) that Mrs. Indah put down our script (she always compared the script and the play for other groups), closed the pages and just enjoyed our silly performance.
We felt the enermous of energy to make the play even hotter. There when we revealed our secret surprise. Mifron was called "Boneng" sometimes, regarding to his teeth though actually they were not that bad. So the sound of "thing" always reminded us of him. When Nanang came up with a riddle "Didemek mblenyek, dithuthuk mak thing! Apakah itu?" The class burst with laughter like a cannon ball was shot. We didn't stop laughing for so long, it dried our body fluid. Mifron was burned like a hot red shrimp! We didn't tell him that we were going to have that riddle in rehearsal. He was really punked. Totally.
I was sorry...but I enjoyed it...hehehehe... The performance was a big success. It gave us the best actor, the best actress and the best story. Yep, we got all the awards. I still keep those certificates by the way.

The girls in Plencing then became closer and we commited to be friends forever. We even made it official by signing commitment papers (my idea - again I was the weird one)...hahaha..

Oh yeah, do you want to know the answer of the riddle "didemek mblenyek dithuthuk mak thing?" It's chicken poop on the train rail (gross, huh?).

I'll tell you about Wiwin in the next posting coz the sky is definitely dark now and I have to go. See you later, dude.

Intermusic

It was still drizzling when I entered the parking lot of Railway Station Balapan Solo. I had tried to cover my legs with raincoat, but it didn't work that well.
The sound of music inside the station caught my attention. Was that a live performance that I heard? It was. A kroncong live performance right next to the waiting room. What a warm welcoming party. Marvellous!

I'm back (it's been a while...)

Hi, dude.
How's life going. Sorry, I was kind of lost in translation...literally...hehe. No, just being busy with work (excuse, huh?). But, now I'm back!

Many things happened to me these past few months and they were great (I'm so grateful everyday). One of the things was my novel was accepted and will be published soon (this very month). Yaay...!!
It's like a journey of spirit, hope, hard work, and chance. Never give up your dreams, dude, coz they might come true for Allah is so kind.

Writing is a fun thing to do. It helps me get through a lot of moments, like talking to your conscious. I have been doing it for years. I don't write brilliant scientific paragraphs, super idea, best seller book, genius script or such (not that I don't want to, I do really want to, but my brain capacity and capability is not yet sufficient...right...), just a small corner conversation that color my days. Sometimes I write for no reason. Just wanna do it.

You know what, I have been trying to make a diary since junior high, but never works until today. It only lasts a few months then I don't continue it anymore. Instead continually writing in the same book, I have another new book and start all over again. Uh huh.
But, for special occassion, for example: field work; internship; field trip ect; I manage to write in one book and I'm proud of myself for that.

Writing stories is another story. I always liked Bahasa Indonesia lesson. One thing that I really liked to write when I was still in the elementary school was telling story about family vacation. Going to Grandparent's house was always the perfect idea. I would tell that my grandparent's house was in a village pretty far from my house (even though in reality my grandparent's house was only 10 minutes trip by motorcycle). I wrote that they had a very nice little house and large yard. There would be fruit trees, big fish pond, small forest and paddy field nearby, not forgot the river. Then we would have picnic, went fishing at the pond, picked fruits, all the lovely things to do in my imagination. I never had those moments anyway...hehehe... But I enjoyed it though it was just on paper.

My turning point maybe when I was in the first year of junior high. I have to thank my friend, Elvi Fontiani, for this. One day, when we had a break after doing sport, some of us (the girls) stayed in the classroom. There I saw Elvi read something for my friends, a short story. I don't remember the story, but my friends liked it. She said that her friend made it, but I didn't believe. Her body languange didn't show that. Later I found out that she was the one who made it. She had become a short story writer and if I was not mistaken some of her stories had been published, and she joined some writing competitions too. Wow, she's great. I admired her.
My admiration turned out to be a challenge. If she could do it, so could I, I thought. Then I tried to write.

I wrote some silly stories indeed, hahaha. Martial art stories with weird-fist-names and weird-hotshot-names. It killed me with laughter when I read it again a few years after that. There was a story hero I named after my dad and there was and incident at home (I really can't tell you, coz it's really silly). I was freaking out if I offended my dad, but my mom saved me, accidentally (I didn't think she knew that she saved me), so I was off the hook...
I still keep those stories, I guess. But, I don't think it's readable anymore because I wrote it with pencil and it could easily washed away by time.

Then I wrote detective series. Thinking advance about robot competition and sophisticated gadget (sometimes I do wonder how I can write that stuff). I wrote it in A4 HVS paper cut into 4 pieces, I glued the left edge, just like a real novel. My stories went from one friend to another friend. There was a crazy moments when I even made some quizzes based on those stories, and not to mention a fan club...hahaha... oh, man. Weird huh? Yeah, junior high was a peak moment of creative craziness.

I also wrote imaginary squad-stories, consisted of some characters in the films I saw, and of course I was also the member, special member who showed up in certain events. We had great, funny, advanturous times in the neverland. I learned and developed my english that way, coz the stories were trilingual (Indonesian, Javanese, and English). Believe me or not, in some moments those imaginary friends helped me up when I was really down.

Then I write this and that until now...and later... I'm still learing and growing.

You see, I'm pretty selfish. Basically I write for myself, to be happy. But when my friends read it and they give appreciation, I am trully honoured. It's a good thing to share. But it's a better thing to inspire.

Well, I have to go now. I'm going to Solo, man. Attending my baby bro graduation and of course, a vacation. Yeah! So, see you later.