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.