Suprise!

So, yesterday my very best friend told me that she was officially engaged! How could she hide everything behind me? And, in same funny way how I keep everything from her, because I wanna make sure everything is going well. All is well I hope, now everything we HAVE TO DO is tried not to tie a knot in SAME DATE. Help me, God.

Keeping Your Holiday Sane

Hola everyone. How's your Id Mubarak's holiday? I'd like to apologize if I've said or written some unpleasant or inappropriate things directly, or in this blog, or other social media.

Mine was pretty boring. I enjoyed first two days, but after that, things became so constant, time walked sooo slowly, until I had no idea what to do.
So, when holiday almost ended, I got this discussion with a friend. She tweeted why everyone (well, almost everyone) got mad when holiday ends, and they have to start working again. I forgot exactly what she tweeted,  she thought it's fun to have a holiday between your crowded job, but working is exactly keeping her sane. Well, the point was balancing your life.

I was responding to her by saying, that it isn't working who drive people mad when holiday's over. But, separating with your beloved one. Especially for people who have to work far away from their family, it's so hard to leave their hometown and start again in far far away land. Well, how about with some people who are able to go home every day to their family. Well, it's still separating from their family for a while. Working mom, working dad, they have to "left back" their children to the sitters. A wife should sacrifice her time for snuggling with her husband. And so on.

Yes, we should get back to the first purpose why we get working, but today's discussion is about people's grumbles when holiday ends. Not life's purpose. :D

And, I don't say that the working part take no part in this holiday end's complaints. They do take part, but in my opinion, it's much harder to leave your family than get working again.

Of course, it was just an abstract discussion in that early morning. And where it went? I believed it imaged me as a qualitative hard worker, who loves her family so much. Ha ha ha..

So, as human, I think it's quite normal that you're sad when holiday ends. But keep thinking about getting holiday forever.Will you enjoy it?

Happy Friday, have a good weekend and enjoy your holiday. :)

Written in the Past

I like to write. But there was a time, when I was addict in writing. It's not big deal, I only wrote journal. I used to brought my journal practically everywhere, so when something happened, or if there were important moments, I could write them in my journal. It's kinda like photographer and his/her camera, be ready for capturing every moments in life. That was me and my journal. At that time, there were only few people using mobile phone, no pad, no tab, no notebook. I used diary and pen.
Believe it or not, I even brought it to my high school sound festive. So, when I met someone that I liked (at that time!), I could write exactly how I felt. What he wore. Explained what surrounds us.
Re-read my past journal makes me remember how a person could take your breath away so easily. How you could break down and cry just because someone ignored you. And how happy you were, when you realized he was there, inside your viewing distance.
Re-read my past journal makes me wondering how geeky I was. Imagine, a weird girl, when her friends were busy chit chat, mingling around, she was too serious writing her journal. Creepy, huh? That explains why I didn't have many boyfriends at that time. :p
But I am not regretting it. I got a full box of my journals. I've been writing them since I was elementary school, but the most productive time in my writing life is high school. Yes, love can give you huge strength and great inspiration. Miserable love, specifically. I found that I loved to be miserable. More miserable my love life was, more creative I was. I put colorful ink, created some kind of scrapbook, attached some song lyrics.
I still write. Not so much, because of limited time. And limited inspiration. And when you can pour everything into blog or  twitter, you'll forget your classic journal soon. I still have one, half-full. And hilariously, when you look at my journal now, there are only two ink colors, black and blue. No photos, no song lyrics. I used to write a long story, but now I only write short once. My journal now is full of financial planning, monthly cash flow, how much I've spent this month, and what for. Or what I should do in a year, two years, three years later.
I am not ashamed with my journals. They are my life. They are me. Maybe some experience in it are creepy, some are laughable, some are sad, some are unbelievable. But whatever it is, it has brought me here. And I'm so grateful that I've decided to copy it into writings.
:)

Picture Tells Thousand Words!

Hey!
Lately I enjoy spending time by compiling pictures. Thought I'd like to share them here, but don't laugh at them. They're just bunch of silly pictures! :D

Mirror-Capturing Series :D

Random Narcissistic Series

Series to Toba

Training Series

Training (2) series

Birthday series

Tidung - Holiday series

Selabintana Series

Hobby Series (I try to explain that I love books, travel and food a lot! hahaha.. )

Hope you enjoy! Feel free to leave comments! :D

Bittersweet Birthday

I am about to post this one in Bahasa (well, I am gonna use mixed language, but most of them is in Bahasa). I apologize but I'll be back with English in my next post.

Jadi, Sabtu kemarin adalah ulang tahun gue yang ke 23 (sigh). This year I wasn't feeling anything. Maksud gue, tau gak sih perasaan deg-degan kalo hari ulang tahun mau datang? Do you feel it? Or is it just me? :D

Apa gara-gara udah mulai tua juga ya, jadi gak ngerasa ada special feeling? Atau karena kerjaan ya ridiculously super banyak?

Tapi ternyata hari Sabtu kemarin quite superb. Gue bingung sebenarnya, gue bahagia, tapi gue juga marah. Kesal. Sedih. So, this is the story.

Jadi pagi hari Sabtu, gue pergi sama Wulan ke Depok buat nonton Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows part 2. Yeah, poor us, in our hometown, there is no cinema. At all. But, why's so sad, when anywhere and anytime you can buy pirate dvd? :D

Perjalanan ok, macet dikit-dikit, since I thought everyone were going out welcoming Ramadhan. Singkat cerita, akhirnya gue sama Wulan sampai ke Depok, dimana Wulan's boyfriend sudah menunggu disana.

Eits, where's mine?

Hal pertama yang bikin gue kesal adalah ternyata cowok gue lagi nungguin cakes delivery yang gak dateng-dateng. Jadi, dia order birthday cakes gitu, janjian ketemuan jam 9, tapi sampe jam 11 orangnya masih di jalan. Oh my God, emang dia dari luar kota gitu?

I was so disappointed. Yeah, not my boyfriend's fault, but still... Masa gue harus ngintilin Wulan sama Teguh (cowoknya) kemana-mana sih? Yeah rite, akhirnya karena si orang kue gak dateng-dateng, gue akhirnya bilang ke cowok gue, just leave that cake and cakeperson, cause I don't give a damn about it anymore. Oh, silly, but I need him more than that stupid cake!

Akhirnya sang pacar datang, perasaan gue sudah mulai membaik, trus kita makan sambil tiup lilin! Dan buka kado. *grin*

Okay, I'll admit. I didn't blow the candle, we didn't even light it on. I just put the candle for the documentation use. :D

Stupid cake! But that's the sweet of him, bring me this!

The gift from my boyfriend. Thank you, Love!

Abis makan, nonton HPDH part 2. Been waiting this moment since... I don't know. Pertama nonton Harry Potter, adalah filmnya yang kedua, Chamber of Secret, bareng Wulan (yes, dimulai dengan Wulan,diakhiri juga dengan Wulan), waktu kelas 1 SMA, and we were 15 years old back then! Amazing right? It's been 8 years since the second movie, 10 years since the first one.

The film was good. Gue nangis di beberapa adegan, tapi sejujurnya untuk Battle of Hogwarts, imajinasi gue lebih liar pas baca bukunya. Hehe, a friend said, kalo misalnya mau nurutin imajinasi gue, filmnya mungkin baru dibuat tahun 2020! Tapi secara keseluruhan filmnya sangat menghibur, kecuali bagian akhir yang menurut gue sinetron banget. :D

Thanks buat Teguh yang mau bela-belain pulang kantor mampir dulu buat beli tiket ya!

Selesai nonton, kita makan lagi (oh my God), but this time is my treat. :D

Do you notice that my friend, Wulan, wears t-shirt with number "3" on it? It was her 3rd anniversary with her boyfriend! yeah, happy anniversary. Well, it should be my 2nd anniversary too, but I am not very sure when exactly my boyfriend and me started to date. :D He insists that it was July 30th, but I am not quite sure. :p

Selesai makan gue pisah sama Wulan, karena dia sama Teguh mau berangkat futsal (eh, am I right? Lupa gw, I didn't really pay attention), dan gue mau ke rumah cowok gue di daerah Kampung Rambutan. Nah, tibalah saat-saat menyakitkan itu dimulai.

Normalnya dari Depok ke Kampung Rambutan itu sekitar 45 menit. 1 jam kalo udah ditambah macet-macet dikit. Gue udah mulai curiga pas taksinya merayap terus gak abis-abis. Biasanya emang gak kayak gitu, malam Minggu sekalipun. Kecurigaan gue mulai bertambah saat liat ada truk bawa orang-orang berbaju putih ngibar-ngibarin bendera dengan tulisan-tulisan Arab diatasnya.

Awalnya gue mikir, oh, ini konvoi orang-orang yang mau pengajian. Biasa kan, mereka kalau konvoi mau datang ke suatu pengajian (yang habibnya dari Arab itu tuh), atau mau ada acara tabligh akbar, atau apapun, emang suka rada bikin macet. Tapi biasanya gak separah ini.

Dan jreng, jreng! Setelah dua jam macet, dan sampai ke suatu persimpangan, gue lihat apa sebenernya bikin macet. Jadi ada satu jalur jalan di daerah Tanjung Barat (dari Pasar Minggu arah ke Depok) yang orang-orang itu tutup, dan mereka ngadain pengajian disitu. Iya, di jalan raya. Literally gelar tiker di atas aspal. Nutup jalan, mengakibatkan arus yang dari Pasar Minggu gak bisa lurus langsung ke Depok, harus muter di putaran Rancho dulu. Dan, stupidly lagi mereka maksa buat bikin jalan Depok ke arah Pasar Minggu yang awalnya satu arah, jadi dua arah, padahal jalan itu dari Depok udah macet parah!

Gue gak tau yang mana yang lebih stupid, panitia acara itu apa yang ngijinin acara itu diselenggarakan disitu. I didn't take any pictures, BB gw sama pacar udah mati dari kapan tau. What the hell they are doing there? Maksud gue, apa mereka gak punya tempat lain yang lebih proper apa? Mesjid? Lapangan? Kenapa harus jalan raya yang notabene adalah milik orang banyak? Kenapa harus cari pahala dengan cara menyusahkan orang lain?

Gue sama sekali gak antipati sama pengajiannya, gw juga Muslim. Tapi kalau kayak gini caranya, jangankan mau ngambil hati yang non-Muslim, gue aja caci maki terus orang-orang itu. Mungkin gue emang gak ada keperluan ya, gw lagi gak in hurry, tapi gimana sama bapak-bapak yang abis pulang kantor pingin cepet ketemu istri anaknya? Gimana sama ibu-ibu yang capek diatas motornya? Gue mulai nangis, pas supir taksi gue ngomong (padahal sepanjang jalan dia diem lho), "saya baru keluar, setoran belum dapat sama sekali, dan ini udah hampir 3 jam..". How could they do this to us?

Tapi kan cuma sekali seminggu? Atau sekali sebulan? Yeah, right, jadi kalo misalnya cuma sekali sebulan, lo gapapa nyusahin orang gitu? Kalo cuma sekali sebulan, gapapa lo ngambil hak orang lain? Kalo gitu, ijinin aja koruptor keliaran, pencuri keliaran, dengan syarat mereka cuma boleh nyolong sekali sebulan. What's the difference, anyway?

Dan akhirnya gue sampai di Kampung Rambutan dalam waktu... 5 JAM. Itu pun dengan menyemangati bapak taksi buat ambil kanan masuk pintu tol di depan Gedung Antam. Di dalam tol, gue masih liat arah ke Pasar Rebo macet luar biasa, dan mungkin kalo gue gak masuk tol, gue bakal berakhir dengan nyampe subuh ke Kampung Rambutan.

It's silly. Gue bukannya menyesali kenapa ini semua terjadi di ulang tahun gue. Gue cuma mikir, kenapa masih ada sekelompok orang-orang bodoh yang berpikiran sempit seperti itu. Kenapa harus di jalan raya sih? Pingin dilihat orang? Trus apa bedanya sama riya? Gue benar-benar ingin melakukan sesuatu, tapi gue gak tahu harus apa. Posting ini yang cuma bisa gw tulis untuk ngasih tau ke orang-orang banyak apa yang terjadi.

So that was my birthday. Sweet beginning, bitter ending. Tapi gue masih bersyukur Allah udah menjaga gue selama 23 tahun ini, dan mudah-mudahan akan begitu terus selama tahun-tahun mendatang. Amin!

It's sign for 2 and 3, my age now. 23! I am getting old! :D

Lovely Leave (part 2)

Felt a bit sorry, because I don't plan this holiday very well, but I was quite satisfied with the result. I was only hanging in Jakarta and around after going back from Tidung. My next stop is Jakarta Book Fair in Istora Senayan. For me, it's like a heaven, seeing so many books from many publishers, sold with cheap prize, and good discount! I didn't take many pictures (of course, I was busy shopping, what do you expect?), and ended with, umm, okey.. a lot of books. Feel guilty, because even now I haven't finished all those books yet. But, anyway, why's so hurry? :)

My babies! Sorry for bad quality, I am not into photography, and only took this with BB camera. I have read The Da Vinci Code, but I couldn't stand to see that they sell its special edition with good price! :D I've read some of them, and as far my favorite is Nasional.is.me by Pandji. Inspiring book with a lot of touching quotes!

Actually I didn't buy Madre at the book fair, I got it delivered a day before, so I guess  it's still counted as holiday purchasing. :p The book is awesome, quite interesting, with an unique topics, but it will be better if we discuss it in another blog. :p

Along with the book fair, there were many events held at those weekend. There are Sound Festive, which presented Boyce Avenue. I was so tempted, but it's found later that I am too tired after spending time around, so I decided to go home. Buuut, before going home, I found JakCloth, a festive which presents local brands from Indonesia, held in Plaza Tenggara GBK. So, I thought, why not put a visit? :D

I didn't buy a lot, but quite impressed with a booth named Cotton Island. It sold many beautiful shawl, cardigan, wide leg pants, all made from cotton. Its price is affordable, and when I got there, they gave big discount. Yay!!! You can visit their shop here!

Wearing one of Cotton Island's shawl

Last day on my leave, I went to my best friend's wedding in Bogor. It was beautiful, decorated with pink and gray theme, I honestly never see people using pink in wedding before, but it's really cute. Meet some college friends there, what a perfect day! Wedding always bring me an extraordinary happiness, to see my friends grow up, and ready to start a new life, new challenge in their life!

Look at the pink ornaments behind. It was pretty. And they put a lot of pink and white roses everywhere!

Happy Wedding, friend!

Well, this is it! I guess I was having some fun, refreshed from all daily activities. Hope I can take another leave soon! And at this time, I'll make sure that I've planned it well.

Evil World

From the beginning, I know life is not always running well. There should be obstacles everywhere, every time. I've also known that people are not always be good. We've learned that people can be so evil, mean in their own way. That's all I've already learned, but when it comes down on me, it just bang! Like an unexpected event, with no sign, bad thing happens to me.

I really have no idea, why people can be so evil. When you think you've already done well, and even you've tried to achieve the best from you, there comes people who try to let you down, accuse you with something that you didn't do, spread bad word about you. How come they? There we go, to every human's weakness. Money. When it comes to money, it's like they can do whatever they like. They do everything without noticing, whether people they've blamed is have feelings, have family ( who hurt by their accusation).

Feels so sad about it, but lesson learned. I do believe in God, and I am quite sure that He will protect us, and treat us equally. So, until it comes, may the innocent be patient.

Lovely Leave (part 1)

After waiting for a year (with no holiday), finally I got permission for 10 day leave. I got many plans, where to go,what to do, too bad, because it's weekday, it's a little bit hard to get a companion. Thank God, my boyfriend was permitted to take a leave for two days, and with some friends, we went to Tidung Island in Kepulauan Seribu. It was so beautiful place, and most important is you can enjoy the trip with limited budget.

Bicycling around the island

At the bridge, which connects Tidung Island and Tidung Kecil Island

Guess, sunset or sunrise??

At the west dock, when first arriving in island

I stayed for two days and a night, it was tiring day, because we had all activities packed in two days! Bicycling, snorkeling, taking a walk around the island (you can visit the whole island by taking a walk, it's a tiny pretty island!). Well, I definitely want to come back the other holiday. :)
If you are interested, you can visit Tidung Island from Muara Angke port or Marina port. It takes about 2.5 hours to reach the island by ship. There are many travel packaging to there too.

I'll continue my holiday story in next post. Hope it won't bother you! :D