Middle Class Worker I am

Atas nama penghematan karena naiknya harga BBM yang cukup signifikan (75rb untuk segaris saja!!!). Saya bosan menghujat dan memprotes seperti orang2 lain, karena yang sudah terjadi ya sudah lah, mau diapakan lagi, jadi kenapa saya tidak mencoba untuk bersikap positif.

Pertama saya mau mengucapkan terima kasih kepada Pak Presiden dan Pak Wakil serta semua bapak2 dan ibu2 di pemerintahan sana, saya yakin anda2 juga terpaksamelakukan ini dan mendapat teknan2an dari pihak tertentu, tapi saya (ingin) percaya bahwa bapak2 dan ibu2 sekalian sebagai perwakilan kami telah berusaha sebisanya untuk memperjuangkan hak-hak rakyatnya. Saya tahu ini adalah kebijakan yang tidak mudah, tapi memang harus dilakukan. Mudah2an Tuhan masih melindungi negara dan bangsa ini. Amin.

Kedua, sayapun lalu mengambil keputusan bahwa saya tidak bisa lagi enak2an ke kantor dengan diantar supir. Saya mau membiasakan diri naik busway. Sebenarnya saya sudah cukup akrab dengan kendaraan umum yang terbukti (untuk saya) cukup efektif ini. Karena tiap pulang kantor (pada jam manusiawi) saya selalu menggunakan jasanya. Tapi saya mengakui saya manja. Karena untuk berangkat ke kantor, saya masih insist untuk diantar supir (yes I don't/can't drive, damnit! hahah) dengan 1 joki dari rumah (si mbak) dengan alasan malas kalau pagi2 harus udah "ribet2 " dan sampai ke kantor dengan aga berkeringat dan setengah ngos2an.

Akhirnya tadi pagi saya menyemangatkan diri untuk mencoba. Kali ini saya coba halte Al-Azhar (waktu itu saya coba dari Blok M tapi hasilnya kurang menyenangkan karena antriannya agak parah). Antrian hampir tidak ada, and I got in the bus in no time. Harapan untuk dapat tempat duduk memang tidak terlalu besar, tapi saya tidak terlalu pusing karena kantor saya terhitung dekat. Lalu yang bikin deg2an adalah jalan dari halte ke kantor. Ini dia bagian yang bikin keringetan dan ngos2an. Saya membuat pengamatan kecil, darimana arah sinar matahari (saya tahu memang harusnya arahnya dari Timur, but I have bad orientation) sehingga saya bisa memilih halte apa saya akan turun (sebelum atau sesudah kantor) sehingga saya bisa membelakangi matahari dan tidak harus berhadapan dgn sinar matahari yang menyilaukan mata dan membuat muka keringetan.

Matahari ternyata berasal dari arah Timur (alias arah Thamrin), berarti lebih baik saya turun di halte yang terletak sesudah kantor saya (Setiabudi) sehingga saya akan jalan kembali ke arah kantor dengan membelakangi matahari. Yeayyyyy!!!! Sampai kantor sukses dengan minyak kulit muka yang minimum dan hampir tidak berkeringat (produksi keringat saya memang sedikit), dan tidak ngos2an sama sekali. I guess my body is in quite good shape. Sepanjang perjalanan tadi I can't help thinking, "Hahahahaha so middle class worker I am". But I guess this is reality. I had been lucky, and I still consider myself lucky karena masih sanggup naik busway yg tergolong decent dan ber-AC, dan tidak perlu berdesak-desakan di bus umum lain yang menurut saya, hampir tidak layak ditumpangi manusia.

Jadi terima kasih Pak Presiden, Pak Wakil, bapak2 dan ibu2 pemerintahan. Walaupun mungkin kenaikan BBM ini tidak mempunyai dampak langsung ke bapak2 dan ibu2 (yah setidaknya bapak2 dan ibu2 tidak mungkin turun derajat dan jadi naik kendaraan umum seperti saya, kan?), setidaknya dengan naik kendaraan umum saya memaksakan badan saya untuk lebih banyak bergerak dengan berjalan kaki dan turut berpatisipasi dalam melestarikan lingkungan dengan meminimalisasi polusi udara.

When was your last good cry?

I am talking about a good, menye-menye, memble cry.. Yang sampe menguras tenaga sampe akhirnya lo ketiduran gara2 kecapean nangis. Hahahahahah.. I haven't done this for quite some time, and I finally did it 2 nights ago, for no particular reason, except for a few pending thoughts that have been at the back of my head for quite some time.. and PMS.

I was surprised how therapeutic crying could be. I woke up the next morning feeling so much better than the previous days, when all I felt was drained.. Emotionally drained..

Makanya, menurut gue, if you feel like crying, cry your ass off.. Holding back you emotions will not do you any good.

Happy crying!

Susahnya Me-maintain Pertemanan (Missing the Zsa Zsa Zsu of Friendship)

She is a long-time dear friend that I've known since elementary school. She was my soul mate, my other half. We believed we actually shared the same soul but separated in two different bodies. We were inseparable throughout the years of our school days. And then came college. We went to different campus. We met new people. New friends. And next thing I knew we were going separate ways. We grew apart. We suddenly liked different things and only had few things in common. And we used to have everything in common. And I mean everything.

Frekuensi "ngopi2 wajib" berkurang drastis. Curhat2 panjang dan catch up di telfon jadi mulai susah dilakukan. Semua yang tadinya "selalu" dan "wajib" pelan-pelan digantikan dengan "jarang" dan "gak pernah lagi". Partly, I blame my campus that is located so far away, her demanding boyfriends, my lack of driving skill, her abnon activities, my part time job, her new girlfriends, etc, etc.. But really, there was no one or nothing to blame. Tapi, bukannya kita jadi musuhan atau tidak bertemu sama sekali. We would occasionally bumped into each other somewhere. Cipika cipiki, catch up sebentar, lalu cipika cipiki pamitan karna mulai panik kehabisan bahan pembicaraan. Lalu kami juga masih sms-an, at least pada bulan april dan agustus (our birthday months). Hmm not so much talking on the phone, though. There are no more zsa zsa zsu left in us.

Sedih juga kalo dipikir-pikir memang. Tapi memang tidak ada yg perlu disesali. I guess it's a part of growing up (which sucks). I couldn't stop thinking when did we really stop hangin out or stop connecting. It's really weird how I used to be at her place and talking on the phone with her all the time, and I mean, ALL THE TIME. Friendship, I learned eventually, like any relationship (boyfriend, parents, siblings, workmates, etc) always needs work. It takes effort. And sometimes, no matter how hard you try, mungkin emang jodohnya sampe situ aja.

Belom lama ini, ayahanda seorang sahabat kami di SMA wafat. Kami janjian bertemu di rumah duka dan pulangnya saya antar dia ke rumahnya. Saya mampir ke kamarnya yang dulu hampir tiap hari saya kunjungi. Tidak banyak berubah, bahkan aromanyapun masih sama. Hanya kini tampak lebih besar karena ia menjebol dinding kamar sebelahnya. Ia lalu menunjukkan frame foto sepanjang kurang lebih 2 meter yang isinya semua koleksi potongan foto teman2nya dari masa sekolah hingga kuliah. Foto saya tampak terpapampang banyak sekali disitu, menunjukkan betapa dekatnya kami dulu. Saya menangis dalam hati. Ingin rasanya mengulang masa-masa itu. Dan betapa keadaan kini telah berubah.

But hey u know.. My love for you has never changed since God knows when we started being friends. Wish you all the best for the coming future.. Mwah.

Perfect Day Begins With Perfect Songs

Don't you love it when you play your Ipod on shuffle in the beginning of your day on the way to work or wherever you need to be that day and it just plays all the right songs so you don't have to keep pressing >> to the next song?

On the way to work this morning, my ipod did just that. And almost each song reminded of of something/someone. My 1 hour ride to the office turns into a joyride!

1st song was : "Anyone Else But You" , Michael Cera and Ellen Paige (originally by Moldy Peaches).

This one is Juno's soundtrack and I love the sounds in the movie as much as I love the movie. I played it about 7 times just because it gave the warm fuzzy feeling remembering the scenes from the movie.. I thought of my boyfriend in the "part time lover full time friend" part.. and thinking how the awkward relationship between Juno and Bleeker somehow remind me of myself and opiq during middle school days, 10-11 years ago.. kikikikikkk

2nd song was : "Merintih Perih", Sore, Ports of Lima.

I had goosebumps when I llistened to this song. The lyrics were beautiful and in a way you can feel the pain.. I replayed it about a few times and noticed the crazy flute sounds.. As I listened more to their 2nd album and saw them live at their launching recently, I fell even more in love with this band. Magnifico!

3rd song was.. "Till There Was You", Beatles.

I thought of my dad. We danced to this song once and told me that this was originally a broadway song.

4th song was "Waters of March", Joao & Astrud Gilberto.

I smiled. I remember I put this song in a video I made for parents' anniversary party recently. This part was the part when the video showed pictures of my folks wayyyyy wayyyy back then and how they met.

5th song was "Be My Baby", Vanessa Paradis

One of my morning songs. Always gets me going.

6th song was "Mr. Sandman", the Puppini Sisters

I love all versions of this song. And I love all songs by Puppini Sisters. THey're so cuteee.. 50's pin up girlss.. check www.thepuppinisisters.com.

7th song was "Ain't No Mountain HIgh Enough", Marvin Gaye

Sing a long of all timeeeeeeee...

8th song was "You Belong To Me", Tika

Again I thought of my dad. My dad became Tika's #1 because of this tracks. So happy that he could finally saw her singing it live at the anniversary party. Thanks Tikkkssssss...

9th song was "Regret", New Order

I suddenly remember a weird fact about this song. Anybody remember that this was Buana Jaka's soundtrack? A sinetron in RCTI early days about a few cool dudes (in that era) living together.. (I could only remember Bucek Depp, I think Ari Sihasale was also in it.. Couldn't remember).

10th song was "A Well Respected Man", The Kinks
another Juno soundtracckk..

11th song was "Change", Lightning Seeds
Sampe kantorrr dehhhh..

Have a nice day everyone!!!! :)