Menjadi onliners, dalam artian seseorang yang menghabiskan sebagian besar waktunya di dunia maya atau online terus, adalah satu pilihan yang saya pilih secara tidak sengaja namun dengan penuh kesadaran. Kesadaran bahwa berada hampir konstan di dunia maya punya konsekuensinya sendiri.
Sebagian konsekuensinya menyenangkan – ketemu dengan teman lama, berkenalan dengan teman baru, berteman dengan mereka yang letaknya ribuah kilometer jaraknya dari saya, mendapat informasi yang bermacam-macam, dan terlebih lagi, mengetahui bahwa saya punya berjuta pilihan yang tersedia.
Sebut saja saluran komunikasi yang bisa saya pilih: ada Facebook, blog, Twitter, Plurk, Koprol, IM, SMS, dan mungkin masih banyak lagi. Untuk memudahkan komunikasi saya dengan orang lain, saya pun sign-up untuk semuanya!! Facebook, check. Twitter, check. Friendster, errr, check. Blog, check. Skype, check, Berbagai alamat email, check.
Then in comes the problem…
Or this…
Sigh…
Ada yang punya pengalaman yang sama?
“In an absolut world, THERE ARE NO LABELS”
Came across this blog this afternoon, and couldn’t help thinking about many things that we put labels on. Girls who look “blond”, guys who looks like a “jerk”, the “gay” guy, the “bitch”, the “cheap” kid. Not to mention our stereotypes and prejudices. Girls care only about fashion, guys love soccer, teenagers are annoying, grandparents are forgetful, boring, and smelly.Oh, and things like, Americans are capitalists and ignorant, Moslems kill people, and Chinese people are cheap.
I try not to be someone with prejudice, and try to cherish differences instead of making it a big deal and a label to others. But I remember those (many) times when I laughed on Russell Peters jokes about Indian people, Chinese people, and other races.
Can I be better than that? Can we be better than that?
ps: it’s quite a good idea for a CSR program… 
So, last week I went to Singapore through Batam, a small Indonesian island nearest to Singapore, and took a ferry to cross over to Singapore. Just like most Indonesians whose primary purpose to go to Singapore is to do shopping, mine was too, except instead of for clothing I went shopping for medicine.
Worry not, it’s not for me. But for someone whom I really love *which makes it slightly more worrying…*. The person has this skin condition called psoriasis, that is not infectious, but it sure is uncomfortable. Psoriasis is very uncommon, and not many people know about it. Sometimes, like in my loved-one’s case, it’s genetic, hereditary, and stress-induced. It means that she didn’t know about it until it first appeared about 5 years ago – when she was gravely stressed out.
To relieve the condition, we did everything. She quit her job, I try to never be a problem or a burden to her, and since the medication is not available in Indonesia, we had to buy it elsewhere. When I was in Sweden, I bought it and brought it here from there. Now that I am back here, we have to go to Singapore to buy it. And so we did. It’s our effort to make the condition better.
Most of the times, the effort need not be something really big. Most of the times, it is not. It is only one little thing that you change from your everyday to make your everyday less problematic – or less bad. One who constantly put effort to be better will (hopefully, and eventually) be better. Or at least, that’s the thought behind it. As for me, my effort this time takes form in a weekly planner pad that I put on my desk.
It’s an effort to be more organized, more timely. It’s an endeavor to put my mind and my things to-do in a better order. And, ultimately, it’s a strive towards excellence. 
*amin to that..*
Ya! Itu adalah apa yang terlintas di benak saya pada hari Sabtu lalu, 24 Oktober, ketika jarum pendek jam tangan saya berhenti di angka 6, dan matahari mulai tidak terlihat lagi di ibukota Indonesia ini. Haaaaahhhh…. lega rasanya… Lega di hati, di otak, dan di sekujur tubuh yang tidak berhenti bergerak, berjalan, berlari sejak pukul 7.30 pagi. Jika harus menyimpulkan hari itu, rasanya haaaaahhhh…. terus. Mari kita lihat.
Jam 7.30 – Haaaaahhhh….!!!! Terkejut dan tegang rasanya. Melihat ada puluhan orang yang sudah sampai di SMESCO ketika saya, Hanny, dan Nia sampai di meluncur masuk SMESCO. Gileeee, pikir saya dalam hati. Dan, to my greatest relief and anxiety, the Mavericks were already there. Sudah sibuk memasang signage meja registrasi dan men-setup berbagai keperluan registrasi di 8 buah meja registrasi. You guys were great!! Cheerio!!
Jam 7.36 – Haaaaaahhhh…. Sedikit stress karena banyak yang harus di-urus, dipastikan, diperiksa, dan dikontrol. Registrasi kelihatannya bisa berjalan dengan baik dan lancar. Saya pun duduk manis di salah satu lajur, menemani mbak Yati, sambil sesekali melihat meja lain dan memastikan semua baik-baik saja.
Jam 09.15 – Haaaahhhhh…. Lapar. Perut mulai keruyukan. Tapi tidak bisa makan karena benak saya menolak ide untuk makan ketika saya sedang bekerja keras seperti ini. Pertanyaan, “Pak Menteri jadi dateng nggak?” mulai terdengar, dan saya pun mencari tahu apakah beliau jadi datang atau tidak. Keterangan terakhir, ya, beliau akan datang.
Jam 09.40 – Haaaahhh!!!! Pak Menteri sudah datang!! Mobil RI-xx *lupa nomornya* meluncur memasuki pelataran SMESCO. Berlari memberi tahu Unspun, dan Unspun took care of the rest. Haaaahhh!!! lucu bangeet!! Baru melihat ada mas Wahyu yang berseragam robot putih, alias Storm Trooper dan mas Rama yang menjadi Jedi Knight – lengkap dengan lightsaber-nya.
Uff, finally continuing the lebaran story…
Going (to) Solo has always been a part of the Lebaran tradition in my dad’s side of the family (the one in Jogja) since 1994. That year my dad’s father passed away and he was buried in Solo, in a cemetery called Astana Bibis Luhur.
I was never really close to my granddad – whom I called eyang kakung, but for some reasons I cannot quite remember, I cried when I was told that he had passed away. Maybe it’s the thought that I will have no granddad anymore after he passed away. He was my last one. He was also very kind – though he had hearing problem due to an accident a long time ago.
For as long as I can remember, my eyang kakung and my eyang putri (whom I now call eyang without the gender adjective) have always been very different. Eyang kakung had always been the softer, nicer one while eyang putri is the opposite. She is one of the strongest, strictest, most disciplined women I have ever known. And I admire her for that. But during the past 5 years or so, her memory started to wane and she’s very forgetful now.
When my cousins and I were small, we applied the Indonesian principle of “bersatu kita teguh, bercerai kita runtuh”, which means together we are stronger than alone. When we were alone facing my eyang putri, we’d be scared of her and her discipline. But when we were together, we could ease up and even make small fun of her.. That continues until now, and even applies when we were paying my eyang kakung a visit at his graveyard… *bad grandchildren!!!*
It was well into the night (at least for Yogyakartans) when we landed at the Adi Sucipto airport in Yogya. It is said to be the cultural capital of Indonesia, and it is. When we walked out of the arrival hall, the place was buzzing with cacophony of noises from babies, vendors, vehicles and people picking up their relatives who come to Yogya for Lebaran – the Eid ul Fitr holiday. It was a cool night, and as we drove out of the airport, we started feeling the cool breeze of the evening.
We plan on staying at d’Omah, a guest house that utilizes an old joglo, decorated with Javanese antiques, that lies beside rice fields in the middle of a kampung. We were already thrilled when we checked out the website (my family is very fond of antiques), and was satisfied with how the guest house really looks. It was exactly as we expected. Only better. 
What makes it even better is that even though we only rent 2 rooms (out of 3), there was no one else but us!! So we have the house for ourselves – including the swimming pool, the living room, the terrace area, the reception room and other rooms in between.
As in this area pictures speak louder than words, so here is a glimpse of it…
Then, you know how food and eating is very much correlate with your mood? Since our mood was very good once we settled in the house, we got hungry again and we ordered food from d’Omah. It turns out that the chef previously worked for Melia Hotel in Yogya – the food was goood… My favorite is Nasi Goreng Magelangan – a mix of fried rice and fried noodle.
Sekarang jam di sudut kanan laptop menunjukkan pukul 3.05 PM. Hari yang berjalan cepat, tapi juga lambat di saat yang bersamaan. Hari ini buat saya adalah hari yang tidak terlalu produktif. Atau, produktif untuk hal-hal di luar pekerjaan. Maka dari itu, hasilnya adalah di bawah ini…
*tanda-tanda kurang kerjaan, thanks to Kapkap for the lovable character!!*
Hari terakhir memang selalu mempunyai kesan tersendiri. Hari terakhir libur, hari terakhir bekerja, hari terakhir penantian – masing-masing terasa berbeda dengan hari-hari lain. Buat saya, hari terakhir selalu membuat saya merasa berada di awang-awang, mengambang di antara pikiran dan kenyataan, antara badan dan otak.
Bagaimana rasanya hari terakhir buat kamu?
Siang ini emosi serasa dicuci, diubek-ubek oleh perahu kertas dari Dee.
Kisahnya mengalun, menghanyutkan imaji dan mimpi bersama Keenan dan Kugy.
Belajar tentang cinta, tentang hati, tentang pengorbanan, tentang sahabat, tentang keluarga, tentang belajar, tentang memberi, tentang berbagi, tentang bermimpi, tentang menulis, tentang berjuang, tentang sakit, tentang menunggu, tentang diri sendiri, tentang bertahan, tentang ketulusan, tentang pilihan.
Rangkaian kata-katanya menggandeng untuk ikut bersama Noni, Eko, Karel, Remi, Luhde, Poyan, Bimo, untuk mengenal dan berada bersama Keenan dan Kugy.
Lukisan yang tergambar lewat kata-kata itu begitu hidup, membuat emosi yang berada jauh dari Keenan dan Kugy turut terayun, teraduk. Membuat sepasang mata tidak mampu menampung tetesan-tetesan yang juga merasakan.
Seperti baru saja menjalani program pencucian emosi dan perasaan dan impian.
Mengingatkan untuk berterima kasih atas apa yang ada, untuk menghargai rasa yang ada, untuk menyayangi dia yang ada, untuk sanggup merasa apa yang benar dirasa, dan untuk berani memimpikan apa yang belum ada.
Anyone?
![Job Vacancy - Maverick[2]](http://laquesta.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/job-vacancy-maverick21.jpg?w=551&h=1024 "Job Vacancy - Maverick[2]")
