Catatan Pasca Pesta Blogger 2009: Haaahh….

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.

Samarinda: HOT!

So, there was I, in Samarinda for my very first business trip ever. *yay!* It was eventful, for sure. Slightly worse than expected, but then again – what’s good and bad…

Jakarta was already under me at 6.30am on Thursday. I flew Garuda that was suppose to depart at 06.00am, but there was a little bit of a delay, so we left at 6.25am. Not bad, I’d say, for Indonesian aviation time.. By 7.00am the food was served – I opt for omelette since I cannot eat so much so early. I was lucky to have a nice companion during the flight – a guy older than me – who was giving me all kinds of suggestion on what to do and what to eat in both Balikpapan and Samarinda.

At 9.25am I landed in Balikpapan, from which I am to have a road trip to Samarinda with my friend and colleagues who have arrived in Balikpapan 2 days before. I took a cab to Novotel and paid IDR 45k – a fixed price that was imposed by the local authority. In no time, I was in Novotel, and after repacking my belongings (that consists mainly of the event’s merchandises and photocopied documents) we left Balikpapan for Samarinda.

There were four companions – Nia, Fany, mas Iman and I. The trip to Samarinda took 2,5 hrs. A lovely trip full of laugh and a little bit of sleep.

It was a wonderful journey through the forests of East Kalimantan, with majestic trees that grows beyond our control, bendy but smooth-enough roads that make your eyes widened both because of the great scenery and the slight-sickness in your stomach. Seeing the forests and the many kinds of trees that grow there made us think of how great Indonesia is – but at the same time, how poor we are. In some areas we see smoke and burned soil and flat blackened lands. In other areas we see the fire burning the soils and the vegetations that grow above them. It was almost pathetic.