after effect of being half-drunk

we had a night out last week but apparently not with a lot of money to spent on the alcohol. so we each drew 100.000 IDR (about 10 USD) and bought whatever drinks we could get. my friends are hardcore drinker--we all are--and that much money weren't enough to get us to the level we "wanted".

as usual, every time we drink we would talk about life, love life and anything revolve around it. but this time we talk about future, job consequences, how the real world is really just waiting around the corner to grab us by the throat. 

we went home feeling half-drunk, and slept.

now the consequences after that night, we each woke up the next morning felt like shit. no, not that we had  hangover, but felt like shit about our life. we didn't spent the next day together but apparently each of us had the same facial expression--empty. 

the good part was, that feeling drove us into some kind of the motivation we needed for a kick-start in our lives. and we discussed it sober last night. 

and we shall see where this would take the six of us. 

priorities.

sometimes it got mixed up.
if only people could appreciate others priorities.

a little getaway.

we've been planning to go to Floating Market in Lembang for a while, and since some of us are available (read: nggak puny kegiatan) finally we're able to leave Bandung for a while. tomorrow is also Yasmin's birthday so this "trip" was also her celebration.

Drunk words, sober thoughts.

thank you for postponing the scary world i have to face for now.
thank you for this spark you've put back in my heart.
thank you for these people you sent me.
thank you for my family.
thank you for my life.

thank you, God Almighty

Analogy

"You only get by. It's like you're charging in a different voltage. It'll be charged for a while but the battery will be broken when the time comes."

"Just imagine you're running in a zombie movie... And you're running with a satchel on your shoulder. It might contains food to help you survive, but the dead weight might slow you down. in the end you'll become a zombie too. My advise...loose the dead weight if its not worth your life."

as always, Adnan always has the best way to describe things.

Getting old is overrated.

lately i've been busy with some seminar stuff that i have to attend. frankly even though i didn't spent all of my time preparing it, i still lock myself in my dorm room just to "get busy". this cost me not meeting my friends too often. and i haven;t seen all of them in about two or three weeks.

last Monday i got a shock. somebody was actually dismissed themselves from the rest of us. without reason. i chuckled to this because i witness how they tried to hide and took a detour to get to classes just so they won't see us face-to-face. little birdie told us that they avoid us because they're offended and decided just to canceled all their classes so they don't have to see us. mind you, the classes took us 8.5 million rupiah and they want to cancel all those without the money being returned just to AVOID certain people that made them uncomfortable. 

i personally just want to bang their door and ask straightly "do you have a personal problem with me? because believe me, i haven't seen you in three weeks and you treated my like shit all the sudden." but with these people, confrontation only would bring a catastrophe. so i realized no matter how old you are, if you think you're this little kid who need attention, you'll always be that kid that trapped in that big body. 

Bye Bye Youth

my best friend's getting married!! and honestly, i'm happy for him because he married one awesome lady (the one that got my true blessing). wedding picture will come later.

to Adnan and Mila,

although you  two look so tense in the "vow" part, it's passed and we can have the wedding party soon.

Have a long and happy life together, mate!

The wound still leaves scar

She was there when all life seems to be so pure for them, 
lived the days as children and show the world how invincible they were. 

Add age and distance to the love birds, 
simply to make each meeting became important and priceless. 
One meeting and one wrong turn, 
without knowing what they had done their mistake conceived. 

Years gone by and the love still lingers. 
Something addictive that keeps him coming back for more. 

All other options seems so fake and silly compare to the one he has set his eyes on. 

The girl he hurt long time ago. 

The one that turn his life upside down and yet the only one that kept him going. 

She belongs to another man now, 
he's only a second too late to ask forgiveness. 

Not she doesn't want to forgive, she tried but failed to ignore the deepest scar he ever tore on her.

When the world became scarier

She called me and ask to meet up, 
the excitement of seeing my best friend filled the next view days. 

Over coffee she casually said she'd starts her life with the man of her dream. 
One thing missing though, her best man blessing. 

The next day i met her perfect man, 

as if a huge mirror stood in between i could see why she choose him. 

He's everything she ever wanted and needed, whilst her best man here is just an average guy to get by.

Here i am, handing her the ring for her to slip to her man's finger. 
I manage to let a smile escape. 
For one moment, sincerely, i really am happy for her.

i know, it's way too late

all my friends who are watching Korean dramas or Korean Variety show in general always reccomend me to watch running man. i tried to find the videos in YouTube but it's always cut, and i don't like watching anything not from the very beginning and incomplete.

long story short, in order to help me to get through the holidays and also my plan during Ramadhan, i decided on watching Korean dramas. The first drama i watch since Secret Garden is Innocent Man. (i watch several other dramas but they don't impress me that much so i ended up watching only two episodes)

The story line is quite predictable, but what i love about this drama are the actors. moreover, Song Joong Ki. today i found a website hosts a bunch of Asian drama with HD quality (gooddrama.net) and found running man. since i'm curious, i might as well watch it. And there he is, Song Joong Ki! so to Boy and Dian who's been recommend me multiple times about this variety show, thank you~~~ :D

Back from hiatus?

she posted this, and it's true every one she tagged hasn't update their blogs in a long time. including me. actually i'm developing my other travel blog that's been settled from January. doesn't mean i'm leaving this blog. truth is, i don't really have much to tell about my life lately. so, when the blog is ready, i'll use this blog to promote it, until then.. :)

Beijing, June 25th 2013

we went to Ikea--as always--and got lost on the way back. this is one thing i need to learn in my next trip anywhere, just because it's a two way street, doesn't mean the same bus would go in the two directions. and the worst place to get lost is China. every time i tried to google map our way, my browser always got neglected. i tried to find a way to use the Chinese browser, and it's in Chinese--duh! and i cannot make sense of any of the symbols in it. finally i used the last mode i know, ask people.

to ask in English, i needed to find somebody around my age, because they probably know a little words. i asked a couple about the bus to take us to the nearest metro station by pointing out the map i had. he said--in body language and stuttered English--"just follow me, i want to get there too". thank god, my faith in Chinese people attitude restored (after the shitty attitude i got on my first day).

we followed him and apparently, he got lost also! we took a wrong bus, but this guy tried to find our way back to the right track. in the middle of our "journey" the rain decided to fall. i covered my mom's head with the plastic bag i carried, and this guy just gave his umbrella to my mom. again, faith restored!

in the end we got into the right bus and got into the station we needed to. i couldn't thank him more for his help. thank you very much nice guy in a black shirt! may you have a long and happiness live ahead of you~~

our hotel located in Wangfujing area, which according to the travel book was one of the strategic place to stay. we strolled around and surprised because we didn't have any urge to shop! that's unusual for us. so we just souvenir shopping and bought ourselves Peking Duck as dinner.

Beijing, June 24th 2013

today we were planning to visit The Great Wall, one of the "thing to see before i die list." since it's located 2 hours away from the city, we chose the safest way we know to got there, tour. this is the first time we ever tried to be on a tour, and my review about this tour is.... it's great. it's nice to be explained about stuff from the guide in English and we just had to sit and enjoy the views without feeling we're being scammed.

 The streets of Beijing in the morning rush hour. Felt like i was in Grogol

The first stop was Summer Palace. this ten times more beautiful than the forbidden city.

then the main attraction, The Great Wall of China

Beijing, June 23rd 2013

my bucket list fulfilled one by one. i really want to see The Forbidden City located in beijing at least once my my life. Apparently once is enough for me.

once i arrived in this city, i knew that the language barrier would be hell but i came prepared, i printed out some useful and everyday words i got from a downloaded travel book and hoped this would be enough to get me from one point to another.

my first impression of this city, it's almost the same like Jakarta--especially the pecinan part such as Taman Angrek and Kelapa Gading. the only difference was the fact they already got their subway system that allows traveler to travel easily.

do i like China? maybe it's too early to judge but hey! first impression is everything, right? i like Beijing as a city, but i loathe the people. i grew up in a country where they put women first (i'm NOT a feminist, but even during the war or when Titanic was sinking the words we herd all the time was "save the woman and children first" so yeah, it's shocking) i went to Beijing with my Mom and little brother. we got on the bust to get to Temple of Heaven which located near our hotel. as we waited for the bus, there're several men in uniform that looked like army uniform also waiting for the same bus. once the bus arrived we got on it and it's already packed so we stood. along the journey, some passengers got off. my mom, who had a knee surgery and always a bit limping when she walks since then approached the empty seat located right next to her. what happened next? one of the men in uniform came from the back of the bus, spread his arm and pushed my mom aside in a horrible manner then sit on the very seat. i mean come on!! 

the city itself was awesome, all the heritage and stuff they preserved (or UNESCO preserved) was a great sight and pleasure. but honestly, the first meeting with those men earlier really put us in a bad mood.

no class tomorrow

(pictures by Nova Ridho)

i always heard about moko since i set my foot in Bandung 6 years ago, yet i never got a chance to go there. finally Dian, Bintang, Nova and I went there tonight. it was raining, ergo slippery rocky road. the motorbike fell several times, i was in the back seat of Bintang's bike (which was a motor bebek, whilst Dian sat at the back of Nova's bike--a Bajaj Pulsar) didn't take a genius to figure out which bike had more problems climbing. Bintang even slipped in a normal "on road" road taht i consider wasn't a challenge at all. 

to get to moko "cafe" itself, we had to climb (literally, the boys told us to get down and climb ourselves to the place since they're afraid if we tag along, the bike will roll over and fall, so Dian and I climbed the 45 degrees angle slippery rocky road.)

we got there in the end, ordered ourselves some food. the instant noodle here tasted three times tastier since we're too tired and hungry. and the friend banana cheese with palm sugar crumble was champion!

till next "adventure"

congratulation!!

My traveling buddy finally getting married. congratulation!! have a long and happy life together, don't forget to postpone the child until you're finish with your master degree.. :p

sukses itu..

ada teman saya yang sukses tapi humble banget. bisa nempatin diri dia tergantung sesuai dengan kondisi lingkungan sekitar. tipe yang kalau dia jalan sama teman-temannya yang belum (belum ya, bukannya tidak) seberuntung dia, dia pasti liat-liat dulu kira-kira temen-temennya keberatan atau nggak sama ajakannya. teman saya ini kerja 18 jam setiap hari, tapi kalau lagi kumpul sama temen-temannya dia bisa ngelupain kerjaannya dan justru bikin conversation tentang kabar teman-temannya.

ada teman saya yang sukses dan setengah humble. bisa nempatin diri sesuai lingkungan, ngehargain kondisi orang lain yang belum seberuntung dia. walaupun kadang-kadang kalau ngobrol masih sering lebih nekenin "kerjaan gue gini nih, gitu nih, bos gue gini nih." untungnya teman saya yang ini tuh sensitif, jadi kalau dipelototin sedikit aja dia ngerti dan langsung ganti topik pembicaraan ke sesuatu yang lebih general.

ada teman saya yang sukses, tapi lupa diri. sok bisa nempatin diri ke lingkungannya, tapi ngga ngehargain kondisi orang lain yang belum seberuntung dia. kalau ngobrol dari topik general bisa selalu berujung ke kerjaan. tipe yang lupa kalau dulu dia juga sama aja posisinya sama teman-temannya yang belum seberuntung dia, dan kayak lupa kalau semua orang itu merangkak dari bawah.

ketiga orang di atas adalah orang-orang terdekat saya. saya nggak masalah sih kalau orang-orang cerita tentang kehidupan dan kerjaan mereka, tapi seringkali yang saya sesalkan cuma satu: "saya kangen cerita hal-hal bodoh yang tidak serius sama kalian." semoga kalau saya sukses suatu hari nanti, saya bisa tetap menjadi orang yang bisa mendengar cerita bodoh, sensitif kalau ngga semua orang itu tujuan hidupnya untuk hedon, dan ngga pernah lupa bersyukur.

(woke up and cannot stop thinking about it)

Batu Karas

we made a decision to go to Bogor at first, but after thinking about it for a while, it costs more than it would if we go to Batu Karas instead. so we went. we skipped class on Thursday and headed on to the South part of West Java.

the trip was a lot of fun. the fun changed when my GPS decided to show us the wrong way to go there (none of us has gone there before, so we're completely lost).  we're stuck in someone else's village for almost three hours, got on a bridge that only capable of holding one car at a time (and we must pay 1000 rupiah for the ride), even witnessed someone pooping in the empang.

(all pictures by www.kinonia.net)

after all, we arrived 12 hours after we departed, got a place to stay and rest, so we could have all the fun the next day. ^o^

i'm lucky

to be given some more time to experience this kind of friendship. 

Sudden trip

my college friend, Bayu said he wanted to go to Cirebon to visit some rattan industries. since he promised me a long time ago to show me the industries, he asked me and some of my friends to come along. at first i hesitated because i imagined it will be a long ride and i could get carsick as usual. at the same time, i'm also curious. so after thinking about it for two days i decided to come along. together with Bintang and Dian. (seems it's always the four of us that always hanging out together, since we're the ones with the least things to do.)

we departed from Bandung at five in the morning. the road, as i expected turned out to be the one that could get me carsick but this time i came prepared (tolak angin and koyo!!)

after three visits to the industries, we headed out for lunch. we had nasi jamblang near the harbor. nasi jamblang is a dish that served on top of teak leaves. we only got the rice and sambal, for the side dish we are free to choose whatever we like and pay according to what we had.

Dian and I insisted to look at the keraton before we went home, it's just around the corner. the boys agreed since it's still noon. we parked the car and a man came to us with a parking ticket. now, i already think Jakarta's parking ticket is expensive, but this aji mumpung guy gave us the ticket with Rp. 10.000 on it. not printed, but hand written. refused to start a fight so we payed. :(

one thing that embarrassed me a lot about this country, the superstitious stupidity that tells people to throw coins in every single thing. literally. in front of every object in this keraton, stood a chair or table and several people around it banging the top of the chair saying "ayo nyawer dulu!" with a pushy manner. the whole place smell with kemenyan, and even we saw a woman that wipe one of the "sacred" object intensely like she hope she'll get some fortune out of it. i mean, come on! for crying out loud.

we decided to get out of keraton and headed home. the stupidity was unbearable, then we sat under a tree for a while just to see our surroundings. we realized the tomorrow is Maulid Nabi, and it's a ritual in this area to visit the keraton or what we call 'ziarah'. this was my first time (our first time) to encounter something like this, so yeah, we're in shock.