I am Garfield

... Garfield who never looks forward to Monday.  It's me now.  I wasn't before.

Though i never put any days as special day to look forward to or to avoid, I saw each day as new day that could always bring surprises and laughter.  The guys always had their way to make the day bright.  Especially since we got a new member few months ago.  I felt happier.  Not only because finally i had a female partner but also because we had that chemistry between each other.  And starting the day we rearranged the office layout, I felt it completed all the comfort i had in the office. 

Having a new boss from another dept didn't affect much to the team.  The disappointment didn't crack me.  Maybe because I had experienced worse situation there.  Let alone i started to get busy heading the events as well as doing routine work.  The place has become my home.  Promotion...rotation...they didn't matter to me anymore.  

As i got busy with all the loads and enjoyed the hustle and bustle with the whole gang, I started to think of my personal short-term and long-term goal.  I was confirmed that i would go back to school soon and choose applied linguistics.  Though i knew i would never like language, but being in that department was enough to give me motivation to change direction to linguistics instead of continuing to psychology.  Never came to my mind i would leave the department anytime soon.  I made up my mind, if i chose to stay in this institution then it would be in the department, no place else.  I guess being with them was one of the reasons why i could still put up with the situation.  I felt i was surrounded by brothers and sister.

But life is unpredictable...

And here i am now.  In a new place called office.  Bigger (even much bigger) responsibilities, a superior, subordinate, and no co-worker.  I know i would make an early conclusion if i say this new place would not make me feel comfortable, but honestly that's exactly what i feel now.  And Monday starts to be the day i dislike, coz i HAVE to go to the office.  

Just like tonight.  Thinking about tomorrow just makes me want to have longer weekend.  Exactly like Garfield, isn't it?

My second visit to Solo

I was so excited when I got the chance to visit Solo again. My first experience about two years ago that makes me excited. I like the place as well as the food.. Though I was not sure if I would have the chance to go sightseeing or eat the Solo delicacies, I was still excited about coming to this small town.
My coming this time is actually for work, but a friiend of mine asked me to prolong my stay since she wanted to travel to Solo too. I agreed. This was good, so I could completely concentrate on the training first.
She came on the last day of the training. She was ready with a list of Solo culinary places. We used becak to go here and there. Starting from nasi liwet, sate buntel, gule sumsum, kikil bakar, soto triwindu, Solo snacks like surabi, lumpia, Solo drinks like dongoo, asle, es beras kencur, degan... U name it. Still we had some items left.
The last day we decided to visit Triwindu flea market and keraton. We found unique items and bought somne in that flea market. Next, we went to keraton kesunanan. Initially I wanted to go to keraton mangkunegaran not to keraton kesunanan. But the becak driver told us there's nothing really special in the keraton mangkunegaran compare to keraton kesunanan. Alright then we chose the second one. Even though I've been there before, I didn't eplore the place much in my first visit. This time I went to every single room there. I even stepped on the main keraton area. We are not allowed to wear sandals there. Either wearing shoes or be barefooted. An abdi dalem approached us asking 'light questions' about us. He started to talk about the tower-like building where the kings usually meditated. First, my friend and I thought he was doing something like any othe tour guides do. But as the conversation went on, we found he was not just telling the history. It turned out to be an interesting conversation between us about the hsitory of the Javanese kingdoms, his devotion for the keraton and the royal family, his insight on what happened to the kingdoms, as well as the present condition of the royal family. He enthusiastically answered our questions with his comprehensive knowledge about the Javanese history. It was already an hour when we realized that we hadn't had our lunch and had to catch up our flights. We wished we had had more time since pak Danarso (his name) was also eager to tell us more. We then had quick lunch, rushed back to the hotel, and went to the airport by the hotel car.
I think our experience in the keraton was the pinnacle of our visit to Solo :)
Solo is another nice place I visit. I always want to go back there.


Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone

Now what?

Seperti biasa, pagi-pagi aku berangkot ria ke kantor. Kali ini ga ambil posisi di pojok, melainkan di belakang supir. Masalahnya si pak supir taruh ban serep di pojok antara tempat duduk penumpang. So, kalo mo duduk di pojokan, alamat kaki harus nangkkring di atas ban. Ogah banget. Entah karena si jok bagian pojok yg sakit hati krn gue tinggalkan or emang lagi ga beruntung aja, koq ya hari ini aku kebagian tetangga seorang bapak yg bolak2 bersin. Aku berusaha memalingkan wajah ke arah lain dengan harapan ga ketularan.

Lanjut cerita, aku nyampe lah di kantor dengan bahagia, karena transjakarta hari ini lancar n aku selalu kebagian duduk. Ngobrol sini ngobrol sana sama temen2 kantor sblm ngetik ini n itu...koq ya hidungku mulai gatel2 n aku mulai bersin-bersin.

Sampe jam makan siang, keadaan bukan makin baik malah makin parah. Tenggorokan mulai ikut sakit. Huaaaaa.....
Jam 2 siang gw dah ga bisa mikir lagi. Maka jadilah gue tinggalkan Suhu n si AJ punggung2an bdua dengan compi mereka masing2..

Barusan gue dah nenggak obat n dua biji vitamin. Blon ada tanda2 menuju hidup sehat nih. Biasanya ni obat bikin ngantuk... Tapi skrg gue koq malah susah tidur...
hiks...


- sent from E75Sunshine-

Once upon a time in an 'angkot'

Sejak aku pindah kantor, pulang dan pergi aku hampir slalu naik angkot. aku bilang hampir selalu karena kadang2 aku pulang naik taksi. Biasanya aku naik taksi kalo sedang buru2 karena harus ngajar di cabang lain, lagi gak enak badan, atau lagi gaya karena baru gajian.

Menjadi angkot passanger itu ternyata banyak dinamikanya. Aku menyaksikan dan mengalami banyak hal. Ya gimana nggak. Aku naik angkot mulai dari pool angkot itu berangkat sampe di terminal ujung rute itu angkot...heheheeee...

Contohnya aja hari ini. Minimal ada tiga kejadian di angkot yg aku alami.
Pertama, waktu berangkat ke kantor.
Seperti biasa aku akan ambil posisi di pojokan supaya ga kena ganggu2 orang yg turun naik. Yah secara rute gue dari ujung ke ujung. Kebetulan pas di sebelah kananku duduk seorang bapak dengan baju safari. Sudah menjadi hal yg lumrah kalo sebagian penghuni angkot memejamkan mata alias tidur di perjalanan pagi hari (termasuk gue tentunya). Mulai dari yg merem-merem ayam sampe yg tidur beneran. Tak terkecuali si bapak di sebelahku ini. Entah, mungkin semalam dia habis nonton siaran piala dunia kali ya, tidurnya tuh keliatan nyenyaaakkk bener. Dan karena anglot itu penuh, otomatis aku kena imbas badan si bapak yg kadang limbung ke kanan or ke kiri. Yo wis lah.. meskipun duduk jadi kerasa rada berat. Eeeehhh tapi lama kelamaan kepala dia koq makin miring ke arahku ya? dan ketika si supir ngerem...Eeeeeehhh... itu kepala si bapak nyaris nyangsang ke pundak gue....
Wah, ini kaga bisa dibiarkan duonks... Dengan sigap aku menggerakkan badan seperti mo ambil sesuatu dalam tas. Si bapak itu langsung kebangun... dan syukurlah...melek terus sejak itu...

Kedua, terjadi waktu pulang.
Again, aku ambil posisi di pojok. Angkot itu dah hampir penuh. Tinggal ada satu space pas di sebelahku. Kenek angkot semakin giat memanggil2 orang itu segra naik angkot. And...here comes the last passanger...
Seorang ibu dengan dua tas gede(Dianya juga cukup gede). dengan 'bahagia' dia langsung duduk BLEK! di sebelahku. Yah, jadilah gue tergencet di pojokan. Tangan bener2 ga bisa gerak.. :(

Ketiga, tetep di angkot yang sama
Perjalanan di jalan tol emang membuat ngantuk. Mataku dah merem... sayup2...hampir hilang....
Dueeeng...tiba-tiba aku kebangun karena di seberang dudukku, ada ibu2 lagi nelpon. Awalnya sih aku ga peduli dan ga berniat ngupingin pembicaraan doi. Tapi gimana ga peduli dan ga nguping...lah wong dia nelpon keras gitu. And angkot itu sempit pulak bukan?
Ternyata doi jualan sodara2...sepanjang perjalanan di tol dia melayani customer nya via telpon. Otomatis smua org denger lah. Tapi doi santai aja tuh. Selesai telpon...eh, ibu di sebelah dia malah jadi tertarik sama produk suplemen makanan yg dia jual itu. jadilah mereka ngobrol dan berpromosi ria. Hanya dalam beberapa menit, si ibu yg tertarik dengan produk itu langusng pengen jadi anggota. Gak cuma itu, ibu yg di sebelahku (yg telah bikin gue kegencet) dikasih brosurnya juga.

Heheheeee... dunia persilatan angkot emang rupa2 warnanya. Ini aja baru dua bulan lebih...gimana kalo....???

farewell - limited edition

Some time ago, my boss called me. She said that she would like to hold a farewell lunch for me. She would invite my other boss and my colleagues for the lunch. I told her, she didn't have to do this since i would only move my office from branch to headquarters. I didn't quit. Anyway, I never like the idea of farewell party, whatsoever. But she said it's okay to have it. I accepted her idea.

Today is the day.
Since few days ago, we've already planned to have that lunch today. I tried to change my view of this lunch. Thinking that this is just like any other occasions when we would dine out together. We agreed to leave at 10, since some of my colleagues would have task late afternoon.
Along the way things were fun and fine. We chatted and laughed. We even took pictures in the car. Arriving at the restaurant, we found convenient position to sit. My boss asked one of my colleagues to open the talk.... "Geeeee, here it comes," my mind said. Each of them said things for me, starting from the serious one to the not-serious one. During the moment, I kept taking deep breaths, trying hard to hold the emotion as my hands kept tearing the tissue. They were laughing looking at what I was doing. Until it was my turn.
Speechless....
I completely made effort to say things word per word...
They laughed and said "We finally make you speechless"
My boss teased me, "If you were a practice teacher, you wouldn't pass the training"
They finally witnessed a talkative person like me being speechless... :p

It starts to hit me

"This is really a year of hardwork," statement i wrote in my mailbox status. Right... I have been so engrossed with all the work that i barely pay attention to anything else since the end of January. I even almost forgot that i (have to) move out from my current office. It is people around me (as well as the ones in other branches) asking me questions: "When will you move out?", "You are still here? I thought you've moved out?".
"April"... "Next term"...or just a smile....my answers. I answered those questions shortly. No specific feeling inside. Most of the time, I was busy thinking and doing the work before me. I guess even my parents started to think about my working hours, "What's actually your working time?", coz i often went early in the morning and came back at 9.30 p.m.
I witnessed people in my office start talking about the plan of my farewell without a single specific feeling. Even sometimes they forgot that i was there watching them discussing what to do for the farewell. I took it lightly. I haven't packed a single stuff of mine till now, FYI.
Living one day at a time....
Then...
one by one, those loads started to decrease...one by one, each work started to reach the end...until last Friday. Done...for the time being.
Then... i realized that it's only two weeks away from the date.
Suddenly i felt like a person just waking up from the sleep. I started to feel my surroundings and myself....
A pang in my heart... dunno exactly what hurt me...
the worst... I had a bad dream: a person i trusted was laughing over my sorrow...
*sigh*
I start to hate the idea of my office farewell. I start to have a bad mood towards the person in my dream. I start to hate my phones ringing. I start to feel reluctant to meet people i know.
Though i knew this kind of feeling might come as i am reaching the day of my moving. I hate it a lot...

What it takes to be nosy

Lately, I have been exposed by a friend's stories, about people around her. She can talk for hours when venting what she has in mind about those people. Apparently, the things she talks are more on her dissatisfaction about them. And apparently, I know some of them. Though I disagree to some parts of her stories, I have been trying to be a good listener by refraining myself from venting my disagreement. Maybe she just needs someone to listen to her right now. She is a nice person, actually. Only lately, maybe, she's not in the right state to be nice...I guess.
Sometimes, if She starts to become judgemental or cynical (or even bitter), I would cut in to stop her. However, I never thought that her 'stories' will go far... so far that she even evaluates people who do not have anything to do with her, but have things to do with me.

As far as i remember, i never asked for her opinion about these people under my responsibility. And honestly, i don't understand why she would like to talk about these people and judge them this and that. What is it with her?

I've tried to 'softly' remind her that it's not her domain to evaluate these people. She sometimes starts to be aware when my speech tone raised.

I am wondering what is actually happening to her. Coz one person she has been dissatisfied about (and apparently someone i know) came to me and told me that she's been treating her not nicely and her mood is not as usual.
Though I start to feel irritated by her being nosy, I hope she will get back to normal soon.

Javanese Pizza

I love pizza...whether it's italian, american, or javanese pizza.
Do you know javanese pizza? you don't?
Well, the basic ingredient is tempe... it's covered with flour, fried half-done...
:) LOL...yes, it's mendoan...that's the name actually. But it's just like a pizza to me...thin slice, soft but crispy...and the way you eat it just like when you eat a pizza...heheheeee...

Each time I go back hometown, I won't miss eating this javanese pizza. Even though I can easily find one here, but the one from my hometown is just different. The difference is...first, the size. It's just so wide that you need to divide it into two or four before eating (just like pizza, right?). Second, it just can maintain its softness inside and crispiness outside...and less oily. I have been tasting it ever since it only cost me 300 rups per slice (and we usually buy it per 5 or 10 slices), until now it's 2000 rups per slice. Wow!! now I need to spend at least 20 thousand rups to buy tempe...it's just like buying one package of KFC meal...hahahaaa. But, doesn't matter. It shoes that I'm a true javanese (loh??? apa iya??? wkwkwk)
For me and my family, eating a slice of mendoan is never enough. At leat 2 full slices for each person.

I love pizza...no matter where it comes from :)

My Friday off

Starting this month, I am free from office every friday. This is actually part of my negotiation with my boss last term. It's been two Fridays so far, and I think I start to really enjoy my being away from office's hustle and bustle on that day, even though as the consequence, I have to work full day on Saturday.

Last week, my first friday off, I went to the mall with my nephew to watch movies. Since he was having his school holiday, I took him to the mall with me. It's been ages since the last time I took my nephew somewhere with me only. However, we ended up canceling our plan to watch Transformers: revenge of the fallen, since the cinema was full already. There were only two rows at the front left for us to choose, and Farhan didn't want to take it. So, we just browsed around the bookstore, bought some books for him, and my nieces and a dozen donuts for everybody at home. Though I happened to get snappy by the call from office asking about timetable and things, it still couldn't scratch my day off.

Yesterday, I even had a better friday off. I woke up late and had my morning coffee as I watched Dahsyat on TV. It was really nice to find myself thinking that I don't have to go to the office that day. I got myself online after washing my hair and cleaning up everything. The internet line was quite troublesome but I managed to chat for awhile. The most fun moment was in the afternoon. I went to the swimming pool nearby to accompany my nephew and nieces swimming. Starting this week, Farhan is having his swimming lesson every Tuesday and Friday. The weather was cool at 4 pm yesterday. Unfortunately I was having my period so I couldn't join them. but I plan to swim with them again next Friday.
Today, I even aleardy have plan for my next friday off. Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince will be released worlwide this coming July 15, and I think it's just a good idea to spend my next friday afternoon watching my hero. After that, I could go to the swimming pool with my nephew and nieces.
Doesn't that sound good?

Kena semprot

Gue kena semprot gara-gara salah satu posting di blog tercinta gue ini...
bla-bla-bla.....begini...begitu....
jyaaaaahhhh...rada-rada nyesel juga nih jadinya ngasih link blog gue ke dia...heheeee...
tapi ga napa lah...
maklum...lagi stress kali....ckakakaaaaakkk..
tapi gue hargai protesnya itu...
meskipun...pengen nampol juga sih...wakakaaaaaaakkk....
siapa suruh usil buka-buka posting yang lain....
lagian ini kan blog gue bukan?...kekekeeeeekkkk...membela diri dong gue....
bodo ah...
ntar juga baek ndiri...hihihiiiii