Appointment with P. Sherman

This,

Is a glimpse of my favorite corner in my bedroom.

Along with many other stuff I didn't snap in this frame, I put these three -plus that cute photograph of my baby days- in random orders. No reasons, no considerations. All arranged just because the angle pleased my eyes.

The kangaroo doll came in first. My mom impulsively bought that from her trip in Melbourne last year, and being confused of what to do with the typical tourist trinket, she just gave it to me. The fish tank arrived after I watched "Finding Dory" just this year. June, or July this year, I guess. It's a build-your-own tank which took me hours to make -including the fishes because yes, those two beauties started from stupid little pieces- so yea, it's such a waste if I don't show it off and of course it's an honor to expose my mini dentist tank on my table tops. And the Red Bull cap, was bought in Singapore, during my F1 trip several months ago -you know the story. It belonged to Daniel Ricciardo, my favorite driver from Perth.

Quiet a few weeks after this scene was arranged,

I realized that there was something on with these three.

But I took it for granted until two months ago, when I finally once again jumped into an AirAsia Big Sale, and successfully booked another big trip. Guess where it will be.

Yep,

A U S T R A L I A

Pic's from here.

The land down under has always been something I'm dying to visit. So by the second I spotted these super cheap flights covering the east coast's top cities, well, I don't care much about anything else. So there I was, laughing in front of my laptop on the low table, teeth colliding as I laughed too much in excitement, head tilted up in pride and satisfaction and a bit of pain, and I caught these three staring at me.

Mom's kangaroo minion,
EAC's famous inhabitants,
And my Aussie guy's hat.

So it was a sign.

Well I don't believe that much in superstitions.

But this one's just too real, and too coincidental.

Maybe, MAYBE, because I had my teeth hurting,
It turned out to be the dentist's way to invite me,

The 42 Wallaby Way

Eight Legged Karma

"Universe conspires."

You know when you felt like everything around you, together hand in hand trying to make you feel some certain experience, yeah the phrase was all over my head when I had a vacation last week in

Bali and Gili

Left is Gili Trawangan and right is Gili Meno.

So I, my friends and my friends' friends, we sort of believed that there was this big karma thing following us along our trip. Or maybe up till now? Only God knows.

There were five of us. Call us V, A, R, K and J -suspects are under identity protection due to the fear of ongoing karma. We spent two nights at this ethnic-down-to-nature stay named, let's say TS. The place was, ethnic-ish and culture-ish and, umm, down to nature? So yea it was like a cottage full of plants and wooden floors and bridge, lied next to a big rice paddy, stuff like that. No wonder if you see bugs and giant insects crawling around the living room.

Not to mention a spider. A gigantic arachnid. Creating nest. In the girls' room. I saw the creature a while before the girls arrived in Bali. Well I planned to inform them but I forgot. Until the next day, K and J reported us a paranoid moment they had last night with the spider, ended up with committing a murder. Yes, they killed the spider.

And so the karma began.

Started with the most tolerable one, felt by R. She didn't kill the spider, she's the one with the least interaction with the spider, so nature punished her by only spilling some booze on her dress. Lucky her.

Worse thing came to A. He was the one inviting all of us to stay at TS, that's why. So when we were about to return home from Ubud, the car he chartered was kinda broken, and he had to deal with all the mechanical thing for two hours while the girls and I went shopping. We were jerks I know, leaving him alone with the car and the bli blis. Maybe that's why the universe kept the best karma for us.

I, however, was placed the third on the list. You know where I did wrong right? I knew that there were a creepy crawling creature nesting near the girls but I didn't even say a word about that? That's kinda crucial. So the ocean paid off the spider's grudge and gave me this terrible seasickness along the way from Bali to Gili. To make it worse, I threw up six times :)

Left is me and my karma. The pic was taken on our way back to Bali, that's why I'm smiling.
On the right is J, and one of our karmas. Go on reading to find out :)

Well the worst part now, of course, happened to the assassin duo K and J. They both also got the seasickness I felt, and mother nature summoned an extra karma for them. The late spider sent off his two best friends for K and J.

We were at the Monkey Forest when K got her 'company'. Ha, Monkey Forest. Seemed like we were teasing the karma and approaching danger, eh? Well by that time we hadn't noticed about all these coincidence so, yeah... A devil monyet ambushed her. No signals, no prologues, it just attacked. Poor K, she was shaking and looking extremely pale.

Now that we realized about the karma, we put our guards on. But unlucky J, when we were at El Kabron to have dinner, she was blinded by hunger and the meals and subconsciously let her walls down so... A giant praying mantis took this chance and jumped to her face as the revenge for the spider's death. Shocking. She couldn't ever avoid that.

No picture of J and her praying mantis, sorry, it happened so fast no camera was prepared.

Well yeah. Karma exists.

And we paid to what we did.

On that exact time like, right away.

I learned so many thing from this.

That animals possess a strong, intense relationship.

That land and sea are mystically linked one another.

And that Bali, is sacred

Wait a sec, I just realized a thing: monkey, and praying mantis? Is this... Kung Fu Panda?? Oh wait--OMG! R's nickname is Panda! :(

Universe did play something with us...

Rough Street Saga

I will never forget today.

March 7th, 2013. The day of traffuck.

Serius, hari ini jalanan kayak be'ol. Keluar rumah macet. Abis lampu merah masuk Perintis Kemerdekaan macet. Masuk Cempaka Putih macet. Keluar Cempaka Putih Macet. Keluar Cipinang macet. Masuk Pemuda macet. Nyari jalan tikus di Pondasi macet. Depan Sevilla macet. Depan Superindo Pulomas macet. Eh gila kali ya!?

Udah gitu yang paling apes, gue nyerempet mobil orang. Keluarga Batak gatau diri yang culas. Untung nyokap jago nego, master silat lidah -sumpah ya, ilmu ini mesti banget gue dapetin dari nyokap- sehingga masalah cepat selesai meski keluar uang 200rb -Mom, Dad, I swear I'll repay this, and if possible, double.

But with what happened today, now I'm sure--no.

Now I'm WHOLEHEARTEDLY, UNDOUBTEDLY sure that:

Virtual karma does exist

Jadi pas sebelum kejadian serempetinawati itu, gue ngetweet begini, "Jalanan kayak t*i, mobil mobil kayak ta*, terkutuklah lalu lintas Jakarta siang ini." Dan nyatanya, bukan lalu lintas Jakarta aja yang terkutuk, tetapi gue pun terkutuk sehingga terjadilah kejadian sebagaimana tersebut diatas.

Ruined mood ruins all

Sebelum berangkat, mood gue sebenernya udah gak beres. Pas di mobil, makin gak beres sama semua ketidakberesanperlalulintasan Jakarta itu. Ditambah lagi, nyokap mendikte segala gerak-gerik gue di belakang bangku kemudi. Feel me?

Staying calm helps

Dulu di kampus, sebuah quotes bijak beredar di circle gue. "Kalo lo nggak deg-degan, berarti gak kejadian apa-apa." Nah itu gue terapin tadi pas si bapak Batak minta gue buat menepi setelah nyerempet. Gue stay calm, stay cool, stay cute -padahal dalam hati udah ketir mau kabur dari Jakarta- dan Alhamdulillah segalanya diperlancar oleh Allah SWT.

I'll move out of the country. Very soon.

Orang lokal itu brengsek. Licik. Picik. Kasar. Oportunis. Aji mumpung. Kampungan. Jujur kalo disuruh milih pengen jalan di sekitar crowd orang Jawa atau crowd Chinese, gue lebih milih yang kedua. Makanya gue doyan tinggal di Gading. Dan gue bertekad banget buat pindah keluar. Malaysia kek, Singapur kek. Dimanapun itu, gue bakal pindah kesana sampe masyarakat Jakarta, plus kondisi dan segala kekacauan yang ada di dalamnya, udah gak seliar sekarang.

Otherwise, I'll hire a driver

Kalopun gue gak bisa ninggalin Indonesia, gue bakal nyewa supir. Gue gamau tiap hari ngantor ngadepin macet dulu. Pulang ngadepin macet lagi. Mending gue bayar orang buat menuntun gue menghadapi kerasnya lalu lintas DKI. Toh duit gue bakal banyak ini -Amin Ya Rabb, AminAllah!!

Udah seyakin itu.

Pelajaran hari ini bikin gue udah seyakin itu.

But there is one last thing

That I'm positively very sure of.

It is that my mother, my supermom,

Is the best woman ever

Yearly Myth

So Happy New Year 2013, everybody!!

Postingan pertama di 2013 nih wuwuwuwuwu ya Allah 2012 beneran deh ya, gak kerasa banget tiba-tiba udah abis aja fufufu. Tapi emang deh, itu taun kebesaran gue haha banyak banget nikmat serta karunia Allah SWT yang gue rasain -tadinya gue pikir itu kan taun terakhir kita di bumi, makanya dikasih happy ending gitu :')

Jadi ada satu hal yang pengen gue sampaikan. Yaitu soal malam tahun baru. Sejak taun baru 2008 ke 2009, gue menemukan sebuah pola nan unik yang mengantar gue ke sebuah spekulasi spektakular -jir apa banget sih bahasa gue.

Yodeh mari ditelaah satu per satu.

New Year 2009: Bandung, Friends of X-2.

Di rumah Khobbab nih ceritanya, bareng rombongan anak kelas X-2 SMA 68 angkatan gue pastinya. Seru kan tuh bareng temen-temen, ceqaqaq ceqiqiq dengan segala ups and downs nya. Nah gotta tell ya, all year long in 2009, I learned a lot, A LOT, about friendship. Backstabbing, loyalty, togetherness pas kelas XI, comfort zone, team work from BAZKOM, independency from Baduy pas kelas XII. Shocked? Not yet.

New Year 2010: Singapore, Family.

Kala itu, pas jam 12 tiba, warga Singapore sudah siap dengan perkakas canned foam mereka dan mulai nyemprot-nyemprotin senjata mereka ke siapapun, bener-bener orang gak kenal sekalipun, pokoknya semua orang yang lagi nongkrong di Orchard Rd. Fun? Banget!! Berasa selebrasi kemenangan apa gitu deh gila kacau serunya. Dan apa yang terjadi selama 2010? Graduation. Selebrasi kelulusan yang, ya Tuhan, gabisa diungkapin gimana senengnya. Di taun ini juga gue mulai ospek di kampus. Seru-seruan sama total strangers, temen-temen baru yang sama sekali gak kenal sebelumnya, tapi bisa-bisanya nyatu dan jadi sebuah keluarga baru.

New Year 2011: Bali, Family.

Meskipun di Bali, gue mumet banget sama NYE yang satu ini karena ujan. Pulangnya pun harus nunggu taksi berapa lama baru bisa cabut dari Discovery Mall. Alhasil, setaun penuh selama 2011 itu gue ngalamin hal-hal yang yaaahh gak ngenakin deh.

New Year 2012: Jakarta, Mom and Dad.

Di Bunderan HI, ngeliat kembang api dan langit bersahabat. I didn't quiet enjoy the atmosphere tho, but one thing I liked was, I spent the night with my parents. Mungkin karena itu Allah ngasih setaun penuh kecerahan buat gue di 2012 haha! Emang deh restu orangtua gak ngalahin apapun.

The point is, subconscious matters. Suggestion works. You got one belief, and you put faith on it, then there you go. You'll surely have that.

So start from now, I'll see a bright side from each year, and hope the positive side for the next one. No matter how suck the NYE could be, I'll just make it fun, for the sake of my whole upcoming year.

Wets bentar dolo, satu lagi nih.

New Year 2013: Home, Alone.

Gatau sih ini pertanda apa, tapi yang pasti, awal dari 2013 ini akan dimulai dengan trip gue ke KL - Bangkok which I'm gonna be... Alone.

So could this year be my single-trip-all-around-the-globe-alone year?

Let's just hope that's true :)

You Better Save Your Time To Do Something Else, Instead of Reading This Post

Gue mau konfirmasi ulang:

"Belanda, Jerman, Spanyol.

Tiga-tiganya jagoan gue.

Dan tiga-tiganya masuk semifinal."

Dan ternyata ada satu hal yang gue baru ngeh dan baru inget:

"Belanda, Jerman, Spanyol.

Tiga-tiganya adalah negara asal bule-bule

yang gue ajak ngobrol waktu pertama kali ke Bali."

Dan perlu gue tekankan, bahwa:

"Belanda, Jerman, Spanyol.

Urutan mereka masuk ke semifinal

sama persis sama urutan gue ketemu bule-bule itu,"

Hmm mistis... Sangat mistis...

Gue jadi penasaran gimana kelanjutan dari misteri ini.

Belanda udah ke final.

Kalo jerman yang nyusul, berarti ada satu tabir lagi yang tersingkap.

Tapi jangan ah, jangan sampe...

Gue maunya Spanyol yang nyusul