October 14, 2008

anon quotes

"i still can't believe that they decided to move in together. they've just been together for like, a month. even monica and chandler moved in together at season 6!" - over shiraz and cheese, the terrace

"but he's five years youngers than me. that's like, he was just born when i entered elementary school." - mezzanine, rutherford house

"my exams will finish on the 4th or 5th...do you wanna have lunch..or something after that?" -text message

friend #1: "he's been hurting you and you're still nice to him?"
friend #2: "because i don't want to be the bad one you see. i want to be the good person. the bigger person."
friend #1: "um...."
friend #2: "well, literally i am, but." - mezzanine, rutherford house

friend #1: "so have you been to burma?"
friend #2: "yes in 2005. by the way, you should call it myanmar, politically correct."
friend #1: "i can call it anyway i want to. the media calls it burma."
friend #2: "but you're a southeast asian, you should call it myanmar." - over dinner, the terrace

friend #1: "i really want to drink that wine. but those girls are sitting in front of me."
friend #2: "so?"
friend #1: "because i know them and i don't want them to be all judgemental about me drinking alcohol."
friend #2: "yeah but you're just being judgemental about them being judgemental if they see you drinking that wine." - fujiyama restaurant

"this ostrich tastes like beef. i feel scammed." - the chameleon, intercontinental

"i really shouldn't have come to the dinner. what makes me feel blah is the fact that how i can still be affected seeing the two of them together - and i really didn't see it coming. that it can still upset me. shucks." - mezzanine, rutherford house

September 30, 2008

the eid

it's 12.51AM of 1 shawal and usually at this time i already slept with an extremely full stomach of all the glorious eid dishes.

or sometimes i tried really hard to sleep but i couldn't - the masjid next to our house do the takbir for one full night. sometimes i wish their speakerphone got broken or something.

and by 5AM dad would wake the four of us and he would be this extremely annoying if by 5.15AM we are still in our bed. he always said that we might not get a praying spot at the masjid. dad, we live next to the masjid, there's no way we could not get a spot. i never argue that with him by the way. it's taken for granted, we always leave the house by 6.15.

oh yeah, do you notice that it's always sunny in the morning of 1 shawal?

after the eid prayer we would do the sungkeman, a.k.a the javanese way of showing respect and asking for forgiveness. it's always solemn when we do it to my mom and dad. but my sisters don't really take sungkeman with me seriously. disrespectful lots.

and mom and dad will give us the eid pocket money. but i've stopped receiving mine since i got my first job.

then we'd go to gramps' house and see mum's 100+ relatives or so. jakartans breed like rabbits. but it's always fun. they are the most kind-hearted people ever.

around 4pm we usually head back home but stop by first at some supermarket to buy 'travel-foods' that is, chips and chocolates and the likes, for the overnight drive to my dad's hometown of cepu.

at 8pm my dad the obsessive-compulsive would make sure that our suitcases have been put in his car. he always drives his red toyota land cruiser to cepu, his pride and joy, the car that is. i remember that he really wanted that car since 1996 or so but can afford to buy it only in 2004.

when we were still kids mum used to make lemper, sandwiches and other snack foods for the trip. 'to save money' she said. but most of the time we ended up not eating those foods and opted for chips and chocolates. she stopped making them when i was 17.

back to the land cruiser, we have a sort of seating arrangement. driver seat = dad, front seat = mum or me, middle seat = anita/mom or me, back seat = attika/ade. it's obvious that age determines where we sit. i am usually in the front seat when dad needs help with navigation/the map, or when the air conditioner gets too cold.

we sing a lot in the car. like a lot. or we play the 'read the sign' game. so we read aloud every sign that we see on the road, the winner is one who can say it the most. it is through the sign game that we know that the wasgitel tea stands for 'wangi sepet legit kentel'.

at 2.30AM (or anytime my dad feels like waking up) we will leave the house to cepu. my dad is the best driver ever. we leave the house that early to avoid heavy traffic. the jakarta-cepu route that is usually 12-14 hours by car can be done in just 7-8 hours.

this year same thing will happen. exactly same thing but without me.

and i will never see eid the same again.

September 25, 2008

bika ambon gosong

title is self-explanatory. i blew up the cake.



August 25, 2008

we die to each other daily

we die to each other daily. what we know of other people is only our memory of the moments during which we knew them. and they have changed since then - t.s. eliot, the cocktail party

why do we choose this path and not the otherwise.
maybe we both are not capable of taking that risk.
maybe we are not great lovers after all.
what is it that really scares us.
what is it that distance us apart.

i live, and die to you, daily.