Reaching Far

What is a dream to a 6 years old?
What is a dream to a 20 years old?
What is a dream to a 60 years old?

The mold and shapes can be the same, or completely different.
But the idea of reaching something far remains.
And you’re still the same dreamer you used to be.
It is the thought that makes it different.
When we are older, do the dream seems closer or farther than we thought?
Do we need to change it to follow our past consequences and our present circumstances?
Can we still call it a dream?

I can’t answer it for sure.

But maybe I will find the answers bit by bit while the time goes on.

PS: I cried while reading this piece about Bambang Hartono last month when Asian Games fever came. People made fun of him or made a joke that he doesn’t need it when the news about the prize bonus for the athlete broke to the media. I don’t blame anyone since he can still laugh at himself in the end. But the article tells a lot about things that people still want to pursue though it seems impossible at first. About a love that transcends towards years. About dreams still hold dearly although we don’t know how it would end.

PSS: Tirto.id continues to awe me by consistently produces good content. For the Asian Games, they asked some of the athletes to write on their Opinion Column, which somewhat similar to The Player’s Tribune. They also made a minute by minute news report in presidential candidate admission. Though the format is also somewhat similar to TIME. it’s a fresh approach of reporting that our news media currently lacks.

Menerima Hangat

Minggu lalu, saya kembali menghadiri acara ceritaperempuan.id yang diadakan di Jakarta dengan judul ‘Berbicara Jujur Mengenai Post Partum Depression’. Tema tentang depresi setelah melahirkan adalah suatu hal yang belum banyak dibicarakan di ruang publik. Banyak gerakan tentang kesetaraan gender, banyak kegiatan tentang hak-hak perempuan dalam dunia kerja, tapi justru kegelisahan setelah menyandang kata ‘ibu’ jarang diceritakan secara terang-terangan. Padahal, menjadi seorang ibu adalah hal yang paling dekat kaitannya dengan perempuan. Topik mengenai Post Partum Depression (PPD) dan tema mengenai motherhood secara keseluruhan merupakan hal yang ingin sekali saya pahami. Bukan karena saya sudah menikah dan mungkin akan menjadi ibu nantinya, tapi karena semuanya terasa asing bagi saya. Saya tidak lagi bisa merujuk kepada kata-kata ibu saya sendiri, karena mungkin, ibu masa kini lebih mempunyai banyak permasalahan dan tantangan yang harus dihadapinya.

Buat saya yang sudah pernah beberapa kali datang ke Sesi Berbagi ceritaperempuan.id, acara kali ini mungkin bisa dibilang acara yang paling besar yang diadakan di Jakarta. Bertempat di Twinhouse Cipete, acara ini merupakan hasil kerja sama dengan woop.id dan googaga, dua nama yang mungkin tidak asing lagi di kalangan ibu-ibu Jakarta. Acara ini dipandu oleh Puty yang sudah sering bercerita tentang kesehariannya sebagai ibu lewat ilustrasi buatannya.

Acara kali ini dimulai dengan pembacaan puisi dari Mba Kiky tentang keseharian menjadi Ibu. Cara Mba Kiky bertutur membuat saya masuk ke sebuah rumah dan mengintip sebuah ruang kecil yang begitu personal; tentang balok-balok kayu dan sebuah ciuman yang diberikan ketika sang buah hati terlelap. Pembuka yang sangat tepat untuk mengantarkan kita memulai pembicaraan pada pagi itu.

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#31postfor31

Is it that time of the year again? I’ve started doing this thing to commemorate my upcoming birthday and I think I’m getting better each time :)) Last year, I managed to write 23 posts from the original plan of producing 30 posts under the tag #30postsfor30. An improvement from the 20 posts I wrote from #28postsfor28. So today, let’s start the countdown and write more things.

I realized I write less and less lately. I become sensitive to things and less sensitive to my own thoughts. I guess there’s a part of me who becomes too lazy to process feelings and it becomes harder to weave it into a thread of thoughts. I know I still have it in me, but it’s buried too deep I sometimes couldn’t summon it.

Usually, I wrote a lot of things at the beginning of the year, what I want to learn, what I want to achieve. But I didn’t write any this year. Maybe I’m just too tired of life, I didn’t have time to think about it as the year flies by. So I only have one wish and goal this year. I want to be honest with myself, with all my feelings. Here’s an attempt of doing so. Let’s welcome the first official post of #31postsfor31.

Hope you enjoy the ride :3

The Night Before Monday

It’s Sunday night and I’ve finished listing down my to-do list for next week. So, I thought I will write here before midnight greets. It’s been quite a while for the obvious Random Round-Up, so here it comes again.

Every single year, I always want to add more books to the rack but I’m completely aware of my limited budget to do so. Foreign books nowadays cost around IDR 150.000 – IDR 400.000, so I always prefer to get the Indonesian translated version because it’s way cheaper. I can’t read an e-book, because my work is related closely to my laptop and I want to limit my interaction to electronic screen. Besides, the only devices I can use to read an e-book are my laptop and phone. The screen size is either too big or too small, which make both uncomfortable to use. But last week, I found this promo from Gramedia website. Paket Merdeka gives the opportunity to buy a bundle of books according to a genre which features 1 best seller book and 4 mystery books. There’s also a Mystery Blind Bundle which include 5 mystery books from various genre.

The concept itself is not completely new, POST has been organized a couple of Blind Date with A Book events, where the customer buys a book without knowing what the title is. But I think it’s a fresh approach for Gramedia and a nice way to clean up their inventory :P I choose Paket Sastra 2 and though I just started reading them, I’m totally satisfied with all of my books :3

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Here Right Now

Growing up in this era, sometimes made me confused which values I should hold onto more. My circle of friends is getting older in terms of age. They should be in the late 20s or starting their 30s. Some of them gained a new circle and become a clique. Some stays, convince themselves that they stay in the loop by saying hello in the chat room every two weeks, or a month. It’s a surprise that a friend just hops from another company to another, some started their own YouTube channels, some just stop running and trying to settle with their routine.

The trend always comes and goes. There was a time when travelling becomes a thing (or always a thing), then coffee tasting (or cafe hopping), then marriage preparation and parenting method seminar (which make the singles become so sick of hearing it), and then financial awareness (suddenly everyone is about to invest, in something they don’t understand but trying so hard to understand). Is it really a trend or is it just a phase of growing up?

I sometimes wonder what they talk at home. When the TV is turned off and the light dimmed down. With their spouses or with themselves, within the walls between their beds. Family-related issue? Politics? The newest gossips in town? The new tips in finance? The meaning of life? Or simply, nothing? I know that life is already tiring as it is.

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