You know what exciting about life after this?
It gets unpredictable.
And I still manage to love it.
Isn’t it easy to love…
a distant hello? (terima kasih ya, Ali :w)
a peaceful empty street?
If it is easy to fall in love, why we have to make life complicated?
Untuk apa kamu menulis?
Saya sering menulis tentang banyak hal acak yang kadang tidak pernah saya pikirkan sebelumnya. Begitu saja. Membuka Microsoft Word (atau Notepad) dan memasang lagu-lagu acak. Dan lalu, kalimat-kalimat omong kosong.
Beberapa hari yang lalu saya membuka-buka archive blog saya dan menemukan banyak tulisan dengan paragraf acak yang tidak jelas juntrungannya. Mungkin saya masih menulis seperti itu sampai sekarang, bahkan mungkin di paragraf ini. Saya juga menemukan diri saya yang menyebalkan, membenci secara berlebihan, dan sarkastik. Hahaha, masa lalu memang kejam, ya? Saya hanya berharap, saya sudah menjadi orang yang lebih baik sekarang.
Untuk siapa kamu menulis?
Saya menulis tentang apa saja dan kebanyakan untuk saya. Kadang, saya menulis untuk kamu atau untuk saya di masa depan. Saya menulis kepada orang-orang tertentu pada saat-saat tertentu. Mungkin karena saya terlalu malu dan takut untuk berbicara langsung. Karena orang bilang, saya lebih sering berpikir ketika menulis dibanding berbicara (yah, begitulah). Tapi saya senang saya dapat merefleksikan diri saya ketika menulis, saya belajar untuk jadi orang yang lebih baik dengan menulis kalimat-kalimat acak itu.
Kapan kamu menulis?
Saya menulis kapan saja. Ketika melihat foto Joseph Gordon Levitt dan Zooey Deschanel, ketika membaca artikel di internet, ketika melepas seorang sahabat pergi, ketika menonton serial televisi. Semuanya tersamar sandi yang kadang saya lupakan kode pemecahannya. Saya pernah menulis tentang reality show Korea Family Outing dan menulis ini. Sungguh lucu. Saya senang ketika ada yang bisa memecahkan sandi-sandi tersebut dan tahu apa yang sedang saya bicarakan. Saya senang ketika sahabat keren saya Hafidh tahu bahwa saya sedang membicarakan hari-hari Pendidikan LFM terakhir saya ketika menjabat sebagai Manajer Pendidikan (di sini, sini, dan di sini). Dan bagi yang menafsirkannya lain, tidak apa. Toh saya tidak bermaksud untuk dimengerti.
Kenapa kamu menulis?
Karena saya suka.
Dan saya butuh itu untuk hidup.
Leaving the ultimate cliffhanger after almost 3 seasons long, Glee is going on hiatus for 7 weeks. Here I’m asking you, do you enjoy Glee? I wrote a review of this charming TV serial in here a long time ago. You know, I personally, love cheesy movies. But Glee isn’t one of it. I do love Glee (and I have two red and yellow Glee T-shirt as worn by some fans in Oprah show) as a whole package of entertainment. But not when it gets overrated.
If you are one of the 9gag zombies, you know how overrated Glee got criticized. And if you’re one of the fans of some singer/band, you know how overrated Glee fans commented about the original song (or sometimes wondering how on earth people don’t know Bohemian Rhapsody is first sung by Queen, not Glee). Excessive things always lead to destruction.
The early season of Glee is winning my heart for its charming characters and its great songs. The series started by recycling all 70s – 80s songs, from Journey to Fleetwood Mac, from Van Halen to The Rolling Stone. The series kicked off strong by bringing great issues like teen pregnancy, bullying, homosexuality, religion, and some interesting storyline. The response is overwhelming, Oprah invited them to the show and many art programs and show choir inspired by it. Lea Michele and Chris Colfer got their spots in TIME’s 100 Most Influential People and Billboard seems to love them. The spotlight came most likely from people who shared the same story. Dumped into the trash bin, humiliated, being the underdog, fear, denial, there’s a loser inside all of us that in such way got connected with the characters. Many lives saved, the relation between the viewers and the characters becoming so strong as they found courage on the show.
The Glee phenomenon continued when they strikes back in their second and third seasons. They introduced us to more music, Florence and the Machine, Neon Trees, FUN, even Young the Giant (Cough Syrup video hits their 2 million viewers the night Glee aired the episode On My Way which featured the song). They added more musical songs, they did songs from The Rocky Horror, the West Side Story, Wicked, Chorus Line, Dreamgirls, etc. They made tribute episode, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Madonna, and Michael Jackson. Then all the shenanigans started. They started recycling EVERY hit song, they mashed up some brilliant songs into weird ones, they went from Rihanna to Katy Perry, from Maroon5 to Bruno Mars (even LFMAO or whatever the name is). The storyline (or love relationship) got annoyingly messy as they try to pair every member to another and the kiss became so intense and gross. But in such a way, they constantly given message to society that said it is okay to be different, to be brave, to fight all the stereotypes. And yeah, many people cheered watching Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson’s kiss on national television (which later that day got into the trending with hash tag #TheyKissed).
Until today, I still watched Glee. They still kept their charms by showing even quirkier and freakier characters, which I love. But I know it is overrated to hate the show, the same way as to love the show. Glee is still maintaining their high ratings and I just wish they stop singing ALL Billboard songs. I’m still looking forward to more Glee, and seeing how they inspired many other people to start a better day.
A while ago, I read my friend tweeted that said more or less like this, “Lea Michele should stay at Broadway, Glee is just a waste of talent for her”. I agree for the talents side, but I thought, Lea Michele could have stay at Broadway, won a Tony or two. But rather, she chose to be an annoying bitch that sounds amazing in Glee and then, saved lives. An easy choice.
For many living years of my life, I’ve seen many faces of this country called Indonesia. Have been living in one of the most crowded city of the world—Jakarta—gave me perception of what is called to be “Life is Hard “. Since Suharto’s fall on 1998, I’ve seen the country risen up slowly, but I’m becoming unsure whether it rises to perfection or destruction. I’ve seen many state owned enterprises cleaned themselves from their dirty image of corruption and nepotism. BUMN like PLN, PT KAI, and others have been taking pledge to rebuild themselves and trying to make a change. People are working harder in different role, they’re trying to help themselves to build the nation. Many movements take charges and the movement gets more creative each days. They’re not rushing to go down the street and read their demand with loudspeaker anymore, they’re taking different ways to reach the society and the government. To have the chance to speak up, to be heard.
A small movement that have been encourage people to send postcard through air mail named Card to Post, made a program called Postcards to Mr. President (Kartupos untuk Pak Presiden) where they wanted to gather as many postcards as possible that contain everything they want to tell to Mr. Yudhoyono. Other community named Indonesia Berkebun has been activately involved on several green projects to create green area on the heart of the city. The pilot project has been applied on many corners of Jakarta, and now has spread its project to other big city like Bandung, Bogor, and Semarang. Many youth program blooms, Indonesian Youth Conference is one of them. Initiated by Alanda Kariza, the program aims to be a place where young people gather and exchange their concerns and idea. Or even our friend from Good News from Indonesia (GNFI) that intended to spread positiveness and optimism through good news that coming from many corner of Indonesia. It is relieving to see so many people /that/ care. It gives me hope on humanity, hope to awaken the country that for many years has been safely keeping the name “The Sleeping Giant”.
But this morning, some thing strucked me. Reading the essay titled Take a Train in Jakarta gave me meltdown. I don’t know where it comes from, but suddenly I feel so small and powerless. We’re just a particle in this galaxy and why should we live if we’re not changing anything to the world we’re living? There must be a bigger conspiracy that made us still breathing this air, still enjoying the sound of the clock’s ticking. Jakarta is just a small city with it 661 km2, but with its over 9 million population, what can be worsen could happen in the near future?
Ever heard the term Negara Semut? That said you just need to do your role right in order to make everything right. I try to diffuse to that term for some times. The thoughts that I just need to do my role perfectly. Then after that, I just need to wait until every screw is in the exact places. Leave the democracy to those who learn politics. Leave the demand for health insurance to those who study it. Leave the lack of quality of education to those who wanted to become a teacher. Isn’t it selfish? I felt so terrible to ever have those thoughts. Is it just my gateway to close my eyes for any other problems other than mine? Is it just my act to be careless?
To feel powerless over miserable place we’re living is miserably sad. ‘Better Doing Something than Nothing’ is still laying in my head, and I still hoping to make some change. I know it won’t be an instant process. It takes a long time to fix the country because the root of destruction comes from each of us, from the darkest times of our life, from the traumatic accidents happen in the past. Changes are not easy to make, but changes are needed for us to stay alive, in order for us to survive.
I’ve been tired of this country for many times, I have been betrayed for many times. But if I have to say one lesson that Indonesia (or simply Jakarta) has thought me the most, it is the will to never give up the fight. This city has been telling its miserable story that made me believe that I need to hold on to hope, to try even harder, to not give up easily in order to change those miserable stories into glorious ones.
Indonesia, I won’t give up on you, so don’t give up on us too.
Big things always come from small ones. And small things always have impact, no matter how small it is. One hour in your life could mean a day for other people, so start thinking about the bigger part of your day. Try giving a hand to those who needed, it can be anything that you can do. It could be a little trouble for you but it can be a big help for other. Start living!
Di atas papan semua orang punya waktu tiga jam untuk mengetahui arti hari itu.
Tapi mungkin tidak cukup waktu seribu tahun untuk mengetahui arti keberadaan.
Bagi kamu tangis itu adalah jawaban untuk segalanya dan alasan untuk melangkahkan kaki.
Bagi kami tangis itu adalah semangat pacu untuk memulai mencari arti.
Dibutuhkan kamu dan kami untuk duduk berhadapan.
Entah untuk menghasilkan sebuah gelombang baru ataukah untuk sekedar bercengkrama.
Sehabis ini izinkanlah kami bertemu lagi.
Dengan mengenakan sepatu di alam mimpi, dititipkan semua yang selama ini dicari.
Terima kasih telah mampir, dan percayalah titipan itu akan kami simpan.
Sampai suatu saat nanti, titipan itu akan kami serahkan lagi.
Kepada semua yang terus lahir, untuk mencari arti keberadaan.
Dan kali ini mungkin tidak perlu waktu seribu tahun.
Selamat hari Sabtu.
