Oh Sistas, Where Art Thou?

Most of my blog posts are about me and myself and the world related to me. Once in a while, I remember my dear friends, with whom I share these laugh and tears. I want to share their stories.

Mimay

I always hate Monday. It’s classic, or even cliché, but I do hate Monday. Monday brings me back the routines, the schedule, the weekly meeting, the phone rings, the e-mails, the letters, after two days of peace being myself.

This Monday, instead of being drowned into the hatred for Monday, I’m pleased to surf Mimay’s blog.

She’s still the most photogenic girl I’ve ever known (I’m not gonna compare her to Agnes Monica, or even Paris Hilton. She’s the most common-not-from-celebrity-world photogenic person I know), though I would never forget one Saturday when I went out with Mba Penny, Kak Jamur and Kak Ira, we met her somewhere and hang around Jakarta and when we finally dropped her in front of her boarding house she confessed that she hadn’t take any shower that day!

One thing that I like from her blog is, it’s so girly. It’s so feminine. I’m not talking about a blink-blink page with pink hearts and purple butterflies spread all over. It’s about the writings.

I think the world needs a straight, honest blog, with which you don’t have to pretend you’re tough, or bother too much of being a Fun Fearless Female. A blog that wouldn’t encourage you to pretend you don’t care about things called the BIG ‘L’, or that you have to smile while writing ‘3’ in front of another number in the ‘age’ box in a filling form, or dreaming of a diamond ring or a white knight in a shining armor trying to save you from the questions from your family and friends. You don’t have to pretend you won’t turn to someone like Matt Damon (?), or in my version, Wentworth Miller.

You don’t know what you got till it’s gone.

I like that idea, Mbak Mimay. But in some cases, it’s not us who don’t know what we’ve got. Some cases involve stupid guys (sowy, my male friends…) who don’t know what they’ve got till it’s really gone. Some guys don’t realize that they’ve hold one of the best things in life, instead, they just abandon it. Even in that case, we, the women (praise the Lord to have created such a character) still wondering, have we not preserved it well.

Popin

Popin is the petit girl that has never rejected my invitation to go anywhere or to do anything for weekend, except when she was catching a cold. Recently, she’s the most “invitable” person around.

We went to Chinatown last weekend, having a Chinatown dinner. I had Singaporean noodles and she had her dish consisted of roasted pig’s ear and pig’s intestine (it didn’t look as bad as it’s heard).

Popin issued two announcements. First, she’s just had a new boyfriend (congratulations!). Second, she’d be unemployed as per February 1, 2008.

Popin has spent 5 years with the company she’s been working for. Lately she thought she’s been exhausted and I think she has. I could see how the company had occupied her so much even on holiday season, when she had to organize things and contribute much of her energy, on December 26 and 31 (!).

It might seem unwise to leave a job before you got another. But there are some things in life that you can’t compromise and you can’t take anymore. In Popin’s case, where she’s been loyal and dedicating most of her time and skill for the company, and when the company is unable to see that, keeping it is not wiser than leaving it.

Well…I can’t say how long she’ll be unemployed, neither can her, neither can anybody alive and dead. All I can say is, I wish her the best. I know she’s considered what’s best for her. I just believe that there must be something good for her, an architect who has experienced in designing houses.

Clara

January 29 was Clara’s birthday. Happy birthday, my dear Clara!

Back to my old days in Bali, Clara used to be the girl with bob hair, mocked by the guys (not in a bad way though, just in a sense of friendship), either it had something to do with Mas Yudi or just called ‘ndut’ (usually Fei did this, though Clara wasn’t fat).

Clara loved so much to be in Bahiana. She was pleased to have her first salsa lesson with Ben. She mamboed, she twisted, and she was bent. And like I did, she loved to have a dinner at Warung Italia! A dish of spaghetti carbonara (too bad Antonio didn’t serve fettuccini), a scoop of salad, a piece of cuzione bread for dessert. Just like Mas Yudi, Clara loved to have “Soto Ceker” close to our office building complex for lunch. And yet, sometimes she liked the unhealthy lunch of “nasi jinggo” sold by a vendor passed by our building complex (dear, I really missed those unhealthy things a lot now!). But nothing can beat her love for Siobak Singaraja in Denpasar!

Many times she called herself “coward”, because she said she had no courage to tell her boss what was in her mind (hey, Clara, I think you have a companion here).

Moments with Clara that I’d never forget was the “Clara dan Ketek” (Clara and the armpit), a series of incidents she experienced with our dearest Shigetada Suzuki. Dear…how could I retell those incidents? It has taken all of our pities, laughs, and tears (tears of laughing).

So, Clara is now safe in her hometown, Bandung euy, never forget the pin she sent to me when I went home. I love that pink flower, I love to pin it on my green blazer or my black denim jacket.

Miss Ya Sistas

Life sometimes can be so hard and so harsh and so confusing, but if you have someone to talk to, at least some questions are answered or ideas pop out. And I was lucky I had not only one, I had these good guys to give plenty ideas I needed.

Thanks Mba Mimay for the girly, feminine encouragement. You’re still the most stylish person I know. Yeah, so you’re 57 now? Wow, I must have fallen asleep for 22 years!

Bunch of thanks Clara sista for being there for me in the foodcourt benches, spending hours eating, drinking, talking, browsing and chatting on the internet, and building this circle of friends—these dearest guys of the Foodcourt Club, 8 regular members, 14 or more extended—waiting for me to come on Sunday morning to go to church together, never forget that, and looking forward to another night at Bahiana. 26 are you now, dear? What has your Abang sent for your present? Well, I wish you all the best and lotsa love.

And Tante Po, though you're just 2 blocks away from my house, I wish you good luck for a brave new step you're gonna make in life. Thanks a heap for always available for any jalan-jalan on the weekend. And for any Saturday afternoon messing up my bed for hours sipping cups of coffee, talking about Christian Bale and Stereophonics and Ugly Betty and Won Bin and whether Cesc Fabregas never would come home to Spain and whatever topic girls may talk.

Resolutions 2008

Andik reminded me, "New Year just a week passed. Hope we start it well."

Til he said so, I hadn't remember that I should have.

When I attended the midnight service on the new year's eve, I made some wishes, some of which were "too personal" to publish (sorry...), and yet, I want to post some so I'd never forget to work on. It's day 15 now,but I think it is not too late to remind ourselves of what we've wished for the whole year. Like everyone else has done. Resolutions, the more common term.

A Scholarship

Back to college has always been my dream that hasnt come true. I don't really take a degree so important, what's more important to me is "studying something". I'd like to learn something new, explore a new place, new culture.... Europe is still my dream, or maybe The States, but I don’t think I really want down under.

Another Career

A bored person? I am. I'll never give up til I get my dream career (which I don't know which one). I still want to work for others, like feeding the children, working for the poors, working without making any profit. Selling, marketing, promotions... these things are getting boring.

And I still want to be a writer! One thing that I'll never forget. I want to write for National Geographic, visiting Egypt and seek if there are undiscovered remains of Queen Nefertiti's. Or exploring Peru, digging Peruvian ancient civilization, and later climbing up villages in Nepal. So...I think if there's one perfect combination for these dreams it should be working as a researcher for UNICEF collaborating with National Geographic, doing a research about Nepalese children, writing the research, and publish it on National Geographic Magazine. Or vice versa. Writing for National Geographic, involved in the Machu Picchu project supported by The UNESCO. Aha! ;)

Dreams... dreams. I am a dreamer, but I'll never stop making my dreams come true.

Publishing My Book

Been writing...two blogs, a thesis, a couple of unfinished novels, a dozen of 8 pages short stories...Sent any to publishers? One. To magazines? Some. Published? None (except the ones with BITE Magazine, no wonder laa...).

My fantasy novel, basic idea written when I was in high school, a well-known Indonesian publishing company might categorize as "teen literature", returned it after I rewrote it for months.

I'm not giving up! I'll never give up until I publish one book. And I want this year to be my initial year of my writing career. I'm writing another novel, and I hope I can publish it this year.

A Holiday

I need a holiday! Bali is a good choice to have a relax time, escaping from daily routines, no phonecalls, no fax, no e-mails, no orders. Reminiscing the days I spent with the foodcourt club - Clara, Fei, Andik, Ewy, Mas Yudi, Yu Lie, Shige, Kohei, and Haru, sometimes Farid and Benny - hope I can make it this year!

Oh, and Aceh! I want to see this place. I want to visit Mba Penny and see how she deals with the social life, the working culture, and the locals. Might not be something really important, but I'd like to do it, just to know how life is in this controversial region.

TOEFL and IELTS Scores

I must renew them. I must. It's been...3 years? No university will accept expired TOEFL or IELTS scores. So I'll take them.

Relationships

Want to have better relationships with everyone. I want nothing ruins my relationships with my friends, best friends, co-workers, networks, family (mum, cousins, aunties, uncles), neighbours, and want to mend any broken relationship in the past (like with...ex?! No).

Romantic relationship? Hehe. I guess everybody's wishing for it. But...if I have to talk about it, it could be one single blog title. So, it's better to save it for the next feature. But honestly, I only wished for the good things in relationship I'm in.

There must be some other things - if I search deep inside - been my wishes, but I guess those things are part of my daily wishes (to come to the office safe and sound, come home safe and sound, not eating too much, got enough time to breathe, things like these). Those are my new year's wishes, and I post these wishes on my blog to remind me that I should not stop running for them.

Some wishes need resolution to make them true. Some beyond human power. But I'm reading Rhonda Byrne's The Secret, the book speaks about the power of dream, the power of thinking positively. The universe never hears the negative atributes, like 'not', 'do not', 'never', etc. The universe hears only the positive words. So I guess if we tell the universe everything we wish for, by telling our hearts saying no negative word, the universe will work for us, to make our dreams come true. We still got 351 days!

Happy New Year 2008!

Bright Lights

Bright Lights

- Matchbox Twenty -

she got out of town

on a railway new york bound

took all except my name

another alien on broadway

there's some things in this world

you just can't change

some things you can't see

until it gets too late

baby, baby, baby

when all your love is gone

who will save me

from all i'm up against out in this world

maybe, maybe, maybe

you'll find something

that's enough to please you

but if the bright lights don't receive you

you can turn yourself around

and come on home

i got a hole in me now

i got a scar i can talk about

she keeps a picture of me

in her apartment in the city

some things in this world

they don't make sense

some things you don't need

until they leave you

and they're things that you miss

[chorus]

let that city take you in

let that city spit you out

let that city take you down

for god's sake turn around

Lord...I'm Tired

Lord...I'm tired of faking this smile
I'm tired of taking care of these demanding people
I'm tired of doing this complicated work
I'm tired with this feudalism and bullshitism

Lord...I'm tired of convincing people I'll be fine
That I only need time
I'm tired of telling myself everything's gonna be okay

Lord...I wont mind having these hard days
Just to touch the face of an angel
Lying down on the sand, feeling the breeze
And assure myself he knows that I care about him

Lord...I dont tell you everyday what I wish for
But I'm sure You've known before I do

Lord...You've made this earth so big
I wish You could make it smaller
And everything's easier

JOGJA...JOGJA!

Finally, after delayed for at least three times, I made it to Jogja…!!! This time no sleepover, no waking up early in the morning and taking a walk along Sosrowijayan Street getting a pack of Nasi Gudeg, watching early vendors getting ready to sell their items. No giggling with friends in any ‘warung lesehan’ along Malioboro Street til late at night. I was alone! It was a one-woman-show.

JOGLOSEMAR: JOGJA-SOLO-SEMARANG

I left home as early as 5.40 AM. This Bus JOGLOSEMAR departed at 6.05 AM. I promised my friend, Desita Terbritish Abish (The-Britishest-Ever Desita), to take a pic of this bus because she said she had never seen it, but I forgot to do it because I saw no ‘JOGLOSEMAR’ written on both sides of the bus, instead, I found “Bus Pariwisata” written on its both sides, which made it no difference from the other tourism buses, except that this bus is smaller in size. Desi…! I’m sorry, Bune!

JOGLOSEMAR is a tourist bus with destinations to and from Jogja-Solo-Semarang. However, the route is divided into three: to and from Jogja-Semarang, to and from Jogja-Solo, and to and from Semarang-Solo. I don’t remember when exactly this bus was launched, but I remember when a friend, Ben Clanchy a.k.a. Pak Satir visited my city in May 2005—just three days before I moved to Bali—and was going to continue his trip to Jogja, I reserved him this bus and it was new.

I didn’t know where to stop. I just knew that the place I was going to was Ngaglik, Sleman. I had never been to Sleman. I just knew that this place was a part of Jogja.

Anyway, after two long days at work, waking up and leaving home so early made me sooo sleepy. I slept all the way to Sleman. Thanks to the nice stewardess, she woke me up just before the bus reached the Ngaglik Junction. She said I should stop there, and take left to Nganglik.

And so, I didn’t know where to go. I was going to take any taxi, but it looked that I can hardly get a taxi. There were some ‘tukang ojeks’ (motorbike taxi riders) ready to deliver you anywhere, and I told one of them if he could take me to this place I had to go. So after searching for a confusing address (no number, just the street and the name of the building) for about 10 minutes or so, the Mas Tukang Ojek finally dropped me in a nice house with a Javanese architecture, five minutes before 9 in the morning. Gosh…I felt like I was in The Amazing Race, taking a Road Block task.

The building itself was so nice and comfy. Located in a suburb of Sleman, facing a paddy field, I like the breeze blowing from the trees surrounding the building.

I’ve done my things in 1.5 hours, and off to AmPlas (Ambarukmo Plaza). I was hungry and this was the only place crossed in my mind of where to get lunch. So I took a comfy place close to the window on the mall’s foodcourt on the third floor, having a dish of Chicken Curry with rice which was not as good as Akbar’s Tandoori’s at Plaza Senayan (Akbar, I miss your curry and massala tea!) and a cup of Thai Tea which was excellently good. Yeah, I was a bit disappointed with the chicken curry which I considered a bit too salty and yet not so tasty and not so spicy (curry must have much coriander and whatever other spices), but I really liked the Thai Tea which was a bit similar to Indian massala tea.

I’d had enough with my lunch so I continued observing the mall. I like AmPlas and that was the second time for me. I found an outlet which used to be one of my favorites in Jakarta (because of the low price and the nice designs), Number 61. So I entered this outlet and took some cute stuffs to be added in my wardrobe.

MALIOBORO
I’m a girl. A trip is never really a trip without shopping. A trip is a good reason for spending your money on shopping. And to me, every vacation is a moment to be myself—eating my favorite food, seeing things I want to see, and buying things I want to buy.

I left AmPlas and continued my trip to Malioboro Street. I missed this place, no matter how different it was than years ago when I used to walk with my Dad and Mum and bought those unimportant things—clamp necklaces, wooden bracelets, key rings, carved sandals.

I’ve been here for hundreds of time. Twenty to ten years ago, I used to come with my parents, and sometimes with my cousins. And then I came with my classmates. And since my Dad passed away, I came only with my mum. And now I did it only by myself. Hmm…things changed. And guess life changes.

It was a real struggle to Mirota Batik, my mum’s favorite place. I don’t know why is this place always be the first place she thinks of. She always says “I’ll meet you in Mirota Batik,” or “Let’s search some things in Mirota Batik”. But it did give me an impact. I walked along 300 meters or so on high heels and a skirt from the starting point of Malioboro Street to this spacious store with a “Mirota Batik” banner outside, just to find one thing or two as presents to I-don’t-know-who-yet.

The owner of Mirota Batik has a brilliant idea to present all the stuffs of Javanese culture in one store. Batik fabrics, handycrafts, wayangs (Indian-Javanese puppets), paintings, traditional herbs beverages called ‘jamu’, traditional delis, Javanese coffees, Javanese tea, even Javanese Chocolate (!), Monggo Chocolate. I think the best corner of this store is the corner where a Javanese lady wearing traditional Javanese outfits sitting on her bended knees, painting batik fabrics using ‘canting’ complete with the boiling wax in a pan on a small stove, various plant seeds as the natural color ingredients in bottles. It’s said that a person won’t finish this work in less than one month, just for a 2 meters piece of fabric. What a patience. Anyway, I like the smile of this 'ibu-ibu' when I asked for her permission to take a picture of her. (Desi, does her 'konde' remind you of something?)

Releasing myself from the crowd of Mirota Batik, I continued seeking cute stuffs in Malioboro Street. My favorite moment in Malioboro is always the time I bargain half or one third of the price and I win it!

TOURISTS
One thing that surprised me was, not many tourists in Jogja! I’m wondering if it was an impact of the political crisis in 1998 followed by riots, and then the first Bali Bombing in 2002 and again, the second in 2005, and not to mention the Tsunami Disaster in Aceh and North Sumatera in end of 2004? But I mean, wow! What an impact. What is Jogja without tourists? What is Malioboro without foreign shoppers? What is Sosrowijayan without backpackers?

Sosrowijayan! I remember spending my nights here with my parents and my cousins when my Dad was still around. Watching the backpackers, becaks, old-skool bicycles passing by, getting an early morning breakfast from an ‘ibu-ibu’ selling nasi gudeg Jogja complete with a piece of chicken’s breast or wing or head, super-tasty coconut milk, spicy sambal goreng and a piece of cassava (yes, cassavas in gudeg!), wrapped in a piece of banana leaf.

Across from our hotel was a narrow alley I never knew the name. There was “Superman Bar and Restaurant”, a quite spacious place where we used to have our lunches and dinners. Here I met a person who looked like Stephan Jenkins, my favorite celeb of those years, the lead vocal of Third Eye Blind. I remember looking at that face, and just when he realized I was looking at him, his pretty girlfriend showed up. :P

I left Jogja at 7.59 PM (according to the clock of Joglosemar Bus. Man…this bus is so punctual). It’s always been a nice trip to Jogja, even when I had to do it alone. Eleven hours in Jogja and I went home, seeing my beloved faces, watching the last episode of this season’s Ugly Betty (which wasn’t a good ending…what will happen to Santos?), crawling up my dearest bed and pillows, sleeping, and having a day off today!

Set The Fire To The Third Bar

Here's the lyric of a very nice song by Snow Patrol featuring Martha Wainwright. Listen up to the song and catch the lyric as it is very deep and that Gary Lightbody and Martha Wainwright had made such a good collaboration.

Set The Fire To The Third Bar

Snow Patrol feat. Martha Wainwright

I find the map and draw a straight line
Over rivers, farms, and state lines
The distance from 'A' to where you'd be
It's only finger-lengths that I see
I touch the place where I'd find your face
My finger in creases of distant dark places

I hang my coat up in the first bar
There is no peace that I've found so far
The laughter penetrates my silence
As drunken men find flaws in science

Their words mostly noises
Ghosts with just voices
Your words in my memory
Are like music to me

I'm miles from where you are,
I lay down on the cold ground I,
I pray that something picks me up
And sets me down in your warm arms

After I have traveled so far
We'd set the fire to the third bar
We'd share each other like an island
Until exhausted, close our eyelids

And dreaming, pick up from
The last place we left off
Your soft skin is weeping
A joy you can't keep in

I'm miles from where you are,
I lay down on the cold ground
And I, I pray that something picks me up
and sets me down in your warm arms

I'm miles from where you are,
I lay down on the cold ground and I,
I pray that something picks me up
and sets me down in your warm arms

The World Of A Squid

Welcome to The World of a Squid.

You might ask, why I give a name after that mollusks marine creature. Well...to be honest, it's only a name. But, to be very honest again...there's a meaning behind the name.

Squid in Japanese is 'Ika', and Ika is my real name. And why I chose 'squid' instead of any other meaning related to 'Ika' ? Squid was definitely not what my parents wanted me to be.

Ika is originally a sanskrit word

(săn'skrĭt') An ancient Indic language that is the language of Hinduism and the Vedas and is the classical literary language of India (answers.com)

Though I cant tell you the web source that could explain the meaning of 'Ika' in Sanskrit, but my parents believed that 'Ika' means 'One', which is more to 'The Only' rather than 'one' in numerical order. As a matter of fact, I'm the only child of my family (sad...).

This is what Kabalarians.com tells me about my name:

1.Although the name Ika creates the urge to be creative and original, we point out that is causes frustration through a scattered and emotional nature

2.This name, when combined with the last name, can frustrate happiness, contentment, and success, as well as cause health weaknesses in the liver, bloodstream, and in tension or accidents to the head.

3.Your first name of Ika has made you a friendly, approachable, and generous person.

4.Generally you are good-natured, though at times you can be blunt and sarcastic. (me: hmmm…)

5.As you are naturally talkative (!), you find it easy to meet and make friends with many people.

6.This name inclines you to be sympathetic and generous to those in difficult or unfortunate circumstances.

7.You can be firm, positive, and independent in your own ideas and in reaching your own decisions, yet when it comes to taking action or following things through to completion, you often need encouragement.

8.You respond quickly to kind words or any appreciation shown you.

9.There are artistic, creative abilities in this name that you could express through music or singing, or, in a practical way, through sewing or interior decorating

I absolutely agree and like the ideas of point #1,3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, although I have to reflect myself with the idea shown in pt #4, especially with the statement that I can be blunt and sarcastic.

Point #9 gives me a question। Well…I mean I know that I’m artistic and creative, but I don’t think that I can express it through music and singing, despite the fact that I was a member of the church youth choir, and that my music expression is that I love different kinds of music except dangdut and hardcore and heavy metal, but that’s all. I cannot make music. I just listen to it. I think my only artistic expression is that I can arrange words into a composition which then make a story. This blog might be an example.

And pt#2…hmm… I don’t know much about my own health except that I never had a hypertension and I can have headache easily especially if I don’t eat.

This is what you find when you search ‘ika’ on wikipedia
ika is a basic game engine platform for Windows and Linux. ika was all but discontinued at one point, but a rise in interest has lead the developers to begin working towards a new version. The latest released version of the game engine is version 0.62, which uses Python 2.5

In the same time, you can find a package of Saki Ika or dried squid on the right side of the page.

When I was in Bali I found out that my name could mean Squid. It was a friend of my former employer told me. This fellow called Troy had a Japanese wife and when he knew my name was Ika, he looked at me and asked, “Do you know what your name in Japanese means?” And I shook my head and he explained, “It means cumi-cumi a.k.a squid.” From that moment on, everybody in the office called me “squid.”

At my first meeting with a Japanese friend, Shigetada, I had the impression that he was convincing himself what he heard was really my name। "Ika?" he repeated my word. Shige was a typical Japanese man who wasn't expressive, yet polite. Guessing what he was thinking about, I told him, "Sounds like 'squid'?" And there, I've helped him expressing his thought.

Beside considering the name sound funny to me, it also reminded me that squid has always been my favorite seafood. I really like squids, really, really like them so much. I like calamari, I like seafood cap cay with lots of squid, I like stir-fried squid…I like squids cooked with everything! I like them because they’re chewy, I like their black ink, I like their shape…

The world of a squid might not be as happy and as colorful as ours, and might not be as complicated as ours too…. but if there’s a point that I’d like myself to reflect on this mollusk creature, I am so thankful that I’m not one of them. A life of a human being is complicated yet much much more beautiful than of a short life of a squid’s and the world is much wider than the world of a squid.