Some of The Things That I Learnt in 2014

I learnt that...

• I'm a lazy ass mofo. I mean, I always know that I am but this year that really shines through like nothing else. 

• Summer has more rain than winter.

• Much to my dismay, I love finance more than accounting. I actually enjoy it (my grades might not reflect that fact in a very distinctive manor but hey) and even considered dropping one major to get another but I didn't go through with it. 

• Sleeping late every night is not a good thing to do. Sadly, I realised this a little too late. I got sick twice this year which is ridiculous because the first year I was here I was healthy all year long.

• I can cook decent and tasty meal from scratch. I mean, boiled pasta with instant sauce and sausage are good enough for me when I want it quick and easy. But knowing you can treat yourself to a delish pan grilled salmon is a good knowledge to have.

• As much as I like being on my own in my room, I hate silence. I literally put Spotify all day everyday, all, the time. 

• It is nicer to be the passenger than the driver. I took driving lessons in June/July and dang it, it was stressful. I nearly crash into a motorcycle. Lucky it did not happen.

• I sometimes talk trash about my hometown/home-country; the corruptions, traffic, yadayada. But I love it so so much. Last winter was the first time I spent all my holiday at my first home. It was the best holiday I've had so far that I cried for the first time when I was at the airport. 

• I'm horrible at catching up with friends (sorry about that) and that it is nice to see old friends that you haven't seen in forever. I went to my brother's university for his graduation and I met some of my junior high school best friends that I haven't seen in so long. It was nice. 

• That you can't fool your heart. You can keep going and tell yourself to stop loving, or to an extreme of hating. Feelings do not become invalid just because you tell yourself that you should not feel them anymore. Some might think love is stupid, but love is love. And you should not deny your own feeling, that is other people's job. You don't have to do it to yourself. Doesn't matter if it was 2 years ago or 7 years ago, if it's still there, enjoy it. If it hurts, enjoy it like you did when it didn't hurt. Basically, just stop lying to yourself. 

Cheers to whatever happened to this freakishly quick year! :)

At First Sight

I love you at that time
you shook my hand
and say your name.
It still lingers
in my mind, in my heart,
the way your eyes were so calm.
The way you smile.
I remember your hands firmly
shaking mine like a memory foam
was embedded in my hand

I love you at that time
our eyes locked.
You remember who I was and
you smile.
I hesitated, trying
not to keep my hopes up.
I remember
your smile,
before the moment got interrupted.

I love you in between
all that time.
All the time.

I love you just then
when you looked around the room.
When once again our
eyes locked, smiles exchanged.
The heart died a little when
I realise you don't remember.
The heart died a little
more when you were walking
away.

I love you at that time
I love you in between
I love you still and
I hope for always.

FP

Braddon, 18 August 2014

04.03 AM FH S859

A Little Thoughts about The Fault In Our Stars

I've been following The Vlogbrothers for a few years now and for the record I love Hank and John Green. I think they both are brilliant people who have visions to change the world little by little, they are not afraid to express themselves as who they are and I admire that from them.

Now, on to The Fault in Our Stars (or TFIOS). I did not read this book. In fact, I have not read any of the book that John Green wrote. I have nothing against them, I'm sure they're beautiful but I don't know why I have not had the urge to read it even though lots of my friends recommended it to me numerous times. From The Vlogbrothers videos that John's featured in, I really love his thoughts from places where he shows clips of his journey and he voiced it over and everything sounds beautiful. So his wordsmith talent is not a question anymore.

I watched TFIOS on its premiere here because one of my best friend reaally wanted to see it. I came in there and saw a lot of girls from age 13 to grandmoms. John Green is relevant to all ages, I thought in the beginning.

I'm not going to talk a lot about the movies. I think the movie is pretty cool. The story line doesn't have a lot of plot twist but I'm pretty sure it wasn't meant to have a lot of them.

Anyway, I was sitting there thinking about Esther (RIP). Esther Earl is the girl that inspires John Green to write The Fault in Our Stars. And I was thinking... do these people know about her?

Since the first time the book gain mass recognition, I seldom heard her name mentioned by the fans of the book. Some of my friends who read it did not even know that this book was inspired by her.

Which is really sad. Also, I came to the movies knowing a little bit of Esther's story. I don't know about the book, but the movie focuses a lot on the love story between Hazel and Augustus. I have nothing against that, you know, it's a beautiful but sad love story with a bitter sweet ending, which sells.

But I was thinking that this story is talking a lot more than just cancer patients who're trying to survive and live a normal life and make it a beautiful one. I agree on that message that we have to make our lives as beautiful as it can be, seize the moments, because you really do only live once. But, I was just thinking that it's a lot more than that.

(From the movie) Hazel and Augustus talks about oblivion, about Augustus who wanted to make impact in the world and be well known and change something and make things better despite his condition and all his problems. And towards the end, when Hazel was saying that you can't change everyone's lives in your one life but you can change people around you and make them better and that is also okay. That making small changes, changing people's lives around you and making it better by just a little bit is as important as the big gestures. That you don't have to be remembered by everybody in the world but be remembered by people you love and love you back.

These are the things that I wished to see highlighted in the movie (again, because I haven't read the book). Mostly, because I feel like this is the essence of Esther's life. She might not made such big gestures, go on campaign or things like that. She did small things, she inspires people who are close to her, she makes people around her feel better and slowly she's making an impact on the rest of the world. And now, she is known and she is celebrated for the way she was. Even with her gone, I'm very sure that she's still make a difference in people's lives because she is the star that will not go out.

And I want people to know that and understand that through the book or the movie because that's who she was, that's who she is. I want people to know that there's more layers to the book than just the love story or the "metaphor". There is Esther's wisdom and that will live forever.

R.I.P. Esther Grace Earl  http://

Toilet RANT

If you have been reading my blog for quite some time, you know that I'm in uni and I live in a residential hall/college. And today, I would like to just rant about the toilet. Yup. Classic.

My hall is co-ed, so boys and girls are all welcome here. We're also a mixed of international student, like I am, and also inter-state students. So, different backgrounds and culture, yay for diversity!

The difference between my hall and others would be that it is like living in a hotel, with no bathroom, TV or kitchen inside. In fact, my hall used to be a hotel in the olden days, used to housed single young public sector workers here where I live. So, it has 10 stories, one floor would have around 26 people, and we have to share bathroom.

So, I'm gonna give you background about the bathrooms so that you can create a mental image for yourself (if you want). We have three different categories: male, female and unisex. Inside there are one shower room, one shower room with a bathtub, and two toilets. My room is closer to the unisex so I can speak for both female and unisex bathroom.

And, OH, MY, GAWD! Some people are disgusting.

Warning: it will get really disgusting from here. You've been warned.

Almost every night I come in and see "water" on the seat and on the floor. One time, I stepped in a poodle of "water" and I threw my thongs right away. I also have seen what I would call the consequences of getting wasted all over the place. And the number two not being flushed properly.

In my first year, when I first see such things, I thought to myself, maybe they were just having a really bad day. Then I had a bad day and I didn't do any of that. When I see that all those occurs quite regularly, I began to narrow it down. The unisex bathrooms are far from the others. Only quite a few people use it because others will go according to the genders. Out of those many people I couldn't help but think of who's doing so many harm to a shared environment.

Like, do they not realise that after they're done, other people will use the same thing? For the same purpose?

Did they ever think about how they would feel when they see the toilet all messy? How would they feel if they have to step on "water" on the floor?

And, lastly, are the guys REALLY trying to aim???

Because everything is just all over the place but not in the right place. Pee on the floor, on the seat, tissues everywhere. Chaotic.

I mean what is so hard about flushing? It's not like we have to pour water ourself, it's just a lever you need to pull it down and water will flow. Like, really?? Do you not do that at home? I'm pretty sure you started to do that by the age of 3 because flushing is fun as a child. Or maybe not. I was thinking the other day, maybe those people have their own bathroom in their room that they never have to clean themselves. So, maybe, they have this bathroom in their room and after they use it for any reason at all, other people will come and clean it for them so when they need to use it next time it's all clean and fresh and beautiful.

Anyway, the point is, if you live in a share house or a residential college/hall or in a place where you need to share bathroom, please PLEASE be considerate. Think about your friends around you who will definitely have to use the same toilet as you. Don't be a selfish jerk, you're way better than that.

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The 1st Quarter of 2014

Inevitable procrastination blogpost!

Here are some things that happened to me in March 2014! :D

One of my best friends, Anita, and I used to have the same classes on our first year. Sadly, this year, we're taking different courses so we can't see each other a lot during the week. So, we arrange catch-up lunch every two weeks on Friday for us to chill and stuff.

The picture below was in February, I think. The sky was a bit grey and gloomy and it was windy. We were sitting down in one of the ovals around campus, chatting and watching the Japanese play softball. That was our view.

We also heard a man playing bagpipe so we decided to walk to the source of the music. We found a man playing bagpipe by the river. It was so unexpected yet peaceful at the same time.

Then, my hall had a commencement dinner. It's a formal welcoming party held every year by each colleges. Ours was in Australian Institute of Sport. This year, we actually sat down and had dinner and it was way better than the year before.

Because it's a formal event, we had the chance to dress up a little bit and looked all fancy-like.

I also was given the opportunity to be one of the committee member of Konferensi Internasional Pelajar Indonesia 2014. The event went great, I met lots of important and soon-to-be-important people and made lots of new friends. This is my first ever conference and it was great to sit down in the room and listen to people's presentation. I got the chance to be in the Politics and Culture sub-theme (but as a committee so I just sit down and make sure everything runs according to schedule) but it was great to hear new ideas and discussion. We also had workshops and seminars and a closing lunch event in KBRI and everything was so much fun.

The committee, participants and important people in Balai Kartini, KBRI. 

Then, right after KIPI finished, I had potluck night with church choir peeps. We ate some delicious food, yummy and beautiful dessert that Tiffany made, and played board games until 1AM in the morning. We played Catan, which was voted the best game of 2013 or 2012. But, it was the most confusing game ever and I don't understand a thing. Good thing I was in a team with JJ, who know it so well and we won :)

We also played Taboo which is waaaaayy better than Catan and it opened our eyes to the other side of each other's mind. We ended the night watching weird videos on YouTube.

And, that's the highlights so far!

I have assignment due in a week that I haven't started and mid-semester exam in 2 weeks that I haven't prepared.

So, yeah, work hard play harder and wish all of us (me and you) bunch of luck!

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Happy Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day Massacre! (if you get this reference, comment below so I can give you lots of cool points)

It's the February 14 and you can smell the love in the air. The smell of chocolate, flowers, alcohol, and tears of happiness and sadness. It's the commercial holiday that was created so that the florists, card maker company, chocolate and alcohol producer will be rich because there is no more holidays until the end of the year again.

I'm just going to share my Valentine's day with you guys because why not? ;)

I just got back from home to home yesterday where I spent almost 11 hours sitting down (I'll get down to details in another post). I got the same room that I got last year which is soo nice because I love this room. I also got new set of curtains in the color of navy blue (which is my favorite color). Oh, and I also have Joel as my SR which is uhmazing because he's the only SR that I know best.

Anyway, I'm supposed to be unpacking today. I've been quite a good girl and unpacked one box and a small suitcase yesterday. But it's Valentine's Day, I have better things to do than unpacking.

So, I spent most of my time sleeping. I slept for about 14 hours today which was so fun. Then, Sarah came back so I talked to her and helped her move her stuff because she moved floor (which is very sad). Later at night, Pauline, Khadeeja, and I went to Sarah's room and terrorised Khadeeja to clean her room and ran down the fire exit to her room. How exciting.

After that, I came back to my room decided to locked it and sang along to my iTunes. Joel knocked on my door to gave me fake noise complaint which failed miserably. Then Lip Yi, Joel and I went to his room about to watch 12 Years a Slave (I have no idea what this is but it sounds like a good movie with a sad story line). That plan also failed. Instead, we ended up having a karaoke session and sang along to Disney songs, Queen's, A Thousand Miles, What What In The Butt, Super Bass, and Wrecking Ball (with me putting water on my face as tears)

That ended, and I have been sitting down in front of my laptop listening to songs while talking to my chums (NaNadine) and my best friends (MeiThasya) on WhatsApp. Oh, international love.

I was about to watch Camp Takota starring the holy trinity; Grace Helbig, Hannah Hart, and Mamrie Hart. Sadly, I don't have my ethernet cable yet and my wifi sucks.

Anyway guys, how is/was your Valentines Day? Tell me down in the comments below for me to read so I don't feel sad :')

Hope you nice people have an amazing Valentine's Day!

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Guling Awareness Day #Thanksguling

Kemaren @indoprobs (yang lalu didukung oleh @indooverseas) bikin Guling Awareness Day yang akan disebut dengan Thanksguling. Thanksguling Day bakalan jadi tradisi yang diperingati setiap hari Rabu terakhir di bulan Januari.

Ngomong-ngomong guling, siapa sih anak Indonesia yang tidurnya nggak pernah pake guling? Anak Indonesia sama guling itu udah kayak air putih sama gelas. Mereka saling melengkapi, kayak gelas yang mendekap air, anak Indonesia mendekap guling. Pokoknya guling itu nomer satu deh, nggak pake bantal gapapa asal ada guling.

Kenapa anak Indonesia (baca: gue) ga bisa lepas dari guling?

Karena waktu kecil kita tidurnya satu kasur sama ayah dan ibu dan kalo malem pasti dikelonin. Kalau nggak dikelonin (atau selain dikelonin), kita pasti pas tidur meluk ayah atau ibu kita deh. Entah tangannya, jarinya, apa aja pasti ada yang kita pegang.

Begitu udah gede, nggak ada lagi kan yang bersedia ngelonin kita kalo mau tidur? Biar mandiri. Pacar nggak punya, lagian juga mana boleh, kan saru. Tapi sebenernya kita juga ga mandiri-mandiri amat sih, karena ada guling tadi. Guling yang selalu siap dipeluk, dikelon, dan di jelimet-jelimetin kalo lagi gejolak hormon (maksudnya PMS).

Selain itu, memeluk seseorang (atau dalam hal ini, sesuatu) itu sehat. Menurut riset yang pernah gue baca, setiap lo memeluk, otot lo yang tegang akan jadi lemas, memperkuat sistem pertahanan tubuh, dan meningkatkan oxytocin levels yang bisa menringankan perasaan depresi, sendiri/isolasi, dan kemarahan.

Jadi, agak terjawab kenapa setiap anak Indonesia (lagi, gue) tidur pake guling, kualitas tidur gue pasti lebih bagus dan pas bangun pasti perasaannya bisa lebih lega dan lebih segar. Tak lain tak bukan, karena gue baru aja menghabiskan sekitar 8 jam meluk guling.

Dan lagi, guling adalah yang paling setia. Dari dulu kalo marah, sedih, atau bahagia sekalipun pasti ada luapan-luapan emosi yang akan dilakukan secara private dikamar. Gimana caranya? Antara joget-joget sendiri, nggemes sendiri, atau meluk guling. Apalagi kalo lagi sedih. Isinya kan pasti cuman masuk kamar, dengerin lagu menye sambil meluk guling toh?

Kalo nangis, yang nyerep air matanya siapa?
Guling.

Kalo marah, yang dipukulin siapa?
Guling.

Gulingnya diem aja, tetep nemenin lo nangis, tetep nerima aja lo pukul-pukulin. Abis itu, gulingnya tetep terima-terima aja lo peluk sehabis lo capek nangis dan marah-marah pas akhirnya lo ketiduran.

Dan inilah alasan-alasan kenapa guling itu penting buat gue.

Happy Belated Thanksguling Day! #GulingAwarenessDay

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JAKARTA

"Jakarta Banjir"
Salahkan Pak Gubernur!
Salahkan Wakilnya!
Karena mereka blusukan
Karena mereka lakukan perbaikkan

"Jakarta Macet"
Salahkan orang yang sama!
Karena angkutan umum dibenahi
Hukum lalu lintas ditegakkan lagi

"Jakarta Kumuh"
Salahkan petingginya!
Karena mereka bangun rusun
Namun penduduk menolah dituntun

Rakyat minta solusi
Inginkan kota punya MRT
Rakyat ingin hidup bahagia
Bandingkan tempatnya dengan Singapura

Pernahkah ada yang peduli
Pak Gubernur dan Sang Wakil
berjuang setengah mati
Malah dihina dan dicaci-maki

"Jakarta Kurang Maju"
Karena rakyatnya tak mau bersatu
Dengarkan dan dukung petinggimu itu
Jangan dituduh pencitraan melulu

29.01.2014

01:17

Bishan

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I Don't Like Beauty Salons

I hate beauty salons.

Okay, it's a strong word. Let me rephrase. I dislike beauty salons.
I only cut my hair once a year. The maximum would be three times if I ever bothered to get it trimmed. Every time I have to go to a salon, I need someone else to come with me because I hate it. (yes, I'm a girl and I'm almost 20)

Why do I hate salons?

The place is full of judgemental looking people. I have no idea about hair care/regime/products/and so on. And, because the salon is only 5 minutes from my house by motor cycle, I always go there with shorts and my brother's old t-shirt that looks baggy on me. You would not think that I'm a girl who knows fashion and/or beauty when you see me. (But that is literally who I am)

The receptionist in salons always looks like they know everything and they will judge you by how you look. They ask me what I want and I was like, "I want a cut". Then they always look at me like I haven't finished my sentence.

After quite a long pause, then they would ask you if you want a wash, and a blow dry, do you want treatment or color, who is your preferred hairdresser, and so on and so forth. To which I would answer, yes, maybe, no, I don't know... And the receptionist would look at me like I'm a 3 year old child.

Everyone who come in and out of salons when I'm in one would always know everything. They would know the receptionists (first and foremost). If the receptionist says something along the lines of, "You have to wait for (insert hairdresser name)", those people would walk right to the person and chat to them like they're some old friend (but you wouldn't be able to hear it).

What are they talking about???

Next. I don't know if this is just me or do other people's hairdresser would do whatever they think looks good on you? Maybe because I cut my hair only once a year (or less) that I don't get the same hairdresser every time?

Like, last time I cut my hair, the hairdresser asked me how I want to cut it. I answered, "Just cut it shoulder length, one length."
Next thing I know he started to explain all this things he's going to do with my hair because he said one length cut would look to stiff around my face and because I didn't want to argue, I just smiled sheepishly which he translated it as a yes.

Then comes the blow dry, which was pleasant just like when they wash your hair :)

When I came out of the salon, like most girls would feel, I hated my hair cut.
But I would come again at some point in time...
Oh the dilemma.

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Here's To 2014!

It’s still January but holy smokes January is going so fast. I like January because it’s a symbol of a new fresh start, the first month of a new year, untouched for another 329 days. But, I also dislike January because it’s one of the fastest months ever.

Enough with the month January, I want to talk more about a new fresh start and a little bit of flash back on 2013.

Last year was the first time I live on my own and the second time away from home. I also did new things that I have never done before, good or bad. It’s kind of fair to say that I have come out a little bit out of my comfort zone. I also learned a lot of lesson that is very useful.

I met new people, I lived in a new foreign culture, I had to make my own day-to-day decision, I had to work with new people and learnt to get along with them, I wrote on my blogs, I went on auditions for musicals and work backstage, I tried new things. Honestly, none of he things that I did had anything to do with the major that I’m studying. But it was my life-long dream and my passion and I was happy and I will never regret it.

However, there are many many areas for me to work on. There are loads of things to improve on that are important to me as well. And because “Stop Procrastinating” and “Don’t be Lazy” are the most vague resolution ever, here goes:

• Make study #1 priority. With all the free time and the free will, I realised that I focused a lot on my passion (which is not a bad thing) but I kind of set aside the most important thing in life right now: my education. I was not proud of some my grades this year. This year, I will try my hardest to make it my first priority because I’m a student and study is what I (am supposed to) do.

• Stop sacrificing sleep. I know deep down I was not made to be one of the cool kids. I can’t function when I stay up late. But I sacrifice my health for my friends. I stay up late when they do so and regret it the next morning, I had maybe more than 5 times last year when I didn’t go to sleep until the morning has broken.

• Cook and eat right. This is the first year of living independently so I have to cook too. I am a lazy ass and I always think that it will be more practical to buy food than to cook them. Even if I cook, I always chose the easiest things like pasta, frozen and fried food. This year, I will get down and get dirty IN THE KITCHEN and cook my ass off, to be healthy and to learn to be a good housewife :3

• Exercise. Because last year I would have done nothing like the last quarter of the year if it was not for the intense training of the musical.

In short, get better academically and be healthy. I know this might sounds really basic to you but not to me. I hope that I could do all this because this year I’m turning 20! (brb freaking out) And I want to settle the basic things because I will not kid around anymore since I won’t be a kid no more in a few months.

So, here’s to 2014! To a better year, a better life, and a better us! 

Don’t forget to tell me your resolutions down in the comments or tweet me @sisiska☺

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