For the past (at least) four years, I’ve noticed that my life had always taken a dramatic shift at the last quarter of every year, around September/October. I moved abroad, I moved back in, I took a life changing job assignment, I got pregnant and then had a miscarriage. This year, the whirlwind came early. On the beginning of June, I got a job promotion, and as a consequence, transferred to one of the office outside Java. To be precise, I was transferred to Tarakan city, in a cute tiny island in the upper right part of Borneo.
It did not come out of nowhere actually. I did signed in for the job at around March, and I did so after a lot of reflecting and consulting with husband and the rest of the family. But it still felt like it happened in a blink of an eye. After several occasions of major life shifts, I am glad that this time, I do feel that I am a bit better at adapting. I am also grateful that I am now quite masterful in packing up, moving away, and building a new nest in a brand new place. The fact that now I’m in my room, having spare time to leisurely write another post in this dusty blog shows that things are starting to fall into its place. One thing I believe for sure: Prayers helped made all the changes happened smoothly along the way. A heart full of gratitude. A leap of faith that I am not alone, that there is a divine force helping and protecting me. They all led me to take steps forward. Small but firm steps that gotten me to a better and hopeful place.
But it’s not even close to over. After several small steps, another big jump is waiting in front of me. And again, the anxiety hits. Cos several pieces of the puzzle are not yet placed correctly, and even worse, I am not even sure that I already have the pieces. So now I find myself looking back for assurance. I’ve gotten this far. I’ve gotten a lot of blessings. I can do this.
Oh how I really really want to consistently write here and capture my days. I want to learn how to communicate and share better, all the while recording thoughts and events for me to someday reflect and look back whenever I want to.
I am glad that the flame has not entirely dead, though. I still love going blogwalking. I have several favorite blogs and everytime I read those, the urge to write comes back.
The obstacles are mundane, and typical, of course. I am not always in the right mood. It is so hard to find the time. Nothing new there.
Since it has been in the back of my mind for some time, I have come with some ideas to get me there. Lately I learned that to make things happen we need to create a supporting environment, make time for writing (in other words: set a schedule), make it a routine, and create a habit.
I noticed that some of my favorite bloggers are avid readers. Make sense, because you cannot put out words in a blog, when you don’t have much input. That becomes one of my reasons to get back in the habit of reading. I don’t set out an ambitious goal though, I’d settle with at least one book in a month. That would be good enough considering that last year I didn’t finish a lot of books for various reasons, and surely I didn’t always finish one every month. January reading went on quite well since I’ve finished Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (and enjoyed it a lot!). The book for February is Andy Weir’s The Martian. So far it’s intriguing and has piqued my interest since I haven’t watched the movie, so I’m quite hopeful on this one. Really hope this reading habit sets out a good environment for my writing habit to grow.
Next, I need to set a routine schedule and make writing a habit. I think I am getting good at this habit creating game, even though I still cheat here and there. I dealt with the basic ones before, setting a routine for exercising, sleeping and waking up early, and fasting. Lots of reads in this topic taught me to concentrate on creating maximum 3 habits within 3 months since that’s the time required for the habit to really stick. The reading/writing habit would be next on my schedule.
Again, here’s another attempt on a more consistent writing and sharing in this blog. Let’s see how it goes 🙂
Ga perlu susah-susah milih kata yang mewakili bulan April. Udah jelas kata itu adalah: belanja. Muahahaha. Parah banget budget belanja bulan April jebool gara-gara Big Bad Wolf sama Inacraft.
Tahun ini nyobain ke Big Bad Wolf karena diajakin sama neng Diah. Ga tanggung-tanggung ke sananya niat banget sampe nginep dan bawa koper aja gitu muahaha.. Nginepnya tentu milih yang murah meriah, RedDoorz di kawasan Anggrek Loka BSD, biar ga berlawanan sama tujuan awal yaitu berburu di sale buku (baca: hemat). It fit the purpose: cukup bersih dan nyaman, plus lumayan dekat dari venue tujuan. Tadinya mau ke BBWnya hari Minggu subuh gitu karena konon rame banget dan antrean kasir ga manusiawi, tapi akhirnya memutuskan nyoba cek-cek ombak hari Sabtunya. Berangkat ke sananya udah kaya orang mau perang, ngisi amunisi (baca: makan-makan) dulu ke AEON Mall, plus nyiapin segala macam bekel. Maklum lah kami berdua sama-sama tipe manusia yang ga berfaedah sama sekali kalo lagi haus dan lapar. Hasilnya, kami baru nyampe di ICE BSD pas adzan Maghrib dan cuma sanggup keliling-keliling sampe jam 10 malam (udah capek duluan karena muter2 AEON dulu ini mah hahaha).
Tapi kami merasa udah cukup puas jadi Minggunya ga perlu balik lagi ke sana. Apakah ramenya separah yang diperkirakan? Enggak tuh. Kami antri cuma sekitar 30 menit, itu pun kayanya karena mas-mas kasirnya kurang berpengalaman aja. Besok-besoknya pun, berdasarkan pantauan dari twitter, sepertinya ga ada lagi yang mengeluhkan antrian kasir sampe berjam-jam. Sebetulnya kalo kondisi kaya gini sih mendingan pergi ke sana pagi-pagi ya, jadi masih fresh dan hari masih panjang, jadi bisa bener-bener maksimal kelilingnya.
But it was okay. Dalam 3-4 jam di ICE, saya berhasil memutari semua meja buku fiksi. Selebihnya masih sempet ngecek sebagian meja ‘children reader’ sama ‘non-fiction’ tapi udah dalam kondisi agak siwer dan ga fokus ahahaha.. Sebenernya saya ga berharap banyak dari BBW karena pernah baca satu artikel yang bilang bahwa BBW ini sebenernya adalah semacam cuci gudang buku-buku yang ga laku dari berbagai book shops entah di belahan dunia sebelah mana aja. Dan ya bener aja sih, buku-buku yang ditawarkan ya memang bukan buku-buku baru yang pasti masih laku kalo dipajang dengan harga normal di etalase toko buku. But still…
JENG JENG
Tetep aja kopernya penuh :)))
Yang akhirnya saya beli adalah fiksi-fiksi dari penulis yang sudah pernah saya baca karyanya atau pengen baca, walopun memang bukan buku-buku best seller dari penulis ybs. Selebihnya adalah buku-buku hardcover yang bernuansa ensiklopedia atau nostalgia (i got a collector’s edition of Enid Blyton’s books, ga ada di gambar karena lagi dipinjam) yang bakal cukup oke untuk koleksi perpustakaan keluarga.
Nah, hal yang biasanya ditanyakan kalo liat belanjaan BBW saya yang sekoper ini adalah: ’emang buku-buku ini bakal dibaca semua?’ (bahkan kasir BBW aja nanya gini loh). Jawabnya ya iya doongg.. walopun selesainya entah kapan :))
Satu buku yang udah saya selesaikan adalah The Vacationers dari Emma Straub. Beli ini karena belakangan banyak dengar rekomendasi buku Emma Straub yang judulnya Modern Lovers. The Vacationers, tentang satu keluarga yang berlibur selama dua pekan ke Mallorca, jadi semacam perkenalan saya dengan Emma Straub. I think she’s a good story teller. Baca buku ini feelnya semacam nonton film-film drama komedi keluarga ala The Family Stone, atau karya-karya Noah Baumbach atau Nicole Holofcener, which is (if you know me enough you’d recognize hahah) kinda my taste. Hanya saja, tentu ada sebabnya The Vacationers tidak disebut sebagai karya nomor satu dari Emma Straub. Plot ceritanya, menurut saya, so-so saja. Sangat plain dan predictable, not ambitious, and there’s no twists at all. But still.. I love the vacation vibe of this book, jadi kangen sama masa-masa liburan keliling Eropa dulu hahaha. I love how most Westerners do their vacations, they go to actually stay in a city for a decent period of time, truly relaxing while blending in with the city’s vibe. Ga kaya kita orang Asia yang grubak grubuk ke beberapa destinasi sekali pergi. Dulu saya pernah cerita ke seorang teman Belanda bahwa saya berkunjung ke Paris, Roma dan Barcelona dalam seminggu. Reaksi dia: “Tsk.. Asians!” hahahaha. Menurut dia, ga pantas mengunjungi kota-kota besar bersejarah kaya gitu masing-masing hanya dalam dua hari :))) Kalo menurut saya sih, this kind of Asian’s approach to vacations (or at least Indonesian’s) has something to do with our very limited number of leaves and holidays. And probably limitations in budgets too ahahaha..
Anywayyy.. Dalam kondisi tongpes pasca BBW harusnya sih saya behave dong ya.. tau diri gitu lah. Sayangnya teman-teman sekosan kok ya ngajakin ke Inacraft. Saya yang selalu penasaran sama sesuatu yang belum pernah saya coba ya ga bisa nolak lah, penasaran aja Inacraft kaya apa. Berangkat pun dengan tekad kekep dompet dan untungnya most things there were over my budget anyway jadi cukup mudah menahan diri untuk ga beli. Ah tapi sayang sungguh disayang.. kok ya menjelang pulang saya dipertemukan dengan kebaya brokat halus dengan warna cantik, ukuran sesuai, dan harga masuk akal. Sekali lagi.. benteng pertahanan pun runtuh hahaha..
Jadi begitulah.. cerita-cerita belanja saya di bulan April. There were other things happened last April (of course!), but I guess these ones are enough to represent it.
Alhamdulillaah walopun ga ikut nyoblos di Pilkada Jakarta, tetap bisa ikutan menikmati libur untuk kedua kalinya. I think we deserved the day off yaah, for bearing with many tiring months of baper campaigns from both sides. Truly exhausting. I just really hope after the election people would let the system (and the elected governor) to work peacefully without spreading so much fear, hate, and anger any more.
Having that said, so far my day off is extremely peaceful. I woke up early, bought some nasi uduk for breakfast, then went to the local market with a housemate and bought some melon and bananas. I wanna stop being ripped off by other fruit sellers, eg. at the supermarket, at my office. Their price can be so unreasonable at times, my emak-emak soul is outraged! That’s why I need to stock up the fruits from the market on my day offs, though it means I need to get up and go there early in the morning. I did some exercise afterwards, some squats, push-ups, and a little bit of plank. At 9 I peacefully watched Gordon Ramsay’s home-cooking show while snacking on some banana, and that’s when I decide to pull out my laptop and start writing. I really really thrive in slow moments like this. Just some simple to-do list throughout the day, no fixed plans, and I can work to finish them at my own pace ❤
Ok then, let’s talk about last month.
Unlike February, March felt much more packed up and busy. One of the reasons is because the yearly personal income tax filing deadline falls on the end of March. As usual, I became a consultant for the whole family. Plus, one family member decided to go through the tax amnesty program. So it added up to the work I needed to do on my free time. Things ended up quite well, I think.
Speaking of exercise, last month I decided to stop my gym membership. I felt like I don’t utilize it as much as I used to, when I still had Anissa as my gym buddy after work. Lately it felt like a burden and I just went there like once a week max, sometimes not at all. Those money really could be spent elsewhere. After all, I don’t really use the gym equipments and don’t really get to know anyone new there. I just went, joined a class and went home straight afterwards. Nothing I can’t do at home. Not that I regret it. I do feel that the gym period forced me to think more positively about exercise, knowing the importance of putting it in our days, and meeting more passionate and fit people. Now that I quit the gym I’m determined to compensate. I now exercise at my room, with guidance from some of the famous and mainstream fitness instructors from the internet like Fitness Blender, blogilates, and Kayla Itsiness. I do some short strength training and low impact cardio almost everyday now, with a minimum of plank, push up, and squats on slow days (like this morning). Cardio is my biggest weakness, so I plan to run every once in a while to train for it (though I really can’t promise on anything that requires me to put on clothes and go out *sigh). My short term goal is to find my rhythm and then trying out the short HIIT trainings. I read that short HIIT for 2-3 times a week would be the most effective workout for fitness and weight loss.
Another highlight of March is one long weekend that allows my hubby to stay in Jakarta for a lil bit longer than usual. And it was sooo well spent, it just put a smile in my face everytime I remember it. I crossed all the to-do lists for the weekend (I’m such a sucker for to-do lists lately), including cooking for him for Monday fast suhoor and break. We had a lot of quality time, including went to the movies again to watch Kong: Skull Island after a while. It’s not always easy to find a movie that suits both our taste, exactly when we have the time and intentions to go. He would want a movie with at least a bit of action in it (forget La La Land or Beauty and the Beast), and I require a movie with a touch of drama or at least an interesting plot line (he liked the Raid, which is a big no no for me :D). Kong gave us some fun time, though it’s not perfect and kinda weak story-wise, but it was a treat to the eyes with the special effects and cinematography. I guess we’re too happy to list the movie’s flaws. There are some movies in the near future that we both want to see, such as the sequel of The Guardian of the Galaxy, and the Mummy. Really hope we can make it, with all these LDR schedules.
Speaking of movies, I finally get to watch Beauty and the Beast! And I enjoyed it. Although of course, the snobbish part of me still find its flaws and was not really satisfied. For me, some of the best songs, such as Be Our Guest and Something There just didn’t have as much soul as the animation. I ended up appreciating other songs more, such as Bonjour, Belle, and Gaston’s (!!) song. I also didn’t really get the Beast’s and Lumiere’s character. I thought their CGI expressions were too flat, I wished they could do better (Dan Stevens and Ewan McGregor wasted there!). Belle was a lil bit okay. But the most memorable was of course (despite the controversies) Josh Gad’s Le Fou, who brought in some of the movie’s most comical bits. Overall, I appreciate the effort to bring more background stories to the characters to make the love story more realistic, but apparently the movie needs more than just that.
Another movie I notably watched last month was Nicole Holofcener’s Friends with Money. It’s a comedy-drama about four women who are in a long lasting friendship, in which only one of them is not married nor financially well-off. I love how Holofcener just portray daily lives, with witty and interesting dialogues that felt naturally funny on scenes by scenes, to convey how money can bring awkwardness into friendship and relationships, with a touch of warmth, especially in the end. I liked it a lot, I ended up re-watch her other movie, Enough Said, starred by the awesome Julia Louis Dreyfus and James Gandolfini, a mature and sweet rom-com about chances in love life after a divorce, with a strong chemistry among its lead performers. I loved it then and I still love it now, I think it has one of the best closing scenes, one I would always remember (like Rhett Butler’s, ‘frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn’). I tried looking for Holofcener’s earlier movies, Lovely and Amazing, and Walking and Talking, but still couldn’t find them. I really wish Holofcener would make more movies.
It sounds corny.. but you break my heart, and I’m too old for this shit
~Albert in Enough Said
On books, I am only about 1/8 away to finish Kahneman’s book, but I got really bored and somehow left the book in our house in Jogja. Maybe it’s a good thing, cos now I can slowly put my mind on other books, currently Neil Gaiman’s Fragile Things and Orhan Pamuk’s Strangeness in My Mind. I also found an instagram account @elisejoy who gives very nice book recommendations and is planning to go to Big Bad Wolf next week, so I guess my reading spirit is back on.
It’s already the final one third of March, and here I am trying to fulfill my monthly recap commitment. Surely I don’t want the commitment to fall apart only on the second month 😀
Anyhooo.. don’t you think February had gone in a blink of an eye?! Where did it go? I mean, I try to remember what happened last month and feel like the month has ended before I have the chance to do anything significant. That’s why this February recap won’t be as detailed as the one before. I’ll just scrape whatever still left in my memories..
Kalo harus memilih tema untuk Februari 2017, saya akan memilih tema ‘friends’. It was all about (re-) connecting with (old) friends. Bulan ini kantor sering sekali sepi karena ini musimnya dinas luar kota dan monev ke kantor-kantor regional di seluruh Indonesia. Agak sedih sih karena ga dapat bagian dinas ke mana pun, beda dengan tahun lalu yang sempat dapat tugas (sekalian jalan-jalan!) ke kota-kota kaya Medan, Makassar, Mataram, which was awesome. Tahun ini saya kebagian diam di kantor. Tapi untungnya, ada beberapa occasion di mana teman-teman lama tau2 nongol di kantor pusat dan ngajak saya ketemuan. Lumayan lah, jadinya keluar ruangan untuk maksi, ga mesen lewat OB seperti biasanya.
Selain itu ada beberapa event yang bikin saya bisa ketemu dan kumpul sama temen2. Yang pertama adalah seminar untuk alumni penerima beasiswa spirit batch II-IV, which was nice. Satu lagi adalah undangan ikut workshop tentang Behavioral Insight di Kuningan, yang mana sebenernya nggak berkaitan langsung sama kerjaan saya tapi diundang juga oleh salah satu kepala seksi di unit sebelah yang sempat dinas bareng ke Sydney (a trip that I’d probably should write here but I dunno if I could and would :D) di akhir 2016 lalu, karena di Sydney kami sempat belajar tema yang mirip dan karena beliau ‘pengen berbagi kesempatan belajar’. He is, indeed, one of the nicest people I’ve ever know. Dan kebetulan ada beberapa teman lama yang ikutan juga, jadinya workshopnya berjalan dengan menyenangkan. Karena berbagai alasan, saya ini ga gampang akrab sama orang baru, dan ga gampang cocok juga buat kerja bareng dengan sembarang orang. Makanya, workshop kaya gini di mana saya bisa kerja bareng teman-teman yang memang cocok dan menyenangkan terasa sangat berharga. It reminded me that, hey I am not really that odd, I’m actually quite normal (as in, I could collaborate with others and have fun) as long as I’m surrounded by the right people :))
nyobain Kanawa Coffee and Munch sama Lely, it was quite comfy
Di luar itu, alhamdulillah Februari ini juga sempet nyoba beberapa hal baru. Nyobain ikut kajian sabtu pagi di Masjid DT dan baru tau kalo yaelaahh deket banget ga nyampe 10 menit naik motor dari kosan. Masjidnya nyaman dan asri, sangat organized dan sangat aktif dengan berbagai kegiatan. Kajian sabtu paginya pun enak jam 9, ga kepagian jadi masih bisa ngerasa ini weekend karena ga harus keluar sarang pagi-pagi amat. Sungguh ini suatu momen ‘kemana ajeee’ 😀 Bulan ini juga nyobain Ruci’s Joint dan Kanawa Coffee di Senopati-Suryo. Yang pertama punya kopi Tuku yg enak dan murah, tapi sayangnya super berisik dengan antrian driver Gojek plus banyak asap rokok. Lebih cocok buat beli kopi take away aja lah yang ini. Yang kedua lebih fancy, nyaman, dan tenang. Kopinya standar lah, dan harganya pun standar. Standar kofisyop Senopati loh ya, haha.. One note about Kanawa, pesanan makanan datangnya lamaaa banget. Untung aja lah waktu itu lagi nggak buru2.
Oh iyaa.. satu lagi highlight bulan Februari adalah saya lagi berusaha keras untuk merubah habit tidur lagi setelah subuh. Ini adalah salah satu kejahiliyahan saya yang susah banget diubah. Sebenernya saya ga begadang2 loh. Cuman memang berusaha selalu bangun sebelum subuh. Yang sulit adalah tetap terjaga setelah shalat subuhnya :)) Beberapa minggu terakhir nyoba maksain, berusaha bobo lebih awal lagi, kalo bisa ga lebih dari jam 9 malam (tp masih sering banget kelewat sih), terus setelah shalat Subuh langsung makan roti terus ngopi biar bisa melek. Hasilnya, jam 10-12 saya sering ngerasa exhausted bangeeett oemjiii.. Tapi berusaha tetap konsisten nih, dan semoga pada akhirnya badan bisa adaptasi.
Fyuh, ternyata kalo udah dijembrengin gini, Februari ini cukup berwarna juga yaa.. I’ll come back soon with the March recap! (Omg what is wrong with 2017? Somebody must’ve hit the fast forward button!)
What a sunday, huh? Ujaann deras dari pagi sampai siang lanjut hawa basah dan mendung kelabu seharian. I actually loovee this kind of weather, tapi memang jadi butuh perjuangan untuk bisa bangun dan bergerak aktif. Pengennya goler2 lucu sambil selimutan mulu.
Padahal setiap weekend saya selalu berharap bisa produktif sejak pagi: olahraga, masak lanjut sarapan, lalu beberes dan biasanya cuci2. Kalo udah gini baru deh rasanya hati dan pikiran enteng dan lega. Siangnya baru lanjut agenda-agenda lain, kalo lagi pengen ya keluar dan ketemu teman2, kalo lagi malas ya lanjut buka laptop, nonton film, atau baca2. If the weekend went this way, I’d go to sleep happy, knowing that I’ve had a well-spent weekend. I’m so easy to please, ain’t I? 😀
On a gloomy mager-inducing sunday like today, I have to pull out my weapons to fight out the lazyness and kick-start the day, which are: coffee and upbeat songs. Soal coffee enough said lah ya, I also have them on weekdays at the office also. But weekend mornings are perfect to blast out some powerful music. Not just some loud and glaring sounds, it should also have nice powerful rhythm and mood-boosting lyrics. My go-to would be Spotify artists’ radio (cos I like to discover new songs and musicians), usually from Jess Glynne, Sia, Olly Murs, and sometimes even the likes of Imagine Dragons.
However, somehow for me, these kind of songs felt even more powerful from girl singers 😀 I’m not trying to be sexist here, but I always like the narrative in which underrated or underestimated people prove that they’re otherwise. That’s why I also loves when girls, who are most of the times seen as a fragile and weak creature, show up some kickass power, even just through songs. And also, simply because I am a girl, I can relate better to the singer. Hence, I have some favorite girl power anthems 😉
I’d like to share some of these powerful songs. Who knows, might be useful for those out there (not just girls ;)) who feels like life been tough or felt like they’ve been beaten up by reality or just need some encouragement to wake up and face the day, to have a booster and reach out to the hidden power within themselves.
Here’s my first one. From Jess Glynne herself. Don’t forget to raise the volume, and enjoy 🙂
“Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself”
I came here with a broken heart that no one else could see
I drew a smile on my face to paper over me
But wounds heal and tears dry and cracks they don’t show
So don’t be so hard on yourself, no
Let’s go back to simplicity
I feel like I’ve been missing me
Was not who I’m supposed to be
I felt this darkness over me
We all get there eventually
I never knew where I belonged
But I was right and you were wrong
Been telling myself all along
Don’t be so hard on yourself, no
Learn to forgive, learn to let go
Everyone trips, everyone falls
So don’t be so hard on yourself, no
‘Cause I’m just tired of marching on my own
Kind of frail, I feel it in my bones
Won’t let my heart, my heart turn into stone
So don’t be so hard on yourself, no
I’m standin’ on top of the world, right where I wanna be
So how can this dark cloud be raining over me
But hearts break and hell’s a place that everyone knows
So don’t be so hard on yourself, no
Let’s go back to simplicity
I feel like I’ve been missing me
Was not who I’m supposed to be
I felt this darkness over me
We all get there eventually
I never knew where I belonged
But I was right and you were wrong
Been telling myself all along
Don’t be so hard on yourself, no
Learn to forgive, learn to let go
Everyone trips, everyone falls
So don’t be so hard on yourself, no
‘Cause I’m just tired of marching on my own
Kind of frail, I feel it in my bones
Won’t let my heart, my heart turn into stone
So don’t be so hard on yourself, no
Oh, oh, oh, I
I learned to wave goodbye
How not to see my life
Through someone else’s eyes
It’s not an easy road
But no I’m not alone
So I, I won’t be so hard on myself no more
Don’t be so hard on yourself, no
Learn to forgive, learn to let go
Everyone trips, everyone falls
So don’t be so hard on yourself, no
‘Cause I’m just tired of marching on my own
Kind of frail, I feel it in my bones
Won’t let my heart, my heart turn into stone
So don’t be so hard on yourself, no
‘Cause I’m just tired of marching on my own
Kind of frail, I feel it in my bones
Won’t let my heart, my heart turn into stone
So don’t be so hard on yourself, no
To make sure that I’ll write more in 2017, I’ll try to routinely make a recap of my days in every month, the things I do and/or experienced. So here’s my first attempt: the recap for the first month of 2017!
Books I Read
Bulan ini masih juga berusaha menyelesaikan buku Thinking, Slow and Fast by Daniel Kahneman yang mulai dibaca sejak Desember tahun lalu. Buku ini tentang cara manusia berpikir dan bias-bias yang mungkin timbul dari pikiran kita. Hampir dua bulan penuh dan belum selesai juga, haha.. Tapi memang buku ini sangat padat dan ‘bergizi’, penuh dengan berbagai penelitian dan eksperimen yang sudah dilakukan oleh para peneliti di bidang psikologi dan menghasilkan segala apa yang sekarang diketahui ilmuwan tentang bagaimana manusia berpikir. Tapi walopun topiknya serius, buku ini ditulis dengan bagus, jadinya ga terlalu berat dan masih menyenangkan untuk dibaca. I plan to make a separate review of this when I’m done.
Movies/Series I Watched
La La Land (of course), dan berujung bingung kenapa semua orang heboh memuji-muji film ini. Fyi, saya ini sebenernya suka lho sama musikal, baik nonton langsung (on stage) maupun di film. Tapi sepanjang paruh pertama film saya ngerasa nggak dapet apa yang bikin film ini bisa masuk kategori istimewa. For me, the romance is unconvincing (no matter how much people rave and praise Ryan and Emma’s ‘chemistry’, I still feel that they were just carefully doing what the director told them to do), the conflict is such a cliché, the singing and dancing are just okay. The half end part of the movie saves it, cos there’s a twist in the end (something really interesting, finally!), and I love the scene montages combined with the dancing.
Musikal, menurut saya, harus emotionally moving. And this movie just didn’t quite do it for me. Well, katanya film ini nostalgic buat orang-orang yang familiar dengan musisi jazz legendaris dan film-film musikal lama Hollywood. Yah, kalo memang ini jualan utamanya, memang ga bakal kebeli sih di saya 😐 It isn’t bad, but it isn’t that (14 Oscar noms!) special either.
The Girl on the Train. Tahun lalu udah baca bukunya dan berpikir premisnya menarik tapi bukunya kurang greget dan kurang dalam menggali sisi-sisi gelap para karaktenya. Agak-agak berasa, yah kok gitu aja. Mungkin karena udah beberapa kali baca thrillernya Gillian Flynn yang, gila, twisted banget, novel Paula Hawkins ini jadi berasa biasa aja. Cuman saya ngerasa buku ini bisa lebih bagus kalo difilmkan, karena toh ga perlu berpanjang lebar kata untuk bisa bikin atmosfer kelam dan twisted kan, tinggal maksimalkan rangkaian adegannya aja. Waktu filmnya keluar, rottentomatoes ngasih rating rotten dengan skor sekitar 40an %. My verdict? It’s not that bad, really. I like the overall atmosphere of the movie, and I love how Emily Blunt acted out the alcoholic Rachel. Di film, yang kurang adalah pemeran villainnya yang kurang ‘psycho’. Endingnya pun jadi berasa kurang nendang.
(5 Episodes of) The Crown. The Crown mengisahkah tentang kehidupan Ratu Elizabeth II (iya, yang neneknya William dan Harry) sejak menikah dan kemudian menggantikan ayahnya menjadi pemegang tahta kerajaan Inggris. Merupakan serial bikinan Netflix termahal hingga saat ini dengan sinematografi, akting, dan akurasi historis yang cukup banyak dipuji. Cukup menghibur untuk ditonton dan jadi bikin penasaran dengan the actual events and characters. Apa bener peristiwanya seperti itu? Apa bener pangeran Phillip orangnya kaya gitu? And stuffs like that. Segala perspektif pribadi dalam serial ini tentu saja hanya ‘tebakan’ karena para anggota senior kerajaan Inggris terkenal sangat tertutup mengenai kehidupan pribadinya, tapi lumayan bisa jadi bumbu drama yang intriguing. Meskipun demikian, setelah 5 episode saya jadi agak bosan 😀 bakal lanjut kalo lagi senggang banget aja kayanya.
(6 episodes of) Goblin. Satu lagi yang hypenya sangat kenceng tapi saya ngerasa belom ‘dapet’ apa yang bikin K-drama satu ini sebegitu istimewanya. Gong Yoo juga udah mayan keliatan tua di sini (walopun tetep charming dan tentunya #bodygoalformen banget, seperti biasa. Sayangnya sih settingnya winter ya, jadi beliau ga pernah shirtless. #eh), masih lebih keren waktu main di Coffee Prince tahun 2007. Setelah 6 episode malah jadi kangen trus nontonin Coffee Prince lagi. But I do plan to finish this series, still. I wonder whether my opinion will change in the end.
Interesting articles
This recap. Karena belakangan ini lagi suka banget sama tema personal growth dan productivity.
These sleep hacks. Because I looove sleeping, I thinks it’s precious, and I really hate the times when my sleep time is disrupted.
Interesting videos
Adakah yang sama excitednya dengan saya nungguin 17 Maret, tanggal rilis Beauty and the Beast? Sebegitu ga sabarnya sampe saya donlot dan nonton ulang film animasi tahun 1991, menghayati dan ngapalin dalam hati setiap adegan, dialog dan terutama LAGU-LAGUNYA, demi bisa membandingkan dengan versi live-actionnya bulan Maret nanti. Walopun banyak yang skeptis film ini ga akan bisa menyamai aslinya, saya sendiri sincerely hoping that the remake will be EPIC! Jadi harap maklum kalo tiap hari saya hummingnya ‘Something There’ atau ‘Be Our Guest’ 😀
This video about differences via mbak Leija couldn’t be more timely and had successfully made me teary eyed. So good.
Interesting events.
Di luar kunjungan orang tua dan adik ke Jakarta di awal Januari (which was short but sweet and wonderfully made me happy) ga banyak peristiwa istimewa lain yang terjadi di bulan Januari. But that’s a good thing, karena saya jadi lebih bebas mengatur rutinitas dan ritme. I strengthened some good habits (grocery shopping, cooking, exercising, reading, work scheduling) and started some new ones (e.g. journaling) because there weren’t many disruptions in my routines. Even so, bulan Januari kemarin nggak melulu cuma terisi rutinitas biasa. Sempat juga ada episode impulsif seperti mendadak naik commuter line demi nyobain sushi curah di AEON mall 😀 as usual I try to go to places I’ve never been before, and January allowed me to do it several times.
Terakhir saya menulis di sini adalah April 2015, hampir satu setengah tahun yang lalu, dengan blog post yang berisi berita duka pula 😥 Dari waktu ke waktu rasanya rindu untuk menulis lagi tapi sayangnya sangat sulit untuk menyisihkan waktu di antara kesibukan berusaha menjadi orang dewasa yang bertanggung jawab, stabil dan mapan, sekaligus elegan (yeah right).
But really, tahun 2016 adalah tahun perjuangan buat saya, mostly karena harus beradaptasi setelah kembali dari tugas belajar ke kehidupan kerja yang jauh berbeda dari jaman kerja tahun 2009-2012 yang lebih banyak happy2nya. However, I had been through a lot of contemplation and learning process just to get pass it, been getting to know and understand myself more, and in the end I believe I had managed to survive 2016 as a better person (amiinn). By the end of 2016, everything seemed to be clearer and lighter. I wouldn’t say I had figured everything out, but at least I was no longer clueless. And I got my passion and motivation back.
So here’s to 2017, the year in which I want to thrive and flourish. I am currently happy, peaceful with who I am, and eager to become an even better and better version of myself. My 2017 resolution is to keep it that way throughout the year.
Oh, and of course, to write in this blog more often, capturing everything I experience and learn.
Cheers!
My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.
capturing the moments 