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Jakarta, Indonesia
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Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Aku dan Transportasi Umum; A Complicated Relationship

iya, walau single, tapi gue juga punya hubungan yang kompliketit (baca : complicated)

yaitu antara gue dan transportasi umum.

hukum rimba

Sebagai native Bekasians, gue sudah terbiasa menempuk jarak jauh tiap harinya. Ya gimana enggak, rumah selalu di Bekasi, tapi SD gue di Menteng, SMP - SMA di Salemba (dan US #pamer), plus kuliah di Depok. Jadi dari kelas 1 SD pun gue udah biasa untuk bangun dan berangkat pagi buta, yang kebawa sampe sekarang. Gue sendiri mengklasifikasikan diri gue sebagai nurtured morning person, alias morning person karena keadaan. I meaaaan....bukankah kasur terasa paling nikmat di pagi hari sebelum harus bangun? Dan betapa nikmatnya ketika lo bisa leha-leha lebih lama karena jarak rumah dan sekolah lo gak lebih dari 20 kilometer.

Berhubung bokap dan nyokap gue dua-duanya bekerja, dari SD gue sudah mulai dibiasakan buat pulang sendiri walaupun jarak Jakarta - Bekasi lumayan banget. Tapii ya pelan-pelan. Gue biasanya mampir dulu ke rumah uwak gue di Menteng yang bisa jalan kaki dari sekolah bareng kakak gue, kemudian sorenya baru dijemput dan kami pun kembali ke rumah. Pas udah agak gedean kelas 5-6, kita coba rute lain yaitu naik angkot 58 dari UKI sampe deket rumah dilanjut ojek. Ke UKI nya tentunya sama bokap. Sempet sih beberapa kali bokap ngajarin naik metromini dan bus ke UKI nya, tapi entah seinget gue ngga pernah terealisasikan karena gue selalu ngeri jatoh kalo naik metromini gitu, ya namanya anak esde. 

Pas udah SMP, kebetulan rutenya enak sekali yaitu tinggal naik angkot dari seberang sekolah persis, dua kali disambung ojek taraa sampe deh di rumah. Jadi lah gue anak angkot dari SMP sampe SMA (secara SMA gue didepan SMP gue persis). Lewat angkot ini lah gue banyak pengalaman, mulai dari yang serem, lucu, traumatis, dan yang lain-lain. Rute angkot gue ini menyusuri Kalimalang, jadi gue akrab banget sebenernya sama kawasan Kalimalang. Makanya sekarang pas Kalimalang lagi dirombak abis-abisan gue rada sedih gimana gitu haha a piece of my life will be changed, completely changed. Rute pulang gue kadang ganti, kalo lagi biasa-biasa aja ya angkot lanjut ojek, kalo lagi hemat angkot lanjut angkot lagi (jadi 3x angkot) pernah juga 4x angkot kalo males jalan jauh. Pernah juga naik bus AC63 lanjut angkot, tapi mahal dan luama. Pernah juga nebeng temen sedaerah (haaiii Dewi &Jene!) ahaha nebengnya gatau diri tapi hampir tiap hari, maafkan yah T.T 

Kayaknya sepanjang perjalanan gue commuting tiap hari, paling enak cuma pas gue kelas 3 SMA dimana bokap gue udah pensiun jadi gue bisa dijemput tiap hari (walaupun kemudian gue disuruh bawa mobilnya buat ngelancarin nyetir). Sebelum itu gue berkawan sama angkot, ojek, kadang bus, dan transjakarta. Jaman dulu belom sering ada berita serem kayak perkosaan di angkot gitu-gitu, jadi gue dulu lumayan selo naik angkot jam 9 sekalipun. Paling banter tuh cerita maling (dimana gue juga pernah dimalingin T.T)

Pas kuliah, semester awal gue masih optimis karena baru lancar nyetir jadi bawalah si Vanilla ngampus. Eh terus akibat gue kecapean rapat ampe malem trus pagi berangkat kuliah, drop lah gue kena combo DBD & typhus sekaligus. Itu pun gue sampe rada trauma nyetir karena pas sebelum completely drop gue nyetir balik dari Depok itu penuh perjuangan banget dengan kepala keliyengan dan badan gemeteran. Semester selanjutnya, karena gue ikut salah satu kepanitiaan heboh di kampus jadi lah gue unjuk rasa minta ngekos. Dikabulkan untungnya, dan menikmatilah gue kehidupan ngekos yang asik-asik anyep. Asik karena literally bisa bangun jam 8 (padahal kelas jam 8) dan tetep bisa masuk kelas. Asik bisa nginep nginep lucu di kosan temen. Asik banyak waktu bobok siang. Tapi anyepnya, harus rajin nyapu ngepel dan nguras kamar mandi kalo pengen hidup layak. Harus nenteng laundry ampe 4kg kalo pengen kuliah dengan komposisi baju yang baik dan benar. Harus tahan godaan jajan cilok, dimsum dan Owol kalo pengen akhir minggu ga makan nasi sama tahu doang di warteg. 

Setelah gue lelah dengan kehidupan nguras kamar mandi, gue pun memutuskan untuk commuting lagi, kali ini naik commuter line. Ini juga super enak sih, murah banget, kereta pun udah enak, trus gue dianter dan dijemput dari stasiun. Cuman negatifnya gak bisa balik terlalu malem-malem banget which is fine karena gue juga udah mulai menua gak kuat maen malem-malem #jompo

Nah sekarang di saat gue sudah memasuki usia kerja, kantor gue berlokasi lumayan jauh dari rumah, di kawasan ring 2 Senayan #ea. Dan kurang lebih sebulan awal itu gue struggling dengan transportasi umum, makanya gue terinspirasi untuk nulis entry satu ini.

Di beberapa bulan pertama kerja, gue mencoba naik transjakarta disambung angkot. Cukup lumayan, tapi gue harus bangun pagi karena nebeng bokap sampai halte BNN, trus gue harus naik angkot dan jalan ngelewatin pasar basah. Agak garing memang hari pertama gue kerja yang udah cakep (ga deng) trus gue ngelewatin deretan bak sampah, tukang sayur mayur, dan.... los daging dan ayam. Heee. Alhasil sampe kantor udah awut-awutan lagi.

Berhubung gue datengnya pagi pas pake rute transjakarta + angkot ini, gue pun memilih pulang agak sore. Nah, kala itu gue masih polos dan memilih naik transjakarta lagi. Bad choice. Slipi Petamburan - BNN Cawang.... 3,5 jam sendiri. A-LIG. Itu pun gue masih harus 1 jam lagi baru sampe rumah. Tevvas.

Kemudian gue mulailah mengeksplor kemungkinan lain. Naik kereta memang gue coret dari awal karena males mesti transit-transit. Cobalah gue naik transjakarta lagi tapi rutenya dari St. Palmerah - Tosari ICBC baru naik yang ke Bekasi Barat. Murah banget bok, cuma 3500 sampe Bekasi dan most likely bakal dapet duduk. Gue pun memilih pulang sore naik ini.

Tapi tentu ada tapinya...

Rute ini MAKAN WAKTU. Banget. Dari Palmerah ke Tosari paling cepet itu 30 menit, paling lama bisa 45 menit - 1 jam. Padahal gitu doang rutenya, buset dah. Itupun sampe Tosari, gue masih harus ngantri desek-desekan menunggu bus datang dan pas dateng harus Hunger Games dulu baru dapet duduk. Dan setelah duduk manis, barulah bus menempuh jalan pulang hampir 2,5 jam *disclaimer : Ini gue naik di rush hour memang, biasanya kedapetan bus transjakarta yang jam setengah 6/jam 6. Pegel banget bo. Mana kursinya not exactly empuk ya kan. Gue pernah terjebak selama LIMA JAM naik Transjakarta dari Tosari sampe Bekasi. Literally gue naik jam 5, pas turun di Bekasi udah setengah sepuluh. Itu segala model duduk udah gue cobain, hiburan mulai dari main hape sampe cekakakan sendiri ngeliatin pegangan tangan. Dari pake cardigan, cardigan dilipet, cardigan dipake lagi, copot lagi, masukin tas, keluarin lagi, dipake lagi, sampe dilipet lagi. Puyeng.

Gue masih belum menyerah mencari rute yang paling enak dan nyaman. Ini penting banget sih karena gue gampang banget moody sama kejadian di perjalanan, yang mana gue ogah dong ngantor dengan bete atau sampe rumah bete. Suatu hari di bulan Ramadhan, setelah bukber di kantor pusat, gue memutuskan ngegojek sampe Semanggi trus liat ntar naik apa. Kala itu gue menemukan lah feeder Transgalaxi yang pernah diceritain temen gue, dan naik lah. Penuh sih dan gue berdiri, tapi bok supirnya lincah bak ninja, kurang dari sejam kemudian gue udah mendarat di Bekasi. Luar biasa. Sejak saat itu gue terpesona #gakdeng kalo sebenernya perjalanan pergi dan pulang gue bisa kok gak menyiksa. Dan akhirnya disitulah hati gue bertambat. Duo maut Transgalaxi (or any other feeder to Bekasi Barat, really) plus Go-Jek dengan fitur andalan kesayanganku, Go-Pay jadilah kehidupan commuter gue extra nyaman dan cepat. Harganya memang lebih mahal tapi worthed dengan mood gue yang selalu oke, gue gak perlu bangun pagi buta, dan bisa istirahat pula di atas busnya.

Coba ya gue rangkum pilihan transportasi ke Bekasi (asumsi dari Jakarta Pusat/Jakarta Selatan) yang telah gue jajal :

TRANSJAKARTA
Pro : Murah, relatif nyaman, merasa bangga turut berkontribusi mengurangi kemacetan #serius
Cons : L A M A

BUS KOTA (MAYASARI BAKTI 05)
Pro : Relatif cepet, paling murah dibanding bus sejenis (feeder), lumayan banyak armadanya.
Cons : Kursi dan busnya kurang nyaman, plus hiburan di dalemnya suka bikin sakit kuping (baca: pengamen)

FEEDER : TRANS KEMANG
Pro : Nyaman, literally gue hampir selalu bobok kalo naik ini. Armadanya cukup banyak.
Cons : Harga lumayan mahal, aislenya agak sempit, agak lelet (soalnya busnya gede jd ngangon penumpang mulu) plus dia gak sampe Galaxi (yaeyalah)

FEEDER : TRANS SUMMARECON
Pro : Nyaman pewe banget, aislenya luas, AC dingin, playlistnya okeh, cepet karena abangnya kayaknya ga doyan ngetem. Sering kosong juga
Cons : Mahal (paling mahal dibanding feeder lain), ga nyampe Galaxi (YAEYALAH). Pilihan gue kalo lagi mau pulang cepet nyaman tanpa saingan.

FEEDER : TRANS GALAXI
Pro : Sampe Galaxi alias hanya 3 menit saja dari rumah w, armada pagi lumayan banyak. Aislenya ga gede tapi ga sesempit Transkemang. Harga paling murah dibanding Feeder lain. Lumayan cepet karena busnya kecil dan abang supirnya alig semua. Dia juga yang masih ada sampe malem.
Cons : Armada busnya BAPUK. Yang bagus sepanjang percobaan gue cuma 2 atau 3 sisanya baaapuk. Kursinya udah goyang goyang diganjel aneka macam, ada yang AC nya ga dingin, atau bocor. Ada yang pintunya ga rapet jadinya kalo ujan lo duduk deket pintu ya udah basah (gue pernah dan jadinya gue payungan dalam bus #truestory). Trus itu, abangnya gokil. Dari beberapa bulan terakhir udah 2 - 3 kali gue naik trus busnya kecelakaan mulai dari ngebaret mobil, mecahin kaca transjakarta, sampe yang beneran tabrakan ampe ringsek. Herannya semuanya selesai begitu aja, paling berhenti 10 menit trus dengan muka lempeng jalan lagi. Kenek dan supir lempeng, penumpang juga lempeng. I was like wut.... tapi lama-lama biasa, mungkin emang udah kebal karena keseringan (?)

Yaa pokoknya begitulah perjalanan gue mencari rute commuting paling enak. I finally found my perfect commuting route. It is tiring indeed having to commute back and forth every day but oh well we all got to strive a bit in life right? ;)


Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Converted

If you've known me for a long time, since I was young I always have the tendency to go "West", and by "West" I mean I tend to gravitate towards Western pop culture rather than Asian pop culture. To be more specific, I lean towards American and Hollywood pop culture rather than British pop culture for example. I've always been more into American TV series rather than anime, J-Dorama or K-Drama, American music over local and Japanese/Korean music. I like translated novels from American writers rather than our local writer. I don't really know why but I guess I've always had that tendency. 

I don't have prejudice against local or Asian pop culture, I think it's because I kinda "get trapped" in the cycle of liking American pop culture. Starting from liking the series, then I read the novels they based the series on. When I start to like the actress/actors, I'll listen to the their song (if they happen to be singer as well, like, uhm, I used to have Hannah Montana's song in my MP3 player), then I follow their life via internet or magazine. I remember there were times that I check PerezHilton.com and JustJared.com on daily basis to check on celebrity's latest gossip (I must've had a lot of free time back then, lol). I was obsessed with Meg Cabot's writings, starting from The Princess Diaries to other series. In 8th and 9th grade I started watching American TV series like The O.C and Gossip Girl ( Dira would remember this, because I kinda started watching them because of her :P ). Now when I think about it, those series are absolutely inappropriate for kids my age lol due to the adult content in them *ceritanya udah gede jadi sensitif sama konten yang tidak baik untuk anak-anak dibawah umur*

I think that's how it began. I never really thought that's a problem (well, now I don't think it's a problem or anything, but back then it was kinda a big deal) until when I started preparing to go on my exchange student program. I was ashamed that I'm more into American culture than my own culture. I don't speak any native language other than Bahasa Indonesia, my knowledge on Indonesian culture is very basic too. I told my host Mom about this, but then she reassured me that it's okay to like other culture, it's not like I betrayed my country or anything, which actually gave me a huge relief that it is okay.

So as I progressed to high school, I found out that Korean pop culture is actually getting really huge in Indonesia. I've never paid much attention to them though, back then and until quite recently ( one or two years ago) I always thought that all male Korean star are rather pretty than handsome, and I'm not attracted to "pretty boy". In addition, I have zero knowledge of the language so I'm not attracted at all to the whole Korean wave. I also have this kind of fear, seeing that so many of friends got sucked into the Korean wave (or Hallyu) and they all went all out, like, spending so much money watching concert, obsessively loving a certain drama, buying pre-order albums and merchandises, sleeping in the concert venue a day before. I'm scared that I'll turn "crazy" like them, so that just add to my list of "why I never even try to like Korean pop culture"

Then one day, still during high school, I kinda gave in and asked Dira if I could watch the Korean version of Meteor Garden (which is the Taiwanese version of Hana Yori Dango) titled Boys Over Flowers, simply because I already know the storyline. It's a long one, 24 episodes of 1 hour each, very cheesy story too - a rich, son of chaebol, pretty boy got tamed by a energetic and optimistic poor girl)...and I fell head over heels in love with the series. Darn it! It's just so good; it makes me laugh, makes me cry (never happens with Western drama) makes me feel. It was my ultimate guilty pleasure. My prejudice of all Korean boy being "just pretty boy" starting to change; but by just a tiny little bit. I refused to watch other series after this, because I'm scared that I'll be addicted to Korean Drama. 

In college, since I am a big fan of Lee Min Ho (the main lead in Boys Over Flowers, God look at his long legs *drools*) about a year and a half ago, I started looking into his other works such as Personal Taste, City Hunter, and The Heirs. And again, I fell in love. Not only for him, but for K-Drama as a whole.

ini lho si abang lagi ngopi

And from there, I started watching other KDrama, starting from the more popular one. It's Okay, That's Love hands down is one of the greatest I've watched so far. So good, so many feelings. Prepare a towel or tons of tissues if you're planning to watch this. Damn! Healer is a good one too, satisfying story line and casts. Marriage, Not Dating is such a cliche story, almost FTV-like kinda, but well executed and managed to dig deeper than just the gimmicky dynamics between the main lead. It's also really funny. Let's Eat! 1 and 2 amazed me. I mean, how, just how do you make food the center of a drama? But they did and they did it well, simple story with lots of great shoots of food. Just recently I started watching the Reply franchise, they are Reply 1997, Reply 1994, and Reply 1988. And I kid you not. One of the greatest, ever, drama I've ever ever watched. They are franchise but have different casts and stories for each series. These series are just amazing. I can go on and on about how great they are but you need to watch it to understand. If you're a sucker for a coming-of-age type of stories like I do, you need to watch them. I guarantee you'll laugh and cry and your faith in humanity will be restored.

there's TONS of great lines; very quotable!

I'm trying to make sense of what makes KDrama so good and so addictive, and it comes down to these :

1. Most of them (well at least the kind that I watch) are only 16 to 23 episodes long.
It's great because you get to move on after you watch one (or, heartbroken because it's ended) but the stories are complete. Unlike Western drama that keep running for more seasons in which the quality is not always up to the standard it used to be and then they canceled the show. What a bummer. No need to worry about that with KDrama, most of the time you are guaranteed a closure.

2. Well written (and well executed) storyline
Maybe because it has already been decided on the number of episodes. But most of the series I've watched have amazing storyline that it stunned me like how did humanity get to this point that we're able to produce such good show? I also love how they always pay attention to simple details that later will be revealed that it actually symbolizes something. KDrama makes such a good material for a discourse analysis. Like in Let's Eat 2, who would've thought that the Roomba we've seen over and over can be turned into something so symbolic and meaningful.

3. The music
Yassss the music. They know how to incorporate good music in the drama. Let me tell you, there's a lot of flashback scenes with mellow music in KDrama. Like in almost every single series I watch ed have that kind of scenes. Sounds...cheesy right? Trust me, cheesy will be the last thing you'll think of when you actually get to watch them in the series because you will be busy wiping your own tears. Even when you don't understand what the song is about (99% of the time I have no idea) you just get it. And when you understand what the song is about you'll cry harder.

4. The proximity
I'm not sure if it's true, but being Asian, I think we do have a lot in common with Koreans. In series that feature "normal" life (like Reply series) I find that a lot of things could be easily found here in our daily life. The dynamic relation between parents and sons/daughters, the friendship style, the daily struggles , are something that I think most people here have experienced as well.

5. The cast
Korean actors and actresses in general are always good looking. The fashion are not bad too! Also, I noticed that somehow they make the actors and actresses prettier by each episodes, that by the end of the finale you'll ask yourself why did it take you so long to realize how amazingly good looking they are. You're probably going to fall in love with them too.

Still not buying how great KDramas are?

Try to watch the latest' KDrama obsession : Descendants of the Sun. It's so good that the Chinese gov actually released a warning of its "dangers".

Well, I have to admit that I'm a convert  to Korean wave. I gave in and I have no regrets.

did I mention that they have such a great sense of humor?

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Thoughts on Nosy People and Religion

I can never understand why people are so nosy about others' religious activity and/or affiliation and/or perspective.

I am a student of this one lecturer who has been getting many controversies from what he said on the media, specifically from what he wrote on his page, like status update or just a few short captions on the news/article he shared on his page. I will not mention who he is; as there are haters probably obsessively googled his name every so often and I simply don't want them to stop by and read my thoughts here. My blog, my authority, so f*ck off.

I just paid a short visit to his page and saw many mean comments. Like, really mean, condescending comments. Calling him names. I should mention that most of his controversial statement is religion-related, which I could never understand why he kept doing it over and over, but hey, it's his right to say whatever he wants to, just as it is the haters' right to leave any comments on his page. But freedom of speech yadda yadda is not my point here. I am talking about the attitude.

Growing up with a very cool parents, I think I do quite well in the area. As in, knowing which attitude is bad and which is okay, or even nice to have. But nosy has never been on the side of "good attitude" why? Because it is common courtesy, it's basic logic in my opinion (psychology majors would you please explain?) that being nosy, especially for private matters, is not nice. It's basic etiquette that I believe, sourced from one's understanding of what ethics means. Conclusion : if you can't differ between good and bad attitude, you probably have a very low understanding of basic ethics.

Some people may argue that when it comes to religion, there are different sets of ethics applied. Some may even believe that it is their duty to "straighten" one's thoughts that is considered "deviant". But I really really don't think so. Religion, no matter what it is and what the details in the holy book said, is centered on one thing : kindness. Be kind. Be nice to people. Sure there are verses about beheading and killing so called "kafir" (which made me think of how much of a hypocryte many people are, one day they're saying that it's all in God's will, God knows best et cetera, but the next day decided for themselves that in fact, they know best, which reflected in what they said and claimed). But come on, really guys? You think religion should be all about the punishment from God? About avoding sins and preventing others from committing sins? Whatever happens to loving God for all His grace and gifts?  What the hell ever happens to CREATE PEACE BETWEEN HUMANKIND?

All you guys do are fighting. What? It's jihad? Fighting for the pride of Islam and standing for God's and the Prophets teachings? Since when doing so is translated into : Hey guys let's trash this one guy's facebook timeline, he said *wrong* things about Islam we should teach him to think straight and read more and do taubat!

What the hell ever happens to sharing beautiful article and news about how Almighty our God is. I really do love those articles. Makes me feel small and aware of my place in the universe. All I see today is so called writings about human committing sins and God punishes them in some way. Geez, I didn't know that religion is that scary. I guess I prefer to imagine Allah in all His asmaul husna, those beautiful traits of my God who is very nice and forgiving and Almighty and loving and yeah. Sometimes I do get jealous when my Christian friends share scripts and verses about love, "kasih". Why can't people on my timeline share those things too,about Allah's love? About making peace and be kind to one another? About how to live our life in peace by following His teachings and Prophets way? The beautiful stuff about Islam, please!

(Or maybe I just need a different set of people on my timeline)

Besides, religion is a very private things. I do not believe in intervening in other people's process of being religious. It's okay and it's nice to get advice on what to do to improve my acts, but other than that please just don't.

For a very (appearance - wise) not religious person I wrote a lot about religion here. I wonder why.

Monday, July 20, 2015

Thoughts of Being Productive

What does 'a productive day' mean to you?
How do you define 'being productive' ?
What are the measures?
My definition on being productive changed a lot over the years. Back in the high school, the word being productive means absolutely nothing to me. Why? Because my days were full of school and friends and drama and so on and so on. I didn't care much about target. All I cared about back then was to have fun while still manage a good grade ( which was quite easy, don't ask why, it needs a long explanation about this country education system). The word 'seize the day!' or carpe diem only meant fancy words to put on your tshirt or something. 

It is different now. 

As I'm getting closer to the last semester in college, I realized that I needed work experience to 1.) Put on my resume 2.) Gain experience before work 3.)Networking, networking, and networking. So I applied for internship slot at this one company; which I have to say, is pretty cool. They do the work that I actually want to, and keen to do, after I graduate. So when I got the job, I was thrilled! There was a voice in the back of my head tho', saying this is my last long-break as college student; where I could've spent it traveling or whatever, but I chose to do internship instead. But then, whatever, The last two long-break I had, I spent most of the days at home, devouring series and movies. Did some volunteering, too, but just for one or two day. So I was glad that I wouldn't be doing that anymore, instead I could get productive at the office!

The work load is not that high; most of what I had to do at the office could be done in an hour or two, but I had a whole workday to finish that. I assisted the consultants sometimes with little things. On a slow day, I usually browse for my thesis material, or of course, mingle at FemaleDaily haha (btw, I'm a citizen now! Whoa!). I took notes when I notice anything that I learned that day; from new phrases in mining industry, universal phonetic code, until general reminder like pay attention to details. Then I go home taking the omprengan . 

On the first two weeks of internship I was so proud that I was so productive; I woke up early, went to the office, did my job, and I got home at the evening. Sleep, and do that all over again. I didn't have time to slack around, I was using the most of my time at home to get as much sleep as possible and to do what needs to be done (i.e : putting masks on, skincare routine, etc). I wanted to give myself a pat on my back,  you did good, Nad, you're being productive! Kudos!

But then on a slow day, third weeks into internship, I was sitting in the omprengan on my way home, minding my own business. Suddenly it hit me. I haven't done anything today. It was a slow day at work, no consultants asked for my assistance, so I just did my usual job until it's time to go home.

I did something, didn't I? Then why the heck I had that feeling that I haven't done anything that day?
I looked into my purse, and noticed my Gogirl! Agenda sitting there. I couldn't remember the last time I wrote something in there. And I think, that is exactly the problem.

I didn't learn anything that day.

Learning is a big part of being productive. For me. When you just get by each day by doing your job BUT you learned nothing, then the day is wasted. And I had been doing that for sometimes; I didn't learn anything. I just came to the office, turned on my PC, and did my job. And that's all. No mental notes even made. I wasn't being productive; yes, I did my job, but then again machines also got their job done. I am a human blessed with brains, why the heck I didn't utilize it properly? I'm not a machine. I need to use my brain to keep learning and learning. When I stopped learning, that is the moment I stopped being productive.

So yeah. Learn something everyday, good people. We're blessed with this amazing brain, so we might as well make the best out of it.

Anyhoo, happy Eid!

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Flower Power

I was just blogwalking on Tumblr, scrolling through my endless dashboard when I encountered this one post, containing pictures of rare flowers. Rare, exquisite, delicate flowers. These are few of my favorites :






come on. like seriously? SO DAMN PRETTY.


Then, I suddenly brought back to my Singapore trip earlier this year, when I visited Flower Dome at Gardens By The Bay. Have you been there? It's absolutely magnificent. I won't say it's the best (yes, I am still disappointed I couldn't find lilac there) but it really is a beautiful space.

I remembered how I separated ways with my three friends, mainly because they wanted to take pictures with all those flowers, and I just had no patience to move that slow just to take picture. So I went on my own, with my camera, capturing all those lovely flowers in all their own glory in frame.




in the CNY theme

So then after walking so much ( I even went to the top floor, where they have collections of South Africans plants like Baobabs) of course I got tired. So I went back to the one of the area (they separated the areas, like Australian, South American, dll.) and just sat there, alone. It was one of the quietest corner, not many people walked in, so I had my quiet moment to reminisce, to think, to wonder.

I remember how cool the air was, and the lighting was just perfect, not too bright yet not too dim either. I lightly massaged my tired feet, while still looking around, at all those pretty pretty colorful flowers.

How could something so lovely, so delicate, and so gracious, grow from the old, boring, dark soil?
How could they emerge into such a beautiful presence?
How could they stay so pure, so divine, in this messy, corrupted place we call earth?

Then it hit me.

Because the flowers are gift. From Mother Earth. From our Creator. 

Flowers are a solid proof how this world works from the very beginning. Hard work, devotion, commitment...  they never go unrewarded.

I remember as a kid, the kiddie magazine my parents bought subscription for me gave flower seed as their weekly bonus ( I think it was Zinnia Flowers, but I can't really recall, all I know is there's a Z in the name). I was so excited, I wanted flowers even though at that time, we didn't have a garden at home, just a couple potted plants in front of the house. I tried to  grow the seed, and yeah, since I was a kid, I didn't pay attention, and the Zinnia never even emerged from the soil (sorry!). 

I can only imagine the amount of time, mind, soul, and even money spent on growing all those flowers, let alone the maintenance. My visit to Flower Dome gave me newfound respect to all the gardeners, farmers, or basically, everybody who has that level of love, patience, and devotion, to grow and nurture something to life. 

How happy must they feel when the flowers finally bloom?

Ah, I can only imagine.

Oh, how I long to have the patience, the tenacity, the commitment in me, to do something like growing flowers. I'm working on it. Still and will always be working on it.

Isn't it amazing how God always manage to remind us about his Greatness? 

Did they not look at the earth - 
how much We have produced therein from every noble kind?
Indeed in that is a sign, but most of them were not to be believers.
[QS. Ash - Shu'ara, Verse 7-8]

And that there is not for man except that [good] for which he strives
And that his effort is going to be seen -
Then he will be recompensed for it with the fullest recompense
[QS. An - Najm, Verse 39 - 41]