The Mourning Bay in a Glimpse

Apparently yesterday is my last day of work in Teluk Kabung (I translate it as "The Mourning Bay", but perhaps it's not that suitable lol). The night after, we had this farewell party held by my office mates in a nice and small caffe called Palanta Roemah Kajoe. Did I ever mention that I don't like farewell party or anything alike? (now you know that I have SO MUCH stuff that I dislike -_-). I'm not good with socialization and also hate to do a fake thing as a good-kind-hearted girl because that makes me feel very awkward. Yeah. I'm that kind of creature.

Teluk Kabung

The Mourning Bay is the name of the place as I made fun of its original name because of the surprising fact of my sudden mutation in the late of March 2013. The original name is Teluk Kabung and if you translate it literally it's indeed fit with the English name: The Mourning Bay (Teluk means Bay and Kabung means Mourn). I don't know why the place is named with that sad phrase but let's not talk about that thing. So the first reaction I got when I heard about my mutation that day was, I was upset. Okay I have predicted this mutation, I mean, I wasn't put in a right place from the beginning for God-knows-what reason, but I never have any idea that the place is The Mourning Bay. I've been told sarcastically about how dangerous and anarchy and vandalism and everything-bad the place was. Even one of my friends that seems to be placed in a dangerous area (according to his constant whining and complaining about the place) told me that he was okay because his area isn't that bad compared to The Mourning Bay. And I was like, WHAT?!

Flawsome

Day fifth of 2014. I was done packing 60% of my stuff and currently am thinking about the gift(s) I should wrap for farewell presents. What I will give them? Well, as I haven't bored yet talking about my last year, I suddenly realize what is my biggest and fatal-est flaw during 2013 (actually, it's my whole life fatal flaw). And as I've seen this word on ANTM Season 20 (yeah! I'm into that kind of dull thing), I decided to make it as my big topic.

Flaw plus awesome = flawsome!

(From here, I'll write in Bahasa Indonesia. Sorry!)

Karena terlanjur keduluan nge-post mengenai "perjuangan" saya dan dua orang teman ke Kebumen (as promised in my latest post), well saya tidak akan menceritakan keseluruhan kisah tersebut. Basi juga kalau dibahas di sini lagi, so bagi yang penasaran, silakan meluncur ke blog teman saya, di sini. Anggap aja ini adalah kisah epilognya. Kenapa? Setelah stasiun Pasar Senen, kami kembali ke tempat masing-masing. Satu orang ke Kramat, satu orang ke Johar Baru, dan saya, yup, ke Soetta. Jadi, ini kisah saya. Hehe.

2013 in a Wrap

This is a late post of my kaleidoscope of 2013. but well, better late than never, right?

2013 for me is a very strange year. It's my first year as a full time employee in my office, and what makes it so strange is I switch my job position like three times. If you're new here, then you'll be wondering if my boss didn't like me that much so I've set to different places. You can speculate your assumption, whatever. Hehe. But since I've got so many experiences with the places I've traveled and people I met, well everything has paid.

Well as I always say, picture speaks thousand words. So here are everything I got (uh oh not everything because sometimes I forgot taking pictures!) during 2013:

P.S: This is a very long post and so many pictures below. Enjoy!

Okay? Okay!

Hi, so okay, I don't know if you'll understand this but I can't kiss you or anything. Not that you'd necessarily want to, but I can't.

When I try to look at you like that, all I see is what I'm going to put you through. Maybe that doesn't make sense to you.

Anyway, sorry.

He responded a few minutes later.

Okay.

I wrote back.

Okay.

He responded:

Oh, my God, stop flirting with me!

I just said:

Okay.

My phone buzzed a moment later.

I was kidding, Hazel Grace. I understand. (But we both know that okay is a very flirty word).

I was very tempted to respond okay again, but I pictured him at my funeral, and that helped me text properly:

Sorry.

(The conversation taken from The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, as reviewed by me in Bahasa Indonesia, here).

The King of Cats by Nabila

(This is a guest post from my friend, Nabila. For those who forget, she's one of my office friend back in Medan, as seen on this post).

Greetings! My name's Nabila, I shared a house with Dew in Medan. Suddenly in an early Ramadhan morning, I felt the urge to contribute while giving Dew a glimpse of her old life in Medan. I'll warn you first, though: It'll be different. Dew's naturally witty & cleverly sarcastic. Me, I just try to be. I have absolutely none of Dew's skill with drawings, & my very own skills of writing is almost nonexistent (so not true - Dew :D). Still, it's been a terribly long time since the last time I wrote, & so I figured, time to start honing. And what better place than here?

Have you ever read J. Norman Lippert's fanfiction of JK Rowling's Harry Potter? He made a series called James Potter (after Harry's eldest son). The second book contained a chapter entitled "The King of the Cats". Here's an excerpt from James Potter and the Curse of the Gate Keeper where one of James' friends tells a story for the Wizard Literature class:

The Tough-ing Theory

In the middle of anything-I've-been-currently-doing, I watched movies a lot. I think it's a way to distract me from my endless routine on my work place. Here I don't make friends a lot, even after 8 months, everyone is just acquaintances (a hint! you don't really make friends in the office, mostly you'll just make plain "relations"). Uh, the melancholic side of me.

Dream Theater

This is not about music. In fact, I know none about that band. Yeah, this is about the dream theater, literally. Well, this thought has been wandering inside my head for quite some time. In my mind, I imagine myself as several persons who act in some kind of boring theater.

The first person is the artsy one. She loves to draw so much and can't live without it. She adores the freedom and whimsical artist life. The second is a nerd one. She's a geek who loves studying and will be very happy if she can enter prestigious college(s) until she's tired of schools. The third is the workaholic type who has ambition to reach as high as possible the carrier she's been living in. The last one (okay, I said I have SEVERAL, not only four, but let's face it I have to make this short and readable), is the phlegmatic-home based-peace lover-simple girl who will be very happy to live an ordinary simple life: doing house chores, a little busy by a small-wages-regular job, live with her parents until she's got married and think about nothing but her new family.

This is not a battle-themed theater, nor a boring satire (I already said boring, actually). Since all four of the roles are important, you might be wondering: Who's gonna win? Well, who's the heroine, actually?

***

And there are 4 persons in my Dream Theater. Illustration by Me.

Persepsi, dan seterusnya

Salah satu teman saya di twitter pernah me-RT tweet saya yang kira-kira isinya begini:

@xxxxx: Ginilah kerjaan pejabat --> RT @tweedledew: "Makan pagi di Padang, makan malam di Medan, tidurnya di Surabaya."

Padang - Medan - Surabaya - Bandung - Padang (dengan 4 maskapai yang berbeda. Semacam unik).

Pertamanya sih speechless banget baca tanggapan dia. Kok ya lucu aja gitu masa saya dibilang pejabat. Apalagi konotasi pejabat di negara ini gak bisa dibilang bagus. Coba kalau dia ke Teluk Kabung terus liat saya jadi apa di sana. Saya yakin dia akan menarik ucapannya itu. Tapi ya sudahlah.. di negara ini kan kebebasan berpendapat sudah diatur undang - undang toh? Hehe. Tapi yang lucu lagi tuh, kalau di tempat saya berasal, ketika saya mengatakan kalau saya kerja di PT A, dia nanya "Di pabriknya atau pom bensin-nya?" Hehehe. Biarlah mereka menyimpulkan sendiri. Itu kan hak mereka untuk buat persepsi. Betul?

Rescued

When I read the topic for Illustration Friday (YES! I've been long gone from this world) in my email last week, there was one that came to mind. I think I need to draw somebody - or something - that need to be rescued from the abyss. You know I really like this quotes:

if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you (F. Nietzsche).

So if you want to rescue someone or something that might fall - or nearly fall into an abyss, you shan't look too long into it for it will tempt you to fall. Ah, whatever.

Rescued from the abyss.

REALLY, you don't need to read this one below.

Look, I am so sorry for not keeping up my promise (oh, did it a promise?) to post about my Ramadhan in Padang. Am I busy? Well, everyone is busy. I just not really have it to make a nice post. You know not everything I post is nice. I have a twitter and it's just pathetic that lately I've been making such horrible tweets. Am I that negative? Ugh.. guess I need to take a break (actually, I've took one last 2 days but it never seem enough). Honestly, it's been 5 months and I haven't got any fancy to my current "daily-activities" (you know what). I didn't - or haven't - enjoyed anything here. And my anti - social level is raising day by day. One of my acquaintance-neighbor once said "hey welcome to the real society"! Cynical as it sounds. This society is just not my cliques, no matter how hard I try to fit in. Uh, oh and I blab to much. THIS IS BAD! Does this mean that I am apparently the one who's in the abyss and need to be rescued? I don't know. I always exaggerate everything. 

Heart Attack

Assalamu'alaykum

Been very hectic today. So many deadlines yet so little time (yes! The procrastinator me is screaming out loud here!!). Pulang kerja langsung ketiduran dan gak sempet masak buat buka. Jadinya cuma makan melon 2 potong plus green tea (entah mau ngurusin badan yang mana nih secara saya sudah kurus rupa begini). Bahkan tarawih tadi sempet nyanyi tuh perut - dengan kencangnya. Pura-pura tidak mengklaim diri sebagai sumber suara dengan tidak menunjukkan aksi saltink atau masam-mesem. Akhirnya barusan baru makan nasi - selamat datang gaya hidup makan sebelum tidur!

By the way saya belum habis pikir dengan sistem hormon wanita. Mengapa ada saja satu kalinya setiap bulan dimana hormon kami tidak stabil dan mood sangat-sangat jelek dan penyakit hati gampang hinggap? Dengki lah, sirik lah, su'udzon lah. Well, ini Ramadhan lho nooon. Hormon gak bisa disuruh diem apa ya. *pake nyalahin hormon* Masalahnya setiap hal yang nyelekit dan berpotensi menyinggung tiba-tiba ukurannya diperbesar berkali-kali lipat. Sakit hati menimbulkan penyakit hati. Kayak orang yang makan makanan enak tidak bergizi, atau ngerokok, atau stress gitu, yang akhirnya bisa dapet sakit jantung (heart attack, yes!). Analoginya persis seperti itu. Astagfirulloh. Makanya, saat-saat seperti ini beristigfar itu kerasa banget perlunya. Huhuhu.

Ramadhan in Padang

Assalamu'alaykum..

(now I realize that I HARDLY say salam except on the right column of this blog as my introduction. my bad!)

So tomorrow is the beginning of Ramadhan 1434 H. I'm excited and sad at the same time. Excited yeah, because well, it's Ramadhan! Sad because this is the second Ramadhan without me gathered with my family. :( Last year I was on my on-the-job-training session and there were my friends around me. I was in Jakarta back then. This year? I'm in Padang and alone. I live in this residence with everyone is employed in the company I worked for. They are all MEN. Right now I'm still acquaintances with the wives (of course I have to socialize more with the wives). I hope because of this Ramadhan coming, our bond will become stronger and better than acquaintances. There is always a person or two with judgy personality or insecurity issue but I'm sure if we choose the right approach, we're gonna blend easily.

This illustration made for the sample as I applied for an illustration job. For Asma Nadia! She saw this picture and replied my application letter but as I told her my domicile, she apparently shut the application down. :)

Guess what?

I Hate Quotes

I hate the way you talk to me, and the way you cut your hair.

I hate the way you drive my car.

I hate it when you stare.

I hate your big dumb combat boots, and the way you read my mind.

I hate you so much it makes me sick; it even makes me rhyme.

I hate it, I hate the way you're always right.

I hate it when you lie.

I hate it when you make me laugh, even worse when you make me cry.

I hate it when you're not around, and the fact that you didn't call.

But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you. Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.

Yes, yes. It's a direct quote from the teenage-romance-comedy drama in the 90s with title "10 Things I Hate About You" that has been my favorite drama since I first saw it in junior high school (it was year 2000 something actually, but not really too late I guess). This "I hate(s) quotes" are really implicating my earlier life while I was still a teenager and somehow cute to be heard. Well, I have this guilty pleasure that in my age (I'm 23, remember?) I still love to watch teenage drama - especially school drama - that involves girls romance story stuff. Mean Girls, Bring It On(s) and Step Up(s) are my absolute favorite.

The Stratford sisters of the "10 Things I Hate About You".

Okay, I'm embarrassed.

How's Life?

I'M STILL ALIVE! So sorry for not writing too much lately because I've been soooo busy trying to fit in on my first months. You know, the job isn't really alike with how I was pictured it before coming to this place. It's waaaay busier than I thought it was. So it's been 2 months since my last post about my life before I got moved from Medan to Padang. Yeah. Padang. I've never dreamed about this before but here I am. Still in Sumatra, and well, still *cough* in HSE. Padang is so much different from Medan. The culture, the people, the traffic (Oh! I have to blab about traffic, huh), the food.. but unfortunately, the punctuality issue is apparently the same. :( So how's life in Padang?

From here I'll continue in Bahasa Indonesia. I add picture everywhere so everyone still can enjoy it, no? ;)

Foto ini diambil pas saya masih di hotel (belum tinggal di rumah dinas).

If Happiness and Grief Should Be Combined

So, yeah, I'm 24 now. And it's like an obligation for me to write about my last year and resolution and whatsoever similar, on the 3rd of January, right on my birth day. But today is not the happiest day of my life since yesterday my Grandma has passed away. It's quite a surprise because the one who has been sick is my Grandpa, not her. And she was just suddenly left us. Yeah, it's that sudden and what a surprise - I really don't like surprises and heck this is an ugly one. 

Image Source

From now on, I'll remember my birth date as my Grandma's funeral date, too. :(

The last time I met her like, two weeks ago when I took my first leisure day-off, she asked my mother about my marriage plan. I refused to answer it because well, I hasn't plan any (a note: I don't talk about my private life in this blog). It's a common question for girls my age and I don't really bothered. What really bothered me is, when people keep talking about "that plan" whilst they passed away like one by one. It really is a grief. Back to the topic, so my Grandma, she's my father's mom. My elementary school is just in front of her little shop. I used to visit her in my break time, along with my childhood friend, and my cousins. We used to sleep over in her house and listen to the stories my Grandpa told us. She spoiled us all, especially me. We have a lot of similarities. I even imagine myself as her when I grow very old. Yeah, we're that similar.

But now she's passed away. Today is her funeral and I can't make it to attend. As you know that I live in Padang, and my hometown is Sumedang, and I have to take flight to Bandung or Jakarta to get there. The time is just not enough to make it. It's so hurt when I call my father and hear his shaking voice and told me to calm. Instead, I was upset. And the reason I was upset is confusing, is it because: I can't make it to her funeral, I didn't get to see her for the last time, or the fact that my birth day is ruined?

By the way, last December I got so many dreadful (did I say dreadful?) experiences. I won't tell you everything but my carelessness was finally caught me. So my resolution to 2014 is, to be least careless and minimize my rush-ness behavior. Uh, I don't know. I can't really write anything useful right now because of my grief. Well thank you for all your kind attention to congratulate and pray me. You don't know how much it means to me. And please, please, send my Grandma your prayer too. Today is my birthday, but also my Grandma's funeral. So you're gonna pray us both. Thank you again for reading this. :)

P.S: Don't worry, I didn't write this during my work hour, everyone here is doing our aerobic activity and since I'm not in the mood to do it, I wrote this super quick post. Thanks.