The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Places I might be in this time next year :

2012-01-22T22:28:00.001+07:00

- Cambridge, MA, USA
- South Hadley, MA, USA
- Amherst, MA, USA
- Berea, KY, USA
- Grinnell, IA, USA
- Middletown, CT, USA
- Wooster, OH, USA
- Canton, NY, USA
- Bremen, Germany
- Berlin, Germany
- Singapore, Singapore
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Yogyakarta, Indonesia
- Jakarta, Indonesia

Just so you know...

2011-12-26T19:37:00.000+07:00

I now have a tumblr!

millergirl92.tumblr.com

My tumblr post will be in English. So, English speaking friends, please do follow me on tumblr.

I will still, of course, write here. My writings here will be noticably longer. And some of my post here will be in Indonesian, as you might have noticed.

ME ON ADHITIA SOFYAN'S WEBSITE

2011-12-15T21:41:00.003+07:00

http://adhitiasofyan.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/email-an-american-that-enjoy-your-song/

Will Presiden SBY ever gonna make it to the TIME cover?

2011-12-13T14:29:00.000+07:00

I read bunch of stuff about Indonesia's former President, Soekarno, earlier today. And found out that he was on TIME Magazine Cover. Twice. December 1946 and March 1958.

I was just about to tweet how cool he is, until I realized that President Suharto must have made it too. And searched for it, and yes he did. Sometime in 1966.

In addition, I saw tons of cool pictures of President Soekarno, with bunch of cool people, speaking at cool places, listened by cool people.

Indonesia needs another figure like him, I guess that's my point.

Links to those covers:
President Sukarno, December 23, 1946.
President Sukarno, March 10, 1958.
President Suharto, July 15, 1966.

And by the way, "Presiden SBY" was not a typo. It just sounds better that way, instead of "President SBY."

2011-12-05T13:42:00.001+07:00

Nama : Nisa
Asal : Jakarta
Agama : Islam
Obsesi : Kuliah di Amerika

The Road Not Taken – by Robert Frost

2011-10-21T21:34:00.003+07:00

The Road Not Taken – by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Ceplas Ceplos

2011-10-03T21:59:00.002+07:00

Beberapa hari yang lalu, gue baca status fesbuk salah satu temen gue sesama exchange student, "Kebiasaan yang dari Amerika yang harus gue ubah : Ngomong ceplas ceplos," begitulah kira-kira isi statusnya.

Nah, baru tadi nih, ceplas-ceplos kejadian ama gue.

Jadi, sore ini gue naik ojek dari Tebet. Secara jelas gue bilang ke Abangnya bahwa gue mau ke Balai Kartini, dan gue tekenin apakah dia bener-bener tahu tempatnya. Dia sih iya-iya aja. Ngga tau nya kita malah nyasar. Muter-muter muter-muter kuningan, pancoran, bidakara, kluar masuk komplek sana sini, 45 menit baru nyampe Balai Kartini (dari Stasium Tebet loh!)

Pas gue turun, si abangnya bilang, "Udah neng, ngga usah bayar deh. Kan nyasar." Hee, seneng lah gue. Gue bilang, "Okedeh, makasih ya, Bang." Langsung cabut dan melengos pergi.

Sampe rumah, gue ceritain ke nyokap. Eeeh, nyokap malah bilang, "Kasian, Dek! Kan bensin..." Setelah gue pikir-pikir, iya juga sih. Tapi abangnya bilang nya ngga usah bayar. Kalo dia suruh bayar pun gue juga akan tetep bayar. Gue jadi mikir, itu cuman bentuk kesopanan aja dia sok-sok bilang ngga usah bayar, padahal sebenernya.....

Hehehe, itulah repotnya, ngomongnya ngga straight forward, kebanyakan bumbu! Teheheheh.

Okeh, back to midterms studying!!

Life Goals

2011-08-21T15:09:00.000+07:00

- Harvard College Class of 2016
- Get a master degree from Harvard Business School or Harvard Kennedy School of Government
- Work for the IMF or for the World Bank or for the UN or at an Indonesian Embassy
- Master Spanish and/or German and/or Arabic and/or Chinese
- Have traveled to 30 countries when I turn 30
- Publish a book

Happy Birthday, Dad!

2011-08-16T22:53:00.002+07:00

Kemarin, hari Senin tanggal 15 agustus, ayah angkat gue ulang tahun.

Gue pun melancarkan rencana untuk nelfon Beliau ke henfonnya (bukan Skype loh ya) dengan :
1. Nelfon biasa = lebih bermakna
2. Keluarga angkat gue lagi liburan di luar kota, jadi mereka ngga online setiap saat seperti biasanya.

Karena beda waktunya 11 jam (lebih duluan Jakarta), gue mutusin untuk nelfon tanggal 15 jam 9 malem, atau jam 10 pagi waktu Eastern Time nya US.

2 hari sebelumnya, gue jungkir balik nyari cara ngisi Skype credit gue tanpa pake credit card. Setelah minta tolong sana sini, coba berbagai macam cara, salah satu temen gue yang bantuin, yaitu si @silfaralubis, bilang, "Emang kenapa harus nelfon pake Skype sih? Kenapa ngga pake henfon aja?" Eh bener juga lo dut!!! Gue pun googling tarif nelfon ke Amrik pake ayemtri. Eh ternyata, cuman kena 400 perak-an permenit. Meskipun ngga yakin kalo tuh data valid, gue putusin untuk tetap nelfon pake hape.

Akhirnya, gue telfon lah Ayah Angkat gue...
Dering nya lamaaa banget. Mungkin lebih dari 5x. Lega banget pas diangkat. Beliau biasa angkat telfon sambil sebutin namanya. Kalimat pertama yang gue bilang ke beliau adalah, "Am I speaking to God?" karena Ayah Angkat gue sering becanda menganggap dirinya adalah "God". Hahaha. Trus ga ada tanggapan dari Beliau selama beberapa detik. Gue kira telponnya lemot kaya pas jaman SD gue nelponin abang gue yang kuliah di Ostrali. Gue kira koneksinya putus. Gue kira hape gue mati. Gue kira pulsa gue langsung abis. Gue kira ini semua hanya mimpi dan sebentar lagi gue akan terbangun #eh #berlebihan. Tapi terus akhirnya Beliau bilang sesuatu juga,"Ah NISA!" Mungkin daritadi Beliau mikir, kira-kira siapa nih yang tahu kalo dia itu sebenernya Tuhan. Hahaha.

Terus....Ya udah kita ngobrol. Gue super grogi gitu. Bingung deh, kenapa gue grogi. Kayanya emang sindrom ya kalo udah lama pengen ketemu, eh pas ada kesempatan ngobrol malah bingung mau ngomong apa. #curhat #pengalamanpribadi #eyaa

Beliau nanya-nanya tentang sekolah, college applications, basket...

Setelah kira-kira 5 menit, gue bilang gue harus hang up. Bukan karena pengen belajar PKn (yang emang kebetulan besoknya ulangan), atau takut pulsa abis (hadeh), tapi takut udah kelamaan aja dan pembicaraannya makin awkward. We said good byes, he said he loves me and misses me. I said the same thing. Jadi sedih deh.

Sebenernya dia mau angkat telfon gue aja gue udah seneng banget. Gue yakin nomor telfon yang masuk yang keliatan di hape dia itu super aneh, dan nyokap angkat gue most likely ngga akan angkat telfon dari nomor telfon aneh. Untungnya ayah angkat gue orang nya ngga se suspicious itu. Atau mungkin juga karena udah sering terima telfon dari luar negri. Maklum, Beliau kan kerja di departemen pertahanannya amerika serikat, jadi sering berhubungan ama orang-orang asing.

Bagian paling manis dari petualangan ini adalah........... Ternyata hasil googling gue itu bener!! Nelfon 5 menitan ke AMRIK cuman kena 2000perak!! Gila ngga?? Itu mah sama aja nelfon ke hape biasa. Koneksinya juga oke banget lagi ngga pake lemot/putus2/kresek2. Salut deh sama In****T.

Well, i guess thats it.

Dad, i know there's no chance you're reading this, but this post is for you. Happy birthday. I love you. I miss you. :)

The Truth is.....

2011-08-13T21:34:00.000+07:00

We walk away to see who will follow,
We hide because we want to be found,
We cry to see who will wipe away the tears,

and we let our hearts be broken to see who will come and fix them

Isn't that so true?

2011-08-06T00:20:00.001+07:00

Dear Dad,

I know you're the King, but I thought you're the God too. So, which
one is it then? Is this theocracy or something?

Hugs,
Daughter #4

ps. I miss you so much.

Day-Offs Don't Do Me Much

2011-08-02T23:08:00.000+07:00

I had 2 days off because Ramadan started yesterday (Happy Ramadan, all Muslim friends!) and I did not do as much things as I wanted. Not even a proper, 8-hour sleep. No hard core studying, no cleaning my room. Nothing.

I did, however, make a list. You know, things you do when you got bored. This time is about things that make me happy and things that do not, at least in the first month I'm back in Jakarta.

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY

1. Reading. I read a whole bunch of stuff this past month, surprisingly. From the States' debt-ceiling articles, to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Even more surprising, I read everywhere. In the computer, for some stuff that I can only get online, between classes, even in a packed, bad-smelling Jakarta's public buses that I take regularly.

2. Playing basketball. There were times when I played basketball too much and happened to hate it, wondering why I started playing in the first place. Thank goodness this past month basketball practices had been fun. I'm so happy to see my teammates again, and play with them. Practices are also not as intense as they used to be, yet.

3. Receiving letters. I got letters from my family and friends in Arlington, which made me incredibly happy. I have a new habit : checking the mailbox every single time I see it. Really, letters are something that I look forward to and having something to look forward to, according to my experience, really is a good thing.

4. That jazz musician. I went to two of his shows this past month, after going to none of them for 10 months. It was just so awesome.

5. Hang out with AFSers. I actually just realized why I get along very well with these kids. We got through the same process of selection to go abroad. I guess AFS had some kind of criteria, and we all are in that criteria, and so, character-wise, we are similar. Also, we got pretty similar experience living thousands miles away from home for 10 months, and going back to school with kids a year younger.

THINGS THAT DO NOT

1. School. Yeah, school just sucks in general.

2. Sick people. I mean literally sick people. My Papa was hospitalized when I was gone. In fact, he is taking medication right now. I have a sister who has been sick for several years. My brother is sick right now. I was also sick for a couple times since I arrived (I think it's due to body-adapting, or something like that).

3. College applications. Started some of them this morning, and it's horrible. It's so complicated, even with that Common Application thing.

4. Not playing guitar. I haven't play guitar for... I don't even know. One month, for sure. And probably the last couple of weeks in the States, since I was too busy doing the end of the year stuff and of course packing.

5. Not being home. Not being with my family. Not being with my dogs. I hate missing everything at home. I hate being away. I hate thinking of home -- I want to be actually in it.

So yeah, that's it. I have been blogging for nearly 3 years now, but still do not develop the skill to end a post. So, that's it. The end. Whatever.

2011-07-23T01:25:00.001+07:00

Dear Mom and Dad,

I miss you.

Love,
Your Indonesian Daughter

Jetlag : Season 2

2011-07-07T03:27:00.000+07:00

Sore ini gue baru pulang dari Re-Orientasi AFS selama 3 hari. Super capek dan tidurlah gue dengan normal di sana. Eh, ngga taunya tadi sore abis solat magrib gue rebahan sambil baca buku.... Pas sadar lagi udah jam 1 pagi. Ternyata masih Jetlag saya.

Selama orientasi banyak banget kejadian-kejadian yang bikin ngelus dada. Bikin berkali-kali bilang sama diri sendiri, "Anything. Anything can happen to you. But being happy really is your choice." Mulai dari rasa kesel karena harus ikut orientasi, menghitung waktu untuk balik lagi ke rumah dari saat pertama menjejakan kaki di Wisma Handayani dengan segala memori buruk orientasi hampir setahun lalu, sampe merasa beda dan dikucilkan banget berada diantara siswa/siswi YES.

Tapi bukannya Re-Orientasi ngga berguna loh. Gue jadi tahu apa yang normal dilakukan sama exchange students yang baru balik, ngurangin kebiasaan-kebiasaan exchange students yang kurang baik, dan lain-lain sebagainya. Iya gue masih kangen, kangen banget sama keluarga angkat gue di Arlington, tapi setelah Re-Orientasi gue jadi berasa bener-bener udah berada di Indonesia. Dan bukannya kangen itu bukti bahwa kita yakin kalo kita ini sekarang jauh dari orang-orang yang kita kangenin ya?

Rencana beberapa hari ke depan... Kayanya masih berkisar sama beres-beres di rumah. Pengennya ketemu temen-temen. Juga pengennya siap-siap mental buat balik sekolah. Dan juga pengen baca buku dan olahraga. So... let's see what's going to happen in the next few days..... :)

The Second Day

2011-07-03T02:46:00.000+07:00

If I ever said that packing is the hardest time of the year, then I was wrong. This is the hardest time of the year.

Not particularly the 2nd day of being back in Jakarta, but when I unpacked my stuff from the suitcases and realized that this is not just a camping trip, or senior trip, or whatever trip. This is it. I'm not going to go back to Arlington. At least not in the near future. And then I started to hold my tears everytime I see my family picture which is framed nicely and put in the living room.

When I was thinking to drink tap water and realized that I might have a diarrhea if I do that here.

When I took wrong steps in the stairs.

When I tried to reach for a sea belt in a cab, but there was no seat belts.

When I have to stay up all night, with nothing to do and no one to talk to, because of jetlag.

When I read texts from my mom over and over and over again.

I guess I am not ready to move on. At least not on the 2nd day of being back.

2011-06-09T22:29:00.002+07:00

I remember sitting in this library about 10 months ago, crying over the fact that I have to move to a new family. I listened to Kings of Convenience's "Homesick" over and over again; yet I still seemed to not have any control about the tears streamed down my face.
Now, sitting in the very same room, I could not help to cry while looking at my host family's pictures. It was old pictures. I was not in any of them. The kids were small. My dad was young. My mom seemed ageless -- she did not change at all.

I am leaving Arlington in 18 days.

"It's getting closer, huh?" my teacher said. "But you'll be back before you know it."

And that just made my day.

Boston - Philly

2011-06-04T01:37:00.002+07:00

Friend : "Nisa, you look so tan!"
Me : "I've been going to the pool a lot lately."
Another friend : "Wait, I thought you were going to... (thinking) Philadelphia. "
Friend : (giving him a look) "She went to Boston."
Another friend : "Same thing!"

Why tell about Boston?

2011-05-29T00:09:00.000+07:00

I just got back from a 3 day trip in Boston yesterday morning. I have a bunch of pictures, tons of stories that I would like to share with you guys.

But my family does not even want to hear about it. They don't ask about it. They don't care about it. Whereas I'm pretty sure in the next few days they will do it to their oldest, most loved, genius daughter.

But I am not their daughter. In fact, I just knew them 10 months ago. I am no one here.

So, what the heck.

I feel like running away from my own life during this time.

Junk

2011-05-12T08:23:00.000+07:00

(watching Sidekick 4G ad on TV)
guy : "I need 4G!"
Another guy : "Do you have 3G?"
Guy : "In my iPad? No. I have it in my Blackberry. But Blackberry is a piece of junk."
Me : "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I'm totally gonna tweet that.
Guy : "It's true. And government Blackberry is a piece of disabled junk."
Me : "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA."
(I walked to my room these things down.)
Guy : "No camera, no music..."

Loners Don't Visit College

2011-05-05T23:59:00.001+07:00

The problem with being an loner is, people think there's no such thing as a "loner," therefore, the first question they'd ask is : "Who are you here with?" whereas in fact I was not with anybody and I cannot careless taking anyone with me. And it's not completely my fault because first of all, other people's presence does not necessarily means making things easier. Second of all, I've usually tried to get people to come with me, but no one would. Lastly, even though deep down inside, I am lonely, no one cares about my being lonely.

(Thoughts after seeing a deal from Amtrak for college campus visitors : Buy One Full-Fare Ticket, Get 50% Off Companion Ticket! Hey, what if I'm going by myself? Oh wait, no one goes to college visits BY THEM SELVES.)

p.s. I change the word "Individualist" to"loner" because I think it fits better.

Pre and Post AP Calculus AB Exam

2011-05-05T21:05:00.000+07:00

Ooooooh ah!

I did my very first AP Exam yesterday. It was Calculus AB. As I said to anyone who asked about it, alhamdulillah it went okay.

What I'm going to post here is some of my writing I put in my cellphone the night before the AP Exam and the night after the AP Exam. Not that they are coherent -- they're just fun to post.

Note details:
Date:
03.05.2011
Time:
10:07 PM
Format:
XHTML
Size:
1 kB
Tomorrow morning is the AP Exam. But I hate being at home right now. I think my mom hates me. I thought she was being quiet and looked tired and all in the last couple of days because Dad is not in town. But Dad's in town this evening. But she still didn't talk to me. She didn't ask me how my day was and all. I hope she does not hate me. Not that it really matter, because no matter how, I love her so much.
And of course no one really cares about my taking the AP Exam. Except Zoe, who probably doesn't have anything better to be thought about. So I texted some people I love, telling them about the exam. And God is so good that they responded very quickly, unusually. It feels good to know that you have people who love you and care about your taking silly little AP Exam.
Probably there's nothing wrong. Probably I'm just being selfish, self-centered, and hungry of attention. Being a grossly immature 18 years old. Maybe I should stop writing and go to bed.

Note Details:
Date:
05.05.2011
I wonder why I can't go to sleep sometimes.
I probably get too excited. Yeah, probably. I was very excited about my new idea for the senior project.
I'm probably too tired. Yeah, I walked for like 45 minutes today.Or probably I just simply missed the moment. Probably went to bed too late and I missed the moments to sleep and life is all about the perfect moments and there's no such thing as second chances.
Gah. I'm blabbing.
It's 2:37. I'm going to be dead at frisbee practice tomorrow. I don't want to go to school in the morning.

Updates after and during these 2 posts:
- I woke up early in the morning on May 4. Dad was in the kitchen having breakfast. He "good luck"-ed me with the AP Exam and I "good luck"-ed him for his testifying that day. "You'll do great. See you tonight." he said. But I didn't saw him last night. :) :(
- I still did not feeling very great at home. So I went to the Cherrydale library after school (and saw Jordan! and talked to him), did some work. And then I went to KFC to get dinner, instead of going to Senior Recital as my initial plan. I walked home from KFC. I arrived just in time for Mom, Dad, and their friend walked out the door for going out for dinner.
- I talked to Armedi!! :)
- I wrapped some souvenirs from Indonesia for people in my government class. Will give it to them tomorrow.
- I finally talked to mom this morning, like in normal way. I hope she does not (and did not) hate me
- I got a super duper awesome idea for Senior Project! Instead of shadowing Coach Garrison in the kindergarten, I would VISIT COLLEGES around Arlington, and intensively preparing myself for the SAT and TOEFL. I called it "My Second Senior Year Preparation."

- Last thing : Next AP Exam : US History on Friday, May 6 and US Government and Politics on Tuesday, May 10. Wish me luck! :)

Okay... I'm getting tired now. Write to you soon!! xxx

2011-05-03T18:49:00.000+07:00

David : "Do we bore you to death, Nisa?"
Nisa : (talking under the sweatshirt) "Sort of."
(Ruth and David laugh)
David : "That's what I like about Nisa."
Nisa : "What?"
David : "Honest."
(Ruth and David laugh again)
David : "Actually, what I like about Nisa is......... If I sleep right here, right now, it'll be fine."
Ruth : "Rachel acts bad and impolite when you are here."
David : "Yeah, you're like the part of the family!"

Post Spring Break Post

2011-05-01T13:31:00.000+07:00

I apologize because of my absence in the last couple of weeks. I wrote some stuff during Spring Break, have not had any chance to post it though.

What keeps me busy in the last 6 days : Crooked.

Yup. It's tech week and I did not later than 8 in the morning and did not come home before 9 pm (although it's nothing to compared to my daily activities in Jakarta). And missed frisbee practices, even a tournament this weekend (Althoug AP Exams also being my consideration in this particular case).

I will start a list :

- AP Exams
I ended up registered for 3 AP Exams : Calculus AB, U.S. History, and U.S. Government and Politics, although none of them I'm really gonna study for, except Calculus. We registered during E block on Thursday in the cafeteria. Test dates : May 4th, 6th, and 10th. Please wish me luck.

- Senior Project
After trying to apply to VOA and Arlington Public Library and rejected by both (sadness) I ended up doing Senior Project at Mt.Daniel Elementary School with Coach Garrison. Good deal because I know him well and I like him and I hope the schedule could be more flexible to accommodate my studying schedule for the SAT and TOEFL. Again, please wish me luck.

- Frisbee
I missed all 3 JV practices this week. Instead, I attended 1 Newbie boys practice. Yes, I know I'm so fucked up. Also, I'm not going to the tournament this weekend because of Crooked and AP Exams next week. Poor me. #1 Wish : Dave does not change his mind putting me in JV.

- Friday
I went to GWU to attend a seminar : 2011 hours against hate, which was kinda lame but had a silver lining. We (Muhammed, Ma Prang, Jody, and I) met a reporter and they ended up interviewing us and we are really going to be on TV. How cool is that.
However, this interview thing ruined my schedule to come to frisbee practice. So I did not come to practice and went home instead. I prayed, grabbed snacks, and lying down for a total of 40 minutes, and the went to school to start the show.
The show went up at 7:30 and ended at about 9:15. Eventhough very small number of people came tonight (about 15 people), they are better audience then yesterday's. We were still very excited and happy!
After the play, we went to Silver Diner. I was with the Culbersons onthe way to the diner. We talked a lot and I think it was pretty cool. Hahaha.
I arrived home from Silver Diner at about 11 pm.

- Crooked
As I said, it's tech week and the show went up on thursday, friday, and saturday night. We went to Silver Diner after Friday's show and went to Lily's after the final show for Cast and Crew party. It was so much fun. Crooked is definitely one of the highlights of my year in the United States.
What's sad : My mom and Dad did not have a chance to come and see the play :(

- Conflicts
I kept roaring on twitter that life is not fair. At all. That's because I have a lot of opportunities to do interesting stuff BUT a lot of them are happening at the same FREAKING time.

Benagridazir (a school play in which I'm going to be "Queen Haggie") : May 19, 20, 21
Easterns (this year's Ultimate Frisbee biggest tournament) : May 21, 22
Volunteering Oportunity in Arlington Food Festival : May 22

Thats one of them.

Gah. I'm so tired. Write to you later.

Postingan Sebelum Spring Break

2011-04-16T10:08:00.000+07:00

Besok, Sabtu 16 April 2011, Spring Break libur musim semi untuk semua Public School di Arlington County, kota Arlington, Virginia.

Keluarga gue liburan ini nyewa Beach House di North Carolina. Emang sih ngga sekeren temen-temen gue yang pada ke Florida, California, San Fransisco, New York, dan sebagainya. Tapi tetep seneng kok bisa liburan sama keluarga.

2 minggu terakhir ini gue lagi sibuk sama 2 hal : "Crooked" dan Ultimate

"Crooked" ini salah satu school play (alias drama sekolah) di sekolah gue. Orang-orang terdekat gue di sini dari dulu udah sering menyarankan untuk involve di drama sekolah, karena theater department di sekolah gue emang keren banget. Tapi gue ngga ada waktu dan ngga ada keberanian untuk mulai (hahaha). Trus suatu hari gue baca flyer di sekolah tentang drama ini, dan di flyer itu ditulis (kira-kira bahasa Indonesianya begini nih) : "Barang siapa yang tertarik untuk bantuin Crooked, silakan hubungi Cassandra Kendall" karena waktu itu gue udah ada waktu karena musim basket udah selesai, jadi lah gue menghubungi si Cassandra, dan tau-tau gue udah jadi Assistant Stage Manager. Pastinya gue belajar banyak hal. Mulai dari etos kerja umum seperti disiplin, cekatan, dll, sampai hal-hal yang tentang play production yang gue ngga pernah tau sebelumnya (Bikin property list, peroperty, table, run list???!!!). Drama nya main tanggal 29-30 April dan 1 Mei. Doain sukses yaa :)

Kalo Ultimate ini olahraga baru yang gue tekuni sejak musim gugur yang lalu, selain basket tentunya, hehe. Bukannya gue ngga cinta sama pembaca blog gue, tapi emang ribet kalo nerangin Ultimate ini olah raga macam apa, jadi ke setiap orang yang nanya, gue selalu bilang, "Silakan di google."ULTIMATE FRISBEE"" dan Wikipedia emang menerangkan dengan sangat baik. Intinya olahraga ini lempar-lemparan disc "frisbee" main goal nya adalah disc sampe di ujung lain lapangan (agak mirip sama American Football). Yang bikin gue seneng....

Jadi ada 3 level tim:
Varsity (level tertinggi, paling jagoan, isinya Seniors, which is banyak temen-temen gue, dan beberapa juniors),
Junior Varsity (level kedua tertinggi, isinya sophomores dan juniors),
dan Newbie (Isinya para pendatang baru. Ngga tau apa-apa tentang ultimate, ngga bisa ngelempar. Isinya Freshmen dan sophomores).
Pertama datang, pastinya gue latihan sama newbie dong. Seru sih dan gue senang karena gue jadi superior banget di tim itu, karena rata-rata mereka lebih payah dari gue, baik teknik main maupun kemampuan fisik. Terus minggu lalu pelatihnya ngomong ke gue dan bilang dia pengen gue main untuk JV alias junior varsity. Hehehe. Jadi seneng kan. Lebih seneng lagi karena, dari newbie, yang pindah ke JV seengganya ada 3 orang, dan 2 orang yang lain itu, yang gue tau, mereka diajak ngomong sama pelatih kita, dan si pelatih bilang mereka cuma akan latihan sama JV dan mungkin ngga ikut turnamen..... Sedangkan gue, si pelatih nge-facebook gue suruh isi biodata untuk turnamen. :)

Capek deh gue jadi pamer-pamer gini.

Dan malam ini, sambil nunggu indomie rebus rasa soto mie gue agak mendingin, gue nulis blog pake bahasa Indonesia. Itu indomie rebus terakhir gue. Entah bisa dapet lagi atau engga. Mungkin gue kangen Jakarta. Atau mungkin gue ngga cukup percaya diri untuk nulis pake bahasa Inggris.

Ayah gue belum pulang kerja. Ibu gue pasti lagi nunggu dengan was-was di kamarnya sambil baca buku. Gue sayang banget sama mereka. Setiap kali lihat mereka lagi berdua, gue selalu pengen cepet-cepet nikah (ampun, mulai ngaco).

Okedeh. Teman-teman di Jakarta, selamat siang dan sampai jumpa.

Legally Blonde 2

2011-04-09T09:01:00.000+07:00

(After months without writing/reading in Indonesian, I, without any particular reason, wrote this post in Indonesian. I probably do miss Jakarta. Probably. Whatever.)

Kebiasaan gue nih, kalo abis nonton film selalu cari "memorable quotes" nya di IMDB, atau sepanjang nonton di catet sendiri, terus gue tweet, atau plurk, atau kaya gini nih, gue blog. Hehehe.

Korban kali ini Legally Blonde 2. Gue tertarik nonton film ini karena ini diomongin di kelas US Government gue a while ago, dan gue juga suka Legally Blonde yang pertama. Setelah nonton, gue berasa keren gitu karena hampir semua tempat-tempatnya udah beberapa kali gue sambangi (secara settingnya di Washington DC) dan ternyata ga selucu yang gue harapkan. Lebih parah lagi, setelah googling-googling, gue nemu blog orang yang masukin film ini di "The 25 Worst Movie Sequels Ever Made" yang dia tulis thaun 2009 (dan film ini keluar tahun 2003). Hadeeeh :)

So, here they are!

"It's like you don't realize how bad some things are until you live them"
"Yeah, like breastfeeding"
I literally laugh my head off pas bagian sini. Langsung keluar kamar dan nanya ke host mom, "Did you breastfeed the kids?" yang mengiyakan dan dengan tampang bingung ngeliatin gue yang cekikikan masuk kamar lagi lanjutin nonton.

"It will never work, Elle. You can't get people to care." Huh. Yes. This is true. At least for me.

"I don't think I've been this excited since Gucci became a publicly-traded company." HAHAHA

"You have the full support of the Sunshine State!"
"Yay for Ohio!" Hahaha. Ini juga part dimana gue ketawa abis-abisan. Hahahah.

"An honest voice is louder then a crowd's." At least there's one good, true thing, being said in this movie.

"I didn't know I could be this happy without incurring credit card debt!" Hahaha.

Okay! That's it! Thinking about watching another movie tonight. Or maybe blog about my week and my plans this weekend (one of which is going to see DAVID BECKHAM (!)). So stay tuned :) See ya!

5 Day Weekend

2011-04-07T21:25:00.000+07:00

What happened :

Thursday
So, I got only 2 classes that day. 8:20 block and a 1:30 pm College Essay Writing class, which is an elective class, and it was our very last meeting (because electives change every quarter and it was the last day of the quarter). And, ARCTIC MONKEYS's concert tickets start being sold at 10 am sharp. Also, it was the Washington Nationals opening day, which mean their very first game of the season. So, I decided to skip history class (with, of course, full support from my pretty mommy) get tickets, and go to school at 1:30 to go to that stinking 50 minutes long class.
Okay, so I waited for the tickets but I ended up did not get it because it sold out like 2 seconds after 10 (literally) ("Life is so unfair," I skyped my mom). My writing class finished after only 30 minutes of trash talk. I went to the library and miss the school bus. Life was (and is) hard.

Friday
Teachers' Work Day! It's the end of third quarter (so sad) and no school for students. However, my Calculus class held a AP Calculus Test Practice Day. So I went to school at ten, work on the practice test, until about noon, ate doughnuts and bagels, and went to the library for a little bit, and went home.
In the afternoon, I betrayed my family by watching "The Kids Are All Right" all by myself! ("Sorry, Mom, it's (the DVD) been there FOREVER and I've been wanting to watch it," the betrayer said.) It's a good movie.

Saturday
I went to Dee's in the morning. We're supposed to visit American University except I forgot to make reservation for the tour and stuff. So we ended up went to her house and work on our presentation about Indonesia at AFS Meeting on Thurdsay afternoon (this afternoon!!). We had a very nice lunch, ramen + eggs. Too bad they did not have Indomie. Later in the afternoon, Dee and I went to Botanical Garden (which was very nice, warm, and pretty. And has lots of things we see in our backyard in Indonesia) and to the Holocaust Museum (which was VERY crowded (Yes, locals are not supposed to visit museums on weekends) but very good museum. Although I feel that we have not explored enough because we were very tired. I arrived home late afternoon.

Sunday
Mom and Dad took us to the baseball game on Sunday. It was Nats vs Atlanta Braves. Yes, it was the vary same team that the Nats played when I came to the baseball game for the very first time last fall, except Adam Dunn is no longer here, and I do not know what has changed for the Braves. Anyway... Nats were suck! They lost 11-2 :( But as my mom said, we still love them :D
I watched "Revolutionary Road" on Sunday afternoon/evening. It was the first movie Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslet play together after Titanic. Review? Well, that was one of few movies that I forced myself to keep watching just to finish what I have started.

Monday
On Monday, I watched WASHINGTON CAPITALS practice in Ballston. It was very, very crowded. I cannot imagine how its going to be on the weekends. Got a lot of pictures of the players. It's cool because we were like super close to the players. I got some tshirts for my brother. And I will definitely come back to get my stuff signed by those players (some of them do go out and sign stuff after the practice).
After watching the practice, I supposed to have lunch at Ballston and go downtown to do a volunteer work for the Cherry Blossom Festival.... until Yannick called and told me about the SENIOR BBQ. So I skipped the volunteer work and went to Bluemont Park instead. It was fun. I talked to people. I ate a lot of junk food, which made my stomach upset later.

Wow, THAT'S a lot of writing! Appreciate everyone who reads it! (or just come by and put comments, or whatever)

See ya all!

The Kids Are All Right

2011-04-01T09:23:00.001+07:00

I just watched the Kids Are All Right this afternoon. I think it is nominated in a lot of different nominations in the 2011 Academy Awards (if not winning).

So yeah, i think it is a pretty good. movie. Kinda gross to think that you have 2 moms (1 of them is kinda manly.... and obviously gross). I, of course, jealous about the whole older guy figure (I WANT AN ADULT BEST FRIEND, seriously... I think I'm very, very comfortable with adults around. Anyway.... )But they done it so well.

Favorite lines (also, of course, I tweeted them) (chosen because when I heard them I screamed quitely (even sometimes loudly) "OMG THAT'S SO ME")

"I don't know... I just wish that you could've been............. Better."

Yep. This is right. I do not know what I want people do to me. I just want to feel better.

"If you want a family so much, you go out and make your own."

This is so me. I kinda wish I have a family like my host family. Not that I dont like my natural family. It's just... Regardless, I love both my natural family and host family.

Laser : "Are you serious about the crying?"
Jules : "I wish you were gay, you'd be much more sensitive."

Hahaha!

Life updates:

- 4 day weekend turned to 5 day weekend!

Yup, friday is teachers' work day, and monday is senior skip day, so four day weekend for me. Plus, I hardly have any classes today because half of school was going to Florida for a music trip. So I skipped HIstory class at 8:20 in the morning (with a full support from my mom) and went to my last college essay writing class which only last for 30 minutes.

- We talked about love at the first sight during dinner today

- I ate frosted flakes for the first time in a very long time

Okay, this is getting boring. See ya!

2011-03-31T03:10:00.002+07:00

1. I know nothing about it.
2. They don't want to hear anything from me
3. They don't give a shit about me
4. I am not going be here next year anyway
5. I am no one here

So chill, Nisa.

College Visit Episode 1 : Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.

2011-03-30T23:30:00.000+07:00

Good things :
1. 2 incredible things happened in the first 10 minutes of my visit in GU :
        1. I saw an INDONESIAN looking guy, talking in INDONESIAN in front of the campus library.
        2. I saw a young woman CLEANING HERSELF before praying (she was obviously a muslim)
I just had a very good feeling about this school since.

2. The campus is very pretty.

3. I, finally, ACTUALLY do this college visit thing.

4. I talked to a guy about international application and that pretty much ENCOURAGED me to ACTUALLY apply to GU next year.

5. I walked from GU to Rosslyn Metro Station. Very, very nice view from the key bridge.

6. I ended up not doing frisbee (Yay! It was too cold outside!) and went to the library.

Bad things:
1. I was so tired.

2. I was sad for some part of the visit. 2 substantial reasons :
- I felt lonely. Everyone but me was with either their mom or their dad or both. I was all alone. And I   realized that I really am all alone. I dont have my family with me in the U.S.
- I'm not gonna be able to pay for this school = My chance to go to this school is very,very small.

More good stuff afterwards:
1. Mom picked me up at the library.
2. I talked to Mom about my sadness. And she made me feel better. And she was glad I told her about my feelings.
3. Mom hugged me.
4. I found a note on my suitcase that I took out from the closet saying, "Put me away! I like my closet!"

And I obviously can not list ALL the good things. There TOO MANY of it. God is so good.

See ya.

ps. episode 2 : American University, Washington, D.C. supposed to be this SATURDAY. (4/4/11) stay tuned!

Pendaftaran Program Pertukaran Pelajar AFS/YES/Jenesys 2012-2013

2011-03-30T17:55:00.000+07:00

Kamu mau mendengar dunia dan didengar oleh dunia? Kalau kamu mau dan berani, ini untuk kamu.

14 Maret-17 April 2011 Bina Antarbudaya Chapter Jakarta membuka pendaftaran seleksi program pertukaran pelajar untuk tinggal selama 11 bulan di Amerika Serikat, Belgia, Belanda, Italia, Jepang, Jerman, Norwegia, Prancis, Swiss bagi siswa kelas 1 SMA/sederajat. Pendaftaran dibuka bagi kamu yang:

Warga Negara Indonesia
Sehat Jasmani dan Rohani
Siswa kelas 1 SMA / Sederajat (saat pendaftaran pada bulan April 2011 )
Aktif berkegiatan.
Mengikuti dan lulus proses seleksi bertahap yang diadakan oleh Bina Antarbudaya.
Mendapat izin dari orangtua dan sekolah

Tahun ini, formulir pendaftaran hanya tersedia secara online mulai tanggal 14 Maret - 17 April. Berikut adalah langkah-langkah untuk mendaftar sebagai proses seleksi:

Kunjungi www.babjakarta.org untuk mengunduh / download:

Formulir Pendaftaran
Surat keterangan akselerasi (hanya untuk siswa akselerasi SMA)
Panduan Pengisian Formulir
Video Panduan Pengisian Formulir

Isilah formulir pendaftaran dengan mengacu kepada Dokumen dan Video Panduan Pengisian Formulir. Kamu juga bisa melihat contoh formulir yang telah diisi.
Lengkapi formulir pendaftaran serta siapkan kelengkapan dokumen yang dibutuhkan.
Serahkan 2 (dua) rangkap formulir yang telah diisi dan ditandatangani ke Sekretariat Chapter Jakarta. Tanda tangan yang tercantum harus asli (tidak boleh fotocopy) dan diserahkan dalam dua buah map biru Diamond.
Sebelum mengembalikan formulir, pastikan kamu telah memenuhi checklist yang terdapat di halaman terakhir formulir pendaftaran. Periksa kembali formulir dan dokumen yang dibutuhkan. Jumlah dokumen yang diperlukan hanya seperti yang tercantum, tidak perlu dirangkap dua.
Mohon pastikan agar hasil cetakan/ print-out terbaca dengan jelas. Tulisan tangan harus rapi dan bisa dibaca.Formulir dikembalikan oleh siswa yang bersangkutantidak boleh diwakilkan) dengan membayar biaya pendaftaran Rp. 40.000,- di Jl. Limau No.22, Gandaria, Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan 12130, pada: (

Sabtu dan Minggu tanggal 19, 20, 26, 27 Maret, 2, 3, 9, 10, 16 dan 17 April
Pk. 10.00 - 16.00 (Pengembalian juga dibuka di SMAN 2 Tangerang Selatan, pada hari-hari yang akan diinformasikan selanjutnya)

Kamu baru resmi terdaftar sebagai peserta seleksi pendaftaran jika kamu sudah mengembalikan formulir dan mendapat Kartu Tanda Peserta Seleksi. Jadi jangan lupa mengembalikan formulirnya ya .
Hari terakhir pengembalian formulir adalah tanggal 17 April.

Kalau di sekolah kamu ada kakak-kakak returnee program AFS/YES/ Jenesys, kamu bisa menanyakan langsung perihal program ini kepada mereka. Namun jika sekolah kamu ingin didatangi untuk mendapatkan presentasi mengenai kegiatan program/ pendaftaran seleksi ini, kamu bisa meninggalkan komentar di situs ini atau menghubungi Kak Wendy di 081310107638.

Jika kamu bingung, kamu bisa bertanya ke Kak Abimantrana (08159659532), Kak Wendy (081310107638), dan Kak Ayumi (08159356663). Jangan SMS ya, menelepon saja agar penjelasannya bisa lebih menyeluruh. Mohon juga untuk menelepon pada jam kerja, ya. Kak Wendy dan Kak Abi telah bersedia menyediakan waktu mereka di sela kegiatan perkuliahan dan pekerjaan mereka antara Pk. 09.00 - 19.00 (9 pagi - 7 malam)

Weekend Madness

2011-03-28T11:16:00.001+07:00

What's true :

I have NOTHING left on my MARCH MADNESS brackets. Dammit. The good thing is, VCU is going to the final four. VCU is from Virginia, so I'm gonna cheer for it! wahoo!

Spring break is in 20 days!

I have a load of work to do, Dammit.

I am currently reading "Play Their Hearts Out" by George Dohrmann. It's about grass roots basketball business. Next on the reading list : The Brain Book.

I still can not get "See the World" out of my head.

I had a very busy weekend:

1. Friday : School's highlight: Got 3 tests in a day! Doing pretty okay on Gov't test and Physics test... And I do not know what's gonna happen to my Spanish vocab quiz. I got frisbee practice after school. It was FREEZING cold. So I left 30 mins early. I went to Ballston to take care of my 'dead' phone, which turned out to be only needed to be refilled. I ate a huge bag of chips for dinner. I read my book. I went back to school to go to "Boy Gets Girl" a play. It was AMAZING. My dad picked me up afterwards... I was extremely tired.

Saturday :

Mom came to my room in the morning, asked how was my day and stuff (which made me very happy) and after lots of planning and re-planning, instead of volunteering for the CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL (which resceduled to the next day) and going to LASER TAG with my basketball team, Mbak Vici of VOA and I ended up going to BALAWAN's Concert at Jammin Java in Vienna. He was AWESOME.

I also happened to meet PAK DINO PATTI DJALAL the Ambassador and his family.

Except of being a TRUE Indonesian event (delays for an hour, the famous important people came very late... etc.) the event was very, very cool. I felt like I was at Rumah, surrounded by these Indonesians. Afterwards, again, after planning and re-planning, instead of going to eat TOFU, we went to the movies, watching LIMITLESS and get a very famous CREPE at CHINATOWN. I would say it's a good movie. The crepe was pretty good too.

I took metro and bus and walk home... Was very tired.

Sunday

Did not get enough of those two tiring days, I went downtown today to VOLUNTEER for THE CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL. I happened to work with 3 girls from McLean High School. We pick up trash and recycling and stuff.... Cherry on top : I skyped with a person I always wanted to skype with.

Fiuh. I gotta go to bed. See ya soon!

Shy

2011-03-26T22:27:00.001+07:00

My mom said something true this morning

Adri : "Nisa, you don't want more dresses?"

Nisa : "No."

Mom : "Yes, she does!! She just shy!"

Well, *that's* partly true.

Have a great weekend, Monsters.

Accomplishments, weatherwise

2011-03-23T09:53:00.001+07:00

Accomplishment #1:

I walked to the library wearing nothing but a t-shirt on top.

Accomplishment #2:

I have been applying lotion to my hand regularly in past week.

Hoho.

Now let me tell you what happened:

1. GANA ADI IS GOING TO DC! Yes, my partner Gana Adi Samertya is going to visit Washington DC and STAY IN MY HOUSE! Kaboom.... It's going to happen in June. So, just wait and see :)

2. Some words from Dave Soles that he said during ultimate practice today that makes me happy:

- "DID YOU SEE NISA'S AWESOME DEFENSE?"

- ".... because she's a trained basketball player!"

- "She is tall, big, SHE IS A VARSITY BASKETBALL PLAYER!"

Oh well. Okay Dave.

3. The card I sent to my mom and dad and basically the whole family arrived today. I guess dad has not read it.

4. I talked to Dad right after he got home on Monday, which is kinda unusual. It happened because Mom was not at home and I called him when I heard he entered the door. He aware that I was doing SAT and he said I can just put the black computer in my room if I want to.

5. Going to make my popnotes video for VOA tomorrow...Wish me luck! :)

I think that's all I know....

Anyway, I feel really bad to turn this blog into a shitty emotional journal like this. I'll try to figure out the best way to deal with it. Love ya all :)

See The World

2011-03-22T18:04:00.000+07:00

Day to day
Where do you want to be?
cos now you're trying to pick a fight
With everyone you need

You seem like a soldier
Who's lost his composure
You're wounded and playing a waiting game
In no-man's land no-one's to blame

See the world
Find an old fashioned girl
And when all's been said and done
It's the things that are given, not won
Are the things that you want

Empty handed, surrounded by a senseless scene
With nothing of significance
Besides a shadow of a dream
You sound like an old joke

You're worn-out, a bit broke
An' askin me time and time again
When the answer's still the same

See the world
Find an old fashioned girl
And when all's been said and done
It's the things that are given, not won
Are the things that you want

You've got a chance to put things right
So how's it going to be?
Lay down your arms now
And put us beyond doubt
So reach out it's not too far away
Don't mess around now, don't delay

See the world
Find an old fashioned girl
And when all's been said and done
It's the things that are given, not won
Are the things that you want

The things that you want
Are given not won
The things that you want
Are given not won

See The World

by Gomez

This song has stuck in my head for the last few days.....

Speak English

2011-03-22T05:20:00.001+07:00

At some point of my life, I have to admit, I had talked to myself. Not only in front of the mirror, but also while playing basketball, while walking. I just wanted to bable. What's interesting is, I used to do it, well, at least some of it, in English. I just wanted to bable in English because despite of English courses I'd taken for years even at that point, I barely had a chance to speak English.

So my point is, it's really nice to be able to actually speak English now, after that years of expensive English courses.

Monday morning

2011-03-21T18:03:00.000+07:00

I CAN NOT BELIEVE IT'S MONDAY. Morning. Again.

COULD EVERYDAY BE FRIDAY, PLEASE?

O well. I did a lot of things this weekend, so... Let's see....

1. I went to a WIZARDS GAME yesterday. Yup. I know they're sucks, I know the last time I went it was NO FUN AT ALL. But I did because this time we have AFS Students from Baltimore joining us. So it was, me, Dee, Icha, Handy, Luisa from Germany, Mike from Turkmenistan, A boy from Thailand, and Samira from Ghana.

Anyway..

The Wizards UNBELIEVABLY won the game! And because they were winning for the most of the second half, everyone was cheering, and guess what, IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!! Also, Handy, Dee, and I were CHANGING OUR SEAT. So we bought tickets for the TOP MOST seats, which from there we unexpectedly ABLE to see the game (I'm being serious), and on the second half we moved to the lower seats. It was not until 10 minutes letter, an evil-looking woman came and get us. Hahahaha.

And I started having a crush with YI JIANLIAN, the Chinese player. I think it's the same thing as I have a crush on YAO MING, which is the ONLY chinese in Houston Rockets, and PARK JI SUNG, who is the only KOREAN in Manchester United.

And,

We want to a Chinese restaurant afterwards. I got a kungpao chicken. It was over priced for 10 bucks, but it was okay.

2. And then after the meal, we separated because the Baltimore kids wanted to go to the Mall. Dee and I went to ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL. And watched a movie titled, "CLIMATE OF CHANGE" it was interesting. Mr.Macgregor was there too. And then they took me home all the way to Arlington, which was very nice of them.

3. On Saturday, Yannick and I went to Miriam's place! We cooked and ate Miriam's birthday chocolate cake. It was AMAZING!

4. Oh. And we cooked for the next big thing afterwards, AFS HOST FAMILY APPRECIATION DINNER! So each student has to cook a dish, preferably a dish from their country. I happened to make PANCONG which was a very easy coconut cake. Yannick made Bratwurst, which smelled REALLY GOOD but cannot be eaten by me because they're PORK. Gaah.

5. And them the dinner itself was so much fun. Dad wore the BATIK I gave him for Christmas. Zoe and Adrienne came too. And of course Mom too. Highlight : I PLAYED STAR SPANGLED BANNER ON GUITAR ON THE TALENT SHOW. Hahahaha. I cannot even believe by now. I'm glad it turned out fine. Everyone was standing up, singing very, very weakly. I missed a fatal note and a not-very fatal note. "IT WAS JUST A STINKIN' NOTE!" my mom said. I got out of stage and Chana hugged me and said it was very touching and thanked me for doing that. Dad hugged me and said it was great. He said it took him 30 seconds to realize that it was the national anthem and he has to stand up because I practice this song all the time at home. And HE KISSED MY FOREHEAD for the VERY FIRST TIME! :) and mom hugged me too. Miriam too. It was just a good night.

Note : So I LIED to my mom a day before this. I told her that Miriam's boyfriend MAURICIO is an awesome guitar player and he's going to teach me some stuff when I came over her house, so I need to bring the guitar.... But OF COURSE HE DID NOT. I said that to cover my performance. Hahaha.

6. I was at home on Friday. I slept all afternoon and missed the Jamestown Elementary School play, in which ADRIENNE being a stage crew. "I thought you're gonna be grumpy if I woke you up," my mom said. And I skipped frisbee practice too, despite of a VERY GOOD DAY. It was on the seventies, very warm and not windy. Sun shined beautifully. So, yeah, it was all because I slept for only FOUR HOURS the night before.

So yeah... That's probably it. I gotta run. It's 7:09 -- need to get ready to go to school. Ciao! :)

Dog Poop Scooping

2011-03-18T10:51:00.000+07:00

Hello!

Time for late night writing! Hahaha! Let's see what I've got here...

- It's ST. PATRICK'S DAY! everyone at HB wear some weird GREEN thing today. A couple of kids walking around HB playing this irish musical instrument. Very interesting.

- "Crooked" casts and crews meeting was postponed to tomorrow

- there was BAKE SALE! Yeah! It's been a while since the last time there was a bake sale at HB (by a while, I mean like a couple of weeks). I got myself a couple of chocolate peanut buttery thing (which the seller said something about OHIO or IOWA about that thing. I should probably google it.) and a mini cupcake.

- I went to TOWN MEETING -- It's been also a while since the last time I did so. Nothing's really substantial been talked about -- mostly discussion about green-ing HB's front yard. Highlight : It's BEN BRENNAN's BIRTHDAY! he is regularly being in charge for Town Meeting and someone brought DONUTS for everyone during Town Meeting. So it was not even 10 in the morning, and I have consumed A LOT of SUGAR. Good that I got plain corn flakes for breakfast.

- None of my classes are very interesting today. I read quite a lot in history class, which is good. We did some exercises in Physics -- was okay. Mark is always a wonderful teacher. I polished my essay for College Essay writing class during free blocks. And also talked to Yannick about a lot of stuff (Including host family appreciation dinner!). And also read my reading assignment for government. My college essay writing class was painful, as usual, despite we spent a lot of time talking about other things instead of writing. We did a reading quiz in Gov't, which I sorta able to do, which is good.

- TODAY'S WEATHER WAS VERY AWESOME! It's warm, crispy, sunny, very very nice... I took sports bus and to Yorktown and walked home. Took me about 15 minutes but it was a very nice walk.

- Another thing I have not done for a while (due to lack of availability) is WALKING THE DOGS! Yup. I did Bear and Venus today. About 10 minutes walk each. The weather is so nice that I did not want to get inside! A bit terrified by yesterday's Bear running away from Zoe while walking, I am thanking God that everything worked well this afternoon. Venus actually did something NASTY to me. So I walked out the door without any PLASTIC BAG for poop (okay, so this is not COMPLETELY her fault :p) but I had these PLASTIC GLOVES with me, so I thought I'm gonna be okay. And I did. She pooped, and I managed to make the gloves being a bag. Until a few meters after that, SHE POOPED AGAIN. I was literally swear, "S**T!! Oh S**t.... Oh Venus... You're such a s**tty dog...." (Okay, from my knowledge, the S word has a similar meaning as poop (please do correct me if im wrong) so since she pooped so much, that S word wouldn't be very wrong. Anyway.....) And so what I did was SCOOPING her second poop, which is kinda soft and warm (Euh. For the record, she just got bad diarrhea last week. Uh.) using WOOD I found on the sidewalk to the plastic glove/bag. I am such a failure. I told the whole story to mom and she said, "Well, I would always go back if I forgot plastic bag." That's the moral of the story guys.

- Oh. I almost forgot about this. I skype my family in Jakarta this morning. They sounded great, except my sister got cold. We talked about a lot of things, which made me feel very scared. I do not want to go home. I am not ready. I am not good enough. I am very, very scared to go home.

- Which leads me to at least 30 minutes of crying session after school in my room, despite all the good things Ive mentioned before. I am really scared. This really is a time I need nothing but a hug and someone who told me that whatever happened to me, whether I can get into college or not, they will always love me. But of course I did not get one. First of all, I am not sure there's anyone like that. Second of all, I didn't ask for it. Very simple. I didn't ask, I didn't get it. No rocket science.

- I really want to spend more time with my mom and dad. But of course I could not, they got 5 kids and do not need a whiny 18 year old weirdo.

Oh. Sounds like an awful end, huh? Well, a few more good things.

- March Madness is getting REALLY maddening! (I totally make that last word up) I talked a lot to even Luke and Colin about March Madness. People at school talk about it too. We filled in brackets and put it on Kelli's wall. I will soon try to put my brackets up here.

- I could possibly play basketball again! *finger crossed* I could probably play for a house team, which only play on friday nights.

- Zoe and I skyped a lot this afternoon, eventhough we were only a few feet apart. We talked about a lot of stuff and made up a new lango : WTV, which is WHAT THE VENUS! Hahaha!

Okay! That's it! It's 3 minutes before mid night and I REALLY need to go to bed.

Bye!

Whining letters

2011-03-17T16:29:00.001+07:00

I am now in college essay writing class and it is boring like hell. I can not write and I do not want to write and it is still five minutes before the class ends. I WANNA GET OUTTTA HERE. But, really, mostly, I really like this class because I would say writing is my least skilled English skill.

And I have not pray and I do not know where I can pray and it’s killing me!

And there’s something smells REALLY good. I do not know what but it’s DISTRACTING me.

And I do not know what’s gonna happen to tonight’s Miriam’s birthday dinner since she has not send me ANY details about it.

And I WANT INDOMIE REBUS PAKE TELOR!

And I don’t wanna go home.

And I love my mom.

Stephanie, can you please let us out?

Oh, yes, she lets us out. Thank Lord.

Bye!

The Pentagon, Arctic Monkeys, and everything in between

2011-03-17T10:57:00.001+07:00

Hello!

It's been such a long, tiring, GREAT day for me.

Lets see what I've done...

1. A couple minutes ago, I found out that ARCTIC MONKEY is going to have a concert in DC!!!!! Oh my God. It's such a great trade with Good Charlotte, Yellowcard, All Time Low, and Adele that I cannot come to any of them because I DID NOT GET THE TICKET. Arctic Monkeys's will be sold starting on March 31st. So I'm good. (I hope....)

2. I went to the Capitol, watching Dad TESTIFYING. Despite its boringness (which was caused by, mostly, I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT, and I texted my Mom like ALL THE TIME), It was INCREDIBLY COOL. Dad testified, and answered questions from some mean representatives, and introduced me to some guys in military uniform. And we took pictures. And people with awesome cameras took our picture. It was just VERY AWESOME. My Dad is, no doubt, the COOLEST DAD in the WHOLE WORLD.

3. After at least a couple hours at the Capitol, Dad and I and his guys drove back to the PENTAGON, where he FINALLY gave me a TOUR that he's been promising me for EVER. There are some pretty cool stuff in the Pentagon besides its pentagon shape : cool paintings, cool displays of branches of Department of Defense, etc. Dad showed me his office, which has A LOT OF MONITORS and a cool bathroom. He introduced me to his guys and ladies in his office. He also introduced me to the NUMBER THREE PERSON IN THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE : MICHELE FLUORNOY : UNITED STATES UNDER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR POLICY. Too bad we did not took pictures. Anyway.... it was just SO COOL. Again guys, my dad is just so awesome. HE IS SO COOL! (Gosh, he'd be really, really happy if he ever read this (apparently, he does not))

4. And then Dad dropped me off at CRYSTAL CITY, where MIRIAM and his unattractive boyfriend Mauricio picked me up. We were going to Miriam's friend's house for MIRIAM'S BIRTHDAY DINNER. It was fun. I talked a lot to people. Miriam's friends are very interesting and very nice. One of them even got a lyme disease, which made me pretty sad. And also, about her boy friend, I really do think that he is unattractive. He might be smart or whatever (At least he looked he is. In fact, Miriam said that he is an architect!). He is also very nice. But still, unattractive. Anyway....

5. I think about A LOT OF THINGS on math class this morning. We looked over our test that we took yesterday, and I realized that I made a lot of mistakes, despite the fact that Kris joked after the test that she would use my test as an ANSWER KEY (see my older post).... and then I felt like I PROBABLY don't REALLY understand math. I probably just MECHANICALLY do what my teacher told me. I even considered to not taking Mathematics major in college. And then when I walked out the class, Kris stopped me and said, "You did a really nice job on your test." Me : "Really? I think I made a lot of mistakes." Kris : "You did make some mistakes. But you did a nice job. want to encourage you. I'm satisfied." It was around 10:20 in the morning and I know it's too early to make my day, but it did.

6. Spanish class has been so BORING and PAINFUL in the last couple of weeks. I haven't done ANY of the homework and it's just very painful.

7. And so does COLLEGE ESSAY WRITING CLASS. It's been very painful to me. I just CAN'T WRITE. Uh, God....

8. Cherry on top : Dad, for the very first time, called me "SWEETHEART" this afternoon. A term which I found he only uses to my younger sister Adrienne, and then to my older sister Allison when she got back from college, and then to Zoe after Allison's short stay at home -- but not me until this afternoon. He said, "See you later, SWEETHEART." He'd never know how HAPPY I was (Well, unless he's reading this post, of course)

Fuh. It's so great. Well, tomorrow's game plan:

1. Come to "Crooked" (a play at my school) crew first meeting

2. Skype my sister tomorrow morning

3. TRY TO GET ARCTIC MONKEYS TICKETS

4. Finishing the first draft of a couple of my essays for my college essay writing class (this is very sh*tty)

5. Swimming!

And that's pretty much it.

Uh.. I probably need to go to bed, although I'm not sure I'm going to be able to or not (STILL VERY EXCITED ABOUT ARCTIC MONKEYS!) So yeah, God is unbelievably REALLY GOOD to me. Thank You, God.

A Journal, really

2011-03-16T10:47:00.000+07:00

Bah. It's 11:27 PM right now. Another late night post.

What's up:

1. Miriam called! Thank God! After almost a month without hearing anything from her I was so glad she called me this evening -- a few hours after I told my mom that I was worried something's bad happened to her. Thank God she's fine and was just practically busy. In fact, tomorrow is her birthday and she wants me to come to her birthday dinner. Very nice. Now I am thinking what I should bring her.

2. Zoe and I, for some unknown reasons tried on A LOT of dresses. Zoe's conclusion : I need a new bra. Uhkay, Zo.

3. You would not even believe this: THERE IS AN INDONESIAN HILT STUDENT IN H-B! *pant pant* So HILT is High Intensity Language Training and H-B does have a number of HILT Students, whose classes and lives in general are very different from regular H-B Students. Most of them are immigrants and can not speak English. So, yeah, anyway. I accidentally found him in the computer lab when I was doing my work and he was looking for Indonesian flags image at Google. This 19 year old Indonesian is named Joko. He is from Semarang. We talked a lot about a lot of things, mostly in Indonesian, since he can barely speak and understand English. I still do not understand why no one happened to connect us earlier.

4. First outdoor frisbee practice! It was NASTY. Very cold, I can not feel my hand most of the time.

5. Dad will be testifying at the Capitol Hill tomorrow and I am going to watch him and gave him emotional support. This should be very, very, awesome. By the way, I will be skipping GOVERNMENT class to go to this thing. My mom said, "How could Casey (my gov't teacher) said no?" Oh true, Mom.

6. I am just finishing my cover letter + resume + writing sample for Internship in VOA. Uh. *Finger crossed*

7. Big calculus test this morning went pretty well, unexpectedly. Kris even joked that she would use my test for the answer key. -__-

8. March Madness is officially started and one of my predictions is correct! Wahoo! I got very very excited about this tournament. Now I can see why people get so attached to this tournament : people bet at offices, the post had a huge section for this, etc., mostly because of this prediction. Yup. Since you predicted, for whatever reason, you have a side to pick in every single game. That's why you'll get very excited. Oh well. At least it is for me. This brackets-fill-in thing is definitely going to be one of a few things that I am planning to do for the rest of my life.

I am kinda tired. I have a long day tomorrow. And I still have an essay to polish, which I think I will do tomorrow.

Hasta luego!

Lack of sleep nights

2011-03-15T11:59:00.000+07:00

It is 12:06 right now and I am not willing to get off the couch and go to bed in the near future.

I have not got any good sleep in the last couple of days but 3-4 hours every night.

It was all started last Friday, when 2 visiting Indonesian YES Students from Alaska and Texas, Ella and Risni, Mr. Macgregor, Dee, and I had a major Washington D.C. sightseeing for literally nine hours. I swear we walked at least 5 kilometers that day.

Like it was not tiring enough, the next day we went to a prom dress give away in Reston, Virginia (which was, unexpectedly, very amusing. It was not crowded at all and all the volunteers were very nice and helpful.) and to Great Falls.

Consequently, I spent all Satruday afternoon SLEEPING and WIDE AWAKE THE WHOLE NIGHT.

I can not really sleep until like 5.

Additionally, It was the very same time as the Day Light Saving ends, which means, It was not really 5, it's actually 4.

So, yeah. I chose a really bad day to stay up all night.

More cool things happened last week:

- I finally went to CostCo! Wahoo! After weeks of waiting, Mom finally took me to Costco, and yes, I would have to admit, it was HELL. Now I can see why Mom does not want to go there even once a month, despite its bargain prices.

- I threw frisbee with Dad and Zoe on nice Sunday afternoon... It was the first time we played frisbee since Bethany Beach. It was a really, really nice, warm afternoon.

- A bit out dated, but still fun to share, of course. I went to VOA Headquarters with a few other AFS Students last Monday. We did interviews with language services from our own countries. Dee and I were interviewed for a radio program by the Indonesian Service. Mine was aired last Friday by Prambors Radio Jakarta. They sent me a copy of it. It was HORRIBLE. But, still, it's very cool to be on the radio. Soon, we also supposed to have our profile featured on VOA's TV Program for a short 2 minutes. The other cool thing is I met VENA ANISA!!!! She used to be a radio host whose morning program my siblings and I used to listen to every single morning. Finally, that visit to VOA Indonesian Service office was a lot of fun. It was like being in my native land for a couple hours.

Oh well. That's probably it. I have a Calculus test tomorrow and a Spanish vocab quiz, and neither of them I've been studying for so very hard. Also, I got an Essay due Wednesday for my College Essay writing class. And, I am supposed to read a whole bunch of stuff for my history class which supposed to start in approximately 7 hours and 40 minutes.

Uh. I really need to go to bed.

A few last thing:

- I read A LOT of Sports Illustrated articles this evening, I did not know they are VERY interesting in a lot of way. It's probably because the last time I tried to read SI articles was like 6 months ago when I understand NONE of them and judged that they are NASTY readings, which in fact, of course, they are not. Results : I subscribed to SI in my Google Reader.

- I REALLY DO MISS BASKETBALL SEASON! Uh, I really hope they still open the registration for the Friday Night Basketball thing and they have girls team *finger crossed*

- My liaison Miriam can not be reached in ANY way I could ever think of. I know she's busy -- she works at the Pentagon. I hope she's okay, and will be able to help me to cook for the AFS Host Family Appreciation Potluck Dinner on Saturday.

- I need suggestion for filling in my NCAA Tournament brackets. So my family does it every year as a tradition. Everyone fills in and the one who got the best guess got a prize from our parents (We happened to have all this conversation about Muslims do not bet). I have asked some of Indonesia's major basketball enthusiasts : @mainbasket , @pandji , @MarioWuysang , and @Kelly_Purwanto but none of them has responded, yet. Well, I hope they respond soon, otherwise I will fill my brackets based on random prediction I found on the internet, since the brackets has to be finished by tomorrow evening.

Okay, I really need to go to bed. It's been a very long, boring post and my head starts hurting and my eyes starts showing their desire to shut for at least a good few hours. And, I have Ultimate Frisbee practice tomorrow, which tomorrow will be held outdoor for the first time since fall.

I promise this is REALLY going to be the very last thing. This is one of my favorite quotes I read this evening (which is also my most recent facebook status):

Dear Icebergs, Sorry to hear about global warming. Karma is a bitch. Sincerely, Titanic.
(retweeted by @str8edgeracer)

Hahahah! Ciao! (finished at 12:56 am)

Love and Affection

2011-03-14T08:57:00.001+07:00

Last weekend my mom and I had a conversation, in which I could not help to be teary.

At one point she asked, "What do you need?"

I should've answered, "A hug. Every time I am about to go to bed. Every time I wake up in the morning. Every time I go home after a harsh day. Every time I need one. Like right now."

I should have. But I did not. I did not have the guts to.

I could've emailed her right now. Telling her every thing I wrote here. I probably should. But I will not. I still do not the guts to.

Oh well. I am such a coward.

To be perfectly honest.....

2011-03-05T22:21:00.000+07:00

I was so sad.

When Dee, Dee's Dad, and I were ice skating at the National Mall last weekend, I was so very sad. Her dad held her hand while they're ice skating, making sure she wouldn't fall. Teach her how to skate, and stuff.

While I was on my own, tried to figured out how to skate. Wondered if there would be anyone who's gonna teach me how to here in the U.S.

Oh well. No one's gonna do that to me in Indonesia anyway.

I dont love you anymore

2011-03-04T10:50:00.002+07:00

So last night, Zoe came to our parents' room after finding out Adrienne, who was sleeping over her friend's house, was not on her bed....

This is what happen tonight

Mom : "Zoe, Adrienne is at Emily's"
Nisa : "Hahaha"
Zoe : "I dont know why do you think it's funny"
Nisa : "Ooops. Sorry. I mean, I know you were worried about her last night."
Zoe : "No! I'm not worried about her! I just...."
Nisa : "What??! You're not worried about her??"
Mom : "That's not nice! I don't love you anymore!"

(okay, u might think this is not funny. i dont care. :P)

Some random stuff

2011-03-01T18:47:00.000+07:00

Okay. So it makes me feel really bad to not posted anything on my blog since like a month ago. And since it's a new month (!) I hope this is also a new start and I will have the willingness to write on my blog again.

Okay, so here are some notable stuff I got in the last couple of weeks which I managed to remember and put here......

Friend : (coming after my locker) "Nisa, who are you talking about on twitter?"
Nisa : "Uh?"
Friend : "You can't make them proud. Your parents?"
Nisa : "Uh.. Yeah."
Friend : "Which parents? Your parents here or your parents in Indonesia?"
Nisa : "Uh... It's kinda both, actually."
Friend : "Why? Because you get low A on math test?" (smirking, and went away)

"Don't worry. Nisa will have a chance to go on vacation with us during a few years of college."
-Dad (when we were talkingabout summer vacation they will go in August)

"Let me tell you this, if you meet a loner, no matter what they tell you, it's not because they enjoy solitude. It's because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappointed them."
- Jodi Picoult
(This is actually become one of my favorite quotes of all time!)

Alrighty! Hope you guys are well! Ciao!

Senior Night

2011-02-05T11:31:00.000+07:00

My basketball team had this senior night thing last night. It is basically a game which is followed by honors to seniors who are in the team. And I'm one of that lucky seniors. Woohoo.

So, I would say that night was one of the happiest nights of my life.

Not that I played super awesome -- I was suck, actually. I played like sh*t. I traveled once, I played really bad defense. I did score though, once. But, still.

Anyway.

The fact that My family was there (Mom, who's just got back from the hospital, after almost 48 hours without eating anything but pills; Dad, who's always busy; Zoe, who usually can not stand crowds; and Adrienne. Kinda disappointing that Luke wasn't there. Mom did ask him to come, though. But he said he has not much time (!!!).), my aunt and unk, Ruth and David, were there, and Miriam was there, brought me flowers, made me unbelievably happy. I tried to not making eye contact to any of them during the game. I was afraid I would smile all the time and lost my focus because I was really happy.

What make me even more happier is that Casey Robinson, which is my Government teacher, and Dave Soles, which is a chemistry teacher, which I don't take the class, whom I know from a few weeks of ultimate frisbee practice and a fall hiking trip, came to the game too! My mom said Dave shouted as loud as he could, "PUT USMAN IN! PUT USMAN IN!!" and Casey said to Mom that I did an incredibly great job on Government, which I do not believe entirely, despite the fact that I can not help to believe it, since it was very delightful. (I know my English is suck. Sorry, folks!)

Anyway. That's what make me happy.

Well, I was sad, to be honest, in some part of the game. Unlike my other senior friends, I don't have bunch of high school students shouting my name, bringing signs with my name on it. But then I thought, Hey, what am I talking about? I got everyone who loves me here. I think I just need to be more thankful of what I have, instead of regretting what I dont have.

Also, I got lots of interesting things from the gift bag and the gift basket. A framed photograph of the team, a commemorative mini basketball with my name and my number on it, a cool senior t-shirt, starbucks gift card, and some things that would remind me of the team : McDonalds gift card, because we go to mcdonalds ALL THE TIME! ; Prudent Gum, which is the kind of gum that is always in our yellow boxes; and some other candies. And, they made cupcakes with our names and numbers on it! Hahaha.

Oh well. That was a great night. I hope tomorrow's going to be great too, despite that skiing was canceled because of weather and probably going to go bowling with the team, but still not sure. Either way, I need to sleep.

And, hoping for one last thing, I really wish I ALWAYS have enough time to write. Duh.

Anyway.

Bye folks!

Things I want to do in the U.S.

2011-02-03T10:58:00.002+07:00

- go to a Wizards game
- go to a Mystics game
- go to a Capitals game
- go to a DC United game
- go to another Nationals game
- be on a school play
- go to a Yorktown ice hockey game
- go to any college basketball game
- go to a Maryland women basketball game
- go to the Air and Space museum, the one in Dulles
- go to a concert (Arctic Monkeys/Maroon 5/John Mayer is preferable)
- get a Arlington Public Library card
- go to Indonesian Embassy
- watch the Capitals practice
- go to one of DC's clubs
- go IN to the White House
- go IN to the Pentagon
- go to the Bluff concert again
- write a letter to President Obama
- meet Mr. Dino Patti Djalal
- ice skate in the National Mall
- go to Spy Museum
- go to Madame Tussauds
- go to New York City again
- go to a concert in 9:30
- read Hardball
- go to the Aquarium
- go to the Holocaust Museum
- get the Capitals apparel
- get DC United apparel
- get Adam Dunn's White Sox t-shirt
- stop being a pain in the family
- be able to remember all states and where they are on the map
- do internship in the 4th quarter
- do volunteer work in the library
- get all A's in the third quarter
- get all A's in the 4th quarter
- get 2100 on the SAT
- get an awesome TOEFL score

In theory, I still have 5 months to accomplish all of them. This list can be expanding, and I'll mark the ones that I've done. Credits go to my sister Zoe who came up with this idea last night.

Snow Days

2011-01-29T13:30:00.000+07:00

So Arlington has been white and snowy in the last few days.

Good things:
- No school for 2 days!
- generator (you'll find out why in a moment)
- I did more SAT things
- I helped my mom doing some houseworks
- government presentation about department of transportation postponed
- physics test postponed
- history essay and test postponed
- walking and running with the dogs on the snow is SUPER fun
- shoveling snow is a good exercise
- sliding on snow is fun
- woods in front of my house is so pretty
- I managed to play poker with my siblings
- IT'S SNOWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!

Bad things:
- No electricity for a day or so
- No basketball
- stuck at home
- trip to the Capitol Hill postponed
- interview meeting for volunteering in the library ruined
- Meeting to college counselor ruined
- woods in front of my house is so pretty that i feel really bad my family can not see it :(
- poker reminds me of good old friends :(
- my cellphone's dead

Okay, that very last point is not necessarily caused by the snow. However, it is dead, at the moment. Reach me thru facebook, twitter, the comment box below, or nisa.flamethrower@gmail.com

My two favorite dogs in the world

2011-01-29T13:26:00.001+07:00

Bear and Venus were having a great time on the snow!

Mr. Translator

2011-01-23T19:37:00.000+07:00

Last night, during Marquette vs. Notre Dame game, Mom, Colin and I were in a deep conversation about God. Dad was playing with Bear the dog while watching the game. Zoe was dealing with our frightening couch.

Dad : "Hey, do you wanna know what Bear just told me?"

(all eyes on him)

Dad : "He said God is just dog spelled backwards."

Mom : (SMH-ing)

Colin : (did not bothering him, laid his eyes on TV)

Nisa : (laughing my head off)

Dad : "It's not me. It's Bear. I was just translating."

--------------------

I think that is one of evidences that my Dad is funny for people from the other hemisphere. I ALWAYS laugh at his joke and Silfara also said that my Dad is funny. He probably really is funny for people from other hemisphere.

Foolish

2011-01-22T09:55:00.001+07:00

I just got home from a basketball game. My team won by a lot. I played, well, it was not my best game ever, but it was okay.

When I got out of the locker room and found that there was no one there waiting for me, that's when I felt so alone. I have no family - let alone friends.

Well, I guess I deserve it. I mean, I have to not expect my host parents coming to my games when in most of them I was just sitting on the bench. Besides, who am I that they need to go to MY game? They have their own freaking business.

Friends? Well, I just dont have friends and dont have the ability to make them.

I know I'm such a fool by crying for this stupid basketball game. But sometimes being a fool is enjoyable.

AP i-dont-even-know

2011-01-21T01:13:00.000+07:00

Mikayla : "Brooke, how much do you weigh?"
Brooke : "Guess."
Mikayla : "Uh... 180 pounds?"
Brooke : "Nope. It's 150."
Mikayla : "Is it exactly 150?"
Brooke : "No. It's like 155."
Mikayla : "Okay. Nisa, How much do you weigh?"
Nisa : "Umm... I dont know... 69 kilograms."
Mikayla : "Huh? Brooke, how much is 69 kilograms?"
Brooke : "I dont know."
Mikayla : "What? Come on, Brooke! You're who take AP i-dont-even-know!"

Raja Jalanan di Amerika

2011-01-21T00:58:00.000+07:00

1. Pedestrians

2. School Buses

3. Cars

4. (No motorcycles)

5. (No crazily-driven public buses)

"Raja Jalanan di Amerika" literally means kings of the street in America. It's just my thought about how Americans treat Road users. And you don't wanna know how is it in Jakarta.

Say Goodbye to the World You Thought You Lived In

2011-01-21T00:52:00.000+07:00

Nope. Not yet. Not until July. Well, June 28, to be fair.

Heard this song on my way to school this morning. Not my first time, actually. My mom has this CD contains her favorite songs being played everytime she drives.

The AFS's giving my ticket to go home when I had not even arrived in the U.S. is probably for a reason. It's probably some sort of reminder, that no matter how great the time you have in the U.S., or in contrast, how unhappy you are in the U.S., you are going home.

Not Another Meeting

2011-01-19T07:24:00.000+07:00

Once, Silfara's father, Silfara, and I were having this conversation about going to school in the United States. He said he wanted Silfara to went an American University, which was opposed by the daughter eventually. I said I also wanted to go to college in the U.S. But deep down inside, I know that I will never be able to afford it.

But then January 17, 2010, Silfara and I were there, joking around in front of the White House. She is about to start her freshman year in the University of South Florida, just like her father have always planned. And me, well, I am bringing a mission for a world peace and of course, self-improvement. (Okay, let's just say that I am doing this student exchange program thing.)

We're both lucky, aren't we?

I WANT TO HAVE DOGS!!!!

2011-01-17T10:39:00.001+07:00

Bone head. Lovely.

2011 Resolutions

2011-01-02T19:52:00.000+07:00

So we were having Lebanese Tevarna for New Years Eve dinner. I think we are supposed to have nice dinner, since it's NYE (I saw Mom had made grocery shopping list for NYE Dinner and then cross them all out and wrote "Lebanese Tevarna" instead). But parents I believe prefer food from this Lebanese restaurants, which are good, except most of them are weird, tastewise, lookwise, and namewise. But Americans, well at least my American family, like them, so whatever.

So this is what the family talked about during New Years Eve dinner. 2011 resolutions.

Allison said... Rrr... To be honest, I cant remember what she said. Ergh.
Zoe said lots of things. One of them is to get her driving permit, I believe.
Dad said he wants to change his job (!)
Mom said, other then mastering Indonesian cuisine, she wants to fill in her little chalk board (okay, so she used other word for this little chalk board thing, but I cant remember what. Sorry for that.)

And me? Well, me. When it comes to me, I did not have anything to say. Did not expect that question, either. So I just said I want to go back to school and learn how to drive, despite the fact that I've been taking driving classes last year and after 6 classes, the instructor said that I need more practices and will need at least 10 classes. What the hell.

But long after the dinner ended, watched what Zoe said as American classic holiday movies, went partying and stuff, I thought what I my resolutions this year

1. Keep playing good for my basketball team

2. Get my driving license and be able to drive (seriously, these two things can be very different in Indonesia)

3. Volunteering!

4. Do better at school! Schoolwork-wise and Social-wise

5. Do internship that my school offer

6. Trying out for school play

Okay, that was at least what I can think of now.

Happy new year, God bless America and Indonesia

How do you think pigs kill people?

2010-12-31T21:14:00.000+07:00

Friday morning, Mom, Dad, Adrienne, and I were sitting in the living room. Mom is doing her stuff in the kitchen. Dad is having breakfast and reading the paper. Both Adrienne and I were doing stuff in the computer.

Adrienne : "Do you wanna know facts about shark?"
(no one answers)
Adrienne : "Do you wanna know facts about shark?"
(still, no one answers)
Adrienne : "Nisa!"
Nisa : "Huh?"
Adrienne : "Do you wanna know facts about shark?"
Nisa : "Yeah. Tell me one. The most interesting one."
Adrienne : "Uh.. Um.... Shark.... Um... Pigs kill more people than shark."
Nisa : "Huh? How do pigs kill people?"
Adrienne : "Mom, how do pigs kill people?"
Mom : "Uh.......... Sit on 'em?"

My Chrismas List

2010-12-14T01:18:00.001+07:00

1. Ability to play well in the basketball team, so my mom and my dad proud of me.
2. Ability to do well at school, so my mom and my dad proud of me.
3. Snow. Lots of them.
4. Closeness to God. So that I realize that none of #1, #2, and #3 is really matter if I got God.

Homesick - Kings of Convenience

2010-10-28T20:42:00.000+07:00

Sejauh ini kayanya lagu yang gue jadikan judul di postingan ini adalah yang paling sering gue puter di iPod selama program AFS. Bukan, bukan karena gue kangen Jakarta. Gue bener-bener sering banget puter lagu ini pas baru pindah host family. Gue sedih banget waktu itu. Gue ngerasa keluarga lama gue lebih "home".. Padahal mungkin ngga segitu nya juga. Munkin ngga seitunya sampe gue cried myself to sleep in my first nights in my new host family's house. Cuma mungkin karena ada perbandingan aja dengan keluarga baru gue.

Anyway,

Home di sini gue artikan jauh daripada rumah dalam benutk fisik. Bukan rumah gue yang besar dan hangat, bukan kasur gue yang empuk.
Home gue artikan tempat yang bisa benar-bikin gue nyaman, bikin gue merasa aman di dalamnya. Orang-orangnya menyenangkan, orang-orangnya menerima gue. Nyaman. Menyenangkan. Home.

Dan kalo kalian perhatikan, di bagian akhir lagu ini ada line:

"Homesick. Cause I no longer know, where home is."

And that exactly how I'm feeling right now. Gue ngga seneng di sekolah. Gue sering merasa jadi pengganggu di rumah. Tapi gue juga ngga pengen pulang ke Jakarta. Gue ngga yakin that I would feel better di Jakarta.

Dan saat gue lagi bener-bener ngga bener. Bener-bener di bawah, merasa kalah, merasa bodoh, merasa tolol, gue ngga tau harus cerita sama siapa.

Ga ada orang yang akan
give me a massive hug...
give his/her shoulder for me to cry on...
rub my back, making sure that I'm okay...

Lalu gue mikir, Hey, Nisa! Di Jakarta pun lo ngga punya orang yang begini.

so it's not the country, it's not the school, it's me. There's something wrong with me, and it's not fixed, yet.

******

Dan setelah nulis ini, gue lagi-lagi membuktikan bahwa nulis, nangis, dan dengerin lagu sedih bisa bikin some people feel a lot better. A lot.

Dan sekarang, gue berusaha senyum, and I wish myself a very good day.

There's Something About the Team

2010-08-25T20:00:00.000+07:00

Ada sesuatu di tim ini,

Sesuatu yang ngga gue dapet dari tim-tim lain yang pernah gue "hinggapi"

Sesuatu yang bikin gue......

Mau naik ojek karena takut terlambat latian bareng mereka,
Teary kalo main jelek bareng mereka
Teary juga karena ngga bisa ikutan tanding, bahkan cuma latian, bareng mereka
Naik angkutan umum saat hujan angin untuk datang ke tempat latian
Rela tidur jauh lebih cepat dari biasanya agar badan tetap fit untuk latian bersama mereka keesokan harinya

Sesuatu yang.....

Membuat gue ngga rela ninggalin mereka,

Ngga rela tempat gue bakal digantiin orang lain.

Karena bakal sulit banget buat gue untuk dapet tempat kaya gitu lagi.

Dan menurut gue, orang ini lah yang patut disalahkan atas semuanya :)


Yang kanan loh ya, yg kiri mah saya :)

Tahun depan main bareng lagi ya temen-temen *group hug*

:)

Kebiasaan (buruk) Baru

2010-08-24T23:00:00.000+07:00

Masa-masa jadi ~~pengangguran~~ liburan ini saya punya kebiasaan baru : dengerin musik sebelum tidur.

Ya, saya emang ngga biasa dengerin musik sebelum tidur. Bukannya saya ngga suka, tapi musik biasanya mendistract badan saya yang udah relaks, sehingga saya yang tadinya udah ngantuk, malah jadi on kalo dengerin musik. Hehehe. Jadi sebenernya sih suka, tapi kalo jadi ngga tidur-tidur, kan repot ;)

Kenyataannya emang tergantung jenis musik yang didengar. Kalo dengerin musik punk rock sebelum tidur emang ngga cocok (ya iyalah). Masalah nya adalah : iPod saya home button nya lagi rusak sehingga ngga memungkinkan saya untuk memilih lagu yang ingin diputar (nah, bingung kan?). IPod saya memutar secara acak lagu yang diputar. Bila saya ngga suka, karena kerusakan home button itu, saya hanya bisa menekan tombol next, untuk men skip lagu, sedang si ipod yang menentukan lagu apa selanjutnya akan diputar. Bila saya ngga suka lagi, ya tinggal di skip lagi. Tapi ya tetap, saya ngga bisa milih lagu.

Masalah lagi : saya belum mau tidur kalau belum dengar lagunya Adhitia Sofyan. Kenapa Adhitia Sofyan? Yaa, karena memang jenis lagu yang dia bawakan semuanya cocok buat pengantar tidur. Juga lirik lagu-lagunya yang sering bikin saya senyum dan ber, "Huaaaaa kok gue banget!" Meskipun ada beberapa lagu lain yang sering saya jadikan lullaby bahkan sebelum kebiasaan dengerin musik sebelum tidur ini muncul (contoh: Going Home nya Java Jazz, lagu-lagu di albumnya Monita, trio lagu sedih di album Rumah Ketujuhnya Indra Lesmana) rasanya belum sreg kalau belum dengar lagunya Adhitia Sofyan.

Jadilah saya setiap malam dikerjain sama iPod saya sendiri. Supaya ngga kebablasan, saya sampai membuat perjanjian (dengan diri saya sendiri tentu saja) :

Hanya boleh mendengarkan 3 lagu sebelum lagu Adhitia Sofyan muncul. Setelah 3 lagu, setiap lagu harus di skip sampai lagunya Adhitia Sofyan muncul.

Yaa, meskipun ujung2nya saya langgar juga sih perjanjian itu ;p

Entah ngelebihin lagu yang didengar ("Aduuuuh, ini lagunya juga enaaaak, dengerin ah....." padahal udah dengerin 3 lagu)

atau ngga puas cuma dengan satu lagu dari Adhitia Sofyan ("Aaaa pokonya tungguin satu lagi lagunya Adhitia Sofyaaaaaan!!!" *sambil neken tombol next terus-terusan*)

Hahahaha.

*****

Anyway, meskipun semua lagu nya Adhitia Sofyan semuanya "begitu", ngga semuanya saya suka. Saya cuma suka lagu-lagu yang liriknya sudah saya resapi dalam-dalam maknanya (ceilah). Lagu yang ngga saya suka biasanya saya belum sempat liat liriknya dan ngerutin dahi mikirin maksudnya.

Dan ini lagunya Adhitia Sofyan yang lagi saya suka banget. Judulnya "Reality". Tuh kan, saya suka ini karena ini "Gue banget!" Saya memang suka tiba2 merasa agak melayang karena the thing you always do itu. :)

So, I hope you guys enjoy the song as much as I do :)

Makasih udah membaca yaaaa ^.^ See u soon!

Every time you do that thing,
the thing you always do
I ended up in misery
while staring at your photograph
I’m loosing my grip to reality

:)

Reality
Music and Lyrics by Adhitia Sofyan

more videos of him :
http://www.youtube.com/user/AdhitiaSofyan
free legal download of his songs :
http://adhitiasofyan.wordpress.com
order his CD album :
http://adhitiasofyanmusic.com/

Reality
Music and Lyrics by Adhitia Sofyan

I have been trying lately to close my eyes
Those little lambs complaining they’re getting tired
Try as I may and I would fell off my bed
I know just what the cure is it’s gonna work
I need to get you by my side
There’s no other way

But every time I try to catch you I stumble and I fall
How do I begin to finish this never ending fairy tale
I need to get back to reality
Every time you do that thing the thing you always do
I ended up in misery while staring at your photograph
I’m loosing my grip to reality

I woke up turn on the TV for a thousand times
Reruns I’ve seen too many on the animal show
The tiger runs after the dear and he finally catches on

I see the end of the rainbow not far away
This time I’m gonna let it slide

------------------------

Another Dream of Mine Comes True

2010-08-23T22:38:00.000+07:00

Setelah dulu gue pernah nge-post tentang mimpi gue yang jadi kenyataan, Alhamdulillah, kali ini gue masih bisa nge-post mimpi gue yang lain yang jadi kenyataan.
Dari dulu gue sering ngebayangin, "Aduh pengen bangeeeeeet anak-anak IM (tim basket gue -red) pada main rumah gue..... Ngobrol-ngobrol.... Makan-makan...... Aaaa pasti seru deh......" tapi gue ngga tau gimana caranya. Pernah ini gue smapaikan ke beberapa temen IM gue. Respon mereka pastinya, "Ya undang dong!" Dan gue pun mikir.... "Eh, undang?" Uuuuh, gue bukan orang yang begitu..... I don't hold parties, really. Apalagi di rumah. Bukan gue banget. Lagian mau ngundang-ngundang dalam rangka apaan.....

Dan hari jumat kemarin temen-temen IM gue datang, rame-rame, ada yang rumahnya jauh di selatan, jauh di utara, dan jauh di barat, tanpa GUE undang.............. (meskipun rencana surprise nya gagal, hehehe)

Main di rumah gue, ngobrol-ngobrol, makan-makan, ketawa-ketawa, foto-foto......
Ketemu sama beberapa sodara gue.....
Nginep di rumah gue..... Bahkan pelatih gue sempet tidur di kamar abang gue :))
"Keluar" pagi bareng....... Sahur bareng.......

Wuaaaaah.

Making them enjoying their times in my very own house is exactly what I always desired. Scores an undefinable, true happiness.

Having them at my house was a dream come true.

What's your dream? ;)

P.s. :

These happy faces.

Priceless.

Abnormally Introvert or Introvertly Abnormal?

2010-08-17T22:55:00.000+07:00

Beberapa hari yang lalu seorang temen ngajak gue untuk nemenin dia ke tempat yang emang jarang dia kunjungin. Setelah mencocokan dengan schedule gue, akhirnya gue meng-iya-kan dan pergilah kita bersama beberapa orang temen kita yang lain juga.

Pas lagi pergi itu, si temen itu nanya ke gue. Isi percakapannya kira-kira begini:

Dia : "Nisa, tumben lo mau diajak pergi."
Gue : "Hah? Apaan..."
Dia : "Iyaaaa.... Bahkan si ---sensor--- sampe bilang, "Coba lo ajak aja si Nisa, pasti dia mau."
Gue : "Hah? Dia bilang gitu?"
Dia : "Iya. Emang ada apa sih, Nis?"
Gue : "Hah? Ngga ada apa-apa..."
Dia : "Trus knapa lo mau diajak pergi?"
Gue : "Yaaa..... Karena lo ngajak gue."Dia : "Oooo...." (red : sayang gue ngga liat ekspresi nya)

Dan sadarlah gue, bahwa selama ini gue jarang keluar-keluar rumah ngga jelas bukan karena gue ngga mau. Tapi karena emang ngga ada yang ngajak.

Even the words "nemenin" itu pun ngga ada di kamus gue. "nemenin"? Kalo bisa sendiri kenapa harus rame-rame? Emangnya kalo rame-rame bisa memudahkan urusan? Iya kalo rame-ramenya sama orang-orang yg ngerti. Misal : beli mobil ama temen yang koleksi mobil, beli sepatu basket ama temen yang udah main basket dari SD, dan sebagainya. Lah kalo engga? Bisa-bisa malah bikin ribet dan ga efisien.

Jadi,

Sebenernya gue ini ngga normal, atau cuma seorang Introvert biasa?

I can't tell. I'm just being me.

:)

P.s : gue harus minta maaf ke diri gue sendiri karena postingan gue akhir2 ini isinya menurt gue GA PENTING dan SOMBONG banget. Meskpiun tetap semuanya gue suka ^.^ hoho, gue kan cuma nulis hal-hal yg gw suka. Boleh dong? Blog juga blog gue ;p

Saying What I Need to Say

2010-08-12T23:16:00.000+07:00

Baru-baru ini gue mengirim SMS ke seseorang yang penting.

Seseorang yang..... You know, tipe orang yang sebelum lo SMS dia, lo perlu minta pendapat orang-orang se-RT, "Eh kira-kira gue perlu ga ya sms dia???"

And I did. Gue tanya semua orang yang bisa gue tanya pendapatnya. Menimbang-nimbang, mikir lamaaaaaa, akhirnya gue kirim juga tuh SMS.

But guess what, 1 jam.... 2 jam..... SMS balasannya ga dateng-dateng juga. SMS gue ngga dibales. Sedih sih. Sedih banget malah. Tapi yaa, it's better to say too much than to never to say what you need to say, isnt it?

Seengganya gue ngga akan mengutuki diri sendiri di masa depan karena waktu itu gue ngga sms dia. Seengganya gue udah lega. Seengganya gue udah usaha. I did say what I thought I needed to say. And I was so glad about it. :)

*****

Gue pernah baca tentang hal ini di buku Islam punya bokap gue. Kata-katanya kayanya hampir mirip sama ini :

“Orang yang berakal selayaknya lebih banyak diam daripada bicara. Hal itu karena betapa banyak orang yang menyesal karena bicara, dan sedikit yang menyesal karena diam."

Well, seperti yang daritadi gue bahas, so far menurut gue masih lebih baik menyesal karena bicara daripada karena diam.

Kalo menurut kalian gimana?

Lebih baik menyesal karena bicara, atau menyesal karena diam?

:)

Take all your wasted honor, and say you need to say, immediately :D

Say
John Mayer

Take all of your wasted honor
Every little past frustration
Take all of your so-called problems,
Better put 'em in quotations

Say what you need to say [x8]

Walking like a one man army
Fighting with the shadows in your head
Living out the same old moment
Knowing you'd be better off instead,
If you could only . . .

Say what you need to say [x8]

Have no fear for giving in
Have no fear for giving over
You'd better know that in the end
Its better to say too much
Then never say what you need to say again

Even if your hands are shaking
And your faith is broken
Even as the eyes are closing
Do it with a heart wide open

Say what you need to say [x24]

Cinta

2010-08-10T10:45:00.002+07:00

Sebagai tukang nulis asal-asalan, kayanya kok sok tau banget yaa kalo gue ngomongin hal yang setinggi ini.

Tapi please, kasih gue kesempatan :)

Menurut gue, cinta itu,

Saat temen-temen lo, datang ke acara dimana lo akan tampil sangat berbeda, meskipun mereka terpaksa harus duduk di tangga karena hadir tanpa undangan, pulang malam, bahkan udah sempet dilarang sama orang tua.... tanpa lo kasih tau mereka tentang acara itu, tanpa lo kasih tau mereka betapa pengennya elo mereka hadir dan nonton lo tampil, meskipun lo tau lo akan terlihat sangat memalukan,

menurut gue itu cinta.

Saat semua orang di tim memeluk lo yang menangis, karena hadir tepat saat pertandingan berakhir akibat dilarang mengikuti pertandingan oleh orang yang sangat lo hormati,

menurut gue itu cinta.

Dan saat lo memutuskan untuk melepas kesempatan untuk meraih mimpi-mimpi lo, dan memilih untuk tetap bersama orang-orang lain, dan meraih mimpi-mimpi lain bersama mereka,

menurut gue, "orang-orang lain" itulah yang benar-benar lo cintai.

Dan menurut gue itu cinta.

Yaa, seengganya yang bisa gue lihat.

Gimana? :)

Kalo menurut kalian, cinta itu apasih?

Your Best Friend is Your Back Up Wife/Husband

2010-07-23T07:30:00.000+07:00

I watched a 1991 movie titled My Girl on HBO a few days ago and caught a conversation that's pretty similar to a one I caught on a TV series How I Met Your Mother.

Watch this

Thomas J. Sennett: Vada?
Vada Sultenfuss: Yeah?
Thomas J. Sennett: Would you think of me?
Vada Sultenfuss: For what?
Thomas J. Sennett: Well, if you don't get to marry Mr. Bixler.
Vada Sultenfuss: I guess.

(Thomas J. Sennett and Vada Sultenfuss on My Girl)
source

and this

Robin: Let's make a pact, if we both turn 40 and we're both single..
Ted: Robin Scherbatsky, will you be my backup wife?
Robin: A girl always dreams of hearing those words. Yes, yes, a million times, yes!

(Robin Scherbatsky and Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother season 4 episode 17)
source

See?

Arent those best friends reaaaaaaally sweet?

:)

So guys and girls, take a good care of your best friends. After girlfriends/boyfriends coming and going, she/he is the one who is ALWAYS there for you, doesn't she/he?

***

The thing is, what if I don't have any bestfriends?

Well, I pray to God not to letting me becoming an old woman, filled with regret, waiting to die alone....

Oops. Another line from a movie. That was from Inception. Was a good movie, by the way.

That'd be all for now. Have a great day, folks! :)

Urban Jazz Crossover 2010

2010-06-18T08:00:00.000+07:00

A bit outdated but I still wanna share this experience to ALL of you!

Yeah, Nanda and I watched the 2010 Urban Jazz Crossover last week.

They got great musicians taking part in it. Eq Puradiredja, Achmad Albar, Ello, Sandhy Sondoro, Dewi Sandra, Kikan, Ipang, violist Maylaffayza, DJ Cream, rapper Boogieman, "sinden" Yuyun, Drew, and of course, the Indonesia's #1 jazz pianist...

Taking place in Ritz Carlton Ballroom, Pacific Place, it didn't need any serious effort from me and Nanda to go to the venue after a basketball practice in Senayan we got at a few hours before the concert started. The ticket price was also not that expensive for that loads of awesome musicians. It costs fifty thousand rupiahs. My parents and Nanda's have also given their full permission for us to watch the concert.

Our only thing was that the concert, sponsored by Dji Sam Soe, which is, as we all know, a cigarette brand, was not allowed to have audiences aged younger than 18 y.o. I am 5 months away from being 18 and Nanda has just celebrated her 17th birthday few weeks ago.

I have asked kak Novan Yahya, a university student Jazzuality reporter, about this thing. He said that I don't need to be worried as they won't have time to check EVERY SINGLE audience's ID card. He said that the last year's event was full of teenagers crowd. That's quite logical, so Nanda and I went to the venue without any further thought about this thing.

Problems started to rouse when we arrived at the venue. It was only a few minutes after the ticket boxes opened, so there wasn't too many people already, and event officials there, yes, they checked everyone who's entering the venue's id card. Yes. Every single one. Seeing that, Nanda and I turned our backs, walked off the entrance gate, tried to figure out what to do.

Okay, so this is the condition: We got 3 ID cards with us. They were mine, Nanda's, and the copied version of my sister's. The last one was the only id card accepted to enter the venue.

After making phone calls to kak Novan Yahya, who was laughed and convinced us that the event officials will let us through and if they're not, promised to help us, and having crepes (well, Nanda and I was starving. We were just done a basketball practice, remember?) we decided to try to enter the venue with this arragement :

Nanda, who is smaller and look younger than me, will be using my sister's id, so she would be officially not-under-18 and I, who is just months away to be 18, will be using my very own ID card. If they don't let both of us through, we will not get in there and we'll wait for kak Novan Yahya.

That simple.

After a non stop "Bismillah", carrying a bunch of courage and confident, we went to the entrance gate, showed the ID cards they asked for, and get in! Yeay! The let us through! Alhamdulillah. Thank You, dear Lord.

Our next problem was that we still needed to show our ID cards to buy the tickets. I tried to buy the tickets using a "Buy 1 get 1 free" voucher I got from the internet, but they didn't accept the voucher since there was my name on it and my ID card showed that I'm not 18 y.o yet. So we bought the regular tickets, using my sister's ID card. 1 ID card for two tickets. I know that it was not allowed, and of course so did the ticket box keeper. But she gave us the tickets. Again, Alhamdulillah. Thanks, Mighty GOD :)

the ticket

After having our tickets, Nanda and I went out of the venue to do Shalat Maghrib. We were a bit afraid that we couldn't get in again, or they would ask our ID cards again and not letting us in because we didn't have the acceptable ones. But none of them happened. We could easily get in there again by showing our tickets. God is realllllllly Good, my friend.

Finally, we queued to enter the ballroom. We also met kak Novan Yahya I've been talking on the cellphone with. I told him that Nanda and I were still very afraid because there were also some officials at the ballroom entrance who seemed to check our ID cards. Kak Novan Yahya, again, laughed and said that there was nothing to worry about since they wouldn't have time to do that. Seeing the length of the queues, I could really trust what he said that time.

And yes, Kak Novan Yahya was right. They didn't ask for our ID cards. Not again. Nanda and I and Kak Novan Yahya and his fellow reporter got a very nice spot in the front rows, right in front of 2 keyboard sets on the left of the stage. There were 3 keyboard sets on stage. The other one was on the right of the stage. Can't stop thanking God that the one I was in front of it was Indra Lesmana's.

And the show began. It was magnificent. Too aweeeeeeeeeesome. Worth all the lies Nanda and I made.

Imagine:
Those brilliant musicians + super amazing, hard working big band (which includes drums, trumpets, saxes, even KENDANG!) + extra innovative backdrop + STAGE DRAMA FROM THE MUSICIANS! What more can I say. It really was a blast.

My words can never describe it. Nor Jazzuality's. But they write it thousands time better. So click here to read their report.

And here comes the big thing

See that? At least I have something that is MORE than what he has. Height. :p

Have a wonderful day dear readers!

p.s : Envy is so human. So, spill it out :p.

Holiday Writing and Reading Project

2010-06-17T01:07:00.000+07:00

It's 12.39 AM right now and I was having my right-before-going-to-sleep glass of milk when the idea of making this blog post crossed my mind. See? Magic DOES happen on midnight. Well, okay, AROUND midnight.

Anyway.

Yes, holiday is coming, Guys. Since I'm gonna have to spend my holiday mostly at home, I initiate to do this ambitiously arranged project.

I call it Holiday Writing and Reading Project (doesnt sound very creative, eh?)

The goal is basically to WRITE a BLOGPOST EVERY SINGLE DAY during holiday. I (still) dont know when my school holiday officially starts and ends, but I assume the holiday ends on mid july so I will roughly get about 25 blogpost at the end of the project.

In addition, I'm also have to READ at least 60 pages of book EVERY SINGLE DAY. This is reasonable. I find it HARD to write whenever I was not reading any books at the moment. So, yeah, for me, in order to write nicely I'm also gonna have to read nicely too. A good writer is a good reader, wiseman said (seriously, I forgot which wiseman said this wise thing :p)

Ambitiously arranged enough, not? :)

Need you guys support to accomplish this mission. (Wait, is this a mission, or a project, or what? Ah, I dont really care what it is. I want to do good things. Thats all. Besides, really, what is the difference between them? :p)

I'll see you guys later this day.

Bye bye for now :D

Stupidity Runs in the Family

2010-06-16T13:03:00.000+07:00

While we were talking about last night's football match between North Korea and Brazil.....

Sister : De, lo tau ga Kim Jong-il siapa?

Me : Engga

Sister : Haaaaah masa ngga tau sih??? Bego loooo!

Me : Emang siapa?

Sister : Itu kan presidennya Korea Utaraaaaaaaa

Me : Halah, paling si Ka iyan juga ngga tau

Sister : Ah masa sih? (head to my brother) Ka iyan, tau ngga presiden Korea Utara siapa?

Brother : (was sitting between me n my sister) Hmmmmmm.... (thinking) Kim Jong-il!

Sister : Tuh kan kaiyan tauuuu!!!! Bego lo deeee!!!

Listening to What My Coach Says

2010-06-15T07:02:00.000+07:00

I saw this photo while I was gazing thru my photos folders on my laptop computer. I found it very interesting. I cant have this kind of photos everyday, can I? Besides, I'm always keen to take photos with my coach. So, thanks to anyone who take this.

The photo is taken during Kejurnas Basket KU-18 2010 (the 2010 U-18 Women Basketball National Championship) in Medan, on December 2009. I cant remember what exactly my coach said when this photo is taken, but I do remember one big thing he said during the match.

He said, "Ayo dong, Nis... Aku udah sengaja ngga banyak nurunin kamu kemarin.....,,"

And from that time on, I know I have made him dissapointed. Again. Must be for the hundreds time.

It was a match againts one of the top teams in the championship, Jawa Tengah province. We were finally lost.

My coach is pretty much a good man. Moreover, he is a person i trust at. And I dont trust many people. And believe me, dissapointing a good person u trust at is gonna hurt you so bad.

And after what he did to me last weekend, I know I have to thank God for letting his being my coach.

Argh, no. I have to thank God for everything I got, dont I?

What a rubbish post *sigh*

Have a good day, readers :)

A Sudden Thought

2010-06-08T08:59:00.001+07:00

Gue pernah ngobrol dengan seorang seniman kelas atas Indonesia. Beliau cerita, beliau pernah bertemu dengan Pak SBY tahun 2006 lalu.

Di tengah pertemuan itu, beliau bertanya pada pak presiden:

Seniman : Pak, gimana nih usaha pemerintah untuk mengatasi masalah pembajakan?

Pak SBY : Ya, kami sudah berusaha keras untuk itu. Tapi untuk saat ini, kamu memfokuskan diri pada ekonomi dan pemberantasan korupsi. Pada masa kerja berikutnya, kami akan fokus pada pendidikan dan kebudayaan.

Seniman : Oh, kalo gitu berarti Bapak nyuruh saya untuk memilih Bapak lagi dong di pemilu berikutnya?

Menurut Si Seniman, Pak SBY cuma tersenyum waktu itu.

*********

Sekarang, lebih dari 1 tahun setelah Pak SBY terpilih lagi menjadi Presiden, gue rasa sudah saatnya Si Seniman menagih ucapan Pak SBY waktu itu. Sayang, sekarang gue udah sangat sulit menghubungi Seniman itu, jadi sulit juga untuk mengingatkan beliau untuk menagih.

Tapi gimana sih yang kalian rasakan?

Kalo gue sih sejauh ini belum merasakan perubahan apapun.

Bayaran sekolah gue, yang merupakan sekolah negeri, tetep aja mahal. Sistem pendidikan juga masih tetep (maaf) busuk dan selalu membuat gue berpikir, apakah dengan belajar seperti ini, akan membuat gue seseorang yang lebih ber "isi" setelah lulus nanti?

*********

Well, that was just a sudden thought after finishing this morning's exam.

Oh, yes, I'm still in exam week. It's gonna be over tomorrow, but still, I shouldn't be blogging in exam week, do I? :P

Have a good day, Fellas. Ciao!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

2010-06-07T10:57:00.002+07:00

Akhir-akhir ini gue lagi sering banget dengerin Leaving on a Jet Plane.
Dan lagu ini membuat gue memikirkan keberangkatan gue ke Amerika Serikat untuk AFS nanti.

Kalo gue berangkat ek Amerika,

Will they kiss me and smile for me?

Will they tell me that they'll wait for me?

Will they hold me like they'll never let me go?

Will they?

Hey, Nisa,
Who are "they"?

Well, "they" itu jelas bukan keluarga gue. They are my number ones. Sudah pasti mereka akan melakukan itu semua.

They itu teman-teman sekolah gue. Mulai dari teman-teman sekelas, teman-teman yang dulunya sekelas, Kepompong, anak-anak English Club, plurkers 8, temen-temen les Quantum, temen-temen di subsi Olahraga nya OSIS, termasuk orang-orang di sekolah yang gue ngga yakin mereka anggap gue teman atau engga.

They itu orang-orang di klub basket gue. Di tim gue terutama. Kumpulan orang-orang yang seperti gue, mendapat banyak pelajaran dari benda bundar yang bisa melompat kemana-mana itu. Apalagi 2 orang di tim gue juga berencana akan hijrah ke kota lain untuk meraih mimpi mereka.

They itu, orang-orang keren yang menemani gue di liburan akhir tahun 2008. Setiap hari kita ngobrol ngga jelas arahnya. Main game bareng. Diajarin main kartu pula :) Sampai akhirnya kita tahun baruan "bareng". Dan mereka ikut menyemangati gue pas gue Kejurnas di awal thaun 2009 lalu, dan membuat gue sangat bahagia. God, betapa berharapnya gue mereka menyelamati gue karena berhasil AFS, memberi saran dan petuah-petuah untuk hidup di Amerika (secara ada dari mereka yang pernah tinggal di sana).........................

And hey!

They itu juga termasuk kalian loh, para pembaca! Bisa sampai di blog saya yang url nya sangat belibet ini, bahkan sampai mau baca sampai akhir begini, gue yakin pasti ada "sesuatu" di antara kita. Hahahaha.

So, will you, Readers? :)

Every place I go, I think of you

Every song I sing, I sing for you

When I come back I'll wear your wedding ring

Leaving On A Jet Plane

CHANTAL KREVIAZUK

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go

I'm standin' here outside your door

I hate to wake you up to say goodbye

But the dawn is breakin', it's early morn

The taxi's waitin', he's blowin' his horn

Already I'm so lonesome I could die

So kiss me and smile for me

Tell me that you'll wait for me

Hold me like you'll never let me go

'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane

I don't know when I'll be back again

Oh, babe, I hate to go

There's so many times I've let you down

So many times I've played around

I'll tell you now, they don't mean a thing

Every place I go, I think of you

Every song I sing, I sing for you

When I come back I'll wear your wedding ring

So kiss me and smile for me

Tell me that you'll wait for me

Hold me like you'll never let me go

'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane

I don't know when I'll be back again

Oh, babe, I hate to go

Now the time has come to leave you

One more time, oh, let me kiss you

And close your eyes and I'll be on my way

Dream about the days to come

When I won't have to leave alone

About the times that I won't have to say ...

Oh, kiss me and smile for me

Tell me that you'll wait for me

Hold me like you'll never let me go

'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane

I don't know when I'll be back again

Oh, babe, I hate to go

Fooling My Foolish Brother

2010-05-28T21:48:00.000+07:00

Kakak : De, kamu belajar mulu. Ngga bosen-bosen

Gue : Yaa..... Dari pada aku berakhir seperti kak iyan.........

****************************

Kakak : De, itu kotak-kotak di bawah meja belajar kamu taro ke kamar atas aja kalo ganggu

Gue : Oh. Iya tuh ganggu. Kak iyan deh pindahin.

Kakak : SET.....an.........

Pelajaran di dalam Sebuah Bajaj

2010-05-28T08:22:00.001+07:00

Kemarin sore, dengan pertimbangan kaki gue yang sedang sakit, gue akhirnya memutuskan untuk pulang naik bajaj. Ngga seperti biasanya, naik angkot + metromini. Meskipun biayanya hampir 10x lipat, gue tetap memutuskan naik bajaj.

Ternyata Allah mau memberi pelajaran ini buat gue.

Gue nyetop bajaj, nawar harga, dan masuk ke bajaj.

Ga lama setelah masuk ke Bajaj, si Bapak tukang bajaj nanya ke gue :

Bapak (B) : "Neng, kalo masuk SMA 8 nilai nya rata-rata berapa ya?"

Nisa (N) : "Hmm..... yaaa biasanya sih diatas 9, Pak"

B : "Oh..... kalo bayarnya berapa, neng? Mahal ya?"

N : "Hmmmm..... Ya.... Lumayan Pak.... Angkatan saya sih.... (agak lama, mikir, gue sebut ga ya nominalnya?) Angkatan saya sih sekitar.... 12 juta, Pak"

B : "Wah...... Haha... (tertawa miris)"

Gue diem. Ga berani nanya apa-apa lagi. Takut salah ngomong.

Akhirnya si Bapak lah yang cerita.

B : "Anak saya, pengen saya masukin SMA 8 juga. Nilainya sih katanya di atas 9... Cuma kalo bayarnya segitu ya..."

Berikutnya gue ngomel-ngomel (well, lebih cocok ngedumel sih) yang intinya adalah, si Bapak harus tetep masukin anaknya ke SMA 8, karena sayang banget kalo nilainya bagus. Masalah biaya ga perlu dipikirin karena pihak sekolah ngga boleh sebenarnya minta uang "sumbangan" kaya gitu. Jadi sebenernya mudah banget kalo mau diprotes.

Abis gue ngomel, si Bapak ini cuma senyum miris aja. Seakan ga yakin dengan jalan pikiran gue.

"Oh.... Gitu neng ya...." ujarnya sambil tetep tersenyum miris.

Gue pun diem. Lagi. Gue mikir. Ga bisa sekolah di sekolah NEGRI* unggulan karena masalah biaya? Baru pertama kali gue temuin yang begini dalam kehidupan nyata. Sisanya, kalo ga di sinetron, TV, atau koran, yang menurut gue sering belebihan (atau dilebih-lebihkan?)

*(sekolah negri loh ya, inget, SE-KO-LAH-NEG-RI, punya PEMERINTAH)

Akhirnya gue nanya,

N : "Emang anaknya sekolah dimana, Pak?"

B : "Smabel"

N : "HAH?!?"

Kaget gue. Berasa kesabet.

N : "SAYA JUGA DULU DI SMABEL!"

Tunggu.
Anaknya si Bapak ini pasti kelas 3 dong.
Berarti pas gue kelas 3 dulu, anaknya ini kelas 1.
Berarti dia sempet jadi adek kelas gue.
Berarti gue sedang naik bajaj yang supirnya adalah bokapnya adek kelas gue.
Anjrit.

Bener-bener tinggi tingkat kesenjangan sosial di SMP gue itu. Bener kata kakak gue dulu, "Mulai dari anak tukang cuci, sampe anak mentri, semua ada di Smabel."

God.

Si Bapak ini selanjutnya cuma senyum-senyum aja.

Gue lanjut ajak ngobrol lagi,

N : "Di smabel kalo ngga salah sekarang udah ngga bayar ya pak? Dulu saya bayar cuma 100ribu kayanya,"

B : "Ah engga neng. Tetep bayar seperti biasa. Uang sekolah, uang bulanan..... Uang jajannya aja mahal banget. Untung ada Bos saya yang mau nanggung. Kalo engga, mana sanggup saya sekolahin di Smabel."

N : "Hah? Semuanya tetep seperti biasa?!"

Kaget gue. Sekilas teringat wajah temen seangkatan gue yang kurang mampu dan selalu ditagih uang sekolah sama seorang monster wakil kepala sekolah. Bener-bener kasian.

N : "Wah parah juga ya....."

Gue diem lagi. Mikir lagi.

Ternyata program-program pemerintah itu semuanya cuma wacana. Sekolah gratis bagi yang ga mampu? Bullsh*t! Di depan gue ada korban nya. Yang udah pasti ngga mampu gini aja masih diteken harus bayar. Terbersit kebanggaan ke Bos nya Bapak ini, yang awalnya gue kira adalah dana BOS (bantuan operasional sekolah) yang ternyata juga hanya bullsh*t meskipun iklannya besar-besaran di TV, dan ada si Dik Doank jadi bintang iklannya (hubungannya?? :P)

Si Bapak akhirnya ngomong lagi,

B : ''Kayanya sih saya mau masukin sekolah di kampung aja. Anaknya sih maunya di Jawa Timur,"

N : "Jangan, Pak! Sayang banget! Coba aja masukin 8 dulu! Sayang banget kalo nilainya bagus!"

Si Bapak ini lagi-lagi cuma senyum miris.

Diem sebentar. Gue tanya lagi si Bapak,

N : "Anaknya laki-laki apa perempuan, Pak?"

B : "Perempuan, Neng. Sekarang lagi pere', pergi ke puncak sama teman-temannya. Hahaha"

Dang! Gue kena lagi.

Si anak ini asyik-asyik liburan, Bapaknya lagi banting tulang cari duit dan milih sekolah buat dia.

Pasti gue kaya gini juga.

Bokap nyokap kerja keras, gue malah menghambur-hamburkan uang untuk hal-hal yang ngga penting. CD-CD ngga penting, kaos-kaos ngga penting, jalan-jalan ngga penting. Sementara bokap nyokap ngirit sengiritnya biar tetep bisa sekolahin gue sampe setinggi apapun yang gue mau.

Pasti begitu.

Hah.

Gue manja banget. Kaki somplak sedikit aja pengennya udah naik bajaj.

Payah.

Gue berusaha menahan diri untuk ngga nanya nama si anak itu. Takut gue keceplosan kalo lagi cerita sama orang dan beberapa adek kelas gue di smabel yang gue masih deket. Ga kebayang mukanya si anak itu kalo ketauan temen-temennya bahwa Bapaknya adalah tukang bajaj. Menurut pengalaman gue di Smabel dulu, harusnya dia udah dikucilin abis-abisan. Dan sama temen-temen yang baik pasti dikasihani dan dibantu, bahakn secara finansial. Tapi dari dua sisi itu, temen-temen baik dan temen-temen yang belum baik, 1 persamaannya : DIBEDAKAN. Cuma karena Bapaknya seorang tukang bajaj. Dan itu pasti rasanya sakit banget.

Gak lama kemudian ternyata kita udah sampai di rumah gue. Gue jadi ngga enak tadi nawar ongkos bajaj nya ke si Bapak. Gue kasih si Bapak uang 50ribuan. Sebenernya gue ikhlas aja dia mau ngembaliin berapapun, setelah denger ceritanya tadi. Tapi ternyata dia tetep ngembaliin sesuai ongkos yang udah disepakatin.

Perjalanan yang cuma 20menit itu pun memberi gue berjuta pelajaran

Dan tentunya, kecenderungan untuk terus bersyukur atas segala sesuatu yang telah Allah berikan. Harus rajin-rajin sekolah. Karena ternyata, diluar sana, banyak orang yang pengen tapi ngga bisa masuk SMA gue ini, baik karena hal finansial maupun karena hal super bullsh*t bernama nilai.:)

"Ask not what your teammates can do for you. Ask what you can do for your teammates"

2010-05-12T19:43:00.002+07:00

Rasanya pengen nangis darah pas baca sms dari manager tim basket gue beberapa hari yang lalu:

"Dear Putri IM KU 18, Anne, Aya, Ayi, Dinda, Esther, Hanne, Irin, Kiza, Lusi, Manda, Nanda, Nisa, Novi, Onyon, Syfa, Vina. Jadwal Kompetisi KU 18 Putri Bolabasket PengProv DKI Jakarta 2010 : 11 Juni - 3 Juli 2010. Be prepared yaa. Salam, Om Wendy. cc. Kak Farhan."

HAH?

YANG BENER NIH?

baca sekali lagi ah

"Dear Putri IM KU 18, Anne, Aya, Ayi, Dinda, Esther, Hanne, Irin, Kiza, Lusi, Manda, Nanda, Nisa, Novi, Onyon, Syfa, Vina. Jadwal Kompetisi KU 18 Putri Bolabasket PengProv DKI Jakarta 2010 : 11 Juni - 3 Juli 2010. Be prepared yaa. Salam, Om Wendy. cc. Kak Farhan."

Anjrit!

Ah, sekali lagi!

"Dear Putri IM KU 18, Anne, Aya, Ayi, Dinda, Esther, Hanne, Irin, Kiza, Lusi, Manda, Nanda, Nisa, Novi, Onyon, Syfa, Vina. Jadwal Kompetisi KU 18 Putri Bolabasket PengProv DKI Jakarta 2010 : 11 Juni - 3 Juli 2010. Be prepared yaa. Salam, Om Wendy. cc. Kak Farhan."

Aaaaaaaaa beneraaaaaan. Beneran 11 Juni!!!!! Huhuhu.

Yak, jadi kompetisi basket tingkat Provinsi yang bakal tim gue ikutin ternyata mulai tanggal 11 Juni.

Emang kenapa Nis kalo 11 Juni

Pertanyaan bagus. 11 Juni 2010 adalah jadwalnya Urban Jazz Crossover di Jakarta!!!!!!

Dan Indra Lesmana ikutan manggung di acara ini.

Jadi itu berarti gue kemungkinan lumayan besar ngga bisa nonton manggungnya Indra Lesmana. Huhuhu.

*********

Gue masih agak males untuk ceritain ini ke siapapun di tim. Mereka (dan kalian para pembaca mungkin juga) pastinya mikir,

"Alah, Indra Lesmana doang! Masa ngga ikutan tanding cuma gara-gara mau nonton Indra Lesmana!"

"Respect dong sama tim!"

"Tentuin prioritas dong! Ngga pinter-pinter deh kamu, Nis."

dan lain-lain sebagainya.

Tapi mereka ngga tau, ngga mau tau, dan ngga peduli betapa pentingnya setiap penampilan panggung Indra Lesmana buat gue.

Ngga tau kalo setiap kali ngeliat Indra Lesmana lagi "main" di panggung, gue merinding. Sampe kayanya mau meleleh.

Ngga tau kalo gue rasanya selalu punya extra cash entah darimana untuk mengantar gue ke manggungnya Indra Lesmana.

Ngga tau kalo gue jadi 1000x lebih berani untuk kemana-mana sendirian, naik apapun untuk nonton Indra Lesmana, tapi jadi 1000x kali lebih penakut pas udah di depan orangnya langsung :D

Ngga tau kalo Indra Lesmana itu manggungnya JARANG banget.

dan masih banyak lagi.

Ya, mereka ngga tau, ngga mau tau, ngga peduli. Dan ngga penting juga buat mereka. Yang penting kan Tim. Tim. Tim. dan Tim.

Tapi bukannya gue juga bagian dari tim? Yang seharusnya juga di "respect"? Dihargai pendapatnya? Dihargai pilihannya?

Ya udahlah.

Kan seperti katanya Om Magic Johnson,

"Ask not what your teammates can do for you. Ask what you can do for your teammates."

Gue pasti salah kok di mata mereka kalo keadaannya kaya begini. :)

****************

Haaaah.

Padahal gue sudah cukup tidak beruntung dengan manggungnya Indra Lesmana di Bandung tanggal 7 dan 14 Mei ini.

Jadi,

Menjelang kejuaraan tingkat provinsi yang akan kita ikuti itu, tim basket gue berencana mengadakan semacam Training Camp di Bandung. Pelatih gue sejak awal bilang kalo Training Camp ini akan diadakan sekitar bulan Mei, dan gue pun berdoa yang banyak supaya waktunya bareng sama pas Indra Lesmana manggung.

Lalu beberapa waktu yang lalu, pelatih gue bilang kalo training campnya itu tanggal 13-15 Mei. Gue pun bersorak gembira.

Beberapa waktu yang lalu, saat briefing setelah latian,

    Pelatih : "Ke Bandungnya jadi tanggal 13 sampe 15 Mei ya."
    Gue    : (berusaha menahan diri untuk tidak teriak kegirangan)"HORE!"
    Temen    : "Kenapa Nis?"
    Gue    : (berusaha berbisik) "Indra Lesmana manggung di Bandung tanggal 14! hihihihi"

Tapi entah kenapa, JRENG, beberapa hari setelah itu pelatih gue tiba-tiba menggeser jadwal training camp ke tanggal 20-22 Mei.

Hiks. Langsung patah hati gue.

Kenapa Indra Lesmana manggung di Bandung tanggal 7 dan 14, sedangkan gue malah ke Bandung tanggal 21 ????!?!?!??!

Gue rasa pelatih gue sengaja ngganti tanggalnya. Gue rasa dia denger perkataan gue ke temen gue itu. Gue rasa dia sengaja, biar gue ngga bisa nonton Indra Lesmana. Hiks hiks. ---> okay ini suudzon

Tapi ya yaudah lah. Bener juga sih pelatih gue. Kalo ke Bandung nya barengan sama Indra Lesmana manggung, bisa-bisa gue ngga fokus Training Camp. Pasti kepikirannya pengen nonton aja. Hohoho. ----> ini Husnuzon nya :P

*****************

Yaudahdeh.

Sekarang lagi rajin-rajinnya berdoa nih, supaya di hari pertama kompetisi, tim gue belum ada jadwal tanding, jadi gue bisa nonton Urban Jazz Crossover. Hehehe. Mohon bantuan doa nya juga ya teman-teman!

:D :D :D

Paket dari Jalan Limau! :)

2010-05-06T19:13:00.000+07:00

Hai hai hai!!!

Waduuuu akhir-akhir ini lagi jarang baca buku nih, makanya itu jadi susah buat nulis. Huhuhu. Pokonya mulai hari ini harus baca buku tiap hari minimal 30 menit! *tekad kuad*

Okay, short updates.

Hari ini (kamis) dan kemarin (rabu) tiba-tiba sekolah gue libur karena ada tes untuk masuk sekolah gue tahun ajaran depan. Benar-benar bagai mata air di tengah gurun pasir..... *apazeh*

Hari Rabu, seperti biasa, kalo libur gue udah membuat jadwal mau ngapain aja seharian hari itu (meskipun isinya rata-rata nama pelajaran semua sih. huhuhu). Tapi jadwal hari itu terpaksa berantakan, karena ternyata gue dapet kejutan dari Yang Maha Kuasa :)

It was a fine morning. Gue bangun jam 8 karena emang lagi ngga shalat subuh. Agak kesiangan, karena jadwal yang udah gue bikin dimulai dari jam 8 pagi. Ngga mungkin bangun tidur langsung menjalankan jadwal itu. Terpaksa jadwalnya molor satu jam. Berarti nanti malam pun ngga tidur jam 11, tapi jam 12. Hal-hal ini lah yang ada di pikiran gue selagi jalan dari kamar ke meja makan. Sampai si mbak bilang bahwa ada kiriman paket buat gue......

Wuow. Shock. Sempet sih berharap itu dari orang yang pertama kali ngirim paket ke gue *ngimpi banget* tapi ternyata ini dari sesuatu yang lebih hebat. Dari jalan Limau, headquarter nya Bina Antar Budaya, yayasan yang memfasilitasi pendaftaran gue ikutan program pertukaran pelajar AFS.

Isi paket dari mereka banyak, ada booklet, surat, dan segumpel dokumen-dokumen yang harus dilengkapi. Tapi intinya sebenernya cuma 1 : gue akan di tempatkan di Amerika Serikat.

Seneng? Pasti dong. Bukan karena Amerika Serikatnya, tapi karena kepastiannya. Ternyata bener akan ke Amerika Serikat, bukan Jerman, atau Belanda, atau negara-negara pilihan gue lainnya. Meskipun belum pasti berangkat sih. Di surat mereka dengan menyebalkannya masih pake kata "calon peserta pertukaran pelajar" yang membuat gue masih ragu-ragu kalo ditanyain orang bakal berangkat atau engga. Gue juga belum tau gue akan di tempatin di state mana, apalagi host family nya. Boro-boro. Hehehe.

Jadiiii, sekarang ini gue (maunya sih) sudah mulai ngurus ini itu. Niat nya hari ini mau foto untuk Visa, tapi gagal karena males gerak (serius, gue ngga bisa keluar rumah kalo lagi ada libur dadakan begini :P). Isi form visa Amerika Serikat juga ribet banget karena isinya online melalui website mereka. Rencana nya gue besok juga udah mau mulai urus izin cuti sekolah selama setahun (sedih gak). Juga imunisasi-imunisasi yang kira-kira belum. Doain semuanya lancar deh ya :)

And talking about the ruined schedule, apa hubungannya jadwal gue dengan kiriman paket ini ya? Toh ini cuman paket, dokumen yang harus dilengkapi ngga harus dan ngga akan bisa diselesaikan saat itu juga kan? Well, setelah dapet paket itu gue jadi sibuk menelaah setiap bagian dari paket itu. Baca booklet-booklet nya, baca setiap detil surat yang ada.

Lumayan sibuk juga jawabin pertanyaan temen-temen di twitter. Hehehe. Ngga lama setelah dapet kiriman paket itu, gue memang update status di twitter "Jadwal pagi ini berubah karena kiriman paket dari Jalan Limau :))" ternyata banyak banget temen-temen yang langsung nanyain apakah itu perkembangan keberangkatan gue untuk AFS. Wedeeh. Ternyata Jalan Limau selain terkenal dengan SMA Muhammadiyah nya, sekarang juga udah mulai identik dengan AFS yah. Wkwkwkw.

Udahan ah segitu dulu. Maaf banget nih postingan ~~kali ini~~ akhir-akhir ini diarish banget. Sebenernya banyak nih cerita yang seru-seru. GUe coba ceritain nanti ya..... See ya, Readers! Dadaaaaaah :))

Playlist saat Jogging

2010-04-29T18:41:00.000+07:00

Huaaaa udah lebih dari dua minggu ngga nge blog :( :( :(

Banyak banget yang mau diceritain, tapi ngga ada waktu akhir-akhir ini, sibuk..... Pergi masih gelap pulang udah gelap juga.... Huhuhu (ngga lebay loh nih, serius!)

Sekarang giliran lagi ada waktu malah bingung mau cerita apa, hehe.

Terus tadi pas lagi jogging, tiba-tiba kepikir untuk taro playlist lagu-lagu di iPod yang main pas lagi jogging, karena lagunya tadi lumayan seru-seru. Well, sebenernya ngga playlist juga sih. Karena lagu-lagunya ngga gue siapin dari sebelum jogging sebagain sebuah playlist, pas lagi jogging itulah gue mikir-mikir, kira-kira lagu apa yang lagi pengen didengerin dan cocok dengan kodisi sedang men jogging seperti itu.

Yaudahlah ya. Here they are!

1. Senja Menggila - White Shoes and The Couples Company
Lagu baru nih di iPod gue, meskipun udah lama yaa releasenya..... Dan baru tau juga WSCC ngasih download single mereka ini gratisan. Hebat hebat.... Hehehe :))

2. Mati Saja - Barry Likumahuwa
Lagi SUKA banget sama lagu ini! Agak telat yaa..... tapi bodo ah! :p Kumenyapaaa siapa namaaa dirimuuuu terucap kataaaa namun diaaa hanya menatapku tajaaaaam, tak melihat di dekaaaatnya telah ada yang lainnya, malu rasa, kuingin mati sajaaaaaaaaaaa :))

3. Lil Thing - Maliq & D'Essentials
Entah kenapa, beberapa kali latian basket terakhir, gue selalu pengen dengerin ini pas mau latian. Jadi ikut-ikut dinyanyiin juga deh pas udah mulai latian. Aneh banget. Hehehe.

4. Untuk Sementara - Soulvibe
Satu dari beberapa lagu yang gue suka di albumnya Soulvibe, Antartika. Jujur, gue agak kaget sekaligus kecewa dengan album mereka yang terbaru ini. Beda JAUH dari album pertama mereka. Okelah, lain kali kalo ada waktu geu akan tulis review album mereka itu. Tapi lagu ini keren. Gue suka, hehe.

5. Hari Merdeka - Bandanaira
Bandanaira oke banget bawain lagu wajib kaya begini. Jazz, asik, beda...... Semoga CDnya laku dan lakunya ngga cuman bulan Agustus doang :P

6. Indonesia Pusaka - Bandanaira
Tadinya cuma mau dengerin "Hari Merdeka" aja, tapi ga tahan untuk denegrin "Indonesia Pusaka" juga setelah denger dentingan piano di awal lagu ini. Harus denger banget nih temen-temen. Lea Boruniraja dan Irsa Destiwi mantap banget! Great duo! Salut! :))

7. Berlian - Soulvibe
Lagu ini juga ada di album Antartika. Spesial karena ada Angga dan Indah nya Maliq ikutan nyanyi di lagu ini. Plus, ada unsur-unsur lagu "Dia" nya Maliq di sini. Karena itulah lagu berikutnya segera gue mencari lagu "Dia"..........

8. Dia - Reza
Sebenernya ini awalnya salah kaprah. Gue kira ini lagu "Dia" nya Maliq, ngga taunya pas dipencet "Dia" nya Reza. Hehehe. Ngga papa deh, sama-sama asik kok :P

9. Mimpi dan Rumah ke Tujuh - Indra Lesmana
Sebenernya agak kurang cocok ya buat jogging, tapi yaa gue suka banget nih lagu mau gimana lagi dong wkwkwk :P

Plus, 2 lagu saat cooling down (baca : jalan kaki setelah jogging)

1. D.A.N.C.E - Justice
Jujur, lagu ini juga nemunya ngga sengaja. Letaknya ada di bawahnya lagu "Dia" dan ngga sengaja kedengeran intronya, langsung keinget dulu pernah pake lagu ini untuk yell pas ikut kuis pas SMP hohoho, Jadi kangen dan pengen dengerin full track, hoho :)

2. Dalam Cita dan Cinta - Winda Viska
Sumpah, suaranya si Winda Idol di album kompilasi finalis Indonesian Idol ini KEREN banget! DIVA banget!!!!!!!!!! Beda banget sama image dia sekarang setelah memainkan peran cewek bloon di sitkom OB. Divaaaaa! :))

Lagu nya Winda selain sebagai penutup juga menjadi lagu favorit gue di playlist ini. Karena ngga berhasil nemu di youtube, terpaksa gue cuma bisa taro lirik :( Kalo mau denger lagunya silahkan di google aja deh ya teman teman. Atau cari CD dan kasetnya di Toko-toko terdekat (beberapa minggu yang lalu masih liat kaset nya ada di Duta Suara Jalan Sabang!) Keren deh lagu ini, dijamin! (Yang versinya Winda loh ya.... :P)

Pandanglah jauh di mukamu
Masa depanmu

:))

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! :)

Dalam Cita dan Cinta

oleh: Winda

Hasratku dan hasratmu

Menyalakan api yang abadi

Da ... Lam diriku dan dirimu

Terpadulah segala daya

Dalam cita dalam cinta yang suci

Terengkuh segalanya

Keinginan di dunia

Layarku dan layarmu

Melabuhkan bahtera abadi

Da ... Lam dambaku dan dambamu

Tiada lagi aral melintang

Dalam cita dalam cinta yang suci

Terengkuh segalanya

Keinginan di dunia

Di dunia

Jangkaulah sejauh kau dapat

Genggam erat dambaanmu

Pandanglah jauh dimukamu

Masa depanmu

Masa depanmu ...

My Favorite Mug

2010-04-12T18:41:00.000+07:00

Gue ini orangnya doyan nge-teh dan doyan nge-susu.

Doyan teh, karena gue ga doyan kopi, dan sebagai gantinya, kafein di teh cukup membantu gue terjaga.

Doyan susu, karena dari kecil gue kebiasaan minum susu pagi dan malam. Ditambah lagi gue suka minum susu coklat super kental dan anget biar relaks dan membantu gue untuk cepat ngantuk saat gue perlu tidur yang cukup. Maklum, tubuh gue ga terbiasa untuk tidur malam lebih dari 6 jam. Hehehe.

Lanjut.

Beberapa waktu yang lalu, gue menemukan gelas yang cocok untuk nge-teh dan nge-susu di rak piring di rumah

the mug

Apaan nih? Biasa banget gini!

Well, well, well.

Dari fotonya, mug ini mungkin terlihat biasa aja. Tapi percayalah teman, kalo lo lihat penampakan aslinya, gelas ini kokoh, gagah, dan elegan banget. Warnanya coklat tua. Polos. Ada pegangan gelasnya. Cocok buat minuman hangat. (okay, deskripsinya kurang penting ya?)

Biasanya gue nge-teh dan nge-susu pake mug kaca. Bening. Kokoh sih. Tapi kesan gagah dan elegannya langsung ilang begitu orang lihat dari luar kalo isinya itu teh. Atau susu coklat. Berasa anak TK deh. Hmhmhm.

Pernah juga gue cobain pake cangkir. Keren sih. Kokoh, gagah, elegan..... Tapi kok sedikit banget ya porsinya? Huahaha....

Jadilah mug ini sekarang favorit gue untuk nge-teh atau pun nge-susu.

Setelah gue observasi (baca : mengingat-ingat dan menanya-nanya si mbak) ternyata mug ini dapet gratisan dari bingkisan pas nyokap bokap gue hadir di Upacara 17 Agustus di Istana Negara tahun 2009 lalu. Agak aneh juga sih, kok 17an malah dikasih gelas? Wkwkwk....

Selesai deh. Hehehe.
(selalu bingung gimana seharusnya menutup sebuah postingan, gue akan belajar banyak tentang ini deh, janji! hehehe)

So Long, my Esia

2010-04-11T16:24:00.001+07:00

Yak. Hape esia saya hilang, teman-teman.

Kaya begini nih esia gue, Hape Esia Warna

Ilangnya pas latian basket di Hall A Basket Senayan, hari Sabtu 10 April kemarin.

Gak lama sebelum mulai latian, gue masih sms kakak gue dan temen gue pake Esia itu. Terus kayanya gue taro di tas. Selesai latihan, gue cari udah ga ada. Huhuhu.

Anehnya, di tas gue juga ada smartphone Dopod yang (keliatan) lebih mahal, iPod, juga sejumlah uang 50ribuan, dan mereka semua aman-aman saja. Hmmmm.

Dugaan gue si Esia jatoh pas gue taro di tas. Atau ketinggalan di kamar mandi pas ganti baju sebelum latian.

************

Hmmm.

Jadi inget,

Hape Esia Warna itu gue beli gak lama setelah masuk SMA 8, belinya pake uang hadiah dari kakak sepupu gue karena berhasil masuk SMA 8. Pertama kalinya beli hape ngga pake uang orang tua. Hehehe.

Eh, berarti udah hampir 2 tahun gue pake Esia itu? Hehehe, lama juga.

**********

Lebih dari harganya sebagai barang konsumsi, Esia itu berharga luar biasa tinggi bagi gue.

Selain sangat hemat baterai, tahan banting, dan dijamin aman dari copet kalo lagi di angkutan umum,

gue pun nyimpen hampir semua nomer telfon temen-temen di situ, karena setahun belakangan hp GSM gue gonta-ganti dan penyimpanan di SIM card sangat terbatas.

Esia itu juga bisa twitteran loh! Hehehe. Jadi keinget lagi deh pas daftar "Esia Twiiter" akibat desakan temen-temen pengguna BB yang sering ngecengin gue karena hape gue yang ga bisa twitteran. Hehehe.

SMS yang gue simpan di Esia itu juga banyak yang penting, termasuk beberapa sms dari Esia Twitter yang selalu sukses bikin gue senyam senyum kalo lagi dibaca ulang :)

Belum lagi kalkulator nya yang mudah dipakai, sampe-sampe temen sebangku gue lebih yang ngga tau cara ngirim email pun bisa memakainya (LOL, sorry nom! :P)

Dan dari alarm-alarm yang gue punya, cuma alarm di esia itu yang berhasil bangunin gue. Karena itulah, gue berencana membawa si Esia kalo gue jadi berangkat AFS ke Amerika (AMIN), meskipun pastinya ga akan bisa dipake nelfon di sana.

Huaaaaaaah keren sekali si Esia itu :)

***********

Apapun, bagaimanapun, gue sudah mengikhlaskan si Esia itu.

Seperti kata si Ines , gue hanya bisa berdoa semoga si Esia itu jatuh ke tangan yang membutuhkan (AMIN).

Lagian harusnya gue bersyukur,

yang hilang cuma Esia nya, uang dan gadget-gadget gue yang lain ga ikutan hilang.

Pin super duper keren yang biasa gue sematkan di gantungan hape esia gue juga udah lama gue copot.

Alhamdulillah.

Belum lagi pelajaran berharga yang bisa gue ambil dari hilangnya Esia ini. Pastinya ini akan membuat gue semakin berhati-hati dan teliti

Oh, karena kejadian ini juga, mata gue jadi terbuka. Gue jadi tau, selama ini orang-orang yang gue anggap teman ternyata tidak menganggap gue teman.

Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah.

Tinggal siap-siap aja nih diceramahin nyokap. Hehehe.

Hmmmmm.

Kok jadi serius gini sih postingan ini? Padahal niatnya ga begini loh, hehe.

Well, I did abandon my Esia. Sorry. Hiks

Gue sedang ngeliatin chord gitar di Nokia 9300 gue (yang sekarang udah dijual, huhu) dan meninggalkan hape Esia gue di atas sofa, yang bisa aja tiba-tiba didudukin orang dan mejret

So long, my Esia. I'm gonna miss you :*

--------------------------------

UPDATES:

Postingan ini gue tulis kemarin malam, tanggal 10 april. Besok paginya, tanggal 11 april, HAPE ESIA GUE KEMBALI!! Alhamdulillaaaaaaah! Ternyata si Esia di "simpenin" sama si temen satu tim gue si Kiza. Makasih ye za -____- Oknum-oknum lain seperti Hanne dan Kak Farhan juga disinyalir terlibat dalam kejadian "penyimpanan" ini. Yaudahlah. Makasih ye semuanya. Lumayan, pulang-pulang Esia gue batrenya penuh. Kapan lagi henfon ilang, terus balik lagi, batrenya penuh pula. Hehehehe.

What to Read

2010-04-09T21:56:00.002+07:00

Di rumah lagi ada BANYAK banget buku-buku yang belum terbaca.

Mulai dari buku-buku baru yang beli di diskonan Gramedia, sampe buku-buku kakak gue yang dipindahin ke rumah karena ruangan di asramanya udah terlalu sempit untuk buku-buku itu.

Beberapa buku baru ada yang gue tumpuk di meja belajar

Dari atas ke bawah
Komik Miiko, the Time Traveler's Wife, Negeri 5 Menara, Filosofi Kopi, Problem Solving 101, Jingga, Haji Backpacker, Captain Underpants, Captain Underpants juga, Ciao Italia! , If I should Speak

Ada juga buku-buku yang ditaro rak buku di ruang TV, gue susun begini

Kebaca kan judul dan pengarangnya? :P

Belom lagi gue juga sudah berniat akan meminjam beberapa buku dari temen-temen gue seperti Rectoverso nya Dee (yang gue sangat sesalkan ngga beli pas diskon gramedia) , Jangan Main-Main (dengan Kelaminmu) nya Djenar M Ayu, juga buku-bukunya Agnes Jessica yang sepertinya sangat menarik juga.

Hadeeeeh.
Jadi bingung banget nih mau baca yang mana dulu.

Semuanya seakan meraung, "Nisa, baca aku!! Baca aku!!!"

Oke yang barusan itu agak lebay.

So,
Dari buku-buku semuanya itu, ada yang kalian pernah liat? Atau udah pernah baca? Kira-kira yang mana nih yang lebih pantas untuk ~~jadi the next Indonesian Idol~~ dibaca duluan?

Sejauh ini, gue menahan diri untuk hanya baca 3 buku sekaligus : Time Traveler's Wife dan Filosofi Kopi dan Negri van Oranje. Yang terakhir itu ga ada di foto karena emang pinjeman dari @ekyekyyy. Buku itu baru aja selesai gue baca tadi siang, dan malem ini niatnya gue mau mulai baca Negeri 5 Menara. Hohoho.

Hmmmmm.

Weekend ini sepertinya gue akan tenggelam dalam buku-buku, selain tentunya dalam latian-latian basket, hehehe.

Kalo kalian lagi pada baca buku apa?

:D

Edeleyd Skay

2010-04-03T14:17:00.002+07:00

Inilah jadinya kalo lagi kepengen nulis, tapi ga punya bahan untuk ditulis.

Some said menulis ga bisa dipaksain. Oh, well, mereka mungkin benar. Tapi ga dosa juga kan kalo gue tetep nekat nulis? Hehehe.

Anyway.

Akhir-akhir ini gue lagi senang dengar lagu-lagu Adhitia Sofyan.

Sebenernya udah lama tertarik sama musik beliau, udah pernah download juga (he lets it out for free, guys. check out his website) tapi karena komputer yang di install ulang, semuanya pun hilang tanpa sempat didengarkan. Hmmmmh.

Beberapa hari yang lalu baru sempat download, dan dengerin lagi. Dan memang asik.

Gue emang tipe orang yang suka segala jenis musik yang asik. Apapun jenis musiknya, kalo enak didenger ya kenapa engga. Dan rata-rata musik yang gue denger semuanya enak-enak aja. Entah apa sebutan yang cocok buat gue. Awam, polos, bodoh, mungkin? Hahaha.

Hal yang gue suka dari Adhitia Sofyan ini adalah beliau menyediakan lirik lagunya! Ini asik banget, karena lirik lagu jadi penilaian yang sangat penting bagi gue untuk menentukan sebuah lagu itu asik atau engga.

Yaudahlah. Daritadi kayanya gue kebanyakan ngetik kata "asik" di postingan ini.

Ini lagu beliau yang paling gue suka, Adelaide Sky. Salah satu lagu beliau yang paling terkenal juga selain Memilihmu. Liriknya sedih juga :'( Semoga gue bisa merasakan hal yang sama, kalo jadi berangkat AFS nanti (nah loh ujung-ujungnya AFS terus, huahaha)

Oh, dan melalui lagu ini, gue nyadar bahwa "Adelaide" itu dibaca "edeleyd" bukan "edelayd"

Hahahahaha.

Okay, here goes the music. Enjoy! :)

Adelaide Sky
Music and Lyrics by Adhitia Sofyan

I need to know what’s on your mind
These coffee cups are getting cold
Mind the people passing by
They don’t know I’ll be leaving soon

I’ll fly away tomorrow
To far away
I’ll admit a cliché
Things won’t be the same without you

I’ll be looking at my window seeing Adelaide sky
Would you be kind enough to remember
I’ll be hearing my own foot steps under Adelaide sky
Would you be kind enough to remember me

I’ll let you know what’s on my mind
I wish they’ve made you portable
Then i’ll carry you around and round
I bet you’ll look good on me

I’ll fly away tomorrow
It’s been fun
I’ll repeat the cliché
Things won’t be the same without you

I’ve been meaning to call you soon
But we’re in different times
You might not be home now
Would you take a message
I’ll try to stay awake
And fight your presence in my head

der Klavierspieler

2010-03-28T19:33:00.002+07:00

Pianista

piyanist

ピアニスト

پیانیست

pianistas

píanóleikari

पियानोवादक

zongoristaként

הפסנתרן

피아니스트

pjanista

Піаніст

πιανίστας

pianistul

钢琴家

عازف البيانو

píanóleikari

пијанист

นัก เปีย โน

nghệ sĩ dương cầm

pianiste

pianis

der Klavierspieler

(photo is taken by Nabila Kariza.

Any kind of appreciation goes to her.)

(Anyway, hari ini pianis ini ulang tahun!

Happy birthday, Om!

Mungkin ga ya beliau baca blog gue? hehehe)

All About Steve

2010-03-26T06:51:00.000+07:00

Ada dua hal yang selalu gue lakukan kalo nonton DVD atau VCD di rumah:

1. Catet kata-kata yang bagus
2. Cari soundtrack nya yang keren

Begitu pun saat gue nonton All About Steve.

Beberapa hari yang lalu, gue nonton film ini di DVD hasil ~~rampokan~~ pinjeman dari sepupu gue.Filmnya drama komedi gitu deh, standar, super ringan. Jadi ada cewe geek (gue lupa namanya, diperanin sama Sandra Bullock) yang pekerjaannya bikin teka teki silang di koran lokal. Dia suka banget sama cowo namanya Steve (gue gatau diperanin sama siapa :P) yang kerja nya adalah kameramen TV yang selalu pergi-pergi keluar kota. Saking tergila-gilanya, si cewe ini sampe ngikutin si cowo kemana aja dia pergi. Sampe harus numpang truk, sampe mobilnya diancurin tornado, bahkan harus naik mobil yang udah dihancurin tornado itu. Wakaka. Tapi ending nya bagus, gue suka. Untuk lebih jelasnya, nonton sendiri aja deh, hoho.

********

Nah, kata-kata yang ya-ampun-bener-banget di film ini. Rata-rata ada di bagian akhir film.

"Don't ever change -- to anybody"

"On the journey of life, just find someone as normal as you -- if not a whole bunch."

"If you love someone, set him free. If you have to stalk him, he probably wasn't yours in the first place."

Nah, ini menarik nih. Perhatiin deh.

New York Times crossword editor, Will Shortz, says, "We have a natural compulsion to fill empty spaces." I like to think he means not just crosswords, but the empty spaces inside of us. That comes from making your way in a world, that doesn't always embrace unique. I tried to fill my empty spaces with words and puzzles- and Steve.

Kalo gue,
I try to fill my empty spaces with basketball, and him, who-cannot-be-named.

What about you? How do you fill your empty spaces? :)

******

Kalo soundtrack, ada 2 yang gue notice.

yang pertama, ternyata judulnya Love is Everywhere, penyanyinya Bob Schneider.
Lirik yang gue tangkep dan langsung bikin gue pengen nyari lagu ini adalah ".... And I don't know why life, it seems to be, so hard for dreamers like you and me...." Hohoho, yes, life is hard for a dreamer like me, hoho.

Yang kedua, judulnya Everybody Got Their Something yang ternyata dinyanyiin sama Nikka Costa. Liriknya yang ketangkep itu yaaa pas bagian judul lagunya. I do believe that everyone must have got something, including me! Hehehe.

Selesai deh. Berikut gue kasih lirik dan link youtube nya. Semoga suka! Have a guhreat day! :)

Love is Everywhere - Bob Schneider

Soon Yi was a pilot in the nationally known
Amazing ladies of the outer ozone
She didn't have no kids she didn't have no time
She was a woman of her word, she was a fighter of crime
She looked good in a hat, she had a natural way
With tools and no car she went to UCLA

And everybody said she was as crazy as a loon
And she was a girl she'd spend every afternoon
Sitting in her backyard pretending to be
A fighter ace in the Japanese military
She liked to make up her mind, she kept her feet in the air
She wore her heart on her sleeve, cause she'd found it there

And it was all well and good until she met this young man
A young pilot named steve with a beautiful tan
He spoke english and french and swam like a swan
He had a mouth full of teeth and more style than Cézanne
He could talk to the bees, he could breathe in the air
He wore his heart on his sleeve, cause he'd found it there

And they'd sit in the trees and they'd talk thru the night
While the blind moon swam in the pale starry light
And they talked and they crowed and they told what they knew
It was better than beer, it was all strange and new
There was grass all around, there was black up above
It was more than hello, it was something like love

And I don't know why life, it seems to be
So hard for dreamers like you and me
When love is, love is, love is everywhere

Everybody Got Their Something - Nikka Costa

My face to the sky
Dreaming about just how high
I could go and I'll know
When I finally get there

Taking of my glasses
Sun pokes through my lashes
And somehow I know
There's a time for every star to shine

Everybody got their something
Everybody got their something
Make you smile like an itty bitty child

People keeping score
Say better hurry up and get yours
Cause somebody else get your spot
Before you even dropped

Seek and you shall find
Everything in my own sweet time
I'll take my chances
With what I believe is only mine

Busy holding on
So the roof don't fly
Keep you from moving on
So get it right
Turn the tide over
Like a love song
Like a butterfly
Believe if you hand it over
You'll come out all right

Everybody got their something
Everybody got their something
Make you smile like an itty bitty child

Illuminate the silly things
Shed some light on all that's wrong
Everybody need it sometime
Sometimes the only thing you got
Is what makes you feel like
You're something else altogether
You have everything don't need
Another reason to be something
I've been on a ride
And caught up in the landslide
But I'm gonna spread my wings and fly...

Everybody got their something
Everybody got their something
Make you smile like an itty bitty child

There's a time for every star
There's a time for every star...

Saya Rindu

2010-03-24T13:07:00.001+07:00

Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya tak tahu apa yang saya rindukan -- kita bahkan tak sering bertemu. Saya tak pantas merindukan anda. Tapi saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Anda tak dapat dihubungi, anda tak dapat ditemui. Saya bisa apa? Menatap kotak pembodoh di depan saya, berharap anda muncul di dalamnya? Berharap anda merindukan saya juga? Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Anda seperti bintang. Kelap-kelip, melihatnya pun menyenangkan. Tapi tentu, tak kan pernah bisa saya raih. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Anda akan selalu menjadi mimpi saya. Begitupun tak apa. Begitu saja saya bahagia. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Lalu tulisan ini apa? Berharap anda membacanya? Lagi-lagi saya bermimpi. Saya memang pemimpi ulung. Tapi saya benar-benar merindukan anda. Bisakah kita bertemu dan tertawa bersama? Saya rindu. Saya rindu. Saya rindu.

Cemilan Diet

2010-03-22T09:45:00.002+07:00

Kemarin gue hunting cemilan diet di Giant deket rumah.

Yup, gue sedang menurunkan berat badan dan gue butuh cemilan diet.

Cemilan diet, ga semata-mata sehat, tapi juga harus rendah kalori dan menurut www.adailydoseofdieting.blogspot.com, gula dan saturated fat yang terkandung didalamnya itu ga boleh lebih dari 4 gram. Karena itulah sejak menurunkan berat badan, yang pertama kali gue lihat di kemasan suatu makanan adalah box Nutrition Facts nya, bukan label harga. Hehehehe.

Lanjut.

Target huntingan gue kemarin ada 2, biskuit dan kacang.
Dan setelah mengubek-mengubek rak biskuit dan rak kacang, ngeliatin semua nutrition facts nya, gue pun akhirnya memilih produk-produk ini. Mungkin bisa jadi pilihan temen-temen yang juga lagi nurunin berat badan, atau sekedar pengen cemilan sehat. Hoho.

BISKUIT

Tadinya gue berpikir untuk beli biskuit gandum yang lagi banyak iklannya di TV, seperti Roma Sari Gandum (semoga pada tau ya,gue udah ngubek2 google tapi ga nemu gambarnya) dan Jacobs Weetameal. Tapi ternyata, lemak yang terkandung di mereka itu lumayan tinggi, masih mengandung gula, dan seratnya sedikit banget, kalo ga salah cuma 1 gram. Padahal kalau emang produk gandum, harusnya banyak mengandung serat. Nah, dari sini keliatan kalo gandum nya itu cuma "main-main" biar bisa ditaro di iklan (ups, ekstrim).

Pilihan gue akhirnya jatuh ke 2 biskuit ini

Kiri: Monde Cream Crackers. Kanan : Khong Guan Cream Crackers

Menurut gue 2 biskuit inilah yang paling diet. Meskipun masih pake tepung terigu (ga nemu biskuit gandum yang 100% pake tepung gandum, ada yang tau gaK?) tapi seengganya udah ga mengandung gula dan lemaknya lebih rendah dari produk biskuit gandum mainan itu. Harganya pun jauh lebih murah. Rasanya? Belum coba. Tapi bagaimanapun, memang harus makan yang model begini kalo lagi nurunin berat badan. Hehehe.

KACANG

Ga susah cari kacang yang sehat. Karena pada dasarnya, kacang-kacangan itu sehat, kaya protein.

Salah satu prinsip utama dari program penurunan berat badan gue adalah pilih makanan yang paling dekat dengan bentuk aslinya. Dan pilihan gue jatuh pada kacang ini

Kacang Kulit Garuda

Kacang kulit ini bisa dibilang cemilan diet yang perfecto! (lebay). Sama sekali ga mengandung trans fat dan kolesterol dan gula. Dan rasanya pastinya enak dong. Produk ini juga (ngakunya) ga digoreng. Bener-bener perfecto! Hohoho.

Di tengah perburuan, gue menemukan cemilan diet yang lain

POPCORN

Yak, benar teman-teman. Popcorn bisa dimasukkan ke kategori cemilan diet kalo butter nya ga berlebihan. Tapiiii kalo popcorn karamel, popcorn keju, popcorn marshmallow (kemarin liat rasa ini merek Jollytime, LOL) wah itu mah, kalorinya gede banget neng ^^

Lanjut.

Untuk popcorn, pilihan gue jatuh ke produk popcorn ini

Belycs Popcorn

Sebenernya gue ga ngerti cara bikin popcorn dari yang mentah kaya begini. Biasanya gue pake ACT II yang udah tinggal taro di microwave hehe. Tapi logikanya, kalo pake yang mentah kaya begini, butternya bisa kita atur sesuai keinginan, jadi bisa pilih yang sehat dan bisa diatur sesedikit mungkin, makin diet. Hehehe. Gue juga emang lagi pengen belajar masak-masak. Selain itu, produk jagung kering mentahan begini pastinya jauh lebih murah dari ACT II. Jadi saya pilih yang ini! Hehehe.

Buat temen-temen yang maunya beli ACT II, produk Act II yang lolos kualifikasi cemilan diet menurut gue itu Act II Light Butter. Kemarin gue juga liat ini. Lemaknya rendah dan ga mengandung gula.

Plus plus plus

Karena stok di rumah gue menipis, kemarin gue juga beli ini

Ligo Havermout

Sejak nurunin berat badan, gue udah jarang banget makan nasi. Gue ganti pake oatmeal/havermout ini, atau kentang rebus. Hehehe.

STOP

ada satu hal yang mau gue ingetin buat temen-temen, terutama yang lagi nurunin berat badan.

Biarpun namanya cemilan diet: sehat, rendah kalori, rendah lemak, rendah gula, bukan berarti kita yang sedang menurunkan berat badani ini bisa makan cemilan diet seenaknya. Kalau berlebihan, kalori, lemak, dan gula yang masuk ke tubuh sama aja seperti cemilan biasa -- apapun yang berlebihan ga akan berdampak baik. Jadi kita emang harus tetap sabar dan rela berkorban (eiyah). Seperti yang pernah gue bilang di salah satu postingan gue, "Losing weight is about being patient and stop acting emotinally." Gaya abis ga gue.

Udahan ah. Semoga berguna ya! See you :D

".....sincere Ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

2010-03-21T21:07:00.002+07:00

Gue semakin males nonton I********N I**L , sebuah ajang pencarian bakat di salah satu stasiun TV swasta.

Agak ironis. Karena gue dan Ines sudah merencanakan untuk nonton bareng acara ini live di B**** S****** sejak hampir 2 tahun yang lalu.

Okay.

Selain karena salah satu (mantan) juri acara tersebut, Indra Lesmana, udah ga jadi juri lagi, beberapa saat yang lalu, gue baca blognya Hanny T Lesmana, yang merupakan istri sekaligus personal managernya beliau.

Awalnya, gue lagi iseng masuk ke link-link yang ada di blog gue. Salah satunya adalah websitenya Tante Hon (this is how she usually called. Well, seengganya oleh gue. LOL) ini.

Gue baca-baca semua yang ada di situ, meskipun sebenernya udah sering juga gue baca semuanya itu (mungkin udah mulai hapal kali LOL). Sampai akhirnya gue tiba ke bagian Blog. Ternyata ada 2 post yang belum pernah gue baca sebelumnya. Padahal setau gue blog ini udah ga diurusin sama yang punya. Ya udahlah ya. Gue pun baca 2 post itu.

Nah, salah satu post itu ternyata adalah "curhatan"nya tante Hon tentang Indra Lesmana yang tiba-tiba aja "diputusin" sama R**I untuk jadi juri di I********N I**L.

Okay, ga penting ya sensor-sensornya ini? Hohoho. Mendingan pada langsung baca aja deh di sini

http://web.mac.com/honhonlesmana/honhonlesmana/blog/Entries/2009/12/27_THE_INGLORIOUS_BUSTED.html

Adoh, Nis, panjang banget, bahasa Inggris pula.

Hahahaha ya ya ya, saya mengerti perasaan anda. Saya juga merasakan hal yang sama.

Yang pasti, tulisan ini menarik banget. Gak nyangka di kalangan profesional pun masih banyak orang yang bertindak ga sopan, ga sesuai etika kaya gitu.

Moral value : Dari sekarang, gue harus membiasakan diri untuk bertanggung jawab, menghargai orang lain, dan bertindak sesuai aturan yang udah gue ketahui.

Tulisan ini juga "menantang" banget kalo menurut gue. Bahasa yang dipake susah banget coy :P :P Gue agak susah nangkepnya. Kayanya gue baca 3x, baru bener-bener ngerti. Asyik juga kan bisa belajar. Hehehe.

Oke, terakhir, kata-kata favorit gue di postingan tersebut

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

yang katanya Bang Google Translator itu artinya :

"apa pun di dunia ini lebih berbahaya daripada ketidaktahuan yang tulus dan teliti kebodohan."

Oke. Jangan mudah percaya. Tolong artiin sendiri. Atoga tanya ama yang jago bahasa Inggris.

Off you go! See ya! :)

A Come Back

2010-03-21T19:32:00.002+07:00

Setelah menghilang dari dunia perblogan selama kurang lebih 3 bulan, saya, Khairunnisa Usman a.k.a Nisa Usman a.k.a Nisaflame memutuskan untuk kembali menulis blog secara rutin.

Dan gue akan menjawab beberapa pertanyaan yang mungkin muncul di benak teman-teman setelah membaca keputusan saya tadi.

Kenapa nge blog lagi, Nis?

Ide awalnya sebenernya gini. Akhir-akhir ini, setelah SEPERTINYA gue akan benar-benar berangkat AFS (SEPERTINYA loh ya. masih belum pasti juga :( ), gue jadi teringat dulu awal-awal gue daftar AFS. Gue inget dulu jadi pengen dan ngiler banget untuk berangkat AFS salah satunya adalah karena baca blognya ka Rinta yang peserta pertukaran pelajar juga. Jadi gue mikir, wah, kalo gue beneran berangkat AFS, gue harus tulis juga nih. Biar bisa memacu semangat anak-anak angkatan bawah gue untuk bisa AFS juga. Nah, ga mungkin kan gue tiba2 nyampe di Amerika gitu (amin) trus tau-tau nulis blog lagi. Ga akan bisa, pasti belum terbiasa. Jadi niat gue adalah membiasakan menulis dari sekarang. Lagian, kayanya lebih seru kalo proses keberangkatannya udah didokumentasikan dari sebelum berangkat gini, jadi bisa nulis-nulis persiapannya juga, hehehe.

Kegeeran banget lo nis. Emang udah pasti berangkat?

Hahahahaha. Justru disitu menariknya. Kalo gue beneran berangkat (amin) yaaa gue akan ceritain kehidupan gue 11 bulan di sana (yang sungguh negaranya pun gue belum tahu pasti) dan setelah balik kehidupan gue gimana. Gue bisa lihat perubahan diri gue sendiri, salah satunya dari tulisan-tulisan itu. Kalo ternyata gue ga berangkaaaat, ya gue akan cerita kisah gue untuk tetap bisa survive di Jakarta, dengan pandangan orang-orang yang menganggap bahwa gue SUDAH PASTI akan berangkat ke Amerika untuk AFS. Meskipun geu sudah berusaha untuk menceritakan tentang AFS ini kepada sesedikit mungkin orang. Meskipun gue selalu, se la lu mengatakan kepada setiap orang yang terpaksague ceritakan kalo gue itu belum tentu berangkat ke Amerika. Belum tentu berangkat AFS. Gimana nantinya gue harus bisa survive dengan orang-orang yang nanya, "Eh, Nisa, ga jadi berangkat AFS?" atau "Nis, kapan ke Amerikanya?" atau bisik2 depan gue "Eh, tau ga, si Nisa kan tadinya udah hampir mau berangkat AFS tapi ga jadi." Begitulah. Seru kan? Hehehe.

Oooh, iyadeh. Terus kenapa lagi? Cuma itu doang?

Hmmmm, nulis itu sesuatu yang berguna. Pasti kalo gue terbiasa nulis akan ada manfaatnya nanti. Dulu gue rajin nulis, sekarang engga. It's a good habit, so why not? :)

Yah, cukup lah untuk postingan kali ini.

Mohon doanya deh yaaa semoga gue bisa beneran balik kali ini.

I'll see you guys soon. Bye bye bye!!

OH MY GOD IT'S 2010 !!!!!!!

2010-01-01T10:05:00.002+07:00

OH MY GOD IT'S 2010 !!!!!!!

Whoaaaaaa, sudah tahun 2010!!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAAAAR!

apakah ini berarti gue sudah tidak nge blog selama setahun????

course not, it was only...... mmmm about 2 months? mmm whatever.

Okay, so many things have passed since the last time I'm being here (pardon my english. kebanyakan nonton film bule akhir2 ini, jadi pengennya bacot inggris, padahal ga karuan)

Mulai dari nonton konser Indra Lesmana Kembali Satu di HardRock Cafe,

Juara POPNAS 2009 di Jogja,

surprise party di ulang tahun ke 17 gue,

sampe terakhir, nilai raport gue jeblok, banget.

biarkanlah mereka jadi kenangan tahun 2009, yang kalo gue inget-inget, geu akan senyum-senyum sendiri, dan disangka gila sama kakak-kakak gue (ini sering banget kejadian loh huahaha).

okay, sebenernya, gue udah sering banget pengen nulis, bahkan udah bikin draft nay segala gue. tapi hmmmm, buat gue, writing is about the mood. kalo lagi pengen nulis, gue akan nulis, kalo engga, ya engga. kalo di tengah-tengah nulis tiba-tiba mood nya ilang, ya gue ga akan lanjutin nulis lagi, dan sayangnya, yang terakhir itulah yang lebih sering kejadian. Huahahahaha......

So, resolusi tahun 2010: mmmmm banyak, lebih dekat sama Allah, lebih baik di sekolah, lebih baik di basket, dan tentunya, menghidupkan kembali blog ini.

Tapi seperti kata seseorang yang gue follow di twitter (okay, I follow TOO many people on twitter. fortunately, most of them are great :D ) :

Apapun resolusi tahun baru lo, yang penting adalah usaha lo untuk mencapainya.

He's right, isnt he?

:)

Anywaysss, ngomong-ngomong twitter, I've been tweeting A LOT on the pas few months. twitter pula lah yang perlu di salahkan atas ke absenan gue di dunia blog. seperti kata @radityadika, twitter membuat gue merasa, eh, kayanya udah nge blog deh. Hahahaha. yang belum tau twitter gue, silahkan ke sini.

yaudah lah, stop nge bacot. Mood nulisnya juga udah mau pergi. So, I'm going now. Have a happy new year! :) :)

*ANYWAYS
minutes after writing this post, I realized that today is MY BLOG FIRST ANNIVERSARY!!!!! HURRRRAAAAAAAAY, happy birthday bloggy (wth) !!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU! YOU'VE BEEN MY VERY BEST FRIEND! AAAAAA (okay stop this. you can go now, readers)

Kembali Satu Music Video

2009-10-15T10:04:00.002+07:00

Kemarin, gue baru saja menghapus widget video teaser nya Kembali Satu di sebelah kanan blog gue ini. Video itu udah lama banget. Pasti udah banyak yang nonton. Jadi gue hapus......

Dan ternyata, wow, kebetulan banget, hari ini video klip mereka (full track loh, bukan sekedar teaser lagi) udah muncul di youtube.

Video klipnya unik sekali, lucu, dan hitam putih. Sederhana, tapi keren!

Buat yang masih belom tau Kembali Satu itu apa (aduh, basi banget deh lo) bisa klik www.kembalisatu.com hmhmhm

Okelah, tak perlu banyak bacot, enjoy the video, Guys! :)

(untuk liat langsung di youtube klik ini)

Am Really on Google's Top List! Yeay!

2009-10-14T13:45:00.003+07:00

Beberapa waktu yang lalu, gue sempat "ditipu" oleh laptop gue. Gue mengira salaht satu postingan di blog gue ini beneran ada di Google's top list alias ada di atas-atas dari hasil pencarian Google. Tapi, ternyata laptop gue salah. Postingan tentang kejadian itu ada di sini.

Nah, ternyata, salah satu postingan gue ada yang beneran masuk ke Google's top list, dengan keyword yang tepat tentu saja, ehehehehe.

Jadi, kemarin gue ngobrol dengan Bang Tondi, salah satu pelatih basket terkemuka (eiyaaaa wakakaka). Bang Tondi tiba-tiba nanya apakah gue masih aktif nge blog. Gue shock banget Bang Tondi nanya gitu, karena selama ini kita ga kenal dekat, kok dia tau gue nge blog. Ternyata, dia bilang dia pernah cari info tentang basket POPNAS di Google, dan bertemu dengan salah satu postingan gue yang ada kata-kata "latihan POPNAS" nya!! Gue pun segera googling dengan keyword "latihan POPNAS" and guess what, this list's coming up! (click for larger image)

I'm on the sixth! Yeay!

Wakakaka, kewren yaaaaa. Ehehehehe.

Buat yang mau liat lengkapnya, silakan ketik "latihan POPNAS" on Google, or simply click this thing.

Lebih lanjut tentang POPNAS, alhamdulillah gue terpilih masuk tim basket putri DKI Jakarta untuk Pekan Olahraga Pelajar Nasional 2009 a.k.a POPNAS 2009. Kejuaraannya mulai tanggal 2 November di Jogja. Doakan kami juara yaaaaa!!! :) :)

Okelah, that'd be all. Have a great day! See y'all, Readers!

They Read All the Books But They can't Find the Answers

2009-10-13T13:38:00.006+07:00

Wow, its been days since the last time I blog. Hmmm, and its been ummmm weeks since the last time time I blog, in English. Oh well, am gonna force myself to write in English now...

Okay, short updates ummm

Well, the mid-term exams week in my school has just over. I dont know how the result's gonna be, how many remedial I'm gonna get. I just dont really care.

And for the 11th grader, we got TESIS coming up this Thursday. TESIS is a rrr some kind of research project. So we're gonna stay at a mmm some kind of village in Tasikmalaya for 3 days (thu-fri-sat), and we're gonna do some research in it, about the people live in it. Yeah, sort of that. But I am not going to do this TESIS thing (in the other way, I'm not going to that some kind of village) as I got 2 basketball practices on thursday and friday. Oh, and they are not regular practices. They are for the province team. Yeah, I proudly say that I'm gonna play for my province, DKI Jakarta, and we're gonna go to the national on November. Wish us luck.

Oh yeah, I know. My english is getting worse... Stay there, will you Readers?

Okay, sooo mmm whats next.

Oh, I went to Bandung last weekend. The reason I went to Bandung this time is pretty much the same as the reason of the last time's : Basketball. Okay, so I got this basketball try out in Bandung, with the province team, and mmm, eventho the tryout didn't work well (we played shockingly bad, and lost against the Jawa Barat province team), we're so happy to stay there for 3 days, to be together most of the time, to swim, to Karoke at Paris van Java, and most of all, to shop! Hahahaha. Everything seems to be so chep here in Bandung. Some of us bought tees, watches.... Well, me? I bought bunch of Kartika Sari and a brand new backpack! Yahoooy!

(the picts gonna be here later, guys!)

Okay my English is so bad, and I keep forcing myself to write, whats' worse?

Rrrrr, and I am not in a good mood now, really. Feel so lost, so ruined. I really think that I am nothing. I got nothing, got nowhere to go, got noone to tell. Hmm.....

Orite..... am gonna share the song I listen to recently. It's John Mayer's "No Such Thing". Listened to its guitar intro on my Mom's BB few days ago, I suddenly remembered this song, wanted listen to it again, and looked for its lyrics. And hey, it's got great lyrics! I do love John Mayer.

And you might wonder about the title.... well, its just one of the favorite lines on No Such Thing. I've met so many people who's just like that. Hope you guys're not one of them. :)

Okay...... am going now. Enjoy the song and have a great day. Bye people!

I'd like to think the best of me
It's still hiding up my sleeve :)

John Mayer - No Such Thing Lyrics


Welcome to the real world, she said to me
Condescendingly
Take a seat, take your life
Plot it out in black and white
Well I never lived the dreams of the prom kings
And the drama queens
I'd like to think the best of me
Is still hiding up my sleeve

They love to tell you
Stay inside the lines
But something's better
On the other side

I wanna run through the halls of my high school
I wanna scream at the
Top of my lungs
I just found out there's no such thing as the real world
Just a lie you've got to rise above

So the good boys and girls take the so called right track
Faded white hats
Grabbing credits and maybe transfers
They read all the books but they can't find the answers
And all of our parents
They're getting older
I wonder if they've wished for anything better
While in their memories
Tiny tragedies

They love to tell you
Stay inside the lines
But something's better
On the other side
I wanna run through the halls of my high school
I wanna scream at the top of my lungs
I just found out there's no such thing as the real world
Just a lie you got to rise above

I am invincible
I am invincible
I am invincible
As long as I'm alive

I wanna run through the halls of my high school
I wanna scream at the
Top of my lungs
I just found out there's no such thing as the real world
Just a lie you've got to rise above
I just can't wait til my 10 year reunion
I'm gonna bust down the double doors
And when I stand on these tables before you
You will know what all this time was for

Kayon - Tree of Life, the Concert

2009-10-06T12:32:00.007+07:00

Setelah lebih dari 1 tahun menunggu, akhirnya Hari Sabtu, tanggal 3 oktober 2009, gue menonton live performance nya Indra Lesmana. Hal ini terjadi di konser Kayon (grup jazz Indra Lesmana bareng Gilang Ramadhan dan Pra Budi Dharma) yang bertajuk Tree of Life di Teater Salihara, Pasar Minggu.

Konsernya mulai jam 8 dan gue terlambat sampe sana, udah sekitar jam 8.15. Tentunya karna kegiatan rutin gue setiap malam minggu, latian basket di Senayan. Hhhhhh.

Pas masuk ke teaternya, mereka udah mulai main dan semua kursi udah keisi, bahkan udah banyak yang duduk di lantai pinggirpinggir stage. GUe udah pasrah ajatuh, rela deh nonton harus sambil jinjit-jinjit deket pintu masuk.

Tiba-tiba ada mas-mas petugas Salihara yang sangat baik hati menawarkan ke gue, "Dek, mau duduk di bawah ga tuh?" sambil nunjuk ke space kosong di lantai di sebelah piano.

"WAH MAU MAS!" gue pun langsung nyelonong masuk melewati orang2 yang tengah menonton.

Dan, seru banget, dari tempat itu Gue bisa melihat permainan piano Indra Lesmana yang supeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer dahsyat, dari jarak cuma 1 meter doang! Parah! I can still feel the trembles even now :) Tengkyu mas-mas petugas Salihara!

And the concert, Man, it was a blast!

keren banget banget banget! kalo boleh minjem kata2nya Ka novan, 3 orang ini emang trio orang gila dalam per-freejazz-an umat manusia. Dan ya, mereka emang bener2 gila. Gue udah mendengar lagu-lagu mereka lewat CD, dan selalu merasa penegn tepuk tangan di setiap akhir track. Saat itu, saat akhirnya gue bener-bener bisa tepuk tangan abis permainan mereka, rasanya luar biasa! Dan, seperti yang sudah gue duga, CD mereka itu ga ada apa-apanya dibandingkan dengan permainan mereka malam itu. Oh God..... okay, gue ga akan pernah bisa menjelaskannya dgn kata2, pokonya konsernya ajib banget. Kereeeeeeeeeeeeeen!

Dan, di tengah konser, saat dada gue tengah meluap-luap karena penampilan 3 orang yang luar biasa itu, gue berjanji pada diri gue sendiri, untuk ga pernah melewatkan konser Indra Lesmana lagi. Terutama yang sama kayon. Mereka, wah, bener-bener awesome!!!!!!

Dan yak, konser akhirnya berakhir. 1 jam setengah emang ga cukup untuk performance sekeren itu. Tepuk tangan para penonton juga kayanya ga abis abis. Banyak juga yang teriak "We want more! We want more!" tapi trio itu ga kembali dari backstage. Berbondong-bondonglah kita semua keluar.

Saat desak-desakan ke luar teater, gue dan beberapa penonton lain menyadari ada yang aneh dengan tuts-tuts piano, ada bercak-bercak merah......

MAN, TERNYATA ITU DARAH NYA INDRA LESMANA!

ternyata kuku nya ada yg patah di lagu terakhir, dan darahnya berceran di tuts2 piano itu. lebih parahnya lagi, ditengah konser Indra Lesmana bilang kalo grand piano yang dia mainkan adalah pinjaman dari seorang bernama jepang (gue lupa) dan piano itu harganya kira-kira 3 M.

Wah,

Piano, 3 M, bececeran darah.

Emang cuman si Indra Lesmana yang boleh begitu.

Kalo gue mah, pasti udah digetokin sampe pendek, wekekeke.

Gue juga beli oleh2 untuk si Ines. Dia sangat sangat ingin menonton, tapi ga boleh karena hari senin nya mid test (gue juga sih tapi gue nyantai banget ya wuakaka). dan ternyata, setelah dia ingat2, ternyata mid test dia masih 2 minggu lagi. Payah juga. Wakakaka. Pasti jadi pelajaran berarga buat dia.

Yaudah, biar dia agak gak sedih dikit, akhirnya gue bawain oleh2 Limited edition CD Kayon - Tree of Life yang cuma dijual pas konser ini beserta tanda tangan pianisnya. wekekeke.

Yang menyebalkan adalah, hmmmm, gue tidak sempat foto bareng Indra Lesmana, uhuhuhu. Beteeeeee! Foto2 yang gue ambil pas performance nya juga sedikit dan kualitasnya jelek. Sedikit, karena, serius deh, agak susah foto2, gue terlalu menikmati konsernya (laga lo nis), dan jelek, karena gue foto pake hape Dopod. Nah, ga tau kan itu hape apa? hmmm. Bodohnya, gue bahkan ga tau gimana cara mengirim foto-foto itu keluar si Dopod dengan bluetooth. Lengkaplah.

Tapi, gue akhirnya bisa bertemu dengan Istrinya Indra Lesmana, Hanny T Lesmana. Wah..... Senang loh gue! Behind every great man, there's always a great woman. And there she is, right behind her great husband :)

Dan, Gedung komunitas Salihara sendiri tempatnya sangat menyenangkan! nyaman banget. meskipun letaknya sangat tidak strategis menurut gue. Sangat jauh dari rumah gue, dan di pasar minggu itu daerahnya panas, gersang, dan macet banget! sumpek dan jalannya kecil. Gedung ini jadi kaya mata air di tengah gurun pasir wekekeke.

Anyway, foto berikut diambil sama seseorang bernama Witjak Widhi Cahya dan ditaro di fanpagenya Indra Lesmana di Facebook. DAN TERNYATA GUE KENA! WUAKAKAKAK! (norak)

thats meeeee!!!!!! (click for larger image)

Dan, seperti janji gue, gue tidak akan melewatkan penampilan mereka lagi. Jadi, postingan seperti ini akan masih terus ada. Tunggu yah! :)

Rasa?

2009-09-27T16:45:00.000+07:00

Apa yang kita ingat dari kenangan -kenangan yg terekam oleh kita

Nama tempat, nama permainan, nama teman, atau kejadian?

Adalah hal hal yg mungkin lambat laun mungkin bisa terlupa

Tapi tidak dengan rasa

Rasa senang, Rasa sedih yang akan terus kita bawa

tanpa mudah tercecer di sepanjang perjalanan kita

Dan semakin kita dewasa,

kita akan menyadari

bahwa diantara kenangan kenangan tersebut

ada satu rasa yg paling besar

yaitu cinta

Karena ketika satu persatu cerita berhenti dan menjadi kenangan

Cinta terus bergerak seiring harapan yg menyertai dia

Cinta yg tak terlihat oleh mata,

tak teraba oleh tangan,

tapi dia ada..

Bahkan sejak kita belum bisa mengucapkannya

Cinta yg sejati

cinta yg ketika kira sudah pergi

ternyata cuma bersembunyi menunggu untuk kembali lagi

Ditulis atas kerinduan akan semua kenangan, dan semua rasa yang ingin dirasakan kembali, serta orang-orang yang terlibat di dalamnya. :)

puisi diambil dari film "Love"
sumber:
http://monika-kwee.blog.friendster.com/2008/10/love-movie/

Best Days

2009-09-25T11:30:00.008+07:00

Sebelum banyak bawel, dan sebelum terlalu basi, saya akan mengucapkan, Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri, untuk teman2 yang merayakan. Maaf lahir batin yaaa, mungkin kadang tulisan saya suka rese dan menyebalkan. Maafkan tulisan-tulisan saya yaaa (loh loh)

okay...

Sebenarnya udah ada materi untuk di tulis, (sejak 1 minggu lalu malah kayanya), tapi hmmmm, sejak beberapa hari yang lalu gue belum ada gairah untuk menulis, dan sekarang, saat jiwa gue bergelora ingin menulis, eh, hape gue, tempat gue menaruh draf2 tulisan, malah rusak.... jadi ga bisa nulis :(

Jadi gue hanya akan taro lagu ini di sini, akhir-akhir ini jadi sering denger lagi, dan malah jadi suka sama penyanyinya, si Graham Colton. Orang nya cool ternyata, lagunya asik asik lagi, khekhekhe.

Okay lah, enjoy the song, people! Have a nice day! :)

Don't wait 'cause no one can tell you it's too late
'Cause these are the best days

BEST DAYS
by Graham Colton

With everything I've ever done
I'd give it all to everyone for one more day
Another night I'm waking through
Another door I walk into, I can't break

And it's a winding road
And it's a long way home

So don't wait for someone to tell you it's too late
'Cause these are the best days
There's always something tomorrow
So I say, let's make the best of tonight

Here comes the rest of our lives

I count the steps, the distance to the time
When it was me and you, so far gone
Another face, another friend
Another place, another end but I'll hang on

And it's a winding road
And it's a long way home

So don't wait for someone to tell you it's too late
'Cause these are the best days
There's always something tomorrow
So I say, let's make the best of tonight

Yeah, let's make the best of tonight
Here comes the rest of our lives
Rest of our lives

It's a winding road
And it's a long way home

So don't wait for someone to tell you it's too late
'Cause these are the best days
There's always something tomorrow
So I say, let's make the best of it

Don't wait 'cause no one can tell you it's too late
'Cause these are the best days
There's always something tomorrow
So I say, let's make the best of tonight

Yeah, let's make the best of tonight
We'll make the best of tonight
Here comes the rest of our lives

Long Distance Friend

2009-09-19T10:27:00.002+07:00

Punya teman jarak jauh itu seperti punya gebetan.

Kalo lagi jauh,
berhubungan akrab sekali melalui segala jenis teknologi, dan rasanya pengeeeeeeen banget ketemu.

Tapi kalo udah ketemu,
malah jadi takut dan bingung mau ngapain.

Hahahaha :))

Begadang + Latihan Basket = Tepar!

2009-09-14T21:48:00.001+07:00

Sejak weekend lalu, gue selalu tidur di atas jam 2 pagi.

Hari Jumat tidur jam 5,
Hari Sabtu tidur jam 2,
dan Hari Minggu tidur jam 3.

Ke-begadang-an ini membuat gue bangun saat menjelang zuhur dan menyebabkan badan gue menajdi lemas.

Okelah kalo selanjutnya gue bisa santai-santai di rumah karena sedang libur sekolah,
permasalahannya adalah : GUE HARUS LATIHAN BASKET. hampir. setiap. hari. di bulan. suci. Ramadhan. oh. my. God.

Jadwal Latihan (sejak weekend lalu) :
Sabtu : latihan IM
Minggu : off
Senin : latihan POPNAS
Selasa : latihan IM, sparing vs IM kelompok umur 16 tahun
Rabu : off
Kamis : latihan POPNAS, sparing vs tim POPWIL
Jumat : latihan futsal bersama tim IM
Sabtu : latihan IM

Begadang, dilanjutkan dengan latihan basket sambil puasa sore harinya (ingat! gue puasa!), membuat badan gue remuk, kepala gue pusing, dan terserang rasa lelah yang berlebihan setelah latihan.

Saya benar-benar tepar!

Begadang, terus bangun siang, juga menyebabkan gue lemas dan tidak bisa belajar.

Padahal banyak yang seharusnya gue pelajari liburan ini. SAT, TOEFL, IELTS....... dan juga menyicil belajar untuk midtest.

Yak.

Gue masuk sekolah tanggal 1 oktober,dan tanggal 5 nya gue ujian tengah semester, a.k.a midtest. Oh Godddddddddddddd.

Okay, moral value nya adalah: BEGADANG ITU TIDAK BAIK! Tidak boleh dilakukan meskipun sedang liburan. Gue juga pernah baca kalo begadang itu ga baik untuk kesehatan hati dan jantung. Kalo ketemu artikelnya, akan ku post di sini.

Dan, malam ini rencana gue adalah tidur jam 11, jadi besok bangun pagi, dan mungkin gue bisa belajar. khikhikhi.

Ya ya ya gue tau postingan ini sangat diary-ish dan tidak menarik. Ini udah selesai kok! Hehehe. Selamat liburan yaaaa! :)

Tukang Teror itu Hebat

2009-09-13T11:13:00.003+07:00

Wawancara Tukul dengan Indra Lesmana di acara "Bukan Empat Mata" :

Tukul : Mas Indra, apa betul sering diteror sama orang-orang karena komentar pas jadi juri di kompetisi nyanyi itu?

Indra Lesmana : Iyaa..... biasanya saya dikirimi sms-sms oleh para penggemar fanatik yang marah karena idolanya saya kritik. Itu ulah para penggemar fanatik aja sih.

Yang ada dipikiran gue : GILE! HEBAT BANGET TUH ORANG, BISA DAPET NOMERNYA INDRA LESMANA! hebaaat hebaaat :P

ghahahhahahahha.

Selamat berhari minggu semuanya! :) :) :)

Ojek! Ojek!

2009-09-11T17:28:00.001+07:00

Gue ga suka naik ojek.

Whew.

Agak aneh ya untuk orang yang tinggal di Jakarta seperti gue. Setau gue, banyak banget penduduk Jakarta yang mengandalkan alat transportasi ini untuk menghindari kejamnya kemacetan ibukota.

Gue punya alasan kuat untuk tidak naik ojek,

GUE JIJIK SAMA TUKANG OJEKNYA!

Gue ga nyaman banget ya duduk dempet dempetan sama si tukang ojek yang buka siapa-siapa gue. Boro-boro kenal, liat aja baru pas naik itu kan! hiiiii. Belom lagi kalo tukang ojeknya bau, ih hueeeeeek.

Topik ojek ini tiba-tiba muncul pas ngobrol-ngobrol abis latihan basket kemarin malam. Setelah gue mengemukakan ke-jijik-an gue pada ojek (yang tentunya dilanjutkan dengan kekagetan temen-temen gue), Kak Lisa, pelatih gue, bilang kalo Beliau juga jijik naik ojek. Beliau pun cerita pengalaman beliau naik ojek.

Jadi, waktu itu, di daerah senaya, beliau sangat terpaksa harus naik ojek. Alasannya klasik, karena mau pergi ke tempat yang jaraknya dekat, tapi kalo jalan kaki masih kejauhan juga. arena jijik dan takut tukang ojeknya bau, beliau pun udah nyiapin wangi-wangian buat di ojek. Dari ilustrasinya kemarin sih, beliau nyemprotin minyak wangi ke saputangan, buat dicium-ciumin di ojek. Pas naik ojeknya, eh wow, ternyata si tukang ojek nya wangi! Wanginya wangi bayi lagi! bhahhahahahha. Kata beliau sih wanginya kaya zwitsal gitu. Keren abis. Perjalanan pun aman nyaman tenang cepat, dan yang terpenting, wangi! hahahaha.

Gue sendiri pernah sekali naik ojek.

Waktu itu gue naik ojek dari belokan ke arah sekolah gue yang selalu jadi titik kemacetan di pagi hari. Karena ga mau naik ojek, biasanya dari situ gue akan jalan kaki. Tapi pagi itu, nyokap nyuruh untuk naik ojek aja. Sebagai anak yang berbakti dan baik budi, gue nurut dong.

Ojek emang merajalela banget di situ. Mereka merajalela karena kemacetan ke arah sekolah gue yang juga merajalela.

Yaudah, geu naik ojek, and everything was so fine. Aman-aman aja, dan si tukang ojek tidak bau. Gue sangat beruntung.

Yang bikin kesal adalah pas bayarnya. Kata-kata merajalela untuk para tukang ojek yang yang beroperasi di pagi hari menuju ke arah sekolah gue samasekali ga berlebihan : mereka bisa seenaknya nentuin tarif.

Gue bayar pakai 10 ribuan, dan dikembaliin cuma 2 ribu perak. Padahal jarak yang di tempuh ga jauh, paling cuma 500-700 meter (ingat, biasanya gue sanggup jalan kaki loh!) Karena udah mau telat, ga ada waktu untuk memprotes keputusan sepihak si tukang ojek, jadi gue terima aja.

GUe rasa hal ini juga sering terjadi sama anak-anak 8 yang lain yang juga naik ojek. Kalo udah mau telat pasti ya udah ga mikirin uang. Yang penting ga telat. Dan itu, adalah keuntungan besar untuk para tukang ojek. ckckck.

Daripada naik ojek, gue lebih suka naik angkutan umum, atau bajay!

Yeay! Bajay!

Naik bajay lebih nyaman, duduknya lebih enak (ga dempetdempetan sama abang nya :P), dan tarifnya sama aja kaya ojek.

Posting berikutnya tentang bajay? Hehehe, engga dulu deh. Enough tentang alat transportasi yang unik-unik di Jakarta ini.

Okay, off you go! Have a great weekend, People! :)

CD Kembali Satu

2009-09-05T13:56:00.003+07:00

Setelah tertunda beberapa minggu, akhirnya kemarin gue berhasil mengambil CD Kembali Satu di Bintaro.

HOOORAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!! (girang)

Okay, gue akan menulis tentang CD Kembali Satu ini, tapi karena gue sama sekali ga ngerti musik (contoh nyata: gue gabisa bedain suara yang fals dan yang ga fals, dan gue suka hampir semua lagu yang gue denger, LOL), jadi tulisan ini janganlah dijadikan referensi untuk hal apapun. Terlebih gue adalah sangat nge fans sama Indra Lesmana, jadi tulisan ini harusnya sih ga akan objektif. waakakakakak.

Okay, pas pertama CD nya hinggap ke tangan gue, yang gue lihat cover nya dong, yamasa gue langsung dengerin. Cover nya keren coy! Sebenernya bentuknya bukan cover, tapi lebih ke semacam booklet. Isinya banyak foto-foto yang ciamik, yang gue yakin hampir semuanya dijepret sama Hanny Lesmana. Design cover album juga kerjaan beliau. Emang top banget deh istrinya Indra Lesmana ini.

Pas sampe rumah, baru gue dengerin deh lagu-lagu nya. Kesan pertama denger lagu-lagu di album ini adalah : biasa. Menurut gue kok biasa aja, keren-keren. Mereka semuanya penyanyi-penyanyi yang hebat, lagu-lagu yang mereka bawain keren, dan pastinya musiknya Indra Lesmana keren, seperti biasanya. Jadiiii, semuanya keren. Bhahaha.

Karena album ini isinya sebagian besar (7 out of 9) lagu-lagu lama bikinan Indra Lesmana yang diaransemen ulang, gue berpikir mungkin harus dibandingin dengan lagu lama nya dulu untuk melihat ke-spesial-annya, gue pun googling mencari lagu-lagu yang versi lama, terus denegrin lagi yang versi Kembali Satu, hasilnyaaaaaaa, baru kelihatan deh spesialnya. Aransemen nya kereeeeen, musiknya kereeeeeeeeen, Indra Lesmana memang jagoan! Tapi ya tetep, semuanya keren-keren! heheheheheh

Oiya, beberapa bulan lalu, pas tau track list album ni, geu langsung penasaran sama lagu Terindah Biruku. Lagu ini paling familiar di antara lagu-lagu yang lain, versi aslinya ada di album OST Rumah Ketujuh, album Indra Lesmana favorit gue (favorit, karena album ini lagu nya enak-enak semua, mungkin karena musiknya paling mudah gue cerna. Isi album ini swing jazz gitu. hehehe).
Pas dengerin Terindah Biruku di album Kembali Satu ini, wow. Gue kaget. Lagunya jadi aneh banget. Diaransemen parah banget, dijadiin rock gitu. Dahsyat!!

Satu hal yang bikin gue kecewa dari album ini, bahkan sebelum album ini rilis, adalah Indra Lesmana ga ikutan nyanyi. Ga asik banget. Gue suka suaranya Indra Lesmana, keren!

hehehehe, buat yang ngiri dan pengen punya CDnya juga, silakan beli di toko kaset terdekat uhahaha