Cerita lebaran

I guess, this is what Hari Raya/ Eid Festive is all about. To gather your extended families.

A simple reminder, how important silaturahmi is.

I can’t remember, when was the last time I visit this house, to my mom’s oldest cousin. There were only two of them lived in suburb Jakarta, others still live in Riau or Sumatra Barat. The only brother she would like to talk to. Dua Adik ibu laki laki, tapi yaa gitu deh, ngga nyambung aja ngobrol ama ibu saya.

Since my mom passed away, I don’t think I’ve visit this house again, dad didn’t remind me either. Well, until last March, when his beloved wife of 53 years passed away, which make this year, his first Eid Fitr without his spouse.

If it is not because of hari raya, I don’t think I’d visit him on purpose. Gathering with his family members whom I barely met.

Seeing him getting old (81 years), lost almost all his teeth, barely walk, etc. talking to him for few mins, asking the same questions over and over again, broke my heart. But probably I’d be like that if I live long enough to hit that number!

Anyway, quick catch up with old relatives is nice, it warms my heart.

Akhir kata,

Taqaballahu Mina Wa Minkum

Eid Mubarak 1440H

Enjoy the rest of the holiday!

datuk pangeran and his family

PS : yes, I cooked Sayur Godog ala mamanya Anis again this year, I even made my own ketupat. Duh, ribet masak ketupat ya, ngga lagi lagi deh 🙂

Making Ketupat

Tidak berjudul

Tadi siang, sepupu saya dari pihak almh mama berpulang karena sakit. Saya diberitahu ipar lewat whatsapp.

Awalnya, saya masih mengira Tante saya (ibunya) yang berpulang, sampai saya baca berita itu sekali lagi.

My heart sank to the very bottom.

After years not having any communication, I did text her last week. our first chat after so many years…and unfortunately our last.

Saya menanyakan no telpon tante saya, salah satu kakak ibu saya.

Jahatnya, saya tidak menanyakan kabar blio. Kalau lihat IG sih, life as usual.

Kabar yang saya terima, blio sakit jantung. Theoretically, a female who still get period less likely to get heart attack.

Well, I was wrong. Almh memang ada kelainan jantung dari kecil, kalau ngga salah sampai tinggal kelas karena lama tidak sekolah jaman dia SD. We are about the same age, she’s few months older than me.

I haven’t erased our whatsapp chat, and I looked at it again

She was waving her final good bye 😦

Tried to find ticket to either Pekanbaru or Padang, sold out. Adapun baru tanggal 1 jumi dengan harga tiket lebih mahal dari ke Eropa!

Selamat jalan uni, say hi to my mom if you see her.

Jangan remehkan, pria yang naik angkot itu…

Ceritanya, saya sama beberapa teman mau ngopi di pojokan jalan Tulodong Atas. Kita punya setengah jam free time sebelum jam istirahat berakhir. teorinya. Prakteknya suka molor…hahahaha

Kita jalan kaki nih, terus ketemu dua anak kinyis kinyis a.k.a generasi milenial ….anak kantor juga. keduanya perempuan. Kami ajak gabung.

Yang satu, seketaris direktorat kami sebut saja Andrina 😉 – memang nama sebenarnya. Satu lagi temannya, sebutnya saja Reni.

Andrina memperkenalkan Reni ke saya yang ruangannya beda lantai.

“Mbak, boss-nya Reni cakep lho!!!” Katanya setengah promosi

“Ohh, pak siapa?”

“pak Andi” (tentu, bukan nama sebenarnya…)

“Ohh… tau! Dulu dia dan istrinya sekantor sama saya. kos-kosan saya dulu sedaerah sama kos dia dan pacarnya — yang sekarang jadi istrinya” saya nyerocos tanpa titik koma.

“Dulu tiap pagi, Andi jemput pacarnya ke kos. Terus mereka jalan kaki bareng sampe ujung jalan raya, naik angkot sama sama ke kantor. Saya suka nunggu angkot bareng mereka. Hampir tiap pagi dulu suka ketemu”

“Dulu kapan mbak?” Tanya mereka antusias…

“Duluuu banget, kalian masih TK kali…17 tahun lalu lah…”

“Oooo soo sweet” sahut mereka serempak.

Tiba tiba Andrina nyeletuk “tuh Ren, kalau ada cowok ke kantor naik Kopaja jangan loe remehkan! 17 tahun lagi bisa jadi dia naik BMW”

Reni dan saya ketawa-tawa.

PS : Mobil Andi itu memang BMW. 17 tahun lalu dia naik angkot ke kantor :))

Akhirnya Kopdar!

How many of you FINALLY met your online-friends ( Tinder, Ok Cupid are exceptional tho! ) after befriended for almost a decade?

Oh well, I’ve finally met Riduan from Malaysia tho.

So, I forgot who were visiting whom at first , yet, I always refer to Riana’s blog for book of the week – later -month – later year 😀 *blame twitter and Whatsapp and IG, they somewhat more fun!*

Besides, starting that year, I barely found an interest blog. My (online /blogger) friends seem stop updating their blogs. FB and twitter offered more pleasant experiences.

Back in 2010, I remembered we exchange my -family traveling – book with her Yasmin Ahmad DVD, thru my dad. Dad worked in the same building with her, hence the barter process took place. No Go-Send services back in that year.

Stillllll….we never met in person, keep each other posted thru whatsapp tho. Sometimes I wonder, how big Jakarta is! Jakarta seluas apa sih sampe orang susah ketemuan.

When my mom was very sick then passed away, during the mourning process I talked to her, as she had lost her mom as well. For healing process. Losing parents at any age is hard. I tell you 😦

Yahhh begitulah pertemanan blogger, making friends thru blogging is unique, right? So close, yet seems so far away #apasih

Like any other blog you regularly visit, of course you enjoy a piece of her life and interest. We both born in January 😉 #penting

Fast forward, I’ll flying somewhere where she’d travelled before. I contacted her again. during finding out what to do, where to go, we figured, now we are working in the same area.

So, finally, I met this lawyer / lecturer / aspiring traveller (watch for her next adventure ) during heavy rain in Dapur Ciragil!

With Riana

We should do it again, Riy!

Ps : my first impression after seeing her for the first time “loe mungil banget ya mbakkkk” 🤣

Photographs

Last weekend, I cleaned my family old photographs, 20-30 years old printed photographs that require photo-album then a drawer to place them. How I bless digital life! I threw away many old pics, mostly pictures of my parents’ acquaintances, less likely my dad wants too see those pictures again.

My favorite old pictures, of course, our family vacation! I do realized where “ada rejeki lebih kepakai untuk liburan” gens comes from.

Extra money always went to a trip…in my dad case. He took us for annual vacation. At least once a year. We already went to Gili Trawangan in early 90’s when the island was very very quite and isolated.

I remember asking dad why he kept our old family car Suzuki Esteem for almost a decade while our neighbors changed theirs every 2-3 years, he said he better used his bonus to take us around. Priority then.

Even he could afford another family car, he choose not. Saya disuruh naik Kopaja kemana mana. I use to hate it, but somehow that explains why sampai saat ini ngga suka nyetir :)) Unlike any other commuters living in big cities, I don’t enjoy being inside the car, both as a driver and passenger.

Anyway, Of coursee….like any trip, taking a photo is A MUST! Since it was a camera-rolled film era, harus irit pakai Fuji film isi 36-nya! :)) we had to save those film! Hence, for me having self portrait was really a privilege at that time.

Then I found these pics. It was taken during our trip to Perth. I was 17-18, I guess.

To save film (camera), I had to take a picture on the same frame with my sister, while my brother —- being the only son in the family had a privilege having a self portrait! Duh! :))

Fremantle – Perth

Dan sekalinya dapat kesempatan bisa foto sendiri-sendiri, it was Chao Praya at the background! Ngga ada beda sama Sungai Batanghari-Jambi! :)) :))

Chao Praya

Dan yang namanya lihat foto foto lama, seeing pictures of your old relatives who no longer around us gave shivers.

Girls

My late mom and us in Colorado.

My eyes some-what get wet, everytime I hear this song.

We keep this love in a photograph

We made these memories for ourselves

Where our eyes are never closing

Hearts are never broken

And time’s forever frozen still

November, is the month of her birthday.

The Notebook

Biar sekarang sudah jamannya digital, I still write on Notebook. Dari 10 tahun lalu, notebook favorite saya tetap sama.

Memang sih, harganya di atas rata-rata. Itu pintar pintar alokasi expense saja sih 😉

Moleskine yang sekarang, kecil saja. Segenggam tangan ukurannya. Sudah 3 tahun punya ini.

Waktu saya tweet tentang diary hardcase ini, teman saya Ariemega nanya isinya apa.

Ngga penting penting banget rupanya.

Draft itternary Eropa Trip *excuted*

Draft untuk Kasus Financial Planner

Akhir tahun 2015, saya ambil sertifikasi Financial Planner. Rencana awal mau kerja freelance saja, tapi tetap harus presentasi suatu kasus kalau mau join firma. Long story short, saya cemen. Takut gagal. Tidak diteruskan cita cita ini

Übung machte Perfekt

Latihan Bahasa Jerman. Kalau ada daily quiz di instagram atau twitternya DW (DeutschWelt) biar tidak lupa saya suka tulis lagi. Hahahaha.

Termasuk THINGS TO DO

task list

Ini waktu mau pindahan, bolak balik rumah lama-rumah baru lelah benar.

Things For Sale

wspesifikasi barang-barang yang mau dijual :))

Termasuk mimpi mimpi seperti ini

persiapan dana haji

Sapa Tau ke Itali

Notebooknya sisa 2 halaman lagi. Tapi saya sudah beli yang baru sih.

Dekil Sekali

sampai dekil banget noteboknya.

Ada yang masih pakai notebook untuk menunjang aktivitas sehari-hari? Atau nulis draft novel kehidupan lah :))

PS : forgive my ugly handwriting. Kadang saya juga ngga bisa baca tulisan saya sendiri.

Story from Primary School three decades later

oh my, such a long title!

Anyway, last two Ramadhan, I wrote about my most memorable Ramadhan . One of them is when I went to Catholic School and had to do “Retreat” or Retret in Indonesia, during Ramadhan. Long Story short, I was invited to my Primary School whatsapp group about a year ago.  Sebenarnya itu grup SMP, dimana masih satu yayasan dengan SD saya. Tapi karena orangnya itu itu juga, yang disamain aja grupnya. 

One of them turn 40 last May, she made a little celebration by inviting old friends and teachers on Ifthor time. She’s not a muslim but she wanted all her friends to come.

After 3 decades later, I finally met the humble Ibu Elizabeth – our Catholic Study Teacher! One who woke us for Sahoor during retreat and dismiss us for Ifthor in the middle of mass. I said thank you for her patient, there were 8 of us (moslem students), and she woke us one by one.  And she replied

“sudah kewajiban saya. Dosa donk saya kalau ngga bangunin kalian. Itu kan kewajiban agama kalian” – That was my obligation, it would be my sin, if I didn’t wake you up. (fasting) is mandatory in your religion…she said.

How I was very happy, to see her as healthy as I remembered her, 28 years ago.

Bu Elizabeth and I

Happy to reconnect with them again! 

There we are, my friend who played tak jongkok, galasin, hide and seek, main karet, kasti, etc during our recess time, or simple stepping each other foot and said “Sepatu Baru Nih yeee – kenalan donk” – every time we found our friends had new shoes.

owh, kids grew up in 80’s! 

Ms Elizabeth is the one of the far right wearing pink.