02. Love Situation

He brushed his arms to her. It’s unknown whether it’s intentionally or on purpose. But she was anxious. Nobody could read anyone’s mind, but she liked to pretend like she did. Then, her mind playing her some tricks.

Why’d he did that? 

He’s so close

Did he realize that this distance is exceptionally too close?

Wait he did that again…

Now he’s humming,

No, he’s singing…..

Wait seriously?? 

This is very sweet if he’s really trying to tell me something

Should I do something too

I’m so anxious!

Nobody could read anyone’s mind. But her mind unconciously faked it to her, that, what she thought of him was true. She never wrong when reading about normal stuffs before, so there’s no special reason that this is not right.

She let her mind playing tricks in her head.

She’s really fond of magicians too, maybe that explains a lot.

01. Runaway Train

She was sitting beside the brown colored river at near the front of her house. She was strumming her guitar and mumbling some incoherent words for anyone who’d passed by. But there’s no one passed by. She’s not entirely alone though, there was grey cat near her. No one of them trying to notice each other. The woman was drown in his own thoughts. She didn’t focused her eyes anywhere, her eyes just wandered aimlessly.

She strummed her guitar again and again. Mumbling some words, which for her is a song of her heart. She didn’t need anyone to agree for her way of thinking about her song. She closed her eyes sometimes, and back to reality that’s so attached to her mind. Her research proposal.

Everyone in her class almost finish it. But she was like the most laziest person in the world, with stubborn principle. For that, she barely finished the proposal.

Time never waits, someone at the past said. She agree. But somehow, if time is a person, she would locked him (or her) inside his room and keep him/her for herself.

She opened her eyes, sang louder with more melody in it. She knew, playing guitar and singing bad song actually just her runaway train from her work. She knew, she had to do it now. Or there will be no later. She had to return to her first station and took the right train.

But,

one more song, she said to herself.

And the guitar was strummed.

What to Buy? Stupid, Long and Irrational Conversation of My Life

Being not so rich really means a thning for me. Not for its social aspect, but for the economic aspect of mylife itself. I;m not trying to brag about my money-managing ability since I’m quite a excessive/wasteful (I’m not sure this is the right word for ‘boros’) with my money. But You can say that at the same time, I’m stingy.

Other than for food and transportation, I think it’s really a problem to buy things on my own. Let’s say to buy some t-shirts. I definitely won’t buy it as easily as I buy mineral water when it comes to choosing it. I will have a loooooong thinking and debating in my head, about the garments, pictures, and especially price. Is it worth it?

I have a blue T-Shirts with Smurfette print, and I bought that for 60.000 or 80.000 Rupiahs. Usually, that’s the kind of T-shirt that I won’t buy. It’s already too expensive for me. The only thing that makes me bought it is Smurfette print that I won’t found anywhere with that kind of price (it’s a distro made, so it’s not official, yet the print has a good quality).

That’s how I’m being wasteful and at the same time being stingy. Maybe for most people, it’s just a normal way of thinking when it comes to buying things. But as for myself, i’m feeling grateful for this deficiency I have, bacause at least this makes me normal.

At the other times, I refuse to buy a best seller Book: Ken Follet’s World Without End. Because it comes in 2 volume, and each come in veery thick book (almost 4 times of normal Quran–that’s how I describe the thickness of the book). I refuse to bought it. Reason at that time: I don’t know whether the book is good enough or quite my genre. Also I haven’t read the first novel, Pillars of the Earth. I watched it tho, but I think it’s best for me to read that first.

Maybe that’s just my justification for NOT BUYING one of the most tempting book for my own standard. It cost more than 250.000 rupiahs. It’s already expensive for me. I can buy 500 meatbals with that.

So the next day I went to a book renter, and search for Pillars of The Earth. I found it! and surprise to me that the renting fee 20.000 Rupiahs (as I remembered, kind of hazy memory I have) for a week. You know what I do? I didn’t rent it. Reason: Too expensive. My justification: Why bother reading it when I already watched it. The story won’t change tho.

Maybe someday, or later, I’ll buy World Without End series DVD for 8.000.

That’s how my mind works towards money.

But I’m not trying to push that image, since I can be so stubborn too.

I refuse eating a complete lunch cost me 8.000 and 20 minutes later spent 10.000 for meatballs.

That’s where I’m being irrasional.

Permainan Tradisional VS Game Console, Dochi?

Sebelum mulai baca, catet dulu ya (terserah mau pakai apa, polpen boleh, keringat boleh, liur boleh), aku nggak pernah punya game console macam Nintendo, Play Station dkk. Game paling bagus yang pernah aku mainin pake komputer doang judulnya Devil May Cry 4. Selain itu aku juga main Pump It Up walaupun baru level 7 (ngga pake dicepetin broooh!!!).

Nah, jadi siapa yang suka main kelereng? ada yang suka main gobak sodor (asin)? benteng? petak umpet(ajak tukup)? besihi? balogo (bukan lego)? dakuan? Ayo, apa lagii???

Daftar aja semua nama permainan anak-anak tradisional di Indonesia ini. Dapet berapa? banyak! ratusan, bahkan mungkin mencapai seribu (di Kalsel, yang tercatat ada 35 permainan).

Seru banget ya dulu. Yang ringan aja nih, misalnya main benteng. kalau udah kalah mempertahankan benteng itu rasanya mau lompat ke jurang (pppfft!) terus kalo ada temen yang ketangkep mungkin besok udah nggak temenan lagi (“kamu sih larinya lambat, kita kalah kan jadinya!”).

Selain itu pas main lompat tali (aku nyebutnya tali ulai), kalo jumlah pemainnya ganjil, pasti pada rebutan jadi anak bawang. Terus kalo bikin kalah, entar besok-besok nggak diajak main lagi.

Pernah juga main perang-perangan pakai pelepah pisang? Jadi ntar pas pistolnya ditembakkan (pelepah pisang di belah n ditarik), bunyi nya kaya AK49 (halah…) yang pelatuknya di tarik nonstop.

Waaah seru banget rasanya.

Hari gini masih ada anak yang main kayak begitu?

Masih kok.

Tapi kok nggak kedengeran banyak lagi? Biasanya main di rumah.

Main dirumah, mainnya Playstation, Nintendo, xBox, tab, komputer.

Kenapa lebih milih main yang kayak gini ya?

Dalam post kali ini mungkin aku pengen coba ngasih beberapa alasan ya, kenapa anak kota jadi cenderung gitu. Kalau salah, maaf deh, soalnya ini kan nggak berdasarkan survey review atau gimana. (but one day, mungkin bakal bikin beneran)

1. Larangan Orang Tua

Larangan orang tua jelas berperan besar. Perannya di mana? Sering nggak denger orang tua yang bilang begini? “Ayo mainnya di rumah aja, kotor nanti,” Sering. Nah, sekarang, kalo main di rumah bisa main apa? Bisa banyak kok. Misalnya petak umpet (main kelereng nggak bisa dilakukan dalam rumah karena memerlukan permukaan tanah yang kasar biar kelereng nya nggak meluncur jauh, selain itu pada beberapa permainannya juga perlu bikin lubang di permukaan tanah. nggak lucu kalo misalnya lantai dirumah dilubangin dengan alasan: “kita mau main kelereng mah”). Main petak umpet kan lari-lari tuh, berisik lagi lari-larinya, habis itu, misalnya, si anak nabrak vas bunga.

Woah. World War Z.

Si mama bakal marah-marah dan akhirnya game over.

See, ini ngelimit varian permainan banget.

 

Alhasil, permainan yang bisa bikin anak hiperaktif (apalagi cowok) anteng itu adalah mainan semacam mobil-mobilan, remote control (yg mana cukup mahal, cuma 1 jenis game dan masih memiliki kemungkinan vas mahal pecah), atau 1 game berisi ratusan game (yep, ini jaman Nintendo yang kasetnya gamenya masih berupa kotak).

2. Tekanan Sosial

Wuih, berat amat bahasanya. Yah, soalnya analisis inipun dihasilkan dari pikiran yang berat, berat sebelah pas lagi mikirin latar belakang skripsi (dehhh…). Tekanan sosial macam apakah? Jadi, main permainan tradisional, umumnya mainnya sering beranggotakan banyak setan-setan kecil (lha, iya kan? pasti ada tuh yang sok jago yang omongannya nyelekit tuh <ketahuan korban>). Rame sih, tapi kadang nggak semua anak, cukup baik, untuk nerima kondisi kekurangan dan kejahatan kenakalan temen2 yang lain.

Ada aja tuh kondisi di mana si anak A, misalnya pendiam, nggak terlalu unggul di kemampuan psikomotorik, pengen juga ikut main. Eh tapi entar ada anak yang usil yang suka ganggu, then he will withdraw, si anak A menarik diri.

Cengeng? Wajar kok! Wong anak-anak! Hanya saja tinggal ada dua kemungkinan, antara dia bakal mencoba ikut main lagi, atau sama sekali antipati sama segerombolan teman sepermainannya dan akhirnya di rumah aja. Main sendiri deh. Ditinggalkanlah si permainan tradisional.

Bedanya permainan tradisional dengan game. Udah bisa main sendiri (misi menyelamatkan putri dari jamur jahat misalnya). Biasanya kalo berteman pun cuma bisa main sampai dua orang, (beda lagi dengan online gaming, entar satu paragraf ndiri). Nah, bukannya itu sudah ngurangin kontak dengan anak-anak setan nakal tadi. Tenanglah hati si A. Hiduplah ia dalam dunia pipa, mengambil bunga biar bisa warna-warni……

belum lagi, permainan tradisional biasanya punya aturan. Yang aturannya kadang bisa diganti sesuai kesepakatan.

Bukannya jahat sih, tapi anak kecil juga udah bisa berpolitik loh. Kalo udah lagi pengen menang, entar peraturannya diubah-ubah, jadi si politisi kecil tadi lah yang menang (gila, sereeeem… kok aku tahu? Aku salah satu pelakunya :p).

Beda sama game modern a la game console ituh. Peraturannya satu, yang udah ada dalam data CD Game. Diubah boleh, tapi nggak bisa seenak udel juga biar bisa menang terus… This kind game give you security from injustice.

Beda banget kan?

3. Bakat

Mungkin ada yang bertanya-tanya, bakat macam apa? Pernah main Angry Bird? Itu kan gerak parabola. Bisa diitung2 ato pake perkiraan, karena memang yang kita kontrol lah yang menentukan kejatuhuan rezim babi hijau. Tapi bayangin deh, permainan semacam itu di dunia nyata….. Kita perlu ngelempar burung merah nya, belum pasti otot kita cukup kuat, terus nggak bisa ngontrol kelengkungan, atau si babi lari sebelum lemparan burung nyampe. It’s a mess!

Ada kok yang bisa ngontrol lemparan, atau Pitching. Orang-orang semacam itu sudah jadi pitcher atau pemain rugby jadi quarterback (iya kan? Namanya bener quarterback ya?). Bakat. Dan orang-orang yang bisa main Angry Bird? juga bakat.

4. Standar Kekerenan

Mungkin bagi beberapa orang, gamer itu dianggap nerd dan sangat nggak banget. Tapi coba deh, kamu main game DoTA. Itu tarafnya udah worldwide. Dan keren banget rasanya kalo bisa bertengger dalam daftar 10 pemain terbaik mingguan.

You can’t get something like that when you play injit-injit semut.

5. It’s Simply Good

yang mana yang simply good? ya Devil May Cry 4 lah! sama main Pump It Up! Fiesta. Seru banget kan tuh, bisa berpetualang menyelamatkan cewek yang diculik oleh iblis, pakai kemampuan fisik dan gaib. Terus bisa nginjak semua pad di PIU dengan pas dalam kecepatan tinggi sampai ratusan combo. You simply immersed in it, karena gamenya bagus dan addicting. macam PIU gitu kan arcade gitu ya, jadi nggak abis-abis. (oh oke ini sudah self rambling banget).

 

Begitulah. Jadi berikut merupakan alasan-alasan perpindahan dari permaianan tradisional ke permainan yang lebih modern. This is not a serious post, but this is not joke either. Mungkin akan lebih banyak poin yang dianggap jadi faktor pemicu migrasi ini, namun karena aku hanya pemain biasa-biasa aja jadi kurang tahu banyak.

Apakah faktor migrasimu ada di atas?

 

 

 

(P.S. I’m considering writing a more elaborate post about this)

Arashi: My Cute Boys, Wait, Maybe, Adorable Uncles?

So, maybe this is the most important 5 person beside my family and friends. This 5 person, this Super Boys (believe me I’m calling them this with very reasonable reason). Arashi.

Arashi is idol group from Johnnys, consist of 5 adorable man. when this group formed at 1999 they were like 16 -19 years old. The members areNinomiya Kazunari, Ohno Satoshi, Aiba masaki, Sakurai Sho, and Matsumoto Jun.

wild

Ohno Satoshitumblr_mqsp7yYrmp1r44hmoo2_r2_500

Ninomiya Kazunari
neen

Sakurai Sho

IMG_0011a Aiba Masaki

file aiba

Matsumoto Jun Jun

What they do? As Johnny’s group, they mostly dance and sing in groups with encouraging lyrics and happy music (even it’s for a sad song. Weird? No, it actually kind of beautiful. You should listen to their song “Beautiful Days”). If you want to call them boyband, you’re not wrong but it will what they actually are, since they are much more than that.

They were like trained to be good entertainer, all kinds of it. Why I said that, because they all also do some variety show and game show (of their own). Sometimes they also actors for movies and J-Drama. And this happened not just because they are famous for being able to dance and sing (and good looking), but it’s kind of their job to do all of them. Being an idol. (If you’re into Japanese pop culture, you’ll just understand by being an idol).

Why they caught my attention? Well, actually I never really into J-Pop to begin with, I was more into J-Rock and manga soundtracks, but never more. So I never really know who Arashi is (and wasted so many years knowing anything about them). Until a friend give me Gantz Movie (he;s not even an Arashi fan). The movie starring Ninomiya Kazunari as lead role. And he caught my attention for his actings and I just want to know other movie that he’s in. I was dumbfounded when I found him to be the main cast with Ken Watanabe in  Letters from Iwo Jima, Hollywood Movie by Clint Eastwood. I watched that movie years ago, and I remember I was also caught by the role he played (but without having good internet connections that time, my infatuation just stops right there).

So, I did my homework, doing research on him and lately I found out thet he’s also in this Idol group called Arashi, he have this solo perfomance with piano in his concert. And also sing a ridiculous song with funny movement, but amusing enough to made me curious about them.

Lately I found that they are really have talent. Ohno Satoshi, the leader, is an artist (he paint and sculpts and make his own art exhibitions), Sho is a graduate students from Keio University and he’s also a newscaster in national TV, Aiba Masaki have his own show with animals (you hardly found an idol who willingly play with various animals, for example, lions and all, every week), and I think he gets more knowledgable about animals than most of normal idol. And all of this people can stil become one as Arashi because of Jun persitency to keep this group solid. He’s the Mr. Perfectionist for Arashi. I doubt if it’s not because of Jun they could be this big right now.

This big? What I mean about them being big? They are the national Idol for japan. Almost everyone ever heard of Arashi in Japan, their face is like everywhere. They’re the face of Japan when it comes to international tourism (the governement use them). They also the only group that held annual concert in the biggest concert venue in Japan. Tokyo Dome? No! Not that one! It’s the Kokuritsu! Tokyo Dome capacity only 55.000 people, meanwhile Kokuritsu capacity is 70.000 people.

But this garandiose is not what I makes me love them. Sure this also makes me proud to know such a group, but the real thing that makes me love them is their quirkiness and idiocy.

like this:

tumblr_m3qd05XDfI1rve1hqo1_500 tumblr_lmvuu6jjT31qekzeoo1_400

I think you’ll understand 🙂

(This is just my short blabbering about Arashi, I never get time to write this until now, and it’s a short one, just to make sure the unknown readers won’t be bored reading a very biased opinion)

All pics credits to owner (I forget where I take them, sorry >,< mostly from tumblr)

Hotel Oblivion, Finally!!!

I’m not really an amekomi fan (that’s how japanese call american comics, but I’m not japanese), but this one really grows in me: The Umbrella Academy. The series was created by Gerard Way. It’s been 2 title so far, and I’ve been waiting for the third one since 3 years ago.

That’s why I’m so surprised to know that there will be continuation of this series! Yeeaaayy!!!

The first series is Apocalypse suite, the second one is Dallas and the third would be Hotel Oblivion. From the way Gerard mention about the Hotel in this interview, it actually reminds me of the apartement in Kungfu Hustle.

I can’t wait for thi issue to come out. It’s been a long wait for this to happen. I was almost convinced that maybe this issue will never happen at all, but then I found the updates. Sooo happy!!

A little glimpse of the Hotel (taken from comicsalliance.com)

Image

 

 

Different Person, Different Mind

It’s just recently that I knew that normally people interact with each other without any intention. And in this matter, I kind of lost.

So long that I live this way: I won’t call other people unless I have something of important with them and only them can help. Why I do that? because if I keep calling them when I don’t really need them, I’m afraid I will be nuisance for them and they’ll hate me for disturbing them for not so important matters. that;s why I always keep distance of myself from others. I simply don’t want to disturb them.

But then someone told me, don’t just interact with people when you need them.

And I was confused.

This pattern of social behaviour is weird for me. So am I supposed to disturb people so I’m not be labelled as ‘only came when in need,’ friend? I always keep my self not to disturb other people, then somehow they actually want to be disturbed with matters that they don’t really have importance or interest of? You kidding, right?

And I’m not acting this way because I’m just using my friends, I’m respecting them for who they are and what they’re capable of. Actually I was trying to imply that by asking them, it means he/she’s the only one who can help me with their ability. and that’s what I mean by appreciations.

But no, the sociaty demands, you cannot just do that, Ina. you should interact more, like talking about life and stuff.

So, I’m an introvert. One cannot expect me to just blurt out anything about my life to just anyone.

There’s so much defense come from me till I realize…

Hey, I do talk to people.

Kind of talk that doesn’t involve any requests for them from me.

but when did that happened? Why I myself didn’t eve realize it?

I kept thinking, until I found the truth:

I talk stuffs that interesting for me.

unfortunately, people hardly understand what I said, because things that interesting for me rarely interesting for them.

his makes me draw myself and started to be a quiet person. makes me rarely speak. And it’s bad for my image, because apparently, I’m acting like, opportunist person to friends.

 

The solution: create some chit chats with friends, about whatever, evenit’s not interesting for me, I could always just pretend that it is. But that’s really a problem, to pretend to be someone you not.

I should admit that normal people with normal interest won’t act like me, because they naturally could talk and connected with people. And unlike me because I have this very specific interest to other things, it makes me hard to connect with the others and finally become like this.

To choose faking myself is the worst choice I have ever made, and I’m still trying to figure out how to fit in this society. I hope later I could bring myself to be able to talk naturally with people, without pretending to be someone I’m not.