Worse Weekend Than Being Quarantined

Whassssssssssupppppppp worrlddddd....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nah, that's not a nice intro. I failed once again.

Today's weekend, as even every desperate protozoa knows.... but truth spoken, it's not a good one for me. Weekend is supposed to be the time we students or non-students have fun or at least kicking back and enjoying the days, right? Who disagrees with me please raise your salary (?).

Anywayy, I'm having a slightly bad mood because of the overloaded homework the teachers gave to my class, and they don't even give a damn that until the next Wednesday the whole school is having final-term exam. I think teachers are just KINDA lazy to give us tasks on the early days before this exam period catches up, and WE have to pay for them. If not, it's a fail for all of us.

The tasks I'm talking about is the real deal. By 'real deal' I mean not that they're important but it's one hell of job for something not really important. They require handy skills and teamwork, which is not the stuff we can do in a rush like this -- studying for exam as well as doing handicrafts. Wanna know what they are???

I don't seriously think any of normal people wants, so I'll just shorten this up. Maybe my wandering classmate found this blog and saw this post and then squeal in their mind "Oh darn! I totally forgot about this homework!"
First homework to be announced was a subject to Cultural Study. We were grouped into six people at each group and what we need to do is performing the Cha-Cha dance on next Saturday. This task is actually pretty considering, because we got a month and two weeks to rehearse the basics and developing dancing styles.... but my lazy group haven't even practiced the basic steps yet. -______-

Next work I haven't done is... Geography articles!!! I need to search for earthquake-prone areas on earth, and it would be a piece of cake because know what? My country could be considered as one of the most earthquake-prone area (if it is spelled right). I supposed to collect it last week but I haven't printed all the articles yet and the necessary device is unfortunately broken. Hell yeah.

Another one to add the list? I'll give ya two: handicraft work and robot-programming task. The handicraft task was given after the teacher came back from a town in Java and bought some ethnical handicrafts, and then we have to make their copy by ourselves. This usually is a team job, but now she wants us to do one for each person... and the deadline is Monday.

About the robot-programming task, it could be the most annoying one ever. The teacher gave us that task last Saturday, and today is the last day we could collect it. Guess what? Nobody had done it yet. I've worked about it with my group (yes, it's group work) but apparently due to lack of time, we only managed to do the programming. The teacher wants us to make a presentation and paperwork and video-recording out of it... so only the program wouldn't work. -____-

That's my annoying sharing for the day. I'm sure it's not a pleasant stuff to be written in a blog or to be seen by people, but I just can't help it. My weekend's a mess!

Despite mine, I want everyone else to have a nice weekend! :) Happy weekend, guys!

Bitter Taste

Alright, so today I wanna babble about friendship. I ain't gonna whine by telling nonsense like 'real friends should...' or 'I need friends like...'. Nobody's perfect, and perfection is boring. It's totally better to go with unexpected things through life.

Anyway, I don't know exactly where to start, but I just feel like writing today. Isn't it better than me posting Deftones' "7 Words" lyrics here? It would be a darned full page of explicit content.

I've always been the kind of jerk who acts immature to my friends and classmates. I would be the last in the class to notice someone's brand new shoes, though he/she is one of my closest friends, and if it's not because of Facebook, I'd totally forget my pal's birthday. Despite so, I still expected them to remember my birthday and pay attention to my new shirt. See? This is my problem.

I'm naive and sincere. Not bragging by implying so, what I meant by sincere is that I can't fake a smile, can't fake a frown, can't fake a cry. I can't pretend to be interested in a chat when I'm actually not. I can't laugh if I don't find a joke funny. That sure seems like something every people would do, but it's not that simple. I figured there are things we need to pretend to make our social life runs smoothly. Perhaps laugh at a new acquaintance's joke so we can be friends...? Even that I'm not laughing, I would smile and tell the person I'm amused. You know, making a sophisticate impression? *can't believe I just wrote that.

Next problem, I'm not a fun person unless I really know you. I'm objective to any kinds of conversation, but there's this mental power that keeps me barried with my own thoughts until I get to know you better. This is caused by my appearance that I look like a total nerd. I'm not. I'm a lazybone. I don't study everyday. I rarely face my studying desk other than opening my laptop to play games or browsing internet. I can listen to Linkin Park or Metallica all day long without feeling dizzy but can't bear a single 500-page novel in the same day. I have dirty mind. I draw, I paint, I play sports, and I do things to my heart's content without considering others. Shortly, I have the characteristics I need to be a typical boy. But I'm on opposite gender. So my problem now is with fate.

I'm quite annoyed that in my high school days I'm treated like a nerd. Not that I'm bullied or ignored. Everyone is nice, but they don't see me as a friend. They see me as an information agent. Sure, I'm above average regarding academic stuffs, but that doesn't mean you can walk away after I finished answering your physics questions! *cries* I don't have a friend I can share stories with, or someone who could accompany me to school cafeteria... Well, that kinda sucks. I can survive that and make friends out of ALL of you!! Muhaahahahh.
I never have whined about it, though. When people leave me alone, there I am, alone enjoying the banging music on my earphone. When they come for me (ha pun intended), I'll be there for them. I'm okay being used, as long as you still humanize me.

I'm insensitive. That's because my life runs smoothly :) I don't have sad or agony stories to tell to my friends, so I couldn't feel anything when they talk to me about their problems. Mostly about their teen love life. Eh? That is so not my topic. I'll try to understand it and give logical solutions anyway. Yeah, logical. So don't blame me if my advice doesn't work. Problems involving compassions and romance are not logical =P

Turns Older

Today my class is having a blast for our homeroom teacher is having his birthday and we all celebrated it at school. We made him a huge greeting card and by huge, I mean it's sized as big as a wall magazine in average is. It consisted of collection of small greeting cards from each of us classmates. We made it a surprise. One of us called him to our class and then we yelled 'Happy Birthday' out loud as we offered him the gift and a chocolate cake we bought. I seriously don't think he would ever be amazed or anything because other classes had beaten us to give him surprise. I've heard twice of Happy Birthday song sang outside before us. Despite so, he still seemed to like the card we created and told us to eat the cake instead of him. After the not-so-great surprise party, he went home. We munched the chocolate treat afterward, then the kids started cream and glazing war, where everyone got to be touched by the chocolate whip cream and glazing of the cake. As the ridiculous stunt ended, I ran home. Well, not literally.... but that's when the story finished.

A thing or two from the event? I begin to think of what a forty-six year old man like him has in mind when it comes to his birthday... Is he happy to grow older? Has he achieved things he wanted throughout his life? If not, does he still have the spirit to chase his dreams? Or does he realize that there are things that prevent him on doing so?

Truth spoken, I don't even know. That's why I want to know. I, being a teenager, have a nature to act to my heart's content and sometimes, without even considering the compassion of elderly generation. Pattern of opinion between young and old are different. That's clearly obvious. Elderly might know some things better than the youngsters because they have been experiencing life longer than the young, but not anything. And what young generations know more than the elder is not much. In fact, young and elder should corroborate.
For example, if youngsters know how to use blogger, which is what elders can't do, the older generation knows how to fill the blog with more useful things.

Perhaps, in a teen's mind, breaking the law is not a big deal. It's even considered 'cool'. That's a shame, because the elders have made such system to prevent anything dangerous. I think the best solution might be discussing the 'law' or 'rules' between young and old generations. I believe both parties have reason for what they're doing.

Elder has more logical control, while the youngsters still need emotion management. It's what differs both the most. Stuffs young people learn at school may be forgotten by the elderly, but logic never escapes them. In return, the young can learn logic from elderly, but the elders, who might experience decreasing of memory, cannot learn how to memorize from young. Simply, that what makes elder a teacher of the young. And the experience as the best teacher, because old people also study from experience.

Okay, that was confusing. I'm just a teenager. Just as other typical types, I act as if I'm already mature, denying things I really am, doing rude things without considering compassion, and writing a blog I don't even want to read. Basically I seem like a hypocrite. Maybe I am, but I don't wanna be one.

The best thing about youngsters is that they have the true potential to change the world. I do believe in that.

When Things Get Better and Much Worse

I walked through the newly-recognized school alley with one of my pals leading my steps, as I waved and greeted my best friends from middle high and continue strolling. She stopped in front of an unknown classroom with tag 'X-6' in front of it. I knew what it meant, but I had no idea what it would lead me to. She rushed into the room through an already opened old, broken wooden door cheerfully, looked already making friends on her past couple of months ago. She introduced me to a group of girls who had been chatting along near the large whiteboard. I didn't pay much attention to the society. I just watched my surroundings, observing by myself what possibly could make my day and what I should probably stay away from, just because. I wearily smiled and tried to get along with the situation, but I'm not the best of a social animal.

I felt nothing. I went into the room again, sat in a cornered wooden chair by myself to try to adapt myself with this. The dirty classroom was obviously not taken care of the ignorant kids who studied there daily. The atmosphere was insanely stuffy. Only two platform fans were helping to make some air to breathe, they weren't even half helpful. Two girls in front of me were teasing and kidding each other like sisters, and they reminded me of my primary school buddies. I noticed there was a kind of boundary between them that would make them belong in the same league or society group. My chairmate was someone I was certain not sharing the same hobby as I did, but she apparently liked Linkin Park. While the girl who first led me here had been sitting with someone I didn't acknowledge.

I walked into the room again. This time, I picked a seat on an end of the room, the closest row from the front door but the farthest from the teacher's view. Beside me sat a plain, young girl who left her hometown to study here. She was actually nice, but much of a simpleton and didn't intend to make another new friend. That was pity because if I want to have a best friend in the class, it would be her. She was friendly, humble, and not a jerk.

My backpack weighted lighter that day. I walked into the classroom, greeting a few friends I saw had been coming early as they usually did. I took a seat on the second row, second column to the door. Some months being here had changed my entire school life. This period was the moment I got to know the boys more. Thus, at this point I'm ready to state my observation of the class' solidarity.

---

In my senior year of middle high, my classmates knew and treated each other like siblings. There was never any dull moments. Though some girls grouped up into some particular people, as commonly differed as league or society group or stereotypes, we could actually get along with ANY of the classmates, and the boys never grouped.
Perhaps the habit of being together in a class makes me require every single one to be solid.

Now there are huge things to be fixed up before my current class become an ideal one, and I just freaking know it's gonna be hard. Just effing because.

First, the kids are perfectly grouped based on lifestyle and habits, which is, in my opinion, totally ridiculous. It's because their pattern of thinking is really subjective. There's this one group of girl who talk about boyfriends and girly stuffs. Cliche, I know, but I think this group would be all okay if they don't whine or mock people who aren't in their league every time. This impression brings every each of their own becoming some sort of stupid cornhead girls.

There's one group of girls who are religious. Nothing is wrong with them, except they just make other kids feel reluctant to interact with them because of their too-humble personality. The kids are apparently tolerate enough to avoid their bad habit affecting these almost-saint-like-girls. These girls also leave me impressions like they are always letting out a 'Don't disturb us with your troublesome manners!' aura, or to be short, their not-too-open behaviour gives me impression they're kinda... conceited. I know it's obviously wrong, but that's just the impression they put on me.

As for boys, they apparently grouped too. The difference is located in a dominant personality that lead the social group. Yes, lead. Unlike the girls', the boy groups have at least one dominant person who control the rest of the group members, Average Joes. Wow. The world really has been turned upside down.

Overall, the Average Joes are all the same, but the leader characters differ. There are Ambitious type, Jock type, Geek type, Gamer type, Nerd type, and... the names say. Though there is a few people who don't want to be in group, that includes myself, they're not as class-ruling as the ones in group are.

Last, but not least, I just wanna say: This sucks. I mean, we could at least break the barrier that differs us and parts us from each other. Where's the harm in that? I'm all concerned because some of the boys are attacking each other with provocative words, which I know they're not joking, and I thought boys have more logic than emotions working. I'm a newbie in the class, but don't think I can change how the wheel turns.

A Thousand Stories About A Thousand Suns

In case you're not a Linkin Park fan, and you haven't found out about their latest album A Thousand Suns, you seriously need to check it out. It hit stores on September 14th, a month ago, and its first single was 'The Catalyst', released at September 8th, peaked at many music charts for the last 30 days.

So why do I write this so late? I have one confession to write about A Thousand Suns: I just bought the album yesterday. I didn't really pre-order or anything. I haven't worked yet, so I thought it would be a burden to my parents since they don't really approve expenses through internet. I then think of buying the album via iTunes, because my mom has bought me some iPod apps and I thought she wouldn't mind... but another problem concerned. iTunes Music Store still hasn't available at my country. I tried to be patient until it hits the local music store, but I couldn't handle it. Three days after ATS' international release, I dared to download it for free on a certain site that I believe had been shutted down. I was frigging guilty, you know. I couldn't bear seeing my oversea LP friends keep posting and discussing about ATS, so my curiosity won. Even though I've got the song, I couldn't really get satisfied. I spent the next 7 days getting patient for the album to come out of the store, but then I got desperate. I didn't know an album can drive you crazy until I experienced it myself. I visit music stores twice every week, but they always said it hasn't arrived yet. The desperation is paid now!!! I've bought ATS and nobody could ever upset me for a long time of period!! HAHAHAHA!!
But I hope no friends of mine will get mad because I've been pretending to get the album and discussing that stuff with them as if I've bought it legally :\ I'm so SORRY, Linkin Park, for not being a real supporting fan :(

OK, enough babbling. I want to review A Thousand Suns my version, so I can figure out it's gonna be one hell of a crap, I've tried anyway:

A Thousand Suns is totally epic and genre-busting, and it drives me speechless when it comes to 'describing' or 'reviewing' this album. My first reaction to the single The Catalyst still remains the same: stunned. The difference is now that I can sing along with it without fainting first :P ... my brother too. He totally fell in love with that song as much as I do :)

I sometimes feel upset for ATS because it only has 9 full songs out of 15. I can't call the other 6 as a song. Some of them are quotations with BGM, though sound matching. My most favorite track is, believe me it's hard to pick, Wretches and Kings. I don't know why, though in that song Mike raps and Chester barely screams, it gives me lots of energy. It's like everyone in the band had significant role of playing music throughout the track, even when it's obviously highly scratched by THE Mr. Hahn. It also has Martin Luther King Jr. quote opening the song. Chester sings the teeth-gritting chorus, and it's epic. I've heard Wretches and Kings live and it sounded great!

My next favorite song is Waiting For The End. It's the second single of ATS, and its MV has came out. The video was terrific, completing the already-great song. Mike opens the song with rapping, and Chester sings the slow, deep toned chorus. The song kinda represents regret and a hope to move on your life to me. It doesn't sound like highly-reproduced through music technology. Sounds less 'mainstreams' to public than other tracks.

The 3rd track, Burning In The Skies, doesn't have Mike rapping. Mike sings the verses with some backings. Chester sings again the chorus, sounded rather slow and backed with Mike. Well what can I say, I love the combination :) this song has cheerful atmosphere, mixed with deep dark tones. Imagine how it sounds, or listen to it :P

'When They Come For Me', one track ahead from BITS, has an intro that seems like declaring a war to you, but it's not. The next thing appears after the intro is Mike's rap. Slightly curses, but as usual, nothing addressed to you. The chorus only sounds like 'aaahh' from 6 of the band. Chester sings the bridge, backed by Mike :)

After that is 'Robot Boy'. A slow tempo song starts with a solo piano by Mike, and 'ooooh' by the whole LP. The piano then continued throughout the song, with touch of violin. Chester sings the whole song backed by Mike again :) No certain chorus, but the bridge may be indicated (sorry heavy words) with Chester's background scream.

In the song 'Blackout', Chester RAPS and screams in the chorus himself. Isn't that epic? I'm amazed by how advanced he is in managing his breath :) There's keyboard sound and Joe's scratching sound can be easily heard in it and uniquely, Mike sings this song's bridge, and it reached the outro with a fading atmosphere.

'Iridescent' is rather sad. With the intro of solo piano and Mike singing in deep voice and low tone, it's followed by Chester's backed singing. Then the instruments got louder, accompanying the lonely-seemed piano's initial play, and Chester backs Mike's second bridge. After the sound of solo guitar, the whole band sings together. This is the part where I mostly weep :') The drum then starts playing, and Chester sings by himself with now loud instruments. The song's sound represent the situation of someone getting hope. It's first deep and lone, and then slowly getting loud and cheerful.

'The Messenger'... It only has guitar solo as instrument and Chester sings by himself. It's talking about loving and supporting someone. Slow tempo, lasts so fast. :| I'm sure I've heard that song before, or similar song, but what and where? :s

OK, that's it. I ain't reviewing The Catalyst because I'm totally stunned and speechless. The whole ATS itself could sound like ONE long song, because one track's outro is like the next song's intro. I couldn't stop listening to it since I first bought it. I'm so proud of Linkin Park!!! :DD Thanks for making a terrific project!

4CC22857-90E6-89A6-578C-2742D27136B2

1.02.28

Class Echoes For You

Setelah selama kurang lebih sebulan menetap di kelas X-6 SMAN 1 Balikpapan, akhirnya aku kenal juga teman-teman sekelasku.
Mau kuceritain satu-satu? Nah. No way. Garis besarnya saja deh :)

Kelasku terdiri dari 36 murid, termasuk aku sendiri. Sewaktu pertama kali masuk, aku baru kenal Anggun dan Dhira, salah dua teman SMPku. Yang heboh ya Anggun ini. Dia mengenalkan aku ke teman-teman baruku, walau tidak digubris secara implisit -__- sabar ya gun. Kesan pertamaku terhadap kelas ini adalah... *jeng jeng jeng*

SO OLD-FASHIONED!!

Padahal sama-sama kelas RSBI. Bertolak belakang dengan kelas SMP-ku yang ber-AC, meja dan kursi desain IT, satu stopkontak untuk tiap meja, dan loker untuk tiap anak... kelasku yang baru ini meja dan bangkunya masih dari kayu yang aku berani bilang sudah sangat lama, melihat dari coretan-coretan tip-ex yang bervariasi... dan mejanya setiap hari terkena gempa *baca: goyang-goyang*. Bahkan teman sebangkuku menemukan buku tulis yang bertuliskan milik seorang anak kelas X-6... yang bukan angkatan kini. Ampun dah. Meja guru juga gak dibedain dengan meja murid: kayu, tidak bertaplak, dan tercoret dengan indahnya oleh siswa-siswa terdahulu.
Nah, boro-boro mau ada loker. Stopkontak saja hanya ada empat socket di muka kelas, sedangkan muridnya lebih banyak dibanding murid di kelas RSBI SMP-ku. AC? jangan tanya. AC-nya alami, bung! Hanya ada dua kipas angin tergantung di langit-langit. Yang mengindikasikan kelasnya RSBI cuma LCD Projector yang ada di tengah kelas, dan tugas yang seabrek yang perlu dikerjakan dengan komputer. Bwahhahaha. Tapi cukup mengeluhkan fasilitasnya. Sebab di SMP kami membayar, sementara sekarang digratiskan. Wajar dong.

So, move on to next topic.

Pelajarannya biasa saja. Konvensional. They explain, we listen. Ya gak gitu-gitu amat sih, tentu kami dapat kesempatan bertanya. Paling teknologikal ya kami ditugaskan membuat presentasi.. atau mendengarkan penjelasan presentasi guru. Malah sekarang dicetuskan ulangan online dengan ID resmi yang disahkan administrasi sekolah *ciee*. Tapi pengurusan ID-nya bikin ribet. Bener deh. Dengan anak-anak cowoknya yang barbar waktu mengerubungi pengurus ID, aku belum dapat kesempatan ngecek ID-ku. WTF is wrong with those guys? -__- give me a chance, morons! Selebihnya? sok IT haha. Gosip dari anak-anak kelas lain menyatakan bahwa hasil ulangan PKn mereka jelek-jelek dan untuk mendapat kesempatan perbaikan nilai, gurunya menyuruh mereka mengirim permintaan lewat e-mail. apa-apa lewat e-mail. WTF lagi? ingin rasanya aku katakan pada sang guru PKn yang kebetulan wali kelasku bahwa IT diciptakan untuk membantu kerjaan sehari-hari kita. Bukan tiap ada apa-apa pakai e-mail. Terlalu bergantung pada teknologi akan menjadi bumerang, tokh?
Dan guru PKn ini nyentrik. He doesn't talk about laws or civic. He comments laws on his heart's content. Bahkan beliau pernah bertanya siapa di antara kami yang mengendarai motor ke sekolah, untuk meminta tolong membelikan bebatuan kolam (i know it's weird -_-') tanpa memberi kesan hendak 'menjebak' murid-muridnya yang belum cukup umur mengaku mengemudikan kendaraan bermotor.. dan melawan hukum secara tidak langsung.
Untuk apa bebatuan kolam itu? Saudara-saudara, ternyata wali kelas original ini hendak menciptakan TAMAN di dalam kelas!!! *jeng jeng jeng* dengan tanaman pot dan AIR MANCUR! Yes, you've heard me!! Kayaknya ide ini tercetuskan di kepala sang wali kelas setelah mengetahui uang kas kelas kami ternyata BANYAK. duh.. pak, kalau lain kali punya ide 'brilian' lagi tolonglah beritahu dulu yang menumpuk uang kas ini!! walau kami setuju karena 'keren' dan orisinil, tapi kan dongkol juga kalau kita gak tahu untuk apa uang kita. pertama bebatuan itu, lalu air mancurnya. ntar lama-lama bikin kolam renang gak ngasih tahu -___-'

Udah, cukup menghinanya. Sekarang ke topik: THUH CLASSMATES! Yee-aw!

Teman-temanku baik semua, kok. Walau aku gak (hopefully belum) punya sahabat di sini :( tapi Insyaallah mereka dapat menerimaku dengan baik :)
Ternyata eh ternyata, teman-teman sekelasku banyak juga yang LINKIN PARK FANS! DUDE! IS THIS A DREAM? Memang mereka jarang discuss tentang LP bareng-bareng, tapi toh suatu kemajuan ketemu senasib seperjuangan hehe. Iya, dong... Coba tengok kelas X-4. Nyetelnya 'Keong Racun' bwahahah. Kami doong... "What I've Done"!!!
Selain yang LPfans juga baik kok. Boys-nya tetap pada usil dan bikin ngakak-ngikik, walaupun kadang practical joke-nya agak brutal. Seperti kebanyakan, pada hobi bermain Counter Strike gak kenal waktu. Sementara cewek-ceweknya terbagi-bagi ke dalam semacam 'geng' begitu. Walau tidak officially grouping, one hangs with particular girls, and another with the others. A shame. Ngerti? Aku juga gak :P
Aku sendiri gak ada geng di kelas, tetapi tiap ada istirahat atau lagi gak belajar, aku bakal hang out dengan teman-teman SMP-ku yang ada di kelas-kelas lain. Mereka juga sering ngumpul bareng. Dan ternyata pisah kelas dengan buddy itu seru juga! Kami punya lebih banyak hal untuk dibicarakan! Kemarin saja kami mengadakan kunjungan kejutan ke sobat yang ulang tahun sambil membawa blackforest dan kado! What a surprise! :)

Inti: even if it's not the best, high school is fun!

The Story Between Me and Linkin Park

This is not a fanfic, just a true sharing about a Linkin Park fan, me.

Ever discovered a plan to make Linkin Park dominating the world and did not agree about that? Find out why LP fans are so stubborn.


- Early Linkin Park Recognition
I've became an LP fan since I was a middle 7th grader. It was 3 years ago, pretty new huh? The only reason I acknowledged Linkin Park so late is because I was a TOTAL nerd. Before I hit the age to go to junior high, I didn't give a damn to anything other than school things. I never hung out with friends, browsed internet, listened to any kinds of music, you name it. The most exciting daily thing I ever did was reading. When I was a 6th grader, my reading hobby led me to the obsession of an anime (Japanese Cartoon-thing) named One Piece. After I graduated and began to recognize the internet, the obsession became an addiction... and I finally was introduced to music. Yay. Ok, so I searched things related to One Piece night and days, then I found something called AMV (Anime Music Video). Some sort of music video, where we pick up scenes that match the entire music's mood. A certain AMV caught my attention. The graphic was excellent, the scenes just matched the music mood, the effects was a professional work, but the best thing I liked about it was the music: Lying From You. Linkin Park. All thanks to junizorofan at YouTube. Technically, it was not the first LP song I ever heard. My parents bought me a compilation with Numb as one of the songs in it, and that was the first I recognized.

- Internet Influence
I watched the AMV over and over again. The two main characters in the AMV were coincidentally my very favorite ones, and their scenes were packed well. They totally described the angsty atmosphere of the song. After I got attracted to the song, I tried to watch the similar AMVs. I also found some bands I liked by using the anime obsession such as Rise Against and Three Days Grace. I didn't remember correctly how, but I ended up downloading EVERY songs on Linkin Park's studio albums from Hybrid Theory to Minutes To Midnight for free through some sites. I guess it took about 3 days to do so because I also downloaded some other band's songs - though not as much as LP's. At the same time, I planned to make an AMV but I kinda failed. With A Place For My Head song in the video maker and edited scenes that didn't even fill quarter part of the song, I came up with nothing. Feeling bored, I browsed things about LP without any serious purpose. I thought I could get some inspiration. I was wrong. I eventually abandoned the AMV project and searched more things about Linkin Park. Apparently LP was nothing but awesomeness. I first visited LPN and LPU, and then fansites like LPA, LPT and LPL, and social networkings. Now, I'm in touch with more LP fans on social networks than the sites that are purposely dedicated to them, because I browse on mobile more than laptop. And my internet connection is just a sucker for those sites. It loads extremely slowly and pisses me off. But enough with that. So my obsession to the anime slowly decreased, and I began my journey to become an absolute hardcore LP fan! I finally dedicated my soul to LP after I hit the 8th grade. I kept up with latest stuffs about them, and really hoped Linkin Park would come to my country again. Because I freaking missed their performance (my lifetime regret). My mp3 player that used to be full with anime soundtracks was turned into a special LinkinPlayer. Simply filled with LP songs... er, and Three Days Grace, Sum41, and Rise Against's.

- Influence to Family & Friends
My family is the one who found out my LP obsession first. My little brother did watch the AMV, too, and I could tell he was kind of fall for it. We basically liked for lots of similar things, though he often denied it. I could watch One Piece all day long and he would stay with me to comment that the show is awful, but at night he'd by any way read the manga (Japanese comic) without me knowing it. So when I started to put up LP tunes in my house TONS of times, he wondered why. I wouldn't answer, because I knew he'd figure it out himself that I already got myself a new obsession! My parents did guess right, too. They bought me a Linkin Park t-shirt for my birthday! Wee! Not thinking twice, I wore the shirt to school and shocked all my pals. At that day, I was supposed to perform a drama with my group and I remember that I used 'Chester' for my role's name, since I wrote the script! From that second, they asked about that and I was notable for being the school's biggest Linkin Park fan. Another story. On a past certain holiday, when I was travelling over southern Java Island with my family, we visited lots of places and we once arrived in an old music shop. Guess what, I did find all the studio albums! I begged my parents to let me buy Hybrid Theory, Meteora, Minutes To Midnight and The Rising Tied all in that moment! I could not miss the chance. The albums were already hard to find, my parents understood and gave me the permission!!! Yay!

- Catching Up With Communities
I signed up for LPN as the first attempt to become their hardcore fan. I felt like I didn't belong to the community and I only visit the site to catch up the latest info. I hadn't signed into the LPU because I wouldn't force my mom to pay the membership. Afterwards, I registered on fanbase websites like LPA, LPL and LPT. Being influenced by public, I made social networks account on FB and Twitter. I was inactive to those communities since two months after I passed to 9th grade. I had an 8-months training, but that was another story. For now, twitter has given me the best LinkinSources. I found out about MikeShinodaClan, Phoenix-Farrell, ChesterBNetworks, and other fansites. I also follow some informative accounts for latest LP news such as KROQ, MTV, and owners of fanbases. I became friends with fellow LP lovers and my already-known classmates!

- Be Objective
First times I became fan of LP, I felt an excessive confidence in my mind to force everyone to be LP hardcore fans. I became sensitive with anything and everything about Linkin Park. If LP shows up on TV, I will scream like a desperate fangirl. If some kids talk about music, I will barge in and babble about Linkin Park. Those happened until I went 9th grade. Before the maturity got over me, I would just answer "the best band in the world!!" when somebody asked my reason to be so obsessive. Nothing satisfying, though. My mature atttude started since I listened to some other bands that I felt like: Rise Against, The Corrs, Three Days Grace, Sum 41, Deftones, Shinedown, Papa Roach, Avenged Sevenfold, My Chemical Romance, 30 Seconds To Mars, and anything similar to them. I realized that everyone got different tastes of music, and although LP is the best band in the world for me, I'd like to be objective and try something new. I don't need to be hysterical or cursing whenever I find out some guy speaks bad things about LP. I'll tell that person my opinion and ask about theirs. The easiest examples are found lately: some Linkin Park 'so-called fans' just complained about their new album A Thousand Suns and wanted them to go back to 'nu-metal' genre. The people says ATS was a crap, or a too-experimental project. On the other side, lots of LP fans still stick with the band and said they love the stuffs, the tracks were awesome, and other complimenting points. When I listened to ATS, I could feel why some people felt disappointed and why the rest got satisfied with it at the same time. A Thousand Suns review coming up on next post.

- Why I Like Linkin Park
My first amazed impression was the scratches and sound effects on the music. They got their own DJ. Reanimation album, contains the remixes of previous album tracks, it was dope. Joe Hahn, other than turntabling, also directed LP's video clips. Makes the whole members have equal portion of tasks to do. The next thing was the rap. Mike Shinoda, being a keyboardist and a rhythm guitarist, also raps along with Chester's voice and screams. Creating an insanely new innovation in rock music world. There are too many good things to say about Linkin Park. Their music evolves, where on each steps always bring brand new atmospheres, and the changes are going great. Linkin Park knows how to create and play music that will shake people's moods and make them addicted to it. The instruments seem to be basic, but to know this you gotta take a closer look. The teamwork. Lots of members on a group often causes internal conflicts, but this thing never bothers them. In my thoughts: Mike may not be the best rapper or keyboarder ever, Chester may not be the best vocalist in the world, Brad may not be playing crazy guitar techniques to top himself on greatest guitarists rank, and so on, but the modesty is what makes the teamwork go well. There are no expert guitar techniques, or some advanced drumming, or crazily-fast keyboard playing, or else, but they know how to turn some kind of basic music into perfect describing of life and emotion reliever. Linkin Park has all the tracks you need for all your moods. Other than musical stuffs they create, Linkin Park is not a bad band, either. They are modest. I mean, they are all talented on loads of things, and even after getting popular, they had never acted weird or doing things that are intended to gain public attention. They live their life like us, but keep giving their fans the attention they need. One more thing: they're not selling out. Artists can do anything with their creation.

Sober Head

It's the journey, not the destination-

What? Kalimat seperti itu tampaknya sudah terkenal bukan? "Yang terpenting adalah proses, bukan hasil." kira-kira begitulah terjemahan bebas petikan di atas. Memang sesat, tetapi konsepnya sama:
Persiapan ---> Perjalanan ---> Destinasi. Perjalanan lebih diutamakan dibanding destinasi, karena lebih banyak yang bisa diambil pelajaran dalam perjalanannya. Dan itulah hidup. Bila anda mementingkan destinasi dibandingkan perjalanan, untuk apa anda hidup? Toh bakal mati juga. *provokasi, mohon maaf bila tersinggung*

Dalam praktek kehidupan sehari-hari, tentu ada saja yang kita petik hikmahnya secara sadar maupun tidak. Contoh ekstrim adalah misalnya kita tidur seharian pada suatu hari libur. Apa pelajaran yang bisa diambil? Bahwa tidur seharian itu membosankan -___-' *pengalaman pribadi* dan kita melewatkan satu hari yang cerah yang bisa kita gunakan secara produktif *bukan berarti bekerja*. Saya pribadi di hari libur memang tidak melakukan apa pun yang biasa saya lakukan di hari biasa seperti buat PR ataupun belajar *bo~ring*. Waktu libur bisa kita manfaatkan untuk menambah life skill atau keterampilan non-akademik, misalnya memasak/membuat kue, berlatih bermusik, berolahraga, membuat novel/komik, dan sebagainya. Lebih bagus lagi bila ada yang bisa diajak bekerja sama!

Kok jadi ngelantur..
Bagaimana tentang kutipan "Yang terpenting adalah proses, bukan hasil."?

Yup. Untuk mendapatkan hasil yang bagus, diperlukan juga proses yang memadai. Di akhir bulan Ramadhan yang suci ini, selain telah meningkatkan ibadah anda, apa pelajaran yang anda bisa dapatkan? Apa pengalaman anda selama sebulan yang penuh berkah ini?

Medaniterrania

Medan oh medan...

Setelah 8 bulan pelatihan, akhirnya tiba juga saatnya bagi saya untuk pulang ke rumah tercinta. :) Namun, sebagai syarat akhir tiket pulang, saya harus mengikuti Olimpiade Sains Nasional IX di Medan dengan kontingen daerah Kalimantan Timur mulai tanggal 1-7 Agustus 2010. Bagian ini memang paling bikin malas --'' terutama karena saya super duper pesimis. Apalagi prosedur administrasi dan formalitasnya seperti upacara pembukaan dan penutupannya. Kenapa nggak menganut motto Julius Caesar yang Veni, Vidi, Vici [terjemahan bebas: Datang, Kerjakan, Pulang] itu sih? Anyway, selama hampir seminggu menginap di ibukota Sumatera Utara itu, saya mendapatkan pengalaman dan hal-hal yang sangat menarik di sana.

Let me show you some things about Medan:

• Terminal kedatangan bandara Polonia : baggage claim-nya sangat sangat tidak nyaman. Turun dari pesawat dengan tangga, kami harus berjalan menuju gedung bandara. Sesampainya di sana, disambutlah kami dengan pemandangan jejeran penumpang yang daerah kedatangannya tercampur-campur mengerubuti conveyor belt bagasi yang kecil dan sedikit. Belum lagi gerombolan manusia yang dengan susah payah mencari-cari barang bawaannya di antara koper-koper yang ditumpuk di pojokan terminal kedatangan, tepat di samping conveyor belt. Lagipula, kami tidak bisa tahu barang bawaan dari daerah kami ada di mana - apakah di tumpukan koper-koper itu atau di conveyor belt yang saat itu belum berjalan. Maka kami berdesakan dengan orang-orang yang juga kerepotan akan ketidaknyamanan pengambilan bagasi ini.
• Kota Multietnis / Mixing Pot : Unik, Medan adalah kota yang terdiri dari bermacam-macam suku yang menghuninya juga berbagai jenis budaya yang menghiasinya.Yang terlihat menonjol di daerah sana adalah suku Cina dan Melayu. Jarang saya temui masyarakat Jawa yang menetap di Medan. Pertama kami tiba di Medan, setelah keluar dari Bandara Polonia, bus yang kami tumpangi melewati jalan-jalan cukup sempit yang kata pemandunya berjuluk 'Jalan Cina' karena jalan tersebut didominasi oleh kebanyakan Ruko pedagang-pedagang suku Cina. Kami juga sempat melewati Rumah Tjong A Fie yang katanya adalah pedagang Cina 'legendaris' pertama yang datang ke Medan.
  
• Becak Motor : Becak versi Medan berbeda dengan becak yang kebanyakan berada di Pulau Jawa. Becak di Medan dioperasikan dengan motor yang dipasang di bagian kanan kursi penumpangnya yang berkapasitas 3 orang. Kami-kami yang pendatang ini biasanya menyebutnya 'bentor' (becak motor, entah darimana huruf 'n'-nya --') tetapi orang-orang asli Medan tetap menyebutnya becak. Bahkan supir-supir 'bentor' yang biasa standby di depan hotel kami sering menawarkan jasa, "becak, bang?" sambil membuat gestur orang mengendarai motor. Apa, coba?
• Pengemis? : Pernah saya baca di sebuah majalah di sana, tentang kedatangan seorang wartawan dari daerah lain yang dipandu seorang wartawan asal Medan. Menurut artikel, dia sempat dicegat di depan tenda acara pembukaan OSN oleh seorang pengemis yang kemudian meminta uang sekitar 8000 rupiah. Lalu si wartawan luar itu menjawab bahwa dia hanya memiliki 6000, dan lantas memberikannya kepada si pengemis. Wartawan Medan tertawa terbahak-bahak sembari menyahut, "Ini Medan, Bung! Orang minta-minta boleh menentukan jumlah uang yang diminta!" Hah? Saya sendiri juga heran. Kok bisa? Yah, soal benar tidaknya, saya tidak berani menjamin...
• Oleh-Oleh Legendaris : Sepulang jalan-jalan, yang biasa diberikan kepada sanak famili di rumah tentu makanan khas. Nah, Medan punya andalannya. Yang saya kenal baik (makanan apa orang?) ya Bika Ambon, Lapis Legit dan Bolu. Entah bolu apa, yang sering saya makan adalah Bika Ambon. Kenapa kok dinamakan Bika Ambon, bukan Bika Medan? Ah, konon dulu makanan 'Bika' yang terkenal enak dan digemari adalah 'Bika' yang dijual di Jalan Ambon yang memang ada di Medan. Makanya disebut Bika Ambon...

Apa lagi ya? Hmm... Sepertinya itu saja yang saya discover selama di sana. Pasalnya saya ke sana tidak untuk wisata, sih... Kalau iya, pasti jauh lebih banyak yang bisa saya find out. :) Saat itu untuk bisa mendapatkan oleh-oleh Bika Ambon yang saya bawa pulang sebanyak 2 kotak ini saja sudah untung lho...!

Spoiled Brat = Less Happy Endings

--> "It's amazing how one story can lead to a different perspective... either literally or not."

And I started to change my perspective since a minute this day began. Tapi sebelum aku berceloteh, I wanna say Happy Birthday to Jakarta!! :) I'm hoping for more live concerts and less pollution... I wish Linkin Park would like to come once again!!!

Yah yah yah... ngelantur deh. Gini nih kalau semalam tidur jam 1 dan bangun jam setengah 4 pagi untuk travel ke Yogya dan mengetik archive blog jam 12 malam berikutnya. I had quite a day today and would like to share you all my story. I think I'd put up some pictures I took, too. Because one picture tells thousand stories, right? :) and I think I might as well give random writings for each things occurred in the trip.
---
So here's how the trip had gone:

I went to Yogya this morning at 4 from dorm with my mother. We took a cab to get to the airport. At this state I fell asleep in the taxi and therefore could not take any pictures or know anything happened at the time. -__-''
As soon as we got to the airport, the clock stroke 4. We both quickly checked in and left the luggage to the crews. We found the airport was unexpectedly in a total crowd at the time THAT early. We met some TransTV reporter crews I wanted to say hello to but I didn't get to. We spotted a group of kids in uniform, looked like they were going far. They remind me so much of my last study tour with the Inter-classmates. Nice memories :)

*Sumber foto : Nyomot album Friendster jadul anak2 SBI. sori ya pilih yang gak ada anak ceweknya. Soalnya foto ini yang paling keliatan seni 'group travel'-nya. With backpacks, uniforms and luggages.

Ah, after we checked in, we walked upstairs by escalator. My mother asked me if I wanted to get into a lounge, since the plane would depart in one and half hour, so we didn't have to wait in the waiting room covered in boredom. I agreed. I had never got into a lounge anyway. Shortly, we went inside and had our breakfast there. [Random Writing Ahead] a list of feast a JW Exclusive Lounge provided (as far as I noticed):
Nasi Kuning
Bubur Ayam
Roti Tawar
Nhuh, that was all the meal, I think. There was actually a Rotiboy outlet outside the lounge, but it was still closed. But as for the beverage, they got a Nescafe Coffee Brewer!! World Heavens! Here's a list of the brewer buttons:
Nescafe Black
Nescafe Black Coffee with Sugar
Nescafe Brown
Nescafe Cappuccino
Okay, tidak penting hingga saat ini... tapi selain kopi, ada juga air putih, teh, soft drinks, dan minuman dingin kotak. So don't you think I was too over-freaking on coffee and couldn't notice anything else. ;) Another good thing I noticed was: there was an internet corner!!! Hell yeah!! I went there and tried to post something on blog but later I realized that there was no way I would connect my camera's memory card with a public computer. Plus, I got stuck on finding an idea of what to write. So I just browsed last.fm and billboard.com instead, that was something that got me to stay up tonight and download tons of songs I had browsed there. What I browsed was about:
All Time Low
The Temper Trap
Stone Temple Pilots
Daft Punk
Drowning Pool
Radiohead
Slipknot
Cage The Elephant
Allrighty, I was too busy focusing on the monitor that I just realized it was time for my mom and I to get into the airplane. Luckily we got into the plane on time and made no problems afterwards.
As you got into an airplane, you can ensure yourself that you're already secure. That's what I always do. And as I sat on the plane seat, that means boredom. Ah, but at the moment I was totally sleepy. So I tried to sleep.... and succeed, but the unconsciousness only lasted for half an hour or so. I saw quite the view as soon as I woke up. I worked to capture nice shots, but I didn't think my digital camera could really show the critical details I wanted to have picture memories of. So this was nowhere near my expectation. Nowhere close to the nature beauty I actually admired:

And at the state when the airplane landed:
Slowly, the plane went down and down until it stopped. Then... voila! Welcome to Yogyakarta!!
Yogya was a rather nice city with pleasant atmosphere, but alas, the traffic was apparently sooo crowded!! Well, not as crowded as Jakarta, but considering the circumstance of the street and number of people lived there, there was too much motorcycle roamed through the boulevard. Besides all the crowd, I guess everything was OK.
Shortly, what made us traveled to Yogya was for me to register into one of the best high school here. Thus, that was what we do. We took care of the education enlistment problems from 9 until 13. Afterwards? My mom and I hung out in a certain plaza in Yogya. We coincidentally arrived on a day an anime event for preschoolers was held, but it hadn't started yet.





We bought a pair of shoes for my brother. I myself got two football T-Shirts. :) The shopping thing took less than 2 hours (well, that's fast :P) then we lounged at Cafe Excelso, because we couldn't find Starbucks there.
Ah, you see, my enlistment problems didn't finish at 13 as soon as the consultation ended. I still had trouble to decide the best choice.
My biggest problem was: if I study at Yogya, I wouldn't be able to continue my physics training I've been wanting to end for so long. However, I felt it was kinda pity to let go the rare chance of physics training, and everyone was supporting the training I'm doing right now as it could give me nice 'passport' to let me choose any major I want to, when I finished the training. I had to decide:
1. sekolah di Yogya tapi bukan Tofina
2. Tofina tapi gak sekolah di Yogya
Options were only two but deciding one was hard for a spoiled brat like me. So I discussed the thing over cups of coffee at the cafe with my mom. I remembered that I already felt kinda into option 2, but the crazy-leveled difficulty of the technical problems I had was too much for me. I told her about my problems with the offensive critics from a tutor. I expressed the technical problems I had with analogies she could understand. One thing I didn't consult with her was that I was in love with Steve. :$ I'd be dead by the second I confessed about it. As we chatted the heavily-leveled conversation, the children event started. Well we did get distracted:

Anywaaayy... the discussion led me to choose option 2, at least. Apparently I just needed someone to talk about my problems, which is what I never had in the dorm. Mom was a very good listener (well in fact she is a mother). So we decide not to study in Yogya. At least I got two days off from training. yea, I'm sneaky :P muahhahahahah.
Hell yeah, after all the merciless (??) conversation, we went to my cousin's house and spent a night there. While my mom was sleeping, I quietly wrote this archive AND download tons of songs I had researched at the lounge before. Apparently the internet connection here was so satisfying!! :)) Here's a list of the songs:

All Time Low - Hello Brooklyn
All Time Low - Sick Little Games
All Time Low - Walls
Avenged Sevenfold - To End The Rapture
Blink 182 - What's My Age Again
Bullet For My Valentine - All These Things I Hate
Dead By Sunrise - Walking In Circles
Dirty Heads feat Rome - Lay Me Down
Finger Eleven - Paralyzed
Incubus - Anna Molly
KoRn - Blind
My Chemical Romance - Give 'Em Hell, Kid
My Chemical Romance - I Never Told You What I Do For A Living
My Chemical Romance - It's Not A Fashion Statement, It's A Deathwish
My Chemical Romance - You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us In Prison
The Offspring - You're Gonna Go Far, Kid
Papa Roach - Change or Die
Papa Roach - Had Enough
Papa Roach - Live This Down
Radiohead - Creep
The Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
Slipknot - Before I Forget
Stone Temple Pilots - Between The Lines
System of A Down - Aerials
The Temper Traps - Sweet Disposition

Ah that was amazing. I never downloaded so many songs at a time. *stunned* If you know any one of those above or have interests in, contact me or comment this entry and we'll chat over the songs! Or perhaps your interest's not my writing about the tracks? NP, let's talk!
Guess I'll end this entry here. See ya. It's already 3 a.m and I haven't slept. Ciao!! :)

Embrace The Days

Current State:
Mood : Melancholy
Music : Fort Minor - The Hard Way
Survival Rate : 43%

---
"I'm still the same person, why doesn't anybody listen..." - The Hard Way (Fort Minor)
---
Nothing special occurred this week... except big mess I've just put through alone and make me a victim of myself. Disaster of the week began with my plan to stay up until morning with no sleep after a pass-midnite study task. I didn't target to stay for the whole week, I just wanted to try for once for how it'd feel. But the plan was totally messed up. I failed at my first try on Sunday night.
"Who cares? It's a stupid idea to work on anyway." that might be what you think. It apparently influenced my bedtime habit. Because I stayed up late until 4 the Monday morning and got slept afterwards, I got up LATE! I woke at 7! Thus I had to rush to catch up the schoolbus and became so sleepy in the class. The same happened the next day. Worse, I woke at half to 8! WTF!? Despise, I still tried continuously to stay up with help of coffee and internet browsing (i downloaded tons of songs! at past midnight, the connection was quite fast!) but no use, either. I never managed to success. Was it all because I've been sleeping in Anna & Jill's room? Nah, no way. In my actual room, my roommate often turned the AC on a really cold temperature and THAT is what made me even more sleepy.

And thanks to the bad sleeping habit, I got so sensitive for the entire week. Especially to my crush Steve. In case you haven't known (well, nobody has), Steve was a high-schooler, older than me, artsie-minded just like me, and the only one to respond to my farewell text message before we all went home. Strangely, he hadn't been so artsie-minded lately, not like the first impression he gave me. Perhaps all these physics things influenced him to a nerdie state. Well, Steve always wanted to discuss technical stuffs with Jill. Besides, he seemed to always get so cheerful around her. I witnessed many times when all of us joined together, he looked so carefree, but when Jill went away to take something she left or else, he became so serious with what he was doing. Hnng. I was freaking jealous. You know that jealously kills. Especially if a sensitive-stated teen experienced it. I've thrown Jill my "please-hand-over-Steve's-question-to-me" look but she responded with nothing or the non-deliberate worst "you-are-a-frontal-disturbing-bitch" look. Not that we were rivals or something. She was so careless and rather insensitive for a girl standard. The look she threw was what I felt it was like. Back to topic.

As if it couldn't get worse, this week we got into 4new topic of physics: static electricity. The tutor admits himself that it was one hell of lesson to learn for all the advanced math like vector calculus and curls.
Oh yeah, this tutor is one thing that spiced up my week. He was a tutor with casual character, funny physical appearance and rather childish, but globally oriented and open-minded. When he tutored our class, there are only 2 probabilities of what might happen: 1. he would only supervise us doing the textbook problems and joke around or 2. he would inspire us with his simply-said impressive thoughts. Point 2 would only occurred when we stepped into a new material or when he finished checking our test result (which are always a big zero). It happened seldom, but he told us things we never knew. He saw a concept in a brand new point of view, an easier one to understand. He always asked us our view of problem-solving ways. Shortly, he treated us not like the people who had to eat all the lesson he gave us, but as the people who he could discuss problems with. I liked that kind of teaching style. Moreover, this week he mentioned about 'sense'. A sense to solve most of physics problems. A sense to detect our mistake on the solving progress. He told us that THAT sense is critically important, and it doesn't limited in physics solving only. A sense we hadn't had, that differed us from the ultimate national physics team. "With me still standing here teaching all of you, it indicates your total failure." was one of the sentence he said that week. He tried to imply that physics needed no tutor. Physics needed logic and sense he mentioned before, and other than that, a tutor's role was just a company to discuss things over.
Those words he spoke had caught us really deep. True, he was one tutor to go. Unfortunately, his childish personality still couldn't be replaced even with statement that deep. He was a slob, he was lazy, he admitted it himself. But his laziness drove him to solve problems in more practical ways... and those worked. He also said that "because of laziness, physics develops. It's learned so people don't have to get so bothered to do lots of heavy works." I found it totally right.
TOO BAD, his laziness made us hanging off this morning. Normally, we had unsupervised test at 8 every Saturday, but whenever he was the one who should made the test, the question sheet was ALWAYS late. Like today, we waited for the tutor to deliver the test while chatting over and studied a little this morning. However, he was nowhere in sight and couldn't be contacted at all. So today we had no test, but I'm scared if it'd be delayed for tomorrow or Monday. His tests were all unbelievably difficult, and I hated to do the test in front of his sight. It always gave me the creep. =S
So right now I'm in a hesitation to study or not. I'm afraid we had to do the test on Sunday, thus NO WEEKEND. If it was to held on Monday, then he had to be supervising us. Like I wrote, I HATED it.
-------------

Maturity Progress

*Tidak ada unsur kemesuman apapun dalam judul di atas!*

Beberapa waktu ini hari-hari terasa berat. Otak nge-blank, emosi meluap-luap, ngapain aja suntuk, bawaannya marah-marah mulu. Apa ada yang pernah merasa seperti itu? Asumsiku sih ini yang namanya titik jenuh tertinggi. Apalagi buat seseorang yang tidak menyenangi kegiatan belajar-mengajar seintensif ini. Ibaratnya titik jenuh itu seperti termometer dengan batas tertentu, dimana setiap hari suhu terus-menerus naik. Nah, kalau misalnya rekan-rekanku di sini batasan ukurannya sekitar 100 derajat celcius, batasanku hanya berkisar antara 60-75 derajat. Lah, otomatis paling cepet bosan yak?

Terlebih lagi, di sini tidak banyak kegiatan menyenangkan yang bisa dikerjakan. From the previous post, speech-ku bilang kalau anak2 di sini cukup baik. Iya, baik, tapi membosankan. Baiklah, daripada aku mati kebosanan di hari libur ini tanpa ada aktivitas berarti yang dapat men-distract kejenuhan totalku ini, bagaimana kalau aku ceritakan tentang rekan-rekanku di sini? :)

Tim kami terdiri dari 8 orang yang masing-masing berbeda *yaiyalah*. 4 ladies, 3 men and 1 incompetently gendered *me :)*
The ladies are consisted of 2 pairs of roomates. One pair of real ladies, they're up with mall hangouts, shopping, boys, and quite the lady. well, you know what i meant. Another girl pair is.. well, not exactly girls because they act slob. Let's just call the lady pair W.E. and the slob lady pair I.O. I don't get along with the ladies too well, but they're so into each other when hanging together.
The 2 boys- one's still not here yet- are quite nice. One of them is a real plain nerd, while another is a likely artsie just like me whose I have a crush on *kidding, but not a true lie*. They often help me on technical problem, and simply humorous.

That's some short story of fella I have rite now. How about one story for each of them? After lunch, maybe? :) gtg, bye buddies.

Graduation: Luck and Hope Speech *??* :)

What's up, guys? Pastinya pada baik2 aja kan menghadapi perpisahan? eh, maksudnya siap itu udah aware lah hari ini mau perpisahan, bukan baik2 seneng karena mau pisah... pokoknya begitu lah! Mungkin kalian malah merasa campur aduk antara sedih, bahagia, haru, bangga, dsb, to'? Don't worry, it will be over SOON! Too bad I can't be there. Tadinya rencananya aku mau pesan tiket perjalanan pulang pergi semalam tapi gak dibolehin... HIKS!

Haaah.. *menghela nafas* saat kalian sedang asik2nya berpesta, aku malah dituntut belajar di malan senin ini.. Freaking hard technical problem, you know? Tapi lama2 aku terbiasa di sini. Gak tau kenapa, padahal aslinya aku musuh kelas berat fisika, lho.. *tidak secara harfiah*

Emang, aku seriiing banget merindukan kelas asliku yang belajarnya gak (terlalu) berat, teman2 yang gokil dan mau mendengarkan aspirasi saya, guru2 yang baik dan murah senyum, dan sohib2ku yang mau aja aku galakin, hehe, sori ya.

Walau rinduku amat berat, aku di sini baik2 selain itu. Aku udah mulai ngerti rasanya perjuangan itu. Bukan cuma lewat buku2 setebal diktat dan isinya sepadat kantong doraemon, tapi aku juga belajar bertahan menjadi junior di hutan senior yang pintar2, bagaimana aku harus mengontrol emosi dan mental yang labil sebagai anak SMP baru mau lulus, menghadapi situasi untuk belajar hingga larut malam tetapi harus bangun pagi2 dan gak boleh ngantuk di kelas selama 8 jam ke depan, juga merelakan waktu having fun seperti nonton TV, main gitar, hangout, dll. Apalagi belakangan ini saat kalian sudah selesai tes SMA dan boleh jalan2, aku terkurung di sini dengan gunungan buku mekanika. Intinya, hari2 di sini emang berat. Tapi kalau kulihat sisi positifnya, I find that my friends here are quite nice. Yah, mereka mungkin pendengar yang buruk dan cukup egois akan opini, tapi mereka ambisius dan bisa diajak bercanda di saat yang tepat ("nerds.." gumamku dalam hati setiap hari). Mereka meringankan bebanku akan perjuangan yang semula kuanggap berat, dan mau mengerti kondisi emosiku yang labil apalagi ditambah putar otak buat fisika. They're nice :)

Aku sadar, selama 2 tahunku di SMP kalian telah mengisi hari2ku dengan penuh warna. Tapi tidak dengan warna abu-abu. They were all bright. I saw no gray when I was with you guys. Now I find this color here, I find out gray is quite adorable color, shady beauty. Kalian... belum pernah mengajariku apa itu perjuangan. Itu saja yang terasa kurang selama aku bersama kalian.

But our path is still long ahead. At this graduation moment, I'd like you all to promise each other, berjanjilah pada teman2 terdekatmu bahwa suatu hari kalian akan merengkuh keberhasilan hasil keringat perjuangan jujur yang telah kalian lalui. Perjuangan adalah esensi kehidupan. Selagi kalian masih bersenang-senang, aku tidak ingin kalian lengah dan melupakan itu. mungkin perjuangan kalian akan dimulai besok, lusa, atau mungkin sudah terlaksana dan membuahkan hasil? :)

Anyway, I wish you luck for your next step. You guys have been doing great so far. Thanks for your support all this time. I'm proud of you guys, you rock. I love you all. *kayak penyanyi aja* :)

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Fyi, makasih ya udah mau mendengarkan uneg2 yang sudah saya mau tulis (tapi lupa) selama ini dalam bentuk "speech". :)

First Lone Trip

Currently listening to: [Start]: Brick by Boring Brick - Paramore ; [End]: I Wanna - The All-American Rejects
Current mood: [Start]: Hungry ; [End]: Sleepy
Random thought: I shoulda update my blog more :\

- Alright, today's topic is my first lone trip.
As I probably have told you guys from my previous posts, saya sedang menjalani masa-masa karantina pelatihan untuk olmpiade fisika tingkat SMA di Tangerang. and after 4 months of torture, saya akhirnya pulang hari ini untuk mempersiapkan diri untuk Ujian Nasional SMP.
Lumayan susah kalau kena penuaan dini (dalam konteks ini: siswa SMP dalam pelatihan fisika SMA :P), apalagi progress masuk SMA dan persiapan ujian akhirnya. Awal-awal saja saya sempat terpikir untuk masuk SMA 1 Yogya, namun niat itu terpaksa harus saya urungkan sekarang akibat pelatihan ini, karena proses penerimaannya akan menjadi rumit. Semestinya saya didaftarkan dengan surat rekomendasi atas nama organisasi pelatihan, yang menjadi masalah adalah fakta bahwa: "Saya terpilih mewakili Balikpapan untuk OSK dan OSP, sedangkan saya akan melanjutkan SMA di Yogyakarta padahal OSN baru akan dimulai 2 bulan setelah penerimaan saya di jenjang SMA." Nah loh. Saya mewakili siapa toh? mungkin itu yang ada di pikiran pihak-pihak pendidik yang terkait.
Jadilah nasib saya akan didaftarkan di SMA seberang gedung SMP saya saat ini.. -_-' well, that's not a main problem, but generally still sucks. Sucks because I chose SMA 1 Yogya to have the experience of being out of parent's sight control, but apparently this 'quarantine' gives me similar stuffs as I wanted. =)

So today I was out of the dorm... harshly. I was supposed to be picked up at 9.30, but I waited until 10.30 and no one had come. Apparently my aunt got stuck at the traffic and couldn't get the dorm so she decided to leave the picking to my other uncle and attempted to wait for me in the airport. I got picked up at 11.25. I fell asleep at the time so I readied myself quickly. Everyone was inside their room, and I couldn't tell what they were doing. I didn't get to say any good-byes or anything. Soooo... my mom said that this uncle knew some shortcuts that might take us to the airport faster than using normal route.

To get to the point straightly, I arrived at the airport at 12.15. When I checked in, they told me that the passengers should've boarded that time. So, I rushed myself once again, all the way to the plane. I never have travelled by plane alone before, and I thought in this first experience I could at least get myself relaxed, sipping Starbucks or walking around the hallway while waiting for the call. But this dream remains dream. Oh well, maybe next time. I finally got myself on the airplane at time. Thank God. And all the way home, at the plane, what I did was sleeping. So no special things or some exciting stuffs occured in the trip. Perhaps just the nervous breakdown, especially when the airport crews acted like I was already late and couldn't get home. =( I was terrified.

Sesampainya di bandara pukul 15.53 WITA, langsung dah saya ambil bagasi dan keluar. Ngapain lama-lama?? hehe. Keluar terminal, saya disambut orangtua saya dan adik saya. Ibu sempat menanyakan tentang perjalanan sendiri pertama saya, dan saya jawab saja seadanya: HAMPIR TELAT, MAH.
Kami berempat melesat menuju eWalk, duduk di seat Pizza Hut untuk late-lunch. Tiba-tiba saya mendapat telepon dari Romy cs. Guess what? Apparently those guys were going to airport to pick me up! WTF? They didn't tell me first =(

Eeh, tahunya datanglah Winona dari kejauhan bersama ibunya dan Devira. Lho?

No need for further information, right? As with Wino and Deppy will be the moment boredom never struck, we walked around eWalk and chatted in the Starbucks, talking about things occured or new stuffs since I departed 4 months ago.

Well, looking forward to see those classmatey guys that I have put myself effort on making them blog~!

Sherlock Holmes Review and Entry 17 January!!

"Sometimes you just have to choose..." -

Weekend has come and it's time for a sunday break! Yee-haw! I've been looking forward for a sunday morning to arrive~! Unfortunately, I woke up late this morning and skipped breakfast again... But today I'm taking a day off from training and plan to go to a mall with my auntie. Shopping needs, watching movie, and taking a coffee break. The problem is, I wanted to go to Starbucks and watch Sherlock Holmes at the same time. However, they both are not located in the same place and our time is finite so we cannot fulfill both of them.

This day's prior was to watch Sherlock Holmes!! So we chose to go to WTC and skipped Starbucks break. I know it's not booming anymore, but better late than never, right? It's the first movie I saw in 2010 and it was pretty awesome for a start!! :) This is a summareview I TRY to write myself:

Sherlock Holmes settings takes place in London, past London, to be precise. The movie started with a moment where Holmes and his partner, Watson, arrested Lord Blackwood in murdering 4 girls and his attempt to kill his 5th victim. 3 months later, Blackwood is executed in public.
The story's getting its problem when Holmes and Watson found out from the police that Blackwood has been resurrected from death. They then tried to solve the problem by the request from police inspector. Unfortunately, the public started to know about the rumor and panicked. Most of them believed that only supernatural powers can bring Blackwood back to life. Holmes is getting busier with additional case request from Irene Adler, his love. Holmes found out about the Four Ordo and the magic effects. Blackwood started chaos by murder attempts to the important people in England and the ones that related to the Four Ordo.
It turns out all of the cases are related to each other. In the end, it was clearly undeniable that all those magic and black powers Blackwood has done was nothing than a modern science which includes early-time chemistry and electricity.
The most impressive thing about this movie is Holmes' power of deduction and his plain genius-personality that always puts his partner Watson and himself in trouble. I really like how they mixed the movie with light comedies. Especially when it comes to the partnership of Holmes and Watson. Holmes annoys Watson often in this movie, but Watson himself was just too kind to let it flow. It is also great when they two were in action of solving Blackwood case by relying to their deductive skills and saving Adler from Blackwood's attempt to murder him. It was a trap, actually. One more thing, this movie is also wrapped in some fight actions, not only plain brain he was using there.
Anyway, my favorite scene is when Holmes and Watson solved one by one problems with their skills. And when they started to understand each other without words. They both were so funny when they were together!

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Okee.. mungkin reviewnya cukup sekian kali ya. Mungkin udah pada bosen bacanya. Pheww.. walau senang bisa nonton SH, adaa aja hal-hal yang masih bikin saya tidak betah di sini. Kemarin kami tes, dan soal-soalnya kayak *****!!! sampai-sampai membuat saya ilfeel dan ingin menangis.
Hidup di sini berat, buat saya amat berat. Entah karena saya terlalu sensitif atau apa.
Setiap kali saya memotivasi dan meyakinkan diri dengan memikirkan bahwa masih banyak anak-anak yang malang yang tidak bisa bersekolah lagi, bahwa keperluan saya disini tercukupi, bahwa saya seharusnya bisa bersyukur ada di sini, entah kenapa saya semakin merasa tidak pantas untuk mengenyam pendidikan khusus di sini. Saya merasa down. Ini terjadi setiap kali saya selesai mengerjakan test. Nol, nol, dan nol besar hasilnya.
Ibu saya selalu memberitahu bahwa yang penting usahanya, dan urusan hasil ada di tangan Allah. Tapi ada apa dengan saya? Tiap kali saya merasa tidak mampu, saya terus-menerus berkata saya tidak mampu dan mulai stress. Mungkin kalian akan bilang "jangan berkata tidak mampu" atau sejenisnya, tapi cara menanamkannya di hati itu AMAT SUSAH. terutama di sini. mungkin di tempat kalian memiliki masalah menanamkan itu gampang, tapi tidak di sini.

Roda kehidupan saya sudah mulai bergulir ke bawah...

Entri 15 Januari 2010

Sore ini langit Tangerang cukup cerah. Aneh, sejak siang saya menanti-nanti gerhana matahari cincin yang dikabarkan akan occur mulai pukul 14.33 WIB hingga 16.00 WIB namun tidak ada tanda-tanda akan terjadi. Yah, mungkin memang bukan nasib, ya. :-/

Saat itu kegiatan belajar-mengajar di sekolah pelatihan telah usai. Kami sekelas segera beranjak dari sekolah dan menaiki mobil jemputan. Selama perjalanan, saya melihat-lihat pemandangan melalui jendela mobil. Hiruk-pikuk perkotaan sangat tampak di Tangerang. Tidak seperti di Balikpapan, di sini banyak terjadi kemacetan, polusi udara kelas berat, dan orang-orang yang lalu-lalang menampakkan tampang lesu. Persis seperti keadaan teman-teman kelas saya saat itu. Tired, exhausted, and sleepy. Wajah mereka semua mencerminkan beban. Padahal hari ini kami belajar setengah hari.

Hidup saya di sini memang cukup berat secara batin anak SMP seumuran saya. Walaupun kami diberi fasilitas yang cukup, kami digembleng untuk belajar fisika untuk menghadapi OSN setiap hari. Dan saya sendiri adalah individu yang terlewat santai. Ditambah lagi, saya tidak bisa berteman baik dengan fisika.
Saya tidak pernah menyukai fisika.
Dan sampai hari ini, saya sadar. Seberat apapun pelatihan ini, harus saya jalani. Saya tidak mungkin mangkir. Apa kata orangtua saya nanti? Apa yang akan teman-teman saya katakan? Apa yang akan guru-guru SMP saya rasakan nantinya?

Memang mimpi saya untuk menjadi jurnalis masih melekat erat di hati saya. Saya hampir saja memutuskan untuk mundur karena berpikir bahwa ini adalah jalan yang salah untuk menjadi seorang jurnalis. Tetapi setelah diwanti-wanti oleh sang ibu, saya tidak lagi putus asa. Menjadi jurnalis bukan berarti harus menyerahkan semua untuk jurusan literatur, bukan? Dengan pelatihan ini, saya harap saya akan bisa lebih baik tidak hanya dalam fisika, namun juga secara batin dan kepribadian.

Dan saya pikir, kalau memang bidang saya tulis-menulis, apa salahnya saya menyisihkan sedikit waktu saya dalam pelatihan ini untuk berkarya sastra?
Atau mungkin dengan sedikit blogging, dan menulis artikel iseng mungkin? Untuk sekadar mengasah kemampuan bahasa. :)

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Semoga inspiring, hehe. *PD amat*

One Piece 570 terbit di OneManga hari ini, jadi saya curi-curi kesempatan membuka laptop dan sekaligus blogging. Tadinya sempat ingin menulis artikel tentang Linkin Park dengan bahasa sendiri dan pengetahuan secukupnya, tapi rasanya kurang info. Hehe.

Happy January, everybody! :)