2010, the Year of Loss, but Still, Beautiful.

2010 as a year

When I got more sarcastic obligations

and did mistakes what were not mistakes

When I felt the joy of a senior-year high school student

yet tedious waiting time for graduation

When I felt I knew who my brothers and sisters were

and realised they were leaving

When I found myself nowhere

and got denials from the remaining hopes

When I looked at the sunset every evening

then found songs in the night which made me cry deeply

When I dreamed of my absolute sickness

and no one dared to believe me

When I woke up every morning and shivered

and watched the sunrise, hoped I ain’t gonna die by coldness that day

When I finally tried to let go everything

which made me not to surrender to impossibility

When I thought I lived a solitary life

and it let me much aware of the strongest friendships I had

When so many invaluable experiences came to me

and told me about how to love sincerely

 

When I lost so much

and gained that much

and loved the complications of life

1 Litre of Tears (Ichi Rittoru no Namida – 1リットルの涙)

Why did this disease choose me?

Sad.

One word best describing the whole drama.

I’m not good at writing synopsis, and I just wanna share something. It’s a 2005 Japanese drama, based on true story. Quite straightforward plot, telling a story about a 15-year-old high school girl who had soooo many dreams and activities, but had to lose them all because of her disease, spinocerebellar degenerative disease, or spinocerebellar ataxia. This disease is rare, incurable, and genetically inherited. It attacked Aya Kitō Ikeuchi’s cerebellum (a part of brain) and made her lose coordination day by day. Starting from the four limbs, which caused clumsy motions, sight, speech, and even problems in swallowing.

Aya (July 19, 1962 – May 23, 1988) had a strong reason to live on : writing her story. This has been published and encouraged so many people. One of the most famous words is:

“Just being alive is such a lovely and wonderful thing.”

What I learnt so much from her (like most of the others, likely) is.. Oh God, she was a really tough girl. Keep on being kind and optimistic. Really, until her last breath in her age of 25. And the atmosphere of togetherness, either family or friends, can be felt strongly.

A part I like the most from the drama is when Aya’s sister, Ako Ikeuchi, started to change her mind about her sister and worried so much about Aya’s health. Also the part when she was extremely angry to her younger brother because he was ashamed of Aya. The saddest words I think is:

“One day, when the time comes, I want to sleep amongst the flowers”

I guess we shouldn’t be as tough as her, but at least we should be thankful for our life.

On the Way of Improvement! :)

Lately these days I have been blogging again probably because I’m now living alone and there’s much time. And looking at old posts, GOSH. So embarrassing yet funny. I won’t delete them but I think I should write in a better way.. Not just for my importance but also for the readers (if there’s any).

Soft Drink Addiction

Okay. Ini kerjaan orang yang sendirian, trus ga bisa tidur malem2.

I wanna share a bit.

Jadi, 7 November kemarin itu ada 7eleven day di Queensland, Victoria, & New South Wales. Dari jam 7.11 AM sampe 2.22 PM (7 jam 11 menit). Mereka bagi-bagi slurpee gratis. Gw sama temen gw siang2 gitu sih baru ke city jadi agak rugi juga cuma sempet 1 kali ngambil. But it’s enough!

Kmarinnya gw baru minum soft drink soalnya. Dan dua hari berturut-turut minum soft drink bikin gw gak bisa berhenti tiap malem buat minum sekaleng.

Fortunately it’s just a bit. Soalnya yang gw denger dari lifestyle anak2 muda dalem suatu survey gitu rata-rata minum 3 kaleng sehari (setiap hari). Astaga. Padahal isinya cuma calories, preservatives, caffeine, etc etc.

So it’s dangerous actually. Buat temen-temen yg juga kayak gitu, coba tahan godaan buat minum deh. Beli yang lain gitu. Milk, which is way much better than soft drinks

Ciao!

A Recall : the Year of Loss…..

2009.

That’s the one I mean..

In 2009, I lost my junior-high-school history teacher. She is (Alm.) Deborah, a senior teacher at SMPK 2 PENABUR Jakarta, where I spent my 3 years of teenage. I didn’t really know that she was sick. It’s a cancer in her stomach – I’m not sure it’s the colon, intestine or  uterus. One day, about the days of her birthday, I was told that she was really, really sick. My math teacher and one of my friends finally decided to come to the hospital where she got the treatment. We bought some fruits, and my teacher had prepared some words of prayer to be brought there.

Unfortunately, she died exactly when we arrived.

3 months later, on a sunny Monday morning, I got a sudden call from my vice-principal. She told me that my native English teacher, (Alm.) Arthur Laronde, had passed away. He fell after he played golf.  The previous Friday, he had kidded that he wouldn’t come teaching on Monday, because he wanted to celebrate his birthday with his daughter.

Again, it’s the birthday.

About one month after it, some of my friends and I were busy for Cambridge A Level Examinations. However, my grandpa was sick at that time. He was having a bad respiratory disease, and it made a complication to his major organs. I couldn’t believe it, he did leave me and the whole huge family on November 27th 2009 in his 94th age.

Exactly like what you have guessed… yeah, we have just celebrated his birthday in early November..

Yah…..it was quite a phenomenon for me. What do you think?

Cinta Fitri – Indonesia’s Most Productive Soap Opera

If you have been in Indonesia for the last 4 years, and have not heard about “Cinta Fitri”, it’s nearly impossible – except you never come out of your house and there’s no TV.

I’m not saying that I really like the plot. It’s good in its first season but I think that’s all. The next seasons have a series of plot that’s not my type.

The first thing impressive from this soap opera was the creative way of thinking about how to not make a good-versus-evil story, like the others did, but a family’s life and their problems.

Also, the details are really, really good. Perhaps majority won’t realise what I mean, but it’s there.

For instance, other stories would try to make a complicated plot but in later episodes there are contradictories if we look back at previous episodes. But here, in Cinta Fitri, they showed a different quality. They included every detail and not deviated from previous episodes.

Another sample is the old characters are not forgotten easily. Season by season, someone who we didn’t really remember he/she was EVEN there, could show up again. They remember to show us the “flash back” of the old episodes where the character has ever been there. Somehow amazingly the characters are put together with a complication.

Again, I loved the details much. It’s as simple as an unimportant-gesture, but that gesture is really, really, really spontaneous and needed in real life, which would be ignored (too often) in others. It makes the characters are acting naturally.

This successful production of MD Entertainment is actually much better in their technical part. It’s just the plot that’s not quite creative. I think it’s because the number of episodes which is way too many. It’s over 900 (by January 2011), gaining Indonesian World Record (MURI) for the longest soap opera.

It is the first Indonesian soap opera which used the movie-format for its opening episode in a season (unfortunately I forgot which season it was). And also, for its season 5 poster.

The least but not last thing is the high productivity and SCTV awards. Cinta Fitri has produced its own original soundtrack, Cinta Kita, sung by Shireen Sungkar and Teuku Wisnu (the main casts), and its own music album (compilation of the songs in the drama). About the SCTV awards, here they are:

2007

• Best actor (Teuku Wisnu)

2008

• Best programme (Cinta Fitri)
• Best actor (Teuku Wisnu)
• Best actress (Shireen Sungkar)
• Lifetime achievement (Ida Kusuma)

2009

• Best actress (Shireen Sungkar)
• Best actor (Teuku Wisnu)
• Best supporting actor (Adly Fairuz)
• Best supporting actress (Dinda Kanya Dewi)

2010

• Best programme
• Best actress (Shireen Sungkar)
• Best actor (Teuku Wisnu)
• Best supporting actor (Adly Fairuz)
• Best supporting actress (Dinda Kanya Dewi)

Hopefully they have good progression in their stories. It would be really great then.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Percy Jackson? I think girls know him well as the main character of the movie Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. However, I won’t talk about the movie here, because I was personally upset. It was well-visualised, yeah, but the plot deviated too much from the book. As a based-on-novel film, I honestly can’t appreciate it like I appreciate the first two movies of The Chronicles of Narnia, which are The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian. They barely changed the originality of the novels, authorised by C.S. Lewis.

These series have a relatively simple plot. Possibly, Rick Riordan, the author, made the story for children or young readers. Although their plot is really alike with Harry Potter, but they are much simpler. However, if you are a heavy reader (I mean, you have read many novels which have complicated plots), you would be completely disappointed. It’s because, in the novels, there are too many “constant resolutions” to each of the problems. For example, when the characters are losing a war, there’s almost certainly help from outside. And what the writer explain about it is only by writing “Don’t ask me why they could come, but they bring a great help” or something like that. Anyway, that’s only my personal opinion

Overall, these books are good, though. I have just finished them, and I think the fourth book is the best. Anyone interested?

University of Melbourne

Everything goes right?

Coz long time no see! How are you going?

Beh. mentang2 uda di Melbourne neh gw, blagu gt. haha..anyway..kalo ngeliat beberapa post terakhir gw kyk smuanya tentang kepanikan gw akan skolah, A Levels, IELTS, UniMelbourne. Such a dream! Finally I am now studying in University of Melbourne!!

Ini map campus gw sekarang. lmyn gede buat bikin kaki berotot, tapi sehat! Kadang yang bikin ngga enak kalo antar kelas itu dempet tapi jarak gedungnya jauh..uda lari-larian, tetep telat juga. Yah, that’s a risk.

Anyway, yang dilingkarin merah-merah itu adalah Union House –> tempat paling oke buat cari makanan ato ngobrol2. Makanannya jg relatif lebih murah, padahal porsinya udah kayak badak bunting. Disini bisa daftar jadi member, nanti banyak diskon kalau mau join2 club. Atau kalo mo jd member di Rowden White Library juga dapet diskon. This library is located on the second floor of Union House. It is a non-academic library. Di dalem ada tulisan “PLEASE DO NOT STUDY”. Gaul kan? Disini bisa nonton juga lho!

Sejauh ini sih keliatannya anak2 first year umurnya relatif lebih tua dari gw, karena banyak orang yg harus wajib militer dulu kyk singapore atau korea, atau juga alesan2 laen. Kalo anak2 indo malah kayaknya lebi muda2 daripada gw, but it’s okay since it is a university.

Soal lecture? Harus pinter2 milih lecturer. Pilih sampe dpt yg ngerasa paling cocok n jelas neranginnya, selama jadwalnya nggak ngebentrok kelas laen. Ngajarnya steady tapi cepet, jadi kalo ngga ngerti bakal ada consultation hours sama guru2nya. Atau kalau masi juga ngga ngerti, ada tutorials. Disini kita bakal dapet latihan2 banyak banget tiap minggunya, bareng temen2 sekelompok. Jadi bisa dapet temen2 baru jg dari tutorial.

I think that’s all for this time…I’ll write later. Ciao!

WordPress for BlackBerry Tryout!

Testing here. *junk*

Hi guys, I’m writing from BB smartphone now. I have downloaded this application some months ago but I have been too lazy lately. Let’s see if this is delivered nicely to my webblog.

Ciao!

Phoenix Wright [1-5]

Hi pals!

Such a long time I haven’t posted anything.

Well, yah..wktu itu gw lagi sibuk sama A level, IELTS, sama smuanya yg berhubungan sm university application. Skarang smua dah beres!! Gw tinggal apply visa bulan ini deh..walo agak ribet. Er, gak bermaksud mulut gede buat angkatan gw yg mgkin blum slesai, however, ciayo!! waktu & chance masi ada! Pray always for your best

Sekarang shced gw ckup kosong.. sambil ttp ngerjain tugas2 skul, gw lg maenin game nintendo DS “Phoenix Wright“. Yang season pertama judulnya “Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney”, ada 5 cases. sebenernya dulu ud perna gw maenin di pc case 1-4, tapi gw gak sabaran maenny krna itu pake emulator (aslinya emang game DS). tapi bbrp waktu lalu gw dapet undian Nintendo DS Lite gratis dari Taman Anggrek. Jadi, gw nyoba lagi de

Phoenix Wright Series

Tentang apa sih gamenya? Ini tentang kasus2 pembunuhan yang cukup detail, ngelibatin banyak pihak kayak polisi, detektif, lawyer, witness, dll.  Disini kita kebanyakan sih ikut plot ceritanya, tapi banyak bagian dimana kita mesti nentuin mo ngapain buat dpt clue ato smacemnya, jadi klo salah ya gak maju2 deh..

So, buat yang belum prnah coba and lagi pengen mikir dikit, tinggal download at http://rom-freaks.net/. Yang gak punya DS, silakan download emulatornya.. banyak kok yang upload, jadi gampang carinya.. 5  season loh!

See ya!