Tadi gw n adek gw nonton acapella di Kafe Pisa (emang udah direncanain, kan tiap hari Minggu!). Biarpun bukan Jamaican Cafe, lumayanlah, hehehehe... gw lupa nama grupnya. Benernya mereka potensial banget, cuma kadang2 suka yg gak pas gitu nadanya, hihihi... sok musikal banget gw yeeee... padahal baca not "kecambah" aja gw gak bisa!

Ngomong2 soal nyanyi, gw udah rindu mo nyanyi lagi di paduan suara. Tapi mau gw ya paduan suara bener, kayak waktu kuliah dulu.. I really enjoyed it... lengkap dengan berbagai latihan yg waktu dulu sering ngebosenin!

Dulu waktu mo nikah sih udah siap2 mo ngumpulin anak2 ex PSM yg udah tinggal dan kerja di Jakarta, udah woro2 segala macem.. tapi gak kesampaian. Abis pas itu sibuk banget lah, mulai dari kerjaan kantor, nyelesaiin thesis, sampe tetek bengek proses lamar melamar yg akhirnya gagal itu, hehehehe...

My fave poem, excerpts of Elizabeth Browning's sonnet "The Portuguese", no. XLIII

How do I love thee ? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,--I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life !--and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

The Fox and the Little Prince

it was then that the fox appeared.
"good morning" said the fox.

"good morning"
the little prince responded politely
altho when he turned around he saw nothing.

"I am right here" the voice said, "under the apple
tree."

"who are you?" asked the little prince, and added,

"You are very pretty to look at."

"I am a fox", the fox said.

"Come and play with me,"
proposed the little prince, "I am so unhappy."

"I cannot play with you," the fox said,
"I am not tamed."

"AH please excuse me,"said the little prince.
But after some thought, he added:
"what does that mean---'tame'?"

"you do not live here," said the fox,
"what is it you are looking for?"

"I am looking for men," said the little prince.
"What does that mean---tame?"

"Men,"said the fox,
"they have guns, and they hunt.
It is very disturbing.
They also raise chickens.
These are their only interests.
Are you looking for chickens?"

"No," said the little prince.
"I am looking for friends.
What does that mean---tame?"

"It is an act too often neglected,"
said the fox.
"It means to establish ties."

"To establish ties?"

"Just that," said the fox.
"to me, you are still nothing more than
a little boy who is just like
a hundred thousand other little boys.
And I have no need of you.
And you, on your part, have no need of me.
To you I am nothing more
than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes.
But if you tame me, then we shall need each other.
To me, you will be unique in all the world.
To you, I shall be unique in all the world. . ."

"I am beginning to understand,"
said the little prince.

"There is a flower. . .I think she has tamed me. . ."

"It is possible," said the fox.

"On earth one sees all sorts of things."

"Oh but this is not on the earth!"
said the little prince.

The fox seemed perplexed, and very curious.
"On another planet?"

"Yes"

"Are there hunters on that planet?"

"No"

"Ah that's interesting! Are there chickens?"

"No"

"Nothing is perfect," sighed the fox.
But he came back to his idea.
"My life is very monotonous," he said.
"I hunt chickens; men hunt me.
All chickens are just alike,
and all the men are just alike.
And in consequence, I am a little bored.
But if you tame me,
it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life.
I shall know the sound of a step that will be
different from all the others.
Other steps send me hurrying back
underneath the ground.
Yours will call me, like music out of my burrow.
And then look:
you see the grain-fields down yonder?
I do not eat bread.
Wheat is of no use to me.
The wheat fields have nothing to say to me.
And that is sad.
But you have hair that is the color of gold.
Think how wonderful that will be
when you have tamed me!
The grain, which is also golden,
will bring me back the thought of you.
And I shall love to listen
to the wind in the wheat. . ."

The fox gazed at the little prince,
for a long time.
"Please---tame me!" he said.

"I want to, very much," the little prince replied.
"But I have not much time.
I have friends to discover,
and a great many things to understand."

"One only understands the things that one tames,"
said the fox.
" Men have no more time to understand anything.
They buy things all ready made at the shops.
But there is no shop anywhere
where one can buy friendship,
and so men have no friends any more.
If you want a friend, tame me. . ."

"What must I do, to tame you?
asked the little prince.

"You must be very patient," replied the fox.
First you will sit down
at a little distance from me
-like that-in the grass.
I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye,
and you will say nothing.
Words are the source of misunderstandings.
But you will sit a little closer to me,
every day..."

The next day the little prince came back.

"It would have been better to come back
at the same hour," said the fox.
"If for example, you came at four o'clock
in the afternoon,
then at three o'clock I shall begin to be happy.
I shall feel happier and happier
as the hour advances.
At four o'clock,
I shall be worrying and jumping about.
I shall show you how happy I am!
But if you come at just any time,
I shall never know at what hour
my heart is ready to greet you. . .
One must observe the proper rites. . ."

"What is a rite?" asked the little prince.

"Those also are actions too often neglected,"
said the fox.
"they are what make one day
different from other days,
one hour different from other hours.
There is a rite, for example, among my hunters.
Every Thursday they danse with the village girls.
So Thursday is a wonderful day for me!
I can take a walk as far as the vineyards.
But if the hunters danced at just any time,
every day would be like
every other day,
and I should never have any vacation at all."


So the little prince tamed the fox.
And when the hour of his departure drew near---

"Ah," said the fox, "I shall cry."

"It is your own fault," said the little prince.
"I never wished you any sort of harm;
but you wanted me to tame you. . ."

"Yes that is so", said the fox.

"But now you are going to cry!"
said the little prince.

"Yes that is so" said the fox.

"Then it has done you no good at all!"

"It has done me good," said the fox,
"because of the color of the wheat fields."
And then he added:
"go and look again at the roses.
You will understand now
that yours is unique in all the world.
Then come back to say goodbye to me,
and I will make you a present of a secret."

The little prince went away,
to look again at the roses.
"You are not at all like my rose," he said.
"As yet you are nothing.
No one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one.
You are like my fox when I first knew him.
He was only a fox
like a hundred thousand other foxes.
But I have made a friend,
and now he is unique in all the world."
And the roses were very much embarrassed.
"You are beautiful, but you are empty," he went on.
"One could not die for you.
To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think
that my rose looked just like you
--the rose that belongs to me.
But in herself alone she is more important
than all the hundreds of you
other roses: because it is she that I have watered;
because it is she
that I have put under the glass globe;
because it is for her
that I have killed the caterpillars
(except the two or three we saved
to become butterflies);
because it is she that I have listened to,
when she grumbled,
or boasted,
or even sometimes when she said nothing.
Because she is MY rose."


And he went back to meet the fox.
"Goodbye" he said.

"Goodbye," said the fox.
"And now here is my secret, a very simple secret:
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly;
what is essential is invisible to the eye."

"What is essential is invisible to the eye,"
the little prince repeated,
so that he would be sure to remember.

"It is the time you have wasted for your rose
that makes your rose so important.

"It is the time I have wasted for my rose--
"said the little prince
so he would be sure to remember.

"Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox.
"But you must not forget it.
You become responsible, forever,
for what you have tamed.
You are responsible for your rose. . ."

"I am responsible for my rose,"
the little prince repeated,
so that he would be sure to remember.


From the Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The fox and the little prince have become "amigos para siempre" since then... if only they could sing, they would've sung:

... when I look at you I wonder why
There has to be the time when we must say goodbye
I'm alive when we are together...

or they might've sung along with Gloria Estefan

... And despite the fact it’s hurting me,
I know the time has come to set you free...

The greatest love is the love that liberates...

Ngumpulin segala macam baju, tas, dan sepatu layak pakai buat disumbangin. Lucu deh, masak ada gereja yg bilang mereka lagi gak ada program untuk sumbangan barang gitu. Mungkin mereka prefer dalam bentuk uang. Ya logikanya sih kalo uang kan bisa dibuat macem2, sedangkan kalo barang kan rada terbatas pemanfaatannya. Tapi untung ada gereja lain yg bersedia. Telp Amanguda, katanya sih bisa disumbangin lewat penginjilannya Bram dan lewat zendingnya.

Mesen pembantu ama temen2. Dapet gak ya? Sekarang2 mereka lebih suka jadi TKW. Gak bisa disalahin sih, pendapatannya lebih gede (biarpun resikonya lebih gede juga). Nyokap juga kadang2 kalo denger rata2 gaji pembantu sekarang bawaannya udah gak mau aja punya pembantu. Kayaknya dalam alam pikiran bonyok, gaji pembantu sama dengan 10 th yg lalu... :P

Kalo dipikir2 ada yg gak adil juga. Gaji pegawai negeri nominalnya gak jauh beda dari beberapa th lalu, padahal gaji pembokat naik terus! (Isu supply and demand sih, terutama terkait dengan kesempatan jadi TKW itu...). Di samping itu, pegawai negeri enggak dapet THR! (Gw baru tau juga setelah 4 th kerja di sini!). Benernya kalo dipikir2, apa yg diperoleh oleh pegawai negeri, terutama gol. I & II yg gajinya pun di bawah UMR Jakarta, itu melanggar UU Ketenagakerjaan. Gw sempet diskusi re hal itu sama Mas B. Mas B cerita kalo beberapa tahun lalu isu serupa pernah diraise, tapi Dep PAN cuek, malah sempet nantang bahwa yg gak suka peraturan itu silakan enggak jadi pegawai negeri.

Wah, gw senep banget dengernya. Masalahnya kan bukan sekedar peraturan perusahaan yang spesifik seperti: cewek gak boleh pake celana panjang ke kantor, atw sesama karyawan jangan nikah (walopun sebenernya ini sih melanggar hak asasi juga!), tapi peraturan yang bertentangan! Hm... mungkin karena peg neg dianggep pelayan masyarakat ya, bukan tenaga kerja... jadi harus pengabdian... duile, hari gini dituntut pengabdian. Enggak heran juga kan kalo korupsi marak di berbagai instansi...

Kunjungan ke rumah Ai, dilanjutkan ke rumah Popay. Gosip lama banget (Ai ikut ke tempat Popay), sampe jam 11 malem. Kalo enggak ditelp nyokap jam 10.30, kayaknya kita bakal sampe pagi, hehehehe...

Nyokapnya Popay kurusan, tapi si Poi kok malah agak lebih molig ya...

Btw, katanya Aci gw rada kecilan. Asiiik!!! Tumben! Hehehehe... Tapi bener nih gw udah kurang banget makan buah & sayur, serta minum air putih. Tiap hari selalu gw buat "resolusi harian" supaya ngurangin lemak... tapi kebiasaan tarsok sih!

Hari ini aku nyuci kamar mandi bokap, nyapu rumah, dan nyuci, sementara "jedhing" depan dicuci Detong. Adekku itu juga ngelap2 rumah... baguslah... gw paling gak telaten buat ngelap2!!!! Mending disuruh nyuci piring setumpuk deh!!!

Tapi kayaknya Detong lagi mood nata2 rumah, soalnya dia sekaligus ngeganti taplak meja dan cushion. Tumben rajin, hehehehe...

Gak sabar nih mo ke rumah temen2 besok: Ai en Popay. Pengen makan rendang dan kaastengels!!! Kata nyokapnya Popay, kayaknya si Po'i juga masak nasi kebuli. Nasi kebulinya Po'i mah oke lah, gak berbau kare (hm, jangan2 kalo gitu malah dianggap gak sukses masaknya, hehehehe..) dan terakhir gw makan (which is tahun lalu!) ditaburi keju parut!

Gw d/l beberapa lagu dari Kazaa, tapi kok baru kira2 semenit udah kresek2 lagunya n gak enak lagi didenger? Apa disengaja sama record company ya? Somehow mereka bisa di tengah jalan ngerusak file nya.. biasalah! Mereka kan yg sok gak mo rugi banget, dan suka ribut2 soal hak cipta. Yah, bisa dimengerti sih, soalnya emang udah terjadi penurunan penjualan secara signifikan, sampe Sony dan ... (apa ya? Lupa!) aja kudu merge. Tapi benernya ya harus dibuktikan lebih lanjut apa emang reduksi penjualan terjadi karena maraknya peredaran lagu di cyberway melalui media-media seperti kazaa dll.

Lagian ya kan emang udah jamak manusia cari yg gratis2... apalagi manusia Indonesia, hihihhi...

Gw jadi inget waktu malam penganugerahan sebuah penghargaan tahun lalu (atw 2 th lalu ya?), Dewa dapet sebuah award. Dhani di mimbar dengan penuh percaya diri mengutuk piracy... dan dengan senang hati menginformasikan bahwa wkt itu Dewa mencapai penjualan sekian ratus ribu copy dan pendapatan sekian miliar... dan bahwa pendapatannya akan lebih kalo tidak ada pembajakan. Come on!!!! As if such claim or declaration or whatever you call it will make others be more sympathetic to these "victims" of piracy. Gw pribadi, yg gw bayangkan langsung diskrepansi antara penghasilan personil Dewa yang bermiliar2 dengan para penjual CD dan VCD bajakan yg tiap hari harus jualan di bawah tenda, kena angin dan hujan...

First time blog!

Gimana ya kira2 tampilannya? How would others see it?

Malam takbiran. Tapi herannya kok gak ada rame2 di luar. Kalo petasan, ok lah, emang udah dilarang pemerintah. Tapi bedug? Takbirnya?

Biarpun gw gak ngerayain Lebaran, rasanya aneh kalo malam takbiran sepi. Mmmm.. besok ke mana dulu ya? Ai apa Popay? Dua2nya suka nyediain kaastengels yang oke! Kalo Iyat.. udahlah... rumahnya di ujung dunia sana! Mending gw telp aja. Eh, tapi berapa ya no nya?

Btw, gw baru aja nyelesaiin versi Indonesia "Tiger Child" nya Torey Hayden (udah baca juga yg "One Child"). Kisah sedih Sheila, ditambah rangkaian bukunya David Pelzer, apalagi dengan ribut2 kasus tuduhan child molesting thd Michael Jackson (ah, dia mah emang sakit jiwa!), membuat kita berpikir dunia seperti apa yang menjadi milik anak2 kita.

Mungkin karena masa kecil gw menyenangkan, it's kinda difficult for me to relate with these abused youngsters. Gw juga ngalamin saat2 sulit, karena gw termasuk anak yg rendah diri, pemalu (bahkan sampai sekarang gw ngerasa bhw gw sukar untuk cepat akrab dengan orang lain, meskipun temen2 gw bilang sebaliknya!), but compared to these kids, I was in heaven!

Kalo lagi edan gini, gw biasanya terpikir untuk belajar counseling dan jadi sukarelawan untuk para anak teraniaya. Atw jadi guru Sekolah Minggu. Atw apalah. Tapi bisa gak ya? Yang pertama, dan terutama, gw orangnya angin2an. Beberapa waktu yg lalu gw beli benang kristik dan polanya karena lagi semangat pengen bikin kristik. Baru beberapa kotak, gw udah simpen tuh calon kristik di laci. Kedua, walopun gw suka dan sayang sama anak2, gw sering gak sabaran sama mereka. Gw suka gemes liat ponakan2 gw yg lari sana sini di acara keluarga. Atw ponakannya ex gw yg kalo lagi keluar angotnya suka teriak2 sendiri.

I wish I could have my own baby... Tapi musti cari bapaknya dulu nih, hehehehe...