Men and Commitment

Lagi lagi seorang Netti Rahmawati yang sedikit kolot itu pernah bbm gue dan bilang “Gak semuanya cowok itu brengsek wis, bokap kita nggak tuh. Kita aja yang lagi apes dapetnya yang begitu.”

Baca bbmnya langsung ngakak guling-guling. Netti is the one who still uses her logical thinking for this case.  Jadi kalo lo curhat tentang yang kaya gini ke orang Cimahi ini, otak lo serasa ditampar-tampar untuk mikir yang riil.

Sometimes I wonder…are men afraid of a commitment?

Entah kenapa banyak juga bukti yang menguatkan tentang my curiousty. In my opinion, lelaki sejati itu nggak pernah mau untuk menunda apapun untuk orang yang dia anggap “serius”. Kenapa sih mesti menunda untuk sesuatu hal yang disuka? Apa ada orang yang mau nunda for the one he loves? Sounds stupid…

Well, mungkin di luar sana saat laki-laki baca postingan gue banyak yang berteriak “sok tau lo wis”. Mungkin gue nggak tau apa alasan yang membuat mereka akhirnya menunda sesuatu itu. Tapi coba deh dipikirin lagi…kalau alasannya cuma karena pendidikan, jarak, aduh….apa itu nggak terlalu mainstream? Cari sesuatu yang baru dong. Lagi pula, perempuan kan bukan kata benda yang sepadan dengan jarak dan pendidikan (I’ve told you).

Atau mungkin karena laki-laki jumlahnya lebih sedikit dari perempuan jadi mereka ngerasa bisa untuk menunda suatu komitmen? Mau nyicipin dulu gitu kira-kira perempuan mana yang enak—my negative mind works. Mungkin takut salah pilih juga karena komitmen itu hubungannya sama sisa hidupmu—this is my positive mind.

Lebih asyik sama yang nggak ada komitmen apapun, bisa ngapain aja sebebas mungkin, senengnya dapet tapi nggak perlu ngerasain sedih karena kita nggak punya komitmen—that is how a jerk’s mind works. Pernah juga loh, laki-laki baik-baik (menurut gue) bilang sama temen gue, “Gue mau nge-flirt semua cewek aja deh, nggak usah milih jadinya.” Apakah semua laki-laki pernah mikir kayak gitu? Kayaknya sih pernah.

In conclusion, as I know, a real man will not be afraid of commitment. Commitment is about how you live it not how you think about it. Meskipun cowok yang belum berani sama komitmen juga ada yang baik, pasti. Kita nggak akan pernah tau rasanya jadi orang lain, kan?

Charlene with Her Uncertainty

How to Be an Other Woman is a complicated story which is written by Loorie Moore. There are so many unexpected things Moore reveals in that story. The unique character that Charlene has is combined with the man character makes the story becomes unpredictable. This story makes me think about how Charlene can live her life. I believe that Charlene has weaknesses in her “relationship” that she hard to deal with.

Being a woman who does not have any clear status like Charlene is absolutely exhausted. She cannot ask for more about everything that relates to their “relationship”.

Say: “Call you ‘later’ would sound better than ‘soon’. ‘Soon’ always means just opposite.” He smiles feebly. “I’ll phone you in a few days.”

Charlene tells her opinion but he still does not change his mind to tolerate Charlene’s opinion. He only arranges his words by saying “a few days” which in other words means the same. Nothing Charlene can do because she is not someone who has clear status for him. This condition is same as when I just broke up with my boyfriend and still had a good communication. We were trapped in the situation where we still loved each other but we could not do anything. It is really disturbing me because every woman needs a certainty, so does Charlene.

      The weakness that Charlene cannot deal with also comes when she feds up with this complicated situation but he does not let her go.

You are risking your life for him, spread out like a ridiculous cake on the bed, waiting with the door unlocked, thinking you hear him on stairs, but no.

Charlene completely knows that loving him is only risking herself but her love is reached at the enough depth so she cannot let everything go as easy as other thought. When woman is falling in love, she can do every weird or even ridiculous thing to be with her love—Charlene does. The man she loves will always in her mind, act as everything as her imagination does.

Whisper, “Don’t go yet,” as he glides out of your bed before sunrise and you lie there on your back, cooling, naked between the sheets and smelling of musky, oniony sweat.

He does not want Charlene go because he also enjoys Charlene “play”—come and go as he likes and does not ask for more because she is nobody. I do not know why some men are afraid with commitment. I feel they just think about the temporary happiness because commitment is about the rest of your life. They do not brave to take the blame.

       Charlene also feels extremely tired because she is always haunted with another girl he has.

On the street, all over, you think you see her, the boring hotel-soap stealer. Every woman is her. You smell Cashmere Bouquet all over the place.

Charlene seems have a traumatic with Patricia—another girl he has. She is haunted by Patricia’s figure who is very perfect for him so that he chooses Patricia than her.

“Patricia’s really had quite an interesting life,” he says, smoking a cigarette.

Every woman does not like when her prince says like that. Charlene gets jealous to Patricia. Moreover, Patricia has a high position in her work. She also collects the luxurious things that she keeps on tidy in their apartment. Charlene feels like nobody if she is compared with Patricia. But he still does not let Charlene go. He defends Charlene with the condition that Charlene is too far with Patricia.

       To sum up, Charlene who is other woman to him cannot deal with her weaknesses and those weaknesses come because of his appearance in Charlene life. The one she loves can make the weaknesses that Charlene cannot solve.

Tamu Lalu

Mau cerita sedikit tentang…masa lampau lagi, tapi nggak mellow kok.

Netti Rahmawati pernah bilang, “gue heran deh sama orang yang bilang “mantan”. Kenapa sih mesti disebut mantan? Yang udah mah udah aja atuh.”

Sempet nyantol juga di otak gue kenapa orang menyebutnya dengan “mantan”. Jadi kayak ada hubungannya lagi, padahal sebenernya nggak ada hubungannya lagi kan sama sekali sama masa sekarang? Well…that’s depend on how you see that case.

You might know that I used to hide and avoid. Itu juga yang gue lakuin saat masa lampau berkunjung ke rumah. Ngga…he did not have any business with me. Secara kasar, adik gue yang membuat dia datang ke rumah. Ibu baru dikasih tau sama gue kalo doi mau ke rumah. Ibu cuma bilang, “Ngga usah ketemu, dia kesini kan bukan mau ketemu kamu.”

Siang itu gue lagi tidur-tiduran sambil nonton tv, tiba-tiba adik gue riewuh nanyain ibu punya uang apa nggak sambil ngobrak-ngabrik dompet ibu di kamar (re: jangan ditiru). Ibu yang lagi masak di dapur setelah lihat doi datang langsung disamperin dan diajak ngobrol sedikit sampe akhirnya adik gue ngasih uang ke doi. Sempet ditawarin masuk dulu ke rumah sama sepupu gue yang juga kenal doi, tapi doi cuma sampe teras (ini nggak kepo, but I heard his voice). Hingga akhirnya ngobrol beberapa patah kata dan berlalu….

Lima menit setelah doi pulang, bapak tercinta juga pulang. Gue yang saat itu lagi di teras rumah langsung kaget saat bapak heboh nanya, “ka, tadi bapak ketemu hgwjs (salah nyebut nama, tapi gue tau kalo maksudnya adalah doi) di jsfsjnf. Dia habis dari rumah? Loh katanya udah nggak lagi sama kamu?” Gue mikir untuk menanggapi pertanyaan rumit yang jauh lebih rumit dari soal UN fisika. “Ya emang udah nggak kok…”

Ibu langsung nyamber dan ceritain semuanya ke bapak gue. Gue pun nggak tau kalo ternyata bapak gue tau tentang masalah beginian. I thought my mother was a secret keeper. Eh tapi nggak usah dikeep juga sih, kan masa lampau.

Gue keherananan saat bapak makin bertanya yang aneh-aneh tentang gue dan masa lampau. Remember all of that shit is suck, ARGHHH!

“Loh berarti kamu tetep ketemu dong? Kan dia ke rumah…” nggak pakkkkk….

“Iya harusnya tuh ibu ngomong berdua sama dia, tanya kenapa bisa begini” APA-APAAAAN INIIIII…

“Gimana ceritanya sih? Ko kamu bisa pu…shfsfvsjfbs” UDAH PAK UDAAAHHH….

Tapi akhirnya, temen gue Annisa Hapsari menyadarkan gue untuk melihat kasus ini sebagai bukti kalau seorang Ayah nggak mungkin mau anak perempuannya disakitin sama lelaki manapun. Beliau cuma mau tahu tentang keadaan anak perempuannya yang dia tahu bahwa hatinya sudah dititipkan pada lelaki masa lalu itu. Beliau akan melakukan apapun asal anak perempuannya nggak sedih, termasuk ngasih wejangan, “kalau suka sama orang jangan sampe 100%, nanti sakit hati kalo putus.”

Bener juga sama wejangan itu, but I never thought that we could break up. Yes, I trust my heart to you—tadinya.

Masa Semenit yang Lalu

Holy SHITTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!

I just wanna say “Congrats! You’re not a REAL MAN!”

Semuanya butuh yang namanya “berubah”. But you know, changing everything for every memory you have almost two years is not easy. Tapi kalo begini terus juga pasti ga akan enak. Dia sih enak-enak aja karna udah nemu “yang baru”. Ah tapi semuanya kan ada masanya. Nggak mungkin to seseorang masih bertahan suka sama orang yang udah nyakitin?

I have let all of the hard things gone that I thought I could not. Hiding then avoiding, cuma itu yang gue lakuin. Semua itu bisa karna biasa. Kebiasaan hiding then avoiding juga pasti lama-lama bisa nerima. Udah deh, avoid aja terus sama semua hal yang ada hubungannya sama masa lalu. Jangan sok-sok ngerasa udah kuat mau nengok masa lalu kalo belum begitu biasa sama masa yang sekarang.

Gak munafik, semua orang terbiasa sama hidupnya yang baru karena ada peranan orang lain. Orang lain yang bisa ngebantu dia buat berubah, dan pastinya sama sikap dia yang mau welcome sama orang lain. Brengseknya adalah, when you have not met with the suitable one yet but he has. Itu semua karena ulah dari naluri yang selalu pengen tau what’s going on. Makanya jangan sok-sokan care kaya facebook dan twitter yang selalu nanya what’s in your mind and what’s happening. Semua berawal dari situ, sok care mau tau tapi ujung-ujungnya nggak siap nerima kenyataan.

Jadi disini yang perlu ditekankan adalah, nggak usah sok-sokan udah kuat dan mau tau lagi tentang masa lalu. Nggak usah. Believe it or not, nobody’s ready for it. Kadang, ketidaktahuan makes everything better. Prepare yourself to meet everybody that God has chosen for you.

Seorang sahabat gue pernah ngasih quote yang keren lewat socmed yang isinya “Never blame anyone in your life. Good people give you happiness, bad people give you experience, worst people give you a lesson and best people give you memories.”

Btw, which category are you? Worst people deh kayaknya (ups, I’m kidding!). Tapi bener juga sih, semua yang masuk ke kehidupan kita kan udah ada yang ngatur, they come for a reason. Cuma dua kok, to make you happy or sad. Kalo yang bikin sedih yaa kategoriin aja langsung dia itu yang mana, but do not blame him. Semua hal yang bakal terjadi di dunia ini kan juga udah ada yang ngerancang. Semua orang pasti harus pindah dari satu fase ke fase yang lain. You will feel bored if you are always on that stage. Itulah sebabnya kalo pacaran ujungnya ada dua, kalo nggak putus ya nikah.

Well, selamat menjalani hidup baru untuk semua orang yang pernah menjadi masa semenit-yang-lalu gue! Hope we are happy O:)

Tragedi Koyo

Badan pegal-pegal akibat berdiri dari jam tujuh hingga sepuluh akhirnya memaksa naluri gue untuk membeli yang namanya: koyo—bahasa halusnya sih salonpas. Selama ini gue belum punya pengalman dalam memakai koyo (sumpeh!)

Harganya cukup menguras dompet, 4500 coyyy…padahal lumayan buat beli ayam goreng di kanjat. Malem itu jam setengah sebelas malam kita—Anni dan Aling ikut—sampai kostan gue yang kondisinya memprihatinkan. Kita bakal tidur bak ikan asin yang lagi dijemur, yang penting bisa tidur.

Gue buka salonpasnya, ternyata ada beberapa pieces dan bolak-balik. Pengalaman yang gue tahu dari Aling, lebih baik digunting dulu biar hemat. Gue mulai menggunting koyonya yang kemudian ukurannya jadi 3 cm. Gue kasih koyonya ke Anni, minta tempelin ke punggung. I give her my smallest piece.

“Kecil amat? Gue kira lo bakal ngasih yang gede.” komentarnya.

“Badan gue kan tipis, takut ntar kepanasan kalo pake yang gede…”

Anni nempelin koyonya ke tempat-tempat yang gue suruh—punggung atas kiri kanan, dan punggung bawah kiri kanan. Ternyata mulai bereaksi, panas-panas gimana gitu.

Keesokan harinya gue ngiep di kostan Aling, maklum semenjak kejadian…ehem “berakhir”, I never slept alone (takut keingetan). Baru inget juga kalo ternyata koyo yang semalem dipake belum dilepas. Kebayang sakitnya kalo dilepas, pasti bulu-bulu halus pada nempel semua di koyo. Akhirnya Aling inisiatif buat mengolesi minyak kayu putih sebelum pencabutan koyo dimulai. Gue ga kuat baru dipegang sedikit aja sakitnya bukan main. Akhirnya gue membuat suara-suara lucu (re: jejeritan).

“Wis jangan berisik, kaya apaan aja lu!” tapi tetep aja gue ga bisa berenti ngeluarin suara-suara ga karuan karena sakit.

“Wis lemes gue nih, belom kecabut udah ketawa duluan…”

“AAAAKK!!!” berhasil kecabut satu koyo…lalu dua koyo.

“Sini, mana lagi?” tagih Aling.

“Gak ling, ga usah. Biar gue aja sendiri, paling kalo dipake mandi terus juga nanti kelepas sedikit-sedikit.” padahal nggak kuat banget nahan sakitnya.

Keesokan harinya setelah mandi, gue berhasil narik dua koyo di punggung atas sambil jejeritan di kamar mandi. Perihnya luar biasa tiada tara. Sejak hari itu gue berkomitmen untuk ga akan pake koyo lagi, titik.

My Honorable Lecturer: Mr. Rudi Wilson

Menjadi salah satu mahasiswi Sastra Inggris di tanah Padjadjaran menghasilkan banyak cerita. Kalau teman-teman jurusan yang lain cuma cerita tentang teman-temannya, kalau aku memiliki banyak cerita tentang dosen-dosen baru kemudian teman-temanku.

Aku memiliki berbagai macam karakter dosen yang di jurusan lain tidak ada. Entah apa yang membuat mereka beragam seperti ini, tapi setiap dosen punya ciri khas masing-masing.

Kenangan hari pertama masuk kuliah masih sangat menempel di memoriku. Setelah pelajaran Grammar, aku dan teman-teman sekelas masuk ke kelas Essay Writing. Sesosok laki-laki tua yang memakai kemeja berwarna biru, mengenakan kacamata dan masker. Rambutnya sudah banyak yang memutih. Badannya juga besar, sepertinya banyak tumpukan lemak dalam tubuhnya.

Setelah kami semua menempati kursi yang kosong, pria itu mulai berbicara, “silakan bertanya apapun pada saya tetapi jangan yang jawabannya ya atau tidak, dimulai dari yang paling depan.”

Semua mahasiswa mendapat gilirannya bertanya masing-masing. Mahasiswa yang bertanya dengan menggunakan grammar yang berantakan akan langsung disanggah olehnya dan berkata “salah”. Aku semakin gemetar saat giliran itu sudah mendekatiku. Saat itu aku bertanya, “What kind of music do you like?” dan pria itu menjawab pertanyaanku namun aku tidak mengerti jenis musik apa yang tadi beliau sebutkan, karena pengetahuan musikku juga tidak terlalu banyak.

Sambil berjalannya waktu sampai pukul 12.20, kami tahu bahwa namanya adalah Rudi Wilson. Pria ini berasal dari Bandung, beragama Kristen katolik. Beliau sempat menyebutkan umurnya, yang kudengar sudah 83 tahun. Beliau memiliki seorang istri yang berbeda keyakinan dengannya dan tiga orang anak tirinya. Beliau juga menceritakan tentang anak tirinya yang sudah mapan dalam bidang translation yang bisa menghasilkan banyak uang hanya dari jasa translating. Beliau bertempat tinggal di Dago atas. Umurnya yang sudah menginjak tua bukan menjadi penghalang untuk tidak bisa melakukan aktivitas apapun. Beliau ke Jatinangor menggunakan angkutan umum, kendaraan pribadi hanya akan berakhir di kemacetan, katanya. Aku juga melihat bahwa beliau selalu membawa bekal makanan dan minuman yang selalu disiapkan oleh istrinya. Hingga akhirnya kami semua tahu bahwa beliau memakai masker karena sedang ada perawatan dalam rongga mulutnya dan beliau berjanji pada kami akan melepas maskernya dalam waktu beberapa bulan ini. Beliau mulai menjelaskan peraturan-peraturan selama kami menjadi mahasiswanya dengan posisi duduk kaki kiri berada di atas kaki kanan atau sebaliknya hingga kelas selesai.

“Saya kasih kesempatan kalian untuk hadir dalam kelas saya 10x. Kalian punya jatah tidak masuk sebanyak 4x, dan begitu juga saya. Di kelas saya tidak ada UTS dan UAS. Saya akan mengambil nilai pada minggu yang saya tentukan dan mengembalikan hasil nilai kalian seminggu setelah kalian kumpulkan. Kalau kalian mau ke kamar kecil atau keluar saat jam pelajaran saya, silakan saja keluar tanpa harus minta izin. Mau ngerokok dulu di kamar mandi, atau ngeganja sekalipun silakan saja dan jangan pernah minta izin.”

Saat pelajaran beliau berakhir, rasanya kancing-kancing yang mengikat bajuku sudah terlepas. Aku bisa bernapas dengan lega, karena jujur saja aku sangat tegang saat diajar beliau. Beliau adalah orang yang tegas, berprinsip, namun tetap memberikan kebebasan. Ini baru minggu pertama yang ku lewati, bagaimana minggu-minggu selanjutnya? Pikirku.

Di minggu-minggu berikutnya aku semakin mengenal beliau. Beliau selalu mengadakan kuis paling tidak dua minggu sekali, dan saat hasilnya dibagikan akan menjadi momok yang cukup menakutkan karena nilai yang beliau kasih adalah nilai murni tanpa belas kasihan. Hari pertama saat nilai dibagikan, aku mendapat nilai 2. Sejak saat itu aku takut namun bersemangat dalam mempelajari materi yang diajarkan beliau.

Yang masih terngiang dalam otakku adalah saat beliau sedang membagikan nilainya. Nilai yang paling terakhir dibagikan adalah yang memiliki nilai tertinggi di kelas. Saat itu, Vera, dipanggil terakhir dan sudah pasti nilainya paling tinggi. Saat Vera menghampiri beliau untuk mengambil kertas miliknya, beliau berkata “Dungu!”. Kami semua terkejut, Vera yang memiliki nilai nyaris sempurna justru yang dikatai dungu. “Kamu salah disaat semua orang lain benar.” lanjutnya. Vera hanya mengangguk pelan. Kami semua masih dalam keadaan terkejut. Namun lama kelamaan telingaku terbiasa dengan ucpan “dungu” dari beliau yang bisa memotivasi.

Beliau juga selalu berkata kepada kami, “kalian tuh kalau jajan ya jangan jajan cireng, siomay, atau apalah. Jajan tuh yang bergizi sedikit biar kalian cerdas.” Kami hanya membalasnya dengan tertawa.

“Use your brain if you have any.” Quote dari beliau yang selalu menempel di otakku.

“Bisa tidak kalau yang sekarang tidak ada salah?” pertanyaan dari beliau sebelum mulai latihan soal.

“Ini tolong ya, jangan berisik. Ssst!” saat beliau sudah mendengar banyak anak yang mengobrol.

Hingga dalam hitungan bulan, beliau benar-benar menepati janjinya untuk melepas maskernya. Kini aku bisa melihat seluruh bagian wajahnya. Namun agak sedikit aneh awalnya, karena aku selalu melihat beliau dengan maskernya. Bicaranya pun sudah jauh lebih jelas saat masker tidak menempel lagi di bagian mulutnya.

Sebelum UAS tiba, kami menghadiri kelas terakhir Pak Wilson. Saat itu kami diberikan kesempatan untuk bertanya apapun kepada beliau, dan saat itu aku mendapat giliran yang paling awal. Aku bingung harus bertanya apa. Dalam hitungan detik aku memerhatikan beliau dari ujung kepala hingga kaki, akhirnya terlontar pertanyaan “Why do you always wear that blue shirt?” Dan beliau menjawab, “because I have a dozen.” Jawaban yang sontak menimbulkan gelak tawa di antara kami.

Lalu ada juga salah satu dari teman kelasku yang bertanya waktu itu, “bapak kalau liburan kemana pak?” Dan beliau menjawab, “Di rumah saja. Saya kalau liburan pasti nanti akan stress. Yaa…karna tidak ada lagi yang bisa saya katain dungu jika di rumah.” Jawaban yang nyeleneh itu yang membuatku hapal betul bagaimana sosok Pak Wilson.

Oh ya, sebelum minggu-minggu terakhir tiba, beliau meminta kami semua untuk membawa uang koin seribuan—aku lupa untuk apa. Saat pelajarannya tiba, beliau meminta kami untuk menyerahkan uang koin seribunya, dan banyak dari kami yang lupa. Beliau benar-benar memiliki ingatan yang sangat kuat meskipun umurnya sudah jauh dari kata muda. Bahkan daya ingatnya lebih tajaman beliau dibandingkan dengan mahasiswanya. “Saya kan tidak pernah minta apa-apa pada kalian. Masa kalian diminta mengumpulkan koin seribu saja lupa?” Katanya waktu beberapa dari kami lupa. Beliau memang hebat.

Sosok Pak Wilson benar-benar tidak akan pernah membuatku lupa akan semua sifatnya yang tegas, berprinsip, selalu memotivasi, dan nyeleneh. Terima kasih Pak, saya sudah belajar banyak hal dari bapak. Saya merasa beruntung sekali pernah menjadi mahasiswi bapak. Selamat jalan Pak Wilson, semoga tenang disana ya Pak :')

(Nurin, Anni, Wisny, Netti, Vera, Pak Icon, Rizky, Tommy)

Mata Perempuan dan Laki-laki

Dosen Sastra Inggris Unpad yang ketika makrab dapat award dari kategori The Most Handsome Lecturer pernah bilang kalau perempuan dan laki-laki itu perbedaannya cukup jauh saat ditelaah melalui matanya.

Perempuan itu kalau melihat sesuatu tidak pernah terpusat. Meskipun dia sedang berbicara dan memerhatikan pendengarnya, tapi ia masih bisa melihat keadaan sekitar karena sudut-sudut matanya juga merekam sesuatu. Mungkin itu sebabnya laki-laki banyak yang kepergok selingkuh, karena mata perempuan selalu berjalan meskipun dia tidak tahu. Hebatnya lagi, jika perempuan sedang menyukai laki-laki, ia pandai menyembunyikan perasaannya karena ia mampu melihat meskipun hanya dari sudut mata. Tak salah kalau banyak laki-laki bilang bahwa perempuan susah ditebak.

Sangat berbeda 180° dengan perempuan, laki-laki jika melihat sesuatu hal itu harus terpaku dan terfokus pada satu objek. Tak heran jika melihat perempuan yang cantik, mata laki-laki selalu mengikuti sampai ke titik terjauh perempuan itu berada. Laki-laki juga pastinya tidak bisa menyembunyikan perasaannya lewat matanya, karena mata laki-laki selalu menjawab semua apa yang ia lihat dan pikirkan melalui matanya.

Laki-laki dan perempuan sudah pasti berbeda. Namun, sifat mereka bisa dilihat dari bagaimana cara meleka melihat objeknya.

My Stingy Boarding House Owner

I never thought before that I would spend my college time far from my family and had to live in boarding house because as I seen in television, the boarding house owner was always stingy. Now, I can feel it. My boarding house owner is extremely stingy like Pak Ogah in woman version.

The first time I saw this boarding house especially my room, I just wondered why not she gave the appropriate facilities. The bed still used the kapuk one which was really thin. The pillow was also hollow like filled with only air. The lamp was not as bright enough like in the warung remang-remang. I thought she had never changed every facility here until it broken in front of her. Dena, one of my friends who was also freshman, found out that her pillow was changed to the hollow one, whereas she bought the new soft pillow by herself. Imel, who is Padang freshman, had to sacrifice herself to sleep on the floor because she just paid a half. She really does not have any tolerance. If she had given Imel time to pay the rest, she would not have been known for her stinginess. The last case I heard is Tisa who lived in the 20^th room found out that her bathroom’s lamp was changed to the yellow one after the long holiday in the term one. I know she has right to do everything for what she has but she should think twice to do that because as the tenant we have our own privacy. Getting to someone’s room by forcing the key unlocked is her act that convinces me she is the greediest woman ever.

I am as an observer, give up for all of the things she has done. That is not what mature people supposed to do. Everything we have is only a present from God to be shared with others. If we share our present to others, God will give us more than we want. Count if it necessary.

Love to Keep Put Things off

I have heard about “do not keep put things off tomorrow what can you do today”. It seems like impossible to human for not being a procrastinator. Everybody always says that being a procrastinator is a bad habit, but not for me. Procrastination is a good habit that should be applied by all people.

First, we can be more serious. When we procrastinate a work, we will put it off until the day before it should be collected.  We can be more serious if we do our work in the D-1 because we will think that we do not have any time. Actually, before D-1 we surely have spent our time with the unnecessary thing, so that it will be okay if we use our day to be serious in the hurry time. We also can be more focus on doing that work because we always haunted by the deadline which comes nearer. Second, we can be faster. Indonesian people usually play with time. We usually like something which is near to the deadline. The nearer to the deadline, the faster we are. The spirit that is hurried by time is also different. If we are forced to run because there are dogs behind us, we can be faster than we have to run without any compulsion. We can analogy how faster we are with that case. The last but not least, we can have many ideas. Others said that ideas, which come to our mind, are caused by the power of the deadline. Sometimes, we only can do everything because a compulsion. When we are remembered about the time to collect the work, we want to finish it as soon as possible, so we will have many ideas which come to our mind. With those ideas, our work will be felt so easy and we can finish it on time.

In conclusion, being a procrastinator can help us to make a good work because we can be more serious,  faster, and have many ideas. So, procrastination will also help you to solve your problem.

The Remarkable Lecturers

Lecturer.  What comes to your mind when someone says that word? Since I was in Junior High School, some college students said to me that lecturer was selfish, very busy, and we have to chase him in order to get good score. When I am in the university, especially being a part of English Department, I have found some remarkable lecturers with their own uniqueness.

Mr. Ari Adipurwawidjana becomes my first list for the remarkable lecture. He is extremely sarcastic. When he wants to talk about someone in our class, he makes an analogy then we understand that what he is talking is about our friend. He also always said that “I always expect less to my student”. So when we show our little bit knowledge to him, he will be proud off.

The other remarkable one is Mr. Rudi Wilson. He is an old with the young power of remembering. He always remembers about what he and we said about the previous week. He also wore the same shirt in each Monday but he had worn another kind of shirt in the last day in term one. Then I know the reason why he wore the same shirt, because he has a dozen.

In brief, lecturers are not as bad as what I heard. Some of them have uniqueness that will be remembered as “theirs” in their student mind, because the more unique the more remembered you are.

My Jatinagor-keepers

In my recent post, I have told you about my best friends here—Jatinangor. I really really really really really really love them. We have something common, but we do have something uncommon. All of us have a different character with our uniqueness. I will sort them alphabetically.

Annisa Hapsari

Maunya dipanggil Anni, agak aneh memang. Sesuai pengalamanku dari TK hingga SMA, anak yang bernama Annisa pasti memiliki nick name Ica. Anak berdarah B ini loyal. Anni orangnya juga baik, saking baiknya sampai terlalu mendramatisir apapun hehe. Dia memiliki hobi yang cukup menguras dompet anak kostan, yakni mengumpulkan film. Ia memiliki target dalam hidupnya bahwa sebelum umur 20 tahun, ia harus menonton sedikitnya 1000 film. Dan sampai saat usianya 18 tahun, ia sudah menonton lebih dari 700 film. Daebak! Kecintaannya pada dunia film juga merembet pada buku-buku romantis bertema nikah-nikahan dan juga pada the beatles (ini gak nyambung). Kebiasaan Anni saat kita berempat lagi ngumpul, ada saja yang membuat otaknya mendramatisir dari kejadian yang kita lewatin hari itu. Si anak bungsu ini kalau tidak tahan menahan emosi dan perasaannya, ia langsung menangis. Anni juga cenderung anak yang penakut—efek bungsu. Selama lebih dari 6 bulan berada di kota penuh kerja keras, tangisan, canda dan tawa (re: bohong), dia nggak bisa tidur sendirian. Dia selalu punya cara gimana biar nggak tidur sendiri. Tapi akhir-akhir ini, aku dengar bahwa dia beberapa hari yang lalu tidur sendiri. Meskipun ketiduran, tapi itu awal yang bagus HA HA. Mungkin akibat dari novel-novel dan film-film yang berhasil memengaruhi pola pikirnya, ia juga—kayaknya—belum move on. Tapi sekarang anak rantau Malang ini lagi bekerja keras memperbaiki dirinya seperti kecengannya.

Arina Pramudita

Perempuan ini memiliki golongan darah yang sama denganku—A. Sifatnya juga nyaris sama seperti aku, cuma kayaknya dia lebih keras. Panggilannya, Aling. Jangan tanyakan padaku mengapa, karna aku lupa._. Kalau diteliti dari namanya sih, orangnya anggun but you will have different opinion when you see her. She is a freaky K-pop—for me. Tapi wawasannya tentang artis-artis Barat juga ga kalah banyak karena dia movie addict juga. Oh iya, Aling dan Anni sama-sama K-popers, mudah-mudahan sejati. Sifatnya yang keras bikin aku percaya sama dia kalau saat aku sedih—terlebih karena cowok—aku harus lari ke tempatnya. Karena dia pasti akan melarangku melakukan stupid things because of love. Aling ngekost di kostan yang letaknya paling belakang dari kami, alhasil kalau SMS dia bisa beberapa jam kemudian terkirimnya. Cerita tentang Aling di kostannya selalu tentang jamur dan tikus. Aku pernah tidur di kamarnya bersama jamur yang lucu abis. Karna kostan Aling lebih belakang dari kostanku, kalau mau berangkat pasti ya nungguin Aling dulu. “Lima menit lagi sampai” bagi Aling adalah 15 menit lagi bagiku. Aling juga yang paling tinggi dari kami, paling berat, paling besar ukuran sepatunya, paling laki jalannya, dan paling paling pokonya, ya namanya juga Aling. Gaya berdandan ke kampusnya juga sama sepertiku: converse, kaus, celana jeans. She will do everything as simple as she is. Dia juga blogger dan pencinta buku-buku romantis—meskipun susah ngebayanginnya. Oh iya, Aling anak Bekasi.

Netti Rahmawati

Perempuan pencinta pink dan asli Cimahi ini adalah yang palingpolos di antara kami, yang paling kecil di antara kami, yang sedikit paling lebih pintar di antara kami (HA HA), dan yang paling BATU. Anak bungsu bertipe darah AB punya banyak kelainan. Dia itu premature 6 atau 7 bulan udah lahir—kalau nggak salah—makanya aneh. Dia itu paling muda tapi paling kolot, percaya banget sama hal-hal berbau pamali dan mitos-mitos jaman dulu. Kayaknya dia juga yang paling nggak bisa ngelakuin pekerjaan anak kost karna dia nggak nge-kost. Cerita sehari-hari Netti selalu tentang orang-orang di bis, kemacetan, keadaan bis, pokoknya semuanya tetang explore—bus Cimahi-Jatinangor. Anak berhidung—sedikit—pesek ini pernah menangis di dalam bus yang ditumpanginya hanya karna dia merasa tersinggung dengan ucapan kami bertiga. Dia adalah pemain sinetron pembantu setelah Anni. Kebiasaan yang paling menonjol dan paling sering ia lakukan adalah mengompori orang. Dia sangat berbakat dalam memengaruhi orang, dan juga sales. Nggak heran kalau dia dipanggil “rinnai” dan kita mengganti namanya menjadi Netti Rinnai Rahmawati. Satu-satunya anak yang tidak memakai kerudung di antara kami ini paling anti sama yang namanya masa lalu alias mantan. Katanya sih nggak mau ngebahas dan ngungkit-ngungkit, tapi aku curiga kalau sebenernya dia gagal move on (HA HA). Cewek yang satu ini bener-bener nggak tertarik sama cowok—untuk sekarang ini.

Little Thing about Love

Ngomongin masalah hati emang nggak ada habisnya. When you are broken heart, you can do all of negative things because your emotion is unstable. So, how to deal with that? I have—actually want to share—a little thing I did when I was in that position.

Well…being a-broken-hearted-person is really common in my age. When I got the LED was glowing, I felt something in my heart attacked me—so fast. Moreover when I found the words “aku harap kamu bisa ngertiin aku” my mind was black out. Udah pasti intinya putus kalo begini mah. I did not know what was in man’s mind when he told he loved you but he broke you up. Sejak kapan cinta malah putus?

Lupakan~ yang jelas malam itu yang terdengar cuma suara tangisan. Berharap di pagi hari bahwa kejadian semalam adalah mimpi malah bikin sakit sendiri. Gimanapun caranya, I have to cheer myself up. I have to be someone as I am in usual—sounds impossible. Kumpul bersama teman-teman adalah hal paling sehat yang bisa ku lakukan saat itu. Maunya sih lari ke pangkuan Ibu, tapi kita dipisahkan jarak 150km.

Since then, I never spent my whole time alone. I have to be with my friends or even if one of them must doing urgent thing, I will choose to be with one of them. They took care of me so well, much well than my ex—OF COURSE.

Dear you, I am so much happier :-))

Prose's Struggle

Saya adalah salah satu mahasiswi Universitas Padjadjaran jurusan Sastra Inggris yang memiliki tekanan batin pada mata kuliah Introduction to Prose selama 6 bulan. Saat UAS menanti, tugas akhir Prose pun menanti, saat itulah banting tulang mengerjakannya. Saya berkata pada sahabat-sahabat saya—Anni, Aling, dan Netti—jika saya mendapat nilai B  pada mata kuliah Prose, saya akan membuat blog dan memostingnya. Dan….inilah hasil kerja keras selama beberapa minggu :))

Water’s Basic Behavior as the Characteristic in Lewis’s Story

Human’s body consists of 75% of water and the other 25% is solid. Water takes a big part in human’s body, so human’s basic behaviors, realize or not is the impact of the water. Water’s basic behavior such as: following its vessel, flowing from the high to short place, and pressing to every direction, happens in fiction.

            Sinclair Lewis’s short story, “A Letter from the Queen” starts with “Doctor Selig was an adventurer.” Selig is an adventurer who is weakened by Senator after his first meeting with Senator. Selig’s admiration to the Senator Ryder makes him wanted to do everything to Ryder.  From the first dinner, the situation and the relation between Selig and Ryder become warmer and closer. In the second dinner, Selig feels like he is the luckiest one because he has been invited to have dinner with the confidant of kings and field marshals, of Anatole France and Lord Haldane, of Sarah Bernhardt and George Meredith.

He had tried to mix himself a light whisky and soda – he noted, with some anxiety about the proper drinking-manners in diplomatic society, that he took approximately one third as much whisky as the Senator. (5)

It implies that Selig doesn’t really know about how to drink with some officials. In this case, Selig is like water which moves following its vessel. He can’t move freely, he has something which distances from his usual manner. But, just like water, he only follows the rule and the situation that has been determined in the vessel.

The same water’s basic behavior comes from the same writer in “The Cat of the Stars” with different case. McGee, who is an assistant to president of M. & D.R.R. Company, becomes water when he was in Mr. Discopolos barbershop.

Mr. Discopolos sighed and peeped at the victim to see if he was aware of the damage. But Mr. McGee was sitting with eyes tight, lips apart, already a lord of ocean traffic, giving orders to Singhalese planters and to traders in the silent of northern pines. (3)

 As we know when we are in the barbershop, the one who becomes controller is the barber—Mr. Discopolos. Although Mr. Discopolos damaged Mc.Gee’s hair, but Mc.Gee did not do anything when Mr. Discopolos was cutting his hair—he had not known yet. Mr. McGee tends to keep silence and follows the instruction of the barber because he expects the barber would repair his cut well before he would have gone to New York. The situation that Mc.Gee had is just like the water which follows its vessel.

            The other water’s basic behavior in “A Letter from the Queen” is when the Senator does not has a respect to Selig then he changes his mind.

I didn’t suppose anyone had looked into my books since 1910. (3)

It shows that he does not like if Selig knows something about him or wants to interrupt the Senator’s privacy. He wants to build a distance with Selig who he thinks only an ordinary people – teacher in Erasmus. 

“Just a moment, please,” said the Senator’s chauffeur. “The Senator wishes to know if you care to come to diner tomorrow evening – eight – he’ll send for you.”(8)

From the chauffeur’s statement, it indicates that Senator really waits for Selig’s coming for the fourth dinner. His dislike to Selig has disappeared. Moreover, he asks his driver to tell Selig to come for dinner. It means that he wants the public know his effort for destroying the “distance” building he made. Ryder has changed his dislike – means it is not good deed – to the friendly one to Selig. So it is just like water which flows from the high place to short place. In this case, high place means when we have a cruel feeling and short place means that we are kindhearted person.

            We can also find the same behavior in “The Cat of the Stars” with different case and view.

Mr. Andrew Discopolos, the popular proprietor of the Dandy Barber Shop, was the next step in the tragedy. Mr. Discopolos was waiting for this Oakdale car. (2)

It implies that Mr. Discopolos has a good desire to going home, because Oakdale car only runs once in eighteen minutes. But he changes his mind then only in minutes.

He had promised his wife to go home to supper, but in his bacchanalian soul he desired to sneak down to Barney’s for an evening poker. He waited one minute, and was tremendously moral and determined to eschew gambling. (2)

It seems so easy to change his mind, although he had promised his wife to go home. He is tempted by the situation – night and the Oakdale possibility to come so low – to go to Barney. He sacrifices his wife for only a temporary satisfactory. This condition is related to the water which flows from the high place to short place. Having a desire to go home to have supper with his wife is very good deed. But then turned his mind for having an evening poker and trembling is very bad deed. It can be said that Mr. Discopolos flows from the precious place – waiting for Oakdale to go home – to the lowly place – go to Barney for trembling.

            The other water’s basic behavior which can be related to the human’s behavior is found in “A Letter from the Queen”. Selig, who is the new comer in Senator Ryder life, feels like having much pressure after he knew about the fact of Ryder. Selig does not really know about Ryder because he only reads about Ryder from his book, and then he admires the Senator so much. He also makes project to finish his book about Ryder and his letter from many officials. Dinner by dinner, his pressure grows so deep.

Two days afterward, the Senator’s chauffeur again telephoned an invitation to tea for that afternoon, but this time Selig snapped, “Sorry! Tell the Senator I unfortunately shan’t be able to come!” (8)

He explodes his pressure to the Senator’s driver, who actually does not have a problem with Selig. When someone has given up to try to be more patient, he will blow up his pressure to anyone who at the same time is near him or communicate with him.

He reproved himself next morning, “He’s been mighty nice to me. He’s good old coot – at heart. And of course a great statesman.” (7)

By proving himself, Selig seems so depressed and he tries to make sure himself that Ryder is not really kind man, so that he will not be tricked again by the Senator. In this situation, Selig is just like water which presses every direction. His anger to Ryder makes him press to every direction near him, include Senator’s driver.

            In this time, we can find the same theory in “The Cat of the Stars” but with different problem. The pressure which happens to McGee is different pressure.

He took his maltreated head into a taxi, feeling shamefully that the taxi driver was snickering at his haircut. (3)

McGee has a pressure with someone who looks at his new hair. He is pressed by the driver—someone who he pays for driving him somewhere, so his position is lower than McGee. It seems that McGee feels very disturbed so he feels ashamed to someone who has a lower position than him. His pressure becomes so pressed him every day when he was in New York. The climax happens when he met with the president, the first vice president and a committee of four directors.

He felt that doubt. But he interpreted it thus:  “They think I’m a complete boob to have a haircut like this. Think I don’t know any better. And I can’t explain. Mustn’t admit that I know there’s anything wrong – mustn’t admit I was an easy mark and let a drunken barber carve me up.” (5)

He has not even met and talked with those people before, but he guesses that those people are very interested in his new haircut for a mockery. He also blames and mocks himself. The pressure he had has made him feels so isolated. When people look at him, he feels that people only look for his dumb haircut. This pressure has made him for always think negatively to others. Because he always feels people gaze at him is for mocking him, he presses those people with a negative thinking he has. It can be said that McGee’s condition is just like water’s basic behavior which presses at every direction.

Lewis almost describes his characteristic through the conversation from the characters or through the point of view from the other characters. From both Lewis’s stories, we know that water’s basic behavior can be related to the characteristic in Lewis’s story. We may not aware of our behavior which actually comes from water’s behavior.