Every day has its own story

Sometimes we're too busy with our problems, making them look bigger and harder than what they're supposed to be. Check out this link and I bet we will appreciate every little thing better :)

Malam-malam. Kami berkumpul di rumah Albert di Gempol, menyiapkan LPD 98. Televisi menayangkan kerusuhan di Jakarta, kebakaran, penjarahan di mana-mana. Kami semua tercekam, cemas kerusuhan akan menjalar ke Bandung. Tengah malam, karena kuatir dengan keadaan yang makin tidak aman, teman-teman memaksa mengantar saya pulang ke Cisitu. It's been 10 years ...

Juno (Movies, DVD). This movie is hilarious. Not only it's unique and slightly different than typical Hollywood movie, it's also an eye-opener of what happen in our society. Sex among minors, unexpected pregnancy, and how society react to those issues. This movie elegantly wraps sensitive issues in an easy-to-watch form. How I met your mother (TV Series) . This is my current addict. This TV-series so much reminds me to Friends that always knock me off, no matter how many times I watch the series. I just finished streaming one of the episodes, and can't wait to watch the whole season in DVD. California Tortilla (Food, Mexican) is my fave lunch time menu. I am not a big fan of Mexican food, but since this one is not so spicy and kinda Americanize, I really like it. If you're a fan of Chipotle, you definitely need to check this one out. US presidential campaign. Once I followed the news day to day, now I am sick of it :p It's just another dirty politic, not much di...

My daily music is so cheesy lately :p I turn my radio to "Love Song with Delilah" every night after work. Anyhow, the songs are not that bad. Most of them considered "classic" love songs, soft rocks, and a little amount of today's hit. However, my mood is not that cheesy though :p

I don't see tulips in this area as much as in Pittsburgh, however, I manage to get some since my landlord has them in the front yard, beautiful eh :) ? Spring blossom ...

Considering that I lived in Pittsburgh until early 2008, shame on me that I just watched this lecture yesterday :). Randy Pausch is a 47 years old computer science professor in Carnegie Mellon University who is diagnosed with a terminal pancreatic cancer. Last year (September 2007 if I am not mistaken) doctors predict that he would have three to six months healthy live, and after that everything can't be predicted. He is also a father of three kids, with the eldest is 5 years old. He gave a lecture called "The Last Lecture" to say goodbye to his fellows and friends. The video was put in the internet at the first time just to share among those who can't attend that lecture, but since then, it's been downloaded more than 1 million times! What's so special about his lecture? No, it's not about dying as you might think. It's far from being the second of "Tuesdays with Morrie" . Instead, it's about his childhood dreams and about enabling othe...

Mantra ini sedang saya ucapkan berulang-ulang kepada diri saya sendiri :) Be humble, be thankful, and be happy. Jangan bitter, jangan sinis, jangan pesimis. Mari merapal mantra, hehehe ...

Sekedar update saja :) Besok Selasa hari pertama filing H1B visa (visa buat specialty worker). 65,000 visa, yang quotanya tahun lalu habis di hari pertama plus 20,000 extended quota untuk graduate degree from US universities, yang tahun lalu habis dalam 29 hari. Kabarnya tahun ini 65,000 visa tersebut akan diundi (duh!) kalau quotanya habis dalam 5 hari pertama. Saya sendiri setengah berharap dapat visa setengah berharap ditolak :) Supaya lebih mudah mengatur langkah pulang, hehehe.

A friend said, "I always asked, how do I know that someone is the one or not?" A few days ago she said, "Now I know, when you meet him/her, you just know." As someone retarded and always failed in "Relationship-101" :p, I have one question: What if you feel that you already met him/her, but somehow you've missed the chance? Was it just your heart/brain/whatever misinterprets something and so call it love? Oh well, love is never be as simple as that - for me :).

I didn't manage to go to church today. When Josefina called at 7 pm, I was still at my desk, discussing a functional spec with my supervisor :( Even more, tomorrow is not a holiday for Emerson, so it's less likely I can go to church for Good Friday. Although I am not a religious person, I do miss to attend holy-mass, especially around Easter time. This time is usually when my mind wanders thousand miles away, thinking about loved ones back home. What are they doing right now? Maybe they just went back from attending station of cross. Or maybe my mother is preparing vegie-lunch for today, yes, everybody in the family usually do not eat meat on Good Friday.

I don't want something blue nor mellow yellow today, all I need is everything in red.

Ah, dasar gila. Bagaimana mungkin kereta api bisa kebablasan dan salah jalan :p? Aneh dan bin ajaib, tapi itulah yang terjadi kemarin sore. Bukan di Indonesia, atau di negara lain yang mis-managed, tapi di United States yang konon negara adidaya itu :D Sebenarnya kemarin adalah Sabtu yang menyenangkan. Pergi ke downtown Philadelphia, makan siang dan shopping bersama ibu dosen dan teman-temannya. Sekitar jam 5, saya buru2 pamitan karena harus mengejar kereta jam 5.25 di Suburban station, Philadelphia. Lupakan ide2 tentang dinner atau Saturday night hang-out. Perjalanan 2 jam dari downtown Phily ke Royersford dengan transportasi yang minim dan mahal menjadi kendala utama. Tiba di stasiun sekitar jam 5 lebih dikit, saya punya cukup waktu sebelum kereta tiba. Lima menit, sepuluh menit, mulai muncul gelagat yang tidak menyenangkan. Departure status yang tadinya ontime mulai berubah menjadi 2 minutes late, 5 minutes late, dan akhirnya 8 minutes late. Ah, harusnya saya memperhitungkan faktor...

Dear sahabat, Tiba2 aku kangen dan ingat padamu. Ingin curhat tentang keinginan-keinginan setinggi awan, tentang hal-hal yang paling muluk dan ideal, yang mungkin aneh di mata orang. Mana undanganmu? Pasti lagi sibuk dengan persiapan ini itu untuk perayaan besar di akhir bulan ya, semoga semua lancar :) ... Ingat tidak dua setengah tahun yang lalu ? Saat aku berjuang beradaptasi di negeri yang baru ini, kau malah 'bertualang' ke Girisonta sebagai penanda tahun ke-30 dalam hidupmu. Mau mencari panggilanku , katamu waktu itu. Kau tetap berangkat walaupun banyak orang berkata kamu tak punya potongan jadi pastor. Dan mereka ternyata benar, hehehe. 'Petualangan'-mu itu malah membuatmu makin yakin bahwa itu bukan jalanmu. Lalu beberapa bulan kemudian dengan penuh keceriaan dan kekonyolan kau bercerita bahwa kau telah menemukan tambatan hatimu. Kami bertemu di sebuah acara muda mudi gereja , demikian katamu. Dan dia memintaku untuk tetap menjadi pasanganku dalam sebuah permain...

Konon, kata tua-tua, seorang muda harus meninggalkan kampung halamannya. Ada gunung di ujung cakrawala. Puncaknya tertutup awan, supaya tak seorangpun tahu ada apa di puncak sang gunung. Konon kata mereka, lelaki muda harus pergi ke sana, untuk membuktikan dirinya. Tapi perempuan itu berkata: Kalau mereka bisa, kenapa aku tidak. Aku akan pergi ke puncak gunung itu, dan aku akan melihat cakrawala yang luas. Aku akan pergi seperti bunga rumput yang tertiup angin. Aku akan bersahabat dengan angin dan pergi ke tempat ia bertiup. Ah, perempuan muda pemimpi. Ia hanya berbekal selembar peta dan bekal secukupnya di ransel bututnya. Hanya itu, ditambah sebongkah doa dari orang-orang yang dicintainya, yang mendoakannya untuk menemukan tujuannya. Sisanya, ia percaya ia harus mengikuti sang Angin. Dua musim. Ia melewati desa-desa kecil nan cantik, pengelana-pengelana yang ramah. Saat melalui kota kecil, ia berhenti sejenak untuk menghirup kopi di kedai-kedai pinggir kota. Semua tampak indah, tapi...

Teman: Di Indo mah nggak ada yang applicable, kecuali korupsi, jalan2 studi banding ... Saya: *Deg* Kamu keterlaluan ih :) ... Ya, memang Indonesia porak poranda. Sampai saya mati pun, rasanya saya nggak akan mati dalam keadaan melihat Indonesia yang jauh lebih baik dari sekarang. Mungkin generasi cucu saya pun akan mati dalam keadaan melihat Indonesia yang masih begini-begini saja. Tapi masih ada setitik rasa *tsah* untuk tempat yang porak poranda itu. Serius, saya masih berharap bahwa suatu hari saya, kamu, dan teman-teman yang lain, bisa membuat keadaan menjadi lebih baik. Tentu saja tidak seperti tongkat ibu peri yang menyelesaikan masalah dalam sekejab. Mungkin saja tingkat kegagalannya 95%. Tapi toh masih ada 5% probability? Kenapa saya tiba2 posting begini? Karena saya capek, capek melihat keadaan yang tidak kunjung membaik. Capek dengan ketakutan dan kepengecutan saya sendiri, yang menghalangi saya untuk langsung pulang ke tanah kelahiran saya. Duh, emang bisa apa saya kalau ...

Nada pilu di tengah amukan badai salju di luar sana ... Salju yang meleleh, dingin menusuk tulang ... Air yang menggenang, perlahan membeku dan licin ... Hanyut di tengah musim dingin yang tak berujung ... Bermimpi terbangun di cerahnya musim semi ...

Love this pic so much! Thanks to Joek the photographer. I really miss Pittsburgh crowd.

# Masak apa Mit hari ini? * Terong balado sama nggoreng teri. # Lhaaa ... katanya hidup di Amerika ???? Setiap kali chating sama teman dan ngomongin soal makanan, sering ujung-ujungnya di situ. Ya gimana ya sodara2, sekolah boleh jauh-jauh ke ujung dunia, tapi perut saya tetep perut Indonesia :D, yang sering kali nggak mantep kalo belum makan nasi. Pembicaraan biasanya berlanjut begini. # Bawa dari Kalasan ya terinya :p ? *Nuduh mode on * * Huahaha. Gak lah, kemaren beli di toko Korea # Ada ya? * Ada, tempe aja ada kok, ya nggak gampang nyarinya, tapi ada yang jual. Untuuuuung, untung, sekolah ke sini, bukan ke Jerman atau Prancis, atau Italia. Konon di sana tidak segampang di sini untuk mencari bahan2 makanan Asia, apalagi bumbu2 Indonesia. Syukurlah di sini masih ada bumbu instant munik (kayak indofood gitu, tapi lebih uenak), tahu tempe bisa dicari, kalo mau sarapan indomi pun bisa, hehehe. Tapi, gara2 itu pula, ketrampilan saya memasak American food (btw, sebenarnya apa sih America...

All right, what's up after three weeks being in Royersford? My first week was horrible. I got sick and could not go to work at my second day because the centralized heater could not warm my room up. All I had for eat was just tasteless microwaveable foods like instant pasta, so out of desperation I almost asked my friend to send me rice from Pittsburgh, hahaha. I was also suffered from the weather, which somehow felt colder than Pittsburgh (it's not true :p). After that painful week, life is getting better and easier. It's not perfect, but I am hanging in there, cross my finger :) As I mentioned to some of you, this such a small town is way smaller and quieter than Pittsburgh, which I considered so quiet when I just moved from Jakarta - "the waterworld" :p. Royersford is just a typical American suburb near the highway, with friendly neighborhood, spacious environment, and almost no public transport. This town is located north-west of Philadelphia, about fifty minu...

Do you know how it feels when the winter seems would never end? When bitter-cold enters your bones, and the winter wind slap your face? Feels like dying ... This little town feels colder than Pittsburgh, although it is in fact the other way around.