STAN 2010 Reunion - Class of 2005: Unity in Diversity

Early last month was very great, i believe for everyone, especially for me. It was very hectic, exhausting yet amazing for me and most of my friends who come from far away to enjoy the moment of togetherness in STAN 2010 Reunion. Let's say there were Niko from Kuningan, Ersa from Lhokseumawe, Widyo from Jambi, Adjie from Tanjung Balai Karimun, Adit from far away northern part of our country -Tahuna and even Titis who got away from chaos in Tarakan, if i keep mentioning names then the list will be very long. But not only for us coming from that far, the euphoria was also felt by those who had been waiting for us to come (especially the batch-committee) lets see.. Harun who had been busy dealing with a lot of thing; Ilmi, who still spare some time before going to Jogja, and Hendy who dealt with T-Shirt orders; Rima with the sound system and such; Nila and Ninit for other stuff related with the stand, A' Bedur with the IKANAS (iSTAN) Congress; and there were a lot more i might forgot to write.

For some of us, it was really a moment of re-union, time to meet and have a long chit-chat with old friends we haven't met for around 1-2 years, time to talk and laugh about silly things happened back then in college, time to catch up latest news from each other, time to tell stories bout ourselves and people around us, yes that was fun, so much fun!

In the other hand, for most of us, it was also the time to get to know each other, even for the first time for some people. How is it possible? Well, it is not impossible when you are in a batch consisting of 6 majors - around 52 classes - with each classes consisting of 35 - 40 students, who went to different buildings and joined different extra activities/clubs. Knowing half of the batch is already awesome..

-STAN Batch 2005-

Well, in short, everybody had a great time, despite of the heavy rain.. There were times when we all worried about the electricity (since water and electric current are not best friend) but then again it turned out to be okay. When the rain calmed down, we started another happy-go-singing-and-dancing-together. Various music starting from dangdut to folk-songs to pop were played in our booth. With that much hustle and bustle happening in our booth, no wonder we got so many attention from other seniors. On the evening stage session, there were band performances. The last song we sung "Kau Tak Akan Terganti" more or less represented our feeling at that time, a feeling for our friendship, and all of us really proud to say that we are STAN 2005!

Lets make a bigger crowd on the next reunion!

Bloglovin

Recently i do a lot of blogwalking, especially on Moslem fashion-blogs. There are apparently plenty of Indonesian as well as foreign Moslem bloggers. Anyway when i follow blogs i usually just use the Google Friend Connect, but then again this time i decide to try out something new. Bloglovin. Yup, this is actually an experiment, so i'm gonna see how its going later.

Meanwhile, for you who read this and enjoy my blog, please Follow my blog with bloglovin


Till then,
-rani-

Forgive and Forget

Several months ago my friend send me a note like this:

this is you bio on twitter: "@ramadhani_a: loves chocolate, comic and friend" and i still want to be your friend

We're kinda not talk to each other for around four months, he really got on my nerve at that time. But finally i think its the time to forgive and to forget the wrong doings before, realizing all of us just imperfect human beings that can make all the mistake in the world. And as the matter of fact, i am not a person who can keep my anger and rage to other people for a long time..

Anyway, to think that i don't wanna be treated the same way made me feel awful of it. How shallow minded i was, keeping my disappointment and anger for such a long time. I should have just talked to him, expressed all the feeling at that time, reconciled, let the problem settled and left nothing behind.


So here we are, back as friends..

Farewell

At first i thought having your boss transferred to other city wouldn't feel this way. Apparently i was wrong..

Last week 3 bosses in my department got transferred to Jakarta, Bandung and Semarang. As already predicted since they already been here for four years. Everyone was happy since they're transferred to better places. Last week was full with Farewell Parties and present hunting. Finally this week all of them left. Two days ago, Pak Siswantoro went to Jakarta, yesterday i and several friends also accompany Pak Ramadani to the airport, he was leaving for Semarang and today Pak Yulfian is on the way to Bandung.

Probably i don't spend time with them as much as other colleagues do, but as the matter of fact working together for nearly 1 year makes me feel close with them. They teach me a lot of things just like father but at the same time treating me as a friend as well.

As they left, memories remain. Good bye our beloved fathers, never forget us..
Hopefully i will have another opportunity to work with them in a better place.

Say Hi to July!

I still remember the new year's party i had with my office collegues on the office rooftop, and suddenly now we're already on the halfway of year..

Yup, early this month i think the 7th month deserves a celebration. why? because we could pass 6 months, half of the year, of course with every ups and downs yet still have anything we have now: health, friends, jobs, family, practically everything we need. Thank God for every little thing we have, every protection we get and every blessing we receive.

Anyway, maybe most of us, including me, haven't do the best within the previous 6 months. But no worry guys, we can start doing our best now, its still better late than not at all. By doing our best i literally mean everything: in working, in having fun, in maintaining friendship and other relationships, basically in any other aspect of our life. Just like i was reminded several days ago: live your best live today as if you'll die tomorrow. So from now on, lets try to do the best in everything.


Hi July!

Munch munch..

Earlier, i have told about my hobby of trying foods right, too bad i only have several pictures here. These are some food i tried last time i was in Jakarta (not from the restaurants i've reviewed before):

Pesto Chicken Wrap
[The Canteen by Aksara - Plaza Indonesia]

Short overview: cozy place, pretty pricey, huge portion (both foods and beverages), wide variety of cocktails, and of course delicious, in other words: worth every penny.

Macha Latte
[MOF Japanese Sweets and Coffee - Plaza Indonesia]



Salmon Sandwich
[MOF Japanese Sweets and Coffee - Plaza Indonesia]



Red Bean Paste with Macha Ice Cream
[MOF Japanese Sweets and Coffee - Plaza Indonesia]

Short overview: very unique, offers various type of Japanese dessert, ice cream and other foods and drinks, felt always wanna come back and try others.

Grilled Chicken Panini
[Panini House - FX Sudirman]

Short overview: great service, nice place, yummy, better go for the main course rather than dessert, good choice for a medium-price restaurant.

That's all for now, wait for the next report when i'm back in Jakarta. Why Jakarta? of course because there are a lot of foods that i haven't tried there. I'd be very glad if any of you can suggest me restaurants, cafes or foods to try.

Till then, i'm gonna save my money for the next culinary trip.

Careless

Oh gosh!

Lately i have been so careless, there were several times i felt i already checked the documents thoroughly but then again it came back with a post-it from the Big Boss noted that there were several things i missed. Not only once or twice, one or two documents, it's already been several times and several documents. I really don't like the fact that i worked carelessly.

Not just that, it makes an bad impression to my colleagues that i didn't check the work comprehensively and just become a happy-go-lucky person. Or maybe i got distracted with other things and made me lost focus when doing my work and it caused my carelessness. I don't like that either.

But i like the way my colleagues remind me to check and re-check every document more carefully, because it would be such a shame if things like this happen on and on. Or the way one of them helps me re-checking the documents when she's done with her job and i still have a pile of things to do.

I need to work better and focus more on things i do.
Not only because i need to, but also because i want to.

The KCCCGD* Social Gathering

Another social gathering? Yes, let me bring this to you all..

the most recent social gathering i join is KCCCGD* (Kelompok Cewek Cowok Cakep Gitu Deh), rough translation of it would be "Party of Gorgeous Boys and Girls". No comment on the name please, since this is a free country where people have so called freedom of expression, thus this name frankly describes those who join it. Thanks to Abdurrahman a.k.a. A'Bedur a.k.a. Kyai James.

So what is it about this new social gathering?
Well, it started some time ago when some of us come with the idea of keeping in touch with our friends, since we're no longer seeing each other as much as we were back then in college. After some talks we decided to have a monthly social gathering mostly in Jakarta and move to other city where the members work every 6 months. For example beside those who live in Jakarta and around, there are members who work in Banjarmasin, Tarakan, Kupang, Makassar, Kendari, and other cities. The gathering will be around Jakarta for 5 months then on the 6th month move to one of the cities mentioned before, so basically it is also a call for a group vacation.

Recently we just had our first social gathering event, with 9 out of 19 members attending (A'Bedur, Ninit, Rima, Yoga, Niko, Harun, Akmal, Nila and I). Our first gathering took place in Kota Tua, at a place well known for the ice cream, Es Krim Ragusa. Here we share some stories and have our first winners: Titis and Arrisa. Frankly speaking the foods there weren't really satisfactory but the ice cream are still good.

KCCCGD rendezvous at Ragusa

Continuing the story of our gathering, we decided to give a pleasure to our desire of performing so we hop on to the next destination: Inulvizta Sarinah, but then again due to the overcrowded we didn't get a room. Unable to stop the growing desire of singing and others, we then gave a call to Inulvizta Atrium Senen to see if they have a room. This time we were lucky and not just that, we could directly jump in and sing! Too bad Harun couldn't join us.. We spent 2 full hours singing, dancing, and making fun of the songs.

Well to wrap it up, that night was great, despite the rain and traffic jam that made most of us late for the gathering, all of us were really enjoying the moments of togetherness.

Can't wait to meet you up again guys!

The Breakdown

Have you ever felt there were so many things that you want to say but they didn't come out right?or worst, they stuck in your head and heart only, unable to find the way out as chain of words..

Yes it is happening to me, not only the difficulty in saying things but i also find the difficulty in writing things. There are lots of things happened to me for the past several months. The emotions are overlapping and make me so overwhelmed with them that sometimes i can even cry for no reason. Not only once or twice, could be a lot of times.


I don't know why but recently i miss a lot of things..
I miss my dad reminding me not to come home very late as he always do.
I miss my mom asking me what i wanna eat so she can cook it (right now i want "sambel mangga").
I miss my sisters chattering about A to Z in my room, they are always that noisy but still i miss them.
I miss my brother consulting one or two things while he drives me to the mall and asking for some treat on the way home.
I miss my friends calling or text-ing me to hang out for some foods, movies or simply chat and gossip over coffee and tea in my case(i'm so craving for Starbucks' green tea latte).
I miss my fellow STAN EC-ers gathering for debate practices and heading to Warung Mamat afterward.

It is true that you start to miss things or people when they are no longer around you, now i understand that through and through.


Probably after 9 months in this city i finally break down.

Jakarta Culinary Experience

Java Jazz Festival is coming closer, its starting less than two weeks from now, this makes me very excited. Well, what excite me the most is not because the event itself, but I guess more to the fact that I’m gonna meet lots of my friend there, those who spread all over Indonesia. Another thing is because I’m gonna be able to find foods that I’m longing for: baked rice, tortellini, hot macha chocolate cake, green tea latte, baked salmon sushi, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, red mango frozen yoghurt, waffles and pancakes. Wuuaaahhh, I miss those foods so much. Not to mention about the others that I want to try..

Stay in several city for quite a long time makes me realize about one thing: no city in Indonesia can beat Jakarta in the terms of the variety of foods it offers.

Speaking about Jakarta and foods, here are the top rated restaurant in Jakarta based on the popularity taken from one of the website:

1. Sushi Tei, Plaza Indonesia
My favorite sushi restaurant, it is one of the restaurant that i frequently visit when in Jakarta. The restaurant provide a wide variety of sushi, from the original rolled sushi to fusion sushi. Not only that, it also serves other kind of Japanese food, like tempura (fried veggies, or seafood served with sauce); ramen , soba and udon (Japanese noodles), shabu-shabu, rice-based dishes and many more. There are also various kinds of drinks and desert. What I like is they have free flow of hot/cold green tea . My favorite menu are baked salmon roll and salmon salad sushi.

2. The Duck King, Plaza Semanggi
3. Tony Roma’s, Jl. Wahid Hasyim 49;
Specialized in ribs, people say it is most famous for the ribs with barbeque sauce.
4. Satoo, Hotel Shangri La
5. Syailendra, Hotel JW Marriot
(I’ve never been to these restaurant before mostly because of the very expensive prices that I couldn’t afford, so can’t really give review on them)

6.Burger King
The best burger in town among the fellow fast food competitors, though a higher price as the compensation. The whopper portion is very big for me so I usually order the singles, and of course the onion ring.

7.Ming Seafood Restaurant, Setiabudi Building
(Never try this one as well, and to be honest, not really interested on trying it..)

8. Bakmi GM
This restaurant seems to be always full at any time at any branch. If you go to PIM you’ll get what I mean, since its always crowded with lots of people queuing to be seated and enjoy the bakmi no matter what time it is, but usually it gets more crowded on meal time.

9. Pancious
Huge portion of pancakes or waffles, with a wide variety of salty and sweet topping, you name it. For a very reasonable price, this restaurant win the competition among the pancake houses. You can freely choose to have one, two, or even three stacks of pancakes or waffles, original or chocolate, or the combination of them. The restaurant also serve several kind of pasta, try the fried mushroom fettuccini. Another additional value for this restaurant is the free flow ice tea and the menu book that completed with recommendations. I love the chocolate waffles plus original pancakes with blueberry and cheese topping, so divine.

10. Java Bleu, Jl. Cikini Raya
A French restaurant that I finally tried the last time i was in Jakarta for Java Jazz Festival, i went there while waiting for my friend on their reflexology session. I ordered Baba au Rhum which was home-made bread with a very soft texture marinated in rum then served with ice cream that you can choose, at that time i wanted mine with vanilla ice cream. Another treat i gave myself at that time was Hot Chocolate, always comforting, so tasty and thick but not too sweet. For those who like chicken then you have to try the Grilled Chicken Breast, very tender and juicy, comes with a mix of salad that's not really typical with other restaurant. Now i have to agree with my friend that this restaurant is worth trying despite the pretty expensive price

11. Poke Sushi
Just another sushi outlet. Not bad but not outstanding as well..

12. Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
This is one of the café in town where I and my friends sometimes hang out for talks over coffee (tea or chocolate for me)and cakes .The hot chocolate is nice, the cakes too, though for the quiche you can find a better one somewhere else with that price. For those who love tea, try the Chai Latte or Green Tea Ice Blended. For those who into coffee might wanna try caramel frappucino or the hot vanilla latte.

13. Nasi Uduk Kebon Kacang
(Such a shame for me of never been to this place while in Jakarta. People say that this is the original version of nasi uduk and simply the best one. Next time I go there I must stop by at this place)

14. Bakerzin
I’ve been to this place only twice, and as far as I remember it has a very good tiramisu and pasta. The foods are good but they come with more expensive price. The tea serving is very unique, you’ll be given the teapot and the tea leaves and the herbs or flowers. That’s from what I could vaguely remember. The hot chocolate is also very thick and yummy...

15. Cork & Screw, Wisma Kodel Rasuna Said
16. Pisa Café, Menteng
17. Segarra, Pantai Karnival Ancol
(Again, I have to say I’ve never been to these places as well. First because 2 out of those 3 restaurant are pretty far from where I lived while in Jakarta, as for Pisa Café even though I sometimes passed by but never really had a chance to drop by and try something. There were several times I wanted to try the place but then again its so crowded so it ended up with me trying another place)

18. Pepenero Cucina Italiana, Menara Karya
The first time I tried this place is on last year’s August for a very late lunch (nearly early supper) with several friends directly after we arrived from Surabaya. After that visit, this restaurant directly becoming my favorite Italian restaurant, a huge bunch of thanks to Joan Wicitra who recommended and introduce me to this place. It serve the most various pasta that you can hardly find somewhere else. The pasta are divine, so far I always enjoy whatever I order there, but some of them come in a very big portion like Tagliatelle alla Bolognese and Tagliolini Neri al Salmone (black pasta with salmon in cream sauce). My favorite is Tortelli in Salsa di Grana (pasta with meat, spinach and cheese stuffing in cream sauce). The pizza here is the thin-crust, it tastes very good but I somehow think that its gonna be better if they are more generous with the topping, haha. The restaurant also serve free starters and a wide variety of mocktails and other drinks.

19. Beautika, Hang Lekir 1
(Serve variety of foods from Manado. People say this is the most authentic one you can get in Jakarta so you don’t need to fly away to Manado to get the same taste. The thing is I’m not really into Manado food so I never tried this place. Maybe I should go there at least once, maybe later, I don’t know when..)

20. Gourmet Garage, Kemang Raya 68
(Another sorry I have to say for not being able to give review about this place. There was this one time on a chronicle to find nice Indian food, I and my friend Motti passed by this place. The name and restaurant architecture was actually made our curiosity awaken but then again the “highly exclusive” atmosphere we felt at that time and the “its just another western meet eastern restaurant” thoughts made us stick to our plan, Indian food. But then again probably later I should stop by to see whether what we thought at that time is true or not)


There are several restaurant that I’d like to recommend even if its not at the top 20 list. They are: Hong Kong Café for oriental and Hong Kong-style foods as well as the desert, Ya Udah Bistro for American-European foods, Amigos for Mexican foods, Ganesha Ek Sanskriti for Indian foods, Fish & Co for fish and chips and huge portion of modern seafood-based cuisine, Pan-O for various kind of pancakes and NYDC also Secret Recipe for the cakes.

Actually restaurants or cafés are not the only places you can find culinary experiences. There are a lot of street-side warung where you can find good foods and most likely with cheaper price but probably not as cozy as restaurants. I enjoy both anyway, but then again its all up to you to try anyway in exploring the rich culinary that Jakarta offers .

Writing about this makes me feel the urge to be there again and try foods and cakes and drinks at places I haven’t been to. Well, wait for me there Jakarta, I’m gonna make the best use of my time and enjoy the never ending culinary experiences that you have..

Life Is A Matter of Choice

What would you feel if one night your ex-boyfriend called you to tell that he’s going to get married by this year with a girl that his family chose for him?

Well, okay...
To be honest i didn't like to hear that.
Not because he is going to get marry, but because he's gonna marry someone who he didn't choose by himself. Well, i supposedly feel happy for him but what happen to me was different, I was unable to have that feeling. Why? Lets take a look of what he just told me:
1. he's about to marry
2. with a girl he barely know
3. by this year
4. the marriage is arranged by the family

As an ex-girlfriend and a friend I have no problem with condition number 1, but when it comes t condition number 2-4, want it or not, it worries me, a lot that I can’t feel happy for him. If only the girl is his own girlfriend or someone he choose himself and the marriage is not within this year I guess I wont feel this way. I just don’t think it suits him as a person that I know, since he always told me – even on our last talk– that there are many things he wants to pursue, higher education is on the top list and marriage will be after everything’s achieved, so it is basically not a priority for him. But then again, who am I to judge..

Now, what would you feel if after telling the whole story about his arranged wedding, the same person say that actually he still really love you?
……………
Yup, silence is my first response, and then a lot of emotions mixed into - I don’t know- nothing I guess.. I mean, what’s the point of telling me at this very moment? Its not gonna change anything right? He’ll still get married anyway, and me? I’m still the same girl trying to pursue my happiness and dreams.

That night he told me that he felt as if he was pulled into the a river and eventually just follow the stream.. I told him that at the moment he follows the river stream, that is his choice..

I’ve moved on, somehow. I chose to move on..
I’ve made my choice, and I know I didn’t and will never regret a single thing about it..

I’m not trying to be a wise person, but for me everything that happen in our life is actually the consequence of what we choose beforehand.

Because that what life is all about, choosing our own way…

How do you know?

Beberapa waktu yang lalu, seorang teman saya di kantor, sebut saja Mbak Ambar, melontarkan pertanyaan kepada saya dan seorang teman yang lain, sebut saja Mbak Tyas.
“Bagaimana kamu tahu suami atau istrimu sekarang adalah orang yang tepat?”

Berhubung saya dan Mbak Tyas belum menikah jadilah kami bingung dengan pertanyaan itu. Melihat kami yang cuma terdiam dan berpandangan maka dia mengganti pertanyaannya..
“How do you know that you love somebody?”

Well, this is quite a question, up to now I couldn’t even explain in details how.. Somehow the question stick in my mind, I wonder what other people may think if they are given such question. So I texted my friends to know how they know..

These are responses from some of them. i write it just the way they wrote to me, without changing anything..

“Wah udah lupa, udah lama ga jatuh cinta,ha…ha… Apa y… Selalu kangen mungkin…” -Charliet Trisuligna, Set. Pengadilan Pajak-

“Kamu tak bisa tak mendengar suaranya dalam waktu yang lama”
-Alief Rasyidi, KPP Pratama Palangka Raya-

“Gmn y, y jadi seneng aja gitu klo ketemu, rasanya pengen ngelakuin ini itu bwt orang itu ^^ ” -Mike Damayanti, BPPK-

“Logika lu banyakan gak jalan bareng ma dy, Lu grogi ngomong ma dy, Lu selalu mikirin dy kebanyakan hal2 sepele, mendramatisir sikon lu ma dy”
-Faizal Riza, KPP Pratama Ambon-


“When u can’t stop thinking about him/her..and everytime you think about him/her, ur heart is overloaded with joy!” -Zul Fadjri, Alcatel-

“Lo seneng sekalipun cuma liat dia senyum. Lo ikut simpati liat dia sedih. Lo ga tega liat dia salah jalan. Lo pengen terlibat dgn kebahagiaan n kesulitan dia”
-Adjie Raharja, KPP Pratama Tanjung Balai Karimun-

“I don’t know exactly, I just feel it”
-Isti Hanifah, Dir.Jend.Kekayaan Negara-

“Kalo apa yang ada d pikiran lo cm dia. Apa2 keinget dia. Mau ngapain ingat dia. Klo ketemu bawaan jadi deg2an, grogi, gak kayak ketemu tman biasa. Things like that..” -Septianniko P., KPP Pratama Kuningan-

“When the stupid and normally annoying things become endearing. Irrationally so. N when you feel u can trust this person on a very intimate level. With all the pieces of you. The good and the bad” -Motti Getarinta B., Fasilkom UI-

“ Hmm, kepikiran dy terus gt.. mau makan inget dy, mau tidur inget dy, mau kerja inget dy, mau boker pun inget dy, hihihihihi”
-Helmi Zus Rizal, KPP Pratama Bontang-

“Dunno, just feel it”
–Arief Prayoga, Set. Pengadilan Pajak-

“Saat kamu mulai bingung ttg apa yg kamu rasakan”
-Rahmat Irawan, Dir.Jend. Kekayaan Negara-

“Susah jawabna.. 1. Mungkin kamu deg2an klo deket dy; 2. Mungkin kamu biasa aja tp tenang bersamany; 3. Mungkin kamu tak pernah bisa berhenti membencinya; 4. Mungkin kamu terus berharap yang bagus2 bwt dy walau kdg nyakitin kamu; 5. Mungkin kamu bisa tertawa padahal dy g lucu” -Dwi Wulandari, BPPK-

“Selalu mikirin orang itu, selalu ingin ngasih perhatian ke orang itu, yah deg2an aja kalo ketemu” -Ersa Saefuloh, KPP Pratama Bireun-

“Everything seems right when your love around..”
-Uthar Mukthadir, Badan Pemeriksa Keuangan-

“if I feel she is the one.. Bila kelima indera gw merasakan kehadirannya jika gw deket ma dia. Karena jangan sampe terjebak dalam cinta buta, dalam kamus gw gak ada cinta buta, jika cinta tdk dapat dilihat, rasakan dengan keempat indera yang lain..” -Syah Rizal Alief, KPP Pratama Jayapura-

“Kalo lo ditanya kenapa lo suka dengan orang itu dan lo jawab ga tau alasannya artinya lw cinta ma dy ” -Ryan Brillyan, Deco Abadi -

“Emang ada cara untuk tau kapan kita mencintai orang itu?”
-Christian de Vano, DJKN Jayapura-

“Bukannya sok anak baik tp gw gay akin pernah mencintai seseorang di luar anggota keluarga. Jadi yang gw rasain ke keluarga inti gw adalah g pengen jauh, ga pernah ngrasa bosen, ga pengen bikin mereka sakit (marah, kecewa,dkk), selalu ada pemakluman untuk sikap dan hal2 yang ada pada mereka, yang paling2 adalah kecanduan!!” –Hesria Menur, KPP Pratama Banjarmasin-

"Ketika kamu tersenyum melihat orang yg kamu cintai bahagia meskipun bahagiany bukan denganmu" –Badia Ahmad Burhani, Kanwil DJP Kaltim-


Well, those are some different comments from my friends. At that time I personally answer, “when you feel the chemistry”, sounds cliché? Well maybe, but that’s how I can explain it. You’ll never know when, you just feel..


What about you readers, how do you know that you love somebody?

Today, A Year Ago..

A year ago, right on this date, a guy asked me to be his girlfriend and i said yes. We were friends turn into lovers and now we are becoming friends again. Yes, that's true, i'm no longer with the one i agreed to be with a year ago.

Most of our friends may say: "they are not over yet" or "ah ntar pasti lw balik balik juga ma dia" or "both of you still love each other" when they see my interaction with him. I stay friends with him after the break up, mostly because i appreciate the friendship that we had before and during the relationship. it is hard though, because he still want me but i don't wanna be in that kind of "relationship" with him anymore.

The first four months after the break up is filled with a lot of "please come back to me" and "give me another chance" request from him, and every time he did it i have to turned him down. I never like the feeling after turning someone down, it bothers my mind and my heart at the same time, usually for quite a long time. The thing is, i just couldn't grant his request, not at those times. Those moments are not today, a year ago. Not the time i can say yes again because the feeling now is different. I don't feel the same way as i felt to him a year ago, not anymore.

Maybe most of you will think about how my feeling is easily changing, well unfortunately that's not true. The feeling's changing is not as simple as it seemed, it took a big incident and time. It was not like deleting a file from your pc, or like deleting a text message from your cellphone. Anyway, it was pretty complex so I wouldn't tell the details. But what i know is i still want to have a friend like him.

I wrote this because early in the morning i remembered that today, a year ago i officially became his girlfriend but somehow we never make it until today.

Today, maybe I already grow a feeling to someone else, maybe I still enjoy being single, maybe I know some guys are approaching, but one thing for sure I want to have my friends around and that's including him..


Because today is no longer today, a year ago..

A Birthday Surprise for A Friend

“..winter spring summer or fall, all youhave to do is call
And I’ll be there yes I will, you’ve got a friend ”

Tanggal 8 Januari yang lalau adalah hari ulang tahun seorang sahabat dekat saya, namanya Hesria Meti Nurjanah (dikenal dengan berbagai panggilan: riri, yii, nyii, mba menur), I personally sometimes call her yii or sist.. Ini pertama kalinya dia merayakan ulang tahun jauh dari keluarga,yang membuatnya sangat sedih setiap kali teringat hal itu.

……………………………….
05/01/2010
[teman2,ini rani.. teman kita riri tgl 8 nanti ultah kan, nah pengen ngasih scrapbook yang isinya foto + ucapan slmt ultah dr temen2nya..nah krn itu, minta bantuan tmn2 bwt ngirim foto dengan pose sekreatif mungkin yg intinya ada ucapan slmt ultah (ex:pose bawa spanduk happy bday, megang kue tart, atw cukup kertas yg bertuliskan happy bday) + ucapanny skalian…tolng dikirim via email ke ramadhani.ardiansyah@gmail.com atw via mms k 081932642***. Thnx a lot friends!]
Message sent
-----------------------------
That was a text message that I sent to our friends. From that day, the “scrapbook project” started. Not only from far-away friends, I also collect photos and greetings from friends around us, in my office and hers as well, and also from her friends that aren’t mine yet. That was pretty tough, because most of them kept postponing to send the pictures and greetings.
Karena banyak yang tidak bisa memenuhi deadline pengumpulan foto, akhirnya saya harus mencetak secara bertahap agar scrapbook-nya tetap bisa dikerjakan. Terima kasih banyak untuk Mas Rifky dan Mas Binuko yang mengantarkan saya mencetak foto-foto dan membeli bahan-bahan untuk membuat scrapbook. Anyway the book was supposed to be a surprise present but apparently one of the friend who thought I already give the scrapbook to her mention about that. So it was no longer become a surprise present.

Percakapan mereka (seperti yang diceritakan ke saya) kurang lebih seperti ini :
Friend: Happy birthday ya rii!
Riri. : Iya makasiiiih…
Friend: Oh iya, gimana scrapbook-nya?bagus?
Riri. : …………..
Hmmm, kayaknya yang itu belum sampe ke gue deh


Anyway, it took quite a while to finish the book, but with lots of help, especially from Mbak Ria and Mbak Tri in the office (yes people, you read it right,we do it in the office. Sampai-sampai salah satu atasan saya sambil bercanda berkomentar: ”untung riri ulang tahun cuma setahun sekali, coba kalo tiap bulan, bisa-bisa nanti di Buku Produksi kalian isinya membuat scrapbook terus”).
Sepulang kantor dan selama di kosan saya juga terbantu dengan kehadiran Putri Melati a.k.a. Pumelita, sahabat saya yang satu ini membantu dalam menyelesaikan dan memberikan sentuhan akhir sebelum scrapbooknya diserahkan.

Not only the scrapbook thingy, i also initiated a surprise party for her, so even when she’s not with her family, she can celebrate it with all of us here. Just to show that she also have another “family”.

Dengan bantuan Bang Aulia, kami berhasil menemukan tempat yang lumayan “cozy and personal” untuk surprise party-nya. There were 16 of us there, consisting of friends from her office, my office and Pumelita. Mas Bangun, one of our friend was assigned to keep Riri away and later take her to the spot, meanwhile the rest of us waited there. We requested live music from the café, prepared cake and 23 candles. Right after they got into the parking lot, we dimmed the lights and prepared the candles. We stood side by side, surrounding the table and each of us was holding 1 or 2 candles.

Begitu Riri dan Mas Bangun datang dan menuju ke lantai 2 kafe tempat kami menyiapkan surprise party, musiknya dimainkan dan kami semua bernyanyi, Riri lumayan kaget karena tidak menyangka saya dan teman-teman lain lah yang ada di sana. Kemudian dia berkeliling meniup satu persatu lilin yang kami pegang, memotong kue ulang tahun dan menyuapi kami semua satu per satu. Setelah itu acara dipenuhi dengan makan-ngobrol-foto serta beberapa sumbangan lagu.

Somehow with all the obstacle, we managed to make this come true. Its good to know that I can do things like this for my best friend and to know our other friends are also care enough to help with the scrapbook and the surprise party, especially because I don’t want to see her sad on her birthday. After all, we say happy birthday, so basically we should be happy when birthday comes..

Finally the scrapbook is given the day after her birthday, on our “girls nite out” dinner the day after the birthday. Again, a bunch of thanks to everyone that participated.

Last, Happy Birthday to my sister, Hesria “Yii” Menur..
Hope you will always have great and blessed life ahead..

An unforgettable date (?)

What comes in your mind when asked about unforgettable date?

Having a candlelight dinner? enjoying sunset on the beach? Watching romantic movie? Chat under starry sky? Well it could be vary depending on what kind of date you’ve been into, but most likely its about special places or occasion right? its about looking good and picking the “most suitable” place to spend the time together, just you and your loved one.. In other case there are dates that actually didn’t meant to be special, probably just another night or weekend to spend together, but then they turn out to be unforgettable ones.

Probably this is what happen in my case, one day when I arrived in Jakarta, 2 best friends picked me up at the airport. We were on our way to meet other friends when the car machines started to heat up and burned so we have to pullover and park the car in one of the building parking lot around Sudirman. The radiator was overheated and there were leakage on the pipe. Hopeless, we the decided to take a cab continuing our way. The story continue, we meet up, have a delicious late-lunch and nice chit-chat in a restaurant somewhere around Thamrin, after that everyone had to go and deal with their business. It was the two of us left, my friend who own the car and I, that’s because we already planned to spend the rest of the day together..

We need to get the car fixed, but there was no way to bring it anywhere with that condition. It needed an emergency handling. So we decided to find the equipments, and so we called it a “date”. We were wearing t-shirt, jeans and sneakers, walked hand in hand along the road (I mean literally walking, and it was pretty far), got in and out of malls trying to find car-maintenance-section, talked bout random things and laughed over it, sweating all over and then it started to drizzle again. Luckily by that time we already got what we need, then it’s the time to go back to the parking lot, this time by cab because its pretty far from where we were at that time. It was fun, so much fun. Unusual, uncommon, unlike what a normal couple would do on a date, but anyway we aren’t normal ones.

Now here comes the second part, the parking lot turned into our garage, he dealt with the machine thingy and me holding the flashlight, it took us sometimes to deal with it, then we still had to wait for some moment to see if its working. During the time, we talked over cigarette and bottles of water, staring at the sky where you can actually see lights from the buildings clearer than the stars, it was half moon at that time. It was not a decent place at all, I mean you can check a parking lot at night, but still we really enjoyed that moment. Still remember we talked about almost anything, our serious-mode on and off, hence we laughed a lot and enjoyed the time together. At that time he said sorry, because a date is supposed to be in a fine restaurant, enjoying good foods and talk over wine, but then we thought that it was only gonna be an ordinary one, the more awkward the situation we’re in, the more unforgettable it would be, so be it. Anyway, its true, even when we’re miles away apart, we still remember and talk about that very moment a lot.

Now as I write this piece, somehow I still miss him and our date(?)


"after a while, you just want to be with the one that makes you laugh"
Mr.Big - Sex and The City