Beautiful Day,

Beautiful weather. Paris at it's best! Fresh cold air complemented with sunlight sweeping through the clear blue sky. So there I was, feeling glad that Alliance is finally over, finding my way back home when I was surprised by a friend in the metro. Prior to the relief of a great burden yesterday, she congratulated me, which made me feel all the more excited (thx a bunch ;-)).
No plans were made, but I guess it's true, sometimes great things happen without plans. We ended up travelling all around Paris together. Hehe, felt really great though. First off, we were near montparnasse, decided to get on line 14 (most modern metro line, highly sophisticated, runs automatically) to Gare de Lyon, and decided to get back to Montparnasse (shew.. long way! hehe). Tried to spot starbucks, but couldn't. And so we went off to the Opera metro station, and I was in the mood for chocolat viennois (preffered the one at haagen dazs, personally. I should've stayed with COFFEE!) :-)
Chit chat, and decided to walk under the sun a bit... until the subject of Opera was brought up. Went in to find out more, and the next thing I knew I was already inside. Marvellous, beautifully ornated, everything's so classic.... loved the decoration. Although I'm not so into art, I admired the place. My imagination ran wild picturing the olden days. Yup, those times when manners was "the thing." Wish I can watch a real opera there, hehe.. someday.
Walked a bit more, Galleries La Fayette. Christmas decorations are up, very pretty :-) Although.. masih bagusan (dan jauh lebih besar) pohon natal di Mal Taman Anggrek. Hwehehe... I love going there. Just walked walked walked and chat chat chat. It was lots of fun.

Had an awesome time at a friend's house today. Recorded things onto the digicam (hihihi that was funny), bryed marshmallows (I had to mention it! Sorry! Ehehe..), having a mad time. Another day passed with them, laughing, giggling, and onto serious topics too. Took mad pics which I will cherish forever ;-)
Got home, didn't want to think about anything. Just want to enjoy every moment of this precious life.

Loads of FUN!

As in PURE fun! My God... I probably haven't laughed as long as today in months! So, apart from school, I was invited yet again to an all gurls lunch kind of thing. Hehe, at this age! Come on! It was f a n t a s t i c ! ! ! After having a nice lunch, kindly prepared by the mother of my friend (my friend has yet to learn on this matter! Hell A-levels she can handle, but not cooking! Hehe.. kidding gal ;-) ... I'm just as bad, so...) First off, it was quiet moments, just sharing ideas, talking about anything.. just everything! About life; university, people we knew from EaB : where they are, how they've become. It was just fruit salad, mixed and everything there. Great.
Of course, an all gurls get together wouldn't be one without the subject of Boys. Yup, there we were, just chatting our life away of all experiences. Ihiehe. All really funny ones too! Oh don't worry, we didn't say anything bad. Just hinting the irony that everyone experiences at young age. Yup, the period of Girls? Yuck... and all the same with Boys? Eww.. ! was brought up today... an everlasting cycle that can be pointed out differently after aging quite a bit. I find that period real cute.
Ok, so that was the calm part. The pitch of the day was around the cooking lesson. Well, not really. Anyway, my friend's mom is showing another friend (who's already good at cooking anyway, but decides to make me feel bad anyway and learn more, hehe.. kidding Kel), how to make some kind of dessert. At first I stood there in the kitchen, having a pen in my hand and trying to jot down points on how to make it. Not for me, of course. Was acting as secretary (I'm waiting for the cheque, hihihi ). Anyways, instead, I went to her computer and found out that mlle. host was flirting away with some guy (which I later know that they've never met each other!). The devil inside me was speaking way TOO loud for me. So what did I do? Hehe, devilish things. I didn't pretend to be her, if that's what you're all thinking. I admitted I was a friend, and since this guy seem to be 180 degrees different than I am, I sort of wanted to know how his kind thinks. I don't know if I was so successful though. Anyways... we laughed SO much, and the gurls seemed to be shocked of my attitude online! I blame it on the coke, personally. Ehehe.
Okay, maybe I was flirting. But the thing is I don't even know what the word really means. So, huh! It was TOO much to handle, seriously. But today is one of those days that I will remember always as one of my brightest days in Paris. Gosh, the energy still shows through this entry!
I'm going to miss you gurls so much. Looking forward to 15 years time! Hehehe.
Oh btw, I am reserved as person. *hides away*

A certain kind of smile.

Hari ini sebenarnya berjalan biasa-biasa saja, disamping fakta bahwa tiap hari kita semakin menua ^^; Dan ini juga sudah menjadi hal biasa... jadi, mungkin hari ini memang biasa-biasa saja. Hehe.
Aku pulang kursus dan mendapatkan sebuah email dari teman SD ku yang sudah 10 tahun hilang kontak. Ya, mungkin ini tidak terlalu menakjubkan jika dibandingkan dengan reuni-reuni lain yang friendster telah lahirkan. Tapi ini email. Iya, email. Bukan berarti aku sudah punya electronic mail dari 10 tahun yang lalu loh... ckck ^^; Terlebih lagi, teman SD lain juga mengabariku. Jadi bisa dibilang hari ini, adalah hari saat mia kembali menyimpang tahun 1993. Amazing.
Alliance is getting boring like hell. Stuffing me with exercises after exercises. Don't think I'm getting too much out of it, and that's the worst part.

Political Lunch?

Nyam Nyamm... Kemarin aku bertemu dengan teman-teman, menikmati makan siang bersama. Whoa!Tempatnya sungguh tertata baik, menawarkan suasana yang santai, namun tetap elegan. Dengan berlantaikan kaca, dibawahnya mengalir air dan ikan-ikan hias. Seperti surga dengan sungai yang mengalir dibawahnya! *winks* Langit-langitnya dihias penuh oleh kerlap-kerlip lampu kecil, it was amazing. Makanannya juga enak-enak, menyediakan makanan Cina dan Thailan. Letaknya strategis, rue de berri, salah satu jalan yang memotong av. des champs elysees yang pamor itu. Hm, kalau dibilang political lunch, mungkin sangat klise, pasalnya mereka memang benar-benar teman, yang kebetulan saja berasal dari berbagai benua di dunia. Seperti yang aku sudah bilang, really, it was a wonderful lunch- percakapan santai melebur dengan suasana yang- jika tidak terlalu berlebihan, sempurna ;-) Sayangnya cuaca kemarin hujan, tapi aku tetap menyukainya. I believe it adds the value of the 'goodbye lunch.'
Walk, walk, walk. Dared ourselves to enter louis vuitton boutique. It was now or never. At least for two of my friends who are scheduled to return to their respective countries by the end of this year. They're renovating the place, and so moved temporarily nearby. I followed. With fear, I might add. My thought of it being empty and rigid failed me again. It was crowded, mostly tourists, I think. I still don't get the point of having a 780 euros agenda, with LV stamped all over. Not to mention other ridiculous prices.
The rain was still pouring, and the thought of a warm coffee sent it's impulse to our brains and ordered more secretion of saliva. Hehe. So off we went down to haagen dazs. Caffe Latte. Mahal! But it was worth it, for all ambiances has it's price =)
Said goodbye. Maybe our last. I wouldn't know.
Sesudahnya, aku janjian bertemu dengan kedua abangku, yup- di haagen dazs lagi. Untuk pergantian suasana dan menyayangi budget bulananku yang semakin menyurut, kami bertemu di cabang victor hugo. Makan es! Yipee! Walau hujan, dan sentuhan angin dingin telah terasa, aku tetap memesan strawberry cheesecake dan cookies and cream. Terlalu banyak memang, tapi alhamdulillah itu kurasakan setelahnya, so it didn't spoil the taste! ;-)
Abang will be leaving tomorrow, destination Dakar. It has been a wonderful two weeks, and I'm looking forward to another coming family visit. Even if it'll only be a couple of days.

PS: Tabula Rasa, karya Ratih Kumala, bagus!!! Heavy to read, implicite (hehe..), deep!
PSS: Tadi juga sempet ngintip "Eragon" yang kabarnya akan bertanding dengan master Potter. Have to watch over that one too. I will. *evil grin*

...And the marathon continues.

Iya, semenjak novel-novel Indonesia datang barengan dengan koper abangku yg beraaatt dengan segala macam titipan (bukan punyaku doang loh), aku sangat bersemangat membaca karya-karya lokal. Sejauh ini, semua yg kubaca bener-bener mengajarkanku tentang banyak hal. Karena kebanyakan termasuk kategori chicklit/teenlit, buku-buku ini somewhat melengkapi the moments I've lost (hehe..). DeaLova, karya Dyan Nuranindya, termasuk salah satunya. Settingnya yang 'SMA banget' memperbolehkan aku terbang melewati ruang dan waktu, kembali dalam seragam putih abu-abu. Hmm, setelah aku pikir-pikir, tidak banyak juga yg telah berubah semenjak aku menanggalkan seragam itu. Oh, selain bahwa sekarang aku jarang sekali terlihat mengenakan rok :-)
Kembali soal DeaLova, ceritanya banyak gak masuk akalnya... tapi tetap menyenangkan.
Hm, mungkin perkataan tadi akan dianggap terlalu mengkritik sehingga aku merasa harus menarik contoh, untuk sekedar melengkapi kenarsisanku dan melambungkan egoku menunjukkan bahwa aku benar :p Karra, anak perempuan berumur 16 tahun, tinggal di Jakarta bersama kakaknya sampai suatu saat kedua orangtuanya 'memaksa' kakaknya itu ikut bersama mereka ke luar negeri, membiarkannya sendirian di kota Jakarta yg angker. Terlebih lagi, ketiga orang 'sahabat' kakaknya (cowok) dibiarkan menginap dibawah atap yg sama dengan Karra. HUGE mistake. Didn't make quite a lot of sense to me. BMW, Jaguar, Balineese Villa, and all other indications yg menurutku, sangat, sangat, berlebihan. I loved the ending though. Bukannya ingin mengadakan ekspedisi buku ya, tapi seperti yg kubilang tadi... It's more about me (cinta pada diri sendiri yg berlebihaan.. hehe).
Yesterday, I forced myself onto EaB's grounds (the cage where I spent 2 years of my highschool ^^;). Met some teachers- ones that were annoying, ones that are annoying, and ones that will always be annoying :-) Kidding. I was actually glad that I had the chance to see them again, although I would never have done it if I didn't have to fetch the br certificate. Imagine, nearly 6 months away from it and still haunted! ha! Good thing mr. counsellor was away on some conference. Why? Well, it's a long story ;-) But yeah, it was great.. meeting mr. Bourne again, mr. Taylor... just catching up on what we've lost around school (too much!). If the question is whether I miss it or not, quite frankly I wouldn't know the direct answer. Going up those narrow stairs yesterday struck me onto one thing, ... that school is a great place to be. Friends are great people to be with. Acquaintances are really, Friends.
Well, something like that.

Golden advice.

Tidak banyak yg aku jalani hari ini selain memajang tampang di tempat les, menghadiri wawancara calon sekolah (amin!), dan mencoba stew daging bumbu instan. Praktis, dan keberhasilan mendekati 100%! So why miss it? ihihi... Sebenernya ini sangat ga orisinil dan tidak membantu dalam melatih culinary skill-ku, namun aku tetap bangga. Mungkin bangga karena pilihan merk bumbu instan Maggie itu tepat sasaran, atau mungkin juga karena aku tau aku gak sendirian diantara ribuan cw lainnya di kota metropolitan yg andalannya me-defreeze frozen food :-) Yang manapun alasannya, aku tetap bangga, titik. Itu cukup. Setidaknya untuk sekarang. Wawancara juga alhamdulillah berjalan lancar, walau terkadang pertanyaannya membuatku merasa tampil dalam sebuah acara infotainment di tipi2 swasta Indonesia. Catatan, bukannya aku ingin atau pun bisa memasuki kehidupan super-exposed itu.
"Kalau kamu punya kesempatan utk membalikkan waktu, apa yg akan kamu perbaiki, yg kemudian dapat berdampak padamu hari ini?"
Bagaimanapun juga, aku menyukai pertanyaan itu, karena memang kebanyakan hidupku berkiblat pada masa lalu. Jadi, this question was as easy as pealing potatoes. And for your information, pealing potatoes can be hard for someone like me. Jadi ekspresi itu terdengar cukup ironis di kepalaku sesaat setelah pertanyaan itu dilontarkan oleh 'calon' dean-ku. Apa yg kujawab? Aku sudah tak ingat :p Hehehe, yg jelas seluruh wawancara itu tidak berlangsung terlalu lama. Bahkan, sangat pendek. Aku keluar dan merasa puas atas jawaban-jawabanku, walau aku sadar tidak ada jawaban yang benar atau salah dalam hal seperti ini. Yang penting adalah pembawaan dirimu. Aku bertanya-tanya pada abang, untuk sekedar mengetahui updates. Maklum, aku tidak bersahabat dengan tv. Aku juga ingat diberi one piece of rare advice (and when I say rare, believe me, it's indeed rare!) dari ayah, pada malam sebelumnya.
The most important thing is for you to talk, yang.
Ini mungkin alasan utama kenapa aku merasa lega, karena aku telah berhasil melakukan apa yg telah ayah anjurkan, dan menggunakan secara efektif ilmu kilat yang kudapati 2 jam sebelumnya dihadapan mme. dean. Oi, surname-nya bukan dean loh ;-)
Disamping itu, cinTapuccino, karya Icha Rahmanti, kini telah kubaca kelar. Hmm... not in the mood to comment much about quarter-life's crisis, yg belum aku alami. Aku lebih banyak berasosiasi pada adik sang tokoh, yg juga berumur 17 tahun. Namun gambarannya terlalu childish, mnurutku. Entahlah... mungkin aku salah menilai. This chicklit is more for my mba-mba's (20 something? ihiehe) and less for me. Although, cukup menyenangkan membacanya sebagai company di kereta :-)

Maaf-

Yipee! Mau lebaran :-) Mia pribadi mau ngucapin :

          Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri
        1 Syawal 1425 H
        Mohon maaf lahir & batin*

Let's focus on the asterix sign now, shall we. I feel as if I say it so often now that I've lost the real sense and meaning of it. I was taught early in my childhood (and justified by the english dictionary^^;)that the word 'sorry' is primarily designated to those who you believe you have hurt, and I believe it's more a sentimental feeling. Tapi mungkin ada benernya juga kalo gue minta maaf sama orang yg gue blm pernah sama skali make direct verbal contact, yup- minta maaf karena keadaan tidak membiarkan kita 'go along.' Hmm.. okaay^^;;
Don't get me wrong, it's not that everytime I say it I don't mean it... because as a matter of fact I do (like this time!), just not everytime.. just.. well, most of the time.
Great, the smile that you see so overwhelmingly scattered everywhere in one day, can vanish in a moment, oh- not even!... But I guess I'll do myself a favour and preserve my social life longer by leaving the gritty details to myself =)
No, but really, I'm not some sarcastic girl who refuses to understand the need for that kind of action. I, myself, have proven the opposite. To be frank, I despise it (try saying that with a smile! I can!!) Hwahaha..//

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Aku termenung memandang barang pemberian darinya. Kuingat menghela nafas panjang, memikirkan sesuatu yang tak kuanggap begitu penting. Tak kurasakan senyuman menyungging dibibirku, tak pula kubantah keberadaan benda itu dihadapanku. Apa aku marah? Ya.., mungkin aku merasa marah. Tapi kini aku tak yakin lagi; apa marah itu, dan seperti apa rasanya? Aku tak ingat. Bisikan yg mengatakan 'maafkan' kudengar berulang-ulang ditelingaku. Bisikan itu semakin keras, dan dengan mengerasnya perintah itu, aku seakan keluar dari halusinasiku dan yakin bahwa keadaan maaf itu bukanlah sesuatu yang nyata aku rasakan. Tidak,,, orang ini yg menyuruhku memaafkan, maka itu aku merasa harus meminta maaf! Dan kuberharap mereka membisikkan yang lain. Karena walau ku berhasil meyakinkan diriku bahwa aku tidak marah saat itu, aku tidak tahu apa yang harus selayaknya kurasakan..., sikap apa yg harus kulakukan..., bahasa tubuh apa yg harus kuperagakan....
Bisikan !... Bisikan selain daripada permintaan maaf-memaafkan !! Minta aku tersenyum, maka mungkin dengan bodohnya ku akan mengikuti perintahmu. Minta aku membenci, dan dengan penuh dendam kan kubenci diriku.
Tapi sekarang, katakanlah.., apa benda itu ? Mengapa perasaanku sama sekali tidak tergelitik menatapnya diberikan padaku dengan tumpahan air mata ? Aku mencoba meraih dan menyentuh benda itu dengan jari-jemariku, namun tak kunjung ku dapat mengenggamnya. Benda itu tak ada! Halusinasi belaka ! Lalu, bisikan perintah maaf itu apa? Apa itu ?! Aku masih dapat mendengarnya, ia semakin mendengung kencang ditelingaku, bahkan saat kusadari benda itu maya hasil kegilaanku. Tapi, perintah itu terus menerus berulang. Apakah ia sama dengan benda itu? Ataukah... ia nyata ? ;-)

Miss Jutek.

I've just finished reading an indo chicklit novel, I found it quite interesting. Judulnya Miss Jutek, karya Yennie Hardiwidjaja. The first thing that occured to me as I was reading the piece was the over-exaggerated character that seemed to rush my judgements. First word: stereotypic. This word says it all. An overly wealthy spoiled brat (Salma) finds herself in a university amongst mixed social layers, and yes- fail to 'blend' and accept certain circumstances. This is why the over-temperamental student mostly speaks in caps lock. Believe it or not, it was tiring... it's as if the scenes are played in my head, making my ears deff. What most interests me however is the fact that the 'romance' isn't all so dull like ones that let me think, Ooh... right, and smile with half the side of my face. Ok, I admit, beside that he's tall, rich and lean, what I'm really referring to is the attitude, the sincerity. Rarely, I accepted the stereotype given between the lines, without effort. Yet I found the plot was slow, and dramatic changes are too noticeable towards the end. At certain times I felt lost in the book and shiver at the thought that I know the character all too well. But the last point is highly subjective and stresses the fact that it's MY blog, hehehe. =)

Reality update: war in Ivory Coast. Kedengerannya perangnya parah bgt... dan gue berharap banget rumor bahwa BBC dan CNN suka mengheboh-hebohkan, kali ini benar... i wish that it is not that bad. Last I heard about teh Ninit and a Adit was that they're being evacuated, and possibly outside of the country. Ya Allah, semoga mereka bae2 aja, semoga mereka diberi ketenangan dan kesabaran. I really hope you guys are going okay *sighs* ...

All I want for 'IED'... is YOU!

hehe, lagu ini stuck di kepala gue! Judul lagu sebenernya adalah All I want for christmas is you, yang dinyanyiin Mariah Carey. Lagi inget nih ama ni lagu, waktu pulang ke Indo tahun lalu, this song was practically heard in every single mall I went to. Especially my favourite mall of all time... PIM! yey! hihi.. mall ini keren bgt deh, selain bisa ditempuh dengan bajaj *kendaraan setia gue di jkt*, it's.. lengkap! ada Gramed, ada Gunung Agung dan tempat makannya cozy semua! Niweys, PIM itu lebih deuket dari BP ... Ukurannya dari rumah gue, of course ^ ^;

Maaf, ini tambahan yg agak shadowy. Err,, somehow I just had to write it down.
What does it feel like when the closest person to you asks you to do one small action, but by chance it is something you've never been able to insert as part of your personality. What do you do when you say 'no' and see that person hurt. Just what do you do? I guess there are just some minute details that completes your personality and therefore moulds you into who you are mentally. Personally and everyone in their right mind would do whatever they can to avoid hurting those they care for. But it goes without saying, it's merely impossible. At least for me. Bagaimanapun juga lo coba melihat dari sisi orang lain, sometimes you still can't get it. No matter how hard you try... Maybe I'll regret it someday, but I swear to myself that I will then remember that at the very moment where I had the choice of doing it or not, I honestly have thought that I was doing the right thing. I guess I'm sorry.

Anyhow, dilain pihak gue seneng deh, bentar lagi lebaran =) Altho tahun ini pasti akan berbeda banget, gue tetep aja hepii . . .
Let it be a great year, ya Allah . . .

Personal Statement

Ada kalanya kebiasaan kita bernarsis ria membawa barokah. Orang yg dengan mudahnya dapat menunjukkan sisi positif pribadi jelas takkan sungkan menekankan dan membeberkan pengalaman yg membentuknya menjadi seperti itu. I don't know. I guess I'm not fond of starting an intro line by Since I was a child, I became accustomed to rapid changes and the force to blend into new environments. Tettoot... salah besar. Mungkin karena gue yakin gue boong, gak tau juga yah. Kenapa juga harus buat karangan yg toh segala achievements udah dipapar di halaman sebelumnya. Katanya sih, kita harus nge-expand . . .

Yey! Yey!

As the title suggests, my mood is over the moon. Eh jadi inget, di les gue waktu itu pernah ngebahas expression difference between english and french. She gave me the example: elle est dans la lune which literally means 'she is in the moon' in french (which means she's not with us/she's day dreaming), however it contains an essential difference with the english version of She's over the moon, which signifies contentment or overjoy. Niweys, let's get back to my set of joy ~_^

I wasn't admitted into Harvard, nor Cambridge, Yale or any of the sort *siapaa juga yg mau percaya!* hihihi, ya sapa tau ada yang nyangka ^^; Infact, it has nothing to do with school. And partly, maybe that's what adds it's value, ckck...
Hmm, ever felt that maybe things are going just a little bit too rough for ya? It continues to pile up, and before you realise, that's all you ever think about. Udah gitu, sulking for 3 days or so, spreading the sickness of worrying to family and friends... and whoP! I can see clearly now the rain has gone, I can see all obstacles in my way... hehe, itu lagu deng. Finally, you realise there was nothing to worry about. Hmm why worry about the future when you don't even know where you'll be in the next 24 hours? hehe. Gotta admit, I'm nothing like that. I guess it's because I'm so used to working for an aim, jadi gak bisa berprinsip what's going to happen, happenlah... =) Everyone has to learn that at some period. I guess I'm just a late starter.

Let's get back to the expression difference, since it interests me a lot! hehe... Gini, in english we have one like this: mistakes are human, to forgive divine. Taapi, bhs prancis aneh (mnurut gue). It goes like this: L'erreur est humaine (mistakes are human).
Udah! 'To forgive divine' doesn't exist in french expression! For those who know me enough, gue yakin bisa memprediksi ce que je vais conclure.
. . . The French don't forgive! They just make mistakes and blame it on their mortality as human! hwahaha.. *smacked*
Ya udah deh... I'll get back to punishing myself for saying that ;-)