A Short Story

Sometime, somewhere...

There lives a boy.

This boy had been living quite happily with his family and friends for years. Even though he had to study abroad, he quickly made new friends. He had some tough situations and rift in friendship, but prevailed; even to the extent of making new friends.

One year has passed since this particular boy went abroad. Nothing went wrong, until one day he felt an unexpected and uncomfortable change on his friends, especially his coursemates.

"What happened?" he asked himself in false hopes of getting a satisfying answer.

As time flew, the feelings got more and more intense. He endured it for a few days, until he realized that even some of his friends seemed to exclude him, especially one particular person. The boy thought that person was cynical to him.

The irony was that this person had been good friends with the boy for almost a year. The boy just couldn't bear this fact. Since he was a type of person who doesn't want his problems to be known, he feigned smile. He masked his loneliness with his cheerfulness. That hurted him a lot.

On the dawn of midnight of a joyful day, he thought over this problem again. He realized that he needed to talk to someone about it. So, he went out to meet his close friend to share about it, as well as passing some files the friend would need soon. But, seeing him being kept busy by much more than just a few assignment, the boy couldn't afford to bother him and could only accomplish the latter. He went back home.

On his way back, the boy thought about the problem he had been immersed into. He felt sorry for himself because he couldn't find out why such aching a problem had to befall him.

"Who are my friends?" shouted the boy out loud in his heart, "where are they?"

He was so lonely to the point of even receiving an SMS from someone lifted his spirit pretty significantly.

As he got back to his room, he dipped himself in prayer, talking silently to someone he knew he could always share with. And to end the day...

He crafted this story.

He poured out all his thought in making this story, remembering anyone he could think of. His family. His friends. The ones he thought to be excluding him.

He hoped that everything would return to be fine. He knew that he would always have more than just someone to help him out. His thought ran through a list of them.

The family.
The two designers.
The DotA player.
The beatboxer.
The alumna.
The jogger.

And this story he dedicated to all of them.

God bless us all.

A Ferocious Quandary

First of all, why ferocious? Simply because it's so intense.

Let me just get this straight and over with. My family will visit Singapore again on August 8th, and I really want and need to see them. Yet, from 7th until 10th, GTD is taking place. These two events are concurrent.

This is really something. Both are really important for me, and I can't just leave either one be. I wish I could find some vacant space of time within the overwhelmingly packed GTD, be it only 2 hours, to visit my family at Holiday Inn.

This is a moment where I have to choose one of two alternatives with at least one unsatisfactory consequence, although hardly nobody says that something like this spices up life. Hmm... needless to say, I have to utilize my very best judgment and sense of priority to cope with this dilemma. Sacrifice of time and energy is a must.

Help me choose.

Week of Endless Pursuit

Hmm, it's been a week since I last wrote...

Well, as most of you already know, I couldn't write as frequently as before because of my activities. They took a hell lot of time.

One of them was CSA FOC (Catholic Students' Apostolate Freshmen Orientation Camp), and I took part as a welfare main committee. As the name suggests, my job was to ensure the well-being of the participants, be it providing food or first aid.

The whole camp took 4 days, with the last 2 days spent at Aloha Loyang (near Pasir Ris Park, all the way across Singapore from NTU). Of course, tiring was it. One thing for sure, though: it was damn fun. I got to know the freshies and fellow seniors. The games were outright enjoyable. The chalet was awfully nice. At the end of the day, it was so heavenly a camp.

On the last day of the camp, everybody went out to East Coast Park to play beach games. (Randy and) I didn't go though, because we had a convocation to be present. It was Kelsen's. With that in mind, we went straight from Pasir Ris to NTU, took some rest, and attended the convocation. After congratulating some friends, I went back to join the GTD senior camp (which took 2 days, but I can't talk about it now).

Okay, so after the senior camp had finished, I was free from this morning onwards. I went to the church with the usual friends and some more (not unusual) friends and... freshies! There were pretty many of them; 7 or 8 people, I guess. I reckon that it was their first Mass in Singapore (so what?). After the Mass, we did our weekly chores: eat and shop at Jurong Point, but this time plus getting the freshies to know their way around JP. We ate at Kopitiam (as usual), shopped at Fair Price, and visited Popular.

Maybe that's all there is to say. Other than playing bridge and winning at least 4 out of 5 matches, there's no so significant a story to tell. Since I'm getting a little tired now, I'm going to use some rest... my feet are still killing me due to outdoor games yesterday.

See you next post, and I hope it will be posted soon ^.^

Moving: BIE Style vs ADM Style

Hari ini gw mengalami pindahan lagi. Bukan, bukan gw, tapi gw bantuin Dennice pindahan. Dan gw menemukan beberapa persamaan dan perbedaan antara 2 jenis pindahan yang udah gw alami ini. Penting banget ya =P

Persamaannya:

1. Melibatkan 3 orang. BIE style melibatkan gw, Yossy, Tere. ADM style melibatkan gw, Dennice, kokonya.

2. Jarak yang jauh. BIE style ditempuh dari hall 9 ke hall 12. ADM style ditempuh dari hall 5 ke hall 8.

3. Tanjakan terjal. BIE style melewati tanjakan di depan Nanyang Heights. ADM style melewati tanjakan di depan block 44.

4. Trolley yang dipakai. Kedua style menggunakan trolley yang sama, dipinjam dari orang yang sama.

Perbedaannya:

1. Jumlah barang. BIE style mengangkut banyak barang. ADM style mengangkut sangat banyak barang.

2. Berat barang. BIE style mengangkut barang-barang berat. ADM style mengangkut barang-barang sangat berat.

3. Jumlah ronde. BIE style melalui 2 ronde. ADM style melalui 3 ronde.

4. Tingkat kesulitan. BIE style: hard. ADM style: very hard.

5. Jumlah anak tangga yang dilalui dengan trolley. BIE style tidak menuntun trolley melalui tangga. ADM style menuntun trolley melalui banyak anak tangga.

6. Indikasi alergi debu gw. BIE style membuat gw batuk dan bersin ga berhenti selama 1 hari. ADM style hanya membuat gw bersin-bersin sampai 1 jam.

Yah, jadi gitu deh kira-kira perbandingan antara prosedur pindahan gw sama Dennice... tau sendiri yang mana yang lebih repot, secara anak ADM punya banyak barang berupa kertas berlembar-lembar, hahaha...

Sumpah, penting banget gw bikin post ini... ga ada kerjaan sih... XD

Celebration of My Return: Torment by Moving

Gw udah balik lagi ke Singapore nih... sebenernya gw baliknya kemaren sih, tapi gw belum bisa segera posting karena sesampainya di kamar (bukan kamar gw juga sih, secara kunci gw hilang dan gw ga bisa balik ke kamar gw), bawaannya udah langsung pingin tidur... =P

Anyway, inti pembicaraan gw kali ini bukan mengenai gw pulang jam berapa, naek apa, sampenya di negara mana, makan apa, dan pake Counterpain gara-gara apa (makin ga nyambung), tapi tentang siksaan yang gw alami hari ini.

Gw pindahan.

Darn. Proses pindahannya bener-bener makan waktu dan tenaga. Terus terang gw agak-agak meremehkan the overall process, dan gw shock saat tau bahwa semuanya makan waktu sekitar 2 setengah jam. Untung aja gw ga harus melakukan semuanya all by myself. Kalo sampe iya sih gw mendingan pilih bayar lebih dari $215.

Prosesnya melibatkan 3 orang (gw, Yossy, Tere) dan 2 ronde. Ronde pertama gw pindahin printer, koper baju, dan kardus-kardus laennya. Itu berat. Ternyata ronde kedua lebih berat lagi; isinya koper laen, kantong-kantong berisi macem-macem, ember, textbook, tas. Dan pindahannya ga nanggung-nanggung: dari kamar gw di hall 9 lantai 5 (harus diturunin ke lantai 1) ke kamar Tonton di hall 12 lantai 5 (masuknya dari lantai 4). Jarak dari hall 9 ke hall 12 mungkin sekitar 300 sampe 400 meter, mungkin lebih. Ga jauh? Mungkin juga, tapi yang jelas ga gampang, karena kami harus melalui either one of these: tanjakan yang cukup terjal di depan apartemen Nanyang Heights, atau jalan seribu tangga di hall 8. Akhirnya, setelah berpikir matang-matang, dipilihlah jalan muter lewat Nanyang Heights karena gw ga mau ngangkat-ngangkatin macem-macem barang lewat tangga.

Kata Yossy, pindahan merupakan bukti kalo kita udah jadi senior. Meskipun belum tentu juga karena mungkin ada freshie yang retain kamar, at least untuk tahun ini pernyataannya semi-valid, karena smua freshie (kecuali Dennice, tapi dia juga ga retain) yang naek ke 2nd year pada ga dapet kamar dan harus pindahan. Swt deh... -_-"

Selesainya pindahan, gw mandi lanjut makan. Puas banget rasanya, apalagi beberapa saat setelah makan itu gw tidur. Rasanya ga pingin bangun aja sampe besok pagi... sayangnya gw punya satu janji yang ga mungkin gw ingkari: ngabisin makanan yang dibawa Jimot. Hahaha. Kalo urusannya udah makan-memakan orang (makanan, maksud gw), ayo deh... =P

Malemnya, bosen deh... sampe menjelang jam 12 ini gw ga menemukan sesuatu untuk dikerjakan... palingan maen DS... diajakin Cia maen capsa sih, tapi masih kurang orang... sampe terkumpul at least 4 orang, bakalan cengo nih, hahaha...

Uncertainty

Hari ini (Jumat, 11 Juli) udah menjadi hari yang sangat ga enak dan bikin gw amat sangat bete (dalam arti irritated).

Pertama, rencana yang udah dibuat sejak lama (dan udah sempet ga kesampean satu kali), which is nonton dan makan Poke Sushi bareng Maria, Cumi, sama Tozzy, gagal untuk yang kedua kalinya. Meskipun gw udah menerima apa adanya, gw ga bisa menyembunyikan kenyataan bahwa gw kecewa. Bener-bener kecewa. Semua yang udah gw rencanain, kesenangan yang gw tunggu... hilang semua. Tapi gw ga mau nyalahin siapa-siapa... di sini, simply ga ada yang salah. I don't blame you guys...

Kedua, gw baru nyadar kalo ternyata gw declare untuk tinggal di hall cuma sampe tanggal 22 Juni. Buat yang belum tau, kalo kita ga kembaliin kunci setelah tanggal terakhir yang kita declare, kita bakalan didenda karena overstaying. Besarnya denda tergantung kita tinggal di hall AC atau non-AC dan kamar single atau double. Setelah gw hitung-hitung, pas gw balik ke Singapore nanti, gw perlu bayar S$206, termasuk biaya ganti kunci gw yang hilang.

Ketiga, gw membuat keputusan yang salah dengan tinggal di rumah dan ga ke Gading. Turned out that gw udah fed up di rumah. Pertimbangannya, kalo pun gw ke Gading, gw cuma bisa cengo ngeliatin bonyok gw tanding bowling, dan gw tau pasti pulangnya bakalan lebih dari jam setengah 12. Ternyata, tinggal di rumah merupakan sesuatu yang lebih parah... gw mencapai titik jenuh. Ga ada makanan dan ga sempet pesen apa-apa.

Keempat, rencana gw untuk ngasih surprise buat nyokap gw yang hari ini ulang tahun gagal total. Awalnya gw berencana untuk pura-pura lupa, terus nyari hadiah sekalian jalan-jalan. Karena jalan-jalannya batal dan gw ga jadi ke Gading, batal jugalah gw nyari hadiah. Sekarang bonyok gw ga bisa ditelepon karena suatu alasan, dan karena itu gw malah ga sempet ngasih ucapan selamat yang tepat waktu. Semuanya serba salah, dan bagian inilah yang paling gw ga suka.

Kelima, sampe sekarang bonyok gw masih belum pulang. Ok, setiap Jumat mereka emang ada tanding bowling di Gading, dan mereka biasanya pulang malem. Tapi semalem-malemnya mereka pulang juga masih sekitar jam 12. Kali ini mereka belum pulang sampe jam setengah 1, dan seperti yang udah gw bilang tadi, HP mereka ga diangkat-angkat. Damn... everything is simply screwed up...

Karena kejadian buruk yang menimpa gw hari ini, gw tadi sempet berpikir... mendingan gw hari ini ga usah bangun aja dan tetep di tempat tidur aja kali ya... sekarang perasaan gw campur aduk, bahkan chatting sama Maria, Indra, dan Tere aja kerasa garing dan ga berpengaruh apa-apa... terus terang, hari ini gw ga inget udah menerima kabar baik...

Apa yang harus gw lakukan sekarang? Don't know. Kalo gw boleh teriak sekarang, gw bakalan teriak sekenceng-kencengnya. Mungkin gw harus menenangkan diri dulu sebentar dan berdoa supaya semuanya baik-baik aja... tapi yang pasti, dengan nulis post ini, gw jadi ngerasa ada seseorang untuk gw ceritain masalah gw. Dan itu membuat gw sedikit lebih lega, meskipun masih ada yang ngeganjel...

Thanks for hearing me out... GBU =)

Negative Reinforcement

Ga biasanya gw berbuat kejam ke binatang, dan gw harap hal itu ga perlu terjadi. Ternyata, semuanya MUNGKIN berubah saat gw mengetahui satu kejadian yang unpredictable dan random banget.

Kasur gw dipipisin kucing.

BRENGSEK!!!

Ok, lo smua boleh ketawa karena emang kejadian ini bisa dianggep lucu, dan gw ga ngelarang lo ketawa. Cuma perlu diketahui, gw sebagai pemilik kasur jadi ngerasa ilfil untuk tidur di kasur sendiri. Bayangin aja, sprei sama selimut gw pun kena cairan berbau super ga enak (yang menurut gw bau hamster mati aja masih lebih mendingan). Lebih parah, kasur gw itu yang tipenya jadi satu sama ranjangnya, yang artinya ga bisa dibawa keluar buat dijemur. Gw cuma bisa berharap sama berliter-liter air sabun panas untuk menetralisir racun cair itu.

Untungnya, sekarang kasur gw udah bersih. Sebersih-bersihnya. Ke dalemnya udah diresepin antiseptik Dettol, dan permukaannya udah dilap pake sabun. Tinggal nunggu kering aja sekarang sampe gw bisa pake kasurnya seperti sediakala lagi. Duh... gw ga tau gimana jadinya kalo ga bisa dibersihin. Kasur lucu. Dibuang. Karena pipis kucing. Rasanya bener-bener ga wajar dan ga waras.

Gw bingung, dari mana masuknya dia? Semua pintu dan jendela rumah gw udah ditutup dan dikunci sebelum gw pergi tadi. Of course, sebelum pergi, kasur gw masih bersih. Beneran deh. Gw ga habis pikir dia bisa masuk-masuk ke kamar gw gimana caranya.

Makhluk setan itu perlu dikasih pelajaran. Gw ga pingin ngasih yang aneh-aneh, paling cuma gantung ekornya di kipas angin, kurung dia di tempat hammer piano (ruang di dalem piano yang ada palu-palu sama dawai; palunya bakalan mukul dawainya kalo tutsnya kita teken) dan gw maenin pianonya, masukkin ke dalem grandfather's clock, tanem dia di tanah dan cuma nyisain kepalanya di luar, ato simply pipisin dia balik.

Kucing brengsek.