a very looong post - all in one :p
Let’s just rewind back around the time when I last updated; hmm... about two months ago?
In the end of June I went to a long weekend getaway in Manado with my dad and sis. Mum was supposed to come too, but just about a week before leaving, she wasn’t feeling very well. So yeah, it was only the three of us. I’m part Manadonese, and I still have many relatives there, but I never went to that place, and I don’t even understand a thing about the local dialect :P We went there for a cousin’s wedding, but my dad was also on a ‘mission’ to show me the places where he grew up - the village, the river and the sea, and such. I’m too much of a city girl, he said ^^;
The view from above before the plane landed was great. So green, mountains but also beaches in sight. First impression when we got there: hot and humid. After we got around, I was quite amazed to see so many thin, very tall, palm trees everywhere. You know what my favorite thing was? The sky! It was soooo blue, soooo bright. In some places it was two shades of brilliant blue. Love it. Only then did I realize that we don’t have blue skies here anymore in Jakarta. When we look up, most of the time all we see is smog. It’s that polluted :<
But what really interesting was, the whole town was crazy about the world cup! There were flags of countries playing in the world cup EVERYWHERE. Everyone made sure other people know which teams they were supporting - there were flags in front of houses and buildings, in the city, in the villages, on top of trees, inside malls and cafés, on cars and motorcycles, you name it (too bad I didn’t take pics). Every night there were places where people can gather and watch live matches together. You can talk about the world cup with just about everyone. It was a nice atmosphere.
The last day before we got back, we visited - what else - Bunaken. Good thing that day was perfectly sunny. Sitting on the front deck, just enjoying the sun, the wind, and the salty water splashing to your face while the boat went swiftly on the blue sea, oohlala... niiice. We didn’t dive, but from the glass-bottomed boat the colorful fishes and coral reefs can be seen quite clearly - so pretty! Too bad though, around the island, some plastic junks were floating on the sea surface.
I hate hospitals. But after the short trip, my sis and I spent the first two weeks of July in a hospital. Turned out that mum’s illness was serious. Damn serious. Things got worse and after a series of tests, she was diagnosed with something called Guillain-Barré Syndrome. We were like, whattt? Mum is always living a healthy lifestyle! What the hell is this illness? We never even heard of it. Of course we were all devastated, because it’s something still unknown to us, it worsened so quickly; just in matter of days, mum was almost paralyzed and had to breathe with oxygen help. She even spent two nights in the ICU. Thank goodness the medication worked. Well, it better had, the special medicine cost a bloody fortune (let’s just say about the price of an average car.) So after about two weeks, my mum was allowed to go home. The doctor said her recovery was quite speedy, usually it took about a month in the hospital before someone with this syndrome could go home. She’s now undergoing physiotherapy thrice a week, still has to take a bunch of pills per day, and can’t be too tired (she sometimes has to use a wheelchair when going out). She isn’t fully recovered though; full recovery can take months or in worse cases, years.
The whole hospital episode was really hard for me, because I tend to worry a bit too much. And that kills me sometimes. I dunno, it’s been developing in the last few years I guess. Probably after experiencing house-rob, almost drowning, getting an accident, losing member of the family, stuff... Might not sound all that bad, but well... dunno, it just happens. Like everytime mum complained she’s having a headache, I was always afraid that something bad might happen again and she should immediately see her doctor. When sis or a friend hasn’t come home until late and their cellphone cannot be reached, not-so-good things ran in my head. Or maybe the simplest, when my phone rang at unlikely time, I was always afraid that it was an emergency call with a not-so-good news or something. It’s tiring, really. The recent one was (or is?) about the whole earthquake fuss. You know the thing about Jakarta going to be hit by a big earthquake sooner or later this year? At first I didn’t really buy all the rumors (hey, even scientists can’t precisely predict an earthquake), but then last week I saw a very unusual cloud in the sky and instantly thought ‘omg, isn’t that what people call the earthquake cloud???!?’ I then looked around the net immediately, finding how to prepare and survive; took down the hanging mirror in my room, and thought about escape routes from all rooms in my house. But well, in this case, precaution is good eh?
Aside from that, I’m booooooored. Sometimes I wake up with bad mood and a headache that all I do is staying in my room all day listening to my ipod and filling myself with caffeine. I really need to get a day job. A regular job. What’s really annoying is when people assume that I don’t even look for jobs. Hello? Finding a job isn’t as easy as finding a mall in this frikking city! I do admit that I’m a bit choosy, but that’s because I wanna do what I enjoy doing, I don’t wanna be stuck in a job I hate even though it pays quite well. Do I make sense?
But well, I try not to be distressed too much (although I listen to Soulwax’s Miserable Girl quite often lately, hahahah) Movies are always a good refreshment, but I’ve watched almost all of my DVDs :p I really need to go DVD hunting again, soon!
I’ve been reading David Mitchell’s Number 9 Dream since two months ago, still haven’t finished it - two chapters away. Not that it’s boring or anything, in fact I like it (the story’s unpredictable, and I love how he writes), but I rarely got the mood to read it. Other than that, I’ve been reading quite a lot of travel magazines.
And about music, the latest cds I bought were Anggun’s Luminescence special edition (3 new songs, 1 local version song, 2 french version songs, and 2 remixes; 8 extras! Now that’s special! Good thing I didn’t buy the regular edition :P) and a compilation of Beatles songs in Motown style (I love good cover songs and I’m a sucker for Beatles covers). Before that I got Massive Attack’s greatest hits cd - during my down days I listen to a lot of Teardrop and Protection, and it calmed me a lot. But the one I’ve been listening so much lately is Muse’s Black Holes and Revelations. I remember when I first listened to Supermassive Black Hole a few months back, I actually thought I downloaded a wrong song! XD Only after hearing the trademark choral background I was convinced it was Muse. I instantly gave my sis a listen (she’s a Muse freak - Matt Bellamy is her god) and she couldn’t even tell it was Muse ^^;; The song really grew on me; I love it - it never fails to make me wanna dance and sing along in a falsetto :D When the album finally came out, my sis bought it right away. I love love the album. Experimental, yes; upon first hearing I let out quite many OMGs and WTFs, hahaha... I think it’s brilliant. My favorite track is Map of The Problematique, and Starlight in close second.
Other highlights from the last two months...
- Went to campus with Tri and we were quite stunned how it’s changed. What was gazebo is now simply grass, and what was parking lot in front of building H is now a whole new building with a Korean restaurant in it ^^;
- Went to a so-called Matsuri in Hilton with sis - we thought it was the Matsuri held by the Japanese people here, which has been absent for two/three years. But noooooo..... this one was organized by a local anime magazine and a university - it was soo far from expectation :< Not held inside, no taiko drummers, and what’s worse, the bon odori was only for about one and a half hour!!! I was talking with my fellow Smappies friends I met there and thought I’d join bon odori later (hey, in the usual Hilton Matsuri, people danced until late!), but when we were still chatting, the bon odori stopped and the MC said ‘goodnight and see you tomorrow’. Whaaaaaa...? It was only 7.30-ish! T______T I want the old matsuri with bon odori all night long and yummy takoyaki and yakitori and those cheesy rice sticks with shrimp (I dunno the name :P)!
- August 6th was Dhini & Kamara’s wedding! Great time at the party :) The two was all wide smiles all day that we all couldn’t help feeling so happy for them. The décor was nice, the food was in abundant and suuuuper yummy ^O^ Beside college friends, met quite a lot of high school friends. After the party, went for coffee with some friends. Wore my three-hour shoes for six hours (and without blisters!) - I’m so proud of my feet, hehe ;D
Oh, one more thing - le coupe du monde. Honestly, the climax for me was Germany vs Argentina (because Spain and Holland was out, and truthfully I didn’t thought France would beat Brasil :P). Of course, when mum was sick, I didn’t really give a damn about anything else, including the world cup. I still at least tried to keep myself updated of match results and read reports in the papers, but I didn’t really watch the games. The final, I was disappointed with the result, certainly, but I was far more saddened to see Zidane ending his career like that. In the halftime break I already thought the match would end with penalty shootout and if that’s the case, France would lose. But hey, at least they got to the final, when a lot of people doubt if they could even make it to the second round (including me, I admit :P) I could see Zidane looked tired and stressed, and I hated Materazzi since the very first time I saw him (earlier in the group matches - was it him who replaced Nesta? I forgot :P) - but that headbutt was really shocking, of course. But then later on I thought it was really funny ^^; But well, doesn’t matter now, Zidane will always be remembered as one of the biggest players in his era (and every legendary players did something stupid once or twice, haha. Look at Maradona and Pele). I was happy for Cannavaro though; he was my favorite player in serie A ever since he played for Parma - and I think he’s the best defender (or may even be player) in the tournament.
And EPL has started again! :D Wasn't a very good start for Arsenal, but at least a draw's better than a defeat. Unluckiness :p But when Cesc accidentally stomped on the ref's foot, omg that was CLASSIC! XDD I laughed so hard ^^;
Ok that’s all. So ends my ultra long post, heheh.