“Oi rang rantau nan jauah, pulanglah ka kampuang
Jan lupo yo sanak, mari kito pulang basamo…”

Betharia Sonata – Pulang Kampuang

I remember when I was in my first year, I asked my friends (and they asked me back), “what major would you choose?” They answered, ( I answered,) and life happened. Now, we are asking each other more questions and more details, “what would you want to do for your final assignment?”, “when would you graduate?”, or “where would you apply right after?”

Things I can answer with: “I want to be a geologist, working at supermajor, as soon as possible. Maybe next July.”

But our questions just get more serious each day.

We never ask those basic questions anymore, like, “Are you happy?”

There’s a thin line between getting inspired and being an imitation. Have you crossed it?

There’s a thin line between adoring and being annoying.

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I did it once and it changed my life. Sorry J, I did it to you.
Now I know how it feels.

With these codes, I’ve been cheating the clear blue sky and flower on the window facing my neighborhood. I’ve been singing my betrayal and cover it as if it is only lines of Icelandic. I’ve been writing love letters to the past and the blur of future. I’ve been spilling my dreams of Socotra and its dragon’s blood trees and the rest of the world, including Turkey.

With these codes, I’ve been trying to tell you something.

—

Morning comes without coffee this month

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Ramadhan comes back each year while life rolls. Things change, like the distance between me and my family: my home. Like how I do the hours-countdown to sunset. Some other things just stay the same, like the soothing-Arabian-like TV commercial jingles. Like how the trees rhyme.

Ramadhan for me is an annual special guest. It is a harmony; a holy remedy; an eternal childhood memory.

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Hey, A! :)

This is the city where M lives. He lives there without telling me anything, but I got it, because I already tried to find him in the city where we used to live ten years ago. He didn’t run and hide and I didn’t hide and seek. We just lived the slow motion of fast forwarded different videos in exactly the same player and exactly the same duration. He moved and I stayed. Footsteps flipped and flopped. He clicked and I clicked. The clock ticked and tocked.

I half thought about M for a half of duration of my half fast forwarded life.

This is the city where M lives. We didn’t meet. We were two dots of the millions ones, moving, and trying to get into the tube on time.

It’s me who was superficial. I’ve wasted my time. Memang kalau gue nggak suka kenapa? Memang kalau gue mengomentari gaya hidup 100 orang anak gaul lantas gue bisa memajukan sebuah desa? Memang kalau mereka clubbing menghabiskan duit sejuta tiap malam atau belanja-belanja di mall lantas sebuah gunung berapi baru akan muncul di bawah kosan gue? Memang kalau @ABGjakarta menyindir mereka terus-terusan, lantas pengangguran di Indonesia akan berkurang?

This is a self-note for me;  sepertinya gue sudah sudah terlalu tua buat ngurusin kelakuan anak baru, anak gaul, ataupun anak baru gaul. Masih banyak sepertinya yang harus gue pikirkan: cepat lulus, cepat berguna bagi orang banyak.

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So here comes the new semester...

Thank God, for creating the universe with good good friends and blueberry cheesecake.

* * *

So now, I’m ‘Twenty Something’. A good friend said, it’d be a beautiful nightmare, and I trusted her as much as I believe in miracles and street lamps.

1. To stop multitasking too much
2. To get some steps closer to be a…. geologist (for sure, what else?)
3. To want what I get
4. To stop dreaming about Oslo or Snæfellsjökull for a while

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“Whatever with the past has gone, the best is always yet to come.” — Lucy Larcom

After returning to the city, my family and I went for vacation. We took pictures and smiled a lot :) :) :) Then I got back to Bandung; to do my routine in LFM. The bad news was: I missed an opportunity of volunteering in Global Citizen Corps Indonesia. Did I regret that? Kinda yes, for people around me all are seemed to do GREAT things like internships, exchange programs, backpacking, etc. I kinda, envy them.

Well, I changed my mind:

HEY, THIS IS HOLIDAY!!

I’ve almost always been busy on Julies, BUT this time, I feel like really taking breaks. I buy novels, and DVDs. I spend a lot of times with LFM, have frozen yogurt everytime I want, and tell my boyfriend that I miss him. F__k the rest. Really. Just f__k the rest.

Next semester is coming, and I would stop pretending like I have all time in the world.