Doing happy

Bahagia, menurut KBBI adalah kata benda. Bahagia adalah keadaan atau perasaan senang dan tenteram (bebas dari segala yang menyusahkan).

Does that kind of condition really exist? 

Well, kalau secara harfiah diterjemahkan mentah-mentah, mungkin bahagia itu tidak ada. Yang ada hanyalah penyesuaian-penyesuaian agar setidaknya kita merasa sedikiiiit saja jadi bahagia.

Happines, as a noun, I think is elusive. 

Coba kalau bahagia itu dijadikan kata kerja saja. That would be an endless effort to achieve happines as a noun, and that is so rewarding process!

*bingung kan lau? Gw juga bingung nih*

Inti na mah, bahagia itu kalau dijadikan angan-angan da susah atuh dijalani. Bahagia mah kelakuan, perwujudan dari apa yg lo rasain.

Daaan, ukuran bahagia buat orang-orang itu beda-beda. Which is such a shame, perbedaan kadar ini, seringnya dipake oleh orang-orang yang mulutnya usil buat jadi dewa-dewa moral dan ahli kehidupan.

I'm almost 30, and I've been acting out like I know shits!! Padahal gw bahkan gak tahu apa yang diingini diri ini.

I just wanna DO happy, man!! In early 20's, it really does matter with whom I will be happy with.

But in almost 30, then I reallize, the most important thing is, how I will be happy! Dengan siapa, itu sudah tidak penting lagi. What a weird my heart is.

Bisa dibilang agak self-centered sih, tapi nyatanya begitu. The older u get, the more selfish u will be, hahahaa..

Intinya adalah, jadikan bahagia sebagai kata kerja!! Jangan kata benda!! Kata kerja biasanya lebih aktif sedangkan kata benda bisa pasif. 

Tidak peduli seberat apa beban hidup yang sedang ditanggung, kalau bahagia adalah kata kerja, maka rasanya akan ringan. Because I do happy!!!

Friends too clingy and I'm too-so-not-like-confrontation

Sampai batas apa seorang atau sekelompok teman boleh mendobrak batasan-batasan hidup kita?

Pertanyaan-pertanyaan tentang kehidupan pribadi kita yang dibalut dengan nada mengadili lembut atas nama "kepedulian" untuk kemudian membicarakanmu di belakang, apakah itu wajar?

Pertemanan, menurut saya, bukanlah agen khusus yang harus tahu ini itu. Teman adalah orang yang tahu, dan seharusnya tahu tanpa diberi tahu, kapan temannya butuh privasi. Kalau tindakan fisik dengan mundur dari kelompok masih dirasa kurang eksplisit menyampaikan pesan itu, saya tidak tahu entah apa yang bisa..

Tidak selalu, bersama-sama itu membuat nyaman, dan menjadi terbuka untuk hal-hal tertentu kadang-kadang bukan pilihan yang mengenakkan.

Itu sebabnya, mungkin, saya menjadi seorang escapist (for some reason). Saya gak suka konfrontasi karena menurut saya itu malah jadi tanda bersetuju dengan apa pun yang dipikirkan orang tentang saya. The theory is, the more u defense ur self, the more u likely are as what they say about u.

Seorang teman yang openly declared dirinya tidak menyembah Tuhan mana pun pernah menasihati begini : "misterius adalah kekuatan. Jangan pernah serahkan hidupmu seperti buku yang halamannya terbuka mudah dikoyak-koyak"

Somehow, in spite of everything, gw sangat setuju dengan ucapannya.

Saya bukan tipe orang yang mau berprasangka mengait ngaitkan agama dengan moral, tapi kalau begini ceritanya, orang tidak beragama kok malah punya moral dan etis.

Sekarang, saya adalah daun musim gugur. Melayang ke sana ke mari ke mana arah angin berhembus, tapi enggan singgah di satu dahan atau sepetak permukaan bumi terlalu lama karena angin musim gugur masihlah begitu hangat.

Basuki Tjahaja Purnama - Ahok

This post will be different from other posts I've done previously. Why? Because it definitely is not ALL about me.

It's about someone else who I used to not very familiar with, but then due to my profession, I need to get to know him, and be verrryyy close with him every single day, perhaps.

About 8 months ago (or so, I don't quite remember) I started to get deployed to cover up all reports on The Jakarta City Hall or popular as Balaikota. Then off I go!

Before I got there, I had this big piling up nightmare in my head that I had to deal with some boring and complicated issues to write down about all the tangled threads problems in Jakarta. And yep, that was sooo right! When I first got there, I didn't understand any single words they talk about.

They talked about monorail project, Kartu Jakarta Pintar, river's revitalization, all sounded like alien language to me.

Well that seems pretty common for all newbies in anywhere. But in my case, I was really not interested. That was all too boring for me to adjust. Then time went by. I started to felt welcomed. Not by the topic of the issues I had to write but by fellow journalists who posted there. They are all fun people! And kind too, they helped me a lot with my work.

Working in City Hall, journalist have two options whether to cover The Governor Jokowi or The Deputy Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama. Me, particularly whenever I was not in the mood or when I felt tired, I will prefer to cover Ahok because I don't need to push my assoff chasing Jokowi while he was on "blusukan" day.

Being with Ahok, I just need to sit in press room nicely (which is not real a press room, it was initially a meeting room for the vice governor that we *journalists* invade while we are waiting for Ahok to appear to get door-stopped-interview). Mostly, while we were waiting Ahok to come out of his office, we used to browse the current news to get freshly-written issues, chit-chat, take selfies or you-tubing, or order foods.

Ok, now how is Ahok in real life in the eyes of me?

Hilarious

Yes, that was my first impression about him when I first knew him in person. Ahok is hilarious in a way he can dodged the answers for the questions we ask him in a witty and rude-y way (almost like the answers of street man). 

It was something you really don't expect coming out from a state official. But somehow, that is the real voice of people outside. Ahok said it well, true and innocent. For example, when we ask Ahok's opinion about shocking incident of ammunition explosion from the Marines depot in Tanjung Priok on March 6, Ahok innocently replied: "That's why, don't keep old ammunition, Boss!" Ahok said the military should get rid off the old ammunition and weapons from a long time ago and make revitalization instead of keeping the old ones. Ahok *off the record-ly questions what they did with the money*

As an Indonesian state official, Ahok in fact had plenty of "bullshits" options to respond to media's question regarding that incident, in order to elevate his image in front of people and save his position in front of his superiors, but NO! He said what he thought he needed to say, to anyone, anywhere.

I'm a merely newbie reporter, what do I know? but to me that's interestingly witty.

Another example is when Ahok accused home minister don't understand about the Constitution. He said to all journalists to tell the home minister he should learn more about the [1945] Constitution as The Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi suggested Lenteng Agung subsudistrict head Susan Jasmine Zulkifli, who had faced protest from a small portion of residents because she was a Christian, should be replaced.

Ahok argued that only 52.7 percent of Jakartans voted for him and Jakarta Governor Jokowi, meaning almost 4 million people did not vote for them. But that did not mean they must step down because they were disliked or rejected by the majority.

“If those four million people protested in front of City Hall and demanded our resignations, would the home minister consider replacing us? Would we be not suitable to govern Jakarta?” he said.

Ahok who is Christian said that government officials should comply with the Constitution, not their constituents.

Well, about those two example maybe you all guys have read on newspapers or online news media, but here are the fact about Ahok you might don't know:

1. He is the one who told us, journalists, if we want to get new cell phones, we got to drop our cell phone while interviewing him, and so he will change it with the new and expensive one. But that was a joke, even he kindly offered that we know the boundaries.

2. He was so caring with others.

He always asked his assistants to check whether we already had meals while waiting for him outside his office. If we said we haven't had eaten, he will get us food.

3. He like to celebrate our birthday!

Once, my fellow journalist is having a birthday and so he get her a big birthday cheesecake (Rp500.000). When we accused he bought that cake with regional budgets, he shrugged off and said that was his private operational cost.

"That was my operational cost, I can use it for anything I like," he said that time.

And because this birthday girl is a big fan of one of the officials in DKI, Ahok tried to get him to come celebrate the birthday in his office. But unfortunately that official couldn't make it. So to paid off, Ahok put on peci and sarung in order to looked like that official.

"How do I  look? Am I look like him already? You get to click me from aside so that I look like him" he said to us.

hujan, pindahan, and stuff

Jakarta sudah terlalu sumuk buat saya, akhirnya setelah melalui pemikiran yang panjang dan beberapa kali perdebatan yang serius dengan pacar saya, akhirnya saya pindah ke Tangerang. Yes, sejauh itu. Awalnya perjalanan komuter menggunakan motor dengan dibonceng setiap pagi membuat saya kelelahan dan seringnya cranky lalu ambeg-ambeg-an, tapi good thing is, I had more space to explore me time.

Malam pindahan hujan deras bahkan banjir, saya naik taxi sedangkan pacar naik motor. I remembered how I cried in a cab along the way thinking my boyfrnd was stuck in heavy pouring.

Saya sampai duluan tapi gak tahu mana kontrakannya. Karena semua yang mengatur pindahan is my boyfriend. How weird. Namun, pacar segera tiba. Basah kuyup. I cried again.

Malam pertama saya tidur kedinginan tanpa kasur. Untung sempat bawa karpet dari rumah. Hiks... That was the lowest turn in my life.

But then... Things r getting upsides downs. Saya overwhelmed dengan jarak dan waktu. Lalu memutuskan kembali ke Jakarta. Hahhaa, nyali komuter saya rupanya hanya tahan tiga bulan😏