Thursday, September 27, 2007

gigi


Sebenernya posting ini udah lumayan basi, karena ini kejadian minggu lalu. Tapi karena keterbatasan waktu dan kualitas koneksi internet yang tidak terlalu bagus, hari ini saya baru bisa menuliskannya.

Hari Sabtu, seperti biasanya, adalah hari dimana saya bisa menghabiskan waktu seharian bermain dengan Vinn. Pikir punya pikir, ternyata anak saya sudah hampir 7 bulan! Kemana waktu-waktu berlari? Rasaya baru kemarin saya keluar dari ruang operasi dalam keadaan setengah tak sadar karena pengaruh obat bius yang masih terasa sambil menunggu kentut yang tak kunjung datang sementara tenggorokan sudah kepingin digerojoki air. Rasanya baru kemarin saya bawa pulang bayi saya sambil terus berdebat dengan hubby tentang mirip siapakah wajah bayi ini (perdebatan yang tidak penting dan buang-buang waktu). Rasanya baru kemarin saya masih berkutat dengan bagaimana memandikan dan merawat bayi dengan benar. Tahu-tahu Vinn sudah sebesar ini. Sudah bisa duduk (walaupun belum bisa stabil). Sudah kepengen berdiri. Sudah bisa mengomel dengan bahasanya sendiri (apalagi kalau dicuekin). Dan yang paling baru: sudah tumbuh satu gigi di bagian bawah!


Saya terbahak kencang sekali waktu menemukan tonjolan keras di gusi depan Vinn bagian bawah. Pantas akhir-akhir ini dia suka sekali menggigit-gigit bibir bawahnya. Mungkin berasa gatal dan tidak nyaman. Lucu sekali. Beberapa waktu setelah terbahak itu saya sadar, munculnya gigi ini bisa menimbulkan masalah lain, yaitu: rasa sakit dan luka pada puting saya. Karena Vinn masih minum ASI dari saya, sudah bisa dibayangkan bagaimana ia nanti menyusu. Mungkin ada waktu-waktu dia sedang gemas atau jengkel dengan saya, puting saya bisa digigit dan ditarik. Tapi saya tidak ambil pusing. Lebih tepatnya, saya males mikir sesuatu yang belum terjadi. Motto saya masih tetap: kesusahan sehari cukuplah untuk sehari. Jadi biarpun orang-orang lain menakuti-nakuti saya, saya tidak takut. Saya malah kepengen tahu seperti apa sakitnya.

Sampai hari ini, gigi Vinn sudah mulai kelihatan. Tidak perlu harus meraba. Dan dia semakin gencar mengambil barang apapun di sekitarnya (buku, kertas, koran, handphone, remote AC, teether, meja highchair-nya, lutut mommy-nya, baju daddy-nya) untuk dimasukkan ke mulutnya. Supaya ia punya sesuatu untuk melampiaskan rasa gatal dan tidak nyaman karena gigi pertamanya menyembul dari dalam gusi.

Biarpun orang lain banyak yang sibuk membanding-bandingkan Vinn dengan bayi mereka atau dengan cucu mereka atau dengan keponakan mereka, bagi saya Vinn tetap tidak ada duanya. Yang tidak bisa dibandingkan. Kalian mau membandingkan bayi kalian dengan bayi saya? Monggo... tapi saya tidak akan menanggapi kalian. Biarpun kalian bilang bayi saya bayi raksasa, bayi gendut... saya tidak peduli. Itulah sebabnya, kalau kalian ketemu dengan saya dan kalian sibuk menanyakan berat dan panjang anak saya untuk kalian bandingkan dengan anak kalian, saya malas bertanya balik. Buat apa? Yang penting, dia sehat, dia tumbuh jadi anak yang cinta Tuhan dan keluarganya. Lagian, udah banyak yang bilang dia ganteng kok, putih dan halus kulitnya pula. Dan aku juga yakin, dia anak yang pintar. Apa lagi yang harus aku keluhkan ke Tuhan?

Thursday, 27 September 2007
11:29 am

Monday, September 17, 2007

a vicious mother

I went to outdoor wedding party last night with my hubby and Vinn. Actually, I did not want to take Vinn with us. It would be too breezy at night for a baby. However, my maid went to taraweh which made my mother-in-law be alone at home. She could not manage an active baby like mine by herself. So, that's why.

Vinn was asleep when we started to eat the main courses. I put him in his pram so that it would be easier for us to finish our meals. In the meantime, a man (you can call him 'susuk' for chinese people) lit his cigarette and his friend's. My hubby stood up automatically and was about to remove Vinn and his pram before I shouted to the man: "Koh, ada bayi lho!" ("Koh, we have a baby here!") and gave a stay-away-from-us-when-you're-smoking look to the other one. Because of the disgust and vicious look from me or they were understanding enough to go away, they did not return to their seat near us since.

Later on, when we were riding home by car, I was wondering to Erwin, my hubby why I became quite vicious to an older man. I never did before. It reminded me to the book 7 of Harry Potter in the scene when Hagrid was told by Charlie Weasley that the dragon once Hagrid won in Book 1 was female. Harry asked Charlie how to recognize which one is male or female. Charlie answered that a female dragon is much more vicious, especially when she is protecting her egg. Well, maybe it is quite similar with me, anyway. To protect my son from any irresponsible people, I will do anything.

As a matter of fact, I did not really care with people who like smoking. I mean, I'm so not like my friend who has declared that she hates smokers very much. My workplace employs a non-smoking regulation which had ever been protested by most of smoking students and employees. However, I did not really care. Do you want to smoke? Do you love smoking even though you know it can ruin your health? Up to you, I do not care, but please STAY AWAY from the people who do not want to ruin their health! We respect you guys to smoke, but please respect us who do not want to smell the smoke of your cigarette. If you are sick of your life and want to kill yourself by smoking, GO AHEAD, but please DO NOT TAKE US WITH YOU!

So, you readers, if any of you are smokers and you sometimes still do smoking without paying any attention with your surroundings, please beware, what you do is as bad as what a killer does.

So, is it wrong if I become vicious at that time??

Sunday, 17 September 2007
11:24 am

Friday, September 14, 2007

interruption!

Guys.... I'm sorry to say that you are strongly advised to retake a loot at my posting of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1'. I have added two death characters that were left by me to have mentioned in the first place.

Sorry!

Friday, 14 September 2007
3:58 pm

finally: a house



And the house-hunting ends today. I must say, I probably should add that today will be listed in our historical family date as the day we finally procure a house - a house that really belongs to us; a house that will be called home by me, my husband and my son.

Let me give you a list of suggestions when you are hunting a house.

1. Whichsoever possible, do not employ a broker to help you find a house. Well, yes, they can be very helpful and take you everywhere you want to, but they can be very annoying if they think they have found an appropriate house for you. One broker might have different style with the other one. You are lucky enough to have one who does not call you everyday, every time as though you do not have anything to do but house-hunting, thank you very much. However, if you think you can handle a kind of broker who calls you everyday, I should say: go ahead. At least, they can help you dealing with the house seller or developer, the legal officer and the bank (if you take KPR to purchase the house).

2. Make sure you decide a specific location - where you really need to live (for instance, close enough to reach your workplace, your parents' residence, etc) before hunting a house. It will help you not too abruptly go to every single corner of the city. Do not focus only for the cheap price but also the location as well. If you get a house with cheap price but the house is quite far from your workplace or any place you will often need to reach, it will cost your transportation budget, won't it?

3. Make sure of what you want (part 1): a house or an apartment? A big house or a small one? In my case, since I have one child already, I prefer a house to an apartment. And a small house will be better for me than the big one. Why? Besides I am probably not able yet to purchase the big house, which I'm sorry to say, will of course cost us a lot of money, a small house might fit for me who is typically a messy person. I do like big house with large living room and lots of rooms, but I do not think our lifestyle suits with the big house.

4. Make sure of what you want (part 2): a new house or an old/second house? For me, basically, it does not matter whether it will be a new house or the old/second one. Both of them have their own benefits and disadvantages. The benefits of procuring a new house are that it will be ready for you to move in. You only need to clean up the house before moving in. However, unless you make a renovation first, you cannot manage to have the interior of the house you really want to. On the other hand, procuring an old/second house will give you a benefit of rebuilding as well as redesigning the interior of the house as you want to. Nevertheless, the rebuilding and redesigning will take a few months which will force you unable to move in once you purchase the house.

So, we did not actually employ a broker, just a little help from a relative to deal with KPR. We decided a specific location, which lays upon South Surabaya (and we ended up procuring the house nearby). And the house we purchased is not new, hence we need to do a quite-huge renovation for the building and the interior.

A super-huge thanks to the Lord for giving us a house we long for.

Friday, 14 September 2007
2:30 pm

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

lagi-lagi sinetron!


Nah ini... topik yang sebenarnya sudah banyak dibahas di banyak media massa, udah banyak diprotes orang tua, tapi malah semakin menjamur. Ibaratnya kayak HIV kali ya... banyak banget yang prihatin ama penyakit satu ini, tapi kok ya semakin banyak yang terjangkit.

Balik ke soal sinetron. Buat kalian yang punya friendster dan nama saya masuk dalam salah satu friend list kalian, boleh deh lihat profile saya *kok jadi promosi ya?*. Disitu bisa dilihat kalo saya menyatakan diri sebagai salah satu dari mereka yang anti sinetron-indonesia! Mengapa? Dulu sekali, sebelum saya berangkat ke Australia, saya berpikir sinetron indonesia ini parah bukan main. Kalo nggak tentang rebutan pacar/suami/istri orang, ya tentang sesuatu yang berbau mistis. Setelah kembali dari Australia, sambil berharap dapat menemukan acara televisi yang lebih bermutu, saya salah sangka. Sinetron indonesia bukannya semakin parah, tapi semakin puuuaaaarrraaahhhhhhh. Topiknya masih berkisar sama, meskipun yang bertemakan mistis sudah jauh lebih berkurang.

Karena saya seorang anti sinetron, tentu saya bukan penonton televisi sejati. Dan karenanya sinetron pun jarang saya tonton. Hanya, saya sekarang ini sedang tinggal di rumah mertua saya, dan beliau suka sekali nonton televisi, yang berarti juga tiap hari telinga saya dicekoki sinetron-sinetron itu. Jadi, meskipun saya tidak secara langsung menonton sinetron, saya tetap tahu jalan cerita beberapa sinetron yang ditonton mertua dan para pembantu. Tadi pagi, pada waktu saya sedang memandikan Vinn, telinga saya kembali mendengar sinetron religi yang tayang di salah satu televisi swasta. Dari setiap pendengaran-pendengaran saya tentang sinetron, ada beberapa hal yang selalu ada di hampir setiap sinetron. Apakah itu?

1. Pemeran utamanya selalu cewek.
2. Karakter cowoknya lugu, goblok, dan gampang ditipu.
3. Pemeran antagonis (yang maksudnya otak dari segala kejahatan yang terjadi) selalu cewek!
4. Dan hampir di setiap dialog, di setiap karakter selalu ada kalimat: "Ya udah deh...."

Kalau lebih diperhatikan lagi, dan bakal lebih memprihatinkan, sinetron sekarang sudah mulai merambah anak-anak untuk dijadikan pemain. Nggak papa sih sebenarnya, tapi tema sinetron-sinetron yang dimainkan anak-anak itu bertemakan orang dewasa jeeee... Masa anak-anak SD udah diajarin pacar-pacaran sih? Masa anak-anak SD udah diajarin gimana cara ngerebut perhatian cowok sih? Masa anak-anak SD udah diajarin berantem sama temen-temennya gara-gara cowok? Saya jadi prihatin gimana nasib anak saya nanti. Anak saya cowok sih, yang by nature mungkin ga bakal terlalu tertarik dengan sinetron. Tapi biar bagaimanapun juga, saya selalu wanti-wanti pada pembantu saya supaya Vinn tidak ikut menonton sinetron. Jadi kalau dia sedang menggendong Vinn, bisa ditebak, dia sendiri juga tidak bisa nonton.

Seseorang pernah beropini melalui surat kabar yang saya baca, bahwa sinetron yang ada sekarang sama sekali tidak melanggar aturan (yang artinya tidak berbau pornografi ataupun SARA), hanya memang tidak mendidik. Indonesia dari dulu memang tidak berubah, yang dianggap tidak mendidik selalu yang berbau pornografi. Padahal sesuatu dianggap porno atau tidak itu tidak bergantung pada pendapat seseorang atau kelompok tertentu belaka. Buktinya, meskipun kelompok-kelompok tertentu itu begitu gencarnya memberantas apa-apa saja yang mereka kategorikan sebagai pornografi (sambil mengurus moral orang lain), pemerkosaan justru semakin banyak.

Kepengen banget datengin tuh production house satu persatu terus berteriak pada mereka, BISA NGGAK SEH BIKIN YANG LEBIH BERMUTU SEDIKIT?? JANGAN CUMA MIKIRIN RATING DOANG!!

Tuesday, 12 September 2007
3:51 pm

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

harry potter and the deathly hallows part 2



Following the part 1 which discussed those who was killed and died in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, this one will discuss the change of characters in it. Same warning, anyway.

THIS POSTING (STILL) CONTAINS FEW THINGS OF HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS in which you may find them as spoilers!

CHANGE OF CHARACTERS

1. Dudley Dursley (Harry's cousin)
In the sixth book, Dudley's soul was nearly sucked by dementor. In the seventh book, before the Dursleys were parting with Harry for good, Dudley sort of gave an impression to Diggle and Jones (the wizard and witch which became their companies) that he and Harry were bestcousins. Harry said to Jones, "They
(refer to the Dursleys) think I'm a waste of space." Then, Dudley said to Harry, "I don't think you're a waste of space." Harry thought probably the experience with dementor had changed Dudley's bad nature.

2. Neville Longbottom (Harry's roommate, a Gryffindor)
I knew it, I knew it!! This Neville Longbottom had to be something for Rowling. Oh well... even though it took seven books to change his character, anyway. After the trio (Harry, Ron and Hermione) dropped out their education, which meant they did not come back to Hogwarts because they had a mission of finding and destroying horcruxes, Neville became sort of a leader of Dumbledore's Army. He was not as easily as ever bullied. He stood up for fighting Voldemort and it was him who killed Nagini (Voldemort's snake, one of his horcruxes). Cool, eh?

3. The Malfoys (specifically Draco Malfoy which used to be Harry's enemy at Hogwarts, whose father was a Death Eater)
Yes, they changed. Why, though? Wasn't Lucius Malfoy very loyal to Voldemort? It turned out he was sort of punished and even bullied by Voldemort himself because of his mistake of giving away Riddle's diary to Ginny. And the punishment dealt with Draco Malfoy, his only beloved son when Draco was ordered to kill Dumbledore, which could result the death of Draco Malfoy himself. Then, in the book 7, instead of joining the battle at Hogwarts with the other Death Eaters, the Malfoys ran inside to look for their son. Draco Malfoy was actually changed because his neck was saved by the trio twice: when the diadem was burnt by curse-fire (I forgot the name) and when Draco was chased by a death eater, who did not recognize him as Lucius Malfoy's son.

Satisfied? Yes and no... Maybe there was one character I should have mentioned above. Can you guess it? Well, it was Severus Snape. Yet, I do not think he was included in the list of the changed characters. His character was all the same from the first book to the final one. It was the readers' (and the other characters' in the book, such as Harry's, etc) perception toward Snape.

Alright, that's it. If I should add anything more later, if I have another idea of this book.

Tuesday, 11 September 2007
9:16 am

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

what a small world!

Last Saturday, I went to Education Fair in Surabaya University. Interested in applying Fullbright scholarship, I came to the stall which provided any information about it. Here was my little conversation among me, my hub, and one of the persons on the spot.

Hubby: Vincent tinggal di daerah mana ya? (In which state does Vincent live?)
Me: California.
She: Vincent?
Me: Ya. Teman saya. Dia juga ambil S2 disana. Ministry. (Yes. My friend. He takes master coursework there. Ministry)
She: Vincent arsitek petra? Suaminya Vania? (Vincent from Petra's arch? Vania's husband?)
Hubby: Yes.
She: Oalahhhh... Vania itu koncoku. (Goodness..., that Vania is my friend)
Me: Oya? (Really)
Her husband appeared.
Hubby: Sebastian??
Sebastian: Halo... (Hello...)
Both of them shook hand.

And it turned out the Sebastian was an old friend of my sister-in-law. Really!

Last Sunday, I went to dinner at Calvados with my hubby, Vinn and mother-in-law. Taking seats inside, I saw an old man and thought I have ever seen him before. I thought I knew him coming to BIUC Congregation in Melbourne. I asked Erwin, my hubby whether I was mistaken or not. He thought the same thing with me. However, hesitating with our guesses, we kept looking at him while ordering food. None of us was confident enough to say hi to him first. Besides we were afraid saying hi to a wrong person, we also did not remember his name and he was with someone.

And than, in one moment, the old man's company was leaving to order food, I found myself asking him, "Are you from Melbourne?". I was quite surprised with my recklessness but honestly I was quite desperate to know. Then he answered, "Yes, I am." And the following is our conversation from that moment on.

Me: You come to BIUC, right?
Him: Pardon?
Me: You come to Brunswick church, right?
Him: (confusingly) Brunswick church?
Me: Yes. For Indonesian people at Melbourne? BIUC?
Him: O!!! Pendeta Linky?
Pendeta Linky is indeed the pastor of the church.
Me&hubby: Yes!
Him: Well, yes, I go there. Do you know him?
Hubby: Yes, we know him. We went there as well last year when we were in Melbourne.
Him: O, really? Praise the Lord! Puji Tuhan!
And then, my hubby, the old man, whose name turned out to be Johan and I were jabbering away about our old days in BIUC and Melbourne. This special moment was ended by Mr. Johan asking us to take a picture together as a proof to Pendeta Linky that he indeed met us in Surabaya.

Going home after the special dinner, I said to Erwin, what a small world we live in. Who knows that one day I will meet someone from my old days and rebuild our relationship.

Tuesday, 4 September 2007
1:30 pm

ps: the two happenings remind me of the other one taken place in my dear office in the very moment I saw him coming over to install some programs in my boss' computer and it turned out he was him! Yes, him!! I never met him for a very long time since we left our high school and went separately to different cities to continue our education.