uhm, so far ‘unemployment’ is great.

with no obligations to study/work, I can do stuff that I haven’t been doing in a while (without feeling slightly guilty for not using the time to study/work instead), such as creating collages (I finally added 5 pieces of decorative wisdom words collage in our kitchen), sitting in coffee shops, reading magazines, catching up with all the season finales of my favourite series, pondering/philosophising about life and mankind - blessed thee, the inventor of windows. and many more…

including, you know, just staying in and doing nothing.

today was really sunny and so I decided to go on an Obama adventure. Obama adventure? you know, it’s an adventure, with Obama. Oll ba maself. HAHA. (the other day I asked Windy which Friends character I am and she said I’m between Ross and Monica, but this kind of dark, dry humour makes me feel like Chandler)

so the initial plan was to go to British Museum and so I got off at Holborn. but then as I was walking towards Russel Square, I didn’t feel like going there anymore. I don’t know why, I felt like going to somewhere not as crowded and touristy I guess. so I walked around Bloomsbury, found this cool coffeeshop - but I wasn’t in the mood for sitting down just yet, so I strolled around, crossing some parks, and then I found myself in Covent Garden.

and since I was already there, I headed to Buddha On A Bicycle to get some incense - I bought three packs: musk, jasmine, and amber. so happy! can’t wait to burn them in the morning! - then walked in to some other shops on my way to Soho/Leicester Square.

at this point the heat was really intense and so after I got my Indomie supply from Chinatown, I decided to walk towards Trafalgar Square to ‘cool off’ in National Portraits Gallery. The gallery was nice, pretty much everybody in the British history - from King Edward I to Kate Moss - has their picture somewhere in the gallery. but I gotta say, of all the portraits, my favourite section in the whole gallery is this little area with ‘portraits of the unknown’. basically, it’s portraits of possibly-famous people in the Renaissance that can no longer be identified due to insufficient data. I don’t know, it’s just, there’s something about these people… the fact that once, they existed and perhaps had significant contribution that enabled them to get their portrait painted. but now,… well, I guess it’s safe to say that they’ve been forgotten. but still, for that one brief moment, they lived. hm.

anyway, I feel like walking some more. preferably somewhere unfamiliar. I think I might go to Glastonbury some time around this holidays. no, not for the festival. but for the crop circle tours - and ‘alternative’ stuff alike. haha. but seriously, I’d love to go there.

and perhaps I should visit other places too, going for the ultimate ‘obama adventure’. while I’m still here, while I’m still free.

yes. why not. why not.

…is tumblring. right.

le sigh. le facepalm.

i could’ve and should’ve been working towards my degree right now (doing school work) but here i am. as you may or may not know from the recent blog posts, i am kinda jaded. and seriously i don’t know why it is happening.

why is it that lately i’ve been lazy and unmotivated to do anything?
and by anything, i mean everything except showering, cleaning the kitchen, staying in touch with friends and spending time with them.

i don’t feel like watching tv series (haven’t watched any in the past 3 weeks. no shit). i don’t feel like reading long texts without pictures HAHA. i don’t feel like browsing the internet, reading and replying emails, facebook-ing, even TWEEETING. omfg.

oh and actually, if it ain’t for the sake of ‘surviving’, to be honest i don’t feel like eating. cooking? bitch please, who wants to cut chillies and vegetables then cook them when you can simply fry eggs or make indomie? i’m not too excited about doing groceries and buying foods either -which is unusual, since i’ve always loved coming to supermarkets.

jeesuz kryzt, i sound like a suicidal person who’s bored with life!
nah, chillax, i may be weary but i’m not suicidal.
could it be a quarter-life crisis?

but i’m not even sure why am i stressing out on becoming an adult. it’s not like it’s a total blur anyway, i’m pretty confident that i’d turn up fine. it’s not because i’m freaking out about having responsibilities too, i think. i mean, i grew up having this “you can’t screw up otherwise they all gonna think you as one of those dysfunctional household’s ‘products’” mentality; that is one big fat duty. certainly i’m not afraid of being old and boring. since when does becoming old have to be boring anyway?

nonetheless, if this apathy keep on going, where am i heading with my life?

my plan for the future.

anyway, lacking motivation issue aside, these are what i’ve been up to lately.

- lovely valentine’s dinner with lovely fellow ForeverAlone

yep, just as i thought that

the all single flatmates (with no ring on it #sorryBeyonce) decided to have a dinner date in La Tasca on our own because spending valentine with your boyfriend is too mainstream LOL. and in the spirit of anti-valentine, we all wore dark colours, with just a little touch of pink.

and since i love these people more than i love my money and my time *insert ‘Aaaww’ here*, i decided to get each of them a V-day’s gift. a ‘personalized’ Bloomsberry&Co. chocolate bar, wrapped with old newspaper and magazine (reuse and recycle rule!) and a personal ‘love letter’ put inside an envelope with a self-made Boromir meme glued at the front.

so glad that they liked it. happiness is…seeing happiness in others.

- learning how to play guitar again

matt has provoked influenced me to buy a guitar and start again. and what can i say, six years are such a long time for a ‘hiatus’ so i kinda re-learn everything from the start again. this is what happen when you quit too soon.

meet Kenny, my new guitar :)

it feels so good to play guitar again. and now that we have two guitarists in the house (possibly three, because windy is learning it too), it’s only a matter of time (AND SKILL) before we start a band and write a song to sing along.

- seeing my cousins.

guess which one is the diplomat, the banker and the Goldsmiths alumnus? ;p

not much to say, but i guess i should consider myself lucky to have family over here. cos as much as these people can be so intellectually intimidating, it’s so much fun to share a family joke/gossip with these people.

so, i managed to go through two decades without getting pregnant, using drugs, being expelled from school, fighting with my parents, getting into a dramatic cat fight with friends….yep, i guess that is worth celebrating for!

thursday, january 26 2012. finally twenty. TWO-ZERO.

so the day started with a squeaky surprise from my beyond-awesome flatmates at midnight. (yes, i said it was ‘squeaky because of the squeaky stairs to my room at the attic, which means that i could actually listen to their footsteps as they were coming in. LOL. but still, i find it surprising! i thought they were gonna use the bathroom LOLOLOLOLOL. thank you, matt, abbie, and windy!)

(cutting the cake with gusto, indeed. thanks for taking this pic, matt! and anak labsky, YOI BRO ITU BAJU BINTAMA!)

yes, chocolate cake at midnight. one was so ready to use this day to eat as many fatty foods as possible. stuffed, nearly killed to death by chocolate, we spent an hour watching City of God. (it’s a mindfuckingly awesome movie, you should totally watch it)

then bed.

the rest of the days went almost like usual, the only difference being the amount of birthday wishes i received that day (d’oh), some friends at school said it personally, me likey. while some also said it through sms, whatsapp, twitter and facebook, me lovey some witty messages…such as this:

some messages on the cards are also lovely. such as this, from the rest of the ForeverAlone house’ people (my flatmates ;p):

a fan of mine (yes, i’m not being cocky here. he, himself admitted of being a fan of my writings -not of the writer. hahaha) created this kinda-sorta-maybe scary myth about cats and death which turned out to be a hoax made just to ‘ruin’ my birthday mood. hahaha dammit abang, you got me! penggemar macam apa ini? ayo kirimin kopi acehnya!

my best friend of 14 years even dedicated a post on her tumblr. whoa, dude…one does not simply forget that kind of effort.

coolness. defined.

thank you thank you thank you thank you.

then party.
yeah right. as if.
being a party veteran (so long, those crazy nights in high school!), i chose a more ‘intimate’ activity: EATING. hahaha. i decided to treat my closest goldsmiths friends a dinner in ed’s diner in soho, the one opposite waxy o’ connor (if you haven’t been there already, this place is worth visit. it used to be a church, but today it’s one of the coolest bars in london, IMO.)

thank you, 谢谢, cảm ơn bạn, 감사합니다, terima(ke)kasih, FRIENDZZZ!

one and a half hour later and there we were, stuffed and nearly dead by burgers, cheese, and mouth-gasmic MILKSHAKES.

no shit, epic meal time! (this hasn’t include jun-eun-joyce’s meals btw)

the night was young and so were we ;p but the grannies and grandpas (and not to mention, the overdosed tummy-monsters) in all of us seemed to force us to call it a night (IT WAS….7.30pm-ish?!) so…we….went home.

watched the rest of City of God, replied some more wishes…and there went my first day of official ‘adulthood’.

and so far, it’s going good :)

so these are what i got for my birthday from everyone: friends and family.

i love them all, but…gotta admit that my favourite present is the customized tumbler with pictures of my friends. it’s simply epic. LOVE IT. A LOT.

LOL. michael’s face is such an attention grabber indeed.
ingrid’s message: Forever Alone No More. Soon.—> bangkeeee :))))
nicole, my bitchhhh hahaha. awesome hair!
love abbie’s face and peeking jun! hahaha

thank you thank you thank you.

yesterday was beyond legendary. awesomeness level: ASIAN (pun intended, yes LOL)

okay, let’s move on to the cheesy-but-true part:

you see, i’m not the type of person who gets excited on their birthdays and i can’t say any better how the idea of having a birthday party scares me. but all of those greetings, presents, surprises (and this year…it’s been the third year in a row that i got birthday surprise! *holding my tears*), and simply the presence of YOU people….i just can’t thank you enough. i feel blessed.

you see, blessing is….the awesome moment when you have the best people to be your best friends.

life is pretty. so…adulthood? challenge accepted!

good night and be good, good people!
i love you!

(this is the original draft of my article that was posted on the November 2011 issue of Goldsmiths’ The Leopard newspaper. only minor differences in the opening paragraph, but the content remains the same)

-

I’m one of those weird perfectionists who dedicate too much contemplation on the first sentence of every writing piece because I always believe that first sentences determine everything that follows. Simply by reading your first sentence, for example, people might get twice excited to read the whole piece or vice versa, they might quickly decide not to go on to your next sentence. First sentence is like first impression, it lingers. It matters.

Nevertheless, this is not a literary article about the importance of first sentences, nor is this an article about relationship. Oh, actually come to think of it, this is indeed an article about relationship. But it is not about the romantic relationship. This is an article about the relationship between local and international students.

Being an international student has always been familiar to me because I have experienced it since I was very young. One thing I have been noticing from these experiences is that there is always this ‘invisible’ gap between the local and international students. In other words, there is some kind of marginalization of the international students.

Of course it all comes back to the individual whether s/he feels marginalized as an international student or not but generally speaking, based on my experiences and observations, to a certain extent, international students have always been discriminated against. This discrimination can take up in many forms, from racial discrimination (although less likely to happen now, but still occurs some time) to a sense of alienation in which international students cannot fit in with the society.

Regarding the latter, I would like to say that it is a matter of prejudice. Ignorance is caused by lacks of knowledge. This goes both ways for local and international students. After all, it takes two to tango, am I right?

It seems to me that there is this widespread assumption among local students that international students do not want to blend in, that they prefer to be with the people from their own country. Whilst this assumption is somewhat true, then there lies a bigger issue: why does it happen? Why do international students stick together with the people from their own country or with another international students? Is it them who do not want to mingle or is it the local students who are not really keen on socializing with international students?

I believe this has to do with cultural differences. I am not going to elaborate on the possibility of lifestyle differences and contradicting values; something as simple as language barrier, for example, can already create a gap. Whereas different English language skills obviously create miscommunications, often, different accents can already create gaps and certain prejudices. Language skills can really make someone feels superior or inferior to others but to tell the truth, it is not something to fuss about.

Now for my fellow international students, we cannot always blame the local students and/or the school if we feel like we are being discriminated. Tell me, how are you supposed to make friends with the local students if you are always in your own comfort zone? True, it is hard enough to settle in a new country, learn other culture and maintain good grades at the same time. Yet going to school abroad is not only about the academic achievement, but also the life experiences, how you manage to overcome your fear of unfamiliarity.

Another possibility why there is a gap between the local and international student is that perhaps, none of us feel like we have to interact with each other. Since it is unlikely that we will end up in the same work environment, as most international students will come back to their home country after graduation, why bother making connections? Well, although it can be said that university is a stepping-stone for your future career (in which it would be great if you start networking with the people you might end up working with), but you go to university to make friends with everybody! Moreover, who knows, this could be our last chance to learn about other culture considering we might end up in a homogenized work environment in our native countries.

Lastly, referring back to my opening sentences, I think the same tenets cannot always be applied for this circumstance. Most of the time, our first sentence –first thought or first impression– I should say, does not establish the things that follow. It is inclined to be inaccurate. Thus I would like to finish this article with a food for thought, using quote from Mark Twain, “The very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid prejudice.”

Now go out and make friends.

Nindy is from Indonesia, with prior school experiences in Australia and Canada.

wohoo!
so one week down and ten more to come before christmas holiday!

well, it still feels weird to start school again, especially now that i’m in my second year which means more workloads and more pressure to get good grades. well, i’m gonna try my best not to be overwhelmed with all this and to chillax while still getting everything done. also, will try not to overly-procrastinating. *fingers crossed*

anyway, first week has been good so far.

my monday class: communications, experience and psychology is interesting. basically this class is about how everything is subjective, how we are shaped by our experiences and influences. we have to read lots and lots of foucault for this module, and to be honest i’m having mixed feelings about it. on one hand, i’m excited to know about his works but on the other hand, i’m not sure if i’m intellectually prepared for it. hahaha.

my thursday class: intellectual foundations of social theory is….already making me feels smart just by saying its name! HAHAHA. this class is more about the history of social theory, currently we’re studying the enlightenment and its philosophers, which is fascinating! in a few weeks, we’re gonna cover issues like race, ethnicity, etc etc. fun fun fun fun. i really hope this class will be better than the cultural studies class that i took last term. it’s not that cultural studies is boring, but i’ve found social theory more…compelling since it also cover the history part. I AM SUCH A DORK. yes i am.

my friday practice class: TV. well basically it’s a video-making class. we learn how to make documentary and short film from scratch: planning-research-shooting-editing. this is all quite new for me, since i’ve been doing all the writing stuff, so i’m really look forward to do all these things in the upcoming weeks. we have two projects that need to be done by the end of the term: 1 short film/drama and 1 documentary, plus there is a production log that needs to be written. oh, it is gonna be intense. we’re assigned into working in groups and by far i like everyone in my group. let’s hope we kick ass.

in short, academic life is…intellectually challenging!

as for the non-academic life,….well things are going okay with Club ASEAN (i should really change the name into ASEAN Food and Film Club, really. cos we do nothing apart from watching films and eat stuff. hahaha). i showed Arisan! on our Wednesday movie night in the RHB Cinema (a wonderful place to show a film: user-friendly equipment, awesome lighting system, cinema-like seating arrangements, fairly big venue), and although only eight people came (no kidding), i’m quite happy about it. true, we have so many things to improve from promotion to organization and i really have to develop my poor leadership (no shame in admitting it. oh yeah) so that it will no longer be a one-man club.

moving on…

i got promoted to lifestyle and culture editor for The Leopard!!! SO HAPPY. i’ve always been a writer, so i’m really excited for this job (btw, i don’t know exactly what is the role of editor. haha). yay for new experience! oh and i got another article published in The London Student. not my first and i’m the co-writer in this one, but still gets me excited. you can read it here, on page 20.

things are going well in the house. i have such awesome housemates: matt, windy and abbie who keep the house super tidy and clean (VIVA LA OCD! ;p). internet in the house is really fast, me gusta (Y) (why did i write that?) oh, one good thing that i like about living with other people is that it makes me wake up early! LOL. i don’t know why, but seriously, i still sleep at the same time (around 1-2AM) yet now every day i wake up at 7! 9 being the latest. WHOAAA. i like waking up early actually, you have more time to do stuff (like meditation or watching CSI! YAY!!) and it’s just nice to breath in the chilly, morning fresh air.

life’s going great so far in this first week of school. kinda takes my mind off a bit from melancholy thoughts of Jakarta and uhm, so-called bad romance. bad romance, yeah right, pfft ;p as iffffff i have a love life. #NindyRatuGalauNusantara #kesianbetkesian

okay, i think that’s it for now. good night, beautiful people!

back to you, goldsmiths. i am back to you.

so i just had my first class today: communications, psychology and experience. geez, just by saying the title of the module makes me feel smart already. LOL. anyway, going back to school after….let’s say…six months of no school was a bit strange. well, it was great to see some familiar faces again but the thought of doing the readings, essays and other school work is overwhelming, really. for this module, i have to submit a 1000-word essay plan by mid term and then write a 3000-word essay by the end of the term. i suppose, it’s actually not that much of a workload, but still there’s gonna be a lot of stress and pressure. okay, i’m getting ahead of myself. oh well, let the future be the future and chillax nindy.

another thing happening today was that i got a promotion! well, sort of. so as you may or may not know, i have been writing for The Leopard newspaper at Goldsmiths as a columnist. today we had our first meeting to discuss this year’s first issue, and i don’t quite remember how it happened for as long as i remember i was just jokingly volunteering myself to become the feature editor, and voila! Johnny, the co-editor just agreed. whoa.

what a nice first day of school. gratitude _/\_

it’s funny how things can change in a matter of days. well, yeah things can change in a second too, but I’m not gonna talk about those life-changing seconds now. maybe later. or maybe not at all. who knows, anyway…

a week ago I was still in Jakarta, enjoying my last Sunday before I headed back to London. I spent the day with my friends. had an afternoon chit-chat over coffee and then we went to Java Soulnation Festival, a music festival -just like Java Rockin’ Land but this time it’s a soul/Rn’B music. (come to think of it, my days in Jakarta were spent in one concert to another. whoa!). we saw Sophie Ellis Bextor. she was as lovely as she looks and her performance was awesome!

photo by Catharina Putri.

it was definitely worth a 2-day flight delay to see her performed! haha (yes, I was supposed to come back on the 25th but because of this festival, I decided to postpone my flight. yes, that was slightly crazy.)

after Sophie, we saw Public Enemy for a bit. it was full of energy! but then we left to catch the Japanese guitarist duo, Depapepe live in action. well, being a fan of acoustic guitar music, Depapepe simply swept me off my feet. LIKE the performance, although at some points their music brings out the inner melancholic in me. haha, I’m such a sucker for acoustic guitars.

and then seven days just gone by.

here I am sitting on my desk, typing this. procrastinating when I should be reading Subjectivity for my Communications, Psychology and Experience class tomorrow.

oh, welcome back, academic life. you have been missed.

dari dulu, gue sering berada dalam situasi kaya gini,

x: duh, rambutnya bagus banget, rahasianya apa sih?
gue: ah, cuman shampoo kok ;)
x: ah yang bener, kilaunya mengalihkan duniaku lho.
gue: suer.

ya. pembicaraan di atas memang direkayasa.
hahaha.

 
kasian paaak, udah 9 bulan gak nyalon, paaak…(eh?)

tapi yang mau gue tulis juga gak jauh-jauh amat dari soal rambut kok. well, seperti yang bisa ditebak, perawatan rambut di London gak mungkin bisa dilakukan cuma dengan 25.000 rupiah per shampoo-an/creambath sendiri di rumah ataupun 100.000 rupiah per nyalon (ya iyalah, mata uangnya aja poundsterling! -___-). dan percayalah, ketika lo jadi mahasiswa perantauan kaya gue, duit adalah segalanya. pokonya kalo lo di negeri orang, jangan ampe deh ga punya duit (eh, sebenernya ini prinsip universal juga sih. haha). dan berubung nama belakang gue bukan Bakrie, ya jadinya budget idup gue juga limited. sehingga, suka gak suka di sini gue harus pelit dan kikir pandai mengatur keuangan.

sehubungan dengan perawatan rambut, mungkin kalo gue gak doyan makan-makan dan beli barang aneh-aneh, bisa-bisa aja sih gue nyalon. tapi….tapi…£15 itu bisa dapet satu celana (atau 2 kaos) di H&M, cing! £15 itu bisa buat makan 10 hari (masak sendiri) atau 5 kali makan di Yao Kee (warung Cina seberang kampus)!

masa di spend buat potong rambut setengah jam yang hasilnya (kemungkinan besar) bakal salah?!

yes right, gue dengan yakinnya bilang kemungkinan besar hasil potong rambut itu bakal salah. kenapa? let me say this, hairdressers aren’t necessarily my friend.

either emang guenya yang selalu gagal minta model rambut (ya, bahkan mahasiswi komunikasi pun masih berkutat dengan miskomunikasi *eaaa*) atau si kapsternya yang cuek, kepedean, dan terlalu berkarisma (halah), tiap kali gue potong rambut di salon, pasti akhirnya gue gak suka sama modelnya (biarpun si kapsternya suka banget).

itu kasus di Jakarta ya. dan males aja gitu kalo kejadian di sini. terus gimana dong dang ding dong?

jangan takut, jangan kuatir. semua itu ada solusinya, kitalah yang harus pintar mencari (azeek, sok bijak)

 
solusinya ada 3: sisir potong, sisir dan gunting!

POTONG RAMBUT SENDIRI DONG, KAKAAAAK.

emang sih, sejak SMP gue udah sering potong rambut sendiri. enak sih, kemungkinan salahnya bisa diperkecil, kan yang motong elo sendiri. dan bukannya sombong, angkuh dan congkak ya, tapi orang-orang dan bahkan kapster-kapster salon aja bilang potongan rambut gue bagus. fufufu.

FAQ dari kasus ini adalah: GIMANA CARANYA MOTONG RAMBUT SENDIRI?

well, gampang. selama ada kaca yang gede. di sini berubung gue ga ada kaca gede sih gue pake webcam hahaha.

untuk meminimalkan kesalahan, potong rambutnya pas rambutnya udah 3/4 kering. dari observasi gue, kalo lo potong rambut pas lagi rambutnya basah (kaya di salon), kemungkinan salahnya (as in, kependekan) gede banget. soalnya kan elo (elo? kita kali) amatiran, belom bisa kira-kira hasil rambutnya bakal kaya apa.

potong rambutnya pelan-pelan. jangan sableng main pangkas aja, kecuali emang lo pengen motong rambut jadi pendek banget atau layer-layer lebay. tapi selama cuma mau nge-trim-trim sama kasih layer sederhana sih, lo ambil rambutnya dikit-dikit.

nah, ini dia yang paling tricky, buat rambut bagian belakang, lo bawa semua rambut ke depan…terus….kira-kira deh. karena emang agak susah, gue saranin mending lo jangan punya model rambut yang panjangnya sama. soalnya kalo tar miring kan keliatan banget. gue sih sekarang lagi suka motong rambut layer-layer beda panjangnya, jadi kalopun rambut belakangnya miring kan bisa bilang “emang sengaja gitu kok!” (ngeles jaya).

gampang kan gampang?

Introducing Siswa Sukra!

I posted a video of my gamelan group in London before in here. Alas, I don’t see any harm in doing it again, especially when this is our actual official video :)