A Lesson Learn From Reading Class

What a day…

I don’t know what was going on this day. All things seem to be uncomfortable. Ya… there was something bothering me. I didn’t know actually whether it was a problem or not. Unfortunately, all my suroundings seem to be abandon me (maklum, saya lagi sensitif bow... ). When I tried to tell about “the thing” to a friend, she seemed not to realize that I just need an “ear” to listen.

After finishing an-hour-banking-procedure that was required by the Scholarship Institution, I chose not to attend the “Japanese Cross Culture Class” on 1.00 p.m. I went to Margo City instead of slept in the Class due to boring. I was alone. Sometimes it is better to do something alone when there is a-gloomy-heart. After seeing movie in Platinum and searching books in Gunung Agung, I went home. I just realize that at this time, the lonely-hang-out was not helping me to recover.

I had arrived at home and turned on my laptop when I remembered about yesterday lesson in Reading Class. The teacher copied from a reading material about keys to success. One of them was focus on distinguishing between problems and facts. The teacher told that “problem is something that can be fixed. If we are dealing with a circumstance that cannot be changed or fixed, than it’s no longer a “problem”, it is a fact".

I tought deeply whether “my thing” was a problem or just a fact.

I tried quite hard to figure it out. I did both thinking through all aspects related to “the thing” and drawing a mind map (I am used to doing this such a thing in jobs). Hihihi… sok ilmiah ya bow????. After 4 hours, I felt relieve. I could say that “the thing” was just a fact and there’s nothing I can do to fix or change it.

Understanding that it’s a fact, I think there’s no reason to waste emotional energy feeling frustrated over it. So, I try not to reliant myself on unnecessary stress. Let’s smiling!

Boring? What to do to deal with?

In the last two weeks, some of friends told me about boring. They also asked me wheather I get bored before and what to do to deal with. Emmm…

Actually, what is boring? Boring is defined as lacking in interest, excitement, enthusiasm, or liveliness. In addition, boring also can be defined as loosing passion of things. Boring itself is something that happened naturally in our life since there’re too much uniformity, repetition, and unvarying in life.

Knowing that everybody has his/her time to get boring, let us share how to overcome the situation according to our own experiences. For me, there’re some activities that I’m used to doing to get the life passion back:

1. Listening to Music. Listening to music that you like or love is a kind of healing method for boring. For me, light jazz is a kind of music that makes me refresh. But, if you do with the “wrong” one, music that you dislike, it can be turn to the opposite way. So, be sure for the the type of music. For someone who felt broken heart, melancholic music is better to be avoided.
2. Listening to Radio. I like to listen to radio instead of waching TV. I don’t know why, but I think there are 4 reasons behind: 1) Radio is more interactive rather than TV; 2) Music that we listen from radio seems livelier than the music from CD’ or MP3 do; 3) Many radio’s announcers are fun, funny, even some have a little bit craziness… hihihi…. And the rest is that we can do multitasking while we listen to the radio.
3. Reading. So, why reading? Some persons think that reading is such a boring activity and they don’t get any “fun” of it. For me, reading is a kind of fun and educated activity for dealing with boring. Knowing about new things, learning about somethings, and developing creativity and imagination about something are fun while there’re also good for our brain.
4. Watching movies. Like reading material, movie is a kind of refresher way that provide amusing or interesting art to be enjoyed and learnt.
5. Sleeping. Since I knew that our brain work better when sleeping than watching TV, I choose to take sleep more. :-D
6. Walking or Jogging to Punclut. While we’re sweating, by having activities in such an open air, we can be much refresher because the fresh air touchs our skin directly.
7. Hanging Out with Friends. Hanging out with friends can be one of cure for boring. Having fun and laughing together are good for health.
8. Sightseeing Around the City. When you get bored, you can go sightseeng around the city. Don’t forget to put your attention to everyone you meet, including the begger or other poor people. Think deeply, how lucky your life compared to them!
9. Praying. Don’t hasitate to come up to God for the cure of your boring.

For everybody has his/her own way in overcoming boring, there’s no “right or wrong”. There’s only about whether it’s suit or not to be applied on our own. For instance, a friend of mine told me that he used to go to “dugem” when he got boring. For me, it wouldn’t work. Otherwise, it would make “my boring” worse. Secara kita ini anak kampungan yang gak biasa dengan Dunia Gemerlap gituuuhhh!!! Hehehe… (Sorry wid!!! :-D). But, it’s no problem, because everyone has their own way to deal with boring.

Away From Him

Officially, I have been staying in Jakarta since February 1^st, 2009. Though I spend time in Bandung every weekend, I do most of activities in Jakarta, away from my dearest husband. As I said before in this posting, I and husband used to separate away temporary. It’s because each of our jobs requires some travels. Fyi, the number of travels I do is lesser than my husband does. Moreover, his travel’s distance is remoter than mine. That’s why we used to have a temporary Long Distance Relationship (LDR).

Since my husband got some troubles with his projects in Lahat, South Sumatra, eight months ago, he had to be much more focused on office stuff rather than field. Because the client put him lots of troubles, he had to deal with all office management, not only administrative stuff such as; preparing invoice, budgetting, paying tax and salary, etc; but also geological stuff such as; reporting, presentating project’s result to client, arranging contracts, preparing field team, lobbying, etc. Because my husband hasn’t prepared the person who can be in charge in those such a things yet, he decided not to leave office and travel much for the lately eight months except for Jakarta (one-day-travels to present the project’s reports or arrange new projects).

Consequently, we aren’t used to being seperate away anymore for about eight months. In other word, in the lately months we are used to seeing each other everyday. See! E – V – E – R – Y – D – A – Y. Hihihi… So when the scholarship was announced a month ago, and I must leave Bandung, it put us (especially me) into a weird situation. Being A – L – O – N – E is strange for me. Hehehe… biasa manja soalnya :-D.

I have been "menye-menye" in the first days. Yah… I have been feeling so homesick… filling sick for missing my husband so much. Hiks… paraahhh!!!!

So what and how???

ADAPTATION. I need it. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be taken a long time to getting used with it. BEING TOUGH, I do want it. For this, I try hard to be focus on the things that I want and commit since the beginning. BEING SINCERE, I must have it. Knowing that away from him would be a usual sequence for us for the next 30 months, I must learn to be sincere. I must get through this. Yes… I have to.

Above all, thing that I learn from this is “….the more I through the days away from him, the more I found myself love him…”

Lately Spare Time

Though I have a tight schedule for English Class 7 hours a day from Monday to Friday and 3 hours in Saturday for Self Directed Learning (SDL) class, I have enough spare time lately. Moreover, we still haven’t had many assignments to do and it’s just taken 20 menutes away (by foot) from Campus to my rented house. Because I’m used to staying up late, I have 7 to 8 hours free time a day (this time has been reduced by time to take a bath and eat). Fyughhh… lovely. Alison must be envy me for this (hehehe… ). Since I had in charge in some office projects, I never had that long free time as I have now.

So, what do I do for spare time? Emm… there are some favourite things that I do for lately spare time.

Firstly, I do reading. I brought many books from Bandung. They’re not only fictions but also non fiction a.k.a “serious” books. From the very start of this “study period”, I have decided to read much more than I did before. Understanding that there’s imposible to get more capacity without reading, I make reading schedule.

Secondly, I do writing. Since I found myself having interest on all research stuff, I decided to be research functionalist after completing master degree and to be more productive in writing. That’s why I train myself to write at least 1 article a month.

The first two activities seem to be so serious, don’t they? Hehehe… Do not ever think that my life is going to be boring guys, because I do a such fun activity too. Here are the fun activities. Thirtly, I do blogging. I enjoy this kind of activity because it helps me much on expressing myself. It is not only about expressing ideas and reflections, but also expressing filling. For many times, blogging relieves me much after I had written down the “things” that I feel or think. Hehehe… Since I have been pushed much on Academic Writing, I decided to write in English as many as I can.

Fourthly, I am used to enjoying DVD movies. For the last two weeks, there were many movies that I had seen, e.q: The Reader, Mamma Mia, Death Defying Acts, Feast of Love, Nights in Rodanthe, Bolt, Quantum of Solace, Grey’s Anatomy series, Slumdog Millionaire, Prison Break’ series (Makkk… Janggg!!! Setelah dilist jadi ketahuan banyakan nonton film nih..:-D). However, I think this activity is good for me in developing an “ear” for listening skill and also in developing a “thought” for having critical analysis. Hihihi… it seems like educated justification, isn’t it?

Beauty in Dissaray

After I had bought the book “Beauty in Dissaray” 3 weeks ago, reading that book has been my favourite activity during the spare time. Actually, I have some books to be read, but from the very start I have high interest in enjoying at that book.

Beauty in Dissaray, written by Harumi Setouchi, is a book about faminist movement in Japan. As for me, it gave me lot of lesson learn. It’s because it had made up my mind about woman and the role that they can play, not only in their personal life but also in their professional career. O yes, I just remembered something very interesting about the quotation in the book. And I do like it. Here is:

“… I am a new woman. At least day by day I am endeavoring to really be a new woman. It is the sun that is truly and eternally new. I am the sun. At least day by day I wish to be and am endeavoring to be the sun…”

The “Past Tense” Issue

Though this is not happened as often as before, “it” keeps being issue for me at the moment. To be honest, I keep struggling upon “it”. Realizing that “it” is just a ‘past tense” and memorizing “it” is definitely has no good impacts or advantages, I decided to step a head, not to recapture “it” anymore. Knowing that forgetting the “past tense” isn’t easy, I don’t sink back in my chair and wait for the time to heal me. Instead of staring blankly into space, I choose to mutter to myself that I can get through this.

I keep struggling on thinking about the “present and future tense” only. I try hard to keep moving. Emm… I’m moving forward for one reason “I wanna be happy”. I promise to myself that I won’t let any distractions take away the spirit that burn inside me. That’s why everyday I try so hard to keep fueling my dreams. Though, I need a little time to learn even more, I promise to pass it soon. Just let me do it in my own!