in mission..7 days left

kikikikik….seperti ada kupu2 yang berterbangan di dalam perut jika membaca tulisan di atas. sebenarnya itu adalah statusnya Prue yang saya kutip di sini. kenapa?karena saya mempunyai misi untuk membantunya merealisasikan missionnya yang dia bilang predictably impossible. nothing is impossible for HIM kata saya.

Prue punya janji tak tertulis dengan sepupunya, jika salah satu dari mereka menikah duluan maka yang lain akan hadir sebagai bride maid dengan membawa pasangannya. nah…masalahnya adalah Prue sedang single fighter sekarang, jadi mendapatkan pasangan dan bisa membawanya serta ke TKP dalam waktu tujuh hari, bisa dibilang hampir mustahil. tapi karena kami tidak diajarkan berputus asa, maka yang bisa kami lakukan hanya berdoa dan berbaik sangka padaNYA. sisanya kami serahkan bulat-bulat pada yang Maha Mengatur. atau dari temen2 ada kenalan yang bisa dijadikan target??kalau ada silahkan PM ke saya:)

kalau Prue in missionnya adalah finding someone to accompany to the wedding party, saya masih punya beberapa tugas lain selain membantunya mewujudkan misi, diantaranya:

1. proses lanjut pengajuan kepemilikan rumah burung H/17/BG Kalibata Regency. fiuh…jika coro mlumah wiken ini ga bisa ke jakarta untuk menengok show unit, maka saya harus putar otak untuk mencari donatur sementara pembayaran DP1 dan meminta Prue menemani saya mengurus dokumen2 yang diperlukan

2. menyelesaikan lesson 31 .2 dan 31.3 dan mempersiapkan diri untuk EC unit 31. belajar harus semaksimal mungkin agar waktu yang dihabiskan tidak percuma dan ilmu yang didapat bermanfaat, amiiin

3. menyelesaikan beberapa bacaan yang telah dimulai. entah kenapa pikiran saya tidak bisa fokus menyelesaikan 1 buku baru beralih ke buku selanjutnya. bleh…kalau terus begini, bagaimana bisa bulan baru ilmu baru??

ketiga poin di atas hanya garis besarnya saja. masih ada tugas pritilan yang harus selesai dalam minggu ini. fiuh…semoga….

the world is flat

“it did not take long before all these people who were connecting wanted to do more than just browse and send e-mail, instant messages, pictures and music over this internet platform. they wanted to shape things, design things, create things, sell things, …“

berasa pernah baca line di atas?yup, line tersebut adalah kutipan dari buku ‘The World is Flat’ nya Thomas L. Friedman.

trus setelah baca rasanya gimana?tertohok ato biasa aja alias lanjut ke line berikutnya sambil siul-siul?

well, bagi saya line diatas merupakan kerikil-kerikil yang dijatuhkan dari langit. dan kerikil itu berasa makin mengganggu manakala teringat blognya mba Ollie [istri teman SMU saya] yang saya temukan secara tidak sengaja. di blog tersebut mba Ollie membagi pengalamannya membangun 4 bisnis online selain merampungkan menulis beberapa buku.

dari beberapa bisnis onlinenya mba Ollie tersebut, favorit saya adalah kutukutubuku.com. diawali dari mimpi mba Ollie dan suami utk bekerja di amazon.com, keduanya malah berakhir dengan membangun amazon.com sendiri versi indonesia yang juga menjual buku2 dari penulis2 negeri sendiri. keren bukan?

selain mba Ollie, ternyata ga jauh2 dari qta2 ini [yang biasa baca ini blog-versi blog stat-], juga ada mas Kristiono Setyadi yang kemarin menang [juara umum] di Yahoo!Open Hack Day. beliau [panggilan kehormatan untuk kakak angkatan di math UGM] membangun aplikasi ChatPlus yang memungkinkan pengguna Internet dengan berbagai bahasa dapat saling bercakap-cakap dengan menggunakan bahasa masing-masing tapi tetap dapat saling mengerti apa yang dimaksudkan lawan bicaranya.

nah, kalau balik lagi ke kutipan di atas jadi nanya ke diri sendiri: gw ngapain y?pake internet masak bwat blogging, buka facebook, browsing, ym-an n download mp3 ato ebook doank?apa jualan indomie aja y?amazon.com n eBay kan juga jualan, mana pangsa pasar besar, harga ga seribuan pula!

fiuh…jadi bingung mo ngapain dengan internet, belum ketemu ‘jodoh’ sepertinya.

nah, kalau kamu?

have u learned nothing from ur journey?

percaya ga percaya, sepulang dari ubud saya jd lebih banyak melamun. temen2 di kantor jg komplain. katanya sepulang dari ubud pikiran saya seperti entah kemana meski jasadnya duduk diantara mereka.

benar saja. semua curhatan teman2 hanya masuk telinga kiri keluar telinga kanan. bagi saya semua sama. curhatannya pun masih berputar di masalah2 kantor yg sama. karakter dari teman2 pun masih sama. yg merokok tetap merokok, satu batangpun ga berkurang. yg self-centered tetap self-centered. yg hidup tanpa planing tetap menikmati hidup meski pihak bank udah nguber2 menanyakan tagihan kartu kredit yang belum juga dibayar belum lagi tagihan belanja bulan berjalan yang terus bertambah. hidup konsumerisme!

kantor tidak berubah banyak dari sejak saya tinggalkan, 5 hari lalu. jakarta juga begitu. manusia hanya sekedar daging.

seketika saya jadi sangat kangen ubud. kangen UWRF. dan kangen teman2 dari berbagai bangsa yang datang untuk berlibur, menikmati alam sekaligus menikmati festival sastra. kangen bertemu dengan orang-orang hebat.

malu rasanya berada dalam satu venue dengan antony loewenstein. setiap hari dia mengupdate blognya hanya untuk mengabarkan proses perdamaian di gaza. lalu siapa yang diberi kabar? siapa yang masih terus menerus peduli dengan penduduk palestin? jawabnya, tanyakan pada dirimu sendiri sugarcoat.

jijik rasanya mendengar achmad muchlish amrin membacakan bukunya yang mengungkap tradisi sunat wanita dalam masyarakat madura. lalu apakah kamu tahu pada umur berapa tradisi itu harus dijalani wanita di sana? pada setiap akhil balig. lalu apakah kamu tahu apa yang dilakukan dukun2 sunat di sana terhadap para wanita yang terpaksa menjalaninya hanya karena tradisi?

berasa makin bodoh setelah seorang peserta diskusi panel ‘a note on suffering’ membagi buah pemikirannya kepada para panelis (SGA & putu fajar artjcana) dan para peserta. seorang lelaki tua tersebut mengatakan bahwa ‘there is no suffering on the word stupid. but our perspective is that makes us suffer when one told us that we are stupid’. bahkan para panelis mengakui pemikiran tersebut merupakan obat bagi setiap suffering.

nasionalisme dipertanyakan manakala para peserta yang notabene bukan turis domestik menaruh perhatian besar terhadap buah budaya negeri ini. kain flores contoh nyatanya. siapa yang mendukung terus dilestarikannya budaya pembuatan kain tersebut? expat!

maka ditengah hiruk pikuk curhatan teman2 yang hanya mampir di sistem pendengaranqu dan di setiap akhir perjalananqu, akan selalu terdengar, entah suara dari mana, sebuah pertanyaan tentang..have u learned nothing from ur journey, sugarcoat?

UWRF tale

it’s not like a tale we heard on our childhood. n it wasn’t all romantic. but it is indeed a wonderful experience.

ok. here we go.

UWRF is an annual event held in ubud-bali. it usualy takes 4 days (a 4-day pass ticket is IDR 400K). it begins with gala opening ceremony. n this ceremony always held in ubud palace which located in central ubud. so, if u don’t wanna miss this ceremony, u must stay in ubud for 5 days. after the ceremony, there’s special events. in UWRF 2009, there were 2 events after the opening ceremony. one event held in Pura Dalem (in ubud main road). n it’s free. the other held in Arma Resort. n to go to this event u must pay IDR 50K . n since i was late for the opening ceremony n arma resort is far away from my homestay, i decided to go to the event in Pura Dalem instead of Arma Resort. here are some memories of the FREE event.

tribute to rendra

this event was ended-up at 10. n though it’s my first time and first night in ubud, i wasn’t scared to walk down from pura dalem to rumah roda (homestay that i picked out to be my temporary home during the festival). i was alone. it’s dark. the shops and cafes along the ubud main road were closed. but it’s okay. people walked home to their compound.

in the morning, i rose early n walked to the center of the homestay. pak darta (the owner of the house) was reading a book. it’s written with old-javanese words. it’s 5 am (local time). n then he noticed that i stood near him. so he began a conversation with me. he talked about his family and history of rumah roda. he also gave me brief lectures of balinese religon, filosofi n history. this’s hopeful. it gave me some understandings so when i went to the panel session that talked about balinese filosofi, i can follow the discussion. i was lucky i guess.

the following days were also fascinating. it’s full of discussion panels with interesting topics. it started at 9 am and ended-up at 5 pm. it held all at once in 3 venues. there’re neka museum, indus restaurant and left bank lounge. indus is near left bank lounge. whereas neka museum takes 5 minutes walk from indus. and it’s only 15 minutes rest from one discussion panel to the next session. so if u intend to come to the next session which held in another venue then u may walk or rent a vehicle (bike rental costs IDR 15K per day and motor bike rental costs IDR 35K, but remember, u may try to use ur bargaining skill). here are some events that i attended. n it’s proven by the authograph of the speakers that i collected.

in conversation with wole soyinka and SGA

in conversation with bejan matur and fatima bhutto

i got the alison lester's authograph

two of many strong speakers in the festival

after the last session of the day, u may take a rest for about one hour coz the special events start at 6. the venues are scattered around ubud. it’s usually located in cafes, hotels or art show spot in ubud. n most of the venues take 10 minutes motor bike drive from my homestay. but it’s worth it!the venues had a beautiful landscape that gave plus-plus-plus to the show. here are several FREE special events that i attended.

playreading cok sawitri on DAY 1 at padang tegal

song and story from east flores on DAY 2 at rumah roda

playreading marco calvani on DAY 3 at yoga barn

1st spot of kajeng street party on DAY 3 at kajeng street

2nd spot of kajeng street party on DAY 3 at kajeng street

3rd spot of kajeng street party on DAY 3 at kajeng street

but there were special events (Non-Free) that held in the morning. n the ‘jalan-jalan with brian thacker’ is one of them (i had to pay IDR 250K for this event). i managed to join this event n here are some photos of the event.

dee took this. thanks dee.

brian shared his travelling tales through bali n south east asia

the 'jalan-jalan' ended-up with bfast in a beautiful compound

despite the discussion session sched that was tight, i’ve always made time for sneaking out from the festival to get to some tour spot in ubud. i visited ubud monkey forest, ubud palace n pasar seni ubud to get the friends’-order-list-checked!

ubud sacred monkey forest

me in front of ubud palace

inside ubud art market

n as i said in the previous post, there’s always a surprise on ur step, though u have calculated before u moved. the accident that i had in front of ubud art market cross road was a decent surprise, if i may say. it taught me things. n the following photo is where the accident took place.

the accident leaves scar on my foot. n i wonder, why HE made many scars on my body? was HE happy when HE made the scars?or was HE angry with me?or is it essential-important quest?i dunno. n let’s leave the quest un-answered n let’s jump to some photos i took between the discussion panels n the special events.

a lady was drawing during the panel session n in the end of the discussion she asked the speaker to sign her drawing

the other lady was doing sketch. they (the sketcher n the drawer) were friends.

kajeng street is like walk of fame in hollywood. but it's not about fame. it's about memories in ubud-bali.

manfred n verena had a pleasant memories in ubud, i guess.

me too

i was in joger. again, to make my friends'-order-list-checked!

when u go from casa luna to indus u'l find this spot. art zoo.

campuhan bridge. near blanco museum.

one was doing art-work in the 'padang ilalang'. can u see it?

well, to much photos to upload but the time is limited. but i hope u can get the message. that it’s thought provoking. n i’l just jump to the end of the festival. there was a closing night party at blanco musuem. but before i got there we (me and mb sandra) went to the rumah roda resto, which in 2nd floor. we came to megibung to get some food. megibung is a balinese traditional bufee. so here are some experiences of me and mb sandra. enjoy!

me and mb sandra

add more foods. till drop!

closing night party at blanco museum

it was an awesome ceremony

P.S.

some usefull information about the travelling budget:

1. transportation from ngurah rai to ubud

taxi or hotel pick-up service: IDR 200K (one way)

2. hostel rate in rumah roda

for one person: IDR 90K per night

for two person (one room): IDR 150K per night

3. ticket to ubud monkey forest: IDR 15K per person

va dove ti porta il coure

hm…badan masih pegel-pegel karena ngos-ngos an moving dari satu venue ke venue lainnya, dari satu topik ke topik lainnya (yang ini mungkin otaknya yang pegel, hehe). belum lagi selama stay 5 hari di ubud, baju kotor hanya masuk koper. cucian menggunung. jadinya perlu beberapa kali nyicil ngrapel nyuci seketika kembali ke kosan. disambung lagi, akhir pekan selanjutnya keluarga di tangerang semangat sekali menjemput. kami traveling dimulai dari bekasi, bogor sampai ke cibubur. semuanya disinggahi dalam sehari. plus, beberapa hari yang lalu jakarta digoyang gempa. menara standard chartered pun otomatis ikut bergoyang. BERUNTUNGNYA, saya dan teman-teman masih di dalam gedung (padahal saat itu jam 16.45 alias sudah lewat jam kerja). lift dimatikan. turun tangga 18 lantai SORE-SORE bersama-sama. fiuh…

tapi lepas dari semua itu, ubud writers and readers festival bener-bener thought provoking! dan membagi pengalaman selama di sana merupakan kewajiban bagi saya. jadi siapkan mata anda untuk menerima taburan huruf dan beberapa gambar berikut.

ok. dimulai dari ide gila perjalanan solo ke uwrf yang begitu saja melintas di otak saya. sebenernya ide gila ini diprovokasi oleh keinginan saya untuk ke event tahunan Frankfurt Book Fair yang tahun ini diadakan pada bulan Oktober. namun apa daya, budget dan kesiapan tidak mencukupi untuk traveling sendirian ke frankfurt. perlu dicatat juga, saya belum pernah meninggalkan tanah air sebelumnya. jadi menyeberang ke benua lain untuk book fair ini, bukan pilihan yang realistis bagi saya. so, i just went to google search n type ‘playreading bali”.n wa-la-h…i found UWRF’s site. the more i explored the site, the more i became fascinated. n the ‘crazy’ idea to go to the event just popped out in my mind. it’s like there’s one who whispered into my ears. u must go. it’s okay if there’s no one who can accompany. besides, u were always all alone. people are always all alone. people born and die, alone. n may be HE wants u to get something. to learn something.

then i started research on how one travels to this event. how much money i need to go to the festival?what’s the cheapest and fastest transportation to get to the island?the cost?what’s ground transportation u may take to ubud from the airport?how’s the accommodation?again, the cost per night? (i’m a budget traveler anyway), the room service?how much the 4-day pass festival ticket?what’s in UWRF(the main programs)?what’s in this year?what’s the special events?how far the venues of the festival from the homestay?how do people get there?and again, the cost?how’s balinese food?is there any restaurant in ubud that serves halal food?what’s the tour spots in ubud?do i have to pay to enter the spots?how do i do the worship there?is there any mesjid in ubud?should i bring kiblat compass?n how’s the rabiest issue?what’s the recent issues in bali?etc…etc…

and it was in detail. so that i had no worry to travel alone (a bit actually, since i never been in ubud before). i even made a small notebook. it contained the time, date, venue and topic i’ve picked out from the main programs so when i get there i don’t have to think n choose anymore which panel session i wanna come. it also equipped with ubud map in the back. so i thought everything is well-prepared.

one of the time, date, venue, writer and topic i intended to attend. n alhamdulillah i was able to come so the page was filled with the authographs of the writers.

BUT apparently something was missed from my observation. i found out later, when i already in ubud, that Balinese, especially in ubud, used to cook with coconut oil instead of peanut oil. people say coconut oil is more tasty and more expensive. but since i never ever consumed food that cooked with coconut oil, it was a BIG surprise for me. when u cook food with coconut oil instead of peanut oil, the smell and taste of the food become different. but i was so cool about it (dee lho yang bilang, bukan saya sendiri, hehe). i thought, i was well-equiped with medications (antimo anak rasa jeruk-diminum sebelum berangkat ke airport, obat maag (polysilane dan strocain), obat flu, obat sakit kepala, counterpain, balsem, new-diatab, dan beberapa obat lainnya). so i talked to my-self, just enjoy the show, caterpillar. it’s life anyway. there would always a surprise on ur step, though u have calculated and observed everything before u moved.

facebook. ain’t a book.

sudah hampir dua bulan ini status deactivate facebookqu bertahan. well, memang sih beberapa kali (kurang dari 5 kali) sempet reactivate trus deactivate lagi. tapi itu hanya karena ingin menguji diri sendiri. seberapa kuat aq saat ini. dan wa-la-h…mending deactivate lagi aja dulu. sambil menunggu saat yang tepat untuk kembali. teman baru yang hanya bisa dijangkau melalui facebook mungkin akan menjadi alasan yang kuat.

capek juga ganti status tiap hari. upload foto sesaat setelah event gathering. dan melototin wall teman. coelho bilang ‘when people become fascinated with pictures and words, they wind up forgetting the Language of the World’. atau kalau boleh saya terjemahkan secara literal. ketika manusia tertumbuk pada panca indranya, mereka akan mulai lupa bahasa dunia. aka mereka tidak lagi dapat menikmati bahasa Tuhan.

jadilah aq disini sekarang hanya bergantung pada blog. menunggu ditemukan oleh sang pengembara yang kebetulan (meski sebenarnya aq percaya tidak ada yang kebetulan) singgah.

biar saja primitif. yang penting aq tidak menjadi salah satu ilusi itu (stalker no no no). tak perlu lagi membangun citra (apalagi yang mau dibangun kalau bangunannya saja sudah rata dengan tanah). tak perlu lagi berusaha terlihat sophisticated n smart-like.

biar saja aq di sini primitif. ditemani dengan ratusan lembar kertas terjilid rapi (terima kasih ya Tsai Lun..). dan ditemani laptopqu. lengkap dengan kumpulan ebook yang berhasil kuunduh secara gratis maupun yang dikirimkan oleh teman.

terakhir, saranqu untuk penggagasnya. tolong ganti ‘facebook’ dengan ‘facewall’, ‘faceshare’ atau ‘faceshow’. silahkan pilih yang disuka. karena kelak jika anakqu menemukannya, dia mungkin akan menyukainya dan mengiranya sejenis buku. seperti ibunya. dulu.