The New Dawn

So, I was eliminated in the hunger games.
And these are the things that I am going to miss from the Capitol:

1. The travel: one hour journey where I could sleep  or do reiki or do people watching if I could not sleep. All MRT seats rivals-the uncles and aunties that I have grown to recognise throughout the years, for giving me good rivalry on the empty seats, you have made a pro, and I thank you for that. Most of all, for taking train towards the opposite direction allowed me to get seats. Going to miss that.
2. Picking up the 2 free newspaper from the stations.
3. Reading the newspaper while waiting for the train to come
4. Good running session when I ran after company bus, in heels, in flats. I am that good!
5. Looking up for familiar faces while waiting for the bus, will miss looking for Janet, Angeline, Theresa, Sandeep, and others for a nice chat along bus ride
6. Reading yahoo news followed by kompas and detik to start my day
7. Sending out reports and praying so hard that I did not make any mistakes in any of my reports
8. All the doodles, daydreams during the meeting, pinching every part of my body to keep myself awake during afternoon meeting.
9. Thinking about lunches at the start of the day, who to have lunch with, what to eat
10. Coordinating lunches for special occassion
11. Taman Jurong Fish Soup and super spicy sambal, the best ice lemon tea - according to JM (all round quality, the colour, sweetness, bitterness, sourness), roast pork, roast duck, char siew rice.
12. The Korean restaurant in Jurong Point, the bimbimbap, saba fish, kimchi jjigae.
13. Jurong Sapo Rice
14. Taman Teban Fish Soup, but now with Kris also being eliminated, not sure who could bring the people there.

15. NTU canteen

16. Our office canteen, despite the ever boring food. 
17. Celebrating festive seasons together: Christmas, Chinese New Year, Mid-Autumn
18. Mooncakes blind testing
19. Gossip - hot, juicy gossips! Who was dating who, who had affair with who, who got undeserved promotion, who was going, who was joining, who moved back, who replaced who.

20. Looooong lunches in the month of December.

21. All the messaging in the office. Will miss messages from Janet, Alison, Jasmine, Katherine. 

22. Jess calling me to take the bus to go home

Balada Orang Tidak Kurus

Dari sesi facetime kami (C n Ayahnya)

C: jadi pa, udah belain lari segala sampe ngos2an, turun sekilopun nggak! Kebangetan!

A: yah, kamu kan gak gemuk, segitu aja juga cukuplah..

C: tapi pa, kalo kurus itu kan bagus

A: mana bagus sih kurus2.

C: bagus pa!

A: Mana bagus? (nada meninggi, udah mau keluarin daftar orang yg terlalu kurus dan tidak bagus)

C: dengerin dulu. Kalo kurus kan kita bisa makannya banyak. Bagus kan?

A: Oh iya, itu sih bener. Orang kurus emang bisa makan banyak

C: bener kan, bagusan kurus?

(*kemudian hening*)

Precious Moments

                                

                                 

Little N told the father about her what she wanted to be when she grows up. And here is her list in order of preference:

1. Author 

Not surprising. Even though she does not spend time writing all the time,she is an avid reader. That's the time that she spends investing in her future as an author. And those beautiful books that she read were the ones that inspire her to become an author.

2. Plays as a solo pianist in an Orchestra (playing Fur Elise).

In fact she has already planned her whole musical career. She wants to take her grade 8 ABRSM piano exam, after which she is taking her piano diploma and at the same time she intends to take violin as her second instrument. With so many kids dropping off from their piano class, I am just grateful she is savoring her time playing piano and diligently practising her piece over and over and over and over again,and she did it at her own will.

3.Scientist

What? No comment!

4. Actress 

I don't know how she can conceive the idea of being an actress. Despite my love for movies and drama,being an actress is not something that we would even discuss. So it should be coming from external factor.

I really find that her list is very adorable. I can't wait to see what life has in store for her. 

Musical - A Love Story

The Sound of Music - this time with the kids

Musical

Either you like it or you hate it.

Ya iyalah..kalo suka ya suka, kalo nggak suka ya nggak suka. Soalnya nonton musical itu kan nggak murah. Ngapain juga buang2 uang untuk menikmati sesuatu yang nggak kita sukai.

Tapi, kebetulan saya masuk dalam kategori yang suka. Mungkin sejak pertama kali nonton The Sound of Music, yang kayak2nya menjadi film musical pertama yang ditonton. Setelah itu, waktu udah lebih besar, thanks to sanggar Shangrilla (and special thanks to Lea, temen SD yang udah minjemin videonya), ada operette Amalia si yatim piatu, Itik buruk rupa yang jadi tontonan. Waktu SMA, ada The King and I yang dipasang di RCTI, yang membuat saya tergagugaga melihat bagaimana sebuah show bisa dijadikan begitu menarik dengan menggabungkan dance, song and story.

Dan, special thanks juga buat Irene, temen SMA yang cerita tentang Phantom of The Opera, dan penyanyinya yang suaranya luaaaar biasa! Didorong rasa keingin tahuan saya, dari bagaimana seseorang bisa bersuara luaaaaaarr biasa, dibelilah kaset compilation, best of Andrew Lloyd Webber, dan sebuah dunia baru terbentang di depan saya.

Apakah Phantom of The Opera itu? Ada filmnya nggak? Siapa ini Andrew Lloyd Webber? Sayang sekali, waktu itu, yang namanya internet itu masih barang langka belum ada. Jadi kalo mau mencari tahu lebih banyak ya rada2 repot. Tapi, seperti kata bapak Paulo Coelho, "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it!" Bener aja, bisa aja ketemu banyak info mengenai Mr. ALW, ya mungkin emang karena selama ini si mister emang udah ngetop dan sayanya aja yang ibaratnya katak dalam tempurung. Terus, few years later, seorang murid saya malah berbaik hati minjemin kaset OST The Phantom of The Opera. Setelah dengerin itu, saya baru sadar, ternyata musical itu panjang, dan juga semuanya dinyanyiin, mirip2 film india gitu yahhh.  

Waktu saya di sydney, terdengarlah kabar berita kalau yang namanya Phantom of The Opera itu lagi main di Melbourne. Of all the places, kenapa juga harus di lain kota. Waktu lagi easter holiday 1998, pergilah saya ke kota lain, untuk jalan2 selain juga untuk nonton musical legendaris ini. What a dream come true.

(note: it was April 1998, just a month before the the May 98 riot. Rupiah has already depreciated against other foreign currencies, but still stable enough for me to steal some of my monthly allowance to go for this trip. Of course, somehow I gave an impression to my parents that show ticket cost like movie ticket. I would not live to this day if my mother found out about how much I really paid for the show).

Waktu di Sydney jugalah saya pertama kalinya memuaskan diri untuk menyaksikan banyak musical. Mulai dari Rent, Cats, Chicago, The Sound of Music. Pada masa itu, juga adalah masa evangelisasi musical kepada dear boyfriend. Seperti juga Maria (The Sound of Music) yang masuk dan membawa musik ke dalam hidup Captain Vonn Trapp seperti itu pulalah saya memperkenalkan musik ke dalam hidup TB (then boyfriend).

Waktu saya akhirnya memutuskan untuk menjadi TKI ke sebuah negara kecil tetangga, ternyata, perhubungan saya dengan dunia teater music ini menjadi semakin akrab. Cita-cita lain untuk menonton Miss Saigon, akhirnya kesampaian juga. Dilanjutkan dengan pertunjukan-pertunjukan lain, baik yang produksi lokal maupun produksi international.

Ini list pertunjukan yang sudah pernah saya saksikan: in no particular order, alias yang masih diinget:

Phantom of The Opera (Sydney, April 98)

Chicago (Mar 99)

The Sound of Music (Nov 99)

Rent (Dec 99)

Cats (2000)

Hanoman mencari ayah (Indonesian first musical, nonton di TMII)

Miss Saigon (Aug 01)

Honk! (02)

Forbidden City (Opening of Esplanade Week)

Fame

Wedding Banquet

Oliver! (2003)

Mama Mia

Simple Twist of Fate (2006)

Phantom of The Opera (Singapore, Mar 07).

Wicked (2012)

Annie (2013)

My Fair Lady (2014)

The Sound of Music (2014)

Ucapan terima kasih:

Terima kasih untuk ortu saya yang telah memberikan dukungan finansial untuk beli tiket dan suami untuk dukungan finansial (beli tiket, beli buku panduan, beli CD) dan dukungan moril (nemenin nonton, booking tiket)

My life will not be as rich if not for you all!

 

Note: Written sometime between 2006 - 2010, but was never published. I decided to do some minor updates and publish it for fun!