Sunday, February 6, 2011

kadang jatuh cinta, cukup diam-diam

Post ini terinspirasi dari Bab I Marmut Merah Jambu-nya Raditya Dika, "Orang Yang Jatuh Cinta Diam-diam" yang baru aja gue baca belakangan ini. Jujur, gue ga ngikutin buku-bukunya dia. Tapi, gue follow akun twitternya (@radityadika) dan gue pernah beberapa kali baca blognya dan menurut gue dia sangat jenius. Dia berani dan mau terlihat bodoh dan mempermalukan diri sendiri dalam tulisan-tulisannya. For me, it takes a genius to make someone who is actually smart looks stupid and ridiculous. Dan tulisan-tulisannya dia sendiri sangat lucu dan kreatif. Okay, I think it's obvious that I admire this guy. But, I don't wanna talk about him in this post. Instead, I wanna beg to differ his implied idea on secretly falling in love with someone as he wrote on the first chapter of his latest book.

Dari kecil, gue sudah mencuci otak gue sendiri dengan kisah-kisah romantis lewat film, novel, komik dan lagu yang gue tonton, baca dan dengar. Dan ada dua kesimpulan atau pelajaran atau nilai kehidupan atau apa yang gue suka sebut dengan love-life lesson yang gue dapet setelah penelitian pribadi selama bertahun-tahun itu. 

Love-life lesson #1, kita (khususnya perempuan) harus berani menyatakan perasaan kita dan memperjuangkan apa yang menurut hati kita benar. Di satu sisi, gue senang dengan pemikiran seperti ini karena ada sedikit nuansa feminisme di dalamnya. Tahu kan, stereotipe yang tertanam kuat di masyarakat adalah cowok adalah the do-er dalam suatu hubungan. They make the first move, and women must do nothing but wait. Tapi di beberapa film romantis yang gue tonton, ada "ide menyenangkan" tentang bagaimana cewek sah-sah aja untuk bersikap lebih agresif. Misalnya di film Notting Hill, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging atau He's Just Not That Into You di mana para cewek pemeran utama dalam film-film itu berani bikin first move ke cowok yang dia taksir. Tapi, di sisi lain, menurut gue chick flick juga membawa pesan terselubung yang sayangnya mengukuhkan sistem patriarki yang sangat merugikan kaum perempuan tentunya, yaitu: cewek 'harus' menganggap cewek lain sebagai saingannya, entah itu dalam percintaan, pekerjaan, fashion style dll. Misalnya ya, tokoh Rachel di serial Glee yang menganggap Quinn sebagai saingannya dalam mendapatkan Finn. Secara umum, sebenarnya gue setuju aja sama love-life lesson #1 ini. Tapi, gue ngeliatnya lebih ke lingkup yang lebih luas, bukan soal perasaan cinta aja. Menurut gue, kita (perempuan) memang harus lebih berani mengekspresikan pendapat kita dalam tiap aspek kehidupan.

Love-life lesson #2 yang gue dapat adalah nyatakan perasaan kita sebelum terlambat. Adegan seorang cewek/cowok menyatakan perasaannya sebelum orang yang dia taksir pergi ke luar negeri atau menikah dengan orang lain adalah adegan klasik dalam film romantis. Dan ini adalah pesan tersirat yang gue dapat dari bab "Orang Yang Jatuh Cinta Diam-diam." Intinya, dari yang gue baca, Raditya Dika menyesali kenyataan bahwa dia dulu ga berani menyatakan perasaannya ke cewek yang dia taksir waktu SMP. Biasanya, gue bakal jadi galau sendiri sehabis baca bacaan kaya gini. Tapi sekarang engga lagi. Gue bahkan berpendapat berbeda dengan Raditya. Kadang, menurut gue, jatuh cinta memang cuma perlu diam-diam.

Sebentar, sebelum ngebahas lebih jauh, gue mau memberikan definisi 'cinta' menurut gue. Cinta di sini maksud gue adalah perasaan suka, perasaan pengen dekat dan memiliki orang yang kita suka. Yah walau sebenernya 'suka' dan 'pengen memiliki' adalah dua hal yang berbeda, tapi biasanya perasaan itu datengnya satu paket, kan? Kenapa gue mempersempit istilah cinta ini. Karena menurut gue, cinta (yang seperti di film-film romantis itu) itu engga ada. Cinta itu perlu proses. Jadi, perasaan tertarik kita sama lawan jenis adalah suka. Kita suka, jadi deket, pacaran whatsoever, menikah. Dan cinta hadir selama proses itu. Cinta ga dateng saat kita pertama kali ngeliat seseorang. Karena itu, sebuah hubungan, menurut gue, ga bakal berhasil kalau cuma mengandalkan cinta (karena cinta itu muncul dalam prosesnya, perasaan yang kita punya adalah perasaan suka. Dan perasaan suka itu ga bakal kuat buat jadi dasar sebuah hubungan). Hubungan itu butuh komitmen. Komitmenlah yang membuat sebuah hubungan bisa bertahan. Karena itu, menurut gue, hubungan itu harus diusahakan dan dijaga dan butuh kerja keras.

Baiklah, kembali ke soal mencintai dengan diam-diam. Menurut gue, kadang emang jatuh cinta cukup hanya dengan diam-diam. Karena kadang, kalau kita terlalu mengikuti perasaan kita, kita akan berakhir dengan menyesali kebodohan diri sendiri karena melakukan hal-hal yang engga masuk akal demi apa yang namanya cinta itu. Fakta kalau perempuan lebih banyak mengandalkan perasaan dan pria mengandalkan logika memang sudah tak terbantahkan. Karena itu, tindakan perempuan banyak yang emosional dan tindakan pria cenderung rasional. Begitu pula, kalau jatuh cinta. Perempuan cenderung melakukan hal yang emosional dan kadang irasional kalau jatuh cinta. Sementara pria, karena mereka sangat mengandalkan otak mereka, mereka tetap bisa bersikap rasional bahkan saat jatuh cinta. Jadi, maksud gue adalah kalau kita ga bisa menahan perasaan dan menggunakan logika, ada baiknya kita cukup jatuh cinta dengan diam-diam daripada menyesal nantinya.

Friday, February 4, 2011

hello, 2011!

Hello, online journal! It's been a long time, huh? First of all, let me write: belated happy new year! I only have 2 resolutions this year, and one of them is to have a settled job. And I'm really looking forward to make it come true. Amen.

I have like a lot to say. But, I just don't know where to start. Mmmm, I think I'll start with my were-not-so-nice christmas and new year eve. I was sick on christmas eve. What could be worse than that? Oh, I know: the fact that my parents were going back to their hometown. So, I didn't go to church, I didn't have a christmas eve dinner and there was no christmas cookies whatsoever in the house. It was so sad. Pretty similar thing happened on the NYE for I was still sick (to be honest, I am still not feeling well as I write this post, and it's already January 28th, for heaven's sake! So, I've been sick for a year, eh?). So, again I didn't go to the church. But the saddest part is I think the fact that I missed the chance to spend NYE with my friends. You know, it's a tradition in my family (I happened to be raised in a Batak-Christian family) to spend NYE with our extended family. We talk, we sing, we pray before we eventually together do the count down. So, for 22 years, I have always spent NYE with my family. And, this year (or last year?), when I finally got the chance to spend it with my friends, my body demanded to just stay in bed. So I spent my NYE in my bed, sleeping.

And, nah! Those aren't the only reasons why I think December was the lowest point in my life in 2010. I failed to get my so-called dream job. I was so sad. So sad I even can't describe how sad I was. People said nice things to me, but they didn't work. I was so sad because I could feel that I was so close to get it, but turned out I was wrong. When the result was announced on the internet and I saw my name wasn't on the list, I was devastated. I cried. In silence. I decided not to tell anyone about how I truly felt about my failure because it wouldn't make me feel any better. I knew it. But, mmmmm actually I also felt at that moment that I didn't really have someone to talk to. I didn't wanna make my family worried about me. And I didn't tell my friend that I was trying to get this so-called dream job, so I couldn't talk to them either.

But, I didn't let myself drown in self pity for more than a week, you know. I already felt much better couple of days later. I pulled myself together and convinced myself that He has a master plan, which is of course true. And that's the only reason I'm capable of facing this failure. Well, I guess what I'm just trying to say is that you should never rely on anybody else to motivate yourself. I mean, of course sometimes you wanna do something because you wanna make your family and friends proud, but it's our own motivation that can help us getting through all the failures that we have to face before we eventually see the silver lining. So, let's rock with me, 2011!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

let me be peter pan... for like forever

This title came up just now. Last month, I turned 22. It makes no difference for me as I always think that I'm trapped in a 16-yo soul. LOL. But I mean it. But to be honest, being 22 is such a heavy burden for me. You know, I am now officially an adult (since I was 21, I was already officially an adult actually). I now have to be responsible for my life. I have to start thinking about my future seriously, about what I'm going to do and to be in the future and so on and so forth. And it's kind of frustrating for me.

Other thing that I also find frustrating is the conversation. Adults' conversation is just plain boring because it's too darn serious. People now start talking about life to me. They talk about career, life partner, personal and financial issues and so on. This is so frustrating. I try my best to be involved and be interested in such conversation. But I just can's stop thinking about what I should eat for lunch, which Glee's soundtrack that I haven't downloaded, what movies I should watch this weekend, what books I haven't finished reading etc everytime people happen to talk about those serious things. I hate myself for being so immature, but I just can't help it.


This whole idea about growing up really scares me to death.


I don't want to grow up.
I want to be forever 16.
Oh, dear life.

Monday, November 22, 2010

fireworks

Currently, I'm addicted to this song. I love the lyrics. It reminds me that I should keep the sparks in me. That I should keep the faith to pursue my dreams and goals. 


Fireworks - Katy Perry

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag
Drifting through the wind
Wanting to start again

Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin
Like a house of cards
One blow from caving in

Do you ever feel already buried deep
Six feet under scream
But no one seems to hear a thing

Do you know that there's still a chance for you
Cause there's a spark in you

You just gotta ignite the light
And let it shine
Just own the night
Like the Fourth of July

Cause baby you're a firework
Come on show 'em what your worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby you're a firework
Come on let your colors burst
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
You're gonna leave 'em fallin' down-own-own

You don't have to feel like a waste of space
You're original, cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds
After a hurricane comes a rainbow

Maybe you're reason why all the doors are closed
So you can open one that leads you to the perfect road
Like a lightning bolt, your heart will blow
And when it's time, you'll know

You just gotta ignite the light
And let it shine
Just own the night
Like the Fourth of July

Cause baby you're a firework
Come on show 'em what your worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby you're a firework
Come on let your colors burst
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
You're gonna leave 'em fallin' down-own-own

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
It's always been inside of you, you, you
And now it's time to let it through

Cause baby you're a firework
Come on show 'em what your worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby you're a firework
Come on let your colors burst
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
You're gonna leave 'em goin "Oh, oh, oh!"

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon

taken from this link

Sunday, November 14, 2010

pop-up in my head

A: Why rock the boat?
B: Because I have to know that we are on the same boat and heading to the same direction.