The Best Is Yet To Come

"Whatever with the past has gone, the best is always yet to come." - Lucy Larcom

October. The best month of the year. Because it's my month, my birth month, my birth day. I'm 32 yo. this year. Alhamdulillah, God must have loved me so much that He gave me a long time to live. As I recalled the previous years, I have lived a wonderful life and experienced the greatest thing. I have to give my parents a credit for that. They taught me to be fearless, including in admitting my flaws, thankful, humble and responsible. Being thankful is definitely a key to happiness. 

Inspired by The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, have you ever think about what people will say about you in your eulogy? Have you ever wonder about what they'll remember about you the most? I have. Well I'm not exactly the kind of person who'll listen to what people said. I've stopped being that kind loooong time ago. But I do want to know whether my presence meant something for them, left a trace, whether happiness, sadness or even pain, in their paths and their hearts. 

I want to be remembered as someone who light up the day and lighten your burdens, who makes you laugh in a busy and hard day with stupid jokes, someone who always has unlimited huggies to comfort you and always enough times and ears to hear all your happy and sad news. Sounds ambitious, huh? Yeah I want to be useful for others. And I've spent my 32 years trying to do so, so I won't stop now. The more we give to others, the more we receive from Allah SWT.

To make my birthday was even better, this company assigned me to Manado for 2 days. It's just another business trip, but I managed to visit Bunaken as well, spending 1 night there, snorkling and enjoying the beauty of Bunaken sea and underwater. Another reason to be thankful, right?

But nevertheless, the best is always yet to come. There's still much more to reach, goals to achieve, places to visit and Mr. Right to find (teteuuup,,). That's why I want to live my life to the fullest, being the best person I can be and giving back His gifts to those whose in needs. For God is Almighty, you'll be surprised by His gift for you, each and every day. Thank You dear Allah SWT for a wonderful 32 years, and many more years to come, Insya Allah,,, :))

   

A concert junkie (?)

Gw suka nonton konser dan festival musik, especially if it was my favourite singer or band. Ada yang nanya kenapa gw suka, apa yang gw cari? Apalagi mengingat harga tiketnya yang cukup mahal, dan gw tinggal di Cepu. Padahal biasanya konsernya di Jakarta, sehingga butuh effort ekstra untuk nontonnya. Mulai dari cari tiketnya, ngurus cuti dan tentu saja biaya transport Cepu-Jakarta PP.

Konser pertama yang gw tonton, seinget gw adalah /Rif, di Stadion Notohadinegoro Jember. Kayanya gw masi kuliah, nontonnya bareng bokap. Bukannya gw ngefans yaaa, tapi bokap yang ngefans, dan gw nemenin beliau. Hehehehe,,,, Lupa berapa harga tiketnya, tapi kami beli on the spot. Gw ga gitu hapal or ngerti lagunya, ga gitu enjoy the show juga. Setelah sekitar 3 atau 4 lagu, Bapak ngajak pulang. And there was my first music concert.

Trus pas masi pendidikan di bank, Linkin Park konser di Indonesia. Tepatnya 13 Juni 2004, hari Minggu (kalo ga salah), di Pantai Karnaval Ancol. Harga tiketnya Rp 400.000,- cukup mahal juga buat gw waktu itu. Secara yaa masi pendidikan dan OJT, mana hari Seninnya ada ujian. Tapi ternyata Romi, teman di bank juga, pengen nonton juga dan ngajakin. Akhirnya beli deh tiket konsernyaaaaa,,,,, sebodo ama ujiannya, hehehe,,, Pertimbangan gw, ujian kalo ga lulus masi ada kesempatan ngulang sekali. Nah kalo Linkin Park, mana tau kapan dia bakal konser lagi di Indonesia? Jadilah gw & Romi nonton di Pantai Karnaval Ancol, bareng ama beberapa temen Romi juga. Mulainya jam 2 atau 3 sore, tapi jam 12 udah antri masuk, panaas banget! Engga bawa kamera or henpon, cuma bawa tiket, KTP dan duit secukupnya.

Really enjoyed the show! Semuanya kelas Festival dan karena gw imut, susah amat liat ke depan. Pulang menjelang sunset, keringetan, kepanasan, cape, but the adrenaline rush stayed. Excited.

Waktu udah gedean lagi, udah pindah ke perusahaan ini, sempet nonton JavaJazz dan JavaRockinland. Lebih banyak panggung, lebih banyak penyanyi dan lebih banyak crowdnya. Pas JavaJazz paling suka nonton Peabo Bryson, Kla Project & Maliq & The Essential. Kalau JavaRockinland nontonnya bareng @elvenaprihastri, di Pantai Karnaval Ancol lagi. Itu JavaRockinland pertama, dan kami nekat aja sih, walau agak serem. Cewe-cewe cuma nonton berduaan, bertiga sama @iindadah di hari berikutnya, kalau rusuh gimana? But we managed it, paling suka pas nonton Slank, /Rif dan Mr. Big. Nah, saat itu gw baru ngerti kenapa bokap suka banget ama /Rif. Aksi panggungnya attraktif, dan lagunya emang keren yaaa,,,

Lalu pindahlah gw ke Cepu, sekitar 2 tahunan deh ga nonton konser or festival musik lagi. Atau mungkin emang ga ada yang menarik buat gw bela-belain nonton.

Sampai awal tahun 2011 lalu,,,,

Linkin Park, Gelora Bung Karno, Jakarta, Sept 21st 2011

Linkin Park diinfokan bakal manggung 24 (or 25, lupa) September 2011 di F1 Night Race Singapore. Udah mulai browsing tiket nonton dan tiket pesawatnya, walau gw ama Indah juga baru dari Singapore. Yah, kalau Singapore adalah tempat terdekat yang mereka mo mampir, I'll be there. Eh ternyata mereka juga konser di Jakarta, 21 September 2011, diumumin di twitter. Heboh deh dunia persilatan. Well, at least my world.
Cari temen yang mau nonton, dan yang akhirnya bersedia juga @rhinotherhino & @iindadah Karena gw di Cepu dan 2 bos itu sibuk di kantor masing-masing, kami beli tiket online via RajaKarcis. Gw lupa harganya, kalo ga salah Rp 750.000,- untuk tribun. Yeah, pilih tribun coz ga pengen kegencet di Festival, dan karena harga tiket Festival Rp 2.000.000,- . Ahahahah,,,, we're cheap!

Menjelang hari H, yang hari Rabu, udah panik aja karena nampaknya ga bakal bisa cuti. Tapi masa ga jadi nonton? Gantung diri aja deh gw,,,,, *lebay. Alhamdulillah, ada tugas ke Jakarta untuk hari Kamisnya, tapi ujian sertifikasi.  Bahannya 23 modul, baru diemailkan seminggu sebelumnya. Gw ijin ama pak bos untuk berangkat sejak Rabu pagi, ngaku kalau Rabu malam mau nonton konser. Surprisingly, dan juga karena bos gw emang baik, gw diijinkan.

Berangkat Rabu pagi naik KA ke Semarang, dari sana naik pesawat ke Jakarta. Di Jakarta langsung check in di hotel jam 3-an dan jam 4 berangkat ke Ambassador. Mau ketemuan disana ama @iindadah, but she caught up on something. Tempat berkumpul langsung dipindah ke fX, deket GBK. Si @rhinotherhino hari itu juga mendadak ada meeting di tempat lain, jauuuuh. Jam 5 sore di masi di daerah Mampang, jam 6 masi di Kuningan, jam 7 baru sampai GBK.

And we were there when #LProcksGBK :))
We sang, we screamed, we jumped with them. Linkin Park was awesome as usual!

#LProcksGBK

Chester dkk sama sekali ga nginep di Jakarta. Pesawatnya sampai di Halim jam 7 malam, ke GBK, istirahat bentar, jam 9 mulai. Jam 11 malam selesai, langsung naik mobil, diantar ke Halim & left to  Singapore.

@rhinotherhino, @iindadah and @rperdhani

Dan bagaimana ujian sertifikasi gw pemirsaaaa?

Dari 23 modul, gw cuma baca 1 modul, itu pun ga selesai. Lucky me, I passed the test,,,, Alhamdulillaaah,,,

NKOTBSB, MEIS Ancol, Jakarta, June 1st 2012

For those who didn't know, NKOTBSB = NKOTB + BSB yaaaa,,, NKOTB adalah boyband masa gw SD dan SMP dan BSB masa gw SMP dan SMA. So basically, nowadays they are omomband rather than boyband.

Sekali lagi, kali ini gw berpartner ama @iindadah, dan kami bertekat kuat buat nonton.

Karena :

1. Siapa tau abis ini mereka bubar or else, dan

2. Ga mau keabisan tiket kaya dulu pas mo nonton BSB.

Harga tiketnya Rp 950.000,- , Festival (tentu saja yang  paling murah) dan beli online di RajaKarcis. Bedanya sekarang harus dibayar cash, transfer ke rekening BCA. Jadi kami bagi tugas, gw yang urus onlinenya, @iindadah yang transfer. Gw lari-lari dari lapangan ke kantor buat beli online (takut keabisan). Dan buat bayar, @iindadah harus naik ojek segala dari kantornya ke ATM BCA terdekat.

Pas hari H gw cuti, dengan alasan kepentingan pribadi yang ga bisa ditunda :D
Ya pigimane lagi dong yaaah,,,, mahapkan sayah pak bos. You can read the trip here .

Omomband : NKOTBSB

Nah bagaimanakah konser omomband itu? Secara mereka udah om-om, staminanya tentu saja beda, ngos-ngosan dan sering fals. Tapi tetep ganteng dan para wanita tetep histeris.

Sebelum konser gw paling pengen liat Joey McIntyre (NKOTB) dan Brian Littrell (BSB). But during the concert I couldn't take my eyes off Donnie Wahlberg (NKOTB), and of course Brian Littrell (BSB), teteup,,,

Kenapa jadi Donnie, karena gw ngikutin serial Blue Bloods, dimana Donnie jadi Detektif disitu. Menurut gw, Donnie lebih okeh di Blue Bloods daripada jadi omomband,,, :D

The wristband

me & @iindadah

Ramenya luar biasaaaaa,,,  Saingannya bukan cuma abege tapi juga tante-tante dan mahmud-mahmud. 

But @iindadah and me still had a heaps of fun there,,,

Yang pasti, gw kapok nonton di Festival, leher pegel, ga jelas liatnya. Dan salut ama para lelaki yang mau beli tiket dan nonton juga, demi nemenin pacar atau istri mereka. So sweet guys,,, :))

Maroon 5, Istora Senayan, Jakarta, October 5th, 2012

the ticket

Seperti halnya Linkin Park tahun 2011 lalu, Maroon 5 dijadwalkan manggung di F1 Night Race, Singapore. Gw juga udah berencana nonton disana, coz lagi suka lagu-lagu mereka, dan Adam Levine. Semacam Moves Like Jagger dan Stereo Hearts. Adam Levine is one yummy guy to watch and to listen to. But heeeyyy,,, ternyata mereka akan konser di Jakarta juga.
Tiketnya Rp 950.000,-, berencana nonton berdua ama @rhinotherhino tapi beli tiketnyanya nitip temen, @Olivia5andra dan @dian_ramadhani.

Bedanya ama Linkin Park yang gw tau lagu-lagunya dari album pertama, gw rookie soal Maroon 5. Jadilah gw beli album barunya, Overexposed, mengingat judul tournya OverexposedWorldTour. Dan gw browsing set list lagu konsernya, cari lagu dan teksnya, simpan di iPhone. Jadi gw belajar dooong. Mengenal dan menghapal lagu-lagunya Maroon 5.

This is going to be a great concert dan gw ga mau cuma bengong ajah. Akibatnyaaaaa,,,, gw jadi makin addicted to Adam Levine, ahahaha,,,,

Dian, Rizka, Mariesa dan Sandra

Menjelang hari H, @rhinotherhino ternyata harus ke Manila, jadi tiketnya nganggur 1. Sold to @riesha_blue, jadi kami nonton ber-4 ama @Olivia5andra dan @dian_ramadhani. Kali ini gw cuti dan jujur bilang mau nonton konser.

Konsernya Jumat malam, jadi gw cuti sehari doang, berangkat naik KA Kamis malam dari Cepu. Sampai Jakarta pagi, istirahat bentar, sempet ketemu mba @relizakodri, my financial planner. Baru ke fX tempat janjian ketemu, makan malam lalu berangkat ke Istora.

Mr. Frontman, Adam Levine

The concert really was great! It was waaay beyond my expectation. Mas Adam Levine suaranya emang beneran bagus dan utuh kaya di CD. Staminanya juga okeh, walo dia lompat sana-sini, joget-joget, nyanyi tetep ga fals. Lighting ama soundnya juga okeh banget. Beneran ga rugi...

Dan kalau gw bawa granat, udah gw lempar ke pinggir panggung. Coz Behati Prinsloo, pacarnya Mas Adam ada di pinggir panggung, ikutan joget. Hahahaha,,,

Untung juga gw belajar lagu-lagunya Maroon 5 selama 2 bulanan. Jadi familiar dan bisa nyanyi-nyanyi bareng Mr. Frontman.

Yang tersisa dari konser ini adalah The Adam Levine Addiction. Penyakit kecanduan Adam Levine ini seperti tiada akhir walaupun akhir-akhir ini sudah berkurang, hehehe,,, Buntutnya jadi beli 3 album Maroon 5 sebelum Overexposed, so I guess I'm officially a Marooner  now,,, :D

Back to the previous question, am I a concert junkie?

I don't think so.

I just enjoy the music, the crowd, the adrenaline rush, singing out loud.

I just looovvveeee having a good time, once in awhile.

That's why I love going to a concert,,, :))

Addiction

I have a new addiction recently, and it's kinda irritating.

Because it won't go off and it seems like there's no cure for this illness.

Unless the illness himself.

The one and only, Mr. Adam Levine.

Oh what am I gonna do with you, Adam?

How am I going to be recover from the Adam Levine Addiction?

False Alarm

I'm more than happy to inform you that I had medical check up yesterday,
And it came back with good, even great, result!
Yaaay! Alhamdulillaaaah,,,
So the cyst is no longer existed in my ovarium.
It may not a cyst, and apparently being washed by my monthly period.
But I should have it checked again in next 6 months.

I'm a skeptic. Natural born and well trained.
This skeptic in me made me prepare for the worst.
I thought I was ready to hear the doctor said, "It stays." or "It grows bigger."
But when the doctor said "It's gone. All of it. You're clean.",
I felt sooooooo relieved.
And I realized that I was never going to be ready to hear the worst case.

For what it's worth, this false alarm made me thinking.
And now I know what I want in my life the most and who I want to live my life with.
Well, at least the kind of guy I want to share my life with, hehehe,,,

Untitled

"I'm fiercely independent, but I'm terrified of being alone." - Adam Levine

I quote that not because I have a huge crush on Adam Levine, or because Maroon 5 is going to perform in Jakarta this week. It's simply because it's true, he said what's exactly crossed my mind nowadays.

This blog post is called Untitled, because I actually have a lot of things in mind that I want to elaborate and write in here and I don't know exactly the point of this. I just want to write it down.

A dear friend told me that her recent medical check up shows bad results. She has myom on her uterus and cyst on both of her ovarium. They're big and many of them, it's bad, it's just bad. Doctor said it can be removed but it means that she has to loose her uterus and ovarium. She hasn't been married, for God's sake, and she's in her mid twenties. She choosed to try alternative medicine first, because however, she does want to have children one day. And she's afraid that nobody will ever want to marry her if she can't have children.

At some point, it got me thinking. So here is the harsh truth. My last medical checked up wasn't good either. The doctor detected cyst on one of my ovarium, but it's small. Doctor said there's nothing to be worried about, I just have to check it again, once in every 3 months, to monitor whether it grows or not. My next check up will be next week, hopefully the doctor is right, there's nothing to be worried about and all is well.

But if I were on my friend's shoes, God forbid, I may choose the other way. I want to live. I want to be healthy and alive. Doctor can remove whatever it needs to be removed. And about the husband-to-be, I believe that if he loves me, he won't bother that I can have his children or not. A child can come from many ways.

About what Adam said earlier, I am an independent woman now. And I admit that I'm terrified of being alone. But now I want to see this from other perspective. If something bad happens, however it's gotta be happening for a reason. Maybe God wants me to change my purpose of life, my direction, or even my life. God always has a better plan. So I don't mind if that means I have to be alone in this life. I won't be terrified of it. Someone said that it's better to be alone rather than being in a bad company.

And it proves me that Mpok was right. I should choose my future husband wisely. I don't want a knight in shining armor. I don't want a prince to slay the dragons for me. I can slay the dragons by myself. I just want someone who will always be there. No matter what the future holds. In our rainy or shiny days, whether we're sicker or healthier, richer or poorer. Just being there, with me. Nothing more or less. Being there, or nothing at all.

Well, it's an emotional post. And very personal. I just need to write it down, clear up my mind. You don't have to read it or like it, okaaay?