Current Wishlist – Pacific Islands Edition

I was/am so crushed when I read about Cyclone Pam and how bad it is affecting Vanuatu. I’ve made jokes with countless friends about how I (and they too) need to go to the Pacific Islands soon, before they all disappear due to climate change. Frankly, it has always been an innocent joke. I mean, I know that climate is changing and everything, but seeing the damages that Cyclone Pam caused just made everything even more real.

(For more article on what the President of Vanuatu said in regards to how climate change is causing the disaster, you can read this and/or this. It reminds me of the incredible documentary of The Island President, which you HAVE TO watch, incase you haven’t!)

This devastating disaster made me decide to share my current wishlist, Pacific Islands edition, as well as to let everyone knows that my thoughts and prayers go to everyone in the Pacific Islands and the climate change threats they are facing.

(Also, this post is a continuation to a previous post that you can see here)

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Aksen Indonesia

Screen Shot 2015-08-31 at 14.37.19Tulisan ini tadinya ingin saya publikasikan pada 17 Agustus 2015 dalam rangka merayakan hari kemerdekaan Indonesia yang ke-70. Namun karena satu dan lain hal, saya tidak bisa dan sempat untuk melakukan hal tersebut. Jadilah saya mempublikasikan tulisan ini pada hari ini, hari terakhir di Agustus. Semoga semangat kemerdekaan masih terasa di dalam diri saya dan semua orang Indonesia.

 


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Oldest Questions

It all started by me. I have been doing this stupid thing within the past year and I cannot believe it myself.

That stupid thing I’ve been doing is meeting new people.
No, if you’re pervertibly thinking something else, maybe in relation to this post, sorry, my friend, you are wrong.

This stupid thing of meeting new people is 100% plutonic. It usually is for work or project or just casually meeting a friend of a friend of a friend.
The ironic thing is that I don’t hate meeting new people – although I hate it even more so now that I’m older. I actually quite enjoy meeting new people.

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Fasilitas Tidak Berguna

Masih dalam rangka merayakan banjirnya Jakarta, saya masih ingin bercerita tentang fasilitas lain yang sering saya temukan di Jakarta, terutama di kawasan Jakarta Pusat dan sekitarnya. Berbeda dengan tulisan saya sebelumnya, beberapa fasilitas yang akan saya bahas pada tulisan ini adalah fasilitas-fasilitas yang, menurut saya, tidak berguna.

Hah? Tidak berguna? Memangnya siapa sih saya sampai berani-beraninya menghakimi penting atau tidaknya, berguna atau tidaknya, suatu fasilitas yang ada di sebuah kota?

Jawaban saya: terserah saya dong! Ini kan opini saya sebagai seorang warga – walaupun saya sebenarnya warga Kota Tangerang Selatan, Banten (berdasarkan KTP), tetapi setiap hari saya mondar-mandir di Kota Jakarta ini, sering jalan kaki pula. Jadi secara sepihak, saya mengklaim bahwa saya punya hak untuk ikut menyuarakan opini saya soal fasilitas yang ada di jalanan Jakarta.

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Hop On/Hop Off?

Untuk merayakan Jakarta yang lagi banjir-banjirnya, saya memutuskan untuk berbagi sedikit opini saya tentang salah satu fasilitas yang ada di kota ini.

Dua minggu yang lalu, untuk kedua kalinya, saya menaiki bis tur ‘keliling’ Jakarta alias Jakarta City Tour. Untuk kedua kalinya juga juga saya merasa kecewa.

Dari awal berniat untuk naik bis tur ini, si bis memang tampak kurang bonafid. Saya mencoba melakukan riset sedikit lewat internet soal bis tur ‘keliling’ Jakarta ini dan informasi yang bisa saya dapatkan di Internet sangat sedikit. Memang ada beberapa blog yang sudah mengulas pengalaman menaiki bis ini, review tentang bis ini juga sudah ada di Tripadvisor, tapi mana informasi resmi dari Pemerintah Provinsi DKI Jakarta ya? Saya hanya bisa menemukan berita ini dengan informasi yang sangat ketinggalan zaman.

Tidak adanya informasi resmi dari PemProv DKI Jakarta di internet ini menurut saya sangat mengherankan. Pasalnya, setahu saya, bis tur ini adalah salah satu program unggulan PemProv, terutama sewaktu Jokowi masih jadi gubernur dulu. Aneh ya, padahal situs resmi PemProv dan Enjoy Jakarta lumayan bagus. Sayang sekali tidak ada selipan tentang bis tur ini.

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An Offer I Couldn’t Refuse

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Race the Clock.”

This is a super hard question. What is that one offer that I couldn’t refuse?

 

First thought: money.

Meh. Sure I need money to sustain my live and therefore live my dream, but if I don’t know where the money come from, I would hesitate to accept it.

 

Second thought: PhD offer.

Another meh. I wouldn’t want to do a PhD about something that I’m only half-heartedly interested in. It’s a huge commitment and I want to make sure that I’m in love with my topic. So, I wouldn’t want to accept it without having long thoughts about it.

 

Finally. Third thought: dual citizenship offer – from UK or USA

Now, that is an offer that I couldn’t refuse.

I mean, I love Indonesia and everything, but seriously, Indonesian passport couldn’t sustain my desire to travel forever. The pain to get visa to go anywhere has scarred me for life. There was never an exciting moment in fulfilling those visa application forms. And my effort to make sure the so-and-so embassy to believe that I wouldn’t beg their government for money by the time I get to their country maybe able to move a mountain. It was always ridiculously exhausting. So, a citizenship offer from the UK and/or USA would be something that could support all my travelling plans – I mean, I’m dreaming anyway and while at it, I shall dream to get a passport from one of the two countries with the strongest passports in the world, right?

 

So, when can I accept this offer?

Pacar-Pacaran

“Enggak punya pacar ya?”

“………”

“Udah lama ya enggak punya pacar?”

“………”

 

Begitulah percakapan saya dengan dokter saya pada suatu malam.

(Kalau-kalau ada yang panik dan bertanya-tanya “saya sakit apa?”, tenang saja. Saya tidak sakit apa-apa. Cuma lagi iseng saja pengen ke dokter. Kalau tidak ada yang panik ya alhamdulillah.)

Kembali ke pembicaraan saya dan dokter saya pada suatu malam tersebut.

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Current Wishlist – African Edition

What better way to start the new year than daydreaming planning about where you would like to spend your holiday? I know for a fact that some people actually look at the calendar, find out when and how many days off they’re going to have and plan their holiday. I don’t exactly plan my holiday that way, nor do I have that privilege to do so. I could only create a wishlist and from time to time and somehow could magically tick stuff off of my list. This year is no difference. So I hereby share my current wishlist – African edition.

Everyone has been talking about the continent of Africa within the past year due to Ebola. Not to mention there’s this crazy guy called Boko Haram that has been kidnapping random girls and using Islam as a silly reasoning. These things irritate me because everyone in the world practically associates the continent with endless horrible nightmares. My first encounter with the continent was extremely brief – I traveled within Morocco for a few weeks, a few years back. This brief encounter made me believe that there’s absolutely a certain charm about Africa that most people forget. This is why I created this list. Frankly, if I don’t limit myself to five places, this list could be endless.

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