I am not an easy man: a wake up call

Looking for a gender (in)equality themed movie? This will be one of my first choices. Lately somehow I am attracted less and less to comedies. God knows if I lost my sense of humour.. however, this one still wins my heart. Yep, it's a comedy movie with a clever twist. I am not an easy…

Old & new

Two things, old & new. Old one, a photo from Kuala Lumpur in 2015, which is SEVEN years ago. Wow. The note* gave me chuckle the first time, perhaps because I wasn't quite used to the lovably funny Malay language, especially for an Indonesian like myself; and how this can be a very interesting story..…

Working place

"Perhaps it's time you stop pretending that you can work from home" A short remark came from my dear husband as he turned off the lights in our bedroom. At least he was not saying it in a mean way, rather as a response to my lament about how when I clocked out of uni…

29

It's the last year I can say I'm twenty-something. Thanks for the cake sweetheart 😘. I thought I'm writing a teaser now because I'll write the real one later.. but hey, I'm too old to be deceived by my own ambition for the zillionth time. The after-teaser will never come, so let me write this…

My First Ramadhan in Winter

How is your feeling for the upcoming Ramadhan? I was chatting with two Saudi Arabian girls in the Union House's prayer room, around the time to pray ashar. One of them shared the same name as mine, and we've met a couple of times before---I even told her my frustration in my PhD progress: which…

Tidsoptimist

Oh Swedish how you know me so well. Dulu pemahaman saya tentang Swedia hanya terbatas pada toko furniture yang petunjuk perakitannya tidak sesuai kenyataan, pendidikan gratis, dan stockholm syndrome. Lalu saya jadi ngefans sejak menemukan kata ini. Dulu saya merasa sendirian. Saya bukannya mencari teman, saya tahu ini sifat yang tidak baik. Hanya sedikit lega…

Schadenfreude

Dari sini dari kulitku sendiri Kurasa bulu kudukku berdiri Saat merekah secercah tawa Saat kau perlu belasungkawa . Dari sini dari tanganku sendiri Ingin kupecut kakiku berlari Jengkel melihat wajahmu senang Senyum bila air matamu tergenang . Dahulu kita berteman Kini sudah tergerus zaman . Mengapa kita menyimpan benci Saat patutnya kita bersuci . Dari…

Rubatosis

Deg. Sudah seminggu sejak aku menerima surat panggilan dari yayasan untuk tugas pertamaku. Tetap saja jantungku berdegup kencang saat hidungku menghirup aroma disinfectant dari ruang yang akan kumasuki. Aku benci rumah sakit. Tapi inilah alasanku tercipta di dunia. Aku dan semua anak yang dibesarkan yayasan. Wanita berseragam putih itu mengisyaratkan agar aku berbaring di atas…

Qualtagh

We meet again, my old friend. The silver stag, my qualtagh for the umpteenth time. There is nothing romantic about hunting - the advantage in intelligence, equipment & ability overwhelming against the hunted. But how able is one trained in killing to become a saviour instead? The dozen times, bow loosed, I was blinkered, dazed…

Pochemuchka

Alexander the great and I. Seorang raja yunani yang kekuasaannya tersohor dan namanya bergaung sampai sekarang, termasuk nama kota tempat patung ini berdiri. Orang Arab menyebutnya Iskandariah. Bagi semua orang lainnya, ini kota Alexandria. Berikut ini foto seorang yang tidak berbakat dalam dunia modelling di sebelah patung Alexander the Great. Foto ini diambil di area…