Of Skulls and Arrows

Book Review: The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters

The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters Date of Publication: October 14th 2014 Synopsis: Olivia Mead is a headstrong, independent girl—a suffragist—in an age that prefers its girls to be docile. It’s 1900 in Oregon, and Olivia’s father, concerned that she’s headed for trouble, convinces a stage mesmerist to try to hypnotize the rebellion out of her. But the hypnotist, an intriguing young man named…

Here is how I rate my books: 5 stars: I love this book/definitely going to add this to my favourite shelf 4 stars: I like this book, but I don’t think it will be a favourite 3 stars: A good read, but nothing special 2 stars: A horrible read 1 stars: …*set the book aside*

I first discovered Pivot Point years ago before its second book came out. Back then, dystopia and paranormal themed books were totally so in the hype. I found it sitting on the recommendation section on my Goodreads account and add it to my to-read list. I even got myself a copy of it. But I did not read it until now since I kind of lost interest in it for a while.

 Now, skipping to my current state where I still have like a month and a half left of holiday and also am currently overbored, I decided to re-arrange my list of to-read books on Goodreads. And by re-arranging, I mean throwing out the ones I have completely no interest in reading and starting to read the ones I still am interested in. And Pivot Point was the first book I picked up.

 Considering the good, gushing reviews from trusted reviewers and also the plot in which the main character has the ability to ‘Search’ the future and also a world with top-secret government stuff, I initially had a high expectation of it being the next great read. But the after effects is far away from what I had hoped for. Let’s break it down to bits as it going to be pretty jumbly,

The Plot

Both books—the first and the second one—were written in switching point of views. And to be honest, I sometimes jumbled them up. During the first book, yeah, I think what drives the plot is pretty convincing and good—a girl forced to choose one of her parents to live with, sees into her future for both choices, wants to choose the ones that better for her but in the end chose the other one to save her bestfriend’s life. But in the second book, it feels like the main drive was how to get Trevor to be Addie’s. And also Connor. Don’t get me wrong—I think these two guys definitely would fit in my book crush list—but the way these guys are introduced to the story and the way they finally got to be in the main plot is…well, sort of like we’re being told that hey, that’s their love interest. The first time they were introduced, and then bam, the girls are head over heels for them. I’m speaking nonsense here, so let’s just say that I don’t really feel their background story and it’s like they’re there in the story just to be a love interest and also like the relationships there is mostly so physical so you don’t exactly know whether they are really acting on feelings inside or just physical attractiveness.

The World

Like I said earlier, this book presented you a parallel universe where there are like super people with abilities and also they’re own government to keep it all shut in. Sounds a bit like Divergent, doesn’t it? And yes, it’s kind of ironic how Addie’s ability is termed as Divergence. Think of Hunger Games, Harry Potter, and so on—these are good books presenting another parallel universe. And they’re good and interesting because other than having a good plot, characters, and so on, they also tell the world they’re living in, which are definitely foreign to us Norm readers. And that is what makes it more interesting. All in all, I only wished that West had written more about the world and system of these Para people, because, yeah, that would be cool and make the book more inviting. And also maybe, they find out that the system is totally screwed up and decided to break it all over—kind of like Divergent. That will be cooler.

Characters

-       Addison Coleman: or Addie for short. Her directly latching on the one guy she met as an attempt to find a new best friend is kind of desperate. And yet in the end he’s the one that in the end became her love interest–the friendship here doesn’t ring true. And also the part in Split Second where she remembered the other path in her earlier Search in which she found out that she had been in love with Trevor, and then afterwards decided that there’s a hole in her chest that wouldn’t be complete unless Trevor is hers again. Laila is not helping, as she immediately suggested project ‘Get Trevor Back’, which again sounds desperate. The cover of Pivot Point might influence my judgment, but when I imagined what Addie would look like, I think of Taylor Swift and her blond hair. And yet TS herself made a career out of singing love songs inspired by her past relationships with boys.

-       Laila: Addie’s supposed best friend. I imagined her to be this sassy black woman with curves she’s proud of and great black hair. She’s boy crazy and a total flirt. She also has a rough home life, so maybe that also played a part in her character with all the toughness in her and also her motive. But I kind of doubt her relationship with Connor because it was like really physical from the start—she used her looks to get him to do what she wanted, but then uses him to be able to advance her ability.

-       Trevor: he’s named like Neville’s toad in Harry Potter. Overall in Pivot Pivot where he’s just in a Search, I thought, hey, maybe he could be the one added next to my book crush list. But then Split Second came out–not so much. He’s cool in Pivot Point because you can see his personality more. He appeared first as a friend who has no clue on Addie’s past. But then in Split Second, he knew that Addie went to Lincoln High and suspected that she also has these Para abilities. It made his motive look more like he’s suspicious of her abilities and fell for her more because of it, too, not because of her true personality. Their relationship also seemed more rushed in the second book. Anyways, have you ever downloaded the Episode game from Google PlayStore or any other device that has it? Check out the story Georgia and the male love interest. That is what I imagined Trevor would look like. Maybe like this guy below, but without the moustache and goatee and stuff.

-       Connor Bradshaw: he’s Healer with Norm secrets. Add Grandpa and Healer is probably the ability I would like to have if I was in Addie’s Para world. He’s brooding and stuff. I couldn’t think of any people looking like him, but I imagined he would have that dark, gangster look who rides motorbike like it’s their job. Sort of like this guy below here, but with a more shaggy, dark brown hairstyle.

-       Duke Rivers: Meh. Don’t really care much about him.

So overall, I think this book actually presents some good promises like the parallel community they lived in, but in the end was ruined by the over-romantic physical relationships and not being really convincing ending. 

Conclusion: a light read, but not really anything special.

This was a movie originally intended to be watch after I finished my end-of-term examinations in Surabaya with my mom. But then, the holidays were coming up. It had been quite some months my mom stayed with me leaving my younger siblings in Batam alone with my dad, and also it had been more than quite some months since I’ve last seen them. And thus, we missed them quite much. And so in the end, my mom suggested that we watch it with them in Batam instead of just the two of us in Surabaya, and that’s how we finally came to watch it.

My Stupid Boss tells the story of how an initially jobless-married woman, Diana (Bunga Citra Lestari) decided to take up a job with her husband’s friend as her boss. Her husband, Dika (Alex Abbard), is an oil consultant (or something like that) whose job consists of moving from place to place every once in a while. And as the faithful wife, Diana followed him wherever he went until they settled in Malaysia with Dika being able to work from home in his pajamas more often than having to go out in a proper attire to meet clients. Since staying at home for a long time isn’t really Diana’s favorite things (and so is having a stay-at-home wife for Dika), Diana applies to work for Dika’s friend who calls himself ‘Bossman’ (Reza Rahadian). Dika had warned Diana of Bossman’s antics, but Diana still pushes to let herself apply for it. And…the rest would be spoilers.

Okay, just so that I can properly write down what I thought about this film, I’m just going to give a (hopefully) short rerun on what happened: Bossman is a crazy guy who extremely gets on Diana’s nerves, which made Diana nearly quits her job until Dika persuaded her that Bossman is not all that, and then Bossman took her to some place that changed Diana’s mind about Bossman and thought that maybe Bossman is definitely ‘not-all-that’ and decided not to quit thinking that Bossman has changed, too, but just after a day it turns that Bossman is still really ‘all-that’.

This film was actually my mom’s call. She was the one who first stated that she wants to watch it and thought it would be funny. And well, yeah, it is kind of funny at some points (it’s a comedy film, duh), but for me, it is definitely not going to be added to my re-watch list.

The Plot

The plot here is actually really simple: an annoying boss who constantly annoys his staff. It has no really complicated stuff, and the only climax is when Diana almost quits. And the remedy for its trouble is extremely cliché: the boss showing the one with problems with him how he actually owns a heart and trusts her more than he trusts other people. Now, seriously? It’s like having a déjà vu, watching like countless of teen movies with the bad guy showing the pretty girl he’s vying for on how he’s not all strong and stuff but also has a soft, vulnerable side (cue angst).

The Characters

The range of characters given in this film is probably the only thing I’m extremely appreciative of. With its multitudes of ethnicity, plus the original dialects from each of the ethnic, this gives me a comforting reminder of my hometown and childhood where I would often hear many of this different dialects both off-screen and on-screen.

Bossman: Reza Rahadian and the film’s costume team really did a good job. Bossman’s character was supposed to be the kind you would be annoyed and disgusted (pardon if it’s a too strong word to be used) at first sight, and yeah, that’s kind of what happened to me, too. Any other way, Reza Rahadian is a really good actor and I’m looking forward to seeing his upcoming movies (Rudy Habibie, 3 Srikandi).

Diana: I’m not a fan of BCL, but I think she’s okay. And again, I do love the clothes choices the costume team made in this film, especially her work clothes (and also BCL’s hair which is cute and suited her work clothes, which is kind of in an oldies style). I’ve seen this kind of style before on a game I used to play and it’s called ‘preppy’? I dunno.

Dika: the American husband of Diana and the only one heard speaking in a normal American-English. He’s quite cool and caring (he once asked for Diana not to speak anything circulating the Bossman when they were out for dinner), but yeah, being able to call Bossman’s his friend probably means that he does have his own weird antics, too. But then again, don’t we all do?

The Office Gang: the people who work with Bossman in the office, consisting of Mr. Kho, Norahshikin, Azhari, and Adrian. Mr. Kho is the oldest of the group, and also is the one more often showing his impatience with Bossman. He’s Chinese and thus, he speaks in Singlish, which is English but spoken in Singaporean dialect. Norahshikin is the only female in the group and is Malayan through and through with her dialect and traditional Malayan clothes. Adrian is the Indian man who often hits on Norahshikin (it’s kind of creepy and annoying, honestly). And Azhari is the religious Moslem man who multitasks by doing dzikr while he does office work. One of the most interesting scenes is right after Diana (note here: a woman) launches her mental war plans against Bossman and starting to succeed, Azhari is later spotted reading a book titled ‘Fiqih Wanita’ (Woman’s Fiqih). Hm… curious much?

Pairings

Now, here we are again folks, with BCL paired with Reza Rahadian on a film. After first being paired in Habibie & Ainun, this ‘gold’-pairing is paired again in My Stupid Boss and also 3 Srikandi. It’s getting old, honestly. As much as this pair’s chemistry works on screen, seeing them together for like numerous times is boring and also blocks out any other opportunity for new favorite on-screen-pairings to rise.

(+) Diverse characters

(-) The comedy and the storyline

Overall rating: 3 out of 5 stars.

Want more reviews? Click here.

Social media—or sometimes abbreviated as socmed in Indonesia—is an online media where its users can access information, communicate, and create relationships with both people who they know in real life or meet online using all the facilities that a social media provides. It is designed to widen our social interactions, enables mass communication, and supports the democratization of knowledge and information. Also, the participation of its users, their openness, discussions, communities created and connections are some of the characteristics that a social media has.

In Indonesia, the use of social media is not a novel thing. By November 2015, statistics has shown that 88.1 billion of Indonesians uses the internet, with 79 billion of them are actively using social media. This is not a surprising number, as Indonesia is known as one of the most active countries in using social media. And therefore, social interactions between Indonesians—whether they are distanced or closed—are more likely to happen.

With social media, people have easier access to various contents, facilities, and also has a more likelihood to interact with people from far-away places with different cultures. A good example of this phenomenon is Indonesia. Before we get to how different the culture is in different countries, Indonesia itself contains multitudes of culture, races, religions, and traditions. And using social media, a person can have access to all of these cultures just by clicking their mouse on their computer or tapping the screen on their phones, even though the place where the culture belongs is far away from where the person lives. But, places who are far-distanced has a tendency to differ much. Not only by culture, but also race, religion, and traditions. And sometimes, this difference does not only apply to places which are far away, but places which are nearby can be so different from one another.

For open-minded people who like to learn new and foreign stuff, who are open to differences and pluralism, who accepts that not all people in the world are the same, that some of them can be so different from them, social media is a gift. Social media enables them to feed their curiosity about other cultures. They can learn other cultures and traditions, they can also try them (if it is also applicable in where they live), and they can also make friends and connect with them only by using social media. In other words, this increases their ability to tolerate differences or pluralism of cultures. Also, in some cases where these people of different cultures who are tolerant of differences live together, this can create an integration of cultures, which can be a new culture itself.

However, for people who are not as tolerant or open-minded, this can be a ‘curse’. There are some people in this world, some who are so—or maybe too proud—of their culture and traditions that they refused to accept or tolerate cultures that are different from theirs. And with them being able to freely access contents containing articles and stuff from other cultures, this might encourage their inclination to repel the cultures. Some would probably just keep silent on their refusal of accepting other cultures, but those who are more vocal about their opinions might even write publicly about how they reject them or even start a demonstration or a complete strike. And sometimes, if the demonstration or issue is big or controversial, it would make the headlines and become a national concern itself.

Imitating Aristotle’s famous quote, ‘Happiness depends on ourselves’, everything—and basically anything—depends on the person. Give a person an object or tool and whether will it bring advantage or disadvantage, be good or bad, be a gift or a curse, or will it be a blessing or a disaster depends on if the person is a saint or a devil, an open-minded person or a closed one. A seemingly harmless piece of clothing can either be a beautiful headscarf or a murder weapon, depending on the person who uses it. So, give a person social media and whether it will bring good or bad, be a gift or a curse, depends on the person utilising it. The right kind of person will use it for the better of the world, while the wrong kind, well, probably won’t.

 References:

- https://prezi.com/vddmcub_-ss_/social-media-definisi-fungsi-karakteristik/ (Taken: June 22th 2016, 12.00 WIB)

- https://id.techinasia.com/talk/statistik-pengguna-internet-dan-media-sosial-terbaru-di-indonesia (Taken: June 22th 2016, 12.30 WIB)

#celebratediversity

#10tahunicrs

Artikel ini diikutsertakan dalam Kompetisi Blog yang diselenggarakan oleh ICRS dan Sebangsa

As a kid, getting medicines from doctors means having to drink one till three spoons of strange-tasting liquid. Some of them actually taste nice, but most taste weird, like there’s mint in it but there actually isn’t. Sometimes it tastes so weird that I had to eat something sweet or has a strong flavour to wash off the taste.

Syrups and puyer are two kinds of ‘beginner’ medicines. The syrup is, well, syrup. They are served in bottles and are already in their liquid form. Puyer, however, is served in small folded paper in the form of a powder that you have to mix with water so that it’ll turn liquid for consumption. I have no idea what puyer is called in English, but having your doctor prescribed some puyer as your medication is one of the most horrible experience I had as a patient. Puyer has a really bitter taste and it doesn’t leave your tongue easily even though you had eaten some sweets. Between my siblings, I am the one who is the easiest when being told to drink medicine by my parents as I have no qualms about tasting weird stuff. But still, I dreaded every second my mom opened the paper of the puyer, mixed it with water in the small spoon that comes with every syrup prescription, and then told me to drink it up.

Moving on from liquid medicine, my first encounter with solids was I was eight. I had trouble seeing and after seeing the doctor was also declared as short-sighted. She gave me Vitamin A tablets. They were purple. My mum was first surprised and confused as I had no experience before consuming solids. She first told me to eat it with a banana like she does. But after several tries, the tablet was still there. Finally, she told me to try it with water, and it succeeded. Again, my mum was surprised as drinking medicine with water is something she is unable to.

Solid medicine has a less strong taste–-if none–-than liquid medicine. Still, it depends on the kind. Some tablets dissolves into powder if it is in contact with water. These kinds of tablets if prescribed to children are often crushed and then mixed with water, so the outcome is similar to puyer. If consumed directly, though, the tablet will be in touch with our saliva and also the water (if we eat with water), and thus leaves a slightly bitter taste. Some others are more compact and won’t dissolve into powder. These usually have a smoother appearance.

Another type is the pill or capsule. These are actually powder (or very small solids) placed into capsules which are made from ingredients that dissolves in the stomach and are harmless. When in touch with water, these capsules will feel slippery. And because of this, consuming it with water is much easier as they will automatically go down your throat without you having to swallow hard. These capsules are also openable, which means if you want to make it into liquid, you can open the capsule and just consume the powder inside.

Caplet comes from the combination of capsule and tablet, so it is actually a tablet, but shaped like a capsule. A capsule-shaped tablet--that's the word. Out of all the meds I had been given, only once was I was given caplets to consume, and it was a bit bigger than the first row of my little finger. Thankfully, it was non-powder, so it won't leave a lingering taste even though it had to stay a bit longer in my mouth than pills or tablets as it can be a bit hard to swallow.

These medicines had to be consumed orally, then digested by our digestive system before being transported by blood circulation to various parts of our body to give effects. But there are also medicines that go directly through our veins. These are liquid meds and are injected using the IV in hospitals. Some of these meds are quite strong, so the nurses who give these injections would inject us with some stomach meds first before the real meds that we had been prescribed to by the doctor. These stomach meds are too sooth the stomach as the real ones can sometimes make our stomach sick.

The strongest IV meds I have ever taken are the meds used for chemotherapy. Being a cancer patient, I had to go in and out of the hospital every 3 weeks to have my chemotherapy session. The process of chemotherapy is actually similar to regular IV, which is connected to the back of the hand or any visible large vein in the hand or arm area. Most though, who is assigned to multiple rounds of chemo, has a chemo-pot planted to their chest so they wouldn’t have to be struck with a needle again if they’re going to have their chemo session. I’m assigned to around 6 till 8 rounds of chemo, and next week will be my fourth. However, the last time I had chemo, the doctor suggested that I have a chemo-pot planted, too, because the needles leaves scars, my hands swelled, and my veins where the needle stuck bulged a bit. But like the scaredy-cat I am, I refused because the planting had to be done in the operation theater, and it uses knives and needles and other sharp objects and there’s going to be blood, and also for several minutes or maybe an hour or two I won’t know what in the world they are doing to me and I hate it. More so, the part of the body where the chemo-pot is planted cannot hold much weight. And thus, it serves as a problem as I usually use a backpack and they can be quite heavy sometimes. But there are still 5 rounds left, and there could be more if the cancer is still there after the last round, so I don’t know if I will get a chemo-pot or not as I also hate being stuck with needles every so often. Honestly, I am traumatized, but that is what I had to go through if I want to get cancer-free.

Other than the chemo-pot, the liquid of chemo meds are also thicker and is also radioactive. On chemo sessions, a big glass box with two holes—big enough for hands to go through it--in front of it is put into my room. Then the nurse, using protectives, would mix the meds and then put it in an IV packet wrapped in a black plastic bag. Also, other than this mixed-med, there are some other packets that are IV-ed, and also several injections before finally the chemo-med is transferred. The length of the process depends on. Mine lasts for 3 hours, but will actually end after around 11 hours because after the chemo-med, there will be the spool (it contains minerals etc.) to help fulfill the nutrition needed to fight the chemo-med and also the cancer, as the chemo-med does not only destroy cancer cells, but also any actively-dividing cells available.

Spending a few days in my mom’s hometown has made me realize something: the days are shorter in villages than the city.

Even though I stated in my previous post of the Last Knights movie that it wasn’t that good of a movie, it made me realize something: it’s not easy to play a warrior in a film, especially the leader. It takes a lot to play a role with such big responsibility, and it requires specific criterion.

- charisma

A leader needs to have charisma to lead his troops. That is how they managed to gather their hearts and make them follow his lead. The greater their charisma, the better they will be. And to play a warrior--the leader of warriors--it takes a charismatic actor to be able to pull this it off.

- strong built

The leader are usually the most experienced one, they have been in the fighting business longer than the others. Being a warrior requires great physical prowess.And naturally, being the one with the most experienced, leaders have exerted their athleticism much longer than their peers and that means stronger and greater built.

- the walk 

Warriors (or basically all people who have done military training) are told to walk up straight, sit up straight--everything they do are straight. Walking straight gives them a confident aura, a ‘I’m here and I’m gonna take you down’ feel. This is the kind of confidence that all leaders must have. So actors who are to play this kind of role must have that kind strut. 

- deep voice

This criteria is not a must, but more preferred. Deep voice gives men a more serious image. Leaders and warriors must be serious when it comes to their duties. So deep voices would really help to bring out that image.

- facial hair 

If you’re a leader of a bunch of cops like in the CSI or NCIS TV series, facial hairs aren’t necessary if you got the style. But if you’re a leader of a band of warriors in the Medieval times, this ones a must. Facial hairs often give off a more adult, mature look. Just remember what they said: beards make you look hotter this is science. And also, mustache makes you creepier. This is also science.

I watched this movie last year with my big family, so I decided to sacrifice a bit of time to write a review of this movie.

Last Knight tells the story about a group of warrior who are seeking to avenge the death of their master at the hand of a corrupt minister. It features a range of ethnically diverse cast, ranging from British (Clive Owen), American (Morgan Freeman), to Japanese (Tsuyoshi Ihara) and Korean (Park Si-yeon and Ahn Sung-ki).

The film starts off with a band of warriors fighting off some bad guys in the woods with the victory lying on the warriors. Then the film cuts to a messenger carrying a message for Lord Bartok (Morgan Freeman) and we’re finally introduced to our main character, Commander Raiden (Clive Owen). Lord Bartok here was a man of great idealism as he showed anger and disgust at the idea of bribery and corruption in his country.He asked Raiden about what he must do at this point. His answer was the opposite of what Lord Bartok believed in, but we later on see that Lord Bartok thought his idea was better than his.

Suddenly, Lord Bartok hunched in pain. He was sick. His daughter and wife came in, so he told Raiden to keep it a secret from them.

In the training ground, Gabriel (Noah Silver), was training his sword-fighting skill against another warrior. He won, but suddenly Lieutenant Cortez (Cliff Curtis) stroke out a move that might killed him, reminding that in the battle field, it will not be always a one-on-one fight. Raiden came in, telling them to prepare because they’re going to capital.

Late at night, Bartok visited Raiden and his wife, telling him to come with Bartok. They did a tour on the Bartok graveyard with Bartok telling Raiden about his ancestors. We found out that Bartok initially had a son, but he died. , leaving him with no heir to his throne. He had a feeling  that his time would end soon, and so he appointed Raiden, who was his adopted son, to take care of the clan when he was gone by giving him a sword.

Travel time. There were tears, lots of them, as the families sent off the warrior to the capital. Raiden’s wife was particularly strong. She even winked at him.

They took a break at night and set up camp. Cortez was friends with Raiden since they were young lads. Gabriel asked Cortez about the rumors that surrounds Raiden. He didn’t come from a military class family. He was a peasant, actually, but his whole family died of the fever except him. He succumbed to alcohols, but later broke out from it and became an adopted son of Bartok. I forgot what Gabriel’s exact words were, but the point is, a man should not be judged, but respected for his ability to rebuild himself. That line was awesome.

We finally meet the villain, Geza Mott, corrupt minister and the man of bribery (I was quite lost on what the bribery thing is all about). They had a meeting, two actually, which did not end well–the second one needed in Bartok attacking Geza Mott.

The case was put on trial. Bartok let out a long speech, presenting his idealism as the reason for his attack. However, his speech does not have the effect he was hoping and he condemned to death…at the hands of Raiden himself because he was raged at Bartok’s sentence.

The aftermath. The folks of the Bartok lands were evacuated out. The warriors are disbanded. Raiden went back to his a hole of addiction, getting worse and worse everyday. Geza Mott’s commander ( I don’t his name so I’ll call him Japanese commander right now because he’s played by a Japanese actor) has a quite a heart. One of his men rough-handled Bartok’s daughter. He scolded him saying that these people are losing home, so he should treat them better. The man smirked behind his back, Japanese commander slashed his throat.

One year later, the former Bartok warrior are working odd jobs. Cortez manages ships with Gabriel working for him. One guy opened  bar, another now is an apprentice for a blacksmith while also being in love wit the daughter. And Raiden, he is truly getting down with his addiction.

Meanwhile, Geza’s condition is not really much better. He became paranoid. He even had Japanese commander stalking Raiden to ensure that he is not planning to seek revenge against him. Until his commander truly ensured that Raiden is completely no longer a threat to finally lets his guard down.

But…the surface might lie. Raiden was faking his drunkenness this whole time and he was actually planning to break into Geza’s sanctuary and kill him. They carried the plan out and all hell breaks loose.

Though I found the story quite entertaining, I do not find it compelling enough to label it as really good. Raiden’s idea was genius, but the film doesn’t really explore the characters, even for Bartok, Geza, or Raiden. I feel no emotion watching this, even if it does portray plenty of angst.

It’s negative points aside, I still think this movie portrays what a true warrior has to be like and how it feels like to have someone you love go to war and fear the possibility of not being able to see them again.

Daerahku adalah tempatku dilahirkan Sebuah perumahan kecil di pinggiran kota Surabaya Dengan sungai kecil mengalir di depannya

Daerahku adalah tempatku menghabiskan dua tahun hidupku Sebuah rumah kontrakan, walaupun kecil tapi nyaman Menjadi saksi bisu kata-kata dan langkah-langkah kecilku yang pertama Sebuah gedung dengan hiasan berbentuk sate bertengger di depannya Ramai dikunjungi orang setiap hari Minggu Bergerak kesana kemari Mengeluarkan keringat dan melepaskan penat

Daerahku adalah tempatku dibesarkan Sebuah pulau kecil di antara pulau-pulau kecil lainnya Dikelilingi lautan yang kadang pasang, kadang surut Dijamuri oleh pabrik-pabrik, perumahan, dan mall-mall Dan ditumbuhi oleh ribuan keluarga kecil setiap tahunnya Kota industri julukannya Baju Melayu baju daerahnya Dan walaupun daerahku ini bukanlah daerahku yang asli Tapi daerahku ini akan selalu akan ada di hati

Daerahku adalah tempatku kembali Menimba ilmu yang akan kubawa sampai mati Kampus perjuangan dengan segala isinya Mengajarkanku bagaimana caranya ‘tuk bertahan dan berjuang Meskipun daerahku ini bukanlah pilihan pertamaku Tapi daerahku inilah pelabuhan terakhirku Belajar untuk menjadi lebih dewasa Sebelum ku siap ‘tuk menghadapi dunia

- Nganjuk, 6 Mei 2016

I just rechecked the list of books in the Princess Diaries series. It turned out that there’s like 10 books in the series with a couple of novellas, and my reaction was like ‘what?’. There’s still a long way to go before I finish this book marathon.

Title: Princess in Love

Author: Meg Cabot

A boyfriend—that was something that Mia had always wished for. But when she finally got one in the form of Kenny Showalter, was it the exact thing that she had hoped for? With her upcoming trip to Genovia and the Non-Denominational Winter Dance in which Kenny still hadn’t asked her to go to, Mia struggled with her feelings of insecurity, jealousy, and love.

Swoon—that was my first reaction. In this third book, Mia and Michael finally ended up together. It was about time, since they spent like the last two books giving hints to each other but then keeping their feelings for themselves again, mulling over them. Of course, it took some involvement from our genre-savvy matchmaker, Tina Hakim Baba, to piece the clues together. She figured that Mia’s affection were actually for Michael and told Lilly, who then relayed the information to Michael. It’s not Michael and Lilly’s fault that they weren’t aware of Mia’s feelings. Geniuses aren’t exactly known to be sensitive to other people’s feelings—they can be even unaware of their own. They can be pretty dense at times, but they can also have a huge heart.

Read the way Michael confessed to Mia? He called her out of the line to his computer club booth to show her a special video/game he made for her which ended in a reply to the love poems Mia sent. It was sweet and subtle. Of course, everything Michael did to Mia to show his affections were sweet and subtle—it was his style. Like I stated above, geniuses do can be dense, but also have a heart.

If the last book’s pity party was for Boris Pelkowski (Lilly’s boyfriend who hurt his hand after punching Hank, Mia’s cousin, in the face for kissing Lilly after she helped him pursue his dream career), this one was for Kenny, Mia’s now-ex-boyfriend. Not only he got dumped (or was it Mia who dumped him?), the reason he thought he was dumped for was wrong. He thought Mia was in love with Boris—who Mia discovered was not as bad as she thought he was—when she’s in fact was in love with Michael. But maybe it was better for him that way. The knowledge that the girl he’s in love with was actually in love with his own friend (they’re both in the Computer club) might hurt him more.

Judith, Lana, and Justin—I couldn’t care less about them.

The reviews are getting shorter. But at least Mia and Michael finally got together, right?

Oay, now where’s the fourth book? I need to read it right now.