Oh yes, it’s been a long, long while since I posted anything here… (apart from that Really Random post, which is excluded due to its sheer randomness). And it’s not because of lack of materials. Or lack of time. Or lack of interest in general writing. Or lack of internet connection.

It is, in fact, down to that singular feature of human trait that accounts for so much of our behaviours.. mostly bad ones. Or, it may not result in anything bad, but it definitely stops the good from materializing.

The L word: Laziness.

So to combat that, I’ve decided to write a Posts-to-Write list. Simply to act as a reminder for the many many things I want to share with you all (the I’m-thinking-of-others reason*), and also as a reminder of the many many interesting stories I have (the I’m-so-cool reason).

1. Letter to Grandpa
2. First day/month at work
3. First payday! (yay!!)
4. The End of My Manila Chapter
(yes, the closest thing I’ve had to a home is now no longer…)
5. The Start of My Jakarta Chapter
(trying to make a new home, amongst people who think that this is my home. talk about a misunderstanding minefield)
6. Define Home, Please.
(the eternal question of TCKs)
7. One Month of Busway
(I can write a Ph.D thesis on behavioural psychology based on this)
8. Coolest Travel Story: Wedding in Saudi Arabia
9. 6 Months (and Counting) Without TV
(yes, it’s possible. Life does exist outside TV, and a good one too!)
10. A Heritage Trail Across Jakarta
(an excursion with Sahabat Museum, lit. Friends of Museums)

OK, that should be enough to keep me going.. And hopefully it’ll act as a teaser so you’ll watch this space

*This assumes that you guys actually want to hear my stories. Which is of course true, because of reason number 2: I’m so cool (!)

How random can things be? Or at least how random can ramblings be? Like, right now. I have no idea what to, ok, no. I do have some idea, but just too lazy to write them. I wanna just type type type without stopping, or deleting or censoring. But that’s hard to do. Coz I do a lot of typos. And that’s not fair for you, my dear readers, who have already spared the time to read this nonsense. I don’t wanna cause you even more pain by shifting through typos.

…
typos typos typos
…
I think that’s a really funny word. Maybe typo was a typo, like someone was trying to type type, but made a typo.

Oh I hope no one from work read this.

…
typo typo typo typo
sounds like hippo hippo hippo

of which I’m an expert, thanks to Lufthansa Airlines that only had that one giant screen for the entire economy class. So I had to sit for 15 hours watching a documentary on hippos. 15 hours I’ll never gain back, and 15 hours of the most unproductive tv viewing ever.

But maybe, one day, I’ll join a TV quiz show and the one million dollar question will be on hippos. Just like that movie which I liked but just at this moment can’t remember the title of. But I’m sure you all know. If not, ask your neighbor.

…
A 1-min break to check facebook, and to reply to a chat message, only to find so-and-so is no longer online. I hate that.

I like this lil window of quickpress. Very good for random stuff. Specially coz I can’t see any of the previous paragraphs, so I don’t have to worry about connecting this paragraph with the previous ones.

OOooooohhh… He’s back online. yay! chat back in motion.

I saw a friend’s status on facebook, which I think is hilarious. It goes like this: “In future, YouTube, Twitter & Facebook will merge to form the mega platform, YouTwitFace -Conan OBrien (rofl)”

Definite rofl.

Click on the blue button. Publish.

Do smokers complain about pollution?

If yes, why? Why do they complain about pollution from cars/buses/factories/bajaj, and then smoke up a cigarette or two? Where’s the logic in that?

If not, then fair enough I guess

After a good few years of living in the Philippines and even more of calling it home (since I define home as where my parents live), the journey will come to an end this June/July. My parents are heading back to Jakarta-side, so I guess that’ll be my “home” from then on.

Like they say, you never know what you’ve got till it’s gone. And I don’t think I took full advantage of living in this beautiful country. I don’t even know how to speak tagalog after all these years, apart from the few words that I drop in so that they give me the “local” and not “tourist” price.

While I say my good bye in what could be my last visit “home”, I thought I’ll do another list like what I did for Indonesia. It’s not as well-researched (I’m stealing time on the library computer), but it’s no less heartfelt. Maybe someday, when I’ve left and truly realized how much it means to me, I can write a better-composed one.

1. English-speaking: makes getting around so much easier. But that means I lose the drive to learn Tagalog. Darn.

2. Friendly and happy people: I find the pinoys (the local term for Filipinos) in general have a happier outlook in life than, say, the general Indonesian or Singaporean eventhough financially they are as or less well off. A very laidback and outgoing, takes-life-as-it-comes nature. I like getting service from people who are happy giving it.

3. Weather: being somewhat above the equator, the Philippines have its hot months as well as its cooler months. Hot months are crap, but the cooler ones are just nice. You can walk around without getting sweaty and sunburnt, which means Manila has a lot of open-air parks and recreation spaces next to its oversized malls (which are, in contrast, perfect for summer).

4. Nightlife: officially, I know nothing about the Manila nightlife. unofficially, I know quite a bit and it’s goood. Cheap & fun; a lot of music, and even more drinks. And no ID checks

5. My dad’s office: It’s like a one-stop convenience center. Free internet (which is where I am posting from), big big library, cheap international food, a commissary (where I can buy lots of imported goods and charge directly to my dad’s paycheck hahaha), a post office, a laundry service, banks, atms, water/electricity/DHL service.

Now that I’m done with Uni, I’ve been doing a lot of travelling and even more general lounging.

My parents came to Brisbane to attend my graduation (Dec 15), and my birthday (Dec 16). We didn’t get to go to New Zealand as planned, so I turned 25 without a 25th-country-I-have-visited tale to tell.

But I still got to cross off one of my things-to-do-before-I’m-too-old/broke list: diving in the Great Barrier Reef! We (me mom & dad) went to Cairns, where I dove, dad snorkeled, and mom sudoku-ed.

After many visits to my parents’ friends’ houses in Brisbane, those from 20 years ago and more recent ones, we flew off to Manila on Dec 31st.

They spent New Year’s in Manila, me in Singapore, and my sister in London. Then on Dec 2nd, after 2 years of here there and everywhere, the whole family was reunited back in Manila. Yay!

Jan 3rd-4th: went to Anilao, where me & sis dove, dad snorkeled, and mom Sudoku-ed.

Jan 10th-11th: see above (but in future tense)

The honeymoon will end when my sis leaves (Jan 15th), then me (Jan 19th), then mom (Jan 20th), leaving my dad back to his Indomie-for-dinner routine.

In between all of that, I am doing my job applications *wish me luck*

Belated happy new year to you all, and my best wishes always!

Oh results are out!

Oh how my heart pounded when I went online to check the results!

Oh happy day!

Now I can call my parents and tell the good news.

Now I can really enjoy my trip today to Wet ‘n Wild (a water theme park with huge slides.. weeeee!!)

Now I should call those friends I shun during the thesis-writing days (I hope they’re still my friends…)

First things first: Pray and thank God. Alhamdulillah.

If I start packing now before the results are out, am I being overconfident? What will happen if I find out, after shipping most of my stuff, that I fail and must stay for another semester? But I guess the shipping will be the least of my concerns.. parental reaction will be the first. The shame, the horror! (and the money!)

If I start packing now, will I be done by noon so I can go shopping?

If I pray and pray and pray, will God make my supervisor nicer and kinder when grading my thesis?

If I pray and pray and pray some more, will God show me where I’m supposed to be heading next? Country-wise and career-wise?

If I go back to Jakarta, will I turn into a cynical, queue-jumping, brand-crazy, mall-obssessed, hide-under-oversized-Chanel-shades-so-I-can-ignore-the-sun-burnt-child-knocking-on-my-SUV-window girl? (Yes, stereotyping acknowledged, and thrown into the bin).

If I don’t go back to Jakarta, will I still turn into that?

If I go back to Jakarta, will I meet Mr. Right?

If I don’t go back to Jakarta, will I meet another Mr. Right?

If I go into my kitchen now, will breakfast be ready — prepared by some lil magic fairies, and preferably be nasi uduk with ayam and sambel?

If I hide back under my duvet long enough, will the lil elves come out and do my packing?

If it wasn’t raining, would I have gone jogging as I had planned?

Oh yes, it is that very grand day, when I celebrate the birth of the best man ever: my dad

I wish I can write a longer post like I did for Sis, but I have an exam to study for — I think that will have to take priority. I’m also sorry that I forgot to call you on midnight like I usually do, but I had an exam today — I think that’s a valid excuse for the late call. And similar to the past 7 years, I apologize for not being there to celebrate your birthday with you.

But I do hope you know that these ‘deficiencies’ do not in anyway diminish the sentiment: I really wish you a great birthday, because you deserve nothing less than that. You are truly an inspiration, a bonafide role model. A man who has climbed through the socio-economic ranks, seen the world and sacrificed so much for his family. Yet you did this all without losing your faith, humility, or the ability to love and laugh.

I love you for all of that, and many more.

So here’s to your 55th birthday (and many more to come inshAllah). May you get all that you wish for, Dad. And may God always always look after you.

Love,

nin

One week left to the big day: Thesis Due Date! No, it’s not one of those fun dates where I get to dress up and be wined and dined. Well, who knows, maybe it will turn into that come night time. Something to look forward to *hint, anyone? please?* But anytime pre-4pm on November 3rd, it’s a date with my (as yet unfinished) thesis, laptop and printer.

Until then, this is me at my best:

Oh why, oh why ???

Yes, I am a private student. Yes, I know it’s expensive… and yes, so were my previous schools and universities. Yes, my dad works in a bank. Yes, it’s a multinational organization. Yes, I have lived abroad most of my life. Yes, I have traveled extensively.

No, I am not a spoiled brat… and No, we don’t have a money growing in our backyard (come to think of it, what backyard? We currently live in an apartment!)

This is to those who assume that I can just pick up the phone and go “Daddyyy!! I need money!” First, because I was not brought up like that. Second, because I was not brought up like that.

I have to say that this is one of my biggest pet peeve: people stereotyping me as a rich, spoiled brat. I take that as an insult to me, and to my parents.

I realize how blessed I am, and rest assured I do not throw it away. I (ehem!) excel at my education (partly because I know just how much it’s costing my parents!) and control my budget appropriately. My parents and I always work out my allowance and living cost before sending me abroad (and it is set to the average spending pattern. No outlier here.) and they send it to me lump-sum for the whole year.

And that’s it. My parents will not send me anymore money after that. They trust me enough to send me halfway across the world, and so they trust me enough to take care of myself: health-, education-, faith- and money-wise. I never questioned it, because I agree with it. With the greater freedom and power of living alone with no parental supervision, comes greater responsibility to discipline myself (modified from Spiderman). I chose to go where I went.. and that means I choose the consequences and responsibility that come with that choice.

I am just thankful that I had a choice. A lot of people don’t.

Yes, there are those that have a choice and abuse it.

No, I am not one of them.

So there. That’s my rant for now. (I’m now going back to face my current biggest responsibility: my thesis.)