MySimpleBlog

Just few days ago I received an email from one of my bestfriend. He invited me to connect him as a friend in lovehappens.com. It wasn’t my first time receiving such mail, but it was the first time I receive it from this man. Usually he just sent me some how-are-you mails, and currently some good stories/pictures. But an invitation joining a site? Never.

But I was interested at the name of the site. I thought that the site would be like friendster. But when I opened it, the welcome page wrote : Help your friend find love! What kind of site will it be? Getting curious, I decided to sign up.

Now I know that lovehappens is a site where you can try to find your match (love) and become a matchmaker at the same time. Actually, I feel a little bit ashamed reading my ‘looking’ profile at lovehappens. I’m single but I’m not that desperate, joining such kind of site. That’s why I even don’t want to add a photo. (Then I thought why my bestfriend invited me joining this site : does he think that I’m a desperate single? No friend, I’m single by choice. I’m single not because no one loves me, it’s because I’m quite picky… don’t wanna waste my time with a failed relationship. I’m single but I’m happy, and I will end my single time when I find a perfect match, don’t worry!)

But what fun about this site is you can have some test to know about your character, and the character of your ideal partner. In addition, you will know how rare you are (I mean, in its statistic, how many people in your same sex who have similar character as you), how many people in your opposite sex who like your character, how rare your ideal partner are, how many people in your same sex who have the same type of ideal partner, and so on. And when you see others profile, you can know (in percentage) how you and him/her match.

However, I don’t think I’m gonna get a real partner from this site. Yeah, I believe that love comes better in real world, not on the net. So, I just enjoy this site, and maybe I’ll be more active in matchmaking my friends. Wanna be my first matchmaking client? =p

Beberapa hari terakhir, aku mikir tentang satu topik yang mungkin bikin bulu kuduk bergidik. Sesuatu yang nggak terlalu sering dibahas orang, padahal semua orang pasti akan mengalaminya. Siapa sih manusia yang pada akhirnya nggak berpulang ke Sang Pencipta?
Beberapa hari lalu mamaku cerita tentang seorang anak kenalannya yang meninggal karena kecelakaan. Sementara sebelumnya papanya temen papaku juga meninggal. Dan hari ini, aku terima kabar bahwa papa seorang temanku meninggal. Aku jadi sadar, orang nggak bisa lari dari takdir ini. Kematian bisa datang kapan saja. Banyak orang Kristen yang menafsirkan perkataan Yesus tentang kedatangan Anak Manusia yang seperti maling di malam hari sebagai nubuatan tentang hari kiamat. Tapi bagiku, perkataan itu maknanya sama dekatnya dengan kematian. Bukankah kematian seringkali datangnya juga seperti maling di malam hari, tanpa gelagat dan tanpa pertanda? Bahkan ketika orang meninggal karena sakit parah pun, keluarganya kadang juga merasa kaget saat orang itu akhirnya meninggal.
Belum lagi, orang yang meninggal karena bencana seperti korban gempa, tsunami, dan terorisme. Mereka sempat merasakan ketakutan yang dashyat saat maut menjemput. Aku baca berita tentang kesaksian keluarga korban 911, betapa mereka harus menanggung trauma setelah mendengar suara terakhir rekan,kekasih, atau keluarganya di telepon. Suara minta tolong, suara ketakutan, suara sedih…. Mereka pasti masih punya banyak mimpi dalam hidupnya. Mungkin ada yang lagi nunggu dilamar sama pacarnya. Mungkin ada yang nunggu kelahiran anaknya. Mungkin ada yang beberapa hari lagi bakal diwisuda. Mungkin ada yang berencana beli hadiah buat orang tuanya. Semuanya itu nggak kesampaian karena hidupnya berakhir dalam tragedi.
Jadi inget cerita dosenku, tentang pengalamannya nyaris dijemput maut. Saat itu pesawat yang ditumpanginya hampir mengalami kecelakaan. Saat itu ia hanya berpikir, ia belum sempat memainkan play station yang didekapnya selama perjalanan. Ya, kadang di saat kematian terasa begitu dekat, keinginan yang begitu sederhana pun bisa membuat manusia tak rela hidupnya berakhir.
Ada juga orang yang harus menghadapi maut pada saat yang ia ketahui. Misalnya orang yang dihukum mati. Aku selalu ngeri membayangkan terpidana mati yang menunggu eksekusi. Kekejaman apa pun yang pernah dia lakukan, aku tetap nggak setuju dia dihukum mati. Bagiku itu sangat mengerikan. Mungkin aja kalo dia dibiarin hidup, dia bisa tobat dan berguna bagi sesama. Kalaupun kehidupannya begitu membahayakan, paling tidak dia bisa diisolasi di penjara, itu sudah cukup menyiksa. Tapi at least, dia masih bisa hidup. Dan mungkin masih ada jalan baginya untuk memberi arti dalam kehidupannya.
Hmmm… tapi sebagai orang yang percaya pada ajaran Kristus, aku juga yakin ada kehidupan baru setelah kematian. Kematian seseorang tak akan pernah sia-sia. Yang aku rindukan hanyalah memberi arti dalam kehidupan yang singkat ini. Baik bagi sesama maupun orang lain. Ya… walaupun sempat gak enak hati waktu kepikiran tentang kematian, aku sadar bahwa Tuhan lagi ngajari aku untuk tidak menyia-nyiakan hidup. Paling nggak aku pengen ketika aku mati, ada sesuatu dari diriku yang berarti buat dunia. Yang membuat dunia nggak begitu saja melupakan seorang manusia bernama Ria. Misalnya, ya dengan membagikan pikiranku lewat blog ini… aku harap blogku bisa ngasih inspirasi buat semua yang membacanya…
Dan sejak aku kepikiran tentang hidup dan mati, aku jadi bisa mengucap syukur setiap pagi ketika aku mendapati diriku masih hidup setelah tidur… Sesuatu yang simpel, yang merupakan rutinitas, tapi sebenarnya sangat berharga…
Karena hidup itu begitu berarti…. please jangan pernah menyia-nyiakannya…

His real name is Victor Vidal Paz, but he likes to introduce himself as ‘Django Mango’, especially on his CD covers. Born from a Catalan mother and Spanish father, he has traveled to 80 countries. Not just travel, he often creates something from his adventure in a country. A documentary movie about

Alor

Island

is his newest creation. And that’s how I get to know him. He is one of our clients in AVB editing studio.

I admire him because of his great talent in music and art. He plays good music; most are inspired by particular cultures. He also can speak in 12 languages. Besides his native language: Catalan and Spanish; he can speak English, French, German,

Hindi

,

Indonesia

, and some others. Knowing that I am an Indonesian born Chinese, he even greeted me in Chinese.

As a client he is very nice. He never complained rudely. If he was late in an appointment with the editor, he wouldn’t ashamed to say sorry. If he saw that the studio crews were tired, he would offer some drinks –coffee or cola- for us all. He spoke to everybody, greeted everybody, interested to know everybody.

Just because I’ve done some dubbing for his movie (just a very few seconds sound), he thanked me by giving a musical CD. The title is Secrets of The Yellow Emperor, with bamboo flute, flamenco guitar, vocal, harp, and Indo-Afro-Cuban drums. The music was inspired by a story about a Chinese emperor, from his book that entitled same as the CD.

He also loves

Indonesia

. He said that

Indonesia

is the world most extraordinary ethnic kaleidoscope. For example in Alor, an island smaller than

Bali

, you can find 50 tribes, each has its own language. Some of the people have never seen TV and never meet westerner. But according to him, the Alor people are, like other Indonesian, very warm, open, nice and fun. He really enjoyed playing music, mask, and puppets with them.

Watching his movie, I must confess that as an Indonesian I miss many great things about my country. In

Indonesia

there are still many great things to be explored : we still have very clear sea water, very great colors in the sky, richness in art as part of our culture… yes… we should be proud of being Indonesian. Thanks so much to Mr.Vidal who opened my eyes by his movie.

And where is Mr.Vidal now? He’s on a trip to

India

. He’ll celebrate Christmas with his mother and brothers in

Spain

, and then he’ll be ready for his next adventure in

Africa

. He always travels. It’s his way to live his life. He feels alive in a new place, meeting new peoples with new culture. That’s why he chooses not to get married. He highly recommended Himalaya, Sahara, and

Antarctica

as places you must visit before you die. Yes, he prefers wild places rather than ‘normal’ ones. As in Alor, where he felt very free to express himself, act with his instinct just like a wild animal. Quoting a statement from CG Jung in Mr.Vidal’s movie : “The more civilized and complicated man becomes, the less able he is to obey his instincts. His complex living conditions are strong enough to silence the voice of nature.” No wonder he mentioned eagle as a mirror that he reflects. He’s really like eagle. Always dreams to be free, flying from one place to another, alone but not lonely.

From our very short meeting, I’ve learnt a lot from him. Learned not to limit myself with worry, learned that ‘no risk no fun’. Learned that somehow reaching our own dream is more important that obey other’s will on us. He really shows that spirit, by his lifestyle, by his work. I can catch a young and wild spirit in him, while physically I think he is about 50-60 years old.

As he stated in one of his songs (this is an English translation from the Spanish lyric) :

            Adventurer, adventurer, don’t be afraid of dying

            Because the most precious diamond is the excitement of living intensively

            Nothing more bitter than feeling guilty for not having fulfilled our dreams

            Slaved by our insecurity and conformity

Don’t tell me where to go

I think for myself

A love for simplicity is a love for freedom

My grandmother said to me :
“listen to advices even if it is to do the contrary”

Don’t let your fear impede living your dreams

Only for the brave, happens extraordinary things……

I do hope that I can meet this great guy again… really nice to know someone like him. And I hope his movie will be presented on TV, so you all can watch it also…

Hatchi!!!

Yeah… I caught a cold…. I even can’t go to work today because that damn cold attack my head too, so I have great migrain that makes me can’t wake up from my bed.

but still… I have to finish my internship report….

Second chapter is okay, but I have to add some theories on chapter one. And chapter 3 in progress, 8 pages just reporting my first three weeks in AVB… I made it very detail,I even reported things discussed in production meetings… no wonder it’s very long… and gonna be longer and longer… I’m obsessed to get an A for my hard-working… I also read my first internship report, one year ago, and found that actually it was not good enough, not qualified enough as a work of Ria… it was made in hurry, and I don’t wanna make such report again… (despite the fact that I got A for my first internship… think that it was just because the kindness of my lecturers…)

How about my work, then?

My current task is editing a presentation video, actually it is okay, but the client wants to cut some parts and make it shorter. I am still learning how to suit the beats of a background music with the videos appear. It is very hard for a person who is totally blind in music - and unfortunately I’m that person. I still remember what my junior high school teacher said about my partiture,"Good in drawing, but all notes are wrong-placed". Yeah, even my mom was confused because I’m the only strange person in my family who can’t understand music and don’t like singing (umm… actualy I love singing, but not singing solo in front of so many people just like my dad and sister do). But luckily I have Irma to help me understand the beat of a music, and the editors are very eager to teach me.   

Well.. thinks that it’s better to go to sleep… I need a lot of rest to keep my energy level and to recharge my brain… to finish my report….