I am not happy today. I still haven’t gotten the tickets for Saturday game up until now. I am not a student there anymore so if I want to watch the game I have to purchase the tickets whereas the students get them for free. I usually buy the ticket on the day of the game but this is a different case, I called the ticket office a month ago, right when I just got back here, to purchase the tickets but guess what??…..It was SOLD OUT, the lady said she just sold the last five. I was like..whattt….not even a single ticket left out of the 8000 that’s available?!?! And that was a month ago, 5 weeks before the day of the game, and it’s a college basketball game, it’s not like a U2 concert or something. I was upset of course but I didn’t worry too much thinking that my friends could still get me the student tickets (they provide 2000 of them) which had not been distributed at that time, and once I got the student tickets, I can just use someone’s student ID to get in.
When Martha asked me what I wanted for the wedding present, I answered that I want two tickets of march 1st game…yes, it is that precious to me and she knows that I’ll be ten thousands happier to get the tickets than to get crate and barrel china dinnerware set. So she said she'll get the student tickets, which was distributed this morning, for me. The ticket counters open at 10 AM.
But oh boy, when Martha and Rommy got there an hour before it’s opened, people have packed the arena already and a lot of them even camped in there since last night!!We had a game with Evansville last night and the fans just decided to not leave the arena till they got the ticket in their hands. So they were there for like 13 hours. The rest of them arrived before 6 this morning and anyone who arrived after that went home with empty hands. The students who camped there came prepared to pass the time, they brough television, DVD player and grill with them. The school also provided free donuts, bagels and coffee for everyone who camped there.
So since Martha and Rommy came at 9.00 o clock, of course the tickets ran out when there were still several hundred students in front of them. The athletic department should have put a limit on how many tickets one person received, because people were getting 20 tickets at a time and I am sure that most of them don’t even know half the payers. They turn this into a social event, not a basketball game that means the world to real fans like me, huhu.
I saw a picture of a student who proudly showed her tickets..*sobs* and I’m green with envy. ..what’s me gonna do??….. ain’t no way I’m watching the game from home!! Rommy tries to see if there’s anyone scalping ticket…I’ll pay $5 more than anyone else for each tickets. One guy even advertised that he would perform sexual favors for a ticket and he ain’t kidding.
Damn….Whatta great fans you have salukiisss.
I’ve talked to several people in the message boards, email and phone ….and there is this guy who knows someone who have 4 tickets for $25 each, he wants to sell it but we have to buy all 4 of them, shit I’ll buy those. I’m sure I won’t have a hard time selling the remaining two..there are still hundreds of angry diehard fans around school right now, hehe. So I called the guy and he still have the tickets with him….he wants me to meet him in an hour but of course I can’t!! dude..i’m like 2 hours away from Carbondale….! I’ve called my friends to pick it up for me, but I guess they are all in class cause no one’s picking up the phone. Damn damn damn, I’m afraid that guy is going to sell it to someone else if I’m not quick…*hopenot hopenot hopenot*
I quoted this from one of the students who was waiting in line for hours:
Getting up at 4 AM - Useless
Waiting in line 5 hours - Restless
Getting tickets to SIU Vs Creighton - Priceless!
somebody pick up the phone pliiisss.....
Big Wishes to Ella a.k.a the birthday girl…!!! Have a fabulous day yah la'..and enjoy your last days here in the states…=)
I’ve been lagging on updates lately, been busy shoveling and bowling the snow…hehe, can somebody stop the snow please..? I love the snow when it’s falling light, when it's so quaint and charming but cmon..let’s just close the season and move on to spring, shall we?
Anyway, I have also been busy with job hunting, I can’t afford to be unemployed any longer now, I am tired and bored for not having anything to do every single day. As much as I love having my free time and enjoying my new status as a housewife teehee.. I’m feeling worthless for not doing anything productive (productive = generates money..hihi).
Okay now, I don’t get it why every channels on TV airs about Michael Jackson news, particularly about him having his face surgically enhanced for like a hundred time. I mean so what??? It’s his money, it’s his life, why do they even bother with that?.. the man is happy with the way he lives his life so let him be. I am not a fan of him or anything but I just don’t understand why the society turns everything into a big deaL. People people..mind your own business!!
My weekend was pretty dope, went to Carbondale to see the basketball game. The game was part of the ESPN bracket busters tournament and our opponent was the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. It was nationally televised so of course it was hella crowd. And let me tell you, that was the most breath taking game I have ever seen in the history of my days as a basketball fan. We dominated them at times but we did let them back into the game down the stretch and we almost had an overtime. Thank god for the tip in from Hairston when the clock stroke Zero point something second. we all could hear the final horn when the ball had not hit the basket but it went in, prompting all of the audience to rush towards the court even though at that time we were not really sure if it’s counted or not. The official reviewed the tape on the courtside monitor and determined that the shot beat the buzzer. Horee…..and the crowd went even crazier. The win was our 25th in a row on our home court, the 4th longest home winning streak in the nation…wohooo cause we’re doin it DOGGY STYLE….GO DAWGS!!!
It was a SWEEP for the Missouri Valley Conference last weekend. All of the teams won the games. Creighton beat Fresno State, Northern Iowa knocked off Louisiana Tech and Illinois state even managed to beat Marshall in West Virginia. Congrats for the Valley!! Note to Dick Vitale: There’s life outside of the ACC!!!
Looking forward for the game this Saturday. Yes we are going back to Carbondale (tickets are sold out and we don’t have tickets so we have to find ways to get in *must think*) and spend the night there, Creighton is coming to town and it’s going to be the battle of the century. Most of the eyes are transfixed towards the Saturday showdown cause both teams are competing for the conference title plus it’s senior night, meaning it’s the last home game until next season. Best of luck for my salukis..=)
2. Where were your parents born? Both of them were born in the old Jakarta..*betawi asli niih*
3. What is the last thing you downloaded onto your computer? Hmm..it was actually Goyang NgeBor-nya INUL daratista..huahaha...
4. What’s your favorite restaurant? It depends on what I am in the mood for
5. Last time you swam in a pool? 2 summers ago….
6. Have you ever been in a school play? No
7. How many kids do you want? I want two...=), or three kalo sikonnya memungkinkan
8. Type of music you dislike most? Country, opera type of music, keroncong
9. Are you registered to vote? yes..i had a chance to vote once but I chose to abstain…gosh I was so unopinionated back then
10. Do you have cable? Yes yes, can't live without it
11. Have you ever ridden on a moped? Ehehehe..yes yes in the good old times.
12.Ever prank call anybody? Of course, that’s what most girls do when they are hangin out at one of the girls’ house after school…iya nggak iya nggak?
13.Ever get a parking ticket? I’ve successfully collected 15 of them throughout my undergrad study.
14. Would you go bungee jumping or sky diving? I am petrified of heights and the thought of it makes me take this deep shuddering breath. But I’d still hope someday I’ll be able to gather all my guts and go bungee jumping or sky diving..*crossing finger*
15. Fave Beauty Products? The Body Shop for skin care, MAC for make up
16. Do you have a garden? No, I live in apt
17. What’s your favorite comic strip? Garfield
18. Do you really know all the words to your national anthem? Yes, I think so..
19. Bath or Shower, morning or night? Shower in the morning and bubble baths once a while at night for relaxation..hmm..nice
20. Best movie you’ve seen in the past month? I’ve only watched Blue Crush this past month, it’s a good movie..makes me dreaming of going to Hawaii, but not superB!
21. Favorite pizza topping? Cheese and lots of meat...
22. Chips or popcorn? Popcorn..with lots of butter
23. What color lipstick do you usually wear? Hey I have to match it with the clothes I'm wearing so it depends
24. Have you ever smoked peanut shells? No…
25. Have you ever been in a beauty pageant? Oh hell no…
26. Orange or Apple juice? OJ, and no pulp please
27. Who was the last person you went out to dinner with and where did you dine? Steak and Shake with nduti..hmm frisco melt is really good for the soul
28. Favorite type chocolate bar? Bengbeng, sneakers
29. When was the last time you voted at the polls? I did online polls here and there but don’t remember when was the last time
30. Last time you ate a homegrown tomato? I’m not really a tomato fan
31. Have you ever won a trophy? Yes, a few of them when I was in kindergarten, teeheee
32. Are you a good cook? Not really, I guess that’s one of the things that I suck at, but I’m in the process of bringing out the chef in me..so we’ll see
33. Do you know how to pump your own gas? Hello… Does anyone not know this?
34. Ever order an article from an infomercial? Attempted to order revostyler and pilates video a couple times but I never did
35. Sprite or 7-up? Sprite
36. Have you ever had to wear a uniform to work? Yes, when I worked at Old Navy, it was the red or blue tiny-tee with old navy crew printed on it.
37. Last thing you bought at a pharmacy? Halls Defense Vitamin C
38. Ever throw up in public? Yuck..no..
39. Would you prefer being a millionaire or find true love? Hmm..I’ve found my true love so can I get the cash noW? Ha! it’s like I get two in the price of one.
40. Do you believe in love at first sight? I guess…
41. How many school have you gone to? *counting*..11...
42. Can exes be friends? Well it works for some people
43. Who was the last person you visited in a hospital?Danang, and it was like 4 years ago…
44. Did you have a lot of hair when you were a baby? I might, considering I have a lot of hair now..teehee
45. What message is on your answering machine? Oh..thank YOU for reminding me, I have to change the message after this……
46. What’s your all time favorite Saturday Night Live Character? I don't watch SNL...
47. What was the name of your first pet? Swampy..=)
48. What is in your purse?Let’s see….I have my wallet of course, Gum, Bath and Body Works Lip palette, receipt from Steak and Shake and a CHIC by Carolina Herrera Perfume. Hmm..that’s it??? That’s weird cause I usually have a lot of stuff and by the way, do you know that on average, women have 25 things in their purse???
49. Favorite thing to do before you sleep? Cuddling cuddling and cuddling, hehehe.
50. What is one thing you are grateful for today? Finally the bank will compensate D’s money tomorrow..*yay* ! Oh btw, have I told you this? Someone in Bangkok used his debit card to purchase like 5 or 6 different Nokia last week. Don’t know how the hell the thief got the card number and everything, it’s still in the investigation process. Thank god Visa has this zero liability policy (it protects card holders from having to pay for any unauthorized or fraudulent charges)..so once again *yay*
I guess this post is just going to be a bunch of random stuff, with no coherent themes…
First of all, my deepest sympathy goes to the families and friends that are affected by the Chicago stampede tragedy. 21 people died and 57 were injured!!! And here comes the blame game, the city officials blaming the night club owner for having unsafe facility (lack of exits) whereas the owner blatantly blames the police for spraying the mace when it wasn’t a necessity to do so. And by the way, what did the pregnant woman do in a nightclub at 3:00 AM???? That’s definitely not a place to be when you’re carrying a child….
Something was caught in my throat when I just finished eating yesterday, it was not even funny cause it felt like a sharp object or something, if it was an undigested food then it supposed to go away once I consumed a lot of water right?? but it still stuck in there, and of course it irritated me. I tried to throw it out (now I make my self sound like a bulimic..hihi) by it wouldn’t come out. So I tried the other way, I constantly ate yesterday just so it would go down along with the foods but still no luck there. Went to the pharmacist and asked him if there is any medicine that would help but he said I just have to go to the doctor and let the doctor take it out!! Oh man….. But he did suggest me to try to eat banana which I already did. So I thought Okay I’ll wait till tomorrow (which is today) morning and if it still there I’d go see a doctor. Errgggh but I don’t wanna go to the doctor plus my insurance is not valid yet, I can only use it starting March 1. So I decided to just continuously pointing my finger down my throat till I finally reached the thing..aduuh ini kenapa pake di omongin disini sih han??..hehehe….udah ah, sorry for giving you this unpleasant reading…….! I’m fine now.. But I think my throat has a minor infection or something cause I have a hard time swallowing.
The weekend was OK, went for dinner at TGIF on Friday, no…it wasn’t for Valentine's day celebration, but because there was no food at home and we had TGIF gift certificate so why not use it right?. Lakers was on TV that night so of course as Kobe’s fan I had to sit down on the couch, put my glasses on and cursing at the referee..hehe. Watched the Salukis VS Bradley game on Saturday, it was a tight at the end so the game was stretched to over time but Kent Williams was fouled out..boohoo, he had to sat on the bench and we just couldn’t bring home the victory….How I wish we had won the game..
Stayed at home the whole day on Saturday cause it was snowing so hard I could barely see anything outside except the snow and snow only!!! The snow was even thicker on Sunday but since there was a Permias meeting and farewell for Mas Wahyu and MbaK Dewi who will continue their post Doctoral study in New Zealand, we just had to go. We went there with Ben and Rommy and we drove like 30 mile per hour the whole trip, it usually take us half an hour to get there but it took us one and a half hour this time..cause we had to move like a snail or otherwise our car would slide and ended up on its top.
I have finished Umar Kayam -Lebaran di Karet, di Karet- book, finished it in one go, iya lah..tipis kok bukunya, kumpulan cerpen cerpennya dia tentang lebaran di Kompas.
Hmmm anywaaay.... what else is new? Can you tell that I’m dead bored????
I love you nduti.......=)
Wohooo, so today is valentines day. I agree that it’s being too commercialized these days, the card and flower industries seem like making it an excuse to inflate their profits, and plus I’m not much of a romantic myself. But hey, I don’t see there is anything bad in reminding the people you love how much you love them, cause it’s something that we need to do more of and if it takes a particular day devoted to showing your love, then so be it!! Woohoo…Happy Valentine’s peeps……..just to let you know that you’re being thought today....*and everyday of course* …=)
Looks like the wedding story (part two) has to be postponed, hehe..cause there is something else that I need to get it out of my system.
Last night, I was doing my usual thing, browsing the net, and dendre was watching Ultimate Fighting Championship DVD when the home phone rang. Like usual, we didn’t even bother to check who’s calling..thinking it was just another telemarketer cause our friends/family only call our cellphone. But then the phone kept ringing and ringing and when I checked the caller ID, there was no number on it…I picked it up just out of curiosity and turned out it was a collect call….from who?? I didn’t really catch the caller’s name but I heard a male voice and the automatic operator said that the phone was made from JAIL…my goodness… The operator asked me to press zero if I wanted to accept the charge…but I was soo panicked I accidentally pressed one instead of zero..so of course it hung up the phone right away. Waah gila kan…it made me even more panicked..i was busy thinking who in the world that person is…I have a few people that are very crucial to me whose status in this country is on the brink (yes, they are here illegally..in case you’re wondering)…I mean once INS catches them then it’s the end of their life in here, literally. I was just beyond panicked, alarmed that it could be one of them that got busted and thrown in jail……… and to make it even worse I didn’t know how to contact him back.
Seconds later the phone rang again..and it was the same call from the jail, this time I pressed the zero button carefully and man..gue langsung murka seketika…..do you know who called??? It was just a jackass named Mike who randomly make a collect-call phone and ask the receiver to make a three-way call to his mom (his mom’s phone doesn’t take collect call) so he could beg his mama to bail his sorry ass out of jail..!!! Godamnit…who the hell does he think he is? You can’t just pick any number in the phone book and start calling people for help….don’t you have friends or relatives??..Oh I get it…maybe you do have but they just don’t care about you and if your family don’t even care about you so why should I do?… Am I entitled to bail you out?? Hell no…. If you got busted for driving under the influence then maybe you do deserve to be locked up in the prison room once a while….Erghhh …..!! Try the next number in the yellow pages dude!!!
I know I might sound so rude to him..but what the hell..i was shaking when I found out the collect call was made from jail, I was imagining the worst case scenario..!!! kalo di pikir... kasian tu orang gue bentak2 ya..haha…biarin aja deh, life is hard man..lagian my phone line doesn’t have the capability to place three-way calls, so I still couldn’t help him anyway…!! Yang ngeselin tuh caranya itu lho yang bikin kaget dan stress orang……..
I’ve had this kind of phone call waktu gue di Perth dulu, but the caller was a good friend of mine who had been living in danger..man, he did a lot..and I mean A LOT of criminal things..dari cabut from his apt and leaving a few months of unpaid rent fees sampe install a phone line with somebody else’s name and constantly made international calls to no end..(of course he didn’t even bother to pay the bills) sampe nyolong nyolong saluran listrik/tv cable tetangga dan yang paling parah….ngebobol mesin atm ..and no..i’m not joking and I am not bullshitting.., I saw it with my very own eyes. Jadi dia sering banget minjem mobil buat ke ATM gitu, he needed to do it at 12-mid nite, tapi nggak ada yang ngasih minjem mobil abis suka nggak pulang gitu kalo di pinjemin tapi karena dia begging2 gitu akhirnya kita anterin aja ke tempat ATMnya…dan itu bukan sekali aja…..beberapa kali, kadang dia sukses ngebobol ratusan dollar sempet juga ribuan..tapi kadang nggak berhasil sama sekali. Wah pokonya he was dangerous deh and I was relieved that he got busted actually, so he could end his risky life. So anyway, he called me from jail..i forgot how he could end up in there, but I remember everybody did everything in his/her power to find a way to help him out, kita juga pada patungan gitu untuk ngeluarin dia…some of us used the money for gambling at burswood to try our luck and see if we could double the money…..some of us did come home with much more money though and this particular friend of mine was out of jail the next day and he stepped out of the country right away….iya lah orang langsung di deportasi gitu…..
Speaking of the illegal people…I know quite a lot of them here, there used to be this food establishment in this mall nearby called Le Petite Bistro, it’s a French cuisine gitu..tapi yang kerja orang Indonesia semua sampe managernya, ada yang di Galeria Mall and West County Mall. Ternyata di Le Bistro state laen laen juga banyak banget orang Indonesia nya. Kalo yang disini sih kebanyakan dari anak buah kapal, jadi pas kapalnya mendarat kesini (biasanya di florida) langsung pada cabut. Kebanyakan dari mereka langsung ke Atlanta..nah disitu banyak agen agen terselubung yang nyalurin mereka kemana mana, sampe ke pelosok amerika. Orang dulu gue tinggal di Carbondale dan kota tetangga tuh namanya Carterville..itu tuh kota keciil banget yang penduduknya cuma 3000 orang kali tapi adaa aja orang Indonesia yang kerja illegal disitu di Chinese restaurant nya..(yupe, you could always find a Chinese restaurant even in the most isolated area in the states).
Kalo disini sih nggak banyak banyak banget orang Indonesia yang illegal, they are mostly in bigger cities..di DC banyak bener tuh kayanya, Atlanta, New York, etc. Dan kerjaannya juga macem2, temen gue ada yang jadi bell boy, hehe..ada yang jadi kurir, loper Koran, kerja di gas station, construction workers, kebanyakan sih they do waitressing, etc. ..dan kalo lo mikir mereka mereka ini dari desa bojongkenyot ato orang orang yang skolahnya cuma sampe SD/SMP..huhu, you’re wrong dude, most of the people I know hold a bachelor degree, banyak juga lulusan NHI dan malah ada juga yang tadinya udah in a managerial position di bank bank di Jakarta (walopun ada juga emang unskilled workersnya)…jadi ngapain juga kesini kalo di Jakarta udah bisa settle??…yah nggak tau yah, people think differently and it’s all depends on your personal needs..what is it that you want? If you want to start a career and work your way up to the top then maybe Jakarta is the place for you but if it’s money and money only that matters to you and you realize you won’t ever find your bank account with so money zeros in it if you work in Jakarta and you don’t care what kind of job you’re doing as long as it can fulfill your long term needs then…well come to the states my friend..hehehe. Yah kalo disini if you’re willing to work hard and do anything, pasti lah you can be more than just surviving in here, tapi ya itu..kerjanya illegal dan resiko tanggung sendiri ya..hehe… !!
Banyak orang yang nggak setuju dengan cara tinggal disini illegally tapi kalo gue malah setuju and trying to encourage a lot of people to come here that way…especially yang di Indonesia nya madesu gitu so coming here would be a good way to enhance their life, biar ngurang ngurangin pengangguran di Indonesia dan ngebangun Ekonomi Indonesia juga doong, karena uangnya kan di kirim ke Jakarta semua, jadi keluarganya pada makmur, standard of living dan daya beli jadi naek. Gue pernah baca di majalah kartini tentang suatu desa..lupa deh desanya dimana, di pulau jawa deh pokoknya, tadinya desa itu seperti selayaknya desa desa laen, terbelakang banget..tapi trus banyak penduduknya pada kerja jadi TKW/TKI (emang mereka kerja legal tapi basicnya kan sama, they work overseas) dan seketika desanya jadi makmur, banyak bangunan baru, jadi ada Masjidnya, listrik dan semua fasilitas2 laen deh…..see.. it’s a good way to build our country.
Kalo denger dari cerita cerita orang orang sih, jaraang banget ada yang sampe ketauan, except if you do criminal things and you got busted dan ketauan kalo you are here illegally..nah ya udah apes namanya. Tapi kalo nggak ngelakuin yang aneh2 sih aman aman aja kok. I think if the American government is really serious about sweeping off the illegal people, they could just easily come to any food court, any Chinese restaurants at anytime and catch them right then and there. But they don’t…
So anyway, kita sering maen2 deh sama anak2 yang di Le Bistro ini..kalo ke mall pasti mampir..(lumayan makan gratis…hihi), tapi satu satu mulai pada cabut sih, tapi ya gitu.. satu cabut satu dateng…kebanyakan dari mereka emang hidupnya nomaden, kalo nggak betah tinggal telfon agentnya dan langsung di salurin ke tempat laen. All of them are hardworker, they work their asses off dari pagi sampe malem and most of them only get one day off during the week…kebayang nggak sih, hidupnya just for work and work only, they are loaded with money but they don’t have time to enjoy it, jadi paling uangnya langsung di kirim ke keluarganya, ada yang buat bangun rumah, buat beli sawah, ada yang buat buka usaha, ada juga yang di deposito-in aja etc. Kalo yang disini sih kebetulan banyaknya orang Bali…tapi dari Jakarta/Bandung juga banyak…! I wonder where they are right now, they were still there the night before I left home but now they are gone, I wonder if it has got to do with the new INS regulation…
Okay, as far as the preparation…I think the preparation was pretty neat, despite the short time frame that was given to arrange the whole things. The time frame wasn’t that short actually, but considering most people preparing their wedding at least one year ahead so mine was kind of instant. Lamarannya itu waktu bulan Agustus and it was done without us being there, but we called home like every hour to make sure everything went OK. Lamarannya itu, standard lah…ada uang and a set of jewelry. Trus juga sambil di ceritain silsilah keluarga masing masing, semua yang dateng juga harus introduce themselves dan ceritain apa hubungannya sama keluarganya. Yang dateng sih keluarga deket aja yah, yang jelas keluarga inti, trus ada om2 kita dan tante2 juga dan ada kerabat deket bokap nyokap gitu. Abis itu biasa lah ada acara makan makan dan waktu keluarga laki2nya pulang tuh yang di bawain kue2 gitu. Emang begitu katanya aturannya, kuenya juga udah ada aturannya harus berapa macem. Pas lamaran juga sekalian nge-disksusi tanggal hari H nya, nggak pake milih hari baik/enggak as long as it’s within the time frame of our vacation time then it’s all good. Tapi pas hari lamaran itu the date was yet to be fixed cause we had to check with the venue first, whether they have vacancy on that particular date or not.
Setelah itu, ada yang namanya kunjungan balesan, jadi keluarga gue berkunjung ke rumah keluarganya dendre gitu. Baru deh abis itu ngurusin everything that goes along with the wedding. Pertama tama of course milih gedungnya dulu. Kalo untuk akad nikah my mom wanted to have it in our house although me and my dad prefer to have it in a mosque. Gue lebih milih di masjid dengan alesan supaya lebih praktis aja dan nggak repot di rumah, tapi menurut nyokap gue kalo di masjid tuh kayanya pas balik ke rumah, di rumahnya kosong biasa aja, like nothing has happened gitu, lagian kalo di rumah biar lebih bersejarah gitu dan juga biar tali silaturahmi nya panjang soalnya kan seluruh keluarga kita pada dateng semua. Jadi ya udah, anything for my dear mom. Jadi tinggal milih gedungnya aja, we couldn’t afford to be picky considering most of the venue was booked already, especially on the weekend. And to make it harder for us to pick a venue was, for whatever reason, we are not allowed to have it in the hotel's ballroom. So, after checking out here and there..the choice went to Auditorium Manggala Wanabakti..it’s huge, the capacity is for 3500 people dan lokasinya juga strategis. Besides, the perks we got by renting from them were a lot, hehe.
So anyway, after that, baru deh ngurusin hal hal laennya such as catering, pelaminan, entertainment, who’s gonna be the MC, siapa yang bakalan ngasih sambutan, siapa yang bakalan mimpin doa, adatnya pake adat apa, dll. Dendre itu yogya sedangkan gue..hehe, I guess I’m a mixture of a lot of things, hehe..tapi yang paling strong ya arab dan betawi dari bokap dan arab sunda dari nyokap. So the decision was to go with my family’s culture for the akad nikah and dendre's culture with modifications here and there for the wedding reception. Iyaa, jadi nggak jawa jawa banget pas di gedung cause my dad had specifically said in the beginning that he ain’t wearing blangkon!!..haha….Jadi ya udah, so the dads were wearing regular black suits.
Ya udah pokonya banyak banget deh, I wasn’t involved with any of those arrangement but I could imagine how busy the moms were. Oh iya, nyokap2 kita itu di bantu sama para panitia. We didn’t hire any wedding organizer, tapi emang ada panitia khusus yang biasa nanganin pernikahan gitu yang terdiri dari orang orang kantor. Dan panitia ini bener bener ngurusin semua acara nya dari mulai acara pengajian, rapat panitia terakhir, akad nikah dan resepsinya. Jumlah seluruh panitianya sih banyak banget, sekitar 50 orang tapi yang bener2 intinya itu cuma ada 8 orang seperti penanggung jawabnya, ketua panitia nya, ketua ini itu lah. Sisanya ya seksi macem macem, ada seksi perlengkapan, seksi transportasi yang ngurusin dari mulai siapa yang jemput penghulunya, dan ini tuh penting banget karena udah banyak kejadian yang penghulunya tuh nggak dateng, ato nggak datengnya telaatt banget. Makanya penghulunya harus di tongkrongin di depan rumahnya dari pagi tuh, daripada nggak jadi kawin kan, hehe. Trus seksi transportasi juga bertanggung jawab ngatur yang jemput pengisi acara kalo ada yang perlu di jemput, siapa yang jemput tamu2 dari luar kota di airport ato di gambir, sewa bus lah ini itu. Trus ada juga seksi akomodasi yang bertanggung jawab atas akomodasi keluarga/tamu2 dari luar kota, seksi kesehatan, seksi acara, seksi keamanan, seksi konsumsi, dll. Konsumsi kan bukan cuma untuk catering pas pestanya aja, tapi juga buat orang2 yang nyiapin semuanya dari siang, buat penerima tamu yang udah di dandanin dari siang di gedung. Pokonya intinya they are responsible untuk semua event deh.
Trus juga, nyokap nyokap di ribetin dengan cari2 seragam, oh my god there are a lot of uniforms to be distributed, dari mulai keluarga cewe, keluarga cowo..keluarga aja beda kan ada keluarga inti dan ada extended family, penjaga buku tamu yang jumlahnya sekitar 15 orang, penerima tamu yang berdiri dari pintu masuk sampe depan pelaminan (50 lebih), buat among tamu (20), among tamu ini tugasnya untuk menjemput tamu2 VIP dari depan pintu masuk dan di antar sampe depan pelaminan trus ada yang jemput lagi di bawah pelaminan untuk di antar ke ruang VIP, hehe..spesial banget yaah..ya namanya juga VIP. Tamu VIP nya ada kurang lebih 50 orang, mereka2 itu yah orang2 yang di tuakan lah istilahnya dan juga orang2 yang super sibuk, makanya di beri perlakuan khusus, nggak perlu ngantri untuk ngasih ucapan selamat..tapi yah tentunya tanpa bermaksud merendahkan tamu tamu yang laennya dong..=). Oh iya, selaen VIP ada juga tuh tamu VVIP, kalo yang ini cuma ada sekitar 12 orang, bedanya..pas ngasih selamat gitu trus langsung foto bareng di pelaminan, karena hubungannya yang pasti lebih deket sama keluarga kita.
Trus juga ngurusin undangan(Again, undangan pengajian, undangan akad nikah (ini pun ada dua undangan untuk laki2 dan perempuan) dan undangan resepsinya), Foto Video, Perancang baju, pesen satu set tempat tidur juga untuk di kamar pengantinnya, hehe..dll. Cari souvenir, souvenir untuk pengajian (tas kulit hitam yang ada bordiran nama kita, isinya ada al quran, payung, dll), souvenir buat akad nikah (buku doa2 yg simple2 gitu), buat di gedung (yang ini sebenernya taplak meja kecil gitu, batik…dan ternyata undangannya nambah and there wasn’t enough time to reorder, jadinya sisanya di beliin compact mirror deh, hehe)
Ya udah deh pokonya itu semua udah rapi pas gue balik. Jadi pas gue balik itu tinggal semua yang emang bersangkutan sama gue kaya bikin baju! …tinggal sebulan lagi bajunya blom bikin sedangkan temen2 gue udah pada punya baju gitu. Ya udah, bolak balik fitting dan tiap hari badan gue ketusuk tusuk jarum pentuL..adoooh beneran deh, tersiksa banget. Selaen baju juga pesen cincin kawin dan gue yang baru tau gitu kalo cincin kawin modelnya tuh simple simple semua ya, dan gue juga baru tau kalo cincin kawin buat cewe dan cowo itu harus sama alias sepasang, hehehe. Trus juga baru tau kalo di inner ring nya tuh yang di tulis nama pasangannya.. Kita milih cincinnya sih in a matter of hours aja, nggak sampe yang berhari hari gitu. Tapi susah juga milihnya karena yang gue pingin itu terlalu girly, ya dendrenya nggak mau laah, hehehe..pokonya gue yang picky banget deh soalnya gimana..i think that’s one of the essential parts of the whole thing, cause that’s the only thing you can still wear after the wedding, even years after that and you’re going to wear the ring everyday so it should be the best it can be..=).
Hmm, abis itu juga ngurus ngurus paperwork sama KUA, nah yang ini rada telat, kita baru ngurusin seminggu sebelumnya. Nggak banyak kok paperworknya, paling ngisi data data diri dan orang tua aja dan ada questionnaire nya juga, salah satunya ada pertanyaan apa nikahnya tuh kemauan sendiri ato paksaan, hehe, trus di tanya sholat nggak, sehari berapa kali, dll gitu deh.Trus mas kawinnya apa aja. Ngurus KUAnya ini di KUA rumah perempuannya. Jadi pertama cowonya tuh harus ke kelurahan deket rumahnya dan minta keterangan numpang nikah gitu. Udah dapet semua surat surat nya, baru ke KUA di rumah si cewe trus baru deh di kasih paperworknya.
Trus ada juga make up test session, the make up artist was Ozzy Syahputra and he was goooodd, totally recommend him. Test sessionnya kurang lebih waktu 2 minggu sebelum hari H nya dan bener2 di make up as if you’re going to get married that day gitu, harusnya sih juga ada baju pengantinnya biar bisa di selarasin sama make up nya tapi waktu itu bajunya belom jadi. Believe it or not, malemnya resepsi siangnya baju gue baru jadi, hehehe. Trus di dandanin lengkap sama sanggulnya juga, cuma waktu itu dia nggak bawa bunga nya, jadi dia dengan asalnya metik bunga kembang sepatu di rumah gue dan di pakein ke kepala gue gitu. Selaen test make up session ada juga photo session, foto2 buat di taro di kamar pengantin sama di gedung.
Trus..ehh oh iyaa, beberapa hari sebelumnya kita juga di repotin soal dukun nganten. Hehe, ini sih istilah orang jawa aja yah, sebenernya si dukun nganten itu orang yang bertanggung jawab atas penganten tersebut. Jadi dari mulai ngeriasin, makein bajunya, masang masangin aksesorisnya, ngerik rambut (iya harus di kerik sedikit, buang sial katanya..tapi entah kenapa kok gue nggak jadi di kerik yah..? bingung) ngasih tau cara jalannya, trus kalo misalnya nanti kalungnya ada yang nyangkut ato kainnya kesingkap gitu pas di pelaminan dia yang betulin. Kalo ada upacara adat dia yang ngajarin semua dari cara sungkemnya, cara doanya dan semua tetek bengeknya deh. Dan katanya sih di dukun nganten itu sebelum hari H nya puasa dulu, dan ada doa doa/ritual khusus, jadi kaya pas masang sanggul gitu katanya ada doanya sendiri, sampe masang kembang goyang juga ada doanya sendiri. Tadinya kita nyantai2 aja thinking ozzy could do all that, tapi at the last minute kita baru tau kalo dia cuma ngerias muka dan sanggul aja, that’s it. Waduuh langsung deh kelabakan gitu. Soalnya susah juga nyari dukun nganten itu, apalagi dalam waktu 5 hari, duuh gimana coba. Waktu dulu pertama tama sih we were planning untuk make Ibu Tien Santoso but who are we expecting her to be available 4 months before, orang aja banyak yang nentuin tanggal kawin according to her availability gitu.. apalagi kebetulan someone I know emang udah booking dia untuk hari yang sama.. so she was out of the list. Trus, pilihan kedua itu Tante Yustine, untung aja she was available and didn’t feel under estimated even though we contacted her only a few days in advance.
Beberapa hari sebelumnya juga ada rapat panitia terakhir, jadi seluruh panitia were there termasuk semua orang2 yang bersangkutan kaya wakil dari pengisi acara, mc nya, wakil dari dokumentasi, dari catering, dll. Rame juga, trus pas itu distribusiin buku panduan panitia nya juga. Yang isinya chronological eventnya, jam segini sampe segini harus ngapain dan jalannya gimana, posisi masing masing gimana, list nama nama panitia nya, tugasnya, nama2 penerima/penjaga buku tamu, nama2 tamu VIP nya, semuanya deh..dll. Gue aja kaget banget sampe segitu rapihnya panitia nyusun acaranya, waktu presentasinya sampe pake slide projector segala di bikin power pointnya untuk semuanya dari denah gedungnya, nanti pengantennya dimana, jalannya lewat mana, belok mana dan pas jam berapa menit keberapa harus nyampe pelaminannya dan pas saat penganten nyampe mana musiknya harus nyala, dll dll…pokonya banyak banget deh. Jadi udah kaya visual rehearsal gitu.
Trus, dua hari sebelum Akad nikah di adain pengajian di rumahnya dendre. Banyak juga yang dateng, ada sekitar 150 orang, ibu ibu semua. Isi pengajiannya ya ada ngaji bareng, ada ceramah tentang memasuki dunia rumah tangga, dan juga ada doa bersama gitu. Pas itu terharu banget, seneng juga..banyak yang doain, trus pas terakhirnya semuanya pada berdiri dan gue sama dendre yang ngelilingin ruangan, salaman sama semua orang sambil minta doa restu sambil di iringi shalawat nabi yang di nyanyiin sama semua tamunya. That was pretty phenomenal…and tears were almost streaming down my face.
Trus persiapan setelah itu..hihi ini dia yang di tunggu tunggu, jadi gue ikut yang namanya bridal ekslusif treatment. Jadi itu emang paket khusus perkawinan. Dari mulai facial, luluran, mandi bunga, di steam pake wangi wangian gitu, waxing, bleaching, massage, manicure and pedicure, semuanya deh, sama yang terakhir tuh I got my hands and my feet painted with Henna (mehndi). I did this the night before the akad nikah and it was a mistake, harusnya di kerjain a couple days before cause you have to leave the henna paste in your hands and feet for like 12 hours until it dries, and since they started the painting around 6 in the evening (and it took 2.5 hours to finish the painting), meaning I had to let it stay the whole night. Jadinya yang nggak bisa tidur soalnya takut berantakan hasilnya…hehe……
Man this is a lot and this is only the preparation..tsk tsk..emang ngurusin kawinan itu super ribet banget, padahal the actual ceremony and the reception only take a couple hours, persiapannya aja yang berbulan bulan.....jadi gimana after reading all of these..masih pada mau kawin nggak??..hehe.......Ah ya udah berarti tentang hari H nya menyusul besok……..
my internet is really acting up. The connection was OK the whole day monday and friday but then it went off in the evening. It was dead the whole weekend and it was only on for a couple of hours yesterday and right now..i don't know how long this is going to last. But the technician is coming over tomorrow so hopefully it's gonna be fixed right away. And you know what, the weird thing is it's only connected when I'm home..alone and when it's time for dendre to come home from work, it's just went off. Weird, isn't it?..kayanya tuh as a newly wed we have to spend as much as quality time together...and no internet allowed..hmmm...hehehe....
Anyway, I just noticed I wrote something about visiting Bandung in my previous entry, but since we changed the departure date to two days earlier, we had to cancel the plan. Sebel juga siy, jadinya nggak sempet pergi ke luar Jakarta sama sekali, kalo dendre masih mending dia sempet pergi ke yogya for the first weekend we arrived. We were planning to go to Bali for the honeymoon, huhu…but we didn’t have enough time so we decided to just go to Singapore on the way back, with my mom, my sista and my brother. Disana dari minggu pagi sampe selasa malem. We stopped by in Singapore also on the way back to Jakarta last time, but only for one night but it was enough to refresh my memory about Singapore. I used to live there a long time ago for quite a short period. But it was long enough for me to get to know Singapore beyond Orchard road, to live like Singaporeans, went to school there and even speak singlish, haha…! Anyway, kemaren itu kita nggak kemana mana, paling ke tempat yang wajib wajib aja such as Far East Plaza, hihi, TOPSHOP and TOPMAN, and some stores in Wisma Atria. Trus sempet juga ke Bugis Junction trus went on a Duck Tour from Suntec City Mall *that was interesting*. Trus juga nggak lupa mampir ke Chinatown and since it’s close to the Chinese New Year, jadinya penuh dan meriah banget, they even closed at mid night. And that’s about it…
My mom’s flight was a couple hours early than mine, so after she left, kita yang madesu gitu di airport, went online and posted my previous entry, browsed the bookstore and grabbed some magazines, picked up the M.A.C’s Fix + Spray *a must for any jet setting lady*, enjoyed my last cup of Coffee Bean, sholat, and the plane was waiting by then. So there I was in 13 hours flight to Amsterdam and another 8 hours to Newark. And believe me, I know what a sore butt really feels like. Slept almost throughout the flight, didn’t even bother to check the movie, besides..the plane was the Boeing 747 Megatop, which is much older compare to the 777 I rode in when I went home. Jadi nggak asik nontonnya cause the screen is smaller and the movies were scheduled, meaning we can’t watch it in our convenient, harus ngikutin terus. Kalo yang di 777, we can watch the movie anytime we want and whenever we feel like sleeping we can just pause it and continue later. Nice heh?
So anyway, pas nyampe di Newark, unfortunately, there was a bit of a problem with my visa. In your I-20, you should have the admission number, and it needs to be the same even if you have transferred to a different school, and that’s their way to track you. Nah, nggak ngerti kenapa there were two different numbers in my record so they had to check and recheck everything, they brought me to another room. Untungnya sih emang nggak ada apa apa, they just assigned me which number to use. After that, I was free to leave. Kalo dendre, he needed to go to a special registration process, and it took about an hour. They took his fingerprints and took a photograph of him. Trus di tanya ini itu, family background and such but they were all nice though. They also asked him to show his credit cards, atm card, driver license , etc and they keep records of them.
Di Newark, kita janjian to meet with dendre’s sista who lives in upstate New York. Thank god they were late so they just got there when we came out. Kalo enggak kan takutnya mereka udah balik karena nungguin kita nggak keluar keluar. Anyway, so she was there with her newborn baby, her hubby and Mike. I have never seen the baby before since he’s only 2 months old and he was born a week before we were leaving to Jakarta so there was no way for us to visit her. The baby is cute, and he sure doesn’t look like a 2 months old since he’s quite big. Hope to see them again soom……..
After that, we took another 2 and a half hours flight and it closed the chapter of my vacation. Di itung itung lumayan lama juga kemaren di jakartanya, sekitar 50 harian, woohoo, that’s the longest vacation I have ever had, biasanya paling cuma 3 – 4 weeks aja.
PICTURES ARE COMING UP
Oh, last but not least, I want to send my deepest condolence untuk keluarga Alm. Tante Wisnani Safitri who was robbed and brutally slashed in front of her house and was died on her way to the hospital. A friend smsd me when I was still in Singapore, it was also on TV a couple times. You can read the news here, or here. Rampoknya ternyata udah ngikutin dari Alm. keluar dari Bank. Padahal, uang yang di ambil itu uang yayasan Darma Wanita yang mau di donasiin ke kuburan Sunan Gunung Jati, Cirebon. No wonder she refused to release it. Her son, Andi, went to the same high school with me, and also went to the same junior high school with Dendre. The Alm. and husband are close friends of dendre’s parents. So now the whole families are still in the state of shock. The first time I met her was when she came to the ‘pengajian’ in dendre's house that was held two days before our wedding and I could see right away that everybody adores her. Iya, orangnya baiiik banget, ramah, seneng bercanda sampe gue di cengin berkali kali..=), she always put on a Happy face. Waktu dia dateng aja orang orang yang langsung pada seneng gitu. She also came to our wedding reception, she was one of the VIPs guest. Still can’t believe this could happen to her. May God grant the whole family peace in this time of sorrow…Tabah ya ndi..*hugs*
I just bid farewell to my mom, my lil sista and brother a while ago. They should have landed in Jakarta by now. Sad..of course, cause It never feels right to have your closest family away from you. Anywaay, so i'm stranded here in Changi Airport, my plane won't leave till another 3 hours. What to do, what to do.....
It's 9.45 AM, we'll be going to the embassy sometimes this afternoon to pick up our visa..and we're scheduled to arrive in the states on the 31st. Normally it takes 3 months for male applicants to get the visa approved, somepeople I know are still waiting for their visa eventhough they dropped the application 6 months ago. But it only take him exactly a month to get the approval...mungkin ini salah satu berkah pernikahan yaa....=)
Skarang dah mulai sibuk packing2 dan cari oleh2, titipan pun udah banyak berdatangan and FYI nih, apalagi yang mau travelling..baggage limitnya itu sekarang udah bukan 70 KG lagi, tapi cuma 50 KG. Gimana tuuh...biasanya 70 kilo aja gue suka over gitu limitnya, sekarang di kurangin pula...*bingung*. Anyway, kalo jadi nih, hari kamis ini mo ke bandung....yuhuu, factory outlets...here I come..!
Anyway, sekarang udah tenang, udah lega, udah PLONG karena hajatannya udah selesai, dan alhamdulillah akad nikah dan resepsi nya berjalan lancar lancar aja tanpa ada musibah apa apa. Pingin sih nge recap acaranya lengkap tapi sekarang nggak sempet niiihh. Yang jelas kaki gue pegel pegel banget pas resepsi karena dari jam 7 sampe jam 10 gue bener bener berdiri nyalamin tamu tamu, paling duduk cuma sekali itu juga nggak sempet semenit. Tapi nggak pa pa sih, seneng kok, berarti kan banyak yang dateng. Dari anak anak blog sih cuma ada Mas Erly, Iqbal, Nunique, Khoivin, Mas Farid sama Mas Arif aja. Iren sama Celia udah balik dan Za nggak bisa dateng. I was waiting for this girl, tapi juga anaknya nggak nongoL, hehe. Makasih yah yang udah nyempetin dateng, let me know kalo ada acara ngumpul2 yah....=)
Sekarang mendingan gue jawabin tag boardnya aja:
IQBAL: belom sempet niiih, gimana kalo elo aja ngewakilin gue? hehehe, since you were there anyway dan elo bisa menikmati suasananya dan makanannya, hehe...kalo gue kan di depan doank..:P
RHE: Makasih banyak yah..=)
RINA: Rame dooong, ada elo sih, hihi, iya dong say cantik, kalo nggak cantik ntar orang bingung lagiii yang mana pengantennya..hahaha, nggak sopan banget sih gue.
ILSA: iya nih cerita panjangnya menyusul, foto fotonya blom jadi say, 3 minggu katanya...gue juga nggak sabar pengen liat...
DINA: Dinces ku sayaaang, cek imel dungs
SASHA: hihi, iyaa udah, maap yah nggak sempet ngundang, abis situ nggak pernah main main sini sih?..=P. Gue cuma sms in aja undangannya suruh di fwd fwd gitu, emang elo nggak dapet yaah?..kalo gitu salain iqbal aja, hehehe. ayoo kapan mo ketemuan??
DETTA: aduh tolong doong sms gue di bales..jangan2 elo ganti nomer telfon kali ya det...?
ELLA: iya niih kunci pintu mlulu, hahaha...! eh kata siapa seru?..iyaa lumayan seru...pas udah selesai banyak ibu ibu rebutan ngambilin bunga dekornya buat di bawa pulang.. hehehe
MAS ERLY: belom ngobrol ngobrol niiih....ayo dong ketemuan lagi?
SHINTA: iyaah pegel sis, ntar lo kalo kawin di KUA aja yah, tanda tangan trus beres deh, nanti umuminnya pasang iklan di kompas aja biar orang orang tau elo udah nikah, hehe. Jadi gue malem pertamanya pijet pijetan deh tuuh, adooh nggak seru banget kan?..
KHOIVIN: lah laah, kok lemu tenan kowe saiki vin?..hihi...kok kemaren sendirian aja sih??
CHIPIE: Iyaah ini ibu hanzky. Thank you yaah udah maen maen. Btw, pada tau nggak sih Hanzky itu singkatan dari apa?..dulu temen2 gue pernah gue boongin kalo itu dari Hanifa Blezinsky dan gue masih ada hubungan sodara sama tamara blezinsky, hehehe..pada percaya aja lagi. Padahal sih Hanzky itu hani rizky, nama benernya dendre.
UDHIEN: Kok nggak dateng??..nggak di kasih tau iqbal yah??
IREN: Duuh sayang banget yah kita nggak sempet ketemuan, abisnya elo cuma sebentar banget sih, dan pas gue lagi sibuk sibuknya gitu..jadi cuma sempet ngomong di telfon aja deh. Btw sekedar informasi aja nih kawan kawan, si irendut ini suaranya sekseh lhoo, hehe.
RADITH: Met kenal juga yah..=)
PANJI: Happy New Year to you too....
HAPPY NEW YEAR yah semuanya.....may you have a prosperous life in 2003 and have a better life than before. Pada kemana nih new years eve??? Gue di rumah aja dong karena emang males banget kemana dan bingung mo kemana juga, tonight is really just another night for me, especially since i'm gonna have what it seems to be the biggest event of my life in a matter of days, jadi new year bener2 biasa banget karena beberapa hari setelah itu bakalan ada event yang jauh lebih penting dari taun baruan. Gila yaa i'm getting married soon, pernikahan itu bener bener transaksi yang paling besar in one's life, lebih besar daripada elo beli rumah seharga 10 milyar kali yaa.
I'm sure everybody has the so called new year resolution, i haven't thought of that myself, entar malem deh gue merenung dulu, hehe..biar tau what are my new year resolutions, so i'll tell ya about that later. On the meantime, Have a wonderful new years eve aja dulu kali yaaaa...go ahead party your ass out but make sure when you wake up tomorrow, promise to yourself that you're gonna try to be a better person each and everyday...=)