I’ve been feeling really, very, truly low
lately. I know I need to do something to boost up my mood.
#Thinking.
“Ok. I know what to do! I’m going to count
my blessings this year.”
Thanks to Facebook and Path, I can recall
some of the most influencing experiences I had throughout this year. Let’s see…
February 9th 2014. No longer an artist, I never thought my profile would pop up on Kompas, the leading newspaper in Indonesia. Having a break from a meeting to hold a charity concert "from Guitarists for Indonesia", I happened to had a little talk with a journalist from Kompas. He asked why I chose guitar as my instrument. "Why not? Music has nothing to do with gender." Apparently, he was impressed. That Sunday, there's an ugly big picture of me with an article about music and gender :D.
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| dari Gitaris untuk Indonesia Charity Concert |
I played with cool musicians for the charity concert: Kin, Denny Chasmala, Qoqo SHE, Eros, Taraz, etc. With another 46 guitarists plus many musicians who gave out their energy and talent without any payment, in less than three hours, we
collected more than 1,7 billion rupiahs. Recently I heard a school in Manado,
North Sulawesi was rebuilt using the money. This happened on February 12th 2014 at
Bentara Budaya Jakarta, Palmerah.
I always work like a horse. I always got
very tired. I usually look like a zombie. On March 30th, my sister’s family invited me to join a trip
to Puncak, together with my dad. We ate, and sang songs with the hotel’s
homeband, and had good laughs. At night, I slept like a baby. The next day, my
sister told me I looked like a human being J.
May is the month when my musical journey begins again… FiA, a kind and cute female musician, invited me to sing at "Singer-Songwriter" showcase. She managed the whole thing!
I sang a few songs, my sister, Leony, came and helped me sing too. My friends from the office also came, plus some friends. I had a good fun, although I got cold feet. I could hear trembling voice came out of my mouth…
June 22nd 2014 was one of the happiest days of my life. It
was my best friends’ wedding. Yes, two of my best friends got married, Claudia
Lengkey and Simhala Avadana. I love them both dearly. They are one of those
couples who “did it”. They’ve been together forever, they’ve been through A
LOT, and they finally tide the knot. (Wish I could be that lucky…). They’re
best friends, they’re in love, they’re meant to be.
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| Mhala & Odit |
Also on June 2014, I had to let my one and only team I got at the office
go. Her name was Inneke. I believe she loved me. She did everything she could
to make me look good in front of the bosses. I remember her saying, “Before I
leave, I will make a complete report on everything we did so far. You need it!
You need to show the bosses what YOU achieved.”
I don’t know if I would ever find a
team-mate like her again; a person who works hard to make her boss look good so
this person can get a promotion. She often went home later than I, worked
extremely hard, and never take credit for herself.
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| farewell night Tasha-Eko-Dita-Riry-Ama-Inneke |
Losing her probably was the saddest thing
happened to me in my “office life”. I
had to work alone for more than 6 weeks, before I got a new team member.
July 6th 2014. KompasTV held the last (and in my opinion was
the best) debate prior to Indonesia’s Presidential Election. We ran the debate
for President and Vice President candidates. It went very well, at least
that’s what our audiences told us.
On July
22nd 2014, Indonesia got new President and Vice President.
Congratulations Mr. Jokowi and Mr. Jusuf Kalla! I was so tired with political
condition that’s been going on in Indonesia. Having new President and Vice
President gave me (and all Indonesians) new hope.
Whenever I have time, I would go to Q’s
Smokehouse at Setiabudhi Building on Saturday night to see my sister’s
performance with this cool band: Weekend Rockstars. Yes, they’re rock-stars
during weekends only. On this special night, we’re celebrating my sister’s
birthday. There were some friends and family attending. My sister looked so
happy. So, I was so happy too. You don’t believe me? See picture below J. It was a lovely Saturday night on August 2014.
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| Leon's birthday at Q's Smokehouse Setiabudhi Building |
I joined “Write This Way” (WTW) writing
workshop held by the Jakarta Post in September.
Yes, thanks to my mentors and my fellow trainees, now I have the guts to write
in English J. I always waited impatiently to join the workshops.
I spent hours
writing my assignments. I knew I got better and better. We all had good laughs,
shed some tears, and smiled in awe reading our friends’ writings. Ah… I miss my
friends there.
October 2014 probably was the hardest month for me. I won some and I lose
some.
Let’s talk about what I “won”.
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| Write This Way 6's Team |
I graduated from
the “Write This Way”
workshop. #YEAY!!!
One “funny”
day, my boss called me into his office and told me to hold a short movie festival
(later we call it Indonesia Short Movie Festival or FFPI). We would have to
announce the winners in three weeks, on the main stage of Indonesia
Broadcasting Expo (IBX).
IBX is the biggest broadcasting exhibition
in Indonesia. All the “big” tv stations would have their own “main attraction” on
the “main stage”. Ours would be the announcement of FFPI.
It was an impossible mission. I did a
little research on how long a short movie festival usually being prepared.
“Okay, most of short movie festivals would have 5-6 months of preparation.”
I begged my boss to let this challenge
passed me. I couldn’t hold my tears. I felt angry. I have NEVER managed a short
movie festival before. How could I do it only in three weeks time?
But we had to manage, my team and I. We all
worked like horses. We didn’t care how many hours we need to work, we just knew
we had to make it. Our target was: 30 participants/movies.
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| Thank God for my team's hard work... |
Praise the Lord. I thank God for my team’s
hard work.
We had 80 movies participated. We had the
Mayor of Bandung, Ridwan Kamil, an architect, designed the FFPI’s trophy. We
had him to be one of the judges to help decide the winners of FFPI. We had him come
to IBX only to present the trophy to all winners and to give speech about FFPI.
Along with that, my boss sent me to be a
secretary of IBX, as a representative of my office. I am not good with
administrative work, and yet, I was the secretary for IBX. Perfect!! It was a
big torture for me. It was. But now, I laughed every time I remember it.
I lost my voice for about 10 days during
IBX and its preparation. I had fevers but didn’t have time to rest. After IBX,
with no medications at all, I got well. I still don’t understand why.
Right before IBX, together with three other
female musicians, I organized “Sisterhoodgigs”, premiered on October 28th
2014 at The Factory Studio & Café, South of Jakarta. Our goal was to
provide a stage for female musicians where they (read: we) do not need to worry
about how they look like on stage, which we believe is a stigma that girls need
to look pretty and wear certain make up and pretty shoes on stage. Music is all
that counts.
We had tons of fun.
But this month, I also experienced lost.
I lost a companion. It is not easy to let
go something that already became a pattern to your life. It was a struggle. It
still is.
This probably led me to insomnia. Until a
week ago, I could not sleep more than 4 hours a day. I would fall asleep around
2 or 3 am, and I’d wake up at 6 am. It’s so disturbing. (Thank God for
Internet, I could browse and chat and do all things, timeless).
I couldn’t think straight (well, lots of my
friends say I have never think straight anyway!! Lol). I always felt tired. I
had no appetite too. It all started on October.
But, hey, it’s November’s turn now! It’s a new month! Let’s see if I find a little
bit of new happiness J.
Apparently, I did! I figured I wanted to
try something new. Why? To keep myself busy, not only with office work. I need
to go places, see new things, meet new friends. What’s better to do than
learning how to DIVE?
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| US!!! (at the back is the boatman, on the front is another, taking our picture) |
And so I did. It was so fun I almost forgot
to take pictures during my certification test on Pramuka Island. I only got a
few. But still, I got comments on facebook because I looked TOO happy. Diving
gave me new world, the under water world, a new place to go since I’ve never
been to Pramuka Island, and new friends which are still keeping in touch with
me. J
December. A month of peace and joy. Well, usually! This December is a mess…
I had six events in a week. Two movie
gatherings, two press conferences, one media gathering, and one Sisterhoodgigs
Acoustic Session #3 event, while taking care of sending hundreds of greeting
cards to our stakeholders.
Niken, (she’s one of my teammates, remember?)
was able to be the PIC of the media gathering. Ojik, our newest team member,
managed the greeting cards. I barely did anything, I did only what I supposed
to do: supervise.
So, I only had a few more events to handle.
Of course, I didn’t handle them alone. With office work, I got help from Niken,
Ojik, and Ajeng who is our intern. We worked hand in hand. I am so grateful to
have teammates like them. Although sad to say, not one of those events was a
big success.
On Sisterhoodgigs Acoustic Session #3, I
had an opportunity to sing four songs. I was so happy because Mas Endy, the
senior editor of the Jakarta Post and also one of my mentors at WTW, came to
see my performance. I hit the stage with my sister, Leony, accompanied by my
friends: Arnie, Adisty, and Dyah.
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| musicians involved on Sisterhoodgigs Acoustic Session #3 Spirit of Giving |
All of the musicians involved were very
happy. We managed to collect some money for a foundation that is taking care of
some children with Cerebral Palsy decease. Even though it’s not much, we’re
happy because we did it out of our hearts.
You may wonder why I didn’t only write
about the fun and positive stuff, but also sad ones. Well, I am also grateful
for all those “unfortunate” events happened to me.
Why?
Simple. They made me grew stronger.
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| me and my best friends. if we happen to have some extra time, we do meet |
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| lovely time with a lovely family Yogya Trip, February 2014 |
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| the one with Michelle at Candi Boko |
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| Grease @Marina Bay Sands, Singapore |
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| I did sing in two concerts this year!!! University Padjadjaran's Choir (Alumni) |
Now, I am feeling much better. Listing down
some of my blessings worked for me. Have you counted your blessings this year?
Happy New Year!! God bless us all.
