Memilih Buku

Dulu aku punya kebiasaan membeli buku dengan judge by it's cover. Memilih buku kadang membuat galau kambuh lebih lama daripada memilih sepatu. Apalagi ketika dadakan melipir ke toko buku dan belum punya pilihan ingin beli buku apa. Akhirnya aku hanya berkeliling, mengintip sekilas beberapa buku, dan memilih buku yang akan ku bawa pulang hanya karena covernya menarik. 

Judul dan covernya eye-catching, sinopsisnya menarik, tapi ketika ku baca ternyata kontennya nggak sesuai dengan ekspektasiku. Nggak sesuai dengan seleraku. Begitulah, terkadang buku yang aku suka belum tentu buku yang terjual baik di pasaran dan buku yang banyak diperbincangkan orang belum tentu menyenangkan bagiku.

(Related Post : Review : Saman (Ayu Utami)


Selain mendorong budaya baca, buatku media daring berbasis teks selalu jadi andalan ketika akan memutuskan untuk memilih buku. Ada banyak kanal yang bisa dipilih sebagai referensi :

Body Mist dari Brand Lokal yang Aromanya Enak Banget !

Bagiku, orang rapi dan wangi itu menarik. Keluar rumah dalam keadaan rapi dan wangi, selalu bikin level up rasa percaya diri. Memakai parfum atau sekedar body lotion. Membicarakan tentang wewangian, aku termasuk picky soal aroma, sebab wewangian tuh sangat mempengaruhi pikiran dan confident. Suka aroma soft cenderung floral, citrus, oceanic, atau aroma-aroma baby yang nyaman dihidung. 

Tapi, untuk sehari-hari di rumah, aku cukup pakai Body Mist aja. Memang nggak sewangi parfum dan hanya bertahan sementara, tapi priceable banget. 

Shopping for Baby

Konon, menjadi orang tua bakal mengubah hidup seseorang. Yang baik-baik pasti akan diusahakan demi si bayi sejak dalam kandungan. Apalagi dalam hal mempersiapkan keperluannya jelang launching ke dunia. 

Sebagai calon orang tua baru, barangkali aku dan mas suami termasuk yang paling terlambat belanja keperluan bayi. Kami baru mulai sibuk belanja ketika usia kehamilanku sudah masuk 35 minggu.

Seperti calon mama lainnya, naluri keibuanku langsung tergugah, naluri belanja mulai menggelora, lol. Oke, santaiiii. Semua harus diatur dengan rapi supaya nggak kebablasan.

Cus… siapin dulu daftar belanjanya. Here it goes :

Marrying with an Academics

He wasn't an Academic when he marry me. We met as a best friend long before this quite man decided to make a career of being smart people, lol. I just know, he's incredibly excited about machines. How was I supposed to know he'd being an Academic ? lol...

I've been by his side for every step of the way. I really know what has gone. He stayed in The Energy Conversion lab for more than 3 years. Doing several project at once ; writing papers for international journals - wait the response from his thesis supervisor - revision - write again - revision - write again. Read more - write the thesis script - staying up late at home. We often discuss about his research project and it turned out to be beneficial for me. Even the details may not all be applicable to our daily life (lol) but I'm so interested.

On the weekend, he take an English class. If he have a deal with the English translation, I changed what editors do by becoming a counselor for him, lol. We rarely take the time to simply spend time with those we love. It's really hard for us. But the things that make me proud, in the midst of his busy life, he's always tried to worship together in the mosque. Oh yeah, I'm crying :')

After all those hard years, my understanding of what he does is turned into something that really proud. It's develop a never give up attitude. He tried to be independent and complete his postgraduate by finance all the cost by himself and graduate with very satisfying predicate. He also makes me a stronger partner of life !

Well, teach in large class sometimes drains his energy. His Thermodynamics class has gotten up to 50 students and the students have various types of behavior. To keep his class enjoyable, he just showing PowerPoint slides wisely, random discuss, ask a logical question, and finish it not more than a hour, lol. Because for him, respect and appreciate the student's effort to finish their assignments is more important than the value itself. Energy saving too :))


Well, this is the second years he became a lecturer. I know from his story that most senior lecturer usually have multiple career besides their working life ; from lecturer, assistant chief, head of department, an author, a reviewer, a researcher, car business, and others. But he choose to be a reliable love bird breeder, lol. At least for this time. Yeah, he always 'working' even at home :)

Even this time just entering his second years, he always learning to understand the system at where he works to makes progress in his career. He said, there will be some people who pay attention about his productivity at work, reporting about his performance, and seeing about the relationship between the lecturer, students, lab staff and the people around. Hahahaaa... I know he has trouble with the last one, but he never felt burdened. The important thing when become a lectures is having a positive attitude and be a good listener.


Thumbs up !

How Solo Living Changed My Life

Most of my growing up years were spent in a lovely town, a special place in my heart. Spent most of the best moment of my life in this little town. The place where the friends I make from childhood and the memories I share.

But now I'm not living there. 12 years ago, I'm leaving my old life. Packing my bags, bring lots of books, and jumping cheerfully on the plane that would take me from Oil City to The City of Heroes for a new step. I was really excited to live far away from my parents for the first time. Breathe, eat, and sleep in the same dorm room every single day with 3 strangers. I thought everything would be fine. But I was wrong.

Every night, I try my hardest to fall asleep. The sound of roommates laughing late into the night, their music playing, or their dirty laundry scattering the floor, aaarrrggghhh... that's so disruptive my sleeping time. Uncomfortable dorm life. I feel like there's no home for me. The first year away is hard in so many ways :(


So in the second year, I decided to move to a single-big room in a new place. I have complete control over my life. I also have the freedom to be alone. But a new problem arise ; I can't wash my own clothes and I don't know what to do that. I can't cook, I never went to the traditional market, I don't know how to keep my room neat and clean, I can't drive a car, and I didn't know how to take public transportation. At the dorm ? Simple, I paid someone to do all of that, lol. At my parent's home ? I never contributing significantly in the household work :(


In the new place, I got tired of feeling that I'm always dependent on someone. They are not always be there to help me for some time. Maybe it's oke if I still lived at my parent's home, but now I'm living far away from them. I realized I have to change. I had to know how do laundry, how to keep my room neat and clean, how to going anywhere with 'angkot', how to going on holiday alone.


Proud of myself, few years after that, I ride a bus for daily struggle in to work, lol. It's not easy but I can get through the struggle and being a pro after few months, lol. We just need to be brave...


I always miss my hometown. I always miss my childhood friends. But solo living was one of the best things I've ever done for myself. Thanks to my parents ! At least, after married, I know how to live in Solo without household personal assistant, lol. I know how to commute going to Mall for lunch dates with my friend, lol. Even sometimes I'm having a bad day with the chores around the house, I'm being able to take care of everything by myself. I'm consistently letting my dad know how the days I went trough and text every single of my childhood friend as often as possible.


Yeah... Solo living isn't always easy for me but it teaches me a lot. I'm stronger than I think, lol. I now appreciate and really grateful how solo living changed my life :)