The Stuff We Have...

"We spent all those years talking about the stuff we had in common, and the last few months noticing all the ways we were different, and it broke both of our hearts."

That was a line by Nick Hornby in "A Long Way Down". And that summarizes relationships, in a way. It always starts with the euphoria and elation of finding all the stuff we have in common, which range from the usual things like music and movies and ice cream flavors to the weirder ones like star constellations and dead Russian poets. 

Fast forward to several years (or decades, if you're that lucky)... and we start noticing all the ways we are different, which range from the way we arrange our socks in the drawer to the way we write emails to the way we plan for holidays to the way we manage our finances. 

What to do? Should we turn a blind eye to all the differences, pretend that everything's fine, and live our life together as usual? Should we bicker about each other's differences and try to change each other? Should we focus on our common stuff and ignore the differences, sulking internally when those differences annoy one of us? Is there even a good way to deal with this stuff?  After all, once you focus on each other's differences, you would start to feel as if you don't know each other anymore, and you would end up wondering, "What did we see in each other back then? How did we even manage to be a couple all these years? Did we really have things in common back then? Has s/he changed that much? Have I changed that much? What happened to us? Why are we drifting apart? Is this relationship worth keeping? What other options do I have?"...

Seven Days in Sunny June

Now I know what Jamiroquai was thinking when he wrote this song... I think. June has been quite a month so far... full of work and learning and excitement and new people and new places and new things. It's an adventure, literally. In the broadest sense of the word.

The 1st seven days have been full of reporting and catching up on things that I left when I roamed Sumatra on Phase I. It should include rest and recuperation, theoretically. Only I never recuperated properly because I had to prepare for Phase II... 

The 2nd seven days have been spent in three provinces (North Sumatra, Riau and West Sumatra). It's been great. Cool places, cool people, cool findings. Absolutely fabulous. 

The 3rd seven days is... now. I'm right in the middle of it. It's Bengkulu province this time, and it's started with delayed flight. It's a precious lesson, actually. No matter how good you plan things, no matter how detailed and how prepared you think you are, shit happens. At the time when you least expect it. You can rant and scream and be angry and be a pain in the *ss and make other people miserable, but it wouldn't change anything. It would only make things worse. So just stay cool about it. Make changes and adjustments and accept the fact that shit had happened. I bet this is what Murphy had in mind when he made up that famous adage. Here's the full text, from Wikipedia:

   ... nothing is as easy as it looks

        everything takes longer than you expect

        if anything can go wrong it will

        at the worst possible moment.

The 4th seven days will be next week. Covering other 3 provinces (Jambi, South Sumatra, Lampung). The work will be tough, schedule- and substance-wise. But there will be new places and new people and new learnings and new insights and new experiences and new excitements. And the adventure continues. 

The next seven days... who knows? 

Some people say: live one day at a time. One day seems too short and haphazardly impulsive to me. It's 24-hours, no more and no less. And I mostly feel as if 24 hours are not enough. So how about this: live seven days at a time? Seven days seem fair enough. Enough time to think things through. Enough time to plan and prepare. Enough time to get some inspiration. Enough time to live in excited anticipation, barely able to contain myself. Enough time to fantasize and imagine what will happen. Enough time to savor the moments. Enough time to cool down. Enough time to reflect on what happened. Enough time to cherish the memories. Enough time to look forward to another seven days, whatever those seven days may bring me. 

Those seven days might excite you, dazzle you, intoxicate you, lift you, or crush you. But at least you live life to the fullest. Seven days at a time.

...could it be this? the honeysuckle blessings seem to show me

could it be this? for seven days in june i wasn't lonely

could it be this? you never gave me time to say "i love you"

could it be this? i know you don't believe me but it's so true...

The Terminal: Life is Waiting.

It's been MONTHS since I last posted anything here. And so many things have happened. What triggers this post is a 4 hours-delay at Terminal 3, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport... so, there's always a bright side of everything, after all. Had my flight been on-time, this blog post wouldn't have existed. So there.

What I'm trying to do is to get to Bengkulu, today. Never been there before. Some people say the beach is fabulous. We'll see (if I ever manage to get there, anyway... what is up with this Mandala airlines?%&#@!!!).

So far, this is what I've done:

1) ate donuts and drank latte at J.Co... which is always good. No electrical outlet whatsoever, though... a good strategy to prevent people like me from hogging the tables with their laptops plugged in

2) walked around Terminal 3... which is surprisingly nice. The building, I mean. Maybe because it's still brand new. I hope this place stays bright and clean for... ever? Dare I hope so? Building is easier than maintaining, at least that's how it is in this country. 

3) observed people's reaction at Mandala boarding counter... upon learning that their flights were delayed. The reactions vary from anger (as seen from their bulging eyes and scrunched-up faces), amusement (as seen from their expression, and thought bubbles above their heads reading, "Delay... again... how many days this time?"), frustration (as seen from their silent but miserable expression), and apathy (as seen from their stone-like, expressionless faces). My own reaction was a mix of amusement and frustration, because I have to reschedule all my appointments for 2 days. 

4) read the claim form... which would entitle me to Rp.200.000/2 hours delay compensation, which is good. That would cover my donut and coffee expenses. But wait... they're not gonna pay me immediately. So maybe I would get the compensation in a few months, if I'm lucky. We'll see about that. If they screw up my compensation, I'd write a complaint letter about it... but wait... I might get sued by Mandala and sent to prison because of it. So I'll just chill and wait and see what happens. So much for customer-centeredness, customer-orientation, customer delight, customer satisfaction, customer blah blah. 

5) called people.

I still have 3,5 hours to kill. I start to feel like that guy Viktor Navorski in The Terminal... only I still have my nationality because my country is still intact. Maybe I would find the love of my life here (0,01% chance of happening) or maybe I'd just arrive in Bengkulu completely exhausted and cranky and utterly not in the mood for conducting in-depth interviews (99,99% chance of happening).