>> AWAY

hi. you've reached sLesTa's blog. i'm currently away from blogging for a while, as i'm taking a break right now. yes, it's called vacation. i'll be back in a week!

I'M OFF!


:: sLesTa

>> posted on 6/30/2004 11:48:00 PM | [ ]

>> SO WE MEET AGAIN ..

i don't know about you.. but i have a date with these guys tonite. it's gonna be a blast cuz these guys rock!! so we meet again.. brandon, sing good! i know you will, cuz you always deliver.

the world is a joke when out of love
please come back to us
you're all of the above
i'm making a choice to be out of touch
leave me be he said

leave me here in my stark raving sick sad little world

"sick sad little world"


have a good weekend y'all!

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 6/26/2004 03:34:00 AM | [ ]

>> THE NOTEBOOK

my dearest allie,

i don't know what to say anymore except that i couldn't sleep last night because i knew that it is over between us. it is a different feeling for me, one that i never expected, but looking back, i suppose it couldn't have ended another way.

you and i were different. we came from different worlds, and yet you were the one who taught me the value of love. you showed me what it was like to care for another, and i am a better man because of it. i don't want you to ever forget that.

i am not bitter because of what has happened. on the contrary, i am secure in knowing that what we had was real, and i am happy we were able to come together for even a short period of time. and if, in some distant place in the future, we see each other in our new lives, i will smile at you with joy, and remember how we spent a summer beneath the trees, learning from each other and growing in love. and maybe, for a brief moment, you'll feel it too, and you'll smile back, and savor the memories we will always share together.

i love you, allie.

noah


they say, behind every great love, there's a great story. the excerpt above is from the book by nicholas sparks called "the notebook". it is a great love story. and it's even better in the movie. i saw the screening last week, and i surprise myself to be really drawn into the movie. i'm not a big fan of love stories, but this one hits the jackpot, at least for me. i've read the book before i saw the movie, and the movie was.. for once, even better.

the movie doesn't open until this friday (june 25) .. i'll do my review on movies411 soon. one suggestion when you go to the theater .. bring lotsa tissues!! i'm not a crier, so i didn't cry, but most of the women from the screening came out with tears in their eyes. oh .. and one more thing, ryan gosling is hot! he's a good enough reason to see this movie. :)

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 6/24/2004 03:27:00 AM | [ ]

>> ONE CAN DO

“i am only one, but still i am one. i cannot do everything, but still i can do something; and because i cannot do everything, i will not refuse to do something i can do.”
- edward everett hale

an oldie, but a goodie. i've always loved quotes, especially those that are inspirational. i love 'em when it makes me think. i love 'em more when it comes out pretty simple, yet deep in meaning. one says that i'm a very verbal person. everything around me, i try to put it down in words. not visual at all. even when i listen to the music, i listen to the words. well, yeah, if the beat's good, i'd settle for it eventho the wording sucks. this inspirational quote is very motivational. something i kinda need these days.

everyday we probably encounter an aspect of life that we wish we could change. doing it alone seems overwhelming, so we don’t give it another thought. if everyone held this attitude all the time, how would we have new technology, improvement in our neighborhoods, support for children in need? or maybe thinking on this scale is too large. what efforts can we make on a frequent basis that will add up to something big in the long run? cook healthier meals for ourselves or families or friends? organize neighborhood cleanups? attend organization meetings? help others with their problems even when we have our own problem waiting? start a recycling program where we work? the possibilities are boundless. what can YOU, one person, do?

i'd say.. LOTS. it takes one person to start something big. it takes one's dream to create something huge. motivation comes from within, and yeah with the help of other external factors. but you won't do anything if you refuse to do it. if you can do something, do it. if we start something, others will follow. i'm not exactly sure why i wrote this. but if i can give positive outlook towards life, it may come to me positively.

"if you want your dreams to come true, don't oversleep"

so wake me up, please!

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 6/17/2004 12:35:00 AM | [ ]

>> BLACKOUT

sedari dulu gue tinggal di negara ini, khususnya di daerah bagian timur, gue ngerasa kalo kehidupan di daerah ini bergerak dengan cepat. apalagi di kota metropolitan, detik kota ini kenceng sekali. begitu juga di kota˛ laennya di bagian timur ini. seperti waktu gue masih di providence, ato kalo misalnya ngeliat ke daerah boston, DC, connecticut, dan laen˛. gerakan hidup bisa dibilang lumayan gesit dan cepat. rada sedikit berbeda dengan kota˛ di pantai barat. dulu waktu gue masih tinggal di utah, gue suka terkaget˛ waktu lagi liburan ke boston ato ke nuyok, kok orang˛ disini kayaknya lagi dikejar˛ anjing? semuanya serba cepat. jalannya cepat, kerja pun cepat. taksi˛ bergerak kayak yang dikejar˛ polisi. belom lagi detik pun terasa cepat. pagi ke sore itu hilang tanpa bekas, terkadang suka ga ngerti, kemana aja tuh waktu pergi.

gue suka wonder, kenapa kok bisa berbeda. dulu, professor gue pernah bilang.. negara amerika itu menjadi negara terbesar dan terkuat di dunia karena mereka punya produktivitas yang tinggi. orang˛ yang bekerja disini, sangatlah kompetitif sampai˛ jarak produktivitas antara negara amerika dan negara setelahnya lumayan jauh (gue lupa negara apa setelah amerika yang punya produktivitas tinggi.. mungkin jepang). ketika gue sudah mulai kerja, gue bisa ngerasain itu. waktu 8 jam di kantor itu, bisa terlewati dengan cepat. kerjaan selalu saja ada, kadang sampe pulang lembur. dan kita menjadi terbiasa untuk selalu menghasilkan dan berproduksi dengan cepatnya setiap jam nya. well, i gotta admit, after working in the same company for 5 years, i got the hang of it. ada saatnya yang gue bisa nyantai berat, tapi tetep aja, sekalinya gue udah mulai sibuk, bener˛ kayak orang lagi dikejar˛ setan. fokus, konsentrasi tinggi, dan berdedikasi untuk menyelesaikan tugas setiap saat. jarang sekali terlihat ada karyawan yang duduk ngobrol˛ seenaknya. sekalinya kerjaan lagi seret, biasanya kita terbiasa untuk menawarkan diri membantu, paling tidak pasti lah ada kerjaan, sekecil apapun itu untuk dikerjakan. satu hal lain, orang˛ amerika amatlah sangat perfeksionis. semuanya mesti dikerjakan 110%. harus dengan standar tinggi, walau itu hanya tugas yang paling simpel sekalipun.

yang membingungkan, walaupun intinya sama, gue suka heran dengan ke laid-back an orang˛ amerika yang bermukim di pantai barat. apakah karena mereka tidak ada kerjaan? ah tidak juga. gue inget, betapa slow motion nya cashier di toko˛ di pantai barat kalo kita mau belanja di mana aja, baik di grocery store, di toko baju, di bank, apalagi di kantor˛ pemerintah. sementara, cashier˛ di east coast, geraknya cepet banget. set-set-set, beres! lalu kupikir.. ah mungkin karena orang disini terlalu banyak. ah tapi gak juga kok. LA misalnya.. kan kota yang gede juga. tapi ke-hectic-an itu jarang gue temui disana. but then again, i don't live there to give an accurate detail about it. tapi yang pasti mereka nyantai berat. bukan berarti itu jelek, hanya saja, mereka sepertinya enjoy dengan keadaan itu. ga seperti dikejar˛ waktu.

lalu terjadilah kejadian aneh di siang hari rabu kemaren. waktu menunjukkan hampir jam setengah tiga, lalu tiba˛ kudenger suara "boom" samar˛ dari kejauhan. walaupun samar˛, lumayan kaget juga. kupikir hanyalah suara˛ dari luar, karena di jalanan sebrang fifth avenue lagi ada construction. tapi pas gue liat monitor kamera di ruangan gue mulai bergerak tak beraturan (harusnya kan static), gue mulai curiga. teman gue yang orang IT langsung nyuruh kita matiin komputer. he thought it's probably some power surge. tapi ternyata it's more than that. siren mobil polisi dan pemadam kebakaran mulai saling bersahut˛an. wah, deja vu ini. kucoba liat ke arah fifth avenue, di depan empire state kulihat banyak mobil polisi mencoba menutupi jalan ke arah itu. wah, ada apa ya? lalu, blip! lampu mati seketika. ayi-yi-yi! elevator mati, ac mati, koputer mati. gue yang belom makan, mulai panik. antara turun 20 lantai buat nyari makan.. tapi kalo sampe belom nyala lampunya.. masak gue mesti naek tangga 20 lantai ke atas, ato kelaperan di kantor. wah bisa gempor! akhirnya gue milih yang terakhir sambil coba ngemil coklat. dan jadilah gue mulai cari˛ kesibukan laen. sementara hari itu yang merupakan hari terpanas tahun ini dengan temperatur 90 derajat fahrenheit, mulai bikin ruangan gue jadi gerah. daripada bengong, gue ngerapiin file˛ gue. lalu mulai terasa rasa kantuk menyerang, kepanasan dan akibatnya jadi males mau ngapa˛in. it's funny cuz it never happened before. gue terus nyoba untuk nyelesein urusan filing gue.. soalnya emang mesti gue selsein juga sih. tapi udara panas yang mulai memasuki ruangan kerja gue bener˛ bikin gue jadi pusing, sumuk dan ngantuk berat.

ah rupayanya udara juga bikin ngaruh orang buat bekerja dan beraktifitas ya. no wonder we always so hyped up here. daerah pantai timur yang memang terkenal dengan udaranya yang gak jelas, kadang dingin kadang panas, tapi mostly banyakan dinginnya.. membuat kita jadi ingin terus bergerak menghangatkan badan. sementara kalo udara panas, kita jadi males gerak.. soalnya kalo gerak jadinya keringetan, bikin annoying. i know i know i know.. this is just my small observation based on one day experience. tapi waktu gue di jakarta, gue juga suka males˛an. siang˛ enak buat tidur siang, nongkrong, santai˛.. things i hardly do during the days here. tapi yaa.. kondisi nya juga beda. but i think the fact that the weather might have something to do with it could be taken into consideration among other things, no?

anyways.. as soon as the electricity went back on, the AC was on, i was ready to work again. rasa kantuk pun jadi hilang. as per the power surge, although it was kinda scary at first (reminds me of last year's blackout!), it was due to a power failure in the area. beberapa blok di daerah kantor gue, jadi mati mendadak. ga ada listrik. gue pikir tadinya satu kota, tapi ternyata cuman di daerah gue doang. makanya empire state langsung dijagain.. yah jaga˛ lah.. soalnya ga tau itu karena apa. mungkin karena udara yang terlalu panas, yang menyebabkan power jadi overworked with all the air conditionings on. or maybe something else. by the time i went home, i saw many coned trucks with man in the manhole working on the electricity outage. untung cuman sejam!!

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 6/11/2004 03:32:00 AM | [ ]

>> KOPDAR YUK..!

after knowing her from blog world for the past 3 years (was it 3 or 4? can't be more than 3, right?), despite the fact that we used to live in the same city, we never met, until last week! she came to visit her "old" home after attending her brother's graduation. due to unplanning visit, she just showed up in the city hoping to meet some old friends. unfortunately, she came at the wrong weekend. it was memorial day weekend, and most of newyorkers chose to spend it outside of this crowded city, incuding me who went on my camping & rafting trip. karena selama camping/rafting itu, kita bener˛ out of touch from the civilization, we literally did not get any signals from the cell phones, let alone checking our emails or blog. so when i arrived in the city on monday night, i found out that she was already in nyc. she tried to call me the next day, but never went through cuz my battery went dead. the third day, she got through and so we set up to meet around my neighborhood and had dinner with loucee, owob and mucil at "spice" in university place near union square.

it was great to finally meet her, cuz i regretted that we never got to hangout earlier when she was still living here. on the other hand, the same week i met thalia, i finally met this guy, eventhough we have been living in the same city and had mutual friends. met him during one of the community event at KJRI, it was an honor to finally see him face-to-face.

on the lighter note.. gue sebenernya lagi ga tau mau update apa˛an. been pretty busy lately, i can't think of anything to write. and there are tons of news i can make a discussion of. from the death of ronald reagan to j.lo who just got hitched last weekend. wait the minute.. j. lo got hitched again?? damn, that girl! not even five months after she broke up her engagement to ben affleck, she already got hitched to marc anthony. i read that it was a secret ceremony when the guests were told that they were attending a swanky summer party.

the funny part is that the british bookies are making a bet, giving 3-1 odds that "jenthony" will split by the end of the year. they are also offering that j.lo will eventually wed more times than elizabeth taylor, who tied the knot eight times with seven husbands. oh, my!! while i hope the marriage lasts (yeah, right!), things like this would only give the sacrament of marriage a bad name. or not! who knows!! it only happens in hollywood, kids!

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 6/09/2004 04:10:00 AM | [ ]

>> A WEEKEND WITH NATURE

salah satu kegiatan yang paling gue tunggu˛ saat summer itu.. ya pergi camping. dulu waktu gue masih kuliah, rada jarang sih.. pertama, gue ga tau mau pergi ama sapa, kedua, biasanya gue malah summer job ato sibuk yang laennya.. ato gak balik ke jakarta. udah gitu gue juga kurang ngerti gimana caranya mau camping disini dulu2 itu. pertama kali gue acara kemping2an di sini mungkin waktu gue ke woodstock taun 1999. selama 3 hari kita stay di camping ground. ada kamar mandi sih, tapi kotor banget, mendingan ga usah sekalian. and no shower. in the middle of summer. walopun the main point bukan pas campingnya, lumayan seru juga sih kita tidur di tenda selama tiga hari, gak mandi dan kemana2 pake bikini di bawah tank top, trus kalo nemu aer ato keran langsung basah2an dan gosok2 badan.. kadang2 malah sekalian ngeluarin shampoo. trus abis itu tinggal jalan lagi ngedeketin stage nya to watch our fave band performed.. dan baju basah kering di badan. yang pasti setelah 3 hari itu kita di woodstock, balik2 udah keling abeeesshhh.

nah trus baru beneran campingnya mungkin setahun kemudiannya. tapi campingnya rada fun, soalnya nyari yang daerahnya enak, deket sungai, dan ada kamar mandinya di camping ground nya. bersih pula. biasanya kalo yang tempat kayak begini kita mesti bayar camping spotnya. pas mandi pun kita biasanya mesti naro quarter-an buat 10 menit air panas. jadi mandi nya mesti buru2, sebelom aernya berenti ngocor. kamar mandinya biasanya bersih. jadi asik2 aja.. bisa pake acara mandi, cuci muka, shampoo-an, dll. kegiatan di camping groundnya biasanya ya bbq-an, berenang di river, fly fishing, hiking, or summer rafting.

tapi trip gue kali ini rada beda. gue bener2 pengen pergi camping yang bener2 "back to nature". jadilah gue ngajak beberapa orang temen yang gue tau gak masalah dan pernah pergi kegiatan kayak begini. setelah terkumpul 9 orang, gue nyari2 tempat. niat kita kan mau pergi rafting sebenernya. 3 hari, 2 malam. dan raftingnya juga yang level nya tinggi, not one of those summer rafting yang end-upnya kita malah ngedayung. makanya kita sengaja pergi rafting & campingnya pas masih spring, saat udara di luar masih ga jelas bakal panas ato dingin and the water still have rapids.

so i reserved a spot for rafting at hudson river rafting company di north creek, ny. kebetulan mereka lagi ada promosi buat memorial day weekend. lebih murah dan kita bisa stay di free camping ground. gue mikir kalo camping ground nya free, mungkin campingnya bakal yang hardcore gitu. ga ada apa2.. walopun sempet ga yakin juga soalnya no matter hardcore it is, i was kinda sure that either way we'll find civilization or bathrooms somewhere.. cuman mungkin rada jauh aja. besides, disini kalo camping biasanya emang musti di spot2 yang udah ditentuin khusus buat camping, jadi suka ada fasilitas nya lah.. no matter how minimize they are. paling gak ada space, ada tempat api unggun, untung2 kalo ada clean water, ato gak meja buat duduk2. dan yang pasti, bisa naro mobil next to the spot, jadi ga perlu hiking jauh2. beda sih ama di indonesia, but that's how most of the camping ground here. safety is always the first priority. kalo mau naek gunung ya mesti daftar, punya license maybe, gak tau juga dah yaa.. i haven't gotten to that point yet.

anyways.. trus ternyata pas kita ke camping groundnya, we were the only one there, there is no bathroom except one small potty place yang mayan rada jauh juga, dan ga ada aernya. so most of us peed behind the trees. dig a hole if we have to do number 2, but i don't think any of us did it, cuz most of us ended up holding it. hehehhe.. thank God for my slow digestion system. anyways, our camping ground was literally surrounded by woods. tempat campingnya sih enak, tapi ya itu jauh dari mana2. tapi yang pasti deket ama tempat kita mau rafting, so it's all good.

hari pertama nyampe, kita langsung nurunin barang. set up tent, ngerapiin barang2 dan langsung bikin sate ayam!!! abisan laper. perjalanan ke tempat camping ternyata lebih lama dari yang kita kira.. soalnya banyak yang pada keluar kota juga. kan lagi long weekend, jadinya mayan crowded dan macet juga di jalanan. abis makan kita siap2 bikin api unggun. udara udah mulai dingin. karena daerahnya emang deket gunung, pastinya lebih dingin lagi dari biasanya. and remember, it's still spring time! so by the time we had our fire going, we can feel the chill behind our backs. the temp was getting chillier and chillier.. all of us had layers of t-shirts and jackets and we just don't want to go away from the fire. akhirnya buka "curhat" session, cela2an, ketawa2.. trus ada yang maen kartu juga.. tapi pas kayu bakar nya udah abis.. jadilah kita masuk ke tenda rame2. we had a big tent that fits all of us in. we had kasur tiup gitu di taro dari ujung ke ujung and we still only occupied half of the tent. so you can imagine that it's a pretty big tent. pas kita udah pada mulai tidur.. wah wah, dingiiiin bangeeettt!!! jadilah kita ber-9 tidur saling dempet2an mengandalkan kehangatan badan masing2. saking dempet2nya, gue ampe bener2 ga ada space buat gerak. dan gue ga bawa jaket tebel, hanya 3 lapis kaos dan jaket tipis, ama selimut tipis .. dan gue bener2 kedinginan abis. apalagi bagian kaki soalnya gue paling gak kuat dingin di kaki. it was a looongg coollddd night! gue ga bisa tidur saking kedinginan nya.

by 8am, gue akhirnya bangun, udah males usaha mau tidur lagi dan mulai bangunin orang2 juga. some of us woke up with me. gue langung bikin breakfast. menu nya: turkey bacon & scramble eggs. makannya rada buru2 soalnya kita mesti ada di tempat meeting point buat rafting by 9am. by 9.15am kita udah nyampe di tempat rafting office nya. we had our wet suit, paddle, life vest and helmet and by 10 am, we were on the bus on our way to the starting point of the rafting trip in indian river. indian river takes the first 3 miles before it merges to hudson river. we got to the place and up on our boat by 11. we had to help carry the boat from the road to the river creek. our instructor, amy helped us through our trip. for the first fifteen minutes, she familiarized us with some instructions such as, all forward, all back, left back - right forward, right back - left forward, paddle check and so on and so forth. so then we started our 17 miles long, level 3 & 4 rafting trip. it was fun, had a lot of rapids. 5 of us fell off the boat during the trip, but everyone definitely had FUN!!

after 5 hours, we finally done with our adventure and off we hopped onto the bus and went back to the rafting office. we took off our wet suits, returned back the paddle, life vest and helmet and had a nice lunch together. as we got back to our tent, i was so damn tired.. especially for not having enough sleep the night before, i hit my spot inside the tent and had about 2-3 hours of nice sleep. by 9pm, i got up, the sun was still setting and i prepared some food for the gang, since i'm the appointed chef :D our menu: shish kebab! it's actually a steak dinner but since we don't have the utensils to have steak, i cut them to bite size and put them on the stick to grill. had sweet kernel corn on the side, it was a lovely dinner. after dinner, we stayed together again around the fire. at first, ngobrol2 aja sampe akhirnya kita bikin game tebak2an, kinda like charades, to guess the name of a movie. and that was definitely the hightlight of the night. dari nebakin "striptease" to "true lies". or from "when harry met sally" to "pirates of the caribbean". pokoknya kocak2 banget.

we tried to stay away from going to sleep cuz we all know it's gonna be another mad cold night. but it was actually easier cuz i had slept earlier and by the time we actually went to sleep it was 3 o'clock. and it was only 3 hours before the sunrise and we got a little bit of warmth on our body.

we had our brunch when we all woke up and prepared to wrap things to go back. the rain started to fall when we were already on the streets. the road was still crowded from people who just had a long weekend away from home like us. it's nice to be able to experience our "back to nature" weekend, bonded with close friends and had fun. as much as i miss my nice warm, comfy bed, it was definitely a trip to remember.

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 6/02/2004 01:39:00 AM | [ ]