Puti Karina Puar. 22. Geologist in the making. Learning to write and vice versa. Happy New Year (Literally)
Happy (belated) New Year 2012 :) I wish all joy for everyone of us and may the best is always yet to come.
So how has the first everything in 2012 been?
Mine; I spent the new year eve and my first day of 2012 on the rig because the wireline logging tool got stuck on the borehole and we needed a couple extra days for fishing operation. It was a thousands-dollar experience (literally). Not bad, though. The midnight roast corn & cold Coke weren’t bad at all and I had pie and cake and even roast duck for the first lunch of the year.
As soon as I stepped my feet back on the ground, it was a happy new year, with greetings (and good news) from best friends. I received one from Bolivia as well yesterday which made my day. Another thing was the short conversations of appreciation from my boss(es) about my work. It was relieving.
And it’s a happy new year because I’ve got loads of good plans for this year including:
- Recuperation for 2 weeks starting from January 13th
>> Short trip to Jogjakarta and visiting Zakki in Magelang
>> Meet-ups with best friends in Jakarta and Bandung
>> Rewatching my Ghibli movies collection
- Getting my own Kindle and special customized case from Mbak Tarlen
- Death Cab for Cutie this March
- Japan in April (yes, Japan!) :)
Shall we end it with Another-New-Year-Resolutions? I decided to make them simple.
- Healthier life with fruits and vegs
- Anger and gluttony management with fasting every Monday & Thursday
- To give more
- To enjoy life and travel more
- To do my best
Alhamdulillah – Bismillah.
Sekarang Sudah Besok
Sekarang sudah besok.
Maka biar aku
menjadi biru sarung bantalmu,
merintik hujan di kaca jendela,
lalu menggulai kopi pagi.
Sederhana saja.
Seperti itu.
The Year of Flying
It is already the first of the last ten days in 2011. I hope not too early for another annual life-recap (after this & this).
2011 has been a wonderful year. I always said that 2007 was my best year because I achieved my dream for Institut Teknologi Bandung and started a new life (which was super great). But then, running through the finish line felt super great too.
2011 has been the year of flying for me. I’ve been flying for (almost) the whole year. People around me have been flying (in with hello and out with goodbye). The year itself’s been flying quietly; far & fast.
January: Flying to Borneo for On Job Training. Flying on helicopter for the first time to a drilling rig called Maera (which became the name of my future daughter).
February: Flying back home to fly again. Flying to Norway for “The Scream” in Oslo then ISFiT in Trondheim. Flying back home from Amsterdam after leaving pieces of heart in Gothenburg, Copenhagen, and Brussels.
March: Ended the ‘flight’ of being a functionary in Liga Film Mahasiswa ITB. It wasn’t a literal flight, but a life-flight.
April: Started doing my thesis. Not flying, but spent days on the 21st floor in Jakarta for and look through the glass windows with broken heart while handling a cup of instant coffee. Felt more or less the same though.
May: Flying to Thailand for family holiday with the magic of Oriental India. Flying back home for finishing the thesis.
June: Not flying. Too busy staying on the ground, cities-switching from Bandung to Bekasi to Jakarta in ‘repeat and shuffle’ mode. Cried quite much but then finished the thesis and completed the bachelor program. Attempting to come back to Borneo by sending CV and transcript. At the end of the month, cities-switching to Kebumen and Magelang because Zakki, my brother, got accepted in Taruna Nusantara high-school. Another farewell.
July: Flying again to Borneo for job-interview and getting accepted as a junior wellsite geologist in Total Indonesie (which might be every fresh-graduate’s dream ;D). Flying back home for farewell-s and graduation ceremony. Flying again to Borneo for a brand new life.
August: Turning 22. Started flying to work by helicopter. Holy Ramadhan and Eid on the rig.
September: Flying to work. Work and work.
October: Flying to work. Flying back home. Coming for another graduation ceremony and being there in the last moments of my (best) friends before flying away.
November: Flying back to Balikpapan. More flying to work.
December: Flying to work. Planning the flights for 2012.
Another accomplished missions were ‘to write more’ and ‘give more and more’. However, my biggest achievement for 2011 has been the part of keeping smiles on my parents’ faces and inspiring Zakki.
I know some of you might think that I’m so lucky. Yes, I am indeed, but I have to say that I’ve been working hard. Things got difficult. There were tears and doubts as much as loneliness and too many good-byes. There were too many things I missed on the ground while I was flying.
There were too many feelings to handle, too many promises to cancel, and too many drops of rainfall.
What a year, but at anyhow, the best is always yet to come.
Until then, Alhamdulillah.
It’s the Shoes That Need The Box and Not Vice Versa
Eventually I spent this weekend on town and was able to attend Borneons Donate‘s charity. This was their tenth charity but actually my first one with the Borneons. It was held in an orphanage in Balikpapan named Nurul Iman. I had a lot of fun taking pictures of the children smiling while making some handcrafts. For such activities, I wish I had more free weekend on town instead of on board :P.
Borneons Donate was originally inspired by Shoebox Project, initiated by Beriozka Anita in Jakarta. Shoebox Project has slogans: “Karena berbagi adalah kebutuhan, bukan kewajiban” (“Because sharing is a need instead of a must”), and “Karena sepatu yang membutuhkan kotaknya, bukan sebaliknya” (“Because it’s the shoes that need the box and not vice versa”). Earlier, I didn’t really notice about the second slogan, while the first one has existed in my family.
Since I was little, Bunda (mum) has got me used to doing such things, sharing and interacting with the less unfortunates. She told me that when she was young, she didn’t have much money so she usually just came to the nursing homes and talked with the grannies. It wasn’t about ‘giving’; it was ‘sharing’. When she came, she sometimes cleaned the room, put some air freshener, or reorganized their stuff. Until now, Bunda is still doing this, even better because she can give some money as well as energy.
One of the biggest lessons I learnt was the importance of interaction. Especially when it comes to children and the seniors who are more or less the same; on the phase where money doesn’t matter that much (yet / again). They need the feeling of being meant and needed. They also need the feeling of being human being.
But then, if we rethought about it, we would realize that those needs are not only theirs, but also ours (the relatively-more-fortunate-s). Let me repeat: the need of feeling meant and needed; the need of being a human being. For some of us it might also be the need to see happy smiles on others’ faces.
That’s how we have a need to give and share. “Karena berbagi adalah kebutuhan, bukan kewajiban.”
So I’ve just noticed that shoe is a good analogy: No matter how expensive a pair of Jimmy Choo stilettos is and no matter how papery the box is; it’s the shoes that wouldn’t be okay without the box.
No matter how wonderful you think you are, if you are really great then you would always need the others, no matter how small you think they are.
—–
PS: Some other of my favorite photos are here.
