When in early summer lonely narcissi
bloom hidden in the meadow and the
rock-rose gleams under the maple . . . .

              The splendor of the simple.

              Only image formed keeps the vision.
              Yet image formed rests in the poem.

              How could cheerfulness stream
                    through us if we wanted to shun
                    sadness?

              Pain gives of its healing power
                     where we least expect it.

nyaman
adj. situasi yang terjadi akibat kesesuaian antara perasaan batiniah dan rangsangan-rangsangan dari luar yang diterima indera (pengecapan, penglihatan, perabaan, penciuman, pendengaran).


source: kuliah DI nya Pak Pri

http://www.futilitycloset.com/2012/08/26/the-paradox-of-taste/

tak ada yang lebih tabah
dari hujan bulan Juni
dirahasiakannya rintik rindunya
kepada pohon berbunga itu

tak ada yang lebih bijak
dari hujan bulan juni
dihapusnya jejak-jejak kakinya
yang ragu-ragu di jalan itu

tak ada yang lebih arif
dari hujan bulan juni
dibiarkannya yang tak terucapkan
diserap akar pohon bunga itu

             Hujan Bulan Juni, Sapardi Djoko Damono

Tomorrow marks the date of this year's Paralympic's Opening Ceremony.
For me, Paralympic is the celebration of the wonderfulness of us people.
It never ceases to amaze me, what we people are capable of. Disability does not translate into boundary. These people may be physically disabled, but they are mentally prodigies.
For those kind of people you don't have to be sorry for their disability. Trust me, strong guys like them don't weep on their obstacles. They bounce back and come stronger.
Total admiration for Paralympic's athletes. I'll be watching every now and then, I hope your great spirits are contagious to me, the healthy un-handicapped girl sitting on the couch watching you all on telly.

I do think that one of the finest form of relationship between two people is that they can enjoy silence between them. So fine it is, yet extremely hard to achieve.
Silence is very common; less so for the un-awkward one. Hard as it may be, it is still easier for you to find someone with whom you can talk non-stop about anything and never run out of any topic than to find someone with whom you can spend hours together and be silent, and still having a good time. It's hard to not question the absence of words. Because silence carries thousand meanings, and is prone to misinterpreting.
Few people can enjoy the luxury the silence gives: to share things that words can't convey. To be mute and talking. To not speak and understanding.
To just sit close and silently within.

Silence is the most intense form of speaking.

Quick facts about Beethoven's Symphony no. 9. Too lazy to compile one of my own, so I just grabbed it from Aula Simfonia's facebook page. Credits to them.
(p.s. bolded parts are the points I'd like to emphasize.)
(p.s.s. for those going to pass this post as 'this unknown uninteresting classical music again!', go google the 4th movement of Symphony no. 9. It's used as European Anthem. You're surely familiar with it.)

1. By the time Beethoven completed Symphony No. 9 in 1824, he had written and performed his masterpiece compositions: 5 Piano Concertos, 1 Violin Concerto, an opera, Overtures, Cello and Piano Sonatas, some 30+ Piano Sonatas, Trios for various instruments, numerous String Quartets and of course 8 symphonies. He died in 1827, Symphony No. 9 was his last symphony.

2. In 1785 a German Poet, Friedrich Schiller wrote a poem An die Freude ~ Ode To Joy which texts Beethoven used for the choral part in Symphony 9th final movement. Schiller wrote the poem as celebration of brotherhood and mankind. Other composers whose works based on Schiller's poems were Brahms, Schubert, Giuseppe Verdi, Rossini and Tchaikovsky.

3. Though the 9th was commissioned by Philarmonic Society of London in 1817 but several concepts and sketches, some dated much earlier had formed the writing of the Ninth. One was as early as 1793 when Beethoven set his mind to compose a music based on Schiller’s An die Freude, and some pieces were from his sketches written in 1811.

4. Beethoven started to lose his hearing in 1795 at age 25. In his 1802 letter to his brothers now known as Heilingenstadt Testament. In that letter he wrote about his thoughts of suicide yet then decide to live through his life so he could continue to contribute his great talent to the music world. In that same year he began to compose Symphony No. 2.

5. In Symphony No. 9 it was the first time a choir sang together with the instruments in a Symphony. The incorporation of vocal voices and instruments in the 4th movement didn’t come easily even for Beethoven. He had finished the first 3 movements before several attempts for the 4th movement which took him almost a year. The choral was sung by 4 vocal soloists and a choir.

6. Symphony No. 9 complete composition was autographed in February 1824 and premiered May 1824 in Vienna. It has been 10 years since the premiere of Symphony No. 8 and Beethoven’s fans have much anticipated it. It was no doubt one of Beethoven’s greatest work among his hundreds and until now is one of the greatest music ever written.

7. One of the most touching story about this great symphony happened at its premiere in Vienna in 1824 along with the three parts of Beethoven Missa Solemnis. The public had much anticipated the Ninth. At the end of the Symphony, Beethoven was still conducting while the orchestra had stopped. His audiences broke out in thunderous applause, Beethoven being completely deaf for many years couldn’t hear a thing. Young soprano soloist Caroline Unger took his hand and turned him around to face his audiences, which acclaimed him with five standing ovations. There were handkerchiefs thrown in the air, hats, raised hands so that Beethoven could see the ovation gestures. Police agents at the concert had to calm the audiences and Beethoven left the concert deeply moved.

8. Influence in technology: at about 70mins the 9th is also the longest of all 9 Beethoven symphonies. When Sony and Philips set the standard for compact disc technology in 1979-1980, one of the considerations to the 74-min CD was that the whole Symphony No. 9 can fit into one CD.

Having been drooling over Aula Simfonia's website for quite some time, finally last Sunday I had the privilege to hear this masterpiece live. At my first experience watching professional orchestra performance ever. No regrets, it was worth my every penny.
Just like the conductor said, the music I heard was a composition which the composer himself had never heard.
And it was a very, very beautiful music indeed. Which many say is the best of his works, probably the best composition ever written. That, composed by a deaf man, surpassed works of the hearings.

People really are amazing, aren't they?

I am never the overachiever, never the underachiever. Just somewhere in-between. Never makes people go yay, never makes people go nay. Just somewhere in-between. Maybe you see me as your world's merrier. Walking on the same street as yours, occupying the vacant seat as another little touch for your scenes, chattering and talking just for those distant background noises.
But in my life, I take the center stage. I am not always "those uncredited casts", you know.
Just, learn to give some respect. In case one day your spotlight goes off, and you're overwhelmed by the sudden darkness, you can lean on me who's been long living in it.

I hear you, pleasant voices. Fainting sounds, featherlight hums, a music that is sheer silence in a beautiful wrapping. Never before, has a mere nothingness been so audible.
When I close my eyes I see portraits, lovely as a pretty woman, innocent as a kid, pure as their smile and looks in their eyes. Clear as if golden-framed, hung on the wall before me.
Pleasant voices. Twelve minutes after the clock strikes twelve. Such is the beauty, so needless I am to see. Or rather, so unwilling I am to see.

Janji suci 2014 nih. Abang jangan pensiun dulu ya, aku mau nonton abang pokoknya harus banget <3

Take ten years - no, twelve years perhaps - back from today.
We were still little kids, backseat passengers, three of us. Dreaming of the future, a day when we would be old enough to drive, so we'll let our parents be the backseat passengers instead of us.
Twelve years later, and we are still going down the same road each year. Same traffic. My brothers have grown into pleasant gentlemen, I've been close to being at my twenties myself. My two brothers are on the front seat, one driving. Our parents the backseat passenger. Me on the back as well. We're here. We've dreamt about this through our younger years.
Some things don't go as planned. Some other do. This is one of those that do. What a pleasant one, isn't it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nous
(One might wonder, so this is the answer.)

I could wish I had foreseen
the lies - or rather,
the untold truth. Of what have
not been said, yet have not
ceased.

For had I been enlightened,
I'd have never surrendered
my 3 o'clock in the morning;
sleepy eyes losing to
the joy
of what I gambled on
just to lose it later on.

And by know, we would've
laughed merrily, eyes
not avoiding each other.

Instead of struggling
to forget
what could've never happened.

I could wish so.
But what is now pain had given me joy,
and to that I am thankful;

enough not to look back
to list what could have gone different.

Don't you think it's frustrating when you come across some random stories, and can totally relate yourself to the situation / emotional stance of a particular character, but can't come to understand the way in which the character solve the problem? Things could be different. Things could have been different.

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

-Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)

"There certainly was some great mismanagement in the education of those two great men. One has got all the goodness, the other all the appearance of it."

*BLOG EDISI KEJADIAN FENOMENAL*

Duh gw ga jago ngeblog yang nyeritain kejadian-kejadian gitu... tapi rasanya perlu aja nih buat sharing buat orang2 yg pake motor matic juga, biar ga ngalamin kejadian yg gw alamin haha (soksok korban heboh bgt pdhl mah biasa aja).
Jadi gini, tadi magrib pas gw pergi dr rumah, sebenernya gw niat mau berangkat pake motor biar cepet (takut kena macet buka puasa cenah). Kebetulan dari minggu kmrn setelah motor gw diservis, motor gw ini ga mau nyala; dinyalain biasa atau dikickstart/di slah juga gak bisa. Cuman weekend kemaren, setelah kaka gw ngecek, katanya gak bisa nyala gara2 aki motor gw mau abis. Bisa nyala, cuma harus di kickstart katanya. Walopun minggu kemarennya gw udah coba kickstart sebenernya dan tetep gak mau nyala, gw percaya2 aja deh sama kata kaka gw.
Jadi, tadi magrib gw coba lagilah nyalain tuh motor gw.
Pas mau gw nyalain cara biasa (pake tombol ignition start itu loh), reaksi motor gw tetep sama dengan minggu kemarennya. Masih gak mau nyala, bahkan gak ada bunyi mesinnya sama sekali. Gw masih tetep optimis dan gw coba kickstart motor gw.
Kali pertama gw kickstart, masih gak nyala, tapi ada sedikit reaksi (gak mati total kayak minggu kmrn).
Lumayan optimislah gw akhirnya gw coba kickstart buat yang kedua kalinya... tapi tau2nya....
Motor gw meledak!!
Gak semotor-motor meledak terus jadi gumpalan api gitu juga sih, lebay. Cuma ada bunyi ledakan, keras banget. Gw gatau dari bagian mana, dan gw gak liat apakah berasap atau gimana, soalnya pas ada bunyi ledakan gt gw langsung lari keluar dr garasi. Dan agak-agak shock gitu (sumpah keras banget bunyinya, bunyi petasan lewat deh, nyokap gw aja sampe langsung lari dari dalem rumah). Jadi gw gak cek lagi motor gw.
Tadi gw ceritain tentang meledaknya motor gw ke temen gw, kata dia sih emg suka banyak yg cerita gitu terutama motor matic, emang kadang2 suka meledak gitu.
Yah jadi my fellow matic bike riders.... be prepared for the explosion! Lol. Jangan sampe juga sih tapi. Haha. Tapi kalo sampe iya... *pasang muka I've told you so*