Setinggi Langit dan Sejauh Daratan Cina

Tadi sore aku chat dengan seorang teman lama. Sudah sepuluh tahun aku mengenalnya. Sudah jauh lebih tinggi sekolahnya daripadaku. Sudah lebih banyak kota dan desa di Indonesia yang dia kunjungi. Sudah lebih jauh odometer badannya -- kalau ada! -- daripada aku.

Tapi anehnya, deep down inside, tak satupun dari dua aspek itu -- i.e. perjalanan dan pendidikan tinggi -- yang bisa benar-benar mengubahnya.

To me, he's still more or less all talk and theories.

Mungkin pendapatku bias karena aku punya rasa disrespect and contempt pada pribadinya yang bahkan sampai sekarang, meskipun sudah jauh berkurang banyak, tetap ada.

Some people just can't change (that is, not to say ALL PEOPLE)...

Memang aku sengaja menanyakan beberapa hal tentang fasilitas dan privilese yang dia sebutkan DENGAN ANGGAPAN BAHWA SEMUA ORANG MENDAPATKAN KEISTIMEWAAN/KEMEWAHAN YANG SAMA. LIKE IT IS GIVEN. 

Entah memang naif atau ignorant, tentu saja aku katakan ke dia dengan gamblang kalau tak semua orang di tempat yang sama dengan dia bisa mengakses semua fasilitas tersebut, which of course nullify his reasoning and explanations.

My God, mengingat dia sudah bergelar magister dengan gaji yang setidaknya beberapa kali lipat gajiku, tapi dengan opini dan pendapat yang seperti itu -- ditambah kebiasaan pengabaian fakta -- aku jadi merasa bimbang:

Buat apa belajar setinggi langit (eh, atau "menggantungkan cita-cita" ya) dan menuntut ilmu sampai ke negeri China kalau pola pikir hanya terbuka sebagian?

Ooopss.. Rasanya aku memang SANGAT BIAS kali ini.

18 and Life

"Ricky was a young boy,
he had a heart of stone..."



I didn't know it before - but now I do - how I could even headbanging to the sound of hair-metal!

And even did air-guitar acts!

That quote was from Skid Row's 18 and Life and you sure are familiar with the melody, that is if you grew up the way I did, listening to rock and metal bands alone because nobody in your house seemed to enjoy the melody of the guitars, the heavy riffs, distortions, screaming and high vocal pitch, agressive drummings, etc.



You see, sometimes in those adolescent years I felt kind of lonely because not many people I knew of were listening to rock bands.

Ah, that's not the point here.

I mean that while listening to Skid Row's album -- I played 18 and Life and I Remember You again and again -- I felt kind of nostalgic. And I was daydreaming of being a young boy (like Ricky) and being angry at the world that let me struggle to get through life even since a very young age.

"He had no money, oooh no good at home.
He walked the streets a soldier and he fought the world alone."

Now that was something that I thought I could relate to. Not in the way that I must be working so I could eat. I felt that somehow I was being alienated in my early years, as a kid, a teenager, and first couple of years in the college.

I am being nostalgic.

Imagine that: Me. Nostalgic.

Gee...

I must be old.

Man! We Male Are Shallow!

Here I am, in front of my terminal LCD screen, on a Friday night, just a few minutes shy from another Sa-turd-ay, and I'm accessing the galleries of some photography community site.

Just a quick glimpse will show you how shallow us, male, can be.

We like physical attractiveness. We are drawn to it. And the more cute/beautiful the face is, good. More voluptuous? Even better! Less gears and more bare skin? The best! The most popular in daily photos are human/model/pose category. The most comments? The sexiest female.

Man, we are shallow!

How come we take on photography just to take shots of beautiful chicks? I mean, yes, that is a positive point on taking up photography. I did it because I want to record my traveling experience. And yes, some cool stage photos too.

But I just refuse to get into that kind of Girl Galore Photography thing.

Life is more than just girls, brother.

And if you're taking it up just for the girls, my personal opinion is that you're bound to fail on both fields.

Or not.