Postingan Terakhir Sebagai Murid SMP? (1)

HELLO FELLAS HOW ARE YOU.

Sudah berapa lama blog ini terbengkalai? *hitung* Astaga, satu bulan penuh ya? Lebih? Oke, oke. Santai, kawan. Akhirnya dapet kesempatan menulis lagi. Ah, ralat. Maksudku, akhirnya aku bisa melawan rasa malasku! Hahaha.

Oke, jadi, apa saja yang aku alami selama aku meninggalkan blog ini? Mari sebut satu per satu. Hmm. Pertama, aku sudah melewati UN-ku dengan cukup lancar. Setelah UN, aku menikmati libur selama kurang lebih tiga minggu. Dan sebalnya, beberapa hari liburan harus aku korbankan demi sebuah proyek. Proyek apa? Baca aja terus, haha. Pokoknya proyek ini mengharuskan aku untuk pergi ke sekolah. Ya begitulah pokoknya.

Lalu, hmm... ah, ya, dua momen yang paling aku tunggu-tunggu dalam masa liburan ini...

Pengumuman kelulusan UN. Dan wisuda. Mungkin dua hari paling emosional dalam tiga tahunku di SMP.

H-16 UN.

Oke, kembali ke bahasa Indonesia karena aku sedang malas ber-Inggris-ria. Oh, dan satu informasi nggak penting: netbook biru kecilku sedang ada masalah dengan keyboard-nya. Entahlah, belakangan ini orangtuaku selalu memakai netbook-ku 24 jam (ya, 24 jam) untuk sesuatu yang aku tidak mengerti. Blog advertising, huh? 

Ngomong-ngomong, ini sudah H-9 UN. Dan apa yang aku lakukan? Duduk di depan laptop besar ini, sambil mengetik postingan blog selanjutnya. Haha. Tapi sudahlah, aku sudah kepengen menulis ini sejak kemarin Minggu. Tapi karena aku sakit, ya batallah keinginan itu.

Baik, mari kita lompati bagian curcol di atas.

Ehm. Jadi, di H-16 UN kemarin (hari Sabtu, 6 April lebih tepatnya), kami seangkatan pergi ke Ungaran untuk melepaskan kejenuhan gara-gara hiruk-pikuk menjelang UN. Kau tahulah, belajar, TO, bimbel pagi, bimbel sore, oh, whatta life. Tepatnya, di Ngrembel Asri. Oke, aku sudah pernah ke sana sebelumnya, tapi itu sudah lama sekali. Sekitar 3 atau 4 tahun yang lalu. Dan kali ini, aku kembali lagi... dengan teman-teman angkatan 9!

School examination, photography, et cetera.

CAUTION: This post may causes madness. Or hatred.

Here I come again with some random, rubbish thoughts.

Alright, since there's no exam today (national holiday, oh yeah), and I ran out of everything I could do, so, yeah, I think updating this stuff is the best decision I could make at the moment.

Well then. Currently, I'm doing my school examination this week, but as I told you before, I got a holiday! Until now, I think I did it quite successfully. Especially, for the mathematics exam! I'm so damn satisfied with it. Usually, I always got around 7 for the markings, but I think I'll get much better this time. And with science, too. The biology questions are completely similar to the exercises and try outs that I've done! You can imagine how surprised are we.

Enough with that, yesterday I just caught something to write in my mind.

I've told you slightly in an old post that I have an enthusiasm in photography. Since when, you might ask? Well, to be honest, actually it all started with a little of curiosity. I was around 11 or 12 years old when I made some mess in my parents' bookshelf, looking for something interesting, and then I saw a book about photography. When I read it, I was like "What's this?" "Seems interesting!" "I want to do this!" and so on. My dad has the Canon EOS 600 (the analog one, with film rolls inside it), and he used it to capture my childhood. Hehe.

But due to the change of time (?), he never uses that again. Instead, he stored it in the wardrobe. Hm. And about 2 years ago, he bought the small Canon EOS 1000D, my new best friend. I like this camera, but as it turns out, I realized that the 1000D is (probably) Canon's most basic DSLR camera. Well, it doesn't bother me anyway. I believe that the quality of the image depends on the photographer. Am I right? :D

Have I told you that I joined the journalistic extra curricular in my school? Well, I do. Three years in a row! Which means I always join this activity since my very first year in junior high. I love seeing how much this extra have improved. In my senior year, I'm being an "unofficial leader" on photography group. I write as well, but 2 years in writing group shows that my writing skill doesn't improve that much. So, I moved to photography.

That's not my point. I'm going to talk about today's trend. You might see that nowadays, there's a lot of teenagers (most of them are girls, yes) want, or have a DSLR camera. And I must admit that... yeah, they have better DSLR than me. Like, let's just say, Canon EOS 600D, Nikon D90, or even the big Canon EOS 1D. But that doesn't guarantee that they have captured good photos. I'm going to be a little bit rude. Some of them captured rubbish. And self-portraits, oh my God! You know what I mean, right? Narcissism everywhere. I admit that I did the self-portrait. But once. And I deleted it right after I took it. HAHAHAHA.

I understand, even I appreciate their high enthusiasm in photography. I'm quite happy with it! But rather than take self-portrait with your DSLR, why not trying to explore something new? If you want to take only self-portrait, use webcam. Or your phone. Or whatever. Yes, I'm going to be soooo rude. Sorry. I once saw my little juniors on photography group were taking self-portrait while we're supposed to hunt photos around school. Such a waste of time, you can take it by yourself at home right? We're here to learn about photography, girls.

Yes, I have to admit that sometimes I get frustrated on those who don't know even a bit about their camera. Like the settings for example. They don't know how to change the image settings, et cetera. This happens to my 12-years-old sister. She takes a lot of self-portraits almost everyday, and she even doesn't know how to adjust the settings (like change the effects of the image). She just knows how to turn on the camera and press the shutter button. Just. That. I know I'm supposed to teach her but she forgets easily. And she's spamming the memory card with rubbish. Even my mom once suggested me to just delete her unnecessary photos. Well, haha. I'm going to do that later. :v

Good equipment doesn't guarantee your image quality, I must say. It only helps you make a good photo, but still, the quality of the photo depends on the photographer. The man behind the gun. Even though I only have the 1000D, I still feel like I have to get know more about the camera. Oh, and maybe the 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens is just enough for this time. I have to explore much more and more.

Well, just a thought. I think people become more consumptive these days. Buying something that isn't necessary just to fulfill their desire. Get what you need, not what you want. And be grateful on something you have. Who knows if you can capture better photos than they who have more sophisticated DSLR? :D

By the way, as you might see, I just changed my blog title. Although my blog isn't all about photography, I think it represents me. Small, loves photography, and loves the number 13.

One of my friend once told me that I'm the only one who can makes the 1000D looks bigger. I mean, am I that small? ._.

That's all I think.

Love,
K.

Just a thought. Don't get mad.

I don't understand why some of my friends keep complaining about how busy they are, how stressed they are, how tired they are, as 9th grade students, who are going to face the national examination soon.

Well, don't get it wrong. Me too, to be honest. I'm tired and stressed, too. But I think as long as you enjoy it, it doesn't matter at all. I confess that there's some moments when I enjoyed being a 9th grade student (read: busy student). Go to school early in the morning and go home late in the afternoon. A lot of practice and exercise sheets to do. Carry the big, heavy bag everyday, which is full of books and exercise sheets. Non-stop evaluations and motivations from the teachers.

Wait, I suddenly remembered that yesterday one of my teacher got mad at us (9th graders) because we're always late on flag ceremony every Monday. And we're just like, "Oh, Ma'am, don't you know? We have additional class in the morning and then you expect us to come to school yard to join the ceremony on time? Impossibru!"

...that's one of disadvantages being seniors. You know, stuffs like "Remember, you're a 9th grader now. Be a good role model to your juniors!", "You have to be better than your predecessors!", "You guys are disappointing me, I've expected you to be better than this!", et cetera. Then we get blamed on every little things. But I'm quite accustomed with that because, yes, my parents sometimes do the same thing to me. Sometimes. I'm the eldest daughter in my family and as I told you before, I'm accustomed with those blaming things.

Okay, enough. Back to our topic. I have to confess, sometimes I enjoyed being busy. Because I know, the high school and college life will be harder than now. At least I tried to enjoy every moment, every little things that happen now. Am I afraid? Am I stressed? Yeah, sort of. I'm kinda haunted by the fear that I won't graduate successfully. But hey, let's be optimistic. We still have another time to fix our mistakes, another time to study, another time to ensure yourself that everything is going to be alright!

By the way, just turned 15 on March 13th. I'm older... hey, I'M GETTING OLDER. MUAHAHAHA.

Ehm. Let's go to the point. My point is, don't worry, be happy! But don't underestimate everything. Take it seriously. I mean, concentrate and work hard. Well, note to self, too. I know I'm inconsistent sometimes. Enjoy, and it might doesn't matter.

We entered the school together, we must graduate together, am I right? And be successful together, for sure.

Fight for the upcoming exams.

May the odds be ever in our favor.

Wishing you a lot of luckiness, my beloved friends. I pray for all of you. Don't complain anymore, we share the same suffering (ehehe).

It's 9 PM already, I shall go to the bed. Goodnight.

Love,
K.

Back To December on SNWT

This is Taylor Swift's performance on her Speak Now World Tour, performing the medley of Back To December, Apologize (by One Republic), and You're Not Sorry. Kinda touching.

Taylor, you're breaking my heart for this. :')

I only embed this from YouTube, I have nothing.

BY THE WAY SHE'S GOING TO RELEASE THE "22" MUSIC VIDEO TOMORROW! And her RED Tour starts tomorrow, too. It's 13th, by the way.

...and my birthday.

I cannot wait for her RED World Tour here, in Indonesia! Let's paint the world red~

Love,
K

Blue. Pink. Red. Get Wet.

 Being happy is simple.

Like, you know, just gather around with your friends, have fun, laugh as loud as you want, splash the water everywhere, scream as loud as you want because you're getting wet. Throw the colorful plastic ball to the pool, as far as you can. Or put your face on the water and try to hold your breath as long as possible.

And running through the heavy rain while carrying hot tea in plastic cup would be nice, too. Until you're soaking wet all over your body. And you're freezing all the way home because the car's air conditioner is somehow too cold to handle.

Like I just did yesterday.

Having such an enchanted, amazing quality time with my classmates.

I must confess that at the beginning of the year, I didn't expect that we're going to be crazy like this. But, yep, God always has surprises. Unfortunately I only had less than 4 months with them. Because after this, we're going to separate our own way.

But it doesn't matter at all, I still love them though.

Let 9BOOM rules all the way!

Love,
K

Belajar menyayangi.

Hari ini, aku belajar banyak.

Tentang bagaimana mengikhlaskan kepergian seseorang, tentang bagaimana caranya menguatkan diri saat ditimpa musibah, dan yang paling penting, bagaimana caranya menyayangi sesama. Khususnya keluarga kita, saudara kita. Kakak dan adik kita. :')

Kemarin petang, salah satu temanku baru saja kehilangan adik kecil satu-satunya, yang meninggal karena sakit. Aku sendiri sangat terkejut dan tidak bisa membayangkan seperti apa rasanya kehilangan adik. Apalagi, adik satu-satunya. Aku benar-benar tidak bisa membayangkan. Dan tadi pagi, kami seangkatan melayat ke rumahnya, yang notabene lumayan dekat dari sekolah. Lumayan sih, memotong jam pelajaran. Tapi sudahlah, tidak usah membahas tentang jam pelajaran yang terpotong, karena memang di saat seperti itu, siapa yang peduli? Kami semua merasakan hal yang sama: sedih, miris. Udah, gitu aja. Ditambah lagi melihat temanku itu menangis sampai wajahnya basah oleh air mata... well, rasanya jahat banget kalau enggak berusaha menghiburnya, jadilah kami anak perempuan berusaha memeluk dan membuatnya tersenyum lagi.

The Second Intermezzo.

Finally, I'm able to steal my free time to write some random thoughts. Things are so damn busy right now, like I said before. The school exams and national examinations are coming towards me, and here I am, facing my Yahoo! inbox, wondering why my host-mother from South Korea haven't replied to my e-mail yet. And I have exercises to do as well, but... yeah, I'm too sleepy and too lazy to just open and do it. Don't copy my bad habit, friends, because one day you'll be doomed.

So! I just passed the practical test, which was kind of... a little piece of hell. I have the double-language attack on the first day of the test: English and Javanese. HAHAHA. Okay, seriously, my tongue was kinda "twisted" because I had to memorized 2 texts on different languages. We did narrative monologues. I had to talk about birds on English and the traditional puppet (re: wayang) character on Javanese. Oh, and on Javanese, we had to talk in krama Javanese, which means the language we used when we're talking to someone's older than us. MY TONGUE WAS TWISTED I COULDN'T---

Uhm. Okay, enough with that. But the tests was quite successful, I think. Alhamdulillah. But there's some mistakes that I made, for sure. On Biology test, for example. I accidentally dropped the beaker glass on the table and caused an obvious sound, then you can imagine how ashamed I am when the whole room was looking at me. Oh well... -__- and on the very last day of the test, we had P.E. The next day, I had pain on my body. Okay, I must say, I'm not accustomed to do body exercises...

After the practical test, hmm... there's no major events. Unless you count my current try out result. Oh, okay then. I was "thrown away" from the top 10. But I'm quite grateful knowing that my scores generally increased a little bit. Such a great improvement, was it? Next time, I must retain my real position on top 10!

I just can't believe that Jessica Amornkuldilok from Thailand got the title as Asia's (first) Next Top Model. While Filantropi Witoko from Indonesia was eliminated on episode 4... I can't wait for the cycle 2 of AsNTM!

Wait, I was supposed to talk about my life, not that television show that was hosted by Nadya Hutagalung...

Hm? Maybe that's all for now. I still have homework to do, and... well, bye.

I know, this is such a random post. But shut up, at least I wrote something here. Bye!

-K

My Life's Mine. Your Life's Yours.

I just stalked my friend’s Instagram account when I saw something that kinda envious. Herself in a portrait with her friends. Looked so happy. I was quite... well, feel jealous and something like that. I’ve never had such a friendship like that. Hanging out, take photos in photobox... never. Ever.

And I often saw them throwing milkshake, eggs, flour, and water to each other when one of them had her birthday. My father always looked upset when he saw such a thing. He always warned me to NOT to do that. I always like, “Hmm, okay Dad, yeah” while inside, I’m like “Relax, Dad. NO ONE would throw flour and something like that to me on my birthday. I’m not that famous. My best friend even once forgot about my birthday...”

 Me? Jealous? To be honest, YES. But I always remember that me and my friends have another way to have fun. We’re not kind of people who like to spent a lot of money (well, maybe yes, but not so often) only to have fun. Just gather around and have a chit-chat or something... that’s quite fun.

And then I realized: why do I have to be jealous at something that other people have when I already have something that people jealous at?

Let me give you an example. My mother, for sure. Some of my friends said that I have to be grateful since I have such a great mother like her, and yeah, I do. My mother isn’t home right now, and since her leaving I’ve dreamt about her twice. See? I do love her. So do my friends. FYI, my mother is a counselor in my school. No wonder my friends know her.

So. The point is, my friends said that they are jealous at me because I have such an angel-hearted mother. Okay, I know this is quite exaggerated, but my friends said so. I just laughed at them and said thank you. Back to the question, why do you have to be jealous at something that other people have when you already have something that people jealous at? That is the point.

Also, this is my life that God had given to me. This is my life, and I should enjoy it. Enjoy every hour, every minute, and every second of your life. And every milisecond, microsecond, and so on. I have to confess that sometimes there’s one point where you feel depressed, sad, down, and something like that. Let’s just say, there’s some dark moments in your life. But that’s normal. That’s human nature. That’s make sense. Just be happy.

Although sometimes I wish I can be like them... the girls I’ve noticed above...

So, why do I have to be jealous at other people’s life? :)

My life’s mine. Your life’s yours.

Untuk 3 Bulan ke Depan...

Yang kita perlukan sekarang adalah, kaki yang akan berjalan lebih jauh dari biasanya, tangan yang akan melakukan lebih banyak dari biasanya, mata yang akan selalu melihat ke sekeliling lebih dari biasanya, lapisan tekad yang seribu kali lebih keras daripada baja, serta mulut yang akan selalu berdoa.

- 5 cm, karya Donny Dhirgantoro (dengan sedikit perubahan)

Yap. Alhamdulillah aku senang membaca, alhamdulillah aku senang nonton film. Banyak banget buku (dan film) yang udah memberi semacam suntikan energi positif ke aku. Contohnya, tetralogi Laskar Pelangi, trilogi Negeri 5 Menara (walaupun buku terakhir dari trilogi ini belum terbit), dan tentu saja, buku yang baru saja aku tamatkan dalam dua hari: 5 cm. Aku mau nulis review buat novel dan filmnya, tapi nanti saja, deh.

Banyak banget kutipan bermutu yang aku dapet dari beberapa novel tadi. Misalnya, man jadda wajada dari novel Negeri 5 Menara. Siapa yang bersungguh-sungguh akan berhasil. Well, dulu kayaknya aku pernah cerita, kalo pepatah Arab ini bikin mood belajarku naik dan sempat bikin prestasiku di sekolah lumayan bagus... waktu kelas 7 dulu. Hahaha. Sekarang? Naik-turun. Kayak roller coaster. Eh, bukan. Yang lebih gampang aja: kayak bianglala. Kadang di atas, kadang di bawah. Yah, tapi seenggaknya masih bertahan di 30 besar, lah. Walaupun dulu waktu naik kelas 9 nyaris terdepak dari 30 besar... (||| _ _)

Apalagi, sebentar lagi aku bakalan menghadapi UN. Ini aja ngetik sambil nyuri waktu belajar buat TO 2. Jangan ditiru ya ._.

Oke, balik ke topik awal. Tunggu bentar. Sebenernya aku lagi ngomong apaan, sih...

Oiya, motivasi menjelang UN...

3 bulan menuju UN! Ini bulan Januari. UN-nya bulan April. Jadi, ya, 3 bulan! Dan ngomong-ngomong, ulang tahunku H-5 ujian sekolah... .___. #oke #duniaharustahu

Jadi, menurutku sih, motivasi terbesar biar semangat belajar, ya dari diri kita sendiri. Jadi kita harus mulai sadar dari sekarang...

Kalau males gimana? Ya, dibikin gak males dong. Usaha! Pikirin masa depanmu! Bayangin gimana perasaanmu kalau kamu sukses UN, terus apply ke SMA-nya lancar, terus, terus... pikirin itu terus. Insya Allah kamu jadi semangat. Atau tulis kata-kata motivasi yang besar sekalian, tempel di dinding kamar, di buku, atau apapun lah.

Duh, ntar kalo soal UN-nya susah gimana? Ah, kok pesimis gitu. BANYAK LATIHAN, itu kuncinya. Harus kuakui, kadang-kadang kalau lagi try out, aku suka nyesel kenapa nggak banyak latihan soal waktu lagi belajar. Semoga nggak terjadi ke kalian, ya! Banyak latihan, banyak baca, dan ini yang penting: jangan malu bertanya. Kalau malu tanya ke guru, tanya saja ke teman-temanmu. Asal jangan tanya waktu ulangan ya, hahaha. Kalau ada materi yang nggak ngerti, tanya! Kadang-kadang malah aku yang ditanyai teman-teman, apalagi kalau lagi ngerjain latihan soal Bahasa Inggris, hehe :3 Yang penting, jangan takut. Pede aja, asal jangan takabur :)

Terakhir, GANBATTE KUDASAI YO NE!! Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor! SEMANGAT! (9'o')9

Be grateful.

Be grateful!

It feels funny when someone complains on something when he or she already has everything. 

Tahu maksudku, kan?

Ya, bayangkan saja, kamu punya teman yang nyaris bisa dibilang sempurna. Cantik, tinggi, pintar, periang, dan punya banyak teman. Baik hati, pula. Nah, sayangnya dia suka mengeluh. Mengeluhnya tentang hal-hal kecil, pula. Coba saja, pasti kalian kesal, kan? Well, koreksi buat diriku juga, sih. Hahaha. Soalnya, beberapa teman pernah secara nggak langsung bilang kalau aku nggak pernah bersyukur.

Padahal, kalau kita nggak "buta", pasti kita bisa melihat banyak banget kelebihan di diri kita. Misalnya, alhamdulillah kita dilahirkan dalam kondisi sehat, alhamdulillah kita masih punya orangtua, alhamdulillah kita punya keluarga yang sayang sama kita, alhamdulillah kita dianugerahi (cie, bahasanya :p) kepintaran sama Allah, dan lain-lain.

Pokoknya gitu, deh.

Belakangan ini, aku sering sekali ngomong "Be grateful!" sama diri sendiri. Entahlah, tapi begitu ngomong itu, rasanya jadi sedikit lebih baik. Nggak jadi badmood. Aku juga jadi inget kelebihan apa aja yang aku punya, dan itu bikin aku sedikit merasa bersyukur. Alhamdulillah.

Menurutku sih, sekali-kali ngeluh boleh sih, ya. Sifat dasar manusia, kan? Nggak pernah puas. Tapi jangan keseringan juga. Selain bikin mood jadi buruk, keseringan ngeluh juga bikin orang-orang di sekitar kita jengah. Pengalaman pribadi, sih. HAHAHA.

...jadi ceritanya nyindir diri sendiri? :p

Diawali dengan seorang teman yang mengingatkan aku untuk bersyukur ketika nilai ulangan harianku turun, sedangkan nilai dia lebih rendah daripadaku.

"Bersyukur dong. Kamu pinter kok, aku akui..."

Hahaha. Perlu kamu ketahui, Teman, kelasku adalah kumpulan anak-anak pintar dan rajin. Dengan kata lain: sedikit saja lengah, kamu bakal jatuh. Tahu maksudku, kan? Nah, tapi setidaknya kan (kata orang-orang) kalau dibandingkan dengan kelas lain, aku bisa dibilang pintar lah, alhamdulillah. 

Lalu, temanku ini bilang kalau skill fotografiku lebih bagus daripada dia. Jadi, jangan patah semangat dalam mempelajari fotografi. "Kamu kan punya peralatan yang memadai," katanya.

Masih belum puas, dia melanjutkan, "Dan inget, kamu punya orangtua yang hebat, kamu punya dua adik yang nakal, untuk mengajarimu bagaimana caranya menahan amarah, kamu punya peralatan yang memadai untuk kegiatan fotografimu, dan kamu punya teman-temanmu, yang berjanji bakalan terus membuatmu senang saat kamu sedih!"

...alhamdulillah :)

Spelling Bee - part 2

Jadi, melanjutkan post yang kemarin, Spelling Bee part 1. Intinya, ya, Hafidh dan aku menang, dan kami berhak maju ke lomba Spelling Bee tingkat nasional di Jakarta.

Singkat cerita, setelah ngurusin ini-itu--biaya, transportasi, akomodasi, makan, dan lain-lain--tanggal 4 November kemarin akhirnya kami berangkat ke Jakarta, didampingi Mr Ag. Mr Muji nggak bisa ndampingin, soalnya tanggal segitu adiknya mau nikah. Yah ._. berarti yang ke Jakarta hanya tiga orang.

Intermezzo

Pertama-tama, Happy New Year 2013! *tebar konfeti* *nyalain kembang api*

Oke, sekedar intermezzo karena aku sedang malas menulis lanjutan Spelling Bee - part 1. Ada yang nungguin Spelling Bee part 2 nggak nih? Nggak ada? Oh, ya sudah kalau begitu. *pergi*

Hari ini, aku kembali melanjutkan rutinitas sebagai anak SMP. Kelas 9, pula.

Eh. Tunggu.

AKU SUDAH KELAS SEMBILAN.

Berarti ini tahun terakhirku di SMP. Yah. Berbagai ujian sudah menanti di depan mata: ujian sekolah, ujian praktek, dan tentu saja, ujian nasional. Matilah gue... *le dies*

Dan itu juga berarti, tahun ini aku bakal lulus SMP (amin!) dan masuk SMA. Waktu cepat sekali berlalu, ya. Rasanya kemarin aku baru masuk SMP, eh, sekarang sudah mau lulus. Agak nggak rela, sih, ninggalin SMP. Tapi ya, mau gimana lagi. Masa iya aku mau tinggal di SMP lebih lama lagi...

Spelling Bee - part 1

Hai.

Hal pertama yang harus aku akui adalah... em, aku bingung mulai dari mana.

Jadi, ini cerita lama.

Tanggal 6 Oktober 2012. Hari Sabtu. Aku bangun jam 3 pagi tanpa alasan yang jelas. Aku baru saja akan menarik selimut kembali ketika aku ingat sesuatu.

...hari ini aku lomba. Lomba Spelling Bee.

Ceritanya panjang. Kenapa aku bisa ikut lomba itu? Well, ceritanya dimulai tiga hari sebelumnya. Rabu, 3 Oktober 2012. Aku sedang mengerjakan soal Matematika ketika Mr Ag--mantan wali kelasku sekaligus guru bahasa Inggris kelas 7 dan 8--masuk ke kelas dan memberi pengumuman. Intinya, hari itu bakal diadakan seleksi buat milih peserta lomba Spelling Bee besok Sabtu. Adel, yang duduk di sebelahku, menoleh dan bilang, "Ikut sana, Mith!" tapi aku hanya nyengir dan kembali mengerjakan soal di buku. Tawaran yang menarik, kupikir. Diam-diam aku pingin ikut, tapi rasanya kok... males.

HEEEEYYYYY PEOPLE I'M BACK!

HEEEEEEYYYY PEOPLEEEEEE! WHAT'S UP?! YO, THE DAFT WRITER IS HERE, BABY! *tebar konfeti* *tebar kolor* *tebar ciuman*

Yep. It's been... whew, let's see... about... 7 months since my last post here? Wait... what? SEVEN? MONTHS?! You're going to kidding me, readers! /no

Um. Okay, self-control. Well, guess what, I'm a 9th grader student now! A senior. Wow. I have about 200 juniors and it feels like... yeah. Time flies so past, fellas. I'm still fourteen years old, of course. My birthday is on next year. Oh, and I just realised that I'll do the national examination on May... or April. *sigh*

So! After 7 months--which feels like 7 centuries--leaving this blog, I have a lot of stories that I'd like to share to all of you. Like, um, let's say:

• Have I told you that I went to South Korea on May 2012? Have I? ...oh, right. I only told the plan. Not about the journey. Well, write it down to my "to-write-list".
• I passed the 8th grade with not-so-good-grades. But still, I felt so grateful. Alhamdulillah :)
• I became one of the Art Event committee! Well, The Art Event is an annual event which is organized by the 9th graders. I became the documentary section. Big job is waiting, guys.
• I joined a Spelling Bee Regional Competition in English First, and... guess what? I won the third place! My best friend, Hafidh, got the second place. That means that both of us will go to Jakarta to join the National Spelling Bee Competition! Wish a lot of luck for us!
• There's another English Competition that I and Hafidh (and some of 7th and 8th graders) will join, again. The National English Olympics in Malang. There's a written preliminary round in school, so if we get selected, then we will go to Malang to join the semifinal and final round. Again, wish us luck.

Um, I think that's all for now. At least I've updated this, okay? See you later!

Behind The Report: Me and The Boys

Oke, ini bukan postingan tentang lagu SNSD The Boys itu. Bukan, saudara-saudara sekalian. Kali ini, aku mau sedikit cerita tentang proses hunting opini buat majalah sekolah. Keceee, berasa reporter asli. Hah, sadar Miiith. Kamu ini penulis kacangan. Sadaaaaar.

Lanjut. Jadi, waktu lagi pekan UTS, Ibu Kepala Redaksi majalah sekolahku (to all my friends in Al-Azhar 14 JHS. You know who is she, right?) dengan sangat tidak elit mengumpulkan anak-anak jurnalistik di depan ruang guru setelah jam pulang sekolah. Intinya, kami semua disuruh mencari opini dari teman-teman tentang jejaring sosial. Apa saja dampak positif dan negatifnya, serta bagaimana cara mengatasinya. Aduh, tugas jurnalku nambah lagi. Sudah disuruh bikin liputan di Jakarta, nulis pengalaman di Korea, dan masih ada ini. Tapi biarlah. Selama kita senang, pasti semuanya jadi mudah. Aku sih manggut-manggut aja sambil berpikir enaknya menggaet (weleh, bahasanya) siapa untuk dijadikan narasumber. Pikiran pertama yang terlintas di benakku, anak-anak ROPM. Red Orchid Photo Management. Kelompok banci kamera (profesional) yang terdiri dari aku, Ave, Alma, Hafidh, dan Oddy. Mungkin mereka bisa aku tanya-tanya tentang opini mereka. Atau... aku kepikiran Aiz dan Rizal. Yeah, secara, mereka sobat karibku, juga anak debat. Pasti persoalan begini sangat cipilihi buat mereka.

Boys Talking About Social Network

Dapet tugas jurnalistik, suruh wawancara (minta opini deng) tentang sisi positif dan negatif dari jejaring sosial. Dan aku memilih tiga cowok ini sebagai narasumberku. Insya Allah, ketiga anak ini bakal muncul di Mozas, majalah sekolahku. Haha. Oh, dan maaf kalau postingan kali ini rada pendek.

So... what they said about social network?

Hafidh Rahman Zailani (Hafidh)

“Positifnya, komunikasi makin luas dan cepet. Apalagi kita sebagai manusia, komunikasi harus terus. Negatifnya, pikiran gampang terpengaruh dan terfokus ke situ. Konsentrasi jadi kurang, dan sosialisasi terhadap sekitar jadi kurang bagus. Cara menghindari dampak negatifnya gampang. Pakai social network kayak gitu tetep boleh, tapi buat kepentingan tertentu aja, atau buat fun aja kalau lagi nggak ada kegiatan yang bermanfaat.”

Muhammad Rizal Nugraha (Rizal)

“Positifnya, bisa ngobrol sama temen-temen walaupun nggak ketemu. Jadi kita bisa tahu keadaan temen. Negatifnya... bikin ketagihan, nggak praktis, buang-buang uang buat internetnya, bikin kurang gerak karena duduk di depan komputer terus-terusan. Cara menghindarinya? Jangan kebanyakan main social network, keluar rumah buat ganti suasana, dan olahraga juga biar nggak kurang gerak.”

Faiz Dhia Adlian (Aiz)

“Positifnya sih, namanya juga ‘social’ network, berarti bisa mempertemukan satu orang ke orang lain, terus bisa buat tempat curhat, sama buat stalking orang lain, hehehe. Intinya, keuntungannya tuh bisa untuk memperlancar komunikasi dan nambah temen. Kalau negatifnya, bisa bikin anak ketagihan, otomatis anak itu banyak diam di depan komputer, dan itu banyak pengaruhnya, seperti lupa shalat, merusak mata, tulang punggung bermasalah, sama lupa makan juga. Kalau cara mengatasinya... waduh, semua tergantung kesadaran anak masing-masing sih, hehe. Sebenernya sih itu kan sudah diupayakan sama pihak Facebook-nya, bikin batas umur buat penggunanya. Tapi ya itu tadi, semua tergantung kesadaran penggunanya.”

OSN dan Perjalanan Pulang

Melanjutkan yang kemarin, sekarang aku mau cerita tentang hari kedua kami di Alpus. OSN.

Jadi gini, kami yang UKA kan lombanya hari Jumat. Nah, hari Sabtu, giliran teman-teman OSN yang lomba di Alpus. OSN-nya terdiri dari Matematika, Fisika, Biologi, dan IPS. Matematika ngirim 7 orang—Fia, Lulu, Kirana, Naufal Afif, Ainun, Miko, sama... ah, aku lupa. Biologi ngirim 3: Hida, Aji, Arif. Fisika juga 3 orang: Adel, Sheila, Nabila. IPS 3 orang, Yumna, Nadia, Fira. Yap, yang OSN lebih banyak daripada yang UKA.

Sabtu, 7 April 2012.

Pagi itu, aku sudah jalan-jalan ke setiap kamar buat sekedar ngucapin “Good luck, ya!” atau “Sukses, ya!”. Sejak malam sebelumnya, mereka sudah dikarantina—dikelompok-kelompokkan berdasarkan mata pelajaran mereka dan nggak boleh melakukan kegiatan apapun selain belajar. Dasar, pas isengnya lagi kumat, aku dan anak-anak UKA (well, cuma Ave sih sebenernya) pengen banget gangguin anak-anak OSN. Tapi melihat wajah stres mereka... em, nggak jadi deh. Akhirnya, aku dan anak-anak Bahasa Inggris malah bikin semacam manajemen foto dan bikin photoshoot. Tentang photoshoot ini, bakal aku ceritain di postingan selanjutnya.

UKA - Unjuk Kreativitas Al-Azhar

Oke deh, sekarang giliran lomba di Al-Azhar Pusat, Jakarta, yang aku ceritain.

Jum'at, 6 April 2012.

Di mana anak-anak lain bersukacita karena libur, aku dan 8 orang lainnya malah harus pergi untuk berlomba.

Aku, Hafidh, dan Ave ikut lomba debat Bahasa Inggris. Ayu dan Rian lomba desain grafis. Intan dan Nafis ikut lomba tahfidz (hafalan) juz 30. Oddy dan Alma ikut lomba story telling. 

April 10th, 2012 (part 2)

Jadi... ini lanjutan yang kemarin.

Habis pengumuman lomba, karena bosan dan bingung mau ngapain--lagipula kalau kami balik ke sekolah juga bakalan kayak anak ilang--jadi Mr. Atok ngajakin jalan-jalan. Aku dan Hafidh sih mau-mau aja. Tapi Ave nggak, dia pengen pulang. Kangen kasur katanya, hihi. Sebenernya aku juga, sih. Tapi karena aku males banget balik ke rumah, ya sudah deh, ikut aja.

Berhubung Mr. Ag--wali kelasku yang sudah berevolusi dari manusia super menyebalkan menjadi wali kelas 8 paling kece--nyuruh kami field trip (baca: jalan-jalan) sendiri, aku terima deh. Iseng-iseng aku bilang pengen nonton, dan... beneran Mr Atok dan Hafidh pengen nonton. Bwahahaha. Malahan Mr Atok nyuruh Hafidh browsing jadwal bioskop di... XXI Paragon. Uoooh, kece!