Month: March 2008

Jogja’s Finest Day I

“When you ask for patience, God doesn’t give you patience. He instead gives you an opportunity to be patient.”

Evan Almighty, God.

Stranded out in the middle of hectic long-weekend-affected Jogja after a not very long conversation to wrap things out, a not very long time to shift someone’s mind across to the opposite side too – for one reason, Easter is celebrated with too many good days – I felt, by all the sudden, compelled to steer away into my favorite Italian franchised café whose real name is less vibrant than its network’s name, Circi. Calling my friends who need to be reminded about the real concept of Jogja’s Finest Day (J-FED) came to the second place as I was thinking of getting strange in the middle of strangers.

J-FED is the better way to call it. It comprises Jogja’s Finest Day which can be mispronounced into Jogja’s Finance Day – my favorite business subject nowadays – while the element of FED itself resembles The Federal Reserve – my day maker and day breaker at the same time. The concept? It’s a little bit of spontaneous thing to lessen the effect of a stressful uncertainty which had swallowed me whole for almost too long that I feel rather chewed. So, it’s no wonder if there’s no kind of short notice to a min… say… a day? It could be as we speak and the next minute I’m in the brown cedar room with black U1 Yamaha upright piano.

This Saturday night is rather a different J-FED from usual. Yes, this isn’t the first J-FED I’ve ever held, only the blog came out this nicely late that there wasn’t much story in the previous events. I came to the café around 20 minutes before the first buddy I called showed up to relieve me. I was thinking to myself this would turn out differently as people started to respond for this more familiar J-FED. Some groups filled the café three hours to midnight and looked very warm and embraced by the ambiance in the café. They started to sing along with the home pianist who recognizes me and was fainting away due to lack of sleep. I covered him up and took the piano seat in comical manner, planned to handle the crowds I had not met before. So the story begins…

It begins with several minutes before I arrived in Circi. Okay.. say.. it’s too private for a blog material but I’ll try to fabricate it. After all, you need a reason why such of spontaneous event could be provoked at the first creation of the idea. Have you ever felt like you know something is not true but you let someone tell you a lie because that’s what she wants you to know? Like pretending to be egghead with a clear thought that being stupid eases things? Feeling tired of something and yet disappointed at how that thing ends? Well, anger, inquisition, and compensation rushed me to Circi after being patient almost seemed like the angelical solution for me.

Circi itself, as I started to feel surrounded by other patrons, seemed like an opportunity to start being patient. I must say – as once been a secular – malt drinks, and sexy dancer and model who offered me her phone number instantly look like how I must compensate with my anger and stop my inquisitive motion once and for all. Voila! What a fine answer! Or.. I can always choose to pass them and be what I said to her under the vow to God, a true man in a true love. Or.. God really wanted to show me the good thing outside my relentless hope that the sea is plenty of fishes. My friends tried to tell me the same thing, God gave me the phone number of that sexy girl without asking. So? Shall I?

You see, the good thing about J-FED is that you don’t need to answer right away. You can go back late after the bar is closed, and watch Evan Baxter talking to God (hanging out, in his script), and write some blog that you’re planning to co-publish with the existing more famous blog address of your friend’s. And the best thing about the whole night in which J-FED is held, you’ll learn a lot (even sometimes not in a good order). Maybe it’s not Genesis 6:14 signs all over the place where my eyes spot, but it’s a great lesson that God does hang out with you.

I still haven’t decided which option I should take up to present. At least what J-FED had done to me is buying me some patience for few hours. Either way, it’s true, you don’t get the answer to your quest as in a result but instead in an opportunity for the result. Happy Easter and see you in the next J-FED!

Happy Hartono, T.itle.L.E.S.S.

FAQ

Q: Where and how is Circi?

A: Sing along and stop occupying the bandwidth in Circi’s hotspot that takes people’s attention out of cable broadcast as you find yourself south to Grand Hyatt’s main entrance right after the bridge on the lefthand side if you’re coming from the conical monument of hard raining mayor’s daughter’s wedding.

Q: Is it ‘cheap’?

A: If you sing along then you’d need no quotes around the word cheap, let alone dancing.

megawati: nabi saja tak sarjana

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JAKARTA – Mantan Presiden Megawati Soekarnoputri terus menyatakan seorang presiden tak harus sarjana. Alasannya, nabi saja bukan seorang sarjana.

“Nabi saja seorang pemimpin, tapi nggak sarjana kok. Pemimpin jangan hanya dari kalangan elit saja. Itu kembali kepada rakyat. Jangan hanya politisi itu yang menguasai elit saja,” ujar Megawati.

Dia mengatakan itu saat memberi sambutan dalam pelantikan pengurus daerah Baitul Muslimin (Bamus) I Provinsi Jakarta dan peresmian Pondok Pesantren Nurul Musthofa, di Jalan Raya Ciracas, Jakarta Timur, Minggu (16/3/2008). Ditegaskannya kembali, mengenai siapa yang berhak menjadi pemimpin negeri ini harus sesuai kehendak rakyat.

“Saat ini sedang dipolemikkan jadi presiden harus seorang sarjana. Karena saya bukan seorang sarjana, jadi saya kembalikan pilihan kepada rakyat. Jangan kita lupakan kewenangan utama hak di tangan rakyat,” tutur istri Taufik Kiemas ini. (jri)

***

Sungguh, daku bukan lah pecinta berita politik. Walau tiap hari berlangganan surat kabar Kompas yang setebal gajah itu, pasti bagian politik daku baca paling terakhir, bahkan kalo bisa di skip aja *abis tiap baca berita politik bawaannya bikin emosi jiwa* tapi berhubung nyampur sama berita hukum mau tak mau daku kudu membacanya dengan seksama dan tekun, walau tetep pilih-pilih berita juga sih.

Nah kali ini berita tentang mantan presiden Megawati muncul di salah satu situs berita, awal-awal si biasa aja bacanya, tapi setelah disimak dengan baik dan benar, daku kaget dengan bagian ini yang dikatakan oleh ibu Megawati ituh,

“Nabi saja seorang pemimpin, tapi nggak sarjana kok. Pemimpin jangan hanya dari kalangan elit saja. Itu kembali kepada rakyat. Jangan hanya politisi itu yang menguasai elit saja,” ujar Megawati.

Du du du… Aduh Bu, tapi kan Nabi gak ada yang cewek bukan? Hihi… Ups! Lagi pula Nabi itu kan utusan Tuhan, mereka manusia terpilih yang diberikan wahyu oleh-Nya agar bisa merubah umat manusia hidup lebih baik di dunia dan akhirat. Ya… Selayaknya jangan disama-samain kayak kita yang manusia biasa. Kalo berani dan mau membandingkan diri mungkin bisa sama khalifah-khalifah pemimpin umat di Timur Tengah sono, emmmm…. tapi mereka semua berwibawa, berpendidikan dan apal Al Qur’an ding… Jadi kalo dibandingin…. Gak ikut-ikut ah… *peace Bu Mega*

Daku sih pada dasarnya sepakat kalo seorang pemimpin tidaklah harus sarjana, asalkan seorang pemimpin itu memiliki semangat nasionalisme tinggi dan sungguh-sungguh mencintai rakyatnya. Tapi kalau untuk menjadi pemimpin yang baik, kan lebih bijak kalo sebelum berbicara dipikirkan terlebih dahulu dengan matang, jangan sampe apa yang disampaikan malah bikin rakyat keki atau misinterprestasi. Ada tips lho Bu supaya bisa 100% sukses kalo mau pidato, yaitu minum Mizone dulu, supaya bisa maksimal *kaburrrr!* Semangat Bu buat Pemilihan Presiden 2009, semoga sukses! (*)