Community Service?

It’s finals week – or weeks. Next month I’m gonna have to participate in some kind of a Community Service. The main idea is to help an environment and it’s people. One side, I’m excited to finally leave home for two whole months. On the other side, I’m a bit nervous about this whole community service thing. I know nothing about it. I know not what to do.I know nothing about it except for the title of the program and where it’s going to be.

Sigh. I hope it’s gonna go well. Who knows – I might end up with a team consisting a hunky hottie. Who knows….

A Familiar Voice

I’ve been sitting in this netcafe for about 30 minutes.

The moment I landed my butt on my seat, I heard a voice very similar to a voice I used to know years ago. The way it sounded, the accent, the intonation. The first five minutes, being surprised, I was too busy listening to the voice, analyzing if it was indeed similar to the voice of a man I used to know (It WAS indeed very similar, the only different being the voice of a man I used to know was deeper.), I didn’t even touch the computer. The next ten minutes, I did browse the net for what I needed, but I was also listening to the voice. I was concentrating on the voice. It brought up memories. Memories I have forgotten for many years (I can’t believe I’m old enough to say this sentence.) and surprisingly, I miss that man I used to know. Regardless of what he did to me and my family, I still miss him.

He was a joker. And I was too young to understand his jokes. I always acted smart and pretended I understood him and his sometimes cruel jokes – but I didn’t. I loved his smile. And his eyes. And his big hands. And his voice. And his glasses. Sigh.

So I ended up listening to this man on the netcafe for as long as he was talking on his phone. I wanted to see his face – I still do. I just wanna see if this guy and the man I used to know also share the similar faces. If they do, I’ll probably end up having a crush on this guy from the netcafe.

What am I talking about?

I’m not being mellow.

I’m telling you, I’m not. Shut up. *closes the door*

Flamboyant Serendipity

Serendipity, according to my Oxford Advanced Genie, is an uncountable noun means ‘the fact of something interesting or pleasant happening by chance : Meeting her like that, and there off all places, was true serendipity!’

What a word. It might seem like an ordinary word, but this particular word nearly made me punch someone on the face.

This is an old story, actually. It happened several months ago. It was morning, and after a short period of sleep, I went to school with my eyes swollen and heavy and my bad mood. The first class I had was Drama. We discussed the plot of Oedipus Rex according to Aristotle’s Poetics. We were splitted into five groups, each off which must find the parts of the drama called Peripety, Discovery, and Suffering. After that, each group should send one person to sit in the middle, along with other persons chosen from other groups, to present the result of the group discussion to the class and to conduct a class discussion session.

Unsurprisingly, I was chosen to represent my group. And this flamboyant boy, or rather, flamboyant wanna-be, was chosen to represent his group. Big mistake!

As soon as he got his chance to talk, instead of explaining which parts of the play were considered as Peripety and Discovery by his group, he started talking about serendipity. He explained serendipity as if it was a chain of several unfortunate events happening by chance. Totally different from the word’s definition, I know. He spent twice as much time as other speakers, telling us what serendipity was and how we didn’t get what he meant by serendipity – he even asked “You guys know what serendipity means, don’t you?”
As if he was the sharpest tool in the shed! Well, he wasn’t.

When my teacher asked him a question, he thought he was answering it while actually he was talking about something completely different. Then my teacher said, “There was a movie called Serendipity right?”
He said, “What, ma’am? I can’t hear you.” (He was the only one in the class who couldn’t hear the question.)
Then my teacher repeated the same question, only louder. And his answer totally irritated me. It was, “Oh yes. Murphy.”

The whole class laughed. But I was like… what the hell?! Who the heck was Murphy? And why on earth would he think my teacher asked him about a Murphy? I was on the verge of freaking out. And then I said, loudly, completely visibly irritated, “MOVIE, dude. M.O.V.I.E.”

I mean, he was that stupid but he acted all-so-smart and spoke like no one in the class understood his high-class terminology and way of thinking. I say he’s a poor bloke.

He used to be this weird, nervous guy. Not the type of guy I’d love to hang around with but I had no problems with him being around. Now, in order to be – I’m quoting here, okay? – a ‘womenlover’, whatever the hell it means, he turned into this trendy, dandy and almost flamboyant guy – too bad he’s too annoying to be one. At least, back then he wasn’t this annoying.

Not learning from his earlier mistake, he kept talking about serendipity, giving unmatched answers to every question given to him (because the answer was always about serendipity), and desperately trying to make the class understand what serendipity was (even though his own definition of serendipity was completely different of that written in dictionaries). Me, having reached the limit I could take before losing control of my emotion and kicking his ass, cut him off. And I said this, boldly, loudly, visibly irritated :
“Okay, stop talking about serendipity. In spite of your ability to use such high-class terminologies, you should understand that we are not as bright as you are. So I guess, instead of wasting too much time explaining to us what serendipity is, you should use lower-class terminologies that would be easier for us to understand and start answering the questions given to you.”

My teacher said, “It’s okay, Shiiqa, he is free to give his arguments.”

Being so annoyed, I answered boldly to my teacher, “I know Ma’am, but instead of answering questions, explaining reasons, and giving arguments, he keeps talking about serendipity. And that word is not what the question he’s supposed to answer is about.”

The class was, finally, paying attention to what was being discussed. Some people laughed at Mr. Flamboyant, some others talked about him – whispered is more like it. Mr. Flamboyant himself tried to look cool, an effort which failed even before it was started. And it put an end to Mr. Flamboyant’s Vocabulary Class.

P.S. And this Mr. Flamboyant is the same guy I talked about in this post.

50 Trivial Things (About Me)

This note is made so we can get to know each other, and of course, out of boredom.

1. My name was supposed to be Ashiiqa. Due to a misunderstanding, it became Ashika.

2. I LOVE cats and kittens. (Kittens are the best things ever happened to the world.)

3. It’s not that I don’t like flowers, I think they’re sweet. It’s just that I’ll appreciate some other more meaningful stuff like: letters, scrapbooks, chocolate, or simply a treat.

4. I don’t eat cheese. And has just started eating eggplants recently.

5. Smoke, especially from cigarettes, is not exactly my favorite thing.

6. When concentrating, this happens mostly when I’m reading, I can be deaf.

7. When stressed out, or upset, I’ll start cutting my nails with my other nails, which resulted in my ugly fingernails.

8. I don’t like sports, they don’t like me either. We don’t talk. Swimming and biking and running are the ones who’d pick up when I call.

9. I lost my cellphone this very day.

10. I’m an indoor girl – sort of.

11. I was supposed to be born in July, 1989 (which would make me the oldest in both sides of the family) but I spent 11 months in my mom’s womb. Therefore, I’m only second the oldest in my mom’s side and used to get a little bossed around by the oldest.

12. My nose doesn’t work that well. I’m not good at smelling.

13. I hate being bossed around. When this does happen, considering the fact that some people will only feel better about themselves when they boss other people around, I won’t listen.

14. Believe it or not, but hey, it turned out that I know more (and can do more) about make ups than some girls.

15. My favorite TV shows: Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers (I spent my childhood trying to be one of them.), Xena The Warrior Princess (The woman can kick some butt!), Supernatural (This one, I’m currently addicted to.).

16. My favorite number has always been 7.

17. Whenever I go anywhere that’ll take more than an hour driving, or sailing, I pray. Al-Baqara 255 (Ayat Al-Kursi) is my regular. And I’ve memorized it ever since I started remembering.

18. Among those ridiculously disgusting experiences I’ve ever had, the most irritating was when a gay guy asked me to scan his picture. No, not just a picture. It was a picture of him wet and naked, with foam – taken from the back. I was actually considering kicking the man’s butt. But then I’d seen his butt in the pic and I decided to stay away from him. I wanted to puke, though. His butt wasn’t exactly the kind of butt you’d like to see. (Not like that of Brad’s, Alex’s, Jared’s, or Jensen’s. Kidding.)

19. I like fashion. I just don’t like applying it to myself.

20. I used to be an outcast in elementary school. (Btw, thanks guys (many of you from that part of my childhood I hate the most), such memorable 6 years. Love it! (Sarcasm.) And you’re still wondering why I never attended the reunion? Check your brains.)

21. I sleep a lot. Don’t blame me, I’m just enjoying the ability to sleep for hours and hours in a row. We all will miss it when we’re old and dusty and 50 and can’t even sleep for 8 hours in a row.

22. Westlife (yes, Westlife the Irish boyband) was the reason I started learning English. I was really bad at English before I knew them. When my friends could already greet people in English, I was still confused by ‘who are you’ and ‘how are you’ – couldn’t tell the difference.

23. I grew up listening to: Michael Jackson, Iwan Fals, classic rock and evergreen ballads.

24. The highest amount of salary I got for a month’s work: IDR 2.250.000,00

25. The kind of man that usually would be attracted to me is either some dramatic bloke, or some old (like 35-ish old) flabby man, or both. And surprise (Sarcasm.), I don’t like both types!

26. See, in spite of every statement about my being non-feminine, I dance – yes, traditional dance, I have performed – and I can handle make up. I don’t cook though… well, actually it depends on your perspective. I consider making strawberry jam sandwich cooking – so yes, I do cook.

27. The worst day of my life was the day Shima died – August 6th, 2007, 02:45 am. I literally cried for days and days… and days. And got stressed out for over a month. I lost 7 kilos almost drastically – seriously, the most effective mean of diet. I got pissed off just because people tried and pulled a joke under my nose.

28. I need 25 hours of the day for me and things I need to do. That’s pretty much why I don’t date. I’m open to an open relationship, though, if the guy accepts several terms including not being in a relationship during weekdays and only go out when we both can’t find anything else to do.

29. I’m not planning on getting married anytime soon, at least not before I reached 25, or 27.

30.I don’t like the Twilight series – too cheesy for me. Plus, Edward has a BPD. The only awesome thing about Twilight is (drumroll) the warm… the powerful… the tall… the athletic… the strong… the hulky… the eight-packed… the manly… the amazing… (drumroll louder) Jacob Black! (Jacob in center stage with a single spotlight, applause from the audience – many girls even swoon.)

31. I have several fictional, if not literary, crushes: Dorian Gray, Vampire Lestat de Lioncourt, Dean Winchester (NOT Jensen, okay? Dean.), Peter Pan, Jay Gatsby, and Mamoru chiba/Prince Endymion/Kamen Tuxedo.

32. Tommy Oliver (the white ranger from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) was the first long-haired guy I had a crush on.

33. I learned martial art because I wanted to be a power ranger.

34. I used to play Kimberly Hart (the pink ranger from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers).

35. I buy my own stuff. Like that TV and DVD players and DVDs in my room, digital camera, cellphone (cellphones, before I lost one of them), and laptop.

36. I just found out the other night: Joe Jonas’ lips are very kissable. (God, no, I’m no saying this! Probably the gayest thing I’ve said.)

37. I don’t have problems with homosexuals. I do have problems when they expose themselves in a sexual way, though.

38. I’ve watched New Moon. Twice. And in both times, I just fast forwarded the movie to the scenes with Jacob Black, shirtless Jacob Black, to be specific. (Seriously, Taylor Lautner – the boy does have something.)

39. When I was young, I watched telenovelas and used to pretend to be Maria Mercedez (or howwever her name was spelled).

40. My hair was reddish light brown. I used to hate my hair because it made me different, tried to dye it black once, but now I miss it very much.

41. I used to have problems getting along with girls.

42. I used to write songs. You know, back then, when I played guitar a lot. Now I barely have time.

43. I’ve written something similar to this and posted it in my blog: http://ashiiqa.wordpress.com/2008/12/27/10-things-you-migh-want-to-know-about-me/ and also in my facebook.

44. I cry over dramas. Especially when it’s a story about parents and children and their relationships.

45. I miss having a crush on someone! Haven’t felt anything like that for quite a while. I think that’s why I get grumpy these days.

46. I’ve always wanted to study abroad, particularly London – the city of night life, the city of history, the city of literature,the city of… Peter Pan!!!

47. Among the things I want to do in London: reading Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens by James M. Barrie in Kensington Gardens.

48. The most embarrassing birthday I’ve ever had is my 15th, for some embarrassing reasons, I’m not going to tell you the story.

49. A man has saved me from a mistake involving another man. This has happened twice, so it’s actually two men have saved me from two mistakes involving two other men. Once, the man was younger than the other man. The second, the man was older than the other man. If you don’t understand what I’m talking about, don;t strain yourself. I’m not making any sense, anyways.

50. If I find a guy’s nape attractive, like that of Jensen Ackles’, I won’t see any reason why other parts of that guy won’t be attractive.

Those are my 50 trivial things. Please forgive me for any typo.
What are yours?