I haven’t written for awhile.. but let me present a new category in this blog: the Fitting Room story

The outfit is all mine except for the ribbon on my waist and the skirt. I was trying on this nice A-line skirt that has a petticoat and little tutu underneath (not sure what the fashion term is..), and came out with a belt ribbon. Really pretty and affordable, $10 only. Unfortunately when I looked at the washing instruction: Dry Clean Only. Off it went back on the rack

I lost one of my beloved aunt today (28.10.09). Forever, she will be in my heart.

Ragil Mega & Almh. Hj. Henriette Tjasmo, December 2007

Tadi malam aku sakit. Jadi aku tidur cepat. Tapi, malah tidur ayam. Jam 1 aku bangun.. lapar karena nggak makan malam. Makan selembar roti.. sambil twitteran dan bbm-an sama kakak. Malam itu diakhiri dengan segelas wedang jahe pukul 4 pagi dan aku kembali tidur.

Entah pukul berapa Zeeshan bangunin aku sehabis mandi. Dia bilang, “Ragil, your sister is looking for you, I think she wants to tell you something important”. Dengan kaget dan percaya kalau something bad has happened, aku bangun dengan bb beberapa senti di depan muka. Sedetik kemudian, aku nangis meraung-raung di tempat tidur.. Zeeshan di sebelah berkali-kali tanya, “what’s wrong”, but I completely ignored him. Lima menit kemudian, baru aku bilang, “My aunt passed away”.

Masih sambil berurai air mata, aku cek my own bb. Ada banyak bbm yang masuk.. dari kakak dan sepupuku juga saudara2 yang di group bbm, dan satu telfon masuk unknown number. Setelah selese baca semua pesan, aku bilang ke suami “I’ve gotta call my parents” sembari balas bbm, “Aku baru bangun. Mau telfon Mom”. Kata kakak, “Mom lagi sibuk kayaknya.” Aku tanya lagi, “Pap?” Kata Tante Ani, “Papamu lg sibuk sms. Aku baru dapet sms papamu.” Akhirnya aku memutuskan telefon Papie. Zeeshan langsung bergerak nyalain komputer karena aku telefon pakai Skype.

Aku telefon Papie, masih sambil nangis. Pap bilang, “doakan ya.. bacain Al-Fatihah. Pap masih di jalan mau ketemu orang. Mom ada di RS Tebet”. Setelah itu aku telefon Mom. Suara Mom tegar walau aku tahu beliau habis nangis, “Ragil maafin Bude Eti ya.. Doakan ya, bacain Yaasin.. Kita baru sampai rumah. Tadi meninggalnya jam 7:15 (atau 50 aku kurang jelas-R). Kemaren Eyang pengen nengokin tapi kan nggak bisa. Trus kata Bude juga nggak usah Bude udah mau pulang. Kemaren sempat pulang sebentar, tapi terus aanval lagi dan masuk ICU lagi. Ini sekarang kita lagi di kamar Eyang, Eyang baru dikasih tau pelan-pelan. Eyang baik-baik aja. Kamu doain ya”.

Zeeshan berangkat kerja. Aku linglung. Jalan ke sana kemari, padahal udah jelas punya tujuan mau sholat. Aku ambil buku doa-doa, ambil air wudhu lalu sholat Dhuha dan sholat Jenazah. Abis itu aku duduk di atas sajadah. Bengong. Tapi terus aku mulai chatting lagi sama kakak. Yang diomongin: FIRASAT.

Waktu dapat kabar Bude masuk ICU, aku deg-degan. Agak hopeless.. kayaknya tau beliau mau pergi. Tapi aku nggak boleh ngeduluin yang di Atas. So I ignored that feeling. Satu hari, antingku jatuh sebelah.. aku bingung.. gumam sendiri, “aduh mau ada apa ya? semoga nggak ada apa-apa ya”. I ignored that feeling. Satu malam, aku mimpi buruk.. aku mimpi salah satu kakiku beraaaat rasanya. Sampe mau nyebrang jalan aja susah, mesti nyeret satu kaki itu. Sampe malu ditungguin mobil-mobil. Bangun tidur aku mikir, “koq mimpi gitu ya? Mau ada apa ya?” But I ignored that feeling. Setelah beliau pergi baru jelas firasatku, kaki Bude bermasalah sehingga beliau selalu sholat sambil duduk.

Hari ini seharian aku duduk di depan komputer. Kirim e-mail pemberitahuan ke keluarga suami.. tulis-tulis di facebook.. cari-cari foto aku dengan Almarhumah yang terus aku pajang di facebook. Semua dilakukan dengan unstoppable tears, ditemani lagu Andai Ku Tahu – Ungu, alunan piano dari kartu yang dikirimkan mertuaku, dan Watermark – Enya. Aku nggak kebayang nanti kalau ke Jakarta lagi.. ke rumah Eyang, nggak ada Bude Eti..

Bulan lalu aku ke Jakarta untuk ngerayain Idul Fitri. Sempat agak susah pulang karena gusi ada yang bengkak. Tapi akhirnya aku berangkat juga. Karena aku nggak mau menyesal di kemudian hari kalau ada yang ‘pergi’. And I’m glad I went home.. Aku ada di sana saat Bude Eti merayakan Idul Fitri untuk terakhir kalinya.

Aku masih nggak bisa percaya. Mungkin karena aku jauh.. Zeeshan pun sempat geleng-geleng, dia bilang “I can’t believe it though, she looks so young”.

Terakhir aku bertemu beliau, awal bulan ini.. dua hari sebelum aku berangkat kembali ke Edmonton.. 2 Oktober, Batik Day. Mungkin hari itu arwah Bude sebenarnya udah pergi. Tapi ahhh.. siapa sangka. Hari itu, Bude memuji-muji batik aku. Beliau juga bilang aku tambah cantik Sehari sebelum aku berangkat, aku berencana ke rumah Eyang lagi. Tapi gagal karena masih ada urusan. Jadi aku cuma bicara di telfon.. sama Eyang.. dan Bude Eti. Aku minta maaf karena nggak jadi ke sana. Kata Bude, “Nggak apa-apa. Kamu kan sibuk. Salam buat Zeeshan yaaa..”

Iya Bude, salam Bude aku sampaikan. Selamat Jalan, Bude.. Sampaikan salamku untuk Eyang Kakung dan Oom Badi. Aku sayang Bude.. dan doaku akan selalu menyertai Bude. Selamanya..

..and star in the fabulous Hairspray

whoops forgot something..

there we go..

Many things happened this week. Well can’t exactly put it that way, I just did more things than being a couch potato and being bored. Let’s start with the recent one:

Shopping!!

LOL, not really. This part is supposed to be called a day with Hana Hana had been having exams this week. So Friday I went to her dorm to cheer her up. Haha, just kidding, we just hung out in her room and talked for hours until we got hungry. We went to the mall in the evening and visited our three favorite stores. First is Forever21

I got myself a pair of snakeskin leggings, a red tank top that I’m gonna wear under my red transparent and top and a pair of hair pins. Hana got herself a headband embellished with a little hat and feathers. CUTE!

Then H&M (didn’t find anything, didn’t take any pictures) and T&T, which is an Asian grocery store where we bought lots of delish Asian food. Yummm!!

Few days earlier.. I decorated my apartment windows with some Halloween gel stickers. I totally wish I lived in a house that I would get some kids knocking on my door

First of all, let me thank my good friend Ruth Wijaya for liking my outfit so much that she put it on Fashionese Daily’s Street Snap column.

Translation: “I like how Ragil pairs lime fringe shawl with a turquoise shawl. To me this color combination never fails. Beautiful.”

I got this this new blog titled Lime and Turquoise from Twitter. I’m a bantji-turquoise (turquoise freak) so I opened the blog right away.. thinking it’d be a blog about how lime and turquoise have made their way into the runway. Wrong!! lol.. Anyways, this is the same shawl I wore when I went to Calgary. I was going to order Bright Yellow ’cause as you see, I love playing with colors. Bad news for me, they were sold out. Then my friend Imelda (or how I always call her Ikho) told me to order dusty yellow..

I thought about it and why not.. I have lots of turquoises and blues.. And it’d be good to light up my black jackets in the gloomy winter. Even pink can be matched with yellows! Although you probably need your sunglasses when I do that..

Fingers crossed. I registered for school today, nothing fancy, just some part-time courses while I’m still hoping to get a job in this crappy weather.

Why the title?

I was thinking to wear my UGG boots but then I thought “I should look more professional” so I turned to my black leather boots instead. When I entered the campus, UGGs were everywhere. Fully understandable though, I’ve experienced life as a student in a 4-seasons country as well. Back then, I had no UGGs – tried them (and yes they’re warm) but no intentions of buying them. It was cold, but not as bad as here.

Today was pretty nice. 0 degree, but still 3 cm of snow. And for days like this, people wanna be like at home and comfortable when they’re at school studying. And most of them are still fresh high school graduate, might not have the luxury to take a car to school.

So when I got home, Zeeshan said “don’t wear your UGG boots to school, ya” Well, we’ll see.. might have to for days I don’t get a ride to school

Pics are taken from here and here

Anya Slouch Buckle Peep Boots from Topshop (it’s a gift )

A-Ten-Hut Military Jacket from Forever 21 (been looking for this for ages, thinking to get the black one as well )

I went to Calgary on Friday to check out CrossIron Mills, the new mall located in the suburb of Calgary (and to get away from the city that always sleeps). I call it mall, they call it shopping centre, lol. The mall is brand new, completed in August 2009 and is still expanding.

Got there as early as 10 am, reminds me how nice it is to do your shopping very early in the day. The mall is connected to a free standing outdoor store (it’s called Bass something). Never knew how big the store was, but my jaw dropped as I found out yesterday. Humongous!!

And then there was the uber big hockey store

The rest of the mall was just ordinary to me. Their Forever 21 is fancier than the one in my city. It has more lights and is more organized, just like the one in Jakarta They’ve got bigger Nine West store that carries more collection. HUGE La Senza that includes an outlet too I suppose. H&M, ALDO, Toys R Us, Build-A-Bear.. Pictures are taken with my Blackberry, so apologize for the crappy quality.

From there we went downtown to check out the Calgary Tower. It took me awhile to finally stand on the glass floor of the observation deck. But when I did it, phewwwww what an adrenaline rush.

Wearing Cotton Ink Fringe Shawl in Dusty Yellow

Last, my husband took me to Banff ’cause last time he went there with his brothers and Mom, he found a nice spot. I was honestly still very tired and a bit reluctant to go further than Calgary. However I always love going to a mountain so I said yes anyways and I also said “we should make this a routine”. So next, I need hiking boots..

I find myself funny for the habits in my life. It’s 3:55 am here as I start to blog. I consider myself having a jetlag. The thing is.. it’s the first day I woke up too early. I’ve been back since Monday and it’s already Thursday. Few days apart for the jetlag to kick in.

I was in Jakarta last week (Sept. 15 – Oct. 5), to spend Eid with my grandma. Fun time, met family and few friends although I wish I could meet more friends. Decided I couldn’t stay long the day I bought my tickets (which happened just a day before I flew back, lol). Here’s the reasons why:

- I would miss my husband.. lol

- Jakarta’s street is stressful all year round, except for the Eid week. So yes I was at the best time in Jakarta. Traffic was almost non-existent.

Back in Canada on Monday. Loooooooong flight. This is why I get so reluctant whenever I’m about to travel to my hometown. Spent hours on the plane with a screaming baby just an aisle away (what a nightmare?!). Reading “Perahu Kertas” by Dee Lestari, all the way from Jakarta – Hong Kong – Vancouver – here Couldn’t sleep.. thanks, Screaming Kid!

I unpacked in one day – and I’m proud of it.. lol. My house is still a mess though, few stuff lying around. But nothing time can’t heal

Last night, the VMAs was about two persons.. and two persons only.

If you haven’t heard about these two, then you must be living in a cave. Taylor Swift video won the first award, as the Best Female Video over the much more senior Beyonce and much more eccentric Lady GaGa. She was shocked, went onstage, took the award, mic and started her acceptance speech. She said she dreamt about winning the award but never actually thought it would happen since she sang country music.

The same second, Kanye West showed up out of nowhere (his seat I guess, it might be too hot he couldn’t sit still) onstage, took the mic from Taylor Swift’s hand and said “Taylor, I’m really happy for you, and I’m gonna let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time.” He gave the mic back to Taylor Swift who looked as though she felt defeated and was about to cry.

Everyone went bizerk. Especially the audience and in twitterverse. Including me, who couldn’t stop bad mouthing Kanye West last night on my twitter. The poop went down when the VMAs was only running for about twenty minutes.

It was a very bad behavior, Kanye! Not only you stole the moment, you killed the night when everyone was supposed to be talking about Kristen Stewart’s new haircut, newest trailer of New Moon and the tribute to Michael Jackson.Very disrespectful!

Beyonce is better than Taylor Swift? No! you can’t compare them. Beyonce is a diva, while I only heard Taylor Swift’s first single just last year. Video-wise.. I thought Lady GaGa should win. From the character to the lyrics to the video. Everything is interesting and always make people curious. But the VMAs is MTV’s show and surely they don’t choose winners randomly. There are requirements and this year “You Belong with Me” completed all of them more than the others in the Best Female Video category.

Kanye crushed Taylor’s dream? No! Taylor’s moment was just stolen. Her dream was not. She dreamt about getting the moonman. She got it.

Harry Allen on Twitter posted a screenshot of Kanye West’s online apology he wrote on his blog.

Being real? Sorry? Much Respect? BOGUS!

If Kanye West were happy for Taylor he would let her have her moment. A fan of real pop culture? No! He’s a fan of Beyonce! A ridiculously fanatic fan. Besides, it was just called “Best Female Video” and not “Best Pop Video” which was won by Britney Spears. What.. Kanye wants to steal it too? Too bad.. he can’t because Britney’s acceptance speech video was pre-recorded. Boooooo Kanye West Boooooo!!

And couldn’t he just wait for like 90 minutes? In the end Beyonce won the Video of the Year anyway. And because of Kanye West, Beyonce couldn’t give her acceptance speech because she HAD TO give “the moment” back to Taylor Swift. Too complicated to understand? Here we go, Kanye West is the thief, stole Taylor’s “moment” for Beyonce at the beginning of the show. Beyonce WAS EMBARASSED by it, she had to give the “moment” back to Taylor.

Kanye West has some issues. There should be school of manners for recording artist like Kanye West!!

I kinda thought last night was a conspiracy.. A dramatic entertainment for everyone. And how Taylor Swift is wearing the same color dress as Beyonce in the end. Regardless,

I mark last night VMAs as Taylor Swift’s VMAs. After the bitter reality, she came back bigger than ever in the New York subway singing her award-winning single. I am a fan for life.

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