I don’t think A and I really share the same interests.

He has a broader knowledge on Indonesian's 2000 pop songs, while I have.. none. Not exactly something to be proud of, I know. The only songs I vaguely remember are the ones that used to play as soundtracks for the soap operas mum watched at night—and even then, I couldn’t tell a single title. My only real exposure to music back then was MTV. I still remember (at that time) how it kept replaying Marie, Marie, Marie by Solveig Sandnes (the scene where the girl is in the bath and the real homeowner suddenly arrived is insane 😂), Coffee and TV by Blur, video game-like Californication or Windows-Media-Player-animation-on-Windows XP-like Zephyr Song by RHCP (I used to hate it visually but once I grew up I get why these songs are big hit back then), and blonde Dolores with daisy bandana on Animal Instinct music video. My cousin who was way older than me also introduced me to BoA, a Korean singer who sung Japanese songs at that time, whom her face I hardly recognize these days. 

Even our youtube feeds could not be more different either. Like most guys his age, he loves watching gadget review, politics, and football related content. Meanwhile mine is a mix of cooking videos, travel in eastern Asia, and alternative rock musics. He tried to convince me many times to binge Game of Thrones but I just can't with all the blood and explicit contents.

One day, he said, "let's watch anime in where the male lead piggy backs his little sister everywhere."

To be honest, I'm more of a shoujo, rom-com, slice of life kinda girl. For instance, I binge watch Horimiya for more than 5 times. I was familiar with Rurouni Kenshin (my favorite of all time), One Piece, HxH, or Shaman King but those came out decades ago—and apparently kids these days weren't familiar with them either. One of my classmate told me that it was her mum's favorite—you know what, kid, I know I'm old but I don't know I was that old 😞

Still, we ended up watching Demon Slayer all the way to Hashira Training Arc Season and even watched the Infinity Castle movie as well.

Aside from the amazing graphics, I felt like something is missing but I couldn't point it out. Was it the character's depth? I know the movie relies a lot on flashback and backside story but I think it was kinda rushed.

Or is it lack of character's development? I am used to read shounen manga where the main lead and his parties grow gradually through the struggles. Or maybe because it is animated so they have to chop the story here and there? I have no idea either since I don't read the manga.

But overall, I love the fact that we enjoy something new and be excited about. We found ourselves talking about Demon Slayers non stop in a Cafe while waiting our order to arrive. Apparently A's favorite characters are all villain: Akaza (for being a hopeless romantic) and Douma (due to his realistic, bluntly speaking behavior). While I were fond of Tokito and Giyu, simply because their fine and calm appearance 💘. Now I can't stop myself from watching reels unboxing pop mart merch where the price is basically the same as import books in my wish list.

**this post is written on 9/15/2025. At fisrt I decided to post this after checking out one of the pop mart merch at marketplace, but in the end I still hesitate to buy one HAHA

 

Around two weeks ago, A's phone rang at 3 A.M. His cousin was calling with heartbreaking news: his grandpa had passed away. We rushed to catch the earliest flight possible and arrived at his hometown around 10 A.M. Although the air was damp and sticky—the sky was cloudy, the burial was scheduled at 1 P.M.. I couldn't help but wonder why it took that long to lay someone to rest #iykwim—but who am I to judge anyway. When the time came, people stand up and began reciting duas, just then the light drizzle fell. I dashed into the house, grabbed my umbrella and opened it. Suddenly I realise some gaze were fixed towards me. Moments later, the drizzle turn into a downpour, and we hadn't even made it to the cemetery yet. Later that night I found out what had really happened.

They were trying to put you as a scapegoat, A said.

For what?

For the heavy rain falls earlier.

How was that even possible?

According to a local belief, opening an umbrella when the sky is cloudy, is said to invite the heavy rain to pour

 ... *so shocked I lost words*

and its black 

Would that make any different if I opened a white umbrella instead?

No, but people were pointing at you, A's wife, for opening an umbrella in such weather.

Is there any scientific research regarding to this? is there any correlation between someone opening up umbrella causing a heavy rain falls? Correlation doesn't equal causation either.

Listen, they don't get that as much as you don't get klenik.

I was left in disbelief.

I mean, broooo it's 2025 already and you guys still believe this stuff?!

Yepp, I came from different part of Java and yep, I had confirmed this thing to my friends and none of them heard about this superstition either. I even googled it—but nothing. Friends who lives in the city nearby also confirmed that around that time its raining cats and dogs. To this day, this whole umbrella thing still doesn't add up to me.

I took that as a serious accusation; it implied that I dishonored grandpa's funeral for causing the heavy rain, for ruining the funeral ceremony. Some said "when in Rome, do as the Romans do". Well, I guess I won't be setting foot in that part of Rome ever again.

The other day I decided to take a walk before iftar. Recently I have gained a lot of weight and shamelessly put the blame on Couvee’s everyday latte—because I've been chugging it daily for the past few months 😂. A warned me to not bring anything valuables—including my phone. So I did. I was craving a comforting bowl of cotto, best enjoyed with no other than its ultimate pair—buras. Being the spontaneous person that I am, I went out wearing flats, forgot my watch, and did not check the maps first, only to realise that the place was much farther than I expected 😂🥲

I had plan to grab coffee ice cream at Wheels afterward, but I was worried I was gonna miss maghrib prayer so I skipped it.

Got back to the kos at 7 PM, only to find my phone ringing nonstop and scolded by A 🤣 he was worried as hell since crime tend to rise during Ramadhan. I reassured him that the streets were crowded and relatively safe—he had nothing to worry about.

“It’s the way you react that concerns me," he replied. "If you were robbed, instead of giving up your belongings, you would probably fight back or do something reckless. It runs in your blood.”

🤣🤣🤣

I guess you really can’t hide your true color from your spouse 😌

I don't know where to start but.. I got a huge unexpected plot twist at the first day of 2023.

My workplace was once relocated to the office located relatively near to my house in the beginning of the year (big YAY), where I fully anticipated and expected—and one of the reason why I let go of Room 16.

But, BUT, one thing or another got in the way, or simply the universe wants to test me to another level, suddenly I was moved into Sudirman office.

I can't help but remember A once wondering why I don't go to work to SCBD area, since according to him, seemed sophisticated and sort of cool which made me swear "there's no way in hell I got to work there!"

And there I was, pulling all night to get the work done until 03 A.M in one of that tall building. Oh the irony 😌

To be honest, I love working here regardless the lift queue and the price of the meal—it was only few steps away to Grand Lucky, and plenty options of public transport—forcing me to walk more than 5km everyday and I believe it sort of helped to improve my physical strength  ...

... but apparently not my mental strength 😅

I literally bleed for two months, got bruises everywhere on both my legs, gulped milk coffee every single day to stay awake and stay sane (I already worried about my daily sugar intake even though I ordered less sugar), felt extremely exhausted, got panic attack every time my phone chimes, silently burst out tears on the back seat of the taxi, etc.

I got no time—to wash my hair, to rest—for my self and A; let alone time to clean the house. Coming home past 9 P.M only to find that my house is a literal mess yet got no strength left to fix it. And then there's weekend, two precious days where I got the power only to do the mandatory chores—not enough to clean up the mess, and even sometimes got distracted by work calls and midnight zoom meeting. Endless loophole for months. Oh, and I forgot to mention that whenever I came home late means that A would stay awake until I reach home. I felt terrible for him. Those were sort of thing that kept me from being "You've got this Zi" to "you should consider to stop". 

I usually was not a person who easily give up, even HR once said that I was placed (along with one friend) to certain division because among all of new joiners, only both of us were mentally tough enough based on our psychology test result.

Some people just questioned my decision but it was not my job to explain to them. Not gonna lie though, that thought sometimes got into me either. As a matter of fact, I'm torn between 

Fast forward, the last two were the winner. Actually, this was not me giving up, this was me taking a short break to something bigger that is about to come next.

Another highlight.

I had rented a room around Cipete Raya for a solid month, lined up for Kopi Tuku every morning, commuted to office with MRT—experiencing life as Jakselian (is that even a word though), and still did not change the fact that it would have made anything better.  None of my workmates know any of this 😝. Yet no matter how close it is from the office, home is my ultimate comfort zone and the cure itself.

Another highlight.

I had the best time in my life this February—meeting and getting to know new, cool people with various backgrounds whom about to be sent all over the world. and being so honored to be in 30 minute lecture with a person I adored since a long time ago that brought me in a situation where I desperately try to get into UI so that I could join her public lecture one day. Never once in my life that it was happening in this February 💕.

Another highlight.

At first I thought it was a terrible idea to catch up with friends here

I managed to meet up with old friends, and joined the crowds at Semasa_di Lapangan Banteng. Finally got an empty picnic mat, got seated and talked for hours. 

A did not want to miss the picnic vibe during long weekend, so the next day we went to Urban Forest Cipete, soaked up the sun, went home stuffed with a happy heart.

I realized I barely write anything here since 2022. Apparently I found alternatives to clear my mind other than writing—and one of it is walking. >9000 steps during commuting explains a lot why I take the courage to redirect my life at my 30s. A long hours to contemplate and to argue with myself, all happened inside my head.

I swear I'm gonna come up with more of regular posts, but part of me did not want to be all whiny 😂. According to what happen lately in the twitter world, some posts that I think is harmless, some people might think it is harmful and that exactly what's holding me for writing in the internet world 😖 Like, anything could be triggering for some people, as simple as indomie for lunch after swimming session 😭 Come on people, spend your energy to something else, like writing online journal (regularly) to keep most of your life 😝

I swear I'm gonna come up with a better picture next time but I am super excited to tell this right here with my broken english since .. I finally visited Perpustakaan Umum Provinsi DKI Jakarta Cikini, and it was happened three times last week! YAY 💛

At first I registered at perpustakaan.jakarta.go.id, got my account verified by uploading ID Card, weeks before I actually fill out reservation form. I planned to make a visit at Tuesday but the day before that, one of my colleagues brought durians and had a durian party at frickin 10 A.M.! 😵 Can you imagine how the entire room smelled like? No wonder why Japanese said it smells 靴下の味.

Wait, what durian has to do with library visit?

For being the one and only person who can’t stand the smell let alone eat durian, I moved to musholla to keep my sanity. But two hours later, when the place packed with people and my legs began to hurt for sitting on the floor for a long time, I came back to the room only to know that the smell seemed stayed since people threw the seeds in the trash bin near my desk. So I got the idea to move to Perpustakaan Cikini for it is only few minutes walk from my workplace. I quickly made a reservation, packed my laptop and rushed to go there by myself.

For as long as I remember, I never had been to public library. I used to visit library back in college only because it was quiet and free—I did not have to spend money to buy drinks even though the wifi sucks. And sometimes I could see some international relation students practicing roleplay on the opposite corner. Okay enough for the intro.

Once I arrived, I scanned my reservation script in QR to enter, and then I walked into the baggage deposit to change my bag to the clear one that the library provides, and get the locker tag in exchange. The ID and password wifi are written on the back of the tag. Right in front of the baggage deposit, there is a table with monitor screen and a shelf beside it, for visitor who wants to return the book or borrow book online through the account.

You must get your account verified first to borrow books. It is allowed to borrow max 2 books per person in 14 calendar days. Yet if you could not finished it, (the staff said) you can extend it max on Day 13 through the website.

Once you borrow books through online, make sure you wait the status turn from 'menunggu konfirmasi' until 'siap diambil'. If not, you'll end up like me who had to come back again the next day because the book wasn't ready to be picked up yet and it was already past lunch time. If I cancelled the booking, my account would get suspended for two days 😅

Like any library, no food and drinks are allowed and there’s no tenant that sells drink inside (I tell this here because I overheard some visitors asking the security the same question)

So far the hospitality is nice, the staffs are helpful, most books are brand new, the place inside is picturesque with all the natural lights from the sun coming in, yet the system was quite unstable because on the first visit I had to wait for like 20 minutes to be able to enter the library since the check in counter system were out of order—And I was unable to bring book home either.

Even though the TIM XXI, warung ikan bakar, and my jogging track there will be forever missed, I would not complain anymore as they were all replaced with this beautiful library 😀

XX,
Zi

1. A said that if his life was made for FTV, the title would be 'Istriku, Pengepulku' 😂as I am trying hard to prevent him throwing away waste (organic waste goes to composter, anorganic waste goes in pile for me to wash later). One day I brought a bag full of cleaned trash, hand-carried it in KRL from the office to the house so that @rekosistem could pick those up. Some people called me insane, but it was the only possible, make sense option for me. Anyway, after months of subscription @rekosistem, they sent me a recap through email:

Is there any greener packaging products I could switch into that have the same function as bayg*n and deodorant? 

2. I am so blessed to be currently in such a strong team at work. I am glad that I feel being supervised, have bosses who checked my work no matter how small—unimportant it was, and correcting it—if I made mistakes so I can learn from them—and I have learnt A LOT from them. I could not be more grateful than this. Becoming the one and only female member, I do not want to be,  or be treated as, the weakest link in this team. I'll beat my ass to earn that 💪🏻.

3. It was so disappointing to come back to my mum's house only to realize that it was like a landfill; stuffed by my sister's shits, and she blamed mine for it 🤯(which already lost in the first place!). I barely find my cat carrier for God sake. I bought microfiber cloths and sent it straight to that house so that I could clean up there, only to know that it was lost either. Every corner is a pile of clothes and papers and things I could not identify. I was furious at that time until the point that I let mom and her to do anything they want with my things—throw them all away (my college books, comics, and clothes) just to make it clear that it was not my freakin' stuff that stuffocated the house!

4. I feel bad for A to have to deal with my poor photography skills 😞, me having no idea how to drive a car while her girl friend could drive a car from Klaten to Jakarta, me still being not considerate enough to read the map, when it was needed the most.

5. At first, I really have no idea why some of my plants were dying during my visit to hometown for less than a week. I mean, I have watered them before I left them 😢. And after endless browsing and remembering that rain and gloomy days occurred for the past few weeks, I came into conclusion that fungus and bacteria were the ones to blame.

6. The end of the year was harsh for me. I made some effort to redirect my life, finally got into the last step, ran out of excuse to leave the office, got my hopes really high. However, failure hit me hard until my allergies went on again and left marks permanently on my skin 😰.

7. I did intermittent fasting (IF) starting this march and it eventually reduces GERD symptoms, but still struggling with constipation though. In my case, I know that this constipation are caused by lack of work outs even though I ate clean (I always eat clean!). No matter how much water I gulped; greek yogurts, vegs, and fruits I had, it did not work much for me. It all should be consumed in a day combined with work out. The best part is, IF helped me shedding some weights! woohoo! 😆

8. I come clean and clear to mum why I live the way I live right now and it apparently lift some weights deep inside. I did not get into details but I pointed that the last few years was hard for me and A so I begged her not to push us into something we did not want to. I do not need her to help, moreover tell it to others; hopefully she could understand and accept that.

9. Years ago when pandemic hit, I began to hate myself for not considering to purchase a decent laptop. I felt enough using laptop provided by company but the possibility of getting the broken one is pretty high and for the one who depends on company internal network that required to remote PC from home, it left me stressed out. Turns out, years later, company I currently work in bought me a brand new one with 3 year employment in exchange. And for people who would die for a new laptop, I felt so lucky at the moment ✨ .

10. Some people got me wrong the whole time by saying that hand washing the laundry was my ultimate hobby. Why though 😳. I mean, that would be a weird hobby one could have. I just take care of my clothes that much because I do not want them to look worn out easily. Most of the clothes I have right now is still in a good condition thanks to my younger self 😂.

11. Apparently I reconnected again with my circle in college since one of them is going to get married. We don't see each other since 2018 and rarely chat to each other since then. But while changing text in group, there's this person who's been harsh to another 😐. Not to me, but to other person. I don't think her remark is acceptable, yet I remain silent since others did not respond about it. Did she getting meaner? Or did I no longer fit in in this circle?