Throwback (Primary School)

DUH.
Seems like I've found some things more interesting than writting a blog. I am now preparing myself to enter my (I wish) very last year in college life, where my working-on-research is already killing me. And this BaPer yang mengarah ke throwback happened as the side effect. People said when you feel like you want to write something,

please don't kill the vibe.

Well, honestly, I'm not that kind of reader who like to read people's writting about themselves. I mean, I kinda like to read their opinions about something, what they think, or else rather than reading their stories about themselves. But here I am, gonna tell stories about myself, because this-throwback-BaPer-thing is killing me. My first post will be about my personal experience when I was an elementary student.

Sekolah Dasar.
Where everything begins... I started to know computer, telephone, music, sports, and science. I am not in the good mood to tell much about the love stories (I still had crushes on many boys, kok). :p

Sports.

I am gonna start with sport. I did many sports back then in primary school. First I did soccer (thanks to Kapten Tsubasa), badminton, calisthenics, volleyball, and basketball. My favorite was soccer. I did soccer with the boys, we built a team, and we covered the dues ourselves to meet our needs (ball, jersey, etc.). It was my favorite sport since I was in second grade. Till I realized, I was the only girl on the team, and I knew it wouldn't work out for me. Then in my fifth grade, my sister introduced me to basketball. But when I talked about primary school, I can say it was all about two things: music and science.

Music.
Yes, mostly people starting to have a great interest in music when they are in primary school, right? My cousin introduced me to this kind of industry. Pertama kali saya mengenal musik lewat Hanson dan M2M. Thanks to MTV, saya mulai mengenal musik-musik lain lewat Sherina, Joshua, Tina Toon, kemudian beranjak ke Sheilla On 7, Padi, Agnes Monica, Ungu, Element, Westlife, Blue, Backstreet Boys, dan my biggest crush is... PETERPAN! Hahaha I have all of their albums, ALL OF THEM back then in cassette format. Menemukan pelabuhan pada Peterpan membuat saya ingin belajar alat musik, alhasil, kelas 5 SD saya telah berhasil menghapal semua chord gitar lagu Peterpan, termasuk liriknya. Untuk belajar alat musik sendiri, saya telah dikenalkan dengan studio musik sejak kelas 3 SD. Ayah saya sangat bersemangat untuk memfasilitasi apapun yang saya sukai. Dari musik saja, saya sudah memiliki dua gitar akustik, satu gitar listrik, satu set drum (hanya senner dan simbal, sih), dan satu set tam-tam (sejenis drum set yang biasa digunakan oleh para pengamen). In the fifth grade, I once had a band named Rudolf Xatiwa. We did play music together using one studio to another music studio, we mostly played Peterpan songs. And once we performed at our School's Pensi, playing Bintang Di Surga and Di Atas Normal, damn I miss that moment.

Science.

Hahahaha sebenarnya tidak bisa disebut sains juga, sih. I was one of those good students with good scores back then in school (who wasn't?). I always got a first rank, for six years. Bagaimana tidak, my dad told me first about Thomas Alfa Edison before I even ever heard about Muhammad, I have been able to read and typewrite before I got into kindergarten, I could understand how to use Microsoft Excel, Word, CorelDraw, and Architects 3D before I got "Computer Science" subject in school. (Ada hikmah-hikmah tertentu punya bokap yang di PHK). My school sent me as a representative in many competitions quite often.

Nah, lomba. Ini yang membuat saya jatuh cinta pada pelajaran. Bagaimana tidak, dari mengikuti lomba saya berhasil mendapatkan beasiswa dan uang binaan yang dapat saya nikmati sendiri. Orang tua saya tidak pernah mengambil sepeser pun uang yang saya hasilkan, bahkan uang SPP sekolah saya tiap bulan ikut menjadi milik saya karena saya telah mendapatkan beasiswa, saya telah sangat dipercaya mengelola uang, bahkan sejak kelas 2 SD (bukan kelas 3, 4, 5, apalagi 6) saya terbiasa pergi ke bank dengan mengendarai sepeda untuk menabung, tanpa ditemani siapapun. Karena kenikmatan yang luar biasa telah saya rasakan melalui uang yang saya hasilkan saya punya prinsip: Everything I Do Will Be Paid Off. But in another time, I have found it does not always work that way, hahaha.

Throwback (Secondary School)

Sekolah Menengah Pertama. 
Well, my first two weeks being a junior high student was a very tough one. Amongst all of my yearmates, only three that got into the same school with me and not all of them were my closest friends. I was really the one who rely myself on my friends, when they're gone, I always feel my world fall apart. I started to lose my appetite, begged my parents to move me to another school, I skipped the orientation for the new students, less focus on class, and didn't want to know or meet new people. Tapi siapa sangka, masa SMP adalah masa yang paling banyak memberikan warna menurut saya. Dimana saya mulai mencicipi sedikit kebebasan yang lebih besar, jatuh hati dengan banyak pria (ini geli tapi asli), bertemu dengan teman-teman dari bermacam golongan dan strata sosial, sering cabut kelas, nyontek, ketemu cowok-cowok yang suka nonton bokep, dll.

Music.

I am gonna start with this one. When I was in secondary school, I met some friends that changed my taste for music. I'd love to say I started to falling love with Alternative Rock genre. Good Charlotte and Paramore were on my tops. I once played in a band, not really a band, we were just playing together for the performance at (again) our School's Pensi. This is the video when we played Good Charlotte's song: The River, back then. I am the one with the bass, pardon my boyish-ness.

OSIS
I don't remember much about my experience in OSIS but still, I really want to tell the pieces. I became part of OSIS SMP Negeri 1 Bekasi 08/09 with a-you can call-nepotism-way. OSIS di SMP saya ini memang organisasi yang banyak berhubungan dengan sekolah. That was why, my teacher from student affair division, always made sure the members of OSIS are the students that bisa diajak "kerja sama". Nah, apparently, this teacher seemed love me (that much) who was very sweet, calm, and of course, obedient (Those were true back then, I swear, hahaha). This teacher had already told me to join OSIS but I didn't take the enrollment form because I was not really into all of that "organization thing", I was the-don't-talk-too-much-girl-who was enjoying her time earning money and scholarship from mathematics competition(s) or spending most of her times doing sports back then in secondary school, and made friends only with few (classmates and basketball teammates only). But I was sitting in front of the class where this teacher coincidentally was having a speech for the OSIS candidates, and she called me to come inside then join the party without necessarily going through any selection. And like I said before, I was the obedient one, saya pun bergabung dan menjadi Ketua Sekbid 7, membawahi semua ketua divisi bidang olahraga di sekolah. OSIS had a big impact on pushing me to know and meet more people in school, learned how to be rebel (karena kebetulan belum mengenal kata bandel dari teman kelas yang disebut kelas unggulan itu), skipped classes, dan mulai belajar move on dari kegalauan karena ekskul basket mulai redup semangatnya sejak ditinggal pelatih tercinta (I'll tell more in another part). PENTAS SENI it is, my best memory about OSIS.

OSIS SMP Negeri 1 Bekasi 08/09

Science Olympiad.
I was part of my school's science olympiad squad, mathematics to be exact. Never made it to national level but it had a big influence with my financial aid: scholarship, pocket money, prize, etc. Not only about money, it also taught me a lot about determination and hardwork. I passed the selection test for science olympiad training program named Science Center FMIPA UI, and being trained for 5 months. Saya bertemu banyak orang di sana, dari berbagai kalangan dengan berbagai karakter serta prestasi. Jadwal teratur dan tersusun untuk apapun, mandiri selama karantina, tidur malam untuk belajar, berusaha keep up dengan orang-orang yang penuh determinasi tinggi, idealisme tinggi dalam hal menyontek. Saya tidak pernah terbiasa akan hal itu, sebelumnya saya hampir tidak pernah belajar di atas jam 7 malam dan selalu sudah tidur pukul 9 malam. Orang-orang di sana, termasuk dosen dan mahasiswa yang membantu selama pelatihan, membuat saya untuk pertama kalinya ingin stand and fight for something.

Siswa Pembinaan SCFMIPA UI 2008 (Mat-Fis)

Sport.
I spent most of my times in junior school doing sports, basketball to be exact. Bahkan bisa dibilang saya lebih sering latihan basket daripada masuk sekolah. Basket membantu saya menyembuhkan kesedihan kelewat mendalam setelah berpisah dengan sekolah dasar. Not that I love the game, I just fell in love with the people in it. The coach, seniors, friends, all helped me to overcome my biggest problem: introvert-ness.
"Basketball Is My Life"
It sounds cheesy but I couldn't find other words to describe it. We practice EVERYDAY, including weekends; we spent holidays together; we hang out a lot; we shared stories; capek bareng; sedih bareng; susah bareng; and we did push-up, sit-up, etc everyday. The glorious of SMP 1's basketball team had a big impact with the way school treated us. Mau apa tinggal minta, uang pendaftaran pertandingan, uang makan, uang transport, uang minum, izin absensi kelas, bisa dibilang basket adalah bidang olahraga yang paling disayang sekolah, di waktu itu. Sebelumnya sih, boro-boro. Moreover, we once had a manager who was the son of one of the aristocracy in the city, all the teachers loved him. Pulang tanding/latihan kami sering ditraktir, fasilitas berupa bola dan alat pendukung lainnya mulai dilengkapi, untuk berangkat ke tempat pertandingan kami sering menggunakan mobil dinas ditambah dengan kawalan polisi, kadang saya jadi merasa bersalah sangat menikmatinya dahulu, hahaha.
Turning point dimana kecintaan saya terhadap komunitas ini menurun adalah saat pelatih kami dulu memutuskan untuk pindah ke Amerika. I was so broke... kalaupun masih latihan hanya karena sekalian untuk menghabiskan sisa waktu sekolah sampai lulus saja. Belum lagi, walaupun saya memiliki junior basket yang sangat lovely, saya tetap mengalami masa-masa sulit ketika setiap tahunnya kehilangan senior-senior yang berperan besar dalam "menemani" saya di masa sulit awal sekolah. Going back to the old-the girl who cannot easily move-me: kelas 3 adalah puncak saat saya kembali ke masa itu, sampai saya bertemu dengan OSIS yang membuat kehidupan SMP saya terasa semakin sempurna.

Basket Cewek SMP Negeri 1 Bekasi (P.S. Couldn't find any other good picture)

P.S. Masih belum tahu hukumnya republish dokumentasi orang yang tadinya belum pake kerudung, dan sekarang udah. Hahahaha.

Throwback (High School)

Sekolah Menengah Atas.

Took me a while to say about my senior life in one word . Then it happened:

Sweetest.

Yes, the sweetest. Some said high school should be the most colourful one (which had already been dedicated to my junior life), but for me, high school was the sweetest that ever hapenned.

Even more than half of SMAN 1 Bekasi's students were graduated from SMPN 1 Bekasi, most of my closest friends didn't pass the entrance exam. In the beginning, I pushed myself not to be the old-girl cannot easily move-me, but it didn't work hahaha. Hmm a week. Time that I needed till I realized I gotta move on with my life. But who knows, we "split-up" for better future. Every one of us moved on with our life; met new friends, new experiences, and new perspectives. When we met again, we saw the world in many different ways but we learned from each other, a lot. I cannot imagine if God brought us together again in high school, we would make the same "geng" then stuck with each other.

I started my high school with changing my haircut. I got the problem of my self-esteem since I was a child because of my-super kribo-hair. I did always tie them hard and not willing to loose them. 

"I'm gonna show the world my hair!" 

I said that to myself when I graduated from secondary school, hahaha. And weirdly, I got that "the most beautiful girl in class" title for two years in a row with that haircut -.- To be honest, that was the haircut that I love the most for my 21-years-life.

I don't have any sub-themes so that this writting can be split in many parts like the previous posts, because I only had one "life" back then in high school: study harder then get into college. Se-sederhana dan se-jangka pendek itu. I didn't hang out much. Didn't quite often play basketball again, just playing around sometimes. And started to forget how to play guitar. I was that kind of Tang-Go student who missed some of  high school's events. 

First day(s) of school, still being the-same-old-girl cannot easily move-me, I spent my breaktime(s) sitting inside the classroom, sometimes playing with my phone alone, or sometimes having a little chit-chat with my classmates. Till I met some seniors, from batch 2010, that happened to be my medication. I met them from many different ways: ada yang dari media sosial, ketemu di depan loker, dikenalin, atau minta kenalan sekedar karna mau modusin Nadhira -,,- (Nadhira is a friend of mine, #SmansasiHITS banget, di jamannya). They were far from those typical seniors that we usually saw on FTV,  they were very kind and open. They sometimes invited me to sit with them at canteen on breaktimes. From them, I got much enlightments about my school or some tips, mulai dari typical guru, tempat bimbel yang asik, tempat nongkrong, karakter anak-anaknya, gosip-gosip sekolah, sampai cerita tentang perjuangan di tingkat akhir menghadapi Ujian Nasional dan Seleksi Masuk Perguruan Tinggi. In second semester, when Tiara finally moved to Smansa, my life came back to normal and I started to get to know more of my yearmates.

Talking about the sweetness, all the elements in my high school were deadly sweet. The teachers, the classes, the friends, etc.  Starting from my teachers' office that apparently became the most creepy place because once I came in, all the teacher's eyes were (suddenly) on me, then they started to yell "Astagfirullah Uta, coba diiket rambutnya" "Duh kamu, pake bando ya besok." "Utari besok besok pake kerudung aja, cantik deh." Or moment when the administration staffs could only breathe a sigh and giving me helplessly that "kartu ujian sementara" setiap hari pada minggu ujian, karena saya yang selalu menunggak SPP. Even moment when you can ask anything because you are part of school's science olympiad squad. Hahaha damn I missed that moment.

My yearmates were not less sweet. They were the reason why I woke up every morning and got my ass to school. I knew all of their names, even some of them didn't know me, but I knew the names, because I did pay attention that much to them (baca: kepo) dan started to remember all those 333 names of my yearmates. I don't know why I did, it was just my resolution back then after my (junior school) graduation. X.2, XI IPA 5, XII IPA 7, Basket Smansasi, KISMA, Geol, semuanya menorehkan suka duka yang membuat hari-hari saya selalu manis di sekolah. And last but not least: dhrs and kmbg, it would take a week to tell about them, hahaha.

 

(Kisma Smansasi, Angk. 2012)

 

(Geol Smansasi, Angk. 2012)

 

 (Basket Smansasi, Angk. 2012)

A moment to remember was when my friends always made my birthday(S) incredibly perfect and sweet. Mulai dari merasakan kotornya kolam, kue tart pertama (I never had my own tart cake on my previous birthdays hahaha), kado tas dan dompet yang masing-masing sampai dua buah (karena tas dan dompet saya yang katanya sudah terlalu usang), jam tangan (yang sebelumnya selalu minjem setiap ujian), sampai video ucapan selamat dari Pevita dan Ariel, those were really memorable, the sweetness that always successfully made me cry a river.

Pevita Pearce, 17th birthday

Ariel, 18th birthday (loncat ke menit 13, kalo bosen)

P.S. Masih belum tahu hukumnya republish dokumentasi orang yang tadinya belum pake kerudung, dan sekarang udah. Hahahaha.