Thank God I Have Parents, Not Sharents

Warning: Postingan ini berpotensi nyinyir.

Layaknya orang-orang yang berusia hampir 20 tahun, gue lengket sama internet. Ada dua kondisi di mana gue sering terlihat: dengan henpon di tangan atau laptop di pangkuan. Gue juga lumayan aktif di media sosial. Gue punya akun Twitter, Facebook, Path, Instagram, ask.fm, dan tentunya blog. Ketika gue nggak posting apapun di media sosial, gue jelalatan aja ngeliatin timeline. Di media sosial ada salah satu fenomena yang udah narik perhatian gue setahunan lebih. Fenomena sharenting.

Jadi sharent itu apa sih? Kata Wikipedia, sharent itu portmanteau (penggabungan kata) share dan parent. Jujur, istilah ini baru-baru ini aja gue temuin. Sebelumnya gue nggak pernah tau apa nama 'bener'-nya. Oke, kembali ke arti sharent. Share artinya berbagi, parent artinya orangtua. Berbagi yang dimaksud di sini adalah berbagi informasi tentang anak di media sosial. So, sharent adalah sebutan buat orangtua yang demen sebar informasi soal anaknya di media sosial - foto-foto di Facebook/Instagram/Path, postingan di blog, anekdot di Twitter, dan lain-lain.

Picture from State of Digital

A Sunny Afternoon with Julia Gillard

DISCLAIMER: This blog post does not in any way endorse any political party nor does it reflect the author's political affiliations and opinions on Australian politics

All this time in Australia, I very rarely saw anyone famous other than tennis players during the Hopman Cup. In fact, up until last Wednesday (December 3, 2014) I could recall the only two occasions in which I saw celebrities of some sorts. The first one was when I went to see Michael Buble's concert, thanks to a friend of mine who got some extra tickets and asked me to go. The second one was when I saw Bill and Giuliana Rancic at Westfield Carousel (Western Australia's largest shopping centre), this time thanks to Anindya Intan who is a HUGE fan of the couple and their reality show on E! (after seeing them, I can understand why people admire those two!). Apart from that - well, until last Wednesday anyway - there was nothing else. Which should not be a surprise, seeing that Perth, bearing the pride of the most isolated capital city in the world, is tiny compared to those cities in the eastern states, e.g. Sydney and Melbourne.

Marking the Unremarkable: One Year On

I don't feel like blogging today. Really, I don't. But today is the first anniversary of my arrival in Perth, so...something has been telling me that I must write something about it. Anything. Even scribbles and scratches.

So...I don't even know how to start, for God's sake. Today I can only remember all things I held onto on September 28, 2013, all things I left, all things I looked forward to, all Australian hopes and dreams.

I remember getting my belongings inside the taxi as we left for the airport. Then my mother stopped by at a nearby convenience store to buy a few packs of biscuits.

I remember having breakfast at Oh La La Cafe. I ordered a piece of scone and a cup of coffee. I think Mother ordered a cup of hot chocolate. For the first time in years Father, Mother, and I were having breakfast together at the same table without any yelling or swearing involved. I remember feeling so giddy.

Li Na: A World She Makes Big

Walking away from the sport, effective immediately, is the right decision for me and my family.

That statement is an example of what no avid sports fan ever wants to see. Especially when it is released by one of the sport's most celebrated athletes, who always brings joy and amusement to spectators not only with their dangerous game but also with their impressive personality. Yet that one sentence is part of a letter published on Li Na's Facebook page today, announcing her retirement from tennis just before the Wuhan Open, a WTA Premier tournament held in her hometown, kicks off.

Kenapa The Corrs?

Yeah, akhirnya gue nulis lagi setelah (sok) hiatus cukup lama. Well, 'hiatus' would be an exaggeration. Sebenernya cuma agak hilang motivasi untuk serius nulis sih, itu aja. Mungkin karena gue kebanyakan mikirin hal-hal yang sebenernya nggak perlu dipikirin dan kurang banyak mikirin hal-hal yang sebenernya perlu dipikirin (?). Anyway, di kursi perpustakaan kampus yang cukup nyaman ditemani sebotol gede kopi susu (iya, botolnya gede, serius deh) inilah jari gue gerak-gerak di atas badan Keith alias laptop gue cerita tentang...postingan blog ini semalem sebelumnya.

The Questions of God

So...yeah. Finally got something worth to write about. And let me tell you, this topic is...well, unusual. I have never written anything like this before, but now I just can't help it. I never imagined that I would be writing this, but here I am.

Yesterday I watched an episode of RTE TV show The Meaning of Life. It's an Irish television show (RTE stands for Raidio Teilifis Eireann, or Radio and Television of Ireland) hosted by prominent Irish presenter Gay Byrne, basically featuring public figures--politicians, musicians, actors, you name it--being asked about...well, about the meaning of life. More specifically, Uncle Gaybo--Byrne's nickname--invites those public figures to talk about God, their spiritualism, significant events in their lives, and so on. The episode I watched features Andrea Corr, the lead singer of my all-time favourite band and one of my girl crushes (yeah, I have girl crushes. Problem?).

This is a poem written by Alexandra Stevenson, 1999 Wimbledon semifinalist and former World No. 18:

The tennis court is meant to showcase grace and power,
Unstoppable athleticism where the ball sails like a fast-moving car
Impossible shots that skid through the court
For one player there is a final shot missed
A ball that is driven twice as hard as needed
Or a lob that arcs the wrong way across the blue sky
A deep volley that is punched into the loose net

Livescore

Hmm...kenapa judulnya livescore? Kenapa ya? Kok bisa begitu? Ih gimana sih kok judulnya gitu?

Jadi tadinya kan gue baca blog anak sekolah gue gitu, terus yaa mendadak pengen nulis juga. Tapi gua bingung, mau nulis apa. Kebetulan gue lagi mantau livescore Fed Cup--Belgia vs AS, Rep. Ceko vs Slovakia, Jerman vs Slovenia, Rusia vs Prancis, Swedia vs Ukraina, sama Spanyol vs Estonia. Oh ya, Fed Cup itu turnamen tenis beregu putri antarnegara, mirip-mirip Uber Cup gitu lah kalo di bulutangkis. Berhubung V****n 1 S***t biasanya cuma nayangin final Fed sama Davis Cup (turnamen tenis beregu putra antarnegara), jadinya ya mau nggak mau gue harus cari livescore di internet. Tadinya mau livestream, tapi takut internet lemot, dan livestream Fed Cup itu nggak gratis alias bayar -_- pake kartu kredit gitulah, ndangerti juga saya, wong kartu kredit aja ndapunya -,-"

Masa-masa Suram 1997 - 1998

Halo Kawan...

Nah, tadinya gua lagi pacaran ria aja sama si Laptop, ngetweet, buka Facebook, dst., sampe inget kalo gue punya blog baru. Dan gue lagi pengen nulis sesuatu. Awalnya bingung mau nulis apa, terus gua inget kalo di Tunisia dan Mesir sekarang lagi rusuh-rusuhnya. Jujur gue nggak begitu tau penyebab kerusuhan di dua negara itu, karena gue udah lama banget ga baca koran karena gua baru pindah rumah dan belum nemu agen koran yang deket-deket sini, dan udah lama juga ga nonton berita. Kenapa gue jadi jarang nonton berita, karena dua minggu ini ada turnamen tenis Australian Open, jadi tentunya gue nonton itu terus, lagian gue bingung mau nonton berita di channel apa. Sebenernya channel TV dengan berita terbaik tuh ya Metro TV sama tvOne, tapi kedua channel tersebut makin lama bikin risih aja karena beritanya nggak pernah netral, selalu ada keberpihakan politik. Sesekali aja gue buka situs berita di internet, atau mantau berita yang muncul di Twitter.