The ultimate life updates

Good lord, I haven't write anything here since February last year, talk about uber-negligence eh? What happened for the past 15 months? Depend from the perspective and context. It is both a lot and a little. In the last post, I was waiting to start my internship. Now, the timeline goes like this:

• 2017 (Feb): I did start with my internship in KWR. It wasn't really what I expected to be, but hey I need to graduate on time. Paying the additional tuition fee for 1000 euro/month was not my option.
• Mar: Left for Bandung at the end of this month. Also, I just realized how cheap I am since there was this one particular event that made me super happy (until now) to just walk around canal side with my (then) crush lol.
• Apr: Worked alone in Bandung sigh. The internet was always a problem so believe me when I said I never once have a skype session with my supervisors from there. The highlight was.. watching Bangtan's concert in ICE! That was crazy! Fortunately, I seated comfortably (?) in tribune area.
• May: Back to Utrecht with hyungnin. Since I took two weeks off my internship, I accompanied her for end-spring trip. We went to cities in the Netherlands, Italy and France. I wasn't being a very good friend back then (terribly sorry hyungnim) with my mood swings and too much entangled thoughts in my head. It was also the start of Ramadan 1428H! Man did you remember the heat of the first fasting day. I wanted to drown my self in ice cubes!
• June: My thesis drove me crazy this month. I set a deadline for myself to finish it (so that the next month I can just lazying around). It was also my first time celebrating Eid without my family :") but it was fun because I had this new Ramadan circle (I miss everyone huhu, Vjosa, Aimee, Nur) and we celebrated the Eid prayer in outdoor field so it was feel like home.
• July-Aug: Basically, it was either a day fully spent in the library to work on additional tasks from my supervisor or holiday. I finally gave thesis presentation and officially finished with my master program yay! I also visited a lot of new places, from the Terschelling to Kotor <3
• Sept: Graduation ceremony!! I was so glad to attend this instead of going home directly after my thesis presentation. There were also UID 2017 (remembering all those days spent with crazy Indonesian lol), KARD concert (jiwooo!) and behold, first time ever, my solo trip to Stockholm-Helsinki.
• Oct: Leaving Utrecht :'' I haven't really moved on until now
• Nov-Dec-(2018) Jan: Almost doing nothing at home except writing papers (my spv ideas). I think I was really in a slump this period. Once you leave home for so long, it is just weird to be back there. I also have a love hate relationship with my mom: truly loving and missing her when a far but in close proximity I can only stand her for two weeks top (I know some of my friend will give nods to this).
• Feb-Mar-Apr: Decided to move back to Bogor, to increase my chance to get a job. How come, you ask? Eh it's mostly to find tranquility, I lied about finding job. I began to feel so desperate about finding a vacancy. After that slump period, I feel like I have forgiven and made peace with myself being unemployed. But I can't lie that I need money to live (classic right) so yeah it is unnerving.
• May: I finally got a job and in a honeymoon (?) face of enjoying it but I moved to Jakarta and it's not honeymoon after all

The last six month feels so long for me but fortunately I have stacks of book and movie ammunition. It's only May but I watched more than 50 movies and read 15 books. I walked a lot, well at least in Bogor, the city gives that privilege. Also, I joined some interesting events along the way. These things keep my sanity. I feel like I'm quieter these past months (I know, is it possible for a chatty box like me to tune down? Apparently it is). The reason? Nothing particular. After hearing other people's stories, I feel like mine is trivial and my opinions don't matter that much. I still love to listen though, and if someone asks, I may share my piece of life too :)

A free concert of Jakarta Philharmonic City I attended a week ago

I think it's a decent post to open the new chapter of life.

XOXO,

Noyara

Young adult-ish

Is a 25 years old human can still be considered as a young adult? I googled it, and Wikipedia said that young adult works are targeted for the readers and viewers between 12-18 or 15-20ish. Since I can't accept the fact that I do not belong to this category anymore, I'm gonna use the definition of a young adult from a psychological perspective, i.e. generally a person in the age range of 20 to 39 (or 40). So, yes, 25 is still a young adult. Why we talked about this anyway? Because I just watched a young adult movie, which is one of my favs' movie genres, and it drove me to write a post here. You know, those movies have the power to wake something inside you up. No idea what is it. Now I just want to rant about movies, and life, as usual. FYI, I managed to watch seven movies last week. How come? Because I had nothing to do after I submit the final paper for my tailor made course (finally!). Now I am in the limbo. Should have started with the internship but nope, I need to rearrange the details somehow. Plus, I'm not sure if I am actually ready to face the quasi-real world out there (anyway, lately I'm using this word, quasi, a lot, just because it sounds posh).

Although I opened this post with a justification of me being a young adult, the last two movies I had were so-so. Not bad, but they didn't leave me with such hollowness (?) as the Perks of Being Wallflower, or craziness (?) as Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I watched Paper Towns two days back and Me and Earl and The Dying Girl just now. Paper Towns has interesting characters like Margo and Quentin, their story is appealing, but the execution in the movie was a bit meh. Meanwhile, I think Me and Earl and The Dying Girl was dull, but now (3 hours after finishing the film), I kinda like it. Still, some things are left unclear, and I do feel betrayed by the narrator who spoils the ending. Now, back to the movies-I-wanted-to-talk-about:

Stoker

This movie blesses you with such beautiful cast of the Stoker's family: Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode, and Nicole Kidman. In fact, the reason for including the movie on this impromptu review is India Stoker's outfit. Nothing really special but it just appropriate and pretty. Also, Mia looks like f(x) Krystal here, somehow. Although the title is a bit misleading, this movie is by no means involving vampires or dracula, but you can find some creepiness, and 'tensions' build up here and there throughout the movie. I might say the idea is not groundbreaking, nor the plot is perfect (in the end, I still have no clue on what's wrong with India). But the movie is amazing, I told you about the attractive cast, and it's only an addition of their brilliant delivery to depict not-your-usual-family-problem in Stoker. Some people will say the movie is disturbing, well, I suppose it is.

Captain Fantastic

I always wonder what it's like to enjoy living without being judged and shaped by the norms of society. The Cash family might seem as the hippies, the nature hardcore, the detached blip in one's society, while at the same time they are also just a normal family who cope with loss and unfairness of the world. This movie is everything I want to experience in life but too afraid to handle realistically. The culture I was born into will label anybody who lives in the jungle, not having proper formal education, dress 'wildly,' explains rape to 7 years old, etc. as savages. In today's words, this movie is my spirit animal (I am even sure if I use the term correctly, lol). Not to mention, the acting of the cast is superb, the whole Cash family including the aunt uncle cousins and grandparents. Apparently, they bonded so well and shared similar views about the movie so don't be surprised to see their antics during red carpets/award shows/premieres. Power to the people, stick it to the man! Below is one of my favs scene of the movie :)

Lion

This title is the first Oscar contender movies I watched this year, and it deserves the spotlight. I watched the movie in Pathe Buitenhof, which means it used the Dutch subtitles. What I didn't expect was the fact that the first half an hour of it was spoken in Hindi/Bengali languages. Ofc it was no problem because I've been living here for 1,5 years and should know the basic daily conversation Sunny Pawar acting had succeeded to deliver all the emotions. On top of that, all the scenes just disclosed the plot themselves. It blows my mind that this movie is based on a true story. I can't imagine being four years old Saroo who get lost in the fast moving train, going 1400 km away from his hometown. I can't stand looking at the bittersweet relationship amongst Brierley family members. Everybody in my row in the cinema cried frantically in the last 30 minutes, in three different scenes. I guess everybody has their soft spot for family.

Frank

This movie focuses on a weird experimental pop-rock (?) band, and by I meant weird is like that strange/bizarre vibe, not the quirky posh one. At first, I thought Jon is one of those boring guys who ends up getting along with the band members and somehow brings a miracle, as in making the band more well-known to the world. But no, he is not your typical innocent/easily bullied character (even he looked like one at first), and everything went the wrong way towards the end. The characters of this movie surprised me with their development throughout the plot, and the cast portrayed them very well. I watched this one because Domnhall Gleeson plays in it, but I am also mesmerized by Michael Fassbender and Maggie Gyllenhaal. They are so odd, I love it.

While I enjoy this lasting free times  I had in the past week, I do hope to start the internship soon (will never be ready, though). Otherwise, I'll end up watching movies all day long which I can't complain but will regret later. Wish me luck :)

XOXO,

Noya

How to be human 101

Firstly, please give me an award for writing a post early this year. I tracked my post archives and found out that the only time I wrote in January was back in 2010, lol. Anyway, my intention to write this post is actually changed in the span of three days only. I was initially planned to show off my last vacation to Romania where Bianca, Sara, Irene, and I rolled on the snow between Cavnic in Maramures to Timisoara in Banat. Yes, my second winter break in Europe also turned out to be a White Christmas, after Tromso-Bergen craziness last year.

There are at least a thousand files (pictures, videos, and boomerangs) of this magical trip on my harddisk. How can I resist to share only 0,001% of them?

However, as I told you before, the purpose of this post is not to share all those beautiful things I witness in Romania. The aim is actually to share this article I found on Facebook the other day. I wholeheartedly agree with the content written there (except #23) but instead of calling it as '25 habits that psychologists have linked with happiness', I would simply name the list as 'how to be human.' Let me share some of my favorite points below:

• Write down 3 things you're grateful for: It does work. One of my stress coping mechanism is actually looked below. Be grateful of your current state. You can't live by always looking ahead or above; these ambitions, those pressures, sometimes can drain all the happiness in your life, no?
• Get outside: Relates to my previous post, going out definitely ease your day in their unique way. An extrovert goes out to talk to someone, an introvert can also go out to enjoy the nature tranquility. Or as an ambivert, I dress up and visit such public places to observe human interactions.
• Listen to sad songs: Before, I never understand why one could feel a comfort or serenity by listening to those mellow songs (for me, it can be defined as Spotify's Deep Dark Indie kind of tracks). After reading this article, it somehow makes sense that sad music actually allows us to regulate the negative emotions and find a consolation in their melody. It is kind of healing process. And speaking of deep-dark-indie, London Grammar just released a new single a week ago.

let me drowned in the beauty of Hannah Reid's haunting vocal

• Write down your feelings: I haven't keep a diary since at least 10 years ago. However, there is a habit of mine to write what I feel in my agenda. Not a real writing though, sometimes it is just random doodle, or two short sentences, or emojis. Also, as millennials, of course, we can just thinking out loud in any social media platforms (but then, we have to deal with the so-called society).
• Spend money on others, not yourself: Maybe you want to call me out for this humble-bragging, but buying things for others indeed make you happy. I mean, I do feel happier buying a new BTS album for Zia's birthday gift (and behold her joyous/denial face when she opened the gift wrap) than buying myself a rack of clothes (sure, I am being exaggerated, but you know, we have insane winter sale here). Also, other activities I love the most: getting flowers for my friends. Living in the Netherland has its perks :) 

At last, the most essential and important mantra: smile and optimism. This may sound like that advice you get from Mario Teguh or those annoying Tumblr quotes, but yes, those two simple (but sometimes hard-to-do) things are basically a happiness spell. It doesn't mean you are forbidden to feel cynical, sad, or depressed, a human has feelings, not a feeling, a mixed of everything. But it won't hurt anybody to keep a speck of optimism and share a smile as your weapon. Especially when you can't cope with the negative energy no more omg, am I really writing this. As Dumbledore said, Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.

So, happy new year, I guess. Let's hope this year will be a great one for everybody.

XOXO *flying kiss*,
Noya

Being an Ambivert

Google says that ambivert means 'a person who has a balance of extrovert and introvert features in their personality.' I consider myself as an ambivert, which is a good thing, I suppose. Most of my friends say that I seem like a person who has a lot of friends, approachable, attentive in a conversation, smiles a lot, etc etc. They are not wrong of course, but like an introverted person, I also need the quality-me-time. Recently, the introvert side of me is dominating, maybe because all my lecture classes had ended in the last block, so now I only spend most of the day working on the reports and fangirling (over BTS, thanks to Zia and Andhani). Weird combination, but it exists lol. Anyway, my introverted side loves to work anywhere that is full of people, whether it's in a chatty area (i.e. canteen/cafe) or silent one (i.e. library), as long as they're not talking to me. (I think) I enjoy the presence of the others (read: human), but at the same time, I want to be alone. It feels different if you're really alone, physically. I tried that many times, and it is impossible to concentrate at all. Moreover, when you have an excellent wifi connection. At least, if you have many people around, you won't waste your time in youtube for 2 hours every 15 minutes (yes, it is possible). Another bit, ever since I live in the Netherlands, cycling aimlessly, strolling in the park and wandering around winkelcentrum became my habits. Those are my healing activities, going solo in public places.

Now, the extroverted side. Here goes a confession: I actually miss my classmates a lot. Like, a lot. Not missing the person (ehm), but I just get used to having them around at least 4 days a week. Bianca and I meet almost routinely at Pampalini (our favorite hanging spot), sometimes with Sara and Irene, but that's it. My Utrecht's inner circle only have 4 members in it. Otherwise, I devote my time in one of those study landscapes in Uithof and have a lunch break with Nisa, Cempaka, or sometimes mas Aan or mas Irawan. Every now and then, I spent my weekends with these lovely people above, or, other Indonesian students here /on a side note, I'm finally done with PPIU stuffs, the new board had been selected, yayness/. Also, the most important: since last month, I have a constant discussion fangirling session with Zia and Andhani who live ~50km away from me (yes, I checked it in Google). I do blame them for dragging me back to this dark infatuating world of kpop, but hey there are perks of being a fangirl. So, I stopped complaining and embracing it instead (this is 100% an excuse).

In mas Irawan words, I would say that these people I mentioned above just casually become my supporting system here, in the Netherlands. Being alone independent is awesome and all (also I need it to be actually productive), but I still need a hablumminannas. By talking vis-a-vis, not only by scrolling any social media, which recently drives us crazy with all the issues back in my home country (totally in different notes).

See, I am indeed an ambivert.

Okay, quick updates. What I've been up to recently:
1) The tailor made course is going slow, I have to submit a draft report next Monday, but I have, basically, the same draft as 2 weeks ago. Hmmmmmm.
2) I am 50% officially fixed to do an internship in City Blueprint by assessing Bandung (not Seoul, whyyy). There is a glimpse of hope that I can be involved in Seoul project. Maybe.
3) Another confession: I don't think I can get through a day without talking to Zia or Andhani these days /now that I'm writing it, that sounds super creepy/ Anyway, they gave me the best birthday present, in a very dramatic way (read Zia's story here). To be fair, Zia, I also cried and had a very conflicted feeling for the whole day.
4) I will be spending the Christmas holiday in Bianca's home and a road trip from north to south (-ish) of Romania. Wish us luuuck, we have two born and raised in tropical countries ladies here).
5) Not really an update, but I feel 50% guilty 50% relieved that I am not living in Indonesia right now. All the things happened there, just mindblowing. It left me speechless, and I'm afraid to write my opinion because everybody is super judgmental rn *insert sad laugh*

Turns out it's quite a comprehensive updates lol. But anyway, let's have group huuuug!

Cheers,
Noya

Keeping up with me

Hi, you!

I am writing a post now, finally, five months after my last entry. Was I too busy to stop doing activities and write here? Hmm not really, but the facts are; last June was full of deadlines before summer holiday; July and August were spent in delightful Indonesia; September was tensed because of .. a lot of things. It is mid-October already when life is at last adjusted with Universiteit Utrecht's pace-rhythm for a moment, just before the exam period is waiting in the corner of the month. Well, my bigger problem is, finding a thesis-internship, which is not difficult but definitely not easy. I am 80% excited with all these possible developments for my near future, and the rest of it is a mixed feeling of anxiety and desperateness hahaha.

Also, still in the realm of college life, I feel like my confidence (not that I usually have enough of it) is falling free stylishly from a cliff. As everyone knows, my academic English skill is not decent at all, but I feel like it becomes worse lately than ever. I guess, the perfect combination of two comments on my research proposal that said 'your grammar is lacking' and endless days of speaking that language made me even more inferior. Last year, I realized that I got so many back-ups with group projects (there would always be a final editor before report submission) that make my shortcoming stayed off the radar. However, now, with constant individual assignments (esp. with peer review), I need the urge to proof-read my paper before clicking that send/submit button. I also signed up for premium Grammarly and new academic writing class by PPI Utrecht, all in all for my Achilles heel.

Enough with the rambling, maybe I will just spam the rest of this post with pictures. Yes, pictures always cure!

Too much pictures? Indeed! The first one is what left from the Ramadhan dinner with Utrecht Moslem group (as Andri calls it), the second is my beloved family, the 3rd and  4th pictures are typical Indonesian tourist spots, 5-6-7th are the memory of visiting amazing Disneyland and Studios!  8th is the garden of Palais Het Loo (the one full of  Late Queen Wilhemina's vibe), while the rest are just me showing off my friend and I, strutting along Hoge Veluwe  

What else can I say here? Too many stories I want to share but my limited brain capacity to write in English won't take us any further. Oh, and I am going to Schiphol today, to bid a farewell to Puti, one of my closest friend in Utrecht :'( She is finished with everything and will fly back to Indonesia for good (at least for now). I'm losing my friend one by one.

Till we meet again,

Noya

Sweet dream are made of this

Yesterday, I watched four movies in a row as addition of wake up lazily (i.e. very late) in the morning and basically laid all day long on my bed. As usual, I regretted my decision to be such a couch potato on a quite sunny (and supposed to be productive) day thus I went to sleep with a determination to do better. But then.. here I am writing a post about how useless was my life yesterday instead of working on a stack of assignments that waiting for me gracefully. But really - in all of seriousness, these two courses I have for this block are not to be played with. June - particularly after the 2nd week - might be the death of me because there are at least 5 reports, 2 presentations, and 2 exams. Ok, let have anxiety attack again, writing about this. Both of the course are actually very interesting, one is about the legal framework (what, who, and how) that govern one's water resource. Thanks to this course, I figure out that Indonesian Law of UU No. 7/2004 about Water Resource is revoked, in the name of avoiding further privatization of water management. As I dwell more into the case of water allocation in Indonesia, now I realize that my insight about many issues are actually only on par with Jon Snow get the reference? eh-eh-eh? not funny? no? The other course is a bit technical on how you can treat water to get potable grade quality yet there are several points of chemistry are involved which made it more challenging to understand -- as it is my first time to learn (basic) chemistry with English ;) There are a lot of things I can complain about but hey, it never made anything better though. In addition of all those new knowledge I got from the courses, I learned another state-of-the-art perspective last week, about circular economy where you won't talk about cradle to grave cycle of life but it should be from cradle to cradle. Sounds like sustainability? It is!

On another report, last week, Irene, Ahma, and I had the chance to join pm2am trip to Switzerland where we visited Rhine Waterfall (ahey I went to the upstream part of the most talked river on my class), Lucerne, and Zurich. Those places were magical with majestic eternal snow in Alpen range as background and both Lucerne and Zurich lake up front as far as your eyes can observe. The trip was overall worth the price, since I only had to pay 65e for transportation (back and forth), yet the long duration you have to sit in the bus without any plug nor wifi was a bit torturing ahah.

well, Switzerland is beautiful and all but sure I won't make it to live there unless I inherit enough from a Sultan

Back to the movies I watched last Friday; I was actually needed an escape from reality for a moment thus four old school movies (80s-90s) were somehow succeeded to transform the ambiance around. The thing is, I watched those four movies with a very different plot and genre, in a row which of course caused one of the drawback as I couldn't absorb all those meaning and lingering feel after. The first movie is Fast Time in Ridgemont High (1982) with its usual conflict happened in 80s high school: normal girl that never have sex wants a boyfriend-finally have sex but not a proper boyfriend-having fun anyway-get pregnant-realize she did wrong-one decent guy helps her. Young Sean Penn is looked stoned as ever ahah, he is the highlight of the show. Second, I watched Beetlejuice (1988) where you fell in love with Alec Baldwin-Geena Davis-Winona Ryder as the protagonist and loath Michael Keaton as this naughty evil bio-exorcist (guess again? yes, it is human removal service who live in a haunted house). Anyway, I never know that Baldwin was such a gentleman during that days, in addition to his hot glasses nerd character which make it perfect. You're gonna love this if you want to reminisce Tim Burton style of art. Next, Groundhog Day (1993) is (maybe) one of the pioneer movie with its lead character stuck to relive one day over and over again. It may sounds so-so nowadays but it was fresh in 90s plus Bill Murray acting was on point both as a jerk and sincere person. Lastly, I decided to try Being John Malkovich (1999) which is directed by Spike Jonze.. which made me acknowledge of the amount weird/quirky/disturbing ideas here. The title explains everything, so lets just give credits on how genius John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, and Catherine Keener (she's such a babe, bad one) here. As I already stated before, the movie is disturbing (at least for me) but hey, I dont say it was not worth to watch.

The fact that less than 24hrs will be again a monday sure bugs me for the rest of the day. But anyway, Ramadlan is coming next week and I have to fast from 3am to 10pm (fighting!). May we all have the blessing of this holy month and become a better moslem in the process *spread the love in the air*

And I would like to give a shout out to Quicksilver (X-Men version): thanks for your scene in all the latest movie, it gives me life! *eurythmics on repeat

XOXO,

Noya 

What's the common between water, antonio gaudi, and detectives?

Ola amigos!

Yesterday I stumbled upon a personal blog of Dieni Fitriani (the chronology started from me cleaned up my gmail inbox, includes google+ folder, when it contained some new email about recommendation on 'what you missed from Dieni' thus I lurk into hers and spent almost 2-hours there). Afterward, it feels compulsory to write here (as usual ahah), well, after a period of my academic progress. What have I done so far? The third block of my master program just finished. I just received my final grade on one course titled Quantitative Water Management where I am Alhmadulillah passed with not so bad (but not so good either) grade. Moreover if you compare it to one of my classmate who achieved 9.5/10 for a final grade. Holycow! I have to keep reminding myself that I should be more thankful to at least meet the requirement for this course. My exam grade is free-falling but thank Lord I did okay on assignments, thus I passed! For the other course, Managing Future Delta, there was no exam, but we had to submit a 50-pages group paper and an abstract abstract (literal meaning of abstract, if you dont get it maybe bcs it is more like a inside joke of my class). We havent received any news about grade, but I am quite confident in this as my group consisted of silly but great people and we already spent so much time to work on the paper (long live Sunderbans!!!). On a side note, I actually love this course with broad scope in delta management but somehow focus on many things involved per-lecture. We also had excursions, twice; to southwest delta where krammersluice-brouwerdams-neeltjejans-maasvlakte is located and to zandmotor where the magic happens the Dutch again succeed to implement such out of the the box approach on their ecology friendly water defense. It was nice and all but dont get me to start complaining about how the weather always betray us. Oh the perks of living in the Netherlands. 

As in currently, I have again two courses which in more social side (Water Policy, Governance, and Law & Drinking Water and Sanitation). I started this period in a lighthearted mood after 10 days of day offs (that was too much holiday, actually) followed by a symposium about water management in TU Delft. The later one was so interesting eventhough it felt like a very long day full of lectures (there was 6 spokesperson) but I got so many new insights about water related challenges, some subject stroke me the most are the water and sanitation problem in disaster area (by Biserka, MSF consultant), urban design for city protection (by Kees Christiaanse, ps: when we had discussion with him, he thought that garuda plan in Jakarta Bay is a stupid idea), also a lecture about how to resolve water problem in conflicted area (remind me of Banglandesh-India dispute, Mr. Rens de Man). Lisanne and I had a great time there as well as motivational reflection on how to search suitable internship for me (dank je wel, Lisanne!). Anyway for the next part, please envyjoy the sightseeing from Madrid and Spain where I explored only in 4 days (not enouuuuugh!)

Madrid is fine but Barcelona steals our heart, thanks Mr. Gaudi to make this city sooo beautiful 

Since I had too many day off recently, I watched all new movies in the cinema, as well as, streaming some old movies online so.. one more rambling for this post, why is action/superhero movies (almost) always let me down recently? London Has Fallen, Huntsman: The Witch's War, Batman vs Superman, Capt. America: Civil War.. all of them failed me (in different aspect). Instead, movies like Zootropolis and The Jungle Book blown my mind (well, this is mainstream opinion). Also, I finished a fairly new k-drama titled 'Signal' where this time I finished it until the last episode, unlike the last time I, and million other people, lost interest in 'Cheese in The Trap'. It is one of the best drama I ever watched! Minimum cheesy romance, superb acting, and brilliant plot, who could say no to an amazing cold case-solving-detective storyline, eh? I really recommend this one :)

It seems I already write above my average word counts here, so.. lets part ways for now. And dont forget to be happy!

Ciao,

A. Noyara Rahmasary 

Growing up is not the problem

Forgetting is.

Some people might recognize this line along The Little Prince the movie, an animation works released last year based on the same titled novel. Truthfully, I have not read the book yet (I'll add it to my book's bucketlist) but after I watched this adaptation, and of course lurking on all those reviews, it seems that I should read one. Funny how I used to consider myself as book worm when there are just (very) few numbers of books stayed in my memory. The following post still revolves around the same theme of coping with adult life, which still take a form of big question mark that randomly pops during daydream. 

This barely new year of 2016 went well so far, at least for my movie quality time. I am now already on 18th in my movie list despite the start of school's third period a week ago. Somehow, the assignments are not killing me yet. The Little Prince is the latest movie I just watched today. As someone who didn't read the book, I enjoyed this animation that full of deep symbolism regarding one journey's to grow up. Well maybe not exactly defining the process you went through from child, teenager, then adult era; Nevertheless, toward the end of the movie, many elements of this movie just hit me hard within the reality realm, i.e. the restless and unprepared feeling to face adult-real-world. I know people get bored when I told them about this dubious theme of so called real world but today, at least, I got new input regarding this matter. One from this movie and other from my fully respected friend, Muharrom. 

(spoiler alert). At a brief moment after finishing the movie, people might be reminded of how tough adult life can be, as people get this idea from the movie that adult is created (or shaped) in a certain way which made them forget everything precious from childhood memories. Not to mention The Mother character who seemed a bit pushover with her perfect planning. I also agree with this opinion, because myself indeed having hard time accepting grown up's life path. But then I texted Muha, it was not 100% random because yesterday we dwelt upon our college life whatsoever (maybe because we were both feel so old and tired and sudden reminiscence afloat). I always believe him to give me advice, read: serious advice for life, hence I told that I just saw The Little Prince. Of course he had watched it and of course he had different idea on perceiving the movie. Instead, he adores The Little Girl and The Mother during their perfect and tight scheduled days.

Cool, mature, independent, problem solver, neat, never give up.. everything great about that little girl but those all ruined when she meets the neighbor grandpa, I was sad 

Creativity, dream, hobby, curiosity.. can stay as the child fragments of you but be like an adult when you have to be autonomous, rational, responsible.. 

I really don't know if I translate this in a right way, sorry Muha! Unsurprisingly, it is on our nature to continue a movie talk to a 'future' kind of conversation. Both of us (or maybe just me, actually) are go-with-the-flow-people which he said it made us slower than others to embrace the life learning. He then managed to continuously stabbed me with his thoughts (in a good way), like why can't I state a concrete purpose for my future; or successfully made me aware of an urgent need for a mentor I never have. Always a mind and heart opener, talking with him hahaha *empty laugh.

In the end, we came to the conclusion that I am indeed an effortlessly happy person who life her days without expectation, target, and evaluation *again empty laugh. Believe me, I am working on this attitude though. Well again, let us all pray to be useful creatures in our own way. I hate to always close a post with such cliche but what can I do, I have a cliche life ;) 

Warm hug (still in this cold windy weather),

Noya

P.S. I should really searching for a mentor