indi + rani = noe | kei

I've just discovered two things:

(1) Babyface is responsible for 'End of the Road' by Boyz ii Men.

(2) Babyface is in Singapore.

How to exact revenge? Not just for me - even if my ears still ring just thinking about that record... and typing that last sentence caused a rash under my armpits to swell up... Never mind that, it's Justice for the 'Boyz' I'm concerned about. They sound like they're being tortured in hideous ways while being forced to pretend they're a white barbershop quartet. A very white one. And he had the gaul to record and release it. Talk about incriminating.

This was the tune that cast a light on me like the one on the Road to Damascus. The Revelation: one can turn off the TV or radio if it's playing something one doesn't like. And the light I saw: not a Divine beam from Heaven but cancerous atoms emanating from the nuclear explosion of disingenuousness that Babyface had set off.

And even though I'd flip the switch whenever it seemed broadcasters had lined me up for another dose of aural torture - a poison shower - the damn thing was so ubiquitous I still suffered many an anger- and hate-inducing migraine from that awful rendition of what may have been a perfectly good song.

Shudder.

May the Lord Save and Protect Us and Our Children from this Evil. And save our souls from the dreadful bukkake of Celine Dion's Tears.

Amen

(This is a copy of my Loose Wire Sevice column, produced for newspapers and other print publications. Hence the lack of links.)

A few weeks ago a gentleman of, by his own account, more than average girth was thrown off a Southwest Air flight between Oakland and Burbank.

Unfortunately for the airline this was no ordinary gentleman but Kevin Smith, director of such classics as Clerks and Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and, perhaps more importantly, a man conversant with social media.

As he was unceremoniously removed from the flight because he was a “customer of size” and therefore a safety risk, he turned to twitter to vent his spleen.

The resulting fracas was what we in the nerdy world call a twitter storm. That is, one person is able to leverage the power of social networks to make a much bigger noise than would otherwise be the case.

Some commentators have suggested this is a new kind of customer: “a new kind of uglry customer who isn't always right but insists on his right to share his feelings with us and his right to be heard”, as one Singaporean travel industry insider put it.

Of course, this isn’t the case. There have always been Kevin Smiths, it’s just they have not been able to convey their disquiet so effectively. Now they have, at their fingertips, the ability to express and disseminate their feelings.

I’m a Kevin Smith. We’re all Kevin Smiths. We’re all capable of knowing when we’ve been discriminated against—not, in this case, because of his girth but because he was not told before he got on the plane, or when he bought his ticket, that he wouldn’t be able to fly.

We’re all Kevin Smiths, and we’ve all got the tools of Kevin Smith. Perhaps not the colorful turns of phrase, but the means.

Now I’m not blaming Southwest here, at least at the corporate level. Actually they did all the standard things to try to put out this blaze. They tried to reach him by email, by phone, and then publicly by twitter, to apologize.

They blogged about it, about their policy and the lessons learned.

But their failure was to understand that information travels much faster now. So in the crucial hours—no, minutes—after Kevin Smith was dumped off the flight there was a chance to turn all this around.

It didn’t happen. Either those overseeing the Twitter feed didn’t see it coming, or they were at dinner, or they had to escalate the matter. Whatever happened, there was a chance to stop the storm before it had left the building.

In this new world, minutes count.

People in the leisure industry would do well to draw different conclusions than perhaps they are.

The temptation is to label Kevin Smith a noisesome celebrity and thereby both give him star treatment and to treat him as an unusual case.

He’s not. He’s a star, true, and he’s got a strong following, both online and offline. But his diatribe is just as likely to be echoed by others—indeed, the anger his supporters felt is as much to do with a sense of injustice as of having their hero treated shoddily.

In the old days we could write a letter to the CEO, or complain to the cabin crew, or write a letter to the local paper. Most of us wouldn’t bother.

But now we can. We can tweet about it, Facebook it, blog about it. It may not always snowball but it’s there, out there for millions of other people to find, indefinitely.

In other words: Not only do we have the means to vent our spleen, but we have access to everyone else’s vented spleen. No longer are we the lone eccentric to be tolerated or ignored, bought off with a $100 voucher or a free pass to the poolside barbeque.

We are validated.

So no, Kevin Smith is not the new kind of ugly customer. He’s everyman: He’s a customer who not only knows what he wants but knows that he’s not alone in wanting it. And that he can find a way of getting satisfaction in the most public way possible if he feels his rights are violated.

Not exactly good news for those companies that would rather we kept quiet or were bought off. But good news for those of us who have bitten our tongue and kept mum one too many times.

i was going to do some baking today, but the heat was rather unbearable. so, we decided to ditch the baking and go to the nearby pool instead.

aina couldn't wait for us putting on the sunscreen... she was like, "can i go in now? are you done? how about now, can i go in?"... on and on and on...

and finally, the big grin showed up on her face when we dip into the pool. ahh, so good...

i think we'll be spending more time there if the weather persist. aina even made friends with the girls in the kiddy pool.

more photos at the swimming @ buona vista photo album.

ps: aunty cia, thank you! this is the first time aina wearing this swimsuit! she loves the dots :)

ever since the Chinese New Year, aina has been talking about Lion Dance everyday. not in a good way, though. she's super scared of them because they are really loud. she likes watching the dance on TV or on YouTube, because she has control over the sound. but watching it in real life had proven to be a horrifying experience for her. she can't stand the loud sound of the drums.

but she still wants to have the Lion (we call it Barongsai). the nearby toy shop sells a small Barongsai for $35, which we thought is rather steep. the bigger one was $56 bucks (no way!). so we are thinking of making one for aina.

well, yesterday, we started with a super small one: an origami hand-puppet version of the Barongsai.

if you know ari well, you probably know that he's an origami extraordinaire... he really likes to fold an A4 paper into... well, anything.

so, this was his first try. didn't look so good. but it's close enough:

so he did another one. aina has fallen asleep by the time the second try was done, but i think this time he has perfected his Barongsai.

the mouth flap works well and there is that hood/blanket thing on the back of it, too. all made from one piece of A4 paper!

it will probably look better if we color it, but we've decided to let aina draw and color it. and being a girly girl, the Barongsai puppet ends up as her baby, being pushed around in her toy stroller...

oh well...

some of your have probably know snowy, aina's beloved security dog. but did you know that snowy's mom has passed away a while back?

on one afternoon a few months ago, i was putting aina to nap when we exchanged stories. i don't remember how the conversation started, but i was asking where is snowy's mom.

"aina, are you snowy's mom?"

"no, snowy's mom is dead, binggi." (she calls me binggi).

"huh? really? how come? what happened?"

"she was bitten by an orca whale."

i was flabbergasted, "oh, no... poor snowy. he must've been very sad..."

"yes, he was crying."

what a sad and tragic story to be made up by a 2 year-old! that story comes up again every now and then. aina usually ends up hugging and kissing her snowy after she finishes telling the story.

yesterday, ari asked for some more information.

"aina, i heard snowy's binggi was bitten by an orca whale and died..."

"oh yea, she was!" aina then ran to get her small whale toy that she usually plays with when she's having a bath.

"see, this is not an orca whale... this is blue. orca whale is black and white", she then explained while poking the whale.

"why do you keep poking the whale?" ari asked.

"oh! you can't do this to orca whales, you know," she explained, "snowy's mom was poking the orca whale in the eye. it made the orca whale angry.... HRRRMPPPHH!!! then the orca whale bit and killed her."

whoa... i really don't know what else to say. yes, you really shouldn't poke whales in the eye. or anyone in eye, for that matter.

Duh, ini blog dan seluruh website saya sempat down beberapa hari nih. Gara2 telat bayar domain, hehe. Jadi malu.
Sekarang, karena sudah bayar, saya jadi semangat mau ngeblog lagi. Walaupun cuma satu post, tapi kan kelihatan kalau saya nggak percuma bayar domain dan hosting.
Tadinya saya mau bikin semacam “kaleidoskop” peristiwa2 yang paling berkesan selama tahun 2009. Tapi kok rasanya banyak hal yang terlalu pribadi ya. Sementara yang cukup “umum” kan sebagian besar sudah sering diceritakan. Ya sutra, ganti topik ah!

Ingat nggak, di awal kuliah saya pernah bilang, my chapter of life as a student will be a life without high heels. That is mostly true: saya jarang2 pakai high heels ke sekolah, kecuali ada presentasi yang menuntut saya berpakaian lebih rapi. Atau saya lagi pengen cecentilan pake sepatu boot saya yang setinggi lutut dan berhak (maksudnya bukan berhak as in berkewajiban ya) 7 senti.

Walaupun saya nggak fashionable amat, walaupun saya nggak langsing2 amat, nggak terawat2 amat seperti seorang artis sinetron berinisial AS yang sedang kuliah di Australia juga, sepertinya seru juga mencatat tentang fashion and beauty saya selama kuliah. Karena biar bagaimanapun, hampir satu dekade saya kerja jadi mbak2 kantoran (istilahnya Trinity “Naked Traveler”) yang punya pakem berpakaian tertentu, pastilah ada perubahan yang cukup signifikan dengan penampilan saya saat saya kuliah. Saya nggak mau lah pakai blazer ke kampus. Tapi tetap pengen kelihatan gaya, nggak harus kelihatan seperti ABG, tapi sesuai umur saya, gitu.

Deuh Neng, makan tuh gayaaaa!!!

Efek “makan gaya” adalah: bawaan saya ke Australia bulan Agustus lalu tuh asli banyak banget! Isinya sebagian besar tentu saja baju, sepatu, dan tas. Depkominfo yang baik hati berhasil dapat tiket pesawat dengan baggage allowance seberat 30kg. Tapi itu pun saya sudah nyaris overweight! Ya saya sadar diri aja, beasiswa pas2an, kan saya nggak mungkin banyak belanja di Adelaide. Jadi perlengkapan perang saya harus dibawa dari sini semua. Beberapa hal yang saya ingat pas berangkat:

• Adelaide punya musim dingin dan musim panas. Jadi saya harus menyiapkan kostum untuk rentang suhu 10° sampai 40° Celcius. Serius, musim panas di sana ekstrem banget. Seperti berdiri di depan hair dryer. Dan musim dinginnya, walaupun nggak terlalu dingin dan nggak bersalju, sangat “basah” dan anginnya kencang.
   
• Pengalaman waktu S1 dulu, saya rada susah cari sepatu di negara2 Barat gara2 ukuran kaki saya relatif mini. Jadi saya siap2 dong, bawa 5 sepatu flats (yang dua pasang beli di kaki lima Jalan Kepatihan, haha!), 2 high heels, 1 boots pendek yang umurnya lebih tua dari Naila (waktu berangkat dipakai, biar nggak menuhin koper), plus 1 sandal. Semua bisa compressed jadi 1 koper_besar.zip dan 1 cabin_luggage.zip. Hebat juga ya saya packingnya, hehe.
  
  Pssst, sebulan di Adelaide, boots tua itu jebol, jadi ada alasan buat beli boots selutut yang keren itu. Pas lagi sale dan ada ukuran saya. Huhuy!!
   
• “Kalau kopernya masih muat, bawa baju nasional atau kebaya,” begitu pesan Ika Swatika yang alumnus CMU sebelum saya berangkat. Ya dimuat2in dong, kan saya bangga sama baju tradisional Indonesia! Jadi saya bawa satu stel kebaya dan sarung batik, dress batik, dan beberapa atasan batik gaya untuk sehari2. Kalau ini sih kayaknya berhubungan sama signature style saya yang emang maniak batik. Tuh lihat foto di bawah, itu waktu Batik Day tanggal 2 Oktober 2009, saya ikutan juga kan!
   
• Bawaan lain yang juga penting karena di Australia lebih mahal: perlengkapan lenong alias dandan, payung (penting!!), aksesoris sebangsanya kalung/gelang/anting2, dan buat saya sih hair dryer sang sahabat setia.

Fashion

Saya datang ke Adelaide bulan Agustus, saat winter. Di sana winternya nggak dingin2 amat. Nggak harus pakai winter coat yang super tebal, pakai jaket dan cardigan sudah cukup. Saya sih hobi pakai cardigan dan dalaman tanktop, lalu pakai kalung. Bawahnya cukup jeans tanpa stocking dalaman. Kalau pakai rok, ya pakai stocking lah. Soal jaket, saya sukanya jaket yang agak panjang, biar nggak balapan kalau cardigan saya panjang juga. Tapi jaket pendek juga OK kok kalau pakai jeans.

Seperti kota2 lain di Australia, Adelaide bisa punya four seasons in a day. Alias, cuacanya bisa berganti2 hanya dalam hitungan jam. Ramalan cuaca jadi sahabat saya biar nggak salah kostum. Yang paling aman sih sedia baju berlapis: jaket, baju atau cardigan, dan t-shirt atau tanktop di dalamnya. Kadang saya pakai baju lengan pendek dengan dalaman lengan panjang, seperti gaya mbak2 berjilbab gitu lho. Nanti kalau cuaca dingin, dalaman dan/atau jaketnya dipakai. Atau saat suhu udara naik, saya ke kamar mandi untuk melepas dalamannya.

Musim dingin sih “gampang”: kalau kurang hangat tinggal tambah lapisan baju, beres deh. Yang seru kalau musim panas nih. Masa mau telanjang? Salah2 kulit malah kebakar: ya kebakar matahari, ya kebakar malu juga, hehe. Dan saat teman saya yang orang Amerika atau Filipina pakai tanktop bertali spaghetti ke sekolah, saya kok ngerasa nggak bisa ya mengikuti gaya berpakaian seperti itu.

Saya sih hobinya pakai celana pendek, rok atau dress yang berlengan, panjangnya minimkal sedikit di atas lutut. Kalau suhunya masih seperti di Bandung gitu, nggak terlalu panas, pakai bawahannya legging juga enak. Bahan dress yang nyaman adalah dari kaos, campuran lycra, atau katun seperti -tentunya- batik! Kalau pakai celana pendek juga begitu, saya senang sesekali pakai atasannya batik. Nasionalis, gaya, dan adeeeeemmm…

Untuk aksesorisnya, biar nggak keramean dan pas dengan tema “anak kuliahan” (halah!), saya nggak pernah pakai lebih dari dua macam. Less is more. Kalau sudah pakai kalung, nggak usah pakai anting. Kalau sudah pakai gelang besar, nggak usah pakai cincin besar. Saat musim dingin, bisa juga pakai syal yang selain bikin hangat, juga menggantikan fungsi kalung.

Saran dari orang asli Adelaide sih, sebaiknya musim panas pakai topi untuk menangkal sengatan matahari. Sayangnya saya belum pede pakai topi euy. Kacamata hitam juga penting, sampai2 sebelum berangkat saya pesan kacamata minus dengan lensa warna hitam. Bukan semata2 buat gaya, tapi juga karena sinar mataharinya sangat menyilaukan dan bikin saya pusing. Soal alas kaki, kalau musim panas sih tinggal pakai sandal. Untungnya kampus saya nggak reseh soal pakaian, mau pakai sandal jepit juga boleh2 saja. Saya sih sukanya pakai sepatu flats atau sandal gladiator.

Tiap hari saya bawa laptop ke sekolah. Masalahnya, saya sering bosan pakai ransel. Dan kadang kan tema baju saya nggak cocok dengan ransel. Jadi kadang saya bawa tas model cewe yang agak besar, biar laptop saya berikut bungkusnya bisa masuk situ. Tapi seringnya saya masih harus bawa tas tambahan, semacam tas belanja yang bisa dipakai berulang2, untuk tempat bekal makan siang (saya masak sendiri biar irit). Akhirnya malah seringkali dibalik: bekal dan kabel2 masuk ke handbag, laptop masuk ke tas belanja, hehe.

Beauty

Soal kecantikan sebenarnya sangat erat dengan kesehatan kulit. Apalagi selama jadi mahasiswa, saya hampir nggak pernah pakai foundation kecuali untuk acara resmi. Jadi jelas kan, kulit yang sehat adalah kunci penampilan. Padahal kondisi dan situasi selama kuliah sangat nggak bersahabat buat kulit: udara kering, sering bergadang alias kurang tidur, dan sinar matahari yang sangat terik saat musim panas.

Untuk menjaga kesehatan kulit itu, saya rajin pakai body lotion dan sunblock di badan. Lalu pakai moisturizer merangkap anti aging serum untuk wajah, diikuti sunblock khusus wajah dengan SPF 30. Lingkungan yang kering membuat saya mengantongi lipbalm dan bawa hand cream ke mana2. Dan sebagai salah satu resolusi saya saat ulang tahun, never forget to apply eyecream! Yaaaa.. walaupun saya seorang ibu, punya anak, tapi saya lebih pengen kelihatan seperti mbak2 daripada ibu2. Dengan kata lain: awet muda, hehe.

Terus, gimana sih dandanan saya sehari2? Seperti saya sudah singgung tadi, saya jarang pakai foundation. Paling2 pakai concealer untuk menutupi bekas2 jerawat. Setelah itu pakai bedak tabur dan sedikit blush biar nggak pucat. Di bagian mata, saya cuma pakai eyeliner coklat dan maskara biar mata kelihatan lebih kinclong walaupun kurang tidur. Saya nggak pakai lipstik, cuma pakai lipgloss berwarna natural.

Yang juga penting adalah membentuk alis, karena alis adalah bingkai wajah. Selama ini sih saya selalu membentuk alis sendiri. Tapi kapan2 saya pengen nyoba juga ah, ke tempat “tukang alis” kenalannya teman sekelas saya Shweta. Hasil kerjaannya bagus, nggak terlalu tipis, dan tarifnya murah karena dia “praktek” di rumah.

Intinya, it’s not only about what you wear, but also how you wear it. Duh, emang ribet ya jadi cewe. Tapi saya nikmatin banget kok!