June in paragraphs

2017

Life is full of sweet mistakes and love’s an honest one to make - You’re gonna live forever in me

I’ve been trying new thing in this month which is reading fiction. This was started because one of my favorite writer, which is mbak Alanda Kariza create a novel. I decide to pre-order it.

And so while waiting for my PO, I then decide to buy another novel which is Architecture of love by Ika Natasha. I bought it after I watch Critical Eleven which surprisingly, I enjoyed (aka yes, I’m crying in the theater). I was thinking why don’t we buy another novel to set the tone before I read Alanda’s book.

But now I don’t think that I’ll buy another (at least) romance fiction. Hehe. Not that both novel that I bought were bad. In fact, the Architecture of love was well written. And Alanda’s Sophismata bring a fresh topic which is different than any other local fiction.

I feel like it’s against my nature to read fiction. Cause for me, non-fiction gave me more straigh-forward learning and it’s more worthy of my time and attention. That’s why I then buy 2 non-fiction books right after I finished Ika Natasha’s novel.

And because it was fasting month at that time I decided to buy 2 religion books. One is a (sort of) biography of Imam Zarkasyi (founder of Pondok Pesantren Gontor) which to my surprise, has a deep understanding of enterpreneurship and cultivate it in his Pon pes.

The other one is a memoir of M. Quraish Shihab when he was studying in Mesir. Logika Agama (the name of the book) tell a story of how we (as a human) often devinify logic as the source of principle when it’s actually very limited. I also heard about Tasawwuf (a way to be a Sufi) from the first time through this book. This book was enlightening.

In the end of the month, I was struct that I have read 6 books (and finished 5 of them) in this month alone. What an accomplishment..

Another thing that happen in June:

  • I write poetry everyday for a week for no particular reason but to challenge myself to write new kind of things. And I’m glad that I did.
  • Mozilla Family Day at Jakarta Community Space
  • Dede Kahfi was born in this ramadhan. So happy!
  • It’s been awhile since something nudge & made me realize that I’m sitting in my safe zone for too long. The end of June has reminded me that I need to awaken the brave part of myself. I need to be willing to take the risk, embrace my mistake, or even fail in order to grow.

Akal dapat diibaratkan dengan kemampuan berenang. Ia sangat penting dan berguna di kala normalnya ombak dan gelombang, tetapi saat gelombang membahana, maka yang pandai berenang dan yang tidak sama saja, keduanya membutuhkan pelampung. Pelampung itu adalah tuntunan agama. - M Quraish Shihab

Some inspirations:

  • I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer. — Jim Carrey
  • Like what I said, I’m not a big fan of fiction tbh. But every piece that Alexander Chen write is beautiful.