The Life Journey of a Nobody

Komentar seseorang setelah membaca novel yang saya ikutkan dalam Lomba Menulis Republika 2011: "Novel Islami, kok, ada cerita tentang perkosaan dan perzinahan?" Saya mengerutkan kening saya. :), jadi penasaran, pengertian rekan-rekan dengan novel Islami itu seperti apa, ya?

Sejak hari Jumat (dua hari yang lalu tepatnya), langit terus-menerus dirundung mendung. Ah, saya sangat-sangat-sangat berharap hujan akan turun. Ini hari ke tiga langit mendung, tapi hujan tak kunjung turun. Di Texas, hujan terbilang perhiasan yang sangat berharga. Lebih berharga dari emas dan berlian sekalipun. Masih teringat, selama musim panas kemarin yang panasnya sungguh luar biasa, Texas kering kerontang. Hujan tak turun-turun selama berbulan-bulan. Di mana-mana ada tulisan "Pray for rain." Kekeringan memang tidak berdampak pada berkurangnya air minum atau air untuk kebutuhan pokok lainnya, tapi tetap sangat menyedihkan. Kolam di depan kampus yang indah, dihuni oleh ikan, kura-kura dan beberapa bebek berbulu warna-warni kering kerontang, karena larangan mengairi kolam buatan.  Ketika hujan turun, semua orang begitu riang gembira. Mereka bersorak sorai. Sungguh naas, hujan yang pertama turun seperti mengejek saja. Beberapa detik saja membasahi bumi, tapi penduduk Texas

This weekend will be the most exhausting but amazingly fun weekend. Yesterday I went to, first of all, the Buddhist Meditation Center in Austin. Afterwards, we attended the Powwow (Native American/Indian celebration and dancing competition). Still on the same day, I visited the Hindu Temple of Rada Khrisna, located in a beautiful and hilly part of Austin. Today, I am going to go to Austin--again--but this time it is for Aidil Adha prayer. I am still so exhausted by yesterday's trip, anyway, I am so excited. Photos of the trip coming soon :) Berpose bersama penari Indian :)

Penasaran sekali, kapan ya, pengumuman lomba ini? Alhamdulillah ada kesempatan untuk mengikuti lomba ini. Meskipun prosesnya sedikit "ribet" karena saya tidak sedang berada di Indonesia. Alhamdulillah ada suami yang bisa membantu mencetak dan mengirimkan. Sayangnya, ada sedikit yang mengganjal di hati. Kebetulan suami mengirimkan novelnya melalui TIKI JNE Sarolangun. Menurut suami, jasa pengiriman di sana tidak menyediakan layanan laporan pengiriman. Jadi, saya benar-benar takut novel saya tidak pernah diterima pihak panitia. Tapi, suami saya bilang, pastilah diterima. Wallahualam. Semoga saja novel saya diterima pihak panitia dan semoga saja masuk dalam 3 besar :D. Kalau bisa masuk 3 besar nanti akan diterbitkan dan InsyaAllah akan menjadi novel ke 4 saya yang terbit. Ah, saya sangat-sangat excited! Tapi yang penting, novel itu harus sampai di tangan panitia. Di tengah gundah dan galau seperti ini saya hanya bisa berdoa saja. Mudah-mudahan saya menerima email dari pihak pa

Who doesn't know Kim Kardashian? Of course, there are people who don't know her, which is good. That means fewer and fewer people wasting time watching other people's supposedly personal lives. Just a little bit about her: Quite similar to Paris Hilton, she became so famous after her "private" porn video with former boyfriend "leaked" and then distributed by a company who later should give a huge deal of compensation for her. In addition, her family name--Kardashian--has also engraved its popularity in the world of entertainment. True, too, that Kim's super sexy body and beautiful face add to her popularity. She is a model, a business woman owning a boutique, a "singer"; above all, she is all about business. That's what her family is, indeed, famous for. She and her family, too, are notorious for being too much about business and too much about taking too much advantage of their popularity. Well, whatever people say about them, they

Don't Be Too Hard on Yourself! Don't Be Too Hard on Yourself! Don't Be Too Hard on Yourself! That's what I kept saying to myself. I was so disappointed with my presentation last night. I though I had a good preparation; it turned out that I did not prepare that well. I should have better prepared myself. Then, I didn't know how or why but everything that I had in my mind seemed to disappeared right when I opened my mouth. I skipped a lot of important things in my presentation. And, on top of all, I felt so stupid.  Immediately after getting back at home, I punished myself so severe that I couldn't help myself from being lazy. I spent the whole night watching Melrose Place Season I (thanks to Amazon Prime Instant Video that only gave season 1 for free and made other seasons not, so that I will not waste more time watching the show no matter how entertaining it was) and went to bed at 5 a.m. Of course then, as a consequence, I skipped my dawn prayer and I wo