Day 8 – The Unstoppables

Hari ini terjadwal sebagai Reuni Akbar SMA 2. I went there after lunch, dalam keadaan mengantuk, tapi tekad tetap bulat untuk berangkat. Spent two hours there, admiring the legendary, gigantic, rubber tree in the center of my highschool, met some old friends, did dozens of pictures with the unknown. Dan terakhir berfoto bersama Pak Maman, satpam sekolah yang dengan fasihnya membuat tanda ‘victory’ saat berfoto, yang barangkali dimaksudkan sebagai “dua” alias SMA 2. I was compelled to do the same. So there we were, with victorious smile and two v’s.

It was four thirty when I was back at home. Batere yang sudah mau drop mendekati minus mendadak terisi kembali, and I felt like I could do some serious writing today. So I packed up my laptop and headed to my head quarter. I was unstoppable.


Sampai di markas, beres-beres bentar dan langsung menulis. One page. And it was almost seven. I heard a knock at my door. When I opened it up, there were my neighbors. Anda, Dian, and Nurul. Mereka mau cari makan, and wondered if I would like to come along. Mereka merencanakan jalan kaki ke Simpang Dago untuk mencoba warung bakso baru yang menjual aneka bakso ‘aneh’ yakni bakso isi keju, bakso isi bunga, dll. First, I am a vegetarian. Second, even if I still eat meat, I wouldn’t dream to eat something like ‘bakso isi keju’, not to mention ‘bakso isi bunga’—I don’t think anybody should eat them, but it’s their rights and I completely respect it. Third, I am three pages short, and I’d like to be back home before ten. So I had to skip my neighbors’ offer. But you know what? Rasanya kok—asik, ya. Anak kos banget getoh. Jalan kaki, cari makan, hang out dengan anak-anak kuliahan yang beda angkatannya minimal sepuluh tahun dengan saya, and see if I could still fit in. Heheh. And you know something else? Mereka menyebutkan satu nama anak kos di sana. The name was Noni. The exact same name with one of my main characters, yang merupakan sahabat Kugy sejak kecil sekaligus tetangga di kosannya. Can you believe it? Not just this place has a car with KK’s plate, it also has a tenant called Noni. This is synchronicity part 2.

Almost three pages. I worked my ass off. Suddenly, from the left corner of the bed, came out my number one ‘enemy’… cockroach. Big, fat, cockroach. Saya langsung melesat keluar, looking for some aid. I didn’t have the guts to catch it, nor I had any weapon to kill it. My neighbor, Nurul, lent me a can of Baygon. I sprayed, and sprayed. Poor creature. But I had no better choice. Terpaksa saya melanjutkan menulis di meja luar, sambil menunggu uap Baygon mereda. Nurul assured me that the roach was dead as we spoke. And after I waited, I opened the door… came out that same roach, running like there’s no tomorrow. Man. That dude was unstoppable.

I was still one page short. Knowing that roach was now joining me outside, I had to go back in, despite the suffocating Baygon air. But I had decided to be unstoppable today, just like that roach. So I hit my iBook keyboard, on and on, until I saw the light of my fourth pages. It dawned on my screen, gradually.

It was almost ten. My work was done for today. My apology to that unstoppable roach. Yet, its spirit had inspired me.

And why oh why there are many pictures in today's posting? Semata-mata karena... kelebihan waktu, kurang kerjaan, dan kecentilan.