Bukan Endorse-an, Si Pemalas Lagi Rajin Baca Buku

Wokheii . . .

Baru-baru ini aku nemu buku yang menurutku keren, dalam artian konsep ide si penulis nyambung banget sama aku sepertinya. It comes in series, dan yang terlihat olehku sih ada tiga jilid. Jadi, judulnya itu adalah Stories for Rainy Days oleh Naela Ali. Yep, dari judulnya aja udah catchy banget, like, ini buku dikhususkan untuk dibaca pas lagi hujan-hujan, ditemani selimut dan teh hangat, with the calm instrumental background music, wooooaaaahhhh kereeeenn. So relaxing~~.

Cover buku ini juga mendukung konsep cerita dan tujuan dari si penulis juga nih. Pokoknya everything in this book, terkonsep rapi banget. When I skimmed through the books, I could find some illustrations there. Gambar-gambar itu dibuat oleh si penulis yang notabene adalah seorang freelance illustrator juga. Penulisnya orang Indonesia asli, but the books come in full English. Dan I think I can understand why she chose to write in English 😆 Well, sering kali kosakata di Bahasa Inggris itu memang lebih beragam dan lebih pas untuk menggambarkan some certain situations dan terkadang to be honest, saying ‘lebay’ things in English won't make you feel so ‘lebay’. English does help me expressing things when I can't express it in Bahasa though. Aku rasa pas banget karena Naela Ali menorehkan semua idenya dalam Bahasa Inggris, karena aku sendiri merasa akan jadi aneh dan mungkin aku sendiri juga akan merasa ‘geli’ sama kata-katanya jika ditulis dalam Bahasa Indonesia. Sorry, no offense. And because the books are written in English, bacanya juga jadi lebih ringan dan kerasa banget feel ‘anak muda’nya.

I finished the first book in kinda 3 hours. Ceritanya ga bersambung tiap chapternya. All the stories there are pieces of mind-nya si penulis banget. Situasinya berubah tiap chapter, namun tetap dengan alur yang sejalan. The stories depict the things happening to couples, the joy and the blue, the hope and the sorrow of intimate relationship. I won't give you any spoiler, you can just go to the nearest book store, and check it out there. Get the series for your own and you’ll find yourselves recollecting your own past all the way from the first page to the last, feeling happy and smiling on the sweet lines (moreover, if it happened to you too) or even feeling sorry and in tears on the sad ones.

Sampai di sini, Imma read the 2nd and the 3rd, Siya, Bhai!

Another Thing I Like

Have you ever found pictures of luxurious bungalow on Instagram? The ones depict sunset sky through the all-glass windowpanes, giving you the feeling of warmth, comfort, and tenderness. The sun is below the horizon and the sun’s rays scattered; the twilight sky is just so perfect. Seeing that view grows me the melancholic feeling, scenarios pop out on my mind, positive energy comes under the spotlight to replace the negativity of the day as if telling me to lighten the rest of the day with only me and my imagination.

This kind of pictures has been my motivation since my college years. When I was being suffocated by all the homework, exams, and even my part time job, pictures of twilight were always my mood booster. I could regain my fighting spirit and put hope in everything I did. I would set the pictures as my phone or laptop wallpaper, chat room background, or even I could just spent some time to scroll all the pictures in my gallery. Taking a glance at the picture, facing upward to capture the sky view, and taking a deep breath were the three-step ritual to tell myself that I could face whatever hard then.

Life isn’t easy now, and it wasn’t too then.

In addition to the pictures, I usually had some motivational phrase made by me for me. Some lines just came to my mind while I stared at the pictures, and I found the sentences and the pictures were great combination of mood booster. I was used to longing all the beautiful pictures of mersmerising places, put it as my goal, imagined that I would appreciate myself by visiting those places after I finished my tasks. I kept using it as my motivation without even had the chance to be in those places. For couples of time I told myself, “Is it okay to do it this way? This won't disappoint myself, will it?”

And till now, I still do it. Sometimes, in a dark room, sit facing the window, observing the yellow sky turns orange. The sunlight is just too bright that I let my palm cover part of the view, letting the sunset ray passes through my fingers. Haaaaaaahhh, nothing to say, just deep breaths without anything on my mind, enjoying that very moment for a while. No candidates asking for interview schedules, no users asking for candidates, no superior asking for progress report, no phone calls, no urgent emails needs replying, just me taking deep breaths and let myself heal.