A Celebration of Life

A few weeks ago, we were bombarded with the happy news of Maudy Ayunda getting acceptance letters from Stanford and Harvard. Later on, during an interview with Najwa Shihab we found out that she had dreamed (and of course broken down the dream into concrete steps) of getting into Stanford for awhile. However, knowing that its acceptance rate was pretty damn low, she "humbled" herself by applying into Harvard for a different program, hoping that she would get accepted (in what universe does a person choose Harvard as their back up plan?). As someone who doesn't necessarily have a business background, getting accepted into Stanford MBA program is a major achievement (during the same interview she notes that most of her classmates are investment bankers, CEO of start-ups, and such). I don't personally know Maudy Ayunda, but I too am happy for her! Perceiving this wonderful news, however, got me reflecting upon myself, my education, and just the general learning env

I love conversations. Not the shallow ones.  The one about the weather or the politicians, the one I have to half-heartedly make during short trips with the taxi drivers. Doesn't even have to be deep, comprehensive, mind blowing one. Packed with statistics and numbers, facts and figures. Anything impromptu, out of the blue, where minuscule details flourish to remarkable conversations on just about everything. Anything, at all. Those conversations I have with you. I love them all. The one where we argue when the most effective time to pick our nose is. The one where I pitch my favorite countries on beauty pageants. The one with your delightful music playing in the background, which is another thing I love about you. The one we have while we drive nowhere, just being, drifting, savoring the company of each other. Wouldn't you want to know? What it would be like to grow old and have nothing left but an endless conversation with me? I would. I kn

"Kamu ingat ngga anak kecil baju putih celana oren? Aku dapat kabar dia meninggal karena demam berdarah. Ini aku mau ngelayat." Sebaris pesan dari Masyan pagi ini. Anak kecil laki-laki berbaju putih bercelana jingga that he bonded with on New Year's eve has passed away. Anak kecil yang mungkin baru sepuluh tahun usianya. Anak kecil yang mungkin belum sadar betapa kejamnya persaingan di dunia nyata. Anak kecil yang selama hidupnya mungkin memahami bahagia dari berapa banyak uang jajan yang diterimanya dan berapa banyak yang bisa dia simpan untuk membeli barang lain yang lama diidamkan. Logika saya sempat tidak terima. Bukan karena saya merasa Allah tidak adil. Tapi kemampuan saya yang terbatas, sesaat kesulitan memahami. He was perfectly healthy on New Year's eve, which was less than three months ago. He suffered from dengue fever, not a heart attack or a severe head injury from car accident, which I know a lot of people recover from.  A lot of people, mayb