Found: Long Lost Friend

Never underestimate the power of the Internet.

Remember my post about my long lost best friend, Mila? It was posted 04/14/09 -although I did write in 2007 about reminiscing her and Jakarta, thanks to Gwen Stefani’s 4 in the Morning- then about three months later, she dropped a comment in my  ’Saya’ page of this blog! I was with my family one cold Saturday, enjoying brunch in a small local cafe after the kids were done competing at the Iowa Games track and field event. My iPhone dinged to informed that I just got an email. We were still waiting for our food to come, so I checked my Gmail and read that WordPress, my blog host, was asking my approval in relates to someone’s comment to my post. My jaw dropped… it was my long lost best friendher! I was so freaked out! Of course I approved it and replied right away:

emka on July 18, 2009 Edit This

Hi sist, gw lg di puncak, biasa, msh dg kesibukan shtng..
Ada temen ksh tau suruh buka ur blog.. Baca crita kita..
Didinginnya tengah mlm puncak, can u imagine how I feel ?
Tears falling down instantly.. Gosshhh.. Miss u so much !
Miss our friendship, miss everything about us..
Thanks for trying to find me..

Reply

dinysays on July 21, 2009 Edit This

Milaaaaaaa… OMG! Akhirnya nyampe juga suara hatiku -ceile- menyebrangi lautan. Selanjutnya gue email elo aja yah. Miss you, sis!

Reply

After all this time… for about 8 years I did [almost] everything a stalker would do to find her. She must have changed her cell phone number and email. I wasn’t able to reach her there. So I Googled, Youtubed, even Facebooked her name; the result was not satisfying. All results mostly lead me to old news and foto archives from various Indonesian online media.

Then after watching the movie “I Love You, Man” with Paul Rudd which made me think about our friendship,  I decided to write it on my blog. I thought, “What the heck… give it a try.” Months went by without positive news, although some commentators were nice enough to encouraged me not to give up hope and said they’ll try to ask around. Evidently, somewhere in Indonesia, a guy (Mila’s friend whom I also knew) was either bored or doing some PR-ing, did a search on the Net on her name. He, according to Mila, then informed her about my pathetic post; then the rest is history.

***Thanks, Anto… I still feel bad about puking on your lap in the car after a night of clubbing. Very sorry, man.

After a series of hit and miss, we finally were able to chat (I really thank the Internet for bringing Indonesia closer to me virtually). She was having trouble installing the chat programme into her Blackberry for a while.

These messages were sent while you were offline.

5:35 AM mkarmelia: Sorry BB lg ngehang mulu sist.. Baru di upgrade niy..

Sorry lg trouble logging ke google talk niy
Powered by Telkomsel BlackBerry®

So I waited patiently to see that little green bullet ‘available’ icon appear next to her name whenever I open my Gmail. Patience is a virtue, they said. How true. I was at work last Wednesday morning, and was checking my Gmail. all of the sudden, a pop up window showed up on the lower right screen of my computer.

8:58 AM mkarmelia: Hi sis, pa kbr ?
 me: WAAAA!!! ADA MILAAA!!
8:59 AM mkarmelia: Heheheeeee… Maaaaaap !!!
9:00 AM me: ga papa lageee… lagi di mana sis?
 mkarmelia: Drmh lg skt, beteeee.. Dirimu ?
9:01 AM me: kantor. sakit ape? kangen gue sampe sakit begitu, kaciaan :p
9:02 AM mkarmelia: Kejar setoran biasaaaa.. Mplu..
  Kntr apa sis ?

… and so on and so forth

Thank you Leonard Kleinrock for pioneering this, I had found my long lost friend now. 

I’m so glad I found you again, sis. Hope you wouldn’t mind me posting your cute pic with the twins 

“I Love You, Man” to You, Sis!

Sis,

Have you seen the movie ‘I Love You, Man’? It’s starred by the funny Paul Rudd, who’s also in ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin’ and ‘Knocked Up’. The movie is about Peter Klaven (played by Rudd) who’s getting married soon, but realized that he doesn’t have a good enough friend to be hailed as the best man. This character went on a series of ‘man date’ to meet friends, hoping to find a best friend. Soon he realized that a dinner in a fancy restaurant, a game of backgammon, nor going to a ball game; are not enough to find a best friend. Peter was best friendless.

And so am I. Since we bid goodbye when I left Indonesia in May of 2000, I am still best friendless. I do have friends here (mostly from work) that I hang out with every now and then. But I can’t really categorize them as ‘best friends’. I also have some acquaintances from kids’ school and our neighbors. But I can’t categorize them as ‘friends’. It’s not that I’m antisocial, but after the initial interaction and I don’t feel comfortable around the person, I wouldn’t care to pursue the ‘friendship’.

While Peter in the movie was actively searching for a best friend, which he hope in turn would be his best man at the wedding, I’m more passive. I don’t have a deadline, so what’s the hurry? I don’t want to come across that I don’t need a best friend, but I just think it will come to me eventually. If I meant to have a best friend, I’d like it to be like you at the least, Sis.

None of us was looking for each other. I was a journalist, and you were this hot new TV star/model and I was assigned to interview you. Who would’ve known that we could ‘connect’ and talked like we’ve been friends forever. We exchanged phone numbers and the rest was history. After the article was published, you called me on my cell to tell me that you liked my writing and loved the picture (well, you should… because it was a collection of Adji Notonegoro’s haute couture) and to invite me for a lunch. Then we had dinner, then we went clubbing -among the phone calls-, then stayed over, then movies, and much more.

Few days ago, when I was folding laundry on my boring best friendless life, I was listening to Pandora with my iPhone. Your favorite song came through, I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor:

At first I was afraid, I was petrified…
“WAAAA!!! SIS, IT’S MY SONG!!” You always went berserk whenever this song is played -in a mall, radio in your car, a club, or even on TV.

Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side…
“I KNOW!!!” I replied, as euphoric as you were.

But then I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong…
“OMIGOSH, OMIGOSH, OMIGOSH!!” Your two feet started to do that running-in-place thing and your hands were fanning your face.

And I grew strong and I learned how to get along…
By this time, we both were shamelessly singing our heart to the song.

The rest of the song was listened to with teary eyes (though I was still able to fold the laundry).

I can’t help but reminiscing us. Even though you’re an ’actress’, you’ve always been a down-to-earth kind of girl. Kind, always give and rarely ask, and always helpful. You don’t think yourself as an ‘actress’. “Ah, I’m not that big,” you gushed. Well, if my face is on all over of magazine covers on inside, or being a host of a TV show, had TV series, and people recognize me and calling out my name, I’d consider myself a big thing. But you don’t mind coming down to our dinky little office just to wait for me writing up an article before we go out. You’d bring in some snacks for everybody in my office (and not to forget the cigarettes).

You’re not spoiled although you’ve stayed at 5-star hotels, you slept fine in my crampy, no air-con and no windows, rented room. You’re not a brat even though you’re not a stranger to super fine restaurants, you said your favorite food was the street food and yes, I’ve seen you pigging out at Roti Bakar Edi, young lady!

Some critics said that ‘I Love You, Man’ has a lot of awkward moments (such as when Sydney Fife’s character was doing the toast on Peter and Zooey’s engagement party). We have our share on awkwardness too. Remember that night when we and two other girl friends were club hopping and we’re doing ‘Truth or Dare’ thing in your car? The four of us were intoxicated and some of the ‘Dare’ answers were really shocking. There was a silent moment after somebody said something, then after five seconds, we all blurted out laughing.

I really miss you, Sis. I was able to talk to you a couple of times using your old cell phone number. But after you got married, you were gone. Couldn’t track you anymore. I bet you changed your cell phone number, and my emails were never replied. I Googled your name, it came back with your wedding news. I guess I’m not very good at spying or tracking somebody, I couldn’t find you; not even in Facebook!

So, wherever you are Mila Karmelia, please remember that I still have you listed as my only best friend and that will not to be expired any time at all. Even though my soul was removed to make room for sarcasm, you’ll always have your little spot. And please, anybody who would know her whereabout or her husband, Krisna Murti Wibowo, do let me know.

4 in the Morning

Jakarta, Indonesia, eight years ago.
Very late night, in my best friend Mila’s car.
We were just leaving Zanzibar, a club pretty well known in South Jakarta.
We were intoxicated, and hungry.
Sound system in Mila’s car was blarring, everybody in the car were competing with each other’s falsetto.
At two in the morning, Jakarta is still merry. As always.
Especially on Friday night like this.
We’re heading to Blok S area, still in South Jakarta, a place known for it’s super late night food vendors. 
We were craving nasi goreng (fried rice).

Jakarta, Indonesia, about the same year.
Just got done with deadline.
It was a special edition, our magazine’s 5 year anniversary.
At 4 in the morning, we were getting ready to partay.
Almost the whole crew were packed in 4 cars -a 1970s Volkswagen van, a 1990s Toyota Accord sedan, a Jeep Cherokee, and an old Holden- leaving for the 24hr McDonald’s at Thamrin, Central Jakarta.
Back then, it was still allowed to smoke inside the restaurant.
We’re celebrating everybody’s hard work by having a very late and high in cholesterol supper.

Ames, Iowa, US, fast forward to the present time.
In my car listening to Gwen Stefani’s 4 in the Morning.
It amazes me on how a specific song could take your memory back to a certain scene in your past life.
It’s actually because of the melody, not so much of the lyrics.

How I miss Jakarta…

Having Fun In The Flood

Been reading depressing news about Jakarta’s being flooded lately. It amazes me on how little action the government has done to deal with this. It’s not something new… it happens repeatedly in the rainy season. Can’t they do something? My sister emailed me that she’s out of work for a couple of day due to power outage. Hm… sounds familiar.

To make life a little less depressing (is it even possible?), I chose not to write how a pain in the butt flood is. Rather, I was thinking of the good times I’ve had playing in the flood. I was about 8 or 9 years old. Unlike in the US, most of Jakarta’s neighborhoods do not have big yards. The space between houses are so tiny, they don’t even exist. The houses were like conjoined twins. The street we lived on was not very wide; it has gutters on both sides. In the rainy season, especialy when it’s raining all day, the gutters will filled up and floods the street. That’s when the fun begins, he heh…

I like playing in the rain too. Left the house with an umbrella (mother insisted), but coming home soakin’ wet. I know it’s rather ungirly to play in the flood. Can’t help it. Even after my mom got mad at me again and again. When it rain hard and crreated flood, I’d put my shorts on, run to my elementary school building (the perfect place), and played in the flood with [mostly] the boys. My favorite thing was to wait for any car to drive by and creates ‘wave’. It’s basically just like bodysurfing, but instead of blue ocean water, it’s the flood. Gross… I know.

One day, my aunt came home early from work and saw me in the pool of mud at school. She scolded me in front of everybody, pulled my ear and dragged me home crying. Still, it doesn’t stop me of coming back playing in the flood. I don’t know exactly why i liked it so much. It’s dirty water with parasites and the likes, made my skin itch afterwards. But I got paid (about a penny back then) when I help pushing a car or motorcycle trapped in the flood. How cool is that?

“I’m only happy when it rains…” 

‘Dokter Kecil’ or Indonesia’s Little Doctor

Woke up this morning with this weird childhood song in my head. Then I found myself reminiscing the lyrics while still lying down on the bed -gathering my soul before jump into the shower. While scratching Max’s -my big puppy- ear, I sang the song I used to know when I was still in 5th or 6th grade.  This is not a traditional Indonesian children song. For some reason, I was almost certain that this song was more known among schoolchildren who were ‘Dokter Kecil’ or Little Doctor. It goes like this…

Aku anak sehat, tubuhku kuat
Karena ibuku rajin dan cermat
Semasa aku bayi, slalu diberi ASI
Makanan bergizi dan imunisasi

Berat badanku ditimbang slalu
Posyandu menunggu setiap waktu
Bila aku diare, ibu telah waspada
Pertolongan Oralit slalu siap sedia

I Google’d ‘Dokter Kecil’ and came up with this. I remember wearing funny white tops during the specific days I was serving. I remember being bossy telling my other friends or some 3rd graders on how to brush their teeth correctly. I remember falling asleep during the mini convention. I remember getting a certificate and was so proud to present it to my Mom. And now the Unicef made a feature article about it. Neat.

I wonder if that song that messed with my head was really a ‘Dokter Kecil’ song…