Fog

"Fog begins to form when water vapor condenses into tiny liquid water droplets in the air. Since water vapor is colorless, it is actually the small liquid water droplets that are condensed from it that make water suspended in the atmosphere visible in the form of fog or any other type of cloud." ~wikipedia.

I say, "it's a relieving breeze and beauty."

---
03:45 PM . February 06, 2010.
After four hours of raining.

Not Today...

It doesn't need any snow to make you freeze. I did and it wasn't even raining. It surely did cancel rays of light but I still had a visual. Yet, I froze. I stopped. I was hindered from my destination. Just for a while, yet hindered nonetheless.

It only takes a very cold morning that breezes through your bones, and a cemetery blanketed by the cautioning fog; that constantly reminds you, it could be any day for you to end up there.

I was still there by the graveyards. Astounded by the view, unwilling to move away as I had planned, I then told myself:

"Not today, mate! NOT TODAY. Maybe tomorrow, BUT not today!
I have lesson plans to finish and a bunch of students to teach."

Tangan Terampil

Karena plat nomorku yang belakang patah dan jatuh entah dimana, beberapa minggu yang lalu, aku putuskan untuk mengganti dan membuatkan baru di daerah kumpulnya para perajin plat nomor ngepos. aku sebut mereka 'perajin' karena setelah melihat bagaimana salah satu dari mereka menyelesaikan sepasang plat nomor buatku, kusimpulkan betapa trampilnya tangan mereka.

Tentu, koordinasi otak, tangan dan ketrampilan yang diperoleh melalui pengalaman jelas sangat mempengaruhi kecepatan dan kerapian kerjanya. Mereka 'rajin', yakni yang mencakup makna teliti, sabar, tetapi cekatan.

Dengan hanya dua puluh lima ribu rupiah, aku sudah bisa mendapatkan sepasang plat nomor yang sudah dirancang untuk diberi sekrup dari dalam dan langsung dipasangkan sekalian. sungguh, aku kagum tak lebih dari 30 menit mas ini dengan sangat terampil mengukur, memotong, memukul, menggilas, mengecat lalu jadilah sepasang plat nomor yang biasanya "taken for granted".

Teringat aku dulu waktu awal kuliah, dengan ketrampilan yang aku miliki mengajar bahasa inggris privat selama sembilan puluh menit dengan penghargaan sebesar dua puluh lima ribu rupiah pula. dan aku bangga. lihat mas ini! mungkin dengan berbekal lulusan sekolah menengah, dalam waktu sepertiga waktu yang kuhabiskan untuk mengajar, bisa memperoleh rejeki yang senilai. Luar biasa.

Dengan ketekunannya, penghayatan terhadap kerjanya, rasa syukur karena ketrampilan yang dimilikinya, aku terkagum dengan kegiatan mas ini. Lalu aku teringat dengan siswa-siswaku di gunung, mereka yang puas hanya dengan tuntas wajib belajar sembilan tahun, bercita-cita ke kota madya yogyakarta untuk mencari penghidupan. Akankah mereka mengikuti jejak mas perajin plat nomor ini? Bila aku begitu kagumnya pada mas ini, mengapa aku belum rela bila siswa-siswaku harus puas dengan ijazah SMPnya?

“ZUGUNRUHE” of 2010 C.E.

"When a change comes, some species feel the urge to migrate. They call it zugunruhe. A pull of the soul to a far-off place. Following a scent in the wind, a star in the sky. The ancient message comes, calling the kindred to take flight and gather together. Only then can they hope to survive the cruel season to come." ~Mohinder Suresh (HEROES. Chapter 5 "Hiros" Season #1.Eps.5)

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***

New Year, which is to some a new start of a period ahead - a new season, has brought about some changes, if not only one. "when a change come, some species feel the urge to migrate", says Dr. Suresh.

In one way or another, we, humans, migrate; move from one state of being onto another. We bring new resolutions to the surface, we plan new paths, we create new ways.. a new person.

"The ancient message comes, calling the kindred to take flight and gather together." Some with their friends, others with families. They unite, even for one moment, to answer to calling, being "pulled to a far-off place", to meditate on what they have done well and not.

Only then can we "hope to survive the cruel season to come".
Deep down we know, we always knew, that nothing is going to be easier. Deep down, we want things to be more challenging, more difficult; more "cruel".

That a new year actually is.
A head start to realize that nothing is going to be easier, that what to come is even cruel.
A moment to meditate on strategies to prevent ourselves from being extinct; of the fellowship that holds us together, of our friendship, of our families, or of anything that relates, that connects us to the world.

It has always been about survival; that is evolution all about.
Survive New Year everyone!

trying interesting features in my freshly plundered parrot.

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