Latte or capuccino?

Cappuccino (kiri) & Cafe Latte

Gara-gara ikutan "Morning Coffee Quiz" di MSN, saya jadi ingin bicara tentang kopi.

Bagi Anda yang pernah membaca tulisan-tulisan saya sebelumnya di blog ini, mungkin Anda sudah tahu akan kegemaran saya menikmati kopi. Kopi adalah dopping saya di kala bekerja atau di saat-saat suntuk atau bete. Bekerja tanpa kopi rasanya sulit karena saya tipe orang yang mudah mengantuk.

Belakangan kebiasaan saya minum kopi sedang dimanjakan sejak bos saya sering mengajak anak buahnya - termasuk saya, tentunya - untuk rapat di cafe atau coffee shop. Lumayan, saya jadi bisa menikmati kopi yang decent alias bukan minum kopi instan seperti yang sehari-hari saya lakukan.

Pilihan kopi yang sekarang jadi favorit adalah cafe latte, atau cafe au lait kalau orang Perancis bilang. Ini merupakan perubahan, setelah sebelumnya saya lebih suka memilih untuk mencecap cappuccino ketimbang cafe latte. Dulu rasanya cafe latte itu terlalu manis buat saya.

Tapi sejak sebulan terakhir kira-kira, saya jadi paham perbedaan antara cafe latte dan cappuccino, dan saya jadi lebih suka cafe latte. Karena dulu saya minum cappuccino a la Indocafe, tentunya versi cappuccino-nya sudah bukan orisinal. Begitu saya mencoba cappuccino yang asli, yang buatan cafe atau coffee shop, baru sadar saya bahwa cappuccino itu banyak memakai busa (frothed milk). Berhubung saya adalah seorang value consumer*, akhirnya saya pelan-pelan beralih ke cafe latte yang lebih banyak cairannya ketimbang cappuccino, dan masih mendapat efek adrenalin yang terpompa setelah meminum latte. Jadi, untuk harga yang lebih kurang sama dan isi gelas yang berbeda, tentunya saya akan pilih gelas yang isinya lebih lama habisnya ;)



*Sebagai value consumer, saya akan membeli barang untuk mendapatkan nilai dari barang yang saya beli. Jadi, jika memungkinkan, saya akan membeli barang yang harganya tidak terlalu mahal tapi saya tetap mendapatkan value yang tinggi dari barang tersebut).

A new phase

It has not dawned to me until the past couple of days that my sister is about to enter a new phase of life.

I’m not talking about her getting married. She is married. This is another phase of life I’m talking about: My sister is joining the workforce.

Yup. Yesterday she received a second call for interview from a law firm where she had sent her application. Based on the information my sister collected from her friends, she found out that getting a second call would mean that she got the job. And indeed, as she found out from the owner of the law firm himself, today, she did get the job.

To me and to my family, especially my parents, this is a big deal. We – my parents, mostly – have worried so much about the future of my sister. Of the two of us, my sister has become the child who raises much of my parents’ concern for almost all of her life. It’s not that she easily gets sick or anything. It’s just that we feel she’s so easy going about life, we fear that she would not take things in her life seriously. If you see my sister and me from my parents’ point of view, it will look like this: I’m the good person and she’s the bad one; I’m the one with the bright future, my sister’s future is hazy.

Of course, that’s an explanation too ferocious. The fact is, my sister turned out okay. She had gone to SMP and SMU Negeri (state junior and senior high school) which are considered favorite in my area, while we – her family – had worried that she would not be able to do so. In fact, she managed to be in the top three while she was in her second or third year during her senior high school years. That absolutely came as a surprise to us all; A nice surprise.

When it was time for her to enter the university, again the whole family was anxious. Through the period of studying for the SPMB (university entrance exam), my sister hadn’t managed to convince us that she was ready for it. Alhamdulillah, she passed the exam and got received at the Faculty of Law, Universitas Indonesia. That became another relief to us.

Through the course of time, I learn that my sister’s strength is in her perseverance to go through the ordeal. She may have made other people unconvinced with her nonchalant effort, but she consistently did all the practice or hard work needed and voìlá, she nailed the challenge. But of course, I believe that my parents’ prayer has played a big role too, to my sister’s success. There’s no way to deny it.

And today, as my sister got her first real job, one huge burden has been lifted off my parents’ shoulders, for sure. Let praise be to Allah.

Easier to get than to keep

As I was browsing my friends’ friendster account, I recalled somehow I may have neglected them in the past. Once I met a friend after some two years I hadn’t met her and she greeted me back with hesitation. I’d love to chit chat for a while but reading her body language, I knew the best thing I should do was vanishing.

Well, who else I’d blame rather than me. There was perhaps other better explanation for her reaction but for the time being, let it be a good lesson for me to value my friends.

Getting friends is always a lot easier than keeping them.

Daripada Pusing Mending...

"Wooii, pe er loe banyak, kok malah main-main?"

That's me. Tahu lagi banyak pe er, malah melakukan yang lain. Suka banget postpone kerjaan nih, saya! :P

Anyway, kalau weekend, instead of doing my homeworks (lihat tuh, sudah dalam bentuk jamak!), saya 'melarikan diri' dengan nonton tayangan-tayangan di cable tv. Favorit saya belakangan adalah nonton Amazing Race season 10 versi maraton yang ditayangkan AXN setiap Sabtu jam 11 - 14 WIB (go check your own local time). Seru banget! Apalagi sewaktu sudah sampai final four. Ada satu tim yang jadi common enemy di antara final four tersebut, dan nggak tahu apakah karena sudah banyak yang dizalimi oleh tim itu jadinya mereka (keduanya blondy ladies) nggak lolos ke putaran berikutnya.

The six packs. Itu 3 tim yang saya paling suka karena mereka mainnya relatif paling fair. Six pack terdiri dari sepasang suami-istri dari Kentucky (saya lupa nama mereka), terus kakak-adik Erwin & Godwin (the Cho brothers), plus the Bama sisters. Paling keren itu timnya Erwin & Godwin. Ckckck, salut deh sama mereka berdua. Kalau ada penghargaan untuk sportivitas, sepertinya mereka bakal jadi pemenangnya. Mereka nggak segan-segan untuk nunggu barisan six packs lainnya meskipun mereka sudah duluan menyelesaikan satu roadblock/tantangan. Mereka benar-benar pendukung strategi aliansi. Kata mereka sih, "We want to play games that make us feel better when we wake up the next morning."

Erwin (kiri) & Godwin Cho (kanan)

Sumber: CBS

Bagus sih, tapi ya gitu deh, kayaknya mereka terlalu baik untuk kompetisi yang sangat ketat seperti Amazing Race ini. Tapi, mereka benar-benar bisa bikin kita, orang Asia, bangga. Menang itu bukan segalanya, karena yang penting itu adalah prosesnya. Hebat.

Sidoarjo Mud

Natural wonder or disaster?