Tuesday, February 10, 2015

ask.fm FAQs

since there are quite a handful of people who asked the same questions over and over again, I decided to compile a few questions into one answer. Hope this helps!


COLLEGE/ACADEMIC-RELATED THINGS


http://ask.fm/azurasshi/answer/123706093533 (basic info)
http://ask.fm/azurasshi/answer/123289823197 (recommended International Relations books)


ANIME/MANGA REC-LIST


http://ask.fm/azurasshi/answer/123249054429

Favorite doramas/Japanese Movies (live-action):



  • Bloody Monday
  • Nobuta wo Produce
  • Kimi Ni Todoke
  • Gantz
  • Freeter, Ie O Kau
  • Bunny Drop
  • Stand Up!!
  • Yamada Taro Monogatari
  • My Boss My Hero
  • Ryuusei No Kizuna
  • Door to Door
  • Kuruma Isu de Boku wa Sore wo Tobu
  • Gantz (1&2)

LINE WEBTOONS (currently reading)


dr. Frost http://www.webtoons.com/episodeList?titleNo=371

UnTouchable http://www.webtoons.com/episodeList?titleNo=79
Subtle Disaster http://www.webtoons.com/episodeList?titleNo=350
Kids Are Alright http://www.webtoons.com/episodeList?titleNo=283
New Normal: Class 8 http://www.webtoons.com/episodeList?titleNo=100
10th Dimension Boys http://www.webtoons.com/episodeList?titleNo=71


KPOP STUFF


1. Bias List:



  • G-Dragon (Big Bang)
  • Taehyung/V (BTS)
  • Namtae (Winner)
  • Jongin & Kyungsoo (EXO)
  • Minzy (2NE1)
  • Eunji (Apink)

2. Favorite Groups:
  • BTS
  • Big Bang
  • Winner
  • EXO
  • 2NE1
  • Apink
  • Vocal wise: SPICA
(and no, I'm not into girl groups so if I didn't mention them here then don't ask me about them)

3. OTPs:
  • Kaisoo
  • Chansoo (kind of)
  • Taejin (brotp thx)

4. K-drama:
I don't watch k-dramas a lot, my faves are only Full House and I Hear Your Voice, but I'm looking forward to watch Pinocchio and It's Okay It's Love when I have the time.


5. FAVORITE SHOWS/SERIALS



6. BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS 

so I think that's that... if there's more I'd probably update this post but then again I don't think most anons bothered reading the FAQs anyway HAHAHAHA.

Until then, adios!

Saturday, February 7, 2015

About Moving On and Out

Hello. This would be my first post in 2015, I think... I've abandoned this blog longer than I should. Hehehe.
There's this thing I like to do, that I don't share with anyone else:
I like writing letters.
To whom, you might ask.
Well, I write letters mostly to the people I'm no longer able to meet in person. Some of them have literally gone out of this world, while some others are simply moving on with their lives without including me in their future; and vice versa.
Writing letters help me cope with things. 
Lately I've been writing to Afham, my little brother who passed away sometime in 2013.

And so, tonight, allow me to write another letter to him. It's been a while since I did.


***

Dear Afham,
It's been a while since I wrote you a letter, isn't it? I'm sorry, I've been too occupied with life.  It’s been quite exciting and depressing lately – and it feels more horrible without you around, and missing you makes it worse, but then again I'll cope. Just like I did with the other people I'm losing in my life.
How are you up there?
I hope you're doing fine. Psh, who am I kidding… of course you're fine. You're no longer feeling any pain, and no one will scold you for eating too much. And I bet you're smiling all the time because you got the chance to be taken care by a bunch of angels who probably look similar to your favorite SNSD ladies, huh?

Anyway, dek...
It's February 8th, 3.24 AM. Just a heads up, honey, for I haven't written anything to you in a while... we're moving out.
It's weird and kind of sad in a way, though – because we're moving out of the house you spent your entire life in to the house that's initially built for you. Dad even designed the spacious living room to allow you to run around and play hide and seek without bumping into things. He made a swimming pool, too – because you’ve always loved swimming and the only option available was to put you in a plastic swimming pool because you’re still a kid and he didn’t trust any of us to take you swimming in an actual swimming pool.

You know what, Pem?
I remember this particular conversation I had with Mom months ago, when the house hasn’t quite finished yet.
“I think I’ll be a bit sad when we move out, mbak”, Mom said, her eyes soften as she saw your pictures on the table.
“And why is that, Mom? You’ve never really liked living in this house anyway, the design is weird and the owner is not the most pleasant family in the world”, I replied back, earning a chuckle from her.
“It’s not really about the house, mbak… but Apem was brought to this house a few days after he was born and he continued to live here until the day he died. So I don’t know, I feel like we’re not only leaving the house but also leaving him in here…”, she trailed off, and I remember seeing her wiping her tears.
Now you know how Mom had always been a religious person, do you? She was the first to smile during the first days after you died, and honestly if it wasn’t because of her being so tough and cheerful I probably wouldn’t have moved on this much from your death. She’s never been too mellow about your death, Pem. She prefers to talk about your cute antics and laugh at them instead of talking about the last days she spent with you or the day she waited up for you at the hospital all night before you died.
“That’s ridiculous Mom, you know he’s not here anymore.”
I remember chuckling a little at her for that, because I can’t believe that Mom can be so sappy. Her being sad doesn’t make any sense to me – you’re no longer here, and we’re going to move into a better house soon, what’s there to be sad about?

But you see, here I am, sitting on the bed, with clothes and other stuff scattered around me, realizing that she was right.
It feels kind of sad and I feel like I lost a piece of myself.
I spent the last two days moving and packing things into boxes and bags, and somehow I keep seeing you in the near-empty bedrooms. Somehow I saw you there crawling near the mirror and in my bed, fiddling with whatever toys I gave you to keep you calm.
Somehow what she said slowly sinks in.
It feels like I’m leaving you here – which is funny, because the fact is the other way around.

I think the hardest part about moving out are the lingered memories left in the small corners of every room; the what ifs and could-have-beens, the regrets about so little time we spent doing what we should have done.
But I also know that the happiest part about moving out is leaving those lingered memories behind and try to create the new ones at the new home.
So let me be a bit sad for tonight, Afham sayang.
Let me reminisce about you for a while before I finally leave for good.


P.S.:
Mom named the new house after you. And also she kind of forced the architect to write your name on the floor of the swimming pool. A bit too corny to my liking, but hey – I’ll go with whatever makes her smile. We both know she have endured too much and she deserves to be happy.
Attached below is a glimpse of the sight from our new home. Wish you were here to enjoy it with us.







Tons of love,
Azrina



Monday, December 1, 2014

To My Very Own 10, You Know Who You Are

Hi, 10.

You know, this whole thing is actually pretty funny.

I’ve been deactivating my account for the past 2 weeks, and a few nights ago I kind of missed it so I went back online for a few minutes – and then it dawned on me that I haven’t been talking to you for more than a month, and I’ve been missing you like hell – and so I went to your account, thinking that I won’t find anything new because that’s how you always treat your social media accounts – you left them to dust. I figured that it was a really coward move, but I’m not ready to say hi to you again, not when I’m still suffocated by all the feels I feel towards you – but then not talking to you kills me, and I just wanted to know if you’re okay.
But you see, here’s the funny thing about fate: it toys with you when you least expect it.
Turns out, there’s a new answer I haven’t seen since the last time I went to your page (which was a few months ago, if I remembered correctly).
You don’t mention any name. In fact, I probably shouldn’t think it’s for me. It was a really short passage, and I feel myself trembling as I proceeded to read the whole answer.
No, no, no, no you got it all wrong, the voice in my head says. This isn’t how it supposed to be. This isn’t how I want this to end. This isn’t how I want you to feel.

You are not supposed to say sorry.
I never wanted you to feel sorry because for the most part, my feelings are NOT your responsibility. I never expect you to take care of them. They are MY responsibility, and my feelings towards you aren’t something I expect you to handle.  
Throughout the past 6 years of being emotionally invested in you, I know well that my feelings are never going to be reciprocated. So you should just… chill. This whole thing isn’t your fault, and it never going to be yours.
It sparks so many emotions within me – I feel like punching you and hug you at the same time. Even after I left you with a vague (in my defense, it was pretty clear but my friends don’t think so) message, and after a few weeks not talking to each other – you still got me.

“Sometimes I reach my phone, spontaneously typing to tell you a joke or just letting you know some random stuff. But I stopped shortly after - realizing it won't reach you anymore”, you wrote, and I bawled right at the end of the sentence because I remember a few nights before this – that particular night I spent at Ei’s library in Bandung – crying over three things, and one of them is you. One of them is the fact that I have been, and still am struggling SO HARD to not tell you a bit of my life like I always do. And it pains me. That is the kind of pain that’s never going to heal – at least not in a long time. For the past 6 years, you have been a part of my normalcy – my routine – that ripping that away feels like ripping a part of my body.
I cried at the truth in your sentence – that whatever you sent me isn’t going to reach me anymore because I blocked you. It was not an act out of hatred, but it’s more of an act out of despair – because I hate how easy it was for me to rely on you; to think that you’re the one who can get me out of this misery even when I know very well that you’re also the cause of this misery.
I remember the first time I did that. I was mad at you for something I can’t even remember. I was so, so mad, that I felt the need to not seeing your messages because whatever you say will make me angry. And I don’t like myself when I’m angry at you, so I did that. I blocked you for 3 days, and the next day you texted me asking if I were okay. I was on my way to campus and I almost cried because as much as you’re hurting me, you always come back and pick me up again, making sure that I’m okay.

“Reading back our chat logs I was once again reminded of how cold I've been sometimes. I am sorry”, was the next sentence that you wrote.
This is the part where I want to rip my head off because you finally realized that you are indeed, a very cold person – and it often annoys me because I’ve spent years dealing with your impatience and stubbornness and yet your coldness doesn’t seem to melt even for me.
I am sorry.
Those words ringed through me and I hate that you feel the need to say sorry.
You are NOT supposed to feel sorry because it was never your fault on the first place.
How could it be your fault when I was the one who decided to leave?
How could it be your fault when I was the one with the overflowing feelings?
How could it be your fault I was the one who promised you that I’ll always be there for you, that I got your back; and yet I was the one who didn’t keep my own words?
It was never your fault. And it never is.
I wish there’s a way that you could read this. I want so much for you to know that this isn’t your fault, that I never blame you, and that I wish you nothing but happiness.
I hate that I consider you as my best friend – one of the best I’ve ever had – but I was the one who ruined our friendship. I hate that whenever I talk about “best friend”, your face was the first one that popped into my mind and it automatically put a smile on my face because it’s true. You are my best friend and I’m grateful to have you, but these damn feelings are too much to handle.
I am sorry for making you think that you could trust me – that I’d never leave; that I’d always be that person who you can tell everything without thinking twice. I’m sorry for doing the exact opposite of what a good best friend should do.

“Goodbye is hard for me but I know it will be harder for you otherwise. I'm not good with words but this much I can say. I will miss you.
This was your last passage.
But it will be harder for you otherwise, you wrote, but honey, no: that’s where you got me wrong.
It is as hard for me as it is for you. Goodbye was never easy. Even when I seem like I enjoy my life after I spoke to you for the last time, that doesn’t make it less hard. I woke up every damn day trying not to vanish into thin air or losing any piece of myself because it was never easy without you around. You are my normalcy, I told you that – and normalcy gives you strength. Taking normalcy away from someone means you’re taking one of their senses – that’s how badly goodbye affects me.
I’m not good with words, you wrote, but I’ve cried over your words for 30 minutes before I (forced myself to) pass out because I had a busy day ahead.
I will miss you, you wrote, and I can only nod at that.
I will, too. And I would probably never stop doing that because all my life, the love I feel towards you is the strongest kind I ever felt outside of loving my family. And it scares me, but I am always grateful for that because it taught me a lot of things, and above all: it brought me to you.

I hope the sun shines one day and we get the chance to meet again, and hopefully when that day comes, we have grown into a better person. 

I told you last time that I needed a time out, and I look forward to the day where we see each other without a tiny bit of anger because I am dying to say this to you:

time out doesn't last forever.

And so, until that day arrives, 

take care.

I love you, and I always will, and please do remember that I wish you all the happiness in the world.
Always.

 P.S.: 
I'm sorry that I have to put this out publicly, because I don't know how to reach you. Funny how 6 years of friendship leaves me a little to no option when it comes to communicating with you, huh?


Monday, November 17, 2014

A random 2.51 AM thought (another open letter for you)



You don't know this now but there's some things that need to be said
And it's all that I can hear, It's more than I can bare


What if I fall and hurt myself?

Would you know how to fix me

What if I went and lost myself?
Would you know where to find me
If I forgot who I am, 
Would you please remind me?
Cause without you things go hazy



It's been raining a lot these past few days.
How are you?
If I wasn't such a trainwreck I'd probably tell you about these dreams I've been having lately.
They're nothing big, though. Those dreams mostly consist of me talking to you. I guess I miss you that much.
I don't know if you ever read this but thank you for the comfortable silence. Now that I'm detaching myself from you, I lose that kind of privilege. Silence has never been comfortable anymore without you around. 
Silence keeps reminding me that pushing you away will always be something I regret.
I hope I can bring myself to a better place by doing that. And I hope you can do that to yourself too.

Looking back I realize that I'd never have to worry about myself with you. Because you break my fall every time. You take care of me in ways nobody ever could. You're such a good best friend that it hurts to keep you in the dark.

...But I do realize that what we have (or had), isn't something healthy. While it's fun and comfortable, I depend myself on you too much. You're not supposed to be my everything, but I made you and it's terrifying because I need to stand on my own two feet. With you always around, I'd always seek for your help. And eventually I know it's going to be tiring for you, so for now I'm taking a step back.

And with that being said,
I'm sorry for not being there these days and leaving abruptly. I'm sorry for always being that troubling best friend that you have to pick up along the way and halt your journey. I hope we can see each other in a better light someday.

But until then, please take care. Or find somebody who will. You deserve one.


P.S.:
I stopped reading manga and watching anime because all those series remind me of you. And it sucks because all I want to do was to text you about them whenever someone updates me about those series.
But it's fine, I deserve that.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

The Worst Kind of Break-Up is The One Happened with Your Bestfriend

Hi.
I don't know if this was going to be an open-for-public kind of letter or simply just a plain, random rant, but these days haven't been easy on me although it might seem so.


I want to tell you
about how my eyesight got worse
and my trip to the optic makes me more worried of going blind
I know you'd probably just shrug it off saying I didn't make sense
and come to think of it, you'd be right. Again.
I never made any sense.

I want to show you this awesome video that I accidentally saw last night
and spending a few minutes gushing over how nice it is
I know you'd probably just reply with a hum
or an insignificant word
but as always, I'll be content with any kind of reply.

I want to tell you
about my new favorite song
or how I didn't sleep at all last night
because I was too busy thinking back and forth
about going back to the familiarity that involves silent car rides and foreign songs that I'm not familiar with

I want to tell you that I woke up too early last Saturday
and the first thing I heard was your favorite song
because apparently it was my sister's favorite as well


I want to say I'm sorry that this poem sucks like hell
because I've never wanted to make it beautiful
the only thing I wanted was to be honest
because they said honesty is the best policy
but right now it suffocates me instead 



So that's pretty much it.
It sucks, and if you happened to read it you'd probably going to laugh your ass off over that -whatever that is- that I wrote. That's fine, go ahead. At this rate I would take people laughing at me for being honest instead of being admired for lying.

...which is funny, because you see, for the past few weeks, I've been honest to everyone else but you.
I lied to you that morning when I sent you that message - to which you replied so sweetly that it clenched my heart.
I told you I need a time out. From people.
What I didn't tell you was I need a time out from you.
Because everything starts to suffocate me.
Because suddenly you're overwhelming - and everything you said becomes overwhelming as well.

I'm tired. I'm tired of letting my world revolves around you - because that was never my plan. I never intended to have my world revolves around anyone - not even myself. But all these years, all I did was the opposite.
I'm tired of caring too much about your well-being, that I often forget to care about mine.
I'm tired of being worried; of wanting to take care of you all the time because I know I can't cross that line.
I'm tired of pretending that we're okay, because we're not.
You are, but I'm not.

It's only been 9 days and I already feel like shit.
Compared to the -almost- 6 years we've spent together being friends, 9 days are just baby steps.

I don't know if I will ever get through everything without talking to you, but I have to.
You wreck me, over and over again, and it will take a long time to fix me up.
So for the meantime, I'm just doing myself a bigger favor than yours:
I'm staying away from the hammer.

So tell me,
does it feel like a goodbye to you?
Because to me, it does.
That's why I told you those things in my message. Because I don't know if I'll be able to say it again in the near future.

Someday I'll genuinely say hi again to you, with a big grin plastered on my face and with no butterflies in my tummy.

Until then, please take care.




Wednesday, September 17, 2014

"That breeze September night..."

I know, I know.
I suck at keeping promises.
I suck at commitments, but hey, what's new?

*shrugs*

I've been doing a lot of pondering session these past few months; mostly to figure out where the hell should I go from here.
I haven't exactly finished my S1 yet, but the future is looming and it's time for me to face it.
Yesterday, I received a news that an old friend had gotten into Leiden University. I almost cried because I know how much it means to her; getting into Leiden University had been her longtime dream; probably longer than I know her. And she's not having it easy either; she took one of the most under-estimated majors in the country, proceed to graduate and working a few jobs that didn't really fit her before the acceptance later came in.
And I'm so, so proud of being her friend.

...and yes, that takes me to the question: will I achieve her level?

Will I get into Melbourne University with my own efforts?
Will I finally able to figure out my path?

You know,
I'm used to people look at me and say,"you'll have great things in store for you."
But never once I believe what they said simply because I feel like I haven't learned much of anything. I love to learn, but the thought of having to pass an exam just to prove the things I've learned doesn't really suit me. Writing a long-ass & painful research just to prove that I've learned this much suffocates me, and I wonder where can I learn things without having to write papers and taking exams just to prove that yes, I've learned all of those and I understood.

All of this future business is too confusing.
I see people my age has reached much, much higher levels and I don't know if I could.
I have my set of dreams, of course, but I never dream big because truthfully, I don't aim for greatness.
I aim for happiness and self-contentment.

It seems a lot more simpler than other people's great ambitions, but I find it harder to fulfill, more than anything else...


Monday, July 14, 2014

To Someone Who Will Never Celebrate Birthdays Anymore



Hello.
It's been a week since I last posted something here, and to be quite honest, I haven't really been well myself.
A few weeks ago was my little brother's 1st death anniversary, and it takes all of my energy to not be sad, which is hard and tiring. I miss him so much and it sucks because he can't go down there and I can't go up there without being burn in hell first, so yeah.

Anyway, eversince he died, I've been keeping this journal to alter my sadness. The rule was simple: for everytime I get sad or miss him too much, I'd write. 
The journal was very personal. I never mentioned its existence even to my closest friends, and none of the entries had ever published anywhere.

It's 2 hours to his supposedly 3rd birthday, if he was still alive, and I decided that I should probably write something from my journal because I know I have to vent out.

This following article was taken from my first post that I wrote 5 days after he died.
I remember crying and shaking so much when I wrote this; I had to stop several times because my handwriting got too messy to be read. But I finished it anyway, and I'm proud of that because that was my first sign of coping with his death.


Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013

What hurts the most when you lost a loved one?
Is it your heart? Is it your eyes, blood-shot red after too much crying?
No. It's your soul; one that washed up with regrets - that was the first hardest thing you have to go through after you lost a loved one.

It' been 8 days since my little brother passed away, and I still can't shake myself off of my regrets. 
The regrets. The tears. The never-ending what-ifs.
I wake up every morning longing to hear the door got slammed by his scooter bike followed by his random ramblings in baby language to wake me up, but I know that won't happen anymore.
He was almost 2 years when he died.
Funny how in such a short time, you feel like part of you was taken away the day he died.
He can't even talk yet. He hasn't walk yet either, and he's too quiet for a kid his age.
And yet, he's an angel. To all of us. To me, who doesn't like being around kids that much.
Before he died, he spent his last night being healthy in my room.
I remember it very clearly, he was sick and he couldn't sleep well.
He woke at 2 AM and played with me, laying awake until 3 AM.
That was the last hour I held him alive and had I known he'd die in less than 48 hours after, I'd probably hug him tighter.

It is hard. I last saw him alive at 5 PM on Tuesday, and he died at 2.30 AM on Wednesday. 

I wasn't there during his last hours.
I kinda relieved and feeling sorry about it, but then again, he won't be coming back.

Aside from the regrets, the second hardest thing after he died was to kiss him for the last time.
Had he only been sleeping, I'd bite his cheeks; just the way I used to do when he sleeps.
I like how warm and soft his cheeks were, like they were made to assure you that life can be tough but it will always be okay as long as I can bite into his puffy cheeks.
On that particular last time though, all I felt was coldness. Gone are the warmth and the softness; the tint of pink that was always around back when his life hasn't gone yet.
I kissed his whole face goodbye, wondering when will I be able to kiss him like that again.

I didn't attend his funeral.
I just couldn't stand the view of an angel being buried deep in the ground when he should've been here, next to me, making my life less-painful and gloomy.


The third hardest thing after he died was the first night without him.
It was painful.
I cried all night in shock because I can't believe that it's been only 2 days ago I held him close on the very same bed, and he was still alive and breathing and warm and comforting as always.
I remember falling asleep not because I can, but because I'm too tired of crying.
I remember crying and gurgling like a baby because oh God he was here 2 days ago. In my arms. Alive.

But here's the thing:
I finally came to his grave last week, and as I walked away I promised myself that I won't be crying too much anymore.
I'm sure as hell he's already happy up there, and down here, we should be too.

See you some time later in the future,
Afham Senoputera Azrian.

I know you're listening and watching, so let me say this to you:
We'll never stop loving you.
And also, we'll be fine. We will. Probably not soon enough, but we will. :)


...and yet here I am, a sobbing mess as I typed in these words.
Here I am breaking my promise to him.
Here I am looking back on the last few weeks I spent crying on him.
Here's your sister being a wimpy crybaby, Afham.

To be honest, going to his grave is still the hardest thing to do every Saturday morning.
It ruins me. I never talk to him like my family did everytime we're visiting him.
I rarely show any sign of sadness everytime they talk about him. 
Not because I don't feel it anymore, but because I feel it a lot that I'm afraid it will flood everything and swallows the wall of resistance I've been building these past 12 months.

But hey, I'll be fine sooner or later.

And lastly, here's a little poem for you, Afham.
It's not written by me, but it's pretty much depicting how I feel about you nowadays.


(picture taken from here)

Happy 3rd birthday, Afham sayang.
I hope They serve better cake and throw you a much better party than the one we threw down here a year ago.

infinite love and hugs,
Azrina