Anticlimax after the Hustle and Bustle of Christmas Prep

This morning, December 25, I woke up very late, felt so tired after the performance with the choir on Christmas Eve Mass. But I had to wake up after all, to help my nephew getting ready for the children mass at 7.30am. Then Mom told me about her plan to visit Dad's grave after the mass. Okay, count me in, I said to her. Shortly after that, my brother who stayed for Christmas weekend told me his plan to go back home for a short time, to see whether everything's all right. Okay...so, the whole plan for the day was (1) visiting Dad's grave; (2) go to my brother's home.

We finally came home at 3pm, after did those two original plans above, plus picked up my brother's wife at her parents' house. At home, I checked the Blackberry my office gave for my use and saw there were two messages. At once, my feeling became very dark. Okay, I know that the project division in my office has no holiday at all. But they should know that I'm in the finance department and is in holiday till January 3. I had wasted the first day of my holiday to go to the office and did some work to help them. Still several messages came in asking about this and that, that already out of my power to make it work. So, finally, clearly (and I hope politely) I said that of my opinion to the sender. That I had done my job in accordance with the standard procedure, and everything should be ok normally. Then, I shut the Blackberry and went to sleep with bad mood.

Woke up this evening, I went straightly online and checked my emails. There were so many emails from an astrology website. Recently, I ignored them....straightly deleted them without open and read it. This time, because I didn't see anyone interesting to be poked (hihihi.....!), I read each of them. And....there, one of them was so fit with my feeling this afternoon :

Here is your Daily AstroSlam for Friday, December 25

Duh! It's Christmas day. Why'd you go into work? You're so clueless; you forgot you had the day off. Now that you're out and about, why not do something nice for the poor, pathetic souls begging in the street? You may redeem this day after all.

Okay, I may overlook the two last sentences...hehehe.... But, the previous sentences were quite true. This is after all my day-offs. I have the right to ignore my work, and I don't have to feel bad to point that out to my colleagues.

 

Ok, now, I'd better act nice towards my nephew who had to step aside waiting for me finished writing this...hehehe... He wants to stay awake and watch HOME ALONE 3 at 8pm, which I doubted very much about his ability to wait till that time...hihihi....he's already asleep!!

 

The New Things on Christmas Eve Choir 2009

Almost every Christmas since year 1989, I has always joined a church choir for Christmas Eve Mass. There were so many songs I've learned and known ever since. The classic songs, the popular ones....and of course the regular catholic church songs. Each year, we tried to perform something new, so the choir members won't feel bored have to learn the same every year. This year, however, would be much more unique......I hope, hehehe....

As usual, we had searched and compiling Christmas songs since September. Ideally, the choir should start the prep on October. But this year we had so many engagements for wedding choir, that we decided to concentrate all October for it, while some of us kept on preparing the songs for Christmas. At first, our Coach wanted us to perform two gospel songs, one based on a popular Christmas song: Go, Tell It on the Mountains but using a new composition in swing rhythm. The other one is Jesus, Oh What a Wonderful Child, a fully gospel song. These two songs had caused me a big headache, because I had to translate the partiturs from those tiny dots of notes into numbering notes familiar to the entire members of my choir.

I hadn't finished translating the first two songs, when the Choir Coordinator told me that there would be three more songs needed to be translated. Yikes!!! I didn't have anymore energy, nor time!!! I said. So, in the end, I got help in translating all of those songs....not just the new ones, but also the old ones...hehehe...

Finally, on November the choir could begin the rehearsal. We practised 2-3 times a week to catch up with all of those new songs in a very limited time available. At the final rehearsal last Tuesday, we summed the songs we had to sing tonight. Let's see....there are three songs in old English style (and we have to pronounce it just like the old english way!!!), several classic songs interprated in Indonesian language, a gregorian song with its Latin words, and two gospel songs....hahahaha.....what a mixed up!!!! It should be interesting to know what the congregation think about it....hahahaha...!

Have a very merry Christmas wherever you are!!!

New Job, New Life, New Month

For so long time, I had tried to find myself a new job. The original plan I had wasn't included to hold on one company more than 5 years. Instead, I stayed in the same company and position for more than 13 years!

Everytime I fail in landed myself to a new job, I said to myself that maybe God wanted me for a different role. And yes, there were actually something happened that in the end made me thankful for still staying in my old position. For several years, the biggest reason for me not thought seriously about my failure was my Dad's health.

My Dad was quite elderly and for a very long time suffered a mixed up illness. For some years back, he had to be hospitalized at least once a year for two till four weeks because of his illness. During his stays in the hospital, usually I was the one who was able to take an unlimited leave from work to help Mom taking care my nephew and the household. Why? Maybe because I was the senior at the office, or maybe because my boss was very kind...hehehe...or maybe both. During these leaves, usually I only came to work in the mornings after delivered my nephew to his school, then picked him up after school and stayed at home to supervise his study. Somehow I accepted that there was no way to pursue a new job if the situation would still the same. Because only by staying with the old company, I could help Mom, taking over some of her work so she could concentrate in caring Dad at the hospital.

That's why I was so surprised when on October 29, after a short interview in the morning, someone called me just an hour before the closing time that I was accepted as a new employee at her company. And they even didn't negotiate my asking salary! I asked Mom's opinion, because once I accepted this position, there would be hardly any chance to help her if there was an emergency with Dad. Mom, blessed her, told me to go ahead and accept that new job. So, I called the new office and told them that I was ready to start on December 1. Entering November, I still couldn't stop thinking what it is about my suddenly fortune.

Two weeks before November ended, my worried thought was proven. Once again, for the fifth time in this year, Dad had to be admitted to the hospital again. This time, his illness was very bad that necesitated Mom to be by his side 24 hours a day. But Mom insisted to try relieving me from my usual tasks in emergency situations, while I was still at my old job. It was for adjusting us all in the near future after I moved to the new job, she said. Sadly, this was really Dad's time to leave us behind. He passed away on November 27, 2009, at 9.45pm. And I remembered what I had thought at the first time I heard the news from my sister.....so, that's what it meant with all of my luck I got on last October.

So, I started the new month of December 2009 with a new job altogether a new life in front of me. So beautifully fit, but also so frightening.......

My unique way to celebrate The Youth Pledge

Okay, I know.....it's waaaayyyyyyy too late to write about this. But then....better late than never, isn't it...hehehehe....

The Youth Pledge (Indonesian: Sumpah Pemuda), was a declaration made on 28 October 1928 by young Indonesian nationalists at a conference in the then-Dutch East Indies. They proclaimed three ideals, one motherland, one nation and one language.

This year, as a tribute to the Pledge, precisely on Oct 28, first thing in the morning I put up this status on my Facebook:

28 Oktober......Khusus dalam satu hari ini, marilah kita menggunakan bahasa Indonesia yang baik dan benar, lengkap dengan pola S-P-O-K-nya!

In simple English:

Special during this day, let's use the good and proper Indonesian language, complete with its perfect grammar!

So, since the minute after I published the status above, I chatted with my online friends using the proper Indonesian. No matter that they wrote to me using our usual dialect or slang, I responded to each of them using the proper Indonesian. My original plan was using it for the whole day, 24hr....after all, I only used it online, face to face conversation wasn't included.....how hard it was, I thought....hahaha...I had found the answer sooner before the lunch time arrived.....hehehe...

At 3.47pm, I changed my Facebook status and put up this message:

quitted early in using a proper Bahasa Indonesia today...hehehe...capeeeee deeeeehhh...too stiff, too formal, too un-emotional!! Wait for my complete description about it...hahaha....

See, at first I quite enjoyed flaunting my skill in using the proper Indonesian language. But after an hour responding to my friends' chat, I became exhausted. I couldn't express my feeling in each sentence. All my conversation looked like a scientific report, very dry...but not crispy....hehehe... Each time I wrote to my friends, I felt like have to hold my feelings very tight inside. But I tried to hold on..... During lunch hour, I was offline (thank God!...hehehe....) Then, when I was back online after 3pm, I chatted with one friend, and at the same time decided to let go my original intention....hence my new Facebook status on 3.47pm....hahaha... It was so relieved to be able to express my feeling freely, using any words come in my mind, disregard any grammar...as long as my chat partner understand what I'm talking about.

So, it is true what I thought all of this time. The proper Indonesian language is only fit to be used in a formal conversation between totally strangers or scientific reports. It doesn't mean that I don't love using Indonesian language. After all, how I could know which one is the proper and which one is mixed with a local dialect if I never learn and understand Indonesian language quite deeply? Furthermore, it is the official language for Indonesian citizens, and I am one of its citizens. So....long life Indonesia! Saya bangga ber-Bahasa Indonesia!

Two Weddings and a Mass Service: The story of 6hrs singing marathon on October 25

The first time when our choir coordinator asked my opinion about receiving both or choose only one of two wedding assignments for October 25, I didn't hesitated at all. I said to accept both assignments. Why?

Firstly, there was enough time between two assignments, although the place where each wedding was held was different, but the distance also not so far

Another reason, in each wedding, our choir have a close connection in the past. In one couple, the bride was one of ours once. In the other, it's the sister of the groom who was our member. 

The trouble was, at the same day, our choir also had a routine service for Sunday afternoon Mass. But, still I thought our choir could handle it. There's barely any difficult new songs, either for the two weddings or the Mass. As a songs coordinator, I could choose and arrange so the songs were quite simple and not too many for the three functions altogether. So, it would be no big deal at all, except that it would need a big amount of practices and commitment.

When it was finally presented to all of choir members, there was no strong opposition. Yes, there was quite a big shock and unbelief, but they accepted it...I think....hehehe...! So, the tight practices schedule was arranged and conducted. At the beginning of our intensive rehearsal, I heard some cynical opinion about our audacity in taking such many tasks in one day, that we should take a closer look about the choir's capability before accepted those events. Still, when a friend asked me about that, I remained in my opinion: we could handle it, maybe not easily, but certainly it was within our reach. That we only needed a discipline and a big teamwork. So, our practices went on as scheduled......until two weeks before our big time.....

It was the time to confirm everything, the organ player(s), the time schedule...everything. The first big shock was that the first wedding ceremony was in fact an hour later than our received schedule. It provided us less time to move to the other church and perform our next assignment. Then came the next worry....turned out we only had one musician for the three events, instead of ideally two persons. It meant we had to time everything carefully, so our only one musician had enough time to be ready mentally and physically from first event to the second one. But, what can we do.....we had said yes! So, there was nothing else to do than forward....!

So, our big dreaded time, the October 25, was coming. It was started with quite a bang at 12 o'clock, as the song-books carrier came way too late than the time we'd agreed on and made our Conductor in a bad mood. Thank God, we the singers was quite offhanded about that...hehehe...we just did our best as far as we could. And more luck on us, the first wedding ceremony was quick enough..... At 01.30pm, we had been on the way to the next assignment, 10 minutes from the first church. The traffic was quite smooth, so we also had a time for a quick lunch and a short re-warming-up. Precisely at 2pm, our second wedding ceremony began. And it went on for an hour. By which time, several of us had felt so hot and thirsty, that all we thought was how refreshing is Es Teler...hahaha... So, after the ceremony was over, several of us decided to spend the remaining time enjoying the cold Indonesian drink at a close-by mall, then hurried back to the first church and got ready to perform the routine task for the afternoon Sunday Mass. And there we went...sang again....started on 5pm till 6.30pm. After the closing song finished, we applauded ourselves...hurray, finally we did it!!!

When I think about that day, I am really proud of my choir. Although we all were so tired and weary, we still could sing with all of our heart. The best moment for me is when we sang the Ave Maria by Giulio Caccini. We had sung this song several times in wedding ceremonies, but it was the first time we performed it for a Sunday Mass. For me, the performance that day was the best compared to the other times we sang it. I guess we were so tired, that we just followed every direction from our Conductor, no question, no objection....hahaha.... Furthermore, my personal ambition was 100% fulfilled that day.....the choir had performed the Ave Maria by Giulio Caccini, before the other choirs did the same and we did it very well, too....hahaha... It would be very difficult to get over us....hahaha....very confidence of me, aren't I? hahaha...