I thought having a place on my own would free me from all the hassles related to a place to live. Turned out, it's not.

Rewind: (unless you read Reader's Digest Indonesia a couple years ago hehe) Between 2000-2005 I was in an endless quest to find a good place to live and moved not less than 10 times. Why? Not because I was picky (as my father said, "yang paling enak emang cuma di rumah orang tua." Cih) or a troublemaker. Blame it on Sutiyoso for failing to provide decent and affordable housing/apartments.

Here's the list of the places I've been in:

1. A rented room on Jl. Hang Lekir, South Jakarta.
Reason for staying: Proximity to office, monthly fee (Rp500,000 shared with a roommate) that matched rookie reporter's salary.
Reason for leaving: Constant masuk angin due to rectangular-hole-covered-only-with-mosquito net disguised as window, and depression due to constantly watching landladies a.k.a. a group of spinsters (no pun intended) sibling who watched TV all day.

2. A rented room on Jl. Hang Tuah.
Reason for staying: Proximity to office, same price as#1 yet more spacious.
Reason for leaving: The house got dirtier and dirtier, with cat poops all over the place.

3. Another rented room on Jl. Hang Lekir.
Reason for staying: Proximity to office, couldn't find better place.
Reason for leaving: Curfew, nosy and grumpy landlady.

4. A rented pavillion somewhere on Jl. Radio Dalam, with roommate#1.
Reason for staying: No landlady, bigger space with pantry, living room, and bathroom, only for Rp750,000.
Reason for leaving: Another roommate moved in, it got too crowded.

5. A rented room on Jl. Cikini.
Reason for staying: Desperate to move, recommendation from a friend.
Reason for leaving: A bit far from office, too many rats!!

6. Modest apartment in Pejompongan area (yes, that pinkish shabby building).
Reason for staying: Proximity to office, space=pavillion#4.
Reason for leaving: Exhaustion, as the apartment was on level 8, and elevator only operated until 9 p.m. (no journalist ever came home that early).

7. Another pavillion (a.k.a. rumah petak) in Kebayoran Lama, next to former roommates#4 who moved to find a place nearer to office.
Reason for staying: Proximity to office, affordable (around Rp500,000), on ground floor :)
Reason for leaving: Former roommates#4 got robbed badly, allegedly by landlord's son, an unemployed thug who liked to collect monthly fee in the middle of the night. A friend fortunately offered to share her big, empty, family house, so we moved to...

8. A house in Tanjung Barat, with 3 roommates.
Reason for staying: Huge and comfortable space, no landlady whatsoever, Memat a.k.a. make-out hemat :P
Reason for leaving: One hour drive, two if by bus, hemorrhaging taxi fare, exhaustion, which brought me back to..

9. Apartment#6, this time on level 7.
Reason for staying: Desperation.
Reason for leaving: Level 7, need I say more? And expensive, Rp800,000.

10. Rented house in Kebayoran Lama.
Reason for staying: On the ground floor, proximity to office, a friend already rented there so I just needed to pay her monthly.
Reason for leaving: Housemate moved to Taiwan, couldn't afford to pay on my own.

11. Another modest apartment in Pintu Air, Pejompongan.
Reason for staying: Cheap, no landlady, proximity to office.
Reason for leaving: I want something else to get me through this semi charmed kind of life.

Sooo, then we moved waaay to Karawaci, and stayed at this lovely amid little place of our own. It's one-hour drive in average, two if you count ojek riding to bus terminal and competing with other commuters to get a seat, but we managed in the past 1.5 years.

However, since we switched jobs into 9-5 ones (sort of) early this year, it started to take its toll. Man, after never waking up early in the past 7 years, starting to do it was, and still a bitch! And, having to commute really exhaust us. We get sickly, and getting bitchier and bitter, haha.

And starting this month, I have to be at office on 7.30 a.m., which means I have to wake up at least on 5, and catch the 6.05 bus. After three weeks, I start to have migraine and see things (kidding).

So, we thought of finding rented house in the middle of the city, sharing it with a couple of friends. Goddamn it, looking for a decent and affordable house is as difficult as finding jobs you're passionate about (dari hati bo hehe). We've looked in Tebet, Kebayoran Baru, Pasar Rumput, and Mampang, and those house owners slap on price tags as if we're millionaires. If the price matched our price range, which is around Rp20 mil/year, the place is so shabby and dirty and inside small and crowded alley. Sheesh.

Apartment is out of question. I saw this rundown apartment building, and called the marketing people, thinking that the price would be in our range, and almost killed my self when he said the average rent fee was around $2,000! Ok, it was next to Jl. Sudirman, but still...

So, we have backed out from the plan to rent house, and stick to our own nest. Plan B: Saving up to buy a car. But driving for nearly 4 hours a day? Sigh..

Posted by hera at 4:16 PM | Permalinks | Comments   

My favorite session at the gym is the last one. Not the 10-minute cooling down session on treadmill nor the stretching.

Being a slacker (and an on/off gym member), my favorite activity in the gym has nothing to do with the weight exercise, aerobic or yoga classes. It's the ritual after all of those drills that I enjoy the most.

First, I would sit on the cozy sofa near the entrance and browse all the papers and magazines. Not less than 15 to 20 minutes later, then I'd take a shower. I'd take my time and enjoying warm water relaxing my muscles. Sure, there's a sticker warning "Please do not use this booth for more than five minutes during peak hours" -- yet I'd ignore it completely.

Wrapped in huge, soft white towel, I'd come out of the shower booth feeling completely invigorated and fresh, and head to the locker room. This is where the excitement really is.

Locker room is a drama of its own -- a unique and dynamic cinematic experience. Compare to the gym which packed with narcissistic, muscle-y dudes and vain women (I'm just jealous, of course), the locker room has a more upbeat rhythm.

The hum of hairdryers, mixed with the sound of water from the shower booths and the jacuzzi, and of course, the chattering voices.

Nearly naked, or totally nude women sprawl around the place. Some have the figures to die for (once it got me question my sexuality as I got really turned on seeing one of them. Am I a possible swinger? Naah, I think I just got turned on easily :D). But there are plenty of middle-age ladies who walk around freely in their (sagging) birthday suit, urging me to run and bury my face deep inside my locker, not ready to see the projection of myself in the future.

The next fun part is a peek on fashion. 'Well, isn't that a lovely piece? Nice top you have today, Ms. X. Hey, are those new shoes? Where did you get those? Boy, do you look trendy today!'. A 40something lady once showed up with a blouse and tight long pants which complimented her figure, if only the color is not bright purple and the motifs were not dozens of soccer balls.

And all those stuff these women brought often raise my eyebrow as I don't know what the heck are those. Is that really a hairdryer? But what's that gigantic pipe at the end of it? Wow, is she moving out from the house and carry all of her stuff with her or am I just missing the latest trend on gym bag?

But the most amusing of all, of course, is eavesdropping. I need to be more careful and learn how to be deadpan, though, cause once I had two ladies sent sharp glances as I made this screeching sound after listening to their conversation.

They were talking about one of the ladies' niece's upcoming wedding."Guess what, the groom only gave Rp 2 million for the wedding! I was so furious!! A virgin was only given price of Rp 2 million?? Why didn't he borrow more money?" said one lady.

I got another sour look from a lady who was bragging about her daughter. "She's very bright. But I told her not to take university major that is not suitable for women. You know, the complicated one, like engineering, as she will eventually end up being a housewife."

***

That morning, I was at the locker room again, just got back from shower booth and got ready for work. A woman was also getting dress and then busy putting on make up at the dressing table. Next to her was her daughter, not older than 18 I guess. She (the daughter) was a pretty girl, slim, with long straight hair, and fair skin. Her mom was pretty too, but seemed uptight.

It struck me how the daughter kept trying to make conversation with her mom but failed. At first she borrowed her stuff, like lipstick, and went "My friend just bought xx lipstick, and she said it's great" and stuff like that. She occasionally asked mom something, but Mom's small thin lips didn't move at all, she was too busy applying make up. Once in a while, she snapped the girl, asking her to be quick.

Don't know why, but that short scene really saddened the hell out of me. I felt a pinch in my stomach as I couldn't help feeling sorry for the girl. A lot of scenarios played in my head. Did she just do something wrong that her mom totally ignored her? Did mom have a lot of things in mind and threw it to her daughter? Was the girl her step daughter? Was it possible that I read too far (after all, I'm a big drama queen hehe)?

Maybe it was nothing. That was three years ago. But now that I start going to gym again, that picture of the girl and her mother is still vivid and hangs well in the dressing table.

Posted by hera at 2:32 PM | Permalinks | Comments