Happy Birthday to You

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

No song lyrics for you this year, haven't got time to find one :D

Anyway, I'm sooo glad that now you're older than me again, haha.

^_^

People Change

People change. That's a common knowledge.

However, it occurs to me that we human come too quickly into conclusion. We tend to judge other people too easily without really understand their situation. Or maybe, we just misjudge them, that we don't know them well enough to have the right to tell them so. I've personal experience to be able to say this.

It happened to me that someone -an old acquaintance- told me I had changed after some chats. I admit that I was responding not as friendly as I used to, which led that someone to say what they said. Then again, little did they know that the change in my attitude was due to their acting as a spy by asking me questions and then passing them to someone else who I had removed from my contact. It annoyed me so much that I decided to put some distance in the not-so-close friendship.

At another time, I got cold responses from someone I want to reconnect with. Maybe they still think of me as a nuisance, still haven't forgiven me for whatever it was the problem years ago. I've come to the point that if they don't want to reconcile, that's fine by me.

In the end, people do change for a better or worse, though it's not our business to tell them so right in their face.

Officially 26

Happy birthday to me!

Uh, that sounds really... err, pathetic?

No, I didn't stay up to wait for the day to change (what am I, a cheesy teenager?). I wasn't even aware of the date itself (okay, I lie. I do know the date as I've been teaching everyday -except Sunday), and I'm pretty sure I don't put my birthday on my facebook for the people to see. I mean, it's 26. Just look at the number, nothing special with it. It's a quarter of century plus one. So that's it.

'Then, why are you writing this post?'

Because:
1. I haven't posted anything this month, and
2. It's a... hmm, tradition? I have posted rants dedicated to official numbers for the last several years so I might just continue with it.

However, it doesn't mean that I am not being thankful.

First and foremost, I'm very grateful to be able to live into my 26th year. Alhamdulillah for all the blessing bestowed upon me incessantly by Allah Almighty. I pray for the blessing to last still for years to come.

I thank everyone who remembered the day and congratulated me on this occasion: you, my sisters, my friend Ana, my Japanese Instagram friends (who happened to know because they read the caption of a certain pic I posted which I had written in, of course, Japanese). Also for those who remembered but didn't say a thing, for those who wanted to say but didn't remember the date, and for some special people in my life who I'm honestly grateful for them just being there (parents top the list).

There's one different thing this year, though, which is... I bought myself a birthday present! Yeah, it sounds silly, and it's not like I intentionally did it. The thing is, I just happened to buy a thing which I don't really need -no, I need it, just not badly as I've had one already but this old one is just being old and not functioning as perfectly  and...- since this particular thing is quite pricey, I just consider it a birthday gift so I feel less guilty. Sounds reasonable now?

Or may be not.

Anyhow, this post will end here. Ciao! 

Reading Manga

I love reading and am a huge fan of novels. My preference is based on the employment of our imagination while reading. 

However, I've just finished reading a manga series recently. This was triggered by my being curious about the continuation of the main characters' relationship of the anime I watched and guess what? I enjoy it! That's said, I start browsing for more mangas of the anime I like and who knows if I am going to really enjoy them someday :)

Azan sebagai Penarik Perhatian

Malam baru saja sedikit lewat pukul sembilan. Suasanya pun hening, karena kebanyakan masyarakat sedang berada di mesjid atau meunasah untuk melaksanakan shalat tarawih berjamaah. Sementara saya sedang mengaji setelah melakukan shalat tarawih sendiri di rumah.

Tiba-tiba terdengar suara azan dari meunasah gampong tetangga. Saya mengernyit heran. Telah lebih dari satu jam berlalu sejak masuknya waktu isya. Padahal meunasah itu juga mengadakan shalat tarawih berjamaah. Apa si muazzin salah lihat jam? Saya tidak terlalu ambil pusing dan melanjutkan bacaan sampai azan selesai dan mendengar si muazzin berteriak-teriak di pengeras suara.

Saya berhenti membaca dan memfokuskan pendengaran.

"Gampong Menara teumeutoooong... Lakee bantuaaaan..."

(Desa meunara kebakaran... mohon bantuan...)

Barulah saya tahu bahwa azan yang dikumandangkan sebelumnya bukanlah karena si muazzin salah lihat jam, namun bertujuan untuk menarik perhatian sebelum mengabarkan musibah. Segera saja jalan terdengar ramai dengan hingar bingar kendaraan dan suara orang-orang yang saling bersahutan. Masih dengan mukena, saya ikut keluar dan melihat langit di arah gampong meunara yang terlihat terang dengan sapuan cahaya kemerah-merahan. Jalan sedikit ke muka lorong, dari arah yang sama terlihat asap hitam membubung ke langit. Menandakan adanya api yang tidak sedikit.

Karena ramainya jalan dengan kendaraan dan orang-orang yang berjalan kaki ke arah gampong Meunara, saya jadi ingin ikut pergi. Untuk melihat pastinya, yang tentu saja tidak membantu mengecilkan api sedikitpun. Untungnya keinginan saya itu tidak terwujud karena tak lama kemudian terdengar sirene mobil pemadam kebakaran yang meraung-raung dan meskipun masih ingin menonton, pada akhirnya tidak jadi pergi.

Kembali ke judul. Banyak hal yang saya pelajari kembali di bulan Ramadhan ini. Hal-hal yang dulunya pernah saya ketahui dan pahami namun seiring waktu terlupakan begitu saja, terutama pengetahuan keislaman. Salah satunya tentang azan ini. Saya tidak tahu apakah ada syariat khusus tentang mengumandangkan azan ketika terjadi musibah. Dalam kasus semalam, karena keterbatasan pemahaman, saya menafsirkan bahwa azan yang dikumandangkan si muazzin di waktu yang tidak biasa -di luar masuknya waktu shalat- itu bertujuan untuk menarik perhatian warga sehingga lebih banyak yang mendengar pengumuman yang ia sampaikan setelahnya. Wallahu'alam.