This Last Mid-Term Test...

Yesterday was my last mid-term test. It was APVP (Arsitektur Perumahan Vertical Kota) or City Vertical Housing Architecture in English maybe, hahaha... I didn't study well honestly, since we had known it would be an open-book test, and the lecturer also had told us two of the three questions.

It took three hours full for almost of us doing this. And after we finished, I asked another student about the answer of the first question, a question with the longest answer I had wrote down. Then his answer made me find out that my answer was totally wrong. I've got one of three questions false. I had just wrote three pages long answer for nothing.

It ruined my mood that evening. I felt like have just lost a probability of getting A for this subject. Well, since my last year in Senior High School I decided myself to bravely set a high target, a target which is beyond my ability. And for college time, I always want A for every subject I take. It's not because I am smart, I just want to push myself to do the best. Our fathers have paid so much to let us study in college, we also spent hours on the way and in classes. I think those sacrifices should be paid with best triumph in the end. Even if I fail to get A, at least I know myself that I have done my best and nothing to regret.

So, answering one of three questions wrongly was a very fatal mistake... more over it was one of two questions which the lecturer had told us before.

18 types...

18 types...

18 types of what?

Damn...

The lecturer told us one of the three questions would be about 18 types of vertical building. What kind of types? It was my own stupid mistake which didn't ask others in detail. I was pretty sure it was about many kinds of vertical building which she taught in the first meeting. But the fact, it was another thing which my own teammate presented at the fourth meeting.

Such a bad thing, isn't it? Personally I have determined that I will never have something bad written in this blog. I want this blog filled with positive things. However, I think it's a rare experience which is worth to write, and I try to find something to learn from this mistake, and I find one:

Believing something is true doesn't always mean it's true.

I build my own confidence about what the 18 types is about, I was unfortunately pretty sure about it. And what I believed to be true... was totally wrong...

Next time, I should make sure myself by asking other friends in detail. In fact, I had asked two friends about the questions before the test but I didn't get on asking 'what kind of types?' and it was totally my own mistake. And now after this occurs it's useless even to blame myself, right?

Stop regretting continuously, I still have some good things to be grateful of:

• A friend also did badly in mid-term test for another subject. It's not that I am happy when somebody else is sad. I just feel like I've got a friend :')

•  I'll go to Istana Plaza with mother sister tomorrow. A bit refreshing! All of us have been too bored staying at home all days!

• I am reading a good book: Agatha Christie's Lord Edgware Dies. Reading this makes me feel like a stupid person who starts to be aware of the truth just if Hercule Poirot has mentioned it, or worse I still don't understand even after reading all explanations (just like when I read Detective Conan or Detective Kindaichi). It's such a pleasure for me to get 40% discount in Gramedia Istana Plaza to buy these books. That means I still have two more books awaiting, yay!

• Since days ago I had got a complete idea to make into manga. It's not a new story, I just continue the concept I made when I was in my last year in Senior High School. I was inspired by Full Metal Panic so the story was about robot. I was also inspired by sweet love stories in Salad Days, too. Both of these inspirations led me to make another story about a girl, robot, and love story between the girl and her former friend at school. In fact, robot thingy is not my stuff. But since I love my own story concept, I'd do a research and learn about robot before making it into manga with B4 manga paper and ink. I am 21 now, I guess it's time to stop dreaming but start to do an action in order to pursue my own lifetime dream. Now I'm drawing a scene about this story and I will particularly post about this as soon as possible :)

My fanart of Kawamura Futaba (was made in February 16, 2010), my favorite girl character in Salad Days and her line which was taken from Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra about youth: "my salad days... when I was green in judgement..."

Patience

The story I want to share happened last Friday (September 28). It was our first offset day at studio. Because it was Friday, the studio time ended at 4 pm. At that time I was quite tired as I also spent the night before drafting.  As usual, I use angkot as the transportation to home. Also as usual, I was trapped in traffic jam. It was not weird at all as it was about weekend, a time when it seemed like all Jakarta people suddenly moved to Bandung. It was my second angkot (I use three angkots to go to or from campus) and it was quite full of passengers. I sat at the front because it was more comfortable. Overcoming both tiredness and traffic problem, I slept in there :p

The sky had been dark when I woke up and realized the car didn't move from the place where I started to sleep. It was terrific, I felt like I had slept for quite a time but I was still surrounded by other vehicles, no way to go ahead or even back.

Then, well, I was angry, my head was full of anger. I really hated this situation, stuck in traffic jam. I was tired, I had slept but couldn't sleep anymore though I had tried. I wanted to arrive at home as soon as possible, having a bath, having dinner, watching TV with mother and sister for a while then going to sleep. I cursed this situation loudly in my heart. Harsh words like 'F', 'FYJP', 'S', 'A', and their friends from the zoo could be heard inside my heart. They didn't come out from my mouth of course, but my face expression explained what was in my heart better than what my mouth didn't say.

And the inspiring things related with the title was what I heard from the driver next to me. He said this to the passengers at back: "We are stuck in traffic jam. All you'd better sleep now. I'll wake you up when we've arrived." with intonation of patience and sincere.

I couldn't drive but I knew exactly, driving in traffic jam was much tiring than just sitting as passenger like me. I thought it should be him, the driver, who got angry. Instead of being angry, he said those good things to passengers. His patience dealing with traffic jam successfully made me feel ashamed of being angry and so impatient.

After we were free from the traffic jam (finally!!), the passenger next to me got off first. After that passenger got off, the driver said to me, "Tired, eh?" with kind intonation and  I just smiled and laughed a little as an answer.

Patience, like the driver showed to the passengers including me, is such a good virtue. Here I put the definition of the word patience which I take from thefreedictionary.com:

These nouns denote the capacity to endure hardship, difficulty, or inconvenience without complaint. Patience emphasizes calmness, self-control, and the willingness or ability to tolerate delay.

How being patient can simply give positive energy to people around you, like this driver did. I was about to explode, but his sincere words could relieve the harsh feeling in my heart.

From this driver I find out that I quite easily get angry and grumble. I also find out that being patient is good, both for you and people around you. That's why I should learn to be more patient, facing all bad situation without complaining. Because it really doesn't make anything better.