Actually, I don’t want to write anything before Andre update his blog as our birthday ritual. But, let’s pretend that he has already written his thought up in the air. And, I think this would be so unfair for people who already posted me #23abouther as their surprise-gift.
I don’t care about my birthday, really. In fact, I always confuse when someone ask, “When is your birthday?” Because since my age was 0 until 12 years old, what I believed and what my parents always told me is “You were born on 29 September". It stayed on my head until I had to collect my birth certificate to my teacher before elementary school graduation. That was the very first time I read my birthday certificate and I found that my birthday was stated on 28 September. Whoopsie!
The little Nitha came to Papa and protested “There’s typo on the date column on my birth certificate. It should be written 29 September instead of 28 September, rite?”. Papa just calmly nodded, and showing ‘Oke, let me tell you something, my daughter’ face. So, He told me that I was born on 28 September around 11.45 p.m. “It was so close to 29 September. Aside, Javanese people said that if you were born after maghrib time, means you were born in the day after. But, I couldn’t remember the detail and why. So, it must be 29 September!”
Weird, no? Yes, please do a long siiiiiigh. But, let’s see the good side: my father just did what he believed. It’s like having hippie father, but that’s mostly how I live my life.
After that moment, my family and I agreed that we have to remember my birth-date as it stated on the birth certificate. But still, my family is often celebrates my birthday on 29 September. Whatever.
So, I turned to be 23. What the number is for? It's just a matter of nothing, I thought.
But then, my superb friends just made it more meaningful. They composed 23 facts about me on their blog as presents.
Started with Shofi. Damn, this girl just never missed out something from me, ya? My first thought was, “Aje gile. Reveal aja semua-muanya. Reveal! Tambahin! *berasa ditelanjangin* Tapi, facts tentang lo lebih banyak, Shof. Liat aje ntar gentian gue yang reveal satu-satu. Muahahaha *evil smirk*. But, I’m totally agree about fact number #13. Sky-gazing moment is my favorite, too. It’s like “Goddammiiit, kapan lagi bisa sesenggukan nahan nangis menye karena sok-sok berkontemplasi di atas genteng sambil berisikin tetangganya Shofi?” Ah, those moments.
Then, goes to Pandu. For the fact number #6, I was like “kok inget aja sih, Ndu? -___-‘” But for sure, He’s just incomparable. He is one of the selo-est friends I have. It’s just usual to lay down to his bed and mumbling, laughing, rolling over, etc while I have to wait for He and Efan, Tatang, Megan, Derry, Hawwin talk about random things that distract us from our college group task. Yes, I am the only female member.
But talking about gender personality, as Pandu called me ‘Banci yang Sempurna’ (find out here for the reason), Megan always said, “Kamu itu tumbuhan”. I’m never described as female. For them, I am just a little plant who lives inside tiny pot, and has tiny feet to walk, laugh a lot but in silence (since I can’t even breath well while laughing), hang out with them, etc. I accept it, as I also confuse to determine my personality since I spent most of my college life with those guys.
However, despite of his straight-and-sharp act and thought, I was nothing without Megan. I remember in the early year of college, He couldn’t drive me back to my kontrakan because he need to pick up his brother. Then, I walked… and get lost. Almost 1.5 hours to reach the door, in fact it’s only 15 minutes to walk from campus to my kontrakan. Then, He is the very first person who taught me about real cardinal directions “Itu lho, liat aja Gunung Merapi itu selalu di Utara.” Since then, GPS and Google Maps were just…
“Meg, kalau ke daerah situ lewat mana ya?”
“Halah, kaya mudeng aja kalau dijelasin. Tak anter aja.”
Thanks to dhimbay. I think he’s the only one who accept me as ‘good person’ while others wrote down Medusa stuff and my tricky romance experiences. Huh! One of the weirdest experiences about him happened when we held KKN programs in Belitung. Since the house where we lived was old and spooky, and ulala~ he has that ‘ghost eyes’ stuff. One night, in the early days of KKN, I dreamed a woman (whom apparently has same look with woman on the picture that we found in the store room) came to me and looking for him to move-back a cabin inside the house, which he moved a day before)
Also, thank you for all who deliver best wishes, for you all who have done any sweet and good thing on my birthday. Akber Jogja volunteers for the endless chat on Whatsapp group. For the superb-work team, my second family in Jakarta.. The cute pink cake with choco-mint flavor and pop candy inside was really.. really good.
You guys are such blessings from heaven!