Kulam Ikan Tetangga

And I have to sit down for a while The feeling that I'm losing her forever And without really entering her world I'm glad whenever I can share her laughter That funny little girl Slipping through my fingers all the time I try to capture every minute The feeling in it Slipping through my fingers all the time Do I really see what's in her mind Each time I think I'm close to knowing She keeps on growing Slipping through my fingers all the time -abba-

Chloe punya kebiasaan baru yang saya tidak suka. Kalau dia menginginkan sesuatu dan kami tidak memenuhinya--karena memang tidak boleh atau karena kami gagal memahami maksud dia--maka dia akan marah lalu seringkali kini disertai menjerit melengking. Saya tak suka anak kecil menjerit-jerit seperti itu. Dan saya katakan pada Chloe kalau saya tidak suka. Selain dari kebiasaan barunya yang semoga segera dihentikan itu, Chloe mulai mengenal dan menjelajah banyak hal. Misalnya membuka tutup ulir botol beling yang kami gunakan untuk menyimpan air minum, keluar masuk sentong-gandok-teras belakang sendirian (yang membuat kami harus senantiasa waspada) dan banyak lagi hal. Saya merasa bahwa dia harus dapat lebih banyak floor-time untuk perkembangan motorik kasarnya, jadi saya membiarkan dia sebanyak mungkin ngesat-ngesot lantai dan merangkak ke sana kemari. Naik turun level lantai rumah dan gebyok pembatas sentong-gandok juga naik turun meja kopi di teras belakang. Membolehkannya menye...

Di sebelah Timur rumah kontrakan kami tadinya adalah sebuah tanah kosong. Tanah itu sejatinya bagian dari rumah yang kami tempati ini, tapi lalu karena perkara warisan maka tanah itu dibatas tembok. Awal 2010 J mendapat kabar dari tetangga kalau tanah itu sudah laku terjual dan akan dibangun (katanya) sebuah showroom mobil. Sekitar dua bulan kemudian pembangunan mulai dilakukan di tanah kosong itu. Letusan Merapi di akhir 2010 tidak menghentikan pembangunannya. DAK DEK DOK DAK DEK DOK.... Awal tahun 2011 si tukang makin ngebut mengerjakan itu rumah. Berisik bukan main! Potong keramik malam-malam sampai kesabaran menguap lenyap di ubun-ubun. Tembok baru tetangga itu menjulang lebih tinggi semeter dari atap rumah kontrakan kami. Sinar matahari sore pun terhalang dari menyentuh halaman belakang kami dengan leluasa. Sudah begitu tukang bangunannya semacam slordig. Asal nemplok semen sampai berguguran ke atap dan dekat sumur. Pun dinding itu tak merata disemennya. Sehingga nampak buru...

My baby girl develops this fascination on lizards since early on. House lizards. I think her first word was "Chak" for 'Cicak'. She has keen eyes for them too. She can immediately spot one on a wall or ceiling 10 meters away. I haven't figured out the reason behind this fascination. Perhaps because house lizards is something she often saw in her first months of life, when she hadn't learn to sit up straight. I stumbled upon this article via socmed this afternoon, "Real Flying Dragon Discovered in Indonesia" . It's actually a wild lizard, with membranes growing on the side of its body to help it glide from trees to trees. Like squirrels. The flying ones I mean. Colorful little buggers. I have nothing against lizards, except for their innate ability to get inside my half-drunk mug of coffee or chocolate. Or their tendency to jump and fall on you just when you unsuspectedly and innocently were just opening a door. The big fat ones lov...

The ups and downs now mostly happened inside and outside. More than once I consider about bailing it and take some shortcut in order to just ... cut it short, you know. Get through it coldly and as swift and painless as possible. And then I remembered the last time I did that. Cold, quick, painless and zero fuss. Only, it left me quite numb for quite some times without me realizing it. It wasn't the unpleasant numb, but still... numb. I mean, how'd you like to walk around without feeling your legs and feet? You'd fall down easily. You'd step on dog crap etcetera and not realizing it. So, yeah. No thanks. So I took the hard and long road. I hate the hard and long road. But life isn't always peaches and sunshines. Three cheers for general formal maturity and consciousness. *snikt!* Now. The last few weeks the green eyed monster made a come back too. Although it has been for quite some times I had it under check, it still lurks around dark corners see? Qui...