#tagging for the jeni storyline

[lonelier-version-of-you]

So first Casualty pulled a Bury Your Gays on Saturday, now Holby looks set to pull a Bury Your (Coded, But So Heavily So It’s Like Halfway Canon Anyway) Bisexuals. For god’s sake, Holbyverse, can you give the queer characters a break for 5 seconds? (I’m mostly joking, in that I don’t think killing Jac off would be an actual BYG, it would just be shit writing. But this is also genuinely bothering me a little.)

Look. I refuse to believe that Jac is going to die from this because I refuse to believe that Jac can die. That woman is totally immortal, I’m right and I should say it. She’s survived a motorbike crash, giving up a kidney, being shot, being experimented on and nearly murdered by Henrik’s evil boyfriend, and a second hospital shooter. And that’s only the things that come to mind, there’s probably even more crazy stuff she’s lived through. She’s got to survive this brain tumour too, surely?

I believe I’ve gone into why killing off Jac Naylor would be a terrible writing choice before, when she left earlier this year and we were all scared she was gonna die. I can’t be bothered to go into it again. But the TL;DR is that it is not at all a fitting ending for her character. It wouldn’t work. It would just feel sadistic, frankly. She deserves a happy ending. Also, you can’t even excuse the possibility of Jac dying with “oh but the show is ending” because they didn’t know the show was ending when they started working on this storyline. Davood Ghadami started filming in April, this is only his 3rd episode so it would’ve still been filmed in April. The crew had no idea the show was being cancelled until June.

I mean, I guess I can understand if Rosie wanted the metaphorical door shut, but that would be about the only excuse. (Speaking of Rosie, her acting was absolutely fantastic tonight. That’s more than worth mentioning.)

Anyway. As much as I’m disliking the story choices at the moment, I have to admit the actual scripts have gotten better in recent weeks. Tonight’s episode was really well-written, by the very talented Ciara Conway.

Henrik in particular was surprisingly good tonight. From the spoilers I expected him to really lean into the whole CEO thing, but they actually mostly gave him a rest from that this week. They just let him be Henrik, instead of Mr. Hanssen, and as usual, the writing was all the better for it.

Henrik finding out about Carole’s dementia absolutely broke my heart - I don’t know if the writers remember that he has feelings for her, but Guy Henry clearly remembers, and you could see it shining through in his performance. It was so sad to watch. Poor Henrik, everyone he falls in love with always ends up dead - Roxanna, Gaskell, now Carole is dying. It’s just so very sad. :(

Not to mention this isn’t the first time Henrik’s lost a friend to dementia either. Remember David Hopkins? Yeah. And now Henrik’s gonna have to go through that pain all over again. While another close friend of his is also possibly dying. God, someone PLEASE give that man a hug.

The last few scenes with him and Jac were brilliant, too. Very in-character, and amazingly performed by both Guy and Rosie. Jac and Henrik may have a lot of conflicts professionally, but they really do care about each other and understand each other, and I felt like you could really see that tonight. Henrik approaching Jac’s situation calmly and logically, expressing concern without patronising her - gaaah. I love them so much.

Now I’m done talking about my 2 favourite neurodivergent bisexuals, onto the rest of the episode:

Eli (whom I also consider a favourite neurodivergent bisexual, but there’s not actually any evidence - so far - for him being bi so it’s just my headcanon so he doesn’t really count lol) is great and I love him more and more by the week. He also gets more and more visibly autistic by the week. Good for him.

Why the HELL are they revisiting the Cameron storyline?? Who wanted that?? For god’s sake. I can’t believe Cameron is getting this much aftermath, while they refuse to acknowledge that Gaskell even existed (both storylines sucked but at least Gaskell was an interesting character).

Elsewhere, poor Kylie. Imagine finding out - on your birthday - that the man you’ve fallen for is already seeing someone else. Poor girl. Glad Madge invited her to dinner though.

The Jeni storyline is a mess, but I actually thought the writing for it was very good tonight. It felt heartbreakingly realistic. Poor Evie and Mia. They’re both so confused, because they know deep down that something is wrong, but Jeni and the men she’s trafficking them to are both convincing them it’s all okay and normal. :( It’s awful.

[kumaharukabear]

Kisah Cinta Beda Dimensi dalam The King: Eternal Monarch | KDrama Review

“If this food is poisoned and I’m dying here, what I’m saying now will be my last words. Thank you for everything. Because you existed somewhere, I was less lonely for the past 25 years”

Drama Korea adalah suatu hal menarik selain serial Amerika. Mengangkat tema yang berbeda-beda, meskipun mayoritas berhubungan dengan hal romance. Terdengar klise, tapi jika di ramu dengan baik, maka hal klise tersebut jadi menarik untuk di tonton. Tidak semua orang menyukai drama Korea, alasannya ada yang menganggap drama Korea kisahnya klise, cheesy, membosankan, pemainnya plastik semua. Yah, itu hak tiap orang perihal selera, kita tidak bisa memaksakan apa yang kita suka pada orang lain.

Drama dengan tema beda dunia sudah beberapa kali diangkat oleh para penulis skrip drama. Mayoritas kisah beda waktu (masa lalu-masa depan), beda jenis (manusia-makhluk mistis), beda kasta (kaya-miskin), tapi bagaimana jika drama yang diangkat adalah beda dunia. Hm, beda dunia yang di maksud tidak sama dengan beda jenis, tapi beda dunia yang di maksud adalah hubungan beda dimensi, yaitu dimensi pararel. Topik kisah beda dimensi inilah yang diangkat oleh penulis drama ternama, Kim Eun Sook. Drama berjudul The King: Eternal Monarch menjadi projek drama Kim Eun Sook setelah Mr. Sunshine tahun 2018. Tiap drama Kim Eun Sook selalu mendapat perhatian dan sukses besar. Selain itu, drama karyanya selalu dinantikan oleh penikmati drama Korea, terutama yang sudah sangat hafal dengan ciri khas karyanya.

Profil

Judul: The King: Eternal Monarch

Hangul: 더 킹：영원의 군주 (Deo King: Youngwonui Gunjoo)

Sutradara: Baek Sang Hoon (Love in Moonlight - KBS2/2016; Descendant of The Sun - KBS2/2016; Who are You: School 2015 - KBS2/2015; Secret Love - KBS2/2013) dan Jung Ji Hyun (Search: WWW - tvN/2019; Mr. Sunshine - tvN/2018)

Penulis: Kim Eun Sook (Secret Garden - SBS/2010; Gentleman's Dignity - SBS/2012; The Heirs - SBS/2013; Descendant of The Sun - KBS2/2016; Guardian: The Lonely and Great God - tvN/2016-2017; Mr. Sunshine - tvN/2018)

Network: SBS

Episode: 16

Release date: 17 April 2020 - 12 Juni 2020

Runtime: Jumat dan Sabtu, 22:00

Country: South Korea

Language: Korean

Sinopsis

Pada tahun 1994, Kerajaan Corea mengalami pergolakan hebat. Raja saat itu yang diperankan oleh aktor Kwon Yool—dibunuh oleh saudara tirinya, pangeran Geum atau Lee Lim—diperankan oleh aktor Lee Jung Jin—dan putera mahkota Lee Gon—diperankan oleh aktor cilik Jeong Hyun Jin—ditikam pada bagian leher, namun ia hanya mengalami luka serius. Lee Lim yang memimpin pengkhianatan menginginkan Manpasikjeok, sebuah seruling bambu legendaris dan memiliki kekuatan supernatural. Saat tengah menjalankan aksinya, tanpa di duga, muncul sosok misterius dengan sebuah pistol menyerang pasukan Lee Lim dan menyelamatkan Lee Gon. Pasukan Lee Lim yang sudah terdesak memilih mundur dengan setengah bagian Manpasijeok di bawanya, dan setengah bagian lainnya di bawa putera mahkota Lee Gon. Putera mahkota Lee Gon yang setengah sadar mengambil sebuah lencana yang dibawa sosok misterius tersebut. Sosok misterius tersebut langsung pergi saat pengawal istana memasuki istana dan putera mahkota Lee Gon pingsan. Setelah insiden tersebut, putera mahkota Lee Gon esoknya diangkat menjadi raja berikutnya pemerintahan Kerajaan Corea.

25 tahun berlalu, musim gugur 2019, raja Lee Gon yang diperankan oleh Lee Min Ho memerintah sebagai raja yang baik hati. Di balik sosok yang dicintai rakyatnya, ia masih terus dihantui oleh peristiwa pengkhianatan 25 tahun lalu. Tumbuh sebagai raja yang cerdas dan seorang ahli matematika. Meski sudah berlalu 25 tahun, ia masih mencoba memecahkan misteri lencana yang diambilnya dari penyelamat dirinya 25 tahun lalu. Hal yang makin membuat heran Lee Gon adalah lencana polisi tersebut dikeluarkan tanggal 11 November 2019 untuk letnan Jeong Tae Eul.

Musim gugur 2019, Republik Korea, Jeong Tae Eul—diperankan aktris Kim Go Eun—adalah seorang detektif di divisi Kejahatan dan Kekerasan di kantor polisi Jongno, Seoul. Ia tengah melakukan pengintaian dan penyamaran untuk menghapus operator operasi perjudian online. Sementara itu, di Kerajaan Corea, raja Lee Gon yang baru saja selesai melakukan perlombaan dayung mengejar seseorang yang berpakaian kelinci. Ia merasa bahwa orang tersebut adalah penyelamatnya 25 tahun lalu. Segera ia mengambil kudanya, Maximus, dan mengejar sosok tersebut hingga ke hutan bambu. Bukan sosok misterius itu yang ia dapatkan, melainkan sebuah gerbang batu terbuka di depannya. Sebuah pintu yang menghubungkan dimensi berbeda. Ia melewati pintu tersebut dan masuk di republik Korea. Melewati jalanan malam Seoul, ia bertemu justru bertemu dengan letnan Jeong Tae Eul, sosok yang selama ini ia cari dan kenal lewat name tag yang diambilnya dari sosok penyelamat misteriusnya.

Why you must watch this drama

Memiliki genre fantasy-romance. Untuk yang menyukai drama fantasy romance genre ini dapat menjadi rekomendasi. Selain fantasy dan romance, drama ini juga memiliki unsur comedy.

Drama dari penulis ternama, Kim Eun Sook. Penikmat drama Korea yang telah lama menjadi penonton setia drama Korea pasti tahu semua karya Kim Eun Sook. Karyanya selalu berhasil dan selalu dinantikan oleh penikmat drama Korea.

Memiliki plot twist. Jalan cerita di drama ini memiliki plot tidak terduga, dan memiliki plot twist yang tidak disangka. Penonton tiap minggu juga dibuat berpikir dengan berbagai teori dan kemungkinan yang akan terjadi di episode berikutnya.

Mengangkat tema yang berbeda. Bukan hal umum sebuah drama Korea mengangkat kisah 2 dimensi yang berbeda. Drama ini menjadi yang pertama mengangkat tema yang biasa ada pada serial barat. Drama menjadi fresh karena pengangkatan tema yang beda dari kebanyakan tema bergenre fantasi lainnya.

Jalan cerita atau storyline yang menarik. Sepanjang 16 episode drama sangat enak dinikmati, tidak terasa lambat dan alurnya mengalir dengan baik. Durasi selama 1 jam lebih menjadi tidak terasa.

Tiap karakter, terutama 6 karakter utama dapat membawakan peran dengan baik. Khusu untuk Lee Min Ho dan Kim Go Eun, drama The King: Eternal Monarch menjadi drama kerjasama kedua dengan penulis Kim Eun Sook.

Why you don’t must watch this drama

Drama cukup berat. Pemilihan tema kisah beda dimensi menjadi topik yang cukup berat untuk penonton drama Korea. Untuk yang biasa menonton serial barat, kisah beda dimensi menjadi hal biasa. Untuk yang tidak menyukai drama sci-fiction atau hal-hal ilmiah dan drama yang terlalu banyak berpikir tidak direkomendasikan menonton drama ini.

Memiliki banyak karakter. Adanya banyak karakter karena melibatkan 2 dunia. Selain itu, semua karena memiliki dopplegangger di dunia pararel dan sifat yang berbeda antara kedua karakter.

Ada beberapa kemungkinan-kembungkinan yang terjadi dan pemecahan masalah memiliki rentang episode yang tidak berdekatan. Misal, karakter "A" mati di episode 1, penjelasan sebenarnya terdapat di episode 6. 

Personal

Haru sudah download drama ini sejak dramanya masih tayang ongoing bulan April sampai Juni. Saat drama ini sedang hype, berbagai teori dan spoiler bertebaran di Instagram. Maju mundur untuk menonton drama ini. Satu sisi tertarik untuk nonton karena ini karya tante Kim Eun Sook, tapi juga ragu karena mengangkat tema yang cukup berat. Setelah drama selesai pun belum di tonton bahkan ada keinginan untuk menghapus drama ini dari list karena yah Haru masih punya banyak drama komplit yang belum ditonton. Baru setelah 6 bulan kemudian, Haru nonton drama ini dan ternyata bagus banget (nggak kaget), feelnya kerasa banget khas tante Kim Eun Sook. Alurnya seru dan tidak membosankan. Di awal episode sudah memikirkan berbagai kemungkinan untuk episode berikutnya. Dan sejak episode 1 Haru sudah jatuh cinta dengan karakter Jo Yeong. Ah Do Hwan oppa~. Ada 2 kali moment drama terasa 'nagih' dan Haru nonton 4 episode sekaligus. Jujur, drama ini memang cukup berat untuk Haru yang menyukai drama berat. Tapi meski berat, drama masih bisa dinikmati dengan sangat baik. Akting para pemain oke, baik dari para pemain utama maupun pemain pendukung. Hanya saja, agak kecewa dengan ending drama, meski Haru akui, endingnya masuk akal tapi tetap ada kekecewaan, dan banyak yang menonton drama ini kecewa dengan endingnya. Ups, no spoiler ya~ Disaat yang lain menyukai karakter Lee Gon yang diperankan oleh Lee Min Ho, tidak sedikit pula yang menyukai karakter Jo Yeong dan Eun Sub yang diperankan dengan sangat baik oleh Woo Do Hwan. Oppa~~ memang tidak mengecewakan kualitas akting kamu! Mendekati episode terakhir, saat hanya 4 episode tersisa, hati terasa berat menyelesaikan drama karena tidak siap dengan karakter -piiiiip- yang -piiiiiip- hahhaha no spoiler. Perlu menunda sehari untuk melanjutkan drama hingga akhir. Hal lain yang Haru juga suka dari drama ini adalah bromance yang disuguhkan. Khas tante Kim Eun Sook yang selalu memasukan unsur bromance dalam dramanya. Entah bromance antara 2 lead male atau 3 lead male. Sudah 3 drama miliknya yang melibatkan bromance 3 lead male. Bromance antara Lee Gon, Jo Yeong dan Shin Jae terasa tidak rela dilepaskan, hubungan mereka begitu bagus sama seperti di Mr. Sunshine.

Hal lain yang Haru suka disini adalah kesamaan antara Jo Yeong ah Eun Sub yang menyukai wanita yang sama. Hanya saja posisi terbalik. Myuung Sung-ah lebih dulu menyukai Jo Yeong dan kelihatan sekali hubungan mereka ada perkembangan di akhir. Sedangkan Eun Sub lebih dulu menyukai Myung Na-Ri.

Memorable Scene [WARNING SPOILER!!]

Episode 1: Lee Gon pertama kali bertemu Tae Eul

Episode 2: Myeong Ah bertemu Jo Yeong secara langsung

Episode 4: Tae Eul pergi ke kerajaan Corea untuk pertama kali

Episode 7: Jo Yeong bertemu Eun Sub pertama kali di Republik Korea

Episode 8: Jo Yeong berpura-pura menjadi Eun Sub di depan Lee Gon, Shinjae bertemu Jo Yeong di hotel

Episode 10: Salah satu adik kembar Eun Sub meyadari Ho Yeong; Eun Sub melindungi raja; Lee Gon melamar Tae Eul

Episode 12: Penyelamatan Tae Eul oleh Lee Gon dan pasukan kerajaan Corea serta pengumuman bahwa Tae Eul adalah calon ratu kerajaan Corea; ciuman leher, tarian kepiting Eun Sub

Episode 13: Pembelaan diri Eun Sub di Rumah sakit; Eun Sub pulang melewat ruang antara 0 dan 1

Episode 15: Perpisahan Eun Sub dan Jo Yeong; perkataan Yeong pada raja sebagai kewajibannya melindungi Lee Gon

Episode 16: Pengorbanan Jo Yeong; pengakuan Shin Jae; masa depan yang menjadi lebih baik

Saat Yeong dan Eun Sub pisah, Haru nggak sanggup liat scene. Haru nangis. Selain itu saat Yeong menjadikan tubuhnya tameng buat putera mahkota Lee Gon, aku lebih nggak sanggup liat adegan ini. Dia duduk sendiri sambil nangis sebelum akhirnya pingsan. Haru akan sangat kecewa dengan Kim Eun Sook jika karakternya dimatikan di akhir, jadi tidak sesuai dengan titlenya sebagai Pedang Abadi.

Yang cukup mengecewakan di ending adalah, pernyataan Lee Gon untuk menjadikan Tae Eul permaisuri kerajaan Corea sepertinya tidak terwujud. Tapi masuk akal sebenarnya. Jika karakter -piiiiip- mati mungkin bisa Tae Eul jadi permaisuri kerjaan Corea.

Favorit Karakter

Jo Yeong dan Eun Sub: Kedua karakter ini punya sifat yang sangat bertolak belakang. Yeong  tenang, tegas, berkarisma, dan terlihat lebih manly. Sedangkan Eun Sub lebih ke family man, lebih energic, lebih murah senyum. Sudah seperti anak kembar hahaha. Tapi Haru jatuh cinta sama Yeong dulu baru ke Eun Sub. Dan yang paling penting Haru jatuh cinta sama Do Hwan oppa hahahhaha /abaikan kalimat terakhir :'))

Tae Eul: Karakter cewek yang tegas, kuat dan berani. Idaman sih karakter seperti dia. Khas tante Kim Eun Sook, tiap 1st lead female nggak ada yang lemah gemulai, semua selalu jadi cewek strong

Kang Shin Jae:Tiap lihat dia entah kenapa selalu ingin peluk, ingin tepuk lembut bahunya. Dia menunjukkan karakter yang sangat baik. Pria yang terlihat strong, masa bodoh, cuek, tapi sebenarnya hatinya sangat terluka. Kim Kyung Nam memerankan karakter Shin Jae dengan sangat baik, terutama di pandangan matanya yang terlihat sangat sedih

Kesimpulan

Drama ini sangat Haru rekomendasikan untuk yang suka genre fantasy-romance, peggemar karya Kim Eun Sook dan penyuka tema yang tidak biasa. Untuk yang suka mikir, cukup berat dengan berbagai teori, Haru juga merekomendasikannya. Dan untuk yang tidak suka drama berat aku tidak begitu merekomendasikan.

Keseluruhan drama sangat bagus, tiap karakter dapat peran masing-masing dengan imbang dan punya peran yang saling terhubung serta saling melengkapi. Bromance khas tante Kim Eun Sook juga terasa banget yaitu pada Lee Gon, Jo Yeong dan Kang Shin Jae. Drama ini tidak bisa dinikmati hanya sekali ditonton, enak untuk direwatch karena banyak teori yang terkadang barudipahami setelah nonton lebih dari sekali. Haru nonton goblin baru paham sepenuhnya setelah nonton yang kedua kali. Chemistry antara Kim Go Eun dan Lee Min Ho oke, mungkin karena selisih usia yang tidak jauh. Tiap 5 karakter utama, ah plus 1 karakter antagonis punya pesona masing-masing dan digambarkan dengan jelas pengkarakterannya. Untuk rating keseluruhan Haru beri nilai 8/10 dan jadi drama favorit kedua dari tante Kim Eun Soook selain Goblin. Untuk story rating 8/10 tapi untuk ending 7/10. Rekomendasi untuk rewatch aku kasih bintang 5 sama seperti Goblin, karena meski sudah tahu teori maupun segala isinya, drama ini tetap enak dinikmati lebih dari sekali.

Sekian review drama dari Haru. Semoga review ini bermanfaat dan bisa jadi rekomendasi kalian untuk nonton dramanya. Bye dari istri onlen Woo Do Hwan~

[nneogram]

— writing tag

a big thank you to my soulmate? @renjunlite for tagging me in this! denise & i recently became mutuals and !! when i saw you had followed me back perhaps i screamed. much love :)

⇒ what is your ideal setting for focusing on your writing?

in general i need a setting where i can be completely alone with my thoughts. as of recent this has been late at night, in the safety and comfort of my bedroom, with everyone else in my house fast asleep. something about knowing that it’s just me and my thoughts present with no possibility of outside intrusions brings me the peace and clarity i need to write. like, no one wants to see a jeni deep in thought contemplating the many ways i can describe lee jeno’s beauty haha

⇒ what is your favourite genre to write?

i aspire to write angst but in all honesty i feel like i haven’t experienced enough in my nineteen years of life to do angst justice. i suppose my favorite is fluff because it is what i am most comfortable and confident with. one day, one day, i will write a fic that’s that perfect mix of angst and fluff - those fics have a way of building me up and then tearing me down and i l o v e it.

aside from the overarching genres (fluff, angst, smut), i like good ol’ slice of life topics: college, roommate, neighbor, you name it. my favorite, though, would have to be the slice-of-life-turned-fantasy plot! a prime example of this genre would be the anime film kimi no nawa, it has all of my favorite tropes wrapped in a bundle of visually pleasing aesthetics and music: soulmate!au, dream!au, parallel universe!au.

⇒ do you prefer to write on paper, or digitally?

for writing fics, it’s much more convenient to do so digitally - specifically to my case, i tend to do so through the google docs app on my phone, only bringing out the laptop when i’m doing large edits or revisions. 

aside from fics i prefer writing on paper. it’s so therapeutic to put paper to pen! i’ve been writing in journals, notebooks, really any piece of paper since i was very young. i like having physical copies of my thoughts because i can look back on them and flip through the pages - i recently stumbled across a diary of mine from third grade. third grade! that’s almost a decade ago!

⇒ it’s the middle of the night and you suddenly wake up with an idea. what do you do?

luckily i charge my phone right beside my bed, so if/when this happens i go to the notes app on my phone and type down as much as i can remember :)

⇒ who is your favourite person to write about?

jeno! in my head, he easily fits certain character archetypes, and it’s so easy to write character dynamics for him. i think another thing that draws me to him is that i have encountered people irl with a similar personality type - one of my close friends reminds me of him so, so much - so it’s easier for me to visualize the interactions and dynamics.

⇒ do you like making your own characters, or do you usually write about real people? 

for tumblr purposes, i write about real people (as you could probably tell from my blog). but in all honesty, the pieces i release on tumblr are originally intended for my oc’s. in my archives are these quite elaborate storylines and character dynamics that will likely never see the light of day (a doctor!au based on grey’s anatomy and descendants of the sun! college!au and highschool!aus centered around realistic predicaments such as imposter syndrome, and broken families! the list goes on!) if anything, i prefer writing for my own characters, because this allows me to mold and shape them how i want - with original characters especially, i always write a little bit of myself into them. with real people, there are limitations to this, of course.

denise worded her response so beautifully and we have eerily similar thoughts on this question, so i highly suggest referring to her writing tag post for a semblance of my perspective on this as well. i also suggest referring to my writing disclaimers for some of my thoughts on this as well.

⇒ have you ever written a book, or a story with more than 15 chapters (100k words)?

as far as i know, i have not! i’d like to try some day, if i have the time and motivation.

⇒ how often do you get ideas?

too much and then not at all. i have so many ideas that come at inconsistent (and usually inconvenient) times that i don’t know where to start! 

⇒ do you ever get an idea that you really like, but just can’t seem to finish?

DID YOU MEAN: JENI WITH ANY AND EVERY WORK IN PROGRESS?  my process right now involves starting on one idea, then losing motivation, then getting another idea and starting on that one, then losing motivation for that but finding inspiration for an old wip, then going back to that one etc etc. the cycle repeats over and over again until eventually one of the pieces is finished (at which point i go “o shit cool” and post lmao).

⇒ what is your least favourite plot?

i can’t seem to write high school au’s anymore. perhaps it’s because i’ve experienced the college life now and forgot what it felt like to be in high school?

⇒ tag 5 or more people.

um mmmmhrrrnnngg i haven’t been paying attention to who’s completed this tag already, so i apologize in advance if you’ve already done so! @joonary, @kitsutaes, @mintyuser (srry it didn’t tag you earlier for some reason!) @jaehours, @du0tine​ :) :) i don’t usually do tags often but if you don’t want to be tagged in future posts feel free to let me know! much love <3

[papersandkeyboards]

5/23-30: A Week of Hangouts

35th WEEK, MAY 23-30, 2016.

Seniors at Rainier Beach High School skip so much in general, I thought there would be no Senior Skip Day like in other schools.

Speaking of which—Senior Skip Day, I guess you could say, is some sort of unofficial agreement between seniors to skip the whole school day on an agreed day. And yes—it is indeed a thing, apparently.

But as I said, seniors—if not students in general—at RBHS skip so much, it doesn’t seem like Senior Skip Day would be a thing to be excited about. In my fourth period—which is IB Lang and Lit for seniors—there are suppose to be, like, 24 kids or something, but there are only 10ish students in average every day. One day the number hit 14, Mrs. Shaw got so excited she could’ve cried.

Tuesday, another sparsely populated fourth period. We were in the middle of something when a couple of seniors got into the classroom and handed out papers to us that turned out to be a permission slip to go to Seward Park on Friday.

“...what’s this?” I asked Imi.

“Oh, it’s Senior Skip Day,” she said.

Well—turned out we did have a Senior Skip/Ditch Day. Unless that it was school-approved, chaperoned-by-teacher Skip Day... quote on quote.

Call me a nerd, but I didn’t want to skip first period on Friday. If it were a normal first period I would probably be delighted to skip, but since mid-end May until mid-June, there’s this big event called Seattle International Film Festival, which is one of the most famous film festivals in the world. A whole bunch of films from some one hundred countries around the world, different styles, different genres. One of the films from USA is called “The First Girl I Loved”, and the director was coming to my first period on Friday. The world of filmmaking has always been interesting to me, so no way I would pass this opportunity, although he wasn’t a big block-buster movie director.

So I went to first period. Which I think was worth going. However, on the way to and during second period, I started getting down for not going to Skip Day. I didn’t even turn in the permission slip. I was so ready just to skip fourth and sixth on my own and finish reading The 5th Wave in the library (ok now I really have no defense if you call me a nerd).

I walked to third—Tomchick—and welcomed by his question, “Aren’t you going to Senior Field Trip?”

I shrugged. “I don’t want to miss first period.”

“You can still go. They haven’t even started yet.”

That lit up a speck of light in my face.

I still endured third period, then went to the Activity Center as Tomchick instructed, where he said I would find a ride there. I ran into Mr. Henderson instead—Henderson and Tomchick were the chaperones. I asked him, then he told me to go to the main office since there were also other seniors who would be getting a ride to Seward Park. I met Sadia there, she turned her and my permission slips, then get a ride with her and Naimo to Seward Park.

In front of the park, right at the sign, a white poster that says “RBHS Seniors—follow the balloon!”. There were balloons tied up to road signs along the way, until we found a clearing filled with people.

Seward Park is a really nice park. It’s wide, it has open plains and tree-shadowed plains, benches, a shelter, a big swing set. I saw Mr. Christopholus by the shelter preparing the grill. The tables in the shelter were filled with unopened food, drinks, and utensils, and the benches outside were packed with backpacks. I got out of the car and Price shouted my name... which I totally didn’t expect would happen since we never really talk.

Anyway, I looked around. I saw people in the grassfield, playing frisbee. Some people in the shelter. Some people by the benches playing ping pong and bean bag toss. I put my backpack on one of the benches and slowly joined the others playing bean bag toss. Me, Nina, Alex, Jeremiah, Rony, Mr. Jefferson—the ceramic teacher—and later, Bobby.

Honest opinion—in second period, I was so close to giving up and hoping I won’t miss anything. I thought it would be boring (since when I asked what’s going to be there, Tomchick said “just hanging out”), I thought there would only be people I wouldn’t connect with (baca: anak-anak berandal hits), but it turned out to be really fun. Seriously, it was really fun—it was worth skipping a whole school day for.

(playing this game Tomchick dubbed “Chinese numbers”--which, apparently, is also a game I happen to know later back in Indo, also dubbed “angka Cina”)

Kapan lagi bisa bolos bareng-bareng seangkatan? Kalau niat sih, aku juga bisa bikin ginian di angkatan sekolah Indo. Bedanya 1) bakal susah buat ngerayu semuanya, dan 2) kepsek dan guru bakal marah besar sebesar-besarnya, rapor/SKHU bisa ditahan, seangkatan bisa dijemur seharian pas upacara (which isn’t new to us, hufft), dan beragam jenis kemurkaan guru lainnya. Belum lagi di angkatan memang ada anak yang superduper baik dan santun dan 99% bakalan nggak mau dirayu (mengacu ke poin 1).

Oh, satu lagi. Kalau memang kejadian, aku—sebagai anak AFS dan pioneer ‘hari bolos’—bisa lebih berabe lagi.

Uh. Okay.

I should’ve realized things like this always have an advantage—and one big major advantage that I would totally skip school for is getting to know people. There are people I have the same class with, people that also went on the Salish Sea field trip but were in a different group than me so I didn’t really talk to them, people who were just in the hallways—on this day I got to talk to them if I haven’t, and if I have, I got to socialize with them more (this might sound petty to you social butterflies, but as an introvert, I felt happy with it).

So yeah. Thanks for that.

Aside from that, this week really has been a week of hangouts—referring to the title. With friends, with family, and with myself.

Hey. I love me some me-time.

I wrote about this in the last post(s). Last week, I watched CA: Civil War, but before then, I had an hour to kill, so I went to Barnes and Noble. And I discovered this book, read the back of it, read a few first pages, and just like that, I was hooked.

Since then, I’ve been going to Barnes and Noble just to read the book without actually buying it. (well only three times since it’s a short read) On Monday I went there and finished the whole thing. I was dying. I went home empty-hearted, needing a closure.

(please refer to the previous post)

Not a perfect book, but then again, I’m not a perfect book reviewer, I was mostly just there for the emotions and intense storyline. If you like intense thriller books that wring your soul out of emotion, you probably will like it.

(“why not borrow it from the library?” you might ask—well, it’s a newly published book, that’s why, plus I looked it up on Seattle Public Library website and found jack)

On Wednesday, Kira and Tania and Victoria and I hung out downtown. Mostly because Tania is leaving on June 8th and Tania and Victoria’s school is close to my and Kira’s school so we gotta hang out after school at least once. So we did.

And on Thursday, Livia (this Indonesian girl I met in SCC) and I went to Chihuly Garden and Glass in Seattle Center. A good catch-up session, plus she’s transferring to San Francisco after this summer quarter.

Friday, after that senior skip day, my host parents and I went to Whidbey Island with Tommy and Anna—their friends—and their kids and rent a vacation house for the long weekend (Monday, May 30, is Memorial Day—which means no school and work). We didn’t go there right after my school day, so even though it’s not too long of a ride, we got there at around 9.30pm, where Tommy and Anna and their kids were asleep already.

In the morning, I woke up, went downstairs, and was welcomed by a 4-year-old and 2-year-old running around the house excitedly, stark naked.

“Naked baby!” that’s exactly what they said, over and over, until like an hour later Anna successfully put a shirt on Colin, the 2-y.o.

Cute kids. Typical loud, running-around, cute kids. Good thing the vacation house we rented had a huge sand box as its front yard (apart from the fact that the houses around were facing the beach, where there was... well, sand), plus the pails and sandcastle-making tools and all. There was also a bunch of tree trunks which unexpectedly formed some sort of cave (or maybe people in the past made it on purpose?) in which Colin and Anna liked to play.

It was probably the chillest weekend I’ve ever had. No planned activities, mostly spent walking along the coast, playing with the kids, reading (and finishing) my book, chilling in the front yard under the bright sun but cold breeze, and tagging along with Karen to shop for groceries and other trinkets (<--referring to the time she took me to a quilt shop).

OH WAIT. We also spend the nights watching Lord of the Rings. Hehehe.

Another thing that is the highlight of this weekend was how it has planted the first seed of what would affect my future life decisions since, which I will always be grateful for. But that part shall come later.

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There it was. A week of hangouts. With fellow seniors, with AFS friends, with Indonesian friend, with my host family, with little kids, and of course, the most important, with myself.

Salam dari pelajar yang bermental main (in my defense, guru aku pernah bilang kalau punya mental main itu penting!),

Nabila Safitri.