My weekends

Be prepared. For the next few paragraphs I'm going to talk about something rather pointless. It's called "How I spend my weekends."

I don't know how to spend my weekends. I know I should make them enjoyable, momentous, uplifting, relaxing and so on that I will be in a good spirit on Monday morning. Alas, all I did on Saturdays and Sundays are staying in my room, waking up very late, watching pirated DVDs, flipping a last year magazine, picking my nose and eating a take away chinese food (in that order, not at the same time). Of course, it was very nice. But I guess it can be more productive and fruitful.

One of my friend suggested that I should join a local church activity. In her opinion, it will make me move closer to heaven. Moreover, there might be some nice, religious, decent boys that could motivated me to go to church even more often. Yet since I think too much which church I should join in the first place (this church has too many old people, that church the aircon is broken, another church has no good parking lot, and other has too many giggling teenagers) I don't think I can commit to one church and get involved to any activity. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea and I will join an activity. One day. I just need a better reason (not excuse) to do that.

On the other day I decided taking train to Jakarta to a friend's wedding. It was fun. I like being in a journey on train, it gives me such a nice feeling, more than any other ways of traveling. Sitting next to the window, reading a book while watching views outside the carriage move fast like a blurred movie always makes everything surreal. I enjoyed the sense of detachment from my busy world until the train stopped at Gambir train station. I can't say I like Jakarta at the very least. I wouldn't mind if I have to go back to my town with the same train moving to other direction. Unfortunately, it never happens. I stepped out of the train and hectic, dusty, dirty, blistering hot and polluted Jakarta greeted me with a lot of taxi drivers, hawkers, touts shouting my way to a public bus. I was back to the real life.

There is nothing better than excursion, surely, but it also requires most of my monthly salary. I couldn't go outside my town every weekend because it'll leave me penniless before the end of the month. I therefore choose to hang out with friends, having dinner or just talking over a cup of tea. This is a bit tricky apparently, because most of my friends are either working, studying or with their family during weekends. When I visit them and they're about to have an exam or a deadline or a child emergency, I'll be left cold on my own. Anyway, I still have some good times when I was out with friends to a seafood restaurant with live music. Just remember before you visit any seafood restaurant, make sure that they really do seafood, not some too dry shellfish that hardly edible. And have a quick glance to other guests. That night my friend and I barely could stand listening a fervent middle-aged woman singing an unmelodious song after another.

Last night I had a reasonably good outing. A friend of mine saying that she had a bad mood and needed an escape to a local cafe with a WiFi. She asked if I could come along (so she could get online while I read my book). I agreed and soon we sat in a sofa in front of a band playing Krispatih songs. She was indeed in a bad mood. She was glued to her computer most of that time and she didn't really talk to me. I reached out my book and shortly got absorbed in it. But she was too long. We had been there for two hours and I was getting bored. Suddenly the lead singer asked me if I want a song. I had no idea of popular songs. I mentioned an old song by Chrisye, that they didn't even have it. I guess nobody asked such old song. I asked another, but I think my request is never so popular that the band will easily perform it. "I'll search for that song," promised the lead singer, "Do you want to sing?" asked he.

This is interesting. The only place I often hang out with friends apart from food stalls is karaoke room. Yet I am not so self-assured that my voice is worth listening although you literally could just shriek in karaoke room. Let's say that I respect others by not getting them hearing-impaired sooner than later. I used to only sing softly in the shower room. But at that moment I had nothing else to do. I stood up and received a microphone. He asked my name and announced, "OK, now it's time for a song by Ria," There I was. I don't know so many songs so it was lucky they chose something familiar for me to sing. He sang the backing vocal beautifully when I struggled not to shriek (as always happen in karaoke room). He invited us to visit again next week.

I came home and having nothing else (again) to do, I wrote my blog. Perhaps one weekend I'll go to the sea and have a great time, but since my budget is tight and I always have to be back by Monday morning, I assume it's not so bad to have a few drinks and sing. Or possibly I'll soon join a church activity no matter if they have no parking lot, no aircon and full of old people and teenagers. I still don't find knitting very interesting for weekend activity, but maybe joining a band will do. Let's see.