CERPEN MU

My Sleepless Night

It’s 23:54. My husband hadn’t arrived yet. I responded a message from my Blackberry high school group. It was Damang. As a forever head of the class he started the first chat by a usual opening “It’s so quiet.” I replied, “Everybody is sleeping.” When I still subscribed Speedy in Bandung, I often found that many of my high school friends were still awake at exact time, just by looking who were online on Facebook. Damang was one of them. It didn’t mean that we always had sleeping problems.

No. We’re both lecturers and sometimes we could concentrate better at night doing our chores, especially when there were too many answer sheets demanded our attention. Then I updated my Facebook status and he did the same but in German language! Whenever there was a car, I listened but it wasn’t Aa’s car. I believed the reason behind Aa’s late attendance was his usual routine at our restaurant, Geulis Warung which was opened on 30 September this year. It’s across from Santika Hotel in Cirebon. Book keeping and stuff.

But waiting for him was never boring. Thanks to my over than 1000 Facebook friends, so my Newsfeed was always fresh and new. I chose some interesting status updates to be analyzed and here are some of them: Ai Kurniawati said, “If you want to lie, you should have a good memory.” That’s a good advice for a natural born liar who could dedicate his or her love to more than one person at the same time. Rather doing teacher’s assignments first at home, he would carry his girlfriends’ books!

Amalia Farra said, “Your smile makes me realize that you are my first and last love.” Is a smile really convincing that much? Can you believe it the power of smile? Or love really comes from the first and most beautiful smile you saw?

Puspita Mayuhime said, “I don’t want this night ends.” Time is running when you enjoy it the most, but it freezes when you hate it, seems like the clock stops ticking. It’s a proof that sometimes we don’t value time better than money and all those glittery things. We can’t enjoy the time with those repetitive and same old duty calls. We suddenly realize that time is lost when people die and we regret that we hadn’t spent precious quality time with them.

The first and the second status update have one similarity and one difference. The similarity is about love and the difference is love abuse. The third status is uncertain. We don’t know why Puspita wished that time stopped although we could assume that she was with someone special. She rarely sees the person and wants to spend more time with him. A typical teenage girl would cherish her time with her long-distance boyfriend (like I did!) than her girlfriends. But if you see your boyfriend everyday, you’ll feel bored if both of you don’t have different dates in different sightseeing. The magic would lose its touch.

Fourth and final status. Vio Ekky Pradipta said, “I don’t know why I’m angry all the time. I also feel disappointed even though people treat me nice. Maybe because they love me too much and when the shower of affection shown less, I’ll feel neglected and abandoned.”

Well what can I say? Just like Vio, we are social human. We need attention and want to be the center of the universe otherwise why we update status and send tweet? In real and virtual world we really absorb with the way we dress, talk and act. Secretly we would admit that we enjoy the number of likes we received in every photo, video, and status update. If all your friends are too busy to read, comment and praise it, then we wonder what it’s wrong with ourselves.

Nothing is wrong, believe me! There is a time when I’m so sick and tired with Facebook which makes me forget my spiritual religious duties and reconnect with my friends offline. Enough with status updates. Here is my favorite unknown quote, “A man who treats his woman like a princess is proof that he has been born and raised in the arms of a queen.”

A queen is also a good mother. She teaches her son what it takes to treat a princess which means every single female tenderly and respect. To tell you the truth I really don’t know how a man can make me feel like a princess. Should he say that I always look good and beautiful even though I haven’t taken a bath, washed my hair, and brushed my teeth? Should he open the door and let me walk first?

Is that why there’s a phrase ladies first not princess first? Because how many women in this world are true princesses? Then again we as young girls really love to be called princess by our parents and boyfriends. And an ordinary mother is a ‘queen’ in her household who lives in a ‘castle’ or a ‘palace’. But there is no phrase such as castle sweet castle but home sweet home is.

Now it’s 3:21 AM. It’s been a long day. I suddenly remember a scene from Twillight when Edward is awake at night watching Bella asleep. A vampire never sleeps and so does God. That’s a beauty of a fairy tale and fiction which why I’m so thankful that I’m charge in teaching Drama Analysis. You can make believe and imagine that you are the hero and heroine. Impossible things do happen which really exist in paradise.

I never regret or blame my insomnia episodes aren’t triggered by anything. It is God’s desire and He blesses me so I can produce this story and makes me more motivated in teaching. To be honest I keep asking myself, “Rina, aren’t you bored teaching all the time? What about your passion in writing and travelling around the world?” Well I don’t teach for money itself. Only God who decides what is the best for me and all of you. Thank you readers who survive reading this 1023 words.