The Water Run

Hey wuddup???? Been good, no? Quite some time, huh? I've been good, we've been so well.

Today, I am in pain. No, no, not that serious pain. Weary will do justice. My legs are weary. My butt is weary. Hah.

On Sunday, I woke up at 5 after 3 hours of sleep. Having my teeth brushed, I woke up K and my closest friends. Yeah, they had a sleepover at our place. I was in fire. I was excited. Not long after, we were on our car, heading to Gelora Bung Karno. We were gonna have some run. Not an usual run, it was Water Run. A run event which was held by Fittness For Men, one of many magazinez in Indonesia, and Protect Procter *thx 威论 for the correction* and Gamble corp.

It was my first time. I didn't expect to reach finish line. But I, and K, made a target, to at least reach Bundaran Hotel Indonesia, it was approximately half of the routes. It was 8 kilometers run, so the said. It was started at Gelora Bung Karno on 7 am. So many participants, we shot each other with water guns. Water gun was in the race pack. But some did bought bigger ones.

Not expecting that I would run so much, I started with small run with the others. I jogged, I ran, and I walked. It was five of us, but then two of our friends fell behind. Not long after, I was alone, leaving K. I thought I just wanted to reach Bundaran HI sooner. My spirit was pumped. It was fun, though I was running by myself. At the first pit stop, I waited for K for a minute, but he wasn't there, so I continued alone. 20 minutes later, I reached Bundaran HI. My feet was hurt, I knew I had blister on them, but I was halfway and I wasn't really tired. So I tried not to think about it and started to have another run.

I was on my way back to Gelora Bung Karno, when I passed K and Y. I cheered them so they would run faster and caught up with me. It felt much longer when I finally reached the second pit stop. I said water run, right? There was a water tunnel, which they required us, the participants, to go through it. It was water at first, then they sprayed foam on sand bags, and then another water spray. I was looking at it, and thinking it wouldn't be any fun if I was by myself. So, I decided to wait for K and the others.

It was about 10 minutes later, K arrived. I asked him to go through that tunnel. He hesitated because he didn't wanna get wet. But then I said to him, "Hey, it is water run, we do expect to get wet, right?" So we asked the other to join us too. And it was indeed fun. We were soaking wet, full of foam. The racers were getting their picture taken. We were provided with a waterproof case for our phones. We asked one of them to take a picture for us. It was funny because he said, "Sorry, my hands are wet," as he passed. But then a nice lady took a picture for us.

After that, we continued our route, and for a minute, I and K had left the three behind. I enjoyed my moment with K. My legs started to hurt more, my blister was killing me, but I did have fun. 20 minutes later, we reached the finish line.

I am proud of myself, of us. We did challenge ourselves, and we reached over our target. It was hard, as again it was my first time, our first time. But the thing is I didn't quit, neither did K. And we conquered it, together.

I heard this quote when I was little, and I guess it was right, "Rest if you must but don't you quit." And if there is something that I could learn from this event, it will be this, "I may enjoy myself on my way to the top, but those moments are way more precious when I share them with K."

Compatibility

I'm not astrological fan. But I do enjoy them. Today I searched on Google about our compatibility. I am a Piscean Pig while K is Sagittarian Tiger. So here are what I found. 

Sagittarius and Pisces

When Sagittarius and Pisces join together in a love match, a relationship of realized dreams is formed. Sagittarius is more of a thinker and philosophizer, easily drifting around from one pursuit to the next. Pisces is more inward, involved in the shifting of their own mindscape. They are opposites in some respects, and to outsiders may seem an unlikely pair. But as their love for one another grows, they are more likely to be able to satisfy the philosophical cravings of the other and maintain a healthy relationship.

Sagittarius is outgoing and versatile, and in a relationship with Pisces often comes to the defense of their gentler partner. Pisces, in turn, gives Sagittarius subtle understanding and a place to escape from their tireless endeavors. Pisces is a Sign that, like Water, adapts easily to its surroundings; Pisces tends to focus much energy on understanding and sympathizing with their partner. They are often more patient with Sagittarius’s aloofness than other Signs. Sagittarius’s active pursuit of knowledge combines with Pisces’s gentle compassion towards others to give both partners a self-awareness that doesn’t pass into egocentricity and isn’t overly accommodating, such as Pisces alone may be.
Sagittarius and Pisces are both ruled by the Planet Jupiter. Pisces is also ruled by Neptune. Jupiter brings exploration and outreach to both Signs. Pisces is concerned with this aspect in an abstract sense; they often find themselves trying to save the world (perhaps in the form of recycling or environmentalism). Sagittarius, on the other hand, prefers to broaden their horizons through academics. Neptune is about big pictures, ideas and illusions; but it’s also involved with disillusion and fantasy. Sagittarius can help Pisces plant its feet on the ground. Jupiter works through Pisces to put a gentler touch on Sagittarius’s occasional hotheaded outbursts. 

Sagittarius is a Fire Sign and Pisces is a Water Sign. These two elements can form a great couple if they give in a little, using innate understanding of situations and people to get matters resolved. Pisces can offer Sagittarius direction and help them learn to be gentler, while Sagittarius teaches Pisces to go out and explore the world. This couple will enjoy traveling together. Pisces can be emotionally draining for the Archer at times, too much Water dampening Sagittarius’s fiery spirit. Conversely, too much Fire can boil the Water and leave Pisces steaming. Sagittarius and Pisces must use their perceptive skills to enhance the relationship, always focusing on what the other needs.
 
Sagittarius and Pisces are both Mutable Signs. Neither partner feels a need to dominate the relationship. They enjoy equality and like to see their ideas come to fruition. Pisces gets great happiness from helping Sagittarius. Sagittarius and Pisces enjoy dreaming up ideas and putting them into action. No one is preoccupied with end results; for this couple, the fun is in the journey! A lack of conflict over roles helps Sagittarius and Pisces work toward the same goals with great success.
 
What’s the best aspect of the Sagittarius-Pisces relationship? It’s that they can benefit from one another’s wisdom and at the same time get along so well together. Pisces shows Sagittarius how to empathize and care; Sagittarius teaches Pisces how to turn fantasy into reality! The ability of each to provide what the other lacks makes theirs a truly reciprocal relationship.

Tiger and Pig 

The Tiger and the Pig can make a good match, but it will require a bit of extra flexibility on both sides and a lot of mutual trust. The Pig is generally very kind, well-mannered and generous and tends to see only the best in other people; this in itself makes a relationship with this sign easier. The Tiger, too, is generally quite affable and good-spirited; however, there are certain behaviors and situations that can turn both of these signs’ good spirits into bad moods.

For the Tiger, restrictive relationships, possessive lovers and rigid expectations can be just cause to run away. Freedom and autonomy are incredibly important to the Tiger, who will do whatever it takes to ensure it retains that freedom. The Pig values connection, support and a steady home life and will very likely find the Tiger’s lone wolf character to be unsettling at best. If these two signs live together, and especially if their relationship is romantic, they will have to make sure to allow room for their differences — the Pig will have to excuse the Tiger’s roaming and the Tiger will have to offer the Pig as much support and reassurance as possible. A romantic relationship may actually be the most likely sort between these two. The Tiger is magnetically attractive, generally very sexily appealing to any of the signs. The Pig possesses its own sexy mystique and is also very much a sensualist, reveling in the simple but luxurious pleasures of food, lovemaking, even sleeping and bathing. As long as the Tiger doesn’t feel restricted by the Pig’s love of home comforts, the Tiger will be happy to play along — for a while. Inevitably, this sign’s urge to roam, explore and experience will kick in again.

As business partners, these two can create a strong company as long as their goals are aligned. Though a sensualist by nature, the Pig is far from lazy; this is a hard-working sign whose efforts will back up the Tiger’s courageous leadership and innovative ideas.

Well, believe it or not, most of what it says are true. 

* Both are taken from here.

His Love, His Ways

It's an ordinary Sunday. I was laying down, enjoying my 'me-time' slash lazy day, while K called.

"Hey, do you want Koi Teppanyaki?"

It was 6.30 pm and he was out with his family, you know, Sunday is family time. We dedicate Sunday for our family. It is how we manage our time. He will go to his parents' house or go to mall with them. Since my sister went back to my hometown, I was practically alone in this city, so other than having Sunday service, I have nothing to do but enjoying myself home. Sometimes I join K, but today I felt like I was staying home, to get some sleep. 

As you may know, I am into words. It is applied also in relationship. I need "I love you" now and then. But, K is different. Saying "I love you" is not his thing. I often tease him with "Do you love me?" which he always replies "No!". But I know he does. Lol.

He expresses his love for me in his ways. The question above is one of them. I'm a grown-up. I can manage to find my own dinner. But he knows that I am going nowhere on Sundays and he knows that I am too lazy to step out finding food. That's why he called asking me if I wanted some dinner. He had his dinner, so he only bought it for me. He always does that not just today. 

I know it's not much. It's something that parents do to their kids. But still, it is love. And I'm grateful for that.

We'll always have different ways of expressing our love towards each other. But I am okay with it, I am thankful, for I love the way he "says" it to me. 

God Entrusted

I am proud and lucky to have parents who allow me to do what's best for me.

One example is the getting married and having children thingies. Generally parents will suggest (or I can say "force") their children to get married and having kids. It is said that it is because they love their children, they think about their children's future so when they get older there are people who will take care of them. Is it true? Are we as parents, ask our kids to get married because we love them? Or is it just because the common norm in the society? Or is it just because for the sake of family's name inheritance? 

Back to previous statement, we have kids so when we get older, we won't be alone, there will be someone who will take care of us. Doesn't it sound selfish?

I'm not saying this so we break loose, so we flip to our parents. It is appropriate and feasible for us to treat our parents the best. We will never be able to return their favor. We are forever in debt wit them. I'm saying this so we, who now are parents to our children, are able to let our children decide and choose what's best for them. We do owe it to them. God entrusted us our children. They are not ours to satisfy out needs. 

Oh Please, Treat Me Well

Let me translate it for you. This statement says:

Find someone:
- who always greets you "Good Morning"
- who calls you back when you hang up because you are angry
- who always let you know his/her whereabouts every single day
- who carefully listen to your problems
- who says Good Night though he/she is tired after working all day
- who accepts you for you really are
- who guides you to the right path
- who won't force any situation when it's not possible
- who always says "I Love You"
- and who always tries everything to make your relationship works

Hmm... who doesn't want a partner with those qualifications? No one.
And "Where can I find someone like that?"

We are deserved to be treated well, or best, by our loved ones. So we make criteria that suits us in finding partners. We want someone who can and is willing to treat us well, to treat us like prince or princess. Is it wrong? Of course not. Again we are deserved those things.

BUT! Yes, there's a big but here. We tend to forget that our partners also have the same privilege. They have the right to be treated the same as we are. They also wish the same criteria. Vice-versa.

How can we expect our loved ones to be what we want them to be should we are not as they expect?

Instead of saying "Find someone", why don't we state "Be someone". You can always start a relationship with expectation, the truth is we have to keep hoping along the journey. But we also have to start it with willingness to treat our loved ones the same.

Let's say that we have fulfill those criteria we mention above. We greet them Good Morning, Good Night, we listen to their problems, we guide them, we say "I love you" thousand times, yet our partners do not do them to us. What do we do then? This is my favorite part, as you can read on my previous posts, and it's there on the list of criteria above. We can always ask ourselves "Do we accept him/her as he/she really is?"

So, my answer to my question about where we can find someone who is willing to treat us like princes or princesses is I don't know. Here is what I know, and I know for sure that you will find yourself keep looking that special someone for the rest of your life as long as you are not willing to do the same to him/her. And if you, by all chance, finally find him/her with those dreamy criteria, it won't last long should your demand level  is higher than your acceptance & willingness level.

Take Your Time and Do It

Before we decided to take it, it'd been filling up my mind since a couple months ago. It was not easy. Knowing that the virus was lethal was scary, let alone how it would effect our relationship.

I bet you don't know what I was talking about, eh? It was about taking a HIV test.

It came to me in the morning when I was chatting with my friend. We were talking how he was afraid to open the result of his HIV test. Then,dang! I even hadn't took any. Then I came home and talked about it with my better half. Too bad, it just hanged there, no conclusion, no decision whether we would take it or not.

The next couple days, I googled about HIV. It was new to me that our government gave free retroviral medicine for them who was HIV positive. Those meds should be taken twice a day and they could have a normal lives. Knowing more about it, I was convinced that being HIV positive was not as 'deadly' as I thought.

Again I talked to my better half which came to a decision that we would take it. I made an appointment with Angsa Merah, a general health clinic, specializing in reproductive and sexual health. I knew Angsa Merah, from TemanTeman, an organization which founded by The Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre. But then, I cancelled it, because I thought I wasn't ready for the consequences, for the result.

Last Wednesday, when we were watching a TV series, my better half said that there would be a free HIV test in Senayan City on Saturday. Apparently it would be held by TemanTeman. True that we were afraid we were infected, but more, we were afraid how if one of us was infected, how it would effect on our relationship. There was silence, but I knew we would be okay, we would stay together no matter what.

The day before the test, I prayed so that God let us not be infected, but if we were, I asked Him to give us strength, to give us open hearts to accept it and to continue our lives, I said in my prayer that not our will, but Thine be done. It gave me strength right away, I knew I would be okay, no matter what the result would be.

The next morning, after we had our hair cut, we headed to Senayan City. We had to wait almost an hour to finally had ourselves get into a van, to get tested. We talked to a counselor whom  I was sure that he knew that we were couple. He enlightened us about HIV. Then there was the time. I was first. A middle-aged nurse took my blood on my middle finger, my hand was so cold that she could not take enough sample. I told her to take another from my ring finger. This time, she got enough. She then dropped it to a stick that looked like a pregnancy test, then dropped another chemical fluid on top of it. I wondered how she knew whether it was HIV positive or negative. And exactly like pregnancy test, there would be one bar if the blood was HIV negative and it would be two bars if it was positive. My heart rushed. I kept smiling but I couldn't get my eyes out of that thing.

It was my better half's turn, before I knew my result. We had to wait another 10 minutes to know the result. It was the longest 10 minutes I ever had in my life. When the nurse told us that we were negative, it was like a 100 pounds of millstone was taken from my shoulder. I was so relieved. I thank God for letting us to be okay. It was His grace, really.

The counselor then asked me, "H, what if K was HIV positive?". See, he knew that we were couple.
I answered, "I think it will be just fine."
He smiled and replied, "It sure will be."
It was nice actually. It is still nice to know that there are some people who accept us for who we are. My friend said that they didn't accept us, they were just ignorant. Well at least, they aren't homophobic.

After getting free t-shirt, we thanked them and left the van. The rest of the day was amazing.

Writing this, I am not suggesting you, whom haven't had a chance to get tested, to have one immediately. But I do suggest that you will think about it, get yourself ready and take it. Fill yourself with as much as information about HIV. For me, it is encouraging. You can find those information everywhere, they are as far as your fingers. Just type 'HIV' on Google and you will find everything you need to know about it. You can go to TemanTeman for starter. I need 2 months, more or less, to finally take the test. You don't need to rush, but by the time you do it, you are sure that you are ready for every consequence that will come. Like I said, being HIV positive is not as 'deadly' as you may think. My counselor said that he had a patient that had been living with HIV for 18 years and he was still healthy. From what I read, the virus can be 'frozen'. You can have a normal life. You can have kids without worrying they will be infected. It may not be able to be cured today, but who knows, someday, it can be.

Growing Old Together

It's been a while since my last post. I couldn't find anything interesting to be written about. Ahhh.. Scracth that, just call me lazy, lol.

Living with someone for quite some time, we will adapt more and more. It is what happening with me and K. 

The way we press toothpaste, either from the middle or from the end, which for some people is a problem, doesn't annoy us, luckily. But he is bothered with me wiping my so-called-dirty-hands on my pants. They are not that dirty for me. For example, I just pick a cracker and eat it with my hand, then I rub my hand on my pants. He will feel annoyed with what I do. I felt irked the first times he scolded me about it. But now, I don't do it as often as I did, it is good I guess, and eveytime he rebukes me, I just laugh and haste to wash my hands.

Until today, there are still many small things we admonish each other, how he doesn't close the wardrobe, how I move the doormat after bath, how he folds used plastic bag, how I don't return hangers to where they belong. The list will flood this blog if I continue. 

But hey, it's the essence of growing up together. To accept and to adapt for a greater purpose. 

Moreover, we somehow become more similar to each other day by day, especially our habbit. It's funny, really.

K used to mock me how I looked like an idiot when I was moving my lips (somehow) mimicking him telling a story inadvertently. But these days, I laugh everytime he does the same (of course he doesn't realize while he is doing it). Once he knows what he's doing he will swear, "Ah, shit, it's contagious" while trying to pinch me, oddly iritated. 

Talking about pinching, K has thousands way to make my body in pain. It's not that massive pain, it's, ahh.. it hurts. He has a bigger muscle than me, and when he wrestles me, it always ends up, I am in his arms. Of course it is alwas a joke, it is always how we laugh about stupid things. 

K loves to squeezes his knuckles, and when he's done with his, my knuckles are the next target. I tell him many times that I don't like it. It's like my knuckles are gonna pop out everytime he does it, I think it's my phobia. I will be mad and he will works his charm saying "Can I please?" Of course I will say no. And of course he won't accept my answer and we will wrestle, he is trying to reach my knuckles while I am defending them. You know what will happen. I end up being crushed by his body. My secret weapon, my counter-attack by tickling him never does any good. Damn!

Despite of all the pain he causes me everytime we wrestle, I won't change it. He's my man. He's the one I wanna grow up with. I still believe my secret weapon will work, eventually, maybe when he's old enough. Lol.