PA.RL: "Goodness and hard work are rewarded with respect."

There’s always an answer to every question, and this is mine due to my long disapearing self back on November till December.

I was working on an art project back at my campus, and you can say it was a big one. This was a project for all freshmans representing their departments, and this time i was representing the Communication department. While each department in the Faculty compete againts each other. What was this whole art project about? The form of art is a theatrical play and display creation, where all hands of all freshmen in the department are needed. But you don’t just gather 100people and start doing the work, but you need a team. And in this case, we had our own director (Nindya Kirana), Producers ( Difa Raksa & Karina Ghozali), Script Writer (Kezia Alaia), Music Director (Oka Ciptantio), and me Sabila Anata as the Art Director. Then the rest of our communication friends are the team completer, the ones that made this all happen. What was my job? Well it’s quite a list. As an Art Director, it means i’m in charge of the stage properties, display decorations, costume design, and character makeup.

This was the main team at the press conference H-2 theatrical play. From left to right Ghifari (PJ Display), Abrar (Poster Designer), Kezia (Script Writer), Karina (Producer), Me (Art Director), Oka (Music Director), Nindy (Director), Sasha (Producer), & Natasha (Time Keeper).

We had our heads drained down in the storm, the storm of ideas. We’ve done researches through books, asking for advices, and sharing experiences with seniors in order to get the right story and concept for our theme, Western. It was a 50:50 situation. The theme led us to an easy way where everything about western was clearly stated. But it also led us to a hard way were we couldn’t dig and explore too much with the theme, because the circle itself was small. So it’s a situation where we have to be thankful of what we got, and do what we can do.

The Day preparation

The game was on, we were excited with our whole concept, but also very nervous. Most of us have never done such a thing before (also knowing how big the project was), so this time was a whole new experience and i was deeply sure that the things that are going to happen thru the way, will be the best lessons we’ll learn. We’ve spent millions (rupiah) for the preparation, for the project that we know we won’t get any real prizes. The only prize we’ll get are experience, life lessons and pride. But apparently we did it anyway. As if this whole thing was a road, it was a bumpy one. The roads were full of holes and craters, but the view along the road was great. There were some things that didn’t go as planned and some problems occuring, but i guess these things were normal. Something normal when you work with a whole bunch of people that you’ve newly known. It’s a part of the process. But besides those things, we somehow enjoyed the process.

The main character, Bidzil!

Not getting enough sleep was something we’ve all felt. The whole preparation went on for around a month, and along the way, getting home at 10-11pm was a daily doze. Our effort was just THAT BIG. I’ve felt it. This project somehow turns to be a belonging. Something that became our main priority, neglecting sleep & eating. The craziness happend H-1 and also the day. I remembered i only got to sleep for 1 hour at H-1. I stayed the night at my campus setting the decoration for the display until 7 in the morning, slept for an hour, then go to class at 8 (yes i didn’t take a bath). While on the day, it was raining but i guess none of us really cared so it didn’t really stop us from doing our work. Me and the other stage crews didn’t mind getting ourselves soaked wet from placing the stage properties. Instead of seeing it as a distress, we just see it as something enjoyable. After all, whenelse can we work in the rain?

This was a glimpse of the display decoration we made. We had 2 sides which are a cowboy saloon and an indian area

And finally.... The show!

After we’ve performed our theatrical play, we danced in the rain. It was a form of our happiness. A form of what people usually call “hard work payed off”. The winner announcement wasn’t announced yet, but we still were very happy. Why? We all felt we’ve done our best, we’ve put our efforts to its maximum level. I still remember our Director Nindy said that its merely not about winning, but its about the effort that we gave and the family that we’ve turned into. The whole process of this project was apparently full of lessons, and yet i was right. Some things i’ve learned are: 1. Motivation,passion, and enthusiasm are the key to realize the impossible. We firstly thought that this project was not going to make a result and not going to make it in time, but we were wrong. 2. In this world, there are other things than money, so don’t live only for it. We didn’t do the project for any real returns. 3. Some things are worth the shot, so never doubt in yourself and always open for the possibilities. Some of us never touched this field before, but we went for it anyway and ended up getting more experience than we’ve ever got before. 4. When you put passion in your work, the sleepless days & the achy bones are nothing. I did felt veryveryvery tired, but i really did enjoyed it and feel no regrets. 5. No matter how big your effort is, god will still do te rest. This part was probably the part where we stumbled. Our physically human effort was done to its maximum, but we didn’t do the same for our prayers. And this really slapped us in the end. But we did realize that god’s the one who controls everything, and our effort will seem meaningless if it wasn’t for god’s power.