In the middle of my flight back to Singapore, I read my newly-purchased Newsweek, finished it, closed it, put it aside, and started writing something on a piece of paper, looking serious. The passsengers beside me must be thinking that I am very intellectual. Padahal gue cuma lagi nge-plan besok seminggu mo makan apa aja.
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It finally comes, the moment when Newsweek will have to bid its print issue goodbye. Well I don’t normally buy Newsweek, gee, I don't care about the world that much, I'd rather read Teen Vogue. But well, I kinda feel obligated to own this tangibility, secara majalah ini lumayan punya personal history, meski didalemnya banyak hal-hal kurang penting yang menghiasi. Back in junior high school days, this weekly magazine was the indicator of my English language comprehension level. Dulu suka sok-sok beli gitu deh, padahal gak ngerti.
Now that I sorta understand most of the words inside the magazine, berarti Mama! Your daughter can understand English ready ah! Sorta.
Besoknya diledekin seseorang di kantor, emang yang paling bawel dia sih, katanya "Lu beli aja online versionnya terus di-print!". Terus hampir bisa dijamin dia gak bakal berenti ngomong, lanjutlah ke percakapan yang udah hampir klise kayaknya nih, soal the future of printed media yang with all the pros and cons, kita udah tau ujungnya kemana. Dan opini gue gak akan pernah berubah: sama kayak gw gak bakal demen anjing, gak bakalan demen udang, gw gak bakalan beralih ke e-books. I know I'm now writing a blog but my brain works differently when I write and when I type, I can't live a paperless life. I still have a dream of publishing a book that readers can dive into, not stare at.
Gue emang bukan manusia paling ramah lingkungan sedunia (udah mo kiamat juga sih) (dan saya percaya planet ini diciptakan untuk manusia) (bisa digampar aktivis-aktivis organisasi yang mem"bumi"), cuma asal responsible, buku-buku beneran gak boleh ilang, because every book is an artwork, from the kind of paper, printing and binding techniques, thoughts, aesthetic, a person's or a group of people's effort, harmoniously put together. That's why everytime I hear about publications going totally cyber: miris, dan sedikit takut, apalagi kalo tragedi itu menimpa majalah yang dekat di hati. Kalo majalah Gadis yang last print issue gue pasti beli dan gue jaga sebaik-baiknya, untuk diwariskan (atau minimal dipamerin) ke anak cucu, sekali lagi, kalo gue sempet punya anak dan cucu, sebelum dunia kiamat.
OH. Apalagi BOBO. Masih ada ga sih BOBO? Koq udah jarang liat ya *tiba-tiba panik*
Anyway back to the flight en route to Singapore, I continued my "to-eat-list" on that piece of paper. Pen and paper, not phones not pads not tabs. I also wrote down random thoughts that are pretty shameful, I only hope these two guys beside me do not understand English.
"So do you work tomorrow?" One of the guy asked the other, in English.
TSK.
