Since her debut in comedy series Extravaganza ABG and Prime Time more than a year ago, TV presenter Fitri Tropica, 23, has been busy like a bee.
She started her career as a radio DJ in Bandung, West Java, and later became known for her comedic style. In her spare time she likes getting exercise and going to bookstores.
I always try to enjoy every second of my activities to avoid stress. My assistant and I have agreed to take work as a playful activity. For me, my job is my playground.
My assistant and I often rephrase the word “work” as “play”. OK, today, let’s go play as a TV presenter, let’s play as a model, let’s play and take some photos for advertisements. That is what we always say to each other. So every day is a fun day.
On my days off I like to stay at home, play games, go out to grab some food at a restaurant or hang out at a book store in the afternoon.
Every time I go to my favorite book store, I always ask my assistant to remind me not to buy too many books because I’ve still got a lot of books at home which I haven’t read yet.
I like all kinds of books, non-fiction and fiction, from adventure stories like the ones by Enid Blyton and A Series of Unfortunate Events (written by American author Daniel Handler aka Lemony Snicket) to books about magical worlds like Eragon and Abarat.
To be honest, I’m not really into series because sometimes it takes quite a long time to wait for the latest series, while in the meantime I’ve already forgotten the previous story.
I’d like to visit book fairs in town because I sometimes find cheap books. In a book fair a couple months ago, for instance, somebody gave me a book titled Panduan Menjadi Wanita Muslimah di Abad Modern (A Guide to be a Good Modern Muslim Woman).
I was like, “Oh my God.” And you know what, I haven’t read the book.
I also like to do exercise, including pilates and going to gym. If I’m not busy, I normally go to the gym around three times a week, while I might not do exercises at all when I have a tight schedule.
I also pamper myself with beauty treatments like waxing, manicures and body scrubs. Want to know what I did every Sunday when I was a kid? You know, I’m the only child in the family. Some say that being the only child can be very lonely. That’s not true.
My home is pretty near to my cousins’ so I often played together with them so I did not get lonely. We usually rode our bikes, played cards or video games. We tried all kinds of games.
Even though I enjoyed playing with my cousins, the best Sunday for me was watching TV all day long.
Starting from six in the morning, I would switch on the TV to watch a number of animated Japanese manga series such as Sailor Moon, Doraemon, Ninja Hatori, Detective Conan, Dragon Ball
and superhero Power Rangers.
At noon, there was usually sport programs, while in the afternoon I would watch Chi-nese martial arts
series Siluman Ular Putih (White Snake Legend).
My parents did not mind seeing me watch TV all day. The nicest thing was my mom always brought some traditional cakes home every time she went to the market and we would have breakfast together while watching TV. Then she would cook yellow fried rice for lunch.
— As Told to Triwik Kurniasari
