My Constellations

Face the Change

2010-02-04T13:48:00.001+08:00

At that time, in our office yard, we’re attending a discipline ceremony and still waiting for our boss to start the ceremony. Gosh…. He doesn’t even on time in discipline ceremony. In my sparing time, I take a look at our building office…. The old artistic building office. I still remember a year ago that I objected to the announcement that 1 of the building access road is closed. That road will be used privately by our boss. The reason is for safety. Nobody should pass that path but the boss.

Actually there are 2 access roads in our building, the east side and west side. The east access road is the one that will be closed. By closing this access road, we have to walk to longer path to the administrative building, bank, and canteen. As long as you know, 75% of our job is administrative things. So this announcement decreases our work effectiveness. Somehow we should follow the order. At first, we experience difficulties to walk more distant than normal. As time goes by, because we are accustomed to do that every day, this issue is not a problem anymore. Until now…..

There is a lesson I got. If we have become accustomed to do something, we will never feel burdened at last. Change will always come to us. Face it with enthusiasm and you will learn a lot of new thing provided by world.

Become a truly Balinese mom!

2009-12-08T13:55:00.003+08:00

Do you know a specific requirement how to be a truly Balinese mom? Make your own offering with coconut leaves. And I can make it now!

I just want to share to all of the girls generally and especially to all of the Balinese girls that being a mom is like facing a wild forest. It seems so blur but if we have a strong will and effort, somehow the path will appear and find its own way. But we have to make a plan first. Everything has to be planned. When I was a girl, I don’t know how to cook, to take care of baby/child, moreover to make an offering with coconut leaves (we called it “banten”). My task in the family is cleaning the house and it doesn’t have any problem at all because I love to see clean and neat house. Thanks to my mom, since I was in elementary school, she gives me responsibility to clean the floor on the weekend even though we have servant. This habit gives me point plus about the importance of cleanliness and responsibility.

I believe that we don’t need to worry how to be a mom because we’ve already have mom instinct, ratio, effort, and good faith. Sometimes I found some girls worried about how to make “banten” when they got married. Well, in Bali, there are thousands of Balinese moms that have capability to make Banten. They’re not rocket scientist or consultant or manager but they can make Banten, so WHY CAN WE????

Making Banten is not inventing something new but performing something that has done for years in Bali. Right?? This condition lead me into conclusion that Balinese wife who doesn’t know how to make banten because they’re lazy to learn or … retarded. I have planned that when my child is getting 2 years old, I will make her banten Dinan (every 1 month) and Otonan (every 6 months) by myself. I keep my promise. I bought some book, browsing in internet, asking people, etc about banten and last week I make her banten Dinan for the first time.

Suddenly I become a truly Balinese mom. It feels complete. Next challenge is making Banten Otonan. It doesn’t have any problem coz I have learn every requirement to make that Banten. I can’t wait to make it anyway. So girls, there’s nothing to worry incorporate with Mom jobs…. Let’s show OUR GIRL POWER!!! Be optimist!!

Side effect of a Storybook

2009-09-24T09:17:00.007+08:00

I went to the bookstore looking for a story book for Calya, my 16 months years’ old daughter. I think she starts to have an ability to communicate bidirectional. She will grab her “Finding Nemo” story book when I said I want to read her a story. She goes to the mirror when I ask her to look in the mirror. She goes to the rubbish can when I ask her to throw the meal trash. My baby turns to be a kid. I believe the positive outcomes we achieve by reading our children a story. It may improve pictorial and verbal memory, vocabulary, verbal fluency, moral learning, and explore imagination and creativity.

Back to the bookstore, Calya interesting in animal instead of human so I choose a book story title “Ant and Grasshopper”. The weather is hot, before I go back to the office I go to canteen to buy avocado juice. While I am waiting for the order and because of do nothing, I open the book that I have bought and start to read it. It’s in English. It’s about a hardworking ant and extravaganza grasshopper. This book teaches us about knowing the value of time and be hard work and save for the hard time. I close the book and see the tree outside swinging by the wind. I realize of something…

Lately, I feel some hollow in me. Because I don’t state any target clearly for this year. It has some impact for example spending money for nothing. I don’t have to tell u what it is but sometimes we bought something that can amuse us just for a short temporary time. After reading this story, I realize every second of my time is meaningful. I will do my best to take care of my baby. I will focus on her, save money for her future. Stop looking at product catalogue in magazine or internet. Ah…. I feel better now.

Import vs. Local

2009-09-08T14:56:00.011+08:00

Are we destined less attractive entirely compare to the western products? Actually, this question accidently tossed when I went to the supermarket and saw series of imported fruits right in front of the access door. And where is the local fruit? Far behind as if no body interested.
We cannot argue that imported fruits have better look and taste. That's why we keen on imported fruits. Name it: apple, orange, mango, grape, banana, lychee, etc. Is it because of the soil and weather? Lucky them God bestow a good genes ;)
That's the fruit part what about the person. It's the same! Who won beauty pageant "Miss Universe" frequently? The western… Who won the Olympiade frequently? The western…
Anyway anyhow, everything has its superiority and lack. Depend on our way to perceive. I still love local mango for rujak (fruit salad with pungent dressing), I still love kebaya (Indonesian traditional woman's blouse), I still love a local man (to think of my hubby is local heuheu).

Import:

Local:

I Luv Game

2009-09-01T14:35:00.001+08:00

Until now...
It just like blood in my vein, never stop circulates. Beside the challenge, game gives me a sort of achievement i.e: point, level, or status. That's the satisfaction. At second hand, game especially strategy category can improve our problem solving ability and brain capability. It just like muscle, the more practice make our brain sharper.

Surprisingly, I feel like a different person when gaming. For example, in fighting game, my character tends to attack instead of defense. Sometimes like natural born killer or blood sucking vampire ^^. There's no mercy or negotiation. Maybe because I'm only focusing on achieving point and there's no humanity value involved.

Anyway, I luv game forever…

Lucky Man

2008-12-16T08:41:00.005+08:00

" Orang bodoh sering dikalahkan oleh orang pintar
Orang pintar dikalahkan oleh orang licik
Orang licik dikalahkan oleh orang beruntung
Jadi orang beruntung merupakan pribadi yang tak terkalahkan.
Ternyata.........

Keberuntungan adalah manifestasi karma baik seseorang"

Brownies Kukus

2008-09-23T07:53:00.002+08:00

Semenjak nikah, kalo hari raya (Galungan’n Kuningan), biasanya saya bikin cake untuk sesajen. Karena kemungkinan gagal sangat tinggi so saya putuskan beli yang instan aja. Praktis.. tinggal tambah telur sama mentega jadi deh.. Cake sudah ada, cuman masalahnya ada nggak yang makan? To think of cake is not our favorite meal. Musti ditaruh di kulkas sampe akhirnya kering trus dikasi Dendem (anjing lokal yang besarnya minta ampun).

Kebetulan suami saya suka beli brownis kukus yang sudah dipotong-potong. Kalo diitung-itung harganya lumayan mahal. Ternyata di supermarket dijual brownis kukus instan. Nggak seperti cake biasa pake oven, yang ini pake kukusan bikinnya. Rasanya nggak kalah kok dengan brownis kukus yang dijual. Awalnya terasa ribet bikin brownis kukus tapi setelah praktek yang kedua kali sudah mulai terbiasa. Yang penting sih brownis cepet habis dimakan bukan dibuang.
Biar nggak bosen, saya coba-coba kasi pemanis yang beda-beda. Misal keju, coklat chips, atau krim. Asik juga bikin kue-kuean apalagi bisa dishare buat keluarga. Dulu waktu saya masih single mana pernah bikin penganan. Bahan-bahan instan emang berguna apalagi yang ngga punya alat-alat bikin kue contohnya timbangan. Saya jadi suka lihat-lihat tips membuat penganan. Lumayan ngisi waktu di kantor he he Duh… udah jadi nyak-nyak nech J Sekarang kalau ada keperluan bikin cake saya deh yang disuruh. Orang-orang ngira saya bisa bikin cake padahal…………………. Pake tepung instan hihihi..

Sekarang lagi nyari-nyari resep bikin teppanyaki. Misoa suka banget sama masakan jepang satu ini. Kalo dilihat bikinnya mudah banget. Daging sama sayur dipotong-potong ditambah bumbu jadi deh. Cuman bahan-bahannya susah dicari. Emang mirin (kecap jepang) dijual di supermarket yah?? Kayaknya di Bali nggak ada toko yang jual bahan masakan jepang.

Bangun Pagi

2008-09-18T08:16:00.003+08:00

Kalo udah dikasi tidur kayaknya saya nomor satu deh hehe. Ngga pernah ada keluhan untuk yang satu ini. Malah saya bisa tidur sambil duduk. Beberapa orang di kantor ada yang heran, kok bisa? Bagi saya, kegiatan tidur adalah waktu untuk menyerap energi .

Dan sekarang keadaan jadi berubah. Tidak pernah ada kata tidur siang walaupun itu hari libur. Bangun pagi menjadi lebih pagi dari biasanya. Tiba-tiba aja saya melek dan nggak ngantuk lagi. Bangun dari tempat tidur langsung nyiapin semua kelengkapan Calya (hiks hiks, my bebi terpaksa musti dititip karena nggak ada pengempu dirumah). Setelah itu siapin diri juga untuk ngantor. Sepanjang hari waktu habis buat ngantor dan ngurus keluarga. Amazingly, ternyata tanpa ada istirahat disiang/sore hari, saya masih bisa seperti biasa. Paling kadang ngantuk sedikit which is nggak mengganggu hari-hari. Malah sekarang kalo ngantor saya pake make up (ceileh..). Dulu pake lipstik aja kagak.

Kenapa ya padahal kurang tidur tapi saya masih bisa bangun pagi dan lain-lain?
Rasa Tanggung Jawab.
That’s the answer I guess. Kedatangan si kecil membuat pola hidup saya berubah. Jarang tidur, jarang hang out sama teman, capek ngurus keperluan bebi ma misoa. Tapi rasa tanggung jawab membuat semua dapat dimaklumi. Fase hidup itu berubah-ubah, jadi kita jalani seoptimal dan semampu kita. Semua ada saatnya.

Pengalaman adalah guru yang paling berharga

2008-09-01T11:49:00.002+08:00

Kata-kata diatas sudah nggak asing kita denger. Kalo dipikir sejenak memang bener sich. Sesuatu yang pernah terjadi pada kita, kadang sampai berulangkali yang pada akhirnya membuat kita tahu bagaimana menyikapi selanjutnya untuk arah yang lebih baik.
Tapi ada satu hal yang pengen saya sampaikan bahwa orang yang kenyang pengalaman tidak selamanya bisa memberikan solusi. So bagi para junior kayak saya nggak usah takut jika nggak punya pengalaman dalam suatu hal karena ada solusinya yaitu wawasan. Rajin-rajin baca buku & majalah, nonton TV, ato browsing internet, bisa lo menambah wawasan. Dimuka bumi ini pasti ada aja orang yang mengalami masalah yang sama dengan kita. Masalah dan solusi mereka dapat kita ketahui dari media diatas yang ter-update. Itu yang paling penting. Ter-update!!
Contoh simpel aja:
Dirumah kalo malem banyak nyamuk. Pake obat nyamuk nggak ngaruh entah kenapa selalu aja dateng nyamuk padahal sudah banyak yang terbunuh. Karena desperate, saya akhirnya maklum. Mau gimana lagi, paling pake selimut sampe nutupin kepala :). Then the problem came. I have baby and its name Calya. Awalnya bebinya ditaruh dikeranjang. It's safe. Pada saat umurnya 4 bulan dia udah nggak nyaman dikeranjang karena badannya dah besar dan tidurnya agak heboh. Akhirnya kita pindahin tidur sama Mama'n Bapaknya ditutup sama kelambu kecil yang bisa dibeli di toko-toko bayi. Karena tidurnya berguling-guling, tu kelambu terdampar entah kemana so besoknya Calya bentol-bentol merah deh.
One day, saya iseng beli majalah bebi biar tau perkembangan tentang bayi. Di salah satu iklannya saya lihat ada kelambu sebesar tempat tidur. Yes!! This is it!! Ini yang kita cari-cari. Saya nggak kepikiran ada kelambu praktis begini. Dia bisa nutupi bed tapi bisa dibawa kemana-mana. Bahannya juga bisa dicuci. Untung ada cabangnya di Bali. Saat itu juga kita langsung beli. Worth it loh. Selain bebinya, kita juga tidurnya nyaman dan sehat.
Pointnya adalah mix and match antara pengalaman dan wawasan adalah guru yang paling berharga.

Change

2008-03-21T19:49:00.003+08:00

It has been a long time I didn't post to my blog. I've entered a new phase in human life. And somehow it affect my activity to blog. Lots of thing are change which are new environment, new habit, new responsibility, etc. I do it my best. That's why I never paid any attention that some part of me is missing. For example I don't do some of my hobby, I use my time for different purpose, my hang out friend...

Acceptance

2007-04-30T16:53:00.000+08:00

Sometimes it comes through hard time especially related to unacceptable unexpectedly change. If that thing happened to me, just like other people as well, deniable and sadness will come by. I think it's normal as a human being. But one thing for sure something hold me to wake up. The solution is go to sleep for a while. And when I wake up I feel lighter and somehow begin to accept bad thing that just happened. On my mind the word come up will be "It just happened. Sooner or later"

But there's a thing that accepting would be so hard to do. You never expect it would come a day like that. You sleep everyday but deniable still play in ur mine. You know, human is a routine creature. They built up from habit or get used to do something the same over and over. One day you got tired of this routine, then you find you're in conversation with yourself. There's something that the almighty wanna show to you. Seeing something different for a while to enrich your life. Focusing on other thing that might be useful to yourself. Nothing can turn thing back. Not your tear, not ur bad mood, nothing..
Move on like a river and give sunshine to your day. And here we go, the acceptance finally come embrace me..

Why XX looking better than XY ?

2007-01-13T16:33:00.000+08:00

I’m waiting for my order in a food stand I used to come for dinner. Crowded place but well, it’s the only place that has a good meal’n taste in the surrounds. So as I’m waiting, I look at the table in front of me. There’s 4 girls sit on the table. Nice dress. I think they’re waiting for another friend coz the chair on the next side of the table still empty.

Couples of minutes, come 4 boys and then sitting on the arranged chairs. The boys and the girls don’t look close each other so I assume it’s kinda mating or acquaintanceship appointment.
I see something. 2 from 4 girls are good looking and the other is enough but none of the boys is attractive. This is based on the eyes of mine.

Have you seen the popular story or movie “Beauty and the Beast”?
The beauty is on the girl site and the beast is on the boy site.
So I have one question?
Why girl is better than boy in term of appearance/face?
In other word,
Why I’m seeing more beautiful girls than handsome boys wherever I go (mall, office, street, movie, etc)?
Here are some answers I gathered:

1. For some reason, God bestows female race prettier face. He’s the one who creates human race so let Him do whatever He want. This is inarguable. And I’ll zip my mouth.

2. The power of cosmetics and beauty technology and fashion.

Tons of cosmetics products are provided in the market. Amazingly, cosmetic gives color to your face or fix virtually the shape of your face part that makes you prettier only with one wiper.
So many beauty salon spread to give us service for our face and body. Did you know, the eyebrows are the most important feature in defining the face? So when you shape ur eyebrows properly, you will see the different!
Plastic surgery become a trend and in some case makes the people addicted because they want to fix part of their body more more and more. Spooky, right?

And who is the consumer of this phenomenon? The girls.

3. My taste of categorizing handsome boys is different from the majority point of view. Well, could be, right?

4. I don’t have anything to do so I’m thinking something waste while waiting for my order

That’s why I found my self like this:

Sometimes a little bit protest because watching the movie/TV which the actor is not handsome.
Paying more attention to the goods/stuff than the people when hang out in the mall. Did you know, girl go to the mall looking for stuff but boy go to the mall watching the girl.

Ups, I have to go. My order is ready. This is just an intermezzo posting.

Long Term Saving To The Almighty

2006-12-24T23:55:00.000+08:00

Old woman in my office ask me a favor to copy a document in an HP 1310 printer. It’s a cool stuff that printer, copier and scanner, all in one. She could not operate the device. Sometimes she asks me to update her finance document in the PC because she doesn’t know how to type with computer. It’s not a big deal and won’t take time so I do it. But, one of co-worker said,” Why you do what she said? Look at her, sitting nicely in her desk while you’re standing here do a favor for her” He thought I’m a fool naive girl who let myself being a slave. My comment would be that was such a premature smart statement with no deep analysis.

Here the question:
Why I should bother to spend my effort for somebody needs?
The answer is: BECAUSE I CAN

There’s a slot time to help her, my supervisor has no complained coz I have done my job, so nothing to lose.

I have simple philosophy related to the story above.
* If you can, if you have time, or if you have a chance, do a good deed to the world. You don’t have to think hard how to achieve this. There’s always something come along that need your participation even though look small & minor. It’s not about quantity but quality. You don’t have to be UN ambassador like Angelina Jolie, but spend a time to copy a document for an old woman is fine.

* Good deed must go together with sincerity. This is the interesting part. I have tip.
Just like saving money in the bank, I think the same about good deed. I save good deed for God as a long term saving. Pile them as much as you can. This is for your own good in a subtle way. Life is not a science where 1+1=2 or when you help somebody then you hope this somebody own a help to you. No! We live with many possibilities. Good deed with sincerity will bring greater energy that stops by from one people to another to another and another. Then one day, when you need a help, it will come to you, NOT in the hand of someone you’ve helped before. Maybe in the hand of someone you met in the market, in the street, in the mall or in whatsoever. You just never know. That’s the beauty of life. This priceless saving will follow/accompany you not just in this life but on the next life (since I believe in reincarnation).

Back to the story above, on that case, I’m not just preparing/thinking myself for today (i.e. hope the old lady will treat me lunch), but preparing/thinking myself for the future or even for the next life.
So, can that so-called smart guy above think like I think?

Last movie watched: Two For The Money
It’s a story about a guy who has an ability to predict the outcome of softball game. Matthew McConaughey play well here. I like his confident and the way he talk. How amazing, nowadays lots of thing can be professionalized. You can have a career or make a company just by selling advice or picking which team will win/lose the game. The same like insurance, party line, etc.

Seeking for Sleepiness Potion

2006-12-08T23:12:00.000+08:00

Off course the natural answer will be “sleep”. But what I’m talking here is not in a natural circumstance. We have enough rest at night, enough energy to face the day, somehow this evil sleepy thing always try to control our consciousness state.

Imagine that you’re in the class and then got boring whether because of the subject, overheat temperature (due to non working AC), or the lecturer is not that appealing and don’t have any sense of humor. As time goes by, your eyes start to feel heavy. Since you respect the lecturer, you’re trying hard not to close the eyes. The more you’re trying to wake up, the heavier you eyes got. Gosh, so suffer and hurt. You start thinking or hallucinate that you might get eyes muscle cancer! And suddenly, you’re fall asleep! Lucky case, nobody notice you. Worst case, get in caught by the lecturer and he made you do something embarrassing.

The point is overloaded boring in whatever condition will make you sleepy.
I do some action to prevent sleepiness/drowsiness. Bring some snack to make my mouth and brain busy by eating them sneakily, read a book, chat with someone who sat beside me (if they’re eager to chat). Apparently, all of those actions are not effective enough.

So, is there any creative or powerful solution to cure sleepiness/drowsiness that I mention above?
I’ll be thankful. To me, this is a serious issue because I’ve been through some embarrassing thing coz of this. Moreover, there is paranoid thinking popped up on my mind which is I might have diabetes.. Oh My God! Could it be? Could it be? (too much commercial watching, i guess....)

Everything Is Meant To Be

2006-10-21T00:05:00.000+08:00

I was awakened very early in the morning. Cannot go back to sleep so I grab my phone cell to see what time is it. There’s a message popped up. It was from a friend. He he. Misunderstanding that lead to something which make me smile. I give her gift (a pack of uncooked chips) brought back from a trip to Surabaya. She thought it was cooked chips. Upon her arrival at home she’s ready to eat the chips and suddenly she found a bunch of dried flour dough flavored with onion. And definitely.... indigestible! Am I the one who give her incomplete information or she’s the one who receive the information inappropriately? :) :)

Anyway she’s one of my best friends and after separated for 2 years we’re together again. Somehow, the time is so right. I found a new job, stay in Denpasar and so was her. We can hang out after work and on the weekend I can got a ride with her to Tabanan, our hometown.

If we quite for a moment and thinking of our live journey, what we’re going through has been outlined. The Almighty give us a certain way of life how to develop & learn and he command the nature to conspire for our life. That’s why everything seem so “click” (if we realize, optimist, and thankful).

Some people thought my decision to go back to Bali such a decline (degradation of life). Less challenge in work, less financial guarantee, less enjoyment of life, less opportunity to develop, and more of “less” list. Maybe they’re right. I don’t know why my hand sent resignation email to my Boss on December with the most silly reason ever (to get close to family ^_^), effectively resigned on January, join Civil Servant recruitment on February, and here I am working in Government Office now.

But they’re not absolutely right. I start to realize this is meant to be. Start to accept, love and enjoy the new job. My work environment is full of laugh. I never imagined that can make a friend with mommies. See the bright side will make you happy. Beside, my enjoyment level is low or not too demanding. As long as I can hear music, watch movie/tv, play game, reading, joking, and other ordinary stuffs, I am happy. It is okay cannot go overseas unless somebody fund me he he.

So I guess everything is a reason and everything is meant to be. There must be something that you can learn when you through condition change, new people come along, new environment, anything. If some part of you is gone then another part will fill that emptiness and vice versa.

Something About Maps

2006-09-26T20:46:00.000+08:00

I’m not a map lover but there’s an urge to have it. At least we know where we stand on. I guess I owned quite reliable maps. Map of the town I live, map of the world, and map of our galaxy.
I’m not good in geography or places so I need them. For example, at one time I heard news on television about Botswana (African countries make me nuts), my mind start wondering where in the heaven is that country lied. I’m not interested of their culture, politics, people, etc. Just want to know which part of the earth’s crust they’re standing.

My weakness (hiks hiks) is that I cannot drive or ride. Fine, say whatever you wanna say. But... I need to know the territory where I live so map is the solution. At least I can identify the name of the street or find the shortest way to reach one point destination. Fortunately, I have a friend who eager to sacrifice her and her motorcycle to join me to prove my theory in the street. Sometimes we get lucky my theory is right, but some other times we get lost. No big problem. We’re not lost in the South Pole anyway. It’s fun, though. Laughing because we don’t know where we are and got disorientation until there‘s a person shown up to be asked.

One day, my family goes to the grandma’s place. My uncle who drives suddenly takes the new route that he believes that’s the shorter way. Everybody get shocked but me. I said, ”Hey, I love to do this too!”. Finally he was wrong. I think he got motivated because of what I said and he tries one more time to get the shorter way without hearing any protest from the passenger. Too bad, he was wrong again. Gosh I feel bad and tickled. I should shut my mouth :) :) The point is to fulfill your curiosity and sense of wanderer. And learn something through travel direction based on your own style.
If you’re a visual person, you can look at the map.
If you’re an auditory person, you can ask for spoken direction from peoples you know.
If you’re kinesthetic person, follow your instinct or feeling.
Couples months ago when I still worked on my former company, my boss bring me home from the office. I saw piles of picture with frame on the baggage. Apparently, one piece of that pile is a Milky Way Map. My eyes were blinking. It was a beautiful picture. Suddenly the picture/map is in my grip. No! I don’t steal it. He gave that to me. Maybe he couldn’t stand seeing me stand still and stunned :D. You’re such a generous boss. Thank You. I realized now that Earth’s orbit around the sun lies at a severe angle to the galactic plane.

Last movie watched: The Constant Gardener
(A man who seeks the truth about his activist wife that is found brutally murdered somewhere in Kenya. First time I heard bout this movie from a master film :D and recommend this is a good one. That was 9 months ago. Since the actor is Ralph Fiennes I won’t debate. Unfortunately, the movie is not like I expected. Maybe it’s because Fiennes cannot show his performance optimally to think of his part as a mild-mannered and un-ambitious person. I was astonishing when he plays in Schindler’s List. Cool. The story is too flat. No happy ending. Beside I don’t see the entire movie after all.)

Fine Line Between Smart and Deceptive

2006-09-09T12:30:00.000+08:00

I heard several times a mother so proud of her sons/daughters about how smart they are. At the same time I was wondering “Is this kind of smart this Mom want and proud of?”

“Every time his brother, his sister, or the family needs some help he will ask for payment first. He’s a kid but he knows how to make money.”

“My daughter asked over our maid to do her art project so she has more time to watch cartoon. I don’t know where she learn to control time”

“My son never asks for additional pocket money. Once he praises his friends then they will treat him a snack.”

If we foster this kind of action since they were a child no wonder, there will be lots of so-called smart people because they:

manipulate proposal budget to get personal benefit
absence at work with fake doctor’s memo so HRD won’t cut his/her claimable overtime day
explain how busy he/she is or pretend to be busy or suddenly disappear out of nowhere when there’s a job to do. Then the boss will assign that job to his/her co-worker

Don’t get me wrong. You free to do all of those actions above. I don’t mind. We’re grown up so we know exactly what to do without pass the consequences. Thing I totally disagree is people called those kind of action as a smart move. You take advantage of the situation. You take something that is not supposed to be your right. That’s not smart that’s deceptive/misleading.

To me, smart is a quality of how well you can give an efficient, effective, and optimum solution in every corner of your life or anybody life with honor. I’m not trying to be a saint here. Sometimes we get trapped and we don’t have any choice but doing misleading/deceptive action. Okay. I get it.
But this action must be taken at the bottom of the solution choice we have. I do hope deceptive thing doesn’t treat as an instinct.

My game buddy once told me that I’m a cold hearted & cold blood lioness. When we play, I don’t do negotiation, I do anything (even tricky thing) to win as long as it doesn’t cheat, and I’ll beat to death my enemy even though they’re look so weak and powerless. Win and get highest score is the point. But as we go back to the real media, facing human environment, everything totally change. Your inner voice will make contribution how to act, speak, or think. There’s something bind you for greater good.

How amazing thing can be twisted because of score of people’s perceptions. There’s a popular quote in my former company (the holding company, actually) and frankly I don’t impress at all.
“There’s a fine line between kind and stupid”, which imply to “There’s a fine line between smart and deceptive”.
I heard about old Chinese quote: “Wise man will look stupid among ordinary people”.
And I have my own quote: ”Being smart is kewl, but being wise is priceless”

Last movie watched: Just Friend
(It’s about a man who falling in love with his best friend. For the first time I laugh watching romantic comedy movie. At most I smile and now I can’t help laughing at 1.00 am. The review said “You will laugh from the start till the end”. That’s true. All cast do their job well. I guess, the leading actor gonna be the next Jim Carrey or Ben Stiller.
Sometimes I’m wondering who play the most important part of the movie. Is it the actor, director, scriptwriter, or casting? To think of I’m the gal who pick/buy DVD based on favorite actor, they’re all conspire to make me laugh :D)

Unwanted Questions around Trendy Food

2006-08-26T11:48:00.000+08:00

Tasting western food has been mingling with society especially to the youth. We often go to the cafe, coffee shop, restaurant, even a stall that serving western food. We could say it’s a life style. Supposed on one fine day, along with some friends, we go to the cafe ordering some western food and beverage. As we waiting for the dish, a friend suddenly asking us an unwanted but true question. It makes us freeze for a moment. It’s a basic question that can be answered by opening a dictionary or wikipedia but too bad we don’t have them right now. Since the order has been served, there’s no penalty to forget and pass that question. Time to eat!
Finally we realized this question has been asking for several time but we’re too damn amnesia to remember that question. Gee, this is a vicious circle. It’s time to cut it off.

Here are the questions and the answers you have to know so your dinner, lunch or whatever it is going on well :)

Question Loving Person (A): What is tenderloin?
Smart Sounding Person (B): Tenderloin came from ten.... tendon which means meat. And Steak is meat.
Still thinking Person (C): Did you say all steak is tenderloin??
Answer: A steak cut from the hip part. The muscle tissue does very little work, so is the most tender part of the cow. Considered to be high quality steaks.

If the question is not about “tenderloin” then a related question below may arise. Depend on which one is seen first on the menu.
Question Loving Person (A): What is sirloin?
Answer: A steak cut from the hip part as well but the muscles still do quite a bit of work, so less tender and cheaper than tenderloin.

Question Loving Person (A): What is the different between Latte and Cappuccino?
Smart Sounding Person (B): Cappuccino has milk on it. I love cappuccino.
Question Loving Person (A): And what about Latte?
Smart Sounding Person (B): I don’t like latte.
Still thinking Person (C): We mean what’s the different??
Smart Sounding Person (B): Are we here studying or something? Who care about latte if you love cappuccino.
Answer:
Cappuccino is brewed coffee (espresso) prepared with milk generally defined as 1/3 espresso, 1/3 steamed milk and 1/3 frothed milk (Indonesian: buih/busa susu).
Cafe Latte is brewed coffee (espresso) prepared with milk generally defined as 1/3 espresso, 2/3 steamed milk.
See the different, okay

Guys, have you ever through this situation? Maybe you can share the questions so I can prevent myself to be a smart sounding one :D

P.S.
Western foods I mean here are American and Italian food. Other than that maybe we can discuss on the next decade depend on who rule the world and who's so creative in tempting our tongue.

Last movie watched: You Stupid Man
(A friend of mine recommended this movie. It’s a sweet movie. Just like seeing a normal life but somehow packed in an appealing way. I like the scene when the actor and actress said something but actually they think/mean on contrary. The intro music is sweet too.)

Serotonin bursting humor

2006-08-19T12:53:00.000+08:00

This is long weekend due to our Independent day on August 17^th and I found myself sitting on my laptop reading Dilbert blog. I love the comic strip and plus the cartoonist indulging us by making Dilbert blog. Good Job. On a certain time of my reading, I’m on a nice catchy posting with short simple writing. Apparently it was a funny posting!! :D :D :D. Just love this life when a simple thing can make your day brighter or wake up your mood. So I wanna share with you, guys.

Feel free to click this link: Humor of the Week

Hold on!!
I know most of you such a very busy person that have no much time to click the link then wait for 10 secs to open a window just to read a humor. Since my mood is good, I copy that posting and paste it to my blog. Time efficiency, right?
Maybe I copy someone's blog, maybe I paste someone's blog to mine, but does that make me a plagiarist? (No...... moreover you've saved people time from this unnecessary time spender posting).

Most Optimistic Guy Ever

My favorite news story recently is about Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson. The FBI allegedly videotaped him accepting $100,000 in cash from an informant. When the authorities searched his house they found the cash in his freezer, wrapped in food containers and aluminum foil. The serial numbers allegedly match the money the informant gave him.

That’s not the funny part, although it’s a good start. The funny part is that he’s claiming he’s innocent. I’m trying to imagine him on the witness stand explaining all of this away.

Prosecution: “Congressman Jefferson, why did you put the money in food containers and store it in your freezer?”

Jefferson: “Well, I like my money to be chilled.”

Prosecution: “What?”

Jefferson: “Yes sir. I find that if I cool it to about 16 degree Fahrenheit, it doesn’t stick together. You should try it.”

Prosecution: “Why did you think our informant was giving you $100,000 in cash? Didn’t it seem like a bribe?”

Jefferson: “Heck no. You’d be surprised how many times people have given me $100,000 for no reason whatsoever. I had to put a second refrigerator in the garage just to keep it all chilled.”

Prosecution: “You have a second refrigerator?”

Jefferson: “Um…I’ll say no.”

Prosecution: “You just said you do.”

Jefferson: “You can’t prove that.”

Anyway, the point is that I have to admire his optimism.

Uncertain Possibilities that milling around fate

2006-08-17T18:56:00.000+08:00

When I need to know a piece of the future, I tend to face the result that is beyond my thought. Lots of possibilities or scenarios pop up but the minor one is come out. I spent tons of second to think what will happen on the H-day and finally I found out it was absolutely against my prediction. Who play with my fate?? Is it the Moirae? (OK, This is just a rhetoric question... no particular purpose within). If I’m too confidence the result will disappointing and vice versa if I’m too pessimistic the result will be good.

The other nature fact is that you can’t change or balance your confidence or pessimistic thought. For example if you think the H-day will be bad then automatically there’s only a tiny spot room for good scenarios in your mind. The rest of it would be “what if pessimistic questions” in every place on your mind.

What is the situation I’m trying to say here?
It could be final testing to pass college, audited, meeting someone, interviewed, attends an event, etc. With one condition which is the result must really really mean to me but I can’t control it 100%. Otherwise I don’t want to waste my time trying to be Nostradamus the Second.

Do all people experience this kinda stuff or is it just me?
I entry this posting it’s because I experienced this phenomenon on this week.

Last movie watched: Pirates of Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
(Entertaining. J. Depp doesn’t play much on his effeminate hand style just like on the first episode. To me, that’s what makes him funny. It’s quite long duration movie and not finishes yet. There’s a third episode!! Truly a commercial movie. In fact my watching buddy -another movie freaks- laughing in a funny way ^_^).

Food Substitute

2006-08-11T16:27:00.000+08:00

We often got free snack especially from the female employees. Sometimes they brought us traditional food such as rujak, plecing, or boiled cakes when they go outside for official purpose or just want to get some fresh air. Sometimes they intentionally brought food from home. Woman just loves snacking :).

My working time mostly is in door with the male employees. I can’t go outside however I want since I am a newbie. And plus there’s no Balinese food stall in my neighborhood. So I think I am the only female employee who never gives free snack in the office. Nobody complain and it’s not a necessary thing, but I wanna give contribution too.

One day in the morning when the sun shines and bird chirping, on the way to the office, I bought something. I bought ....... a newspaper.
As I arrive to the office, I put the newspaper on my desk and everybody who has a free time can read it. At first they thought the newspaper is library property but since it always appears in my desk on each morning, they finally aware who the owner. Newspaper reading access becomes easier. We don’t have to go to the library anymore.

When I’m working on the computer sometimes I heard people talking about the news they read instead of gossiping:
“5.1 Richter scale earthquake has shaken Denpasar and its environs at 22 pm. But I don’t feel anything” (Hmmm... they said until the Richer scale)
“Wow, the most expensive hand phone came from Russia. It’s adorned with rare blue diamond!”
“See ladies, don’t drink coffee to much. It will make your bone porous." (They know woman more risky than man in getting osteoporosis).

Once I forgot to take the newspaper out of my bag and my next desk co-worker said, “Hey Adee, do you bring newspaper today?” I said,” It’s in my bag. Just take it”.
And now, most of the employees take turn reading my newspaper.
We have enough foods, we got enough information, and working happily.

To me, by reading newspaper “nearly” everyday, I finally know who the mayor of Denpasar :). I started to remember Bali have 9 regencies :D. I must live on the other planet over the past 8 years. Well, at least it wasn’t loss spending money for papers with columns.
Now I know Microwave need at least 1300 V to operate. If you don’t set/adjust your home voltage limit then your house will get heart attack. Microwave oven will suck your home voltage like a black hole.

P.S.
rujak = fruit salad with sweet and hot sauce
plecing = assorted vegetable with fermented shrimp and spicy sauce

Last movie watched: The Good Girl
(The conversation and the action in this movie sometimes makes me smile. It just funny to see the attractive Jennifer Aniston change 180° wearing old fashion jeans with vest. Somehow, I started to like hearing Texas accent. There’s tough scene at the end but overall, it still happy ending).

The preferred ways to enjoy life

2006-08-05T00:00:00.000+08:00

Individuals differ from one another in their choice to develop and enjoy life. And these things below are my preferred ways. Here I am an ordinary gal in this ordinary world.

Anything to do with images
- watching movie
- watching TV
- reading magazine
- stargazing
- looking painting
- shopping or window shopping
- keep a map and the like
- taking photos **

Anything to do with sounds
- play mp3
- sing a song
- play instrument **

Anything to do with body movement
- play Time Crisis :)
- play bowling
- play billiards
- play basketball
- dancing
- gardening **

Anything to do with words
- read a book (fiction or non fiction)
- surfing internet
- read & write blog :)
- write journal

Anything to do with peoples
- joking
- hang out

Anything to do with the self
- profiling
- introspection
- deciding

Anything to do with logic
- play puzzle
- play PC game
- play card

P.S.
** : a wish that is still a wish

Last movie watched: Jarhead
(There’s no climax make this movie a little bit boring. No serious battle happened in war situation. The story is too normal to be a movie. This time I am not on Roeper & Ebert site :). Jake Gyllenhaal looks terrible with that army haircut)

Pageant: Miss Universe

2006-07-28T16:15:00.000+08:00

It’s kind of late but I can’t help to give a comment about this beauty contest. It’s entertaining to watch Miss Universe on TV because we can see full of smiling beautiful woman with brain and beautiful dress, off course. Top 5 have been announced. I don’t know how the jury picked them. Let’s accepted it. The top 5 finalists are Miss Paraguay, Switzerland, USA, Japan, and Puerto Rico.

Here are my comments:

Miss Switzerland: She’s so European with that blonde hair and blue eyes. She looks like Nordic gal. You know Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and others. Truly a European beauty. If she wear white gown maybe we can see Snow White :). Thing make her appealing is the red gown she wore. Good choice to her. She’s confident and look a little bit snobbish. It’s not a problem. A beauty smart gal usually looks snobbish. I don’t care.

Miss Paraguay: I don’t thing she’s confident. Because every time the MC announces her name as top 20 then top 5, she looks surprise. As if her shock expression tells us, “Oh My God! I’m in!! I can’t believe it. Why me? I don’t like that big green gown she wore. The motif is too big. It’s just like she wear a bedsheet. There’s no elegancy and grace. Plus she wears big green ear rings. Oh my God, who is responsible for her wardrobe? Good point on her is she’s the tallest of all 5 contestants.

Miss Japan: She’s so confident and friendly. She has a gut to say to the audiences how happy she was on that stage. She looks free without any pressure. I can’t believe Asian gal can be stood out among those western gals. That’s make her the most appealing gal on the stage. I’m impressed when she wears national dress with samurai on the hand. Give her more power.

Miss USA: I couldn’t find any prominent thing on her. She’s beautiful, blonde, nice teeth and smile, but it’s so so to me. Maybe it’s because her hair is not as long as the other contestants. Because long hair make the girl more feminine, more elegance, and more beauty. That’s what Miss Universe need for (I mean, beside brain, presentation is important, right?). I think the dress design is not too good. The good thing is she’s the one who can speak English well :).

Miss Puerto Rico: Fantastic dress!! The wire style all over the dress makes her look elegance and glamour. That’s definitely boosting her appearance up even though her face is not that beautiful. She answered the question fine.

I thought Miss Japan will be the winner but I’m happy Puerto Rico won the crown. Maybe the world (sponsor, exactly) is not ready to choose Asian as the fairest one.
Unfortunately, Indonesian delegation hasn’t passed the top 20. Well, maybe we blew it out this time. But we still have 5000 way to win the contest :) :). Just wait and see.

Loud Speaker for Identity Crisis

2006-07-21T15:15:00.000+08:00

I don’t know who started or when it starts first, there’s something occurred in my place which is personally not acceptable to me. I know some of you wouldn’t understand what I’m talking about because this is certainly a local customs or manners issue. As Balinese Hinduism, we have several ritual/ceremony for God that is performed in different time among us. It depends on place and time based on Hinduism calendar.

The situation I regret is when a group of people usually one big family held a ritual, they set loud speaker in their house to air chanting or something to do with ritual music stuff.

WHAT THE POINT WITH THAT??
Looking for attention is the point, I guess.
Some of us follow something that is not suitable for our sake. It looks silly to me. In Mosque, there’s a loudspeaker to remind Muslim to perform ritual prayers. Using loudspeaker still make sense because at that specific time, every Muslim in this planet is praying. And now a group of Balinese people implant loudspeaker too, who they gonna remain but their own selves in radius about 20 m? Beside in Mosque (this is the important part), they stake the loudspeaker in the highest place of the building (the Mosque mostly is a big building) so the sound come out from loudspeaker will not interrupt the neighbors.

Back to this ignorance people, if we stake the loudspeaker in the ordinary house, which is usually small to medium building, it certainly annoying the neighbors. After all, sometimes the loudspeaker still on air at midnight, the time we should have rest.
Why should we need people attention when we’re connecting to God? God ritual is internal need not external need. It would be the same as a people who told everyone how generous he was after giving money to the poor. There’s no spiritual essence left.

The bottom line is I think we’ve through an identity crisis here. If I comfort to my self I won’t do such thing to attract people attention especially in a silly way. Moreover we have to be selfish by airing high decibel sound that could injure people ears. Sound from a close loudspeaker certainly is not the same as home theatre or orchestra. Thanks God, none of my big family member proposes to set loudspeaker for our God ritual. Fiuhhhh...

Anyway, this is not a religion matter but merely a customs issue. I hope this customs will not become a trend. We supposed to be wiser to think and act and never let pride or ego spoiled us.

Last movie watched: The Machinist
(Gosh, Christian Bale just likes escaping from Nazi Concentration Camp! The rib, jaw, and back bone stood out. Ewww... Dark movie but bring us a lesson to bad deed we might done. Just an inspiration thought, if I could have more weight maybe I look better ^_^)

Self Healing

2006-07-14T17:51:00.000+08:00

Doctor in my office clinic said I got positive Dengue Fever symptoms. She found petechia (a small red or purple spot on the body, caused by a minor hemorrhage) on my arms, I feel severe headache and nausea. She told me to perform blood test in the hospital.

It was busy time on that day. I don’t have any breakfast and I just recovered from flu. That is why I feel headache and nausea. So... the best way to get rest is go to the clinic. Damn, I should eat something before go to work. It’s too late to eat. I need rest. And finally... I have that shocking news. But weird thing is my blood pressure is good, my body temperature is fine (no fever), and no pain in joint or muscular. I told her I’ve got flu in the past seven days.

I was a little bit stress not because of Dengue Fever that could possibly make me lay down hopelessly accompanied with intravenous fluids in one of hospital bedroom (since I don’t believe what doctor said). But I was stress of Blood Testing!!! They will suck my blood! They will stick needle right through my vessel blood! It must hurt. What if the nurse is inexperience so she will stick me several times. Arrrggghh....

Why should I end this day by having blood testing? :(
When I entered emergency room, every time the nurse wants to stick the needle to my arm, I said “hold on, please...” and sigh. It happened twice. I know it started irritated her and she said “Just close you eyes, okay. Make a fist!”. My God!! What should I do? Hiks, my eyes glistened. Ok, take whatever you want, blood sucking.

Well...apparently, it doesn’t hurt that bad. He he he... like ant bite. I feel like a dumb. Forgive me for my ignorance. After waiting for 15 minutes, doctor said my blood status is good. My platelets (thrombocytes) are 200.000 per mm3. A normal platelet count in a healthy person is between 150,000 and 400,000 per mm³ of blood. He gave me vitamin (Imunos) and I can go home free. What about the petechia, headache, and nausea? He diagnosed I was recovered from Dengue Fever. My brain and body need lots of nutrition. Take a rest, drink a lot, and eat a lot.

It just funny, show time of my dengue fever should be the “fever it self” not the “recovery”. Whether it is misdiagnosed or not, I am grateful. As I said before, only the body's immune system can effectively destroy the virus. Doctor/hospital just gives you vitamin or paracetamol to reduce the symptoms and intravenous fluids to prevent dehydration. That’s it.
Lesson learned I got is eat and drink a lot after recovering from illness. Give appreciation to your body after having hard battle. And don't wait till you feel hungry.
I feel like a vampire for this couple day. Every time I got a little dizzy, I will find sweet drink as soon as possible. I prefer drinking than eating to supply nutrition. It needs less effort and time.

Last movie watched: Brokeback Mountain (After reading the short story, I want to watch the movie again)

Are You A Philistine?

2006-07-09T00:13:00.000+08:00

I was going to buy The Machinist DVD, unfortunately the attendant couldn’t find it. Then my eyes were directed to DVD titled The Squid and The Whale”. I remember one of Josh Hartnett movie’s related to something with “Whale” so I grab the DVD and there’s no name of my fav actor added to it. Wrong DVD! Anyway, I bought it because Roeper & Ebert said “Two Thumbs Up!!” :) Beside, this movie won Golden Globe Award.
Thing make me interesting about this movie is one quote that sound cool:
“Are You A Philistine?”
According to this movie, a Philistine is described as a guy who doesn't care about books or interesting films.

I never imagine two hobbies that seem unrelated each other apparently lead to one direction which is culture. And they create a term for people who don’t have/like this hobbies combination. So it must be bunch of people out there that we can include them as culture or uncultured man by knowing his/her hobby.
Maybe we can make a quiz:
Quizzer : “Do you like to watch movie?”
Victim : Nope!
Quizzer : “Do you like to read book?”
Victim : Nope!
Quizzer : “OK,You’re a barbarian.”

Am I a philistine ? :)
As far as I can see, ...I seldom go to the Cinema (cineplex 21) when a box office movie is released. My budget just reaches for DVD level :). I don’t have thousands of DVDs collection. But I do realize movie is a great amusement in a way. Lots of thing you can learn from movie.
I feel excited to scrap of plastic wrapper of book I just bought from book store then feel how beautiful the cover design (it will enrich the color of my book pile). I feel excited to read the first page that would plunge you into a certain imagination. Though, I don’t finish reading some of the books. I guess because of wrong book choosing.

Speaking of book, I just found E. Annie Proulx’s short story!! Can you guess the title? Yes!! It’s Brokeback Mountain. Wow, long long way from America, there’s an Indonesian publisher from nowhere care to translate this short story then distribute to a tiny place in the planet called Bali and coincidentally found by me. No matter how many times I watch the movie (10 times I guess), it still breathtaking after reading the story. I cried.

Last movie watched: The Squid and The Whale (duh)

Drugs Jargon

2006-07-01T17:58:00.001+08:00

An employee in my office talked about how miserable she was when attacked by chicken pox. It hasn’t spread all over the body yet but fatigue, pain, tiredness mix into one. She continued talk about the medicine she used and make sure we buy one if we had chicken pox. She said it was very effective. I can’t even remember the name of the medicine. Gone with the Wind. I’m too blind for this thing. I remember long time ago, when I had fever, a friend told me to buy Paracetamol. What is it? Is it a drug name or trade name?

However, there’s an explanation for my medicine ignorance.

I’m a person who believes in self healing. When flu, cold, or fever attacks you, just let them go. I don’t go to the doctor or use any drug (even generic drug that can be easily found in the store). Drug just reduces the symptom. Only the body's immune system can effectively destroy the invader. Drink hot tea or soup to heat your body so that the virus growth slow down and the body can produce mass production of antibodies faster.

I visited doctor once when I was in college. I wanna go home so I thought by having doctor prescription, there’s a reason to go home. Unfortunately, after having my med/drug I feel better on the next morning. I even wash my hair to get cold but it doesn’t work. One of the employees in my former company said I’m skinny, eat below human standard, but very seldom got sick.

As we getting older (hiks hiks), I knew we can’t have fit body all the time. Iron touch by oxygen will make it rusty. Human body absorbs oxygen for metabolism will make it older. On November 2005, I have flu and I guess the worst flu ever. I can’t work, I have migraine, and I feel heat on my chest. It never happened before. Avian influenza was hot news that attacks our country on that time. Kind of worry so I decided to go to the doctor. Thanks God it was just an ordinary flu. :) Fiuhh... relieve...

Anyway, after hearing the story about that chicken pox med, maybe it’s time to care about drug jargon. There’s nothing to lose. What’s the different betwen aspirin, paracetamol (acetaminophen), and ibuprofen. Which one is drug name and which one is trade name. What drug is supposed to be used when we got sick. At least you keep on track when people talking about medicine/drug. If you have no experience it doesn’t mean to be allowed to know nothing.

Last movie watched: X-Men II
(Kind of curious because someone said X-Men II is the best episode of X-Men movie. I don’t impress. LOTR still #1. It is the best visual effect movie ever combines with its great story)

Living in Stone Age

2006-06-24T11:42:00.000+08:00

In term of Information Technology, working in my new office just like living in Stone Age (considering that Ice Age is too sadistic). They have computers but nobody care about basic thing such as network for file sharing or virus protection. When I worked in my former company, these stuffs are done dedicatedly by a unit. There’s person which his job is to provide support for all hardware, software, and network users. So what happened now? I found chaos in file management and all computers are a nice living environment for virus growth. Great... my flash disk is infected.

But the positive thing I’ve got is since I want to help them so I learn about network and virus stuff which make me know more. OK, The progress is tiny but meaningful. Sometimes, we never learn when everything has been set up, right?

Another thing is work speed. When we accustomed to work with schedule and deadline, it appears to our action. For example you never realize that you walk fast in the office when you have some work to do. I walk in corridor to another room, I pass one employee and she said, “Hey, slow down. Don’t be hurry. Take ur time when you walk”. Or another employee said, “Don’t work too much, relax. Have you eat?”, “It’s time to go home. Shut down the computer”. My goodness...
Suddenly I feel funny. Coz in my former company, the comment I have would be, “What’s the progress of your work?” or “What are you doing” or “Could you do this?”.
Working has took my most time but not anymore. Sunday, Monday, or Holiday used to be the blessing day from Heaven to restore energy. Hibernate on Saturday. But not anymore.... It’s all history.

Positive negative, advantage disadvantage, yin yang, they exist side by side. Every change you made will be face with this contradictory thing. Enjoy it.

Last movie watched: Lucky Number Slevin (just wanna see Josh Hartnett)

Da Vinci Code

2006-05-26T12:54:00.000+08:00

I have read the book, but haven’t watched the movie yet. I will but not too excited.
Read Da Vinci Code just like ride an incomplete roller coaster. You fasten the seat belt, the roller coaster is getting up up and up and so is your adrenalin. You so excited what will go on. As you reach the top, the coaster suddenly ends. The comment would be: THAT’s IT!!

I think there’s a big hole at the end of the story. This hole is not based on the expert point of view though. It just based on the view of ordinary reader.
The Holy Grail mystery that is revealed by Robert Langdon (the main character) apparently is Jesus and Maria Magdalena bloodline. This Langdon take a risk of his own life, be a fugitive, spent lots of time and effort, use his brain to break great puzzle just for a bloodline?? What we gonna do with a bloodline nowadays? She’s a human the same like us. Beside we don’t find any spiritual aura in her. So there’s nothing special. We through an evolution and if we don’t have qualities that our ancestor have, it’s fine.

Don’t you feel a little bit useless? OK, finally Langdon get together with Sophie. They’re happy. But still the comment would be: that’s it! You don’t have to risk your life to get a girl, right? At the end of the story Langdon and Sophie plan a date. It’s just a date, the initial phase of relationship. There are many possibilities waiting there for example they’re broke.

The novel shall not reward the main character with personal happy ending only, but it should pay attention to reader satisfaction because this is a quest and the reader involve thoroughly in a packet of 631 pages (Indonesian edition). They deserve to be thrill and satisfy too. Unfortunately, I don’t find them in this novel. I am disappointed.

However, I found many interesting thing in the novel such as Louvre collection, Da Vinci masterpiece, anagram, riddle, history, cryptex, myth, etc. I love it! Gosh it would be great if the ending can match the journey part. Maybe the ending must be replaced with Indiana Jones movie :P :P.

FYI: I have more enthusiasm to watch Scarie Movie 4 instead of Da Vinci Code.

That's What Fingerprint Is For

2006-05-03T18:01:00.000+08:00

Question for Indonesia citizen:
“How sure Police will solve the case when you lost your belonging?”
For example: burglary in the house, burglary in the shop, laptop is stole in the office, and motorcycle is gone in the garage. Dealing with police administration will make you dizzy, especially after having a bad day. Let’s say we put hope 5% by reporting to the police station, the rest of it would be let this thing go. Term 5% hope doesn’t mean the police will intentionally find the criminal, but merely administration procedure. Perhaps someday a guy come to the police station and confess has robbed some house including your house then the police will inform you later. Or a police find a wreck motorcycle on the street which is your motorcycle that has been stolen 5 years ago.

Find the suspect who responsible for this lost is a problem. The civil citizen certainly cannot solve it because they don’t have any access but police have it. They got the skill, experience, data, and standard procedure. But why we still can’t depend on them to solve burglary. In my opinion, they just focus on street work by interrogating witnesses/people on the crime scene. This technique supposed to be followed by forensic evidence and record investigation. In a simple way is by collecting and analyzing the fingerprint then use fingerprint record for identification.

I’m sure there are lot of evidences can be found in the scene. The reason I’m talking about fingerprint is my curiosity when I applied Statement of Good Conduct (Indonesian: Surat Keterangan Berkelakuan Baik) in Police station. The officer took my fingerprint as record. They must have enormous fingerprint database because they took fingerprint to each people who apply for driver license, statement of good conduct, commit felonies/misdemeanors, or join armed force.
But is this database useful for the interest of citizen? Can we gain the real benefit of fingerprint database? Can we close burglary case based on fingerprint database? Because burglary is the top ten cases reported by citizen.

I hope in every burglary case, fingerprint identification is strictly performed as a protocol. If there’s no fingerprint match on database then we can maintain this record for the next investigation. Perhaps we found some pattern by tracking this unidentified fingerprint. At least we try to do something instead of do nothing. The more data collected the easier to investigate the case to closure.

Some people might say,”Fingerprint identification is not worth for burglary. It exclusively performed for homicide or terrorist”. Don’t be lazy! It’s police job to protect and serve citizen, right? Isn’t it wonderful citizen put their trust to a police instead of paranormal?
What if fingerprint database is not maintained well and not supported by proper technology? This is a management issue. I hope fingerprint collection in police department is not for formality purpose. I just want to say one thing, ”We must one step ahead to catch criminal otherwise forget it”.

Stargazing Hour

2006-04-29T15:31:00.000+08:00

It was such a long time I don’t do stargazing. Rainy season still go on which means too many clouds in the sky that make stargazing activity is ineffective.
One day, the sky is clear, and my niece yelled,”Anty, It’s Orion, right?!”
I just smile. I previously told her about Orion the hunter so every bright star she saw will be considered as Orion. And she pointed a wrong constellation.
Maybe it’s a sign for me to gaze a night sky.

Date: April 25th, 2006
Time: 10.30 pm, Sky status: clear
Observation result:

Head of Scorpious the scorpion is prominent on the East.
I saw Arcturus for the first time. The color is yellow and bright. It belongs to Bootes constellation, the herdsman. Part of the constellation is blocked by the building :(
I saw Spica for the first time. It’s part of Virgo constellation, the maiden. Spica is dimmer than Arcturus actually.
There’s a square of 4 stars with the same brightness on the right of Virgo. O...that’s Corvus the crow.
Start to identify dim constellations which are Libra the scale & Lupus the wolf.
At first, I just notice the front legs of Centaurus the centaur. They are 2 bright stars which are Alpha Cen and Beta Cen. But now I can identify the whole part.
Identify dim constellation near Crux the cross entitled Musca the fly.
There’s a very bright star at the tip of Libra. It dominates the other stars. But I don’t find it fit in the map sky. So I guess this one is a planet. Finally I know what the mysterious thing is. It’s Jupiter!! I’m so happy. I have no interest to identify planets because their path pattern is irregular. But now I change my mind.
I was relaxing my eyes but still looking at the stars. They’re beautiful and sparkling, look like jewels spread in the sky.

Date: April 26th, 2006
Time: 5.00 am, Sky status: clear
Observation result:

Scorpious is seen as a whole.
Sagittarius the archer is shown behind Scorpious. The square body part is clearly visible.
On the north side of Sagittarius, I found the close pair of stars. One star is brighter that the other. The brightest is Altair, part of Aquila the eagle.
Identified Cygnus the swan nearby Aquila.
Once you have identified Aquila and Cygnus, then you will found Lyra the harp. These 3 constellations are known as summer triangle. But it’s so strange I couldn’t identify Lyra. Maybe because the cloud came that blur my view.

I wake up in the morning just to see the sky for a moment. I guess the excitement overwhelms me.

Date: April 28th, 2006
Time: 8.300 pm, Sky status: rather cloudy
Observation result:

Jupiter still twinkling bravely on the east. I don’t see any star around it because blocked by cloud.
As I gaze north, I saw line of prominent stars there. I’m a little bit shocked. Are they planets? I grab my sky map and start to observe. O my Goodness, that’s the big dipper, the well-known pattern of stars within Ursa Major. I though I would never seen Ursa Major the Great Bear since this constellation lie on north polar sky. Woo hoo!! The dipper/bowl is so bright and sparkling. This is the best constellation beside Orion.
Finally Regulus, the brightest star in Leo constellation is identified.

I stop my activity coz the cloud cover the sky little by little. I can’t wait to see Pisces and Pegasus constellation because this region is a place for dim constellations. I have seen many bright constellations so it’s time to identify dim constellations. But of course it takes time to find the right time.

Last thing to do is checking my constellation list, which ones have been identified and which ones still waiting to be found.

Justification and Justice

2006-04-25T15:25:00.000+08:00

A man murdered his pregnant mistress with burglar scenario by sacrificing the neighbor of the mistress. On one night, the ghosts of the mistress and her neighbor come to the man seeking for explanation and justice.

Man : “It wasn't easy. But when the time came, I could pull the trigger. You never know who your neighbors are till there's a crisis. You can learn to push the guilt under the rug and...go on. You have to. Otherwise it overwhelms you.”

Neighbor : “And what about me? What about the next-door neighbor? I had no involvement in this awful affair. Is there no problem about me having died as an innocent bystander?

Man : The innocent are sometimes slain to make way for a grander scheme. You're a collateral damage.

Neighbor : “So was your own child.”

Man : “Sophocles said: To never have been born may be the greatest boon of all.”

Mistress : “Prepare to pay the price. Your actions were clumsy, full of holes. Almost like someone begging to be found out.”

Man : “It would be fitting if I were apprehended and punished. At least there would be some small sign of justice, some small measure of hope for the possibility of meaning.”

End of the story, the police didn’t find any evidence that lead him as a suspect. Because of some luck, the police suspected a drug addict. Unfortunately, the drug addict has killed by one of his own. Case closed. The man go on his life happily ever after with his wife.

What a lucky guy on earth!
Take somebody life to cover adultery is absolutely a huge sin. He must be punished to uphold justice. But he made justification for what he has done. Every question is answered. Every mistake is rationalized. Every stain is bleached.
This is some kind of anomaly. But it possibly happened in our daily life nowadays. People make justification and rationalization to blind the truth and justice for personal gain.
Things prepared to have an impressive justification:

Be cool and confident as if you do nothing.
You must have lots of life philosophy. This is a powerful strategy to twist people mind. The more difficult the philosophy the more confused it got by people.
You must know lots of quote. Make sure the quote from famous people. It is best from the Greek philosopher. It just sounds cool. Beside the quote itself, people would be amazed because of your capability to memorize the quote owner. Certainly a plus to you.
Point 2 and 3 can be accessed through internet, book, TV, or movie and don’t forget to practice ;) over and over.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t support justification. I believe people who stand behind justification have already known these tricks. While the good people still have to learn to protect their selves. Well, I hope I don’t do justification here .... :).

Actually, I took the story from a movie. It’s a good movie. I love to hear the accent when they talk. Does anybody know this movie?

Sharing Husband

2006-04-21T13:32:00.000+08:00

Movie industry in Indonesia is growing. I’m happy for that. The controversial film has been released on this month entitled “Sharing Husband” (Indonesian: Berbagi Suami”). One keyword for this film is Polygamy. This phenomenon has been existed in our exotic country for such a long time ago. The good news is polygamy thing has decreased to any level but still remain.

NO! I’m not talking about the movie. The review on TV is enough. I’m talking about us. I never heard my friends (especially for men) intentionally wanna go to the movie to watch local drama movie. What I usually find out is that they’re more excited to spend money for a movie with full of visual effect or testosterone rush. Drama genre just for romantic thing and dating time :D.

Why does “Sharing Husband” attract men’s attention? It’s a local movie. It’s a drama movie. As a person who hasn’t watched the movie yet, my answer will be the Title. Whoever creates this title has a good sales instinct. The title touches the very basic of man nature. It makes men become the most important/needed/powerful/loved person for women. This is the situation dreamed by men. Feel like a king milled by his concubines. The movie totally support men ego. Since I haven’t watched the movie yet, I can’t conclude this movie merely a commercial movie. Perhaps there’s another message that want to be conveyed by the director or the script writer for us, the society.
Anyway, congratulation for making men become sensitive and make them leaves their Playstation (PS), Guitar, Sport program, Computer, etc for another amusement which is go to the cinema. But I hope Polygamy will not become a trend from now on.

I don’t agree with Polygamy. We used to hear about one cock for many chicken, one lion for many lioness, one male for many female chimpanzee, etc. But we’re not one of those. We’re homo sapiens, the thinker one, the sophisticated one, and the civilized one. That is why we don’t spread male seed everywhere to sustain our species or poorly beat by lust.
There is an eternal couple like Adam and Eve. But there’s no such thing for Adam and Eve, and Angelina Jolie, and Pamela Anderson, and Scarlett Johansson, and on..., and on..., and on..... :)

Do You Eat Carnivores?

2006-04-18T23:13:00.000+08:00

I was in the food court with my family. This time, I’m gonna try sea food, so I ordered roasted fish. I told the server, the fish must be very very well-done. It prevents me to puke coz I can’t stand fishy food. Maybe I’ll tell you later about my eating problem. It’s not anorexia or bulimia, okay. Don’t you ever think about it. :)
There it is the food, after waiting for about 10 minutes. On the first taste, I started to smell fishy. I hardly swallow the food until pass my throat. I don’t think I can continue eating this horrible food. My mom will be the solution. We switch the food. I grumbled inside my mind. He, the server, supposed to give me a fresh fish, supposed to roast the fish much longer, supposed to season the fish thicker, or whatsoever. Food must hate me coz we often never get along. They know how to wake up my sense of smell in term of fishy smell. People sometimes don’t believe me when I stop or don’t eat because I told them the food is fishy. The reason is they don’t found any problem with that food but me.

I look at my uneatable fish... *hiks* and then I saw its jaw is gaping and what shocking me is that the teeth are sharp and big. Based on the morphology of its teeth, this fish is a carnivore. It might be a predator.
I eat chicken that come from herbivore. I eat beef that come from herbivore. I eat vegetables, fruits, beans, and their family. But I don’t eat dog, cat, or lion. They’re carnivore. It is bacteria job to “eat” their flesh and I should not seize the job. Apparently, my unconsciousness treats the same thing to living creatures in the water. When I saw a fang or sharp teeth on the food, I think about eating lion, cat, or dog. Certainly, you will loss the appetite.

It must be a link between carnivorous and fishy. Carnivore meat mostly fishier than herbivore meat (The statement is still hypothesis not theory. It is possible my statement has some exception).
Pork is fishier than chicken and beef. Because pig is the mixture between carnivore and herbivore. There’s a term for this habit, but since I don’t post a scientific article here, let makes it simple.

Have you ever seen a ribbon/cutlass fish (Indonesian: Ikan Layur)? Balinese people like this fish, so was my family. The fish is cooked by removing its head. Even though I never saw the head, I always smell fishy. So I don’t like it. Couple days ago I search on the internet about this fish. And I read the fact that, this fish eat another fish and sometimes become a predator. No wonder it has a strong fishy smell.

Help!! We were locked..

2006-04-16T19:06:00.000+08:00

This story is supposed to be a testimonial to my college friend in Friendster. I guess most of people who love internet and a living matter collector will register to this site. Is it enjoyed by Indonesian only or by all people around the globe? I don’t have any idea. For those who don’t know what I’m saying, I encourage you to visit and register the site :)
Back to the story, she doesn’t respond the testimonial and I think she doesn’t online for such a long time. I’m getting worried, is she okay there in Vietnam? Well, I hope so. Vietcong has vanished, right?

The story takes place in our campus when I was in college. I used to go to the lab for free internet from 8.00 pm until 1.00 am. Since I have the lab key, I turn the lab become internet corner at night. Sound fun? Sure it is!

As usual we use internet service in the lab. It’s 1.00 am. We decided to go home. Oh my God!! The gateway of this building is closed. We’re locked. There’s some robbing case happened recently. That is why building security is closely guarded. I guess curfew has been put into effect. Ok.. be calm. We go upstairs. Maybe we could find some guy there. Apparently, nobody is there. We’re locked and alone!
There’s a battle in my mind.
Let’s just jump from 2nd floor.
I can’t take the risk to break the leg and have brain concussion. What if nobody know we injured? It is worst than being locked.
How about stay a night in the lab?
For God sake! This building is the house of the ghost. Don’t you hear lots of spooky thing happened here?
Some of you might think, “Why don’t you contact friends to get a help?”.
Unfortunately, we don’t have a cellular. This technology hasn’t familiar yet on that time.
We’re in panic a little bit. Finally we go downstairs to the gateway and use the barbarian way which is screaming and hoping security/the guard hear it. Hey, mister! ... Security! Open the door! Open the door! Keep screaming. We grab the trellis harder and shake it. Suddenly *click*...... the door of the gateway is open. We’re freeze a moment. Craps!
Nobody locked the door. They’re just close it. Then start laughing...Ha ha ha..
Imagine if the security heard our screaming, came in a hurry, and found out 2 panic girls thought they’re locked but actually is not? Thanks God, it’s not happened. On the way home, all we can do just laughing the silliness.

Message From Hallmark

2006-04-15T15:08:00.000+08:00

This is funny!!! I found the joke from someone’s blog: Spinster War Diaries. It makes me lol.

What will you do if someone gives you a card with this special message?

1. I always wanted to have someone to hold, someone to love. And now that you've come into my life...
(Inside card) - I've changed my mind.

2. I must admit, you brought religion into my life...
(Inside card) - I never believed in Hell until I met you.
----> Comment: the funniest one :)

3. As the days go by, I think how lucky I am...
(Inside card) - That you're not here to ruin it for me.

4. Someday I hope to marry...
(Inside card) - Someone other than you.

5. When we were together, you said you'd die for me...
(Inside card) - Now that we've broken up, I think it's time to keep your promise.

6. We've been friends for a very long time...
(Indside card) - What do you say we stop?

7. I'm so miserable without you...
(Inside card) - It's almost like you're still here.

8. Congratulations on your new bundle of joy...
(Inside card) - Did you ever find out who the father was?

9. You are such a good friend. If we were on a sinking ship and there was only one life jacket...
(Inside card) - I'd miss you terribly and think of you often.

10. Looking back over the years we've been together, I can help but wonder...
(Inside card) - What was I thinking?

Balinese Tradition Dress Code

2006-04-14T23:40:00.000+08:00

There was a ceremony held in our family “Pura” (Balinese temple/shrine) yesterday. We, especially for the women, are told to wear White “Kebaya” (Indonesian woman’s blouse) as a dress code. Considering this is a God related activity then wear something white must be apt. It was such along time I live outside Bali (Bandung & Jakarta), approximately for 8 years. So my kebaya collection is kinda out of date. I only have one white kebaya (favorite one) and I don’t intended to wear it. Do you know what happened to stuff with “favorite” status? It’s often to be used! So that people will recognize you because of what you wear not your face :D.
I went to the Pura with orange kebaya. Just as I entered the gateway, the entire women on the range of my view are wearing white!! Ouch....I though people will not paid close attention for dress code. And I was wrong. Fortunately, I bring my outspoken nieces, so nobody comment on my appearance (this is positive thinking that possibly wrong...again). They’re too busy with my nieces.

There are several rituals we have to perform. One of them is to welcome the holy water that is taken from water source. Suddenly when we do this ritual which is held outside the temple, hard rain came. It’s not appropriate to pour out to save ourselves from rain. We’re all wet! Actually I love it :D. Nature joined us. Can you imagine to women/girls that must spent 1-2 hours in dressing and wearing make up? They’re become a little bit messy because of 20 minutes rain.
After finishing the holy water welcoming, some people go home to change including me. My home is just about 4 blocks from the temple. I change my kebaya with the white one. I don’t wanna feel like “a fish swimming in the wrong pool”. Once again I entered the gateway, and now I saw a different view. Some women don’t wear white kebaya as the result of the rain disaster :).
At the end, it looks like I’m the ones who follow the dress code. Rain can made everything up side down.

I’m too relaxed when dealing with Balinese tradition dress code. Maybe I don’t feel comfort to wear it, especially brocade kebaya. Thanks God, brocade is not a trend to date! Once I wear an office shirt to replace kebaya in a semiformal ceremony. The fact is I want to see God here not to please people, right? I am not saying I write this post to stand up against tradition. In my opinion, you have a right to do anything to achieve goal as long as you don’t break the law and you don’t inflict people.I’ll try to change this habit but I don’t promise a thing here. Don’t let complexities blur the essential thing that should be achieved.

A Painting is Worth a Thousand Words

2006-04-12T00:08:00.000+08:00

It was lunch time. Sometimes I wonder why they have to go to the toilet before having lunch. The habit just likes a ritual. Since I am alone in front of the lift and waiting for my friends, my nerve found something eye catching which is a painting on the wall of an office. I forgot the name of that office. :) The painting is abstract without a title. I have nothing to do, so I try to figure out what is on this painting. Just to kill time. Is it a house? Is it a landscape? A man? Flower?
Then something funny came up.

What if this painting represented nothing?
On a certain day, the artist doesn’t have any inspiration to work. Blank... So he just splash the paint on the canvas, scratch the canvas with some color, and doodling. Voila.... you got a painting! And then someone come by to buy art for his/her company. This is a 21st century. Abstract is a trend, classy, and modern. The painting is sold and then places it on the front wall of the office. Every people who look at the painting will use their imagination to appreciate the painting because of its abstract.
If the artist is in that office and watch a guy looks at his painting full of attention, he will smile and say, “There’s nothing on it!! I made it up. Go on your life, okay.” The artist must be more amused if he displays that painting on the exhibition, where lots of people thirst for appreciation. :D :D.

Honestly, I appreciate some people who express their imagination through canvas. I realized that I am a visual people. A picture is worth a thousand words. There are two types of paintings that interest me which are mythological and impressionism paintings. They’re easier to enjoy.

MYTHOLOGICAL Paintings
I love the imagination of the Greek in creating stories. It makes me interested to anything related with Greek mythology, so as the paintings. By seeing the background, the accessories their wear, the motion, we will know who or what is the subject painted by the artist. It could be the god/goddess, heroes, royal house, piece of story, etc. We can play trivia question, for example: “Who is that women with bow and arrow?”. The answer could be Artemis (Diana), the goddess of huntress. Interesting, right?

1. Corot, Jean-Baptiste-Camille (1796-1875). French painter
Orpheus Leading Eurydice from the Underworld
Oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

Orpheus can be clearly identified for his lyre. His mother, the Muses, gave him the gift of music. He goes down to the Underworld to bring his wife, Eurydice back from death.

2. Baburen, Dirck van
Prometheus being Chained by Vulcan
1623; Oil on canvas, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Against the wishes of Zeus, Prometheus (titan=elder god) gave the humankind the gift of fire. Enraged at this, Zeus sentenced Prometheus to a terrible punishment. He was to be chained for all eternity to a rock by the help of Vulcan (Hephaestus), God of Fire and Smith. And an eagle was to peck out his liver every day. Did you see man with wing were on his low-crowned hat and his magic wand, the Caduceus? It’s Hermes, Zeus’s messenger and Master of Thief.

3. Raphael
The Nymph Galatea
1512-14; Fresco, Villa Farnesina, Rome

The fresco shows Galatea with her gay companions. This scene describes the fair sea-nymph Galatea rides across the waves in a chariot drawn by two dolphins and laughing the love song sing by the clumsy giant Polyphemus, who in love with her. While the gay company of other sea-gods and nymphs is milling round her. The picture of the giant was to appear elsewhere in the hall.

IMPRESSIONISM Paintings
Landscape painting is the most beautiful object I can see. Impressionism focus on light and color to expresses the reality of the external world. We can see contrast between colors to distinguish light intensity. It makes the painting appear not too real as photograph, but that’s the beauty of it.

1. Pissarro, Camille
Les chataigniers a Osny (The Chestnut Trees at Osny)
1873; Oil on canvas, Private collection, New Jersey

I put this picture as my desktop. I like to see the leaf. Each brushstroke that form a leaf, quite contrast with the others (it looks stiff). But somehow, on the whole, the result is beautiful and still in harmony.

2. Cézanne, Paul
Foliage
Watercolor and pencil on paper, The Museum of Modern Art, New York

You will see different view when this painting is seen both from short and long distance. I guess most of impressionism paintings provide us this sensation.

“Behind The Scene” that become a Spoiler

2006-04-07T00:18:00.000+08:00

I realized this issue rose a couples months ago and the impact still remained. It’s Saturday, the best time to relax and watch TV. I watch an hour duration program called Behind the Scene: The Chronicles of Narnia. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

I thought it would be exciting to watch the film making. I wonder what actually they’re doing. But suddenly there’s something wrong. This is not a common movie. This is a movie with visual effects. Computers play the important role here. They make some characters beside the cast.
When I watch the program, I feel everything is fake. They create the woods, the river, and most of the setting. Even for a simple scene which is crossing the river, just walk through the bridge, the shooting take place in a studio. Play with computer character just like acting in a strange way :). What I’ve seen in the studio is that the actor run, fight, scream, and do acting stuff by him/her self. Just like play with an imaginary friend or the worst case... being crazy :). The rest of it, computer will polish up their acting with the power of Green Screen technique.

Anyway, what is Green Screen?
It’s a term for the filmmaking technique of shooting foreground action (the actors) against a monochromatic background for the purpose of removing the background from the scene and replacing it with a different image or scene. Some people use blue screen or other colors. We can just call it Visual Effect.

After seeing the film making, just like my prediction, I didn’t enjoy the movie. The subtle thing when watching movie is that we feel the movie as if it’s real. The feeling is flat coz I know exactly they did it in a studio. There’s no river at all in the scene when the kids drifted in the river. The studio and computer made it. That’s why in my opinion, “Behind the Scene” can be a spoiler. Make sure you watch the movie at first, not the film making. This warning is especially for the movie with visual effect.

Something happened when we’re a child

2006-04-03T00:04:00.000+08:00

One thing that you should do with children is story telling. Unfortunately, I don’t have any story to be told for my 2 nieces. Beside story like Cinderella, Snow White, or any local story are too common. I think my mom and dad have done this job well for them. Since their parent are working, mom & dad baby sit them at home.
So what I’m gonna do just standard action such as play a PC game with them. They love Insaniquarium Deluxe, feeding fish game.

"My 1st and 2rd niece from my 1st sister"

"My 3rd niece from my 2nd sister"

One day, my 4 year niece points a Milky Way poster then she said “Anty, what is that?”
Aha!! This is gonna be a story to be told. I grab my book about “Night Sky”. I talk about nebula, galaxy, sun, planets, and any other celestial objects. She’s interested. She’s amazed. Her eyes wide-open when I talk about asteroid hit earth. That face come up because of my story or I’m too expressive that actually make her scared. I don’t know... The next day, she asked me to tell more about planets. I start rewind the story about solar system. Suddenly, she can tell me a solar system member from Sun until Pluto, in the right order. I thought there must be their parent told her to complete my story. So I asked her mom, “Did you tell her about solar system?”. She said, “No!. What did you do to my daughter? She talked about something ... like nebula and stuff at home”. Ups....

So many articles said that children brain just like a dry sponge. They can easily absorb anything: vocabulary, behavior, dialect. Now I know and realized it. Coz when I was a child, I think I never show my parent about this “dry sponge theory”. Life flows like a river. I’m too busy to do outdoor playing with bunch of children around my age. I go to school, do my homework, and the rest of it would be play with my friends.

Kid’s world should be playing, but we must dig their potential as early as possible. Take the opportunity of their “dry sponge” capability. Coz this ability will be last when they grow up. Another thing we should know is language capability. Children use their instinct to learn language. And the fact that this instinct will be gone when they grow up. This means it would be better for them to learn foreign language when they’re still a child. They will learn syntax and dialect by instinct instead of memorized them. So instinct and learning is a perfect combination to learn language.

Look at me. I learned English (foreign language) when I was 12 years. The sensitive time to active my instinct language has passed. Learning is the only “weapon” I have. I memorized the syntax, vocabulary, and stuff. I memorized how to make the right past, present, and future sentences. It’s not flowing. You need extra effort to learn. I believe there must be some wrong syntax in my blog. That’s why I create a blog to challenge my English ha ha. Even though your English is excellent, but still you have to think when you speak English. It’s not like speaking with mother tongue.

Heroes of Might and Magic IV

2006-03-29T00:04:00.000+08:00

My favorite game since I was in college. It’s an old game but I still play it until now.
Things I love about Heroes:

The game using “turn”, not real time game. You have enough time to think & move for optimum result. You can take a break whenever you feel thirsty, wanna go to toilet, hungry, etc.
Lots of creatures with unique abilities and graphics. Many mythical creatures exist in Heroes such as Minotaur, Medusa, Titan, Cyclops, Phoenix, Hydra, Centaur, Cerberus, etc. I love anything connected to Greek Mythology! One day I watch “Lord of The Ring”. Wow, some creatures in that movie is similar with Heroes coz you can see Ghost, Monk, Dragon, Sprite, Dwarf, Orc, Elf, Halfling, etc. I think Frodo is a Halfling, the 1st level creature (low level).
Various artifacts you can find to increase Heroes ability.
High Score feature to record your achievement. The exciting one is you can compete with your friends to have the highest score.
Best result can be gained by setting your heroes abilities. This is the best part. The right combination of artifacts will give you the optimum result.

Thank you Gus, you taught me Stealth ability to my Hero. I was a truly warrior before take advantage of Stealth ability. I choose Fire Guard class for my hero, a combination of strength and magic. Until one day I got a migrant on my right, coz I think too much for combat. I don’t want to loss my troops, one single troop. Even it’s a 1st level creature.

Stealth makes your hero lose pride coz it changed the hero to be a theft. Stealth is effective only if the hero wanderer without any troops. At the beginning I feel this is not me. I wanna a combat to win.

And then I got a perfect strategy.
I change my hero type become Ranger, combination of strength and stealth/scouting. You can steal best artifact and many experience to increase your level rapidly. Then you can fight in melee or range. By bringing many “Immortality potion”, you cannot easily die. The most important thing is you don’t have to worry about losing a troop coz you fight alone (a single fighter)!!! I love this game. My favorite troop was Black Dragon but not anymore..... I work on my own now. It brings me top scorer. I used to compete with Agus, my master game.

Suddenly, he sent sms to me and told me that he beat my score. It’s impossible...I have done my best. No map can be played to get the higher score. Apparently, he used expansion map of Heroes IV!! And I don’t have any expansion maps at all. I don’t need the expansion package just the map file with file type *.h4c. I wish he sent me the file I needed through email. I’m still waiting for your generosity, Gus..... :).

Actually, you can find/use free map on the internet created/designed by people. But it’s not so good. 3DO, the Heroes creator, is the only one who knows very well to create a map coz every detail of its map has a meaning and purpose. Not just placing artifacts or creature here and there...

Beach or Mountain?

2006-03-25T23:39:00.000+08:00

It’s just a question for fun, to kill time, without really caring about the answer. “O, you like Beach! Ok. Whenever there’s a chance. We’ll go on a trip to the beach instead of mountain”. But as time goes by, I see the pattern. Someone who prefers Beach is an extrovert, love to go around with people, talkative, friendly. He/she will become a good host, considering the host is not stingy :).

And for someone who prefers Mountain, they’re in the opposite site. They introvert, love peacefulness, analyzing, and don’t bother to be alone. I’ll bet they like reading.
If people like both beach and mountain then these people must have split personality. This is a joke. Please, forget it :).

Once ,we go to the mountain to see the crater from distance. One of my friend said to me, “Are we going up? Does it take time? Coz I wanna go to the beach. It’s fun”. Boom! Beach or Mountain question pops on my mind. Yeah... all the criteria for the Beach’ers are on him.
That’s why he didn’t enjoy Mountain View at all.

What about me?? Well, who cares? Beside I have split personality. :D :D It’s a joke!

All we need is Transparency!

2006-03-24T00:23:00.000+08:00

Lots of disappointment and protest rose from our citizen. It's about Civil Servant Recruitment in Indonesia. We know the testing paper is checked by machine (through computer process). But how we can be sure the “list” on the announcement board is valid? Are these people purely passed the test?? No collusion, no bribery.

I just heard from the radio the topic about how to make Transparency in Government Administration regarding to Civil Servant Recruitment. Actually, I prefer music channel than news channel. Since my father drove the car and I’m the passenger, then I have no choice :). Some audience gives input such as:

Beside the list, government must show the testing paper. (Comment: officer must stick 3000 testing paper on the announcement board. This officer will ask pay raise soon after he/she finished the job).
Testing and the result announcement must be in the same day. (Comment: the officer needs to set time dimension which is 1 day = 168 hours)
The testing paper must be checked by officer on the other province. Switch testing paper among provinces. (Comment: still the result can be manipulated).

So I came up with an idea, too.
Why don’t we include intellectual & critical people in the system? Let’s say the university student, the young idealistic human beings. Just like the juror in the court.
Find two of them for each area in the well known university. Active on organization and senior will be great. Announce their assignment on the media. Give them the schedule of recruitment activity from testing until the announcement. They must participate as an overseer in every activity stated in the schedule and make a report about what’s going on there. They attend testing day, checking day, listing day, until announcement day, in every aspect! The list must have their acknowledgment.
As an idealistic and critical people, it will be hard to bribe them. It is their honor & intellectual that is at stake. If still there is collusion and bribery is found on this procedure. Then citizen will know that government and intellectual people is THE SAME!!

University students are not just a bunch of people who do demonstration on the street.
Give them responsibility and let’s see do they perform their job well in government administration? Welcome to the jungle, young man. :)

How To Save the Planet

2006-03-08T23:37:00.000+08:00

Human civilization has made serious impact to the world we live. From the first time Homo sapiens exist, about 200k year ago until now, we bequeathed the green carpet of the earth with pollution, acid rain, ozone hole, and the last but not the least is global warming.
I’m not gonna be a member of Green Peace to save the whale from extinction. But since I am the part of this limited biosphere, I try not to exploit Mother Nature with simple actions such as:

Turn off the light and TV while you’re sleeping
Buy soft drink in bottle package instead of can
Turn off water faucet when you lather the dishes
And I plan to have less kids, 2 children would be great.

It looks very very.. common and simple. It just like you do nothing. Hey, someday when we got energy crisis, this simple action will be a public policy totally supported by government! Dinosaur won’t give you crude oil forever to meet your needs.

Let’s take one step ahead. Nowadays, information and knowledge is a must. And I am the person who just wanna give my children a better place to live. In term of Saving the Earth, which one is better? You access information through internet or still do conventional way which is buy a book.

Buy a book, means lots of tree must be felled. Forest is the yummy target. Without tree with its roots, the land will become infertile. It can lead to landslide, flood, and loss of animal & plant habitat. Beside, how many energy must be provided to turn a piece of wood become a book.
Use internet, means attached to electricity. Even though, there is wave technology, still we must turn on the server by electricity. Electricity is the father of inefficiency. So much energy spent to make electricity. Beside, how many energy must be provided to turn a metal and plastic become a computer. You know how hard to recycle plastic.

So which one is the better way? I still use both of them based on my needs with nothing to worry about. But someday, we will be forced to think and to be wise.

Or do you have any alternative idea?

The 78th Academy Awards

2006-03-08T02:13:00.000+08:00

I have been waiting for this prestigious award for a week. The excitement turns to be unbelieving situation. The truth is, I am disappointed with Oscar! Best Picture, the main award (that’s why they announce this award on the last session) goes to Crash. “Crash” has crashed down “Brokeback Mountain”. Oscar committee shows how conservative they are in appreciating movie industry. They choose safe topic such as intolerance, racism, and prejudice instead of controversial human feeling.

What happen to audience opinion? Brokeback has been talked by people around the globe. This movie awaken us to broad our horizon, our point of view about love, sensitivity, honesty, and tolerance. To open our mind beyond our thought. Is it too hard to admit the truth? I don’t think this movie disgrace cowboy nobility or the American strength. This kind of story can strike us at anytime and anywhere.

Another thing ruin me is that none of the cast win the Oscar! Best Actor (H. Ledger), Best Supporting Actor (J. Gyllenhaal), and Best Supporting Actress (M. Williams). Brokeback has the most nominations. But they only got Oscar for “behind the scene” category: director, scoring, and adapted screenplay. I just can’t believe this. It’s so obvious that Oscar committee is not serious in giving an award. This pattern is not merely coincidence, right?
They make this film as if the preparation is good but the presentation is suck. We, the audience, will be more excited if the actor won the award cos we connected directly to them and most of us know nothing about movie technique. I don’t even know why the screenplay is divided into original screenplay and adapted screenplay.
Well, award is just an award to me. Good thing I’ve learn is that I know more about Film appreciation and stuff.

Second Child Theory

2006-03-08T01:50:00.001+08:00

As a matter of fact, the thought about second child theory crossed my mind a couple years ago. I think in the most situations (not all the time), the second child of the family had the best appearance in a physical way. We can say, has a good looking face compared with her/his sibling. Or.... if they don’t have the face, they become a friendly & extrovert person so that everybody loves to be with them. They’re more popular. I don’t have any scientific explanation. I don’t know what chromosome involved, just based on instant observation in daily life. Perhaps any expert can give me a hand to do some research if they don’t have anything to do :D.

The last time I saw this phenomenon in January when I have a light dinner with some friends. We order instant noodles with cornet and roasted banana with cheese, milk, plus chocolate. Mmmm.. yummy! There is a family sit beside our table. This parent comes with their three boys. I know exactly which one is the second child based on their posture. It’s clearly visible. And my weird theory matches to this family :D. Then I told the theory to my friends. Some of them seem agree with me though, not 100 percent. Some of them just smile, don’t know how to respond. I decided 2 friends are in my side and the other 2 choose to finish their meal. Three versus two. Statistical result would be 60% agree with the theory. Ok, my sampling method might be biased. I need more data.

What do you think? Does this phenomenon run in your family?

Brokeback Mountain

2006-03-06T01:02:00.000+08:00

"Love is a force of nature "

Started on 1963, when two young cowboys herd the sheep somewhere in Brokeback Mountain then they got accidentally in love. This complicated love went on for such a long time without anybody knows. Honesty means death but the force of nature cannot be hid. There’s nothing they can do but Brokeback Mountain, the only place they got.

I never watch movie that is so deep till haunt me. It’s different from any other Hollywood movie especially about the story and the characters. This movie has collapsed some of my criteria to rate movie. Even though, my criteria are completely irrational and subjective to movie critic. For example, I would give good point and worth watching to the film played by my favorite actors such as Johnny Depp, Edward Norton, Ben Stiller, Kevin Bacon, etc :D. Look at Heath Ledger, the leading actor in Brokeback, I never intended to buy his movie when I was hunting some DVD. His face is not on my list. Too masculine I guess. I don’t even realize that he’s the guy who played in “10 Thing I Hate About You”. Or Jake Gyllenhaal, the rodeo man who loved by H. Ledger, once I saw his face on pile of DVD covers somewhere in Glodok or Ambasador Mall and I never paid attention who he is or what is the title. Maybe I saw him acting in some movie I watch but just don’t realize. And know it turns 180 degree. Heat Ledger, you’re so cool with your unique voice. Jake Gyllenhaal, I can’t wait to watch your next project. :D

Back to Brokeback, this is not just the guy relationship but pure love story toke in wrong time and place that last forever. Though, in the beginning I want to watch this movie because of its controversial story. As far as I know, long term relationship or commitment is not the thing that you can expect in guy community. It’s all fun, it’s all about physical. Well, that’s man nature. Free as a bird. Encourage your self to watch “Queers as Folks” ;D.

The most stunning scene in Brokeback is the arguing scene when Jack Twist (Gyllenhaal) very disappoints heard news that Ennis Del Mar (Ledger) cannot join him on the next fishing & hunting meeting they already done for 20 years because Ennis have to work hard to support his 2 daughters. He doesn’t have time off. That’s not the point. The point is that they actually can have a good live together, run the ranch to their own. But Ennis didn’t want it. Because he knows 2 guys cannot live together. (Homosexual is a sin people on that time. It can risk your life). How bad this condition gets by Jack. On the other site, Jack is more concern about his feeling. He’s not like Ennis can live easily and meet each other only twice a year to kill ox in the forest. Jack can hardly stand it. So what they only got now is Brokeback Mountain. My emotional come out. How miserable and ironic thing are. Ennis is a homophobic and a person who cannot express himself but he knows that there’s something he cannot hold or deny which is in love with Jack. Well,.. My eyes are tearing :D. If you have the DVD, watch this scene again then you will know exactly what I am saying. Glory to the power of love!

Thanks to Ang Lee as a director of this cinema. Asian Director (Hong Kong, Chinese, Korea, Japan, India, Taiwan) know well how to make an emotional deep movie to audiences. I give standing ovation for the great performance of the actors. What a great package. I have one input though. It would be perfect to have a scene, Ennis Del Mar show his emotion (little bit tears on his eyes in telephone box, maybe) after heard shocking news from Jack’s wife that Jack Twist is dead. Just want to show to the audience that he has lost the one he love. Anyway, the overall rate for this masterpiece is 10/10!!

I never understand to some people who have time to watch a movie more than twice, moreover, some people memorize the script! For God sake, as if all DVD sellers & vendors are kidnapped by aliens. But now I know why. I will let this phenomenon alone. I mean everyone has their own way to appreciate something.