Better Can than Not!

Language is the greatest barrier of humankind!

For lunch today I visited nearby McD since they have promotion SGD 4.50 meal package for lunch time between 12 and 2 at noon. My transaction went smoothly since I noted that my cashier is either Malayan or Indonesian so I used English. But the auntie behind me was not having the same experience. She just fired barrage of sentences in Mandarin: 两个冰淇淋，一杯牛奶. Actually I understood that the auntie just want two ice cream and one glass of milk. But it was sooo fun to see the face of the cashier. He wanted to change the language by saying "Sorry?", but again the auntie just repeated the same sentence. Realised that the conversation was going nowhere, the cashier just called his manager and everything went well since his manager was also an auntie.

The morale of the story is, if you can't speak mandarin, don't work at Chinatown (or just slowly learn). But I also understand that you will have limited workplaces choices to be choosed from. Especially when you are working in service sector.

I also take part time job as a service crew for a..well..quite popular Japanese restaurant (it even have branches in Indonesia). I put the location into consideration very carefully, and luckily I am being placed at heart of the city. The nearest MRT station bears the name "City****". So basically most of the patrons are office people and highly educated one.

In my workplace the situation is reversed. The manager and assistant manager can't speak mandarin (since both are Filipinos), but the crews can speak mandarin. Actually mandarin is spoken as official language between crews. Luckily I can survive the situation, even remembering simple remarks such as 几号(what number, usually referring to table number)，牛肉(beef meat)，鸡肉(chicken meat) can be very useful.

Most of the customers are English speaking people (or bilingual one). Surprisingly Indonesian speaking customers are on the second place and Mandarin only speaking people are on the third. I usually don't break the ice and speak Indonesian, but it was required one time with a mother and two childs. The mother was having difficulties, so yeah.... let's just speak in Indonesian. Switching modes is not easy especially when you can't use "natural" terms such as "lu" and "gua" and have to use "saya". Even hearing customers conversation in formal Indonesian is making my head want to crack open.

My first crew meeting was conducted in English. When the manager explained the plate must bla bla bla... the saucer must bla bla bla... Suddenly I heard "怎么写？(how to write)", and the other answer was "我不知道。(I don't know)". And after a moment I peeked at the note she made, and OMG! She didn't know how to write "SAUCER". She just drew the saucer on the note! So all these times, most of the crews just understand verbal English and not the written one.

Once i dispatched to other branch in heartland of Singapore, and the situation was even worse. Sooo many mandarin speaking people. The usage of hybrid language was more often such as : "Come, 来(both words have the same meaning, it is a redudancy)", "我的 order 还没有来(My order haven't come)".

Moreover with the language crash incident, I find out how Singaporeans speak Hokkian is so different than Medan people. Hokkian to mandarin is more likely the same for example: Javanese language to Indonesian language (one is tribal language and one is national language). In Indonesia, Hokkian is widely use by Chinese people from Medan (and later on spread islandwide on Sumatera island, except for Palembang which is still use mandarin), and the same for Tio Chew which is widely use by Chinese people from Pontianak (and later on spread islandwide on Kalimantan island).

But how Indonesian speaks them is so different. Since we speak Indonesian language too, I can see that our pronounciation for each word is clearer. For Singaporean, since most of the Hokkian, Tio Chew, bla bla bla speaking people's background is mandarin, they speak like a train. All the way.. all the way to the end! Blah! Sometimes what I can hear is just wailing and screaming.

And *sigh* since I work in Japanese restaurant, I have also to map some basic Japanese word. Such as gyu=beef, tori=chicken, ika=squid, hamachi=yellow tail, and so on. Fyuuh... my fourth language?

Have to learn much much more.... and yes, better if we can speak even in simplest form, than if we can't do it at all.

Pegangan Tangan Sesama Jenis

Well, ini kasusnya bukan di jenis binatang (contoh: monyet), tapi pada manusia.

Hari ini melihat sepasang cewe remaja lumayan gaul (berbingkai kacamata tebal hitam.. model-model gaul lha..) yang sedang makan di sebuah restoran, sambil berpegangan tangan. Langsung pikiran melayang ke arah yang bukan-bukan. Lesbi kah? Kalo dibilang bukan koq kenapa pegangan tangannya lama sekali (sampe bosen ngeliatinnya)? Kenapa tangan yang berpegangan sampai diangkat-angkat di atas piring?

Jadi teringat masa SMU, pas rame-rame bersama teman menunggu taksi di depan TA. Ada dua orang cowo yang berpegangan tangan duduk di bangku panjang yang juga menunggu taksi. Langsung kita bergosip (memang hobinya membicarakan kejelekan orang di depan orangnya, yang penting ngga kedengeran):
"homo tuh... homo..."
"huss.. jangan berpikiran yang nda-nda..."
"terus mereka ngapain lagi donk pegangan tangan?"
"sapa tau mereka lagi panco"
"hahahahha" <-- ketawa gede banget sampe-sampe dua orang itu noleh

Kalau cewe sih.. terkadang masih melihat ada yang berpegangan tangan, yang katanya "sahabat" atau "best-best-best friend" (inipun nda sampe diangkat-angkat di atas piring kaleee). Tapi kalo cowo? Wusssh... kesenggol aja bisa melotot, apalagi pegangan tangan.

Memang jaman berubah. Semakin besar koq rasanya semakin risih untuk berpegangan tangan sesama jenis. Rasanya dulu pas kecil hidup lebih sederhana. Pegangan tangan sesama jenis pun rasa-rasanya pernah. Pas disuruh membuat lingkaran besar dan lingkaran kecil sama pembina pramuka, atau ketika bermain kucing dan tikus. Apa mungkin jaman itu belum "pubic berbulu" (puber)? Tapi masa sih pertumbuhan bulu ada kaitannya dengan rasa risih (risih karena berbulu)?

Aneh memang, apakah dengan menjadi semakin dewasa, kita memerlukan ruang privasi yang semakin besar? <-- yang konsekuensi logisnya adalah kita menjadi semakin sendiri?

Career change? Di umur segini?

Nemu post berikut di sebuah forum:

"Here's my heartfelt sharing about my similar situation:

I'll be 33 this yr and have been working in a dead-end job for almost 2 yrs.
Pay is really low, getting WAY below what my peers are getting (I just found this out accidentally today btw from a colleague), horrible dept politics, lots of backstabbing, my bosses do not appreciate my work and dun think much (if any at all) of me.
Contract is ending soon.
I am so disheartened, so discouraged. No words can possibly describe how despondent I feel.

Fortunately, I have saved up enough and will pursue further studies (Masters) fulltime at a local U after my contract ends.
I would still have to work part time to support myself, even though i still have savings to tide me over for a while.
Bold move at my age? You bet.
I could have just looked for another job but i choose to follow my heart and passion to pursue my studies in an area that is v close to my heart.
Hoping that this will pay off in a yr's time, when I get to move back into an industry that I regretfully stepped out from about 2 yrs back.
Was a mistake, and I told myself never to make that kind of mistake ever again.

I know that if and when i move back into that industry that i so love, the pay has always not been great but I know with my passion and strength in this area, i will do well and excel.
Rather than being stuck in a totally dead-end job with totally unappreciative bosses.
I really cannot allow myself to remain here, and i choose to do this even in such bad times
Because I know there will be blue skies ahead, esp so for ppl who persevere
I can only wait for it to happen to me."

Dibandingkan dengan si post-er:

1. "umur 33" vs umur gw sekarang: 25
2. "pay is really low" vs my take-home-pay was NOT really low
3. "horrible dept politics" = yes, me too
4. "lots of backstabbing" = yes, but my back was stab-proof (tapi gw percaya kalo kepleset sedikit aja....)
   
5. "my boss dun appreciate much and dun think much".... hmmm gw nda deh, untung dapet bos bae.
   
6. "contract is ending soon", same with my case.
7. "i have saved up enough and will pursue further studies (Masters) fulltime at a local U after my contract ends", my case: i have saved enough and will pursue further studies fulltime at foreign U <-- ga jadi beli mobil deh... tapi gpp.... mobil is soo last year, kita kan harus go green!
   
8. "i would still have to work part time to support myself", same goes for me. Walaupun tingkat urgensinya nda begitu tinggi. Tapi berusaha untuk memaksa diri untuk mengatakan harus. Bagi gw urgensi-nya bukan di urusan duid, tapi lebih ke pengenalan terhadap budaya kerja asing (bahasa, etos kerja, dll). Kalo dipecat pas kerja part-time mah santaaiii.... (asal bukan karena nyolong aja).. tapi kalo dipecat pas kerja full-time? Wah repot ini.
   
9. "i could have just looked for another job but i choose to follow my heart and passion to pursue my studies in an area that is v close to my heart", sayangnya untuk gw.. I don't know where my passion and heart are. Alasan untuk kembali ke sekolah semata-mata karena dulu pas kerja sering berpikiran "aaarrrggghh... mestinya ini bisa di-automatisasi".
   

Tidak disangka2 di dunia ini koq ada yang mengalami nasib yang mirip yah... en mungkin gw harus merasa beruntung karena berada dalam kondisi yg lebih baik.
Huff... di umur 25 menuju 26, dan masih belum menemukan kemapanan hidup. Huaaaa..... terkadang merasa iri hati dengan orang-orang yang bisa.

Alasan keluar dari pekerjaan pertama lebih ke masalah pribadi keluarga daripada masalah teknis dengan perusahaan (en ini yang bikin gw males menjelaskan kalo gw interview kerjaan baru).

Celebrating Small Achievements

In a good mood today (tonight). Really, just series of small events which can brighten up the day. As any jobless person, I also embrace the same principle, you have to boast anything that sells! And on the positive side, to always remind self to maintain the winning streak.

My BMI(Body Mass Index) is 22.79(weight: 71.4 kgs, height: 177 cms). It falls back to normal category! Wohoo wohoo... since my BMI on March 2008 was 26.17 which fell into overweight category. Even Ridho said "Hey.. you look fatter" (very sensitive indeed) when I was meeting him to hand over IF01's wedding trophy.

The problem with my weight is yoyo-ing syndrome. It can go up and down in just few months or so. On my first year at ITB, I lost 22 kgs in total (from 86 to 62). Even my mom was afraid that I started using narcotics or something like that. In facts it was result from laborous "orientation" activities.

And now, my personal goal is to reach BMI: 20! Sigh, nearly 3 points more to go, and it means to cut my weight to 65 kgs. To make things worse, this damned country has implemented revision on BMI range (people here are really.. really ..heavily addicted to sports) which makes the healthy BMI range: 18-22.9 from standard: 18.5-25.

The second event is... another person said that my English is good! Bwahahahaha.... up until now, he is the third person who have said such remarks. For me myself, truthfully I feel quite surprised since I still make numerous mistake here and there, and sometimes make me want to slap myself. On one ocassion I even combined three different languages in one sentence:

X : XXXXXXXXXXX (in chinese)
Me: But 不是 今天 kan? (I wanted to say "tapi bukan hari ini kan?").

Plak..plak..plak... so stupid (I was sooooo embarrased)! I even added "kan" Indonesian particle in the end of the sentence.

The credits for my English should go to my former working place: NSN. It was indeed the main reason why I choosed to work for Siemens: to train my English! Since when I graduated, I didn't have much confidence in my English due to lack of opportunity for using it. And with NSN, as I had expected before, I just had to talk, read, debate, and do presentation in English.

To tell the truth, I really..really.. miss working with NSN. It was such a great, vibrant, and fun working environment. Up until now, on some ocassion they still contacted me, we chatted and surprisingly we still laughed together. And to think that now I have friends accross all parts of Southern Sumatera(Palembang, Bengkulu, Lampung, Bangka Belitung, Jambi), Batam, Bali, Padang, Medan, that's just awesome!

Love, made complicated

"Love" in English, "爱" in Mandarin, and "Cinta" in Indonesia. Still a great mystery(read: misery) to me.

In normal life I see love as:

1. Sets of logical rules which satisfy X condition : "if X then love(me,P)", whereas X is a logical statement such as "have a lot of money(P)", "buy me dinner(P)", or "cute(P)". Although the weighting factors are differs from one person, but the most used logical statements pretty much the same such as "sexy(you)", "have money(you)", etc.
   
2. Investment rules. Where some amount of resources(time, money, kindness, etc) are put into use, and after some amount of time we expect return and of course profit from it. Furthermore certain target must be met inside defined targeted time-frame, for example: "kiss him/her on the X-th date". Otherwise the investment can be said as "not profitable" one and can be diverted.

The main problem is love takes .. well let just say for this moment ..two entities into account (more than 2 can create combinatorial explosive problem), and all of those entities expect the conditions that satisfy love to be the same until the end-life of those entities (constant on all given time-frames).

However due to dire luck, problem would arise when on certain time-frame these conditions could not be satisfied.
example:
time-frame 1 : sexy(P) == true
time-frame 5: sexy(P) == false
Which would fail the love condition. Most of found cases are failed on faithful(P), or have money (P).

On investment terms we can define "time frames when these condition are not met" as local minima (we expect the situation can be better on future time-frames). We need evaluative method to determine that this local minima is not global minima. And again this differs from one person to another.

However, I stumbled upon this statement:
"When love dies, one hates in return.
Till we learn to love unconditionally, one fine day"

IF we love unconditionally: If true then love(me,P). That statement means I always love P, and never have to come into hate state. That will be wonderful! Since nobody want to hate nor to be hated.

On investment terms, I am going to invest any amount of resources and I will be satisfied with any result. Even if the result was not good in others terms, but since I satisfied with it, then I was happy!
This will be an utopic state.

Everyday in this busy world, a lot of us are struggling to find our love from thousand of possibilites with any means of mechanism.
For me personally, I think I will stick to the classic approach (set of logical rules, investment model), and I can live with the hate part. But as the time goes by .. someday..sometime, I'm sure that I will have to relax the conditions and learn the unconditional way.

镇静也是很美的歌：木槿花

第一个我听这个歌，一个人在房间里，我想很好听阿！但是没有英文的译文，所以这值得一试。



译文 (和拼音）：

朝开暮落的木槿花
zhao kai er mu luo de mu jin hua
(hibiscus flower blooms at morning and falls down at sunset)

月夜低头阿 心理想着他
yue ye di tou a. xin li xiang zhe ta
（on moonlight night bowing down head, thinking about him/her)

记忆着已经流失的那一段的光
ji yi zhe yi jing liu shi de na yi duan shi guang
（flow of past memories cease on this bright piece of time)

温柔的坚持 在月光下
wen rou de jian chi zai yue guang xia
(make gentle resolute under bright moonlight)

我是在异乡 遇见了他
wo shi zai yi xiang yu jian le ta
(I am at strange far away place, visiting him/her)

素颜犹未改阿 沉默不多话
su yan you wei gai a. chen mo bu duo hua
(familiar face who hasn't change at all, submerge in quietness and little conversation)

懑天闪烁星光 都窥探着它
men tian shan shuo xing guang dou kui tan zhe ta
(the sky full of sparkling stars, spying)

他乡遇知己 化解了惆怅
ta xiang yu zhi ji hua jie le chou chang
(on this far away place, understand self and cease the melancholy sadness)

我们都一样 都少了些潇洒
wo men dou yi yang dou shao le xie xiao sa
(we are the same, as little as sprinkling sound of rain)

所以在失落时 还守着优雅
suo yi zai shi luo shi hai shou zhe you ya
(therefore on losing time, we protect our elegant superiority)

我们都一样 都在原来地方
wo men dou yi yang dou zai yuan lai di fang
(we are the same, having origin from the same place)

记忆着那爱情来过的芬芳
ji yi zhe na ai qing lai guo de fen fang
(the familiar fragrance make us remember that love feeling)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

很难！如果有什么错，清告诉我。 我还要很多学习。

Why Men?

I was quite surprised to find this event: "Thunder from Down Under (M18)" on Sistic. The short description of the event:

"A FESTIVAL OF FLESH
Feel your temperature rise with the dynamic, fully choreographed performances by this internationally acclaimed male revue show as they tease with impressive physiques, a great sense of humour and oodles of sex appeal in solo performances and group routines during a sizzling hot 75-minute show. Lucky ladies at the show can also get up “close and personal” with these gorgeous hunks as audience interaction is part of the THUNDER experience.

The ever-popular troupe has performed to rave reviews and screaming female fans with thematic uniform ensembles from fireman to naval officer, and risqué dance moves that will spark off any woman’s fantasy.
"

The ticket price is quite steep starting on SGD 65. What the heck... and given it's location in Singapore, I'm quite sure these "hunks" won't strip down to bare and I dare to bet, you will only be able to see and won't be able to do the touching.

But the question is why men? From the first time I arrived here, I always have the feel that mostly the women here are out of shape and out of face (seriously, Indonesian girls are lot lot more prettier). Perhaps it has connection with porky diet here. They eat pork better than me!
In my dirtiest imagination: I went to a date with girl, and later on she ate bak-ku-teh and we did french-kissing afterwards <-- lost consciousness.

And for the men? I have to admit there are quite number of good featured men. The most famous one (and the hottest) could be Allan Wu, as the host of AXN's Amazing Race Asia. In Indonesia, when I went to gym and the Amazing Race Asia was being shown in the television, the girls were gossiping, wishing the host would loose the shirt =D. Notty.... I like that!

So why they need to import "hunks" from Australia? Weird...

And the other news from the land of the rising sun. It is another case with amateur documentary video, much similar like house of representative's member case in Indonesia. The country was shocked due to this scandal and more importantly because of the "interesting size" of -you-know-what-.

The star from the land of the rising sun is MMA (mixed martial arts) fighter Hayato "Mach" Sakurai. The news can be seen here. It is said that he slept with three different women, none of them were his wife. Super notttty (and hot also)...... It is the definitely the reason why men want to get married: so he can bang other women, since the rush is irreplacable!

For me myself, I wonder... if he really perform martial art style even in bed (and I can learn the trick of trade... hahahahaha). But for my disappointment the answer is no (still can find the video "floating" in P2P network).

Moral of the story is: learn from Sistic! I think I can figure out why we were failed in the past (applicable to number of friends). It is the business stupid!

Divorce-Polygamy?

Taken from channelnewsasia.com

"
Divorces up 10-fold in Indonesia due to greater awareness of women's rights
By Sujadi Siswo, Channel NewsAsia's Indonesia Bureau Chief | Posted: 04 February 2009 1424 hrs

JAKARTA: Greater democracy could be taking its toll on the world's most populous Muslim nation of 230 million people.

More marriages broke down in Indonesia in the last decade - after the country underwent political reform.

And some couples have cited political differences for the divorce.

In a Jakarta Post report, latest figures from Indonesia's Religious Affairs Ministry show that divorce cases have increased by 10 fold.

Out of two million marriages each year - 200,000 were annulled, up from just 20,000, 10 years ago.

Polygamy is the most cited reason for divorce - which officials say could be due to greater awareness of women's rights.

Rights groups have applauded the development which underlines the greater economic independence and higher education attained by Indonesian women.

- CNA/yb
"

It is easy to get married in Indonesia, since human value is well... cheap also, but it is extremely hard to maintain it.

In a rural part of Indonesia, I've seen girl as old as me, but already gotten married and divorced twice. It gave me hard hit in chest as I saw her sitting down in front of her house, while caring for her babies. In her very productive years, and that all she could do? Given the chance she might end up as rocket scientist.

After I've been exposed to different point of view, I must indeed acknowledge that polygamy is not as bad as it seems. But it should be practiced in a correct manner.
We have given some examples that polygamy was not practiced in its noble purpose: to develop compassion towards widows and orphans.

Let's take "king of dangdut" example, he conducted "nikah siri" with Angel Lelga who in my opinion is a way lot hotter than the king's first wife.
I still remember this interesting question asked by Maudy Kusnaedi on Metro TV to "successful grilled chicken restaurant owner": "Would you take prostitutes as your number X wife?" And the grilled-chicken-restaurant-owner answered "No".

So what's the point? Men only want to marry decent-religious-better looks-than-the-first-wife woman. That what exactly make "man is a jerk" term.
That will explain why "owner of pesantren in Bandung"'s reputation plunge into void when he was married to his second wife. Should his second wife is a widow, or older than his first wife, I think his popularity will soar up to kingdom come.

Cited the news above, I don't think this statement true: "Polygamy is the most cited reason for divorce - which officials say could be due to greater awareness of women's rights." Polygamy is the most cited reason because a lot of men who conduct it are simply jerks.

I am an Indonesian!

Geez.. why other people always have misconception about my home country?

Appearance
I was stopped twice by securities check at Chinatown MRT. I considered the first time as normal, since I was carrying mountain-climbing-backpack contains all the supplies I need from Indonesia (bed cover, body care and cosmetics supply). But the second time, it couldn't be normal, since I was only carrying normal school backpack.
So I after I opened my bag and showed the content, I asked (in mandarin):
Me: "Am I doing anything wrong?"
X :"No, no.. where are you come from?"
Me: "Indonesia"
X : "Ha... you're not from China?"
Me: "No, why?"
X : "I thought you're from China"
Me: " What's wrong with people from China"
X : "Lot of them are bad people"
What's wrong? In this heavily infested Chinese country, why they picked me to be the one from mainland China?

English
"Are you from Philippines?" I had been asked this question more than three times until current date. And the correct response would be "I thought you're from Philippines, your english is so Filipino alike." And one person even said "Your english doesn't sound like Indonesian."

Mandarin
This the only thing that undoubtly declares me as Indonesian! Even on such a simple remarks:
Me: "21st floor" (二十一楼）
X : "Aaaah from Indonesia are you?"

I just only said four words! Hahahaha... I understand now what my father had said before "People will not be able to hear your mandarin, the accent is so javanese."

Singapore's Sports Event 2009

(In Indonesia... biar ngga lupa en tetep gaoul!)

Jadi inget jaman kuliah
"Tek... gw mau ikutan triathlon someday!" (habis googling triathlon)
"Haaah!"

Tapi tetep namanya obsesi... biar uzur koq masih kepikiran juga. "Brain and brawn!"... semakin geek mestinya semakin sporty juga... hahahahaha!! Beside sebagai bujangan, I do really really need that sex appeal thing.

Jadi setelah melakukan sedikit riset, wah di sini banyak juga acara olahraga. Ngga kaya Indo... pantesan orangnya buncid-buncid. Maunya siiy... bruuum langsung daptar (tapi banyak yg udah tutup juga pendaptarannya... laku keras)! Tapi gimana kalo finish terakhir ya??? Malu2-in bangsa, negara, tanah air en keluarga? Langsung seppuku?
Kayanya sih... tahan2 dulu taon ini... sambil mempersiapkan diri... taon depan bruum...langsung daptar =D!

Sundown marathon
30 Mei 2009
Disponsori sama Adidas... slurp... pas daptar dapet kaos tanpa lengan Adidas (you wanna show those arms!), en pas finish dapet kaos lagi. Upside-nya lombanya malem .. jadi nda panas... downside-nya.. ini bener2 lari 42 km (matek... Jakarta-Tangerang aja 27+ km). PD? Well... lari selalu menjadi kelemahan gw, tapi pede siy bisa finish (di ITB lari pas matkul OR aja muntah, lari 2x muntah 2x) soale di-iming-imingi kaos adidas. Tapi pemikirannya gimana bekal di jalannya ya? Impossible kalo nda minum? Ato memang nda minum? Nah lho....

Safari Run
7 Feb 2009
Lari di kebon binatang! 6.2 km.... piece of cake ini mah... emang intended-nya buat family run. Sebenernya sih berminat.. sayang udah tutup pendaftarannya.

Vertical Marathon
8 Feb 2009
Lari naek gedong.....hahaha menarik2... jadi inget pas ikutan ospek klub pencinta alam di SMUK1... disuruh lari naek turun 7 lt (10++x kalo nda salah).. sampe kadang2 bawa tandu segala lagi. Need to get master degree on StairMaster neh.

SAFRA Biathlon
Organized also by Singapore Navy! SAFRA... hmm... sepertinya usaha pemerintah Singapura untuk membuat National Service (main reason why you DO NOT want to be a Singaporean) menjadi menarik. Since it is biathlon, lombanya cuma 2... lari 10km en berenang 1.5km. Hmm swim trialnya 1.5 km under 40 menit di kolam renang. Gw mah pede yang ini... bwahahahaha! Masalahnya berenangnya di mana ini euy? Laout? Bersih kaga? Entar keminum Freddie Mercury lagi. Jujur neh... gw belum pernah berenang di laut... hihihihi...

Tri-Factor
Hahahaha ini obsesi terbesar... triathlon! banyak pilihan paket... en berenangnya ada sampe 3km... good..good...good. Kayanya sih gw pingin ngambil yang 1km... pingin ngeliat gimana sih berenang di laut itu. Sayang euy udah nda ada sepeda lagi. Padahal di Indo udah latian RPM hampir tiap hari... hihihihi...Kurang komplid deh jadinya.

Obsesi terbesar berenang masih di NUS. Ada kompetisi "mudah2-an" taonan, berenang 5km di bawah 3 jam (untungnya di kolam renang). Fiuuh masih harus banyak latian... terjauh di ITB aja 4km. Kadang2 jadi bertanya2... orang laen udah bikin anak koq gw masih cebar cebur ya.... Memang susah kalo diri ini punya banyak obsesi... jadinya obesitas....

Credits to Gold's Gym SMS en my best buddy Erick yang udah maksa gw ikutan (pas berenti kerja: "Dy... kayanya lu perlu ikutan fitness deh... tuh di SMS baru buka"). It really helps with my "biasanya muntah activities" : running and cycling. I really miss classes, instructors, and people there.

CNY Visit

As custom obliges, on CNY we have to pay a visit to older family member. In this case was my Lao Cek (I even don't know how to spell it in Chinese). He is my grandfather's cousin from my mother side, and now residing both in Singapore and Hongkong. For my surprise, my Lao Cek is so cool! He can speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Tio Ciu, and flawless Indonesian (the first person that I know able to speak both Mandarin and Cantonese is Jacky Cheung =P)!My mom's family had Singapore as their first foothold outside mainland China. It happened around 1930s when my grandpa's uncle decided to go across the ocean towards SE Asia. At the same time my grandpa's dad stayed and maintain their foothold in mainland China. It was if the trip should be a failed one, the family which went overseas could still come back to China.

Their first entrance to Singapore was by Singapore River, the area what should be Clarke Quay right now. Furthermore their first home was also in the same area. After they arrived, they tried to get permanent living which resulted in a successful one. So afterwards, the whole family moved from China to Singapore.

Found that living cost in Singapore was high at that time, my grandad decided to again try to move to Indonesia. This second trip brought this newly founded family (my grandad was just newly married at that time) to set their foothold in Jambi, with the entrance by Batanghari river.

So being raised in Jambi, my mom met my dad, and I also raised in Jambi for early days of my life, which later on we moved again to Bengkulu. And again to Tangerang until now.

One of the question asked to me was "Do you want to stay in Singapore, have family here?" And my answer was "No".

明天是新年！恭喜，恭喜！

新年快乐！恭喜发财！身体健康！红包拿来=p！

Well this is the most important day for Chinese people! The celebration of the upcoming ox year tomorrow morning. Although the economy is considerably gloom in last year, a lot of people hold new hope on the upcoming year to bring good fortune to everybody.

On his CNY message, Singapore Prime Minister said that the year of the ox will be a challenging one as the economic growth is expected to be negative for the whole year. As one of the economic stimulus, just at the end of last week, Singapore government announced income and property tax rebate (to help Singaporean to pay for their first home). I coincidentally watched this news inside bus ongoing way home.

What I see as good thing from government here is the quickness of response and bluntness of explanation. Of course it is not a good sign to begin a new year, but the sun will still rise tomorrow nevertheless.

So it is time to celebrate! Last night all the CNY-attributes-selling shops were doing their latest night to sell their merchandise, so what can you think? Great discount!


The people were concentrated at market area of Chinatown, and also like dangdut show in Indonesia: one stage were built in the middle of Eu Tong Sen St.
And not to mention yesterday night was the first time I encountered people did "busking".


Today 11.oo am, we did our new year's eve .. well.. lunch (I know, it suppose to be dinner, but since it was hard to find place for dining...). Since my family is not here, I did my reunion lunch with my uncle's family (whose place I currently live at). The restaurant was at Spring Court. 52 Upper Cross St.


And afterward we left for Vivo City and watched "Love Matters", a Singaporean movie which takes KL as its settings. For me it was quite an experience to see movie with such riches in languange and cultures (Chinese, some Hokkian, English, and Malay).
One quite memorable scene was when this guy yelled in Chinese at an Indians since the Indians did the repair on portal system, and he wanted to pass through. The Indians then yelled back and explained the problem in Chinese. And as the guy looked stunned, the Indians said "What, do u think Indians can't speak Chinese?" All the conversation was in Chinese and it was quite amazing to see an Indian actually spoke Chinese.

Well but no matter how fun it is, I still miss my family. I wonder how they are going to do their reunion dinner tonight, I miss my mom and dad, my brother and sister in law. I miss my home, the flower arrangement, the home-made cookies, the hong-bao tree.

I remember that just these few later years my father suddenly become stricter on holding CNY's eve dinner. As the second generation (mine) are getting older and married, my father and mother's generation are focusing their CNY celebration with their own family and grandchildren.

Hope that this lunar new year will bring us all good health and blessings for times to come!

Gw Sleepy Hollow Banget Nih....

You have to understand the oncology and Indonesian culture to truly grasp the meaning of that sentence.

Just yesterday I realized the major drawback in attending this class: you can't sleep in class anymore! It is due to the small number of student.

"darsiong: wah
darsiong: so how's it?
kar_dee: enakan dulu euy... kalo ngantuk bisa tidur di belakang"

When I was in ITB, I slept alot during lectures. And by sleeping during lecture, I could manage my energy which was needed because I had some other urgent and life affecting activites such as: playing Ragnarok, swimming, etc.

OR I could avoid sleeping by

• talking with each other, with hot topic: character build, or team play in DoTA.
• munching Chic-Choc as a very potent energy booster (and also fat booster).

Which both of them I can't do longer anymore! And I still get "Sleepy Hollow" attack especially on morning and after lunch hour.

I wonder how to handle this issue...

How to exchange money

Chinatown Complex, money changer, 20.30 pm.

Me: "I would like to change some Indonesian Rupiah into Sing Dollar, what is the exchange rate?"
Money Changer (MC): "Berapa banyak?"
Me: "Ten million"
MC: "Tujuh ribu lima ratus"
Me: "您给我好一点可以吗 (can you give me a little bit better)?"
MC: "这是很好了 (this is very good already)."
Me: "OK"

The trilingual system makes my head spinning already laaaaahh (in sing-lish).

First Day @ School, Tjap-Ed (baca: cape deee)

I had to get up in the morning, went to the MRT Station, walked the interchange, rode another MRT, traveled 7 stations, changed into the shuttle bus, and at last walked through the front door. What an tiresome *soon to be* routine. No to mention the MRT station consists of numerous flight of stairs.

As for the orientation program, I must admit that I experienced what looks like bipolar syndrome. At one moment I was in a high spirit, but can turn gloomy all of the sudden. Could not explain why.

I don't want to make friends, I don't want to know as many people as I can, I just want to know people who I can benefited from. And I think it do both way. Let's just let nature take it course, and prove our capability in the face of hideous assignment than to exchange meaningless gesture and words. Can't understand why those people were so enthusiastic to know each other.

The interesting thing is that there is one person from the first class of IF-ITB in the same program. Of course he already became a Singaporean and have children. What a small world eh...

And there is this noisy Binusian, Not for my surprise if he tried to lick the Program Director attention.

And the AGONIZING trip you have to make to get yourself lunch. Oh cum on! The distance and the stairs are specially made to cater Singaporean excessive need of sports. But not me! Aaaaaaarrrghhh....... in terms of the availability of food, ITB far surpass this horrendous university (I suddenly miss Kantin Borju and GKU Lama). Not to mention the queue and auntie who suddenly spoke Mandarin when she saw my face. What! I can speak English too. I'm seriously thinking to bring food from home, or at least buy wrapped food before go to school.

I blame Pinky, Bocid, and Darmawan for talking me into accepted this program.
Just imagine should I take master program in Indonesia instead, I just jumped into any private vehicle and brrrrmmm... off we go! F*ck the public transportation! I can talk Indonesian, buy satay everyday.....

I think I miss Indonesia already.

Singapore, tourist mode: on!

These are calm days before the storm on Monday since it will be my first day of school. Worsened by the facts that I have no idea what to learn, except it will be as weird as nuclear literature (I think).

So why bother, just grabbed the camera and be a tourist! The tourist team consisted of Ci Asiang as tour leader, Ko Budi, and Ko Cungcun (pardon if there should be any typo).

First target should be the icon of Singapore, the Merlion. Truthfully it was my first time taking picture with it. Well I live in Indonesia but I don't have any picture with Monas either =(. Crossed it everytimes I headed to Gambir (alighted at Monas TransJakarta bus-stop, and then walked along Silang Monas to Gambir), but it never crossed my mind to picture with it. What an ignorance person I am.



I was quite surprised to find out that Merlion Park is not too far from where I live now at Chinatown. Guess I'm still fresh out from the village anyway =).

The second stop was Buddha Tooth Relic Temple at Smith Street. With the same spirit as Singapore, the temple is glamor with numerous luxurious facilities : elevator, basement parking lot, air conditioned room, but in the other hand also heavily commercialized.



Picture above is my favorite statue, I ran and breathed "wow" when I first saw it. It is very simple yet very beautiful, as if the Buddha really floats in the thin air.
Pictures uploaded to my flickr.

Ke Badui!

30/11/2008

Diajakin anak2 NSN ke Badui (walaupun gw bukan karyawan lagi). Secara Sauma (jadi pengganti gw! cahyo!) rumahnya di Rangkasbitung.

Secara pergi ke Rangkas tinggal naek bus dari depan rumah, so hayuk ajalah. Naeknya bareng2 tukang gali FO di depan rumah juga, dan sepanjang perjalanan gw merasa agak "out of place" karena Cina sendiri (it shows!). Walaupun sempet dagdigdug di perjalanan "ooh dimanakah aku sekarang", secara perjalanan diluar dugaan cukup jauh (pernah juga ke Rangkas.. nganter pembantu.. tapi itu sudah lama sekalii...).

Singkat cerita gw baru tau kalo Badui itu ada Badui luar dan Badui dalam. Yang mengagetkan, ada papan pengumuman yang salah satu butirnya kira-kira berbunyi "orang yang berkulit putih (selain berkebangsaan Indonesia) dilarang masuk ke area Badui dalam". RASIS! Belum lagi menggunakan kata "berkebangsaan" daripada penggunaan kata "berkewarganegaraan" yang lebih menekankan ke aspek fisik. Grrr.....

Ya sudahlah karena memang dasarnya mau jadi turis... maka kita foto2 aja di Badui luar sekali en beli beberapa cenderamata.

Laptop (sebelum dan sesudah)

Ketemu foto2 jadul pas jaman kerja dolo.

Ini laptop pas kerja. Byasa ciri khas gw, desktop penuh abis. Ketika berenti gyaaa, casingnya udah patah. Jadi nda bisa ditutup lagi =P. Untung Siemens bae... nda ditagih ganti rugi.

Tenkyu untuk kerjasamanya dan mau menemani hingga akhir. Udah naek turun gunung, keluar masuk ruang meeting, blegar beledur maen game sama2 terus.

Temen apa temen???

Oh my ***!!! It's sooooooo last-last-last year for someone using that kind of words and tone. The moment of saying, it's quite classic already:

A: I have a friend who ....
B: Temen apa temeeeen niih?

Some say language evolves faster that the speed of Charles Darwin feeding banana to his great-great uncle. Come on dude! Move on!

40 Hari Mencari Pocong dan Mati Lampu

Dikarenakan bioskop Bandar Lampung hanya satu di seluruh kota Lampung, dan filmnya buatan dalam negeri mlulu, makanya kita nonton "40 Hari Mencari Pocong" pada hari Minggu lalu.

Awalnya tertarik dengan nama sutradara yg cukup beken: Rudi Soedjarwo dan berharap mengobati kekecewaan dengan Pocong 3 a.k.a "Si Merah".

Alhasil lebih mending daripada Pocong 3 tapi tetap saja tidak se-fenomenal Jelangkung. Jujur jadi merasa agak bosan dengan adegan2 hantunya.

Tapi hari Senin...blep lampu padam sekota karena hujan deras. Dan cewe2 yg ikutan nonton pocong rupanya mengalami phobia terhadap kondisi yg gelap gulita.

Pulang meeting dengan XL jam 21.30 ke kos, ternyata 2 cewe kumpul dan tidak bisa tidur serta merengek2 kembali ke kantor dengan ditemani.

Mondar mandir nda browsing bokep di kantor sampai pukul 01.00 dan akhirnya bisa pulang karena lampu di kos-an telah menyala kembali.

Sialnya begitu sampai ke kos, blep.. lampu kembali mati. Karena pasrah dan gw sudah mengomel2 karena ngantuk, akhirnya cewe2 bisa menerima kenyataan dan pergi tidur. Untungnya lampu menyala kembali sekitar 30 menit kemudian.

Besoknya? Wah ngantuk karena kurang tidur.