2008 Trendy Styles

Source: Sunday Kompas

These are some cartoon works which best depict this year's trend: Wearing legging - even to your workplace (1) and taking pictures in cuttle fish-style (2). We Indonesians simply hate it if we lose one to another in the fashion battle :))

2008 Wrap-up

"What do you want to accomplish in the new company?"

"I want to improve my writing skill, especially in English."

***

What do you know; this year actually brings a wonderful turn to me. After battling with my conscience, assuring and re-assuring myself that it had been a good decision to move to a new company and start everything almost from zero by being a management trainee at my age, finally I make peace with it. After a 'horrible' first semester, followed by another three months of not much excitement, I am able to conclude this year with fantastic feeling.

To come to think of it, 2008 has been quite a dynamic year. I started it with almost everything new: I got a new job and also a new life as somebody’s wife. And then there’s the job rotation period which offered its ups and downs – many of the latter, in fact. Having finished the rotation, I went through the on-the-job training period which should have last in six months, but was abruptly over in three and a half months before I was moved to another division.

That is before I "asked to be moved" to another division, to be precise. Now, this is the part I never thought could and would happen. After the job rotation was over, I really believed that I would be stuck doing marketing-related assignments forever for as long as I work for the company. I felt helpless back then, thinking that although my background study & working experience was in no way relevant with the job I was doing, I had no other choice but embracing it as best as I could and restraining myself from complaining.

It was begun when my fellow trainee tried to influence me to propose for a transfer to her division – the Research Division. She said that it would be great to have another fellow trainee to accompany her in the division which she considered 'unfriendly'. The situation was indeed favorable as there were enough vacancies in the division to allow for another person to join.

I did not take her words seriously back then. Firstly, I believed that getting rather hostile welcome from the people in your new working place was something unusual, so I wouldn’t move just for the sake of getting her out of her so-called trouble (was I mean for reasoning like that?). Secondly, I feared that it would only be a sign of my incompetence if I asked for a transfer to another division before I fully finished my on-the-job training period.

But something happened which changed my mind. After that, I knew however hard I worked, I would never really fit in that division unless I changed into someone else; someone not me. So I sent an e-mail to the head of the Research Division, proposing for a position.

To cut the long story short, here I am now, ending the year as an Equity Analyst instead of a Marketing one. I must say it has been Allah’s big plan for me, to get me into the winding road before reaching this position, so that I would really be able to realize that my true potential lies in becoming an analyst – something which I have taken for granted all this time – and be most grateful to Him.
What makes me more grateful is the 'bonus' that comes with the new position: I get to work in a division which requires me to write and it is done in English. It means that the conversation I had with my ex-boss last year is coming true!

And, you may call me shallow, silly, or anything, but finally, after good long six years of my career, now I get to work directly with an expatriate. A Western one. I’m talking about my boss, the head of the Research Division. He’s a British. Swell! I have long wanted to get a taste of working with an expatriate so that I could learn the working ethics of a foreigner. The thing is I have been working for local companies all this time so there was not much chance available for me to do that. I am actually working for a local company now – a state-owned enterprise, in fact – but if Allah is willing, even the most unthinkable happens.

Another bonus: As much as I hated it, this year I got the chance to travel to two different cities – one in the Western part of Indonesia, the other one in the East – because my works required me to. You see, I do not like traveling if it requires me to stay for a night or two (or more) and consequently pack my clothes. Still, I had to do it and I should thank Allah for that for the fact that it was barely a year that I had been working for the company.*

I hope all these would lead to something bigger and better in the coming year(s). Hopefully.



*Many times I wonder whether I really deserve these 'luxuries'.

Careless remarks

I hate it when government officers make careless comments such as this one:

"Elpiji ini, kenapa sampai langka karena masyarakat sudah seperti orang pacaran. Sekali sudah senang, jadinya terus-terusan deh," katanya sambil tertawa.

Uh, excuse me, Sir. It's not like we were the one who were eager to switch from kerosene to gas in the first place. Wasn't it your part, the government who deliberately kept kerosene supply off the market that its price skyrocketed? Secondly, now that gas is cheaper than kerosene, everyone (by that we mean everyone including households and businesses - small and not-so-small scale) is using it. So isn't it the time for you to stop blaming us for your mediocre supply management???

Mesmerized

Oh my. I never thought this book could hit me quite hard. After reading the book and watching the movie just last night, I can't spend my day today without my mind wandering back to the characters and the story. Gee, like I don't have tonnes of important things to do!

I'm talking about Stephanie Meyer's Twilight. Actually I had wanted to read the book since last month when this fellow of mine recommended it and spoke so high about it. But it is not until I took a glance at the movie ad on the e-paper two weeks ago that I thought, "Wow, is the book really good that it is filmed?"

It happened that about the same time, Andrea Hirata just released its fourth and last installment of the Laskar Pelangi tetralogy: Maryamah Karpov. So I wasted no time and made an order of the two books via this online bookstore.

The books were delivered to my office fast enough; around 4 days after I ordered them. Of the two, I decided to read Twilight first. It's funny. I mean, I had been waiting for Maryamah Karpov for a long time, but when it was finally available, I shoved it off and picked another book instead. Perhaps it's because the book is hit enough to be made into a movie that I landed my choice on it.

And there... I started to read on Thursday and had to stop before I had been through the entire book because I got to sleep or I would have been late to work on Friday. To tell you the truth, I only read the first few chapters back then and skimmed the rest. From what I read, I noticed Twilight was only a love story, only this time it's between a human being and a vampire. So why has my pal been raving about it?

It was not until I read through about three quarters of the book on Saturday that I realized why the book had become a best-seller. Yes, the book is about a love story, but once you're done reading it, you'd feel you want to be in the position of Isabella Swan, to be loved so deeply by someone (well, "something", to be exact) who should have hated you so much. You've heard the phrase "I hate you so much that I love you" (or is it the other way around?), right? That phrase cannot be more appropriate to be used to picture how Edward Cullen - the vampire - feels for the girl.

Images of some scenes from the movie are included in the copy I read. Apparently Gramedia has run out the old copies and issues a new version which makes the movie poster as the book cover. I have to admit, those images help in bringing some understanding of how handsome this Edward is supposed to be. However, I keep picturing James Franco (the guy who played as Harry Osborn in Spiderman) instead of Robert Pattinson (the guy who played as Edward Cullen in the movie). He's way more handsome than Pattinson and really fits the idea of a person whose beautiful face and body is Greek-god like. Or why not that guy who plays as Jasper Cullen?

To satisfy my curiosity, later that Saturday night I went to see the movie with my husband. Although many parts of the book were changed in the movie, I still liked it. Maybe if the movie had been made as precisely as in the story of the book, it will not tell the story as interestingly as if it had not been moderated.

However, after the heyday of it all, I wonder why so much fuss is being made about the book by... MEN. I can still understand if it's girls or women who, like I, have been fantasizing of what it feels like to have a gorgeously handsome man (or vampire, whatever) who has that mysterious aura around him, devoting his love and life for you and your sake, although that would mean jeopardizing his entire life (not to mention family). Plus, I think it's overrated to place Twilight on the same level with Harry Potter.

So pal, care to give me some explanation? *wink