So the drama

It was for me another evening of queueing for the transjakarta heading Ragunan a.k.a. heading my way home. Except that I was quite dizzy at that time. Perhaps I was a bit overwhelmed by the stress from works.

Or perhaps the cause stood next to me. You see, standing next to me in the line was a girl who was talking animatedly over her cell phone to someone which I assumed to be her boyfriend (or soon-to-be ex boyfriend, judging from her speaking tone):

"... You know it was easy for me to get the scholarship ..."

Well, trying to be some snob, eh?

"... My parents always see to it that I get the best of everything. ..."

But why the hell are you standing here waiting for the bus? Shouldn't your parents buy you a car and get you a chauffeur so that I don't have to hear those annoying rants of yours?

That girl went on talking and talking, and somehow never stopped for a response from the other party. It was as if she got mad at this sorry dude/gal whoever he/she was, for treating her like someone unworthy. Poor chap (I'm talking about the person at the other end of the line). It has always been a wonder to me how someone could talk on and on non-stop, without giving a chance for the person he/she was talking to to give response, and that night I had to witness it. Worse, I felt like I was the one getting some pieces of her. How irritating! I grew dizzier and dizzier by minute, I felt like snatching her phone and smashing it into pieces!

Do people never think of others? It's always getting into my nerve seeing people standing by the entrance/exit doors, huddled like there is no room inside while as a matter of fact there is. Really, I think our society urgently needs to get some lessons on manners to apply when riding on public transportation. So far when taking the transjakarta bus, you can only see some etiquette poster, according to which you should give your seat to the elderly, pregnant ladies, or the handicapped passengers. I think there are more that need to be informed to passengers.

I admit our passengers, especially the transjakarta ones, are not that bad. I mean, most passengers obey the etiquette shown in the poster. It's time to teach some more etiquette, though. Perhaps the transjakarta management would care to post a poster of what to do and not to do when riding on transjakarta, on their bus stop wall? Or maybe there's a company that would like to distribute flyers which illustrate or describe the proper bus manners, as a part of their CSR practice? Somehow I think people do not act civil because they just do not know how to act the way a civil person should.

If you want to know more about these proper public transportation manners, I suggest you visit this and this one too. They seem to have described all the necessary dos and don'ts when taking the public transportations. If you want to have some laugh over some crazy things people do on the bus, something like "spitting out the window (is) perfectly acceptable (in China), bonus points for hitting a cyclist or pedestrian," check out this site. Have a bit of laugh before you have to get on the bus and face the reality again.

He's just not into you

But sometimes, we're so focused on finding our happy ending,
we don't learn how to read the signs:
how to tell the ones who want us from the ones who don't,
the ones who will stay from the ones who will leave...


I've just finished watching the DVD of the movie "he's just not that into you." Oh, I like this movie a lot! Somehow Gigi in this movie reminds me of the old days when I embarked on the noble quest of searching for my destined soul mate (gah!).

Like Gigi, I fell for a guy so easily. Like Gigi too, I did try to hang out in the place where the guy I had a crush on usually liked to be around. I went through that same period (or periods, I should say, hahaha) of longing for that guy to call me or text me, or just get the chance to meet him and have a nice simple conversation.

But boy, wasn't the rule true! When a guy likes you, he will come to you no matter what he has to go through to get to you.

When I waited and waited for that phone call or text message that never came in, actually it occurred to me that this was a clear sign that the affection was one-sided. Yet, how I loved to make a drama out of it, create an imagination too far that one day he would finally fell for me. And the cycle repeated again and again: fell in for a guy - looked forward to seeing him, talking to him, getting a call or text message from him - received no such expected response - still longed for the same thing - yet no response - tried to swallow the hard truth - saw another guy - fell in for him - and I was back at square one.

But you know what? I'm not sorry for having done all those stupid things I did, because it's true: the happy ending is you never gave up hope. So if you haven't found that better half of yours, gals, don't ever give up your hope!

Or maybe the happy ending is this:
Knowing that through all the unreturned phone calls and broken hearts,
through all the blunders and misread signals,
through all of the pain and embarrassment,
you never gave up hope.


PS:
Oh, I did prove that the rule is true.
Once a man liked me. He went after me and still did ever after all the maltreatment I gave him.
And now he's my husband ^_^


Source: he's just not that into you - the DVD
(I love the part when the guy finally realized that he was in love with Gigi. The kind of turn I wished to have! Plus he's a cutie, hahaha!)

Knowing

Just went to the cinema and watched this movie with my husband. I guess the suspense thriller and the computer special effect are those things which make people line up to see it, thus getting the movie to top the US box office at the moment.

Source: impawards.com

As for me, I was attracted by the idea of the movie, which is about how someone can predict forthcoming tragedies, because I like stories about "gifted" people, especially they who can look into the future.

So I was a bit surprised to find that the story led to Apocalypse. I thought it was going to be about series of tragedies and how John Koestler (played by Nicolas Cage) would finally be able to unlock the mystery behind the numbers and actually "save the day". Boy, how misled I was.

But I'm not going to tell the whole story here for fear of giving you the spoiler (you can always look for relevant websites for details, anyway).

As my valuation of the film, I'd give 3.5 stars out of five for the following reasons:

• I'm impressed with how "Knowing" got you to think more of life: Are things in our life happening as a mere coincidence ("Randomness"), or are they meant to happen for a cause ("Determinism")? When the end of the world comes, are you ready?
  
• The special effect for the plane crash and subway collision has been wonderfully made that they were almost like real (especially the subway collision). I think this is one crucial factor which definitely keeps movie goers come queue in and watch the film.
• I don't know how thorough the research had been done to create the story, but I am quite content to see that the Armageddon in the movie was pictured mostly similar to what I have always believed: The sun gobbled the earth; the panic and commotion swept over almost everyone (although I think Armageddon should make people no longer care about their family because they'd be busy saving themselves, instead of making family reunion like what John did).
• But the film was "tainted" with the unnecessary effort of picturing angels bringing away John's son and Diana (oh, you'll know her if you watch the movie)'s daughter and the "space ship" being used to transport those two. I say it's okay to have wild imagination, but sometimes you've got to know that some objects are just beyond imagination. I heard some audiences actually laugh at the scene. Really, I could not blame them because I was also turned off by it.
  

Now, what do you think? Come, share your opinion. I'd appreciate it if you do.

Finish line - where is it?

It's holiday again, today. Actually I have started having holidays since yesterday. The stock market had a day off because of the national election, and so my office had the same discretion. Today is Easter day. Another day-off.

I want to shout "Yippee!" for getting such a long weekend. Who doesn't? But being a realistic person I've always been, I know I won't be able to go through these four day-offs feeling all happy. There on the back of my head, I know I have this office work I need to finish since ages ago.

In fact, this unfinished work has been the main reasons I'm abandoning my social life: I haven't replied my friends' messages via facebook, haven't responded to their fb comments, and as you can see here, the last posting I had on my blog was on January. God, that was three months ago!

And still I haven't finished it. You know, I'm getting desperate to get it done that last month, I actually hoped for this darn work to finish soon, as my birthday wish. Really.


Birthday wishes from my colleagues: Like an oasis in the desert. Thanks, guys!



















You might wonder what it is the unfinished work that has been unfinished even though I have started working on it since... January. God, I'm mortified! It's nothing more than the usual valuation thing I do as an analyst, but my oh my, how difficult this work has been!

First, the company I'm looking at has one complicated business (in my opinion, of course). Not to mention that I'm one of those people who find it hard to focus on one thing. I mean, I'm easily distracted and lose focus. If there's an e-mail coming in, I often resort to open it. And you know how many e-mails you can receive in one day. There's these forwarded or conversational e-mails from your co-workers, not to mention your boss (which is actually a lot less than the initial, ha-ha). And there's office announcement e-mails, e-mails from clients, etc...

To make it worse, when I bump into a problem and have to look for supporting data, usually I end up website hopping and sometimes the website I visit is irrelevant. It goes like, "Okay, I have to find the inventory data of this product". Then, while I'm searching for it, my head says, "While the data is being uploaded on that website, why don't I check new types of mobile phone on that online store. Who knows I can actually find a good one to replace that battered old handphone I got." And I can go for about twenty minutes browsing through the online store before going back to the previous website. Tsk. Totally inefficient way of working.

But maybe this month I can actually finish it. I'm half way to go, I think. Well, if you work on it day in and day out, one day you'll eventually come near the finish line, right?

So, God, please let me see that "finish line".

I do solemnly swear

It sure is a blessing from Allah to be able to witness a history being made as Barack Obama took his oath to be the first African American president of the United States, yesterday (1/20). I had been sitting in front of the TV since 10.30 PM last night, watching and waiting for the main show to take place: the sworn in and the inaugural address.

Obama's sworn in was quite unforgettable. If the oath should be said in a similar way like saying the ijab kabul (wedding vow in Islam), then Obama had flunked and should have gone through it once again. Was he too excited?

Another interesting thing to notice from it was the way Obama put his hand on a closed bible rather than on an open one. I didn't know it until I learned it today from someone in my office.

Source: Daily Telegraph, Google


From left to right: George Washington sworn in; George Bush Jr.; Obama

The inaugural address was exceptional. Wonderful words were being used in the speech and made it one of the powerful speeches I had listened so far (I hadn't listened much, though, haha). You would react upon hearing moving words like these: "Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met." In fact, there was an uproar by the people as soon as Obama said the words.

Nevertheless I was a bit taken aback by how some Indonesian people reacted. They did not make much comment on the content of the speech, but on the minuscules like the dress Michele Obama was wearing, how it did not match Barack's outfit, and the like. They just show how civilized Indonesians are, don't they? *wink

Speaking of Michele Obama, my mind drifted as I watched her step down the few stairs that took her to the inauguration stage. I was wondering why married women should bear her husband's (family) name. I'm sure women like Michele Obama is capable of 'standing up' on her birth name and need not to fear that she won't be recognized for herself.

Then perhaps what this woman wrote in her letter to a newspaper last week reflects just how vulnerable a woman could be when she is using her own birth name (Note: If you can't read the letter, just press the Ctrl button on your keyboard and scroll your mouse to adjust the size).

Source: Kompas Daily, 17 January 2009

Upsize

The term 'upsize' should be familiar when you are visiting Starbucks and you are using BCA credit card to pay your coffee, because that's when you get to 'upsize' your order. That means when you initially order a tall cup, you have the privilege to get your coffee in a bigger cup - that is grande - when paying with the BCA credit card (Why does this begin to sound more like a BCA advertisement? Ah, nevermind).

Actually, that's the only familiar 'upsize' term I know so far. Oh, and this:

Many times people mistaken two things about me: age and weight.

First: Many people think I'm about 26-27 years old, while the fact is I'm much younger (yeah, rite). It does me good when I meet people I'm not hanging out on a day-to-day basis, but it develops a mixed feeling for me when somebody at the workplace who is five or more years younger treating me like I'm no older than one or two years away from him/her. I mean it's great that I look that young, but it's not so great if those younger people begin to act in a way that they are not supposed to do to older people. But then if I think of it again, perhaps I have been behaving in a way which make them think I'm not old enough to gain more respect from them. I don't know. Have I?

Second: Some people (women, mostly) said this to me: "Oh, I envy your body. How come you are so thin?" Reality check: I'm not thin. Not after I ruined three of my trousers (I broke the zipper) because my waistline grew a lot. And they have been my favorite trousers!!! Tsk. Now I have to get new ones.

Then again, should I "upsize" my clothes, or should I just exercise? The more difficult route should be the healthier choice, but can I commit to it?

*Sigh

Gov't officials are doing horror now?

You may call me a wimp, chicken, or anything, but the truth remains that I'm not an avid fan of horror movies/stories. I always think that life has been too burdensome to live through, so why waste it with watching movies/reading stories that will create nightmares to your sleep? I can stand detective or murder theme, but never horror.

It's the tense that I can't bear from a horror flick: The sound of the soundtrack which makes the movie even more scarry than it has already been, the agony of expecting the worst to happen but not knowing when exactly it will happen...

I remember when I was about seven years old, my parents played one of Suzanna's horror movies at home while I was out playing in my friend's house. It was the one with a scene in which Suzanna as a long-haired backless ghost (we call it sundel bolong in Indonesia) ordered a big portion of satay, and when the satay seller gave the food to her, he instantaneously freaked out as her back blurted out the satay she had eaten as soon as she finished chewing it. Unfortunately, I got back at the same time the scene was playing, and until now I never forget that particular scene.

Too bad. Recently I had to encounter another horror, only this time it's in real life which made it even worse.

It happened yesterday. After my husband finished reading Sunday edition of Kompas paper (because I got up later *grin), I took my turn and went straight to the pages on life as usual. And bang!* On that page, there was a big picture showing 'mutilation' of the remnants of the Majapahit Kingdom and I let out a squeal as soon as I laid my eyes on it.

Oh my God!

I was hoping that I was only daydreaming, but it was as if the picture had screamed the fact to the world. You might wonder why I reacted in such a weird way. You see, having been born in East Java, I always believe that in a way, I may have an ancestor who spent his or her life in Majapahit either as commoner or better yet, an heir. I know it's ridiculous, but hey, anyone can have his/her own imagination, right?

And so I found myself not eager to continue the rest of the story. It was for me another kind of horror. I dreaded to read the whole story and found out something far more horrible in the later section. You know, this is worse than horror movie, because unlike a movie, I could not just turn it off so it would stop playing. The tragedy happened for real!

I'm really sick with government officials right now. No need to go to the DVD rental to get a horror movie; It's already played in real life by those short-minded dimwits. Oh I wish I had not been born in a country which did not pay any single respect to its own history!


*No actual sound was produced. It is to highlight the shock I was experiencing.