Ice cream with a comic strip - What's this?

My office has this mini mart run by its employee cooperative (koperasi karyawan) and I'm one of its loyal visitors. One day I checked out its ice cream chest freezer and lo what I found: The classic ice cream sandwich!

Source: My personal collection

This ice cream reminded me of one of the good time in the ole good days when I once in a while lavishly spend my pocket money for an extravagant ice cream like this (you can imagine my "frugal" way of living back then). So, in the spirit of reminiscing "the ole good days", I quickly bought it. I ripped open the plastic wrap and found this:

Source: My personal collection

As pictured on the plastic wrap, there was a comic strip on the sandwich biscuits. The comic strip for the two biscuits (front and back) may be similar or not. The comic was quite amusing, but then again, I bought the ice cream because I wanted to eat it. I took a bite and ...

Source: My personal collection

Eew, it didn't taste as great as I thought it would be. I could actually tell at first glance of the unimpressive ice cream texture (as is always the case with all Wall's products). Aw, it just made me long for the old ice cream sandwich made by Campina (Wall's rival which in my opinion produce much better-tasted ice cream). Really you shouldn't judge the book by its cover (or in this case, an ice cream by its comic strip, hahaha).



Disclaimer: All written here is purely my personal opinion and is not meant to discredit any party written in my posting.

   

Have a Good Day!

Whoah, finally, writing again after several decades off the blog *exaggerating
For starter, I'd like to post my favorite things nowadays, things that I consume/use/wear frequently. The first object that has the honor to be mentioned first is this bottled-brownish liquid:

Picture taken from 9mart.tumblr.com

With this, I'm ready to face my day.

GOOD DAY(R) GREEN TEA LATTECINNO COFFEE!

Love this drink so much! I have tasted the other variants: Tiramisu Bliss, Funtastic Mocacino, and the fairly new Avocado Delight. All leave not-so-fantastic aftertaste, but not the Green Tea Lattecinno! There's a good balance between sweet and bitter taste of sugar and coffee in this beverage, and the aroma surely reminds me of green tea. So drinking this means you're drinking a mixture of green tea and coffee, hence the name of the variant. The best blend of Good Day so far, I may say. Good job, Good Day!

Who would have known...

My cousin was driving me to my office this afternoon, but no more than a few meter drive, he abruptly stopped the car, opened his window, and shouted to the security guard of the housing complex who was sitting by the door of the surveillance post.

"What's wrong with him?" said my cousin, pointing to the man who was lying in front of the security guard. He was a driver for the folks who lived across my parents' house. His eyes were shut while receiving a head massage from the security guard.

"He's sick," said the masseur. I was surprised because at first I thought he slept from having received such a pleasant massage. But at second glance, he looked pale and seemed to contain his pain.

"You should inform his boss that he's sick," my cousin offered some advice, hoping that that driver could get a more proper help immediately. He then continued driving for fear of blocking the street since he stopped the car in the middle of it. He was driving me to my office, anyway, and I was already very late. 

It was a different working routine today. I had to take care of my kids first before taking them to my parents for "temporary daycare service" (that would be the most proper terms, ha-ha) and then leaving for work. Normally I trust a nanny to take care of my kids, especially the youngest who's almost two this year. Today I can't because she's taking her Lebaran (Eid) break to go back to her home town. There's actually one helper at home but it feels not right to weigh all the house chores AND my child caring to her to do all by herself.

Two hours later, I called my mom about an errand she wanted me to do on the way to my office. 

"Go pick it up at my office. I've told my staff to prepare the stuffs for you to bring," said my mom in a hurried voice. "I can't talk for long, I had to go the neighbor across the house. Someone died."

"Huh? Who?" I implored.

"Pak XXX."

"Who?" I asked again to clarify if she was joking because the name of the dead person is the same with my dad's.

"Pak XXX, the driver of the neighbor across the house. Okay, I got to go now," and she hung up.

I was literally shocked. I honestly disregarded the entire incident this afternoon, thinking that it was probably a minor illness. Who knew that it was the last time I saw him alive...

I shuddered thinking about it. You really cannot undermine the value of time. Who knows if you'll still be able to see the sun rise or set tomorrow.

Therefore, in the spirit of Eid festivity which is still in the air, I humbly hope that Allah will allow us to encounter the next holy month of Ramadan. Taqabalallahu minna wa minkum, shiyamana wa shiyamakum (may Allah receive your ibadah during the month of Ramadan and mine, as well as your fasting and mine).

Happy Eid Mubarak, everyone (who celebrates it), and value your time better!




 

안녱 하서

It's not until tonight that I find out I can open blogger.com after working hour at my office. Yippee! Now I can write again on my blog! I haven't written any post for a long long time because I usually arrive at home late. When I got home, my kids had been asleep and I didn't find opening or even touching my laptop appealing at such hour. I often think if only there were a machine that could type what I was thinking, that would be super cool. Perhaps I have to wait for my kids' generation to build one for me *wishful thinking

Now let's catch up with what I've been up to lately. As you can see on the post title, it's a hangeul a.k.a. Korean writing. Thanks to my addiction to Korean drama, I grow my curiosity in the language. Moreover, it's said that the Korean alphabets are among the easiest to learn.

So there I go. I downloaded several study material at www.talktomeinkorean.com and tried to understand the language, 한국어 or hangugeo, they say. Yes, it did seem easy when I follow the material. But I haven't got the chance to download all the materials and so I haven't learned much, actually. Still I'm happy that I've experienced something new.

Then one day a colleague offered the Korean drama maniacs in my office to join her in a Korean language class. That's great! That was what I think until I realize that oh my God, it's not easy at all to learn the hangugeo.

There's the alphabets that I have to learn by heart, which I haven't so far. To really get a good grasp of it, writing practice everyday is necessary, and that's something I haven't committed myself to. I tried to read them whenever there are some hangeul alphabets displayed in a Korean drama or show, but I ended up pulling my hair out of frustration.

In the class, the seonsaengnim (선생님) or the teacher has begun to talk in Korean all the time. "Oh oh," I was thinking, "What was he saying?" It seems that I'm not the only one, because there was one time when the seonsaengnim (who is still at his 20's by the way. Gosh, can't you believe that? I'm being taught by some kid!) talked to her in Korean. He was asking her to repeat a sentence that we had just learned. And what did she do? She said, "Ne (네)", which means "Yes". Yes, I got it but I didn't really get it, that's more like it *lol

So please don't ask me to talk in Korean. I will probably say "Annyeong haseo (안녱 하서)", and then "네? 네..."

L A T E R

Wow, what should have been a few hours when I said "see you LATER" on my previous posting turns out to be a few months. Well, let's look at the bright side: The year is still 2013 and not 2014. Or much later *giggle

It is certainly not easy to write a blog post especially after you have two kids, one is nearly 3 years old and the other one 8 months. The little one particularly sticks to me like a postal stamp and would scream like someone had harmed her, almost everytime I put her down even for a little while (This is my thesis: There's this lingering anxiety in second borns that your loved ones will not pay attention to you and leave you for the big brother/sister, so they often act up.).

That's problem no. 1. 

Problem no. 2: I am a working mother who leaves for work at 7.45 AM and arrived home at 9-ish PM. 

Problem no. 3: I cannot blog at the office because blogger.com is blocked.

Problem no. 4: I don't carry around my laptop because it's too heavy and I already have 2 bags to carry to the office: Bag no. 1 is my main bag where I put my wallet, cell phones, umbrella, etc.; Bag no. 2 is for carrying breastmilk bottles and sometimes lunch box.

Problem no. 5: I am already too sleepy and tired when I get home, or too busy with my kids or house chores, or simply too lazy to blog because there's this temptation to just watch korean drama instead, hahaha.

While on the train on the way home, I often think, if only there is this machine which could translate what I'm thinking of or saying on my mind into written words. The time wasted while standing or sitting doing nothing should have been directed for better things like blogging instead of just making tweets or checking people's facebooks. Blogging is writing, and writing makes you think a lot. In my case, blogging is my way of recalling my english skill. And posting some rants. Curhat colongan if you say it in bahasa indonesia. :)

Problem no. 6: There was a time when I didn't have internet connection at home. No modem. If I want to get internet connection, I would have to wait my husband to come home and lend me his modem. So pitiful, wasn't it?

So, today is a special day because I get to make a blog post. Yay!

Rendez vous, at last!

Wow, look at the time. It really does fly. Seeing my last posting was made in 2011, here I am, surviving the Mayan doomsday of 12-12-12 and making it to 2013. And boy, what two years parting from writing on this blog has brought... Quite a lot! I'll write it on the next post because I gotta take a shower ASAP. It's already 5:30 pm and I haven't had a bath since yesterday (ooops), and frankly right now I just can't stand my own smell! 

Okay, my dear blog, I'll see you later!

 

11-11-11

What does a day mean to you?

Most people will probably answer that a day may just be another ordinary day. But if the question is "what does 11-11-11 (November 11, 2011) mean to you?", many will say that it's a special day to them.

It's human nature to try to differentiate oneself from others for the sake of creating a self identity. This includes picking a memorable date such as 11-11-11 for a huge event of one's life.

Media reported that on that specific date there had been a significant increase of the number of weddings held and babies born. Somehow I haven't heard any news about someone choose to die or get divorced on that date...

Actually I was not a keen follower of such frenzy. I always think that if we want to consider an event to be important and memorable, then it will speak for itself. However a movie ad saying it will be shown for the first time in the cinema on 11-11-11 caught my attention and I thought, "Hey, I haven't gone to movies for a long time with my husband, so why don't he and I just go?"

Despite the poor review, we went to watch the movie anyway. Here's the memento:



So now, if one asks me "What did you do on 11-11-11?", I will simply say, "I went to the movie with my husband."

Like it's important *grin

A(n) (un)worthy fight

A week has passed yet my mind still lingered on what happened last Friday at Pacific Place, Jakarta. That day there was a sale of BlackBerry Bold 9790 (or fancily called BlackBerry Bellagio) at 50% discount (means the price slashed down to Rp 2.3 million or around USD 255) for the first 1,000 buyers. It's a new series of BlackBerry and the producer had decided to make the first launch in Indonesia (Jakarta) of all places in the world, presumably to honor the country which has contributed to the rise in BlackBerry sales when the smartphone sales in other countries dwindled.

Apparently to many Indonesian people, "new gadget" plus "heavy discount" or "low price" equals to "must have!". What's the evidence? Here they are:


metro.vivanews.com



euligo.com


The event organizer (EO) must have understood this equation well, so they handed out red-colored wrist band to the first 1,000 visitors. What they forgot to anticipate is the mass of people who did not manage to get the wrist band: How to handle these people? How to get rid of them properly?

And chaos was what followed. Having been left without a word to leave the spot because the quota had been reached, a lot, a whole lot of people who did not get the wrist band persisted to stay in vague hope of making into the 1,000 early buyers or that the EO had at least extra stocks of the phone on hand. Many had come since dusk, even spent the night at the location. Therefore when the EO finally announced that they have got the 1,000 buyers and tried to disband the crowd, it was too late.

The tired mass had become easily aggravated, so when some people tried to walk through the queue to reach the front line, the orderly lineup broke out into angry throng. It was almost like a stampede: People pushed their way forward, leaving many stepped over, wounded, fainted, or worst, died.



mobile.solusihp.com


I was not there. I got the account of the story from media and words of mouth. But that's enough to say that it was so sad. Were the efforts, the pain, the victims really worth it? It's only a phone, for God's sake! A phone whose value will deteriorate when a new version comes out. A phone which is not considered the ultimate gadget in the universe one must have.

And it's not like those people did not have a phone already. I'm sure they have had one, or two probably. Were their time, their attitude and manner, and most of all, their life, really worth another phone just for the sake of 50% price cut or the phone brand?

Was it the last drop of water on earth? Was it a livestock one must secure because of its scarcity? No. No. It was not.

On one side, the incident sent a good loud and clear message to producers of gadget and other life style-related goods: Indonesia is a great market where you can sell almost anything at almost any price as long as you can convince people that what you sell can lift their pride and prestige. Be sure to not miss this market.

On the other side, we should remember that in Indonesia too there are still many lineups such as these:

kaskus.us



rimanews.com



Didn't these pictures make you wondering: Where have our humanity and humility gone?

Secret Garden

Was a non believer, now a believer.

I am talking about my recent fancy in the Korean drama "Secret Garden". I used to question why there are so many fans of this drama when the synopsis says:

The drama tells the story of Kim Joo Won (Hyun Bin), a seemingly perfect man who hides an arrogant and eccentric side, and Gil Ra Im (Ha Ji Won), a stunt woman whose beauty and body are the object of envy amongst top actresses. One day they went deep into the mountains and entered a strange house, where a strange grandmother offered them chocolate to eat. The next day they found themselves in the other's body.

Okay, just how strange could that be? But with so many friends of mine recommend the drama, I need to find it for myself to see what it is they like so much about.

And boy, ain't the first episode got me nailed already!

Source: koreanchingu.wordpress.com

Really, the drama was much more than body switching. It's about an attraction between a man and a woman which seems bizarre at the first place: A rich arrogant man falls in love with a poor stunt woman who is way below his social class. He never befriends with women of lower social class, yet the first encounter with this particular woman already disturbs him to the point of him questioning his sanity because never once in his wildest dream to fall in love with some woman who does not have wealthy parents, flashy education, or job with high salary.


What I love about this drama is not only of how good the story plot is, the smart twist at the end of each episode which makes you yearn to watch the next, and how natural the acting that the actors and actresses performed, but also (most importantly) how I can relate myself to the love story of Joo Won and Ra Im.

I was once a person who questioned myself, why I fell for someone who had never been my type: I used to picture a man of the same ethnic group as my future husband, not some Middle East descendant, yet such guy appeared in my life out of nowhere and tried to convince me that he loved me. I dreamed of a life partner who kept his face cleanly shaved, yet this person got bushy beard on his face *sigh






Still, no matter how hard I tried to talk myself that this was not my dream guy, I still fell for him in the end. I must admit, it was his fervent effort to approach me that stole my heart. What Ra Im said in the drama's episode 14 well represents how I felt at the time: "My body turns away, but my heart won't leave."

Unfortunately, my parents took a strong disliking towards him, especially my mom (much similar to what Joo Won experiences). She told me stories about failed marriage of women whose husband was from the particular ethnic group due to the guy's laziness or rough treatment. She also said things like, "Yeah, go love him like you can feed on love", since he did not have a steady job. I could not accept her words, believing that you cannot assume ALL people of the same ethnic background share similar traits. I could not obey her words to abandon him if difference of social strata was the reason (I fortunately come from a better social status than he does). And although he worked as a non-permanent lecturer, it was better than not working at all. At least he showed some effort to land a job although it was a temporary one.

For my stubbornness, my mom turned a cold shoulder to me.

I thought it was only scenes in Indonesian drama (sinetron) in which the mother with bulging eyes yells and speaks harshly to her child to convey her disapproval of her child's choice of husband/wife. No, it turned out that it happened in real life, as that was the case with my mom. She yelled at me, threatened to disregard me as her daughter if I continued to like him. She would not talk to me, treating me as if I had not been in the same room when in fact I was there.

That was the most difficult period to me as I was torn between honoring my mother and standing tall for what I believe. I cried a lot during those days. Songs about two lovers who steadfastly hold on to their love despite utter differences between them would either make me hopeful or put me in tears. Among them, there's a song which precisely illustrate my situation back then. Here are some parts of the song:

If I don't need you then why am I crying on my bed?
...
If I'm not made for you then why does my heart tell me that I am?

Ha, you must know the song already. Yup, it's "If you're not the one" by Daniel Bedingfield. I always cried every time I heard the song. I can still feel the chill vibe from the song lyrics. Thank God I did not watch "Secret Garden" back then (impossible actually, since the drama was produced in 2010 while my "dark" period was 4-9 years ago), or I would weep my heart out until my eyes swelled (you wouldn't want to see me in that condition. It's horror, I'm telling you).

It took me 9 years to finally get the approval from my parents for me to get married with my now-husband. It's an approval to marry only, since my mom still does not want to talk to my husband, thus not really accepting him to be her son in law. Thankfully, she recognizes her grandson (my child) and with that I cannot ask for more. I realize that her rage in the past was only her way to protect her daughter so as not to let her daughter suffer in the future. So if my mom can only go that far to recognize my family, that is enough.

So if you have watched "Secret Garden", by now you will realize how much similar my situation with the love story portrayed in the drama.

In the end, I'd like to conclude that a love union which is struggled to achieve will always be well appreciated (at least I do), and every time the couple look back to their journey, they will cherish all the moments, both the ups and the downs. Just hold strong to what you believe. As long as it does not go against God's order, fight for your love and ask Him to show you the light at the end of the tunnel.

Bonne chance!

F5

Whenever I see pictures of my son, I can't believe it's already more than a year since he was born. Everyday it feels as if it were only yesterday that I carried his fragile body, with my mind constantly filled with worry and fear whether I had done things right when it came to taking care of him or whether I would be able to consistently take good care of him. Having been a perfectionist (not 100%, though) always made me jittery and kept thinking "what if this or that happened."


Thank God things went well, although of course some accidents happen (I still shiver as I recount the many times my son fell off the bed when he was younger). Keeping the habit of positive thinking and a belief that "things happen because they should" have been a major help for me to lead a sane life. Now as my son has grown bigger, I want to start to get back to my old ways of life, and that includes blogging. I feel my brain has gone wasted and my English skill deteriorates so blogging is really a way out for me from growing ever more to be an idiot.

And so let this posting be a fresh new start of my blogging life...

Four months away

Gosh, it's so hot now. Even the air con can't cool off the room temperature. Is the dry season finally here? I don't really enjoy it, but having rain everyday is something I dislike either. Rain makes the journey home from office so frustating, because the traffic jam will get much much worse. To be in constant dry weather like now is not enjoyable too; You get drenched in sweat so fast that the perfume in your wet shampooed hair is quickly replaced by the sour smell. It reminds me of the smell of my nephew's hair after a day of running here and about.

Ah, my nephew... He's so tall now and he's not even five years old. He's adorable and is everyone's favorite. All despite his mocking behavior at times. I always have my husband with me if I'm taking this little guy out. To handle the active kid 24 hours a day is something which makes me tired just from thinking of it. Now to think that in about four months I will have a kid of my own... Am I ready for the challenge, to dedicate my life 24-7 for this little baby growing inside my womb second after second?

Please help me God...

And the way you look tonight

Someday, when I'm awfully low,
When the world is cold,
I will feel a glow just thinking of you
And the way you look tonight.

Happy birthday, honey.
And here's a cheer for our anniversary.
May our love stand strong come rain or shine...

Lovely ... never, ever change.
Keep that breathless charm.
Won't you please arrange it?
'cause I love you ... just the way you look tonight.

One year anniversary

I've been trying to start doing something new every year. In 2009, my ex-colleague (she has resigned now) told me about Postcrossing. It's a community web which helps its members to send and receive postcards to and from all over the world. I used to collect postcards and stamps when I was still in elementary school and I had fun, so restarting the hobby has been easy to do.

Today is exactly one year since I first joined Postcrossing. I have now become the 6th Postcrosser from Indonesia with most postcards sent from here to other countries. Still a long way to go to catch up my recruiter who's now the 2nd with most postcards sent from Indonesia. Yosh!

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.