Another Option, Another System

Should set aside  some change for my next smartphone. Just saw a sketching web app that can work with a notes web app that I want to learn to use. This collaboration seemed to be interesting and I think can be really useful for my blogging hobby.

Because open source system that support this app is cheap, I should be able to get one in cash. But to maximize the usage, I must use a larger screen, and that means a much expensive tablet PC.

Work harder then and hope that in the next evaluation, I can get better offer. Only then I will probably set aside some change for the tablet.

meminjam sinar matahari

pernahkah kau sadar kalau selama ini hidupmu bisa berjalan karena kau meminjam sinar matahari?

apapun itu yang kau makan, tanpa sinar matahari, tak kan bisa sampai ke meja makanmu.

jangan jadi bodoh, tentu saja bukan sinar matahari yang mengantarkan makananmu, melainkan dirimu sendiri atau dengan bantuan orang lain. yang aku maksud adalah bahwa makananmu itu adalah bentuk energi lain yang telah mengalami perubahan bentuk sehingga sumber awalnya dari sinar matahari tak dikenal lagi.

kalau kau makan sayuran hijau, berterimakasihlah kepada sinar matahri yang memungkinkan proses fotosintesis.

kalau kau makan hewan pemamah biak, berterimakasihlah pada sinar matahari yang memungkinkan hewan itu mendapatkan makanannya.

kalau kau makan biji-bijian, tentu saja ada peran sinar matahari yang memungkinkan tanaman tersebut tumnuh dan berkembang.

bahkan, di negara tropis di daerah khatulistiwa, pakaian yang kau kenakan di tubuhmu itu hampir pasti dikeringkan (setelah dicuci) oleh sinar matahari.

bahkan malam seperti saat ini, bila tiba-tiba PLN memutuskan aliran listrik yang mendayai lampu-lampu ruangan, sehingga satu-satunya sumber penerangan hanyalah cahaya bulan, berterimakasihlah karena bulan juga meminjam sinar matahari untuk menerangi malam.

tattooed women, bad?

(originally published somewhere in the internet on 20-02-2006)

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yesterday, a friend of mine, what would i think if she get a tattoo.

she just want to express herself more and the best way it seems is to get a tattoo. her concern is that it might just get in the way when she applied for a job after graduated. i told her that i think the only way it'd be an issue if she did apply for PNS or banking institution - or any position where your appearance really matter.

if you're healthy, tattoo can't make you failed on health test/medical check-up. i also told her to sport a temporary tattoo first, to put it right where she want her permanent one, and get the feeling of having a tattoo, for a permanent tattoo is just gonna stick forever to her skin.

she also asked, "what would you guys be thinking of a woman like me had tattooes?"

i told her, "personally, i think it is sexy, it's sensual, it's hot! as long as the tattoo suit her and she is comfortable with them.

"what about the stereotyping of tattoed person = bad person. it worse if it's a woman?"

"well, if you're more interested in what other people might think, then you better not get one. if you feel you can go on ignoring other people's opinion, then go get one!"

now, you, dear reader, after reading this, you know where i stand on this matter. i just asked you for your opinion, are tattoed women equal bad girls?

let me know, please.

Smoking Women, Banned?

(originally published somewhere on the internet on 14-01-2006)

just curious: why is that some people - including some that i have personally known - dislikessmoking women? i mean, to them (and probably you too), think that it is inappropriate for women to smoke, but think otherwise for men. is it okay - and normal - for men to smoke because they are men? is it wrong for women because women shouldn't be smoking in the first place? i had started some never ending debates over this issue and the reason why they were unfinished because both parts kept to their own POV.

that's what i am trying to start right now. i think i am not a feminist, but the idea that women should and shouldn't do something just because they're females just a little bit absurd, since a child can not decide what sex he/she born with (that's why we got transsexual now) and rights shouldn't be limited to some factors that you can't really control (sex, skin color, place of birth, etc.).

i have to admit, i am not a smoker and sometimes i just can not tolerate the billowing smoke. that's why in the past times i just left the room abruptly. so maybe you can say i am biased. when i was a child, my father is a smoker. but he quit for reasons i still haven't found out. of course i stole some cigarette he owned, just out of curiousity, to feel what is it like to be smoking. i lighted the cigarette, try it, then coughed because the smoke stung my senses. i threw it away while my so-called friends laughed at me. i do not left them though. i sat with them watching they consume rest of my thieving goods. yes, afterward there are peer pressure too, but maybe the pressure is not enough to "break" me.

all in all, this is all about option and just to think that there are other people out there that think you SHOULD or SHOULDN't do something because it is inappropirate based on some weak reasons makes me wondering...

cont'd

Stick To The Root?

You see, now I really have this thought that I should stick to blogging and not to wander off into the forest of social networking -- however badly I want to -- or even micro-blogging service. I always like reading, in fact, I spent a lot of time reading that when I buy myself a television and spent hours watching the tube, I occasionally muted that thing and start reading any book that was within the grasp of my hand.

So that is why it's been almost a month that I left my television set wrapped up on the table in my room and haven't watch it ever since I left for Denpasar on the last week of February for a brief work. I found that since I have a lot of books that need to be read through that watching television is a waste of time. Not that I decided against watching TV or the news that once so occupied my tube-time experience, it's just I can read online news and not feeling like I really miss something that's important.

Now here I am writing this post saying that I could -- emphasize on could -- be better of by spending my time reading books, writing something that probably never really get publised, or practicing some skill which been like years I left behind. Anything is better than spending the time watching television.

My root was like reading stuff and remembering unimportant fact. I shoud get back to it.

Or shouldn't I?

How Cool Is Your Siblings

Actually, NOT cool. I have had bad times and worse. My brother can even make a happy morning turned sour or gloom. Such power, wielded in a man's hand.

To think that that guy can ask and make you feel that you have to obey, when actually you're the one who's doing him a favor, now that's a really special power. I just wish that that dude wouldn't abuse it too often.

Oh by the way, big city like Jakarta surely have a lot of people living there, people that maybe at sometimes are so self-centered but not realizing it, that made you felt suffocated. You know you are angry or upset with how some of them treat you but you know that actually they didn't really mean that. It's just that they do what a lot of people did: being unsensitive but mindless about it.

You see, when you have to travel across state border to meet some people, you'd expect the person you're going to meet appreciate your effort, time, and energy you spent to get there. At least to some level. But when you're being told to just wait or being said words like you're disturbing their oh-so-busy-life-and-important-STUFFS-to-do, like you're interrupting some serious business, wouldn't you be questioning what the hell are you even doing there?

Oh I forgot. I just making some unimportant queries that not even need some considerations. Maybe because that I am just a nobody.

Maybe if I am someone, like SOMEONE IMPORTANT, a hot-shot in Jakarta, then -- and ONLY then -- I will get the proper attention (like, minimal?) that (maybe un-) deserved by a man at my state.

That is, the state of nothing?

I Guess That's One Down

There's a lot happened already. Problems, problems, and more problems. Hurt my head. Hurt my feelings. Nothing positive coming out of this. Some of the times I felt worse because actually I am fooling others, I am fooling myself, and I am fooling God. At least the latter part, I pretend to be fooling Him.

So that's it. After years of working and splurging, experiencing a lot and missing a lot more, high times and low, I am officially broke.

That one experience alone is worth more. I know how helpless one could feel about that. How much money can influence the quality of my life. How was it affecting me, my choices, my actions, etc.

From training myself to be more positive and outwardly, it changed me to the extreme reversion. Such is the power of money. I hope I would never be encountering the same problem again or else I'd be losing my sanity [hyperbole intended].

After -- at least I think I did -- tackled that one problem down, I have another one: to change my spending habit. This one is really hard and I mean, REALLY HARD. I hope I could, though.

While I'm at it, I guess the other one is to confront the result of my own doing a few months ago. This one is as hard as it may be.

God, help me to be able to speak this one out.

Day -27: Easily Exhausted

Now I really have to admit: My body is a wreckage.

Months -- even years -- of desk job with less than adequate physical activities has already take on its toll. Now I am an overweight-lazy-couch potato with a beer gut. Not that I drink beer, it's just that now I look like someone who's three months into pregnancy. Not that I am pregnant -- I am a male, for crissake! It's just metaphorically speaking.

Even when I tested myself by climbing four-flight stairs, I ended up gasping out of breath on the top floor with my heart thumping loudly in my chest and making me hard to hear anybody. I thought at that time that heart attack was imminent.

No, I am kidding. I just happen to like exaggerating things to impress others. All right, maybe I am a little bit pathetic. But exaggeration sometimes add colors to stories, right?

Okay, back to my point here. I am easily exhausted and right now at three in the afternoon I have to fight this drowsiness eventhough I already gulped a cup of strong black robusta coffee. Okay, I lead an unhealthy way of life and now that I am preparing for an excursion to the east, I realize that keeping a healthy and fit body is a precious thing and appropriate.

Oh hell. I will walk more, climb stairs more, and even take out my old and dusty sneakers from under the cupboard and don them. Come tomorrow, I'll be walking around in the city garden!


... If I wake early enough.

OMG This Place's Kinda Over-hyped!

I went to my Facebook's Home page when I saw that a friend of mine just joined this RUSTIQUE Grill & Wine group.

YES, the food (supposed) to be great!

YES, the tiramisu taste very delicious!

And YES, the interior is so much -- I didn't know how to call it since I'm not that eloquent enough. It's just own that aura, atmosphere, and look that spelled: E-X-P-E-N-S-I-V-E.

But I -- in my own small, self-righteous mind -- think that this place is just over-hyped. In my opinion, I must disagree with claims that saying this place is one of the best restaurants in Indonesia.

Hell, maybe I'm wrong.

But the stuff there is just overpriced and I just think that all these people (in Jakarta) can live without all that splurging in the incessant spoils.


===

Oh yes, the contact info:

Email:
Website:	http://www.rustique-restaurant.com
Office:	Plaza Senayan Level P4 #413 - XXI Complex
Location:	Jl. Asia Afrika No.8 Jakarta, Indonesia

Man! We Male Are Shallow!

Here I am, in front of my terminal LCD screen, on a Friday night, just a few minutes shy from another Sa-turd-ay, and I'm accessing the galleries of some photography community site.

Just a quick glimpse will show you how shallow us, male, can be.

We like physical attractiveness. We are drawn to it. And the more cute/beautiful the face is, good. More voluptuous? Even better! Less gears and more bare skin? The best! The most popular in daily photos are human/model/pose category. The most comments? The sexiest female.

Man, we are shallow!

How come we take on photography just to take shots of beautiful chicks? I mean, yes, that is a positive point on taking up photography. I did it because I want to record my traveling experience. And yes, some cool stage photos too.

But I just refuse to get into that kind of Girl Galore Photography thing.

Life is more than just girls, brother.

And if you're taking it up just for the girls, my personal opinion is that you're bound to fail on both fields.

Or not.