ENJOY JAKARTA

T:
Sebenernya, kenapa ya kita tetep tinggal di Jakarta?

J (dari berbagai orang):

"No choice. Kota lain di Indonesia ngga banyak peluang kerja, fasilitas, dst.  Liat aja anak2 baru lulus kuliah langsung berhamburan ke Jakarta cari kerja."

"Kota lain di Indon ngga asik. Sepi. Pasti bosen."

"Ya di Jakarta apa aja bisa jadi duit!  Jadi Mr.Cepek aja bisa dapet duit. Jadi tukang minta-minta malah lebih kaya daripada kerja jadi tukang cuci, capek, dapetnya Cuma dikit."

"Omong omong soal slogan inget slogan yg di pajang di Tol Cikampek waktu lebaran, “Macet Ora Macet Sing Penting Mudik”. Lha kl banjir slogan yg cocok ”Banjir Ora Banjir Sing Penting Nang Jakarta”..ibu Kota gitu loch...."

 

T:

Seandainya uang tidak menjadi masalah dan lo punya kesempatan, apa lo mau pindah ke luar Indonesia?

J:

"YA!  Ngeri di Indonesia rakyat cuma jadi korban keserakahan oknum2 yang berkuasa.  Banjir ini salah satu contohnya."

"Kalo uang nggak masalah?? Ya pindah lah. Kalo perlu sodara2 sekampung diboyong semua. Nggak tega ninggalin mereka di Indonesia, kayak begini keadaannya..."

"Walaupun Indon ini tanah airku, tapi pengelolanya (pemerintah -red.) nggak bener, bisa2 kita jadi korban terus kalo terus2an tinggal di sini."

"Iya. Maunya ke negara lain yg lebih rapi, bersih, teratur, aman, dan sistemnya bagus.  Yah sedih sih ninggalin negri ini, tapi bukannya kita memang mungkin harus hijrah, bikin perubahan demi menyelamatkan keluarga?"

"Bingung."

Jakarta: City of Water

So Jakarta becomes Venice - no, not in a good way.  It's flooded by the pouring rain.  Environmental issue.  Economic issue.  Educational issue.  Social issue.  This flood issue is too complex an issue.  Can I write it in simple words, with a simple mind? 

 

It's about flood...

 

Environmental issue = flood

 

Too many buildings, most lands are covered by concrete, unable to absorb water.  Beside causing flood, this issue also causes erosion, landslide.  This is because the government is not strict about law and regulations.  Money talks, and it's because of economic issue and greed (still).

 

People use water as if it we will have abundant of water forever.  Many do it out of lack of knowledge and education.  I have a very close example from my mom's experience.  Once she was talking with a neighbor's house maid when the maid was using water improvidently(?).  Mom told the maid to use water wisely.  The maid commented that it was "just" water coming from the ground - as if it will be available forever.  We can see that she thinks that way because she doesn't have enough knowledge and education about natural science as simple as the cycle of water in nature (water evaporation, how rain happens, and so on).

 

These issues of education caused by the mismanagement of this country.  If the government understand how important is education to environment, they could and should make advancements in our education for the young generation and execute environmental campaign for all communities.

 

Although it is very likely that they don't have enough budget for those long-term programs, but if the country's management (a.k.a. government) are committed to this country and the people, there should always be a way.

 

Economic issue => flood

 

The government's and the people's economic situation.  You know.  This affects the LAW... even governmental persons who should be keeping the law break it!  Just to get MONEY...  The very low salary could be one of the causes.  Illegal buildings and "legal" ones are popping out like crazy, covering the earth.

 

Educational Issue => flood

 

'Unstable' curricula.  Expensive education.  Lack of budget and funding for education.  Maybe the government don't realize the importance because this is long term.

 

 

Udah deh.

Ultraman a commercial star!

Ultraman starred in an ad for Idemitsu, a Japanese oil company, about the company's commitments on safety, vitality, and satisfaction.



What about Indonesian oil companies? Should they use Indonesian fantasy heroes such as Wiro Sableng? :D

By the way, Ultraman seems to be so famous in Japan that I saw a wish tag at the Tsurugaoka Hachiman shrine in Kamakura saying: "I wish to become Ultraman" Obviously a boy's wish... :D

"I wish to become Ultraman!"

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AVG Anti-Virus Free No More?

In PC Magazine website there is a question and video about AVG Anti-Virus not free anymore because the version 7.1 was discontinued on January 15th.

My answer: It's not true.

In 2006, Grisoft announced that AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition version 7.1 would be discontinued on January 15th, and suggested that the users download the new version 7.5. Of course the direct link on their ad is to the pay edition. But they also released the Free Edition version 7.5.



I've been using AVG free edition for my home PC. Around end of 2006, after a few times reminded by the announcement that always popped up whenever I started the computer, I downloaded the free edition version 7.5 but did not install it until January 2007. I am now using the free edition version 7.5.

So far I have no problems using AVG. Although the free edition only provides basic services, but it has the essential features such as regular scanning, email scanning, quarantine, and automatic updates.

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition can be downloaded here.


Link to the news: PC Magazine: AVG Free No More?



Technorati Tags: techno

For The Rose | 薔薇のために

Manga ini bercerita tentang persaudaraan, persahabatan dan cinta, dengan setting di Hokkaido, pulau paling utara di Jepang yang terkenal dengan alamnya yang indah dan udaranya yang dingin. Lagi2, kalo udah ke deskripsi tentang keindahan alam, bagi gw berhubungan erat dengan suasana hati... yang artinya: romantis. Dan itulah salah satu kekuatan manga yang ngga dimiliki komik lain, misalnya komik ala Amrik. Dalam manga, penggambaran suasana hati para karakter disampaikan melalui gambar tentang keadaan alam. Itu juga yang gw pelajari di Manga School.



Enw, kisah ini bermula ketika sang tokoh utama, Yuri, harus meninggalkan tempat tinggalnya di Tokyo karena neneknya meninggal dunia. Yuri yang sebatang kara baru mengetahui bahwa ibunya masih hidup. Dia pergi mencari ibunya, dan menemukan kenyataan bahwa ibunya ternyata adalah seorang aktris terkenal. Di rumah ibunya itu dia bertemu dengan orang2 yang ternyata adalah saudara2 kandungnya, dari para ayah yang berbeda.



Yuri tinggal di rumah mewah milik ibunya itu, bersama kakak2nya yang ganteng2 dan cantik tapi adatnya aneh2. Ibunya tidak pernah pulang ke rumah karena sibuk shooting dan pacaran. Di rumah itu peran Yuri praktis jadi pembantu rumah tangga, dan kakak2nya tidak menyukainya karena penampilannya yang gemuk dan jelek.



Tapi dengan kehadiran Yuri, suasana di rumah besar & mewah yang tadinya dingin itu lama-kelamaan menjadi hangat. Kakak2nya yang tadinya sangat individualistis mulai belajar tentang kedekatan antar-saudara, tentang persahabatan, dan cinta. Mereka mulai terbuka satu sama lain. Lama-kelamaan Yuri diterima dan disayangi oleh kakak2nya. Tapi, ternyata Yuri jatuh cinta dengan kakaknya yang ganteng bermata biru, Sumire...



Membaca cerita di komik ini seperti membaca cerita novel dewasa. Ceritanya padat dan mendalam, dan dilukiskan dengan indah sekaligus lucu melalui gambar dan kata2 para tokohnya. Dari awal cerita hingga akhir, kita bisa merasakan perkembangan jiwa dari tiap tokohnya. Dan there's a lot of moral of the story. Baca cerita ini seperti belajar dari kehidupan para tokohnya.



YOSHIMURA Akemi memang top banget deh! Gw kagum dengan cerita itu. Tiap tokoh punya masalah yang rumit (dan aneh) - dari masalah keluarga, orientasi seks, trauma masa lalu,... - dan satu per satu diurai dengan bagusnya.



Sekarang gw lagi ngikutin ceritanya yang lain, yang dalam versi Indonesia diberi judul "Beyond the Sea", walaupun judul aslinya seharusnya berarti "deeper than the sea" (海よりも深く)。

Japanese City Scapes

Rainbow Bridge at night (20-Nov-2005)

Gw teringat cowok Jepang yang gw ketemu di Odaiba, Teluk Tokyo, setahun yang lalu di bulan November, musim gugur tahun 2005.  Waktu itu hari baru gelap, dan lampu-lampu di luar membuat suasana indah.  Gw berdiri menghadap Teluk Tokyo, memandang Rainbow Bridge yang dihiasi pencahayaan (lighting) yang indah.  Suasana hati juga jadi seneng, alhamdulillah.  Gw motret Rainbow Bridge dengan bersandar di pagar dermaga karena gw gak bawa tripod.  Tapi gw dan Ran mau foto berdua dengan latar belakan jembatan itu. Gimana ya...?

Di tengah kebingungan cari ide, tau-tau seorang cowok yang selama itu lagi motret di sana, datang menawarkan untuk motretin kita!  Dan bonusnya, cowok itu lumayan kakkoii! :)  Dia nggak bicara dalam bahasa Inggris, tapi bahasa Jepang.  Dia nawarin motret, dan kita langsung berbinar-binar karena ada orang yang ngerti bahwa kita pingin difoto, hehehe.....

Gw kasih kamera gw, dan dia pasangin di tripodnya.  Cheese!  Kita difoto deh.  Waktu kita bareng2 preview hasilnya di kamera, dia ngejelasin bahwa karena pake tripod, pemandangan jembatan kelihatan indah, dan orang yang difoto juga indah :)  Well, penjelasan dia bukan sesuatu yang inspiring buat gw, tapi walaupun gw waktu itu udah rada capek abis seharian jalan2 di Odaiba, rada kedinginan (udah malem, di luar, bulan November,... lumayan dingin) dan jelek (yup, I don't really like seeing myself in the photo) tapi gw seneng banget nemu stranger yang keren itu.  Anehnya, gw ngga ngajak dia ngobrol lebih banyak.  Argh!

Abis itu gw dan Ran langsung naik monorail Yurikamome dan kembali ke stasiun Tokyo.  Dari sana kita naik kereta ke Utsunomiya.  Gw inget rasanya.  Hari semakin malam dan udara semakin dingin.  Sepanjang perjalanan menjauh dari metropolitan Tokyo, kereta berhenti di stasiun-stasiun, dan kereta semakin kosong.  Setiap pintu terbuka pada waktu berhenti di stasiun, terasa udara dingin masuk ke dalam gerbong.  Apalagi kalau berhentinya lama, pintu dalam keadaan terbuka dalam waktu cukup lama.  Brrrrr.....  Lama-lama masinisnya nggak buka pintu lagi (wah tengkyu banget!).  Waktu berhenti di stasiun, pintu nggak dibuka dan hanya dibuka kalau ada yang mau turun atau  naik.  Most of the time kereta hanya berhenti menunggu.

* * *

Small Statue of Liberty with Rainbow Bridge atthe background (left); Fuji Television Building (right).

Enw, kembali mengingat suasana sore hingga malam di Odaiba, kelihatannya orang-orang Jepang itu memang punya kehidupan di luar kerja kok.  Banyak couples maupun keluarga jalan-jalan sepanjang dermaga di pinggir teluk, maupun duduk minum di cafe-cafe, atau jalan-jalan di dalam pertokoannya.Lalu waktu di Yokohama CosmoWorld, waktu gw dan Ran diajak Ken naik Ferris Wheel raksasa untuk melihat pemandangan kota Yokohama di malam hari, ternyata banyak yang main di amusement park kecil itu.  Couples and families. 

Yokohama CosmoWorld at night (19-Nov-2005)

Jadi inget artikel di majalah Newsweek bahwa  orang-orang Jepang udah mulai sadar dengan pentingnya kehidupan di luar kerja.  Dan pernah baca juga bahwa generasi muda di sana udah mulai mengubah budaya "workaholic" yang jadi stereotype orang Jepang. Mereka sekarang nggak mau jadi budak kerja (shigoto nin'gen = workaholic) walaupun ada yang masih terjebak dan sulit keluar dari kondisi itu.  Contohnya temanku Ken yang merasa dikondisikan untuk menghabiskan waktunya untuk pekerjaan, dan begitu ingin ambil cuti untuk jalan-jalan tapi belum kesampaian.

Yokohama Bay at night (19-Nov-2005)

Suasana di Odaiba dan Yokohama Bay area / Minato Mirai itu memang enak dan terasa aman dan nyaman walaupun kita jalan kaki di luar.  Walaupun di toko apa2 mahal kalau dihitung dengan kantong gw yang standardnya Rupiah, tapi menikmati suasana kayak gitu aja udah cukup mahal harganya buat gw.  Toh gw lebih suka jalan2 dan sightseeing daripada belanja.  Jadi uang gw habis buat transportasi dan tiket masuk ke tempat2 yang pingin gw liat, daripada buat belanja dan makan (hehe... gw kalo lagi jalan2 makannya gak bener).

Yokohama CosmoWorld as seen from Landmark Tower

Di siang hari, suasananya juga enak.  Apalagi musim itu udaranya enak -
ngga panas, dan belum terlalu dingin.  Di Yokohama, Ken ngajak kita ke
Minato Mirai, kawasan komersial di daerah teluk Yokohama.  Di kawasan
itu ada gedung tertinggi yaitu Landmark Tower, tingginya ... m (nyusul
ya).  Kita ke lantai 74 dengan lift yang cepat tapi gerakannya halus
dan ngga berasa kayak diangkut dengan kecepatan tinggi ke atas.  Dari
lantai itu kita bisa lihat pemandangan 360 derajat ke kota Yokohama di
bawah.

Yokohama Bay as seen from Landmark Tower

Akihabara, Tokyo

"Panggil aku Keket"

Mengutip Republika Online:

Koran  » Akhir Pekan

Sabtu, 30 Desember 2006  21:00:00





Catherine Wilson `Saya Tertantang`

Pagi itu...

Catherine Wilson, atau sapa saja dia dengan nama singkat Keket, telah
siap. Dia punya jadwal menyenangkan hari itu: olahraga. Berenang, lari,
dan bermain tenis menjadi pilihan.

---

Ya ampooon.... Catherine panggilannya Keket... :-D maap, tapi asli gw spontan ktawa euy... Kirain itu artikel bo'ongan (fiktif)... ternyata NYATA.   Sori lho Ket...

Jadi inget orang bernama (berjulukan ding) Kekem di kantor...

Performancing 1.3.5 for Blogger Beta

Moved to Blogger Beta and am testing my Performancing on my Blogger Beta account. Bisa nggak ya?





Technorati Tags: techno

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Hari-hari Midori

Seneng deh baca manga atau nonton anime yang ceritanya kehidupan percintaan anak muda (sok tua beneur). Biasanya memang tokohnya usia sekolah sih, bahkan usia kuliah pun kayaknya jarang...atau malah nggak ada? Eniwey, cerita2 itu ringan (ada juga sih yg berat), bikin gw senyum dan teringat masa2 abegong yang indah dulu, dan bikin berkhayal sejenak betapa indahnya kalo hidup ini sesederhana itu... :-p Dan, setting keseharian hidup di Jepang, bikin gw nostalgia dan relive gimana rasanya berada di sana... yg gw bayangin sih udara sejuk musim gugur yang indah, daun2 berwarna-warni...

Yang terakhir gw ikutin ceritanya adalah anime Hari-hari Midori, versi Inggrisnya berjudul Midori Days, versi aslinya dalam bahasa Jepang berjudul 「美鳥の日々」 (baca: Midori no hibi), yang diangkat dari serial manga. Seperti cerita2 Jepun lainnya, ide ceritanya rada gila & ngga masuk akal. Tapi justru di situlah daya tarik cerita2 di komik dan animasi Jepun.

Ceritanya seorang anak SMP bernama Seiji, yang dikenal di sekolahnya sebagai pembuat onar & tukang berkelahi, suatu hari bangun tidur dan tangan kanannya sudah berubah jadi seorang anak perempuan berukuran mini. Ternyata anak perempuan itu adalah Midori, teman satu sekolah Seiji yang sudah lama naksir Seiji diam2. Entah kenapa bisa kejadian kayak gitu, namanya juga imajinasi pengarangnya. Yang jelas, sejak saat itu Midori yang aslinya pendiam jadi anak periang sebagai tangan kanan Seiji (dalam arti yang sebenarnya).



Sejak jadi tangan kanan Seiji, Midori jadi melihat sisi Seiji yang lain. Ternyata Seiji nggak seperti yang dikira orang lain, dia baik dan mau berkorban untuk temannya. Cerita ini juga lucu bin konyol, bisa bikin gw 'n my sisters ketawa abis2an saking gelinya. Dari kesulitan mereka mandi (sama2 malu keliatan), usaha Seiji menyembunyikan kenyataan tentang tangan kanannya dari semua orang, Midori yang berusaha nolong Seiji yang dihukum guru olah raganya yang sentimen, Seiji yang terpaksa ke toko anime figurines tempatnya para otaku untuk mbeliin baju buat Midori,...

Yang lucu juga adalah kenyataan bahwa Seiji punya kakak perempuan yang 'reman' abis. Jago berantem dan sering 'menganiaya' Seiji. Kakaknya ini punya geng cowok2 bermotor, yang dia ajak ke onsen (pemandian mata air panas) dan mereka minum2 sampe pada mabok. Besok paginya Seiji bangun, mereka udah ngga ada. Kena ngebayarin deh... BTW, kakaknya inilah yang pertama tau tentang Midori yang ada di tangan kanan Seiji.


Buat yang suka cerita ini juga, Opening & Ending Songs dari anime ini bisa di-donlod di sini:

• Op.: 「センチメンタル」 (baca: Sentimental) - padahal iramanya gembira, nggak sentimentil, penyanyi: CooRie;
  
• Ed.: 「もう少し・・・ もう少し・・・」 (baca: Mou sukoshi... mou sukoshi...) artinya "Sedikit lagi, sedikit lagi...", penyanyi: Atsumi Saori.

Buat Faris, daripada gw ngaplod ngabisin jatah pemakaian internet gw atau bikin gw kena charge tambahan (hehe...), mendingan lo donlod aja dari link2 itu ya... :-) Jadi langganan cable TV gak?

Aikido

Aikido is a fully defensive Japanese martial art. It doesn't have an attack form. We do not kick, punch, or in any other manner, attempt to hurt our opponent. All the waza (techniques) are done using the attacker's force. The greater force the attacker have against us, the greater the force would go back to him/her.

Aikido doesn't only have techniques in standing position, but also in sitting position. When I see a suwari waza (techniques in sitting position), I often imagine Japan in samurai and shogunate time. People might be attacked when they were sitting--maybe in their homes, or in a teahouse, or in a bath house...

Aikido uses the attacker's force by sending the force back and sending the attacker off balance. When the attacker falls down we pin him down but we don't kick, punch or hit him.

A writing by Charlie Badenhop below explains about the meaning of aikido.

The meaning of Aikido:

合　"Ai" To gather or harmonize.

気　"Ki" Universal life force/energy.

This is the energy that we share with nature and all living beings.

道　"Do" An artful path of discovery.

"Aikido" An artful path of discovering how to gather and harmonize the energy of the universe.

When we sense and move with the energy that is manifesting throughout the universe we find that we have a greater ability to live a life that is healthy and fulfilling.

"Ki"

In Aikido we believe that all human beings utilize and share a common energy source (ki) that helps to run and maintain our environment as well as our individual human systems. We believe that since we all share a common energy source, that in some important way we are all truly members of the same family, and truly sharing our lives with all of nature. We do not have an attack form in Aikido, because attacking an opponent would be like attacking a family member that you love. Attacking an opponent would also be like attempting to damage the flow of Universal energy in the world, and such acts are likely to have many far reaching consequences.

In the Japanese language words that use the concept of "ki" are common.

"Gen-ki" means "root energy" or one's "personal health".

"Ten-ki" relates to "heavenly energy" or "the weather".

"Hon-ki" relates to "original energy" or "the truth".

"Yuu-ki" relates to "brave energy" or "courage".

"Ki o tsukete" means "attach your energy to what you are doing, or "be careful".

The origin of ki?

Where does ki originate from? In Aikido the answer is poetic in nature rather than scientific. It is suggested that ki was "born" at the same instant as the rest of the universe, and that we are all born from the ki of the universe. Ki is considered to be an energy that we all have equal access to. It is an energy that courses through our system if we do not restrict it. In Aikido we believe that excess tension physically and emotionally, fear, hate, greed, and anger, all cut us off from the universal source of ki. Our daily practice involves working at maintaining a balanced state physically and emotionally, and indeed, practicing ways to cultivate physical and emotional balance is much of what the study of Aikido is about. In Aikido physical and emotional balance are meant to be two sides of the very same coin. Physical balance helps to engender emotional balance and health, and vice versa as well. Often in my professional work with individuals I find myself first addressing the clients' physical balance when they come wanting to resolve emotional issues, and I do the reverse as well. I often first address or explore how emotional imbalance might lead to the physical difficulties they are experiencing.

...

Means when we have physical issues, we should address our emotional balance, vice versa?

Source: The Ki of Aikido - An Oriental Concept of "Energy" "Self" and "Mind"

* * *

Buat semua teman2 di dojo PTIK yang sempat saya kenal:

Pur sensei, Dedi sensei, mas Adi, mas Andi, Uswan, Isya, Cuncun, Artul, Tari, mas Pur,... juga yang cuma ketemu sebentar kayak mas Yarring (mungkin orangnya udh lupa sama saya).

Oya, tidak melupakan Hasnul sensei :-) kalo yg ini sih masih ketemu sekali2...

Deki - temen sejak kecil, temen setia termasuk selama latian aikido bareng... selalu menjemput mengantar diriku (karena gw bukan jelangkung yang tak dijemput tak diantar)

Pur sensei yang selalu memberi semangat agar rajin latihan...

Uswan yang selalu meng-encourage gw untuk cari "celah" yang pas waktu zagikokyuho... dan menggemari badge Powerpuff Girls gw..

Isya yang janji nraktir tapi tak pernah dipenuhi ;-p

BTW, merid ga ngundang2...!

Yah pokoknya semua temen2, sensei sempai,... apa kabar semuanya? Kalau ada yang baca tulisan ini, kontak dong...

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Quality of Life, and Happiness

How do you measure your happiness? To me it's about enjoying the process. Not preoccupied by reaching the goal and forgetting to enjoy our life with all the people around us.



I remember a conversation with an old friend, which again he stated on our phone conversation last night. He moved from the bustling Jakarta to a smaller town, Banjarmasin. His job assignment in Banjarmasin was supposed to be for 2 years but due to many factors, it was extended and he's been living there for more than 2 years now.



The last time we finally met again, he told me that now he intended to stay there, no intention to go back living in Jakarta. He was once offered a better career back in the company's headquarter in Jakarta, but he rejected it. He told me, he got something very invaluable in his life now that he wouldn't be able to have if he worked and lived in Jakarta--a good quality of life.



What does he mean? Let me retold his "story". Since he now lives in a small city, it takes only a few minutes to go to work. No traffic jams. So he doesn't have to leave home very early like Jakarta citizens do. That results an "extra" time he has with his family in the morning. He can bathe his son and play with him in the morning before leaving for work. "That kind of chance would be very expensive if I lived and worked in Jakarta," he said. I agreed.



Unlike the "slaves" in Jakarta who spend long hours working overtime, my friend goes home from work in reasonable hours. So again he has time to be with his family. He is happy with his life.



Jakarta conditions us to have less and less time for our family, social, and personal lives. Capitalism makes companies make people work almost like slaves, with too much work load, too close deadlines. As if those aren't enough, the horrible traffic drained the rest of the remaining energy that when people get home they have too little time and energy for their family and for their own selves.



Listening to my friend telling how his life was now with glowing expression, made me think. I remember my other friend who's been working VERY hard for several years. For her, going home very late at night is normal. And she only has FIVE days of vacation in a year! That's slavery. But since she was still single, she had chosen to stay with the firm. The pay is big and she needs it to support her family. She's smart, determined, and a real hardworker. But now she has a child she has to leave for 12 or more hours a day. Did she miss the moments as her child grows? I just hope you are always happy Nu :-)



I once read someone told us to stop and look around for a while. Don't run through your life otherwise you will miss many things. It's like what Pak Zuki posted on his blog, from an article written by Arvan Pradiansyah on Republika newspaper:

Di kantor upaya pencapaian target sering membuat saya kehilangan waktu untuk bersosialisasi dan menjalin hubungan dengan para kolega.



Di rumah target-target ini sering membuat kita menomorduakan hubungan yang akrab dengan anggota keluarga. Kita kehilangan saat-saat berharga dengan pasangan dan anak-anak.



Tujuan kita hidup adalah mencari kebahagiaan. Tapi banyak orang yang
mengatakan begini, ''Saya baru bahagia kalau berhasil mencapai
target.''

Free translation:



At work, efforts to reach a target often makes me lose time to socialize and make relations with the colleagues.



At home these targets often makes us put the intimate relationship with family members in second place. We lose precious moments with our spouse and children.



Our life objective is to find happiness. But many people say, "I will be happy if I succeed reaching my target."

Anda takkan pernah bahagia karena begitu target tahun ini tercapai,
target tahun depan sudah siap mengejar Anda, bahkan dalam jumlah yang
jauh lebih besar. Kalau saja target tersebut bisa berbicara, inilah
yang akan ia katakan kepada Anda ''Kejarlah Daku, Kau Kukejar!''

Freely translated:

You will never be happy because when this year's target is reached, next year's target is ready to keep you running.



It reminds me of a book I read, entitled "Be Happy." The important thing I learn from the book is this sentence: "If you want to be happy, be happy NOW." There is a caricature: a gravesstone written: Here buried a person who will be happy tomorrow.



Again, to me being happy means enjoying the process. So, don't give so many conditions for yourself to be happy. Be happy RIGHT NOW! :)



Link

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Japanese Encoding Support for Non-Japanese Mobiles

For exchanging emails with my friends and family in Japan I use my built-in email client on my mobile phone, since my Japan-based friends use their mobile phone (push) email address. Here in Indonesia as far as I know we haven't had such a service from our network providers here (but it must be coming soon for new mobile phones are ready with push emailfeature).

Apparently there are issues arise:

1. I cannot read emails sent from Japanese mobile phones due to the "unknown format". It has to be something to do with the character encoding.


2. Although many Japanese mobile phones can read my email messages, some phones cannot read them (invalid message). It must be, again, the character encoding issue.
   
   

Looking for tools for Japanese character support for Indonesian mobile messaging is difficult. I asked the phone maker and they cannot accommodate it. My phone only supports English/Western and Chinese inputs. It doesn't help. I then found a mobile email client software called iCJKMail, which supports Chinese, Japanese, and Korean character encoding. It is made generic to support many mobile phone brands. And it works well on my phone. It also supports multiple identities and SSL, which my phone's built-in email client software doesn't (well it does but it won't allow me to access Gmail)!

iCJKMail uses registration key and requires you to pay for subscription. I subscribed to the Japanese version and pay less than US$5 every month.

Although so far it can only read those encodings (no inputs yet), I found it very useful. Now I can read emails my family and friends send from their Japanese mobile phones, and the usually incompatible Japanese phones can recognize emails I sent using iCJKMail. I can also download picture attachments, although cannot attach any yet. With iCJKMail now emailing them is almost as live as SMS, and it's pretty satisfying considering the character encoding and wireless technology differences between Indonesia and Japan. Besides, since I subscribed to iCJKMail, they've been doing updates, bug fixes, and adding new features.

There is another workaround for sending an email to a Japanese phone so it is recognized by the incompatible phones. I must insert special characters that are available for the Chinese input on my phone. I usually use them to create at least one emoticon, such as: ♪（＾▽＾）／　or　（☆＿☆）
(I wrote those using Japanese IME for Windows) so it changed the encoding to Chinese, which apparently is supported by those Japanese phones. But for viewing Japanese encoded emails, I can only use iCJKMail.

Sometimes when the connection is not good, accessing mailbox or sending emails using email client software (built-in or iCJKMail) takes so long it results in time-out. I tried sending emails as MMS messages. When inserting text, I must remember to insert those special characters, otherwise my message will result as an invalid message on the incompatible Japanese phones. MMS supports delivery and read reports--it's good to know my message has arrived and been read. But my MMS messages never arrived satisfactorily because I got the report that the photo cannot be viewed.

So again, using the built-in email client software plus the special characters, or just using iCJKMail to type and view messages is the best workaround I found so far.

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Firefox Blogging Add-on

Just upgraded my Firefox to version 2.0, and installed a blogging add-on called Performancing. This is the first time I'm using it, I want to test it. In the editor there is no menu/icon to change the font style. Somehow I lost the Title field on my Blogger's text editor--whenever I'm writing a post, there is no title field, so my posts have no title. There was once, but at some point in time it's gone. I don't know why and haven't tried to find out why. Or maybe since I changed the template (the pink one). I removed my old blog (which had titles) and created a new one using the pink template, and it had no title field.

OK it's getting late, gotta go now.

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WORLD OF MUSIC, ARTS, AND DANCE

WORLD OF MUSIC, ARTS, AND DANCE

When I was in Singapore last 2006, I should've been to the WOMAD festival at Fort Canning Park. I wanted to go to WOMAD in the evening one day before our departure from Singapore. But we spent our energy during the day for a day-trip to Singapore Zoo. It was pretty far from where we stayed. We explored the zoo, which is located near a reservoir. By the time we got back we were too tired to spend the evening at WOMAD.



Festivals in the outdoors, and in the evening, is interesting. And world music, arts, and dance are best enjoyed live. I used to go to music concerts and be up-to-date with arts festivals and events. But not today. Maybe it's the effect of the traffic that's getting worse and me who's getting older? :-p Anyway there are so many things now that such things as going to music concerts or having a full body treatment (used to do it with girl friends) is almost impossible. We're all now occupied with other things.



Many people don't like (or maybe even hate) world music. I think world music is interesting, especially when enjoyed live. I might get bored if I listen to it for an hour from a CD, for example. That's why many times I spent some time browsing for world music CDs but never did buy any. Enjoying the performace live is different. The music feels more exotic and alive, affecting the atmosphere.

Image courtesy of saharadja.net

I remembered watching a live performance of Saharadja in Bali. Their music is a mixture of world/ethnic music, classical, and jazz. (You can listen to a few of their music clips on their official site.) You can book them to perform for your party. I think it will be great to have them perform in outdoor parties and events. As far as I know they only perform by reservation, and they only sell their CDs on the spot when they perform. Got one of the CDs.

The sun. One of the sources of life on earth. Can't live without the sunshine. The sun had once for a few years made my skinny body dark (not in a good way), my hair dry, my face invaded by zits (according to my dermatologist, I was supposed to avoid direct sun exposure to my face skin). When I see a photo of me from a few years ago, all I say is "Poor girl... She was so skinny and her skin dirty." hehehe...

Now after years of "less sun exposure" since starting office life, I feel I don't have enough sunshine. I need the early morning and late afternoon sunshine on me.

1. About a couple of months ago I heard from a professional acquaintance from France that in Europe when they only get so little sunshine, many people feel unhealthy, no spirit. Sunshine does bring us good in our body, mind and soul.
2. From a conversation about health, I heard that elderly people must be exposed to sunshine everyday in the morning. It means, when we get old, we need sunshine even more. It also means that sunshine does help us keep our health.
   

I haven't searched for a scientific proof but even so I believe that sunshine is a source of life, a source of energy. Just put on a sunblock and go outside. Lately I need to get out for a while to feel the sunshine. I found out 2 different persons at work sometimes go outside to the building complex. One told me he needed to take a walk, and the other just need to feel the outdoors and refresh himself.

Lack of sun exposure could be one of the causes of "yellow babies". Today's parents do not have enough of sun exposure.

1. Today's "using as few workers as possible and give them as much work as possible" trend makes people work long hours.
2. Horrible Jakarta traffic. Jakarta workers take long hours on the road and traffic jams. If they drive manual cars, it takes almost 100% of the driving time to keep the clutch pedal down (because almost every street is too crowded).
   

Thus the lack of sun exposure.
Also of time & energy for family, social and personal lives.

Ramadhan.

Tapi berita di TV sore ini di beberapa tempat terjadi vandalisme. Orang-orang ngamuk.
Kalo kedengeran sinetron "berkumandang", isinya orang marah-marah, teriak-teriak.
What's happening with Indonesian people? When I was a kid I thought (and was taught) that Indonesians are friendly and kind people. Gotong royong. Toleransi. Now it's as if all that were just b*llsh*t / e* kebo.

Banyak orang udah apatis sama pemerintah. Dan keliatan, percuma mengharapkan pemerintah turun tangan membantu rakyat--yang sudah memberikan mandat kepada mereka--untuk meringankan & mengatasi masalah yang dihadapi. Segala masalah akhirnya harus diatasi secara swadaya masyarakat maupun oleh lembaga2 swasta termasuk NGO.

Management panik/pemadam kebakaran (minjem istilah). Contoh masalah mudik lebaran. Setiap mendekati musim mudik, terjadi kehebohan bagaimana mengatasi arus mudik yang padat. Padahal itu terjadi setiap tahun, tapi kok puluhan tahun nggak pernah ada jalan keluarnya? Contoh lain masalah musim kemarau. Di beberapa tempat yang sering kekeringan sehingga sulit bagi penduduk untuk mendapatkan air. Pemerintah kok nggak berbuat apa2 ya? Pemerintah nggak bikin infrastruktur untuk mengatasi masalah itu, sehingga setiap kemarau selalu terjadi masalah kekeringan & kesulitan air. Rakyat harus jalan jauh panas2 untuk mendapatkan air, atau harus rebutan air...

Apa gunanya ya ada pemerintah? Kayaknya hanya untuk sugesti mental supaya keadaan relatif stabil. Yg penting organization chart terisi. Kalau kosong kan pasti terjadi riot.

Duh kok malem2 mikirin ginian. Get a life, Zee!

I didn't explore much in this visit. After the class I went mainly for dinner. Friday, we just walked around the area, to Raffles Hotel. One place of interest in Singapore. A very expensive hotel with British colonial architecture.

















But on weekends I went to places like the Bird Park, and last weekend the zoo. It's an interesting place. They have polar bears and also penguins. I saw kangaroos and lemurs. I touched and stroke a lemur, it was cute, and its fur was soft.

We spent the day there walking. Had lunch there and continued the walk because there were still animals we hadn't seen. I was surprised to see penguins in Singapore - first at Jurong Bird Park, and then at the zoo. I thought only the Japanese who brought and keep penguins in Osaka Aquarium are the crazy ones...

I wanted to go to WOMAD the evening, but we left the zoo tired and still had to move our bags to another hotel (yes, it was again on personal account). I might be crazy to be thinking of dragging our stuff and going by MRT. So maybe it was a good thing that the concierge who helped us with the bags just carried them outside to a taxi. He expected a tip, which I found unusual in Singapore.

So we checked in at Robertson Quay Hotel, a budget hotel just beside the Singapore River, not far from Clarke Quay. It was our second time staying there. The room is small and the shower room is too small but since the hotel rate is relatively cheap, that's what we got. (Sadly, if we convert the rate to our currency we could afford a 4- or 5-star hotel in Bandung.) We ended up not going to WOMAD. Since the ticket was not cheap for us, it was not worth going when we had only a little energy left. I'm not likely to go to night events in Jakarta. Traffic and safety/security issues if going home very late at night, especially by public transportation. Too bad, because I like arts events. &&@#^!@%*# In Singapore I feel free to go almost anywhere anytime with convenient public transport and safety/security in most places. Now back to real life with many limitations. We went back to Jakarta Sunday afternoon. And today I've been in a terrible traffic jam again, as if this city was saying "Welcome back!" to me. I don't smile nor swear - there's no use.

Our airplane arrived at Changi Airport at about 1am - so it was already Saturday, August 19. And as we had already booked in advance, which was really difficult to get a budget hotel for the 2 nights, we took a ride to the budget hotel in Geylang area. I know, it's a red light district. I wasn't so worried since I don't feel unsafe.

I was excited when were entering the street: first I saw a lady-boy, then a few women, all of them with distracting makeup and clothes that obviously showed everybody who or what they were. I felt like taking my camera right then to take some shots of them, but I was tired and I wasn't sure if it was OK for them. So when the car had stopped we just got our bags, paid for the ride, and went to the hotel's reception counter. It was Hotel 81 Geylang. We saw the no-smoking notification there saying that smoking was prohibited in the hotel premises. When we entered our room, it smelled smoke! I was too sleepy to complain and move to another room.

The weekend began. Went to Little India, ate at Tekka Center - we only had very little Singapore currency, and was surprised that we spent less than S$10 total for our meal for two. Out of curiosity I converted it with our currency and unfortunately it's still considered expensive IF we compare eating at the same kind of place/traditional market bldg in our city. We went to Mustafa Center to get something.

We visited Jurong Bird Park and watched the falcon show (wow, those birds were so great). We also saw flamingos, pelicans,...

We were so tired then, and we had an appointment for the dinner with D's boss (oh). So I didn't know until later that we missed the nocturnal birds area where they make the day dark as night so the birds are awake and we can see them flying, hunting for food, and hear them making sounds.

It was a relief that after 2 nights in the small hotel room in a red light district, and dragging our luggage to the MRT station, down and up the stairs, we finally arrived at a much better hotel. Spacious room with soft fragrance we smelled as we entered the room. Of course this is because starting Sunday I'm on company account so I'm staying at this hotel. What a relief.

Our room window faces Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, and we can also see the Merlion statue further away. It's especially nice at night. We always leave the curtains open. It's very beautiful when the curtains are open and we turn off all lights in the room.

Swissotel the Stamford. Direct access to Raffles City mall, and just above the City Hall MRT station - an interchange station so it's even a double convenience. The downside is, we have to pay extra S$20 per person per day to use the gym and spa. Silly. So we didn't use the gym/spa.

Monday (Aug 21)
Had dinner at Bugis Junction, then saw a movie, The Breakup, starting 9.20pm. Back at the hotel around 11.30pm, met up with my cousin from KL who was here just to pick up his sister in law at the airport then would ride back to KL.

Tuesday (Aug 22)
Dinner with D's ex-colleagues. They're now working in Singapore. There were 8 of us plus a 3-year-old boy. Had fun chit-chatting.

Wednesday (today - Aug 23)
Dinner with James & Elaine at Newton Circus/Food Centre. It's a place with many food counters with many seafood and some Malay, Indian, etc. It's an open place with many tables outside (not under the roof). Nice place, but so many people. Always difficult to find a place to sit at meal times in Singapore. Back from there we (me & D) just stopped by at Ben&Jerry's to enjoy a little ice cream while watching the water fountain...

Yesterday, August 17, was the commemoration of the independece day. In residential areas were fun games for everyone. It's our custom to hold fun games when August 17 approches, and the big event will be on the day of August 17. Schools and companies hold a flag-raising ceremony followed with fun games. Too bad I didn't have any pictures now.

Gue ngga kmana-mana kemaren. The international geosciences conference & exhibition finished 2 days ago, August 16, 2006. And as always, the last day was the busiest one, as we had to make sure all scores for the technical sessions were entered. Determening a winner is not that easy. We run a normalisation to see if any of the judges are too generous or too stingy.

The winners: Best Professional Oral Presentation: ConocoPhillips, Best Student Oral Presentation: ITB (Institut Teknologi Bandung), and Best Poster Presentation: ITB.

Is it the effect of staying & working late in the office 3 days in a row? I know I started to have lack of sleep. I couldn't hardly get up from the couch last night just to move in to my bed room. I didn't have enough energy to take a shower, not even to keep my eyes open. And this morning I didn't have the spirit to dress up quickly and go to work. And I said something that triggered my dad to anger--which I don't understand where I was wrong. It's been a mystery for years that me & my siblings never understand. And when he's mad, whatever we say is wrong. Saying anything is considered rude. And looking at him is considered rude. Whereas we think that looking at someone we talk to or talking to us means we respect him/her. Long ago when we are younger our parents said, theoritically, that we may express our opinions. But in practice we found that it's considered rude. So, what to do? We know they don't want us to express our opinion, that we must shut up and not say a word whatever we have in mind when we have an argument. So that shouldn't be called "argument" as we are not allowed to give an argument.

Actually this hasn't happened for a long while. For a long while our relationship is more or less peaceful. In process of moving out. In "peaceful" situation I'm not rushing it. But in situations like this (which used to happen now and then) I wish I lived far away from them so when we meet what we have is only the good things. But when we are "in peace" sometimes I don't want to leave them alone. The house would be empty. Well, my sister is still there but as soon as she finished school and get a job, she won't be home every day. My retired dad might feel lonely day to day, only late afternoon or early evening mom went back from work. But she has to leave for work again early in the morning.

I'm so sleepy and today after work I might stay late again for the conference. It will be on next weekdays, and the week after I will be on a business trip. Tomorrow is Saturday and I really, really hope that I can get some rest! And spa would be nice...