Sunday, October 31, 2004

Media Briefing Again!

Today is the second session of the media briefing... and can you imagine, i spent about half an hour in front of the wardrobe, not being able to decide what to wear; my earth-tone shirt didn't have a tie to go with it, the blue shirt i wore thursday had lost a button somehow, and all of the other shirts were... well, outdated. Finally i settled with a white shirt and red tie, for a kind of "who cares" kind of look, since... who cares! I should really take time to start replacing all my checkered shirts.. hahaha... shirts that once were my trademark....



Ok.. got some stuff to chase before starting... so, i'll post something again later...

Losing Sleep Over Something

Lately I have been losing a lot of sleep... my biological clock is totally out of whack. Sleepy hours come when they're not supposed to, and when there's nothing else to do but sleep, ... I don't. I play Need For Speed all night long... not to mention, every morning I have to wake up at 3 am for sahur. Maybe there are some things that are hanging in my head (or my heart, for that matter) that's keeping the adrenaline going, and keeping me awake at the most odd of hours...


Oh well, nothing else to do than just go through with it.




Saturday, October 30, 2004

The Trip To Bogor

Yesterday, me, Coki, and Tanti were planning to go to Bogor, to meet up with Sena, for a kind of work meeting; talking more thoroughly about our project collaborations. The plan was for us to go to Bogor just in time for fast break, so we planned to get together at about 3 pm at Citos.


Before, I had to go to the old office in the morning since there were a few people planning to get some stuff from the office; so I had to stand by until all the appointments came. So, off went one of the aircons, one small sofa, one chair, one Pentium III CPU, and one fax machine. Plus a lot of sweat; since the electricity unit had been shut down, I couldn't turn on the aircon (or anything else for that matter) and by 1 pm, when I reached home, I was already feeling really thirsty. So, awaitin 3 pm, I just slept (as the night before, I didn't get much sleep because I watched Starsky & Hutch way into the night...) and at 2 pm started to get ready to pick up Tanti and head for Citos.


When finally we were at Citos to rendevouz with Coki, apparently Tanti wasn't feeling very well, something about her blood sugar going down, so she had to end her fast and get a super-carbohydrate drink (when I was telling her she should get more glucose)... So, when Coki picked us up, Tanti was still a bit weezy, and was thinking of going home, not joining us to Bogor. Before that though, Coki had to go to Ines' house for something, so we tagged along, and Tanti finally got proper glucose there.


After, we picked up Coki's girlfriend, Sarah and met up at the gas station with Rama and Ines to finally go to Bogor, after much delay... we eventually had to break fast at the gas station, and we all bought burgers at the AM PM store (one of those 24-hour convenience stores, with overpriced snacks)...


Reaching Bogor, we headed to the place where Sena said to meet, a place called Cafe Mangiare (pronounced mun-jah-ray, whatever that means) where he was also meeting his former high school classmates. So we all sat down and ordered dinner... with little success. Not that the food didn't reach us or anything, but the food was absolutely horrid, and in incomprehensible portions! I only ordered french fries and ommelette, and that didn't work out either. I took my chances with Sarah's fried rice, since she was uncapable of finishing it, had it wrapped up for sahur.


Sena, Coki and me had a small meeting after dinner to discuss current affairs, do determine where we were going for at least the next 3 months; we decided not top pursue setting up a company just yet, and to just add on to our portfolio first. In light of new situations with me and Coki, we all agreed that this was the best course of action, and we would reevaluate our work in about 3 months' time.


At 9 pm, we took of right back to Jakarta again, because we were going to catch the midnight airing of Sky Captain and The World OF Tomorrow at Pondok Indah Mall. Tanti was already really tired, so she went off there and took a taxi home (it was really cutting it tight, since the airing was at 10 pm!). The movie eventually started at about 10.20 pm, so we weren't late...


The movie itself was okay, comic-book and movie buffs would of loved its homage to old-style 30's styling and coloring, robots, machines and all... but the even story, in its simplicity, was a perhaps unintentional homage to movies of the 30s-40s era... so the audience spent a portion of the movie laughing at 'unnecessary' scenes (there were a lot of really lame scenes, but in hindsight, typical of movies of that era)... all said, I was very entertained by the movie, although I would be cautious in recommending the movie to anybody else...



Thursday, October 28, 2004

Phone+PDA, Smartphone, PDAPhone, or what?

Ok, since I joined this new office, I have not been able to download my personal emails to my computer. Other than standard free web-based email, I also have a paid POP3 email account I frequently use, and have been downloading to my office computer at my former office. Now, as the policy goes here, you cannot access any other POP3 accounts other than the office account, and that's through Exchange, not direct communication with the email servers (where you have to input the POP3 server and SMTP server addresses for account setup). Now what happened is, I have hundreds of emails in my personal account that I have trouble opening, since connections other than my now-defunct CDMA phone or a broadband office connection tend to time out while contacting the server. So... there have been stuff I have not been able to do, since I depend on the POP3 account for a lot of stuff.. for instance, a routine translation project got held up for 2 weeks or so; luckily the company that gave the project to me also sends to one of my web mail accounts, so I have been able to pick up the pace again. But I'd still need constant access to that email account if I am to continue doing other stuff...



Since lately it has started being impractical to have a Bluetooth-enabled phone to become a modem for either my PDA or my computer, because sometimes the connection breaks off (I still don't know whether if it is caused by bad GRPS signal reception or faulty Bluetooth), I have begun thinking about changing my hardware to better suit my changing needs. The choices are:

1). upgrade the T610 to a K700i or something, and the PDA to one with built-in Bluetooth and a mail program capable of reading HTML (my current one cannot);

2). just upgrade the PDA, built-in Bluetooth, maybe a camera as well;

3). Sell both the phone and PDA and get a smartphone, like the P900; or

4). Go for a PDAPhone, like the HP Ipaq 6300 or Treo 600.



Let's compare the prices: if I let go of the T610, I would probably be able to sell it for Rp 1.3 million maximum; and the PDA, an ancient Palm m515, probably less than Rp 1 million. So, that would mean at least Rp 2 million as initial capital for future purchases (assuming, of course, I could sell both items quickly and at the same time, which is unlikely).



The K700i is currently priced at Rp 3 million, but I still think it's an unnecessary upgrade unless my line of work starts requiring me to test master tones (ringtones which are actually cuts of the real sound recording). So probably, forget about selling the T610, I still like it anyway, and perhaps forget about selling the Palm m515 if I don't want to sell it at a very very low price, so, forget about the Rp 2 million initial capital. Back to zero.



So the option is actually smartphone or PDA phone, where I'd have to let go of both of my former gadgets... and generally both classes of product are priced at least Rp 4 million, usually around the range of Rp 6 million.



Ok... now I'm starting to sweat. I don't think I have the power to spend such money, not when there's no direct benefit coming from the purchase (say, I can make at least Rp 6 million again after investing Rp 6 million for the new gadget)....



So I guess, I'll have to find another way around...

After The Media Briefing

Whew! The first day of the media briefing is finally over. 4 sessions, with over than 40 medias invited (actual number that came was about 20). Boss did most of the talking, I supported by answering technical questions and showing off samples from the laptop, hehe... otherwise, it was damn hard not to get sleepy in the generously-airconned meeting room...



The reaction of the media was pretty receptive, considering that the information that we gave them was pretty new to them; and it gave a lot of insight for the industry in general.



And no, it doesn't feel like the first day of school anymore...

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Before The Media Briefing

Today, is another big day in my infant career... the office set up a media briefing (as opposed to a press conference) for various media to educate the market on what the industry is about and the current developments going on... so.. today, I'm in the office earlier, and I have my hair slicked back, tie, shirt tucked in, everything!



Feels like one of those ceremonies in the US where a kid at a certain age is officialy introduced to society.

Old Friends

Yestarday, after a relatively strange day at work (it began slow but the pace just increased by the hour), I was going to meet Nelly, Pitty and Chieq, three friends from my old workplace at Kafe Tenda Semanggi. Since my boss was also a friend of them (and we all did work at the same place not long ago), he tagged along, waiting for a dinner appointment at about 8 o'clock.



So there we were, old friends, gathering at the table, eating, drinking, updating each other on what we were up to now, trading gossip... It's always a good feeling to gather around friends, especially if you haven't met them for a while... (maybe i should rethink my non-involvement in the buka puasa thing for my classmates... we'll see.)



Afterwards, I joined up with Asri to eat at Izzi Pizza, well... I only ate half the pizza, because I already ordered some food at Kafe Tenda Semanggi... Asri paid me her outstanding debt to me, hehe, when I covered the bookings for a couple of people when we went rafting last month. (That was last month, so you won't find stories about it here, at least, not yet). Again, the discussion was lively and fun, a mix of everyday events and compulsory gossip, hehe...



On the way to Kafe Tenda Semanggi, Daniel (my boss) asked me, hey, since you've been single again, you've always had all sorts of activities coming home from work... and I said, well, most of the time, it's better than going home on time to an empty room...

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Fast Break

The Bahasa term for 'fast break' (no, not a basketball term), which is the time where we end our fast for the day, is 'buka puasa'. C'mon, say it with me, boo-cuh poo-uh-suh, or something like that. When on Monday I had the fast break with Vira, at Blok M Plaza, yesterday it was with Tanti at Ambassador Mall, much nearer to the office, not to mention the multitudes of electronics, PDAs, cellphones, and DVDs that can be found there.


Now, I don't know what the custom is in other Muslim majority countries, but in Indonesia, buka puasa is a big deal. It's an integral part of socializing; during the duration of Ramadhan, you could get all sorts of invitations, official or personal, large party or small, for buka puasa bersama somewhere. Usually it is combined with a reunion of sorts with old friends, classmates, or ex co-workers, whatever... and the event itself is from the simple (people just meeting at a restaurant to eat) to the elaborate (asking a cleric to give preaches, and extended to Tarawih time); it has become such a tradition in Indonesia that even non-Muslims are invited to join, as it is a big deal and a required part of socialization. In other words, it just becomes another excuse to do what Indonesians do best, which is get together and eat. haha.


I have been having thoughts of organizing another buka puasa with my former college classmates, as I did last year, but it's been a bit hectic for me the past few weeks to even discuss it with anybody, and I was kind of hoping that somebody else would step in the role of organizer this time. Well... apparently, to this date, nobody has, and I still don't have the will to properly prepare something like this. I hear from Tanti that some are actually hoping that I would step in again; well, sure, I'll help, but I don't want to feel like I'm working alone again (although I did get help last time). So guys, anybody game? This time I'm purely support, not initiative, hehehe...


Maybe I'll change my mind during the course of the week, but it's already almost the middle of the fasting season, and no plans have been annouced. I talked it over with Tanti, maybe we're gunning for November 6th for something, but we'll see lah... maybe next year I'll be back on the scene. All said, buka puasa is always a good opportunity to meet up with old friends...


So the highlight of the fasting season in Indonesia, for a lot of people, is not the fasting, not the Tarawih, but the buka puasa! hahaha...


Well, That Wasn't So Bad, Was It?

Ok, note to self: conference calls are the same thing as group discussion. It's just that you can't see the other people of the group...

I prepped all the notes i could, wanting to make a good first impression, wanting to be able to present the current business at hand; but, i forgot the main goal of these things are: sharing. So, since i'm new, and business still has not been able to show much for itself yet here, all i talked about was myself, for a brief minute or so. Some people call it 'the introduction'. I thought it was... unnecessary. haha. Well of course it's necessary, how else would the others know me? And with all the others sharing their side of the business in their respective countries, i was able to grab a few ideas here and there, and refresh on old ideas i had forgotten about.



Needless to say, I sat idly during almost the entire duration of the conference, mostly taking notes, making sounds of acknowledgement or approval at the right moments, and basically be a good listener. It was just like being a student in class, listening to the lecturer blabber on about who knows what. Well, the conference call only takes once a month, and is still necessary anyway, just in case some information didn't reach one another through regular channels.


Ok.. with that out of the way, and forward as the only way for me to go... I think I'm getting used to it here.

Monday, October 25, 2004

Waiting On The Line

Maybe I'm nervous. Maybe I'm scared shitless. Or maybe... I just feel I haven't done anything.



The thing is, every 3rd Friday of every month, there's a schedule of a big conference call for all the Asian offices, everybody calling in from everywhere... and at 2.30 pm today, it's my first one! It feels like the 1st day of school all over again. I already felt that when it was the first day here... now, it feels like that again... all these hotshots and experts from all over, including the general manager for the Asia region, all would be listening to my every word, and I'm afraid I'll screw up. I'm afraid that they'd go "Ok, who the hell hired this guy? He doesn't know jack!!"



But on the other hand, I'm not really worried about that. Although I am a man who tends to worry about what others think of him, the feeling has been kind of watered down through the years anyway, and I think it better just to go ahead, and be prepared with what's in my head. This is still just an internal conference; I've been in worse predicaments, I guess (like my interview at a rival company, hahaha...)...



To add to that, much of the work I want to follow up on depends on information I'm waiting from other people, and I can't exactly move ahead until i get some sort of response, so I've just been tying up loose ends here and there, and waiting, brooding for the time of the conference call.



Now.. back to waiting...

Incapable

I'm not sure why, but today, after staring at the screen for about 15 minutes, no words could come out, except these, stating the fact that I have nothing to say today. Nothing that wants to be told, nothing that is compelling me to write about. Just blank.



There are stories to tell, actually, stories I haven't shared from days or ages ago, but... I think it has more to do with the feeling of... not wanting to type. A block either in my head or in my heart is preventing my fingers communicating what's going on in my head...



So let's leave that for now, and let this be the post of the day. Maybe later I can elaborate more.

Sunday, October 24, 2004

Now That You Mention It...

Ok, so it's been almost a month since i started this blog; which means, almost a month since i have been working at this new job.... but i keep wondering, why can't i get into the mood of working yet? there's some sort of mental block in my head that keeps preventing to work efficiently, well, at least, the way i used to (i don't know if it was efficient or not).



I keep going back to the thought that i do need a proper refresher, not just 2 days of the weekend sitting idle doing whatever. I have to get out and do something to refresh my work brain. The problem is... i can't because, i've commited to band practice almost every Sunday, Saturday sometimes is 'old office' day, and i am still not entitled to leave, not until at least mid-2005. Bollocks.



Hence the dillema.

Science Fiction

Since childhood, I have always been an avid science fiction fan. (Does that make me a definite card-carrying geek?) I've always liked reading works from most notably Isaac Asimov, Carl Sagan, and perhaps a further spattering of other works and writers i have forgot about. The thing that most intrigued me about Isaac Asimov's work was his concept of the 3 laws of robotics; for that, many times he has been named the father of the concept of modern robotics. Indeed, his work influenced a lot of people and a lot of subgenres, even pushing the production of the loosely connected I, Robot starring Will Smith, this year.



The movie itself was rather bland, bringing forth a concept many times already done by Hollywood or anime movies; the subjugation (or attempts to) of man by machine. The movie falls in line with another of my all-time favorites, The Matrix, complete with its blatant references to anime anyway. But it also must be seen that Isaac Asimov's work, for instance, an inspiration to another movie, Bicentennial Man, starring Robin Williams, has been around since the 1970s, thus chronologically a much earlier work than most of the more popular ground breaking Hollywood or anime movies. Remember that in the 1970s, anime was still more Speed Racer than Patlabor or Gundam.



It is too bad that today's generation would not be able to recognize Issac Asimov's work for what it is (except perhaps, geeks like me) other than yet another movie inspired by a book with an overused concept. That said, although most SF afociandos would have loved the depiction of the future in I, Robot, the movie itself gives almost no justice to the original work (not that I remember it as a whole); even Bicentennial Man stayed true to the actual underlying story.



In the last 2 decades, there has been newfound interest in the work of another SF writer, Philip K. Dick. Again, a name that only geeks will recognize, haha. Even I have had belated interest in his work, since during my library years there was hardly any books by him around, as compared to today, and a surge of movies inspired by his books has only occured recently.



The classic Blade Runner, starring Harrison Ford, was inspired by the short story Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? And that was way back in 1982; movies following were Total Recall starring Arnold Schwazenegger (from We Can Remember It For You Wholesale), Minority Report starring Tom Cruise (from The Minority Report), and most recently Paycheck, starring Ben Affleck (from the short story with the same title). More recently, his collection of novels and short stories have been reprinted in greater glory; prompting me to buy one, completely out of usual habit, after only reading 2 pages at QB World bookstore.



So yesterday, after a useless day of racing and watching Kill Bill 2 (I think it was cool), i went to QB, browsed around, and finally bought the collection of short stories by Philip K. Dick titled Paycheck. I have always been intrigued to what the actual books are like if they inspire movies, one point to see how the director's vision of the book goes in line with the author. And of course, a book lasts longer in your mind than a movie.

Saturday, October 23, 2004

Friends

Sometimes when all seems bleak, everything is going wrong, you seem to have lost it all, it helps to know you have your friends by your side. I always believed that my friends are my closest family, as i did not grow up with my real extended family (having moved around so much in childhood), and my friends know me better as a person rather than family.



In light of what has happened the past few months, I am truly grateful that I have my friends with me; for better for worse; I am truly grateful that my friends have gone out of their way to help, or at least be there for me. And, most importantly, I am truly grateful that I can share what i cannot share here, with my friends.



So if any of you out there feel life is shit, everything's going the wrong way, try to remember, is there someone there next to you, at least to be there? It makes a world of a difference.

Friday, October 22, 2004

Sleeping In Is The Best Thing

I don't care what anybody says; the best thing about weekends is you can wake up whenever you want. Well, you can wake up reaaaaly early in the morning if you want, or you could wake up when it's almost noon. Considering the latest circumstances, having to get up at 3 am every day just to eat, and not eating again until 6 pm, hehehe... i prefer the latter.



Yesterday, me and my boss, we had a guest who was not fasting; and on a whim and completely out of usual habit, the guest was given an ice, cold orange juice by his instruction. So while we talked, the dripping, inviting glass of O.J. was sitting in the middle of us, all to the temptaion of me and my boss. Hmm... really looked nice and refreshing; but i spent most of the meeting teasing or guest, because she was uncomfortable drinking it in front of us.. "so, is it good? it must be good.." hhahaha.



So back to sleeping in. Since i have an appointment at 2 pm today... i'll be sleeping in till then, hahahah... what a life!

Thursday, October 21, 2004

Fast Forward Sahur

Sometimes, when me and Sacha start conversing, there's no telling when it'll end; it was a good thing the pizza place we were eating at closes at 10, or else we never would have gone home! So eventually i got home and only managed to get to sleep at 12 after tidying up and doing a few errands...



Actually, i did get up at 3 am for sahur, but i turned off my alarm and went back to sleep without even registering in my head that it was sahur time... i was damn sleepy... so, by miracle or coincidence i got up at 4 am! with only 10 minutes to spare till the subuh adzan. I asked for a doggie bag of the leftover pizza last night (we only managed to eat half ) but only managed to gobble down one slice plus a few glasses of water. Oh well.



After prayer... it was back to sleep again.



Anyway... i also went to the record store last night, intending to finally buy Maroon 5's Songs About Jane, and i did buy it... but i also found an oldtime favorite, Chick Corea, with his new band. I'm not a continuous listener of Chick Corea, but i always found his music interesting, and i have several of his albums dating back to the 80s. So i bought both, without even reconsidering. Haha! It felt good. The pinch on the wallet would come later in the month... and well, it was worth it. Now all the next album i wanna get is Jamie Cullum, but i'm waiting for the repack featuring Everlasting Love.


Thick

I don't know what the worse moments of flu are, the first symptoms of runny nose, the rising body temprature, or the aftermath of it. Right now i'm in the recovery stage, and i feel thick. Why thick?

I have so much, erm... mucus, yes, that's the politically correct word... coming out of either my nose or throat, all thick and yellow... sometimes the mucus from the throat tends to have the initiative to get itself out, but nose mucus needs [a lot of] encouragement, you know what i mean? all to the displeasure of my co-workers.



They've been saying that my corner in the office is an illness magnet, because the aircon blows harshly down behind me... the guy i replaced was always having a cough or something... so, when i get the time, i'm going to seal up part of the aircon duct, for my own health (and peace for my co-workers).



Ok, now it gets really groce... my handkerchief is thick as well.

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Gadgets

Yesterday, almost half my day was filled with a meeting with the other labels and a telco, and the meeting took a lot of energy to handle as well, as there were a lot of issues to cover. booooorriiiiing.



so after work, the initial plan was to go to Vira's place, i had some stuff to do with her, but apparently she was still out of town by the time i finished at work, and Tanti called me at about the same time, so i met up with tanti first for dinner, so afterwards we could go together (Tanti and Vira live in the same house). The streets were delightfully empty after fast break time, so it took me no time at all to reach Ambassador Mall, the rendevouz point with Tanti. We chatted over dinner, not forgetting to buy a meal for sahur...



When Vira had reached her office, we went on a taxi and picked her up since it was on the way from Ambassador to their house anyway. Upon arriving, I had a lot to cover; I had an ongoing project with Tanti, which would be starting by the end of the month, I was going to hand over a translation project I haven't been able to handle to Vira, and, haha... i was going to install Need For Speed on Vira's computer! Unfortunately her computer didn't have a supporting graphics card, so the game was practically unplayable.. i told her she had to get a new graphics card; so much just to play a game huh? the rest of the night she was considering changing the desktop to a laptop, but that would mean oodles of money... (come to think of it, i haven't paid for my laptop either, hehehe... haven't had the time to take care of the transaction).



If i look at my bag now, it's strangely full all the time. There's the laptop and its charger, my PDA and sync cable, there's a pencil case filled with not just pencils, but also an assortment of CF cards and the CF card reader and a USB bluetooth module, not to mention 2 handphones (well, now that i don't use it much, at least for now, i leave my CDMA phone at home unactive) and other necessities of life on the road; like a light parka (you never know when it's going to rain), tissues, a pocket of loose change, deodorant, and some office notes that still happen to be on paper. So, you could say, i'm a full-fledged gadget boy, hahaha... not necessarily with the latest and high-end equipment, but all functioning to the max all the same... anyway, you should see Coki's bag! He brings around most of his chargers with him as well... and he's one up on me, he has an iPod. So now we both have bulky shoulders from carrying all this stuff around...

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Better Morning Than Before

Finally, i'm feeling much better, although still a bit hazy... so i'm fasting again today, hopefully i can get through the day. There's a big meeting with the other labels and a telco today, so my day is pretty much booked, and i have to catch up the slack i've been making since i started here... well, it's about time, it's already my 3rd week here.



Yesterday, after work, i met up with Coki, the others couldn't make it, and we ate at Plaza Senayan... at that moment i already was feeling better. I guess sleeping in until 12 pm at home did the trick, but i think i still need some more rest before i'm fully recovered.



I was planning to turn in early, but at the last moment, i whipped out my laptop, went online and started chatting with a few friends... and suddenly, it was midnight again! damn. I only had 3 hours to sleep until sahur, after sahur only about 2-3 hours until the time i'm supposed to wake up and get ready for work. oh well, i'll try to make it up tonight.



Now that some issues have reached some level of clarity, i am now able to concentrate better at my job, figure out the next steps, what hasn't been done, and so on. Ok lah... let's get on with it then.

What File Extension Are You?

I got this quiz from Oli's blog (he's my cousin, unfortunately)... pretty interesting, in a geeky way. I guess it's the kind of quiz only geeks and computer freaks would take. well... takes one to know one!
Otherwise, i guess the result more or less says who i am... i'm either anybody or nobody, nothing in between... or not. But i'd have to disagree... i know i want to become an avid chocolate eater. What? I already am? well, bless the mouse, i have already reached my life goal!


Monday, October 18, 2004

Sick Of It All! (Or Just Plain Sick?)

Today, i woke up for sahur... but only drank a little, and fell asleep again. My body wasn't feeling any better anyway, and Mom tld me not to fast for the day, at least until i'm feeling better, because flu makes you dehydrated, so i have to keep up drinking. So when i finally woke up at about 7... i just got up and drank whatever was around (well... i only have water in my room...) and started to eat some bread from the fridge... so i could eat my medicine.



Spent the morning in bed after breakfast, either playing Need For Speed (i still suck at it) or chatting on Yahoo! Messenger, with a couple of people...


I must say, even if i'm not going to elaborate here... finally, a few problems i have have finally almost come to rest. I must say, i'm relieved. Thus, my new life can really begin, but not forgetting the past either. Who knows what will happen next, but at least, things are starting to look better.


Another thing, my fridge is currently well stocked with chocolate! I persuaded both Vira and my boss to buy me chocolates while they were in Singapore, hahahaha... so the days will definitely be better! Chocolate is one of my ultimate indulgencies and addictions, not to mention that it helps calm me down... also, the taste isn't bad, either :D

Sunday, October 17, 2004

Cold, Cold Morning (Or Morning Cold?)

From the moment i arrived at the office, i was feeling really bad. But i had to go, there are a couple of meetings i scheduled today, down to Wednesday. I mean, the damn flu i had was not getting any better (I think). My body's a bit warm, my nose is runny, not to mention the headache. I think i'll go home after the meeting, I can't even work right now.



It's funny when you sit alone in your room, a gazillion things can run through your mind about anything at all, nothing in particular, but as it is my nature, every silent sitting moment is spent contemplating, in deep thought, about life as it is, how it goes so far. Surely, there are blessings, but there are also misgivings and mistakes that i've made... and i'm prone to overthink all my bad deeds; what if i did it another way? what if i had more patience? what if i didn't rush judgement based on instinct? My instincts are usually correct, i just have to practice listening to them with patience and an open mind.



This bout of flu is not helping the mood, just makes everything more blue... and the bloody cold aircon at the office isn't helping either!

Recording Session

After finally succeeding getting out of bed at about 10.30, after Emil SMSing me, i took a quick shower and headed to Odessa studio, near my house, because Oracle was scheduled for a recording session! We all pitched in to pay for the timeslot and recording fee, it was pretty expensive compared to other studios, but it was really worth it! The studio had quality equipment and instruments, and as though a testament to that, right after our session, a popular local band called Coklat came in for a practice session.



After 2 hours rehearsal with our standard set of only 6 songs, the last hour we recorded everything live, trying not to make mistakes. The result was pretty good if i can say so myself, of course, a lot of imperfections here and there, but at least, we had something on hard copy, with pretty good quality recording, which we could use to start looking for venues to perform in. Plus, we all had a CD which we could show off to friends hehehe.... just something to hold on to, a testament to our work for all these months. Bad or good, it was our work and we had the right to be proud of it.



Afterwards i went to Ratu Plaza again, because the Need For Speed CD i bought yesterday wasn't installing on the computer, and the software store guy told me how to make it work; apparently i installed it the wrong way. Alas, after succeeding installment, my body was already very tired from practice and the trip to Ratu Plaza, plus a bout of flu, so i slept until fast break time.

Saturday, October 16, 2004

Blog Technology

Saturday, I went with Vira to Ratu Plaza; i was planning to finally buy a long-needed replacement for my laptop battery, she was going to look for a computer game she suddenly got hooked on (which I intend to borrow, hehe...) and I needed some new software for the Mac. Going to the software store, we both found what we wanted... i got some HTML editing software, and we both chipped in buying Need For Speed, a latter incarnation of a game that once resided on my dilipated PC. Unfortunately, the laptop store was closed on Saturday, so i didn't get my battery. I'll have to go back Monday... perhaps at lunch hour, since I won't be eating lunch anyway.

Afterwards, Vira, being my premiere source for blog technology knowledge, helped me set up a shoutbox on blog (voila! on to the right of the screen... well, it should be there) and we spent the afternoon at the cybercafe fiddling with our blogs (Vira overhauled the colors on her blog, you can see it
here). She also pointed out a few interesting character quizzes to put on my blog... you can see it below:







Well... apparently i must have some subconcious thing for military (or maybe paramilitary) life...

Ok, now that i finally can see what i can do with my blog, with my HTML experience, i should be able to make something more interesting than the existing template... so, bear with me guys, someday you'll see a lot of changes :).



Thursday, October 14, 2004

Personal Expression

Today is the first day of the fasting season, and usually i have the first sahur with my family (most people to the first fast break with their family). Coincidentally, yesterday was my Mom's birthday, so after work, i went straight to Serpong on the ever-crowded bus heading to Ciputat, where I would take another transport heading to Serpong. I had bought Mom a special 20th anniversary edition of Garfield, thick with all the Garfield comic strips the other day...



When I was nearing Lebak Bulus, standing tiredly in the bus isle, Mom called to ask if she could pick me up; it was raining like hell in Serpong and she was worried; at Lebak Bulus it was only a trickle... but i got off at Lebak Bulus Carrefour and asked Mom and Dad if they could pick me up there instead. While waiting, i took the opportunity to wrap up the book with gift wrapping, purposely selecting one with pictures of cats (always a sure-fire favorite of Mom's). About half an hour later, they picked me up, we went home and had dinner, leftovers from the afternoon's birthday party.



Dad was rearranging some of the rooms because he had installed aircons in 2 of the rooms, so in the middle of the night we were lifting desks and stuff into the newly arranged rooms. Dad was also showing off his finally-working new computer he got from Ari, my elder brother, and Epson Endeavor, and i checked if everything was working okay (I am also the assigned IT person for the family, hehe.) Then i fell asleep... and it was sahur time already.



In the morning, Mom and Dad took me to work, just so they could see where i worked (and we all woke up a bit late anyway). So now i'm pretty early to be at work...



Yesterday, at about lunchtime, i had to go with my bosses' driver to the old office, because he had been asked to bring along some stuff from my old office to Singapore Friday, so we picked the stuff up, and after lunch at Blok M Plaza, i went to the IM3 Customer Service office with Sacha to take care of our accounts; i was changing my billing address, Sacha was reporting her stolen number. Before returning to our respective offices, we shared an ice cream at Dairy Queen; it would be my last ice cream in the middle of the day for a month, and what an ice cream it was! It was called triple chocolate something.



Now, back to the topic relevant to the title...

Apparently someone has voiced objections towards the creation and nature of this weblog, I won't elaborate what or how, but I'll need to remind the good readers out there that what is written here is just one angle or aspect of my life; frankly, i'm not keen to share everything here, as this is as they call it public domain, but what i do share here is first and foremost as a channel of my thoughts, however superficial, and then secondly as a medium for parties that might be interested, to know what i've been doing lately. What I write is what i write, what any reader assumes or conjectures from anything here is totally not my responsibility, because even if this weblog stands within a public domain, it is still a form of personal expression that people can choose to read or not to read, and to think whatever they want from it without liability on my part. What i write could be innappropriate, could be insensitive, could be condescending, could be heart-warming, could make people happy, could be funny, but it surely depends on who the reader is. I only write for myself here. I hope my standing is clear.



Besides... just to be frank for a moment,... i write about the daily, superficial events that happen in my life, to make myself happy, because i cannot begin to write about my pain, and would prefer not to share it through this channel.



thanks for your attention.

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Nothing Happened Yesterday

nothing i can write here, anyway...

things did happed, but i can't find the strength to write it down...

bear with me guys...

Chocolate Cookies

When the day just isn't working out,

when everything happens just a bit worse than it usually does,

but never as bad as anybody would care,

i think of chocolate cookies.



small, sweet and crunchy chocolate cookies.



chocolate cookies are good for the head, for the stomach, and for the heart.

not to mention for the tounge.

a bite lets me forget abot everything for a minute,

and lets me sit in that one moment of bliss.



even if i don't have chocolate cookies around,

i think of them and it lifts my head up.

puts energy back into me.

gives me renewed life, if at least for a moment.



so now i daydream everyday of chocolate cookies.

if i buy them later or not, sometimes it doesn't matter anymore.

(and i do have to watch my weight.)



so those daydreams of chocolate cookies are what i look forward to every morning, and the second before i fall to sleep at night.

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Holding on to Illusions

By a large part, i hold on to an illusion to get me through the day. Someway, somehow, it can lift me through the confusions, the akward moments, the lonely thoughts, the hectic errands, and the unroutine final trip home. So this post, is, in part, dedicated to that illusion. Thank you, dear illusion, for keeping me sane and happy, if indeed it is only fleeting. I wholly realize that, but since my whole life is in flux anyway, the illusion is a welcome aspect of security, of something unchanging.



I still haven't been able to insert myself into my work, or maybe i am just getting used to the fast pace again. I'm not as effective as i once was, so i better kick myself in the butt to get going again. A bit difficult ya? In the meantime, there is so much to be done. Ah, might as well get on with it.



I visited Ojel's office after work, also to discuss a few things. He had a damn fine-looking G5 under the table, with a dual screen display, although not using the newer screens from Apple yet, the ones with the smaller bevel width. Ooh, drool, drool, drool... it brings my own G4 at home to shame. Well, on the other hand, i'm not using my Mac for work so far, so i'm pretty satisfied using my Mac as a media centre. The damn CRT monitor is as big as my TV, for God's sake! sure gives watching DVDs ultimate bliss. I might be organizing some viewing marathons later, to take advantage of the latest technology in my room...



Afterwards, i went to Aksara bookstore, just a few minutes walk from Ojel's office, to look for a birthday present for my mom (it's on thursday). I figured i was in the area where Vira and Tanti live, so maybe I could catch a bite after, but I called Tanti earlier (she was supposed to come with me to Ojel's) and she was still not feeling well and preferred to go straight home to bed after work, and Vira was busy as usual ("still fucking editing" were her words, more or less.) so, usually when i'm eating alone, i indulge myself with useless fast food! hahaha.



Later that night, while i was online, i caught Herra, a friend who just recently moved to Oz for studying, Coki, my best bud, Ollie, my cuz, and Rama, the ultimate metrosexual. We chatted for about an hour or so through YM. It's been a while since i chatted, since they don't give access to IM programs at the office.



And now, this morning, i am yet again longing for the illusion...

Monday, October 11, 2004

Untitled_1

Today, i have the urge of updating my blog with yet another entry, but somehow, when usually my words are flowing with all that happened yesterday... today i sit here blank and silent.



Maybe because it was because of a conversation with an old friend yesterday, contemplating on recent events in my life... Yesterday, after an uneventful day at work, i went over to Sacha's office to see how she was doing; i mean, experiencing such a loss she had yesterday would be very painful, so i wanted to check up on her. After the usual waiting (i actually fell asleep again in the 3rd floor lobby) we went to check out the Setiabudhi building, also meeting some friends there. The place was pretty okay, if you have deep pockets, that is. The cheapest place to hang was Starbucks, and that's saying a lot! So after looking around, we went to Starbucks and talked, talked, talked.


There is always a time in your life that eventually you have to accept a loss, an unavoidable loss, just swallow it, and get on with your life. That's when your new life truly begins. Although i avoid talking much about the past on this blog, i must say, the events of the recent past were also the basis of making this blog. Letting go of a large part of me is proving very hard, because it is much of who i am today. It's not that i should forget it, no, i will never forget, but more that i should finally accept it as part of the past, and not part of my active life, my active mind, my active heart.


[New] first steps are always made with reluctance, fear, apprehension... but most of all curiosity and the drive to move forward. I'm not too proud of a man to admit that i'd need a hand in taking these steps... towards the new unknown.


Okay... time for me to write a long letter.


Sunday, October 10, 2004

The Human Drama Of Sunday

After picking up my phone at Oettie's place Sunday morning (Oettie was barely awake) i retested the DVDs i bought the other day, one by one, and apparently 2 of them did not work on my G4. Oh well. I'll test them on my laptop later... at 10, Mom and Dad picked me up to go to a family gathering, something our extended family usually does before the fasting season.



I met up with my cousin, one of only 3 or 4 cousins from my fathers' side who were generally the same age as me, and like we usually do when we meet, we discussed our life, our lovelifes, hehehe... apparently she had just broken up as well with her boyfriend and almost fiance of a couple of years! Yeah.. and we were agreeing on this and that, on why it couldn't go on anymore, on what loss we felt... but all my other relatives were going "hey, where's your girlfriend? why do you keep hiding her?" and i just smiled... the event was filled with a lecture from an ulama about the fasting season, and asking forgiveness to friends and family, and lunch... afterwards, a discussion session between the siblings (i fell asleep on the couch, and was told to move to my cousin's room.. hahaha..)



while that was going on, apparently Sacha got robbed! she lost her entire bag, wallet, handphone, PDA, and everything else in there... man... there's a heartbreak. so after i had reached my room again after the event, i went to sacha's house to just, well, be there. I accompanied her for taking a polaroid for a new citizen card, buy a new SIM card for her backup phone, and dinner. I bought her our favorite chocolate milkshake at Izzi Pizza, the best medicine for stress or hurt...



Man, i would go crazy if that happened to me... and after experiencing several important losses (i lost 3 bicylces during the span of my childhood!) i am very protective of my personal belongings... if i put something out of place in my room i would go crazy trying to find it, thinking that i lost it... but on the other hand, there's a good reason not to have the latest in handphone or gadget technology... your heart would truly break when you lose it.



oh boy, the trappings of consumeristic life.

Saturday, October 9, 2004

Saturday Night Fever

So.... because i still had a responsibility to sell off some of the stuff at my old office, saturday i made appointments with 2 people who were either going to pick some stuff up or look at some stuff before buying. One guy came to take a couple of chairs, the fridge, an aircon unit, and i gave him some of the remaining small tables lying around. The other was interested in buying a used PowerMac G4 500 Mhz... already 4 years old... he was hooked instantly... but i never expected him to buy another broken down CPU (that supposedly could be fixed pretty easily, but i didn't know how)... so another guy went bringing not one, but two computers! haha. Still doesn't match the number of computers lying around at my room in Jakarta and my home in Serpong.. let's see... there's the laptop, a G4, a broken Pentium III CPU, my old desktop set, a Cyrix II 686 200 Mhz, and in Serpong there's an old Compaq Deskpro 6000 and an Epson Endeavor. 6 computers! more than the people in my family! i think my brother has a desktop and a laptop as well in his apartment in Tokyo. hahaha.. and i haven't included our vintage Apple IIc...



Anyway, after the buyers had went and lunch, i went home, fell asleep for a for a few hours, waiting for sacha to call, as she promised me she would accompany me shopping, i went to Ambasador with the intent of changing my Starone subscription to postpaid... to no avail. The requirements of application were pretty strict... so fuming in hopeless revenge, i bought a LOT of DVDs to watch at home... but at the moment i sat in the taxi, sacha called, and we rendevouzed at Pasaraya Grande.



Hmm... i needed a few better-fitting outfits for the new job, so Sacha helped me pick out a few shirts and pants that would look better on me (oh gawd, my fashion sense really needs to be sharpened, if there is one at all, hahaha)... i'm not gonna tell you what i bought and how much i spent though! let's just say, as a guy who until very recently got his clothes made by his mother (more because mom was always so happy if i asked for a pair of trousers or a shirt, not pure necessity), i've never spent that much money on purely clothes... and so, a trip of pure indulgence was concluded, hehehe...



afterwards we had dinner with Oettie and the gang at Daksa, and Sashie brought along a tarot card reader friend, so we all took turns in getting our cards read. The sum-up of my tarot card reading was, it seems that i am very lucky in my career, already having the necesary capital (not necessarily money) for a successful career; but at one point there was a big question between 2 choices. Now family life, it seems that there is a female with a dominant role in my life, even though i never realized it, and that she will be the key to my future success, if i could 'melt her heart'. hm... i wonder who that could be.



after dinner, we stopped by oettie's new place before going home..... and after i left behind my handphone at oettie's place. Stupid! i had to get it this morning...

Friday, October 8, 2004

Marked For Life

Friday night, we were about to have band practice again at Peter's studio in Pondok Indah. I don't know why, but it was a very tiring day, so when i met up with Emil at S. Widjojo before joining the other guys at the practice studio, i was already feeling very tired.



Everybody finally showed up at about 9.30 pm at the studio, so we started playing, practising our standard set of 5 songs, trying to perfect every phrase... but of course, everybody was pretty tired after a day's work... especially me. i tried so hard to hold back my sleepiness, by playing while standing, or trying variations that require concentration.. but on the final song of the session, we were playing 'Sympathy For The Devil', which had one set of chords for the lyrics, and one set of chords for the chorus, and it was pretty simple playing on bass, and adding variations would of messed up the feel of the song.. so i played the standard bassline... and actually fell asleep in the middle of the song, sitting on the stool playing my bass... and my fingers were still playing in tune with the beat! I didn't even realize i dozed off until Emil kicked me to wake me up, reminding me that we had jumped into the chorus (while my subconcious was still playing the lyrics chord set).... so, still half sleepy, i jumped to the chorus and strained my focus until the song ended. All the other guys didn't realize i fell asleep until Emil kicked me, and they were laughing about it all the way home... mind you, it's stories like this that will go with you forever.



even though it was embarrasing... i guess it's pretty cool. Like dying from drowning by your own vomit.

Thursday, October 7, 2004

Spontenaity

Yesterday, was a long day at work. First there was this big meeting about a program we were going to run with a few other companies, so only on my 5th day, i was already exposed to the larger corporate environment, handing out business cards like confetti. After stopping by a potential partner's office, i came back to the office relatively late, and only had time to follow-up emails after some discussions with my boss. Not to mention, i suddenly had a splitting headache during the afternoon. Is this one of the trappings of office building life?



Anyway, i texted Sacha and Vira to see what they were doing later that night, as i felt the need to unwind again (oh dear, this shouldn't become a habit... it only means more money spent).. Vira was going to her sister's, so I hooked up with Sacha for dinner at Plangi, with the intention of shopping for some groceries also.



Over dinner we talked about the usual stuff (me, i usually complain about everything, haha).. and suddenly, i just said, "I need to sing." And Sacha said... "Want to go to karaoke?" and enough, that was a pretty good idea... so we called up Coki and Citra, and ended up at Picnic Family Karaoke at ITC Fatmawati, haha.... and sang the night away. Singing is also good therapy, i must say.

You're Too Kind

A few people close to me sometimes say... you're too kind. I just let it go when in fact i have a problem, i just take it on when somebody just throws garbage at me,... just.. too.. kind. Vira says, i keep thinking about other people other than myself.... Oettie says, i gotta learn to say no; and you know what i say? i can't help it! i skimmed through a book about eating disorders, (no... it was my boss' book, not mine...), and it says that behaviour like that is called Conformed Negative Condition. yep, it's a mental state, so it's not something that just goes away. it's imprinted and can be identified from childhood. the symptoms are (see if you have them or not) always thinking about others, always feeling underserving, always trying to take care of others, and in early childhood given responsibilities too big for them to handle, so tends to be utterly and overly responsible to a fault (the example was like, if parents leave behind their kid at home, they say "take care of the house while we're gone ya!" when in fact they mean "just stay home, it's safer, and we wouldn't have to worry about you too much." the kid takes it literally, all alone in the house, thus taking a responsibility that even a lot of adults can't handle.. hehe...). so.. any of you guys fit the description? i'm not believing this 100%, but i'm not denying it either, that someone i don't know, lives thousands of miles away, and talking about eating disorders (i think i eat rather nicely, thank you) could describe 3 point features of my personality?? food for thought, i guess.



anwyay, why am i bringing this up? because the guy i replaced at my new office apparently left a lot of homework... got me wondering what the hell he'd been doing all this time. and not to mention, my last job had a very similar story... so it's like fate... people just throw shit at me and expect me to take care of it... not now. i leave the shit as it is, haha, but as long as there is nothing else i can do.



ok.. i guess, it's better to know than not to know, even if i have no idea what to do about it.

Wednesday, October 6, 2004

"Hangout Guys"

"Hangout Guys" is a term that me and some of my friends use to describe the activity of loitering around in malls or cafes, basically doing nothing but talk, gossip, or more recently, sharing gadget tips. But the core of it is, sitting around at your standard overpriced coffeeshop with friends and relations. haha.



Some of us, me, Coki, Jacky, Yadi, Yari, and followed alter by Sacha and her boyfriend Moerat, after dinner at the PS foodcourt, did our "hangout guys" thing at Coffee Club downstairs... and just sat down, talked about anything, unwinding from the various headaches of work. At this particular occasion, but usually also the norm, Jacky asked me to help out setting up his new PDA (which he bought from Coki) so it could connect to the internet wirelessly through his handphone. After fiddling around with settings, installing new software, and plain perseverance, i could finally get the damn thing to connect to the internet and also send and receive SMSs from the phone. (for those of you not in the know, these two functions are the most widely used for Bluetooth enabled PDAs and phones, at least in this country, because basically they're the only functions that are really useful.)



now i'm in the routine of going to work in a big office building, doing corporate work, etc... i'm starting to see why a lot of people set up [expensive] coffee houses. it's the easiest way to unwind, if alcohol is not your thing. it's also the easiest way to throw money away. i am still holding firm to my new year's resolutions, which are use less and save money. ok, maybe i'm not that firm, but the effort is more significant now. that is, until i blow my savings again to buy something. hehe.

I'm Finally Here, I Think

The many quirks and akward situations of the past few days, mostly occuring in my head as interpretations of what was happening in front of me, are finally passing, bit by bit. I'm starting to slip into my expected role, although maybe not as fast as my rationale (or maybe my boss!) would want me,.. but yeah.. i think i'm finally there.


Of course, one of the quirks of the job is that my boss is relatively new to the place, and he was the one who brought me aboard, and i can say we're pretty close.. so on one side, at least i have a friend here, although coincidentally he's one of the big bosses, which probably i could use to my advantage if the need arises (hopefully not). On the other hand, there's everybody else, who, as usual in a new environment, don't know what to make of me. Kid, nerd, or astrophysicist? haha. let them figure it out lah, even i don't know, and i do have work to do. so, either help me, stand back and smile, or bug off.



i'm actually enjoying the fact that i don't have to rush home before they lock up the building (which was what happened at my last office) and can just have a place to hang (while doing work of course) when all else fails...



i could get used to this.. if only the computers weren't as stoneage as the one i'm using now. And i could use IM again. we'll see lah... baby steps, Ellie. (just in case you didn't catch that vauge movie reference, it's from Contact starring Jodie Foster; it's the sentence that her father always tells her when she's looking for people on the ham radio.)

Tuesday, October 5, 2004

Yesterday Was A Long Day Indeed

Ok, things were really getting up to speed yesterday. The office had some sort of big presentation at Hard Rock Cafe, and i was supposed to present! I managed to weasel myself out of it, blaming not enough background knowledge, not enough preparation, so my boss to the chair, but i had to prepare the presentation anyway. Before our presentation though, there was a presentation from the international HQ about our new products for Q4, much to the oohs and aahs of the press and audience invited.



Before that even happened, though, i had to rush preparing the Powerpoint presentation (again, with almost no background knowledge) and managed to form up a presentation just in time when we had to the HRC (the presentations were scheduled for 2.30 pm). There was the usual rush of preparing the venue, and i did a bit of running around the Plaza Indonesia complex looking for an RCA cable (as HRC did not provide) to hook up withe HQ guys' Powerbook. Eventually we jerry-rigged everything, and had Regi operate the laptop from the second floor, close to the projector, and me operate my laptop during my boss' presentation (although with a lot of glitches as well..)



Afterwards we met some people for business talks or just plain socializing, and ended up leaving the EX area at about 8.30 pm, heading back to the office. I logged in for a few minutes, then went home...



Before turning in, I watched THX 1138, one of the DVDs i bought in Bandung... imagine George Orwell's 1984 with more of a sedative twist rather than facism. This particular movie was the first movie George Lucas made, even before American Graffiti, and it involved names like Robert Duvall (i most remember him as one of the opponent lawyers of the Grace Inc opposite personal injury lawyer played by John Travolta... titled A Civil Action) and Francis Ford Coppola as executive producer; not to mention music by Lalo Schifrin (the man behind the theme of Mission: Impossible).



Let's just say, the movie, other than pretty interesting, keeping in mind that it was made tens of years ago (with added visual embellishments that have become the hallmark of George Lucas' recent movies, including the much-disputed release of the Star Wars trilogy DVDs), it also sort of forced you to acknowledge that "C'mon, you have a much, much, better life than these guys". On the other hand, strip away the analogies, intended or not, and... maybe real life is not so far from THX 1138.

Monday, October 4, 2004

The Morning Hours

When we finally decided to eat at Izzi Pizza Kuningan last night, me and Sacha had a long talk about a lot of stuff, as we usually do. I'll spare you the details, but here's one sentence i said that came after long contemplation: for me, it's not the lonely nights, but the lonely mornings that are hard. Waking up, taking a shower, dressing, and getting on the bus, not meeting anybody, not talking to anybody, and everybody on the bus mutually oblivoius to one another, concerned of the day ahead. The nights i can take, because you still can hook up with someone to have dinner or something, or do dozens of other things. It's the drab, monotonous morning, from the moment lazing out of bed, rushing to the bathroom, standing confused in front of the clothes cabinet, and wondering what to have for breakfast, the exact machinations, that make it more depressing. And it's damn depressing to have a depressing morning. But once you get into the day, the feeling fades or forgets...



And one thing about blogs: i dreamed last night someone complained to me that part of the contents of my blog was inappropriate for public web viewing. that got me thinking on what i should actually write here.

Waiting...

I have the bestest friend in the whole wide world, her name is Sacha. God knows how many things we've been through together, and i'm glad to say that we're still good friends and stay in constant contact until now.



Now one of the mainstays of our unique relationship is... she tends to make people wait for her. Hehe. Nothing intentional, nothing irritating, just that in fact time for her runs a bit longer than others. So... about 30-40% of the time i've known her, was spent waiting for her finishing up something before heading out somewhere to eat or whatever. I don't mind, they say i'm the most patient man on the planet. If that were true, I'd still be working at my dead end job in Bandung (no offense... but really!).



So to cut to the chase, and leave stories of her for other posts... i'm waiting for her right now, at her office, because we're having dinner later... probably much later, haha. She works at an internationally-affiliated production house, with most of their shows covering game shows, reality shows and the like. So you can imagine, work hours tend to get long there.



And i still don't know what we're going to have for dinner.

The Band Audition

OK... so it's supposed to be just my 2nd day on the job right? Not supposed to do anything weird like take off from the office too long for lunch, show up late, make bad jokes etc, right? well... for the sake of Oracle, the band where i play as a bassist, i took off for about 3 hours for a band audition, the Yamaha Asian Beat Competition, for the Jakarta level.



Emil, my cousin and former co-worker, picked me up at the office and after picking up my bass at my house and weaving through the usual hell of traffic in daytime Jakarta, we reached the audition place just barely before 2 pm, our audition time, to have time for a 5 minute nasi goreng break! hahaha. i was really hungry, and Wisnu, Udang and Jimmy had not arrived yet.



The other guys were bitching about the requirement to use Yamaha instruments, rather than our own, because it would take time to adapt to the tonal qualities and sorts needed to achieve a certain sound. And the other thing, we came with no warm-up session... so the audition was pretty bland, give or take a few mistakes... oh well. At least we gave it a shot, what happens, happens. And i fulfilled my promise to the guys that i would help them through to the audition (i had been practising with them for about 2 months). But now, i also want Oracle to become something... if not for Oracle itself or the other guys, but more for myself.



Now.. back to work. Still kind of disoriented... might as well look through the files left behind by the previous guy.

Sunday, October 3, 2004

Useless Weekend

A lot of people use up their weekends, the time when they actually can spend time for themselves, to freshen up, enjoy themselves, play sports, go hiking, take a trip our of town... anything to unwind the previous week's craziness just so come monday morning, everything is back to normal (especially a rested mind). Well... that's a lot of people, not all.



I went to Bandung Saturday morning on the train with Tanti, planning to go to Dian's wedding reception (they are both class of '97 like me). So i left the house at about an hour before the train departure time (i bought the tickets beforehand...), picked up Tanti and just made it at the station with only 5 minutes to spare. No time to grab a snack at the train station... so we had to revert to buying on the train, some fried rice. Yeech. Won't ever do that again.



Yadi picked me up at the station, while Tanti's mom and pop picked her up. The plan was i stay the night at Yadi's.. and for the wedding, me, Yadi and Tanti wil go together. But before i went to Yadi's house, there was time to spare, so we went to Yari's house (another 97er, like Yadi) and hung out there, before eating a late lunch with Luki, and office friend of Yadi and Yari, and Yari's sister, Muti. Before heading home, we stopped by a DVD store and i bought THX 1138, 2010: The Oddesy Continues and John Mayer - Any Given Thursday. Unfortunately, it was already 5.30 when we left the DVD store, when the reception was at 7 o'clock way accross town from Yadi's house... so we rushed home to prepare, trying to avoid the unusual traffic jams.



After going more or less all around town to pick up Tanti and heading to the reception location... Yadi's car, a Beetle, that had not been used in a month, broke down, almost only 1 km from the location! And there we were, all dressed up and nowhere to go. So we called Yari who had reached the reception first and asked him to pick us up, and worry about the Beetle later, and managed to reach the reception at 9, hehehe.. just when everybody had gone home. hahaha. so did quick greetings with the bride and groom, mingled with friends... and it was time to go home anyway.



Me and Yadi gave a shot at starting the Beetle again.. it started, but only went about a third of the way home. So I called up Sena (another 97er) who lived nearby where we broke down again... and finally, after stowing Yadi's car at a relative's house, Sena and his wife, Santi drove us home, but only after we had proper meal at BUBUR KRIBO! you guys should try it. best chicken porridge in the world.



When we finally reached home, after such a long, bad day, i forced myself from sleeping to install a DVD playing program on the laptop so me and Yadi could watch John Mayer... when we finally did start to watch.. we both fell asleep.



Sunday was more filled with lazing around, and getting the Beetle back home, there wasn't much time for thought or contemplation, something i've been needing a lot lately... so... the weekend was practically useless. I didn't feel going to the office today, when it is only my 2nd day on the job.



Me and Tanti left for Jakarta at 5 pm on the train, and we were picked up at the station by her ex... then finally... i could sit back, relax, and watch the newly bought DVDs on the Mac. I watched 2010, one of the landmark movies of my childhood, and a movie i haven't watched for so long, i forgot the story.. and not a lot of people know about the movie, so i could not borrow it anywhere.



So did i get what you usually get during the weekend? I don't think so... but then again... I never do.