Let's See What Happens Next

First of all, happy new year. May the new year bring wisdom and joy to everyone.



It's a bid sad that the new year passes at the moment when so much sadness and suffering is going on in Aceh. I still can't bring myself to watch the newsreels on TV, with bodies everywhere, devastated cities, and people crying. Everybody crying. Nothing happy on the news (well, there never was anyway.. but this time, it's different).



It's comforting to see how the nation just came together and at least made some small contribution for helping the tsunami victims; all these companies, albeit with the obligatory public broadcasts, donating very large sums of money... and it's a bit sad, that at this time of sorrow, only now the nation is more united than the past few years. A disappointing note; a group of students held a demonstration at Bunderan HI today criticizing the government for being inept at handling the crisis.

Here's my take: with a catastrophe of this magnitude, who can really handle it?? I doubt that even if this happened in the US, the government would handle it better. This thing was BIG. And considering that the existing infrastructure before the disaster was already minimal, now it is virtually non-existent. I see the fact that the government actually was already able to start giving out rations 1 day after the disaster as already a good effort. You know what those students should do? Shut the fuck up, and use their demonstration warchest to go to Aceh and help with the relief efforts. Hope you guys are reading this; take a look at what's going on yourself over there then make an opinion if the government is inept or not in handling this. I'm not usually a pro-government kind of guy, but give them a break; nothing like this has happened for over a hundred years. (Well, at least that's my take on the facts I have).



Well, anyway.



I invited a couple of friends over to my house for the new years' , to watch DVDs, eat junk food, perhaps get drunk or get high (I will not confirm anything here :D). It was fun lah. In some way, it was necessary. Sometimes you just need to be reminded which people are the closest to you, and I'm glad that a lot of them were there at my house. Even if I only got 2 hours sleep as I had to pick up my brother at the airport the next day, I had fun and I was happy.



My brother was only in town for 1 night, but we made the most of it; lunch together, hanging round the house... and this afternoon, lunch at Chatterbox before he had to check out at his hotel.



And, after a bit of the usual depression-related moods before the new year, the days after are refreshingly emotional-baggage free. Don't know what that means, though. I guess I'll just enjoy it for now.