"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.
Wednesday, October 6, 2004
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.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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